A Random Monii

I happened to see the Hairspray trailer and poster a while ago, back when it played in theaters, but I’d never got the chance to see it. Until last night, when I rented the DVD. And I tell you, if I ever get a chance to buy it, it’ll be a prized item in my collection.

I love it. The famous faces singing and dancing in the 60’s style tended to throw me a little (Zac Efron, Amanda Bynes, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken just to start with), but it’s funny and sweet. Newcomer Nikki Blonsky is just great in the lead, especially her great voice, and John Travolta as her mother simply steals the show. With Travolta in the cast, you wouldn’t be surprised that the dancing is amazing from everyone- Walken even does a little song and dance duet with Travolta. The satire is razor-sharp - Allison Janney was the school councilor in 10 Things I Hate About You and now plays Prudy Pingleton, a strict mother who refers to the new teenage craze of dancing to ‘race music’ and sprinkles her daughter with holy water. Yep, plenty of satire.

The whole integration problem between whites and blacks becomes a major theme, and I like the way they handled it. It’s not too heavy handed, and keeps in theme with the rest of the movie. The scene in the school’s gym is especially striking- it took me a few moments before I realised the rope between the two groups of kids was separating blacks kids from white. The “New Girl In Town” song is also done very well, to show the difference between the regular Corny Collins Show and their ‘Negro Day’ one a month.

In short, the songs are unforgettable, the actors are amazing, the scripting is funny and well-written and I just loved the period costumes, hair and make-up. Definitely one to get if you enjoyed Grease, High School Musical, Chicago or any other musical.

…was amazing. Sad and lovely and I’m so happy that Fitz found peace. Yes, that’s deliberately vague, I’m not spoiling anyone.

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Now playing: Goo Goo Dolls - Sympathy
via FoxyTunes

Hey everyone! I’m back from my trip overseas with a bunch of games, thanks to the generous donations of my family. Today I’m going to be looking at Battlefront II.

I’ll be the first to admit that I enjoyed Battlefront I. It was tons of fun, mowing down droids (or clones, if that was your flavour) and racing to capture checkpoints. The only experience I’d had with Battlefront games was 1942, and only in limited amounts. So SW Battlefront was a refreshing experience, and I even completed all of the modes. I’m notorious for not finishing games, and SW Battlefront was one I’m proud to say I finished.

But onto Battlefront II. What’s changed? Well, you don’t need to tell me that. IGN has detailed hands-on reviews from 2005- click here for first impressions or second impressions by the IGN crew. In my opinion, it’s essentially the same game with an added sugar rush. The graphics are shinier (so be careful you low-end computer owners), the gameplay is faster and the storyline in single-player works much better. I’m not a big fan of the vehicular/space sections, but even I can admit that the space battles look very authentic and are probably fun for those folk who can manage to pilot the darn things. For the other people who also get spacesick, like me, you can always fly your craft into the belly of the enemy ship and cause sabotage on foot. Wicked.

The AI seems to have been boosted, too. The snipers on both sides hit their marks much more, and many a time my plans have been thwarted by an NPC simply ducking or diving out of the way of my explosions. A sprint button has been added, which is invaluable. But the best new feature, in my opinion, has to be the squad commands. It’s not any Republic Commando (which I still haven’t played…yet) by a long shot, but it’s always good to have extra firepower at your back when facing a snail tank droid or a Jedi.

In short, it’s an awesome play. The only real problem I found was that my conscious started twinging when I was told to slaughter Jedi padawans in the Temple.

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Now playing: RENT - Another Day
via FoxyTunes

So. The Order of the Phoenix movie.

I loved it. All of it. Of course, I’d read a few reviews beforehand, so I was mostly picking up on what other people noticed. But I still loved it.

I loved:

• The educational decrees all on one wall (then later falling off).
• The awesome… set design? I’m not sure how to say it. I liked the Department of Mysteries, all shiny and stuff. Umbridge’s magical announcer-megaphones reminded me of Brave New World, as did the huge Fudge poster in the MoM.
• The Sirius-Harry relationship. So sad. All the hugging and angst and Harry’s question over whether he’s a bad person. He’s such a woobie.
• The fact that Rupert, Dan and Emma have improved in leaps and bounds, acting-wise. Their little laughing scene after Harry’s kiss seemed really natural and unscripted.
• Someone else pointed out Aberforth and his goat, Ron and Hermione dressing in stripes, and Minerva stealing every scene she was in…but I loved those bits too.
• I was sad like whoa for poor Trelawney. They did it so well, I wanted to hug the poor lady.
• I loved Harry teaching DADA. So awesome.
• LUNA. Loved Luna to bits <3
• The Snarky Snape… “I may vomit.” After the Worst Memory he was all angry and sad and just… awww.

And about a bazillion things more. The only things off the top of my head that I didn’t love was the fact that Snape’s Worst Memory was way way too short. And… did I hear the Half-Blood Prince’s spells being used in Harry’s DADA lessons? Confused much?

I wanna go see it again.