Thursday 28 May 2009

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

When I was a kid I used to love watching TMNT with my brother on tv. I was such a tomboy back then. So when I heard that the original cartoon series was gonna be released on DVD I was psyched. When it did finally come out recently I started to question whether or not to buy it and got cold feet so to speak. I kept picking it up and putting it back on the shelf at JB. But yesterday I digressed when I practically ran into a stand full of it in Big W. I scooped up volumes one, two and three and headed to the registers...and boy am I glad I did. I watched practically all of volume one last night and it was awesome. I can't believe how much of it I actually remembered from somewhere deep in my subconscious. There are five episodes on the disc and I have the strongest feeling that we used to have them all on tape or something when I was a kid. I think I thought (as a kid) that these five eps were actually a movie length episode. Maybe it was just the way we recorded it on the tape, I dunno. Seriously, there were moments where I could say the lines by heart yet I knew at the same time as I said them aloud that it was so deep in my subconscious that they were coming from. So the cartoon looks kinda average. Still, I like the bright colours and comical style. The lines are very clean and sharp. The comedy is actually more apparent in the scripting than I ever realised as a kid, yet that is the nature of these shows generally speaking. All that stuff mostly goes over kids heads. I think I probably related more to the feel good triumph over evil while using cliches parts of the show. But all in all I am glad I bought this DVD and the two subsequent volumes. There are 4 extra bonus episodes on volume 1 that seem to have been made after the live action film was released. The style is slightly different but still kinda the same. One or two of the voice actors have changed but its mostly the same. But its cool that there are bonus eps on the disc all the same. A great trip down memory lane. I can't wait to see how much I remember when I get into volume 2. Will definitely pick up volumes four, five and six when they come out in a little while. Worth checking out if you grew up on the series. Cowabunga dude!

Wednesday 27 May 2009

Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past

Hey Guys
Well its been simply forever since I wrote and it really is beyond time since I actually added something to this blog. Good thing I have a few titles to add.
So to start, yesterday I went after work and saw Ghost of Girlfriends Past. First, it was great to go to the cinemas on my own again. Its been a little while and honestly my life is so crazy these days that the only chance I would actually get to see a chick flick like this on a cinema screen is to take myself cuz its just so hard to get a gaggle of girls together these days. So it was a great experience. There was only me and about 4 or 5 other women in the whole cinema so it was cool.
But I digress. This movie is basically what you would expect from a chick flick with someone like Matthew McConaughey cast as the leading man. That said, I absolutely love him in these types of movies!
He plays Connor Mead, an absolute player who hates marriage, love and committment of any kind. And of course his younger brother, Brekin Myer, is getting married to a sweet little gal, Lacey Chabert. Top off the fact that the head bridesmaid is Connor's childhood almost-sweetheart Jenny, played by Jennifer Garner.
The thing I really love about this movie is the whole ghost section of the film, particularly the Ghost of Girlfriends Past herself. Emma Stone, of The House Bunny fame, really gave herself over to the role. Just from these two movies you can see that as an actress she really has a good sense of comic timing. Cute and funny she stole a lot of the movie for me.
Michael Douglas as the Marley-esque character of Uncle Wayne was also pretty cool. I didn't know Douglas was even in the movie until the opening credits rolled and it was just a fun twist on the usual cliche. Hugh Hefner eat your heart out.
All in all, as I said, this movie is exactly what you would expect. Cliched and predictable and McConaghey and Garner show off their usual style as actors and look really good doing it. While I really enjoyed the light entertainment, I think perhaps there might have been a better choice for female lead than Garner. Nothing on her performance but there was just something lacking in the chemistry between her and McConaughey. Still, good fun and leaves you smiling. Entertainment achieved.