John Travolta and Robin Williams star as two “old dogs” who are thrown into wacky situations when they are given two children to look after. The real doozy here is that the twins are actually Williams’ character’s illegitimate children.

With the responsibility of taking care of the kids and defending their reputation of being funny, Travolta and Williams find themselves in some pretty outrageous predicaments, like going to summer camp, taking goofy pills, golfing while on those goofy pills, and even trying to escape the wrath of zoo animals.

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Water. Earth. Fire. Air. In the old days, there was peace between the four nations of the world. The Avatar — the spiritual and physical manifestation of the Earth itself — kept peace between the the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. Only the Avatar has the ability to manipulate all four elements, but one day, he simply disappeared. In the interim, the Fire Nation attacked, and for the last hundred years have carried out an all out war on the rest of the world. Now, for the good of the world, it’s up to 12-year-old Aang (Noah Ringer), the new Avatar, to return peace and balance by putting his childish ways aside and mastering the four elements. Aang must accept his destiny by stopping the Fire Nation’s war and defeating the Fire Lord for good. – Source Imdb.com

Osam Tezuka has been credited many titles like “God Of Manga”, “God of Anime” and even the “Japanese  Disney” which upset the great man(though he was inpired by disney and Bambi). Along with Astroboy, he created Kimba The white Lion which many critics believe was the imspiration for the Lion King (maybe a post for a another day) but what we can say is the big puppy eyes we see in anime he was man to start the trademark style.

Im a massive Anime fan I havent seen much of Tezuka classics, though I have seen alot of pictures read a few of the graphic novels and I can see and respect why the animation had become a cultural part of American and in some other lands. Its Like Mickey Mouse to Walt Disney, Astroboy is to Tezuka. It was shown by NBC  during a period of time when the world was recovering from World War 2 along with world economy recovering, people will simply rebuilding themselves and it was also a fascinating time for techonolgy with alot of gadgets like microwaves, the sort of things we take for granted these days. television was improving slighty, lots of programmes and films where sciFi based so anything robotic was big news.

Basically anything we grew up watching, buying, doing when we were younger is iconic be it for positive or negative reasons. I’m one of Thacther’s children, the children of Britain who grew up with iron lady dictator in power, iconic things I remember are Ulysees 31, dogtainian and muskerhounds, rainbow, return of the jedi, Miyazaki’s Laputa, the list goes on.

So why has Astroboy and its up coming film caused so much stir among many fans? Americanizing is a little harsh, yes a American company was involved  but so was a company from Hong Kong and Tezuka productions (a company started by or on the great mans behalf) which shows they production team want to keep orginallity. The tv shows have been made twice, once in 1980’s and again  2000 and the 2000 edition did have alot of Americanisms in it but no comments where made then. I have to say the two things I see why people are up in arms about the new anime is the use of big known Hollywood actors and the new astroboy look.

Astroboy himself is voiced by Freddie Highmore (spiderwick chronicles, golden compass) who 17 year old english actor , Astroboy’s father and creator Dr Tenma is voiced by Nicholas Cage and the choice of him as a important character is annoying alot of people the most. Donald Sutherland, Bill Nighy, Kristen Bell, Eugene Levy and Little Britians Matt Lucas are in it as well. It has always been traditional to use actual voice actors rather than big hollywood stars in animations especially Japanese ones, the producers want the money to fly in so they chose these big names, but if this anime is an iconic kids classic, why is there a need for known actors, the actual fact its a classic story (based loosely on pinocchio) so why use these actors. What I will say is was there any outcry of use of big hollywood actors for Miyazaki’s and Studio Ghibli’s classic animes? No despite Miyazaki views of fat cat coperate Disney.

Well we know Astroboy was a story of a era in the future with androids and Dr Tenma created a android boy called Astro to replace his son tobio who was killed in a car accident and built the android in the same image as his son. Astroboy is an 9 year old android boy but suddenly the new film he is a 16/17 year old teen with a english accent! It maybe the fact astroboy was roughly the same age as the children who watched him and that now he’s an adolescent teen boy?! The other thing he wore just pants in the original now he’s virtually fully clothed and to many its astro hair quiff the only recognisable thing from the original.

I cant see how itsgoing tobe an Americanised as not every actor is american some are british, the production team is mixed. I am however a supporter of keeping some originality if your going to make or remake a classic or simply loose that loyal fanbase, so keep astroboy similar to the original cartoons. As for voices it doesnt matter for me , everyone one these days wants to make a few extra bucks and in the year(s) of the remakes or reboots, watch it as if its one of those reboots, just look at star trek! So wait until the animation is released go watch and then judge the animation then.

To say that this movie did not live up to my expectations isn’t saying this is a bad movie at all. Michael Mann, having directed some of my all time favorites like Last Of The Mohicans and The Insider, and starring Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) and Christian Bale (Batman Begins), I was going into this film with expectations of Oscar. It didn’t quite make it to that level for  me.

I think Michael Mann could have done a better job telling a story and developing characters. The first hour of this film seems to move slow, even though there is a lot going on onscreen. I think it is a lack of development that makes it seem like its plodding along because there really isn’t any depth as to why things are happening. The last hour picked up, but there are constant references to Dillinger being a public hero, yet nothing really happened in the story to endear him to anyone, other than the fact of being played by Johnny Depp.

There were a couple of big highlights for me though. I thought Marion Cotilliard (Best Actress La Vie en Rose) did a wonderful job playing Dillinger’s girlfriend, BIllie Frechette. She may have done enough in her interogation scene and the closing scene to earn her a supporting actress nomination. The other highlight was the music. I would have loved to have had even more of it if they could have worked it in. If it is a weak year for best actors, Johnny Depp could slip in for a nomination ,but I think he has been better. Being a fan of Johnny Depp, I will cross my fingers for him.

So, not living up to expectations doesn’t mean I won’t buy it on DVD and watch it again when it comes out. If you are going thinking you might be seeing one of the first Oscar films, tap the brakes, I don’t think this one is in that league, but you will enjoy the film.

This film has many characters, but only a few really hold together well as characters in the film itself. I would have loved to have seen more about General George Pickett played by Stephen Lang. That is just a personal preference though. In my opinion Jeff Daniels (Speed) gives the best performance. He also had the most “moving” material to work with, with having a brother under his command and the the key figure in the battle at Little Round Top. Tom Berringer (The Gingerbread Man) also gives a nice performance as General Longstreet, who stays true to character in his beliefs of taking a defensive strategy and is even remorseful about giving the command at Gettysburg, knowing it will be an ill fated attempt. Martin Sheen (The Departed) makes a good General Lee and others have notable performances….Richard Jordan, Sam Elliot and Kevin Conway to name a few.

A salute needs to go out to Ted Turner for making this film happen. From What I remember, it was originally going to be made for TV until they realized they had something special. It is truely a specticle to see. Even if it takes two nights to take this film in, it is well worth it.

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Four friends fleeing a viral pandemic soon learn they are more dangerous than any virus.

A scientist tries to solve world hunger only to see things go awry as food falls from the sky in abundance. The most delicious event since macaroni met cheese. Inspired by the beloved children’s book, the film focuses on a town where food falls from the sky like rain.

Much to my surprise, this was a better movie than I expected. I am sure some of the enjoyment came from the fact that I did go in with such low expectations. Seeing the trailer initially, I was expecting a movie in the Saw 3 or Saw 4 range, a below average film. On the other hand it wasn’t ground breaking and you’ve probably seen the same movie before just with a different title and different characters. I was entertained though, which is about the only demand I put on a film. The story does have a few things that push the “stupidity zone” as far as I am concerned, you will probably notice it on bridge scene at the end.

This movie was directed by Gregory Hoblit (Harts War, Frequency) and stars Diane Lane (Unfaithful) and Colin Hanks (Orange County). None of the performances are in the outstanding range. Everyone just kind of does their job in the acting category. This movie did look great on blu ray since the film is very dark in color. In all, this is one you may choose to skip, or if you have some extra time to kill, it is by no means unwatchable.

The Singing Hot Dog

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The U.S. government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president turned informant Mark Whitacre – a high-level employee at ADM (Archer Daniels Midland), the “supermarket to the world”, wears an FBI wire to uncover the scam. ADM pleads guilty and pays a $100 million fine, however Whitacre ends up doing more time than the corrupt leaders he helped to capture.

Release Date:

September 18th, 2009 (wide)