July:
After watching Apollo 13, I thought Eri might be interested in this too, one of my favourite NASA films. She enjoyed it, but not as much as the previous one. I still loved it. The acting is excellent, the script is superb, and the story is obviously excellent. It was wierd seeing it after so long though, especially after the polished Apollo 13. One thing that most suprised me about Eri's reaction to it though was the depth of her loathing for Dennis Quaid's character. I couldn't quite work out what made her loath him so much, but loath him she did.
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
I had read an article in the Guardian which called this one of the most offensive comedies ever made, which, all things considered, as about as weighty a recommendation as you could hope to find. It was great. Except for the annoying FBI/CIA/NSA guy. Harold and Kumar were as stupid/funny as the previous film, and, once again, Neil Patrick Harris rather stole the show as himself. It wasn't particularly well made, but for sheer stupidity and offensiveness, it lived up to the recommendation.
Apollo 13
Eri is rather obsessed with anything NASA, which made it even wierder that she had never heard of Apollo 13, nor seen the movie. It must have been a lot more interesting and exciting if you didn't know of the outcome before you saw the film. She couldn't believe it was a true story and was dumbfounded by the modern interviews with the astronauts. I like the film, particularly the obsessive way they filmed in the zero-g plane. I was, however, as terrified as ever by the interview with bald Richie Cunningham in the extras.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
I saw some interviews for this on Youtube a while back and decided to check it out when in need of something light and mindless. It was ok. There were some really funny parts in it and some really unfunny parts. Russell Brand was probably the best thing in it, but then he is very likeable compared to some of the other idiots about, especially when he isn't grandstanding as much as he sometimes has a tendancy to do. Mila Kunis was very pretty in it too, which always helps. On the whole it was pretty average, but not bad.
The Darjeeling Limited
After seeing Rushmore again a few weeks ago, I decided to rewatch this, and loved it again. I really like Wes Anderson's films, his style and his love of, for want of a less-cliched term, bittersweet storylines about disfunctional families. I feel a little bit conned that his next film is going to be the animated Mr Fox, as it means waiting longer for his next "real" film. This made me want to go back to India again, Rajasthan looks beautiful in this. I still wonder about the last montage though.
Get Carter
I was listening to the soundtrack to this the other day, when I realised I had never seen the film. It was good, although I was knackered and slightly fell asleep in the first 30 minutes, which made the rest of the film a little harder to understand. I got confused a little a thought I was watching a kind of English Chinatown at one point, but it got clearer as the film went on. Michael Caine was good, although I never really bought that he would have shagged his landlady up north. The ending was good too, if obvious. All in all, enjoyable.
The Mummy
Eri and I had to find something to watch on Friday very quickly before getting caught by the oncoming rain storm and scared of being late for our take away pizza. We decided on either this or Batman Begins, and after Janken, came up with this. I like this, although it seems more childish than it did when I first watched it. Eri found it terrifying, but then again, she would find Bambi terrifying, mainly beacuse, well, it is bloody terrifying. The most scary thing about this in my opinion, was Rachael Wiesz's eyebrows. What the hell were they thinking?
June:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
I have to say that I was really, really worried that thi was going to be a pile of shit, of Phantom Menace proportions, but am really happy to be proved wrong. I loved it. The story was good, the performances all great (although Ford's speech occasionally seemed a little slow - like he had suffered from a stroke or something), and the special effects were beautiful. I loved the settings and the injokes were all good - I especially liked Mutt (dodgy name but just passable), arriving in his Wild One costume. All in all, as good as the old ones!
Woodstock
I was in the mood for a documentary and so watched this, in its full 4 hour director's cut. It was bloody long. I had forgotten how little of the movie is actual interviews and not concert footage, but what there was was very funny. The performances were all excellent, especially, I thought, Santana's, although I found it really shocking how young all the artists looked, having got used to seeing them these days, in particular Ario Guthrie and Santana himself. Joe Cocker looked, and indeed still looks, like a tramp. Good stuff.
Rushmore
I can't remember why I decided to watch this again. It may have been a song I heard or something, but I am glad that I did. It's another lovely movie from Wes Anderson, with a great script, characters and a wonderful soundtrack. I love the wierd lines Max comes up with and the incorrect racial slurs typical of kids that age. Anderson's usual style is all in this film too with the snapshots, titles and slow-mo, and his use of the Futura Cold font. A really nice film to watch on a rainy Saturday.
Blades Of Glory
Eri saw this in the DVD store and had her heart set on it for quite a while, so we got it out this weekend when she was ill and I had to go out all day for a job fair. I got back just as she was finishing the film, and she was almost wetting herself laughing. I watched it again yesterday, and while it wasn't as good as the first time I had seen it, it was still great, particularly the Van Waldenburgs and their street dance routine that had me in stiches again. The chase through the streets on skates is also brilliant. Embarrassingly funny.
High Society
Considering how much Eri likes musicals, I felt that this was a pretty safe choice, especially as she had never seen it. I have a secret weakness for anything with Bing Crosby in it (even more so if it also stars Bob Hope and has the word "Road" in the title), and love this film. It's not as good as the Philadelphia Story, and doesn't really try to be, but it's a lovely musical and has Grace Kelly (worth the price of rental alone). The songs are good and for once, don't really seem very far out of character/situation for the story which is usually my problem with musicals. Lovely.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
We finished off the Indy films on Sunday, with Last Crusade, my (and probably most people's) favourite of the three four. I love Sean Connery in this, perhaps his best role since Bond. I also adore Denholm Elliot. Makes you think that more should have been made of his character in the first films. It was a little wierd watching it with Eri though, as she had never heard of the Holy Grail, and had no idea what I was on about when Indy goes to Berlin and meets Hitler, and I started shouting "MR BRONSON IS HITLER, MR BRONSON IS HITLER". The new one has a lot to live up to! Brilliant!
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
After the pretty harrowing Jonestown, I need something less depressing, so Eri and I watched Temple of Doom. I've still got a little residual fear of this film from being taken to see it when I was probably a little young. It's certainly the scariest of the first three, and Eri was a little bit put off by that, and indeed by all the bugs, but it does have Data Short Round in it, which is always a bonus. I think that this is probably my least favourite of the three, although still miles better than most other films. Great stuff.
Jonestown: The Life and Death of the People's Temple
I knew a little about the Jonestown massacre, but really nothing of the history of the church that lead to it. Jones himself was an interesting character - his racially progressive views make hime very appealing although his insanity reduces that just a touch. The documentary was excellent, benefitting hugely from the amount of footage and recordings that exist of Jim Jones and especially of the last day in Guyana and the poisoning of the congregation. It was an utterly, utterly terrifying film, but well made and very, very interesting.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
On Saturday night, I was talking to Eri about how excited I was by the prospect of playing the Lego version of Indiana Jones later in the week. It was only then that she admitted to me that she had never seen any of the Indian Jones films. Unbelievable. Apparently, she thought they were a little like Rambo, and so wasn't interested. Despite it being 10 at night, I ran to the DVD store to rent Raiders, and predictably, she loved it, from thinking that Indy was a bit lame at first, to saying how cool he was by the end. As ever, it was brilliant for me too. Can't wait for number 4 in June!
May:
I had seen this before, a while ago, and wasn't too keen on it, but decided to watch it again when needing a good hangover crap film to watch. I have to say that the second time, I really enjoyed it. The scene with the hair waxing is hilarious, as is the "how I know you're gay" scene. Generally funny, and much, much better than I remembered, which was a little wierd. The ending too I had completely forgotton, and watching it again, I realised it must be one of the most inspired endings of any film I have seen recently. Good stuff.
Zoolander
At the video store, we had to choose between this and The 40 Year Old Virgin. Eri had seen neither, but said she would feel a little embarrassed getting out a film with the word virgin in, so instead, we went with this. I've always felt that Zoolander was a bit hit and miss, albeit mainly hit, but Eri loved it. The most popular moments were undoubtably the walk-off with Owen Wilson and the love in at Hansel's apartment with the Tibetan guy and the dwarf. Also, the 2001 scene with the computer never fails to amuse me. Not bad, but a little too much posing from Ben Stiller...and not Magnum posing.
Grease
Eri is a big fan of musicals and yet, for some infathomable reason, had never seen this. I on the other hand, detest musicals, and yet love this. Wierd. My mum went into labour while watching this and for years I was convinced that I could see it when emerging from her - which is obviously nonsense, but still. Anyway, I hadn't seen it in years either and we decided to give it a watch on a night when we wanted something relatively easy that we didn't have to think about. It's actually a little more risque than I remember, but the songs are still great and Travolta is always good value. The only bearable musical.
Ghostbusters
At a barbeque this weekend, it transpired that Eri had never seen this. It makes you wonder a little bit how someone can reach 29 years of age without ever having come across it. It's not just a Japanese thing either - I asked some of my friends at the barbeque and they all knew and loved it - so it may be because Eri spent a lot of time in hospital around the time it was released. Anyway, she loved and the part with the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man never fails to raise a laugh. Wonderful, and reminds me how modern films need more Dan Aykroyd.
Some Like It Hot
Eri and I wanted something funny to watch after a long day at work and went for Some Like It Hot. She had never seen it, or indeed any Marilyn Monroe film, and really liked it. It's quite funny to see someone's reaction to an icon like Marilyn for the first time. She seemed much bigger (boned) than she had expected to Eri, and she liked her much more than she thought she would. I love this film and it didn't disappoint for the second time, nor did it fail when translated into (once again) rather poor Japanese subtitles. A lovely film with a great ending.
April:
I am reading the Alexander Trilogy at the moment and so was in the mood for a classical-set film and not wanting to watch the Oliver Stone Alexander until I have finished the books decided on this. It is awful, and was almost exactly as awful as I remember it being. Brad Pitt looks right but can't act at all in this, Eric Bana is wooden but alright, the big English character actors are all fine but not amazing and Orlando Bloom is as bad as any actor I can ever remember seeing in a major Hollywood film. I blame Wolfgang Never-As-Good-Again-As-Das-Boot Peterson for this monsterosity. The only good thing about it was looking at the lovely Rose Byrne. But even that couldn't save it...
The Rundown
I had seen this before, but it was on TV and I couldn't really remember it the first time, so I thought I would watch it again. Another instance of a crap film dealing with a major world problem )(in this case diamond/gold mining in the third world), before a major Hollywood serious film (Blood Diamond). The film could never really decide what it was and even two pretty good performances from the two leads could disguise a bit of a hodgepodge. Christopher Walken sleptwalked through his role, and you could almost see the dollar signs racking up behind his eyes. Still, perfectly watchable and inoffensive.
Knocked Up
I'm not sure why I decided to watch this again. Perhaps it was after watching Superbad for the second time and enjoying it more than I had the first time, but this was still as average as before. There were still some funny parts. The cussing of the guy growning the beard was brilliant, and most of the interplay with the friends and indeed the Paul Rudd character was really good. The main problem, I felt, were the two leads, who never really sold the whole premise of the film. I guess I just couldn't believe that the Katherine Heigl character would ever end up rutting the fat kid. And that's a shame.
Cloverfield
I had been really wanting to see this for a long time - another victim of the obscenely late opening dates of movies in Japan. I thought it was pretty good. The only thing that bugged me a little was that while the handy-cam style worked really well for most of the film, there were a couple of times when you just wanted it to stay still so we could see what was going on. It is also not worth thinking about how mindbendingly difficult it must have been to coordinate/downgrade the special effects to match the movement/quality of the camera - great job though. Also respect for the almost unnoticeable splash in the water at the very end! Nice touch.
The Rock
I had never seen this, and considering that it was the last film of the legendary drug fiend and hooker abuser movie producer Don Simpson, that needed recifying. I enjoye it, it was the usual nonsense Hollywood piffle, with Nicholas Cage being a little bit less believeable than his usual unbelieveable worst and Sean Connery/SNP counting the money while going through the motions. I did find it a little strange that it became the highest grossing movie of 1996 and most reserved movie in video history. Wierd...even wierder now I look at IMdB and see that Quentin Tarantino, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais all did rewrites on it...
Superbad
Well, having finished the third series of Lost the night before, Eri wanted a comedy, and this seemed to fit the bill. I had already seen t and thought it was a little shitty. I have to say though, that I enjoyed more on the second time around, or perhaps it is just a film that benefits from being seen in company. I like Michael Cera as an actor, although the main (fat) guy was a little annoying. The McLovin' guy was pretty funny sometimes, but (as with Knocked Up), it was the quick (maybe adlibbed?) jokes/cusses that were funniest. Not too bad.
Independence Day
I hadn't seen this in ages, and felt like a bit of pointless nonsense after a day of utter pointless nonsense at work. I can't believe that this is now 12 years old - I remember going to see it and thinking how incredibly futuristic and wonderful it looked. To be fair, the effects haven't aged that badly, although they are a little rough around the edges. It's still an amusing romp through America's sense of self-importance and Will Smith is still great (see I Am Legend, below). The cheesy lines are still cheesy and I still can't stifle a laugh when the English airmen are on screen. Great stuff.
March:
On one of our last nights, my Dad and I decided to stay in and have a pizza. We needed a movie to watch while eating the customary double pepparoni, mushrooms, green peppers and onion pizzas and this very nicely filled the slot. I like both this and the sequel. Both of them are good, well made and enjoyable pseudo-historical romps and both are perfect mindless movies. Looking at the cast, it's amazing this didn't get more coverage, but it is as good as its cast list would suggest. Perfect pizza-at-home-on-a-rainy-night-film.
The King Of Kong
I had wanted to show my Dad this since I saw for the first time back in January. He was reluctant (to say the least), to see a film about Donkey Kong record attempts, but by mid way through, he made me pause the film to explain that, while at first he wasn't at all interested, he had by tha point got so caught up in the evil of Billy Mitchell, that he would be incredibly annoyed to see him film and retain his record. I think that sums this film up really...moving. and. powerful. For me, it was as good as the first time round. A great documentary.
I Am Legend
I was reminded when watching this how much I like Will Smith. I think he's probably the most likeable movie star working today. He was solid in this, a pretty solid film. The special effects were all great, the script was fine and the story was good (not that it was the first time it has been done, but whatever). Even the few gaping plot holes (like how the woman and child got to Manhattan after all bridges and tunnels were blown up) didn't become too much of a distraction. Good, enjoyable blockbuster film-making.
Mystery Men
I had kind of forgotten how much I like this film. The characters are all great, the acting is alright, and the direction is also fine. It's got a brilliant script as well, which seems to amuse me more than most other people I know. Not sure why. I particuarly like it when the Invisible Boy invites the rest of the team in for the first time saying, "Dad, I'm just going to my room with 3 strange men"! I don't think that this film was even very popular when it was released, but I can't see why not - much better than stuff like Knocked Up which was critically and commercially pretty successful. Oh well. What do I know? I'm just defeating evil with the sword of teamwork and the hammer of not-bickering! Brilliant.
No End In Sight
This film was also nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, and I thought it was better than Taxi to the Dark Side, which ended up winning. This was a damning portrayal of the decision making process that lead to the debacle in Iraq, told from the point of view of the people whose generally sensible decisions were over ruled by the idiots upon high. Only a few of these idiots deigns to be interviewed for the film, and he seems to forget most of his errors and denies the obvious idiocy of the few he can remember. Unlike a lot of American documentaries (Michael Moore), this presumed some level of intelligence and wasn't patronising. Very cutting work.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
The sequel to Elizabeth was, I thought, quite a bit better than the original. The direction and cinematography was far superior, and the performances were generally excellent again, although the accents were a little odd - Clive Owen's dipping into west country every now and again, which I guess was where Raleigh was from, and Bess' Australian accent coming out on a few occasions. The story was pretty good too, although I knew a little more about this period of her rule so the inconsistancies were a little more obvious. I wondered why the filmmakers left out the famous speech on the eve of the battle though, their replacement was no where near as good. Also, I am fed up with sex scenes through curtains!
Elizabeth
I was in the mood for some historical drama type movie, and considering I had been meaning to see the second film, thought I should watch the first one beforehand. It was pretty good. I am still not overly convinced by Cate Blanchett's acting, but she was ok. The direction was a little bit odd though, with some wierd looking shots every now and again which I didn't think really worked. The supporting cast were all excellent (with the possible exception of the always weak Joseph Fiennes), and especially a very creepy performance by John Gielgud in one of his last roles. I didn't know much about the period either, so it was pretty interesting to find out about the sectarian troubles of the age. Good stuff.
National Treasure: Book Of Secrets
I really liked the first one of these. Like The Mummy, it showed that people were still interested in historical action serials, and I think therefore is probably partially responsible for the new Indiana Jones film to be on its way. This one was equally ridiculous, and even more obscenely star-studded than before, but also perfectly inoffensive, with a rather witty script and the usual nods to the adults there with the children. The acting was all good, and the story was exactly what should be expected in this type of film. I'm sure that this will be added to the pantheon of films I watch when I am ill and can't be bothered to think. And that is no bad thing.
February:
I wanted to see this to check out Geoff, and see if he was worthy of his Oscar nomination, as I hadn't seen In The Room, the last film he was nominated for. To be honest, while I thought he was very good, I was not sure whether the role was substantial enough to warrant a nomination, especially when Paul Dano didn't even get nominated. The film was ok, but nothing special - maybe something was lost in the editing suite, but it seemed a little like the same type of thing has been done many times before, and a lot better. But maybe I am confusing it with documentaries? The soundtrack (again not nominated, I think), was excellent.
Taxi To The Dark Side
This documentary, while nominally about the death of a young Afghan taxi driver while in US custody, is really about the American-sanctioned torture of (non)-combatants in Afghanistan, Iraq and in Guantanamo Bay. It's a pretty brutal film, with interviews with the soldiers that were responsible for the man's murder, and some of the politicians higher up who put in place the structures that allowed or encouraged the soldiers on the ground to act that way. The condemnation of Rumsfeld et al is absolute. Certainly one of the better documentaries I have seen recently, I wasn't entirely surprised to see at the end that it was made as part of Storyville - the best documentary series on TV right now...short though at 1.30hr.
There Will Be Blood
Right, well, I honestly don't understand what can have gone through the minds of the people who vote for the oscars that could have prevented this from winning both best picture and best director. No Country For Old Men was very good and all, but this is in another class altogether. Fantastic script, direction, acting, soundtrack, cinematography; it was like watching Scorcese at his best. The story was quite vicious, and I suppose the attacks on oil and religion may have put people off, but it deserved much, much more than it got. Paul Dano, who played the preacher was also amazing, and deserved a nomination too. I doubt I will see a better film this year.
Juno
I was worried about this after seeing the "celebrated" recent comedies Superbad and Knocked Up, both of which I thought were really awful. This was quite a nice surprise, much better than those and really quite funny. I am still a little worried by the new Hollywood views on abortion, perhaps matching the more puritanical views of America as a whole. This film was perfectly nice though, the main girl was nice and so was the couple she was giving the baby to, but my favourite character was definitely the boyfriend, who was a bit of a revelation, and had all the best lines. I enjoyed this, especially after 4 Rambo films on the trot!
Rambo
Rambo, or is it Rambo 4, or is it John Rambo? I don't know/care. I have quite a lot of respect for this film. It's rubbish, obviously, but it is also probably the first major Hollywood film to deal with Burma as a serious issue. Will we look back on that fact in years to come? Also it is actually quite amazingly violent. People have been complaining about the level of violence, but, if you are going to celebrate violence as Hollywood has done forever, it makes sense for a film to come along and say, this is what that violence actually looks like. And, crikey, what does Stallone look like! Scary stuff, HGH.
Rambo 3
I instantly liked that they got rid of all the "First Blood" nonsense on this one, and just got down to business with "Rambo 3". No "Part 3" or anything. Great. This time, it was again the politics of the film that were incredibly interesting, with Rambo called in to help rescue his friend in Soviet-controlled Afghanistan, while helping the heroic Afghan people. Very, very interesting to see how Hollywood was portraying the Afghans 20 years ago, when it was expedient to be nice to them. Also, interesting to watch the film thinking of the Afghan freedom fighters as Taliban and then reconsider everything. The film was much better made than 2, but still crap. My favourite thing, by far, were the arrows that sounded like gunshots! YES!
First Blood: Part 2
Well, I watched the first one, so I figured I had better watch number 2 as well, as it seemed that it was number 2 that was more in line with my expectations - war in a post-American war Vietnam, rescuing American POWs. The politics were pretty interesting in this; the producers seem to have realised that simply demonising the Vietnamese was going to be a little much, so they added the extra Je-Ne-Sais-Quoi of the Russian patrons too, perfectly fitting in with the ideas of Reagan's US. The film overall, was awful - it looked more like an episode of Macgyver than a movie, although the "Vietnamese" girl was most amusing, with her selective knowledge of American slang. Astonishingly bad.
First Blood
I think that the fact that I had never seen First Blood (or indeed any of the Rambo films) before, in some indefinable way, makes me slightly less of a man. The film was surprising to me, firstly as it wasn't set in a third world country (well unless you consider banjo-Deliverance America one arf arf), and was relatively realistic. The acting was average as expected - Brian Dennehy - and the script was pretty poor. The fighting and gun bits were pretty cool though, which, I guess, is about all that can be expected.
The Darjeeling Limited
As I wrote further down the page, I had been really looking forward to this for a looooong time and had grown tired of waiting for it to come out. I love the timelessness of Wes Anderson's movies and was interested in seeing one set in India - especially Rajasthan, which I know a little from travelling there. I enjoyed this movie a lot. It had a lot of the disfunctional family moments that appeal to me in Anderson'S movies and was, as usual, quite sweet without being saccharine. The only problem I had was why he used such an American sounding actor for the Indian guard on the train. Didn't seem to have any point, except that I believe the actor is a friend of Anderson and has appeared in all his films. Mainly lovely though.
Letters From Iwo Jima
This was quite good. It was interesting to see a lot of the usual Japanese J-Pop actors (such as Ninomiya-kun from Arashi) being directed by a decent director. (世界の) Ken Watanabe was pretty good as ever and the direction was also pretty good. The scenes in the tunnels under the mountain during the crumbling of the Japanese defences were terrifying - I couldn't help but see some of my students blinding following orders and blowing themselves up (not that that would necessarily be so much of a bad thing). The end was a little messy though I thought. On the whole though, a good, average film.
The Constant Gardener
This is one of my favourite movies of recent years. The performances are uniformally wonderful, with Ralph Fiennes giving one of the best of his career - It's unbelievable that he didn't win (or even get nominated for) an Oscar for this, although as it's a nuanced, subtle display, it probably didn't register with most of the Voters. The soundtrack by Alberto Iglesias is beautiful and the direction by City Of God director Fernando Meirelles is perfect. I also really enjoyed the cinematography of this - the whole thing looks like it was shot with Lomo cameras - so was quite surprised to see so many people on forums attacking it for this. Good, intelligent film-making.
January:
This was a mess. It didn't ring true to me. Maybe it's because I haven't read the book (which I hear is very good), or because it had directorial changes or because it's.fucking.nonsense. but I didn't really get it. The performances were all average enough to make it a Hollywood blockbuster, with all the usual British actors, but the whole package didn't really hang together for me. The concept of "Dust" didn't make much sense and wasn't really ever explained and the whole thing of "in this universe, people's souls walk beside then as animals" seemed very odd - they may as well have said, "in this universe, people's souls float above them as vegetables".
Charlie Wilson's War
I did not understand this film at all. Was it meant to be a satirical look at a right-wing neo-conservative during the depressing Reagan years conducting an illegal war in Afganistan, or was it meant to be a salutory celebration of a Patriotic American during the golden Reagan years conducting an valiant war in Afganistan? I have no idea. I think it was supposed to be the former, but came across as the latter. It seemed like a kind of Mr Smith Goes To Washington made by the fascists. Philip Seymour Hoffman was amusing in it, albeit in an easy part. Pretty disturbing stuff.
The Da Vinci Code
Obviously the book was a pile of badly written nonsense of which the only redeeming factor was that it annoyed Christians, but the film was alright(ish). When I read the book (grudgingly, but one must at least attempt to understand these mass-hysteria-books), I thought that it should never have been made into a book as it was much more suited to a film. The film itself was pretty much exactly as to be expected; easy to watch, too long, good music and deeply average performances, especially from the astronomically miscast Tom Hanks. MOTR Hollywood nonsense.
The King Of Kong
THIS is a film. This is a beautiful, moving, funny, scary, masterful piece of film-making. I loved it. The tale of Steve Wiebe's attempts to capture the Donkey Kong world record from 20 year record holder Billy Mitchell is one of best documentaries I have seen for a long time. It was well made, the characters were hillarious and pitiful and wonderful all at the same time. After seeing two big-budget waste-of-time films in a row, it was good to see a well-made masterpiece. I cannot recommend this enough. I will wait until the deluxe DVD comes out before I buy it though. Need.more.Billy.Mitchell.mullet.
The Life Aquatic
I've been wanting to see the new Wes Anderson film, The Darjeeling Limited for ages now, but it still hasn't been released in Japan (no surprise), so I decided to watch this one again, having not seen it in ages. I love this, despite most people saying it's not as good as the Royal Tenenbaums (which in turn isn't as good as Rushmore). The characters are wonderfully awful, the story is great and the Team Zissou Adidas are sick. I like the scenes of the attack on the island of the kidnappers. Brilliant. The second soundtrack CD featuring all the Bowie covers by Seu Jorge is also amazing.
Lions For Lambs
I was expecting utter rubbish from this having read the reviews, and to a large extent, I wasn't disappointed. The plot was pretty poor to non-existent, the characters all unlikeable and the politics, which considering this was billed as a political film, were so simple as to be of primary school level. I fear for the future of America if their Universities are really as basic as they are portrayed in this film. That all said, it was better than Rendition, and Tom Cruise was (unsurprisingly) very good, especially as he is now very believable as a crazy-eyed, mad-as-a-shit-house-rat psychotic. However the abiding sorrow of this was to see Robert Redford post-facelift. Very, very sad indeed.
Rendition
A film about the vile policy of extraordinary rendition (which the filmmakers take pains to remind us was started under Clinton), that manages to confuse the issue completely. The characters are all pretty unsympathetic, the acting flacid (particularly that of definitely-never-Oscar-caliber Reese Witherspoon), and the story line confused and unresolved - we never find out whether the main character had any relationship with terrorists. The one nicely looped sub-plot is not given the relevant space to develop and consequently feels a little flat and inconsequential when it is played out. Poorly made and a waste of my time.
Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner
What could be better when off work sick with a cold than a three and a half hour long documentary on the making of Blade Runner. I'd seen a few documentaries about the making of the film before, notably the Mark Kermode one from a few years back. None of them had the access to all the main players that this one had, which isn't too surprising as this was part of the anniversary DVD pack. This one, though, didn't stress quite as much, the break-down in relations between Ridley Scott (who, while being one of my favourite directors at this point in his career, comes across as a bit of a wanker), and Harrison Ford. Perhaps time has mellowed them.
The Simpsons Movie
I was a little worried that now that the Simpsons Movie has finally arrived, that it would be as average as the recent episodes of the TV show. Luckily it was far better. The characters were all on great form, with Homer as inspirational as ever. I loved the scenes with Moe, and the Spider-Pig was one of the best things I've seen even in the TV series. The only thing I wasn't too keen on was the boyfriend character for Lisa. There didn't seem to be any reason why he should be Irish, particularly if his Dad wasn't going to be Bono. Overall though, great.
Mr Woodcock
I now wonder why I watched this film. It looked quite funny from the trailer? I thought the cast was quite good? It had Ethan Suplee in it? All of these are terrible reasons for watching a film at the best of times, and this was not the best of times. It was unfunny on the whole, stupid, and disjointed. Another of the films where my overwhelming reaction was to be puzzled by what series of decisions could have lead to this film ever being released. Best to avoid.
No Country For Old Men
I had been looking for to this one. You can't really go wrong with the Coen Brothers, especially when they go dark. This felt a lot more like Miller's Crossing or Barton Fink than their more recent, lighter stuff. The performances were uniformly brilliant, it was guiltily hilarious, and probably has one of the shortest scripts ever, but was fantastic. Definitely the best film I've seen this year...(See below!)
Atonement
I read the book of this a few years back after inheriting it from a fellow worker. I enjoyed the book, as I do with most of McEwan's work, so was looking forward to the film even though I knew what happens. I thought the film was excellently written and generally well acted, though I found the accents rather too clipped at times and I am still undecided as to whether Keira Knightley can actually act or is just playing herself. I also dislike James McAvoy, although I have to concede that he was pretty good in this. On the whole I enjoyed it. Vanessa Redgrave is looking old though.
Pretty Woman
Eri had never seen this Pretty Woman, which still seems a little odd considering how often it is on TV (As much in Japan as elsewhere), so she wanted to check it out after a recommendation. She hated it (as expected), although she liked the clothes (as expected). I thought that all the actors looked really young (except for the guy from "My Two Dads", who is permanently frozen at that age in my mind), and I wondered if it was really Julia Roberts' nipple we see during the sex scene...
Borat
I've been telling Eri about Borat for a while, trying to explain the idea of a mockumentary. The movie seemed to dissapear from the cinemas pretty quickly over here, and finally it's come out on DVD, so we rented it. We particularly enjoyed the naked wrestling between Borat and Azamat Bagatov.
