Get ready for a smorgasbord of reviews coming from this blog over the next few days. We start with the first film from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane...
A young boy makes a wish that his teddy bear could come to life and, as in all good fairy stories, it comes true. The trouble is, as the boy grows up into a thirty-something guy (Mark Whalberg) with a long suffering girlfriend (Mila Kunis) and dead end job to boot, so does the teddy bear, Ted (MacFarlane); into a cheeky, pot smoking layabout...
It's refreshing that, though his first feature film is primarily live action, MacFarlane has not strayed away from animation. The first striking feature of this movie is Ted himself, a wonderfully animated character who never looks that different from the stuffed inanimate object we see at the beginning of the film. Though his voice is eerily reminiscent of Peter Griffin, something Ted denies in one of the film's very funny in-jokes, he is a character that could have been very easily the stoner friend in any comedy.
He also doesn't overshadow the film's story as much as you would expect, given he's the title character and all. The one thing that MacFarlane shows is his heart within the storyline - this is a film about Whalberg and Kunis and their relationship. Though Kunis is never given a lot of time to shine as much as Black Swan showed us she could, their trials and tribulations are the back bone of the story.
The film never goes too far into mawkish sentiment though; a lot of Ted's one liners are often hilarious and occasionally border line offensive. A couple of fantastic cameos - Norah Jones and a surprise Hollywood A-lister whose presence should remain nameless just for the pure hilarity of it. Sam J Jones is the biggest laugh - an extended love letter to Flash Gordon filling a big set piece in the middle of the film that is more relevant than first appears.
Sadly the plot tries to cram a little too much in; Giovanni Ribsi is effective as a creepy Ted-stalker who serves as the film's villain of sorts, but is never given enough time on screen to make as much an impact on the plot. The film tries to add the element of peril in when it really works better as a romantic comedy.
Family Guy has in recent years been criticised for not being as good as it was in its early days, and that can be certainly true of many episodes, MacFarlane perhaps putting too much of himself into different projects. But Ted is a triumph for the director; and after all, The Simpsons made a film that was three levels above their input in their television series at the time. The same may soon be said of Stewie and the gang.
7/10
Friday, 21 September 2012
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Chris Moyles' Last Hurrah
Yesterday morning, Chris Moyles broadcast his last ever Breakfast Radio show on BBC Radio 1; its very likely that it was his last ever radio show period.
This was an end of an era; the DJ who has presented this show the longest, the 38 year old built up a fan base that at its peak attracted over 7 million listeners. The fact that at least 120,000 texts were sent into the show yesterday morning alone proves his winning popularity. But, as always has been the case with Radio 1, Moyles' age caught up with him.
It's like a version of the film Logan's Run, where you are disposed of once you reach a certain age. The target is the younger audience and apparently this is only feasible with a younger DJ. What's nice in this instance is that Moyles' reign ended on his own terms; he wasn't fired, he chose to go.
But while the ambition of Radio 1 is perfectly understandable - they're looking at a target of the older teen/student market- it shouldn't matter with a breakfast show. A breakfast show is universal; a breakfast show is listened to by people on their way to work, driving their kids to school. As soon as this is over, then the listeners to the radio station - and this is any radio station, mind - will drop simply because life gets in the way; unless you're lucky enough to be able to listen to the radio where you work, the next time you listen to it is when you're back in your car.
Moyles' replacement is the perfectly likable Nick Grimshaw who, cleverly, has already announced that his breakfast show will be very different to Moyles'; his predecessor had a team to joke and chat with, while Grimshaw will be on his own. Whatever happens, however good Grimshaw is, listeners will drop. X-FM are probably rubbing their hands with glee.
This was an end of an era; the DJ who has presented this show the longest, the 38 year old built up a fan base that at its peak attracted over 7 million listeners. The fact that at least 120,000 texts were sent into the show yesterday morning alone proves his winning popularity. But, as always has been the case with Radio 1, Moyles' age caught up with him.
It's like a version of the film Logan's Run, where you are disposed of once you reach a certain age. The target is the younger audience and apparently this is only feasible with a younger DJ. What's nice in this instance is that Moyles' reign ended on his own terms; he wasn't fired, he chose to go.
But while the ambition of Radio 1 is perfectly understandable - they're looking at a target of the older teen/student market- it shouldn't matter with a breakfast show. A breakfast show is universal; a breakfast show is listened to by people on their way to work, driving their kids to school. As soon as this is over, then the listeners to the radio station - and this is any radio station, mind - will drop simply because life gets in the way; unless you're lucky enough to be able to listen to the radio where you work, the next time you listen to it is when you're back in your car.
Moyles' replacement is the perfectly likable Nick Grimshaw who, cleverly, has already announced that his breakfast show will be very different to Moyles'; his predecessor had a team to joke and chat with, while Grimshaw will be on his own. Whatever happens, however good Grimshaw is, listeners will drop. X-FM are probably rubbing their hands with glee.