Pixar Playlist #8 - Ratatouille

Ladies and Gentlemen, whether you like it or not, the Pixar Playlist

Didn’t take long for Brad Bird to come back, did it? Today we’re looking at Ratatouille

This originally started as the brainchild of Jan Pinkava in 2000, she went through several drafts but none everyone was absolutely happy with. Bob Peterson was brought in and given control of the story for a while, but ultimately left to work on UP, a film that we will get to soon. Brad Bird, after his success on the Incredibles was brought in and was quick about changing things, certain designs changed to fit his vision.

In terms of animation, there were challenges here, a small scene in the sewers had more complex water animation than Finding Nemo did and there was also the challenge of making appetising looking food using CGI. The crew did their research in culinary arts, including taking classes and dining around the restaurants, they also had to learn about how a restaurant kitchen works and Brad Bird even interned at one for a time. As per usual, Pixar goes above and beyond in their research.

Netflix Retrospective: Iron Fist Season 2 episodes 7-8 - Morning of the Mindstorm/Citadel on the Edge of Vengeance

We're returning to Iron Fist after Danny suffered yet another blow in his attempt to regain the Iron Fist Power, Davos broke his leg in the fight.

Praise4Media #62 - Murder on the Orient Express (Kenneth Branagh - Marathon 3/3)

We’re approaching the end of the line with the Murder on the Orient Express Marathon. It may be a week for you but it’s been much longer for me, tech issues, don’t ask.

Kenneth Branagh has made a successful career as both an actor and a director, often having a role in the films he directs. He’s been involved in a number of adaptation works, most notably that of several Shakespeare plays like Henry V, Much Ado about Nothing and Love Labours Lost. He’s also worked with superheroes, being the director of the first Thor movie. This made him a good choice to Direct an adaption of Murder on the Orient Express for the big screen.

Now, directors that put themselves in a starring role also whilst not uncommon, are generally reserved for lower budget flicks. I’m not sure why the decision was made for Branagh to play the detective, maybe him being a good choice was why he was brought on to direct, maybe he was already a director and was the ideal choice also, or maybe it was a cost-cutting measure to offset the significant amount of (probably expensive) talent in this. Either way, how does Branagh stack up as the famed sleuth? Let’s take a look.

Netflix Retrospective - Iron Fist Season 2 Episodes 5-6 - Heart of the Dragon/The Dragon Dies at Dawn

We continue our look at the second season of Netflix's Iron Fist and things have stepped up as Davos has transferred the power to himself and injured Danny in the process, what will happen next, let's take a look

RageLite review - Murder on the Orient Express (David Suchet - Marathon 2/3)

We return to the Murder on the Orient Express Marathon with Agatha Christie’s Poirot.

Agatha Christie’s Poirot was a long-running series for ITV that covered almost all the Agatha Christie stories, although many of the shorter ones were loose adaptations. They allowed us time to develop a small supporting cast, including Poirot’s compatriot Captain Hastings, the Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Japp and ever-loyal secretary Miss Lemon. The show had the opportunity to flesh out Poirot’s distinct mannerisms for both comedic and humanising effect. 70 episodes were produced over 24 years, adapting pretty much every Poirot story there was, but we come close to the end with the 2010 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express.

Since this isn’t a film, no Rotten Tomatoes rating worth anything, but it has 7.9/10 on IMDb right now, so make of that what you will, let’s get to the point

Netflix Retrospective - Iron Fist Season 2 Episodes 3-4 - This Deadly Secret/Target: Iron Fist

We continue our look at Netflix's Marvel's Iron Fist with the next 2 episodes

RageLite review - Murder on the Orient Express (Albert Finney - Marathon 1/3)

OK, it’s time we set off on the Murder on the Orient Express Marathon

Over the next 3 weeks we’ll be covering 3 adaptations of Dame Agatha Christie’s famous Poirot Novel: Murder on the Orient Express.

The first major adaptation was the 1974 version with Albert Finney starring in the title role. There had been other adaptation of Agatha Christie’s work but Agatha herself had been largely displeased with them. It was apparently difficult to get her to sell the film rights to this novel but thanks to the pleasant record of the producers, she eventually accepted.

Made with a decent $1.4m budget, the movie did really well, making $35.7m back. And the reception to it has been largely positive, with it receiving several Oscar nominations at the time, and has fared well since the dawn of the internet, with a 3/4 from Roger Ebert and a 91% Rotten Tomatoes Rating, but how does it fair as an adaptation, here are my thoughts.

Netflix Retrospective - Iron Fist Season 2 Episodes 1-2 - The Fury of the Iron Fist/This City's Not for Burning

A lot of changes happened behind the scenes with Iron Fist after the poor reception of series 1. Scott Buck was replaced as showrunner by M Raven Metzer, who’s filmography includes Heroes: Reborn and Elektra… see we’re off to a great start. The episode number was cut from 13 to 10 which if you’ve read any of my reviews of Netflix Marvel shows you’d know I think is a great move considering the pacing has always been a weaker element of these shows. Clayton Barber is the new fight co-ordinator, and with Black Panther a recent addition to his arsenal it’s a good choice, especially since the fights in the first season were rather weak.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save the show as it had a low critical rating and it was among the first of the Netflix Marvel shows to face cancellation.

Unlike the first season, episodes are named after stories from the comics rather than martial arts moves. The names will hence will feel a little more relevant to what’s going on.