Trailer Talk!

If you didn't already know next year there will be two films released that are adaptations of popular Young Adult novels. Those Films are the The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and The Host.

Now both films have recently had trailers released, and as a fan of both books I couldn't wait to see how they would translate on film, so to say I was pretty excited to watch the trailers would be an understatement.

So without further ado in case you haven't seen them yet, here are the trailers, I suggest watching them before you read my reviews on them (:

Okay so I'll start with the Mortal Instruments.

1)Initial Reaction: I screamed like a fan girl, I had been waiting for this trailer all week watching the countdown grow smaller on the Facebook page, needless to say I was happy.

2) How do I feel now: Personally I'm still not entirely sold on Jamie Campbell Bower playing Jace, it's stupid but Jace is pretty much described as being swoon worthy and he's just not swoon worthy however there were a few scenes, in the trailer that made me feel like despite the whole 'looks' thing that he was Jace. For instance the look he gives Clary after she screams in the club, the badass flip on to the table amongst others. Clary well I liked the casting of Lily Collins from the start so I have no problems here. Simon is cute. The effects though this is just a teaser trailer and they only just finished filming look amazing! I’m assuming the woman floating above the bed was Clary’s mother? I’m not sure. Why does Isabelle have flame thrower? Sure it looks badass but her weapon of choice is a gold whip. Why are Isabelle and Alec at the Hotel Dumort, I’m pretty sure that’s what that scene is, isn’t it just supposed to be Jace and Clary? Minor grievances that I’m sure will be cleared up with a full length trailer. I may just go and watch this trailer again… and again.

3)When is it released?: So this film is due for release in August next year, it's a long way off yet and a feel it will be a while before we get our next sneak peek most likely it will be at the MTV movie awards or something like that.

4) Would I see the film based on trailer alone?: Okay so forgetting that I loved the book, yes I probably would because it showed variety in the trailer it hinted at the relationship of Jace and Clary, it showed a Silent Brother, we saw Valentine and a lot of pretty scary Demons to, so yes I would see this film based on the trailer alone.

5)Overall Score: I give this trailer an 8/10 purely because I want to see more, I love what I saw but being an insane fan girl over this series I want a full length trailer as soon as possible.

Next on to the Host.

1) Initial Reaction: What the F is this? I didn't like it, not one bit; I was extremely disappointed, which upset me because I was really looking forward to it.

2) How do I feel now: I still don't like it, I've watched it a few more time after my initial viewing and it still bothers me? I don't like that they focused so much of the trailer on the relationship between Melanie and Jared. I mean the first bit of the trailer had Melanie saying this is the beginning of a Love Story. No it isn't! At least it shouldn't be. They are turning this book into another Twilight which it isn't! There is more to the book than the relationships, there has been an Alien invasion, and this is about how those who have avoided being 'possessed' by the aliens survive in an infested world. It's about Melanie and how she fights against the Alien that is placed in her body. To me, the relationship is pretty much secondary and I didn't like that it was the focal point of the trailer. Also I still don't the casting of Melanie, she's supposed be strong and tough she looks really weak and kind of girly I don't get it, the actress cast seems more suited to the person Wanda's soul gets moved into at the end of the film.

3)When is it released?: This film is due for release in March next year, which is why we now have a full length trailer for it, I doubt we are going to get another trailer perhaps a few clips of the film here and there as the release date draws close.

4)Would I see the film based on trailer alone?: No I wouldn't, if I was just an ordinary person, who had stumbled across the trailer, having never read the book, I would think it's a cheesy love story with aliens thrown in and I wouldn't waste money on a cinema ticket to see it. I was that disappointed by the trailer.

5)Overall Score: I give this trailer a grand total of 4/10, I like the seeker, I liked the chase scenes, I liked the shot at the end when Melanie walks up to the mirror as Jared asks if she is still in there, like it shows there are two people inside that body. I didn't like anything else about it. It was very disappointing.

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Some-things you may not know about Walt Disney Animation!

"If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse." - Walter Elias Disney

Mickey Mouse was born on a train ride from New York back to Hollywood. Walt Disney had just lost the rights to Oswald Lucky Rabbit to Universal. Had Mickey Mouse not appeared then the huge Disney Conglomerate you see today would not exist. It's also true that when Walt needed funding and distribution help for his Mickey Mouse cartoons Universal attempted to get Mickey Mouse from him too, but Walt wouldn't back down quite so easily this time. Mickey Mouse was the saving grace of Disney that started it all.

It turned out to be third time lucky for Mickey. Steam boat Willie wasn’t the first Mickey Mouse cartoon. It was the third but it was the first to become a success. The short films weren’t picking up the pace the way that Walt had hoped, so he began experimenting with sound on cartoons. After many failed attempts he met Pat Powers. Powers had developed a technology named Cinephone the only sound system that could produce what Walt Disney wanted for his beloved Mickey Mouse. With the help of Powers Steamboat Willie became the first animated cartoon to feature a fully synchronised soundtrack.

However, things took a turn for the worse when Roy Disney (Walt’s older brother) discovered Powers had been keeping money the Disney’s and when the contract with Powers was terminated, Powers went on to threaten to sue any studio who distributed a Walt Disney creation. And in addition he prised away Walt Disney’s friend, helping hand/ Chief animator, Ub Iwerks - who was known to have spent tireless hours drawing frame after frame of Mickey Mouse cartoons so that Walt could meet his deadlines - thinking that without Ub, Walt Disney Animation would soon crumble. But that never happened, because Harry Cohn head of Columbia Pictures was a ruthless man who wasn’t even frightened away by Powers, he told the Columbia legal team to fight any attempt from Powers to prevent Columbia distributing Walt Disney’s work and once again Walt Disney Studios were saved.

Eventually the time came when Walt was no longer satisfied by the success of his animated shorts (Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies) he wanted more, he wanted to create something bigger.  This was when he decided it was time to make his first animated feature that was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Towards the end of 1937 after nearly three years of trial, experimentation and artistic and financial crises production of Snow White seemed to be finally nearing completion. In December of 1937 Disney held a preview screening for Snow White. And from its opening night Snow White drew capacity crowds and raves from the critics The New York Times called it one of the ten best films of the year. By the end of its first week Snow White had become one of the must see films of the year, and in the 1939 at the Academy Awards ceremony Walt Disney was given a second Special Award a full size Oscar and seven small ones, for the films ‘significant screen innovation which has charmed and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon”

Snow White Oscar

After Walt passed it's easy to forget that Disney animation went through a tough time. Everyone remembers the success of the likes of the Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, but those success didn't come without trials, and bitter disappointments. Perhaps seen as the pinnacle of the 'dark days' of Disney Animation is the Black Cauldron, Not only did it take much long to make than first thought, but it came in millions over budget and to make matters worse was beat out at the box office by the Care Bears Movie it failed to make back the money that the studio had spent on it.

The animation department was slowly crashing and burning whilst live action was thriving and eventually the Animators were evicted for the old Ink and Paint studio to make more room for the live action department.

But the administration of Michael Eisner would see a shift in quality and style in Disney feature animation. Disney features soon became bombastic animated musicals, using music as well as high-quality animation to attract audiences. This coincided with the introduction of computer-aided animation techniques, the first of which was CAPS in the late 1980s. Also playing a role was Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a non-canon Disney-produced film with both live action and animated element that helped re-spark interest in Disney animation.

Beginning in 1988 with Oliver & Company, Disney released a string of profitable and enduring blockbusters. The next five films including 1989's The Little Mermaid (the first Disney animated film as a fairy-tale for 30 years), 1991's Beauty and the Beast, 1994's The Lion King would each win the Academy Award for Best Original Score. The Lion King still stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated feature ever made, being the top money-maker among all films in North America in 1994. The last Disney feature to be made using traditional techniques was Home on the Range in 2004 after Disney sold off all their traditional equipment in order to keep up with the likes of DreamWorks and Blue Sky Studios. The first 3D animation film was Chicken Little in 2005 and followed by Meet the Robinsons and Bolt.

The transition to CGI was not enough to renew interest in Disney animation as Disney's features were routinely outperformed by those of corporate partner Pixar, whom Disney had contracted to create CGI films originally. In response to this, Disney purchased Pixar in 2006.

On November 24, 2010, Disney's 50th animated motion picture, Tangled, Disney's first 3D-animated fairy-tale, was released. Tangled spent six years in production at a cost that has been estimated at $260 million which, if accurate, would make it the most expensive animated film ever made and second most expensive movie of all time.

  

Over the years Disney animation has been at the heart of many people’s younger years as they grew up with the films.  But this isn’t the end for Disney Animation as Disney have now released their 51st animated feature in the form of Winnie the Pooh and the 52nd was released on November 2nd 2012 under the title Wreck It Ralph.

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The Immortals Series by Alyson Noël - A Review

First things first, meet the books:  Evermore, Blue Moon, Shadowland, Dark Flame, Night Star, and Everlasting.

Together these six books make up the Immortals Series; they also make up some of the pile of books that I regret buying. The fact of the matter is I only enjoyed two, maybe three of these books. The rest I could've done without, they were wasteful and there seemed little point to them other than to drag the story out for longer than need be.

Basically for those who haven't read these books, they revolve around Ever and Damon for the most part. Two souls destined to be together in all lives that they are reborn in. In other words, this book is based on the idea of souls, and when the body dies the soul moves on to another body. Each soul has a soul mate. Ever and Damen are soul mates, well they would be if Damen hadn't made himself immortal 600 years previously. In the first book we learn that Ever died. But Damen brought her back to life with "the immortal juice" because he was distraught at losing her over and over again (basically every time he found her again in a new life she died pretty soon after). So this time he stopped it from happening. You'd think that would they could be together happily ever after forever right? No. There are five more books to contend with.

I don't want to go into too much detail as to what else happens in between the first and last books. Basically at the end of the first book Ever has forgiven Damen for what he did to her (in making her an immortal). Move on to book 2, something happens to Damen, I won’t say what, Ever has to save him, I won’t say how. But to save she has to make a sacrifice that causes a problem. This problem is not resolved until the very end on the last book. That means three or four books are focused on correcting ONE problem, and it drove me nuts, but being the person I am and not wanting to give up on something I’ve started, I continued to read them.

I know a lot of people love these books, I did too. I loved the first and I loved the last. The ones in between did nothing but frustrate and bore me. In essence, I don't like this series very much. The problem here I think (and I mean no disrespect to the Author) is that someone signs a book deal for a certain amount of books, sometimes it works and you can find enough plot lines and idea's to keep the reader interested for that length of time. This series just felt a bit lazy to me. Yes there a few background plots going on in each book that gave you a little something extra but ultimately it was just ONE big problem for the entire series. I personally wouldn't recommend these books, but that doesn't mean you should not buy them, every person is different. Just because I didn't enjoy them doesn't mean that you won’t either. Give them a chance if you want but borrow one off a friend or get it from the library first would be my suggestion.

[Side Note: This author is fond of the term ‘tingle and heat’ when Ever is describing how it feels when she and Damen touch. It can get a bit repetitive and annoying; it’s said multiple times in every book. However this is just a trend of Young Adult books these days with terms like ‘electricity’ and ‘sparks’. Damen even goes as far as telling Ever that when they hold their hands close that ‘tingle’ she feels is the energy between them, as two people who are meant for each other.]

Until next time . . . . 

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