Movie Steak

After a night of hard partying I pulled myself out of bed just before 2 last Friday. I managed to stumble over to my computer and sit down just as my phone started ringing. “Chris, do you want to come and see X-Men 3?” “Yes.” “Ok, we’re meeting at 2:30.” 2:30! Bare in mind that I was a half hour bus ride away even if I was dressed, ready and there was a bus waiting for me.

Never the less I managed to here there. 2:45 which I thought was very impressive given I was barely awake when I got the phone call. I’m glad I did though. X-Men: The Last Stand is a movie that is certainly worth a watch! Cliched and Hollywood-ised like all Hollywood movies? Yes, of course. But that doesn’t do enough damage to it to make it not worth watching.

It was bound to be a good movie. As I pointed out to the girl sitting next to me, “any movie with Captain Picard and Gandalf in the first minute is going to be good.” It was. The plot was interesting. A little over-garnished with sub-plots to add extra appeal to the movie but I really don’t want to dwell as this is a review not a what’s wrong with Hollywood movie making feature.

It could have perhaps down with a little more humorous quips but there were some. The action was fairly impressive if a little predictable (framing the Golden Gate bridge behind the shot of the juganaught saying “I don’t swim” was a dead giveaway) and on the whole, the general effects and sparkly things happening were quite impressive. There are some shocks too.

Don’t get me wrong it’s not an awe-inspiring ground-breaking film. It’s a comic book adaptation and as such you have to set your standards accordingly. But within that confines it’s a good movie and come on, it has Patrick Stewart in!

X-Men: The Last Stand hits cinemas on Thursday! Or for those not in the UK, here’s a summary of the release dates…

• Wednesday - France, Belgium, Sweden
• Thursday - Argentina, Austria, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Netherlands, New Zealand
• Friday - Canada, Iceland, Mexico, Spain, USA

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Blizzard Entertainment’s massively successful game franchise Warcraft courtesy of Legendary Pictures. Blizzard commented…

“We searched for a very long time to find the right studio for developing a movie based on one of our game universes. Many companies approached us in the past, but it wasn’t until we met with Legendary Pictures that we felt we’d found the perfect partner. They clearly share our high standards for creative development, and because they understand the vision that we’ve always strived for with our Warcraft games, we feel there isn’t a better studio out there for bringing the Warcraft story to film.”

Jennifer Garner is in talks to star opposite Jamie Foxx in upcoming thriller The Kingdom.

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Game to move adapations rock. Most people hate them, critics especially but I thought Tomb Raider and Resident Evil were decent movies. The latest attempt at such an adaptation is Silent Hill, one of the few games, along with Resident Evil that could actually claim the status of being a “scary” game.

Unlike Resident Evil, Silent Hill follows very closely to the game. I’m told. I haven’t played the game much and am not too familar with it but I am reliably informed that the movie sticks to the plot quite closely. It would appear so in the movie too, certain factors make it very game-esc.

It’s a bit of a cloudy movie anyway though, the first thing two of the three people I went with said after it finished was “huh? I thought I was following it until I saw the end. What’s going on?” It does kind of click at the end but it’s not really putting the final piece in the puzzle, it’s more that it kind of wipes the puzzle and then completes a slightly different one.

The plot revolves around Rose taking her daughter Sharon to a creepy ghost down named Silent Hill because Sharon has been sleep walking in dangerous places and saying Silent Hill randomly. It was either take her to a doctor, or pay a visit to the town despite massive amounts of warnings on the internet so Rose choose the latter.

The town itself is abandoned and has been for 30 years. Underground coal fires give off toxic fumes. People do live there though. Or rather people, who used to be alive live there. But I can’t really say much about that without giving away too much of the plot.

Of course the real asset of the game was that it was so creepy that it actually was scary. Does the film achieve the same thing? Well, to an extent. It doesn’t have the unseen horror that really gave the game it’s effect but it still manages to very creepy and while it didn’t massively scare me, looking at it from a critical point of view, it was quite a scary film.

Overall I quite liked it but I could see why most of the critics don’t. If it’s your type of thing then go see it but don’t be suprised if you walk out feeling confused, not only about the plot but also whether you actually liked it or not.