Avatar, a like totally psychedelic ride man

If my headline seems to suggest that this is a totally like hippie movie all laid back, I apologise. It is hippie’ish in its message, which we accept. In its ambition, Avatar reaches beyond what it can really grasp and gives us a taste of what could be without leaving us unsatisfied.

I’d not seen a 3D movie before this. So for me and my sister child it was virgin territory and we were totally taken in, it was supper cool.

But then, going further into the marvel, we notice that yes the images come out at you and almost make you feel like you are in the movie, but I can see a border, a black square border and I can sadly see where the images start and end. Is it supposed to be like that? Is the idea not to be totally enclosed in the movie so that you cannot see the outside? We thought this problem could be fixed with better 3D glasses like the one that Keanu Reeves has in Jonny Mnemonic.

Secondly, I know 3D movies have been around a while, have they actually progressed in leaps and bounds? With the $300m spent to make this movie, is the outcome more spectacular than previous 3D movies and Imax Movies? We have no frame of reference so we can comfortably say this is the best 3D movie ever, but think for $300m we should have come out with blue paint on us or something.

Thirdly, is there a difference between the various cinemas where these 3D movies are screened. I would imagine that watching it at an Imax theater (which is my next thing for me, the last time I saw an Imax movie was about 10 years ago and it was a spectacular documentary) and watching it at fourways mall would result in different experiences of the movie. I think 3D should be more than just projecting a 3D image on to a white screen and hope for the best, the theatre house needs to be more prepared than that. Like making the screen larger thereby eliminating the visible borders.

All that said, Avatar was amazing, it is a simple story that you could get into easily enough and go aout and hug a tree after. It is beautiful, it is stunning and it will almost take your breath away.

It is based on a sims game, I am told by sister child, an Avatar is a character you assume in the game world. In the movie, an Avatar is the body of an alien what gets merged with the consciousness of the human. Basically (as we know there are no new ideas just new takes on ideas) it is the Matrix where the matrix is real and not imagined. The humans go into their Avatars to mingle better with the aliens and understand them so that they can convince them to move away from a space the humans want to mine.

Sigourney Weaver takes on the role, for the second time, of Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist and is an expert on the aliens.

The utterly gorgeous yet limited Terminator dude Sam Worthington looks so good in his Avatar you just want him to sink his teeth into your neck.

You will kill yourself guessing and guessing who the female lead is. It kinda looks like Thandie Newton, no I saw a glimpse of Penelope Cruz in there, no actually, it could be Cameron Diaz? You will be wrong every single time. She is Zoe Saldana, if you don’t know the name that’s okay because I did not either, until I looked up a picture of her. She is Ohura in Star Trek, Spock’s girlfriend?

Avatar is full of colour, purple, it is luminous, the luminosity gives it that psychedelic look. It has elements of a recent black eyed peas video, the Michael Jackson Billy Jean video set in the Shire. Its beings are beautiful with catlike grace and angelic stature.

It lingers in your mind and infused itself into my dreams last night. Needless to say I awoke with a purple feeling.

Looking over the 2009 releases, Avatar threatened the number one spot for my best 2009 flick but I think Star Trek remains it for me.

It gets 4 stars and belongs in the stars.

PS: Does anyone know where there is an Imax theatre in joburg?

Invictus

Been meaning to post something on this. Went to see it over at Maponya Mall last week. It was quite a treat. Morgan Freeman made a special appearance and took questions from journalists. Couldn't really here all that well the Q & As as I was sitting right at the back of the little wannabe VIP area that had been created.
Not only was Morgan Freeman there, but so was Chester Williams, whose character is featured in the movie.
And Winnie Madikizela Mandela, her daughter Zinzi, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister - Jeff Radebe and his businesswoman wife - Bridgette, were all there as well.
So about the movie...it was okay.
I think I appreciated that Freeman's depiction of Mandela wasn't all that bad so you actually got to follow the movie and weren't too concerned with how well he could pull a Madiba accent. That was nice. I could say the same about Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar.

Its a story of how Mandela used rugby to kind of unite the nation. I thought it was a nice idea for a story, but...just wasn't all that gripping really. There were some interesting bits of information that they included that I had no clue about - so it gave some insight into our history. But otherwise...at least the other half of the movie was just too rugby for someone who isn't all that interested in it.
That said, I thought they could have used James Small more in the movie. My memory, and it may not be all that good, tells me that James Small was like our answer to Jonah Lomu. Our opponent for him really and he did stop him in his tracks didn't he? I didn't think they used that bit of the World Cup win very well. I think they down played James Small too much.

What else? Thought it odd that they used Zinzi the way they did. It didn't seem to fit well with the rest of the script. And then they threw in a single ...okay maybe two scenes of Winnie happily in love with Mandela.
I suppose they had to use his family in the movie, it couldn't be just about Madiba and rugby...in which case they should have done a better job and had more family moments to make it more realistic.

Anyway...I wouldn't watch this movie again even if I got paid to. I'm not sorry I watched it though.

2010 World Cup best ad

(oops, will the fifi -Fédération Internationale de Football Imbeciles) police come after me for using the numbers 2010, the words ‘soccer’, ‘cup’ and ‘world’? Screw you fifi I’m using the words!).

First off, I have the soccer fever. I believe against all odds that Bafana banafa are setting expections low so that their victories can be that much more sweet. I believe!

I think for me the FNB advert, with the praise singer is the one that always threatens to detonate the lump in my throat! It is beautifully made and riles my emotions up to an almost wailing crescendo. It is South African, it is over the top, it represents me, you and the guy sitting on his stoop smoking a pipe 100 years ago. It is all these mooshed into one identity with many take aways.

Second place, comes the Telkom ad. Can’t find a graphic for this but it’s the one where typical Telkom staff parade around a city centre in a topless bus, waving at the admiring masses (who loathe them!). Corny? Yes. Spitting on current client’s expectations? Don’t know, never had a Telkom line. Delivers the message of by any means necessary we will get you the coverage? Most definitely!

Coca Cola will always be coca cola, am expecting them to bring back that other ‘we are the world’ type ad . You remember the one they did a few decades ago? They are always spot on but I will not go back to drinking their potent java devil juice, but wholly appreciate their game.

What are some of the ones that stand out for you?

Fix You, Cold Play

Cheap Cheap shot!!! Brothers and Sisters tonight took a cheap shot. They play this slit-your-rist song that makes you start balling your eyes out, only it is not for what's happening on screen, it is becuase this song is just heart breaking. You think of all the bad and sad things in your life and curl up into a featal positon and sob like a baby. And then South Park comes on and the balanced gets restored!

Here are the lyrics.


When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Inglorious Bastards...absolutely awful

I fell asleep during this movie. That should tell you something.
I hardly ever, ever, ever sleep during a movie.
A movie should never be this long...especially when it is just so unexciting. Dull is the word. I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo disappointed in this.
Brad Pitt is really not that great in terms of his choice in movies. You'd think he would be. Should have skipped this one, but I guess its like, how do you say no to Tarantino.
He should have never written this movie.
I'm actually very upset about this. I had so much faith in this movie.

Anyway, apart from the movie being way too long...I expected more blood in true Tarantino style...he didn't even give us that...not enough anyway.

I'd say there was probably just a single moment in the entire film where I got super excited that something was about to go down and it delivered on the anticipation and that was when one of the bastards whacked one of the nazi's with a baseball bat. Nothing else is worth mentioning. Seriously. The whole plot around having the theatre (yes, this is a spoiler post) burnt to kill on the nazis including Hitler himself took too damn long to actually action. It was awfully boring.

Argh. That's it. That's all.

Ravings of a newly appointed factory worker

I’ve recently moved from working in a small cooperation, for 7 years, to being unemployed for 3 months to moving into an organization that is 5000 employees large.

Now, this has mostly been quite a shock to the system but there are moments where you think, ‘wow, really, are you serious, really?

But what I want to share in the post is some of the intriguing things I picked up in big corps:

• There is a department called Strategic Intelligence, now this dude has a business card that reads: Name Surname Strategic Intelligence, how awesomely cool is that? I want to be in that department, I want Strategic Intelligence on my business card, then, then, the only thing I would have to get to go along with that is an actuarial qualification. No problem.

• Opposite to this is a title I saw going through one of the time-wasting invitations to yet another seminar that will teach you to do-the-obvious strategically, which is asls painfully obvious, in a time of economic difficulty. This dude’s title was: Name Surname, Chief Strategic Communications Officer! Now, for someone who works at White House, in the West Wing and is named Toby Ziegler, then this title would be a perfect fit. BUT if you actually are a specialist in internal communications, media relations, and brand positioning in a company made up of 3 people, then….

What funny titles have you come across?

There is also new language that I have to get use to. What the hell is Brand Activation? The ‘equity’ I know relates to money in the business sense, only asset managers and such people can use the word understandably for me. Of course the other meaning relates to fairness etc. but what the hell does it mean in the context of marketing? I slowly learning that terms get invented to make one’s job more scientic and financial. And I suppose that is a good thing, but why then come up with other phrases like green fields and blue sky. WTF?

The biggest frustration though coming into a big organization is the restricted access. Cannot access blog websites, work-related or not, I cannot access social media, even though some of my activities that I need to track featured there. I cannot access my gmail, my skype, any instant messaging, which is often needed to keep in touch with social and business contacts. The tool that was my right-hand (because my filling leaves a lot to be desired) google destop, I cannot access. My cyber life has been cut in quality so much that sometimes it brings me to tears. I get mimesweep emails 5 times a day to say that my mails have been quarantined. ‘Mimesweep’? ‘quarantined’? but the funniest thing, the saddest thing is that even with this, with all of this, we got a virus that took almost a week to figure out and sort out. The humanity!

The thing I miss the most though, the thing I mourn is being in control. In control of my finances for example. They don’t trust you to pay your own medical aid, no, even though you are paying for it, it has to come out of your salary and not your bank account. You have made your own plans for retirement, to die before you reach it or have separate savings, that is not good enough, you join our scheme or find another job.

How do people do it? How do you stay sane in the midst of such madness.

The upside to all of this I suppose is that it is all for your protection and the company’s. It is all for the greater good. You are part of a successful big corporation that contributes to the heartbeat of the economy and society. One is given opportunities to give off their time to charity and money (this is made so much easier), one is given a chance to be part of a community that is bigger than 10 people, and in that, the odds are raised to actually finding that other half of your self you’ve been doing without. But hell, if that other half is here, what does it say about my half…

District 9 - revised

We finally went to see District 9. By 'we' I mean my sister and I - the fellow contributor to this blog. Perhaps its worth mentioning that she wasn't keen to post something on this. She just didn't feel like it. After the movie, she was just too exhausted to do it. It wore her out. Too long...she thought. I agree. It was too long. It took too long for it to actually start get going.

I wonder about the intentions of the people that made this movie. There was so much 'making fun of' mostly black people I thought. Yeh, sure, they made fun of white people too, the main character being a prime example burrrrt...Lets just say I can understand why the Nigerian government banned the movie over there.

But generally speaking...I mean to have that alien be named 'Christopher' for instance...does that not remind you of the 'good old days' when the 'baas' would call his 'girl' 'Betty' even though her real name was Mogomotsi? Even that whole squatter camp scenario - I mean? Like white people are known to be residents in those parts.

The whole 'illegal aliens' thing - you know they aren't talking about any Americans or Europeans or Asians (think pre-BEE status) for that matter!

There were a lot of under tones I thought. Stuff that I suppose the regular viewer would have missed completely but I was left thinking - these people are generally making fun of me.

I suppose that is partly the reason my sister wasn't keen to review this movie...what do you say about it...what can you say? Was it funny? Was it good? It was ambiguous I thought. Maybe not even that. It was a movie about black people. The aliens were black people and whatever the writer wanted to say about black people was said...just disguised as alien derogation.

I suppose I too do not know what to say about it. Was it funny. Hm...lets think. T'was only funny when the joke was on Wikus. Which is hilarious itself because he turned out to be the hero, the savior of the aliens.

The ending is all too familiar.

The Diamond-Shaped Glass Building

Okay Brokensword - lets play your game. I actually saw this today on E Entertainment News.
So...which movie?

GROUND ZERO

Thought it would be too morbid to step off the bus and go through the whole drama/tragedy that was September 11th.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, the Caster Semenya Story

I read this incredible book a few months ago whilst on sabbatical (on my couch) and it blew my mind. And as soon as the Caster Semenya story broke a month or so ago I knew the story of the main character was the story of Caster.

Now to get this out of the way, I cringe whenever I hear the word hermaphrodite. Surely the journalist community is wise enough to know that this is a highly offensive term and it is like calling someone a nigger or a morphei or a stabane. The term is used to hurt and demean and should be stricken from any kind of reporting!!!

The correct term is intersexual, but I also think ‘middlesex’ is a little softer, less clinical and ‘androgynous’ a bit more endearing? To me androgynous means flexible and fluid in your identification. Who wants to be just one thing?

During my sabbatical I resolved to start reading all the Pulitzer prize winning novels and Middlesex was therefore on my list. It is a big book but because of the constant drama in the book it is very quick to read and totally engaging.

Middlesex is a story of Calliope and how she came to be and how she eventually found himself and continued to be, ‘in spite but not spiteful’.

The book suggests that the intersexuals develop that way because of a mix of genes that should not have happened. Calliope’s grandparents were brother and sister and I hate to ruin the beginning of the book for everyone reading this but there will be plenty other juicy bits in the book. The premise is that incest is the cause of this… (I don’t want to call it) deformity (because what you get from incest are people that resemble the characters in ‘Deliverance’).

The book proposes that because Calliope’s grandparents sinned when they got together, their punishment would be to have an intersexual grandchild. At least this is what the grandmother believes and she is very superstitious. In the world of the book you kind of buy into that and there is a scientific genetic drawing they do of why this is true.

Outside of the world of the book I am not so sure. Just as I have no capacity to grow eyebrows so too is the capacity to turn out one way or another.

But I get a feeling here in the outside world that Caster is getting punished for something that is not her fault, something that is not a fault, something that should be celebrated as getting closer to the ideal human. The chance to go through life and choose to do it not as a man and not as a woman but as someone far more measured and weighed with both sexes’ characteristics. I think it’s awesome and extremely sexy.

I suppose if Caster were to read this blog I would want her first to read the book, and then to know that she is supper sexy to me.

HERE'S SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERYDAY - HONEST ADVERTISING!

Sorry

I've moved from Caoe Town to Jo'burg and have not had the time to watch District 9, GI Joe and the rest. If you are up to discussing it or have watched any interesting flicks lateley, post a comment on this post. Jo'burg sucks ass 20% of the time.

Knowing - the movie

Like Michael Bay below, has his style, I knew I’d seen the shades and angles in this thriller/sci-fi or sci-fi/thriller flick. Alex Proyas is the dude that came up with the incredible and never-seen-before, ingenuous, darkly refreshing ‘Dark City’ which, at the time (1998), really really blew my mind. A little more wiki-ing and I discover that he is also behind The Crow, also one of my top ten movies ever.

I almost did not watch this movie because I reckoned it was another Nicolas Cage pick which is sometimes just fun to watch but you feel yourself losing a few brain cells for watching them. The premise of ‘Next’ and the embellished-for-dramatic-expedience ‘American history’ of National Treasure left us all a little dumber and I just do not trust Nicolas’ choices.

So because there was a problem with Bruno reel at the cinema () I had to fall back on watching Knowing and I am soooo glad I did.


SPOILER BELOW!!!!

I have very mixed feelings about this movie though, mainly because it tries to cram so many ideas into it that these ideas do not always gel nicely together. There is loss, there is father-son relationships across generations, there is science, there are aliens there is time travel, there is family, there are people that see the future, there are stones and much much more. I am sure when I watch this again, all these bits and pieces will gel but on a first viewing it was too much to piece together.

This is an Armageddon movie, it is about the end of the world and how we as humans would face this prospect if we knew for sure that it was coming.

The movie follows an MIT professor’s discovery of this certainty and his way of dealing with his and the world’s end. This is where the sentimentality of the movie unsettles me a little. I get that sometimes this sentiment is often what is lacking in other flicks where the focus is on the special effects and the exquisite bodies of the lead characters. I get that and I think it was right for Proyas to spend a little time for us connect with these characters. The thing is though, even with this, I was unable to mist up at the end when all the investment is suppose to pay off.

On the other hand the effects in this, like we had in Dark City, are not your every day Michael Bay explosions (I am sorry but I am going to use Mr Bay as a reference for all over the top bad action movies from now on) with no meaning. The big effects scenes were incredible and there was one specific scene that I swear was straight out of my nightmares. I have this recurring nightmare where I actually witness a plane crash and the way that Proyas shot this particular scene instantly took me back to that nightmare of mine. The plane crash scene we see in the previews is spectacular and I thought this would be the highlight of the movie but it was not. Moments following the crash are incredible. Having just had the two recent plane crashes in the real world it is a wonder they did not delay the release of this movie.

Also, there is another nightmare scene where the little boy in the movie sees somebody in his room in the middle of the night and is paralysed unable to scream or run. I am sure you’ve had that dream as well. This scene was so perfectly shot that you instantly remember your own personal nightmares.

So ya, on style, look and feel, Knowing gets 5 spoons. On the idea, premise and plot flow of the movie, I give it 3.

My issues with the movie, The main character of the movie is an MIT professor and he struggles to convince people that the numbers uncovered in the time capsule predict the future. If people do not believe an MIT professor, who the hell is there to believe?! That’s like not believing Einstein if he says the square root of 4 is 2. They should have made the character a high school teacher or something because even in the opening scene, he is suppose to be giving a lecture to MIT students, the lecture was more on the level of philosophical questions for dummies.

BET Awards!

I'm reading all that good stuff about how all the black artists at the 2009 BET Awards paid a tribute in some form to the kind of pop - MJ...and I'm sitting here wondering why in the hell we never get to see this on the multitudes of channels DSTV has us paying for?
I mean, we get the Oscars, the Grammys...you name it. Why not BET!
Come to think of it, I've been craving to see these awards for as long as I can remember...why don't they show 'em?

There is the slim chance ofcourse that our satellite television providers did show them...and that I just am not in touch with my satellite offering? Brokensword?

I'm reading about how Jamie Foxx (the host) was doing the moon walk and thinking to me self, I NEED to see this me-self!

Terminator Salvation

I probably was not going to see this film, mainly based on what Barry Ronge and Alan Silverman said on their Sunday morning show a few weeks ago. Barry was saying that it was too loud and they both said too religious. Given their misgivings, whatever they were, I enjoyed it. Much more than I enjoyed the Transformers which they raved about. I think having heard what they had to say I was a little bit prepared for Terminator. I chose the middle seat away from the speakers and opened my mind to whatever religious suggestions there may be.

I must say, this was a cool flick. It was the escape from the MJ tragic and lamented saga I needed. Escape from delayed job offers and my four walls that I needed.

Yes it was loud. Yes it had religious undertones. But that did not spoil it for me. If anything it made the story more solid. The greatest ever told.

And Christian Bale, the Bat Man?? Even with the recorded outburst (and I am kinda thinking this was a preview to the movie? Who knows) on the set, you want to enjoy this flick, you want to see the next installment of the Terminator saga that started with our California governor, who they cleverly replicated (I am sure Arnie did not have anything to do with this movie) to fight another day. I thought (and hope a little) that it was a kind of middle finger to Arnie and his republicans to reproduce him in the movie. After all, they did not reproduce the scariest terminator, that mercury dude. He was scarier than Arnie but not scarier than a Republican led United States. Bush, Arnie, they are the ultimate antagonists.

Suspension of belief is key to enjoying these types of movies. You need to say, yes it is okay that only Arnie was up for the fight against Connor, that the fact that they were and had, manufactured a thousand other Arnies does not fit. You have to let go of the consequences of a father meeting, his yet to be conceived son, in the future. You have to wonder who the little girl is and why Kyle is tied to her. You have to wonder why there would be capital punishment in the future (or was it the past?). All this has to be sacrificed for the enjoyment of the flick and it is, utterly enjoyable.

I give it 3 spoons with much of that going toward the new Terminator, he is just gorgeous!

Oh and Christian also got to ride his bat-cycle again. That was cool this time around as well!

all the single ladies - Vodacom

I had to tell the world how much I adore this new Vodacom advert. It is truly fantabulous. A true masterpiece. Creative brilliance most especially for its simplicity!

Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen

What an obscene show of budget! Explosions and fights and explosions and CGI and explosions and for what? For What? There is just so much money oozing out of this blockbluster show-off of a movie that I am beginning to really dislike Michael Bay and his Bruckheimer and his Spielberg backing. Really now… There are, I am sure, 20 indie films that could have been made with a 10th of this $300 million budget and I am sure the indie movies would have had a far more positive, enjoyable and collective sense of ‘whatever’ (fill in to what you think is cosmically appropriate) impact. (Okay so I watched the Screening Room on CNN about struggling African film makers today as well).

Never mind that! We go to the movies to escape and for a film like Transformers 2 (the first one I thought was a bit juvenile) that escape should last the mandatory 90 minutes. Anything beyond that is just too tiring and you start wanting to escape from the escape.

And so, yes, if you’ve seen Michael Bay movies you recognize his signature shots on various movies. You see Pearl Habour, Bad Boys etc. These were huge budget films and in each one there are unique shots that, if you did not know it was a Bay movie, those shots would smack you across the face as if Mr Bay himself was doing the smacking. (I suddenly need to cleanse myself)

Whereas typical movies have that one whimsical, quirky character that provides comic relief, most characters in this movie had that role, which was a little bit lame. The John Turturro character who is looking to die for America at every opportunity but does not manage to meet this demise, the ditzy mother whose role it is to embarrass her son when ever she can and is also an under ground dagga fiend. The cowardly college room mate who has conspiracy theories only to see them realized. The two Autobots painted to parody Chris Tucker’s character in Rush Hour. Even the main character is a kind of a side kick who has a nervous condition that makes every single situation in the movie a life or death one. Pity he did not stay dead in the end.

All in all, I either was going through nicotine withdrawal or I was getting extremely impatient with this movie. I would, nonetheless, discourage people to go see it, there are far worthier films out there (worth your 2.5 hours, if you go see this one you allow Mr Bay to make yet another obscenely over budgeted blockbuster which fills plot with explosions), I am sure of it!

Transformers 2 gets 1 spoon, choo chooing towards my rectum.

If you are thinking of having a Bay festival, here is your definitive list: Bad Boys; The Rock; Armageddon; Pearl Harbor; Bad Boys II and then; Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

No ‘Doubt’

Meryl Streep is master. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is her bitch. Great, great presentation in all aspects.

Not quite understanding nor comprehending this debate, but lets please have a discussion.

I tend to have a very severe and unambiguous view of what is right and what is wrong. It is wrong to have a relationship with a minor, but what is minor? It is right to speak up, expose and act against what you deem to be wrong, but is your definition of wrong, right?

The movie was dedicated to a Sister Margaret McEntee, so if this is somehow, reflecting a story that may be true, then this is not a philosophical debate, I would have to, unambiguously, support the actions of the nun. BUT, if this is hypothesis, my feelings would remain clouded, especially, given the boy’s situation at home, positive role model and all that.

This is a significant movie, watch it and ruminate.

Out on DVD, and it gets 4 spoons.

The Secret Life of Bees

I had my fingers on the keyboard for a while wondering what to say about this movie.
I guess it is one of those that get you all upset because you just can't understand how things could have been that way. How it could have been allowed. It just boggles my mind really.
There's a part where the old white man character says, "is she one of them dumb niggers or is she a clever nigger." When Jennifer Hudson's character answers back she gets a back slap right across her face. When she continues to defy this white man, she gets a couple of kicks and a couple of fists wacked on her face.
It is infuriating.
We've come a long way but for me that history, that it exists at all infuriates me. How could that time have existed at all?

I loved Sophie Okonedo in this. Her character is just the way I feel some times. Just so very sad and disappointed with the world that some of the things that happen, happen. So many injustices, all of it can be so overwhelming sometimes that you kind of feel like you want to leave this world. I loved her character.
I loved everybody in this movie. Alicia Keys can act, she was spectacular I thought...atleast for a musician. And Dakota Fanning is so grown in this movie.
Two and a half spoons

Nazi Movie

I am always reluctant to watch war movies especially Nazi movies. Specifically though, Nazi movies from the Nazi perspective. Somehow I am just not interested in their experience, their thought processes, the reasons why Hitler triumphed in that time. To me (and I do realise that, put in the same position I don’t know if I could pass the test but think my humanity should always be my guide) these movies want us to consider some of the other dynamics that were taking place when crimes against humanity were being committed. I don’t want to know, if knowing urges me to forgive a little. If anything I think the focus should remain on the horribleness of the era and recognise each and every situation (that would make us bigots or racist) for what it is and rage against it.

I’ve seen Valkyrie and the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and I think, it is not enough. Hitler still happened. These movies seem a little distasteful to me.

I suppose the same can be applied to the whole Rwanda tragedy. Shooting Dogs and Hotel Rwanda. There aren’t much films that focus on Rwanda and I think there still needs to be more if anything to educate. No one disputes the WW2 and the Jewish genocide that took place. Everyone knows about the concentration camps and the other atrocities that took place. Not enough stories have been told however about the atrocities that took place on our continent and that, in itself, is a continuing crime against humanity.

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas and Valkyrie are out on DVD.

Pan’s Labyrinth

I can't remember if I ever blogged about this movie. I really enjoyed it. Love fantasy types.
Wondering if Brokensword ever saw it, and what she thought of it. It's so depressing, my heart...well I really felt sorry for Ophelia/Ofelia. And for a while I thought that creature was taken her for a ride. All's well that ends well.
4 Spoons

Angels and Demons

I was never a fan of Dan Brown. I read the Da Vinci Code and watched the movie. The book was the only one of his that I managed and have no qualms about that. Dan created a world that I simply was not interested in and the conclusions he made I know I do not have the knowledge, (nor am I inspired to know more) to argue with the absurdity of it.

Angels and Demons is the next movie installment on this with reputable Ron Howard’s direction (fatally limited to the sequence of events of the book) and starring Tom Hanks and a bunch of Italian gorgeousness.

The movie starts off with the death of the Pope and this takes us to the workings of the Catholic Church and what actually happened in real life when the then Pope kicked the bucket. It also very nicely weaves into the story the debate on the implications of the recent experiment, the Large Hadron Collider, which took place in Switzerland a few months ago when scientists were trying to recreate the conditions just prior to the big bang.

I don’t know if these bits were actually in the book, as I said, I did not have the inclination to go into another Dan Brown universe, but it is clever that they brought it into the movie to make the debates being had more relevant to our world.

The movie is the race-against-time type movie following clues that have been there for a few centuries. The protagonist (the Illuminate) is threatening to kill cardinals that the next Pope will be chosen from. To add to that once they are all dead, the big bang experiment will be used to blow up the Vatican so that the Catholic Church is destroyed along with it. The Illuminate are a group of guys who were Catholic but also believed in science and believed that the two could coexist and did not have to be at odds. So this is all supposed to be very suspenseful and most revealing about the history and workings of the Catholic Church, much like the Da Vinci Code.

The movie is interesting and I am sure it will give a lot of comfort to the believers amongst us out there. It ends off saying that religion, the church, is not perfect as man is not perfect. I’ll buy that. And it is a good lesson to learn but why does the church not learn fast enough that there is a need for contraception and abortion. On the other hand, there is also a need for pure faith and tradition so as not to lose ourselves in modernity. What is the saying? I’d rather die for an idea I believe in than to live for an idea that will die?

Angels and Demons gets 2 spoons.

WILL I AM is in X-Men Origins :Wolverine!

That's all anybody needed to say to me to get me to watch this movie. I must be a little out of touch, I had no idea. So imagine my surprise. I almost jumped up and down. Ah Willl, sweet Will, sexy Will...

So there's been a lot of bed crits on this here movie. I didn't think it was all THAT bhard. Don't think it was a waste of me money. Would do it all over again if I was asked.

Its not the best of movies either. I don't get what the craze is with these pre-quals. I remember Hannibal Rising and what a big disaster that was. Can't say I know of any successful prequals. Brokensword?

The movie is about Wolverine's origins, and goes back to his childhood - not for long though. I found that particularly disappointing as I thought they could have better developed his story as a teenager growing up alas, the movie is about a grown up Wolverine.They don't even tell the story of how he became what he became. They ignore that. So you never get to know how the mutants became such really.

Don't want to spoil it too much for you, so this is where I will end. I loved one of the characters. that appears towards the ends. Wonder if they'll develop his story in future XMen.

Also realised that XMen is so Heroes....or the other way round.
1 and three quarter spoons

Star Trek

The cast:
James T. Kirk - Chris Pine (did not know him before this but he’ll do)
Spock - Zachary Quinto (Sila in Heroes, his wooden acting is perfect for this role)
Spock - Leonard Nimoy (Naturally!)
Nero - Eric Bana (The hulk was goooodddd)
Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy - Karl Urban (also don’t know him but he was brilliant)
Nyota - Uhura Zoe Saldana (chick in one of those teen dancing movies, she is sexy enough to live up to Uhura’s legendary sexiness)
Scotty - Simon Pegg (Genius!!!)
Hikaru Sulu - John Cho (also genius)
Pavel Chekov - Anton Yelchin (don’t remember this character well but the kid was good)
Amanda Grayson - Winona Ryder (She plays Spock’s mom, is she that old?)
Tyler Perry also has a small role in the movie!

I was always more into the Star Trek The Next Generation (TNG) rather than the original Star Trek. I suppose being born at the time that I was, it was only natural that I connected more with the series that was current at the time that I was growing up. But with this new installment, I am now able to buy into the original.

More than that though, when I compare the two, I always found that TNG always seemed to be more cerebral, more philosophical than the original which was more brawn. The villain of TNG always posed a more terrifying threat. You were not just going to get physically hurt when you took them on, there were far reaching consequences, like getting assimilated. When the enemy tells you that resistance is futile, where do you go to with that? And those episodes with Species xxx (forgot the number), resistance is futile, they could assimilate you and change the history of human kind.

So yes, Star Trek has gone young and I think they seem to be wooing the generation I love to loath, those teenyboppers who let there be 100 scream movies, final destinations and Saws etc. But they luckily caught me in the net along with them (I think I was never young, I was born old and sometimes resent the young for some of the shenanigans they get up to that I never did).

It is a very solid cast with a semi solid story (I still don’t understand how old Spock and young Spock can meet. How can they both occupy the same time and space???). the special effects are great but it is not the focus of the movie. The set is so much brighter than the original set. I suppose the original set could not have huge amounts of light because the technology to make you buy into it being a space ship was just not there. There is far less orange in this new movie and everything and everyone is lit perfectly. I dig that.

So the movie basically tells how the relationships began and it is believable. Here is a spoiler, pointy ears is boinking the comms expert. How sexy is that? Although I did not pick up on the chemistry in the TV series, not that I watched it religiously, the link is totally justified. TNG always had inter-co-worker-relationships, why can’t the original season?

Star Trek gets 4 spoons. It loses one because of this April fool’s joke: Check it out: http://www.afterelton.com/movies/2009/4/startrekgoesgay. And I believed it, how stupid am I?

Milk

Best Actor - Sean Penn – Milk
And he was up against:
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I think possibly, the category should be split between best real life character interpretation and best interpretation of a fictional character. Because really, how can one compare the performance of Anthony Hopkins’s Nixon and Hannibal Lector? Both monsters but also, both totally different performances drawn from totally different places.

The movie was interesting, but I remain not a big fan of the real-life-true-story dramas. Name a truly great real life movie, and I will probably not have enjoyed it. There is more poetry, philosophies to live by and real life strife in stories that are just not true.

Have to give it up for James Franco who is really flexing his acting muscle. Pineapple Express was the chronic shit and now this. I look forward to seeing him again in what ever he is in. I am enjoying the choices he is making.

He’s just not that into you

I remember seeing this dude on Oprah a couple of years ago and he had some interesting insights into what men do and how women should interpret these messages.

I was therefore surprised that these insights would be turned into a movie.

It also surprised me that the movie would conclude that the insights are all .subject to exception.

The rules

• He's just not that into you if he's not asking you out
• He's just not that into you if he's not dating you
• He's just not that into you if he's having sex with someone else
• He's just not that into you if he's not calling you
• He's just not that into you if he's disappeared on you

One of the main characters gets these insights from a bar tender who turns into a love interest for her. The barman lives by these rules and eventually buckles under his own rules. The point of the movie?... Disregard everything that has been said prior and hang on to whatever misinterpreted, misplaced signal inadvertently made.

Us women are so stupid, and made even stupider by these kinds of movies.

White Wedding

It is always a good thing that among a pile of mediocrity, one finds some positive aspect to focus on. I struggle sometimes. I struggled here and failed hopelessly. It is also good that if you have nothing good to say you should just shut up. I am failing hopelessly here too.

Yes, so I went to see White wedding last night. The biggest…, well the only laugh I had was the reaction of the audience to an interracial kiss. One guy actually said Hayibo!. My friend sitting next to me said, ‘oh, that’s just wrong’. It is after all 2009 and it amazed me that an interracial kiss still brings out that cringe reflex in us.

Safe to say that the movie gave me nothing to blog home about. And why do I bother? I bother because I also believe that constructive criticism can only help. South African movies are crap. It gives me no pleasure to say this as I really really want South African movies to step it up a notch. My favourite ‘South African’ movie remains Cry the Beloved Country. It was a beautiful movie based on a beautiful book, but it too would probably not feature on my all time top 10 favourites.

I think the problem with South African movies, other than the limited imagination and wooden characters, and lack of finesse and… okay, there is a lot wrong with it but for this particular movie I think the problem was the casting. Over and over again we see the same people in South African movies. There is an inability to cast outside of what we see in the daily soaps and television shows. It seems to be a very closed industry where new faces are incredibly hard to find. The same faces are squeezed into characters that, because they can not pull them off, they make them in their own image. Does that make sense?

The basic story line, it is a road trip movie. A groom-to-be needs to get to his wedding from Jo’burg to Cape Town. He needs to make a few stops along the way and one of them is an experience that I think most of us have had. They stop in a baie Afrikaans dorp where the bar is flying the old South African flag. I had that experience once, between Cape Town and Johannesburg. The dorpie was Leeu Gamka and it was a tragically comedic experience!

So most of us will identify with the various scenarios presented in the movie but the thing is, stating the obvious does not necessarily make for poignant story telling.

Discoveries: Dr Who and its amazing spin off Torchwood

So, I’ve never really been into the British sci fi. They always have poor effects. As good as the stories can be, their translation onto the screen tends to come across as a little amateurish compared to the big budget sleeker American versions of them. But I suppose as their effects budget tends to be lacking, they have to work that much harder on the story and the characters. Look at the hilarious ‘Sean of the dead’ and ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. Okay, these two are the ones that immediately come to mind so I googled ‘British sci fi movies’ and the results produced:
Quatermass and the Pit,
Day of the Triffids,
Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun,
The Day The Earth Caught Fire.

I’ve not even heard of these titles, but I will now make a point to find them and watch them.

Back to the subject at hand, 2009 has brought for me exposure to all the BBC DSTV channels and through this, I have discovered Dr Who and now, what has become my favourite thing on TV since hhhmmmm, Heroes?

Dr Who is one of those serieses that have been on air forever. In that time there’ve been about 10 actors that have portrayed the lead character who regenerates every single time to become, The Doctor. Currently on BBC Entertainment, the Doctor is being played by David Tennant whose appearance goes against everything a leading man should be. He is thin, tall and nerdy looking. The premise of the series is really that The Doctor is a time lord, is from a planet far far away and his race was killed off by their mortal enemy the Daleks. He travels the universe in a telephone booth called the Tardis, and has human companions, currently Martha Jones. He also has another companion called Captain Jack Harkness who is a Time Agent. He, is the hook that got me into this whole thing.

Torchwood is a spin off of Dr Who, Captain Jack puts together a team in Cardiff (situated right in the middle of a time/space rift, which makes it prone to having visitors from another time and space) to battle supernaturals in the area. Captain Jack is sometimes described as an omnisexual as opposed to bisexual, basically, he will do anything.

I suppose what I love the most about this series is that it is funny, gory, sexy, clever. And although the special effects leave a lot to e desired, the story lines make up for it 10 times. Take for example this one episode titled, the CountryCide. Very suspenseful and concludes that with everything that they’ve battled in the past, humans take the cake in being the most evil species. My personal favourite so far was the episode ‘Captain Jack Harkness’, very romantic.

Torchwood’s last episode of season one aired this past Sunday and I don’t see series 2 on the schedule. Dr Who on the other hand continues and airs on Sunday nights at 7pm. Its just the thing to get you going for the week ahead!

A vampire for all seasons…

My season, my vampire, was Louis, never a part of, but always observing and envious of the world that he could never be a part of again. Interview with a Vampire, envisaged by Anna Rice, also through a few of the other tales aptly known as the vampire chronicles. And… much respect to the woman for disagreeing with the choice for Tom Cruise to play the Vampire Lestat! The role needed a much more believable omnisexual, maybe Ralph Fiennes? Maybe Daniel day Louise. Surely any of these guys would have been a little more open to some 'bromance'?

But there is a new version that is emerging, going after the feeling of teenage angst and not belonging. A little bit dangerous for the time that we are living in…

So yes, tonight, I watched Twilight and mourned my Louis and Lestat and Armand who were my ultimate dark lords and who seem to be now replaced by younger, more heterosexuals immortals that to replicate their humanity as much as possible. The guys can even come out in broad day light!?

But let’s take a step back. Yes I watched Twilight and yes it was not immediately repulsive.

The step back is to the beginning of moving pictures. When Vampires, at least in our 2009 standard were repulsive and totally unattractive! Nosforatu, who gave us that iconoclastic image of what it should be to be a vampire, unattractive, animal and totally dejected for what it is to be human.

My next memory would be Bela Lugosi who I came to know through a little film called Gods and Monsters. Those images are not real for us anymore except maybe for those film appreciation classes that you one has to through in film school.

Gary Oldman, as Dracula, DRA-CU-LA! Scary shit! But also very interesting cinematic event. This particular vamp movie will always have a special place in my movie subconscious! As scary as it was it remains one of the ultimate vampire movies because it over rides my personal proclivity to the sexual ambiguity, because that, in itself will pass and be replaced by a far sexier combination of the species.

I jump now to the Wes Craven’s and the Quinton Tarantino’s From Dusk till Dawn. Hilarious and horrible at the same time. Tarantino is a genius but his take on the old Vampire, the undead genre, was not that fulfilling for me. It made me laugh but not much else. I have to admit that I’ve not had the chance yet to go through the Wes Craven ones.

And then there was I am Legend. The supposed to be, ‘Thinking man’s’ ultimate vampire movie. But the thing for me is, yes, you can fathom ways that the undead can be digitally made to be scarier? But I somehow think that jump has been coming for a while and so I will not jump if I get surprised, I will know that it is coming.

Interview with the Vampire, Daniel as Lestat (but if tm cruise is reading this, he di not do a bad job) is what I am waiting for...

On Twilight… yeah okay, next…. Three spoons.

Marley and Me

Have I written the fact that I totally adore Jennifer Aniston down on this blog? Well there you have it. I didn't care much for her in the Friends series I'm afraid, it was more her real life heartbreak that made me warm up to her.
ANYWAY!
So I went to watch a movie I probably would never watch had I been the only person deciding what to watch that night. I have the misfortune of having a different taste in movies to the people I end up watching movies with. So Marley and Me it was. I prepared myself for it well enough. Knew not to expect much. Imagine my shame when an hour later there I was with tears rolling down my cheaks.

I think my weeping during movies will soon be declared a non event. I bee could die and I'd be balling my eyes out. Needless to say, I enjoyed the movie. Worse, I want a dog because of it.

I'm not a dog person. I suppose it is because we never owned one at home. My liking for the kay-nines actually began to develop a couple of months ago when I met the cleanest and calmest dog in my entire life. Mystique's her name and she's a grey hound. She's a little clumsy, but she's so cute and so easy to just love. Watching Marley and Me kind of rekindled that closet dog lover in me and now I know I must have one...they must prepare you well enough for parenthood no?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Hhhhhhmmmmmm. I am on a mission to watch most of the Oscar films; so, high expectations have been set.


The thing with hype is that you expect more than you should. A perfect story builds and gets woven in your mind and when you see what is really being offered, your mind’s knitting is always better. This is the case. This is always the case. And it is the case with Benjamin.


A man that is born old and ages in the opposite direction. This premise in itself should give loads of opportunity for fantastic philosophy and ideas. And I experimented with these ideas and wondered what fantasies the movie would take me to.


Alas, I was bogged down by stupid detail that just did not make sense to me in my own little mind.


On the movie itself I would like to say, that this was probably made for Brad Pitt. For him to make his mark before time took a toll on his fans, on his looks on his career. This is probably a career highlight for Mr Pitt as he did get THE Oscar nod. Who the hell else could play a gorgeous 20/21st century Adonis? What would stupid movies like Legends of the Fall and Meet Joe Black be without Mr Pitt?


The guy has a place in history, just like Marlon Brando and Paul Newman, he is it, and does not need to work too hard to get my own personal nod. So long as he plays pretty. So you can probably imagine that the suedo old guys he played in Babel was very confusing for me.


Back to the Benjamin Button, the short and nasty is that, I was not moved, I really, really did not like Cate Blanchette in this. That American accent that she thinks she’s got to a T is really really irritating.


That was the first barrier, the second was that, at the back of my own small mind I was, really, through out the movie, playing out scenes of when this script was pitched to the Hollywood execs. So the creatives had the idea to have a guy that ages backward, great, lovely. But no, we need to have more fillers around the story, how about a war, oh yeah, the WW2 we could reference that. And oh, how about black people, yeah we need black people. New Orleans! and we can play out a bit of the foreboding before Katrina hit, cool. Mind you we cannot have And Oh, we need a story that weaves a thread through the movie, my cousin was hit by lightning once why don’t we use that?. Cool, we can say seven times and bring that in the movie every time we think the audience is starting to get bored. Just for a wake up laugh you? And oh, lets just disregard logic as well. I mean if the guy had to start from old age, the fact that you absorb most things when you are young is totally irrelevant. The fact that one’s brain should match one’s age is stupid, we are going to say, as you get older, you get more stupid, in Benjamin, as you get older you get less interesting because we can’t really show your torso so we are going to make you dumb.!


Okay, enough, that was an irrational rant. But that was an irrational movie. It was! The fact that it got to Oscar level is just sad.


No spoons!

Oscar Nominations and Winners

Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire
o The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
o Frost/Nixon
o Milk
o The Reader

Best Director - Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
o David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
o Stephen Daldry – The Reader
o Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
o Gus Van Sant – Milk

Best Adapted Screenplay - Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy
o The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
o Doubt – John Patrick Shanley
o Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan
o The Reader – David Hare

Best Foreign Language Film - Departures (Japan) in Japanese – Yojiro Takita
o Waltz with Bashir (Israel) in Hebrew – Ari Folman
o Revanche (Austria) in German – Götz Spielmann
o The Class (France) in French – Laurent Cantet
o The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany) in German – Uli Edel

Best Actor - Sean Penn – Milk
o Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
o Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
o Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
o Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
o Josh Brolin – Milk
o Robert Downey, Jr. – Tropic Thunder
o Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
o Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road

Best Actress - Kate Winslet – The Reader
o Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
o Angelina Jolie – Changeling
o Melissa Leo – Frozen River
o Meryl Streep – Doubt

Best Supporting Actress - Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
o Amy Adams – Doubt
o Viola Davis – Doubt
o Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
o Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Best Original Screenplay Milk – Dustin Lance Black
o WALL-E – Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter
o Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh
o Frozen River – Courtney Hunt
o In Bruges – Martin McDonagh

Best Animated Feature WALL-E – Andrew Stanton
o Bolt – Chris Williams and Byron Howard
o Kung Fu Panda – Mark Osborne and John Stevenson

The Oscars

So I have DSTV now. This means that I was able to watch the Oscars.



Been a while since…

It has probably been about 10 years since I last watched the Oscars. I use to be obsessed with award shows. One of my best memories I have of Varsity Res is Oscar evening. Any award shows actually tended to be quite an event for me. Some people love watching sports, my spectator sport was award shows. And yes, I would swear and shout just as baldly as a sports fan whose team is losing or winning, and I would shed a tear for moments like when Tom Hanks won for Forrest Gump or when Forrest Whitaker was nominated for the Crying Game.

It had been a while and I think maybe I needed that break to grow up a little and get excited about things a little closer to home.

Award shows…

One of the main reasons for getting DTSV was for the Award shows. It was a pity that the first that I got to see was the Golden Globes. What a waste. What an utter waste of time. I could only stand about 20 minutes of it. They had no interest in entertaining, it felt like they thought that if start were announcing the winners, that would be enough entertainment. Wrong. I also could not watch the Grammy’s because I don’t know 90% of the people performing or giving awards. I don’t care if this makes me sound old and bitter about not keeping up with what’s hot. The sound is also horrible, I mean they had Stevie Wonder singing with some boys and he really sounded excruciatingly horrible.

So I had lost interest in award shows and started questioning whether I should pay the subscription fees for the stupid DSTV for the next months. I watch DVD’s most of the time. The only other thing I watch religiously is Top Gear. …and the BBC Lifestyle Channel and BBC Knowledge. …Torchwood. … Dr who. …

An evening to remember…

I was watching disk 4 of Queer as Folk (third time) when I realized that it was Oscar night. Kicked myself for missing about 40 minutes of the show after 2 minutes of switching over.

As I said, I have not been watching the previous year’s shows but with this one, 2 minutes into it, I started feeling the same joy (yes, joy) I use to feel. The same excitement, I was emotionally invested, it had me at: ‘ and the Oscar goes to…’.

This is a different kind of ceremony from the others. Hugh Jackman, WOLVERINE was the host. What happened to David Letterman, or Whoopi or Billy Chrystal or Jon Stewart. I don’t know, but it was not a bad move to not have a comedian. It may have been a stroke of genius. We already know that Hollywood can make fun of itself and it is usually same jokes different targets every year (except for Goerge Bush maybe). So it was kind of a breath of fresh air to Hugh present, and the guy can sing and dance too! Oh Wolverine!

I think part of the fun of the Oscars is to see the stars up there on a beautiful stage wearing beautiful gowns and just looking brilliant. A huge part of the fun is actually laughing your ass off to find out that these guys actually cannot read. You wonder how the fuck do they get through scripts and make movies. James Bond cannot read, Sophia Loren should have worn her reading binoculars the woman must be 90, Robert Fucking De Niro (Are you talking to me?) can’t read. It was fun to watch and to know hey, they have disabilities, speech impediments and learning issues too! Ha!

A flame rekindled…

But I loved the Oscars. These Oscars in particular and not because they seemed like the Bollywood awards (big up India!), were really great. It was a beautiful production. It was an amazing production.

One of the moments that I shamefully look forward to at the Oscars is when they show the dead guys. Queen Latifah has always been cool. But that was a beautiful song she sang. And it was beautiful when she said that to most of us the dead guys are just movie stars but to her and her colleagues, they are friends and mothers and sisters etc. I felt a little bit ashamed of myself there. She sang so sweetly. But I wondered why they did not show Heath Ledger, is it too soon? Did I miss him?

So yes the production was brilliant. I was feeling very down about what had been coming out of tinsel town of late. Watching the Oscars, I was tempted to call in sick and spend the day at the movies watching one after another, like I use to do. The first one would be Milk, then Slumdog, then Benjamin Button, then the Reader, then the Wrestler, then… actually all of the movies nominated for direction, male and female lead, film, and script. I will begin my adventure this weekend.

Previous winners honouring nominated ones was an especially special touch I thought!

The thing about Mickey Rourke…

So Heartwarmer, the thing about Mickey Rourke is that he did 9½ weeks about 20 year ago. One of the most erotic movies of that time, he was gorgeous, he was the it guy, he had it all. And then, he developed the Michael Jackson Syndrome I think. Is it called Body dysmorphic disorder? The guy has had so much plastic surgery that it is very difficult to look at him. He has a look like a puza face that has been stretched to its maximum. I need to see this wrestler. But it looks very difficult to watch. He is just freaky.

But when is the dvd release date?

I hate that I missed 40 minutes. Do video shops carry award shows? I’ve never seen them, will have to talk to my video store. I am already having a vision of renting out the shows from 10 years ago, that would be a magical weekend.

Seven Pounds

The only thing I can really say about this movie, which stars Will Smith, is that it is probably the most depressing movie I have EVER seen in my entire life.
You know sometimes you go to a movie and its sad, and you find yourself with tears rolling down your face. That's not this movie. This movie made me sob. As in, "heeeeeeeeeee, heeeeeeeee." It was so sad, I cried all the way home from the cinema.
Seriously!
I didn't have a clue what the movie was about. Just kinda picked it because it starred Will Smith, and its something both the lover and I agreed we'd like to see. Perhaps it is because I didn't know what it was about that I found it so heartbreaking. So I'm not going to give you a synopsis on it. Just go see it if you are in the mood for a good cry. Bring lots and lots of tissues with you.
2 spoons

Beauty and the beast

2009, SA, and the only character for a black man in a fairy tale is Lefur, Gaston’s monkey. This put a sour taste in my mouth and ruined the show for me. Do not see it.

Wondrous oblivion

This is not meant to be a title of a movie. It is a state of mind. One to avoid, one, in a fucked up way, that lets you know you are alive, you are capable of feeling, even though those feels will most certainly be unrequited. I suppose there is something romantic about it, that is something to hang on to.

DVD night

Had a girl's DVD night on Saturday. Out of all three: The Great Debaters, Mama Mia and Kung Fu Panda, I'd have to say Kung Fu Panda gets my vote - no doubt.
I slept through Mama Mia. The Great Debaters just re-awakened a hate and anger I feel everytime I watch such types. You know what I mean, the era when they would write on benches "whites only". You know the story and you've seen plenty movies like this. For some the focus is swimming, some it is football, for this movie it is debating. I remember Oprah made a big deal about this movie, I suppose she would since she is one of the producers (I think).
But it is really not all that fascinating or interesting from a political point of view. The best part of it, in my opinion ofcourse, is the romance between the debaters and just how some of the characters mature in the movie. Its certainly nothing gripping - I'd say wait for it on DSTV rather than pay extra money to watch it on DVD.

Mama Mia...I think I need to give it another chance really because it wasn't so much that it was bhard that I slept through it, but it really was because I was tired. Mind you I managed to wake up and watch Kung Fu Panda till the end and loved it. So...okay, give Mama Mia a miss too. But Kung Fu Panda is worth a watch.
And the spoons:
Great Debaters 1 spoon
Mama Mia! half a spoon
Kung Fu Panda two spoons.

Best ever performance by a scientologist!!!

The best laugh I’ve ever had this year. I need people to guess which movie I am talking about because I am not going to name it. I am not going to list the ridiculously, hilariously vein popping funny guys in this movie. All I am going to say is that it is on dvd at the moment (23 January 2009). And you need to tell me who the surprisingly, side splitting hysterical (my neighbors are wondering what the hell is going on in this flat) guy in this movie that made me laugh so hard was. I challenge you. What a breath of nitrous oxide!

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I love this line: Unfulfilled love is the most romantic form of love there is. I know it isn't earthshattering stuff, but it just rang soooooooooooo true for me. Its like the tragedies that Shakespear wrote. They are only that good, and you only love them so much because there isn't that typical happy ending.

There is a lot of that in Vicky Christina Barcelona. A lot of it. Untypical love. Or is non-typical? I will watch anything with Scarlett Johanssen (or Keira Knightley - she's such a tease, can't wait for the Duchess). I loved Penelope Cruz in this. She was so passionate, and sexy, and dangerously nuts. Hehehehe. Javier Bardem was awesome. He was scary in No Country for Old Men, but is oh so yummy here...in a very...erm...artistique way. The other lead actress, Rebecca Hall, was so very, very disappointing. But nevermind her this movie is a must see. Its a story of passion and how even the strongwilled or strongminded end up givin in to, almost as if its only natural to, this demon (PASSION). It is a story about love, untypical love, and how we can so easily find ourselves in and out of love with people and things we never imagined possible. Most of all I think it demonstrates how the human heart's desires can never be fulfilled. That has always been the scary bit about life and love for me.

Synopsis
Two young American women, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) come to Barcelona for a summer holiday. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is sensible and engaged to be married; Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is emotionally and sexually adventurous. In Barcelona, they're drawn into a series of unconventional romantic entanglements with Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a charismatic painter, who is still involved with his tempestuous ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz). Set against the luscious Mediterranean sensuality of Barcelona, 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' is Woody Allen's funny and open-minded celebration of love in all its configurations.
SOURCE: www.moviefone.com

21

It has been a very, very long time since I've seen a vaguely entertaining movie...picked by the lover.
He did good this time. I mean the movie 21 isn't 'all that' - but I'll tell you this much, its probably the best one the lover's ever picked in our almost decade together.

I do believe that I will watch any movie Kevin Spacey is in and love it regardless. I had a similar love for Laurence Fishburne, but that was many moons ago and he was slimmer then and younger. He's not as big a drawcard for me, even after 21.

I suppose the thing about this movie, and my enjoyment of it is that it was completely unexpected. The lover normally picks movies where there is a lot of shooting and running, and blood, or bombs, and submarines, nuclear reactions....hahahah, you get my drift. It is more about the action with him, and less about the story. So, like I said before, this was a nice surprise.

What is it all about you ask?
Looking for a way to pay for tuition, Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) finds himself quietly recruited by MIT's most gifted students in a daring plot to break Vegas. With the help of a brilliant statistics professor (Kevin Spacey) and armed with fake IDs, intelligence and a complicated system of counting cards, Ben and his friends succeed in breaking the impenetrable casinos. Now, his challenge is keeping the numbers straight and staying one step ahead of the casinos before it all spirals out of control.
SOURCE: www.sonypictures.com

Kevin plays the loveable bad guy so well. You just can't help but love him, and the same is true for this movie. Bits of this felt a bit like the Oceans X movies and for some reason I didn't like those much. 21 has the same kind of story I suppose, here we just deal with a younger group of dwindlers and they don't really do anything illegal. Its worth a watch - 2 and a half spoons.