| Matt Facts: Matthew dislikes drinking cold drinks from coffee mugs. He also hates plastic forks. | | Did you Know? Toothpicks are overrated. | | Words of Inspiration: "You can tell a lot about a fellow by the way he eats Jelly Beans" – R.Regan | | Did you know? There are no Pez Facts. Pez is, in fact, not factual. | | Matt Facts: Matthew's fortune cookies always predict success. | | Words of Inspiration: When I'm sad I stop being sad and be awesome instead - Barney Stinson | | Did you know? "Buf­falo buf­falo Buf­falo buf­falo buf­falo buf­falo Buf­falo buf­falo” is a gram­mat­i­cally valid sentence. | | Matt Facts: Matthew is best served on the rocks with a slice of lemon. | | Words of Inspiration: "Life is futile." | | Did you Know? Dinosaurs and Dandelions is the name of a popular blog that has been around since the 15 April 2010 | | Matt Facts: Unlike some people, Matthew only celebrates his birthday once a year. | | Words of Inspiration: "I'll be back" - The Terminator. | | Did you Know? The two modern breeds of Cocker Spaniel, American and English, are thought to have been descended from only two dogs? | | Matt Facts: On the second to last full moon of the year, Matthew develops an itch on his right shoulder. | | Words of Inspiration: “You can do it!” - Rob Schneider, in every Adam Sandler movie ever | | Did you know? Lettuce is often eaten raw. | | Words of Inspiration: "Science is always at work and never sleeps – just like Rust" | | Did you Know? When you dream, every­thing you see in that dream, you’ve seen before in real life. | | Matt Facts: Matthew officially endorses the Cadbury's Moro bar as being delicious | | Did You Know? A tadpole is also called a 'pollywog'. | | Matt Facts: Matthew has his own Facebook fan page. Creepy. | | Did You Know? Cats sleep for 70% of their lives. | | Words of Inspiration: "End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it." - Gandalf. | | Did you Know? This is the end. The journey ends here. Then it starts all over again. |

Friday 7 June 2013

Matthew's Midyear Movie Mayhem

So, after being on a film watching spree lately (well, a spree by my standards, probably not by your standards), I thought I'd do a quick and dirty review of each of them. NB: Reviews may not contain any dirt.

How many of these films have you seen? Score yourself out of four.

Argo (2012)

A nice "historical drama thriller" directed by, and starring, Ben Affleck. The film follows American embassy staff who are trapped in Iran and a CIA agent who creates a cover story involving a fake film studio to get them out. Based on events that occured during the Iranian hostage crisis, the film unfortunately minimises the Canadian input into the rescue plan and ignores the role of the British and New Zealand embassy staff. Don't worry though, we had the last laugh, because on 12 March 2013 New Zealand's parliament passed a motion that the house "...acknowledge with gratitude the efforts of former New Zealand diplomats Chris Beeby and Richard Sewell in assisting American hostages in Tehran during the hostage crisis in 1979, and express its regret that the director of the movie Argo saw fit to mislead the world about what actually happened during that crisis when, in reality, our courageous diplomats’ inspirational actions were of significant help to the American hostages and deserve the factual and historical record to be corrected." That'll show them!

The Hangover Part III (2013)

The third film of the series departs somewhat from the formula that made the first one such a success and that the second one blatently reproduced. Part III has more Mr. Chow, less Doug and no Mike Tyson. The film relies on the adventures of Phil, Stu and Alan to deliever an as-expected comedy that is satisfying but you probably won't remember in two weeks time.

Gangster Squad (2013)

Originally scheduled for a 2012 release before it was re-worked following the 2012 Batman theatre shootings, Gangster Squad follows a squad of LAPD police officers who are tasked with working outside the law to bring down the city's most notorious gangster. Vaguely based on true events, Gangster Squad features Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn and Emma Stone. The film is stylishly shot and, despite a perhaps slightly shallow plot, it will keep your attention throughout.

Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

The sixth film in the series finally reunites Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Michelle Rodriguez, along with Dwayne Johnson, MMA champion Gina Carano and most of the episode five's cast. The film builds on F&F 5's formula of moving away from a car film and towards a hiest film, with cars. Entertaining and with plenty of ridiculous action, this series isn't over yet as the movie clearly sets up a sequel. We went to a super enhanced viewing that included audience participation, which only added to the film's appeal.