Just Wright

With: Queen Latifah as Leslie Wright, Common as Scott McNight, Paula Patton as Morgan, Pam Grier, Phylicia Rashad, James Pickens Jr
Directed by: Sanaa Hamri


Heartwarmer, your cries have been heard and they’ve been answered! Just Wright, the cute romantic flick that is Just Wright has been made.

Now we know the Queen has manic skills. She rocks! She rocked with Jimmy Fallon in Taxi, she kinda rocked in that holiday movie. She totally boulders! in this most satisfying romantic comedy that pulls all the rights strings and does not totally demonise or vilify black woman and their gorgeous black men.

It does not vilify the gold digger. It does not stereo type the over protective ball player’s mother. There are no cat fights and ho calling and bitch and skank. Just good fun with some refreshing incites that are Just Wright.

This can easily make it to the list below under best romantic flick and alternative romantic flick.

Now you know I had to be biased about this movie given the lead male charater, but I tried my damndest to not drool over the TV screen when Common was doing his sit ups with his shirt off. Can I just say, he is thee most beautiful man alive today? Can I? Can I? He is beautiful.

The scenes with the dad were one of my favorites.

I want to shout from the roof tops about how great this movie is, but since I live on a middle floor, I will resort to gushing over the keyboard.

Love love love this movie.

Four spoons!

It loses one spoon because I think the way they eventually get to kiss was not quite the right moment. Although I understand why there, I just think t should have happened at a less glamorous setting. No shiny ball gown and tuxedo. Just them on the couch watching Romancing the Stone!

Disclaimer: the lunar cycle may have something to do with this post.

Not the Golden Globes - recent film greats

Okay so clearly we did not see enough films in 2010 that would qualify for this so I suggest that we expand to 'recent film greats'.

Sci fi vs action differentiation - action takes place on earth with no aliens, sci fi takes place in outer space or on earth with aliens. If Super Man made it on to the list, we’d invent new definition ;)

Heartwarmer, please add more.

Here are some categories and nominations:

Best sci fi flick

Star Trek

War of the worlds

Knowing

Avatar

Moon – Sam Rockwell

Contact

Best traditional romantic flick

Chasing Amy

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Bend it like Beckam

Love Actually

Brokeback Mountain

The Notebook (just for you heartwarmer)

Spanglish

Best alternative romantic flick

Brokeback Mountain

A Single Man

Short Bus

Gray Matters

Best Drama – ugly cry

Revolutionary Road

Brokeback Mountain

Everybody’s Fine – surprisingly touching and yes I did the ugly cry for it

Angels in America

Best Comedy – pee in your pants funny

Funny People – Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan

Hot Fuzz – Simon Pegg ripping off Bad Boys

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

East is East

Kung fu Hustle

Accepting nominations for best puke inducing 'romcoms', I've tried that with my friend 'bromance', the call is coming from inside 'horror', and 'animated'.

WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO

I really know how to pick them huh.

So, here's another black movie. What is it about black movies (note: I love us) that they just fail to inspire.

I mean seriously. Tyler Perry. C'mon guy.

We need you to do better.

Thing is, I suppose, to some extent, on some level, he did have us all going. The story was as tight as tight can be which in the bigger universe of movies is tight-ish - but then he just lost it completely. Its like he just suddently lost his mind and decided he was just too tired to develop a decent enough ending. And all we are left with is sand in our eyes, ears, mouth...

Like seriously, WTF?


Okay, so you have these four married couples.

Janet Jackson, the doctor, with her hubby Malik Yoba. They have problems but never want to tell.

Jill Scott with her unemployed sheriff husband who goes all I AM MAN on her. But she should have known better. I mean that Soul Food movie wrote that part first. She should have known. You know the scene. Current husband/boyfriend can't seem to find a job so girlfriend/wife decides to intervene and calls on ex boyfriend/husband to make a few calls and get him a job. Current boyfriend/husband gets job, but its only a matter of time till he finds out the truth...and then ITS ON! Jill should have known better. AND TYLER SHOULD NOT HAVE REPEATED THIS SCENARIO!


Then there's the crazy couple. Even though her husband has cheated on her numerous times, she still finds it in her heart to forgive him. Even when he flirts with youngens in broad daylight, right in her view and her friends view - she forgives him, ghetto-ly - but forgives none the less.

Its like, what are you trying to teach us here Tyler? Huh? What is your point exactly! ARGH!


Couple number three is Tyler and his wife who fantasise about 'doing it' with some colleague of hers while she's doing her husband...imagine that...she imagines another man when doing her husband? She never really cheated I guess. Just dresses for him everyday when she goes to work. Puts on a little extra perfume, them sexy spaghetti straps...pencil skirt...whatever.

At first they all seem happy. And then all become mad at each other. And then all make up again. How do they make up, you ask. Well during Janet and Malik's fight - he ends up in an accident (later dies - boo hoo, a year later Janet finds herself another potential lover...eish) and Janet literally tells everybody...in exactly these worlds...well almost, "don't end up like me, make up'. And they all walk over to each other and just like that...they are all hugs and kisses and made up.

WHUT!

COME ON MAN!

BESIDES THE SUPER WEAK STORY DEVELOPMENT AT THAT POINT, I'm sick of these same ol' same ol' black stories man. I mean it was fun for a little while Tyler. That Diary of a Mad Black Woman was 'fun'. But come on. Can we move beyond this TYPE! Please.

2011 Golden Globe Nominations

Golden Globe Nominations are out, time to go back to the cinema, yay!

1. Best Motion Picture – Drama
A. Black Swan
B. The Fighter
C. Inception
D. The King’s Speech
E. The Social Network

2. Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture – Drama
A. Halle Berry Frankie And Alice
B. Nicole Kidman Rabbit Hole
C. Jennifer Lawrence Winter’s Bone
D. Natalie Portman Black Swan
E. Michelle Williams Blue Valentine

3. Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Drama

A. Jesse Eisenberg The Social Network
B. Colin Firth The King’s Speech
C. James Franco 127 Hours
D. Ryan Gosling Blue Valentine
E. Mark Wahlberg The Fighter

4. Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
A. Alice In Wonderland
B. Burlesque
C. The Kids Are All Right
D. Red
E. The Tourist

5. Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
A. Annette Bening The Kids Are All Right
B. Anne Hathaway Love And Other Drugs
C. Angelina Jolie The Tourist
D. Julianne Moore The Kids Are All Right
E. Emma Stone Easy A

6. Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
A. Johnny Depp Alice In Wonderland
B. Johnny Depp The Tourist
C. Paul Giamatti Barney’s Version
D. Jake Gyllenhaal Love And Other Drugs
E. Kevin Spacey Casino Jack

7. Best Animated Feature Film
A. Despicable Me
B. How To Train Your Dragon
C. The Illusionist
D. Tangled
E. Toy Story 3

8. Best Foreign Language Film
A. Biutiful (Mexico/Spain)
B. The Concert (France)
C. The Edge (Russia)
D. I Am Love (Italy)
E. In A Better World (Denmark)

9. Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture
A. Amy Adams The Fighter
B. Helena Bonham Carter The King’s Speech
C. Mila Kunis Black Swan
D. Melissa Leo The Fighter
E. Jacki Weaver Animal Kingdom

10. Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture
A. Christian Bale The Fighter
B. Michael Douglas Wall Street: Money Never
Sleeps
C. Andrew Garfield The Social Network
D. Jeremy Renner The Town
E. Geoffrey Rush The King’s Speech

11. Best Director – Motion Picture
A. Darren Aronofsky Black Swan
B. David Fincher The Social Network
C. Tom Hooper The King’s Speech
D. Christopher Nolan Inception
E. David O. Russell The Fighter

12. Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
A. Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
B. Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
C. Christopher Nolan Inception
D. David Seidler The King’s Speech
E. Aaron Sorkin The Social Network

13. Best Original Score – Motion Picture
A. Alexandre Desplat The King’s Speech
B. Danny Elfman Alice In Wonderland
C. A.R. Rahman 127 Hours
D. Trent Reznor, The Social Network
E. Hans Zimmer Inception

14. Best Original Song – Motion Picture
A. “Bound To You” — Burlesque
Music By: Samuel Dixon
Lyrics By: Christina Aguilera, Sia Furler
B. “Coming Home” — Country Strong
Music & Lyrics By: Bob Dipiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges
C. “I See The Light” — Tangled
Music By: Alan Menken
Lyrics By: Glenn Slater
D. “There’s A Place For Us” — Chronicles Of Narnia: The
Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
Music & Lyrics By: Carrie Underwood, David Hodges, Hillary Lindsey
E. “You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Me” — Burlesque
Music & Lyrics By: Diane Warren

15. Best Television Series – Drama
A. Boardwalk Empire (Hbo)
B. Dexter (Showtime)
C. The Good Wife (Cbs)
D. Mad Men (Amc)
E. The Walking Dead (Amc)

16. Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series – Drama
A. Julianna Margulies The Good Wife
B. Elisabeth Moss Mad Men
C. Piper Perabo Covert Affairs
D. Katey Sagal Sons Of Anarchy
E. Kyra Sedgwick The Closer
17. Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series – Drama
A. Steve Buscemi Boardwalk Empire
B. Bryan Cranston Breaking Bad
C. Michael C. Hall Dexter
D. Jon Hamm Mad Men
E. Hugh Laurie House

18. Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
A. 30 Rock (Nbc)
B. The Big Bang Theory (Cbs)
C. The Big C (Showtime)
D. Glee (Fox)
E. Modern Family (Abc)
F. Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

19. Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series –Comedy Or Musical
A. Toni Collette United States Of Tara
B. Edie Falco Nurse Jackie
C. Tina Fey 30 Rock
D. Laura Linney The Big C
E. Lea Michele Glee
20. Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
A. Alec Baldwin 30 Rock
B. Steve Carell The Office
C. Thomas Jane Hung
D. Matthew Morrison Glee
E. Jim Parsons The Big Bang Theory

21. Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
A. Carlos (Sundance Channel)
B. The Pacific (Hbo)
C. Pillars Of The Earth (Starz)
D. Temple Grandin (Hbo)
E. You Don’t Know Jack (Hbo)

22. Best Performance By An Actress In A Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
A. Hayley Atwell Pillars Of The Earth
B. Claire Danes Temple Grandin
C. Judi Dench Return To Cranford
D. Romola Garai Emma
E. Jennifer Love Hewitt The Client List

23. Best Performance By An Actor In A Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
A. Idris Elba Luther
B. Ian Mcshane Pillars Of The Earth
C. Al Pacino You Don’t Know Jack
D. Dennis Quaid The Special Relationship
E. Edgar Ramirez Carlos

24. Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Series, Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
A. Hope Davis The Special Relationship
B. Jane Lynch Glee
C. Kelly Macdonald Boardwalk Empire
D. Julia Stiles Dexter
E. Sofia Vergara Modern Family

25. Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Series, Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made For Television
A. Scott Caan Hawaii Five-O
B. Chris Colfer Glee
C. Chris Noth The Good Wife
D. Eric Stonestreet Modern Family
E. David Strathairn Temple Grandin


Source: HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION media relaese

THE KARATE KIDS

Well, we dragged ourselves to go see the Karate Kid - the one with Will and Jada Smith's baby boy. It was fun.


Growing up I guess the Karate Kid, with Mr Miyagi and Daniel Son was really probably one of my favourite movies. I remember feeling sick watching poor Daniel Son being beaten by those bad karate kids, and then having Mr Miyagi come to the rescue. Ah, the victory of it all just fills one up with all the hope in the world. That anything is possible. That you can overcome whatever hurdle, however impossible it seems.





In the 'new' karate kid, Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and Mr Han (Jackie Chang) make just as good a team. I think the fact that Dre is much younger than Daniel Son also makes for a more romanticised or dreamy idea of 'the karate kid'. Which I think is perfect. Cause the Karate kid is suppose to be kind of like a super hero...so far fetched that it becomes idealistic or...I don't know, just something you can fantasise about being basically, however unrealistic it is. Being the impossible.

I thought this new Karate Kid would copy every single move from the origional karate kid, well...it does, but adds a little bit more spunk to it so that there are some really cool surprises.

I had fun with the movie (even though I really think it should have been a 'made for tv' kind). More so cause I'm taking some karate classes me-self. Me fancies me-self as a err...older karate girl-kid. hehehehe. Haaaa-yaaaaah!

Inception

So no. It is not The Matrix. It is not Dark City. It is not What Dreams May Come. It is not even the Sixth Sense. Although all these films do come to mind when watching Inception. You would think this was one mind blowing mind bender that pushes you to question stuff and have really interesting conversations afterward. It is not.

The only thing I heard from people who watched the movie was, yeah, it was really interesting you have to concentrate. I had the feeling that they did not really know what to make of the movie and did not want to dismiss it out right. Well people, imma say it, this movie was shite.

The fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was in this really works against it because this is not a performance driven movie but more of an idea driven movie.

What they try to do in the movie, to create an idea in ones’ subconscious through breaking into your dreams is kinda like what they try to do with the audience. As an audience member, much like a dreamer, I did not very much buy into the movie. I somehow believe that rather than our dreams creating our reality, our dreams are the filing cabinets or the post office for our reality. Breaking into someone’s dream to plant an idea seems to be as effective as trying to kill someone by waiting for them to die. You wanna mess with someone’s mind and subconscious, have a conversation with them.

And another thing, there is a question on whether we as people perceive reality the same, that my perception is totally different to the next person’s, how in hell if we struggle with this can we even begin to share and participate in one dream?

Back to Dicarprio, the dude just towered over his co actors, it was painful to watch. As brilliant as Ellen Page was in Juno, putting her up against Dicarprio was just plain bad casting. It was wrong. That role should have gone to some male actor who’d act a little insane. A little like Brad Pitt’s character in twelve monkeys? Hey that’s another movie that comes to mind.

What I liked about the movie, is that it connected all of us by identifying what we all have in common, that dreaded dream where we fall. We are all one in our terror there.

Watching Inception was for me like reading my horoscope, interesting, good positive ideas but no basis for me to believe any of it is true, even in a darkened theater where we are suppose to suspend what we know in order to escape.

Love the weight less scenes though.

Two spoons

Disclaimer/Confession: Inception was watched at bedtime, had to dope up with a can of redbull to make sure that I did not fall asleep. Staying up past one’s bedtime has been shown to skew one’s perception and experience of the world. I am cranky!

Social media mafia? it’s a big virtual playground…

Not exactly the e-mafia story, I will leave that to some other braver person to pen. This is more of a school playground social media story. Not sure if this scenario has been painted before (everything has been done before) but this is my take on it.

The online scene is similar to a school playground. You have your cool kids, your geeks, your bullies, your drug dealers lurking on the other side of the fence, your cool teachers who ‘get’ their students, and all other sorts, garths, loners, nose pickers, et cetera, et cetera!

Here is a bit of a segmentation:

The geeks: these are your actual, modern day cool kids actually. Reversal of fortune. The ones that were shunned and mocked for being too smart and being know-it-alls and got the snort beat out of them? Yeah them, they now rule the play ground. How else would you explain the popularity of the biggest geeks on twitter right now?

The cool kids: these are the ones that won’t even acknowledge the playground, they are out somewhere else frenching, doing afterschool jobs and smoking cigarettes. Not living through 140 characters at a time or begging for friendship to forgotten school acquaintances. These guys rock and everybody on the playground still want to be them.

The Bullies: These are the guys that give some of the kids on the playground a hard time. They are not the law but have knighted themselves as such. They piss on any good idea that is not their own and other kids follow them because they are afraid of being their next victim.

The dealers lurking on the other side of the fence: These are your corporates trying with all their corporate might to fit in with the kids but they are just too old and too obvious. The meek fall for their act and buy the wares they are peddling but everybody else knows that this is no place for a hawker. The children just wanna play!!!

The skanks: These are the whores of social media who follow anyone that has an account, accept friendships from total strangers, check in to every venue for whatever prize, post unflattering pics of their kin, have overly flattering cv’s on linked, etc, etc, etc. You know who you are! These are the guys who also hook up with the cool kids outside the bleachers because they would not want to miss out on real life as well.

The cool teachers: My favourites. These are your wise, older, sexy, hanging on by a thread personalities that parents can relate to. They help parents understand the dynamics of the play ground and all the skanks and the virtuous virgins fall in love with them. They

There are many many more cliques on the playground, which one would you be? And feel free to match actual social media personalities with the cliques above and the ones you come up with.

*Picture - Skins, the first group. one of the best and twisted series ever!

Hurt Locker

Hurt Locker - the budget that shamed Avatar

Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pierce, they have very brief but fatal appearances

“The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.”

So Hurt locker won best feature at this year’s Oscars, with a fraction of the Avatar budget and an ex wife of the Avatar maker directing. Did it deserve it?

Well, I always believe that the American psyche is a fickle one. Their collective guilt and continued conflicted presence in the countries they hope to liberate is enough to influence the influenceable Hollywood Foreign Press.

I also believe that less is more and a drama driven script (as opposed to special effects driven one) will always come out on top.

Hurt Locker has great suspense, great dramatic performances, but one gets the feeling that this is a made for American public eyes. Kinda like the war news reels they used to make during WWII to gain support of the American public. CNN, Aljazeera, Sky, BBC, you are tame, America needs sequential timeous neatly packed drama to start making sense of their boys being out there. Hurt Locker tells a story, which also, has no end.

War breeds war.

Hurt Locker deserved to beat Avatar, simply because Star Trek was not in the running for best Oscar flick.

Disclaimer: all references to americans are made with limited actual knowledge of americans, except their dismal showing at the 2010 world cup.

Made for TV movies!

So I just came back from watching my favourite gal, "Ugly Betty", on the big screen. I guess having her background in television, I should have known that this would be a TV type movie. You know, the kind you can afford to wait to see on television. The kind that the big screen can't even help boost a little. Yeah, that's Our Family Wedding alright.
Don't get me wrong, I mean it was relatively entertaining. I mean, about thirty minutes into the movie I realised that it was the kind of show that you had to drive yourself to be entertained by. Know what I mean. Its kinda like laughing at your fiance's joke even though they aren't THAT hilarious. You do it cause you generally enjoy him.
I generally enjoy Ugly Betty, so I couldn't let this movie be a complete dud for me so I laughed at the jokes...funny parts rather which seemed soooooo rehearsed/overdone.
I mean can you ever imagine Forest Whitaker aka Idi Amin as a funny character in a romantic comedy? Doesn't fit right...he tries to play an old hottie in this movie (younger women can't help but fall for him...apparently) and...I don't know I just find his eye to be a distraction. Is that just me?
Anyway, you can definitely wait to see this one on M-net. Oh yeah, that Regina King (I hope that's right) from 227 is also in this...she too just can't help but drop her draws for oh so irresistible Forest.
Oh and the overall storyline, paler girl meets darker boy - they fall in love - want to get married - but wait till the very last moment to tell their family - is soooooooooooooooooooooooo old. What year did Jungle Fever come out again?
1 and a half spoons

A Single Man

Starring: Colin Firth, Julienne Moore, Mathew Goode, Nicholas Hoult
Directed by: Tom Ford (apparently a huge fashion designer but am not too clued up on that)
Based on a book by Christopher Isherwood

It’s been a few years since Brokeback Mountain. I thought Brokeback Mountain would open up the door to a whole new genre that was not just about peripheral characters in inane romantic comedies but about introducing alternative romantic drama to the worlds.

But it has taken this long for a movie to be mentioned in the same breath as ‘I wish I knew how to quit you…’.

Tom Ford, thank you, or keeping the torch burning.

Yes, so A Single Man a great, it is poignant and heartfelt and broke my heart.

It is a story of loss, and discovery that even when you’ve lost everything that means anything, the world continues to hold treasures that are worth living for.

Tom Ford portrays these little treasures by infusing colour on those treasures so that it is easy for the viewer to map the things that go toward opening up Colin Firth mind about ending it all.

It is a beautiful movie with stunning imagery. It had me at the opening scene. But the ink blot on the sheets, the way Nicholas emerges out of the dull colours, the dichotomy of the one made up eye verses the plain, vicious verses tender, and the gorgeous Spanish trick. These are images that linger and offer more than what is on the surface and only an agent who brokers these kinds of images can offer them up so appetizingly.

It is a beautiful story and it resonates, bent or straight.

4 spoons

Ai! Bafana Bafana

The funniest thing I heard today.
You know how that whole 'feel it, its here' - slogan or whatever you wanna call it was like on everybody's lips in the days leading up to and during the bafana matches/world cup.
You know how it changed from 'feel it, it is here' to a very ghettorised, "Phillip, he's here."
After our 3 - 0 loss yesterday, the slogan/phrase became, "Phillip, he's gone!"
I cracked up.
It was a lovely dream. Bafana reaches World Cup finals...just imagine.

BAFANA STILL HAVE A CHANCE, IF...

Closer + the play with a black cast

So a few weeks ago we decided to go see Closer, the stage version...the black version.

For the record, the play came before the movie, Patrick Marber wrote both play and movie. The movie starred Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owens.

The South African version of the play is directed by Sello Maake ka-Ncube. Apparently he directed the same play ten years ago with an all white cast. This time, Fezile Mpela plays Larry, Sibusiso Radebe is Dan, Linda Sokhulu is Anna, and Lindiwe Matshikiza is Alice.

By far Fezile gets top marks for an excellent performance. Probably better than the movie-Larry, that's for sure. He was hilarious, captivating, alluring...a dreadful character - especially at the end. Totally bought the story.

Thought Matshikiza (who I love) was in a little over her head with Alice. Didn't think she pulled it off at all. Wasn't cute enough (not talking appearance...)...she didn't play innocent well at all. She tried though. Her stripper movies weren't all that convincing either sadly. Whereas the opposite was true for Fezile, you believed that he was a bastard of sourts.

Linda and Sibusiso did worse though. Sibusiso more so than Linda. There was none of that Jude Law charm. Nothing.

Anywho, it was still well worth it. Fezile saved the day - me thinks. You have until Sunday to see it if you are keen. I thought it was fun.

Inception... coming soon

'The mind is a volatile place, where places can rearrange and people can have power much stronger than in reality, and the complications of the mind can create dreamscapes that can end in mere seconds.' Wikipeadia

Clash of the Titans

Other than to help you brush up on one’s distorted and limited view of Greek mythology for a game of 30 seconds (I mean really where else would one use this) and to ogle Sam Worthington’s awesomeness and almost have a peak up his skirt, this remake of a very bad movie should probably not have been made.

I wondered why I’d not heard much about this movie and the reason is this… it is not worth seeing and no one wants to put anybody else through the misery so everyone is necessarily forgetting that they’d seen it.

My issues:
Why the hack does Medusa get such a bad rap? It’s not fair that she gets her head chopped off and the pretty princess who could save the day as well by being dead is left unharmed head attached to body. What did Medusa ever do to anybody? Okay fine she turned people to stone but they should have known better than to sexually harass her.

Why the hell did they make it in 3D? It added nothing and the many times that I took my goggles off, it seemed a bit clearer, less irritating to the eye.

It is too loud. Yes I do make use of ear phones and I do put the volume at its maximum but this should not make me more sensitive to noise. There was a lot of noise which just irritated. Mind you I am aware that noise can be an issue for people of a certain age but I enjoyed Terminator Salvation and Star Trek. They were not noisy, they had good sound which added to the enjoyment of the movie. Titans tried to make the effect of the movie to be its loudness and and it failed miserably.

The effects were no better than the original flick. Even in 3D! And having made this in the new decade of the new millennium, this is a disgrace. Pegasus for instance, the winged flying horse. In 1981, it’s flying form may have been a little out there but in 2010, one needs to hire someone who can say, if a horse were to fly, this is how it would do it. Know what I mean? Know what I mean? The legs, after taking flight would neatly fold themselves into its body. The heard would be aligned to its body so that there’s less friction. Something just something to say, we are not just doing a remake of this, we have actually thought about it a little.
All the characters of the movie did not make sense. It was nice to see the stars of Skins but they make a pathetic showing. Effie and Tony (yummy Nicholas Hoult) of Skins, back together again… and they are terrible. They looked so out of place and thought they were still in their skins characters.
All in all, a small disappointment (because expectations were low enough).

Liam Neeson vs Laurens Olivier as the Zeus’s. Both lose. Good foundation for a really epic Lord of the Rings type. And everyone knows a little bit about the subject so Hollywood writers, get a little bit creative will ya? It’s sold, just come up with a decent product.

No spoons…

Oscar nominations

Rated in the most important categories first... STAR TREK!

Sound editing
Avatar (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson)
Inglourious Basterds (Wylie Stateman)
Star Trek (Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin)
Up (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers)

Sound mixing
Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson)
The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson and Ray Beckett)
Inglourious Basterds (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano)
Star Trek (Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J Devlin)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Greg P Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson)

Visual effects
Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R Jones)
District 9 (Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken)
Star Trek (Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton)

Writing (adapted screenplay)
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)
An Education (Nick Hornby)
Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)
In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche)

Writing (original screenplay)
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Petersen)
The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)

Best picture
Avatar (James Cameron and Jon Landau, producers)
District 9 (Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, producers)
An Education (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, producers)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro, producers)
Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender, producer)
Precious (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, producers)
A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, producers)
Up in the Air (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, producers)
The Blind Side (Gil Netter, Andrew A Kosove and Broderick Johnson, producers)
Up (Jonas Rivera, producer)

Art direction
Avatar (art direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; set decoration: Kim Sinclair)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (art direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; set decoration: Caroline Smith)
Nine (art direction: John Myhre; set decoration: Gordon Sim)
Sherlock Holmes (art direction: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer)
The Young Victoria (art direction: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Maggie Gray)

Cinematography
Avatar (Mauro Fiore)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bruno Delbonnel)
The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd)
Inglourious Basterds (Robert Richardson)
The White Ribbon (Christian Berger)

Foreign language film
Ajami (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel)
A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, France)
The Secret of Her Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina)
The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, Germany)
The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, Peru)

Directing
Avatar (James Cameron)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
Precious (Lee Daniels)

Actress in a supporting role
Mo'Nique in Precious
Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
Penélope Cruz in Nine
Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart

Actor in a supporting role
Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
Matt Damon in Invictus
Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
Woody Harrelson in The Messenger

Actress in a leading role
Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
Helen Mirren in The Last Station
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
Carey Mulligan in An Education

Actor in a leading role
Morgan Freeman in Invictus
Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
George Clooney in Up in the Air
Colin Firth in A Single Man
Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

Animated feature film
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker)
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)
The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)

Costume design
Bright Star (Janet Patterson)
Coco Before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Monique Prudhomme)
Nine (Colleen Atwood)
The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)

Documentary (feature)
Burma VJ (Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller)
The Cove (Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens)
Food, Inc (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein)
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith)
Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa)

Documentary (short subject)
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill)
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner (Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher)
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert)
Music by Prudence (Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett)
Rabbit à la Berlin (Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra)

Film editing
Avatar (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron)
District 9 (Julian Clarke)
The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis)
Inglourious Basterds (Sally Menke)
Precious (Joe Klotz)

Makeup
Il Divo (Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano)
The Young Victoria (Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore)
Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow)
Music (original score)
Avatar (James Horner)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
Up (Michael Giacchino)
The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders)
Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)

Music (original song)
Almost There, from The Princess and the Frog, by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans, from The Princess and the Frog, by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname, from Paris 36, by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
Take It All, from Nine, by Maury Yeston
The Weary Kind, from Crazy Heart, by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short film (animated)
French Roast (Fabrice O Joubert)
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell)
Logoramam (Nicolas Schmerkin)
The Lady and the Reaper (Javier Recio Gracia)
A Matter of Loaf and Death (Nick Park)

Short film (live action)
The Door (Juanita Wilson and James Flynn)
Instead of Abracadabra (Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström)
Kavi (Gregg Helvey)
Miracle Fish (Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey)
The New Tenants (Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson)

Precious

I’ve been dragged by no good friends to watch movies I did not have the inclination to watch, this has been a burden on my movie watchin' soul for a while and it is time, it is time to say what i thought about these no good flicks that have taken 90 minutes of my life. (you would have to imagine me saying the previous in Precious' mother or Sophia from colour purple's voice). It’s Complicated is one of the movies, and Precious is the other. No pleasant surprises in both.

Isn’t it weird how they refer to the movie? In all the award shows I’ve seen so far, they don’t just say Monique for Precious, it’s always: Monique for Precious, based on a book Push by Sapphire. For what? For What?

So yes, went to go see Precious today and my instincts were right. It is depressing. Monique was good but the story is just so horrible and demented with demented characters.

Which brings me to our favourite topic Heartwarmer, here is another ‘black’ movie showing 'black' characters in the worst light and they are being recognised for it? Is this all that we do well? Play abusive people? Drug dealers? Slaves? Bad cops? Black men who drive old crusty white ladies around? Demented dictators of African countries?

Oh no, there is some light at the end of the tunnel because we have, our Madiba, our saviour, our claim to fame. Morgan Freeman has also gotten some recognition for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in Invictous. So it is not all lost.

I’ve realised that the key to award recognition (other than shameless lobbying) is to speak to the theme of the current time. To speak to what the 'collective conscious' is experiencing and award shows will recognise. Good examples, Hurt Locker, Iwo Jima, they all spoke to what the west thought of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Michael Clayton? Corporate advancement at all cost, preceding devastating financial crisis? Up in the air? Financial crisis consequences? Which is why It’s Complicated, spits in America’s face because, who the hell has so much money and is renovating when the property market is in the toilet and banks aren’t giving out loans for frivolous home improvements.

I am rambling. Back to Precious. I did not fall asleep. And I did not cry. Mind you it’s not hard to make be cry. Given my biological clock ticking and all, I find that I cry very easily these days, especially when it comes to children. Precious did not unfortunately touch me in that way.

There are good performances. Look out for Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz as never seen before. Mariah looks like she woke up from a deep sleep and immediately afterwards did her scenes. She was not bad though. Lenny has a weird thing going on with his one eye. I think he has a lazy eye, but he still comes across as supper sexy.

I give Precious, based on a book Push by sapphire, 3 spoons.

Award ramblings

Up in the air was also oh so tiresome. It is interesting the recognition that this movie is getting. Is it because the movie tells the story of the time? Poor Americans losing their jobs... Clooney is weired in his choices of movies, Micheal Clayton was a similar type but had a different impact on me. Goodnight and good luck was also weired. anywhoo, am not cheering for up in the air.

Woop woop to Hurt Locker for giving us a break at the Bafta's from Avatar mania that we saw at the Golden globes. But the pendulum went too much to the other side me thinks. It won so many awards that you feel is this another over reaction to afghanistan and iraq from the Brits?

Which way will the Oscars go I wonder...

‘It’s Complicated’ is a cliché and a tiresome one at that!

Romantic Comedies are popular with all of us. When we are stuck at the video shop not knowing what to rent, having seen all the essential must see movies, we always gravitate toward the romcoms, thinking hey, how bad can it be.

The thing is, I think romcoms are doing major damage to our female psyche. That and the fact that the comedy part of it all always fails to deliver should make us all think twice before defaulting to this stupid genre when at the video store.

The damage, (I think the he’s just not that into you commentary was along a similar vein), that these movies do is to allow us to think the outrageous and ludicrous is possible. And you ask, what was so outrageous in ‘It’s Complicated’? The fact that a warm blooded man species with working organ, would lust after a sixty-something year old exwife over a dominatrix-looking twenty-something year old rockhard-bodied current wife. Is this realistic?

Romcoms suck ass.

Personally, give me Reservation Road, Bridges of Madison County, American Beauty and the like anytime.

About Meryl Streep. The woman can do no wrong. Yes she is the greatest actor ever. But what a waste of her talent to play in such movies. I hated Mama Mia. I hated Prime. Meryl, if you want to do something light and fun do it in your own spare time please!

Werewolf

How lame is the movie title - Wolfman.
Kinda gives you an impression that it is a cheap thrill type. Well it is.
The thrill bit only because it has delicious Bernicio Del Toro.
Yum!
Oh, and also because it has Anthony 'I love playing freaks' Hopkins (sorry, that was somewhat of a spoiler).
There really isn't anything I can say about this movie accept that Bernicio is just...well...you really just want to eat him up. He makes werewolves seem very attractive (oops, another spoiler...maybe...depending on how you look at it), irresistible actually.

Anyway, the lover fell asleep watching this. See, it wasn't cause he was tired...if he'd been tired, he wouldn't have stayed up after the movie (23h00) to watch his favourite English team playing.

Must say seconds into the movie, I knew it would be somewhat lame. Just its first few seconds made the movie seem somewhat cheap. I thought the trailers were pretty good though, hence I opted to see it. Donno...I'd give it one spoon. Three-quarters for Bernicio Babe - he really carried the movie, and the other quarter for Mr Hopkins - he was just funny, he brought some lightness to the scary monster which I thought he played extremely well.

Its the kind of movie that you laugh the scary parts at. There was probably just one scary bit that really freaked me out, but after a while, you just laugh at it all cause its that ridiculous. I don't know, I was left thinking why the heck this movie was made at all. It really didn't add anything new or interesting (okay maybe the werewolf face-off was new...oops, spoiler there), I thought anyway.

If you do see it, tell me what you think.
I CAN'T WAIT FOR ALICE IN WONDERLAND...IN 3D!

The Princess and the frog

Tell me if I'm out of line...I doubt that I am. I haven't seen the movie or anything, just caught the trailer.
Mind you, I'd first seen the posters and thought, FINALLY - a black people fairytale...or at least a black princess in a fairytale movie.
Well...the bit of the trailer I saw...wait let me first say or ask, you do know the story about the princess and the frog right? How the princess kisses the frog and it turns out the frog is actually a prince?
Well, in this black fairytale...guess what! A freak of a twist.
The black princess kisses toad, and becomes a toad herself.
WTF?

THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH!

Lets see, how many others came before it!

Dare I list?

Actually, Brokensword would do a better job.

I'll try me best.

I AM Legend!

Terminator!

Day After Tomorrow!

Armageddon!

There was that Tom Cruise one, War of the Worlds I think its called. And plenty others.

Argh! Its bad enough that you doing a story on the end of the world, but to frighten everyone into thinking it will happen in the next two years. ARGH!

Low blow.

I think the movie is just desperate.

I suppose it is entertaining enough. I managed to get through the entire thing. But just thought...ARGH! Its a 'whatever' type of movie if you ask me.

Yes, yes, all story lines have pretty much been done now. And its all about how well you can retell the same stories these days, and to use amazing visual effects to drive the story home etc.

John Cusack's in it...not sure if that would mean you'd bite. I suppose I should have known that if Danny Glover plays president in it...well...dud!. My wanting to watch it had nothing to do with anyone involved in the movie. Just wondered about the story, and how well they'd tell it.

Must say I absolutely lurve Chiwetel Ejiofor though (he's just yum), and ofcourse Thandie Newtown, both are featured in the movie.

I suppose there were some fun bits in the movie. Also loved Woody Harrelsn in this - he plays crazy.

And also absolutely adored Zlatko Buric who plays rich.

Okay, okay, so it wasn't that bad. Quite fun actually.

If only they didn't have Danny Glover in it. Heheheheh