Film: The World's End

Been a while since I did a proper film review, so I thought I's start up with the third film in the Cornetto Trilogy: The World's End.

The film is 5 childhood friends reuniting to attempt their hometown's "golden mile", basically a pub crawl, how very British!  However, their town has been taken over by blue blooded robots and while 4 of the friends want to leave the town, one of them (Simon Pegg's character) wants to stay and finish the crawl as they failed the first time.

This film is about as British as it comes, usually that was be an offensive remark in my eyes as Britain doesn't come across well in movies, we're either bad guys in Hollywood or chavs and gangsters in London.  This film is about 5 average guys doing something considered a British thing, never heard of pub crawls in the US.  The film is also in some way a coming-of-age film, especially for Gary (Pegg) who still acts the same as he did when he was a teenager, though his friends have grown up and had lives and that itself is quite an interesting topic, also the fact that Pegg and Frost's characters hate each other is a nice twist as they are always buddies in the previous films and Paul, the alien comedy.

The film, like the other two, have laughs aplenty, mainly from Pegg, which is a change as Frost had the great lines in Hot Fuzz.  Most of the stuff is silly but that's what I love and there are a few clever jokes thrown in for good measure.  The story itself is quite good too, the transition from buddy comedy to sci-fi action movie is very quick and the characters are surprisingly very good at hand-to-hand combat, though I don't want to dwell on technical things like that!

SPOILERS BELOW!!

The ending really surprised me, mainly because everything works out in the previous two films and they all live happily ever after, but it's not the case with this film.  Two of the five characters die and the world effectively ends sending everyone into the "dark ages".  Though the characters have some form of happy ending, it's not the ideal "Hollywood" style ending, but then again, this is a very British film!!

What did you think of "The World's End"?

Film: The Disney/Pixar Films Ranked!

Last week I watched the latest offering from Pixar: Monsters University.  Instead of just yammering on about it, I thought I would talk a little about all of them and rank them in order of how good I think they are, seeing as I've grown up with all these movies and I feel some are far better than others.

14. Cars 2
Many people considered this film to be a step back for Pixar and I agree, although you've got Michael Caine in it, it's by far the worse offering Pixar has given us.

13. Brave
After a series of critically acclaimed films, Pixar had a tough job topping that with an original story.  The trailers suggested a "Hunger Games" style story with a ginger Scottish girl dominating over the boys, however it wasn't the case.  It was a heart-felt story, but nothing we haven't seen before.

12. Cars
Of course this was better than the sequel, but this film didn't feel like there was a story behind it.  The talking cars is of course a novelty, but it wares off when you realise it's a coming-of-age story with no real (forgive the pun) drive.

11. Ratatouille
A lot of people really love this film, but I never really got into it.  Not as heart-felt as previous films and it didn't have as much backing as other Pixar films may have had.

10. A Bug's Life
A forgotten gem in the Pixar history.  While I like this film with it's drama, emotion and laughs, it may have been released before its time.  If they released the first 2 Toy Story films back to back and left Bug's Life a few years, it would've been a bigger classic than the film most of us forget.

9. Toy Story 2
A surprisingly low rank for the second in one of the best trilogies of all time, but when you compare with other Pixar offerings, this film doesn't match up.  I love all the Toy Story films equally when put together, but this is competing with classics and there are better stories told in the world of Pixar.

8. Monsters Inc.
That's right, I think the sequel was better, only just though. Monsters Inc provides emotion, mainly from the Sulley/Boo relationship and Mike brings the laughs.  While emotion was high, laughs weren't as high, which is why the sequel was better.

7. Monsters University
I told you the sequel was only just better.  After the first film focused on Sulley and Mike was there as the funny guy, it was nice to flesh out Mike in this film, see his history and realise how much of a jock Sulley was at college.  This film provided laughs a plenty and while emotion wasn't as high as Inc, the laughs were high enough to carry this film.

6. The Incredibles
The best of the mediocre Pixar films.  It was the first to have main human characters, the drama was through the roof and it felt the most "real" out of all of the Pixar films.  Granted the comedy was sparse in this film, but it was saved by Edna "E" Mode.

5. Toy Story
The film that started it all.  Not only a technological triumph, but an all-round great family film.  Great story, great voice acting and to this day, still watchable for all ages.  When I'm older, I will make my kids watch this and they will love it (or I will force them to love it!)

4. Finding Nemo
I defy anyone not to cry or be on the edge of their seat during the opening scene of this film.  Again, less on the laughs, more of the the emotion, but you really get a sense that the journey Marlin & Dory take is incredible and as a child, it's the first adventure film you will watch and be impressed with the journey these characters took.

3. Up
A life-long love story told in 10 minutes without a word being said and it will make you cry, the magic of Pixar.  This film has everything, you've got the emotion, you have the drama and you have the laughs.  You can watch this film again and again and never get tired of seeing this beautiful story.

2. Wall-E
The story of the world's most adorable robot.  This film has very few words spoken, especially in the first half, but it doesn't defer from an beautiful story of robot love and an important message about global warming, it keeps everyone happy!

1. Toy Story 3
The timeless classic that proves not all sequels are bad.  Regardless of whether you grew up with Woody and the gang or just meeting them for the first time, this film truly has it all, from Buzz's Spanish alter-ego to Andy's heart-wrenching goodbye, I'll admit I was even crying at the end of that, this film is perfect, not only the best Pixar film, but one of the greatest films of all time.

Do you agree with that ranking?  Is Toy Story 3 the best Disney/Pixar film of all or is there there one better?

News: Emmy Nominations 2013 (Comedy)

My views on last year's Emmys were so popular, I thought why not look at this year's batch.

Comedy Series
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
Girls
Louie
Modern Family
Veep

My views remain the same as last year, not a strong year for Modern Family, Big Bang should win it for once!

Best Comedy Actor
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Jason Bateman - Arrested Development
Louis C.K. - Louie
Don Cheadle - House of Lies
Matt Le Blanc - Episodes
Jim Parsons - The Big Bang Theory

While I am a TBBT fan, I'm happy Matt Le Blanc & Jason Bateman have received nominations, either them or Parsons and I'm happy.

Best Comedy Actress
Laura Dern - Enlightened
Lena Dunham - Girls
Edie Falco - Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey - 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Veep
Amy Poehler - Parks & Recreation

I am not a avid watcher of any of these shows, though I predict either Lena Dunham or Julia Louis-Dreyfus winning

Best Supporting Actor
Ty Burrell - Modern Family
Adam Driver - Girls
Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Modern Family
Bill Hader - Saturday Night Live
Tony Hale - Veep
Ed O'Neill - Modern Family

It'll be another Modern Family win, I want Ed O'Neill to win this year, though I suspect Ty Burrell will win this year.

Best Supporting Actress
Mayim Bialik - The Big Bang Theory
Julie Bowen - Modern Family
Anna Chlumsky - Veep
Jane Krakowski - 30 Rock
Jane Lynch - Glee
Sofia Vergara - Modern Family
Merritt Wever - Nurse Jackie

Julie Bowen has won this 2 years in a row, either Sofia Vergara or Mayim Bialik should wi n it this year, though I do like Jane Lynch.

Best Guest Actor
Bobby Cannavale - Nurse Jackie
Louie C.K. - Saturday Night Live
Will Forte - 30 Rock
Nathan Lane - Modern Family
Bob Newhart - The Big Bang Theory
Justin Timberlake - Saturday Night Live

Hard to believe Justin Timberlake & Bob Newhart are in the same category, though I would like either of them to win, more Newhart than Timberlake though!

Best Guest Actress
Dot-Marie Jones - Glee
Mellisa Leo - Louie
Mellisa McCarthy - Saturday Night Live
Molly Shannon - Enlightened
Elaine Stritch - 30 Rock
Kristen Wiig - Saturday Night Live

Mellisa McCarthy wins everything, so it'll be her, simple as that!

Do you agree/disagree with any opinions?