I used to think Jack Black was just one of those weirdo comic guys who made a living out of being stupid. I knew he was a great musician, too, but... meh.
Recently, I've seen a few of his films and really enjoyed his performance. I mentioned Kung Fu Panda a while ago, and last weekend (I think? I'm so tired lately, I've been getting days mixed up!) I watched The Holiday, which Hayley lent to me - kind girl that she is, helping me with my to-watch list. :) And right now, King Kong is playing on TV. I was watching it for a while and was surprised by Black's great characterisation, but the commercials started to annoy the whatsit outta me. I'll just rent it to watch properly sometime.
I really really enjoyed The Holiday. Not just Jack Black; all of the lead actors were interesting and truthful and just very good. (I really wouldn't make a good film reviewer, would I? Yeah, this film was...good...) I loved Jude Law's performance in particular - well, I must admit I just rather loved his character... sexy young single dad who plays in fairy tents with his daughters, what's not to love? Kate Winslet was her usual beautiful, complicated, "ballsy" woman - and when I say 'her usual', I don't mean that in a bad way at all. If I ever see her playing a boring, predictable Pretty Girl I will be very disappointed. Cameron Diaz surpised me actually; I don't usually like her in films all that much. I'm not sure what it is, perhaps I just have an image of her as the stereotypical skinny Hollywood girl, but anyway, in this I thought she really shone. I believed her more than I have before.
Hmmm... what else have I watched lately... Girl With a Pearl Earring, again thanks to Hayely, with Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. Both very pleasant people too look at, no? Very nice, too, to watch them get all flirty and close-but-distant and almost naughty. It was a nice film, but I did like the atmosphere and dynamic between those two more than the actual storyline. It would be nice to see a bit more of this slightly more meaningful work from Johansson, rather than the often shallow and teeny-bopper-friendly stuff she does.
I just checked my To-Watch List, thinking I could tick off Pearl Earring (but it's not actually on the list. Oh well.), and realised I haven't watched any of the films on it yet. What a slacker! However, I do have Closer in my possession (Hayley again!), so will be able to tick that off sometime soon.
Gosh I'm tired. And I haven't even started work for the day. Tsk tsk.
Showing posts with label i like it. Show all posts
Showing posts with label i like it. Show all posts
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Friday, 10 October 2008
Chomp, chomp!
My girls are staying at my mum's place, for a holiday, so Noel and I (and Charlie!) had a bit of a date last night. We checked out the new Malaysian restaurant down the street and ate satay chicken skewers, nasi goreng, and sizzling something-or-other beef, all of which was completely delicious. We shall definitely return.
And so, what better way to finish off a romantic date than to watch a movie about modern-day vagina dentata, complete with cringe-inducing sexual moments and gratuitous bleeding penises? Oh okay, there probably are better ways, but anyway...
Teeth!
I'd read lots of interesting reviews of this film from US film blogs, so was intrigued. Noel, well... once he heard there was a film about a tooth-encrusted vagina chomping its way through blokes' bits, he just had to see it. But of course!
It's a decent bit of entertainment, actually. The characters are well-drawn with quite enough (perhaps almost too much) background. Dawn is a devoted Christian teenager, dedicated to purity, who has never so much as touched herself. She has a similarly devoted group of friends, until the boy she fancies reveals that maybe he's not so much into the chastity thing... at which point we learn, in a charming, ahem, disgusting way, that Dawn has teeth. And (cue scary music) chaotic, painful shenanigans commence. The plot kinda loses itself once the chaos begins, unfortunately, but there's enough gore, suspense and hilarity to keep it plenty interesting.
The acting was mostly pretty impressive. The standout performance, I thought, was John Hensley as Brad, the rebellious stepbrother. His characterisation was right there. Not at all self-conscious or hesitant in his performance. Jess Weixler, as Dawn, was a good solid lead, too. She did a good job of playing the self-righteous goody-two-shoes without overdoing it.
Anyway. This film definitely wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. There are some pretty graphic gory shots, although it does tend to fall into comedy at those moments which lightens it up a little.
~~~~
My gripe for the day - why oh why do "Behind the Scenes" docos on DVDs hardly show anything that could actually be classified as Behind The Scenes? Hmmm? I'm so sick and tired of watching the same old interviews with cast and crew, explaining over and over the exact things we've just watched in the film! I don't need, or want, to hear the plot, characters, or setting of the film - I just watched it. When I click on the intriguing little title in the menu "Behind the Scenes" I really do want to see some behind-the-scenes footage. People setting up shots. Actors being made up. Gruesome makeup being applied. Directors discussing a shot with camera operators. Okay? Okay, thank you.
~~~~
And so, what better way to finish off a romantic date than to watch a movie about modern-day vagina dentata, complete with cringe-inducing sexual moments and gratuitous bleeding penises? Oh okay, there probably are better ways, but anyway...
Teeth!
I'd read lots of interesting reviews of this film from US film blogs, so was intrigued. Noel, well... once he heard there was a film about a tooth-encrusted vagina chomping its way through blokes' bits, he just had to see it. But of course!
It's a decent bit of entertainment, actually. The characters are well-drawn with quite enough (perhaps almost too much) background. Dawn is a devoted Christian teenager, dedicated to purity, who has never so much as touched herself. She has a similarly devoted group of friends, until the boy she fancies reveals that maybe he's not so much into the chastity thing... at which point we learn, in a charming, ahem, disgusting way, that Dawn has teeth. And (cue scary music) chaotic, painful shenanigans commence. The plot kinda loses itself once the chaos begins, unfortunately, but there's enough gore, suspense and hilarity to keep it plenty interesting.
The acting was mostly pretty impressive. The standout performance, I thought, was John Hensley as Brad, the rebellious stepbrother. His characterisation was right there. Not at all self-conscious or hesitant in his performance. Jess Weixler, as Dawn, was a good solid lead, too. She did a good job of playing the self-righteous goody-two-shoes without overdoing it.
Anyway. This film definitely wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. There are some pretty graphic gory shots, although it does tend to fall into comedy at those moments which lightens it up a little.
~~~~
My gripe for the day - why oh why do "Behind the Scenes" docos on DVDs hardly show anything that could actually be classified as Behind The Scenes? Hmmm? I'm so sick and tired of watching the same old interviews with cast and crew, explaining over and over the exact things we've just watched in the film! I don't need, or want, to hear the plot, characters, or setting of the film - I just watched it. When I click on the intriguing little title in the menu "Behind the Scenes" I really do want to see some behind-the-scenes footage. People setting up shots. Actors being made up. Gruesome makeup being applied. Directors discussing a shot with camera operators. Okay? Okay, thank you.
~~~~
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Some weekend films
My Noel, darling man that he is, is a bit of a nut. Those of you who know him will cheerily agree with me - but you won't get away with saying it, like I can.
Anyway, he likes to hire a few DVDs at a time, because our local place has special deals where it's cheaper to rent 3 new releases plus a couple of weekly ones. The problem is, he always gets 3 overnight ones, and always M or M15 rated films. So, we have to watch three movies in one night, or else try to occupy the (movie-loving) children so that we can watch a couple during the day without them seeing anything too grown-up.
*sigh*
This weekend it was Vantage Point , The Bucket List , and Jumper.
So memorable was Jumper that I racked my brains this afternoon trying to think of the 3rd film we watched, then finally asked my B, who remembered "the boy who fell in the water!" I suppose you could say it's hard to remember a film when you see two on an otherwise busy day... but nah, it's just not that memorable. The characters were a bit blah, and several of them kept making decisions that just didn't make sense in their established persona. The scenario of the conflict (a war between "jumpers" and people called, I think, "paladin") wasn't set up well enough for me to grasp what the bell was going on.
It was a very interesting concept, though, and I quite enjoyed the first part where the young bloke figured out his nifty ability to teleport himself wherever he fancied... but after the fun of that wore off, the blah set in.
Oh, and NOT good to watch while curious little girls hover about asking questions about people dying and guns and such...
The Bucket List was all lovely and feel-good and Nice. Jack Nicholson kinda freaks me out (how does he DO that?) but he is, of course, brilliant. And whatshisname... Morgan Freeman... I always forget his name... is, too. It was actually really refreshing to see the portrayal of a relationship between two older men. I do get pretty peeved at the general stereotype of men as macho, distant, unemotional types. It's nice to see something different - whaddya know, it isn't only young women who have friends to be there for each other and laugh and do stuff together! Well done, Hollywood.
Vantage Point was another awful choice to watch during the day with the kids up. However, the main comments we got was "why is he doing that again?" and "ooh she's getting ANOTHER ice cream!", as the events kept replaying from the various points of view. Noel got a bit annoyed with the repetition but I really enjoyed it. I liked the suspense-but-not of knowing what was about to happen but trying to figure out more of how or why it was going to happen. I was completely hopeless at any of the figuring, but I enjoyed trying nonetheless. :) And I was completely tricked - as I always am by tricky twisty plots.
That's been it of late. I have been watching far fewer DVDs because I work on the computer in the evenings now (I'm working as an online researcher for the UK service Any Questions Answered), which totally eats up all my movie time. Such is life.
Anyway, he likes to hire a few DVDs at a time, because our local place has special deals where it's cheaper to rent 3 new releases plus a couple of weekly ones. The problem is, he always gets 3 overnight ones, and always M or M15 rated films. So, we have to watch three movies in one night, or else try to occupy the (movie-loving) children so that we can watch a couple during the day without them seeing anything too grown-up.
*sigh*
This weekend it was Vantage Point , The Bucket List , and Jumper.
So memorable was Jumper that I racked my brains this afternoon trying to think of the 3rd film we watched, then finally asked my B, who remembered "the boy who fell in the water!" I suppose you could say it's hard to remember a film when you see two on an otherwise busy day... but nah, it's just not that memorable. The characters were a bit blah, and several of them kept making decisions that just didn't make sense in their established persona. The scenario of the conflict (a war between "jumpers" and people called, I think, "paladin") wasn't set up well enough for me to grasp what the bell was going on.
It was a very interesting concept, though, and I quite enjoyed the first part where the young bloke figured out his nifty ability to teleport himself wherever he fancied... but after the fun of that wore off, the blah set in.
Oh, and NOT good to watch while curious little girls hover about asking questions about people dying and guns and such...
The Bucket List was all lovely and feel-good and Nice. Jack Nicholson kinda freaks me out (how does he DO that?) but he is, of course, brilliant. And whatshisname... Morgan Freeman... I always forget his name... is, too. It was actually really refreshing to see the portrayal of a relationship between two older men. I do get pretty peeved at the general stereotype of men as macho, distant, unemotional types. It's nice to see something different - whaddya know, it isn't only young women who have friends to be there for each other and laugh and do stuff together! Well done, Hollywood.
Vantage Point was another awful choice to watch during the day with the kids up. However, the main comments we got was "why is he doing that again?" and "ooh she's getting ANOTHER ice cream!", as the events kept replaying from the various points of view. Noel got a bit annoyed with the repetition but I really enjoyed it. I liked the suspense-but-not of knowing what was about to happen but trying to figure out more of how or why it was going to happen. I was completely hopeless at any of the figuring, but I enjoyed trying nonetheless. :) And I was completely tricked - as I always am by tricky twisty plots.
That's been it of late. I have been watching far fewer DVDs because I work on the computer in the evenings now (I'm working as an online researcher for the UK service Any Questions Answered), which totally eats up all my movie time. Such is life.
Saturday, 19 July 2008
The Dark Knight
Just got back from the local (kinda crappy*) cinema after seeing the most hyped film in ages... and loving it as much as I ever love an action film.
You see, I have issues watching action movies. I tend to keep trying to see and understand what each person is up to, whereas I think you really need to watch them with a bit more of a broad mindset so that you don't get lost in the details. I tend to get quite lost and only when I realise I'm getting lost, stop and broaden my focus a little, do I start to figure out what's going on and enjoy it a bit more.
Plus, I must admit there was a bit of an emotional thing going on with me. I really wanted to see more of Heath Ledger (because he was utterly wonderful and I just wanted to drink him up!) and I kept getting annoyed when I thought there wasn't enough of The Joker.
So, setting aside my neurotic weirdness.... it's a great film. Like I said, Ledger was wonderful, totally stealing the show. Really. His every movement and sound and look screamed out his character. There was nothing missing and nothing too over the top. I'm trying not to be emotional about it and praise him just because he's now gone, and I honestly don't think I am. He deserves the praise. It's the ultimate Joker.
I enjoyed watching Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, too. He keeps surprising me that guy (Eckhart I mean); one minute I think he's your typical light-comedy kinda guy, the next minute he's doing something really dramatic, then he's off doing psycho comic-book guy. I like it.
Christian Bale, well, he's Batman. What is there to say? Apparently he's one of the hot sexy guys out there at the moment... I dunno... I've never noticed... anyway, he's a lovely Mr Wayne. Maggie Gyllenhaal was her typical cute self. Nothing particularly special, but then the character didn't call for anything much.
And how cute is Alfred? You've gotta love Alfred, and his relationship with Bruce/Batman.
The most annoying thing, and this is something that has been really starting to get to me lately, was the music. As soon as some music started, I thought "ah, composed by Hans Zimmer." And I don't like that. I want the music to subtley and cleverly fill in some gaps and accentuate some great moments. I don't want it to scream "Hello!!! I was composed by Hans Zimmer!!! That's why you are suddenly, inexplicably thinking about Pirates, Lions, and kung fu Pandas!!!"
No offence, Mr Zimmer. Your music really is beautiful. Just... perhaps... a little more variation? Some new themes? Ta.
(okay, have to laugh... I just read on Zimmer's IMDB page that he apparently "plans to retire" for some years after The Dark Knight, to work on teaching and helping young composers. Perhaps he figured out his issues before I did...)
Anyway, back to the topic... The Dark Knight.... yes, lovely. A little too much "action movie" for me but hey, it is in fact an action movie - so we can't fault them on that!
~~~~
*wouldn't be so crappy if more people from around here patronised it and helped the management in their quest to afford the upgrade they've been working on for years!
You see, I have issues watching action movies. I tend to keep trying to see and understand what each person is up to, whereas I think you really need to watch them with a bit more of a broad mindset so that you don't get lost in the details. I tend to get quite lost and only when I realise I'm getting lost, stop and broaden my focus a little, do I start to figure out what's going on and enjoy it a bit more.
Plus, I must admit there was a bit of an emotional thing going on with me. I really wanted to see more of Heath Ledger (because he was utterly wonderful and I just wanted to drink him up!) and I kept getting annoyed when I thought there wasn't enough of The Joker.
So, setting aside my neurotic weirdness.... it's a great film. Like I said, Ledger was wonderful, totally stealing the show. Really. His every movement and sound and look screamed out his character. There was nothing missing and nothing too over the top. I'm trying not to be emotional about it and praise him just because he's now gone, and I honestly don't think I am. He deserves the praise. It's the ultimate Joker.
I enjoyed watching Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, too. He keeps surprising me that guy (Eckhart I mean); one minute I think he's your typical light-comedy kinda guy, the next minute he's doing something really dramatic, then he's off doing psycho comic-book guy. I like it.
Christian Bale, well, he's Batman. What is there to say? Apparently he's one of the hot sexy guys out there at the moment... I dunno... I've never noticed... anyway, he's a lovely Mr Wayne. Maggie Gyllenhaal was her typical cute self. Nothing particularly special, but then the character didn't call for anything much.
And how cute is Alfred? You've gotta love Alfred, and his relationship with Bruce/Batman.
The most annoying thing, and this is something that has been really starting to get to me lately, was the music. As soon as some music started, I thought "ah, composed by Hans Zimmer." And I don't like that. I want the music to subtley and cleverly fill in some gaps and accentuate some great moments. I don't want it to scream "Hello!!! I was composed by Hans Zimmer!!! That's why you are suddenly, inexplicably thinking about Pirates, Lions, and kung fu Pandas!!!"
No offence, Mr Zimmer. Your music really is beautiful. Just... perhaps... a little more variation? Some new themes? Ta.
(okay, have to laugh... I just read on Zimmer's IMDB page that he apparently "plans to retire" for some years after The Dark Knight, to work on teaching and helping young composers. Perhaps he figured out his issues before I did...)
Anyway, back to the topic... The Dark Knight.... yes, lovely. A little too much "action movie" for me but hey, it is in fact an action movie - so we can't fault them on that!
~~~~
*wouldn't be so crappy if more people from around here patronised it and helped the management in their quest to afford the upgrade they've been working on for years!
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
"We all deserve to die....."
... is the line of song I've had stuck in my head since I woke up Sunday morning. Charming, really. :-)
My darling dearest gorgeous husband took me to see Juno and Sweeney Todd in between a wedding ceremony and reception on Saturday (it was a Japanese/Chinese/Danish wedding; they had lots of traditions to complete in that time!).
Juno was cool; much better than I was expecting. Even though I'd read rave reviews, the previews hadn't really appealed to me. But I really liked it. Great performances and a really good script. (Very bad fake pregnant belly though. Oh, when will they learn?)
Sweeney, honestly, deserves *most* of the praise that's being thrown about over it. Johnny DEFINITELY deserves the Golden Globe and the Oscar nom, he's just divine. Just the perfect mixture of reality and craziness and, well, just a stunning performance. Some really scary moments from him, and some truly hilarious ones. And as usual he was entirely, bodily and emotionally, dedicated to every single moment.
I wasn't so keen on Helena's Mrs Lovett at first, but she did kinda grow on me towards the end. Her voice didn't seem quite right to me, but what do I know about singing voices.
All of the supporting cast were fabulous too. Lots of really gorgeous (and scary, and sad, and funny) moments.
And the film just plain *looked* great. Cinematography, costumes, makeup, lighting, all so rich and deep and good to look at.
Oh yes, and lots of blood. Lots and lots. More than I expected, and extracted more violently than I expected. Quite freaky, in fact.
Anyway. Yes, loved it. Will have to see it again and see if I like it as much without all the suspense and anticipation.
Meanwhile, abovementioned fabuloso husband is about to arrive home with a stash of chocolate. Must be off...
My darling dearest gorgeous husband took me to see Juno and Sweeney Todd in between a wedding ceremony and reception on Saturday (it was a Japanese/Chinese/Danish wedding; they had lots of traditions to complete in that time!).
Juno was cool; much better than I was expecting. Even though I'd read rave reviews, the previews hadn't really appealed to me. But I really liked it. Great performances and a really good script. (Very bad fake pregnant belly though. Oh, when will they learn?)
Sweeney, honestly, deserves *most* of the praise that's being thrown about over it. Johnny DEFINITELY deserves the Golden Globe and the Oscar nom, he's just divine. Just the perfect mixture of reality and craziness and, well, just a stunning performance. Some really scary moments from him, and some truly hilarious ones. And as usual he was entirely, bodily and emotionally, dedicated to every single moment.
I wasn't so keen on Helena's Mrs Lovett at first, but she did kinda grow on me towards the end. Her voice didn't seem quite right to me, but what do I know about singing voices.
All of the supporting cast were fabulous too. Lots of really gorgeous (and scary, and sad, and funny) moments.
And the film just plain *looked* great. Cinematography, costumes, makeup, lighting, all so rich and deep and good to look at.
Oh yes, and lots of blood. Lots and lots. More than I expected, and extracted more violently than I expected. Quite freaky, in fact.
Anyway. Yes, loved it. Will have to see it again and see if I like it as much without all the suspense and anticipation.
Meanwhile, abovementioned fabuloso husband is about to arrive home with a stash of chocolate. Must be off...
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