My wife Christine recently introduced me to a new animé series on Netflix called Delicious in Dungeon. It’s based on a manga, of which we also recently picked up the first book.
If you like Dungeons & Dragons, and food, then you’ll probably like Delicious in Dungeon. It follows a small guild of explorers, who are trying to save their friend despite losing all their supplies. Hungry, they resort to eating the dungeon monsters they encounter. Early on, they meet a dwarf, who seems highly knowledgable about the best way to cook these monsters and end up eating delicious food of dubious origins.
The animé adaption of the manga is pretty good, with each dish presented like it would be on a cooking programme. In the manga books, the dishes even come with ingredients and nutritional information.
It took me a little while to get into the first episode, but I found it enjoyable and funny despite not being a big animé fan. The only animé I have watched more than a few episodes of is Pokémon, and that’s probably because I play Pokémon Go every day, and so am familiar with the species.
It’s a Netflix exclusive, and new episodes are being released weekly. There are currently 13 volumes of the manga, with a 14th due out this summer. We picked up our English translation from Travelling Man in Manchester.
At the weekend, I took our 8-year-old to see Butterfly Tale at the cinema. It was only released in the UK on Friday, but has been on general release elsewhere as early as October. It’s a joint Germany and Canada production – indeed, the first minute of the film is just the various logos of producers, distributors and funders. I hadn’t heard of it before, and according to iMDB, it’s grossed less than a $1million so far.
The film is based on the migration of Monarch butterflies. The main characters are Patrick, a butterfly with mis-sized wings who can’t fly, and his friend Marty, who is still a caterpillar. Because they can’t fly, they have to come up with a plan to join the rest of the butterflies on their migration.
It is very much a film for kids. Indeed, our eight-year-old really enjoyed it. It’s not a ground-breaking piece of cinema, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend seeing it at the cinema unless you have young kids. The animation and story are nothing special. It’s likely to be the sort of random film that you can let you kids watch on streaming if it’s a wet afternoon and you need some peace. Indeed, seeing as the UK is one of the last countries to see a cinema release, I imagine it’s already on streaming services elsewhere.
Most cinema chains seem to have at least a few showings of it right now. When we saw it, there were only around 10 people at the showing – despite it being at the biggest screen. I suspect it’ll have a rather limited run in cinemas.
As Roald Dahl passed away in 1990, the film has been made with the involvement of his estate, but was written by Simon Farnaby and Paul King. Farnaby has written for and starred in Horrible Histories, Yonderland and Ghosts, and King directed both of the recent critically acclaimed Paddington films. Their talent shows through, as does their respect for Dahl’s work; I imagine if Dahl himself had been involved in writing the screenplay for Wonka, it would be similar to this.
So it’s a good film. My only major criticism would be that it’s a bit twee in places. There’s also been some controversy over the casting of Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa, rather than someone like Peter Drinklage who would probably also do well in the role. However, I think Grant is excellent, and like with his role in the recent Dungeons and Dragons film, it’s good to see him playing roles that aren’t variations of a confused English gentlemen.
It’s not bad, but we’ve seen better from Disney. To sum it up, it’s as if an AI was asked to generate a Disney film in a certain style. All the ingredients that would make a good film are there, but they just don’t seem to work together. As someone who generates AI artwork for my blog posts, I’m aware of their limitations and their tendency to not understand how things fit together. I’m not saying Disney used an AI here, but it feels like they’re trying too hard to imitate something without understanding what makes them great.
The soundtrack, for example, seems to be trying too hard to imitate films like The Greatest Showman. A case in point is the song “This Is the Thanks I Get?!”, sung by Chris Pine’s character. It’s supposed to be an angry song, but comes across as rather upbeat.
Wish came out in the UK in November so probably won’t be in cinemas much longer. However, given the choice, I would recommend Wonka over Wish.
Ever since Doctor Who restarted on British TV screens in 2005, I’ve been an avid fan – watching every episode and owning most of the DVDs. But, I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit, I’ve never watched any of the original episodes that aired in its original run between 1963 and 1989, nor had I watched the 1996 film, starring Paul McGann as the eighth Doctor.
The film is on Netflix, so tonight Christine and I watched it for the first time.
I’m guessing the budget for the film wasn’t that large, as even by mid-90s standards some of the special effects were poor. And it hasn’t aged very well – the stream we watched was in in the 4:3 aspect ratio that was common for TV shows at the time, but this looks odd on modern widescreen TVs.
The story wasn’t bad though and is at least as good as an average episode of the newer series. It did, however, remind me of the most recent series of Torchwood, Miracle Day. Both this and Miracle Day were examples of cult British science fiction shows transplanted to America, with American characters and American popular culture references that wash over a typical British audience. That being said, my main criticism of Torchwood: Miracle Day was that the story had been stretched too thinly – not a problem for this Doctor Who film which was paced reasonably well.
The film was meant to be the start of a new American Doctor Who series, picking up where the British series had left off in 1989. As it happened, American interest wasn’t that great and it would be nine years until the BBC revived the series in Britain, with Christopher Eccleston making a clean break as the ninth Doctor.
Paul McGann thankfully made an appearance again as the eighth Doctor in The Night of the Doctor – a short webisode released last year ahead of the 50th anniversary show. This helped to bridge the gap between the original and revived series and showed McGann’s eighth Doctor regenerate into John Hurt’s ‘War Doctor’.
Doctor Who is a series where the Doctor’s ability regenerate allows it to ‘reboot’ every few years, in contrast with many other franchises. Consequently it’s always re-inventing and changing itself without having to retread too much.
Later this month we have Peter Calpadi taking the reigns as the twelfth Doctor. I can’t wait.
Last week we belatedly started watching the BBC One drama series Happy Valley. It stars Sarah Lancashire as Sergeant Catherine Cawood, a policewoman still coming to terms with the suicide of her daughter, when the boy she blames her death on is released from prison. A parallel story thread sees a businessman dabble with the criminal underworld to get enough money to send his daughter to a private school.
All six hour-long episodes of Happy Valley have now aired, but they are available on BBC iPlayer for a couple more days (and you can download the episodes to keep for 30 days). I also expect that it’ll be available on DVD and other digital download services before too long. Happy Valley has been a very well-received series and is tipped for a BAFTA, and there’s talk of a second series.
Happy Valley is shot, and indeed set, in the Calder Valley where Christine and I live. Indeed, the police station where the lead character is based is our local station in Sowerby Bridge, which I pass on the way to work every day. Earlier in the year there were frequently film crews outside, and the signs on the front had been changed from ‘West Yorkshire Police’ to simply ‘Yorkshire Police’, a fictional police force. Unlike its portrayal in the series, the police station is no longer open to the public – an issue that our local MP took up in parliament several years ago. Other scenes are filmed elsewhere in Sowerby Bridge, and also further up the valley in Hebden Bridge, Heptonstall, Todmorden and in the shadow of Stoodley Pike.
Despite the title of ‘Happy Valley’, the series is quite gritty and, though it’s fictional, focuses on some of the area’s social problems. As an example, whilst Hebden Bridge has a reputation for being a tourist-friendly hippie lesbian preservation area, it also has high rates of drug abuse and suicide. The steep sides of the valley, and gentrification, are frequently blamed for the area’s ills.
We’ve only watched episode one so far, so no spoilers please.
On Sunday we had an afternoon at the cinema. We caught Frozen before it closes, and the previews of The Lego Movie.
Frozen
Frozen has been out for a while now in the UK, but Sunday was our first chance to watch it. We didn’t go to an earlier ‘sing-along’ screening but went to one mid-afternoon. Though it was in one of the smaller screens at our local multiplex, about half the seats were taken, and mostly by families with young girls. Because it’s a Disney princess film, of course.
I’ve been aware of its most popular song, Let It Go, for some time – as well as its covers and itsparodies. It’s a great song but really you need to watch the film as well to make full sense of the lyrics. In particular, Let It Go isn’t sung by the main protagonist, as you might have expected.
Thankfully, the film really is worth watching – we both really enjoyed it. Yes, okay, it’s a kids film, but the characters are really relatable. Plus, there’s a surprising amount of innuendo to keep adults entertained; I had to tell Christine off for laughing out loud when Anna asks Kristoff to, ahem, ‘take her up the north mountain’. Fnar fnar.
Oh, and apparently it’s worth staying to the end of the credits. We found this out after leaving the cinema. Doh.
The Lego Movie
Conversely, we watched The Lego Movie before its official release in the UK, which is on Friday. I can foresee some ‘interesting’ Valentines Day visits to the cinema.
I think when The Lego Movie was first announced, a lot of people were expecting it to be rubbish. To be fair, there haven’t been many good film adaptations of toys or computer games. Thankfully, The Lego Movie breaks the mould and is actually good – funny, touching, and with an actual plot! For people like me who grew up with Lego in the 1980s, there’s a lot to like, and although it is computer animated it feels like it could have been made using actual Lego and stop-motion animation. Things like the references to Octan, the fictional petrol brand used by Lego, and the various mini-figures that have been released over the years.
There are, however, two scenes that stop the film from being near perfect. I don’t want to post spoilers, so read what Dave2 said about it. Obviously, anything below the spoiler warning on that blog post is a spoiler, so if you haven’t seen it, be careful.
I think this is the first time in many years that I’ve seen two films in a day – the last time was probably 2007ish. Generally, going to the cinema is something we do every other month, even though we now have a Vue cinema close by in Halifax and don’t have to go all the way to Bradford. Sadly it’s quite an expensive treat – tickets for the Lego Movie were over £10 each as we ended up seeing it in 3D, and Sunday is peak time. Nowadays we’re not so likely to go to the cinema unless it’s a film that we definitely want to see on a big screen, as even buying the DVD is often cheaper now, nevermind renting it from Lovefilm.
When we moved to Sowerby Bridge almost 18 months ago (no, I can’t believe it has been that long either), one thing I moved away from was an easily accessible cinema. In Bradford, I was well catered for – the Cineworld multiplex by the Interchange shows all of the new releases, plus there’s the National Media Museum showing IMAX films as well as regular films in its Pictureville and Cubby Broccoli cinemas.
But Sowerby Bridge doesn’t have a cinema of its own; nor does neighbouring Halifax, although this will change this summer when a Vue multiplex opens opposite the bus station. The nearest big cinemas are back in Bradford, or the Odeon in Huddersfield, although its out of town location makes it awkward to get to without a car.
As the crow flies, the Rex Cinema in Elland is closest, although getting there by bus means changing at Halifax which is a bit of a pain (Elland’s railway station closed in 1962, and though there’s talk of building a new one, no plans have come to fruition). It’s a small, independent cinema which shows films every evening, but these aren’t usually the latest and tend not to be the big blockbusters. Same for the Hebden Bridge Picture House, further up the valley, which I wrote about in January.
But it wasn’t always like this. Sowerby Bridge, like many towns in days gone by, did have its own cinema. In fact, it had two – both on Wharf Street, the main road through the town.
The first was the Electric Cinema. The building dates from 1915, although the exact date that it opened seems to be disputed by various web sites and may have been as late as 1917. It later became the Roxy Cinema, and was operated by Gaumont Cinemas until 1951, with an impressive capacity of over 800. It closed in 1962, where upon the building lay dormant until 1972, when it became a bingo hall. Sometime around 2009, the owners converted it into a bistro and late opening venue, which is how it survives today. [Credit: Malcolm Bull’s Calderdale Companion [1][2], Bingo VG]
The other cinema, which was literally around 200 metres further down the high street was the Regent Cinema, opened in 1939. It became the Essoldo Cinema ten years later in 1949, before closing in 1967, again to become a bingo hall. More recently the bingo hall shut and the building was converted into shops, and now houses a charity pound shop and a newsagent. [Credit: Malcolm Bull: [1][2]]
Although it’s good that both buildings survive and are in use (something that sadly can’t be said for Bradford’s 1930s former Odeon cinema), it’s a shame that the town hasn’t managed to retain a cinema despite having two at one point. Still, it will be nice for Halifax to have a cinema again, even though it will be a big multiplex run by a national firm, rather than the small, independent community cinemas in Elland and Hebden Bridge.
So yesterday was a bit cold, with a very strong wind blowing down the Calder Valley. Christine and I went up to Hebden Bridge for a bit of shopping, and to see Hugo at the Hebden Bridge Picture House.
The Picture House is one of two small independent cinemas in the area – the other being the Rex Cinema at Elland, which is geographically closer but a bit of an arse to get to by public transport. It’s a nice cinema, showing one film a day on weekday evenings and matinées at weekends, and usually the films are those that have been in mainstream cinemas some time previously, with very generous legroom. It’s also competitively priced with cheap refreshments, and serves an area otherwise not well served by cinemas – the nearest multiplexes at present are Bradford, Huddersfield or Burnley, which are some trek away.
Unfortunately the cinema isn’t in great nick – there’s quite a bit of work to be done to the building. As it’s owned by the local council, a recent council tax rise has been levied to pay for improvements. Its future is also potentially threatened by the opening of a multiplex cinema in Halifax in a few months time, which is a shame as it has a lot of character.
Hugo, incidentally, is a very good film if you haven’t already seen it.
Thankfully today’s been a little warmer and less windy.
So now the Apple TV only costs £99, am I about to buy one? Afraid not.
Long-time readers will know about my various abortive attempts to turn my spare Mac Mini into a media centre (which I’ve given up on – I just have Boxee running on my main desktop). The Apple TV was always interesting but the price tag meant I wasn’t so interested.
The new Apple TV is much cheaper, but it’s also a simpler device with no hard drive – or the means to connect an external hard drive (there’s a Micro-USB socket but it’s for ‘service and support’ only). So rather than being a media centre, it’s more a ‘media extender’ – it lets you view media stored elsewhere (on your computer or on a streaming service) on your television. If you want to watch a film you own, that film must be on another computer and that computer must be turned on and running iTunes.
Like the previous model, it does support HD but only at the lower rate of 720p, not 1080p which is what most decent HD televisions use; consequently any 1080p television will have to do some upscaling which may effect the sharpness of the picture; thus negating some of the benefits of HD. I suppose streaming 720p video requires less bandwidth than 1080p video but a 1080p option for content on your own network would be nice. HDMI support is welcome though.
One of the biggest new features is Netflix streaming. Alas, Netflix doesn’t yet operate in the UK, and Apple hasn’t signed up any similar services like Lovefilm, so we have to buy all of our content from the iTunes Store.
In fact, there’s no other region-specific services, despite the Apple TV now running on a similar operating system as the iPhone. An App Store for the Apple TV would be great, potentially allowing users to install apps specific to their country; Brits could install applications for the BBC iPlayer, 4oD and SeeSaw for example. In the US, Hulu could launch an app as well.
Then there’s the price. It’s certainly cheaper than the its predecessor, but £99 and €119 are much more than its $99 price tag in the US (who also get the Netflix features). While all Apple products cost a little more in Europe – even after sales taxes are taken into account – the new Apple TV costs 30% more. To give some perspective, the iPad Nano is only 15% more expensive after tax and is at a similar price point, and most of Apple’s desktop computers are under 10% more expensive. So European customers pay more than their US cousins, and get less.
And one final reason why I wouldn’t buy an Apple TV is that the Boxee Box is coming to Europe in November with pre-orders starting in the US now. The Boxee Box is twice as expensive as an Apple TV in the US – $199 – but it has a very large application library (including BBC iPlayer), 1080p HD, support for a wide range of codecs, USB ports, and and SD card slot. Still no internal hard drive but at least you can connect one. Of course, I’ll be a bit peeved if it goes on sale for £199…
On Saturday I moved house again, although this time the move should be a little more permanent. I’m now living in North-East Bradford, rather than in the western area around the university, in a refurbished Victorian stone-built terraced house with two other lads. It’s a nice house, although it does mean a longer walk to work.
Unfortunately we don’t yet have internet – that’s a story I’ll leave for another entry – so I’m using the opportunity to watch some of the films that I own on DVD which I haven’t seen before.
Thus far I have watched the remaining episodes of Torchwood Season 2 that I haven’t seen – previously I have watched the first 4 and last 4 episodes, but missed those in the middle of the series. This included the episodes ‘Adam’ and ‘Dead Man Walking’ which are quite important to the overall story arc – having watched these episodes now, the final episode makes more sense. I also watched Baseketball, a film starring the creators of South Park, which I enjoyed but would only recommend to those who enjoyed South Park or Team America. Otherwise you’ll find it puerile and immature.
On my list to watch next are:
The Dark is Rising – a film that Hari wanted to watch and that we rented from LoveFilm, but haven’t yet got around to watching
Nacho Libre – kids film starring Jack Black that I picked up cheaply in a sale
Hellboy – heard mixed reviews, some people say it’s great, others hated it
Robots – another kids film
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – Thought the first film was very well done, but never managed to see this in the cinema.
I also have various DVDs like The Simpsons Movie, Shrek the Third and most of the Matrix Trilogy which I have seen in the cinema but haven’t since watched on DVD. I’m going on holiday a week today and at the current rate we won’t have the internet installed by then, so I have another week of keeping myself busy.
