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Awix (3310 KP) rated Early Man (2018) in Movies

Feb 8, 2018 (Updated Feb 8, 2018)

Early Man (2018)

2018 | Animation

7.0

(20 Ratings)

Movie Rating

One Million Years F.C.

Another movie from the people who made Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, and if you're familiar with either of those you will know that expectations will be high: Aardman are the British answer to Pixar or Studio Ghibli. Keeping such sky-high standards must be difficult, so we must try to be understanding when they fall a little short - as they do here.

A tribe of comedy cavemen with English accents are driven from their lovely valley by a nasty Bronze Age civilisation who variously sound French, Italian, and German. Brightest of the cavemen hits upon a scheme to win the valley back by playing the invaders at their sacred game, i.e. football (or soccer). Cue lots of sports movie cliches/parodies.

Well, obviously, you can't fault the craft that goes into these films, but on this occasion you can't help noticing the slightness of the story and the fact that it's neither as funny nor, crucially, as clever as many of their previous productions. (The fact that the film has a weird Brexit-friendly political subtext may be an issue for some viewers as well.) I love silly accents, absurd jokes and bad puns as much as the next person (probably more, in truth), but the fact that this film doesn't have the same kind of heart or warmth as (for example) your typical Pixar film is very noticeable. Still, not *actually* that bad.

Kudos

Sarah (7800 KP) created a post

Jun 22, 2018

Yesterday evening I went to watch War Horse at the Lowry Theatre - there has been a lot of hype about this for quite some time, and after seeing it myself I can understand why.

This was a fantastic show. Everything from the folk music interludes (the guy singing had a fantastic voice) to the script which had a lot more humour in than I expected. It's been a while since I've seen the film, so I'm not sure right now how closely this follows the story but it was such an enthralling show. The acting was great, they even did the French and German language barriers very ingeniously.

By far the best bit about this show though is the set, props and the animal mechanics. The set is minimal but very well done, and the animals and horses are truly amazing. It feels strange to begin with seeing how the horses work, but you soon get used to it and by the end, you begin to think they're actually real. And there's also a well done goose that's absolutely hilarious, a great addition to an other serious show.

I'm just annoyed that for half of the show people behind us were loudly rustling & eating sweets, and it really spoils your enjoyment when they're louder than the dialogue. Why is there no consideration any more?

Anyway despite the moan, this is a fantastic show and I'd highly recommend going. 10/10

Kudos Comment

ClareR (6062 KP) rated Elefant in Books

Jul 24, 2018

Elefant

Martin Suter | 2018 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

7.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

A morality tale with a glow in the dark, pink elephant....

An alcoholic, homeless man (Schoch), wakes up to see a small pink, glow in the dark elephant in his sleeping place. He puts it down to the drink, and goes back to sleep. The thing is, it's still there when he wakes up. Schoch later discovers that the small pink elephant has been genetically engineered solely to make money, and those who created it couldn't care less about it's welfare. These people want their elephant back and will do anything to get it.
This is a story about the ethical treatment of animals (and of the way that the homeless are treated and regarded), friendship, and what people will do to save the vulnerable.
I really liked all of the characters in this book: Schocha homeless man who takes on the responsibility of caring for the elephant; Kuang the elephant trainer and 'oozie' (I've never heard of this term before), the vet who gives up her house and job to care for the elephant, Roux the immoral geneticist (now he was a rather amusing character at times!).
I liked the style of this - I think that may be partly from the translation process (it was originally written in German). It was a fast, easy and very entertaining read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.