Review: Toy Story 3 (10/10) - 2010: To Infinite And Beyond!

The moment Toy Story 3 was announced, I was both extremely excited and extremely skeptical. The first in the trilogy is in my opinion still the best animation to date. Of course many people will go "but the graphics weren't great," or "UP was SO much better," or "Avatar destroys it in graphics field." No I disagree on this point on a multitude of levels. UP was a phenomenal film don't get me wrong. The talking dog was possibly the best part of the film (primarily as my dog is an uncanny replica to it), and the graphics were very similar in a way to Toy Story 1. Avatar in my opinion shouldn't really be described as an animation as it was too lifelike to the point that you were immersed in Pandora, thus eliminating the animated feel to the film. The whole magic of Toy Story was the realistic, plastic feel of the toys, despite the unrealistic human characters. Besides, you can read my review on exactly what I thought of Avatar, but for now let's concentrate on Toy Story.

The second installment in the film was extremely disappointing, and clearly a lucrative marketing opportunity just four years after the first in 1995. It's hard to imagine that I was just eight years old when the first one came out, so I'm sure you can imagine my emotional ties with the film. People say that you taste changes when you get older, but when I heard that Odeon were going to screen the first one again in 3D, I jumped at the chance with numerous other housemates and friends. I hadn't seen the film in a number of years, but wasn't disappointed. It was exactly how I remembered, allowing me to appreciate the film even more since I've been studying film and television.

The second film for me was a failure for a number of reasons. Firstly, I hated the new characters. Jessie is a terrible addition to the already perfect squad. Secondly, the storyline was very average. Sure it was nice to introduce the Evil Emperor Zurg, but the character didn't fit my childlike imagination. He looked more like a cross between The Devil, Snow White and Rita from the Power Rangers. It was just ridiculous really. Anyway, along with I'm fairly sure the majority of people I know, I thought it was rubbish, so in order to even contend with the first, Toy Story 3 had a lot of making up to do.

Toy Story 3 brings back the same old characters we know and love (minus Bo Peep, Etch & Wheezy, yet annoyingly keeps Jessie). Without giving away too much of the story, Andy (John Morris), is all grown up and getting ready to go to College. His mum asks him to sort out the toys to be donated to charity, and those to be placed in the attic. However, a mix-up occurs and all of the toys (bar Woody who is the only one chosen to go to College) are mistakenly delivered to a day-care center right before Andy leaves for college. As Woody was the only chosen one who could see everything at the time, it is up to him to convince the other toys that they weren't abandoned and that they should return home to their rightful owner.

The following is the trailer for this phenomenal film:



All I can say, is that Disney's Pixar simply hit the nail on the head with this 103-minute film. It was absolutely spectacular. It took them 10 years to develop and complete this film, and the time and dedication completely pays off. The soundtrack takes me back to when I was eight years old, and brings back that innocence we all once had. I guess a lot of people will think that I'm talking absolute rubbish, but it's a truly emotional film. The intro is possibly THE most intelligent introduction to a sequel I have ever seen, and I sat there in awe as it played out. If only more sequels took a leaf out of Pixar's book.

Originally, a sequel was planned when it seemed that Disney and PIXAR would split over creative differences in 2004-2005. Disney started up an animation division titled 'Circle 7,' which would have been in charge of churning out sequels for PIXAR films that would not involve the original creators at PIXAR. Entertainment Weekly published an article that said the original plot for Toy Story 3 was going to be about Buzz Lightyear having a defect. Buzz would then be shipped to Taiwan to be fixed, but the other toys find out that the toy company is just replacing the broken Buzz toys with new ones, so they ship themselves to Taiwan to rescue him. This script had to be canned when PIXAR and Disney made amends. Part of their agreement was not to further develop projects that had been planned during their fallout (IMDB).

I'm glad this didn't happen as this version is much more intricate. The soothing voice combination of Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) brings back the memories in an adventure of epic proportions. I cannot explain just how cleverly crafted this film is, with points in the film where you think "are they actually going to do this? Is this it?!" There are a magnitude of new characters in this installment, and I believe that unlike the 2nd film, they actually got them right this time. Ken was a brilliant addition to the group (and one that would have benefited in "fixing" the second film), but nonetheless, there were so many hilarious moments, both new and reminders of the past films. This is also the first animated film to make one billion dollars at the worldwide box office, achieving this on August 27th, 2010.

Is it better than Toy Story 1? Surely it must be for 10/10 you must think? My verdict is that it isn't as good as the first, but only marginally. I sat at the end of the film with my group of friends (all of whom kept their 3D glasses on even after the film, (we all did it) for obvious reasons. I contemplated the possibility that this may pip the title for my favourite ever animation. It was perfect in every way, from story, to content, to ending. I believe that the only reason this film didn't beat the first, was the recognisably of new characters. Arguably, the reason that Toy Story 1 was so successful, was because the majority of the toys (aside from Woody(?) and Buzz Lightyear were toys that my generation, and those before me genuinely grew up playing with.

There is a scene with an old toy phone in the 3rd film which I felt I associated more with than the other new characters, simply because I will have played with it at a nursery in my childhood, or a friend will have owned one, etc. I believe that seeing as the toys were in a day care centre through donation, surely they would be old-fashioned, disused toys we would have played with, compared to newly created ones? In any case, the story was still phenomenal, but I felt it was important to add my two cents on why I still think the first is the best of the trilogy. I believe that anyone who had an emotional connection to the first film so many years ago will adore this film. So go and watch it, 3D or not, because it is simply out of this world.

Review: Piranha 3D (6/10) - 2010: A Mouthful Of Laughs

I never would have thought that when my brother Jon called me up to go to the cinema, I would even begin to contemplate the thought of spending the little cash I've got, on going to watch Piranha 3D. This is a film I have publicly ridiculed and laughed at in disgust whenever the trailer came onto the television.

Directed by Alexandre Aje (Director of The Hills Have Eyes), this 88 minute bloody babe-fest is set in the sleepy town of Lake Victoria, which is coincidentally also the annual setting for Spring Break. After a sudden underwater tremor, scores of prehistoric man(and woman)-eating piranhas are set free into the bikini-laden waters. An unlikely group of strangers (and pornstars) must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area's new razor-toothed residents.



The film stars Jessica Szohr (Gossip Girl), Steven R. McQueen (The Vampire Diaries), Elisabeth Shue (Hollow Man), Jerry O’Connell (Obsessed), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), Adam Scott (Step Brothers), Richard Dreyfuss (Close Encounters Of The Third Kind), Christopher Lloyd (Back To The Future), and men's favourites, Kelly Brook (model) and Riley Steele (pornstar).

The following video is the film's official Trailer:



As you have just witnessed, I believe that the CGI (computer-generated imagery) throughout the film is potentially the worst I've seen since A Sound of Thunder's (2005) attempt in making a futuristic city, and worst yet on the big screen. The piranha movement looks incredibly fake (especially when "Doc Brown" drops one into the fish-tank). When I witnessed the above trailer on the television, the thought of people even wanting to download it illegally seemed like an unlikely waste of time.

The fact that this film was marketed as a 3D fright-fest is simply laughable, as I'd like to mention that I was not the only person who went completely cross-eyed at the opening credits to the point I had to take them off. Furthermore, the actual 3D bits of the film didn't really work like that on Avatar, or any other 3D film for that matter.

In an interview, Kelly Brook quoted that the film was "The ultimate horror, action exploitation movie" and that it is "everything you want a movie to be, and the fact that it's in 3D, gives it that extra edge." With this in mind, it makes me think that she has in fact recognised this film as an actual, serious piece of acting work on her part. I hate to be an a****le, but her performance is anything but a serious piece of eye-candy (however nice).

Eli Roth cameo's as a wet-tshirt contest host, which virtually sums up what you may expect from a film he may partake in (see Hostel, 2005). There were times in this film where I believe that Peter Jackson's Brain Dead (1990) influenced it with...erm...gore.

So why 6/10 you ask? You know what...I haven't laughed so much in the cinema in a long time. This wasn't necessarily down to scripted funny parts (of which there were quite a few), but due to the sheer unrealistic, over-the-top cliché aspects of the storyline that the audience (well me and my brother at least) found hilarious and downright ridiculously funny (Remember - Boat + everyone in the water; and a piranha's burp). It is evident that to direct that amount of extras is a challenge, but some of them were so poor, it made me cry with laughter. Some of the movie was genuine horror however, and evoked a shocked, manly "eww" when it occurred (Remember - Hair + Motor for when you see it), but more often than not, the graphics let it down.

One thing I can commend in this film is the make-up department. The actual gore displayed post-attack was phenomenal. The prosthetics were realistic, the blood was the right shade of colouring and consistency, and the main cast acting was in fact, quite decent in this instance. This isn't really the type of film that you can particularly label anyone as a stand-out performance (apart from Elizabeth Shue and Jerry O'Connell I'd say). Furthermore, I am still to this day unsure as to whether or not the director intended this film to be tongue-in-cheek/Shaun of the dead horror, or a genuine Hostel" horror with accidental comedy. All I can say is...if you would like to go to the cinema to see a soft-core porno with glimpses of horror and lots and lots of laughs, go and watch it.

Group 5 Productions: The Young & The BU-tiful

In my previous post I talked about our first day and how we were placed into groups for our 2 minute soap opera webisode on Bournemouth University. I was placed in Group 5 so instantly yelled out "Group 5 over here!" in my usual, unphased-by-making-a-noise way once the lecture was over.

Group 5 comprises of James Cleave (myself), Darryl Thomas, Chris Taylor, Jordan Thomas and Baitalikee Ghosh and the following is a brief introduction to the group.

Production Crew:

James Cleave: I've already talked about myself a lot, but my role as producer saw Darryl and myself overseeing the overall filming and administrative work of this mini soap opera. I operated the camera on a tripod, in addition to free-hand (which I am usually very against, however time constraints gave me no choice). I also co-directed the episode in-part due to recruiting all of the actors and actresses and release forms for this particular piece. Furthermore with Darryl, I completed the risk assessment form. I trawled through about 19 CD's of free-to-distribute music and found what I thought was the perfect selection of music for this particular piece. I also obtained necessary filming permission from parts of the University that required it and designed the logo for the show, whilst obtaining feedback from the group as I went along to make sure it complied with their specifications as well as mine.

Darryl Thomas: Our other producer Darryl Thomas (no family resemblance to Jordan) has vast experience in the photography industry which is a major plus when it comes to shoots and generally selected a number of shots for the pilot episode (for the bar scenes) as well as operating the tripod whilst Baitalikee and I liaised with the cast. It was a pleasure working with him as we both work on similar wave-lengths and whilst we are both not afraid to air our opinions, we also both know when do give each other the upper hand and I feel this worked extremely well in our favour as a group and is shown in the final edit. The fact that Darryl works at an Autistic school back in Swanage whilst juggling early trips back and forth to Bournemouth on a daily basis is a true testament to his desire to succeed in this industry.

Chris Taylor: I was lucky in the sense that I had already been liaising with Chris Taylor (our editor) on Facebook before returning to Bournemouth. Chris is originally from Portsmouth and his humour kept the 13 hours of editing eventful and cheerful, not to mention playing a cameo role with Jordan in the intro video of the pilot episode. Chris is a talented editor and even taught me a trick or two on Final Cut Pro during those long hours. I look forward to working with Chris again in the near future as well as listening to Journey in the editing suite in Weymouth House (The Media School Building for the University).

Jordan Thomas: Our writer Jordan Thomas, like myself, has just graduated from Bournemouth (from his BA Scriptwriting course). This means that he also knows the town as well as me, thus putting us ahead of the "competition" when it comes to filming around town...not that we're competitive or anything... clearly not. Jordan has a natural talent for script writing and his masters in MA Writing For The Media will undoubtedly further his blossoming career. He confessed to writing the pilot script in under half an hour which is a testament to his ability.

Baitalikee Ghosh: Baitalikee hails from New Delhi and has worked in the industry for back home for a number of years. She is an extremely sweet yet powerful Director who is unafraid to bring new ideas to the table, which in some cases were unable to be brought to fruition due to time and length of video constraints, but which most certainly will be used in the future.

The Process:
The process of allocating roles and responsibilities was generally well received on the basis that everyone would contribute to the overall process of the 2 minute short and make an appearance on the day of the shoot to help out in one way or other regardless of overall role. However, it was also important that our roles were akin to real life situations where the writer wrote, then collaboratively was edited and redrafted until everyone was happy.

The Concept:
Concepts such as "Lost In Bournemouth" where the storyline followed individuals lost in the media school and in and around the University due to being new to the surroundings were discussed both over the phone and in meetings on a daily basis. It was generally agreed that we should stick to the brief given to us of an episode exactly 2 minutes long and no more (You Tube has decided to place it at 2 minutes 1 second... but it is in fact incorrect!).

In this instance, Jordan did a fantastic job in creating a script based on the types of storylines, direction and general banter that was thrown around the room in a group meeting the day before he handed over his 2 page script. Whilst one or two little sections needed to be tidied up in order to make all parties happy, we all knew that straight away that it was going to be a very humorous short and credit can be handed to Jordan.

Furthermore sticking to the soap opera theme was imperative as it is widely conceived that soap operas have horrendous acting. I emailed the cast the following messages throughout the process prior to shooting:

James Cleave 03 October at 19:58

Hi guys,

So I would like you to look at the following You Tube clips to see exactly what we're trying to achieve with this film. Corny, cheesy, over-the top parody of Hollyoaks, passions, Loveboat, 90210 and all those things!

Our intro will be similar to neighbours below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc9CU7vDCbQ

or even Home and Away:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFZcSRI9PJ8&videos=3-vQwNU3gXU

The acting is intended to be so bad that the viewers "in the know" realize that it is a parody of the real thing. similar to the clip below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUpxahdcSz8

Passions is so over the top. You can have a look here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB8LHegCia0

I hope this helps

Cheers,

James

I also followed this message on with:

James Cleave 04 October at 20:16

OK, so can we all aim to meet at 11:15am at the reception of Weymouth House Downstairs (those who've agreed). my number is 07********* if you don't already have it.

Girls, I'm looking for stunning everyday wear, like you see in Hollyoaks or Miami Beach. things like that. not loose-fitting skirts kind of thing. More clothing to accentuate the look that you are in fact, stunning people.

http://blogs.pioneerlocal.com/entertainment/425.new.90210.051308.jpg

That link is an example of 90210.

Thank you all so much for helping out again and see you tomorrow! bring your cheesiest smiles and ALSO ALL PLEASE CAN YOU BRING TWO OUTFITS tomorrow so that the intro video will be different to the series. thank you!

Cheers,

James

These emails intended to get the actors and actresses into the right frame of mind when it came to filming. They were also sent a copy of the script to get familiar with the filming.

It has to be mentioned that this soap opera parody has been shot with a 4 hour filming limit. We were unable to obtain lighting or additional equipment other than a standard camera and tripod. We obtained a boom mic, which subsequently cut out the sound out of one of the scenes, thus rendering it useless and forcing us to improvise and not using it at all.

The way the camera-work is done is similar to soap operas of cut and shoot operations, over-the-top zooms into over-acted facial expressions. The intro scene and series video aims to recreate those similar to soap operas and the overall intention was to produce a high-quality programme badly, thus achieving the parody feel and look we were going for. I would personally be disappointed if people watched the episode and didn't realise it was a parody and that they thought we were aiming for a high quality production

Originally the title of the show was going to be "Bournemouth BH15 5BB", an idea I coined as a general tongue-in-cheek version of Beverley Hills 90210, using the University's postcode as the zip-code's equivalent. Whilst it was generally agreed upon by the group, a day before shooting Darryl had a brain wave and came up with Jollyoaks...(don't worry that wasn't even in contention)... because he immediately followed with "How about The Young and the BU-tiful?" which instantly caused a wave of enthusiasm and acceptance from us all. Whilst I think both names work very well, I will accept that the postcode is a bit of a mouth-full (regardless of the fact that it was meant to be a parody or not).

Below you can watch The Young & The BU-tiful pilot episode here:


I would also like to personally thank everyone involved with the filming of this episode including all of the cast and crew below:

Cast:
Jason/ Gary - Liam Thomson
Ella - Vicky Kidby
Josh - Luke Smith
Tori - Vicky Crouch-Marlow
Brad - Tim Donald
Kimmy - Karin Blomkvist
Charlie - Tom Mogridge
Amber - Rachel Suzanne Valentine
Kerry - Hannah Louise Wright

Directed By:
Baitalikee Ghosh

Produced By:
James Cleave
Darryl Thomas

Written By:
Jordan Thomas

Edited By:
Chris Taylor

Cinematography By:
James Cleave

Technical Operator:
Darryl Thomas

I hope you enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at The Young & The BU-tiful and we would like to mention that we aim to film a further 5 episodes in order to complete a 6-part mini-series that will be aimed to be distributed on national television as digital shorts representing us, the producers, directors, editors, writers as well as Bournemouth University as a whole. Your support is imperative to our success as well so spread the word!

Thank you and have a fantastic weekend.

James

Review - The Proposal (7/10) - 2009: Sandra Bullock Proposing More Laughs Than Usual

I am an avid fan of Ryan Reynolds and know that no matter what movie he's in, I'm guaranteed his quick-witted humour and laughing until my sides hurt (See Just Friends, Van Wilder, and Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Place to name a few). However the dilemma for me was the simple fact that Sandra Bullock would be co-starring in a movie with primarily two characters.



The reason the movie "Crash" didn't affect affect me so badly was the fact she only starred in about 2-3 scenes. She is the same, whiney actress in nearly everything she does and I was almost debating giving the movie a miss because of it. You may think it's harsh, but I'm really not a fan.

I'd like to think that I'm right a lot of the time, but on this occasion, her performance was superb. This could be down to the fact that her role was a stuck up ice-queen Margaret Tate, an executive editor-in-chief of a major book publishing company...but this is besides the point. The movie surrounds Bullock, a Canadian-national working in America, who's visa has expired and suddenly faces deportation.

Her plan includes blackmailing her personal assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her in order to avoid the deportation process, therefore making her a legal American Citizen. He grudgingly accepts, under the condition that he is promoted to the position of editor. The story continues with Reynolds' trip to Alaska for his grandma's 90th birthday party where the "couple" aim to announce their "engagement". As always, Reynolds performs solidly with numerous facial expressions, catch-phrases, and actions to make this a very enjoyable Romantic Comedy.

The following movie trailer indicates things to come throughout the movie:



It was reported that Reynolds was shocked to discover that he would be sharing an exposing scene with Bullock at one point within the movie. He initially believed that the script would be re-written to exclude the scene, as he didn't think she would agree to filming it.

I'd like to mention however that this movie was not as successful as Just Married for example as the missing ingredient was Reynolds' dialogue. I don't believe that he was provided with a completely solid script, in the sense that his humour almost seemed forced and trying to compete with roles in previous movies. Nevertheless, I rate this movie 7/10 and found it an extremely enjoyable romantic comedy and highly recommend it for a good night in with the other-half (or lots of popcorn and ice-cream if you're on your own).

Review - Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (4/10) - 2009: Transforming From Bad To Worse

I remember sitting down on a Saturday morning throughout my childhood, waiting for my weekly dose of Transformers...and the cartoon soundtrack "more than meets the eye". I even remember purchasing my first Optimus Prime from Tip Top (a local toy store), including the Transformer collection where you connect five other Transformer toys together to produce a Super-Transformer. It fills me with a sense of nostalgia looking back, and when I first heard that Hollywood had decided to make a human version of the series, I was extremely sceptical at first and didn't want to watch it.

With the fond childhood recollections of this well-written (from what I remember at least) series, anything that could ruin these memories was a risk I was unwilling to take at first. However, after numerous positive appraisals from a lot of people I decided to watch the first one. I wont delve into complete details but I will admit that it was much better than I had previously expected. With this in mind, I was far less reluctant to watch the second movie. Of course it had its flaws but like the sequel I believe this was down to the actors selected.

Shia LaBeouf. Where do I start on this actor? I'm not being funny but every single film he's been in (as with Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter), he has the same look of bewilderment throughout the entire 150 minutes. I do not understand what Steven Spielberg sees in him as an actor, as there are far more capable of doing a better job. I don't like to slate individuals, because in the movie Disturbia, I thought his acting was realistic and suited the part.

This was all until I discovered that it wasn't really tailor-made acting for that film, but more his actual generic acting itself. Regardless, I refuse to critique him for Disturbia, or Holes as I feel he did a good job. Unlike Radcliffe however, Shia has not progressed as an actor his age might have hoped. At least Radcliffe moved from specked-bewildered-with-mouth-open acting to much-more-realistic-specked-bewildered-with-mouth-open acting.

Megan Fox is potentially the most beautiful actress to come on to the movie scene in a long time but even this will not deter me from describing how I see her acting abilities. I will take my hat off and admit that her seduction techniques worked on nearly every male in the cinema and were almost too realistic for most to stand up during the half-time interval, however hey may as well have cast Carmen Electra for her similar "acting" qualities.

Besides.. the day I see someone who looks like Shia LaBeouf walking around with a Megan Fox and being so cocky as to believe that she wouldn't leave him for a Ryan Reynolds lookalike...I'll eat my words. Is this just a sad state of affairs that Hollywood has resorted to in recent years? What happened to the James Dean's or Joaquin Phoenix's (in Gladiator) of the world where every movement and spoken word is more believable than skin-deep looks of beauty?

Similarly with the first movie, I felt the special effects and graphics were phenomenal and explosions worked in sync with the post-production graphics expertly. I don't like to be completely negative about movies from an overall aspect as I believe that credit will be due where it is deserved, and the special effects team saved this movie almost single-handedly.

The following trailer for Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen provides a taste of things to come throughout the movie:



As the trailer gives away, the cheap (almost forced) humour is a massive no-no and fail in almost every situation except for perhaps one part of the entire film. I don't understand what Michael Bay/his writers were thinking when developing an Action-Comedy-Sci-Fi-combination within a single film. I am unsure if these writers wrote the roles specifically with the chosen actors in mind or not, because Shia LaBeouf tends to have the similar goofy lines in the majority of his recent movies.

Furthermore, the slightly racist connotations of the twin robots stereotypical urban black personalities has been overlooked by most people, yet it even made me chuckle at how a Blockbuster could write this into the script. Maybe I should take my own advice from a previous post in that I should watch these movies with a pinch of salt rather than the underlying meanings of things.

My flatmate accurately described how the movie was written before I watched it and I can agree with his quote: "You know when you're a kid and you write a story and you're locked in a massive battle where your team is losing... but suddenly, you forgot to tell people, that you own the Sword of Elzar with the capabilities of destroying everyone that would have been previously impossible, but is now easy because of the weapon I just told you about just then"... Well this is basically how the movie is laid out, so if you like an easy-to-watch, CGI-fuelled action-movie, with intense graphical scenes, Megan Fox (mmm) and (err) comedy thrown in, by all means go ahead...But seriously...robot heaven?!...come on.

It's not all bad for Paramount and Dreamworks however, as the movie did score the best opening day ever for a Wednesday release, with an estimated $60.6 million domestically (USA). Furthermore the movie has also earned an estimated $201.2 million, bettering Spiderman 2's $152.4 million to become the second biggest five-day domestic gross of all time, not to mention becoming China's biggest box office hit ever by earning 400 million Chinese yuan ($59 million).

I've rated this movie 4/10 based on the reasons mentioned. Don't take my word for it if you don't want to, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Viral - 2008: What If Corporations Invented The Stop Sign?

The video below is a fantastic scenario as described by the synopsis, of an environment that any designer/advertiser will have encountered at one point in their career.

Website's Synopsis: Stop signs are one of the many things we take for granted. It's hard to believe that there was a time before the stop sign existed, and that someone had to invent it. The Process is a fun short about how things would have turned out if it were designed by committee. (www.todaysbigthing.com)

Can you just imagine being in a similar situation with your campaign?

Review - Brüno (8/10) - 2009: This Movie Is SO Gay!

Excuse the pun within the title, but this is my first official movie review (in the world of blogging; minus the foul language, bad grammar and slang), so let's see how it goes.

Sacha Baron Cohen is once again at the height of controversy in the movie world dating back to his original mockumentary character Ali G, originally cast in 1998 during "The 11 O'clock Show." Whilst Ali G was less risqué in his interview methods, it showed potential for things to come later, as with the hysterical Borat Sagdiyev (2006), and of course this latest installment in Cohen's repertoire.

The story follows Brüno, a 19 year old homosexual fashionista who wants to "make it big" in Hollywood by becoming a celebrity, and will do literally anything in his claim to fame. When the synopsis for the movie first came out, I'm sure that nearly everyone, myself included, would sit through a funny movie on the scale of Borat, but perhaps slightly a bit more uncomfortable through homo eroticism. This went beyond most boundaries I could even imagine, even so much as to cut out numerous scenes with graphic images in Arabic countries, leaving the film much shorter than the worldwide 81 minutes run-time, and was recently banned in the Ukraine.

Surely this is the type of coverage Cohen wished for, which started off with the infamous Eminem publicity stunt at the MTV Movie Awards (see below):



Admirably, in a mark of respect to Michael Jackson, a scene featuring La Toya Jackson was removed from the final edit around a week before cinema release. Some people may disagree with Cohen's overall intentions, however this act shows that he does in fact, have moral standards.

While Borat was nominated for an Oscar, I feel that Brüno does not contain the secret ingredient to compete in the same category. Numerous activists have complained that the film promotes homosexuality, whereas others argue that it in fact promotes homophobia. It is down to the individual how they feel about the issue. However, I do believe that if people could just sit down and watch the movie and take each of the scenes with a pinch of salt, rather than delve into the depths of morality and potential underlying meanings and connotations, they'd enjoy life a lot more.

I personally did not notice a single person who wasn't enjoying themselves during the cinema's premiere locally, however the most graphic of scenes did leave the majority of cinema-goers clasping their mouths with their hands and trying not to look, wondering just how far the imagery was going to go. This movie is not for the feint-hearted and a certain swinging full-frontal section of the movie will haunt my dreams for a long time, regardless of how prepared for the movie I was or not.

For those who have not seen Brüno, or would like to see if they could handle all 81 minutes of similar humour, below is the official trailer. However, I must warn you that it does contains spoilers and if you simply want to remain breathless, startled and in hysterics throughout the film, I recommend that you skip this link.



I have rated this film 8/10 because I think it is potentially the most shockingly graphic movie I have ever watched at the cinema, whilst remaining extremely intelligent throughout interviews that involve real people, and retains the comedic genius and laughs throughout as found in Borat.