In the past couple of weeks I’ve seen a huge bunch of older (as in not in cinemas) movies and I’ve been trying to figure out how to blog about them. I don’t really want to do my standard type of review, cause most people have seen those movies. I just want to let you all know what I thought about them. So I’m doing a long post with short pieces about each movie I’ve seen, thus Mini Movie Reviews.

Requiem For A Dream

This movie kind of stumped me at first; I wasn’t sure how to describe it. I tend to like movies I enjoy (don’t we all?), but Requiem For A Dream isn’t enjoyable at all. It’s a great movie, but it’s as if it chews you up and then spits you out, leaving you feeling like utter crap. And yet still you can appreciate the film, cause it’s beautiful in it’s own twisted way. I loved the music before I watched Requiem, but now I’m not sure I can even listen to it, without feeling a little bit disturbed. Don’t watch this movie if you’re feeling depressed, cause it’s only going to make you feel even worse. 

2001: A Space Odyssey

By saying this I might just be confirming I’m a product of my generation, but for me the pacing of 2001: A Space Odyssey feels way, way too slooow. Some scenes just drag on way too long with nothing substantial happening. And then that ending?! this doesn’t happen to me often and maybe I’ve got some more reading to do, but I didn’t get it. I do see why people think so highly of this movie, but (and please don’t kick me for saying this) for me it feels a bit outdated. Not the story, but the look and feel of it, and that just doesn’t help for me to get into the movie.

Atonement

I now understand all the Oscar talk surrounding Atonement last February; it is a good movie, if you can keep your eyes open and watch the entire thing. I had to rewatch the first half an hour 4 times, because I kept getting distracted and lost track of the story. Especially at the beginning the movie jumps back and forth a couple of times to repeat events from multiple view points. I only don’t get all the excitement about Keira Knightley’s green dress. It’s a pretty dress, I’ll give you that, but I don’t see what’s so special and amazing about it.

Little Miss Sunshine

I was disappointed by Little Miss Sunshine, but then I was expecting quite a bit from this movie. I somehow thought it would be more funnier and less serious than it actually was. I thought it was a feel-good movie and instead you just get one bad event after another. I liked the ending, but still wasn’t completely what I expected. 

Southland Tales

What a mess of a movie! It’s from the same director/writer of Donnie Darko, but fails completely where Donnie Darko didn’t. Southland Tales has too many plot lines and too many characters for you to fully invest and care about them. You don’t give a shit about what happens to them, but that doesn’t really matter: at most times you don’t even know what or why things are happening to them. Too many things are going on in this movie and it doesn’t take time to explain itself properly (and that with a running time of 145 minutes). Apparently there’s a comic book prequel which in fact is half of the story and clears everything up, but that just sounds like too much homework for a simple movie like this.

Michael Clayton

You could sum up the events from this movie in a few short sentences (I won’t, cause I’m not in a spoilery mood), even though the film is 2 hours long. Again like Atonement, I understand why it’s an ‘Oscar‘ film, but it’s just not my type of movie. It’s all about the grey areas of life and the decisions people have to make. Expect a lot of talking, not a lot of action.

Unknown

I had never heard of Unknown before, but it’s got Jim Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Joe Pantoliano and Bridget Moynahan. And it’s an interesting little movie. Five men wake up in a locked warehouse, all with no memory who they are and why they’re there. Some of them are tied up and it seems a fight just went down. The five are forced to figure out who among them are ‘bad guys’ and who are ‘good guys’. It’s a cute idea, and while not without it’s faults, it was a nice little surprise.

Episode 69: “Penguins that went by the door”

I love these guest appearance on Sesame Street! First James Blunt, now Feist. While not as funny as Blunt’s My Triangle, it’s still pretty good:

Typically I would never go to the cinema for the likes of a movie called Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. But (as my previous posts can tell you) my sister was in town and she read and adored the books this movie’s based on. I managed to get some free tickets exactly when she was here, so there I was in a cinema full of teenagers (my sister’s 19), wondering who Angus was, what he’s going to do with thongs and who he’s gonna snog. Turns out Angus is the cat. 

Georgia Nicolson is a 14 year old girl living in Eastborne. Just like every other 14 year old girl, she thinks she’s not pretty enough, thinks her parents don’t understand her and doesn’t understand boys. She’s not the most popular girl at school, but has a close group of three friends (they call themselves the Ace gang). When two new boys start at their school, Georgia and her best friend Jaz desperately want these two sex gods to like them (their words, not mine). What follows is a lot of scheming, blundering and snogging.

Release your inner 14 year old! I think anybody who ever was a 14 year old girl can somehow recognize themselves in this movie. I mean, even I, who never was that much of a girly girl and barely even dared to talk to boys (the ones I liked, that is) in high school, felt myself grinning and cringing at the situations Georgia got herself into. In the first quarter of an hour alone she shaves off half an eyebrow (which of course magically grows back) and that’s only the beginning of her (mis)adventures. It’s been resembled to Clueless and Mean Girls, which is a good comparison, but to me it looks most like a teenage Bridget Jones’ Diary. 

Georgia is an unlikely heroine, but I think she’s a perfect role model for young girls to look up to. She’s not some blonde superskinny supermodel teenager, but an actual normal girl; not drop dead gorgeous, but beautiful in her own way. The plot is a bit predictable and cheesy, but what did you expect from this type of movie. Just like the book (according to my sister) the movie is full of slang, like nunga-nungas (breasts), I had never heard before (not sure if this is slang specifically from the book, or just slang from the UK I haven’t come across yet). 

The best friend Jaz is great; at times infuriatingly oblivious to things going on around her, she messes up Georgia’s plans quite often. There’s a great scene where while talking to one of the “sex gods” for the first time, she puts on a Keira Knightley voice, trying to be mature and sophisticated. The “sex gods” are not what I would call sex gods, although if I was that age, chances are I would have been crushing on them.

And then there’s Angus. And Libby. Libby is Georgia’s 5 year old sister, who thinks she’s a cat and loves dressing Angus up. Angus alone is already as cute as can be, but dressed up?! Even more adorable. There’s one scene where Angus is dressed up in something ridiculous (like a pirate or princess) and Libby is decorating him with cooked pasta. This is all just going on in the background while Georgia and her mother are discussing something. It might sound weird, but it’s so sweet on screen.

Teenage girls are going to love this movie, grown-up girls could love this movie. Guys, avoid this at all costs; there’s a sliver of a chance you might enjoy this, but it’s more likely you’ll find it boring and annoying as hell. Girls, do your boyfriends (and yourself) a favour and don’t drag him to this movie. Instead, take a bunch of good girlfriends, who you know you can giggle and laugh with. Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a perfect girls night out or dvd sleepover movie; it’s cheesy and predictable as hell, but that’s not what it’s about, right?