The Lost Tribe

Once again we seem to agree on:
Angels and Demons and In The Valley Of Elah.
I should look up Gone Baby Gone. I read the book but can't remember if I saw the movie.

I watched Up last week and quite liked it I loved the humanity in it and the realities of getting old. 4/5 collars of shame

Watched The Proposal on the weekend which was nowhere near as crap as I expected. Maybe 3/5 Kevin-snatching eagles.

Also watched 500 Days of Summer which I was really disappointed in. I was expecting something great, instead I had two lead characters I didn't give a crap about and couldn't understand why anyone would want to know what the hell happened to them... 1/5 can't even be bothered thinking of an out of what...

Mmmm.... naked Ryan Reynolds. Eyes to left, engage right brain. Mmmmmm

Have to admit it's hard to take your eyes off the guy, he's manly perfection.

Watched a fascinating doco the other night called Fish! A Japanese Obsession where a UK guy traveled all around Japan for 6 weeks exploring all aspects that the Japanese have with seafood and with sea life. It really was quite interesting to see all the aspects of it and how pervasive a food stuff is within the history of a culture. He even went to Taiji and ate whale meat and although he was against the idea of whaling, he wasn't all preachy about it - he showed that this was part of their culture and how the pressure from the rest of the world was making these basic fishermen seem like monsters.

Anyway, great doco and I highly recommend it. 4/5

BTW anyone in Melbourne MIFF is having free screenings of films at Fed Square every Thursday evening including my favourite film of last year's festival, Still Walking.

Just watched "The Road". Weeel, that was barrel of laughs.

I enjoyed it but not for the faint-hearted.

Caught Alice In Wonderland on Monday. As one of my workmates has put it, "It was nobody's best work."

To me it felt like there were vital bits of story left on a cutting room floor or un-filmed.

That movie just hasn't appealed to me from the outset... Suspect I will never watch it

Wouldn't mind seeing The Hurt Locker, haven't been to the movies since Avatar!

I loved Hurt Locker. Saw it at the theatre and on DVD as well.
There aren't many movies I sit through twice.

Yeah Alice in Wonderland is a bit "meh" for me as well. Think some friends are trying to organise something so I may go with them. Margaret and David gave The Green Zone great scores so might check that out if I can.

Dee (and anyone else in Melbourne) on Tuesday the 16th ACMI has a showing of California Dreamin' a film that I can absolutely GUARANTEE you will love. Go check it out if you can, plus it's only $12!

I'm gonna try and catch The Swimsuit Issue this Sunday, looks quite funny.

I liked Alice but agreed it the climax didn't really thrill as what it should have been. The actors in it were all fantastic though!

Some recent flims:

*Return of the Jedi - wow, I forgot just how clunky it is, ah well, was still good fun. 2.5/5

Julie & Julia - brilliant turn by Meryl Streep and good performance by Stanley Tucci. Good, fun film. 3.5/5

Fighting - quite dull and predictable, I can't stand Terrence Howard's mumbling. 1/5

*Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - fun but not brilliant. 3/5

*The Mothman Prophecies - one of my favourites for a supernatural freaky film. 4/5

Bastardy - interesting doco, he has certainly lived a hell of a life. 3/5

*The Hurt Locker - confirmation that it deserved the Best Picture Oscar and I still liked it the second time around. 4.5/5

C.R.A.Z.Y. - quite a good film but not quite great. Some good performances. 3/5

Planet 51 - so-so which is a shame as I was looking forward to it. A few good jokes but overall far too predictable. 2/5

Tooth Fairy - actually quite enjoyed it, The Rock is a legend. 3.5/5

...and I was looking forward to Planet 51. Thanks for reminding me about Tooth Fairy.

Yeah I was very disappointed. You'd think these people would try and replicate Pixar by paying attention to story, themes and script but too often they have a good idea and although executed adequately, it just doesn't have that pizazz.

Anyway, next animated film I am looking forward to is How To Train Your Dragon, and the Warhammer 40k Ultramarines flick (though think that may be over a year away).

I watched Annie yesterday for what must be the 40th time - I love that movie Carol Burnett is a scream, as is Tim Curry.

The sun will come out! Tomorrow...

Got dragged to Percy Jackson and The Lightening Thief by the kids. They loved it, but I thought it was pretty indifferent.

Curse of the Golden Flower - stars Chow Yun Fat. Set within the palace walls of an Emperor in tenth century China. Largely about the secrets that exist between members of the royal family, and the scheming that takes place. Everything ends with a lot of dying, and I admit I kept watching cos I wanted to find out how it ended, but for most of the movie, there is pretty much no action and not particularly interesting. Quite funny though, how small things ended up being rather big quarrels. Extraordinarily elaborate sets, and they dressed up the women in really tight clothes that squeezed their breasts together and ... well, out. It was really quite noticetable. I was watching it with my sister, and she thought it was noticeable so it wasn't just me.

Moon - sci fi movie set in the not to distant future. Evil humans spewing forth evil carbon dioxide, so some company has set up an operation on the moon harvesting something or rather and sends it back to earth and solves all of our energy problems, yeah baby. They have just one man on the moon on three year contracts (i.e. one man goes to the moon for 3 years, comes back while someone else then goes for 3 years, and so on) to run the entire operation, which really makes not much sense at all. Anyway, he crashes his moon-mobile while driving around outside, and things start to get rather strange from there. The story unfolds rather well and keeps you interested, and the twist ... well it's not mindblowing stuff. But it's okay.

Yes Planet 51 was disappointing but it did have a few laughs.
I liked the twist in Moon Tim, saved it from being bland. Premise was good but I'm not sure about the acting.

Amelia.. just plain boring and bad.
I made coffee, did a wash and when I rejoined P. I hadn't missed a thing.

Had a bit of a movie splurge this weekend and watched Moon, Push, Brothers Bloom and Julie and Julia.

Moon was okay, but I was tired and I fell asleep I think when the twist was revealed. I caught up pretty quick though and I really liked the last 30 seconds.

Push was a steaming heap of dog poo. If you like plot holes and inconsistent rules then this movie is for you.

Brothers Bloom was quirky and interesting and cute. I loved Rachel Weisz, but I always love her. I wish I was an eccentris billionaire heiress.

Julie and Julia was my favourite of the four, but that was solely for the story of Julia Child. I could have done without the whole Julie Powell, vapid blogger, story. She just annoyed me. But Meryl Streep as Julia Child was just spot on.

I thought the same thing. I think a movie just of Julia would have been way better than what they did.

Zombieland - watched it again with housemate, still just as funny and main chick still just as gorgeous.

The Eclipse - such a weird mix of romance, comedy, supernatural/ghosts and sadness but strangely it really works. Some really good performances (who knew Aidan Quinn could be such a dick?) and a very understated but lyrical directing style with pitch perfect cinematography of a dreary but beautiful Irish seaside town. 4/5

How To Train Your Dragon - a predictable storyline doesn't detract from this well paces and funny romp from Dreamworks animation. I'd say on par with Kung-fu Panda. The 3D aspect was good but I'm still not sold on it as something that truly adds to a film experience - it is what it is. Only qualm was the fact the adults were all Scottish and the kids were all American, I thought they could have put something funny in there along the lines of you only gain your accent when you kill your first dragon or something, but it was a very minor point. One or two slightly scary bits for he very small kids but otherwise it's a total larf and good fun. 4.5/5

Dee said: Also watched 500 Days of Summer which I was really disappointed in. I was expecting something great, instead I had two lead characters I didn't give a crap about and couldn't understand why....

There were a few spots that worked but not enough to save the movie.

*Signs - caught it on TV the other night and I still really enjoyed it despite this being viewing number 8 or so. One of Shyamalan's better films with a great premise, good acting and some really freaky moments. I know te water thing is a little dumb but whatever, I still like it. 4/5

Welcome - Bilal is an Iraqi refugee in France trying to make his way to his girlfriend in the UK, Simon is a local who takes pity on the boy and starts training him to swim the English channel. A rather sweet and quiet film, I really enjoyed it. The minimalism in the acting was spot on and the film ended the way it should have ended (thank Christ they didn't go too mushy). 4/5

That was another free film, got Girl With Dragon Tattoo and Last Station free tix as well. Yay!

I enjoyed How to Train your Dragon, thought the animation was so realistic. Just keeps getting better and better. Also liked the story-line. Good fun movie.

Yeah, I saw How to Train your Dragon tonight with a friend. It was a great movie. Not particularly surprising in terms of story - quite predictable in that sense, but it was just done very well with lots of fresh elements and characters. Liked the fast pace, the scenes flying through the air (looked particularly good in 3D), the way that he gained acceptance because of his skill in handling dragons in the training. Hiccup is a very cool name.

Last Chance Harvey: Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Light and fluffy and funny. Great rainy afternoon watching.

The Men Who Stare at Goats Much funnier than I had expected from the previews.

Coco Before Chanel: got bored quickly. Didn't bother watching it all.

Kick-Ass - Great fun, I loved it. While an 11 year old killing people is strangely disturbing, I was still laughing my ass off.

Clash of the Titans-boring!! Not worth it for the 3D or the storyline,

I want to see COTD 2D, but no one seems to be showing it