The Hardest Thing In The World

i am somewhat at a loss as to know how exactly to review, or at least give my thoughts on, the film Hannibal Rising. i am not too far from sitting on the fence with this one, as for every positive aspect of the film there seems to be a negative. ho hum, let me give it a try.

an obligatory warning - this review may well contain spoilers, although as it is the young Hannibal we speak of obviously we know he survives at the end of it. there will however be references to the novels and the films, so proceed with caution.

first things first, and a big round of applause for Gaspard Ulliel in his performance of the young Hannibal. the role of Hannibal Lecter is, in the eyes of most, the exclusive property of Mr Anthony Hopkins. brave indeed is the soul that tries to challenge that perception. he gets the mannerisms and style of Hannibal spot on, and physically you are convinced that yes, this boy will grow up to be Hannibal. one odd note on the appearance, though - young Gaspard has rather dark eyes, whereas Mr Hopkins had those rather notable blue eyes. surely the budget could have accomodated a pair of contact lenses or two?

the rest of the cast do the job asked of them, and there's no one you can argue with as being a waste of space in it.




now, what makes commenting on this film one of the hardest things in the world is the whole point of the film itself. there are two perspectives on this one. Michele, who has never read the Thomas Harris novels, found Hannibal Rising interesting, "entertaining" if that is the right word for such a dark tale, and compulsive viewing. i, on the other side, have read the novels, and subsequently found the film somewhat lacking in point and reason in regards of its very existance.

don't get me wrong, i would not slam the film - i too found it to be most impressive. it's just that once you have read the novels, you are aware of all you need to be of the historical tale of Hannibal, in particular with regards to his sister Mischa, and basically know why Hannibal Lecter grew to be Hannibal The Cannibal. as a consequence, lovers of the books may well find that Hannibal Rising flirts dangerously close to being seen as a cash-in, a final go at getting more money out of the series. ultimately it isn't this - far from being a cheap and cheerful experience, it is clear that all involved with this film had a good deal of passion and interesting in the subject matter.

the main problem with Hannibal Rising is that it starts a cycle which does not end cinematically - this would be a brilliant film if Ridley Scott had done a more faithful adaptation of Hannibal. the whole thing would have made a great deal more sense, but with Ridley's altering of the ending of Hannibal, the psychological journey Lecter begins in Rising has no defined ending.

my reccomendation for fans or, if you will, admirers of the tales of Hannibal Lecter is to see this film, as it is worthwhile. just don't have wild expectations of it, and if you have read the novels, be prepared to be angry with the job Ridley Scott did with Hannibal a few years ago.

be excellent to each other, and try not to eat each other in doing so.

Hello Daniel

hello everyone, in particular New Zealand


well, i am most impressed with my nearly two week old cousin, Daniel Henry Farnworth. he somehow managed to send me an email all by himself (unless i suspect my sister is a cheat) and seemed distressed that thus far he has not featured on my blog.

as much fun as it is to fill this site with images of Batman, here he is then!!





looks like he will be a most handsome chap, and not as sheep-orientated as one would imagine someone from New Zealand should be!

and here he is with big sister Katie, with a grown up hand monitoring the situation, apparently!




i do apologise to the whole of New Zealand for not putting these pics up sooner. my reccomendation to Daniel would be, at the moment at least, that dressing up as a big bat more or less guarantees you get a regular mention on this site!!

otherwise, my dental problems continue - i have mental bursts of pain and express this pain through the medium of words we are trying to not let James here. oh well, 2pm on Wednesday 27 June, around about the time Tony Bliar (not a spelling error) leaves Downing Street, so too will my teeth leave my mouth. they also have outstayed their welcome, i guess, but at least they did not start anything in the Middle East which they could not finish, and nor did they ever invite Noel Gallagher over for "drinkies".

be excellent to each other, and if at all possible think happy thoughts about my teeth!!!!!!!!!!!

more Dark Knight images

hey everyone

once again, sorry for the lack of update. i have a few dental problems at present. three to be precise, and those three teeth will be removed next week.

i imagine it will be painful, but my dentist is ace - he knows a lot about Hannibal Lecter, for a start.

on that note, i will post a review of Hannibal Rising in the near future here, and will with some luck provide an update on my imminent dental work. at present, i am on some awesome painkillers for the dental problems, and still gathering my thoughts on Hannibal Rising.

in the mean time, Warner seem to be rather relaxed in handing out promo pics and advance stuff for The Dark Knight. usually they have rather tight security on projects like this, but they seem to be happy to release images well over a year before the film is due for release.

first up, here is the "new" batsuit. it doesn't seem like a radical departure from the one in Batman Begins to be honest, perhaps just a bit better defined :



and here is the new vehicle for the film - us oldies would call it the "Bat Bike", but Warner have said it is called the "Bat Pod". it doesn't look like there's space for headphones on it, never mind a can of Bat Shark Repellant. anyway, here it is in action :




here is a pic of it on its own, and the text below comes with a ***POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING***





the best theory i have seen is that the Bat Pod is called that because it is some sort of "escape pod" from the Tumbler, the ace "Batmobile" from Batman Begins. it looks plausible - the position of the cannons would be as the Tumbler, and it would explan the lack of a seat for the Bat Bottom. not much of a spoiler, but ***END OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS***


otherwise, all seems well in this part of the world. i am off to bed with some antibiotics and some painkillers, thank you very much.

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i believe i could sell organs to finance this

hey everyone

for many years now there have been rumours of a special, if you will "uber" edition DVD set of Blade Runner due for release. a problem has been someone who owns 20% or so of the rights to this fine film has refused permission for release, purely to be stubborn about an argument some twenty years ago around the budget of the film.

well, he is dead now, and it would seem to mark the 25th Anniversary of Blade Runner we have this




a five disc mega-set, complete in a VK test case!!

it seems that every version of the film will be in the case, including a brand new cut actually made by director Ridley Scott and the rare gem that is the workprint.

this looks like it is going to cost a great deal of money. but it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!