Sailing the Blue Ocean

Nintendo today announced that the front of their new European advertising campaign will be… Nicole Kidman. No really. In fact once the disbelief passes you should be able to see what a shrewd move this is. Firstly she is a big star, secondly she is woman, and thirdly she is a mother, hardly the typical videogame stereotype, but that is exactly why Nintendo have done this. They have been the only company recently stating that the stereotype needs to change and it’s a strategy that is clearly paying off in terms of sales and reputation. A couple of years ago everyone was writing them off but with the DS and the Wii they have stuck to their guns and it is paying off. Especially as within the casual / non-gamer consumers they have no real competition with Sony and Microsoft still primarily focused on the hardcore typical gamers. Still the long term effectiveness of the strategy has been brought into question and I have no doubt when the big games come that the PS3 will wake itself from its current sales slumber, but if the DS is any indication then the Wii will continue to from strength to strength. Just for comparision here are some facts and figures on the current console performance, take from it what you will:

(source VGChartz)

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Music and Lyrics

Hugh Grant has wallowed out a nice little niche for himself within the romantic comedy genre, something people have criticised him for, a lack of variety or a repetition of the same character with bumbling sensibilities and exasperated charm. So it’s not surprising to see him involved in this latest romantic offering, only I think that he deserves a lot of credit. People may claim he takes the easy roles, but there is nothing easy about being charming, engaging and believable when it comes to both romance and comedy. There is a lot more skill involved in these films than people realise and it is no coincidence that most of the rom-com’s he has been in have been successes.

Here he plays Alex Fletcher a faded 80s pop star (from a group called Pop) who makes his living performing at theme parks and weddings, reliving the glory days and with little ambition of future success. That is until the hottest pop star on the planet arranges to meet him demanding a new song within a week and a way back in to the pop world. Alex of course is no good at the lyrics and so enter Drew Barrymore, as adorable as ever, as his rather neurotic but gifted, house keeper, who he persuades to help him write the song.

That is the set up, and if you’ve seen a few of these films before no doubt you can predict what happens, but the plot is not what makes this film work. It is entertaining. Pure and simply this is a fun and enjoyable film, Hugh Grant has a lot of fun as the ageing pop star and the nostalgic way the film looks back and pokes fun at pop fashions and conventions is refreshing. The leads connect well with each other and play off each other well, the whole concept of writing to the morning hours and exploration of the creative process is spot on and the songs are surprisingly good. In fact they are really good, genuinely decent pop songs, catchy, uplifting and memorable they are a cut above what you would expect from a film like this and as such the songs become an integral part of what makes the film work so well.

In fact it’s hard to say exactly why I liked it so much, there isn’t a great deal to distinguish it from other similar films, but the characters and story always kept me interested and by the end I had a big grin on my face. I think at the end of the day the difference is heart. This film has it by the bucket load, whether it’s for Grant’s character, pop music in general or just for creating something that other people enjoy, it really makes a change from the often soulless Hollywood products and while it may not be as pronounced as say Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous this is still a film definitely worth watching if you are a fan of the genre in general, and if not, you never know, it might surprise you!

A cheery and funny study of music, romance and the joy pop music can bring, you won’t find a less cynical film around, and would be hard pressed to find a more endearing one too. Recommended.

The obesity ‘crisis’, what’s really going on?

Health is not an area I have taken a particular interest in during my life. I have always tried to eat ‘well’ (a concept I will talk about in a bit) and keep active, but calorie counting and weighing are not things I have been to familiar with. If anything I have always struggled putting on weight, rather than shedding the pounds. However recently there been an increased awareness and promotion of healthy eating and living, weight loss and dieting, something that until a few weeks ago I was certain was a good thing. After all we as a nation are getting fatter, there are more obese children than ever before, and these people are at risk from all sorts of diseases. As a nation we were facing an epidemic, a crisis and we have to act fast to prevent it. In America things are worse, half the nation is overweight and as Bill Clinton famously said this could be the first generation of children who fail to outlive their parents because of weight related diseases. But what if this wasn’t true? What if a combination of scaremongering, bad science and scare tactics have infiltrated society and left perfectly healthy people afraid, worried and obsessive. What if promoting healthy living wasn’t in the publics best interest but being proposed for much more sinister reasons? All these things are discussed far more eloquently that I could and dissected meticulously over at the eye-opening blog Junk Food Science where the studies behind the headlines are looked at, and more often than not the reported ‘facts’ that we get fed day after day are loosely based and interpreted from information that often proves no such thing. The site is essential reading for everyone but especially if these issues interest you and whether you accept it or not it is a fascinating critical look at the way our society looks at body image and health. For all the fear we see in the media nowadays there is no evidence whatsoever that we are unhealthier as a nation than before. In fact studies of heart disease and cancer are at their lowest ever and average life expectancy continues to rise year on year. Not only that but we have the widest choice of the safest and healthiest foods ever available. We have more knowledge of food preparation and production than ever before and the choice you get a local supermarkets is far beyond what you even would have found 10 years ago. So why are we convinced that ‘bad’ foods will kill us and that we should watch what we eat with careful scrutiny? The answer is found in that sentence, the notion of ’bad’ foods, a ridiculously simplified and dangerous term that has infiltrated society almost unknowingly. Food is good for you, we need it to survive. It gives us vitamins and protein and energy and hundreds of things our bodies need to function each day. What is much worse for us than so called bad food, that is food high in fats or sugars, is bacteria or germs. It is much worse for our bodies to eat ill prepared or out of date food than what we are told is unhealthy. Yet in the past when such food was more prevalent there were no such scares and the risks were so much greater. Fat has become a byword for unhealthy. Yet we need fat. We need to eat a certain amount of fat a day; our bodies store it for a reason, so why is it something so many people feel they need to get rid of when they don’t? Sugar has been studied for years and has never been found to cause disease or obesity, yet even I feel such guilt from eating sweet food. Somehow, through the twisted views of healthy food we see sweets or drinks high in sugar as bad, and yet fruit with just as much sugar as healthy. Yes fruit has vitamins etc. but our bodies process all sugar the same way, saying one is natural and the other man made is not the point, if our bodies can’t tell then surely it doesn’t make a difference? Now through this I am not noting that there isn’t a problem. People drastically overweight have severe health risks, and eating a diet of high fatty foods without a healthy mix of other nutrients is, of course, going to be bad for you. But the trouble is people who are in effect perfectly healthy start to think that they aren’t. The media’s constant vindication of petite models that adorn every newspaper, magazine and TV show have somehow convinced an entire generation of women that they are fat ugly and need to change. It breaks my heart to see this trend sweeping the nation. In surveys over the majority of women claim they are unhappy with their appearance, the rise of plastic surgery and diets such as the Atkins diet shows a nation of people who rather than feeling healthier than ever before, merely look at themselves as not good enough, as failures. In extreme cases this leads to eating disorders such as anorexia, but the fact is that this element exists in nearly everyone, even the men now. This saddens me so much as we are all individual, all unique and we all have different shapes and sizes. The more people study the more they find that your genes influence your general appearance far more than the food you eat. The dangerous simplified diet + exercise = weight loss formula presented by many doesn’t help this. Our bodies are not simple calculators. You can’t count calories in and out and create a weight change, it doesn’t work like that. The way our bodies regulate and control weight is far more complicated and this is why people find it so hard to not only lose weight but keep it off. The irony of this whole venture is that we could even end up with a much unhealthier nation than before with the dangers from under-eating and over-exercising just as bad as those for obesity. The reason I have chosen to post about this is mainly because I feel this needs to be discussed. There is very little critical debate of these policies and procedures, people take news reports and newspaper stories as fact, even I did until a few weeks ago, and we shouldn’t We should question these things, look into the science and decide for ourselves. We are being convinced we all suffer from a problem most of us don’t have, simply so that we buy the cure and eat up the solution without question. It is scary how many so called facts can be called into question. For starters a worrying number of articles recently focus on overweight children. Mainly these have been extreme cases, but an article in the BBC today calls for parents of such children to be eligible for neglect. Again in extreme cases this may be fair, overfeeding a child can cause so many problems that something must be done, but for everyone? So what is an overweight child? Well typically this is measured by BMI, a simple weight by height ratio, but can this really be accurate for children? One scary study shows how a simply 5lb gain by an 8 year old girl can change her weight from being in the normal to the obese category. Similarly the fact that children’s bodies are still growing at different rates at different times means it is such an inaccurate guide, and yet the thought that simply based on this reading a child’s parents could be charged with neglect and the children taken away is a disturbing thought. Now we are not at that stage yet but where will this hand-holding end? I agree that having a healthy nation is a good thing but there are no proven long term government led health incentives that have worked. People will always make their own decisions; all we can do is ensure the information we have in order to make those choices is accurate and complete; currently what we have in uncertainty. Every day a new study warns of the risks of a different food or substance, what is good for us today may be bad in a week and yet for centuries we never had these problems. As long as we keep active, eat a variety of all kinds of foods we will, for the most part, live long and healthy lives. That one mars bar you had will not make the difference between life and death, on average we eat 1 million calories a year, yet our weight changes very little. We need to learn to love the people we are, the way our bodies look and work and the fact we live in a time with such effective healthcare and where people on average live to over 70 years old. We are so used to being scared that we forget how fortunate we are, so next time you peruse the calories label on a sandwich or turn down an invitation to dinner just think, is it worth it? Being sensible is not hard, our bodies naturally do more than we ever know towards keeping us healthy. When you feel guilty ask yourself why, is it because you feel bad, or are you living for what other people think? If you have a fridge full of food and a smile on your face then appreciate that you are one of the lucky ones, and that food is good and something to be savoured in all its shaped and forms. Junk Food Science

ils (Them)

Now here is a horror film that lives up to its billing. No gore, no messing around, just 75 minutes of genuine tension and scares gradually built up to a shocking conclusion. When I say I like horror films it is for these reasons, unlike the torture-obsessed horrors that have recently dominates the US output full of grisly deaths and a voyeuristic joy in suffering, a psychological and nerve wracking movie which simply follows a couple terrorised in their home by unknown assailants, trying desperately to survive. Alone in a rented house in the middle of no-where the film follows the couple as they go about their daily routine, only to be awoken in the middle of the night. From here the film is unrelenting as they are attacked and must try and escape.

What the film does so well is endear you to the characters in a short space of time, but enough that you genuinely fear for their safety. One of the worst things about horror films such as Saw or Hostel is that you are not really meant to cheer for the victim, well here you do and it makes it all the more intense when everything starts to unravel. The film brilliantly ratchets up the suspense by keeping the attackers in the dark and the sound design and creeping camera work build up the tension to near unbearable levels. What is also remarkable about the film is that it is able to keep this up for the entire running time. Unlike other films there is no break between set pieces, no police chief hunting a killer, no other victims, just one night of terror that manages to keep the ideas fresh and thrills unique. What you end up with is a taught lean thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout and that knocks you out with a satisfying, but disturbing finale.

The film is in French with subtitles but is further proof that some of the best examples of cinema come from foreign countries and if you like your horror and feel OK to have your nerves shredded this is a film well worth checking out, you’ll be glad you did!

A small, smart and original chiller with enough innovation and ideas to maintain its momentum right to the end. Tense, unsettling and unique this is genuinely scary and one to watch with the lights down and volume up.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

This summer it seems excess is the word. From Spiderman’s multitude of villains, Die Hard 4.0’s catalogue of destruction and even Michael Bay’s Transformers each blockbuster, and more importantly sequel, has to fight not only to attract an audience and make money at the box office, but top whatever has come before. No more is this apparent than with the release of At World’s End, the third Pirates of the Caribbean film. Hot on the heals of Dead Man’s Chest, released last year the film has the unenviable task of not only living up to and surpassing the previous films, but also resolving the myriad plots strands and character arcs set up to date. But excess has always been a part of the Pirates series, those who complain of bloated and overly complicated sequels are overlooking the fact that these traits have been prevalent throughout the series, watching the first film again recently I not only still really enjoyed it but realised how complicated and plot heavy that film is as well. The whole series derives its joy from the needs of these characters and there is nothing writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio like more than putting obstacles in their way and conflicting these wants with each other. When you boil every film down they are all about the main characters and what they ultimately want, what confuses things is when everyone else wants something too, and the world of pirating lends itself perfectly to this rather selfish and mutinous environment where no-one is to be trusted and everyone has an agenda. Following on from the second film At World’s End sees Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa and his crew heading out to get Jack back from Davy Jones’ locker, before summoning a meeting of the Pirate Lords to combat the threat of the East Indian Trading Company who, with the help of Davy Jones himself, are putting waste to pirates throughout the globe. To explain any more would not only waste space but ruin the film. Suffice to say people are betrayed, sword-fights are had and Jack returns to save the day (but only for himself). With the serious overtones and often ominous mood of the film there could easily have been the possibility of it becoming rather dull and dark, but fear not as the series lightness of touch saves it from this fate imbuing all the scenes with a touch of humour and fun bringing back the sensibilities that made the first film so enjoyable. In fact I think this film is funnier than Dead Mans Chest in terms of laughs and sheer enjoyment and whilst it’s near 3 hour running time does test your patience at times I never found myself bored and in fact it felt shorter than Spiderman 3 which I saw recently. Part of this is due to the fact that you do actually care about the characters and they are given interesting twists. Now I am still no great fan of either Kiera Knightley or Orlando Bloom who again slightly struggle to carry the film and while they probably give their best work of the series here, though I still may have preferred the series as a whole had these roles been re-cast. That said the return of Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa is a big factor in the films success and both himself and Johnny Depp light up the screen whenever they are on. In fact Depp outdoes himself here playing Jack as slightly more mad but just as disparate as before, his fate and rescue are nigh on perfect and, thankfully he features here more than the last film embodying the giddy nature of these films more than anyone (except maybe the monkey). However the film is by no means perfect and the aforementioned excess of plot lines, characters and resolutions does get a bit much, the pirate council meeting is largely as dull as all council meetings in films tend to be, and the film sticks closely to action-epic cliché’s especially towards the end with generals giving empowering speeches to their armies, something that felt a tad out of place. I also got a bit tired of the constant crossing and double crossing of the characters, but maybe that was just the desire to see one or two characters able to work together in trust rather than act independently for their own needs. Whatever else you say about the film though you can’t deny it is sheer spectacle. ILM have once again outdone themselves and every frame of the film looks stunning. The production design is again top notch and the final battle sequences are some of the best looking, exciting and entertaining I have ever seen, even if the film sags in the build up it does not disappoint in the end. So when all is said and done you already know whether you are a fan of these films. Those who had problems with the first two are likely to struggle here as well, but for those wanting more of the same there is plenty to love here. Obviously a lot of care and attention has gone into the film both in its writing and construction and the universe that has been created is unique and oddly believable and it makes a change from cookie cutter action films to see such an original and crazy concept make it to the big screen. For what they have done the Pirates films have reignited audiences love of swashbuckling adventures and for fans of big loud summer entertainment, this can only be good news. Long, complicated and darker than its predecessors this film somehow manages to be just as entertaining with satisfying resolutions all round and some amazing battle sequences. Some will long for the days of simple stories, but for the rest there is enough crazy pirate mayhem here to keep a grin stuck firmly on your face.