Recently viewed films

[BlueChair]

I was glad to enjoy Ratatouille as much as I did. I enjoyed all of Pixar's features except for Cars, which I found to be boring.

Maybe it's as simple as me liking food more than cars?

[mood swung]

Just imagine if they made one starring Beer and Cigarettes!

The big "production number" thing in Ratatouille made me think of Beauty and the Beast. And not really in a good way.

I have been watching these too long. They all start to feel same plot/different characters.

[StrictTime]

Friday, I saw Pan's Labyrinth for the first time. It was so so cool. (It also helped that I was watching it with someone very, very cute )
The best plot I've seen in a while, with an excellent ending. I can't believe it took so long for me to see it. Just.... awesome.

Then we watched Holy Grail for the gazillionth time. It benefited (whoa, spelling?) greatly from the 'it's three in the morning' giggles. Well, and two people who've seen it a million times and can recite right along.

[miss buenos aires]

I really liked Ratatouille. Usually kids' movies have weird subtexts that weird me out (like all the thugs are voiced by African-American actors, or the Objectivist leanings of The Incredibles), but I had a very good time with this one. The rat horde scenes were a little gross, though.

[Otis Westinghouse]

I missed out (wife went the little fellas, I was elsewhere), but it sounded fun. 5-star review in the Guardian etc.

'Benefited' would be the standard US way to spell, and 'benefitted' a UK variant, though these days spellcheck will tell you the former is correcvt, and so I think this will gradually erode the difference till people do it your way. then we can have the New and Re-spelt Labor Party.

MBA: you'll need to expand a little on 'the Objectivist leanings of The Incredibles', s'il vous plait.

[miss buenos aires]

Well, Otis, a big theme in The Incredibles is how terrible it is that everyone gets a trophy-- mediocrity is celebrated, and being extraordinary is something to hide and be ashamed of. I found this take on things a little Objectivist.

[mood swung]

Well, Otis, a big theme in The Incredibles is how terrible it is that everyone gets a trophy-- mediocrity is celebrated

And I would be on the bandwagon with this. There is way too much I-Breathe-RECOGNIZE going on in my children's schools. I mean literally I can remember saying to my husband as I wrote out a check for a trophy congratulating Eldest Son on being on a team FFS, that this was getting a little bit ridiculous.

[miss buenos aires]

I can't really speak to your experience, mood, but didn't you think it was a little ridiculous that the son wanted to race against people who didn't have superpowers? Couldn't they organize a race for superheroes?

[Tim(e)]

I can't really speak to your experience, mood, but didn't you think it was a little ridiculous that the son wanted to race against people who didn't have superpowers? Couldn't they organize a race for superheroes?

But don't forget that the "supers" were frowned upon and the Incredibles family were part of a program that had them placed in a community where no-one new they were supers. What I found silly was the fact that the son would never allow himself to win as if that would somehow reveal that he had super powers.

[miss buenos aires]

I can't really speak to your experience, mood, but didn't you think it was a little ridiculous that the son wanted to race against people who didn't have superpowers? Couldn't they organize a race for superheroes?

But don't forget that the "supers" were frowned upon and the Incredibles family were part of a program that had them placed in a community where no-one new they were supers. What I found silly was the fact that the son would never allow himself to win as if that would somehow reveal that he had super powers.

I know they were in hiding, and that they couldn't actually organize a superheroes race, but really, it would be like me wanting to race kindergarteners. Why would I even want to?

[Tim(e)]

I can't really speak to your experience, mood, but didn't you think it was a little ridiculous that the son wanted to race against people who didn't have superpowers? Couldn't they organize a race for superheroes?

But don't forget that the "supers" were frowned upon and the Incredibles family were part of a program that had them placed in a community where no-one new they were supers. What I found silly was the fact that the son would never allow himself to win as if that would somehow reveal that he had super powers.

I know they were in hiding, and that they couldn't actually organize a superheroes race, but really, it would be like me wanting to race kindergarteners. Why would I even want to?

Gee I don't know... I actually love the feeling I get when I manage to cross the line 75 metres ahead of those kindergarteners in a 100 metre race

[Who Shot Sam?]

Land of the Blind, a very very strange film with Ralph Fiennes and Donald Sutherland, about an imaginary dictatorship. I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Was the one-eyed man king?

[Who Shot Sam?]

Was the one-eyed man king?

Strangely enough Ralph Fiennes' character did lose an eye, but he was not the king.

[johnfoyle]

Just seen Vier Minuten (Four Minutes ) in a German film festival here in Dublin . It's due for release in the U.K. ( and here , I presume) next Feb. and I can see it being the 'Lives Of Others' of '08. About a elderly woman who teaches piano to female prisoners it makes brilliant use of music to tell a tale that encompasses a multitude of life's foibles. The ending is just perfect. I can't wait to see it again.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461694/


The late Ulrich Mühe from' Lives Of Others ' was in another film in festival, Mein Führer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler (Mein Führer - Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler) . A satire about the Holocaust and the Nazis , it is undermined by it's basic story just being too ludicrous. Even the most rudimentary awareness of WW2 history lets you know it just could not have happened so any dramatic tension just is not there. Good performances by all concerned , all the same.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780568/

In mainstream cinema I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford . Beautiful stuff, slowly , calmly telling it's tale, as much about James as it was about an early example of media hysteria. See it on a big screen - no tv could do it justice. Half the audience I saw it with left after an hour or so , a sad case , perhaps, of Pitt's media image attracting the wrong crowd. Their loss.

[BlueChair]

Saw Juno last night. Highly recommended!

It's the second feature by director Jason Reitman (son of Ivan), and much different than his first one (Thank You For Smoking). Newcomer Ellen Page is terrific as the pregnant teenage title character, and Michael Cera is pretty much a slighter older version of his character George Michael Bluth (for those Arrested Development fans) in his role as the guy who knocked her up.

This film is sort of like Knocked Up and Superbad rolled into one, but plays out like it was written/directed by someone like Noah Baumbach or Wes Anderson or Alexander Payne. Very quirky... very clever... very fun. Great soundtrack, too.... Kimya Dawson, The Kinks, Sonic Youth, Belle & Sebastian, The Velvet Underground, etc.

Also saw I'm Not There recently but since all of my comments about the film thus far have generated little response, I won't say too much about it except for that it is very weird and very cool.

[johnfoyle]

Also saw I'm Not There recently but since all of my comments about the film thus far have generated little response, I won't say too much about it except for that it is very weird and very cool.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368794/

A glorious avalanche of images which just has to be seen on a big screen. The many depictions of aspects of Zimmy end up blurring together , aided by lush photography and , of course , a seamless mixing of music. You can , of course, watch out for the references , as the many aging Bobheads around me seemed to do, lips pursed , eyes narrowing at the screen. Or you can just sit back and let the yourself get lost in it. One of the best pieces of cinema I've seen in a while - I can't wait to see it again.

[Otis Westinghouse]

My love she speaks like silence,
Without ideals or violence,
She doesn't have to say she's faithful,
Yet she's true, like ice, like fire.
People carry roses,
Make promises by the hours,
My love she laughs like the flowers,
Valentines can't buy her.

In the dime stores and bus stations,
People talk of situations,
Read books, repeat quotations,
Draw conclusions on the wall.
Some speak of the future,
My love she speaks softly,
She knows there's no success like failure
And that failure's no success at all.

The cloak and dagger dangles,
Madams light the candles.
In ceremonies of the horsemen,
Even the pawn must hold a grudge.
Statues made of match sticks,
Crumble into one another,
My love winks, she does not bother,
She knows too much to argue or to judge.

The bridge at midnight trembles,
The country doctor rambles,
Bankers' nieces seek perfection,
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring.
The wind howls like a hammer,
The night blows cold and rainy,
My love she's like some raven
At my window with a broken wing.

[mood swung]

You do know there's medications for that, right?

[Otis Westinghouse]

For what?

[miss buenos aires]

We saw Sweeney Todd on Saturday... I thought it was a little too much with the bloody (be still my gut) and not enough with the funny. Has anyone else seen it?

[Otis Westinghouse]

The Golden Compass, which should, of course, be called Northern Lights! Curious that it ends c. two thirds of the way through the book, very much as 'end of part one'. So will film 2 contain rest of book 1 plus some/all book 2? It was pretty smashing stuff. As a lover of all three books, I was ready to find fault, but it's a pretty well handled adaptation. I think Lyra is smashing, the somewhat improbably named (for an English girl) Dakota Blue Richards. Just the right mix of feistiness, smartness and innocence. Kidman is good at being the nasty Mrs Coulter. Daniel Craig and Eva Green both arrive via Casino Royale. The latter is just stunningly gorgeous, and makes a good Serafina Pekkala. Obviously it simplifies huge amounts of Pullman's prose intricacy, but that's inevitable. Things such as the polar bear duel and escape from Bolvangar are wonderful. Took my 11 year old, and he was impressed - rated it above the Potter movies. I've been reading it to him at home. Shame almost to take him to see the film before he's visualised it all off the page, but didn't want to miss it. Nice Kate Bush song Lyra at end too.

[Otis Westinghouse]

A full family outing to see Enchanted. We wanted a New Year's Eve film that even my nearly 15 year old son would agree to come to. We were going to try that Jerry Seinfeld Bee Movie thing, but then the listings made Enchanted seem a better bet, and it was ideal. Someone said to me late 'You took your three boys to see Enchanted?' but it was witty and clever enough to appeal to all of us. I laughed at much of it. Very nice to see a new Disney film that's nothing to do with Pixar et al, with some trad animation and mainly real acting. Fairytale cartoon characters from Andalasia fetch up in Times Square and havoc ensues. Some great musical pieces, loads of wit, recommended for family outings.

[pophead2k]

We saw Sweeney Todd on Saturday... I thought it was a little too much with the bloody (be still my gut) and not enough with the funny. Has anyone else seen it?

Saw it a couple of days ago and felt exactly the same. Plenty dark, but no undercurrent of humor. Not a black comedy, just black.

A few others from recent weeks:

I Am Legend: Went in with low to no expectations because I honestly didn't know at all what it was about. I was very impressed. Some people have dissed the CGI effects, but they were totally secondary in my opinion. Not many movie stars who can carry a film literally by themselves.

National Treasure 2: Pretty much a carbon copy of the first one. Diverting fun, but I won't remember that I even saw it in two weeks time.

Charlie Wilson's War: Excellent. The political scientist in me really loved this true look at how things get done. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is a wonder.

[migdd]

Took my 9-year-old son to see Alvin and the Chipmunks over the Christmas holiday. He wanted to see it on the recommendation of a friend and I was curious in a nostalgic way (having once owned a copy of Alvin and the Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Greatest Hits on vinyl). After reading reviews, I didn't have high hopes. The film was crap and very little nostalgia was invoked until the very end, when original album reproductions were interspersed among the ending credits.

My son loved it; however, and is constantly seeking out Alvin videos on Youtube!