8 Women (2002)

I remember reading a review of this and deciding that I wanted to watch it. Finally got round to it this past weekend (9/10/04). The trouble with Netflix is that there are so many films, it's hard to decide which to place in your top three all the time. Anyway, back to the review. All I knew was that the film is French, stars Catherine Deneuve and Fanny Ardant and a host of others and is a murder mystery.

This film was truly out of my ordinary--totally not what I was expecting, and half way through I was like "this is so funny, and so strange, and some of the acting's so melodramatic, it's almost farcical, (Augustine's acting was particularly over the top) and now they're singing (and then I look at the sleeve note and read that all 8 women will each sing a song as the plot unfolds), and it's like a stage play, and what is this?", but you know what, I loved it! I was even singing along to Suzon's song.

The story is set in 1950s France in a country mansion, and I have to mention all the women as there are only 8 of them. Suzon (Virginie Ledoyen) returns home for Christmas and is greeted by her mother Gaby (Catherine Deneuve), the maid Madame Chanel (Firmine Richard), her grandmother Mamy, (Danielle Darrieux) and her younger sister Catherine (Ludivine Sagnier, the vamp in Swimming Pool, which I didn't like). Her aunt Augustine (Isabelle Huppert) also lives with them. Then there's Louise (Emmanuelle Beart) the new maid.

One of them (Louise, the maid I believe) discovers Marcel, the master of the house in his room with a knife in his back. Soon afterward Pierrette (Fanny Ardant), Marcel's estranged sister arrives and it soon becomes evident that the murderer is indeed one of the eight women in the house. I won't give the story away, but as I said I liked this a lot. It was just so different to what I'm used to.

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Yes, this isn't really anything serious, not going to win any awards, but was in the mood for some light fluff, and so got this from Netflix, whose prices have surprisingly and quite pleasantly gone down! The good thing about this is that Mark Ruffalo's in it, and he plays the love interest to Jennifer Garner's character Jenna. Anyway Jenna's about to have her 13th birthday, invites some cool kids to her party, they say they'll come in exchange for her doing some kind of paper for one of them. Jenna of course fancies one of the cool boys, who couldn't care less about her. Her best friend is Ruffalo who of course secretly pines for her, but he's kind of chubby and nowhere near as babelicious as the cool boy, blah, blah, blah. Can't remember Ruffalo's character's name; I saw this a few weeks ago, and it's now Guy Fawkes Day, which means tomorrow's my birthday.

Jenna is having such a hard time being 13 that upon being locked in a wardrobe by the cool gang, she wishes she was 30, and hey presto she is! She now finds she's an editor of a fashion mag, working alongside one of the cool girls that treated her so badly in high school. She of course is now apparently hard as nails.

The good thing about this? Some of the '80s music, and Mark Ruffalo. If you've nought else to do of an evening, and you want something not too taxing, go for it. Oh yeah, one more thing, Gollum (Andy Serkis) from LOTR is also in it. I think I preferred him as Gollum.

21 Grams (2003)

Brilliant performances, no doubt about that, by Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro. For me Del Toro is an ugly good-looking man, in the same vein as Harrison Ford. Let me explain that. You may not necessarily look at them twice immediately, but if you do, there's just something about them. They may not be good-looking in the conventional sense, but it's there alright. Perhaps "ugly" is a little strong, but "ugly good-looking" is definitely a good thing!

Back to the film. Once I figured out that the director had decided to show me bits and bobs without explaining how they came together, I was slightly annoyed, but then as the story progressed and it was obvious how they came together, I was doing fine. Penn is Paul Rivers, a college professor who is dying. His wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) wants a baby. Christina Peck (Watts) has overcome her wild and destructive past to settle down in a family with a loving husband and two little girls. Jack Jordan (Del Toro) is an ex-con who's found Jesus, and is trying to live a new life with his wife and two kids. As the film progresses we see how these lives become intertwined.

I think I would have got more from this film had I watched it in one sitting, rather than in two halves. As I said earlier, the three main actors did a bang up job. However I found it unrealistic that a woman who had lost her husband and children would so soon after their death apparently come to love another and be calling him "baby", but what do I know? I was also uncomfortable with the way Del Toro's character twisted the Bible, or should I say misunderstood the Bible. Good gritty film. Probably should watch it again some time at a later date.

25th Hour (2002)

Finally got round to watching this (5/4/04). It was okay. Edward Norton did a bang up job as usual, but I didn't really enjoy this film as much as some of his others. He plays Monty Brogan, a drug dealer since prep school, who is going to prison for 7 years in the morning. The film takes us through his last night as we see him with his two best friends, an investment banker and a teacher, his father, his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson), his dog Doyle, and a host of other characters.

I was talking about this with Scott today and he reckons it's Spike Lee's commentary on post September 11th. The message Scott got from this was that you have to pay for your crimes. I never thought of it like that, but then I don't think of myself as a deep thinker. Perhaps I watched it in a hurry, I don't know, with lots on my mind as I am a little preoccupied at the moment, who knows? I must say though that I really wished there was some way he could avoid going to prison, but that would have been totally ridiculous.

A Handful of Dust (1988)

This stars another extremely talented actresss, in my opinion, the beautiful, Kristin Scott Thomas. Again I can't remember all the details, (it's been a few years since I saw it), but that's why we have the web isn't it? You can see that Tony Last, played by James Wilby, will come to a bad end at the hands of another, which is why the whole thing's so awful to keep watching. It's almost like watching a wounded animal die slowly, although I can't say I've ever done that.

Roger Ebert sums it up quite nicely thank you, when he says:

"This is a peculiar movie, but a provocative one. The performances imply more than the dialogue explains, and there are passages where we cannot quite believe how monstrously the characters are behaving. We Americans like to see evil in terms of guns and crime and terrorists and drug smuggling — big, broad immoral activities. We rarely make movies about how one person can be personally cruel to another, through their deep understanding of what might hurt the other person the most. A Handful of Dust has more cruelty in it than a dozen violent Hollywood thrillers, and it is all expressed so quietly, almost politely."

Mr Ebert on A Handful of Dust... Found out on the web that it's an Evelyn Waugh novel. (I don't get out much!)

About Schmidt (2002)

This is quite a sad story and again like Igby Goes Down nothing much really happens, and yet so much is told, if you know what I mean. The film opens with Warren Schmidt's (Jack Nicholson) retirement, which has come because really it's time to make room for younger, fresher blood. Of course he was totally unprepared for this new change in lifestyle and so he feels lost. His wife then suddenly dies after 42 years of marriage, and his only daughter Jeannie is about to marry a major loser. His daughter is too busy planning her wedding to be emotionally there for him at this time, and so he's forced to go on a road trip in a huge Winnebago in a quest to find out what it's all about.

There is so much sadness going on in this story. He was married to his wife, yet there seemed to be no real connection after 42 years of marriage, his daughter is absent emotionally and physically, and he feels lonely. It's like you work all your life, get married, have kids and then at the end of it all, what is there? Out of sheer boredom I would say, he decides to sponsor, and begins to write to six-year old Ndugu in Tanzania, Africa. It is to Ndugu that he narrates his story.

Adaptation (2002)

Adam was the one that recommended this, but of course it also got a lot of buzz around Oscar time. Finally got round to watching it on DVD. Didn't watch it in one sitting, which seems to be the norm with me nowadays. I can't say I really really enjoyed this or anything.

Okay, I guess I didn't get this film and it was too clever for me by half. I think I may not necessarily be a fan of the quirky type of film that this is. This is of course directed by Spike Jonze, who also directed Being John Malkovich, which I hated.

I read a synopsis of Adaptation on movies.com and apparently Donald Kaufman is Charlie Kaufman's fictional twin in it? Okay! Well, I know nothing about Charlie Kaufman, so I can be forgiven for not knowing he doesn't have a twin right? Anyway Nicolas Cage either put on weight or wore a fat suit to play Charlie Kaufman, a screenwriter who is in the process of adapting Susan Orlean's nonfiction novel, The Orchid Thief for the big screen. I only mention the fat suit/weight gain because Cage again really did a good job. The balding hair too was a nice touch. I mean you totally forgot about the reality of the fact that Cage was playing Kaufman, and the only time I thought about Cage was to think, gosh he's convincing as this slightly overweight, balding screenwriter. Victoria Alexander of FILMSINREVIEW.COM. says on rottentomatoes.com: "Sean Penn, you owe Nicolas Cage an apology."--I tend to agree with her. But back to the review.

I may have just watched the film at face value. Charlie Kaufman is having a really difficult time adapting the novel; he wants to do justice to the orchid theme of the book and seems to be fascinated by Orlean. At the same time his brother Donald goes for a screenwriting seminar and all of a sudden is able to pen this ridiculous screenplay about multiple personality disorders and murder which Charlie's agent then raves about.

Meryl Streep is Orlean and Chris Cooper is John Laroche, the orchid thief. I believe Cooper won an Oscar for this. Well-deserved. I loved the toothless in the front detail. If I recall correctly Orlean, before meeting him, couldn't understand why someone wouldn't try to correct not having your front teeth, but it can be attractive, depending on who's got it. I remember that in secondary school there was a boy in the local boys grammar school with no front teeth and he definitely had an impact on me, but then I've always liked the not quite ordinary. But back to the review.

I've just read the bit in the movies.com synopsis that goes "Charlie finally manages to finish the script, finding that in the process, he's incorporated himself and his writer's block into the story." I didn't realise the ending had become a part of the script. I mean I just found the whole thing at the end incredibly unbelievable. Since Charlie Kaufman is a real person I thought I better go and check whether or not some of the nonsensical happenings at the end really did happen. Not to give too much away, but they involved death in the Florida swamps or wherever the heck they were. Totally ridiculous. Did Kaufman have to have his brother killed off in the script/in his mind in order to be able to finish the screenplay?

Of course I know that after reading Adam's review, it will again be apparent that I am not at all a deep thinker and that I've totally missed the point of this film, but as I said I didn't appreciate Being John Malkovich and this kind of quirky doesn't move me.

Along Came Polly (2004)

The DVD sleeve note calls this "HILARIOUS". It's not!

I had seen the preview for this when I went to see "Something's Gotta Give" in the cinema with Patricia and a friend of hers. It looked funny, and I've had it on my must-see list for ages. Good job I didn't pay $9 to see it. Although I have a theory that's still not been fully pondered yet that you really need to watch a film at the cinema to get the full benefit. SGG was hilarious at the cinema, I mean laugh out loud funny, but at home, on the 10" it wasn't quite so funny. Watched this one on a 36-something inch telly, but that didn't help. But back to the review.

Ben Stiller is Reuben Feffer (I don't know why he likes to use these stupid-sounding names all the time) whose wife Lisa (Debra Messing) cheats on him on the first day of their honeymoon with Claude, the French scuba instructor (Hank Azaria). Back in NYC Reuben bumps into Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston) an old middle school acquaintance and starts going out with her. There's a lot of toilet humour, which just isn't funny.

The whole film was just kind of flat. The exceptions? Philip Seymour Hoffman as Reuben's best friend, Hank Azaria's love of saying "solide", bits from Jesus Christ Superstar and that's about it. There's something about Hoffman. Yes he's fat and gross in this film, but he's definitely got something. Along Came Polly though is definitely one to stay away from.

American History X (1998)

In my opinion, Edward Norton is the most talented contemporary actor in Hollywood today. I was totally bowled over by his performance in this film. I'd seen Primal Fear and joined everyone else in saying what a knockout performance he gave, but that was it. When AHX came out I had wanted to see it because of the subject matter, but I never got round to it. Rented it from Blockbuster when it came out and thus began my Nortonisation. Then proceeded to rent all his films from Blockbuster. Actually sat through Everyone Says I Love You, (he sings too!), couldn't stomach The People Vs. Larry Flynt, in Rounders he played a very unsavoury character called Mole. Anyway, my emotions whilst watching AHX went from crying, to feeling physically sick, to sadness, to anger. For me the film was about fear which breeds hatred. Again, rent it today.

The point is that this man totally immerses himself in the character he's playing. He's very ordinary looking, kind of like the boy next door, but he's so convincing in the roles he's played. No-one has elicited (from me anyway) such emotions as he does when I'm watching him in a film. I did a speech on him in a Toastmasters meeting in university. Half, if not all of them, were looking at me blankly, obviously wondering who this bloke was that I was going on about, but it made me feel good.

It adds to the authenticity of his performances that we don't know everything about his private life, like we seem to about other actors, so you forget that his name is Edward Norton and think of him as Mole, (Rounders) or the narrator (Fight Club) or whomever he may happen to be playing. This is in stark contrast to the likes of Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts who always play themselves. Give her credit though, Roberts did a fine job in Erin Brokovich. Anyway I told a friend Fenny to watch AHX, even gave her my copy and she raved about it. She was instantly converted if you will, and Fenny is very picky when it comes to what kind of films she likes.

Anger Management (2003)

Jack Nicholson, Adam Sandler and Marisa Tomei star in this major piece of rubbish. I had not really wanted to see this, but when you go to Blockbuster with friends that don't have the same taste as you, you have to compromise. This film was painful to watch. I was like "why is this going on?" and "did they actually pay people to act these parts?" Jack Nicholson's sheer sadism seemed to be pointless, and so I just didn't get it. (It wasn't of course until the end that an explanation was given, and probably everybody else that's seen this film except Alexis and myself could see it coming. The painful part was that it was actually quite funny in parts, but I couldn't understand how I could be laughing at such ridiculousness, if you know what I mean.

The plot? Sandler plays Dave Buznik, a meek and mild, dormat-type executive assistant with no backbone to stand up for himself, and an aversion to PDA brought on by a humiliating episode in his childhood. Following an incident on a plane he is forced to enter an anger-management program run by Dr Buddy Rydell (Nicholson), who himself would appear to be in need of his own therapy. Tomei plays Linda, Buznik's girlfriend.

Around the Bend (2004)

I had seen a preview of this in the cinema and it looked mildly interesting -- I mean there was the phwoar factor of Josh Lucas and the incredible aura that is Christopher Walken. Michael Caine though, doesn't do it for me. Anyway Henry Lair (Caine) is old and lives with his grandson Jason, (Lucas) and great grandson Zach (Jonah Bobo). Unbeknownst to Jason, Henry has summoned his son, and Jason's estranged father Turner (Walken) to their house.

Anyway Henry dies, but not before leaving a detailed itinerary of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants to be visited by the three generations of Lair, along with old Henry's ashes. At first this was incredibly slow, but I soon got used to it, and actually enjoyed it for the most part. I watched this a while ago (a few months ago now, I reckon, and it's now 26/7/05), and so I can't fully recall my feelings at the time, so this is just another review to go into the database that I'm working on.

On a semi-related note, I really need to get these reviews done in a more timely fashion. To tell you the truth, I always think I want to stop them, but then I'm like, well it would be a shame to, since I've put so much work into them, and then I get nice comments from Adam or someone else about them, so I try to keep going.

L'Auberge Espagnole (2002)

For some reason this took me forever to watch. I probably watched bits and bobs of it over the course of a week or so. I had overheard someone at work raving about it, so I decided to give it a go. This is the story of Xavier (Romain Duris) who spends a year in Barcelona as an Erasmus student, in an effort to brush up his Spanish before returning to a business job in Paris. He ends up living in a very crowded flat with a lot of other Europeans, and finds that by the end of his time there, he's learned a lot of new things and his perspective on life has changed. I missed a whole portion of the latter half as Franco came in and asked for my help with something, and to tell you the truth I wasn't all that interested in finding out what had happened.

I didn't find this wildly great or anything, but then again I didn't watch it in one go. I remember thinking the French was easy to understand and I really should have turned off the subtitles, but I couldn't be bothered. I could totally relate to living with a bunch of people from all over the world as I did that when I spent a year in Moscow, and I could relate to the whole lifestyle that went with it. I especially could relate to what Xavier says when he first arrives in Barcelona looking for where he's going to live. He talks about how everything is foreign now, and he's a stranger but very soon, this strangeness and unfamiliarity will become familiar as it becomes a part of his life and his routine. Having got off the boat many times in many a different country, I can totally relate.

Bad Santa (2003)

Had been looking forward to renting this, as I must say I like Billy Bob Thornton, and just the idea of a different kind of Santa appealed to me, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood. The bad language was just too much for me, and I couldn't get past that, so I nipped it in the bud and put on The Station Agent instead, at which point Silvio says "what's with all the midget films?" (of course I paraphrase, but that's basically the gist of what he said).

The story? Billy Bob and a little person sidekick play Santa and a dwarf every Christmas time in shopping malls, and then carry out robberies and don't see each other again until the following Christmas. Bernie Mac is the head of security who decides he wants to get in on the act. Also painful to watch was this little boy who thought Billy Bob was the real Santa.

Barbershop (2002)

There was a lot of noise made about this film, and not just because of the "Rosa Parks on the bus" comment. I had meant to go see it with my friend Kai, but he expressed surprise that I would want to see it, and then I just decided that we should see My Big Fat Greek Wedding instead. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and I would see it again if I didn't have to return it to Blockbuster so soon.

The film tells the story of Calvin (Ice Cube), a barbershop owner, who due to the money he owes the bank, and his general disinterest in the whole endeavour, sells his barbershop to the local loan shark, Lester Wallace. His dream is to open a recording studio in his house, so that he can afford to buy a guesthouse for his wife, like the one Steadman probably has to use whenever he and Oprah have a fight. Anyway, after getting $20,000 for the shop from Wallace, he has a change of heart. The shop has been in his family for 40 years and it's a part of the community. Characters in the barbershop that bring it to life include Ricky (Michael Ealy), a young ex-felon who is looking at his third strike, Jimmy (Sean Patrick Thomas), who looks down on everyone else in the shop, and is always trying to out-speak everyone else with his diatribes, Dinka (Leonard Earl Howze), from somewhere in Africa, Terri, (Eve) a loud and feisty girl who's always on about someone having drunk her apple juice, and Eddie, (Cedric the Entertainer), who is responsible for the "Rosa Parks on the bus" comment. Very amusing film. As I said, I would see it again.

Barbershop 2 (2003)

Got this out from Netflix, and started watching it with Zibu, but fell asleep half way through. She assured me it was not at all worth watching, so there you have it.

Bend It Like Beckham (2003)

A major disappointment! I've wanted to see Bend It Like Beckham for a long time now, and have been waiting for it to come out here in America, which it finally did. Tried to get a group of friends to go see it with me, raved and raved about it, but only one was interested and then she couldn't make it after all. I went to see it with a friend's husband's cousin visiting from England, although he doesn't rate Beckham too highly, and really did not want to see the film, but he went along with me anyway. It was a major, major disappointment. It's billed as a comedy, but the funny bits were few and far between. It got funny only towards the end, and then it wasn't that funny. In fact the funniest bit was when one of Jess' grandmothers I think it was, said "Jess, a lesbian? I thought she was a Pisces."

I enjoyed the football part of it, and Parminder Nagra who plays Jess Bhamra, reminds me of my friend Seira. The wedding at the end looked like it was a lot of fun, as did the one in Monsoon Wedding. The clash of cultures theme though was not all that funny, mainly because for me, Jess' mother was not that funny. It really was done better in East is East as the friend I went to see it with said. And Jonathan Rhys-Meyers who plays Joe the coach? He was awful - he had on a permanent pout which was extremely annoying. He looked like he was about to start crying in many of the scenes.

So what did I think? A big let down. Totally over hyped. It's a good job all the friends I'd asked didn't want to see it. Charles, the friend I saw it with, had been slagging it off before we saw it, with me defending it. Came out of the film with the tables turned. He didn't enjoy it either, but he wasn't as harsh in his criticism as I was. I know it's not supposed to be some deep study of life or anything, but the ending was packaged in a box with a big bow on the top, which was a little too treacly for me. Yes it got excellent reviews, and I wanted to see it a lot, but in the end, I wasn't convinced. Maybe I'm taking it too seriously, who knows?

Birthday Girl (2002)

Nicole Kidman is Nadia, a Russian computer mail-order bride, who's come to England to meet John (Ben Chaplin). She led him to believe she understands English, but then it turns out she apparently cannot speak English. Come her birthday, her 'cousins' (Vincent Cassel and Mathieu Kassovitz) walk in and take over their lives. This film was dumb, and the only reason I rented it was because I just got a new DVD player and needed to test it, and the other films I'd wanted to rent were out, and Larry at my local Blockbuster gave it to me free. Which is just as well. You think it may be a dark romantic comedy at the beginning, and then it just turns into drivel. Turns out she and her cousins are part of a scam involving sad losers who look for a bride on the Internet. What a load of rubbish!

Blow Dry (c. 2001)

Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson, Rachel Griffiths, Josh Hartnett and Rachel Leigh Cook star in this story about hairdressers. Not much else to be said really, other than it's Alan Rickman, and I got to look at those lips ... (but I digress). Josh Hartnett attempted a Yorkshire accent - it was extremely wobbly, but at least he gave it a whirl. Since this is supposed to be a review though, here goes. Rickman is Phil Allen, a former UK hairdressing champion, who gave up competing when his wife Shelley, (Richardson) ran off with their hair model Sandra (Griffiths), the night before the UK finals a decade previously. Now Phil lives with their son Brian who works in the local barber shop with him, while Shelley and Sandra own the local hairdressers. Phil hasn't spoken to Sandra for a good "ten year" (by 'eck!) and things are strained between Brian and Shelley. Things move along, and eventually Brian enters this latest competition, and then Phil does, and blah blah blah. Basically it was naff!

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Sorry, but I didn't get this. I've never read the book and I probably don't know what I'm talking about, but who cares. Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) came across as some kind of floosie, always on the search for some rich man to meet and marry. What was up with her getting $50 from men to visit the powder room? I found the whole concept of the film rather sad. I've always heard people rave about Breakfast at Tiffany's, but what's endearing about a woman basically prostituting herself with sleazy characters for the money? Totally passed me by, although I must say I do like Audrey Hepburn. I do concur with the general consensus that Mickey Rooney's turn as her long-suffering neighbour, Mr Yunioshi was painful to watch and totally unnecessary.

Breakin' All the Rules (2004)

I'd vaguely read a review of this and it hadn't been all that good, so I forgot about it. Then Zibu and I saw a preview of it while watching something else and it looked funny, so I decided to get if from Netflix. Plus Sandra said she and Alexis had watched it and found it funny.

It was indeed only so so. Quincy (Jamie Foxx) gets dumped by his fiancée, and then in his hurt and anger writes a bestseller advising guys on how to break up with their girlfriends first, among other things. Quincy's cousin (the yummy Morris Chestnut) reckons his girlfriend (Gabrielle Union) is going to break up with him and so enlists Quincy to do it for him. It's so predictable that you can see from way way afar that Quincy's going to end up with the cousin's girlfriend and that the cousin is going to end up with Quincy's former boss's girlfriend.

So not a very good film in my opinion. The only redeeming element was Morris Chestnut's PHWOAR factor.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

Went to see this at Mazza Gallerie the night after it came out (13/11/04). Went with Kayode, and it was good to watch a film with him again as he used to be my cinema buddy.

This installment of Ms. Jones sees her--Renée Zellweger--now with boyfriend in the shape of Mark Darcy, (Colin Firth) working as a "serious" TV journalist, and still being given dodgy advice by her mates (Shirley Henderson et. al). It's all going along well, laughs here and there, Hugh Grant (being Hugh Grant as usual--yawn, yawn), back as Daniel Cleaver, and then suddenly we're in Thailand where she gets arrested for drug trafficking, and I'm like "hang about, I can't take this, are we supposed to carry on laughing?" As Adam is wont to say, I found it hard to suspend belief and actually agree that being in a Thai jail for drug trafficking would be the funny experience they were trying to tell me it was. Call me ignorant, but I've read articles about English girls in Thai jails, and I've seen Bangkok Hilton, and nowhere was it a Madonna-fest sing-along.

Course after this, you could see the plot coming a mile off, with Darcy, being the international human rights lawyer he is, coming to save her from languishing in jail. WHATEVER. I didn't read this particular book, and my boss at work assured me Thailand was in the book, so it's a good job I didn't read it. Of course you know she's going to end up with Darcy in the end.

For comedy, it probably did its job, but I still found the story a bit daft. The Thailand thing I just couldn't get over, and she and Darcy are so wrong for each other, and it's highly unlikely, as far as I'm concerned, that two such people would be in a relationship with each other in real life, but what do I know? Actually, the comedy wasn't half bad. The ski scene was hilarious.

Was nice to see Paul Nichols (the babe) who used to play Joe on EastEnders years ago. He's still sort of a babe, but has got a bit of flesh on his face now. Was also interesting to see Jacinda from the first Real World London (not sure if there've been others) playing Darcy's little bit on the side (or so Bridge thought). The music wasn't too bad either; though not quite everlasting enough to prompt me to run out and buy the soundtrack. Oh yeah, one more thing. This Bridge came across as not very bright. I mean what's up with the duck walk and the stilted speech? I still feel her accent isn't consistent. Verdict? Nice way to spend an evening with an old friend, even if the story wasn't all there.

One more thing. I reckon my theory about Colin Firth and his "no open-mouth-kiss clause" is spot on. Observe the difference between Bridge's kisses with him and her kisses with Daniel Cleaver. Oh yeah, Zibu was right. Colin is not a very good actor. Not a lot of facial expressions. I think he was born to play Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, in which he simmered and did not have to kiss anyone really in that film until the end when he kissed Jennifer Ehle, but they were going out with each other at the time. Last thing. Kayode thought Jacinda Barrett was beautiful.

Brown Sugar (2002)

Dre (Taye Diggs) and Sidney (Sanaa Latham) have been friends since first discovering hip hop on a New York street corner back in the day. He now works as a music executive for a hip hop label and she works as a music critic for a hip hop magazine. He suddenly marries this woman called Reese (Nicole Ari Parker) who is totally wrong for him, but of course he can't see that, but Sidney can, and Sidney loves him, but she can't tell him that. Sidney interviews this NBA star (the gorgeous Boris Kodjoe) and then accepts his proposal of marriage, knowing that she loves Dre, but wanting to move on with her life and find a little happiness herself, even if it means settling for second best. Of course you know that in the end Sidney and Dre will get their act together, but if they'd done that in the beginning, there wouldn't be a film now would there? I could not really relate to this film, and spent most of it telling myself that, and the rest of the time thinking that Boris Kodjoe is much better looking than Taye Diggs, and why couldn't Kodjoe have played Dre? Fickle, superficial me!

Bubble (2006)

I wanted to see this because I like the innovative concept of a director (Steven Soderbergh in this case) making a film available in whatever medium the viewer chooses to see it. Thus it was released in the cinema, and then a few days later, on DVD. I chose to watch it on DVD; a wise decision it turns out, as I would have considered the cinema ticket a waste of money. It was just all very depressing, and I don't think I would have liked to have come out of the cinema with that frame of mind. I read that some cinemas refused to show this film, in protest at it being simultaneously released on DVD or something.

The cast consists of unknown actors, which was very interesting. The whole thing had a dingy, depressing air about it. The setting is a small factory town in Ohio. Martha (Debbie Doebereiner) and Kyle (Dustin James Ashley) work in the doll factory. She gives him lifts to work and home again, and they have an unlikely friendship going on, although they appear to have nothing in common other than being stuck in a boring, monotonous job, in a boring, monotonous town. One day Rose (Misty Dawn Wilkins) is hired and Martha and Kyle's friendship is thrown off kilter by this intrusion (from Martha's point of view) of this young single mother, who has more in common with Kyle, who is also young.

Soon Rose asks Martha to babysit for her, but doesn't tell her that her date is with Kyle, so Martha is surprised, and probably a little hurt that neither of them bothered to tell her what was going on. By the end of the evening Rose is found strangled at her home. As I said this was depressing. The acting was really very good, especially from Doebereiner, and all three leads managed to convince me of the hardship and monotony of their lives. I would say they were surviving, rather than living.

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Went to see this by myself in the new Georgetown Loews Cinema at Christmas (2002). It's based on the story of Frank Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio), who ran away from home at the age of 16 when forced to choose between his mother (Nathalie Baye) and father (the wonderful Christopher Walken) as part of their divorce proceedings. He managed to lead a very cushy lifestyle fuelled by his skill in the art of cheque forgery. In this way he amassed millions of dollars, and also had a lot of fun working as a doctor, a lawyer and a Pan Am co-pilot.

The incredible thing is he managed to pull it all off. The cat in this game is FBI Agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) who is absolutely determined to catch him and stop him. The best bits? The scene where he pulls a fast one on Jennifer Garner, and there's another one where he pulls a fast one on Hanratty at the airport, and of course the scene where he's surrounded by the "air hostesses" is a charmer. Basically this guy pulled a fast one on everyone, and and did it with style. This film is a lot of fun. Go see it.

Cellular (2004)

This was okay. Just needed to watch a film, so got this from Netflix. Stars some pretty boy (Chris Evans), Kim Basinger, William H. Macy and the gorgeous Jason Statham (love the whole bald thing!)

Kim Basinger did a very unconvincing turn as Jessica Martin, a distressed woman whose house has just been broken into my strange men (including Mr Statham), who take her somewhere and tie her up in some kind of attic, rip the phone from the wall, and demand to know where her husband is. Turns out they're LA cops and her husband inadvertently videotaped them doing some dirty cop business, like, oh say killing someone, so now they're after him to shut him up. Pretty boy is the unfortunate guy who Kim manages to get through to on his mobile after she somehow hardwires the broken phone in such a way as to get an outside line.

Obviously this film was never going to change the world, but it served its purpose.

Charade (c. 1963)

One of my colleagues at work said this was a good film, and since The Truth About Charlie has just been released (and I want to watch that), I decided to watch this first. The film starts with a man falling out of a train, and we soon learn his name is Charles Lampert. His wife, Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn), had been seriously thinking about divorcing him, but then, as it happens, she doesn't need to, since someone killed him first. She gets back to their apartment in Paris only to find that her husband sold everything in it at auction, for which he got $250,000, and he had been planning on leaving the country the day he was killed. So begins a search for the missing money, with all kinds of characters claiming it belongs to them, and apparently quite ready to kill to get it. Such characters include Mr Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) of the American Embassy, Gideon, Tex (James Coburn) and Scobie, as well as Peter Joshua (Cary Grant).

What I liked most about this film is the tongue-in-cheek flirting between Hepburn and Grant's characters. A particularly pleasing example is this:

Peter Joshua: Does he belong to you? [speaking about Jean-Louis, her friend's son]
Reggie Lampert: Well, it's hers....
PJ: Do we know each other?
RL: Why, do you think we're going to?
PJ: I don't know, how would I know?
RL: Because I already know an awful lot of people and till one of them dies, I couldn't possibly meet anyone else.

I also liked the fact that Reggie eats when she's stressed.

Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)

Got a free advance screening pass to see this at the Georgetown Loews. Went with Alexis who is a fan of the film and book this is based on. Stars Steve Martin as Tom Baker, a local college football coach, and Bonnie Hunt as his wife, Kate. Tom and Kate have twelve children. Alexis rightly pointed out that there's no way someone with twelve children is going to have a flat stomach like Bonnie Hunt has in the film, but who cares about details eh?

The Bakers (just realised they're called the "Bakers" and they have a dozen kids. How slow am I?) live in the suburbs of Illinois. Tom's dream of coaching football at a large college comes true, and he moves his entire family, against the will of all the kids. Kate has written a book about their life which finally gets published and so she has to go on a book tour and leaves Tom to handle the kids. Moving was supposed to bring them more opportunities and make them happier, but things don't actually turn out that way.

By the way, the girl who plays tough cookie Sarah Baker reminds me of my friend Seira in Nepal. Also I think it's Ashton Kutcher that plays the eldest daughter's boyfriend in a fabulous piss take of himself as Ashton Kuchner the actor. He goes on about how he gets gigs for (in this case) commercials because of his face and not for his acting skills. This is right on target, as I recently read an article about how he's doing a serious film at the moment, but production was held up because the director told him to go and get acting lessons.

Chicago (2002)

Went to see this in the cinema with my friend Sandra and her friend Amy. I'd read all the reviews raving about it and my friend Larisa had raved also about it. Very often those films that people rave about, where there's all this hype are the ones I end up not liking. This is one of them. I definitely wouldn't see it twice. I didn't understand why the women in the death row dance scene were wearing what looked like their underwear. Is that what women wear in prison? Also I found Renée Zellweger's puffy face on her skinny body a distraction - I couldn't help it. I kept on wondering how it was possible to be such a skinny minnie with a puffy face. The best scene in my opinion is the one where Billy (Richard Gere) has Roxie Hart (Ms. Zellweger) sat on his knee as a ventriloquist's dummy. That was good. For the most part, the film dragged on.

City of God (2003)

This, according to the end credits, is based upon actual events, and is, as everyone who reads film reviews knows, the gangster flick Martin Scorcese wishes he had made. The story is narrated by Buscape (Rocket), who grew up in the Cidade de Deus, but has managed to get out of it.

Buscape takes us through growing up in an environment where petty gangsters and drug dealers ruled the day. One such group, the Tender Trio even included his older brother, Goose. Buscape tells us how the Tender Trio started and how a little runt of a boy called L'il Dice tagged along with them, and eventually overtook them to become a ruthless killing machine. L'il Dice grows up and now wants to be called L'il Zé and along with his childhood friend Benny rules the kingdom of Cidade de Deus. It is however an uneasy kingdom, where the value of life seems to be nil and where drugs, guns and robberies abound.

I've never really felt any tenderness towards the Portuguese language, and this is probably in part due to my Spanish teacher at school telling us it was nothing more than a bastardised version of Spanish. However, I like listening to some songs in Portuguese, so what's up with that? Zibu though tells me that Brazilian Portuguese is way different from the Portuguese they speak in Portugal. Anyway I just couldn't stop thinking how appalling it is that life counts for nothing in much of the world. Growing up, Brazil was one of the countries I had wanted to live in, but after watching this film, I was like "no thank you". Of course the favelas are just a sub section of Brazil as a whole, but it was still harsh to watch.

The cast is largely non-professional, and was recruited from the streets. I actually liked the fast-paced camera shots and liked the detail of the spots on Buscape's face which the director made no attempt to soften.

Cold Mountain (2003)

This is a love story about a wounded Civil War soldier, Inman (Jude Law), who sets off on the long trek home to Cold Mountain, NC, to be with Ada (Nicole Kidman), the woman he left behind three years earlier. Ada, meanwhile has her own struggles back at home, and is eventually helped by wanderer Ruby (Renée Zellweger, who won the best supporting actress Oscar for this, and well she deserved it too).

This review is being written quite a few weeks after I saw the film, so I can't remember all my feelings. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and it was somewhat predictable towards the end I believe, but it passed the time. Ray Winstone was also in it, and I seem to remember his American accent may have been uneven.

Collateral (2004)

Went to see this with Franco on Saturday (7/8/04). I enjoyed it, while he gave it two thumbs down. I actually bit two nails down to the quick in an effort to try to hold in the call of nature. I was dying to go to the loo, but I didn't want to climb over Franco and then have to try and figure out where my seat was on the way back. Plus he's not used to my loo-going antics yet, and I had been before the film started, so I didn't want him to wonder what was wrong with me. I must have spent a good half an hour squirming in my seat, looking back to count how far back we were and wishing I didn't need to go to the loo. Finally I had to go, 'cos I realised the film wasn't about to end anytime soon. Anyway, back to the review ...

Tom Cruise plays Vincent, a hit man who has five people to kill in one night before taking the 6am flight out of LAX. He happens to get into Max Durocher's (Jamie Foxx) cab, and persuades him to drive him around. It soon however becomes obvious that he's on a killing spree, so Max has to keep his wits about him, and at first try to figure out a way to escape, and later how to save an earlier fare (Jada Pinkett Smith) who's on Vincent's hit list.

Although it was a shoot 'em up film, and I was mildly uncomfortable with enjoying someone going around killing other people, this was good Hollywood entertainment. Tom Cruise's shooting scenes were loud and stylishly done. A particular scene in a night club where he shoots, kicks and blasts his way to his victim was very well done. Although Cruise was the baddie, because so much of the film was just him and Foxx, I found myself rooting for him, because after all he just had a job to do. Isn't that ridiculous? At the end when he was going after his last victim, I actually wanted him to find her, and kill her, so he would have carried out his mission, but then the better half of my brain would say "What are you talking about? He's the bad guy!" I actually thought he'd kill them all and then get the plane in time. Ridiculous!

I found the ending implausible, but I guess the baddie always has to die, even if his name is Tom Cruise. The same guy that was shooting them down in the night club just falls so easily in a subway train? I don't think so! Unless of course I missed something, which I probably did; i.e. his gun running out of bullets.

Mark Ruffalo was very good as a detective with slicked back hair; very different from his usual slightly off-beat love interest type.

I particularly liked the soundtrack to this film and remember being very aware of the fact that I liked the songs and wanted to go and buy the soundtrack.

Set in Los Angeles shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, this ensemble drama tracks the intersecting lives of a Brentwood housewife and her attorney husband, a Persian store owner, two police detectives who are also lovers, an African-American television director and his wife, a Mexican locksmith, two car-jackers, a rookie cop, and a middle-aged Korean couple.

Crash (2005)

This is by far the best film so far of 2005. Saw this on 3/6/05, and it's now about a week later. Went to see this with Zibu. Afterwards she announced that it was one of the best films she's ever seen, and it may make her rethink Bollywood, since she didn't realise this calibre of stuff was coming out of Hollywood. Not sure whether the mention of Bollywood hasn't altogether wrecked her credibility to give this film a glowing report, but it was brilliant, and that's all there is to it. This kind of fell below the radar, but it got glowing critic reviews, which made me want to check it out.

This film boasts an all-star cast in a story about racial stereotypes, and how we all collide with each other at some point. It's set in LA shortly after September 11, 2001 and follows a two-day period in the lives of various people of different races. We have Officer Ryan (Matt Dillon), a veteran white cop who stops a black couple (Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton, although for some reason Newton's character talks about her being white in one scene, which neither Zibs nor I got) on their way back from a television awards show. He stops them because he saw them enjoying themselves, and he then humiliates the woman in front of her husband.

We have Officer Hansen (Ryan Phillipe), the rookie cop who watches and squirms while his partner is humiliating the African-American couple, seems to be the good guy in the situation, and then goes on to experience his own challenging moment. This is made all the more poignant by the fact that Dillon's character tells him he'll soon change, and his moment will come.

Brendan Fraser plays the mayor I believe, whose wife (Sandra Bullock) is angry at everyone and kicks up a fuss when Daniel, a Hispanic locksmith (Michael Pena) is fixing their front door locks. She reckons he's going to make copies of the keys and get his "homies" to come do the place over. Then there's the hardworking cop (Don Cheadle) who is sleeping with his partner (Jennifer Esposito) and has a junkie mother, and a brother who's in trouble with the law. Another storyline is of this Persian shopkeeper who buys a gun to protect himself and his wife, and who blames a break-in on the same Hispanic locksmith.

This was just really a very powerful film. I knew somebody was going to die, not just because at the beginning, someone's sneaker was lying by the side of a road, but also because somebody has to die in films like these, and I really thought it would be Daniel, the locksmith. There were two scenes that were particularly brilliant; one involved Kevin Dillon and Thandie Newton, and the other involved the Persian shopkeeper and Daniel the locksmith. The whole cinema spoke out, whether it was "Oh my God" or something else. Really, go see this today, and see it in the cinema. Don't wait for the DVD. (Zibu even said she'll buy the DVD!!)

Dear Frankie (2004)

This again, is the kind of film I love. Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) is a single mum who long ago told her 9-year-old son, Frankie (Jack McElhone), that his father is away at sea on a ship called the HMS Accra. This is a lie, as Lizzie feels Frankie doesn't need to know the truth, and doesn't need to know his father. The truth is his father beat him so badly when he was a toddler, that he became deaf. Anyway, Frankie has this map on his bedroom wall, where he traces the travels of the HMS Accra, and he writes often to his dad, who writes back to him, describing his adventures at sea.

Although Lizzie thought she was safe in picking a random name for the ship, it turns out the HMS Accra will be docking in the town where they live (Glasgow, I think it was, although I could be mistaken). Anyway, egged on by a bet by this little bully at school that his dad won't come and see him, Frankie looks forward to finally meeting his dad. Lizzie meanwhile has to confess to her mother that she's been picking up Frankie's letters from a PO Box, and replying to them, and now she has to find a dad for him for a day. After unsuccessfully trying to find someone in a bar to act as Frankie's dad, Lizzie's boss/friend Marie (Sharon Small) puts her in touch with someone (Gerard Butler—quaintly called The Stranger in the credits) who agrees to do the job.

The ending wasn't wrapped up in a cute little bow, but I choose to believe that there was room for a happy ending because of the chemistry between Lizzie, The Stranger and Frankie, and because of who The Stranger turned out to be. Gerard Butler? I'd never heard of him or seen him in anything before, but he's gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. After watching this, I did an Internet search on him, and rented The Phantom of the Opera, which turned out to be not my cup of tea at all, but that's another story.

Check out the "rewind moment" for this film.

Derailed (2005)

Watched this on DVD the weekend of April 15, 2006. The reviews I read were not so good, and although I'm a huge fan of Clive Owen, (and think that physically, he's probably as near perfect as a man can get) I'm not a fan of Jennifer Aniston, and wasn't in a hurry to watch the film. I was pleasantly surprised therefore to find that I enjoyed it.

Charles Schine (Owen) is a successful ad exec who's married to Deanna (Melissa George), and lives in the Chicago suburbs. Charles and Deanna have a daughter Amy (Addison Timlin), who has a rare form of diabetes, and while they both dote on her, it's obvious their marriage has problems, and they're not as affectionate toward one another as they once were.

Charles takes the train into Chicago each day. One day, he misses his regular train, and so gets a later one. He hasn't paid for his ticket, and so a beautiful leggy woman Lucinda Harris (Aniston) pays for him. They flirt and he promises to pay her back the following day. Of course they flirt some more the following day, and eventually they end up in a cab looking for hotels. Lucinda rejects the swankier hotels, because she claims her husband entertains clients there and she doesn't want to bump into him. She then appears to have second thoughts, and a conscience, tells the cab to stop, and they both get out. Well, what do you know, there's a cheap hotel just near where they're standing, so they go into that!

As they're getting to know each other, a very unsavoury character by the name of LaRoche (Vincent Cassel) suddenly appears in their room, steals their wallets, breaks Charles' nose, and rapes Lucinda. After this he proceeds to blackmail Charles, and Lucinda doesn't want to go to the police because if her husband finds out about her infidelity, her marriage will be over, and she'll lose her beautiful daughter.

Anyway, I don't want to give it away, but suffice it to say that LaRoche is extremely unsavoury as I said, and until it's explained later in the film, I found the lack of explanation to be very unsatisfying. I kept on saying "so he's a nasty piece of work, but is there a point to this?" Clive Owen was amazing in this as usual. The only incredible (as in unbelievable) thing about him was his American accent. At the beginning of the film he tells Lucinda that he and his mother came to the area to live when he was about 9, but from where, we don't know. Judging by the "not American, but maybe it's supposed to be, but what is it supposed to be" accent -- well, who knows where he was supposed to be from? Now David Oyelowo's (Danny in Spooks/MI-5) American accent was just brilliant. Totally believable. Danny, I'm proud of you, mate! Anyway, watch it for Clive Owen.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)

This was hilarious. I would never have gone to see it in the cinema, and didn't, but I'm glad Gloria rented it for me and my mum to watch. Of course it was a while ago since I saw it, so again this review is not going to be as on the ball as I would have liked.

Near her 18th wedding anniversary, Helen (Kimberly Elise) is kicked out of her house by her husband and replaced by another woman with whom he apparently already has children. To add insult to injury Helen thinks the new clothes in the wardrobe are a surprise from Charles (Steve Harris) her husband, tries on an evening gown only to find it belongs to the girlfriend, and then gets kicked and dragged out of the house in said evening gown. Terrible!

Anyway the story is predictable to a certain extent. It was so obvious that Helen would end up with Orlando (Shemar Moore), the guy hired by her husband to cart off her stuff--you could see that coming a mile off. So anyway, in the end Helen picks herself up with the help of family and friends, is even gracious and humble enough to look after her soon-to-be dirty dog of a husband when he is apparently confined to a wheelchair, and then before it's too late, is able to tell Orlando that she wants to be with him. I laughed and laughed during this film, but sometimes when a film's funny at the first viewing it never quite lives up to the hype the second time.

Dirty Pretty Things (2003)

Went to see this at the Bethesda Row Landmark Theatre by myself since no one I know is interested in this sort of film. It was time well-spent, and of course I cried. I cried because of what people make other people do when they think they can get away with it.

All the way through the film I kept thinking, "this is not the London I know." The London I know being the comfortable, no-worries London, and this London being the London of illegal immigrants, a place where you constantly have to be on your guard, one step ahead of immigration authorities who will track you down and try and deport you - a place where you live just to survive basically. In the U.S. the policy is more that they leave you alone as long as you stay hidden, and don't draw attention to yourself.

The story tells the tale of Okwe, superbly portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, an illegal Nigerian immigrant who was a medical doctor back home, but who is forced to drive a cab, and work the night shift at the front desk of a hotel. His bed is a sofa in the small flat of a Turkish refugee called Senay (Audrey Tautou), who works as a chambermaid in the same hotel. (Tautou's Turkish accent is unconvincing -- I have a Turkish friend -- but whatever!) One night Okwe finds a human heart stuffed down the toilet in one of the rooms, and so begins a world he could never imagine existed in London. He tells his boss Sneaky (the very excellent Sergi Lopez), who in a roundabout way shows him that he isn't going to call the police and report it since he is in London when he shouldn't be. So begins Okwe's journey, like it or not, to find out what exactly is going on. Here in America Audrey Tautou gets star billing, but the film is really Ejiofor's vehicle as far as I'm concerned. This is definitely a must-see. Definitely the best film I've seen all year. (It's now August). Knocks Phone Booth clear into oblivion.

One note on audience participation. I was sat on an aisle seat with an empty seat to my right, and in front of me. This elderly lady comes in about 15 minutes into the film, puts her hand on my arm and asks me if anyone is sitting in my seat. I'm like "yes!!" She then says she can't see a thing and stands on the stairwell. Five minutes later she tries again. I try to tell her there's no one in the seat in front of me, but she doesn't hear. She asks if the seat next to me is free, to which I reply in the affirmative and then, because it's going to take too long for her to climb over my feet, I budge up and let her sit in the aisle seat. I am now all squashed up like a sardine in a can with someone to the left and right of me. When the credits come on at the end, the woman with the man sat next to me pronounces that Audrey Tautou looks so different to what she looked like in Amélie ... NOT! She looks exactly the same, just with a different haircut and a mildly dodgy accent!

Dreaming of Joseph Lees (1999)

This stars an extremely talented and versatile actress, Samantha Morton. Saw her first in the series Band of Gold on British television, in which she played a prostitute in the north of England. It was a kind of gritty murder mystery thing, but with substance and heart. That was an extremely gripping mini series but that's another topic altogether.

Basically Eva (Morton) dreams constantly of her cousin Joseph Lees, whom she loves. Joseph Lees went off to Italy where he lost a leg following a quarry accident whilst working as a geologist there, but this only fuels her love further. Funnily enough, Rupert Graves, who plays Joseph Lees, was also in A Handful of Dust, although he was infinitely more likeable in Joseph Lees.

Meanwhile, Harry Flyte (Lee Ross) is very keen on her and she delights in his attentions, although of course pretending not to. Harry loves her madly and would marry her but she wants nothing of it, as she's still dreaming of Joseph Lees. She moves in with him however (I found this point hard to believe as this was in 1950's England, but then I wasn't around back then, so what do I know?), and settles for second best until she meets Joseph again. Only this time she's older and he takes her more seriously. Then her love was probably to him nothing more than a school girl crush, but now it's definitely requited.

I won't give it away, but you know she can't have her cake and eat it. The end was awfully clear to me, although others even more romantic than myself may choose to give it a different ending, but that would be stretching it a bit. Moral of this tale for me? You can't have your cake and eat it, and never, ever, ever settle for second best, because once you do, the best will come along and inevitably it'll be too late. I could see that nothing good would come of the film a mile off, but still I had to watch it. Watch it and feel down for the rest of the day. Awful story but gripping stuff.

Enduring Love (2004)

Watched this on DVD on 6/5/05. I had wanted to see it in the cinema, but as happens a lot with me nowadays, I never got round to it. The fact that it's with Daniel Craig and Samantha Morton was what initially drew me to it.

The story starts with a fatal accident involving a hot air balloon, which shatters an idyllic Champagne picnic in the English countryside. Joe and Jed (Rhys Ifans) are among the men who tried to help bring the balloon down. Back in London Jed begins popping up all over the place pleading with Joe to admit to what they share. At first you think maybe he wants to talk about the experience as it must have been quite traumatic, but then you realise this guy is slightly off his rocker. Joe, for his part, is going through feelings of guilt and Jed is not making it any better. Claire (Morton), Joe's live-in girlfriend doesn't really quite understand what Joe's going through as he doesn't share a whole lot with her. She suggests he sees a therapist to talk him through the whole thing, but he refuses.

Anyway Jed is obsessed with Joe, and begins stalking him. We see Joe and Claire's relationship deteriorate as Jed's stalking escalates. All throughout the film I was asking myself why Joe didn't just call the police and get some kind of restraining order against Jed, but where's the fun in that, eh? Also at one point I thought maybe Jed was a figment of Joe's imagination, and that it would be like The Sixth Sense, where only he was seeing Jed.

There is one scene near the end where my jaw dropped and my mouth stayed open for a LONG TIME! I totally did not see that coming. I enjoyed this. It was one of those little films where nothing really happens.

Enigma (2002)

All the way through this, I was like, who is this guy? Is it Colin Farrell - doesn't look like him, but maybe it is. Turns out it was (of course) Dougray Scott, and I could have looked on the VHS sleeve for that!

Anyway, Tom Jericho (Scott) has been called back to Bletchley Park, in Hertfordshire, England, to work on Enigma, the unbreakable system used by the Germans during WWII. The problem this time is that the Nazis have changed the code key for the Enigma machine. The gist of Enigma is that messages are sent in plain text and then made into gobble-de-gook, and then converted back into plain text to be deciphered. It would take literally thousands of years to go through every setting to find the one that turns the code back into plain text, but Jericho cracked it before. Now he and the other codebreakers have to do it again before the Germans suss out where the Allied submarine convoy is. (I think!) Meanwhile his ex-girlfriend Claire Romilly (Saffron Burrows), due to whom he suffered a nervous breakdown, has disappeared in very dodgy circumstances. Turns out the German machine is not the only enigma to be solved! Claire's flat mate Hester Wallace (Kate Winslet, looking very plain here) helps him (reluctantly at first), try to find her. They also have to dodge Wigram (Jeremy Northam) of Army Intelligence. Based on the novel by Robert Harris.

Enough (2002)

The title says it all! This is just another formulaic chick revenge flick, in which chick meets and falls in love with guy, marries guy, lives in marital bliss for a while, has a child, finds out guy is cheating on her, guy starts beating her up, chick escapes with child, guy sends heavies in hot pursuit, chick assumes an alias, chick moves from place to place, chick eventually wakes up, goes to the gym for some one-on-one kickboxing training, breaks into guy's house, and kicks his butt, after which guy conveniently dies (as chick couldn't bring herself to kill him) when he falls over banister into glass table below. In this case, chick is Jennifer Lopez (wake up Ben!), guy is Billy Campbell, delightful child is Tessa Allen, guy's bad buddy is ER's Dr Carter (Noah Wyle).

I found it particularly annoying that whoever wrote this tripe failed to say why guy chooses this particular chick to torment. I mean even Dr Carter asks him why he chose her and why he married her. More baffling still was why Dr Carter would leave the ER where he is most appreciated, and come and act as a baddie during his Summer break!! Most memorable moments? When Gracie (delightful child who has been told by chick that she can make up a new name for herself) tells her new teacher her name is "Queen Elizabeth", and when chick calls guy on his phone, and guy asks "Is this my little croissant?" ('cos he thinks it's his French bit on the side) and chick snaps "no, it's your loaf of bread." Forget about "enough", my question at the end was "why?"

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

This got good reviews and everyone who's seen it appears to have thought it brilliant, so I rented it from Hollywood as the Neftlix queue would have had me waiting forever. I of course don't really enjoy hyped films for the most part; this one being no exception. Well, okay, maybe that's a bit harsh. I did enjoy it, but I'm not about to start raving about it.

Joel (Jim Carrey, who did a good job, as did English Rose Kate) meets Clementine (Winslet), a wild child type with a penchant for bright hair dye, and they start dating. Then at some point Clementine decides she's had enough of the relationship and goes to this doctor (Tom Wilkinson) to have all memories of their relationship erased. Poor Joel finds out the hard way. Clementine has now moved on to Patrick (Elijah Wood), one of the technicians involved in the memory erasing. The interesting thing about this film is that although Joel and Clementine know how their relationship is going to end, they decide to go through with it anyway. Also interesting is how in the process of erasing his memories of their relationship, Joel begins fighting to retain them after a while.

The message? Who knows? Love comes with ups and downs and is worth something because it's not rosy all the time? It's good 'cos it's bittersweet? Adam reckons I'm "down with love" and that's why I didn't enjoy it. Not true of course! Also stars Kirsten Dunst and Mark Ruffalo.

Facing Windows (La Finestra di Fronte) (2003)

I saw a preview of this and had been interested in seeing it. The story starts with a stabbing in a bakery in 1940s Rome and then moves to the present day. There was no dialogue or any subtitles in the beginning, and for a second I thought there was something wrong with my DVD player. It is only towards the end of the film that we are given an explanation for the stabbing that takes place in the beginning.

Cut to the present day and Giovanna (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) is walking with her husband Filippo (Filippo Nigro), when he comes across an elderly man (Massimo Girotti) who appears to be lost and can't remember his name. Giovanna and Filippo have two children and problems of their own; she's stuck working as an accountant in a chicken factory, while she'd rather be a pastry chef, and he's stuck in a cycle of night shift jobs from which he keeps getting fired. Despite this Simone (who later turns out to be renowned chef Davide Veroli), stays with them for a while, and it transpires that he's a concentration camp survivor with a story of his own. His story of a passionate but secret love affair somewhat mirrors that of Giovanna and her neighbour Lorenzo (Raoul Bova) across the street, as she re-evaluates her life. She is encouraged to pursue something with Lorenzo by her best friend Emine (Serra Yilmaz).

This film was okay; nothing brilliant, but I enjoyed watching it. Mezzogiorno was mesmerizing and sort of reminded me of Frank's girlfriend Maria Teresa. Bova in his designer glasses and dark hair looked a little too contrived for my liking, while Nigro was bald and hot. Love those bald blokes!! Joking aside though, I especially loved the soundtrack. Like Nowhere in Africa there was this recurring music that was so beautiful, and I have to look for the soundtrack.

Failure to Launch (2006)

Watched this on the evening of Easter Sunday (16/4/06) with Alexis, who I have to note, had stood me up on at least two previous occasions when we were supposed to go see this film. She loves Sarah Jessica Parker, and 10 minutes into the film, declares that this is so a DVD film. I took that to mean it's a "wait for the DVD" kind of film, but no, she meant she's going to run out and buy the DVD when it comes out. There were about ten people in the cinema. The other eight were of the male/female variety.

Anyway, this is a rom-com. Nothing great, but a good way to pass an evening. It had its funny moments, and the story was an interesting one. Matthew McConaughey is Tripp, a thirty-five-year-old boat broker who still lives at home with his parents Sue (Kathy Bates) and Al (Terry Bradshaw). His mother does his laundry, makes his bed, and leaves little notes for herself to remember to buy more Doritos for her son. Tripp is a good looking guy, and when whatever girl he's dating happens to start getting serious on him, he takes her home after a date, where she finds out he still lives with mommy and daddy.

Sue and Al find out that the son of a friend of their's finally moved out after they hired an interventionist by the name of Paula (SJP), so they do the same. Only you know Paula's going to fall for Tripp eventually don't you, and you know after Tripp finds out he's been deceived, he's going to sulk, and his manly pride is going to be hurt, and you think it won't work out, but you know it will in the end? After all, it is a rom-com isn't it? Tripp has two friends, Ace (Justin Bartha) and Demo (Bradley Cooper), who share his love for extreme sports like mountain biking, rock climbing and paintball. My kind of man!! By the way, Bradley Cooper is way hotter than Matthew McConaughey in this, and Justin Bartha was much cuter in National Treasure, and I can be superficial, because, as I said, it's a rom-com. Zooey Deschanel as Kit, Paula's flatmate is funny too. In fact, everyone in this film is a little quirky, which adds to the appeal.

The Fighting Temptations (2003)

Music was good. Casting was bad. Plot was thin. Cuba Gooding Jr. looked like he could be Beyoncé Knowles' older brother, if not her father! Went with three female friends, the object of the outing being to spend time with said friends. Mission Accomplished!

Fear and Trembling (Stupeur et Tremblements) (2005)

This was based on a novel by Amélie Nothomb, and after watching the film, it crossed my mind that I might want to read the book at some point. Amélie was born in Japan, but left at the age of 5 to go back to Belgium with her family. Years later, as a young woman, her dream comes true when she lands a one-year contract as a translator for a large corporation.

This film shows the vast difference between Western corporate culture and that of Japan, as well as the role of women vs men in the workplace. Amélie is treated like a second class citizen, not just because she's a woman, but also because she's a foreigner. Her immediate supervisor is a beautiful woman called Fubuki; in fact so beautiful is Fubuki that Amélie regularly passes away the time just staring at her.

Some of the ridiculous things she has to go through include being severely reprimanded for speaking Japanese while serving tea at a board meeting, photocopying over and over and over again a golf club manual, translating over and over again a letter for her male boss, who delights in immediately throwing said translation in the bin. It's not enough that her male boss humiliates her in this way, but Fubuki also seeks to do the same after it appears Amélie wants to upset the status quo around the office. Fubuki had to wait her turn to get as far as she has, and she punishes Amélie for not sticking to the rules. And yet Amélie doesn't complain, but cheerfully gets to work on the increasingly absurd and downright preposterous tasks she's assigned. Any normal person would have quit, but Amélie resolves to stick it out for the duration of her contract.

I enjoyed the film, but think it's a shame if the office culture portrayed in it is a true reflection of life as a foreigner in corporate Japan.

Finding Neverland (2004)

Enjoyed this immensely. It was a nice little story as I like to call it; inspired by true events, and tells the story of how J. M. Barrie got inspiration to write the play Peter Pan.

Johnny Depp was very good as James Barrie, a successful playwright, stuck in a dull and passionless marriage with his wife Mary (Radha Mitchell). One day he meets the Llewelyn-Davies family in Kensington Park I think it is, befriends the boys and their mother Sylvia (Kate Winslet), and begins to spend an awful lot of time with them, to the detriment and eventual demise of his own marriage.

The story just seemed so innocent; Barrie meets family, everything's platonic, he's not cheating on his wife, he's getting inspiration for a new play. While it can't have been much fun for his wife to watch him connecting with another woman's family, I understood the joy that he brought to this family who'd lost their father.

It's fascinating to read the real story and to realise that the film only just touched the surface. Omitted from the film were such details as Sylvia's husband, who was still alive when Barrie met them, rumours of paedophilia (raised briefly in the film, and then dismissed just as quickly), and the charge that Barrie forged Sylvia's will to include him as the boys' guardian. Peter eventually came to resent Barrie, ended up a heavy drinker and eventually threw himself under a tube train and killed himself.

Also enjoyed Julie Christie's performance as Sylvia's mother, Mrs. Emma du Maurier. She appeared harsh and unyielding, but she was only looking out for her widowed daughter and grandchildren. I don't believe I ever read Peter Pan when I was little, so I'm not too familiar with J.M. Barrie or his life.

Flightplan (2005)

This was okay. It was girl beats up boy kind of stuff in the vein of "Red Eye", which I also saw with my mum. Saw this one sometime Sep/Oct 2005.

Jodie Foster is always a good reason to go to the cinema, so I wasn't expecting to come away displeased or anything. She plays Kyle Pratt, an avionics engineer who at the beginning of the film has to leave Berlin with her young daughter Julia (Marlene Lawson), following the unexpected suicide of her husband. She is in fact accompanying the body of her husband home. Said body is in the aeroplane's cargo of course.

In the middle of the flight Julia disappears and so Kyle starts asking the passengers around her if they've seen her, and starts looking for her. She begins to panic when no-one seems to remember having seen her board the flight. This includes the captain (Sean Bean), and the Air Marshall (the lovely Peter Sarsgaard). SPOILER ALERT!! Now I had read that the plot was that it was maybe a flight attendant who was behind everything, so I was looking for that twist, but I didn't know it was going to be Sarsgaard.

Once the culprit was revealed, it became a little implausible, but it's only a Hollywood film, so it's allowed a fair measure of suspension of belief, although, on a tangent, the measure to which the audience is asked to suspend belief in War of the Worlds is beyond what you could call fair. I ask you--telling us to believe Boston was somehow spared the tripod invaders. Foster did a good job. I actually was thinking maybe her daughter didn't really get on the plane, although of course I saw her get on it.

One more thing about this film. There's this actress who plays a flight attendant, who was the psycho girl in "Swim Fan". Don't know her name, don't care to look it up, but her acting is so rigid it's unbelievable. When asked if she remembers seeing Julia, she would look really suspicious, like she had something to hide, which doesn't make sense as she was not in on the plot, so I'll just put it down to atrocious acting, which suits me fine.

Friday Night Lights (2004)

Saw a preview, looked okay, didn't fancy staying in, Franco wanted to see it, so went with him on the opening night (8/10/04). This is based on a novel by H. G. Bissinger about the Odessa Permian High Panther's 1988 football season. It stars Billy Bob Thornton as Coach Gaines and a slew of young ones headed by Derek Luke as Boobie Miles, Lucas Black as Mike Winchell, Garrett Hedlund as Don Billingsley, and Jay Hernandez as Brian Chavez. It also stars Tim McGraw (I knew the guy looked familiar) as the alcholic ex-high school state champion father of Billingsley.

I'm not a fan of American football and had never even heard of these people. In fact for most of the film I was thinking how I totally could not relate to living and breathing football as the whole flippin' town did! I even had to ask Franco in the beginning if this was a college team, as they took it all so seriously. The whole town's football crazy, and both the players and the coach have the added pressure of all and sundry coming up to them off the field and talking about how much they all need them to win the state championship this year.

So anyway the story is that they are past state champions and really need to win this one. You've got the quarterback Mike Winchell who doesn't really love the game or anything, but is playing because his mother pushes him so. You've got James "Boobie" Miles the runningback who loves the game, and loves to prance and preen. Then you've got Don Billingsley, the something or other, whose father was a state champion and never stops giving him aggro for always fumbling with the ball and dropping it. (I've probably got all the positions wrong, but they're all the same to me anyway, so what care I?) I was thinking they had to win the championships, otherwise why make the film (this is Hollywood after all!), but they didn't win it, and the world didn't come to an end. They went on to do other things and made successes of their lives without football.

This was a good way to pass time on a Friday night. The crowd was obviously a football crowd; I mean they were cheering and clapping and all sorts. There was this whole row of about 10 year old boys with their red football shirts on who their father/coach/whomever had to keep ssssh-ing. The film quality was rather grainy--I think that was intentional. In fact so grainy was it that it looked like an amateur had put it together to me at times, especially during the non-football sequences, but I probably don't know what I'm talking about. I left wondering why anyone would want to play such a violent game, which was glorified by the loud music and multiple thumps and bumps with the volume cranked way up.

Garden State (2004)

Went to see this on Wisconsin Avenue with Alexis and it was good to hang out with her again, and very good that she actually wanted to get out of the house. Anyway, onwards with the story.

This was written and directed by Zach Braff from the TV show Scrubs, which I don't watch. Had heard good things about this film and pleasantly surprised that Alexis didn't mind watching it, although in true Ally fashion, she declard she hated Natalie Portman before we went in to the cinema. However, upon exiting she declares that she didn't realise that was Natalie Portman and she in fact likes her!

Braff is Andrew Largeman, an LA actor who goes home to New Jersey when his mother dies, after an absence of 9 years. He has a strange relationship with his father (Ian Holm) who is also his psychiatrist and keeps him on a mulititude of prescription drugs. "Large" attends the funeral and hooks up again with old friends from his childhood including the very lovely Peter Sarsgaard (Mark). He also meets a kooky girl called Sam (Ms. Portman) who helps him see life in a very different light.

Alexis said she enjoyed this. I thought it was okay. Not as great as Adam and everyone else said it was. A male twenty-something coming of age film is how Lex summed it up.

Goodbye Lenin (2004)

I've wanted to see this film for a while, and rented it with Franco, but neither of us never really got to watch it. I tried watching it very late at night with Silvio, but I was tired and so I never really finished it, and it was time to take it back to Hollywood Video, which is good enough reason to get NetFlix.

The film is set in Germany in 1989, and it's the story of a young man, who following his mother's heart attack and coma, has to make her believe that the Berlin Wall is still up and that things are still as they were in East Germany. (She was a great supporter of the Party). I really should give it a chance once I sign up for NetFlix as the whole premise sounds like a laugh in itself.

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Never got round to seeing this when it was in the cinemas. Rented it from Blockbuster one night in their "if we don't have it, you get to watch it free" promotion. I tell you, fifteen minutes into this, I knew I was going to watch it again as soon as I finished it, which is exactly what I did. This was a brilliant film, in my humble estimation. It's a very simple story, and yet so powerful, and yet I can't say why. It just had an aura about it.

It's got one of those ambiguous titles though. Prior to watching it, and when I first heard it mentioned, I thought it was Good Will Hunting, as in "the hunting of goodwill". Of course it was only upon watching it that I realised it was good (Mr.) Will Hunting. That's kind of like The English Patient (well sort of!). I always said (and still do) The English Patient, with the stress on the word "English", whereas often I'd hear it stressed The English Patient in the trailers. Anyway to each his own I reckon. Just watch it. Again, there's a fair amount of profanity, which is unfortunate, but it's an excellent screenplay by Matt and Ben.

Guess Who (2005)

This is a remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the 1967 film starring Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn. This version is a comedy, rather than serious drama, and the black guest has been replaced by a white guest.

Simon (Ashton Kutcher) quits his job just as he's off to New Jersey to meet his fiancée (Zoe Saldaña) Theresa's father, Percy (Bernie Mac), for the first time. Percy of course is totally flabbergasted and gobsmacked when he sees that his daughter is going to marry a white guy.

Percy does his best to keep the two lovers apart, even going so far as to demand that Simon stay in a local hotel. When told that all the hotels in town are apparently fully booked, he agrees that Simon can sleep in his den in the basement. Percy, ever the vigilant dad seeking to protect his daughter, climbs into bed beside Simon, snores in his ear and they sleep legs and arms intertwined 'cos they both move about a lot when sleeping.

Went to see this on 27/3/05 with Emeka (who I may decide to call Meks), his two young cousins and Zibs. It was funny, but not super super funny. Not a waste of a ticket though like Meet the Fockers was. Was a good evening out. Was light entertainment in the same genre as Hitch, although I think I preferred Hitch.

High Fidelity (2000)

I rented this film 'cos everyone was going on about how great it was. There's this guy that used to work in the shop part time in my building and I'd be like "you have to watch East is East, it's sooo funny", and he'd be like "no, you have to watch High Fidelity." Well Chay — watched it, wasn't impressed. Maybe the Nick Hornby book, from which it's taken is better, I don't know, and I don't wish to find out.

Basically it's about this guy who owns a record shop (the 45 inch and LP type) in Chicago. His girlfriend Laura chucks him, he ruminates on his top five (or is it six) breakups, ruminates on music with his two employees, and then gets the girl back in the end. The most remarkable thing about this film was the actress that plays Laura. I'd never heard of her before. I was waiting for the credits to roll at the end to see what her name was. It's Iben Hjejle. Anyhoo, she's Danish and is striking in an unusual sort of way. She definitely stood out.

Hitch (2005)

Went to see this with Emeka on our second date on 14/2/05. I had wanted to see it as the previews looked funny, but it definitely wasn't laugh out loud funny or anything. Emeka really enjoyed it though, so that was fine.

Will Smith plays Alex "Hitch" Hitchens, a relationship guru type person who helps inept (for whatever reason) men get the women of their dreams. His latest case is a portly, clumsy guy called Albert Brenneman (Kevin James) who has set his sights on a wealthy heiress his company represents by the name of Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta). Meanwhile Hitch himself meets Sara (Eva Mendes) a gossip columnist, and you know they're going to end up together.

Was a good date movie. I totally agree, or should I say that I'm one of the 8 in 10 women who will rate the chances of a relationship developing based on the first kiss. Sounds harsh, but it's part of the decision-making process I reckon. Sara/Eva Mendes reminds me of someone I know, but I can't figure out who it is.

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Went to see this with Emeka on what was our first date, probably in early Feb 2005. It's the story of Paul Rusesabagina, an acting hotel manager in an upscale Kigali hotel, and how he saved the lives of over a thousand Rwandans during the genocide of 1994. I was humbled by this film, and felt guilty that I too, had heard the news on the telly, thought how awful, how can this happen and then gone back to eating my dinner. Man's inhumanity and apathy to man will never cease to amaze me, and I am guilty too.

Don Cheadle did a good job of portraying Rusesabagina as just a man who was caught up in an horrific moment. He did not seek to be anyone's saviour or hero, but had to take care of these people; starting with neighbours and friends and then anyone who came into the hotel for refuge. Man's apathy is brilliantly displayed when Nick Nolte, playing a Canadian UN Blue Beret, tells Paul, while not being able to believe it himself, that no help is coming from the international community, and sums it up thus: "To them, you're not even niggers--you're Africans, which is worse". Man's inhumanity is aptly shown when Gregoire, a Hutu worker at the hotel is driving Paul back to the hotel by the river road after getting food supplies, and the jolting of their bus turns out to be caused by the dead bodies they were unknowingly driving over.

On a lighter note though, it was refreshing to see Sophie Okonedo who plays Paul's wife Tatsiana, actually comb her hair for once, as her hair (and Zibu will definitely second this) usually looks a sight in various UK TV programmes I've seen.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)

Absolute drivel, balderdash, nonsense. A waste of time. A load of bollocks. Was in a hurry in Blockbuster to find a film for my mum and I to watch. Wanted something light-hearted. Chose this. Only watched this to the end, 'cos I'd rented it so thought may as well watch it. Can't even be bothered to write a review about it, it was that bad! The world could very well have done without this film, and most of it did I'm sure.

Hustle & Flow (2005)

Terrence Howard has done a lot of good stuff recently, Crash being an example. In this film, he's DJay, a Memphis pimp who lives with three of his girls until he kicks one out, baby an' all, for her lip. After meeting Key (Anthony Anderson), who went to his high school, and who happens to be a sound engineer, he works with him, as well as Shelby (DJ Qualls), a skinny white kid, very un-producer-looking-type, and they go about laying down some tracks for a demo.

DJay raps about his life as a pimp, and enlists the help of Shug, one of his girls to do backing vocals. Then DJay goes about trying to get the attention of successful rapper Skinny Black (Ludacris) in his quest to become rich and famous, and get his rap out there. In the end, it is Nola (Taryn Manning), one of his girls, who gets him radio play. Now I am not a fan of rap, but the raps were catchy.

Shug doing the backing vocals reminds me of the time in Moscow when I did backing vocals for this Nigerian guy who was recording in a studio. I think my part was "Money, more money". I was not very good, but it was fun.

Igby Goes Down (2002)

I really enjoyed this film. I watched it during Hurricane Isabel (September 18, 2003), which in my neck of the woods, turned out to be nothing more than a few drops of rain, and a mild breeze, and for that we had two days off work. Wey hey! (I know, some people got hit harder than we did, but that's what it felt like!)

Igby Slocumb (spot-on performance by Kieran Culkin) comes from an extremely dysfunctional family, and the film centres on his attempt to free himself from said family without being engulfed by it all. His father (Bill Pullman) is a schizophrenic who's in a looney bin, his brother (Ryan Phillippe) is a condescending uptight young Republican, and his mother (Susan Sarandon) is distant and devoid of affection. Who wouldn't want to escape?

This is the kind of film I enjoy. No huge thrills or spills, sometimes nothing much happens, but it all weaves together to create an experience that has made you stop and think about things, or that makes you feel some kind of emotion, be it sadness or joy or all the other in-betweens. I watched About Schmidt a few hours before I watched this — I had to get them back to Hollywood Video — and that had a similar feel to it, although I preferred Igby.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2004)

Clive Owen--what more can I say mate? (I talk like this when I'm by myself!) He did however have this straggly beard and wild hair thing going for most of the film, but it came off at the end.

Owen is Will Graham, a former gangster who's retired and now lives in a van somewhere in the countryside, moving about, minding his own business. His younger brother Davey (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who thank God got rid of the pout thing he had going in Bend It Like Beckham) is a small time drug dealer to trendy young Londoners. Davey's on his way home to Brixton (definitely not trendy London) one night and he gets raped by a local big shot car dealership owner. He stumbles home and then gets in the bath fully clothed and slashes his throat.

Will comes back to London as his brother's not been answering his calls, is told he's dead, finds out what happened the night before and then goes about finding out who's to blame. Meanwhile there's a new gangster in town who reckons Will just being in London is stepping on his toes, and he starts to flex his muscles. Will is also getting flack from his former cronies/minions for not coming back and taking over again.

This film was alright. No great shakes or anything. A story about a man avenging the death of his little brother. And Clive Owen. The new David Beckham. (Inside joke)

In America (2003)

This is the kind of film I love. It's the story of an Irish family who come to America to start again after a tragedy back home. They have no money whatsoever and have to live in the roughest part of Manhattan, a place full of different kinds of characters and no working lift. The strangest of their neighbours is Mateo (Djimon Hounsou) who has painted "Keep Away" on his front door and looks very foreboding indeed. The story is told through the eyes of the older of their two daughters. It stars Paddy Considine as Johnny, Sam Morton as Sarah, and Emma Bolger as Ariel, the younger daughter, and Sarah Bolger as Christy. The funniest bit for me was when Ariel and Christy go banging on Mateo's door on Hallowe'en.

If there was such a thing as "in another life" then I must have been Irish, as I just love films set in Ireland and things Irish. Could of course also have to do with my having "Irish" cousins, but that's another review altogether!

I knew of course that Sam Morton's not Irish and her accent did fluctuate at times especially during an angry hospital scene towards the end, but I thought Paddy Considine did a good job and I thought, well he's got to be Irish right, especially with a name like Paddy, but in the DVD extras I love so much, he had an English accent. Sam Morton should blinkin' well get her Oscar soon is all I have to say. Oh, that as well as the fact that Emma and Sarah Bolger were perfect.

In Good Company (2004)

Went to see this with Sandra, who actually initiated the outing to the cinema, as she did when we watched Troy. Found out that Topher Grace who plays Carter Duryea, is in fact a sort of her "type", but only in this film, and not in the TV programme "That 70s Show". Apparently he's a little too skinny too, but his face did it in this film.

Dennis Quaid stars as Dan Foreman, an aging ad executive who finds himself not only demoted following a buy-out by another company, but also put in the position of working for a much younger boss, Carter Duryea, who's only a few years older than his eldest daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson). To add to his problems his wife finds out she's pregnant, and his daughter wants to switch to NYU I believe it is, which is definitely more expensive than her current school. To add insult to injury, Carter and Alex start dating behind his back.

You think perhaps the film is going to explore the relationship between Carter and Alex once they start dating (well I did anyway), or rather that their relationship will be a kind of major sub plot, but it turns out it's the relationship between Dan and Carter that is explored more. I think I must have enjoyed this--it's been a while since I saw it, so I can't remember too many specifics.

Inside Man (2006)

This is a "Spike Lee Joint", directed by him, but written by Russell Gewirtz. Went this past weekend (9/4/06) with my flatmate Sunny. I thought going to AMC on Eisenhower Avenue in Alexandria would be nice, as it's a decent cinema, but it's turning out to be more and more like the Union Station cinema every day. I think the word for it is "ghetto", and if that makes me a snob, then yes, I'm a snob, but pardon me, if I don't get annoyed at paying $9.50 for a matinee film, and then having some inconsiderate people think they can act as if they're in their living room. This time there were a bunch of people who walked in, who obviously hadn't paid for a ticket, as who would walk into a film an hour and a half after it starts? They stood at the sides for a while, speaking loudly enough (i.e. shouting) for heads to turn to see what was going on. Thankfully they sat down quietly, but about 15 minutes before the film ended, they got up and started walking out, and one of them turned around and threw what appeared to be a plastic container into the front row seats. Nice, right! I will not be going there again.

A shaven-headed Denzel Washington is Detective Keith Frazier, who with his partner Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is called upon to negotiate with hostage takers and apparent bank robbers inside a Manhattan bank. The film starts with the "perp" Dalton Russell (magnificently played with cool aplomb by Clive Owen) telling us what he's going to do and talking about a cell and prison, and he appears to be in some kind of enclosed space. Anyway, he and his team Steve (Carlos Andres Gomez), Stevie (Kim Director) and Steve-O (James Ransone) initially dress in white paint overalls, and then switch to dark overalls, a white towel or something tied just above the nose, and dark sunglasses.

They don't seem to have any demands to start with, and don't go about frantically stealing money and putting it into bags. They make their hostages undress down to their underwear, and then ingeniously make them wear the same dark overalls, white towel and sunglasses, and keep them in groups in separate rooms, ordering them not to remove the towel. (Okay, so it wasn't a towel, but I'm calling it one, 'cos I can't think of anything else to call it!) Interspersed with the present are scenes from the future in which Frazier and Mitchell are interrogating the hostages, trying to find out who the perps were.

The bank's director is one Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer), who hires some kind of power broker by the name of Madeline White (Jodie Foster) to make sure the contents of a safe deposit box are kept intact. Anyway, I don't want to give the story away, but it's cleverly done, and you reading this—go and see it. It was actually also pretty funny in parts. There were references to "Dog Day Afternoon" which I haven't seen, so I didn't get, and there were references to the state of race and racial profiling today in the U.S.—a Sikh bank teller talks of being called an Arab, and of being "randomly" searched at airports, an Armenian American is asked whether he speaks Albanian, and what's the difference anyway?

The only thing I didn't get was the opening and closing music. For a second, I thought I was in a Bollywood movie, but that's alright. The casting for this was excellent, although I'm not sure about Chiwetel Ejiofor's American accent, but I'm glad to see him in big Hollywood films.

Insomnia (2002)

Borrowed this from Silvio and watched it this past weekend (24/7/04). Al Pacino plays Will Dormer, a Los Angeles detective who is sent to a small Alaska town to investigate the death of a teenage girl.

At the beginning of the investigation his partner is shot, and Dormer blames the death on the suspect they were chasing. The suspect turns out to be Walter Finch (Robin Williams), a writer who knew the young girl. When I first saw Williams in this, I was thinking about what a funny man he is, and then I forgot about that and got into the story.

This was an okay film--nothing great. Thank God Al Pacino didn't go for his usual "hoo hah" histrionics. Nicky Katt (Mr Senate from Boston Public) was in it too, although I wasn't sure why they had him with a dodgy salt and pepper moustache. Also stars Hilary Swank. Turns out both the detective and the suspect suffer from insomnia.

Intermission (2004)

Whenever I read reviews written by Americans in which they discuss accents of their cousins across the pond and how difficult they are to understand, I reckon I'm going to watch the film. Had heard about this, but decided to wait till it came out on video. In this case the accent is Irish, and very different to the lilting Irish accent of films such as Waking Ned Devine. It's been described as an anti-Love Actually, as it's the story of 11 interweaving love stories and what people will do to get love.

This is an ensemble cast headed by Colin Farrell as Lehiff, a petty criminal who is quite simply a very nasty piece of work, who has no qualms whatsoever about punching women in the face. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint, he gets his comeuppance in the end. Then there's Jerry (Colm Meaney) a hard copper who lives to bring Lehiff and other lowlifes down, and who is himself a rather nasty piece of work too. Then there's Deidre (Kelly Macdonald) who is going out with Sam a bank manager who left his wife of 10+ years for her. Deidre's ex-boyfriend John (Cillian Murphy) works stacking shelves in a hypermarket with his friend Oscar (David Wilmot), who hooks up briefly with Noeleen, Sam's wife. And then there's Sally (Shirley Henderson), Deidre's sister who walks around with a mustache on her upper lip.

Obviously the stories are linked together, and in the end the intermission appears to me to have been the time Deidre and John spent apart with all the other characters coming in to play their part, as well as the time before Oscar and Sally discovered one another. All in all I liked this. It was funny in bits and harsh and gritty in others. Noeleen's fit of violence against Oscar in a belated reaction to Sam leaving her is harsh.

Farrell's rendition of The Clash's "I Fought the Law" during the closing credits is not half bad either.

In the Bedroom (2001)

Young college-age boy is dating an older woman with two kids. He keeps telling his mother it's nothing serious, and she never took such an interest in any of his other girlfriends. She likes the girlfriend, but she is an older woman with plenty of baggage, so it's easy to understand why she doesn't want her son to get hurt. The girlfriend's husband ends up calm as you like shooting young boy in the head one evening. In a way, the story really starts after this. For me, the time before the shooting is just background to show us who this family is and how they interact with each other. It's pitiful to see a husband and wife who were so close and playful with each other before their son's death become almost strangers as they each deal with their loss in a totally different way. By the way, I, who know nothing about New England accents, think Marisa Tomei did an excellent job with her regional accent.

In the Company of Men (c. 1997)

Finally got round to watching this. A truly excellent, and disturbing film. Chad (Aaron Eckhart) and Howard (Matt Malloy) are two white collar executives who are to spend the next six weeks working on a project in a branch office of their firm in another city. The two of them are extremely frustrated with how life is treating them — both have recently been dumped by girlfriends and work is stressful to say the least. Chad comes up with this idea of finding a vulnerable woman (preferably with some kind of disability) who hasn't dated in ages, and who is at the point where she's not sure if she's still "date-worthy". They will both date her, manipulate her, and then dump her at the end of the six weeks. This will make them feel good about themselves and will somehow make them feel better about the women and job woes they've been experiencing. They find the perfect girl Christine (Stacy Edwards), who also happens to be deaf. We know what they're doing, they know what they're doing, but she doesn't. Chad even manages to get one up on poor Howard, with not a care in the world that he's just backstabbed his so-called "friend". Aaron Eckhart did a brilliant job with Chad. Totally convincing. I actually began to hate him as Aaron Eckhart, and not as Chad.

Intimate Strangers (2004)

Saw this yesterday (8/9/04) with Franco at the last minute as always. He told me his boss saw it and said it was good. We saw the last showing of the day at Bethesda Landmark Cinemas, and there were two other people there besides us. I decided then to leave a seat empty between us, as there was really no need to be cramped in an empty cinema.

Sandrine Bonnaire is Anna, a married woman who made an appointment with a psychiatrist (Michel Duchaussoy), but instead mistakenly walks into a tax attorney's (Fabrice Luchini) office, only to tell him all about the intimate problems she's having with her husband. She soon susses out that William is not a doctor but a tax attorney, but only after two appointments with him.

I wasn't really enamoured of this film. Although I love slow films as much as the next slow-film-loving person, it was a little too slow for me. The only bits that really stood out for me were when William does a dance to Wilson Pickett's Midnight Hour in which he wasn't too bad strutting his stuff. The psychiatrist Dr Monnier is a bit of a trip too as he makes William pay 120 Euros for a visit in which he tries to find out Anna's phone number at the beginning of the film. Then Dr Monnier makes him pay for lunch on another occasion.

Anyway Anna and William spend the whole film doing their little ritual of him listening to her talk about her marital problems, she smoking a cigarette but blowing very little smoke out, him falling for her, but being unable to tell her, his ex girlfriend deciding she still loves him, her crazy husband making crazy demands ... and the beat goes on.

Although I thought I heard him sighing throughout it, Franco really liked this film. You could tell anyway 'cos he sat through till the very last credit had rolled and then began to discuss it. I on the other hand was just happy that I could keep up with the French without reading the subtitles.

[Le mot pour "shrink" c'est "psy"; le "p" étant prononcé--sinon, j'oublierai]

Japanese Story (2003)

Didn't really enjoy this one. I found it a little slow. Tony Collette is Sandy a geologist who has to take a Japanese client Hiromitsu all over the Australian desert. He spends his whole time taking pictures and generally being a pain. SPOILER ALERT!!

I didn't understand why when he jumped into a creek, she immediately began to panic. I didn't understand why he died just by jumping in the deep end, but then in the DVD extras (love them!) the director tells us that Australians would immediately know to panic like that whereas the rest of us would probably not get what the fuss was about, to paraphrase liberally of course.

Same could be said of this film. It had its tender moments, but I didn't really enjoy it. I found Toni Collette distracting for some reason. For me she was Toni Collette back to being Australian after playing so many American women. I even found myself thinking about how Portia De Rossi, another Aussie, obviously used to talk like that, but now she's all Americanised. Or more to the point, I've never seen her play an Aussie and never heard her speak as Portia, so what do I know.

Jet Lag (2003)

This stars Juliette Binoche as Rose, a woman running away from a bad relationship (Sergi Lopez). She's stuck in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport as a result of the perennial strikes in Paris. She meets Felix (Jean Reno) who is on his way to Germany, running after a woman he believes is his true love. The two end up spending a lot of time together, even though they are polar opposites.

I watched this with Zibs and Adam, and it was an okay film. I think I missed a lot of the very end of the film, so I may have missed something substantial--I'm not sure. It was an okay way to spend an evening. No great shakes.

Just Like Heaven (2005)

Went to see this on 17/9/05 with my mum. We made a day of it; going to Red Lobster for lunch, going on a paddle boat at the Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg, listening to a band called "dc Motors" and then we watched this at the Rio Cinema there.

This did just the trick. We were looking for something light-hearted and fluffy and it was just that. It stars Reese Witherspoon as Elizabeth, a young chief resident who is just getting off a typical 26 hour shift, when she gets hit by a truck on her way to her sister's house to meet a blind date. Mark Ruffalo is David, the guy who rents her apartment after it becomes vacant following what could be her death. Anyway she appears in his/her apartment one day and it turns out he's the only one that can see her. At first they're not very friendly to each other, and then they become friends.

Of course you know they're going to end up together, as this is fantasy after all, but that was okay. I have come to realise (belated it would seem) that life is not a rom com fantasy. It's hard, it hurts--love bloody hurts--and you have to take the good with the bad. Oh, but I digress. As I said, this was okay for what it was. Mark Ruffalo is a joy to watch and Reese Witherspoon does what she does best. I had some nagging questions during the film like oh, how has Ruffalo's character been able to survive not working for two years following his wife's death, and yet still be able to afford prime San Francisco real estate, but never mind stuff like that? Yes, this is a bitter review.

King Arthur (2004)

Wanted to watch this 'cos it's with both Clive Owen and Ray Winstone, who I will always remember from his remarkable turn as Kenny Fox when I was growing up. It also stars Keira Knightley (Guinevere), whose star is shining bright at the moment, and a brilliant wicked turn by Stellan Skarsgård. Antoine Fuqua who directed Training Day directed this one, and it has a slightly different slant to the King Arthur we all grew up with.

At the beginning of the film we see young men of 14 and 15 forced to go off and join the Roman army. Arthur (Owen) is the leader of a band of just such men, who are nearing the end of the required 15-year tour of duty, and awaiting their freedom so that they can go back to their families. Said time is just about up, but then Rome calls on them to carry out one last rescue mission of Roman officials left in a village in the north. Arthur and his knights face not only the Saxons who are attacking Britain, but also the Wodes in the north, led by Merlin.

Lots of battle scenes, and lots of scrumptious Clive Owen, who as a half Roman half British Arthur, was caught in some ways in the middle of all that that entailed. The only disturbing bit of the film was the short love scene between Arthur and Guinevere. I'm sorry, but all I could think of was the age difference between Clive Owen and Keira Knightley, and how yucky it was. She's young enough to be his daughter and I just couldn't get past that. Plus I thought of a similar situation where I've read that Scarlett Johannson talked about how she's acted opposite a lot of much older leading men, and wouldn't it be nice to get a gig with a younger man, now and again.

The DVD extras with a roundtable discussion between the director, producer and main cast members was very interesting. Watching the film I was convinced they hadn't actually learnt archery and the like, but they all did, and horse riding too. All in all I enjoyed this version of King Arthur.

Ladybird Ladybird (c. 1994)

Directed by Ken Loach, starring Crissy Rock (Maggie) and Vladimir Vega (Jorge), and Ray Winstone, whom I love, but who played a very nasty piece of work in this film. This is the story of a woman who loses four children to the social services. She definitely messed up and the consequence is that her kids are taken away from her. She meets Jorge and loses more battles, this time more heart-wrenching than the previous ones because she is trying to make a fresh start. I won't give away the story because after all, there are still those who haven't seen The Crying Game.

Ladybird, ladybird fly away home.
Your house is on fire, your children all gone...

Crissy Rock gives a brilliantly moving performance made all the more poignant for the fact that it's a true story and this sort of thing probably happens every day. She had no acting experience and was a former stand up comedienne and bar maid, but she was totally convincing. She totally draws you in. I was crying buckets throughout this film, at the unfairness of the whole situation. I was angry at Maggie for her own stubbornness and foul temper, and I was angry at the social services for their blind bureaucracy. Rent it today if you can stomach it. The swearing when she's really riled up is very disturbing but as I said this is a must.

Siskel & Ebert's "two thumbs up" for practically every film they review is so annoying and meaningless, but for this one, of Rock, they added that

"there is probably not an actress in Hollywood who could come within ten miles of this performance",

which was spot on. Rock was also the winner of the 1994 Berlin Film Festival International Critics Award, and the Best Actress Awards at the Berlin and Chicago Film Festivals.

Layer Cake (2005)

I love Daniel Craig. He's the original bit o' rough. Heard good things about this, and when it finally came to the U.S. I wasn't able to see it in the cinema, so waited for it to come out on DVD. It's directed by Matthew Vaughn, who is Claudia Schiffer's husband, and produced "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch". I think this was a little bit too much for me in the sense that I didn't really keep up with the plot. It didn't help that I didn't watch it in one sitting, but there was no way I was going to pay a late fee for this.

Craig is a cocaine dealer who plans an early retirement after a very successful career. He has to put his retirement plans on hold however, when Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham), a big-shot drug dealer asks him to find the daughter of one of his friends, Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon), a powerful businessman. The sub plot of a stolen Ecstacy shipment, a bright yellow Range Rover and dodgy types don't help matters. The ending was unexpected--I really thought he could just walk away. I definitely preferred "Lock Stock".

Oh "layer cake" refers to the layers a dealer has to go through in the big bad drug underworld.

Le Divorce (2003)

In America, this was billed as a comedy. What I mean by that is that the scenes shown in previews gave you the impression that this was going to be a romantic comedy. Not so! I went in expecting one thing, and got another, so that kind of overshadowed everything else. I went with my friend Sandra and neither of us really enjoyed it. The film made her want to go to Paris and have a French lover, and I just thought how Marc Barr is still gorgeous, even bald, and my love for bald men was intensified. (!?) The story? I really can't be bothered. It stars Kate Hudson, Naomi Watts, and of course Marc Barr of The Big Blue. I was just looking through the web site, and they didn't even give him a mention. Unbelievable! My friend Stella read the book in New Zealand and thoroughly enjoyed it. Me? I never even knew there was a book.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

When a mysterious fire burns down their house and kills their parents, bookworm and photographic-memory whizz kid Klaus (Liam Aiken), inventor-extraordinaire Violet (Emily Browning), and delightful "chatty" Sunny (Kara and Shelby Hoffman) Baudelaire find themselves carted from relative to relative in a bid to find a new home for them. The first relative is a right schemer by the name of Count Olaf (Jim Carrey), who is interested in one thing and one thing only--their inheritance. Oh, and acting. I guess Carrey had fun with this film because his character is an aspiring actor, so he gets to play different parts for a reason, and not just for the sake of trying to be funny.

The thing I loved most about this film was Sunny. She's just a toddler, and so cannot speak, but her baby talk is subtitled, and it's hilarious. Also stars Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine, Billy Connolly as Uncle Monty and Timothy Spall as Mr Poe.

Liam (2001)

This is one of those gritty English films I love where the people are extremely plain looking, the story is depressing and it makes me think.

The story is basically about a working-class Liverpudlian family living on the brink of poverty in the 1930s. Liam (Anthony Burrows, who did a marvelous job) is a 7-year old Catholic boy with a speech impediment, who lives with his mum, dad, sister Teresa and brother Con. In order to just make ends meet, Teresa (Megan Burns) works as a maid for a rich Jewish family, and Con (David Hart) also has to work. Soon enough Liam's dad loses his job, finds it impossible to get another one, and joins the British Fascist party, who share his belief that England is for the English and things would be better if the Irish and Jews would just "go home". At one point Liam's dad even tells someone to "get out of my country". His joining the Fascist party has dire consequences that will affect his entire family.

Yes the ending was perhpas a tad melodramatic, but I still liked the film. It was written by Jimmy McGovern who also wrote Go Now, which was a brilliant and searing study of one man's struggle with Multiple Sclerosis.

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Again, I don't have the time or the inclination to give this a proper review, so I'll summarize. I enjoyed it. Didn't have to go to the loo once. Watched it with Kai again. Viggo Mortensen again looked just perfect, but only in this film. The cinematography was amazing, lots of interesting camera angles. It got a bit cheesy towards the end—Aragorn's little speech about peace upon his coronation was total cheese. The film was marred somewhat by the clap-happy teenagers (had to be) who insisted on clapping and cheering at every little turn, which then got the little girl behind us doing the same. It's a good job the volume's so loud at the Uptown and the surround sound is spot on, otherwise I would have been majorly annoyed.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

This is not going to be a proper review of this film. If you want that, go read Desson Howe in the Washington Post, who by the way I'm pretty sure got off the same train as me at Friendship Heights last week. It looked like him, and I thought of going up to him (for about 1 second), but then I decided not to, which is just as well really as I'm not really sure how you pronounce his first name.

I thought this installment was going to be scary (I sat through the first one with my eyes closed half the time!), as the reviews I'd read had gone on about how much darker this one is. Anyway, I didn't have to close my eyes once. The things that particularly hit me while watching were that everyone seemed to have blue eyes, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins did nothing more than wander about with his bright blue eyes in a constant state of wideness, and stagger about like he was drunk. Of course I know this was because of the effect the ring was having on him, but it made me laugh. Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn. Oooh er! Phwoar!! Major bit of alright! (But oddly enough, only as Aragorn).

It's funny I read one review where the person berated the director Peter Jackson for making everyone's hair (especially Aragorn) look like it was in serious need of a wash. I also read somewhere (Daily Mirror online) that Viggo Mortensen's girlfriend dumped him, partly because he didn't wash! Ooh I forgot - Gollum was really good.

Lord of War (2005)

I had read good reviews about this, but found it extremely disappointing. Watched it in January 2006.

Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) is the son of Ukrainian immigrants, who tires of life that revolves around his parents' restaurant. He starts selling guns on a small scale, and enlists the help of his younger brother Vitaly (Jared Leto). Yuri eventually becomes a very successful global arms dealer, and is hounded by a relentless Interpol agent (Ethan Hawke) by the name of Jack Valentine. Yuri gets the trophy wife (Bridget Moynahan) and lives a wealthy, but dangerous life, in which his wife is happy to not ask any questions.

I could go into more detail about this film, but again, I can't be fagged. (Now that's an expression that just came out that I haven't used since I was about 15, which was about a million years ago)

Love Actually (2003)

Went to see this with Patricia at the Loews in Georgetown. Not exceptionally wonderful or anything, but definitely laugh out loud funny in bits (unlike Bend It Like Beckham), although I thought it had a lot of unnecessary nudity. Seeing Martin Freeman (Tim from The Office) naked playing a body double was surreal, as I'm used to him being the Fisher Price man.

Anyway, back to the story, which consists of various different stories about love in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Liam Neeson and Colin Firth's storylines stood out the most for me. Stars Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson and co. Billy Bob Thornton as the U.S. President was a hoot!!

Acting means making us believe something right? Colin Firth's kiss with his love interest, after all they'd been through, after him taking Portuguese lessons and her taking English lessons, was totally unbelievable. If you're going to do it, do it right, otherwise don't do it at all is what I say.

Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)

Nice little documentary-style film about the ballroom dancing programme in New York City's public school system. The film follows 11 year-old kids from three different public schools. The schools have the names PS and then a number, which sounded very Soviet-era to me. I remember in Moscow schools being called "School Number ..." They probably still are.

Kids of note are Wilson Castillo, who doesn't speak much English, and is such a beautiful child. He's definitely going to be a hit with the ladies one day. Then there's Emma, a girl of 11 or 12, who sounds so much older than her age. One of the schools the film makers followed eventually wins the trophy, and I thought that was a little convenient. I mean if they hadn't won, would they have stopped filming them and concentrated on other schools? All in all, despite my whinging, I liked this.

Maid in Manhattan (2002)

Went to watch the sneak preview with Zibs at the new Georgetown cineplex. We got there five minutes before the start so found ourselves stuck in the very first row, which was not a lot of fun. This is a romantic movie starring Ralph Fiennes as politician Chris Marshall on the campaign trail for the Senate, and Jennifer Lopez as Marisa. Marisa is a maid in a swanky Manhattan hotel and Marshall mistakes her for a guest by the name of Caroline (Natasha Richardson). Marisa is supposed to be cleaning Caroline's room, but her friend and fellow maid coerces her into trying on Caroline's D&G ensemble, so of course Marshall doesn't realise she's a maid. Basically it's a predictable fairy tale, and usually I don't rush out to see such stuff, but Ralph Fiennes is extremely easy on the eye, he reminds me of my friend Keye, I had nothing else I needed to be doing, and I wanted to see it with Zibs. There was no discernible chemistry that I could see between Lopez and Fiennes, but they did their job and went home with a pay cheque. As I said in my December 8 post, the giggly teenager next to us made the film fun.

Man on Fire (2004)

I enjoyed this one, and don't know why it took me so long to get round to watching it. It stars Denzel Washington as Creasy, a former government operative who is hired as a bodyguard for 10-year old Pita (Dakota Fanning) in Mexico City. Pita's father is some hot shot someone or other played by Marc Anthony, so of course she is going to eventually get kidnapped. As it happens Pita *is* kidnapped one day, and Creasy, who at first was extremely reluctant to be friendly, sets out to find her and punish her kidnappers.

The epilogue made it seem as if it could be a true story, but Scott told me it isn't. I vaguely seem to remember while watching it that it was interesting to see Denzel Washington in a not-so-nice role. Yes I know he was not so nice in Training Day, but this was more subtle. On another note, Dakota Fanning is one of those child actors who seem adult already and so it's slightly creepy. The great Christopher Walken also stars as Creasy's friend and former colleague Rayburn. This has been an extremely disjointed and haphazard review, but I've got to catch up.

Maria Full of Grace (2004)

Saw this yesterday (13/9/04) with Franco and it's probably one of the best films I've seen at the cinema so far this year, if not the best. I can't really say exactly as I can't remember every film I've seen at the cinema, but I'll certainly try to find out, 'cos I'm funny that way. Actually did a check, and yes it's up there with Mystic River which I thought was just tremendously done.

Catalina Sandino Moreno is 17-year old Maria Alvarez, a young Colombian woman who becomes tired of life in a small town, where she works in a rose plantation, and lives in cramped quarters with her mother, grandmother, sister and sister's baby. Bored to death with her life, she quits her job, and dumps her boyfriend after telling him she's pregnant. He offers to marry her and tells her she'll have to live with his family in even more cramped conditions than those at her mother's house. She can't face marrying someone who doesn't love her, and whom she doesn't love, and having been there, and done that myself, I can relate. What I can't relate to is being in circumstances that would push her to agree to be a mule and to smuggle heroin into the United States.

Joshua Marston wrote and directed this, his first feature-length film, and he certainly made it very real and very gritty, showing us how mules or "swallowers" prepare to carry drugs in their stomachs. In the build up to Maria meeting the drug trafficker and agreeing to be a mule, I was silently saying "don't, don't", but I knew she would, as that's what the film was about. Yenny Paola Vega plays Maria's friend Blanca who also becomes a mule and makes the same journey to New York as she does. Orlando Tobón, as Don Fernando plays himself, a real life source of help to mules and immigrants in Jackson Heights, Queens. He is also an associate producer. Check out his story here.

This film rightly won tons of awards, and is just a must-see as far as I'm concerned. As I am not one given to deep thinking, or writing deep reviews I was wondering why the film was called "Maria Full of Grace". On the official web site, it says "Her mission becomes one of determination and survival and she finally emerges with the grace that will carry her forward into a new life." Someone like Adam or Zibu would have figured it out all by themselves of course.

Just as an aside, Catalina Sandino Moreno reminded me of my friend Angela. She doesn't look like her or anything, so I wasn't quite sure why, but it was just the way she held herself most of the time. Then again, countless actresses (Jessica Lange, and Katie Holmes immediately spring to mind) remind me of Angela, so not sure what's up with that.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Saw this at the beginning of 2004 with Steph and Patricia. I had gone in thinking I would be bored, but I wasn't. While it didn't really leave any lasting impression on me, I did like certain scenes. Steph had wanted to see it because he had read that it's the best film of its kind, whatever that means.

The film is set during the Napoleonic wars. Russell Crowe plays Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey, whose orders from the British Navy are to intercept the French ship L'Acheron. Anyway the "Akeron" as the Brits call it appears out of nowhere and practically destroys their ship. They fix it at sea, and then Captain Jack is consumed with hunting the French ship down, whatever the cost.

The best bit of cinematography for me is when they have to leave one of the seamen overboard in the raging sea to drown. Russell Crowe, as always did a bang up job, but I felt his character didn't have any depth to his expressions for some reason. There always seemed to be something lacking. I remember thinking when he smiles, the smile doesn't reach his eyes. Also stars Paul Bettany as Stephen, the ship's doctor and Aubrey's friend. The film served to pass away a few hours on a Saturday afternoon with one friend whom I adore, and another whom I want to get to know more.

Matchstick Men (2003)

I'm not a huge Nicolas Cage fan. This has been the case since he divorced his first wife Patricia Arquette. I know neither of them personally, but I read their story somewhere and thought she sounded like a sweet person, and didn't like the fact that he'd moved on, but then it's really none of my business. Anyway, he's a good actor so I was able to put aside my dislike of him and watch this, and enjoy it.

Cage plays Roy, a professional con man who suffers from an obsessive-compulsive disorder. He has to open and shut doors three times and count as he's doing it, shoes have to be taken off in the house, he's really into keeping things clean and relies on a little pill he got from some dodgy doctor somewhere. His partner Frank (Sam Rockwell) knows him very well and works around his idiosyncracies. One day Roy's pill supplier disappears, so Frank hooks him up with a psychiatrist who gives him new pills to help with his disorder. Through this doctor he gets in touch with the daughter (Alison Lohman) he never knew he had, who's now 14. His very organised life is totally turned upside down by this new element in his life.

I wasn't expecting the twist, but I believe Adam was, and he found the whole thing too far-fetched to believe. I enjoyed this and will get round to seeing Adaptation soon, which Adam highly recommends.

Me, Myself, I (1999)

Definitely not to be confused with that awful-looking Jim Carrey film Me, Myself and Irene! I have rented this film so many times, it's unbelievable. The first time, I watched it twice over the course of the weekend. It was a great little story that sought to answer the age-old question, "what if?" I found it vastly superior to Sliding Doors, although I liked that too. Basically Pamela Drury (Rachel Griffiths) is single, successful and incredibly lonely, and Australian, although that's obviously not a prerequisite to being any of those things. She meets by chance this guy called Ben whom she fancies, but then finds out he's as good as spoken for, so she gets even more depressed and lonely. She starts wondering what her life would have been like had she married her school sweetheart Rob Dickson. One day she gets knocked over by a car, and gets to find out the answer to her question. I know that if I were Pamela, I would take the husband and the kids, (as opposed to the lonely single life) and in a perfect world the husband would look like Ben rather than Rob, but you can't have everything can you? I think I liked this so much, 'cos I'm in that broody place, where sometimes you think, what's happened to my life? The only slightly sickly thing about it, is the lingering message that you're not quite complete without a man.

Me Without You (2002)

This is a film about a friendship that spans about 28 years or so. It stars Anna Friel as Marina (best known as Beth Jordache from Brookie) and Michelle Williamson, formerly of Dawson's Creek as Holly.

The two girls live next door to each other, in houses that look like our house in Willesden, north London back in 1973 ... but I digress. They form a pact when young to always be together, best friends forever and all that. As they grow older the friendship that once was so strong, becomes destructive due to the controlling nature of Marina, who is able to literally turn the course of events due to her manipulation. Holly finds herself more and more trapped in a friendship that seems to bring more unhappiness than joy.

Incidentally, the DVD sleeve note says "If you liked Bridget Jones' Diary.... " This is nothing like that at all. This is not really a feel good movie. Yes, aspects of their friendship are great; someone who's always up for a laugh, someone who knows you inside out etc. etc., but in the end it becomes a love/hate type of relationship—I know the kind well. The ending for me is very disturbing.

Meet the Fockers (2004)

This has got to be the worst film of 2004. I read a review which said it was a terrible waste of acting talent, and I ignored the review because Meet the Parents had had me in stitches, and so I'd been looking forward to this. Went to see it with Zibu on 22/12/04 and it was a total waste of time and money.

This time Greg and his girlfriend go to visit his parents (Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand). I really can't be bothered to write a review. It was just plain unfunny. You had to practically force yourself to laugh, and then you didn't succeed. It's funny isn't it how comedy sequels are rarely as good as the first time around.

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

I obviously know about the book, but never read it, so I had no notion of possibly being disappointed by the film adaptation. Went to see this Christmas 2005 with Sandra and two of her sisters. I think we all enjoyed it, although Sandra's sisters, who both had read the book, commented on stuff that had been omitted etc, and they both thought Gong Li was beautiful, as indeed she was. I thought Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang looked like sisters, and I stayed till the credits in order to see that Suzuka Ohgo played Chiyo.

A young Japanese girl by the name of Chiyo (Ohgo) is taken from her family to go and work in a geisha house. At first she is chosen to go to geisha school along with her friend Pumpkin (Zoe Weizenbaum / Youki Kudoh), but after she is forced by Hatsumomo (Gong) to ruin an extremely expensive kimono owned by an older geisha called Mameha (Yeoh), she is destined to become just a servant in a geisha house. This is until she meets a man on a bridge (Ken Watanabe as the Chairman) who kindly buys her an ice lolly and never forgets her, as she never forgets him.

Not long after this encounter, Mameha decides to train Chiyo herself, and changes her name to Sayuri (Zhang). Sayuri rises to become the country's most famous and sought after geisha, even while fighting the jealousy and spitefulness of Hatsumomo.

It was a little long, and sometimes I wondered if perhaps subtitles would have been better than some of the actresses speaking English, but it was a visual feast most of the time. Kaori Momoi as Mother was delicious; always that cigarette holder and fag hanging out of her mouth, looking half drunk, and of course Gong Li was fabulous as the bitchy, spiteful Hatsumomo.

Sandra's sisters informed us that in the book, Chairman was married and Sayuri has a child for him and goes to live in America where she opens a Japanese tea house. Although perhaps a little abrupt, I'm glad the film ended with Sayuri and Chairman declaring their love for each other, rather than Sayuri in a Japanese tea house in America! Also Sayuri's blue eyes in the posters for the film seemed fine, but on screen she appeared to me to look almost blind at times in closeups, or at the very least, as if she had glaucoma coming on. Not that I'm a medical doctor or anything, but you know what I mean!

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

Sandra leant me the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", by John Berendt. It was kind of slow, but for the most part, I enjoyed it. The film, which I watched in Feb '06, I did not enjoy. I thought John Cusack's expressions of disbelief and wonderment at the beginning of the film when he was meeting all the interesting characters of Savannah, amounted to nothing more than terrible acting. I had to wonder whether this was his first film or something, as it bordered on the ridiculous.

The book is obviously more detailed than the film. The book is based on an event that actually happened, so it was interesting from that point of view. In the book Jim Williams went through four trials before he was pronounced not guilty, but films have to merge events into one so that we don't all fall asleep from watching something over and over again. I sat with my mouth open for half of this film, gawking at Lady Chablis, who was played by the real Lady Chablis. In the book, Berendt describes her as someone who is beautiful, with beautiful skin, and who looks like a woman. In the film, she was excessively skinny, and looked like a man with a dress on, lots of make up, and bad skin. It was her excessive skinniness (if such a word exists) that I couldn't get over; it was as if she were sick or something. I found her extremely distasteful, and she had a much bigger role in the film than she did in the book, so she was everywhere it seems.

Anyway, John Kelso (Cusack) is in Savannah, Georgia to write an article on Williams' (Kevin Spacey) famous annual ball. At the end of the ball, Williams shoots and kills Billy Hanson (Jude Law), who works for him restoring antiques and paintings. Kelso decides he's going to write a book instead of the article, and so goes around Savannah meeting the colourful locals, which include Sonny Seiler (Jack Thompson), Chablis Deveau (The Lady Chablis), Mandy Nichols (Alison Eastwood), Minerva (Irma P. Hall), and Joe Odom (Paul Hipp). I only rented this 'cos I'd just finished the book. Not a great film, as far as I'm concerned.

Millions (2005)

I wasn't really in the mood for this, and I was rushing to return it to Hollywood Video the same night, and worrying about getting a good parking space. Plus I had an awful fish dinner with that disgusting drink Mountain Dew (not sure what it's supposed to be), so in the end I gave up after about half an hour and went to return it, along with the other three films I had. It's probably time to get Netflix again.

Damian (Alex Etel) finds a gym bag with thousands of pounds in it by the railway track. He shows it to his older brother Anthony (Lewis McGibbon), as he thinks he may be imagining it, as he does tend to see dead Saints and the like wherever he goes, even going so far as talking to them. While Anthony just wants to impress his mates and the girls, Damian wants to help the poor. The boys don't have a lot of time in which to spend the money, as the UK is about to switch over to the Euro. Probably a nice little film, but as I said, I wasn't really in the mood.

Minority Report (2002)

I saw this first in Charleston, West Virginia with Sandra, and then I watched it again on video recently. I'm not a big fan of Tom Cruise, but I do like Samantha Morton and Colin Farrell who co-starred. Set in 2054, Tom Cruise is John Anderton, head of the Pre-Crime unit, which with the help of three psychic pre-cogs (Morton and two other blokes), track down murderous crime before it happens and arrest the future perpetrators before they get a chance to perpetrate. Anderton is in for a shock when his name comes up as the future murderer of a man he's never met, so he has to evade his former employees in the Pre-Crime unit, led by young hot shot, Colin Farrell while trying to get to the bottom of the whole thing. This was good entertainment, and sometimes that's all you need from a film. The most poignant bit for me? When upon leaving the shopping mall with Agatha (Morton), Anderton opens the umbrella that she had previously told him to take in the mall. He hadn't wanted to take it and kicked up a bit of a fuss, but she'd insisted. The Pre-Crime unit look down and all they see is a sea of big black umbrellas as the rain softly pours.

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2004)

This was right codswallop, by 'eck. Not funny at all--stupid, stupid, stupid. Gracie Hart (the "snort-laughing" Sandra Bullock) is now the face of the FBI, as too many people recognise her so it's difficult for her to continue to work undercover. However you know she can't stay away from the undercover thing, and when her beauty pageant friend is kidnapped along with Captain Kirk (oops, sorry, William Shatner) she is forced to partner with Sam (Regina King) to try to find and rescue them.

This is a sorry excuse for a comedy; that much, I do remember!

Monsieur Ibrahim (Monsieur Ibrahim et les Fleurs du Coran) (2003)

I loved this little film about an Arab shop keeper (Omar Sharif) and the friendship he has with a young Jewish boy Momo (Pierre Boulanger in his first feature film) in the Pigalle district of 1960s Paris.

Momo is a young boy who has no friends save for the neighbourhood prostitutes, lives with his father (Gilbert Melki) who has no time for him and who indeed eventually abandons him. He strikes up an unlikely friendship with Ibrahim, an Arab shop keeper. At first he is all about the differences between the two of them, but by the end of the story he sees there really is no difference. They are just two human beings. As the story unfolds, Ibrahim becomes more a father to Momo than his own father ever was, and takes him on an exciting and daring journey that will change both their lives. The story comes full circle in the end when Momo finds himself the shop keeper to the next generation of Momo to his Monsieur Ibrahim.

One bit I especially loved is when Monsieur Ibrahim tells Momo that he never smiles, and that he should try smiling. The young boy tries it, sees the effect it has, and goes about smiling at all and sundry. Classic!

Monster-in-Law (2005)

Went to see this with Emeka. My comments? People should turn off their mobile phones when watching a film in the cinema, and if you don't turn it off, at least have the courtesy not to carry out a conversation on it, while watching the film, telling the other person you're watching a film!!! So ghetto!!!!!

Charlie (Jennifer Lopez) meets and moves in with Kevin (Michael Vartan, who's looking anemic and skinny here). They get engaged and have to deal with his over-protective mother, Jane Fonda. The rest is unimportant. The funniest bit of the film was when Kevin's ex forces a kiss on him, and then Charlie walks in, and then he explains it was nothing, and then he kisses her. One of the ghetto group then says, out loud, "Ewwwww, you're kissing her, you just kissed someone else?" Everyone had to laugh.

Mostly Martha (Bella Martha) (2002)

This was a Netflix critic recommendation and I loved it. I actually went through all 57 customer reviews and all were glowing, and I made Zibu and Sandra watch it. Sandra didn't think there was any big deal to it, and was a little bored, but I knew Zibu would like it, as she likes things with nuance and depth. Not that Sandra doesn't mind you, but this is exactly the kind of film Zibu likes. Maybe I should watch more German cinema as I absolutely loved Nowhere in Africa too, and made everyone watch that.

Martha (Martina Gedeck) is the head chef of an upscale restaurant. She is not interested in anything except cooking, doesn't date, doesn't eat and will storm out of her kitchen to confront any diner that dares to criticise her art. At her boss's "suggestion" she is forced to see a therapist. She spends her sessions telling him about recipes she has and making him taste things she's cooked. She's totally anti-social and doesn't know how to interact with people. I liked her!

Suddenly Martha's entire life changes when her 8 year-old niece Lina (Maxime Foerste) comes to live with her, following an accident. There is a change in the restaurant too when an Italian chef, Mario (Sergio Castellitto), is hired. Where she is uptight and rigid, he is totally carefree and in your face, and in her face especially.

Oh, this was a gorgeous love story--a story of love between Martha and Lina (Foerste is just perfect in this role), and a story of love between Martha and Mario. It's gorgeous to watch the two of them falling in love. Mario is always in her face, always pushing, but that's what she needs. I absolutely adored this film. The jarring song sung in English by maybe an Italian was a bit much and highly distracting, but on the second watch, it didn't annoy me quite as much. Did I say I loved this?

Mr and Mrs Smith (2005)

A daft film if ever I saw one. Watched this in December 2005 on DVD, and got up to the bit where Jane Smith (Angelina Jolie) and her female colleagues are all parasailing (probably not a word) or abseiling, or whatever the heck it is they're doing, out of their building, as John Smith (Brad Pitt. Does nothing for me. Sorry.) has sussed out she was the other person trying to kill the mark. I fell asleep at that point and woke up very near the end (I hope!) where John Smith is kicking his wife Jane as she lays on the floor. Thankfully, they don't actually show her being kicked, but you get the picture. Why this is something anyone would want to watch is beyond me!

There was a lot of hype about this film, it starring two apparently beautiful people an' all. To me, Jolie is beautiful; Pitt is not. All I could think was Pitt and Jennifer Aniston must have had marital problems long before Jolie and Pitt started filming this, as it seems such a stupid film to end your marriage over. What I mean is that years from now Pitt and Jolie can look back (assuming they're still together) at Mr and Mrs Smith, and say with fondness, "ah yes, that's where we fell for each other, among all the kicking and beating each other up, and ridiculous storyline". Very romantic.

The story? John Smith meets Jane, they go to bed together, get married, and grow into being bored with each other and the routine of marriage. Neither knows the other is a hired killer/spy or whatever they are, until a few years into the marriage when they are each separately hired to kill the same mark. (Sounds like a spy turn of phrase). Total waste of money — oh, and time too.

Munich (2005)

Went to see this with Fenny (28/01/06) in the Kentlands cinema in Gaithersburg. We both enjoyed it, although we agreed it was a little long. At one point when we were told the Mossad agents had killed six of the eleven men on their list, I thought "Oh my goodness, another five more to go?" Fenny's a good film buddy as she doesn't say a word the whole way through. She's a little on the extreme side, but I like that. Carl, in case you're reading this, you're a good film buddy too! And while we're on the subject of film buddies, how about my friend Ange, who once in a cinema, told me just as the film was about to start, that she hoped I would be quiet. Now I am a quiet film watcher (unless I have to ask a question about the plot or something), but I took great umbrage at that. Ask Ange about that (and I have) and she'll deny saying it.

Based on the book Vengeance by George Jonas, this is a Spielberg picture about the 1972 massacre of 11 members of the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics, and of the Mossad's subsequent quest to eliminate those believed to have planned it. Eric Bana is Avner, the leader of the group of men given seemingly limitless amounts of US dollars to find and kill the men on their list. He is joined by Steve (Daniel Craig), who appeared to be speaking with a South African accent (maybe? was it?), Carl (Ciaran Hinds), Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), and Hans (Hanns Zischler). Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush) is the man who is the project manager, if you will, Louis (Mathieu Amalric) is the man with the names of the terrorists and Michael Lonsdale is Papa, Louis' father and head of their little enterprise. I don't really know what the average Israeli accent sounds like, but I like that the Israeli's didn't speak with American or English accents.

The Bible tells me to pray for the peace of Israel, and so I try to remember to do so, but this film just highlighted the evils of war, and killing, and hatred. Will it ever end, this animosity between the Palestinians and the Jews? The film is very repetitive, and maybe lest sympathy be for the hunted rather than the hunters, Spielberg keeps on unravelling bits of the massacre, maybe to remind us why this death squad is on a killing rampage. But that's just my interpretation. While I was rooting, if you will, for the Mossad squad as it was a terrible thing that the Black September terrorists did, after a while it was like "hey, these guys are going out and killing people in cold blood", so it's all a vicious circle. There, enough of my trying to make sense of this.

Murderball (2005)

Based on an article by Dana Adam Shapiro, this documentary follows the members of the U.S. Quad Rugby team as they prepare to compete in the 2004 Athens Paralympics. Murderball, invented in Canada, is the original name for quad rugby. This was fascinating, to say the least. I'd never heard of the sport before, but this documentary showed us not only the athletes competing, but also their personal lives, and how they and their families are affected. The film also shows the intense rivalry between the U.S. and Canadian teams. Joe Soares, a former renowned U.S. team member, was head coach for Canada, while filming was going on. Interestingly enough, he gets fired from the Canada team after Athens, and then applies for the position of head coach for the U.S. team.

What made this documentary more than just a sports flick was the fact that we got to meet parents, girlfriends, friends, and family members, and we found out how the quads had ended up in wheelchairs. Joe Soares had polio as a child, Mark Zupan, now the U.S. national quad rugby spokesman, was thrown from a pickup truck, driven by his drunk friend Christopher Igoe, and spent 14 hours in a river, waiting for someone to rescue him. Bob Lujano contracted a rare blood disease as a young child, which cost him his arms and legs. We learn that these guys still have girlfriends, and wives, and are still able to be intimate with them. Mark Zupan makes a compelling spokesman--good looking, fearless, and according to his friends, even crazier now than he was before his accident.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

Saw this film at Union Station with Zibs and Derrick. Was actually supposed to go see it when it first came out at Bethesda Row cinema, but it was sold out even then, and we had no idea what it was - it just seemed like the best of the bunch. Anyway, this film is hilarious, as everyone who's been to see it will tell you. I don't care for Union Station much, but that was the right place to see it. It was a riot! Everyone was hooting with laughter all the way through, and Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula had a lot to do with it.

Toula (Nia Vardalos) is still unmarried at 30 and her father and family have basically given up on her ever marrying. Of course she can only marry a nice Greek boy, cook lots of Greek food, and make lots of Greek babies. She's so frumpy, it seems rather unlikely this will ever happen, so she concentrates on working at the family restaurant. She goes on to meet a very non-Greek boy by the name of Ian Miller (the dishy John Corbett) and the clash of two cultures makes for hilarious viewing.

Saw this film a second time at Union Station, but the crowd wasn't as loud as the first time. In fact it was decidedly subdued, compared to the first lot. Derrick's take on the film? John Corbett's gut was prominent enough for him to lean over and comment on it to me. He also thought John Corbett's looks were a little too "modelly" for Toula for their relationship to be totally convincing. Some useless Greek Wedding trivia: Ian Gomez (who played Mike, Ian Miller's teacher friend) is really Nia Vardalos' non-Greek husband, and he was baptised into the Greek Orthodox Church before he married her. Basically, it's the story of her life taken from her one-woman show.

My Life Without Me (2003)

I never really knew that there was a difference between American and Canadian accents, but this film as well as Owning Mahowny showed me that there is.

Anyway Amy (Sarah Polley) lives in a trailer in her mother's (Deborah Harry) back garden with her husband (Scott Speedman of Felicity fame) and two small daughters. She collapses one day, and then goes to the hospital by herself for tests and is told she has terminal cancer. She is all of 23 years old. She decides not to tell anybody and goes about trying to find another woman to take her place as wife and mother after she's gone, and just generally trying to live her life. She also starts having an affair with a loner (Mark Ruffalo) who she sees about town.

I liked this film, and initially I didn't understand why she didn't tell anyone, but then I understood that she didn't want her last days to be defined by her illness and all that would come with that. What I don't understand however is her need for an affair with another man, but that's just me I guess. I also didn't get the Milli Vanilli-obssessed hairdresser.

My Wife is an Actress (2001)

I really need to brush up my French, so I'm making a conscious effort to rent French language DVDs specifically, because you get to turn off the subtitles. I liked this film with real-life husband and wife Charlotte Gainsbourg (a perfect Jane Eyre in Franco Zefferelli's 1996 film) as Charlotte, a French actress and Yvan Attal as her husband Yvan.

Yvan, who works for a TV sports channel, adores his wife, but finds it very difficult to come to terms with her being an actress, and everyone loving her. She is currently shooting a film in England with a dashing English actor John (Terence Stamp), and he becomes fixated on and insanely jealous about the love scenes she will have to play. It's interesting that he latches onto this when some random acquaintance asks him if it doesn't bother him that his wife does love scenes with other men in her films.

I don't really think about celebrities and their every day lives away from the public, but it was interesting to see and empathise with Yvan's frustration at constantly being interrrupted by fans who wanted an autograph, or a picture at the most inopportune times when he was just trying to spend time with his wife. In French and English.

Mystic River (2003)

Absolutely brilliant. Went to see this over the weekend while my car was getting serviced. (Feb 7, 2004). Just an amazing all-star cast, starting with Clint Eastwood as director and composer, Sean Penn as Jimmy Markum, Tim Robbins as Dave Boyle, Kevin Bacon as Sean Devine and Laurence Fishburne as his partner. Don't like Laurence Fishburne, but that's another story.

Jimmy, Sean and Dave are childhood friends from Boston. One day a car with two men in it drives up and one of the men who they think is a cop takes Dave away in the car. They don't see Dave for four days after which he manages to escape from his abductors. Fast forward to when they're all grown up. Jimmy, an ex-con, owns a corner shop, Sean is a cop, and Dave is a drifter. Although not as close as they once were, their lives once again come together when Jimmy's oldest daughter is murdered, Sean is the cop assigned to the case, and Dave emerges as a suspect.

This was just superb. You cared about the characters, you got involved. Sean Penn and Tim Robbins were particularly brilliant. Marcia Gay Harden as Dave's harried wife was also very good. Laura Linney as Jimmy's wife? All I kept thinking was now where have I seen her before, what's her name, oh yeah Laura Linney, she was the woman who fancied the guy in her office in Love Actually. Enough said! Again, watch this film! Usually I'm the first person to not believe the hype, but in this case, believe it.

National Treasure (2004)

Went to see this with my friend Gülfem (17/12/04), who I haven't hung out with in ages, so it was good to go out. She treated me to the evening out, which was very sweet of her. She had been talking about seeing Spanglish which I'm glad we didn't see, and because we couldn't make up our minds we decided to see this. It was a good Hollywood action adventure film, and nobody does those better than Hollywood.

Nicolas Cage is Benjamin Franklin Gates, an archaeologist who has spent his entire life looking for buried treasure left by the founding fathers of the nation. He enlists the help of Ian Howe (Sean Bean), a nasty piece of work, but Howe leaves him for dead somewhere in the Arctic (at any rate it's cold there and there's lots of snow ...), and then they spend the rest of the film trying to get to the Declaration of Independence and the subsequent clues first.

The film is extremely slow to begin with, but then it picks up and you get caught up in the action and the chase, even if it is a little ludicrous. Of course there's the requisite love interest in Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), and Ros' kind of eye candy in Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), Gates' friend. When I asked Gülfem if she didn't think Justin Bartha was kind of cute, she replied that I always did seem to like baby-faced guys. (Not sure where she got that from but never mind). It's mildly disconcerting to see on movies.com that Bartha's only other film credit appears to be Gigli, which I'm sure someone like Adam would like since he liked Guy Ritchie's Swept Away.

All in all, a pleasant night of mindless entertainment, and now I know exactly how to get to the Hoffman Center so Bob's your uncle!

Nobody Knows (2004)

I'd wanted to go see this in the cinema with Gina when it came out, but we never got round to it, so I watched it on DVD around October 2005. It's based on actual events, about a young Japanese mother who moves into a new flat with her young teenage son, Akira (Yûya Yagira, who won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival 2004). She then sneaks in her three other children (two in suitcases) and the other one late at night. The landlord knows nothing about her three younger children, so they are never allowed out, not even on the balcony, as someone might see them. After a while she leaves them for a bit, and then comes back, only to leave again, promising to come before Christmas, but never comes back. It's obvious she's gone off with her new boyfriend, who doesn't know she has kids.

Akira has to take care of himself and his siblings on the small amount of money his mother left behind. All four kids have a different father, so when short of money, Akira goes to two of the fathers to get some cash. After months of living in dire circumstances (electric and water get cut off etc.), the kids resort to washing in a local park and getting leftovers from the local shop.

I enjoyed this, although I can't understand how a mother could do that to her children because of a man, or for any reason for that matter. I also don't understand how the Social Services didn't get involved as even if the landlord didn't know about the children's circumstances, many people in the neighbourhood did, but maybe it's a case of poetic license for the plot or something. For me, it became 'everybody knows' rather than 'nobody knows', but nobody was doing anything to resolve it, other than helping out with food and stuff here and there.

Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika) (2002)

I absolutely loved this film—loved it so much in fact that I went out and bought the DVD and made Zibu and Sandra watch it with me at different times. I also raved about it to Adam and got him to watch it too. (Here's his review). Why did I love it so much? Who knows? Sandra was very nonchalant and said the same story of Europeans off to Africa, befriending Africans had been told before in Out of Africa, but to me there was so much more to this film than that.

The film is based on the autobiographical book by Stefanie Zweig called Nirgendwo in Afrika. It traces the flight of Redlichs, a Jewish family, from Germany to Kenya in 1939. Once in Kenya, husband Walter (Merab Ninidze)--a lawyer in Germany--becomes a farm caretaker and tries to make the best of their new life, while never losing hope of a new one back in Germany. His wife Jettel (Juliane Köhler) loves the landscape of the country, but declares right from the start that she cannot live there, then as the film progresses, decides that she does not want to return to post-Nazi Germany. Their 5 year old daughter Regina (Lea Kurka, later played by Karoline Eckerts) is shy at first, but comes to love the country as well as the people.

I would say this is basically a love story. Upon watching it for the third time I suddenly noticed a particular tune that is played every time there is interaction between Regina and their Kenyan help Owuor (Sidede Onyulo). It portrays the tenderness that is at the centre of the relationship between the man and the girl. I look forward to Somewhere in Germany, which tells the story of what happens when they return to Germany after the war.

Ocean's Twelve (2004)

Watched this last night (13/4/05) on Netflix. I think I saw the first one on DVD too, but I can't remember. This was slow at first, but picked up when the whole "Tess kind of looks like Julia Roberts" thing started, which was near the end. That scene was hilarious, with Danny referring to either Danny Moder, or Danny Ocean; take your pick. Bruce Willis as himself added more hilarity.

Basically the plot is that Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) wants his money back with interest. Somehow he finds Danny Ocean (gorgeous George Clooney) and his crew--including, but not limited to--Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), Frank Catton (Bernie Mac), Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle), Virgil Malloy (Casey Affleck), Turk Malloy (Scott Caan), and Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould). He gives them two weeks to return his money. They are apparently hampered at every turn by François Toulour (Vincent Cassel), a brilliant French thief, who learned at the hands of Lemaq(?) (Albert Finney), a legendary thief that even Isabel Lahiri, Europol agent,(CZJ--initials are enough for the Welsh beauty) highly respects.

There's a twist at the end that I never saw coming, because really how could you; and there's another one that I did. Actually maybe I could see it coming, but obviously I couldn't know what it was, but of course a way was found. This had to happen as there was no way they would fail and stay locked up in jail. This film was okay as far as Hollywood entertainment goes--nothing serious. I thought how much fun the cast must have had on set, but only if egos and the like didn't get in the way. Don Cheadle's cockney accent was once again pitiful. Why not just use the real thing?

Once Upon A Time In The Midlands (2003)

This has been on my list for a while 'cos it's got Robert Carlyle in it and you can't go wrong there, but then I read the review on Washpost.com and that sealed it.

The reviewer said

"... the story, which feels more like a sprawl of television episodes than a film, is a little tedious to sit through. Shirley makes her final decision long after the film has gently disintegrated into a heavily accented potboiler."

and I was like "yeah, accents, got to rent it tonight." (I love accents from the north of England. I think I still secretly dream of marrying my beer-swilling northerner, but that's neither here nor there. Maybe he shouldn't be beer-swilling anymore).

It's one of those working class films set in the Midlands obviously. Shirley (Shirley Henderson) lives with Dek (Rhys Ifans) and her 12 year old daughter Marlene (Finn Atkins). Dek who has a mild Welsh accent adores Shirley and Marlene, and Marlene adores Dek, but Shirley is not quite ready for marriage yet, although they live together. Dek surprises her and proposes on the Vanessa Feltz Show. She surprises him by saying no. Jimmy (Robert Carlyle) meanwhile watches the show in Glasgow, and decides he still loves Shirley and so gets himself down there to stir things up.

I have a tendency sometimes to just think about the actor rather than the character, especially when the actor is not good enough to stop me doing that, but 'cos Mr Carlyle is so good at what he does that wasn't going to happen here. Dek was a little dull and wimpy and ordinarily I'd be yeah go with Jimmy 'cos I fancy him, and he's Robert Carlyle, but here I was rooting for Dek all the way. Jimmy was a selfish bully type who was no good for Shirley and their daughter. Also stars Kathy Burke, who's just brilliant.

Once Were Warriors (c. 1994)

This beckoned to me. The poster of tattooed Maoris did the trick. (Not this one. I searched everywhere on the web for the right one, but couldn't find it). I'd never heard of any of the actors but I knew I had to go and watch the film. I ended up seeing it three times in the cinema and on video a few times as well — even watched it in French in Paris. First time I went with a friend called Maureen who had also been drawn to it by the poster. Second time I dragged another friend Squealer who stays away from films that don't have well-known, established Hollywood icons in them. (You know I love you really, Niks.) Third time I dragged another friend called Didier. For some reason Squealer and Didier didn't seem to get what all the fuss was about.

Anyway it was excellent. It made me cry. A fair number of my faves make me laugh or cry, or both. This is a very powerful film starring Temuera Morrison and Rena Owen and directed by Lee Tamahori. Some of the acting from the support cast (especially the younger lot) is a bit dodgy but it doesn't take away from the story. Basically it's about the descendants of Maori warriors

My people ... once were warriors ...

and the problems of life, which include being a minority in their own nation (New Zealand), domestic violence, rape and delinquency. Sounds like a lot of fun right? Seriously, this is a very powerful film. If you can stomach the violence and swearing, you won't regret watching it. It's unfortunate that a fair amount of the films I love are liberally flavoured with profanity and violence. I wonder what that says about me? One song What's the time Mr. Wolf? stands out from the soundtrack. I was actually going to buy the soundtrack album, 'cos of that song, but I never got round to it. It's so poignant, 'cos it's one of the few times when the whole family was happy and laughing together.

One Hour Photo (2002)

Robin Williams takes a break from comedy to play Sy Parrish, a lonely middle-aged man who works in the One Hour Photo kiosk at the local SavMart. He has been developing photos for years and has also developed a deep attachment to a particular family (the Yorkins) through Nina Yorkin (Connie Nielsen), her son Jake (Dylan Smith), and the photos they bring in. Sy fantasizes about being part of the family - their "Uncle Sy". He has dedicated a whole wall in his apartment to extra copies of photos he's made of the Yorkin family. We see that he has had at least nine years to indulge his obsession as Jake is now nine and we see baby pictures of him on Sy's wall at home.

You feel sorry for Sy as he's single, has no family of his own and is obviously lonely. It's business as usual for Sy until he discovers that Will Yorkin, Nina's husband (Michael Vartan), is having an affair with someone at work. How does he know this? The bit on the side's photos of course! He gives these photos to Nina, who after her initial shock, chooses not to confront Will about it. Sy then cracks and sets out to do something himself. He has plenty of time as he has been sacked from his job for making extra copies of photos, thus reducing a sizeable amount of SavMart's profits over the years.

Watched this film with Zibs, and I think we both enjoyed it. The only unnecessary bit in my opinion was a dream sequence (I think) in which blood splattered out of Sy's eyes.

Open Water (2004)

Went to see this recently (August 2004) with Layi when she was visiting from England. I knew what was going to happen at the end but she didn't so she was kind of stunned. In fact the whole audience was silent as we filed out. This is apparently based on true events.

Two scuba divers (played by Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis) are accidentally abandoned at sea by their boat and crew due to a very primitive method of keeping track of who's jumped in the water and resurfaced again. I mean, it seemed so ridiculous a method of counting heads, but apparently leaving divers behind is more common than one would think. The divers are left in open water for an entire day, the night and most of the next day, and have to contend with the inconvenience of being stung by jellyfish, and then the very real occurrence of being circled by sharks.

SPOILER ALERT! I knew they were not going to live as I'd read about it, but as I said Layi was not expecting that. I clung to the hope that the search party would find the woman at least, but as she surrendered to the ocean and got rid of her diving gear to sink down into the watery depths, it was clear that was not going to happen. It was absolutely mind boggling that the dive company would not bother to clean up the boat after the dive, or count their oxygen masks until the next morning! Ridiculous! I came away wondering how anyone could want to go deep sea diving. It's not like you really have any control over what's in the sea around you and how it can get you. Layi said that after the film ended, someone behind her muttered that that wasn't going to stop them from diving.

Enjoyed this, although it was definitely not a feel-good movie. I read that the husband and wife director/producer team had to actually feed the sharks in order to make them come closer to Ryan and Travis while they were filming.

Owning Mahowny (2002)

Went into Hollywood video yesterday (14/4/04) with a view to renting L'Auberge Espagnole, but apparently my local doesn't stock it, or it's been damaged or someone bought it, or something for goodness sake. I got Owning Mahowny and My Life Without Me instead. This film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dan Mahowny, and is based on the true story of the largest bank fraud carried out by an individual in Canadian history.

Seymour Hoffman (or is it just Hoffman?) does a bang up job as Mahowny, a recently-promoted bank manager who is also addicted to gambling. He on the other hand disputes this, and refers to what he has as merely "a financial problem". Minnie Driver plays his long-suffering live-in girlfriend who also works at the bank. Just as an aside, I never heard her name throughout the entire film; it was only as the end credits rolled that I saw what her character's name was, which I still can't remember.

Basically Mahowny was a guy who liked to bet at the races, owed money there, and then after his promotion began to siphon money so he could either pay off his racing bets, or as time progressed go to Atlantic City and later Vegas for high stakes gambling--all with other people's money. He was obviously too clever for me, or maybe I was distracted by the ironing I was doing, but apparently he eventually came up with a plan to play his bank against the casinos he owed. I just thought he was trying to win the money he'd stolen from the bank in order to put it back, but when thinking about it I guess he did play the bank against the casino. Ne'er mind the pesky details. This was a good film, with Hoffman doing a bang up job. Have I said that before? Well it's true. In fact everyone else in the film was mediocre.

At the very beginning I had no sympathy for Mahowny whatsover, and was just indignant at the fact that he was using stolen money. As the film progressed and because of Hoffman's portrayal, while I still had no sympathy for Mahowny, he eventually became more three dimensional in my mind, with shades of grey to his makeup, rather than just a thief gambling with stolen money. One major miscasting in my humble opinion? John Hurt as Atlantic City casino boss Victor Foss. His accent was all over the place. While we're on the subject of accents, I had no idea Canadians have a different accent to Americans, but Minnie had this weird "oot the hoose" kind of accent going on, which may or may not be Canadian.

Panic Room (2002)

The film opens with Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter Sara (Kristen Stewart) viewing a huge 3-storey brownstone in New York City. Immediately I think, why would two people want to live in such a huge place, no matter how much money they have? Indeed this thought stays with me for the duration of the film. In fact, why would anyone want to live in a house where you have to have security cameras? But that's just me. I like to live in places where you can see all the rooms without the aid of technology. Back to the action.

The house belonged to some disgustingly wealthy Wall Street financier, who had a panic room built. Once the steel door is shut, no-one on the other side of it can get in. Meg is married to another disgustingly wealthy man, who's in pharmaceuticals, and they are in the midst of divorce proceedings, so she and her daughter have moved out and left him to live with his girlfriend. Their very first night, there's a break in by Jared Leto (the man with the plan), Forest Whittaker (who built the panic room) and Dwight Yoakam (who's just plain nasty). Their mission is to break into the safe in the panic room and get a lot of money from it, left by the previous owner. Only they expected the house to be empty. Meg and Sara are able to run into the panic room before the baddies get to it, and it goes on from there.

I actually liked this film, as a diversion on a quiet Friday night in, although Jared Leto was totally unnecessary as far as I was concerned. Maybe he was supposed to be comic relief or something? He was like a cartoon character. My point about the large house was proven in the end though, when mother and daughter did indeed look for a smaller place to live. See, you could have saved yourselves all that trouble and bother.

Phone Booth (2003)

This is by far the best film I've seen this year, without a doubt. (It's April 2003). What have I seen so far? The Hours, Bend It Like Beckham and Chicago, and this one tops the lot, no contest. Colin Farrell is simply marvelous. He carried the film well, and he's a phenomenal actor - right up there with the likes of Edward Norton. If you want to see more of Farrell at his best, rent Tigerland.

Phone Booth is basically about Stu Shepard, an up and coming publicist, with zippy Italian suits, who answers a phone that's ringing in a phone booth on a New York City street. At the other end of the line is a sniper (Kiefer Sutherland) who is threatening to kill him if he hangs up. Then he threatens to kill his wife, his potential girlfriend to be, the police chief. The list goes on. The sniper has been watching him and following him for a while, and knows that he always uses this particular phone booth to call Pam, an up and coming actress, who he wants to hook up with. I was fascinated by the beads of sweat pouring off Colin Farrell's face - that's how intense he made it. He had me teary-eyed in one scene where he confesses his sins to his wife with everyone watching. Also stars Forest Whitaker in a nice turn as the compassionate police captain.

Pieces of April (2003)

I hate it when you read a review and you want to see a film and then when you see it, you're disappointed. Katie Holmes is April, the family black sheep who's cooking Thanksgiving dinner from her family who are coming up to visit her in some sleazy neighbourhood in NYC. (By the way, Holmes kind of reminds me of my friend Ange). Unfortunately for April, her oven doesn't work and she's already sent her boyfriend Bobby (Derek Luke) out, as she didn't want any help. She spends most of the film looking for an oven to bake her turkey, while her father, mother (Patricia Clarkson), brother, sister and grandma are driving to the city to see her.

For some reason her mother, who appears to have cancer, hates her and I couldn't understand why, so I found that very puzzling and distracting. The funniest bit is when the family arrive at her flat, although they're sure they've made a mistake, and then Bobby (who's happens to be black, and has just been beaten up my April's ex) comes up to their car. April's sister starts screaming at her dad to roll up the windows or whatever--you know black man coming up to our car kind of thing. It was hilarious. It was obviously quite sad also, but hilarious nonetheless.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Heard only great things about this film, so finally went to watch it. It was a blind date. My first blind date, I went to see Bend It Like Beckham, but that's another story.

I think I was so busy thinking my "date" wasn't enjoying it, that I couldn't enjoy it as much as perhaps I would have, had I gone with someone I knew. The story? Jack Sparrow (Depp) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) sail the Caribbean Sea in search of a ship of pirates led by the villainous Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) who is at the helm of a crew of very nasty-looking sailors. Cap'n Barbossa and his motley crew have kidnapped the lovely Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and are hell bent on breaking an ancient curse, using her blood. It's all high jinks tongue-in-cheek stuff, led by the hilarious Johnny Depp.

Possession (2002)

I know I had no desire to see this when it was out in cinemas and so I didn't. For some reason I got it out on Netflix because I'm pretty sure Adam recommended it as it's a Neil LaBute film, but he said he didn't. Well, I didn't finish this, it was so atrocious. The only redeeming factor is that Aaron Eckhart is extremely easy on the eye. Can't even be bothered to write a review it was so bad. Definitely not on a par with other LaBute films.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

I had been looking forward to watching this as I like Emily Watson, and I had read good things about this film. I am definitely not an Adam Sandler fan, so it was going to be a treat to watch a non Adam Sandler-like film. I totally did not get this film at all. I felt it was a waste of time. I didn't understand why he was as disturbed as he was, and I didn't understand how Emily Watson's character could fall for him. I can't even be bothered to write a review. Ugh!

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)

I've been wanting to watch this for such a long time now. Finally got round to it this past weekend (23/4/04). This is based on the true story (set in 1931) of three Aborigine girls, Molly (Everlyn Sampi), Gracie (Laura Monaghan), and Daisy (Tianna Sansbury), who are abducted from their home in Jigalong, Western Australia and sent away to the Moore River Settlement to be trained as servants for white families. These children would later come to be known as the "Stolen Generations". This practice of removing children from their homes went on from 1900 to 1971!

Molly leads her younger sister Daisy and cousin Gracie on an incredible 1,500-mile journey on foot across the Australian outback as they outsmart their tracker Moodoo (David Gulpillil), A. O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh), the so-called legal guardian of all Aborigines in western Australia, and all manner of policemen on the lookout.

In a way I hate watching films like this where one race oppresses another (or where one people oppresses another). Of course it's almost always the white race oppressing the black race. The whites truly believed that what they were doing was right, that it was for their own good that they were removing "half castes" from their Aboriginal mothers in an effort to assimilate them into white society--as servants, or labourers. In fact A. O. Neville seemed to delight in the fact that assimilation into the white race would eventually mean you wouldn't be able to recognise any Aboriginal traits in these kids in generations to come. An extremely poignant and touching moment was when Molly's mother said that if A. O. Neville wanted half caste children, he should "make some of his own".

I watched the DVD extras and it shows how the director, Phillip Noyce, found the girls. They are all ordinary Aborigine girls, who had never acted before, and it was just fascinating to watch. As Noyce said in the commentary "Everlyn IS Molly". Just fascinating!

I like films like this as they tell me something I didn't know before and make me want to go out and learn more. Rabbit-Proof Fence background

Ray (2004)

Enjoyed this, although this review is coming a few weeks after I watched the DVD with Meks. What can I say? Jamie Foxx deserved the Oscar.

Red Eye (2005)

Went to see this with my mum, and we both enjoyed it. It wasn't brilliant or anything, but it was "girl kicks boy butt" entertaining. Rachel McAdams is Lisa Reisart, a hotel receptionist, who is taking the "red eye" back to Miami following a death in the family. She strikes up a conversation with Jackson Rippner (the very blue-eyed Cillian Murphy), who is a psycho with a plan to kill the head of Homeland Security and he is threatening to kill Rachel's father if she doesn't cooperate.

Colby Donaldson from "Survivor: The Australian Outback" has a small speaking part as head of security for the Assistant Head of the Dept of Homeland Security. Try saying that fast a few times!

Rent (2005)

I've never seen Rent on Broadway, but I know Adam Pascal was in the original version, and I always wanted to see it, even if Sandra said she had hated it. I tend to like musicals, having grown up seeing a lot in London's West End. The film version of Rent finally came out, with 6 out of the 8 original main characters reprising their roles, and so off I went to see it on the day after Thanksgiving (25/11/05) with Carl and Alexis.

It's the story of a group of New York friends, struggling to pay the rent to their former roommate-turned-landlord Benny (Taye Diggs), after he goes back on his promise to let them stay in their digs rent-free. Roger (Adam Pascal, who didn't look as good in this as he did in Aida, I have to say) is a songwriter who can't seem to write any songs, and a recovering drug addict, Mark (Anthony Rapp) is an independent filmmaker, Mimi (Rosario Dawson) is a dancer at the Cat-Scratch Club and a junkie, Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia) is a cross-dresser who falls for Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin, who looked scrumptious when he first appeared on Ally McBeal back in its heyday, but is now very mediocre-looking), Maureen (Idina Menzel, Mrs Taye Diggs) is some kind of performance artist protestor, and Joanne (Tracie Thomas), a lawyer, is her love interest. Contrary to how I might sound, it really isn't all about the looks with me!

The songs were okay--although I must say I enjoyed the songs from Aida better, even going so far as to buy the soundtrack--I enjoyed the company, and I especially love Alexis' summary of the film, which will be added to my homepage random quotes. Alexis said (and I'm paraphrasing, as obviously I didn't record her words for posterity or anything) "Yes, I enjoyed that. It was basically a movie about friends, and who wouldn't want those kinds of friends in their life, save for the prostitution [referring to Mimi's Cat-Scratch gig], HIV and rampant drug use?

Road to Perdition (2002)

I had wanted to see this film 'cos it's with Daniel Craig, whom I love, but I wasn't prepared to watch it at the cinema. Borrowed the DVD from Silvio and finally watched it this past week (21/7/04).

I usually am not in any rush to watch a Tom Hanks film; don't know why, he just doesn't do it for me, but I must say I thought his performance in this was a joy to watch. Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, a hitman for gangster John Rooney (Paul Newman), in Depression-era Chicago. Connor Rooney (Craig) is also a hitman who feels he has to murder Sullivan's wife and one of his sons after the older boy witnesses a hit the two men carried out. So begins Sullivan's 6-week flight on the road to revenge (and physically to a place called Perdition) which he takes with his older boy Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin)

I just found Hanks' portrayal of devoted father extremely interesting to watch--so much so that I wondered what he was like with his own children. Where he appeared distant and somewhat authoritarian with one son, he seemed to be loving and playful with the other. Also interesting was the total lack of any contact between him and his wife, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. Seeing her again made me want to watch Single White Female again.

So where I went looking for Daniel Craig I found Tom Hanks instead. It's funny how films can make you empathise with characters even if they themselves are bad. I mean there's nothing wholesome about being a hitman, but I was rooting for the two Sullivans as they were running from the Rooney mob.

Oh, Jude Law was in this too. He played a photographer whose passion is taking photos of dead people. Now for me, Jude Law is vastly overated. He does absolutely nothing for me and I find him mildly annoying, but he was great in this film. They had him balding with bad teeth and a very pale pallour to his skin. He almost looked like the dead people he was photographing.

I was hoping for a happy ending because of all that the Sullivans had gone through, so was surprised at the end when the box wasn't wrapped up all pretty with a pink bow.

Roger Dodger (2002)

I kind of like Campbell Scott and had read a good review about this, so I got it from Netflix. I only watched it to the end because that's how I am, but I must admit I fast forwarded a lot of it towards the end.

This is the story of Roger (Campbell Scott), a womanizing ad executive who rates himself as some sort of authority on women. Anyway his teenage nephew suddenly turns up at his office and Roger spends the next 24 hours giving him advice on how to attract girls. I think maybe I take things too seriously, although I know that I can like dark comedy, but I just felt there was nothing really funny about an uncle teaching his 17 year old nephew about sex, and actually taking him out to bars and clubs to do it. Also stars the lovely Isabella Rossellini, and Jennifer Beals.

School of Rock (2003)

This got great reviews from the critics, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I'm not a huge fan of films with kids, but I had been looking forward to seeing it. Jack Black was funny, but I think this film was hyped way too much, which is a sure banker I won't find it brilliant when I watch it.

Black plays Dewey Finn, a slob basically, who also happens to be in a rock band, which has just thrown him out. He's crashing on his friend Ned's sofa. Now Ned has grown up, left the rock band, got a girlfriend and become a substitute teacher. Faced with being kicked out for not paying rent, Dewey takes on a job meant for Ned, and proceeds to hoodwink the kids into thinking the Battle of the Bands competition they're entering is a kosher state-wide school thing.

The story's totally improbable. There's no way (or so you would hope) a sub would teach with nobody else ever coming into his classroom ever (except for one occasion), especially given the way he was acting. Plus I couldn't quite get over the fact that this guy was cheating the kids of their education, and wasting the parents' money while trying to make $20,000. Loved the whole music, guitar, rock vibe though, given my whole wannabe rock star dream!

Scotland, PA (2002)

The Macbeths get a make-over and now reside in Scotland, PA, circa 1972. Joe "Mac" McBeth (James LeGros) and his wife Pat McBeth (Maura Tierney), work in a fast food joint owned by Norm Duncan (James Rebhorn). Mac always has good ideas, but the promotion always seems to go to someone else. Pat persuades Mac that they have to get rid of Duncan if they are to make anything of themselves.

The young ambitious couple put their plan into motion, murder Duncan (albeit accidentally), and turn the not so successful fast food joint into a veritable fast food emporium - Macbeth's. Now you've got the arches (now red), the chicken McBeths, the drive through window and they are kings of their domain. Duncan's avenger comes in the form of Lieutenant Ernie McDuff (Christopher Walken), who is the investigating officer. Things go well for a while for the McBeths, but inevitably they will fall.

This was a clever little film, and I have a soft spot for Shakespeare's Macbeth, having studied it as part of my 'O' Levels in school.

Secret Window (2004)

Watched this film with Franco, my neighbour from upstairs, this past weekend (3/7/04). This was a major feat in itself as we started it around midnight, but I managed to stay awake. What was the urgency? He had to return it to Hollywood video the next day and neither of us had seen it.

It stars Johnny Depp as Mort Rainey, a writer who appears to be unable to write when first we see him. He's ensconsed in a log cabin somewhere trying to write, while going through divorce proceedings with his wife (Maria Bello) who's cheating on him with Timothy Hutton. One day there's a knock at the door and John Shooter (John Turturro) tells him that he stole his story and he better get cracking on changing the ending right smart or else he may be forced to do unpleasant things. Of course, I'm a little slow when it comes to deep thinking in films (well it was past midnight after all), unlike Adam, and so Franco sussed out what was going on about three quarters of the way through the film. Scott, who just happened to watch this the same weekend I did, also sussed it out quite early on.

Johnny Depp, is as always interesting to watch, as is John Turturro. I'm just amazed I stayed awake long enough to watch it to the end! Franco was wondering whether Stephen King wrote the novella upon which this was based before or after Fight Club, and the answer is probably out there on the web somewhere, but right now I can't be bothered to look for it.

Seducing Doctor Lewis (La Grande Séduction) (2003)

This was a pleasant Canadian film about a little fishing village by the name of St. Marie-La-Mauderne, whose inhabitants are in dire need of a doctor. This is because a small company will only build a factory on their island if they have a doctor living there too. There is of course no doctor on the island, and there's no work either. Everyone collects welfare cheques and nothing much goes on. Soon the mayor leaves and goes to Montréal for greener pastures, becomes a cop there, makes a traffic stop and Dr. Lewis (David Boutin) finds himself suddenly on a boat to St. Marie-La-Mauderne, where things are not quite as they seem. The seduction of Doctor Lewis is led by Germain Lesage (Raymond Bouchard), a local who rallies the village to join him in convincing Dr Lewis to stay.

Some of the story line was predictable (e.g. Dr. Lewis's live-in girlfriend was cheating on him with his best friend), but I enjoyed this nevertheless, and it had me laughing. I like little villages where nothing much happens and people are friendly.

Shaolin Soccer (2004)

This actually came out a few years before its U.S. release, but I've put 2004 anyway. The DVD gave the option of watching the Chinese original version or the U.S. release version, so I chose the original.

Can't remember any of the character's names and as far as I'm concerned that's not really important. Desson Thompson of The Washington Post had raved about this, so I got it from Netflix. As usual, I have the tendency to not particularly like films that have been hyped no end. The main character practices shaolin — a form of kung fu — and all he really wants is for everyone to discover the joys of his art. He then teams up with a former football player as well as his past shaolin mates to form a team and enter a national tournament. Soccer is combined with shaolin. A bit dopey, but still.

Shattered Glass (2003)

Watched this on video (25/3/04). This is based on the true story of Stephen Glass, a staff writer with The New Republic magazine, and a freelance reporter with Rolling Stone, George and Harper's. He basically fabricated entire chunks of articles, if not entire articles, with sources and quotes coming out of his imagination. He wrote about what he thought would interest people, never mind that it wasn't true.

Hayden Christensen plays Glass and does a fine job. In the beginning we like him. Everyone likes him. He's a little bit different, but he comes up with great stories. We then see another side to this almost child-like persona in the crafty wily way he works things to his advantage. All the way through this film I was asking myself why he would make up stories. The DVD extras include a "60 Minutes" interview with Glass in which he basically says he would begin with a little lie and then the lie would become another lie and they would escalate until he had a whole story of lies, but hey it was interesting, and got people excited and created a buzz, and despite all the fact checking, no-one noticed the fabrication.

Chuck Wayne (Peter Sarsgaard) has the daunting task of replacing well-loved editor Michael Kelley when he is fired. He is also forced to investigate wonder kid Glass when he's informed by an online tech magazine that the Glass article entitled "Hack Heaven" just doesn't add up. Wayne decides to look into it and so begins the unravelling of Stephen Glass. I have to say Sarsgaard is just brilliant in this film and won 3 awards for best supporting actor for it. He creeps up out of nowhere and then steals the film. Steve Zahn (he's another actor I like) is also quietly brilliant as the reporter with the online tech magazine who started the chain of events.

After Mystic River this has got to be the second best film I've seen this year. This would definitely be a welcome addition to my 1 VHS 2 DVD library.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Read a very positive review about this in a very old issue of UK Marie Claire ages ago, and so was looking forward to it being released here in America. Never got round to seeing it in the cinema, but put it in my Netflix queue, and then removed it. Then put it back in again, and removed it again. All 'cos I thought I'd be scared. (I hate horror films).

Well, finally got round to watching it recently and it was of course not scary at all. Yes I closed my eyes but only during unpleasant bits such as poles going through people's bodies and the like that I didn't need to see. This was a film which you obviously can't take seriously. Loved the DVD extra involving Chris Martin and another member of Coldplay, with "ZombAid" t-shirts, talking seriously about the other two members of their band turning into zombies. Hilarious! Even more hilarious was when Simon Pegg and Nick Frost joined them as two replacement band members.

Anyway the story's about Shaun (Simon Pegg), a 30-something Londoner who's happy not really doing anything with his life, save hanging out with his best mate Ed (Nick Frost) and girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) down the pub. Liz eventually has enough of this, dumps him, and then if that weren't bad enough, flesh-eating zombies start turning up all over London. Shaun comes up with the bright and wholly laudable idea of rounding up those he loves (his mum and girlfriend) and Ed suggests they wait it out down the pub.

As I said, this film was not to be taken at all seriously, and I liked it.

Sideways (2004)

Watched this on DVD from Netflix. Had heard lots of good things about it and I enjoyed it. Thomas Haden Church as Jack was hilarious with his dead pan one liners and Paul Giammati as Miles, a nerdy wine-connoisseur failed writer was brilliant; very believable. Jack, a C-list actor, who mainly does voice overs on commercials now, is due to get married in a week's time, so his friend Miles takes him on a road trip through the Californian wine country. Jack knows nothing about wine, and likes them all, and would really rather be out chasing chicks and sowing his wild oats, than going to wine tasting after wine tasting and playing golf.

Jack hooks up with Stephanie (Sandra Oh), who happens to be the friend of a waitress by the name of Maya (Virginia Madsen) that Miles knows, but has been too scared/shy to really get to know. Jack has his fun with Stephanie, declares his love for her, and meets her young daughter who calls him uncle Jack. When Stephanie finds out Jack's due to get married in a few days, she beats him up good with her motorbike helmet. Miles has issues of his own. He's been hoping for the past two years since his divorce that he will somehow get back together with his wife, but that's not to be apparently when Jack tells him she recently remarried.

I enjoyed this film. I was appalled, but not surprised at the behaviour of a man who's about to get married in a weeks' time, but thinks nothing of having sex with someone else, and then breaks down and cries like a baby when he realises he may lose all he has. Of course this happens every day with out of control bachelor parties/stag nights, which is why I was not surprised, but I think if you love someone and decide you want to spend the rest of your life with them, you shouldn't be seeking to have one last fling.

Someone Like You (2001)

Absolute crap. I don't know why I never noticed it before or maybe it's just in this film, but Ashley Judd can't act for toffee. She likes Greg Kinnear, (the sensitive type) they go out, want to move in together. Hugh Jackman's the office playboy, she doesn't give him a second glance, then she ends up with him. Don't worry I didn't spoil the end for you. You can see it coming a mile off. I was having a video night with two friends who are into romantic fluff, so we didn't have much choice as to what to watch. The script's lame and there's no chemistry between Judd and Jackman. My friend Alexis summed it up in words to this effect, as the credits rolled during the last kiss at the end. "Do I have to kiss her? Oh well, as long as you're paying me 15 million, I guess I can bear it." That's how unconvincing they were.

Something's Gotta Give (2003)

I knew there was a reason why I like Jack Nicholson! Went to see this with Patricia and her friend Nicole. It was hilarious. Both Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson's facial expressions are just on the mark. Nicholson plays Harry Sanborn, a successful businessman and all-round entrepreneur who's spending the weekend at a beach house in the Hamptons with Marin (Amanda Peet). Although Harry is 63, he only dates women under 30.

Turns out Marin's mother, the owner of the beach house, Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) is up for the weekend too. Harry has a mild heart attack and has to stay at the beach house with Erica looking after him. Jack and Erica hate each other, then grow to like each other and then grow to love each other, but that's much later. Also stars Keanu Reeves (who can't act for toffee of course, and always has such a sad, melancholy air about him), as well as Frances McDormand.

Believe it or not, this film was directed by the same person who directed that awful film What Women Want. That was a load of tripe. This was just such a laugh.

Something New (2006)

Saw this on 18/2/06 with Sandra and Alexis. Was meant to have seen it with Sandra and Zibu as part of an evening out to celebrate Zibu's birthday, but Zibu couldn't make it. It was okay. It was a nice evening out, and afterwards we went to Guapo's restaurant on Wisconsin Avenue for a bite to eat.

Neither Sandra nor Alexis care much for Sanaa Latham (why I do not know), so they didn't appreciate her having the lead role. Actually they said they didn't like her personality in the film, and thought one of the actresses that played her friend would have been a better lead. Apparently Latham's character, Kenya McQueen, reminds them of someone we all know.

Kenya (so named, because of where she was conceived) is a very successful banker, who's looking at making partner in a prestigious firm. However, because she's African American and female, she has to work twice as hard to prove herself to much of male white corporate America that feels uncomfortable with her, and wants to know when the real banker's coming to the meeting. She has this group of three friends, all successful professional black women who tell her she's too uptight, has too many lists and needs to "let go, let flow".

Kenya is set up on a blind date with Brian Kelly (Simon Baker), a white guy. She's not interested -- he's white after all -- and so she flees the date very quickly. She then bumps into Brian again at a party, and hires him to landscape her back garden. She eventually relaxes (what do you know, she "lets go and lets flow"), they get to know each other, he falls in love with her, she loves him, but is in denial 'cos he's white, and she's got pressure from her friends Cheryl (Wendy Raquel Robinson), Suzzette (Golden Brooks), and Nedia (Taraji P. Henson), her parents (Alfre Woodard and Earl Billings), her player brother Nelson (Donald Faison), and all sorts; the list goes on and on. She breaks up with him, tries going out with Mark Harper (Blair Underwood), "the perfect black man", and eventually owns up to her feelings for Brian. I like the way Brian was so sure of what he felt for her. She was too busy listening to everyone else, but he knew what he wanted and kept his focus on that.

Towards the end her father tells her that she needs to follow and listen to her heart, and forget about what everyone else is telling her, or trying to make her feel. I enjoyed this, and will probably rent it when it comes out on DVD. I thought it oversimplified interracial dating, but it is a rom-com, so you can't expect too much depth. I wanted to see this film 'cos I've spent most of my dating life in interracial relationships. I didn't have a bunch of girlfriends telling me I had to date a black man, 'cos I'm black, but I was in a different culture, so I didn't really face the same challenges Kenya does. Alexis reckons I like this film because it's my "dream to marry some dweeby white guy", but I have to disagree with that. The only reason she says that is because I had this huge crush on one of the researchers at work, whom she happened to see dancing erratically at one of our Christmas parties. Anyway, so far the only white guy I have wanted to marry was anything but a dweeb.

Oh, interesting point. The white guy wanted to see her "naked" without her weave, while the black guy expressed a preference for the longer hair. Her hair was just as nice as the weave, but as Alexis pointed out, the film obviously didn't talk about how she was maintaining that "natural" style. Also, I was trying to figure out where I've seen Simon Baker before, and Carl tells me he's Australian (I had no idea from this film that he was anything but American), and that he was in L.A. Confidential. Then I do a google search for him, and it turns out he was in Aussie soaps Home and Away (which I much preferred over Neighbours, which I never watched) and Heartbreak High, which I also loved.

Spartan (2004)

This kind of passed me by at the box office. I think I probably tried to get free tickets to an advance viewing but didn't go as I probably didn't win, plus I hadn't heard a lot about it. Watched it this past weekend (3/7/04) courtesy of Franco, my neighbour. It was very good. I totally enjoyed it. Just a good thriller with a plot twist that I certainly never saw coming, but that's just me.

Val Kilmer plays special ops officer Robert Scott, who along with rookie, Curtis (Derek Luke), has the task of finding the missing daughter of a high-ranking politician. She's apparently involved in some white sex slave trade outfit that ships girls off to the Middle East, blonde girls being more desirable. (She just died her beautiful red hair blonde). Anyway, this was just solid good thriller, if that makes sense.

I did however find it a little disturbing that a man would sacrifice his daughter for his political career, but perhaps things like that go on every day in the corridors of power, and I'm just naïve and know no better. Oh, I also found the lips of Tia Texada who plays another recruit a little too distracting as they seemed to be pumped up with collagen, but they could be natural, so who knows? They were so distracting though that I couldn't take her seriously.

Spider (2003)

I like Ralph Fiennes, although he looks like he's a little distant and doesn't look half as warm as his bruvver Joseph, but he reminds me of my friend Keye. Anyway Fiennes is Spider, a man recently released from a mental hospital into a halfway house somewhere in London, who's trying to get his life back together. He wanders the streets near the halfway house in an effort to sort through his past which included Bill Cleg his dad (Gabriel Byrne) and his mum Miranda Richardson, and his dad's fancy bit; a local prostitute called Yvonne, also played by Miranda Richardson.

This film was a little confusing for me as I couldn't figure out whether Yvonne was a figment of his imagination, but as far as I could tell, he had killed his mum/Yvonne as a little boy which prompted his being carted off to a mental hospital. He however tries to sort through this story, as he doesn't quite remember it this way. Turns out he's schizophrenic, so the confusion on my part is very apt.

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

I was on my way to the supermarket this weekend (3/7/04) when I thought I'd just stop by the cinema next door to see if there was anything I wanted to see playing. Well, I bought a ticket for The Stepford Wives 'cos although I know the reviews weren't too good, I am interested in seeing it, 'cos I've seen the original. I then spent the next 10 minutes trying to buy nachos, and walking to and from where The Stepford Wives was showing to where Spider-Man 2 was showing.

Spider-Man 2 won out as I reckoned there was no way I was not going to enjoy it. So add my $6.50 to the $115+ million it's supposed to have taken in its first 5 days.

I enjoyed this one. I can't really remember everything that happened in the first one or how it made me feel, but I know I liked this one. The villain Dr Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) somehow seemed more credible to me than the first villain (Willem Defoe). Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is still in love with Mary Jane Watson (the cute as a button Kirsten Dunst), but cannot tell her so he watches impotently as she is set to marry some NASA hero, who's the son of his boss. Meanwhile his other best friend Harry can't get over his abiding hatred for Spider-Man who he blames for the death of his father. His aunt meanwhile is in financial straits.

This story takes us deeper into the human aspect of Spider-Man while the technical wizardry of his swinging about from building to building still sizzles. A good way to spend $6.50 on a Saturday afternoon.

Super Size Me (2004)

A documentary written and directed by Morgan Spurlock who eats nothing but McDonald's three times a day, for one month. We see him go from a fit and healthy 185 pounds to about 211 or so, if my memory serves me well. I didn't think he really put on that much weight (I mean he didn't look really fat or anything), but his liver and all sorts inside started fighting back and turning on him.

Suspect Zero (2004)

This was okay. I had seen a preview in the cinema, and thought it looked somewhat interesting. I was concerned about watching it alone, 'cos I didn't want to get scared, so I watched it in the afternoon.

Aaron Eckhart is Thomas Mackelway, an FBI agent who hunts serial killers, and who has in the past had a tendency to try to take the law into his own hands. Now, there appears to be a new serial killer on the loose who leaves a symbol etched somewhere on the victim as his calling card. He also does something nasty to one of the eyes of his victims. The suspect is Benjamin O'Ray (Ben Kingsley), who has been staying in a halfway house for several years, and reckons he's an FBI agent. Mackelway is always a few steps behind O'Ray, until they meet and it would seem they have gone through the same kind of FBI program, and Mackelway also has the gift that O'Ray has.

As I said, nothing special; kind of like this review really, which is all over the place.

Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

Adam has been raving about this film for so long, that I thought I should finally get round to renting it from Netflix. Yes, it's a Woody Allen film, and no, I'm not a Woody Allen fan, but it's got Sam Morton and Sean Penn, and Adam was raving so I watched it. And I enjoyed it, thank you very much, and you know why? Well, because Woody Allen wasn't in it, per se. And I told Adam so too.

This film is about Emmet Ray (Sean Penn), an obscure, but well-known jazz guitarist--to those in the jazz world. Emmet is a brilliant guitarist, but he's haunted by the fact that there's another great jazz guitarist by the name of Django, and he, Emmet is always placed second to him. In fact the usual comment people have is that he could be as great as the great Django himself if only he would put a bit of feeling and emotion into his playing, instead of suppressing everything.

Now Emmet Ray is a pretty egotistical, slightly loathsome, and downright weird character, but maybe geniuses are supposed to be like that. He uses women and discards them when he's had enough, and thinks it's alright because well, he told them they shouldn't expect anything in the first place. He steals when the fancy takes him, although he doesn't need the things he nicks, and he loves shooting at rats. In fact taking a lady out to where he shoots at rats is his idea of date heaven.

Enter into this picture Hattie, a mute girl who works in a seaside laundrette. Of course he has many disparaging things to say about her being mute, but they end up as lovers, although he discards her when he hears the "L" word, and ups and leaves and marries someone called Blanche (Uma Thurman), who has a fascination for local mobster Al Torrio (Anthony LaPaglia).

While I was watching this, Zibu passed by and asked what I was watching. I told her and she said she'd never heard of Emmet Ray, to which I replied "well, he's really well known in the jazz world". I told this to Adam who laughed and said it isn't a true story. I was like but Woody Allen and another guy had talking head spots where they made comments about Ray as if it were kind of a documentary, and he said yes, that was the point, but he's an Allen character. Hilarious.

I loved this though. Both Penn and Morton were extraordinary, with Zibu even commenting that Penn totally becomes the character he's playing. Morton said not one word the entire film, but expressed everything she needed to in her silence. Penn as Ray was hilarious, but at the same time I didn't want to like him 'cos of his appalling treatment of others at times. He obviously fell in love with Hattie, but couldn't admit it, and then it was too late to try again. Dare I say this was almost brilliant? Wow, I can't believe though that I've written such a long review for a flippin' Woody Allen film.

Sweet Home Alabama (2002)

Never got round to watching this when it came out. Watched it twice on video, once by myself and the next day with Zibs. She thought it was wonderful, your perfect romance film. She felt like she was reading one of those romance novels à la Harlequin or Mills and Boon. She also thought Josh Lucas who plays Reese Witherspoon's husband Jake was "hot", and "incredibly good-looking", to name but a few adjectives. I tend to agree with her. The phrase that aptly sums him up is "a bit o' rough!"

Basically Melanie Carmichael is an up and coming fashion designer working in New York City, who gets engaged to the mayor's son Andrew (in other words your über eligible bachelor in the shape of Patrick Dempsey). However, there is just one problem. She must first go back home to Alabama to get her husband Jake to divorce her. Of course eligible bachelor doesn't know about him, or about the fact she's fabricated the essentials of her past. Anyway you know she's going to choose Jake because there wouldn't be a story if she went back and he divorced her and then she went back to NYC to marry Andrew, now would there?

It's interesting that one of my Sunday School kids Noelle who is obsessed with Josh Hartnett, found Patrick Dempsey more appealing than Josh Lucas. Her reasoning is that Jake looked like a bum and drank beer, to which I countered "but Noelle, I'm sure the New York guy drinks too", to which she answered "Yes, but he drinks champagne!"

Sweet Sixteen (2002)

The Netflix DVD sleeve made this sound like a quaint little story about a young teenager trying to "raise money" to buy a caravan for him and his mother when she gets out of prison. It made me think maybe it was going to be like Very Annie Mary (I can't be bothered to write a review about that. Didn't really like it is enough review, thank you very much!) with Rachel Griffiths, but oh no! Actually I got this, 'cos it's a Ken Loach film, so I knew it would be good.

As I said Liam (Martin Compston) is trying to get enough money to buy him and his mum Jean (Michelle Coulter) a caravan for when she gets out of prison, which will be the day before he turns sixteen, as it happens. He's no longer in school, and selling the odd carton of cigarettes with his best mate Pinball (William Ruane) is not going to do the trick. He starts by stealing his mum's boyfriend's stash and then gets the attention of a local drug dealer for encroaching upon his turf. The drug dealer likes his gumption, to use a polite term, and employs him in his drug ring.

His mum meanwhile is in prison on a drugs charge after taking the rap for her petty peddlar boyfriend Stan (Gary McCormack). Liam's sister Chantelle (Annmarie Fulton) lives with her young toddler Calum, is trying to make a go of her life, and wants to have nothing to do with their mum. Liam goes to live with Chantelle after getting beat up by both his granddad (nice!) and Stan.

First off, the Scottish accents were so strong, I couldn't pretend not to need the subtitles--belive me, I tried at the beginning, but it just didn't work. After watching this film, I found myself doing a pretty good impression of the accent when I was by myself. Loach doesn't spare you the bad language or reality in his films, and this one is no exception. I knew there was no happy ending on the way, and that someone had to die or something. Martin Compston gave a brilliant performance as Liam. He was tough and yet vulnerable at the same time, and that was somehow endearing. After all, here's a 15 year old boy who wants to improve his life, and the life of those he loves, but is caught up in the circumstances of working class poverty.

Swept Away (2002)

Oh my goodness, this was just simply atrocious. I only watched it 'cos Adam said he enjoyed it despite all the bad reviews, so I decided to see it for myself. It was bad. Madonna can't act, she looked old (great body, but she still looked old), she was mechanical, the love story between her and the Italian bloke was totally unbelievable. I have no idea whether the original was any good, and actually I don't see how it can be if it was treated the same way as this one. This is the same guy who directed "Lock, Stock..." for goodness sake. It must be love indeed for Guy Ritchie to have directed this film and actually thought it was worth releasing!

Madonna plays the spoilt wife of a rich pharmaceutical type man on a cruise with their rich friends. She treats Peppe (who she insists on calling either Guido or Peepee) like he's her personal slave. They eventually get shipwrecked or lifeboat-wrecked if you will, and find themselves on a deserted island where finally the tables are turned and he now treats her like a slave. Apparently there's some animal magnetism that draws them together so they end up falling in love, but for the life of me, I couldn't see or sense the animal magnetism. A waste of time in my opinion. Towards the end I was more interested in the ironing I was doing than in what happened to them. The only redeeming thing about this film was the fact that it didn't have a tied-up-with-a-pink-ribbon Hollywood ending.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Could have been funny, but wasn't. I don't have the time to waste space writing a review about this. The only reason I'm writing a review at all is so that I remember how awful this was. I've heard radio DJs say how this was hilarious, as was apparently The Wedding Crashers, and it did cross my mind for a second that maybe I don't have a sense of humour, but only for a second. Stars Steve Carrell as a 40-year-old virgin, who happens to collect things. He works in an electronics store and when some of his co-workers find out his sex-less state, they go all out to teach him all they can, which really is nothing.

Thank You For Smoking (2006)

Went to see this on April 1, 2006 after praise and worship practice at church. Just said "Carl, wanna go see a film?", and he did, and so off we went to Georgetown Loews. We both enjoyed it, and thought it was funnier than we'd been expecting. The film is based on the novel by Christopher Buckley, which I've never read.

Aaron Eckhart is Nick Naylor, who works as a lobbyist for Big Tobacco, and he's very good at his job too. His son Joey (Cameron Bright) adores him, his boss BR (J.K. Simmons) thinks he's great, but does not hesitate to take the credit for his ideas, and he has lunch weekly with two friends, fellow lobbyists; one for the alcohol industry and the other for the gun industry. Things change however, when he agrees to an interview with newspaper reporter Heather Holloway (Katie Holmes), who he ends up sleeping with, and spilling his secrets to, while she has no qualms about telling all she knows in her article.

Eckhart is really very very good as Naylor. He can talk his way out of a tight spot, and yes, sometimes he may stop to think about what he's doing, and what tobacco does, but hey, he has to pay the mortgage (a mortgage and a rental in fact) just like everyone else.

The Aviator (2004)

Watched this sometime in 2005, and it's now January 2006, so I really can't remember a whole lot, I'm in a hurry, and I can't be bothered. I do want to say however that Leonardo DiCaprio is a very versatile actor who did a good job with this, and also with Catch Me If You Can, to name but two. This is a biopic about Howard Hughes, that concentrates on his life during the 1920s - 1940s when he developed and built massive planes, and romanced Hollywood actresses. Also stars Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner, and Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow.

The Barbarian Invasions (2003)

Had seen a preview of this somewhere and am always up for watching something French, even if it's of the Canadian persuasion, which means slightly different. Apparently this is a sequel, which features the same cast as the first one, but I haven't seen the first one.

The story begins with the hospitalisation of Rémy (Rémy Girard), a divorced college professor. Rémy has an undisclosed (unless I missed it) terminal illness, which prompts his long-suffering ex-wife (Dorothée Berryman) to call their son Sebastien (Stéphane Rousseau), who, although estranged from his father, flies from London to Montréal to care for him. Although in his heyday Rémy had a bevy of mistresses and friends, he is now all alone in his hospital bed apart from his ex-wife and his son. (His daughter's away exploring the ocean blue and can't make it for his impending death). Sebastien, who is some kind of City trader, pulls all sorts of strings to make his father's last days memorable, even going so far as to pay some of Rémy's former students to come and see him, getting a heroin addict to supply him with heroin to ease the pain, and rounding up his former set of friends.

The film also includes a face from the past--Roy Dupuis from La Femme Nikita. I used to think he was really cool. Was interesting seeing him speak French. This film was okay. No great shakes. Maybe I wasn't really in the mood to delve deeper into the meaning, I don't know. Been watching a lot of just okay films lately it seems.

The Beach (2000)

Why did I watch this atrocious piece of obvious nonsense? Because the soundtrack's mega (or at least side one and Yeke Yeke by Mory Cante on side two is) and I wanted to see where the songs fit in. Of course it was a load of rubbish. The presence of Robert Carlyle couldn't even redeem it. Actually the one nugget I got from this film, something that I totally agree with, is that when you're infatuated with someone, they become everything that's good in a person to you. They become the epitomy of the perfect person, even if they're not. Suddenly they're everything you've ever looked for in a person, and they can do no wrong. Or words to that effect. I mean, you don't even have to be infatuated with them (that is rather a strong word, fancying them'll do).

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

Watched this with Layi on her recent visit from London (August 2004). I was supposed to have seen this with Franco, but he up and went without me, so that was that. I had read the reviews about it being nothing more than a travelogue with a hand-held shaking camera. Well, yes and no. Jason Bourne travelling all over the world is part of the story and that was fine, but the camera shaking all over the place gave me a headache. It was so annoying, and intensely distracting, and not at all subtle.

That said, it was an okay film. There are a lot of just okay films out there. Wasn't brilliant, didn't make me want to see it again, but filled a few hours in the afternoon. The story goes that Jason Bourne is forced to come out of hiding/retirement when he's framed for killing some CIA operatives in Germany. There's a dodgy Russian after him who traces him to a part of India where I'm sure my friend Stella has been to loads of times, and kills his girlfriend, and thinks he's killed him. Bourne now has to find out what's going on, and try to clear his name, and get them to just leave him alone. Matt Damon is of course Jason Bourne.

The trouble with using non-Russians to play Russians is that Russian speakers will always suss out the fake. Karl Urban plays the Russian agent who frames Bourne, and it's so obvious he's not Russian. (He's from NZ). This probably matters to no-one else, but being a student of the Russian language, I noticed and found it distracting. You can always tell because of a certain sound that's part of both the familiar and polite form of the personal pronoun "you", which is extremely difficult for non-native speakers to get. There, language lesson over. If you must see this, see the matinée show and save some money. You could also wait for it to come out on video, but films are really best experienced on the big screen.

The Chorus (Les Choristes) (2004)

I loved this so much, I watched it twice! Plus I am trying to brush up my French at the moment (January 2006). I am so glad the DVD came with the option to turn off the subtitles, which I did. Let me just say something about subtitles, and this is coming from someone who has become somewhat of an expert in tuning them out. When they're there, you tend to read them first and then listen, which doesn't really help if you're trying to practice a language. Turning the subtitles off means you are forced to listen, and you tend to hear more, or at least listen harder, if you will, when you don't have the lifeline of reading the English to try to understand. Thus I was able to watch this sans soustitres, and I understood the whole thing, with no problem. Maybe they spoke slower in the 1940s, because I watched Le Chignon d'Olga last night (29/1/06), which is set in the 21st century, and boy did I need those blinkin' subtitles!

This is the story of teacher Monsieur Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) and the influence he had on a group of boys at a strict boarding school for delinquents. The story starts with a symphony conductor by the name of Pierre Morhange (Jacques Perrin) being called home to France from America, following the death of his mother. Back home, he is paid a visit by an old schoolmate Pepinot (Didier Flamand), who proceeds to read from a diary kept by Monsieur Mathieu. The story is an uplifting one, as the boys go from being pure rascals to boys with a purpose in life. Monsieur Mathieu decides to start a choir even though most of the boys' voices are not that beautiful. Gradually he draws them out, and the music they make is just heavenly, crowned by the young Morhange's (Jean-Baptiste Maunier) soprano.

This brought tears to my eyes, and probably even made me cry. Such sweet, sweet music. Just an encouraging, uplifting story. One of the Netflix reviewers says when it came out in France, it was more popular than Amélie, and that many of the boys were not actors, but members of an actual choir.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)

Miss Sanders used to read this book to us by the fireside in Dean Grange, and it was so much fun. I also wear my watch face-side on my inner wrist because of her.

The Pevensie children -- Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter -- are sent to the countryside from London during World War II. They stay in a big house, owned by a Professor (Jim Broadbent), and the house has lots of empty rooms. One day while playing hide and seek, Lucy, the youngest, goes into a wardrobe and comes out in Narnia, a land inhabited by all sorts of talking beasts, where it is always Winter and never Christmas, because of the spell the White Witch (Tilda Swinton) has cast.

Went to see this with Carl when it came out in the cinema around Christmas 2005. We both enjoyed it. I've seen the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings films, but in this film I was much more impressed with the talking animals. Inside I was like "how do they do that"? Half way through the film I realised that Aslan (which, according to my friend Gülfem, actually means "lion" in Turkish) was voiced by Liam Neeson. I also heard Ray Winstone's voice there, and of course Dawn French was Mrs Beaver.

Oh, about Turkish Delight? I don't like the one in the purple wrapper made by Fry's I believe it is, but I sort of like the original one with the white icing sugar or whatever it is, but certainly not in great dollops.

The Commitments (c.1991)

What can I say? I wouldn't mind having them play at my wedding. This was simply a lot of fun. Hilarious, down to earth and something I can watch over and over again. This is the story of a soul band put together by Jimmy Rabbit (played by Robert Arkins) who becomes their manager. Through much practice, they start to get more popular and play a lot of Dublin clubs. The fights and the squabbling between the band members is a riot. The soundtrack's an integral part of the film and you can watch it over and over again just to hear the music. I don't usually buy movie soundtracks but this was a must. The voice is Andrew Strong! who played Deco and he was apparently only 16 at the time. His voice is that husky, dusky, powerful kind of voice, in the style of Chris Dean of The Redskins, (who in the '80s told us to take no heroes, only inspiration). The Commitments, the band are apparently still going strong.

The Company (2003)

Read a review for this in the Washington Post a while ago, and was looking forward to watching it. Trouble is I really shouldn't try to watch a film the night before it's due back at Hollywood Video. Maybe it's time to get Netflix ...

This film stars Neve Campbell as a dancer in an unnamed company (although it's really the Chicago Joffrey Ballet) who suddenly gets the chance to be a lead dancer. (I think!) It also stars Malcolm McDowell as the director of the ballet company. I didn't get a chance to finish this, but I'm writing this review 'cos of the funny comments made by Silvio and Chineze.

I was in my room taking a nap, and there were in the living room watching Shattered Glass. I woke up to hear the title music sequence from The Company, which comprised a strange musical piece with ballet dancers prancing around on stage holding ribbons. This scene goes on for quite a while as the opening credits are rolling. Anyway both Chineze and Silvio are complaining about the dance going on for 5 minutes or more, and they're like what is this? The hilarity of their comments gets totally lost in translation, as I can't quite remember them, but they certainly cracked me up.

Actually I'm not sure why I rented this as I'm definitely not a fan of ballet. I watched the Bolshoi Ballet in the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow when I was 15 and even then I didn't really appreciate it. In an effort to try to watch as much of it as possible before going to return it I would watch the bits with dialogue and fast forward the ballet bits, but I still wasn't able to finish it.

The Gospel (2005)

Not sure really why I rented this. I like Boris Kodjoe, but not so much anymore. Anyway, this is based on the story of The Prodigal Son in the Bible. It had some great praise songs, and the delicious Donnie McClurkin was in it, but I stopped the DVD after about 45 minutes as it was just too cheesy.

The Guru (2003)

Had wanted to watch this when it came out, and was supposed to go with my mate Sandra, but she forgot and went with someone else. Watched it on video. Very glad I had waited to do so. Can't even be bothered to write a review, need to fill this space — there I'm done! Stars Heather Graham and Jimi Mistry of Corrie and East is East fame.

The Hours (2002)

Since on the whole I have friends who do not share my love of the cinema, I went to see this by myself. I know nothing really about Virgina Woolf and have never read any of her books, but I enjoyed this. Nicole Kidman as Woolf, Julianne Moore as Laura Brown, a depressed pregnant housewife with a husband and young son, and Meryl Streep as Clarissa Vaughan, an editor, all did a bang-up job. The connection between the three? We see a day in Woolf's life when she was writing "Mrs Dalloway", Laura Brown is reading "Mrs Dalloway" in the 1950s, and Clarissa Vaughn is called Mrs Dalloway by an ex-lover of hers (Ed Harris), a poet who is now fighting AIDS.

All three actresses did a good job of portraying the despair and anguish of the characters they were playing. I thought Moore's portrayal of Laura Brown was particularly heart-wrenching, and found the relationship between her and her young son Richie painful to watch. The little boy is so wrapped up in his mother and she is so wrapped up in her anguish and he can feel her anguish and senses she is going to leave him. Of course everyone must have heard about the prosthetic nose Kidman wears as Woolf. I found it distracting most of the time as it was a lighter colour than the rest of her face, but that's just me. I'm not sure if Moore got an Oscar nod, but I think she should have.

The Incredibles (2004)

Went to see this with Kristina, my friend William's soon-to-be-fourteen-year-old daughter. She liked it; I didn't really. I must have been tired 'cos I was actually nodding off in bits of it. I preferred Toy Story. This got a lot of hype and good reviews so I'd been looking forward to watching it, but it was just there for me.

It's a Disney Pixar animation feature about a family of superheroes. Bob Parr (Craig T. Nelson) is Mr Incredible. His other half is Elastigirl (Holly Hunter). They have to retire and go away and assume a new life as ordinary people after a spate of lawsuits against super heroes. They have three kids and go about their lives, although Mr Incredible secretly listens to police radios at night with his ex-super hero friend Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson). Anyway their super hero days are resurrected soon enough.

One thing I did like about this though was the fact that Mrs Incredible had hips!! I also liked the French thief scene where the thief's like "Monsieur Incroyable ....." Also the writer/director Brad Bird does a brilliant turn as Edna, the fashion designer extraordinaire to the world's super heroes.

The Interpreter (2005)

Went to see this with Meks on 30/4/05. It was okay, albeit quite implausible in some bits, but it wasn't bad or anything. Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn did a good job, so I can't really complain about the acting or anything. Anyway, it was good watching it with Emeka, and he graciously stayed while the credits were rolling because I told him that's what I like to do.

Nicole Kidman is Silvia Broome, an African-born United Nations interpreter, who one night overhears a death threat against the head of state of a fictional African nation, Matobo--probably "inspired" by the nations of Mozambique and Zimbabwe. This head of state, despite being a despot and a tyrant and all the rest of it, is adamant that he will address the General Assembly. Federal agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) is assigned to protect her, although he doesn't believe her story.

We the audience see her overhear the death threat, so it seems a waste of time to make the first half hour or so of the film about Agent Keller not believing her. Plus, as Emeka and countless others have probably pointed out, if there was a credible death threat known about beforehand, why carry on with the General Assembly meeting? Surely that supercedes anyone's insistence on having his say? Anyway, as it happens, Silvia grew up in this fictional African nation, and so she has a few skeletons in her closet and what could be underlying ulterior motives etc. etc.

I know Zibu and her friend Shabih wanted to see this together because the language Ku in the film is an amalgamation of Swahili and Shona, which is familiar to each of them. My background is in languages and I had at one time thought of being a translator, although in the end abandoned that idea. Anyway, I thought how glamorous the job of an interpreter seemed, although of course it's very hard work, which is why I never even considered it. Verdict? Okay thriller as thrillers go, even with its dodgy bits.

The Jacket (2004)

This was okay. Sunny watched it, and said he didn't really like it. I like Adrien Brody, although I've never actually seen any of his films. Not even sure if he's been in one apart from "The Pianist", which I may get round to seeing one day.

Brody is Jack Starks, a Gulf War I veteran, who is shot in the head, and returns home. He's suffering from amnesia, and is accused of murdering a cop. He's then sentenced to life in an asylum, where he gets given all these drugs and locked in a morgue drawer at night by Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson). Jennifer Jason Leigh is Dr. Lorenson, who disapproves of Dr. Becker's drug treatments, and the rugged extremely bit o' rough Daniel Craig is Mackenzie, who is truly crazy.

Anyway, in the drawer, once he relaxes, Sparks is able to visit the future, where he meets Jackie Price (Keira Knightley, who, for the most part, manages not to pout, and whose star is really rising right now). She may be able to save his life, and as it turns out, he is also able to save hers.

Love DVDs for the extras, and this one had some so I watched them, since the story was more than a little confusing, especially at the end. Watching the 3 or so alternative endings helped me a great deal.

The Last Samurai (2003)

Although not a Tom Cruise fan, I enjoyed this, and watched it on my birthday, 2006. Cruise is Nathan Algren, a Civil War veteran who travels to Japan in the 1870s to help train the emperor's troops to fight against, and eliminate samurai warriors.

On their first venture out, despite telling Colonel Bagley (Tony Goldwyn) that the emperor's solders are not ready, Algren is forced to lead them out in search of the samurai, and ends up getting captured, albeit after bravely fighting back with great resistance. This is after all a Tom Cruise flick.

Algren is taken to the samurai camp, where he stays in the house of Katsumoto's (Ken Watanabe) brother-in-law (whom he killed on the battlefield), and Taka (Koyuki), Katsumoto's sister, has to endure nursing back to health and housing the man who killed her husband. Of course you know they're going to fall in love at some point, but that takes a while. After spending a considerable amount of time with the samurai, Algren goes back to Tokyo and eventually has to choose which side he's on, but of course we know that already.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Saw this with Franco this past weekend (31/7/04), and I must say it was the most boring film I've seen this year. I saw the original last week or so on the telly and although it was on really late at night (it finished at about 1.30 am) I managed to stay awake, and actually quite enjoyed it. We watched the 10 o'clock show and by the time it finished at 12.30am I was ready for bed. I usually wait to see the credits, but I was up and out of my seat as soon as the Hollywood ending was over. A major disappointment. Basically I thought all the original cast did a much better job than this lot. Really can't be bothered to write a review.

The Mother (2004)

Was on a DVD-watching binge this past Thanksgiving (24-27/11/04) in which I watched this, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, The Terminal, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

I'm a Daniel Craig fan--bit o' rough with the good looking/ugly sort of thing happening. Stellz also told me she enjoyed this film. I wasn't quite sure about the mother having an affair with her daughter's boyfriend, but I watched it anyway.

Anne Reid plays May, the mother, who with her husband goes down to London to visit their son Bobby (Steven Macintosh) and his wife and two kids, and their daughter Paula and her little boy. Bobby's kids don't really remember their grandparents and are rude and nonchalant, as are Bobby and his wife actually. Anyway granddad drops dead one day, and May doesn't want to go back to her house, so she stays on in London, going between the homes of her well-to-do son and her single-mum daughter.

Reid does a brilliant job of portraying the depression and general feeling of being past her sell-by date after the death of her husband. Even her children don't know what to do with her. She soon starts having an affair with Darren (Craig), the bloke that's building Bobby's conservatory and Paula's boyfriend. I know her husband's just died and there's a lot of emotions running through her head, and fear and all that, but I was just very disgusted with the way she was coming across as extremely needy and desperate with Darren. By the end of the film I was shouting at the telly, saying "please don't, please don't".

This was an interesting film, with the mother superbly portrayed by Reid, but the whole sleep with your daughter's boyfriend bit I found appalling. Of course the whole sleep with your girlfriend's mother bit was equally appalling.

The Notebook (2004)

This is taken from a Nicholas Sparks novel, so I wasn't expecting much, but I was in the mood for something light and fluffy, because that does happen sometimes. I have read two Nicholas Sparks novels; "Nights in Rodanthe" and "The Guardian" (courtesy of Zibu) and I am not a fan. I think he writes like a girl, and his stories are boring as far as I'm concerned. There's nothing wrong with writing like a girl per se; it's just that when I'm reading his books, I keep looking to the sleeve note just to check that the author is indeed a man.

Anyway, it was with not much expectation as I say, that I put this in the DVD player, so it was mildly surprising that I liked it from the very beginning. James Garner is in a nursing home, where he reads a story about a couple (Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton) from this notebook he has. The woman (Gena Rowlands) puts up with the man and listens to his story. As time goes on we realise that the story is in fact about the two of them.

I liked the way this film approached the subject matter of Alzheimers. I liked the fact that we weren't told hey, this woman has Alzheimers and this man is reading to her about their love story. Instead, we were left to figure it out, and in that way, somehow to me, it seemed that as I began to figure it out, that mirrored how Alzheimers would begin. The gradual way in which the viewer realises what's going on could be compared to the gradual way Alzheimers takes over someone's life. Loved it. The younger couple, played by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams did an excellent job too. I liked the cockiness of the character Noah, and Gosling portrayed this superbly. It is the same spirit of going after what you want that is displayed in the older Noah, who's called Duke, as he refuses to listen to the doctors when they say that Allie can't remember anything he's reading.

Zibu walked in at the end, and said she was surprised I hadn't stopped watching after about 20 minutes, since it was based on a Nicholas Sparks novel after all. In contrast to me, she was teary-eyed at the end. My eyes were dry, but I loved the story.

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Finally went to see The Passion of the Christ two Sundays ago. I had been waiting to see it with Sandra and two of her friends but there were a lot of conflicting schedules so it never worked out. I was going to go alone although I felt I shouldn't watch it alone, so it was good that in the end I went with new friend Chris, and Carolyn, a lady from my new church.

To those who say it's gratuitous violence, it is written in the book of Isaiah that his body was "marred beyond recognition". I believe the blood-soaked scenes were necessary to show that the Jesus on the cross was not a clean Jesus with just a hole in each palm, His side, and one through His feet, so He could look good on a crucifix hung around someone's neck. He was bloody and in pain and this film depicted that. In fact there could be a case for saying Mel Gibson didn't go far enough.

Of course I was crying pretty much through most of the film and feel that had I been alone I would have been bawling. Certainly when I watch it on video, I shall be crying. My question throughout was "why did the Roman soldiers have to be so brutal?" Had I been alone I would have left the cinema, gone home and cried and prayed. As it was, we left the cinema, went to the car, talked and prayed and I sniffled a bit. To those who were saying beforehand that the film would foment anti-Semitism, I say rubbish as far as I'm concerned. It was the Roman soldiers I was angry at, for the sheer delight they took in their brutality. Not once did I hate Jews because of what I was seeing on the screen. This film challenged me to look inwards to my weaknesses and sins, rather than to the perceived sin of others.

I was challenged to resolve to live a more abundant life. Jesus did not go through all that pain, suffering and humiliation just for me to abide in mediocrity. Because I'm a born-again Christian, and because I believe in the truth of the message behind the film, I could not watch it through another kind of lens. I'm glad for the bloody images that remain with me of His flesh being torn apart. I'm glad that I was able to go beyond the "crucified under Pontius Pilate, dead and buried; on the third day He rose again." The case for Christ

The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

I rented this for one reason and one reason alone: Gerard Butler, and unfortunately he had a blinkin' mask on the whole time. I've never seen the play, but I had heard the title song and quite liked that. (Obviously though, I knew about the mask)

As always, I tend to not like writing reviews for films I just didn't enjoy, and this is one of them. The story just wasn't my cup of tea, and after about an hour (I tried, honest!), I gave up and stopped the DVD. The story in a nutshell? The phantom roams around the Paris Opera House, trains a young soprano Christine (Emmy Rossum), who goes on to surpass the chief soprano Carlotta (Minnie Driver), and gets very very angry when Christine prefers a childhood love by the name of Raoul Viscount de Changey (Patrick Wilson).

The Quiet American (2002)

Watched this film at my friend Gen's. Whenever I go round her house, we eat dinner, sometimes with her two flat mates,and then we watch a film she/they picked, and more often than not, there's a lot of commenting going on throughout the film. Usually I HATE this, but at Gen's it seems to work! This was a good one that I should really watch again at another time. I had had no real interest in seeing this when it came out, so I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it. I was really tired though, as we were watching it around 9.30 at night (way past my bed time!) so I was drifting in and out of sleep. Stars Brendan Fraser and Michael Caine. If I ever do see it again I'll write a proper review.

The Secret Lives of Dentists (2003)

I know Adam saw this, but I can't remember his comments, but I watched it this past weekend, along with 21 Grams and Rabbit Proof Fence. Turns out Adam thought this was slow and didn't like it very much. I tend to agree with him.

It stars Campbell Scott and Hope Davis as a husband and wife who run a dental practice. One day he sees his wife sharing an intimate moment with another man, and from there begins to fantasize about how she got there, what she's doing behind his back etc. etc. Denis Leary is a trumpet-playing patient of his, who turns out to be his alter ego. He's got all this suppressed anger inside of him that Leary tries to bring out.

His alter ego is telling him to ditch the wife and kids and go out and live a little. You see, he is essentially the primary caregiver in his home as his wife is just so detached from their children's upbringing. They have three daughters, two of whom spend their lives watching videos and ordering their dad around, which is pretty much what the third daughter, (a toddler, for goodness sake!) does too, except she screams when she does it. He lets them all get their own way.

This film was slow, and I can't really say whether or not I enjoyed it. I do have to say though that I was saddened by the fact that there must be so many unhappy couples out there. So many situations where one is having an affair, but the other does not want to confront them and would rather wait for the spouse to get it out of their system. All this so they don't have to go through the issues of divorce, and custody of children etc. Sad, sad.

The Shape of Things (2003)

This Neil LaBute film did not disappoint. It stars Rachel Weisz as Evelyn, an art student who meets Adam (Paul Rudd), in an art gallery where he works. They start going out with each other. She's beautiful and outgoing, he's sort of like your local trainspotter, anorak type person. She manages to influence him into being completely made over so he ends up looking like your local college preppy type, nose job and all. He also comes out of his shell and is a little more assertive, though not necessarily when he's with her.

This total transformation is a little unsettling to Adam's friends Jenny and Philip, who are also caught up in Evelyn's net. It is not till the end of the film that Evelyn divulges her reason for going out with Adam, a reason which is extremely disturbing and devoid of any compassion. Rachel Weisz did a good job and was totally convincing. Neil LaBute does seem to like to hit you with appalling aspects of human behaviour, but I reckon I'm a fan.

The Skeleton Key (2005)

After losing a patient in a nursing home Caroline takes a job as a live-in nurse for Ben (John Hurt), the sick husband of an elderly New Orleans woman named Violet (Gena Rowlands). Violet is extremely unfriendly to start with and it's left to her lawyer Luke (the lovely Peter Sarsgaard) to convince Caroline to stick it out. Violet gives Caroline a key that opens every door in the house, and when Caroline ventures up to the creepy old attic, she uncovers chilling secrets, and lots of hoodoo spells and incantations. (Yes, that's hoodoo, not voodoo.)

This was okay. The twist at the end was ludicrous as far as I was concerned, but I guess the screenwriter didn't have time to explain when exactly Papa Justify (Ronald McCall) had got a hold of Luke. ("A hold of" is supposed to sound Southern.) Papa Justify and Mama Cecile (Jeryl Prescott Sales) were two black servants who lived in the old house a long time ago, who had been practitioners of hoodoo, and who had met an untimely and violent end at the hands of the white owners of the house. At the end of the story we find that they've been fairly inhabiting the bodies and lives of the living by their hoodoo spells, and getting up to no amount of good. (More Southern-style talk I reckon).

A bit of a pointless story, but I like the sound of the name "Papa Justify". I had planned on renting this from Netflix (yes, I'm back -- January 6, 2006), but Sunny saved me the bother by renting it himself.

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

I read an article about Noah Baumbach, the writer and director of this, and it sounded like just the sort of film I like, and I was happy that Carl also wanted to see it, so off we went this past Thanksgiving weekend (26/11/05). Also of interest, Baumbach recently married Jennifer Jason Leigh, who I will always remember as the psycho flatmate in Single White Female.

The film is based on Baumbach's own parents' divorce and the effect it had on him and his younger brother. Jeff Daniels is Bernard Berkman who is married to Joan (Laura Linney). The Berkmans have two sons, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and Frank (Owen Kline, who is the son of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates, who will always be remembered in my mind as the girl that said "Which one of you three bitches is my mother?" in Lace).

Bernard is now teaching in a college, although he appears to have once written some novels, and is very opinionated about everything, which is a trait obviously passed on to his older son Walt. Bernard and Joan tell their kids they are divorcing and getting shared custody, so the kids spend Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays with dad, and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with mom, and whatever day is left is alternated. Or something as equally complicated. They even get to cart the poor cat from house to house.

At first I thought Bernard was a jerk, just a very horrendous person, with very little compassion, but as the film progressed, you could see that he wasn't the only villain, and that Joan also had her faults. Where Walt got himself a girlfriend, had a crush on his dad's lodger Lili (Anna Paquin), claimed to have written a Pink Floyd song all by himself, and was a mini version of his father when spouting his opinions, Frank dealt with this life change in a totally different way. I won't spoil the plot, but I know that unlike Kline and Cates, I would not want my 12/13 year old son to have such a harrowing part to play in his first film role. I would especially not want my son uttering some of the filth that came out of Frank's mouth, but apparently Owen Kline's parents thought he could handle it. I'm not in Hollywood, so what do I know? Plus, I don't know the Klines or their son obviously. William Baldwin was also in it, as Ivan, Frank's tennis coach, and Joan's boyfriend after Bernard moves out. He had a habit of calling Frank "my brother" which was hilarious.

The Station Agent (2003)

This is a delightful film--just the kind of thing I like. It's the story of little person Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage), a loner who works in a train paraphernalia shop with his old buddy. One day his buddy keels over and dies, and leaves Fin a train depot in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in New Jersey. Now all Fin wants is to be left alone, but he's got a steady stream of visitors and the plain curious coming to check out the dwarf in the depot and all sorts of things.

He soon strikes up an unlikely friendship with Joe (Bobby Cannavale), who's running his father's hot dog stand while his father's recuperating from an illness, and also with Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), an artist whose young son recently died and who's just trying to get away from it all. The three of them are misfits in their own way--Fin,'cos he's a dwarf, Olivia 'cos she's grieving, and Joe 'cos he's this lovable, talkative, food-loving stud stuck in the boondocks of NJ. (Just my little theory about Joe). Loved this film.

The Terminal (2004)

I watched this twice in the space of 5 days; the first time over two days by myself and the next after church with Chineze, who probably should be on the cast of characters page since I've mentioned her name a few times on this site. It was better the second time around, with more laughs than at first. I'm not a huge Tom Hanks fan (not a Tom Hanks fan at all come to think of it), but I wanted to rent this, and I enjoyed watching it. He knows how to carry a film and of course Spielberg knows how to direct.

Hanks is Viktor Navorski, a Krakozhian national who flys into JFK in New York, only to be denied entry both into New York itself and back to Krakozhia, due to a coup having taken place in his country and the US not recognising the new border etc. etc. He's despatched to the terminal to wait for Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci--love those balding men) to give him word that he can enter the US. He makes friends, acts as Cupid, falls for Amelia Warren, a United Airlines stewardess (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and generally gets on Dixon's nerves. Nine months of living in the airport and things finally come to a head.

My comments? First off, the reason for Viktor coming to the U.S. was very touching indeed, as was his willingness to let go of that promise to help a new-found friend. The Albanian yellow cabbie who came to the U.S. on Thursday and is already a cabbie by oh what Saturday? Hilarious. And it probably happens more often than we realise. Also hilarious was Gupta's sideshow when Amelia and Viktor are dining on a balcony.

Things that annoyed me? Again being a student of Russian, I get really pissed off when Hollywood filmmakers try to take us for idiots where language is concerned. Of course they got round this by coming up with the fictional East European country of Krakozhia, and I must say Hanks did a good job with his accent. The scene that annoyed me though was when Viktor is translating for a Russian who came into the U.S. with prescription drugs for his father and so gets stopped. It's obvious the Russian is a real Russian speaker and the filmmakers thought they had it covered by Dixon saying that he knows Viktor doesn't speak the same language but he's sure he'll be able to understand with whatever dialect he speaks. It was hilarious at first, but then became a little nonsensical to hear what was in essence "gibberish gibberish gibberish .... medicine ... gibberish gibberish." I mean I imagined Hanks having to do that scene a few times, and each time the gibberish would come out differently, but the director would say that was fine as long as he said the Russian word medicine (lekarstvo) correctly. I ask you! Also the Russian's name--Milodragovich--doesn't sound all that Russian to me, but then I don't claim to be an expert on Russian names, so what do I know. Oh yeah, Steven Spielberg would be the "filmmakers"!

The Terminal is inspired by the life of Merhan Nasseri, who has lived stateless in Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport for fifteen years! He has been granted papers to leave Paris CDG, but doesn't want to.

The Triplets of Belleville (2003)

I rented this (January 2006) as I'm trying to watch as many French films as I can at the moment, only to find there was no talking. This was an animated film, with strange animations. Champion, a young boy, grows up with his grandmother who buys him a dog, and then when she realises he's not interested, buys him a bicycle. Champion goes on to enter the Tour de France, where he is kidnapped, and his grandmother has to find him.

I was definitely not in the mood for this and so stopped the DVD shortly after Champion is kidnapped, and well before we meet the triplets I presume. I found the little I saw extremely dreary and somewhat depressing. Fascinating though was the detail of Champion's bicycle legs and musculature.

The Truth About Charlie (2002)

Absolute drivel! I had wanted to watch this because one of my work colleagues had told me it was a remake of Charade, which she absolutely adores. I loved Charade too. Charlie was a waste of time. It was like coke that's lost its fizz, the agony without the ecstasy, the champagne without the bubbles. There was absolutely no point in remaking the original, no matter how intentionally loose the remake was. Thandie Newton was nowhere near as adorable as Audrey Hepburn as Reggie, and Mark Wahlberg cannot compare to Cary Grant's Peter Joshua. There was no lively banter between the two, the acting was well dodgy and the whole thing stank. Alright!! Not saying the the original should have got any Oscars or anything, but at least there was something happening between the two leads. That more than made up for the overall potential cheese factor.

The Upside of Anger (2005)

I watched this on 2/2/06. Initially I really didn't like it, and didn't think I was going to finish it, as I didn't care what happened to any of the characters. Half way through it, I came to realise I was enjoying it, and ended up actually quite liking it in the end. (It even had two rewind moments, although I only rewound for one of the two moments, but the first one is definitely worth mentioning). I had seen previews for this film in the cinema, where it was billed as some kind of rom-com as far as I could tell, and I knew I had no desire to go out and see it. So why I rented this, I do not know.

The film starts with a funeral, and is narrated by what turns out to be the youngest daughter (Popeye, played by Evan Rachel Wood) of Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen), the angry woman of the title. We are then immediately taken back three years in time, to a dinner table where Terry announces to her four daughters Hadley (Alicia Witt), Andy (Erika Christensen), Emily (Keri Russell) and Popeye that their father appears to have left her, and probably run off with his Swedish secretary, who returned to Sweden three days earlier. Terry's way of coping with the sudden departure of her husband with only his wallet, is to turn to drink. She is soon joined by her alcoholic neighbour, Denny (Kevin Costner), a former star baseball player, who is now an afternoon talk show host.

We watch this angry abandoned wife who is struggling to come to terms with this change in her life, and we watch how her daughters have to effectively deal with a lost mother, as well as a lost father. Apparently Terry was the sweetest person on earth prior to all of this, but now she's too consumed with her own feelings to really reach out and comfort her children. Hadley, the oldest, away at college most of the time, is about to announce her engagement and pregnancy, Andy decides she's not going to college, but instead starts working at the radio station thanks to a plug from Denny. She then starts seeing, and then sleeping with her boss, Shep (Mike Binder), mainly to rile her mother I would say. Emily wants to be a dancer, her mother wants her to go to college and get a proper education. Popeye (we're never told why she is so nicknamed) is still in school, and after many mis-starts, starts a friendship with Gordon (Dane Christiansen), a new boy at school.

SPOILER ALERT! The film starts with a funeral, so of course we know someone dies. In the beginning we see only Terry, Denny and Popeye, so we start thinking maybe one of the other daughters dies, and we are led to believe it could be Emily at one point. After it's obvious it won't be her, I sussed out that it was their dad who would die. Turns out he'd already died, and had fallen into a disused well at the back of their property. Just as well I guess as I wondered what kind of a man would leave his wife and grown kids, and not even bother to call his kids especially. I mean I understand if he doesn't want to talk to his wife, but his kids!!! So Terry was angry at someone who was not even alive to defend himself.

DVD Extra trivia: the part of Terry was written by Mike Binder with Joan Allen in mind. Oh, and lest I forget, Erika Christensen is the psycho Swim Fan actress I was talking about in my review of Flightplan. Her acting here was marginally better than in those two other films. Dane Christensen is her younger brother. Turns out this film wasn't a rom-com after all. I do hate false advertising.

The Wedding Date (2005)

This was most probably the stupidest film I've seen in a long time, and the only reason I rented it is because there wasn't much else out there, and sometimes you just need mindless drivel. The only redeeming quality to this film is the soundtrack.

Debra Messing is Kat, who is on her way to London for her sister's wedding. Her ex-fiancé Jeffrey (Jeremy Sheffield), just happens to be the best man, so she hires Nick, a male escort (Dermot Mulroney), to pretend to be her new boyfriend. Yes, you just know she and Nick are going to fall in love, but there will be obstacles in their way. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against rom coms as they go, but stupid ones leave me vexed. All the way through I was thinking, if these sisters grew up in England, then why do they have American accents? Still Hugh Grant in "Two Weeks Notice" was supposed to be a New York businessman and he had an English accent, so what the hey?

Only now do I realise (with the help of imdb.com) that the bad ex-boyfriend is none other than Jeremy Sheffield, who was so dishy in Natalie Imbruglia's video for Torn, but so "so-so" here.

The Woodsman (2004)

Watched this this past weekend (22/4/05) with Sherrie round her house. We both liked it, but the general consensus was that it came to rather an abrupt ending. Scott also saw this at the weekend and he agreed with us, as did Susie, Sherrie's flatmate and her boyfriend Jason, who came in about 10 minutes before the end of the film.

Kevin Bacon is Walter, a paedophile who's just been released from a 12-year prison sentence for molesting little girls. He gets employed at a lumberyard by the son of someone (David Alan Grier) who said he was hiring him 'cos of his father. As may or may not frequently be the case, apparently the only apartment he could get was right next to an elementary school. Mary-Kay (Eve), a secretary at the lumberyard tries chatting him up, but he's distant and unfriendly, which irks her all the more when she sees he's not so distant or unfriendly with Vickie (Kyra Sedgwick--Mrs Kevin Bacon of course).

Walter and Vickie are drawn to each other, and hook up after going out one night. I found it unrealistic that a paedophile that likes little girls would have sex with a grown woman so soon, but what do I know eh? Anyway the "woodsman" in question comes from the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and Walter becomes the "woodsman" for the story's Little Red Riding Hood--red coat in hand an' all. (Watch it to get what I'm talking about). The somehow awesome Mos Def as Sgt. Lucas was somehow awesome, although I didn't really understand why he kept on hounding Walter in his apartment.

This was an interesting film as it was portrayed from the point of view of the paedophile, and while there's always going to be a measure of sympathy for the main character when we see inside his head as it were, I do understand that this man is a paedophile. So therefore I understand why Mary-Kay would want the whole world to know once she finds out, although I don't necessarily condone her act. This was an interesting study into the mind of someone who is reprehensible, and yet who is trying to stop, because he knows he'll end up with them throwing away the key or worse. And at the same time, we are all wondering whether he will give in to his nature. As I said the ending came all of a sudden, but Bacon did a brilliant job.

Scott reckons Walter didn't actually physically molest anyone, but just enjoyed smelling little girls' hair, and having them sit on his lap, but I don't remember seeing that bit. I know he said he had smelled his sister's hair when he was 4 and she was 6, and I can't see how someone would be sent to prison for twelve years for that, but I dunno, and as I said before, what do I know eh?

Touching the Void (2004)

This is based on actual events, taken from Joe Simpson's memoir Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival. It's a documentary that has Simpson and fellow mountaineer Simon Yates narrating the story in the style of the confessional room, while actors reenact their ordeal. It follows Joe and Simon's attempt to scale the treacherous Siula Grande peak in the Peruvian Andes, where disaster struck with Joe falling and breaking his leg and Simon eventually having to cut the rope that bound the two of them together on the mountain side, and leave him for dead.

Yes, you know that the two survived because you've got them both narrating and you see they're okay, and for those who read the book (unlike me) you know they survived. The fact that you see them alive and well does not take away the anguish you feel at their ordeal. I watched this film over the course of two days, doing the ironing and doing some laundry, but even with these distractions it was nevertheless a very powerful story. Had I been sitting down, it would have had me on the edge of my seat. Knowing that I would never attempt anything like that, I couldn't understand someone voluntarily fighting against nature if you will, by climbing up the side of a mountain. Kind of like how I wouldn't voluntarily go swimming in the middle of the ocean with sharks as in Open Water

Without knowing the title of Simpson's book it was obvious to me that his surviving this ordeal was nothing short of a miracle. (I mean the guy fell into an extremely deep crevasse and managed to crawl/climb his way out with a broken leg for goodness sake. He then went across a flippin' glacier and had to manoeuvre his way across rocks, all with a broken leg!) Now Merriam-Webster defines 'miracle' as "an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs". The pity of it is that although Simpson acknowledges he experienced a miracle, he is still an atheist. He said that he had been brought up a devout catholic, but had since turned his back on religion. When he knew he was going to die on the mountain side with a broken leg and in excruciating pain, he wondered if he would return to the religion of his childhood, but even knowing he was to die, he had no desire whatsoever to do so. I find that extremely sad.

Troy (2004)

Saw this last weekend (5/6/04) with Sandra. It surprised me that she wanted to see a film at all, and it was a double surprise that she suggested going in the first place. She said she never realised how much she doesn't like watching films until she met me, so I should be flattered I reckon.

It was good to see something like this on the big screen, what with all the sword fights and all, but that was about the extent of it. I loved the way Brad just about climbs on his opponent before digging a sword in his shoulder which fells him flat!

Brief summary: Paris (Orlando Bloom) and his brother Hector (Eric Bana), princes of Troy, are in Sparta trying to make some kind of peace treaty with King Menelaus. Paris, like an eejit, falls in love with Helen, King Menelaus' wife. (Love is blind after all!) He whisks her away back to Troy. Menelaus goes to Agamemnon, his brother, king of the Mycenaeans for help. Agamemnon then shrewdly uses this as an opportunity to destroy Troy. Achilles (Brad Pitt) is a mercenary fighting for, but having no respect for, the king. Sean Bean as some king or other provides the bit of Northern crumpet if that's what pops your shutter! (Wey hey, finally got to use that!)

Verdict? Eric Bana's English accent was extremely distracting; so much so that I found myself thinking he couldn't act and a lot of his scenes came across as cheesy. I just found Paris' act of taking Helen to Troy very selfish, but I guess in this story he sort of redeemed himself in the end. Brad Pitt? I don't see what all the fuss if about. Eric Bana is definitely easier on the eye. Incidentally, a colleague of mine told me that a friend of hers saw it, and spent the whole time being distracted by Brad Pitt's immunisation jab on his arm. What a riot!

Two Weeks Notice (2002)

Sandra Bullock again plays the same girl and Hugh Grant plays the same boy. I'd read there was supposed to be lots of chemistry between these two, but I just didn't see it, and neither did the friends I went with. This was a load of tripe. My friend Sandra went to the loo in the middle of it, and actually spent about 15 minutes walking around the cinema in an effort to escape this piece of crap. It was unbelievable that they actually felt anything for each other, and it would have been more credible if Grant had been American, but he doesn't play American does he? This deserves to go in the "keep away at all costs" category.

Tuck Everlasting (2002)

Went to see this with my Sunday School kids. It was actually a nice little story (based on the children's book of the same name by Natalie Babbitt); a bit slow at first, but it got us thinking. Winnie Foster (Alexis Bledel) is the only child of rich parents who live in a big house, and own the vast woods around the house. Winnie leads a very sheltered life, and we often see her standing at the black wrought iron gates of her parents' property looking to the world outside her fortress. When her parents tell her she has to go to boarding school, she protests and then ventures outside her little world, into the woods beyond. She stumbles upon Jesse Tuck (Jonathan Jackson) drinking from a spring at the bottom of a big tree. She is then forced by Jesse's older brother Miles (Scott Bairstow) to go back to their house in the woods, because he fears she knows their secret.

Their secret? Everlasting life after having drunk from the spring. She of course is eventually given the choice of whether to continue life mortal, or to experience life everlasting, never getting sick, never dying, never aging, just being in perpetual limbo. She spends a while with the Tucks (how long, we are not told), and is happy there as she gets to really live for the first time. It is not until the end of the film that we get to find out what choice she made about the spring. My kiddies thought it was sad, and they would have rewritten it slightly, but a good time was had by all.

Unfaithful (2002)

Watched this at my friend Gen's with her room mate and her friend Leslie. When Gen and Leslie came back from Blockbuster with Unfaithful I was like "Gen, do you know what this film's about? Why did you rent it? It's supposed to be very raunchy." She of course had not known what it was about, and for some reason thought it was a courtroom drama film. All I have to say is why would anyone married to someone who looks like Richard Gere, who treats them with love and respect and passion, cheat on him for someone who looks like Olivier Martinez (here all greasy-haired and totally unattractive) - no matter how bored you are?

Usually I hate it when people talk while watching a video, but if the film stinks as much as this one does, then it's fair game. We all had comments which we did express. Totally incredible - as in, yes, totally unbelievable! My theory as to why Richard Gere would get cheated on is that it's to make up for all the women he cheated on in many of his films when he was younger. Can't think of any really, but it sounds like a good theory. I know Gere was supposed to be some kind of stud muffin in most of his films.

Van Helsing (2004)

It was definitely not my intention to see this film ever, but I found myself watching it as part 2 of a first date this past weekend (8/5/04). He really wanted to see it, and I thought other films showing at the cinema wouldn't work so I agreed, plus he really wanted to see it. Big mistake. I hated it. I absolutely hate horror films and had my eyes closed half the time.

This is not going to be a review. Yes it was number one at the Box Office this past weekend, but no it wasn't a particularly good film, and there was quite a bit of laughter in parts that weren't supposed to be funny, which made me laugh.

Vanity Fair (2004)

(16/11/04) Somehow everything from this review onwards got deleted sometime in November 2004, and the wayback machine only goes as far back as January 2004 for my site, and I've written a lot of film reviews since then. I can't remember what I wrote about this and am not inclined to write another one just now, since I have loads of other new reviews to get round to. Didn't particularly care much for this is what I do know. The films below that have full reviews are either the ones I was able to retrieve, or obviously they're new films post-November 2004.

Walk the Line (2005)

Okay, I knew nothing about Johnny Cash before going to see this over the Thanksgiving weekend (26/11/05) with Carl. Of course I've heard of 'Johnny Cash', but never knew he was 'the man in black', had never heard any of his songs, but knew there was a big deal being made about him recently; at least here in America, what with concerts in his honour an' all. Scott reckons he's the in thing right now, and that's why he's everywhere.

Anyway, as I said, I went with Carl (as part of our picture fest, which also included The Squid and the Whale and Rent. I went 'cos I'd seen previews which looked okay, and I'd read that both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon (as June Carter) did all their own singing, and that Phoenix had even learned how to play the guitar, and then relearned how to play it Cash-style, and as someone who plays guitar, my interest was piqued.

Walk the Line is a biopic about Johnny Cash, which focuses on Cash's early career, and also deals with his drug addiction. Carl had thought maybe the filmmakers were going to talk about his being a Christian, but the film didn't really deal with that so much. All in all, the film was okay. Nothing great or anything. I did notice though that the cinema was full of what appeared to be mostly Southern people, to put it politely.

Carl leant me a Johnny Cash CD the day after watching the film, and I must say I don't think I've been missing anything. He doesn't do anything for me, as his voice is too monotone, which made all the songs sound mildly depressing. Now monotone and depressing I love in Viktor Tsoi, but in Johnny Cash, it does not pop my shutter, as the Fuji Film adverts in MC declare. As you can see, this review really had nothing to do with the film, but this is my review page so who cares.

War of the Worlds (2005)

I haven't seen the original film, and vaguely know the content of the H.G. Wells' radio version, but I thought this would be interesting. It turned out to be very ho hum, and so so. I remember thinking towards the beginning that none of the actors could act, and it's got Tom Cruise in it, and Dakota Fanning. Now she looks like an old head on young shoulders, and sometimes I find that creepy, and for those who say Tom Cruise can't act, I don't agree with you.

Although, while we're on the subject of Mr Tom Cruise Mapother IV (or whatever number it is), I watched an A & E Biography on him recently (November 2005). Now obviously I don't know him, but to me, he came across as not very genuine. He was smiling and laughing, but to me, something wasn't in place. I can't describe it, but that's the impression I got. Now I didn't particularly think anything of Michael Douglas in the past, and certainly didn't much care for him when he divorced his first wife Diandra, but after watching a Biography on him a while back, I thought he came across as just a very nice person. Anyway, enough of voicing opinions on the personalities of people I don't know and back to the film review, for goodness sake!

Anyway, you know the story. Alien machines invade earth, with the story centered on somewhere in New Jersey I believe. Cruise is Ray Ferrier, a very nonchalant father to young Rachel (Fanning) and teenage Robbie (Justin Chatwin). The kids' mother drops them off as she's off to Boston with her new husband. Very soon afterwards, huge tripods come out of the earth and start zapping people left right and centre. Blah blah blah. The whole thing was wrapped up in a pretty Hollywood bow when at the end, Cruise and Fanning are reunited with the rest of the family in Boston, including Chatwin, who they'd ditched along the way. What did the alien tripods have against Boston is what I want to know? You'd think they were on another planet or something as they had for some inexplicable reason spared Boston.

Verdict. Not worth the $4 or whatever it was I paid at Hollywood Video. Back to Cruise. In all fairness to him, he spends hours signing photographs for fans at film premieres, which is alright in my book.

Wedding Crashers (2005)

Went to see this in the cinema with Fenny. It wasn't half as funny as I had been led to believe it was going to be. Yes there were funny bits, but I wouldn't really call this a rip roaring comedy or anything.

Long-time friends John (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy (Vince Vaughn, looking very tired with massive circles under his eyes) crash weddings with the sole purpose of having loads of dude fun and sleeping with girls. A wedding of one of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury's (Christopher Walken) daughters presents a new dilemma as John falls in love with Claire (Rachel McAdams), one of the bridesmaids, and Jeffrey is hounded by another one, Gloria (Isla Fisher, who I will always remember from the Australian soap Home and Away. Plus she's Sasha Baron Cohen's fiancée).

Whale Rider (2003)

It really hurts that I've lost this review as I liked this film. I know though that the girl reminds me of my mate Seira.

What a Girl Wants (2003)

Crap film. Colin Firth was in it though.

What Women Want (2001)

Went with my friend Maryse to see this film. I had no desire to see it, but we decided to go see a film on the spur of the moment. I had talked her into wanting to see Bounce, but it wasn't playing at the cinema we went to. Against my better judgment I saw WWW and it was crap. I think it was billed as a romantic comedy, but I'm Mel Gibson does "funny", and then I thought yeah, he can do it, 'cos the Lethal Weapon films got some laughs out of me. I have no idea why WWW was so popular at the box office. There was this guy behind us who was snoring his head off. I loved Mad About You, but Helen Hunt in anything else just doesn't seem to work for me. She just seems rather dry and flat - like coke that's lost its fizz. Maryse kept on asking "when is it going to end?" - I mean this thing dragged on and on. A total waste of $8!

White Chicks (2004)

Really enjoyed this. Was fun.

White Oleander (2002)

This is the story of Astrid (fine performance by Alison Lohman) who is there when her mother Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) gets arrested for killing her boyfriend. Ingrid is sent to jail, and so begins Astrid's journey from foster home to foster home, and foster mother to foster mother, while her mother is doing time. Astrid must somehow learn how to become her own person even as she still loves her manipulative mother who even from prison manages to have a powerful hold over her. She must also cope with meeting strangers and then forging relationships with them, and then suddenly being snatched out of one situation into the next. I found this aspect of the story the most poignant. For the most part this film was neither brilliant, nor awful. It also stars Renée Zellweger and Robin Wright Penn.

William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2004)

The only Shakespeare play I am really familiar with is Macbeth which we had to study for English '0' Level. I remember going up to London to see it on stage and Lady Macbeth unfortunately started throwing up during one scene, so that was the end of that, and we had to get back on the coach and go back to Guildford. At the time we thought it was hilarious of course, as you do.

I loved this. Al Pacino as Shylock was so engaging, and it was a whole new experience for me as I had no idea what the story was about. (Honest!) Of course I had to use the subtitles as I'm not a huge decipherer of Shakespeare, but I enjoyed the whole thing, and am so glad Pacino dispensed with his "hooah" persona and gave a muted performance. Jeremy Irons is Antonio, whose pound of flesh Shylock would have, after he is unable to pay his debt, which was incurred so that his friend Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes, who seems so much warmer than Ralph, although I like them both) could impress the object of his affection, Portia (Lynn Collins).

With a Friend like Harry (Harry, Un Ami qui Vous Veut du Bien) (c. 2001)

Also called Harry, He's Here to Help. This is another French film in my quest to brush up my French. They don't stock it in my local Blockbusters so my colleague Scott kindly went out and bought it for himself and then leant it to me, after I'd been on at him for weeks to rent it from his Blockbuster. The French was for the most part easy to understand (as it was in Amélie, although I think I preferred this to Amélie).

This is a dark film about Harry Ballesteros (Sergi Lopez) who meets an old school acquaintance Michel (Laurent Lucas) by chance in the toilets of a motorway service station. Michel teaches French as a foreign language in Paris, is married to Claire (Mathilde Seigner) and they have three very boisterous girls. Michel doesn't really remember Harry, but he's so pushy that eventually he agrees to Harry and his fiancée Plim (Sophie Guillemin) following them home for a drink.

Already I'm thinking why would anyone let a stranger come home with them, but that's just me. Anyway Michel and Claire have this country cottage that they stay in during the Summer holidays, which is where most of the story takes place. Harry and Plim stay for dinner, and Harry surprises Michel (Michel is gobsmacked would be a more apt description) by reciting one of the poems he wrote for the school magazine, and school was a while back! For some reason Harry and Plim stay on at the cottage for a few days, and we get to find out more about what makes Harry tick.

Harry's philosophy is that there's a solution for every problem. He embarks upon a quest to make sure that Michel resumes his writing and wants him to finish one of his short stories from school. Never mind that Michel has a wife and kids and all the responsibility that that carries. Harry's obsession drives him to kill various members of Michel's family that he feels are getting in the way of Michel's writing.

This is an interesting portrayal of one man's obsession to get things done. At first Harry is just weird and pushy and then he becomes psychopathic. He obviously just sees everything and everyone else as collateral damage in his quest to get Michel back to writing. Although the psycho thing came as a bit of a surprise I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and it helped me with my French too!

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instant replay (rewind moments)

Charade ...

In which Reggie Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) touches the cleft in Peter Joshua's (Cary Grant) chin and says "How do you shave in there?"

Dear Frankie ...

In which Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) and The Stranger (Gerard Butler) are facing each other outside her front door after a night out and take forever looking at each other and going for the kiss, and then finally kissing.

Gosford Park ...

In which Robert Parks (Clive Owen), grabs Mary Maceachran (Kelly Macdonald), kisses her, and then sighs and says "Oh, I've been wanting to do that ever since I first set eyes on you."

Phone Booth ...

The confessional scene in which Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) tells his wife Kelly about his "girlfriend" Pam, and he goes "Kelly, meet Pam". Sad, but funny!

Shaolin Soccer ...

In which Stephen Chow is practicing against a wall, and gets a rally going. Made me think of Becks and how beautiful this game can be even if it's just elementary skill practice.

The Upside of Anger ...

In which Terry (Joan Allen) walks in on her teenage daughter Andy (Erika Christensen), who is in bed with her pervy boss Shep (Mike Binder). Terry is so angry that the words don't actually come out of her mouth, and she looks like numerous veins are about to explode in her neck.

The Upside of Anger ...

In which Terry (Joan Allen) is in bed with Denny (Kevin Costner) following the funeral of her husband. Prior to this, Terry and Denny never really sleep cuddled up to each other, but now, with her back towards Denny, she moves towards him little by little, until they're together and they hold each other.

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planet roz • film fest