Megamind

The supervillain Megamind finally defeats his nemesis, the superhero Metro Man. But without a hero, he loses all purpose and must find new meaning to his life.

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This is a great animated film that I find hugely entertaining. The animation is well done, the central characters are interesting and have enough depth to make you care about them, and the plot is good, certainly different from the norm.

Megamind is a fun character, who does a good job of showing what could happen if the bad guy wins, and then he changes and becomes a better person. As always there’s a sidekick, as fun as the her0/anti-hero, and on this occasion a love interest who, thankfully, is more than just an empty-headed looker.

This is not quite as well known as some other animated films, but in my opinion it’s as good as any of them.

Mirth Defects

Clint Forgy

I was given an advanced copy of this book for review and I’m glad I was. I like comedy but as a visual medium, it’s not a genre I usually read because it’s very hard to get right, so I was a little nervous about this book; my uncertainty disappeared by the end of the first page. This is exactly my sense of humour; it’s a little anarchic, a little crazy, a little cringe-inducing, a little bit of everything really, and a lot of good.
This is the tale of JD, growing up amongst his family and friends; he is a massively confident young man, who’s not afraid of a challenge, knows what he wants, and is determined to get it – at no time, though, does he cross the line into being cocky or unpleasant, and that’s difficult to manage.
JD is well-written, his personality lends itself to caricature but Clint Forgy manages to avoid that and keep him as a very realistic, if slightly over the top, character, the sort you would have a great time with if you were mates. The same can be said for his friends and family, they are all believable (I’ve known a few people in my time who would have fitted right in with them, myself included for the sense of humour) and that is important because one or two of the scenes and situations descriptions are a little too madcap – if it wasn’t for the writing and the believable characters they might ruin the book.
There are a few pop-culture references that I felt were unnecessary, but that’s just my opinion.

If you enjoy a humorous tale, then this is almost certainly going to tickle your funny bone and I recommend you give it a go.

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If you’d like to know more about the author, look him up on his site and see more of his humour, which will probably make you laugh out loud.

Raised by Wolves

The Garry family are an unconventional family; Della raises her six children (five daughters and one son) in a small house with the help of their grandfather, who has split from their grandmother, where they are home-schooled and taught the art of fending for themselves in the big bad world. Among the lessons they are taught is the art of furnishing a house from car-boot sales.

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I stumbled across this series by accident after seeing a one-off and absolutely loved it. There’s so many great characters in it, and they’re all great in different ways; the writing is spot on and does a wonderful job of mixing funny dialogue, physical comedy and sight gags. This won’t be to everyone’s taste, some of the comedy is a little cringe-inducing, based as it is on the almost overpowering hormones of the eldest daughter, but I still laugh at it even as I cringe.

I love comedies, but it’s rare that I actually laugh out loud at something, this makes me do that often, though. I can’t wait for the next series.

The Lavender Hill Mob

Holland, a shy retiring man, dreams of being rich and living the good life. Faithfully, for 20 years, he has worked as a bank transfer agent for the delivery of gold bullion. One day he befriends Pendlebury, a maker of souvenirs. Holland remarks that, with Pendlebury’s smelting equipment, one could forge the gold into harmless-looking toy Eiffel Towers and smuggle the gold from England into France. Soon after, the two plant a story to gain the services of professional criminals Lackery and Shorty. Together, the four plot their crime, leading to unexpected twists and turns.

This is one of the great Ealing comedies from the 1950’s, with wonderful writing, and acting. The plot is fairly simple, but all the better for that because it makes the film so much more believable – but for some bad luck (and the fact that in the era this was made films were penalised by the censorship board if they showed criminals getting away with a crime) there’s every chance Guinness and Holloway would have gotten away with the gold.

The supporting cast is reasonable but what makes this film so fantastic is the performances of Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway; both of them play their roles well, hitting just the right notes and showing great chemistry.

If you like a good comedy and you haven’t yet seen this, I heartily recommend it.