Movies

Consequences of Love: Slow-paced drama/thriller, well worth watching, beautiful photography . (Italian)

Silent Hill: Based on a video game. Gripping, somewhat iconic. (see below)

Lost Highway: David Lynch. Not for sissies. (see below)

Exorcist: The Beginning: Oh dear God this was bad. Yes, those were hyenas. Dismal failure, given the great plot potential.

Lucky Number Slevin: Very entertaining! Includes Josh Hartnett in a towel.

Feed: Australian. Disturbing subject matter (good), quite well presented, but the dramatization could have been better.

The Producers: Fun (see below).

R.V.: Rubbish. Mundane Robin Williams fare.

Fear X: John Turturro gives a very good performance in a deliciously weird movie.

Man's Gotta Do: Australian. Refreshing!

Mirror Cracked: Angela Lansbury as Ms Marple, with Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and a host of memorably bitchy come-backs. For Agatha Christie fans, this movie is simply divine. Otherwise, keep your chin up, darling, both of them.

Time Bandits: With riff-raff like Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam and Ian Holm, how can this not be a winner? (December 01)

Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Standard action fliek, with a dash of Johnny Depp.

Howl's Moving Castle / Hauru no ugoku shiro: Fun animé, enjoyable story. [IMDb entry]

Scanner Darkly: Good, even though Keanu Reeves is in it. Watch the extra bits on the DVD too, for archival interviews with Philip K. Dick.

Cars: Fun animation.

Lady in the Water: An entertaining offering from otherwise droll M. Night Blahblahblah. Good stuff.

Butterfly Effect 2: Rubbish. Why do I watch these things?

Time of the Wolf / le Temps du loup: Good stuff; the only realistic post-catastrophe movie I've seen. French with subtitles. [IMDb entry]

Da Vinci Code: Nice, if you like esoteric and speculative rubbish.

Superman Returns: Standard fare.

Capturing the Friedmans: Thought-provoking. (Nov 5)

Tango: Like a meringue: French, light, refreshing. [IMDb entry]

Hollow Man 2: Rubbish.

The Big Empty: Excellent mind-trip. Think Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets Dances with Wolves, if you can.

The Producers

Watched 2006 December 11 - filed under Movies.

If you enjoyed Mission: Impossible III, give this one a skip. But if you like musicals & Mel Brooks, you'll enjoy The Producers. It's like a mix of Singing in the Rain with Noises Off and La Cage Aux Folles, with a garnish of Will Ferrell in lederhosen.

producers Delightful Nathan Lane and multi-talented Matthew Broderick (who knew the kid could sing & dance?), accompanied by the absolutely stunning Uma Thurman (as Ulla Inka Hanson Benson Yanson Tallen Hallen Swadon Swanson) headline the movie, a remake of Brooks' 1968 offering which had Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in the lead.

producers The movie centres around a play, "Springtime for Hitler", which allows you to see that mass-murdering fuck-head in a totally different light (perhaps as the author of "Mein Camp"?)

You also get to see John Barrowman as a blonde, and Mel Brooks as Hilda the Pigeon and Tom the (unlucky) Cat. Enjoy!

Lost Highway (1997)

Watched 2006 December 23 - filed under Movies.

Ah, David Lynch. The man is not well. Lost Highway is a 135min trip that may, or may not, have a deeper meaning. Lynch's innovative way of story-telling is always fun, but I wouldn't want him to read me a bed-time story.

Dreamy Balthazar Getty (pictured above, wondering what the movie is about; remember him from "Lord of the Flies"?) joins Patricia Arquette and Bill Pullman and, in lieu of a dwarf (a la Twin Peaks), an eerie pasty-faced mystery man. Other highlights include Richard Pryor and Giovanni Ribisi.

Silent Hill (2006)

Watched 2006 December 31 - filed under Movies.

Good horror movie, which feels like a video game, which it turned out to be. Apparently, Silent Hill is a video game with a cult following. Great visuals, disturbing monsters (great for your next dungeon), and good acting, including Sean Bean as a harrowed husband.

Interestingly, for the sci-fi/horror genre, the lead roles are all women: refreshing Radha Mitchell, ass-kicking Laurie Holden, dirty Deborah Kara Unger, impressive 10-year old Jodelle Ferland, and a great performance by enigmatic Alice Krige (remember her as the freaky Borg queen in ST: Voyager?). The "Making of" highlights each of the monsters, and is well worth watching.

Keywords: Movies