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Saturday Night at the Movies

August 10, 2008 in Random crap | No comments

Movie Reviews!

In reverse order of greatness:

    Mamma Mia:

Rubbish. I had hoped that this might have been funny, I was wrong. It was cheesy to the point of pain. Whilst not the world’s biggest ABBA fan I do appreciate a good pop song which they were indeed masters of so that made it half-bearable. Some of the musical performances were very good (Meryl Streep was surprisingly good) but some were dreadful (Pierce Brosnan cannot sing). I didn’t find myself wishing for it to be over but I didn’t enjoy it and wouldn’t watch it again given the opportunity.

    Hancock:

Confused. The trailer gives away all the funny bits and then, from around halfway in, there’s barely any laughs to be had. It did manage to surprise me as I had no idea where it was going after the halfway mark as they’d left that out of the trailers. Enjoyable but almost instantly forgettable.

    Wanted:

Surprisingly good. I love the comic and knew a movie adaptation couldn’t compete on a like for like basis so I was quite happy that the beginning of the film was almost frame for frame true to the comic and then it deviated. The plot was mostly predictable teenage boy fare and can be summed in in two sentences but the action sequences were very good and it was well shot and directed and I thought it was great.

    The Dark Knight:

Fucking Brilliant. I love Batman and could have cried when I saw Batman & Robin for how truly awful it was. I thought Batman Begins managed to restart the franchise successfully, interweaving the best bits from “Year One” and “The Long Halloween” so knew that anything involving the Joker would be equally excellent and I wasn’t wrong. Heath Ledger was brilliant but Aaron Eckhart was also damn good at Harvey Dent. 2 and half hors long but I wanted to keep going. I think we’ll have to see it again.

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Jesus Walks

January 23, 2006 in Random crap | No comments

I’m used to movies not featuring the main song from the soundtrack in the actual film itself and it instead appearing over the end credits (see: Batman & Robin, or rather don’t) but I think Jarhead must be unique in that Kanye West’s Jesus Walks is featured in all promotional advertising for the film but the version that plays over the end credits is missing all of Mr West’s rapping. How bizarre.

In Jarhead Jake Gyllenhall joins the marines, they go off to Saudi Arabia and then Iraq and then nothing happens. No really. It’s quite strange to see a war film with no actual war taking place. I think I enjoyed it but as it’s something of anti-climax – which is entirely the point – it’s kind of hard to judge.

So, what else have we been up to? We had a quiet day to ourselves on Saturday with a brief trip out to a local organic greengrocers that was expensive and annoying and a quiet night in watching movies. Sunday we went to Lucy & Nige’s for a lovely lunch and then sat about chatting as we usually do. All in all a nice quiet weekend and potentially the last one with just the two of us. Eek!

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Pearl & Dean

January 20, 2006 in Random crap | No comments

Movies!

A couple of nights ago we watched Saw 2. We’d meant to go and see it at the cinema but I kept forgetting about it so we never ended up going. However after watching it Chloe said she was quite happy that we hadn’t seen it in the cinema. And now a brief review: From a script that was apparently shopped round Hollywood prior to the first Saw coming out and then snapped up by Lion’s Gate as a sequel to the first surprise hit film comes yet another in what I suspect could well be a new big horror franchise (Saw 3 has already been announced). Saw 2 works on a similar theory to the previous film, however although the first had two or three “examples” of our beloved antagonist’s work followed by the main story there’s just the two here, one at the opening and then the main story arc itself. Wonderfully gruesome and taking great delight in making you squirm uncomfortably in your seat I think I may well have enjoyed it more than the first one. It doesn’t come without criticisms though, I feel that as we already know who “Jigsaw” is some of the suspense and twists from the first film are missing, and, unlike the first one, I didn’t really connect with any of the characters (Cary Elwes was clearly an unpleasant man in the first one however he had a family who were in trouble which aided his appeal somewhat), Donny Wahlberg is eminently unlikeable so I didn’t overly care what happened to him. Anyway, I greatly enjoyed it and would heartily recommend it to anyone that even has a vague interest in it.

And then last night we watched Memoirs of a Geisha. Chloe read the book last week so was quite intrigued to see the adaptation. I think we were both impressed with what we saw. Visually the movie is stunning with some fantastic cinematography in combination with the most beautiful locations making the film truly breathtaking in places. The story was interesting enough for me despite nothing major really happening throughout, however on the whole I really enjoyed it.

Next movie to watch: Jarhead.

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King Kong

January 4, 2006 in Friends & Family | No comments

It’s the most pointless movie ever. $250 million buys you some pretty good action scenes, a movie twice as long as it needs to be and no emotional connection to anything in the film? Bugger off.

p.s. Peter Jackson, please stay as far away as possible from the Halo movie.

Edit: This rumour as posted on IMDB sounds much better than the film actually was:

On April Fools Day 2005, Peter Jackson posted an elaborate practical joke, which he posted on a web diary at www.kongisking.net. He “revealed” that they were already starting production on “King Kong: Son Of Kong” and “King Kong: Into the Wolf’s Lair”. Both films, supposedly to be released in 2006, contained the principal characters riding Son of Kong, strapping machine guns to his back and fighting Hitler’s genetically mutated creatures. The film was going to be produced under the banner of “Big Primate Productions”. Peter Jackson has been known to pull pranks of this sort before; see Forgotten Silver (1995) (TV).

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Parks Lunar and Wicker

January 2, 2006 in Random crap | No comments

lunarpark.jpg
Whilst away I read Bret East Ellis’ Lunar Park, his latest and first novel in five years since Glamorama. As a writer who’s only published four novels and a collection of short stories his life lacks not for drama and controversy: from the buzz surrounding Less than Zero published whilst he was still at College to the furore surrounding American Psycho. (Yes, I know it’s a lazy opening to a review but I don’t care).

So, Lunar park then. Written as an autobiography (it isn’t one but does contain large amounts of actual autobiographical text) it starts Bret Easton Ellis as a middle-aged husband to a famous actress living with her and her two children, one of whom is his, and details the bizarre, haunting events that drove the family apart. As it’s been ages since I read all of his previous books I was most looking forward to Lunar Park and it didn’t disappoint. It’s not as hard to follow as I found Glamorama in places and there’s enough a mystery running throughout to keep me hooked and desperate to finish it, as all good books should. Despite that however I don’t know if I enjoyed it as much as Glamorama – it was more straightforward certainly but lacked a certain something that the previous book contained. Nonetheless I highly enjoyed it and it’s easily the best book I read last year.

And speaking of parks, last night we watched Wicker Park. Billed by the Sky EPG as a “tense Hitchcock-style psychological thriller” I wouldn’t have picked those exact words to describe it. However, although I was far from enthralled at the start I actually quite enjoyed it by the end. I shan’t go into too much detail but will say that should you get an opportunity to see this I heartily recommend it.

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“I am a bounty hunter”

October 9, 2005 in Friends & Family | No comments

A semi-busy weekend of painting the nursery more (with still more to do!), my parents coming over and doing yet more work to the garden (with still more to do!), going to Topps tiles and Wickes and also DFS and ordering our sofas (which won’t come till January) and finally going to see A History of Violence today with Lucy, Nige, Jo and Chris. It sounds like quite a lot but didn’t at the time.

So, sofa: It’s called “Jonathan” and is this. We went for the sofa-bed version as it’ll be very useful in the long run, it’s just annoying we’ll have to wait till January for it.

Film: A History of Violence is directed by David Cronenberg and is based on a graphic novel which I’ve not read but Nige has. Two main things to note: Nige informs me the end of the film is dramatically different from the book and the sex scenes are far too “indulgent” and graphic (although not). It was good, I enjoyed it but felt rather unsatisfied by it not least due to the somewhat slow pacing and the fact that I wanted to laugh (and did) at various points which prevented me taking it wholly seriously. Still, of all the films on release at the moment it’s probably the only one I wanted to actually see.

Also Domino looks like crap.

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