…then I am not sure if you have a heart. Last night I watched Finding Neverland, and truly…I loved this film! I wasn’t sure, because I had heard it compared to Shadowlands, which I really rate. This is the story of JM Barrie – who wrote Peter Pan, and follows the time of him writing that amazing story.
Barrie – played by Johnny Depp, befriends a local family – and so the journey begins…to the most magical place that he can imagine, followed by the four family children, the mother (Kate Winslet) and even his grumpy old theatre producer played by Dustin Hoffman. The script is beautiful, the cinematography is wonderful and Johnny Depp continues to mature into a fantastic actor.
I watched two films today – one I just couldn’t bear to watch – Napoleon Dynamite – the biggest piece of shit I have seen for some time, but hey-ho, you can’t win them all.
So I needed to find some relief after that – and boy did I find it : Cellular. I really enjoyed this movie, yep it was contrived, slightly predictable and packed full of weak holes in the plot, but it was taut, OK on the acting and it had William H Macy in it – who can do no wrong in my book.
The film centres round a family – with the woman played by Kim Basinger – who get themselves kidnapped over a video tape, Jason Statham leads a bunch of bad-guys who go after the tape, kid napping the family. Some dude gets roped in as a reluctant hero (reminded me of Collateral) and William H. Macy plays the near to retirement good cop who gets dragged in. Definitely a good film to see.
Possibly my favourite TV programme of the last few years returned last night. Shameless - the story of the most dysfunctional family in the UK – the Gallaghers from Chatsworth Estate in Manchester.
A new ten-part series starts on January 4th – but last nights Christmas special was brilliant – Kev managed to steal a truck load of meat – which just happened to be contaminated by the Army in a biological war game – you can imagine the rest. Amidst the Army and Police placing the whole Estate under quarantine…we saw christmas shopping, babies being born and people coming of age.
Excellent stuff – do not miss the series on Channel 4.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow – this is a very odd one, even after you put aside all the cool special effects/animation type stuff – the story is very weird indeed. Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow do battle against some evil german who wants to take over the world…he even has a doomsday machine.
What I found strange was that there was virtually no introduction to the characters, no buy-in, and you didn’t really feel like you had any desire to want them to win…however, the special effects are very cool and the whole thing is shot in a sort of semi-animated 1930′s style. Jude Law is a pretty convincing (old school) action hero…and Angelina Jolie turns up as a very plummy English military type – which is very funny. Check it out, a good evenings entertainment.
You are either going to love it or hate it. I watched Garden State last night, a quirky love story about a guy who comes home to ‘small town america’ to bury his mother, and somehow finds himself in love with a slightly strange, slightly weird girl played by Natalie Portman.
I wasn’t completely sure about the film – it had a very slow start…complete with very surreal Vietnamese restaurant scene – and then picked up – Portman lights up the screen, and the guy – who I recognise but have no idea what else he’s been in (imdb tells me ‘Scrubs’) – was pretty good as well. Turns out he directed the film as well…
Check it out – I think its worth a watch – although I don’t think it stands comparison with ‘Lost in Translation’ – which I saw it compared with on the trailer.
For lazing around and doing not very much – I’m off work, so a chance to catch up on all the music and films that have been waiting for me…two films so far this week.
- The Manchurian Candidate – a remake of a 1962 film (starring Frank Sinatra) about a plot to brainwash army veterans into becoming political pawns. This time starring Denzel Washington, and centering on Gulf War I – the film takes a young soldier and has him programmed to become a political candidate. Not going to spoil the end – only to say that it lives up to the original – I really enjoyed this.
- Paparazzi - well, nowhere near as good – a guy, has pictures taken a lot, ends up in an accident that hurts his son (because of the photographers)…and seeks revenge…I bet you can guess the rest.
Yesterday – Arsene Wenger got fined £15k for calling a cheat ‘a cheat’. Recently – Real Madrid got fined £7k for having racist fans giving Nazi salutes inside the ground.
So, I ask a simple question of the football authorities:
WHAT. THE. FUCK!
Just watched the Incredibles – what a great film….I know I’m behind the times but it was such an enjoyable 90 minutes…great animation, kicking soundtrack and some cool jokes that made the whole thing an wicked ride….if you haven’t seen it….go and do it now!
I’m finally back – two weeks in Russia, and then a whistlestop trip to Strasbourg – the whole thing kinda left me exhausted, which may explain the nasty cold I have now. Personally, I blame British Airways for the cold – after cancelling two flights out of Frankfurt on Monday night. I finally arrived home at midnight, just the ticket!
We’re all warming up for the Christmas and New Year thing I guess – I’m gonna post my top-ten albums of the year later today, and then movies…I really must start working on getting the rest of my site together…thats what I’ll use some of the Christmas break for.
This is being posted from inside the kremlin…yes…that kremlin!
Recent Comments