Big Hero 6

 

http://www.disney.co.uk/big-hero-6

I happened to catch Big Hero 6 on an advanced preview back in January. But attendance on the reviewers accreditation course taught me the importance of timing. Posting a review too far in advance of the film's release will do about as much good as no review, as people will likely forget what that film was that such-a-body liked/didn't like. So I held off. By the time the film was released in February I'd still not written my review and then I was too busy to get it out there.

So I decided to wait until the film was due it's DVD release before unleashing my review on the world.

Those who know me already know that I love the film. And a select few of them would probably be confident to say how much I love it. But the rest of you are about to find out.

Big Hero 6 is the story of 14 year old Hiro Hamada and his big brother Tadashi. They are orphans who live with their Aunt Cass in the future mish-mash city of San Fransokyo. Hiro and Tadashi are both intelligent and talented boys, while Hiro uses his smarts to take part in illegal Bot Fights (I know - the fights aren't illegal, betting on them is!), Tadashi puts his to use in creating a healthcare robot that will revolutionise the healthcare system the world over. Baymax, the healthcare companion, can scan you, and is programmed with over 10,000 medical procedures. However, when Hiro finds he's faced with a more emotional type of hurt, Baymax steps up to the plate to find any way that he can to help him. And so begins the most adorable and heartfelt companionship since Wall•e and Eve.

Not only is the film one of the most beautiful Disney have ever produced, it's also simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking. The first time I watched it I had to dab my eyes a couple of times, but in one of the final scenes of the movie the little boy who was sitting with the family in front of me started openly sobbing, and I could hold it together no longer.

Whilst recalling this moment I remembered when Up! came out a few years ago and my brother told me that he was planning to take my nephew to see it. I forewarned him that he would cry at the opening sequence but he asked how his son would feel. I said, he'll be fine, but YOU will cry. Because some things just don't effect kids the way they effect adults. But some things even kids know are sad. And Big Hero 6 definitely evokes the sad in all of us. Much like the first Disney movie I saw, Bambi. I remember crying a lot when I saw that and I must have only been around 5 years old.

When I wasn't bawling my eyes out I was able to appreciate all of the sumptuous cityscapes, the truly gorgeous inside of the teleportation portal, and all of the little nuances that Disney do so well. The things that make a Disney movie stand out. The main example would be when Baymax and Hiro are sitting on top of a balloon overlooking the city, and seeing that Hiro is swinging his feet from side to side, Baymax starts doing it too. Don't even get me started on the fist bump, I might cry again.

I will stick my neck out and say this is the best Disney movie (true Disney not Pixar Disney) in years. I just watched the special features on the Blu Ray and was surprised to hear one of the directors say that the first Disney movie he saw was Bambi (mine too - in fact I think it might have been the first film I ever saw at the cinema) and he actually started tearing up when he talked about the effect that had on him. If Disney keep employing guys like this, we might finally be getting back to a golden age of Disney. And that, well that is something I am very excited about.

See it. Buy it. Tell everyone you know to see it. And if you don't fall head over heels in love with Baymax I might have to deny all knowledge of knowing you. 10 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 4th January 2015

UK Release Date - 30th January 2015

Cast Overview

(Don't look if you don't like knowing who the voice actors are!)

Scott Adsit ~ Baymax

Ryan Potter ~ Hiro

Daniel Henney ~ Tadashi

T J Miller ~ Fred

Jamie Chung ~ Go Go

Damon Wayans Jr ~ Wasabi

Genesis Rodriguez ~ Honey Lemon

James Cromwell ~ Robert Callaghan

Alan Tudyk ~ Alistair Krei

Maya Rudolph ~ Cass

Directors ~ Don Hall and Chris Williams

Writers ~ Jordan Roberts (Screenplay), Daniel Gerson (Screenplay), Robert L Baird (Screenplay), Duncan Rouleau (Big Hero 6 Team and Characters Created by - as Man of Action), Steven T Seagle (Big Hero 6 Team and Characters Created by - as Man of Action), Paul Briggs (Head of Story) and Joseph Mateo (Head of story).

San Andreas

http://www.sanandreasmovie.com/

I will go and see most things that are shown on Cineworld's Unlimited Screenings so the fact that I decided to see San Andreas tonight, 3 days ahead of release is not so surprising. What is surprising, especially to me, is how much I enjoyed it.

I can probably count on one hand the number of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson movies I have seen in my lifetime. I've never seen past the first Fast and Furious film (although I understand that the latter few have been pretty decent) and the other movies he's made have never really grabbed me, but as I said above, this was an Unlimited Screening so I thought, why not.

If you've ever seen a disaster flick you'll know exactly what the formula is, and San Andreas certainly sticks to the character side of that very well. There's the hero (or in this case two main hero's), the dad, he's skilled in some way, in this instance a Fire Department helicopter pilot who rescues people on a regular basis. There's the woman he loves, typically they're not together anymore (due to a family tragedy that tore them apart), then there's the child, in need of rescuing (for the purpose of the plot) but actually doing pretty okay by themselves. You also have the villian or coward as it tends to be in disaster movies, he usually gets what's coming to him, and of course there is the science guy that no-one listened to when it could have made a difference. They're all here and they're just as you remembered them from all the other disaster films you've seen.

In this particular disaster film, the crux of the story revolves around the San Andreas Fault, the line that separates the tectonic plates of The Pacific and North America, where there genuinely is a lot of siesmic activity. The area is notorious for earthquakes and so the filmmakers have built their story on fact. At least in part.

The film opens with a bang, literally, when there is a rock slide (hur hur) that shows off the mad skillz of our hero, followed almost immediately by the San Andreas Fault 'going off' whilst our two science nerds, err I mean, Siesmic experts, are trying to pull a Helen Hunt (Twister reference for those of you who are under the age of 20) and develop an early warning system that will allow them to predict when and where an earthquake will strike, and more importantly what size it will be on the richter scale. In the midst of earthquakes left, right and centre, our hero's daughter happens to be in San Francisco with the coward of the piece who just happens to be her mom's boyfriend. Oh and about here is where Kylie shows up (yes, THAT Kylie) for about 5 minutes in a completely pointless cameo.

Lots of cheesy lines later...

"What are we gonna do?" - "We're going to get our daughter back!" *audience hurrah*

... lots of people are dead but The Rock somehow manages to come out of it unscathed. *audience hurrah*

My brother specifically told me I wasn't allowed to use the old critic adage of 'you can leave your brain at home' as (and I quote) "That's a sign of a lazy critic that can't admit they've enjoyed something". Well I am not at all ashamed to admit that I enjoyed San Andreas thoroughly. In fact I would go so far as to say it's the most fun I've had in the cinema in ages. You definitely don't have to concentrate on the plot as it's paper thin at best, it's just a roller coaster of action and it's so tense it'll have you gripping the edge of your seat so you don't fall off it. It's unapologetically cheesy though so get ready to groan through some of the lines, or do what I did and just laugh at them as they were definitely intended to be seen as cheesy.

So much fun, so much action, and even a little teeny bit of romance thrown in. There's also a really quite bad English accent (he's Australian but with a very posh English sounding name) and a fantastic shot of the daughter's amazing underwater floatation devices (she's over 18 so it's okay fellas - make sure you see it in 3D for the full eye popping effect). It's got everything. Go see it. Really. 9 out of 10 on the richter scale.

UK Release Date - 29th May 2015

Viewing Date - 26th May 2015

Cast Overview:

Dwayne Johnson ~ Ray Gaines

Carla Gugino ~ Emma Gaines

Alexandra Daddario ~ Blake Gaines

Paul Giamatti ~ Lawrence

Ioan Gruffudd ~ Daniel Riddick

Hugo Johnstone-Burt ~ Ben

Art Parkinson ~ Ollie

Kylie Minogue ~ Susan Riddick

Director ~ Brad Peyton

Writer(s) ~ Carlton Cuse (screenplay), Andre Fabrizio (Story) and Jeremy Passmore (Story)

Adventures In Fangirling - What A Difference A Day Makes

In a strange twist of irony, the song At Last has just* shuffled it's way onto my iTunes playlist. It couldn't fit this article better.

A few days ago I wrote about my experiences over the last three years as a part of actor Jeremy Renner's fandom. For those who don't know, he plays the Avengers archer extraordinaire Hawkeye.

That story involved lots of missed opportunities and almost meetings with my idol. Whilst I can't yet tick a meeting with him off my list, I am now the proud owner of his autograph. And I didn't have to pay a despicable autograph hunter to get it. This prized possession of mine was earned by my own hard work and determination. The full account of which is to follow.

It started with a 4.15am start on Tuesday 21st April. Followed by a 5.48am train, a mis-read ticket, leading to a missed connection and a late arrival at Westfield shopping center in London's Shepherds Bush.

When I finally arrived at the scene of the premiere the doors had already been open for 15 minutes and 400 people were already lining the fan enclosures. My photographer buddy who accompanied me wanted to give up. We were at least six rows of people back from the barrier and had no hope of getting any autographs from the stars. 

I was gutted, and felt like my two hours of sleep the night before had been for nothing. But my brother told me to be resilient, and so we stayed. If nothing else I knew my friend would get some great snaps.

We met up with two other friends whom we'd first met at the Captain America: The Winter Soldier premiere around this time last year. They were in full cosplay as Marvel characters Mockingbird (aka Bobbi Morse - currently being portrayed on Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. by Adrianne Palicki) and Jessica Jones (who will shortly be getting her own show as part of the Defenders series - of which the new show Daredevil is the first part).

Feeling a little under dressed I changed into my Black Widow costume and re-joined my waiting friends. We spent the next six hours chatting, eating things that would not make us bloat in our skin tight catsuits, hydrating and going for the occasional wander around the shopping center to stretch our legs. The strangest part of the day (thus far) was being asked by people if they could take my picture. For someone who's quite shy and retiring this is very weird and not at all something you get used to. But I suppose putting on the Black Widow suit really doesn't allow you to stay you. And it certainly doesn't lend itself to being shy and retiring.

Around 4pm our day took an unexpected turn for the better when my two cosplaying friends were spotted by a member of staff and given wristbands to a special cosplayers only pen. They told her they were part of a threesome and took me to find the lady with the power to put me in that pen and make my dreams come true.

In the space of 10 minutes I had gone from being six people back, in a pen that easily held 50-100 people, to being in an enclosure of 10 people. Not only that, but this enclosure was right next to the stage. My luck was finally starting to change, resilience paying off.

In the next half an hour we were told that we were the cosplay winners, although no contest had happened to my knowledge, and we were going up on the main stage, in front of not only the hundreds of people in the center, but the thousands watching on live streams around the world. This was not something I signed up for, and I was not handling it well. My friend dressed as Mockingbird took my hand as we marched up the stairs. I didn't dare allow myself to look around for fear of seeing all of those people staring back at me. I merely took a deep breath, and before I knew it we were walking off stage, being given a prize (a pair of Hulk hands which are going to my nephew) and heading back to the enclosure.

Within minutes Director Joss Whedon was on stage, swiftly followed by actors Paul Bettany, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Elizabeth Olsen and then the man I had been waiting three years to see up close, Jeremy Renner came through the stage doors. Dressed in a sharp blue suit and shades (clearly his early morning appearance on Good Morning Britain not agreeing with him). It seemed to take forever for him to reach me as they took him to the opposite side first, the cosplayers would be last. In the mean time I managed to get another signature I was missing from my collection, that of The Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo, who I admired long before he turned green. He partially signed my thumb too which was a thrill in itself. 

Sadly some non-cosplayers invaded our pen at this point, and I ended up crushed between them and the front row of cosplayers. I knew I would not get to speak to Jeremy or get a picture with him, but I was determined that after three years I would come away with his signature on my Sarah Dunn Bourne photoshoot cover of Empire Magazine. The magazine I'd tried to get signed on several other occasions and failed. I held it between two cosplayers on the front row and hoped for the best, and when I pulled it back through to me, there it was, the left handed squiggle of my favourite actor.

He climbed up on the barrier to take a selfie with one of the lucky lady Loki's who had won the cosplay contest. And although I wished that had been me, maybe I need to work up to that. Maybe in another three years I'll have a picture to go with the signature.

Until then I am more than content with seeing him up close and finally adding him to my collection of Marvel signatures, which is now just missing Ms Johansson. How ironic that I have seen her twice when I was dressed as her character, and twice I've come away without her seeing me and without her squiggle.

Oh well, Captain America 3 is out pretty soon right?

*I wrote this article on 21st April 2015 - it was originally published on Geek La Chic on 2nd May 2015.

Adventures In Fangirling

Three years doesn’t seem that long really. But a lot can happen in three years. 

 

In 2012 I attended the UK Premiere of Avengers Assemble. It was my first glimpse of the Marvel cast in the flesh, and although I’d loved all of the Marvel movies up to that point, I had no idea how much my life was about to change.

In the three years that followed I have become one of Jeremy Renner’s many fanwomen around the world. I have also had the privilege of getting to know a number of other amazing women (and men) in his fandom. 

 

Three years ago I didn’t even know what fandom was. I had a tumblr but it was for random things like cats and movie quotes and some more cats. Now tumblr has become a humungous part of my life. I have a Renner blog (RenneredSpeechless.tumblr.com if you’re interested) and I spend most of my free time either watching his movies, looking at updates about him/his movies on tumblr or writing fan fiction about his characters. See how much can happen in three years?

 

In that time I have attended several public events to try and get another glimpse of the illusive Renner, but alas I have been thwarted at every point. Firstly, at the Avengers Assemble Premiere, he was the only member of the cast to not come to the section where I was standing, so I never actually saw him in the flesh the first time I was in his presence. The second attempt was at the 2013 BAFTA’s where he was presenting an award. I waited for more than 10 hours in the freezing February rain and snow and he got out of his car right in front of where I was standing, but somehow I missed him then too. 

 

Then came The Graham Norton Show, I waited again for a good 10/12 hours in the February freeze on the bank of the River Thames, but whilst I waited out back, his car left via the front exit of the building. The most I got was a 5 second video as he walked by the window in the studio.

 

Over the next two years I attended every phase two Marvel premiere, just on the off chance that he might be in the UK and might come, but no. I even went to the 2014 BAFTA’s just in case he was there (as his film American Hustle was heavily nominated), but he was not. Finally in the summer of 2014 I thought my chance had come as it was announced that Renner would be in the line up to play at Soccer Aid. I got there in time for the buses to arrive but sadly the players did not come and greet the waiting fans, so again, the most I got was a fuzzy picture from my seat (half way up the stalls in Old Trafford). 

Going to these lengths has caused one of my closest friends to label me a ‘stalker’, which understandably I found quite upsetting. I have found comfort in the friendships I have made with the other 'Renner Women’ that I have met through his fandom. As I said above, these are amazing women who are all uniquely talented, some are fantastically gifted at graphic design and have created posters that are so professional that IMDb used one of her images on their official Kill The Messenger page. Others have the gift of being tremendous writers, some of fan fiction like myself, others of full blown novels. Whilst a handful of them run the JeremyLeeRenner.com fansite which is a job in itself keeping us all updated with his upcoming projects. 

 

I recently had the opportunity to spend the weekend with two of my good friends in the Rennerdom, who accompanied me to a screening of Kill The Messenger. I was left completely awed by both the movie and the time spent with like-minded fans. Being able to spend the weekend with them, talking about Renner-related moments in our lives, and watching his movies with them was an experience I will never forget.

 

Now it is time for Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. The London premiere is tomorrow*. I have decided to cosplay as the Black Widow in the hopes that he might see me and I might, just might, get my moment with him. They are so fleeting and I know it will be a miracle if I can even say two words to him, but to see him, in front of me, now that really would be something to marvel at.

 

*I wrote this article on 20th April 2015 - it was originally published on Geek La Chic on 21st April 2015 - the day of the premiere.