I have a Goldfish

So, yeah. I thought - since my dog sadly died last weekend - that I'd "scale down" my pet-ambitions somewhat and get myself something to keep me company.

I chose a fish called Phil, who now lives on my table (in a bowl). He's not the friendliest of fish, as you can see, with his miserable face. He doesn't like me very much either, preferring to eat his food when all is quiet than rush to the surface as soon as he's fed. 

In fact, whenever I turn my back he seems to be eating, but rushes back to his castle when I get close. Maybe he's had a "difficult past" in his homeland of Singapore. Whatever the reason, he's characteristically grumpy and his "fish face" scowl is comical. I thought I'd share him with you, anyway. Everyone, this is Phil. Phil, this is everyone! :)

Rango Is Awesome

I didn't fancy Rango when it hit cinemas. I'm not one for CGI animated features usually, they're all a bit samey. The Toy Story movies are okay, but once you've noticed how sickly sentimental they are they become annoying. Same with movies like Wall-E... Animated movies tend to be kids films with adult bits. Rango is different. Rango, in my opinion, is a movie made for adults that kids can also enjoy. It's basically what I've been waiting for. A clever, self-aware underdog story with enough 'wit' to keep the 'heart' quiet.

There are so many little things I want to mention, things that made me laugh out loud (something I rarely ever do, let alone at an animated feature) but first I suppose I should give a bit of an outline...

The animation style is clever; it makes you forget you're watching a "cartoon" at all. Maybe it's the sheer believability of the characters (despite being Western stereotypes at base) that slip the fact that this isn't real past you in a cloud of laughter and dust.  

The character acting in this is amazing. Johnny Depp is perfect as the wannabe someone Rango, a domestic pet Chameleon lost in the dry desert and thrown into a situation he simply isn't prepared for. Isla Fisher voices eccentric love interest Beans, another lizard whose father definitely didn't fall down a mine shaft while drunk. But it's some of the other, less prominent characters that shine out among the cacti. The Native American Crow is amazing and Abigail Breslin's "Priscilla" is adorable and straight out of True Grit. 

As well as a nice little plot (there's increasingly less water in the desert, whatever shall we do?) - which involved Wild West staples such as gunfights, bank robberies and corrupt town officials, the long list of believable and lovable characters and the always cheeky and boundary-pushing jokes that will have adults chuckling and kids putting their hands over their mouths in shock, there are some wonderful nods to other western movies (and one perfect moment that will have Depp fans giggling, a short crossover between this movie and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas) that are just waiting for you to find!

There's a killer cast (Bill Nighy's Rattlesnake Jake is horrible fun), including Ray Winstone, Alfred Molina, Harry Dean Stanton, Ned Beatty and a haunting cameo by Deadwood star Timothy Olyphant. Not a single voice sounds miscast or out of place. And the music is infectious! All in all, there's very little I have to say about this movie that is in any way negative. I loved it. Simple as that.

I watched this late at night while tired. I laughed throughout. I watched it again this afternoon and laughed again. I think I'll watch it for a third time in a little while. There's bugger all on telly and even if there was, this would probably still be better. I said on Twitter last night that this was the best animated feature I'd seen in a decade. That may be my enthusiasm running away with me, but even now I can't think of a contender to the title. It's not perfect, but it's lovely. It's honest, clever, cheeky and never, ever takes itself too seriously. You won't cry in the end of this one, like in Toy Story 3, but then I sometimes want to leave the theatre smiling. I wish I'd seen this in the cinema as that's exactly what I would have done.

★★★★☆

Good Cap, Bad Cap?

Last night I watched Captain America: The First Avenger. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't quite this. I knew I'd enjoy the movie, even if it was shit, but I didn't think it would grab me in such a way as it did!

I read Cap for years and I've learned to get past the cheesiness of his character - All-American, Super-Duper-Soldier with a Heart of Gold and a Shield of Vibranium. I was happy to see the movie allow enough tongue-in-cheek wartime pomp for us to see that the characters take themselves less seriously than we take them. A musical interlude (sort of) is one of the highlights of the movie, when Cap is promoting War Bonds. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

...Where does it all begin? Well... There are some blokes pulling Cap's shield out of the ice, then we're in the 40s and Steve Rogers is an enthusiastic weed with no hope of joining the army on account of his asthma and other ailments. But during a visit to an exhibition by genius Howard Stark (Iron Man's daddy, played brilliantly by Mamma Mia's Dominic Cooper) he gets recruited by the good guys to enter into a Super Soldier program and get all muscly and cool. 

So Cap is born! I'm not going into the plot details; it's a genesis story and a pretty good one, actually. It's also very much Act One of a much larger story. If you're a Marvel fan you'll know where this is all heading. If you're not, you won't care.

All your favourite Cap characters are there; shining are the aforementioned Howard Stark, Hayley Atwell as kick-ass love interest and all-round plum-voiced-sauce-pot Peggy Carter and Doctor Who's very own Dream Lord Toby Jones as Dr Arnim Zola, a Nazi biochemist. There's also "Cinema's Mr Bad" Hugo Weaving as the bit-too-cartoon-like villain, The Red Skull himself, Johann Schmidt. The movie is packed with some pretty great action sequences and, although it's thin on ACTUAL plot of any substance (it's very much Goodies vs Baddies), it's a very enjoyable script too; there are some really great moments that made me laugh out loud. 

But what's best about this movie is how fresh it all feels. We're used to getting comic book movie after comic book movie recently - leading up to you know what - but this one feels different. It's set in the 40s, it's got a weedy main character (under all that muscle) and it's "where it'll all begin". Captain America really is the First Avenger. Sure, Iron Man has all the hi-tech stuff but Cap has a tough shield and determination (and super strength, sort of...). What impressed me most was how well the basis of the character transferred to the big screen. And the casting is perfect. Chris Evans (not that one) is perfect as Steve Rogers and although he is underused (in my opinion) Neal McDonough is amazing as Dum Dum Dugan.

Okay. It's probably not going to win any Oscars, but Captain America: The First Avenger is a lot of fun. If you don't mind your fun with Uncle Sam's fist up your arse, that is... It's VERY American. Even the scenes set in London seem to be set in America really. It's a bit "Yeehaaawww!" sometimes, but that's okay! It's an American character with "America" in his name. THE American superhero. My favourite superhero. And a bloody good effort at making one of my favourite superhero movies. I can't wait to see all our guys together on-screen; I've not seen Thor yet, so I might have a look at that later on. Somehow. If you like your films loud and shooty then this is definitely the one for you. A great, great effort. Lots of fun!