Based on the novel by...

Yesterday I headed to my local Vue cinema, handed over the increasingly hurtful amount of cash to purchase 2 tickets to see 'The Woman in Black', the movie based on the novel of the same name by Susan Hill, a novel I had only completed the previous day, had thoroughly enjoyed and so was really looking forward to the film.

First up the film, yes I enjoyed it! It's not the greatest film, or indeed the greatest horror I've ever seen, but it carried suspense well, most of the acting was good, especially Radcliffe, and I'd go as far as to say it was a good film. I've sat through, and indeed made the wife sit through, much worse films. To be honest if it was called something else I probably would have enjoyed it a hell of a lot more, but that's best explained in a couple of paragraphs time.

Worth seeing? Definitely! Seek out your local multiplex and go for it! The 12A rating on one hand seemed generous, as it was jumpy, and to someone not as used to these things as myself could have been scary, especially for a 12 year old!

Now here's the bug bare, the only thing about the whole experience that p'd me off...

The adverts said, "Based on the novel by Susan Hill', the title is obviously the same, the titles agreed with the advert on the origin of the story. But after that... I'm not sure what happened. I think the screenwriter (Jane Goldman, or indeed Mrs Jonathan Ross) has done good (co) adaptations in the past with Kick Ass springing to mind in particular. But this time, I'm not sure if she even read the book, to be honest for all the similarities between the book and the film she may as well have lifted the list of characters and the first couple of sentences of the synopsis from wikipedia, it was barely recognisable. Let's have some examples, oh and SPOILER ALERT:

Kipps is widowed with a kid vs he's not married, no kids... yet
The whole Kipps character was changed from a promising up and comer, to a about to get sacked failure (following the widowing I assume) making him a less effective lead.
Where was the funeral, and the reason for introducing the title character?
What's with the kids mass deaths? Why would everyone stay??
The whole 'let's fix everything - ghostbusters' section... no that didn't work.
The endings were very (partially forced by the first point) different, I liked both, but the books was far more effective at getting a reaction from me.
The friendly village where he enjoyed his times was turned into a shithole full of superstitious wankers.

Some bits were kept and the film benefited, e.g. the running outside after the noise and seeing the woman in the window, possibly the iconic scene from the book and seeing the woman in the window. The characterisation of the woman was spot on, although I wasn't expecting almost hand to hand combat... hmmm.

This made me think of other books and the films based on them, bad experiences came to mind, e.g. John Hammond not having a awesome death scene in Jurassic Park so he could be in the (rather good) sequel. Tom Bombadill and the songs (both thankfully) missing from the LOTR films. I Am Legend dropping vampires from the film and murdering the ending (as a result the title not making sense). The examples are endless and listing them is getting tedious already.

There are some good efforts, but as a rule of thumb, books and films don't get on. So why go through the trouble of associating the two, past a bit of publicity... I can't see it. Most of the above films are cracking and   among my favourites (Not I Am Legend) so do they need it?

Top 5 Web series and the like

The Internet is a weird and wonderful place, but it has some damn creative people on it, some funny some serious some a bit of both (*ahem*) but some stand above the rest obviously. I've decided to use today to make a list of my 5 favourite web released media, whether it be via personal websites, youtube etc, see if anyone wants to have a watch themselves:

5. 

30-second bunnies theatre

Source http://www.angryalien.com/ and youtube (abetoons)

Does exactly what it says on the tine really, animated bunnies perform popular movies in 30 seconds (or thereabouts) it's not a hit every time, but when it's good it's great (Grindhouse, Evil Dead 2, Rocky Horror). Your general enjoyment of the short is pretty much in line with your enjoyment of the film as a rule so if you pick your favourite films, you'll enjoy the shorts, appriciate the jokes, the touches of details, which can be outstanding at times. Much recommended!

Apparently there's a DVD available, but I wouldn't go that far...

I've stuck an example below!

4.

Dai Ling Ping

Source http://www.dailingping.co.uk/ and youtube (MrLBXv2)

There may be a fairr bit of local loyalty here but Dai does crack me up. He, along with some other users, play XBOX 360 online, particularly Call of Duty games and practise the art known as griefing. Generally being a dick to get a reaction out of the other players, and of course with people who take COD far far too seriously, he generally succeeds in getting a reaction, and as he's pretty quick witted to stay ahead of them, it's highly amusing.

Of course after a while this can become dull as fuck so Dai has branched out into older game reviews, playthroughs, prank calls and the like. Without spoiling too much, he appears to be gifted with accents and uses a voice changer, it's best to listen to him to be honest.

Oh and highly NSFW, strong language.

Here's a classic:

3.

The Guild

Source http://www.watchtheguild.com/ or XBOX live or Zune or youtube (theguild)

The guild was the brainchild of Felicia Day and is now the ripe old age of 5 series old (the series 5 finale due out tomorrow in fact!) and apparently was an inspiration to other titles on this list. It basically it a sit-com regarding the interactions of a guild from an unnamed online video game (actually only ever called 'The Game') not entirely dissimilar to World of Warcraft.

They start off having never met, and personal issues, eventually force them too and the series develops from there. Some of the acting is very good and the cast cameos can be superb on times (Star Trek, Big Bang Theory, Eurika and Stand By Me actor Wil Whedon is regular, Nathan Fillion, Brent Spiner, Colin Ferguson have all guested in series 5). 

Many people who play such online games (me) will identify with the situations and personalities and overall this is a top series. DVDs available again but only region 1 I believe.

I've attached the pilot!

2.

The Angry Video Game Nerd

Source 

http://cinemassacre.com/

 or youtube (JamesNintendoNerd)

This guy cracks me up, he also has a video game collection that I'm amazingly envious of. The guys name is James Rolfe and he makes videos reviewing retro games, typically pretty damn poor retro games, under the persona of The Angry Video Game Nerd.

He's typically foul mouthed and very very NSFW but delivers it with such venom that is comes across as funny. He also manages to make the reviews informative resisting the temptation to nit-pick.

Under different sections of the site (and app which I own, I also have Dai Ling Pings app, but this guys I actually paid for) he does movie reviews, plays board games (Bored James), and does short rants under the title 'YOU KNOW WHAT'S BULLSHIT'. It's all good and very funny. Plus I do wish I had 1/50th of his collection... Send donations too...

Here's a good example of his little reviews an an awful game to boot:

At this point I'll mention the ones who didn't make the top 5, and there are plenty of good ones out there, whether it be The Legend of Neil, Dragon Age (Day in both of them again), the Mortal Kombat trailer (ok rubbish, but somewhat interesting despite), the Various Star Trek series, Fallout, Red Vs Blue. There's loads more out there so go investigate!

So, on to...

1.

Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Source Various including iTunes, youtube etc

Yes I know it's not exactly the same kind of production values as some of the others. But this is awesome!

Joss Whedon used the writers strike to produce this, makes the strike worthwhile all on its own if you ask me! Starring in it were Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly), Felicia Day (again), and Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory) and each was excellent.

The script is as slick as you'd expect, the songs good and memorable and at 45 minutes, you'll wish it was longer. Apparently there is to be a sequel once Joss is finished working on The Avengers. I mean honestly where's the priorities!! 

I have the DVD and the commentary track (well one of them) is produced as an entirely different musical to compliment the one on screen with the actors (in varying degrees of character) interact and clash about the show and themselves.

This needs to be watched by all. Hate Musicals? Well see it as a superhero film? Not doing it for you, ok romantic comedy etc. Works on so many levels.

Here's the first bit from youtube: 

Once you've seen it all, 8-bit Dr Horrible is excellent too.

TTFN