Film

Why I Love The Nightmare Before Christmas

/ Michael Beckwith / 1 Comment

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Nightmare Before Christmas

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Merry Christmas, everybody! Unless you’re reading this after Christmas in which case this intro bit is a little awkward now but whatever. The point is, is that I love Christmas and like most people, I have my own personal traditions I like to uphold. One of those is watching a certain movie. We all have at least one Christmas-related film or TV special we love to watch during the season and mine is The Nightmare Before Christmas.

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Five Nintendo Franchises That Should Get Movies

/ Michael Beckwith / 1 Comment

Videogame movies. We’ve all seen at least one and they have tended to range from passable to “Oh God this film is stabbing me in the soul and makes me want to vomit up my own intestines.” It’s probably for these reasons that Nintendo has very much kept its beloved characters away from the silver screen (though the failure that was the Super Mario Bros. movie probably helped).

Opinion on whether this is a good or bad thing seems split but with Shigeru Miyamoto’s recent announcement of them considering possible film adaptations, this naturally calls for speculation. So, here are five Nintendo franchises that I think could lend well to becoming films. Continue reading →

Big Hero 6 – Super Hero or Super Zero?

/ Michael Beckwith / 1 Comment

(WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Big Hero 6 and Frozen)

The latest animated Disney film, Big Hero 6, is now out on DVD and the like, meaning I finally had a chance to watch it after months of everybody telling me that I needed to see it. I was honestly surprised by how much everyone seemed to like it. With Frozen still making the rounds despite being over two years old, I was worried that Big Hero 6 would kind of just pass everyone by; instantly dismissed by little kids everywhere just because it wasn’t Frozen. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. Continue reading →

Paddington – Beary Good

/ Michael Beckwith / 1 Comment

(originally posted May 8th 2015)

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When I found out that a live-action movie based on Paddington Bear was being made, I was naturally sceptical. And so was everyone else, apparently. I know one shouldn’t jump to conclusions but just the idea that someone wanted to make a live-action Paddington movie in 2014 just made me gag a little. I don’t hold a lot of nostalgia for Paddington but I remember catching a few episodes of the original TV series where Paddington himself was animated in stop-motion but the humans and his environments were in 2D, and I even had an audio tape of some of the original stories. It may have only been a small part of my childhood but I remembered it fondly and, naturally, me and the rest of the world weren’t holding our breath for a ‘modernised’ take on the character. Even the author of the original books, Michael Bond, wasn’t looking forward to it. Continue reading →

Is Toy Story 4 Necessary?

/ Michael Beckwith / 3 Comments

(originally posted November 14th 2014)

(WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Toy Story 3)

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No. No, it really isn’t. Anyone who grew up with the original trilogy of Toy Story films (still the best film trilogy – suck it Lord of the Rings) most likely had the same reaction as I did when this was announced – a tilted head, a slightly agape expression, followed by a slowly drawn out and confused “Why?” Continue reading →

The Lego Movie – Everything Is Indeed Awesome

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

(originally posted September 19th 2014)

(WARNING: This post contains spoilers for The Lego Movie)

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I love this movie. I love it so damn much. It wasn’t always like that, though. When I first found out that a Lego movie was being made, I rolled my eyes and let out one hell of an exasperated sigh. The film synopsis didn’t inspire confidence. It sounded like the most generic child pandering I’d ever heard. Then the trailers came out. “Huh?” I thought, “This doesn’t look that bad. Actually seems pretty funny.” So, I watched it, expecting a basic but entertaining romp. What did I get? Something amazing. So here’s a list of everything that is awesome with this movie. Continue reading →

Despicable Me 2 – Something a Bit More Conventional

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

(originally posted September 5th 2014)

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As soon as I finished watching ‘Despicable Me,’ I immediately jumped over to the sequel. Usually, sequels nowadays make me slightly wary, especially for films aimed at younger audiences. It’s just all too easy for the film makers to just do the same thing again and rehash all the popular jokes. But, ‘Despicable Me 2’ is more akin to the likes of ‘Toy Story 2’ and ‘Shrek 2’ in that it actually succeeds in being not only as good as the first film, but maybe even better. Continue reading →

Despicable Me – Being a Dad Ain’t That Bad

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

(originally posted August 29th 2014)

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‘Despicable Me’ was one of those animated films that just passed me by. I took one look at a brief trailer and just went “Nope, looks garbage.” But then, I heard nothing but good things about it. I began to question myself – were the huddled masses even more gullible than I thought or was I being too presumptuous? Then the sequel came out and everyone went on about how it was even better. I decided to make it my mission to watch these two films and see just what made them so good. Continue reading →

Enchanted – Disney Does Disney

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

(originally posted June 27th 2014)

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I don’t know exactly when the idea of Disney parodies started, but they have existed for a very long time. We’ve all seen them, and we’ve all probably made jokes about the atypical Disney film. So, what happens when the company itself decides to make one? Well, you get ‘Enchanted,’ a hybrid of live-action and animation released in 2007. Continue reading →