Week 2: Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.

I’m running way behind with these 52 Movies blog posts. I have been keeping up with watching a movie every week, I just haven’t found the time to blog about them too (plus the internet connection here is still sucky; fingers crossed it’ll be solved tomorrow). Hopefully I’ll manage to write the reviews for Week 2, 3 and 4 this week, and then next week I’ll do Week 5 and Week 6.

The movie for week 2 was The Shawshank Redemption, currently ranked as the number 1 film on IMDB. I’ve been meaning to watch it for at least the past 10 years, but every time it appeared on TV something managed to get in the way of watching it. Exams, delayed trains, or just plain forgetting what time it was on. It was a movie I knew I had to watch from start to finish, so I really didn’t want to jump in after missing half an hour. Frankly, I have been quite successful in avoiding seeing or hearing anything about this movie and not being spoiled at all (a rare feat considering the amount of movie blogs I read; I think I know at least the endings to half of the 52 Movies we’ve chosen).

The Shawshank Redemption tells the tale of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a man who is convicted and sentenced to life in jail for the murder of his wife and her lover. He’s sent to Shawshank Prison, where he learns how to deal with prison life.

So what did I think of The Shawshank Redemption? To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed by it. I mean, I can see and understand why it would be ranked so high; it’s a movie with not a lot of faults, and the type of movie almost no one can not like. That being said though, I don’t see it as “THE best movie ever” and that’s what this list of 250 Movies should represent, right? Especially the number one.  

It is a good movie though and for those of you who haven’t seen, it definitely is a movie you should see. It’s full of hope and the lengths that we can go to when we have hope in ourselves, in our futures, and in others. The acting is superb; both TIm Robbins and Morgan Freeman are great in their roles. Personally though I just didn’t find it deserving of that number one spot. 

Next week: Psycho

I still had a long list of movies I had seen in 2008, but for which I hadn’t taken the time to write a review yet, thus this blog post. Now if I keep to my New Year’s resolution of reviewing every movie I see I won’t have to do these type of posts any more.

Kung Fu Panda

Funny animation about a panda with dreams of becoming a Kung Fu master. What I especially like of this film was how it wasn’t too predictable; I never had a feeling “oh, it’s gonna end like this and this”. My one quibble with it: there are so many famous actors cast in this (Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan) and some of them only have a couple lines. Don’t promote the movie as if they’ve got big roles then!

The Strangers

One of the worst “horror” movies I’ve ever seen. Almost no plot, no real frights or scares. It just felt like a complete waste of time after watching it.

Newsies 

Sigh. Christian Bale in a musical! And he’s singing and dancing. Even though he might be a bit ashamed of that movie nowadays, it’s still a great little gem. The singing is a bit cheesy and not always in tune, but, hey, it’s a kids movie and it’s perfect for those stay-inside-cause-you’re-sick-or-it’s-cold-outside days. 

Shoot ‘Em Up

I know a lot of people loved this movie, but it just didn’t work for me. It was too ridiculous and absurd, I just couldn’t get into it. Now I love old B action movies, but this didn’t even have the charm of those movies. It just felt awkward.

The House Bunny

Cute movie about a Playboy bunny that gets kicked out of the Playboy mansion and then becomes a house mother for a geeky sorority. Pretty obvious plot, but still quite funny and sweet.

Taken

I saw the trailer some time last year, and definitely wanted to see this movie. Liam Neeson as an ex-spy/special agent whose daughter gets kidnapped? Sounds good, right? And the movie is actually quite good, although a whole lot grittier and realistic then the trailer leads you to believe. I don’t mean in “blood and guts” gritty, but more in the plot and ambience.

Quantum of Solace

Greatest disappointment of the year. The action sequences are superb; there’s no problem with that. But the plot? it felt like they first came up with the main action shots and then decided to write a story to connect them all together. For me, it didn’t work. I was expecting much more emotional turmoil from Bond and at least a slightly less convenient Bad Guy.

Tropic Thunder

Not as brilliant as I expected, but still a great movie. I think it would have made more impact, if I hadn’t heard anything about it at all, but how can you ignore so many ads and marketing? You’re bound to hear something. 

Burn Without Reading

I’m not a fan of the Coen brothers, but Burn After Reading was quite funny. I’m not sure though if it deserves the nominations it’s getting. Still, Brad Pitt and George Clooney are both just so different and weird in this movie, it’s worth seeing for that alone.

Mamma Mia!

Abba songs are catchy; there’s no doubt about it. But an entire movie based on that? To be honest, it actually could have worked, but this movie suffers from one main problem: Meryl Streep. She doesn’t have the voice to pull this off. And while she may be a great actress, I never truly believed her character. 

Week 1: An unforgettable fable that proves love, family and imagination conquer all.

As I mentioned in my New Year’s resolutions post, one of the challenges I’ve set up for myself is to watch 52 Movies. Cristiano and I discovered that we both had only seen about 25-30% of the Top 250 Movies on IMDB, missing a lot of the classics and just general good movies I never got around to seeing. So every week we’ll be watching one of these movies and I’ll try to blog about it.

For this first week we did La Vita è Bella, at the moment #87 on IMDB. I had told my brother about my idea of this challenge before Christmas, so (of course and great that I did) I got two DVDs of two movies I hadn’t seen, one of which was La Vita è Bella. 

The first half of La Vita è Bella is set in the 1930s Italy. Guido (Roberto Benigni) has just moved to a small town in Tuscany where he falls in love with a schoolteacher, Dora. She’s already engaged, but the playful Guido manages to woo her in surprising and unusual ways. The story then jumps ahead to five years later; Guido and Dora are living happily together with their son, until they get sent to a German concentration camp. Guido does everything in his power to get this family through this ordeal.

There were a couple of reasons why I had never seen this movie. For starters, (I know this sounds a bit lame, but this is truly one of my reasons) I tend to watch (or at least start watching) a movie during dinner, and films with subtitles… not that handy when every other minute you have to look down at your plate (told you it was lame). Another reason was that every time I saw a clip or something else with Roberto Benigni in it, I just got completely exasperated by him. He’s so busy and bubbly and peppy, it’s tiring to watch him (I have the same with a Dutch comedian Bert Visscher; it’s too taxing to watch).

And for that first half of the movie, he is very much busy and bubbly and peppy. But in an endearing type of way. The way he woos Dora is just so sweet, you can’t find it irritating (still a bit tiring though to be honest). And when the second half of the movie hits, when this character that is so busy and bubbly and peppy lands in a concentration camp, he remains busy and bubbly and peppy. In a unique way, he keeps his son hopeful, never letting the harsh realities of the war affect him. 

I’m not one to cry that often during movies, but the end of La Vita è Bella had me slightly in tears (not too much, mind, and not until the last minute).  It’s a sweet story, and at it’s heart you could say it’s a bit of a fairy tale, even though it’s set in not the most fairy tale-ish of places. One note: if you’re avoiding this movie because it’s a “war-movie-drama”, don’t. You’re missing out on a great tale of hope and love (not to sound too soppy).

La Vita è Bella deserves to be in the Top 250 of IMDB, maybe even a little bit higher than #87. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. Trust me, it’s a film you’ll always remember. 

Next week: The Shawshank Redemption

This is the first of a series of 12 Christmas posts I’ll try to write in the next couple of days/weeks (up until a couple of days after Christmas). Besides that there’ll be a couple more Holiday themed posts: Geeky Christmas Gifts, Christmassy Videos and 5 Giveaway Contests, where you can win some cool presents!

To get us all in the Christmas spirit, here’s a list with my favourite Christmas movies. Now this list is pretty personal; there’ll be a lot of movies some of you will miss on it (some things I’ve never seen before like It’s A Wonderful Life, others I just hated, like Bad Santa). 

12. Miracle on 34th Street

I’m talking about the newer 1997 version here with Elizabeth Perkins and Dylan McDermott (I’ve never seen the original 1947 version, so I can’t compare the two). It may be a little bit cheesy, but it’s still one of the better kids films with a Santa Claus in it.

11. Jingle All The Way

Arnie! In a Christmas movie! Yes, it got plenty of cheese and silliness, but I just can’t help liking this movie. It’s about a father who forgets to by his son the ultimate Christmas present of that year: a Turbo Man. He then proceeds to do anything on the eve of Christmas to get his hands on one.

10. The Long Kiss Goodnight

Not your typical Christmas movie and one of my favourite action movies. How can you not love a kick-ass heroine like Geena Davis? A woman with 8 years of amnesia suddenly start remembering things from her past, including wielding a knife and loading a gun.

9. Home Alone

This was the Christmas kids movie when I was growing up (although some might say I’m not completely grown up yet, lol). It has influenced me a lot though; so many of my plans and ideas of booby trapping have their roots in this movie.

8. Die Hard

The ultimate action movie! Bruce Willis plays John McClane, the New York cop who tries to stop terrorists taking over a building. Alan Rickman is perfect as Hans Gruber, the German terrorist.  

7. Trading Places

I think this was the Christmas movie my family would watch every single year. A snobbish investor (Dan Akroyd) and a wily street con artist (Eddie Murphy) find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.

6. While You Were Sleeping

Also another not really known Christmas movie. Sandra Bullock plays Lucy, a ticket collector for the subway, who is smitten with one of the commuters that passes her till everyday. When he’s mugged and pushed off the platform, she manages to save him, but he lands in a coma and she is somehow mistaken for his fiance. 

5. Bridget Jones’ Diary

I’m not keen on this movie as other girls are, but it’s still an enjoyable movie. I love how Hugh Grant is just such an arrogant bastard here, but that Colin Firth remains his sweet, yet uptight self.

4. The Muppet Christmas Carol

The traditional Dickens story but with a Muppet twist! Michael Caine is perfectly cast as old Ebenezer Scrooge, who despises everything about Christmas. Then the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future (all muppets of course) come to visit him. 

3. White Christmas

Not many people know that the famous Christmas song was the main song in the 1954 movie of the same name. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye play a successful song-and-dance act, who team up with a sister duo (and of course fall in love with them) to save the failing inn of their former commanding general. Besides the well-known White Christmas song, there are a couple of other beauties in this classic.

2. The Nightmare Before Christmas

I remember I was about 8 when I saw the trailer for this movie and I was completely scared by it. I truly thought it was some horror movie. It was only years later that I actually sat down, watched and discovered the wonderful songs and story of The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s also the first movie where I fell in love with Danny Elfman’s music (why, oh, why, doesn’t he sing more often? He’s got a great voice).

1. Love Actually

I know some people hate this movie, but ever since it was released it’s been my number one Christmas movie. I have to watch it every single year. And who can ever get enough of Hugh Grant’s hilarious gyrating and Bill Nighy’s singing? Plus it’s got one of the greatest scores (just listen to the PM’s Love Theme with your eyes closed).

Care to share your favourite Christmas movie with me?

Ever since A Life Less Ordinary, I’ve been intrigued by its director: Danny Boyle. Each movie he makes seems so different compared to the others, but I always feel he has an interesting story to tell. And I have to say this is one intriguing little movie.

Slumdog Millionaire opens with our main character Jamal being interrogated by the Mumbai police, who think he has cheated on India’s version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Jamal is only one step away from winning the main prize of 20 million rupees, and the police don’t believe he could have known all the answers. As the inspector says, if even doctors and lawyers can’t reach that final question, how could Jamal, a slumdog from the poorest parts of Mumbai, know them? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the tale of his life and how each answer to the questions in the games show is interwoven in a chapter of his life.

Some people will tell you this film is amazing and that it should win Best Picture at the Academy Awards next year. And they may very well be right; Slumdog Millionaire does feel like the type of fair Oscar voters will gladly bite into and from whatever other films that might be nominated (you know I’m not the Oscar loving type) I’d like to be rooting for this one.

I think the best way to describe the movie is this: Take City of God. Change the setting from Rio De Janeiro to Mumbai. Add more hope and positivity, and a touch of love. And you’ve got Slumdog Millionaire. Like City of God, this movie gives a realistic view of the slums in Mumbai and it can be grim and depressing at times. You really have a feeling as if you’re seeing a side of Mumbai which is normally not seen. Unlike City of God though, there remains a ray of cheeriness and optimism throughout the entire movie. 

I don’t want to say this movie is amazing. Cause to be honest, I didn’t find it a-m-a-z-i-n-g. The plot feels a bit too coincidental (the way every question ties in with part of his past), while it could have been done slightly more subtle. On the other side though it’s gotten really stuck in my head and I keep thinking about it. At it’s heart Slumdog Millionaire is like a fairy tale and you just can’t help liking it.

That being said, Slumdog Millionaire is definitely a film you should watch in the cinema. It’s got more heart and charm than other movies you’ll find currently there and I won’t be surprised if it indeed manages to grab that Best Picture Oscar!

UK Release Date: 9 January 2009
US Release Date: 12 November 2008
Runtime: 120 min

Halloween is the one holiday I love, but never really got to experience. Both in Australia and the Netherlands it’s not an actual holiday. The closest I got to a “real” Halloween was a birthday party on the 31st of October which had a Halloween theme. Trick or Treating, pumpkin carving, etc… never experienced that. I also don’t think there’s a real Halloween spirit here in the UK (or is there? enlighten me please, in case I’m wrong). Instead I’m holding my own Halloween party here on my blog for the next 5 days. Hence the name: 5 Days of Halloween.

I thought I’d start with 5 movies that scared me. Not all of these are actually Halloween themed movies or even horror movies what that concerns. They are all movies though that scared me after watching them for the first time.

1. The Ring

This still creeps me out now and then. My parents have a small tv in the attic and whenever I have to get something there when it’s dark I start imagining Samara, the creepy girl, crawling out of the TV.

2. The Time Machine

I know, I know, not really a film that’s scary, right? But I saw it when I was 8 (the old version not the Guy Pearce one) and I have a vivid imagination. For days, I wouldn’t sleep on my side (only on my back), cause I was scared whenever I turned a Morlock would be lying behind me.

3. Requiem for a Dream

Again not really a scary movie and I’m not sure ‘scared’ would be how I described my feelings afterwards. I was left completely disturbed by it though.

4. Saw

My brother had seen this before me and for some weird reason (I really have no freaking idea why) I thought this was a Japanese movie. Not a remake, mind you, I thought it was a full-blown Japanese speaking, Japanese actors movie. Ehm, yeah, so I was kind of surprised when it wasn’t. Anyhow the Jigsaw Killer and that disturbing puppet stayed in my mind for some time.

5. Hannibal

So I didn’t actually get scared from this movie, but from it’s poster. Back in high school, I covered one entire wall of my room with small magazine sized movie posters. In the upper most right corner I had the poster of Hannibal (the sequel to Silence of the Lambs). After a couple of days though I had to take it down and replace it with something else (the Blade poster, which btw took me ages to see what the background actually was. I always though it was just random mist hovering there). Now wouldn’t you be creeped out by seeing this just before you go to sleep:

So any movies that left you completely scared?

Episode 87: “I have Google Maps”

I don’t always find all the College Humor videos funny, but this one is pretty good:

If All Movies Had Cell Phones from CollegeHumor.com

I love the Labyrinth one! Can you imagine how other movies might be if they had cellphones in them?

[Via Geeks Are Sexy]

Ahoy, me hearties! Today it’s International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Yarrr! In honour o’ this most fantabulous holiday, I’d thought I’d share me favourite pirates with you.

The Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride

Aye, me mateys. Most people seem t’ forget that he be indeed a pirate, but this masked semi-hero deserves a spot on me list. “As ye wish!”

Long John Silver from Muppet Treasure Island

There have been a lot o’ incarnations o’ Treasure Island’s Long John Silver, but it’s Tim Curry’s performance in t’ Muppet version that I’ll always adore. Over t’ top and way too cheesy, but just listen to t’ song Professional Pirate and tell me that’s not a pirate! 

Morgan Adams from Cutthroat Island

A lassy pirate! Although Cutthroat Island was considered a flop, at t’ time I loved loved loved it. Last year I rewatched it though… and it’s on t’ list o’ “Movies I Used to Adore As A Kid, But Were Really Really Bad”. Geena Davis’s Morgan though remains a kick-ass heroine.

Captain Jack Sparrow

How can such a list be complete without Captain Sparrow? T’ quintessential pirate o’ recent years, he’s t’ type o’ pirate everybody loves, even though he’s double-crossin’ double-dealin’ yellow-bellied blowfish.

Shiver me timbers! What a list! So who be your favourite pirates?

Okay, this isn’t really a photo, but still it’s pretty cool. Crazy 4 Cult is an art show in LA, hosted by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier. This cool poster was specially designed for this event; it’s full of cult movie characters and it’s one of those posters you can send hours looking at, yet still discovering new things. Now this isn’t even the full poster, just a snapshot. For the full version, head on over to /Film, it’s definitely worth a look. How many characters can you recognize?

I’ve been excited for The Dark Knight for months. Ever since the first Joker cards appeared at Comic-Con last year, I’ve wanted to see this movie. I loved Batman Begins and I just knew Christopher Nolan had it in him to make an even better movie. With all the origin story out of the way, he could focus on some more interesting plot lines and villains, like of course the Joker.

I’m not going to write a full review of this movie. By now you’ve already decided if you want to see The Dark Knight or not, and there are tons of reviews floating around the internet already. Instead I want to share my thoughts on a couple of things, some spoilerish, some not, some not even about the movie itself, but the circumstances in which I saw it. Don’t worry I’ll announce spoiler territory in a big and obvious manner.

Booking Tickets

Here in the UK The Dark Knight came out last Thursday and I had tickets for the IMAX on Friday afternoon. If you tried to book tickets last week, you would have noticed the next four weeks at the Imax are practically sold out. So how did I get such early tickets? I wasn’t lucky or extra alert or anything. Remember my great adventure with The Dark Knight ARG? The plan was to meet-up with all the people participating and see the movie at the IMAX together. A Facebook group was formed and one of the guys called the IMAX to see when the tickets would be released and if it was possible to book for 40/50 people. At the time they said we could, but somehow a day before the ticket release date, they pulled out, claiming they couldn’t do such a large booking. Bullshit, if you ask me. But anyhow, I got a nice reminder on the day itself that the tickets were released. Even then I didn’t book straight away, only to discover two days later that a lot of the tickets for the first four days were already gone. Eek!

Imax Experience

I managed to get tickets for the Friday showing in row L, seats 24 and 25 (check the floor plan here). I had never been to the Imax before, so I thought those seats would be too high up and you would look down on the screen. But they were perfect! We were bang in the middle, staring exactly at the center of the screen. And that wasn’t the only good part of the Imax. Back in January I wrote a post about 10 problems with today’s cinemas: bad projection quality, bad sound, too small relative screen size, just to name a few of the big problems. The Imax actually solves them all. You pay slightly more for a ticket than your average cinema, but it’s completely worth it. The quality you get in return is just so much better. From now on I want to see all the big movies in an IMAX theatre!

Then there’s of course the extra bonus of seeing the IMAX version of The Dark Knight, cause in total 28 minutes of the movie were filmed with IMAX cameras. So… what does that mean? Without getting into too technical terms, parts of the movie were filmed on a larger film, which obviously means a higher resolution and a bigger aspect ratio, but more importantly it actually results in a much better image quality, giving a clearer, crisper image. Those scenes that were shot with IMAX cameras are just plain gorgeous. Because of the different aspect ratio, you did notice when it switched from one to the other. The normal standard film has a letterbox size (2.40:1), while the IMAX scenes used the full screen (1.33:1). At the start of the film, it was a bit obvious; every single aerial view of Gotham City was IMAX, the standard plot and dialogue was letterbox. Later on in the movie though you barely noticed it. Most action sequences were filmed completely in IMAX and you really had the feeling it made a great difference.

Oscar Worthy?

You may have heard a lot of speculation on whether or not The Dark Knight should be nominated for any Oscars. The main buzz is about Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker (for Best Supporting Actor), but there are also some that find the movie itself should be nominated for Best Movie. You know my thoughts on the Oscars; genre movies never do well there and the voters are highly unappreciative of outstanding performances in genre movies, dismissing them almost always (I think Lord of The Rings is the last one that was nominated). Is The Dark Knight worthy of an Oscar? In my humble opinion, yes. But I don’t think it’s likely that it will get a Best Movie nomination; it was good, but I don’t think it will make such an impact (I’d like to be proven wrong though). Nominations for Cinematography, Visual Effects, Score, Make-Up (definitely) are way more likely.

And then we’ve got Heath Ledger. His performance as the Joker is exactly what Oscar voters like; it’s a real role you can disappear into and show that you’re “acting”. Think of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man or Javier Bardem in last year’s No Country For Old Men; those are roles where you can show off your acting chops and become a completely different person. I think the Academy will love Ledger’s Joker and chances are high he’ll get a nomination. Did Ledger’s death have anything to do with it? I’m not sure, I think in part. I think a lot of people who would have previously dismissed this movie, now gave it a chance because it’s Heath Ledger’s last film, and they discovered it was actually good. Would The Dark Knight have been viewed so many times, if Ledger hadn’t died? It’s a ‘What if’ scenario, we’ll never know the answer to.

After the image: beware spoilers!

Argh, here be SPOILERS!

Random Thoughts

Okay, did anyone else think that the scenario with the two boats and two bombs would end differently? I seriously thought that the “normal people” boat would decide to blow up the convicts boat, only to discover pushing the big red button blows their own ship up. After the Joker’s Dent/Rachel mix-trick, it felt as if it would veer that way. It would have fitted with the dark tone of the whole movie, right?

Is Dent dead or not? Yes, there was a memorial service like speech, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he is dead. Three possibilities: a) it was a memorial service and Dent is dead, b) that wasn’t a memorial service, but something else, only to make the viewer believe Dent is dead (while he isn’t), and c) that was a memorial service, but Gordon (and Batman) want the people of Gotham City to believe Dent is dead. I think it’s the last option with Dent in somewhere in a cell in Arkham Asylum.

Was the name of ‘Coleman Reese’ chosen for a specific “deeper” meaning? Someone on a message board pointed out that “Mr Reese” is pronounced “misterees” as in “mysteries”. Hmm, a prelude to the Riddler? Or just coincidence?

Next Movie?

As I said in the previous paragraph, I think Dent is alive and I think he’ll be the main villain for the next movie. But seeing how Christopher Nolan rolls (he likes twos), there’ll also be another villain, but who? Following the line of thought from above, my first guess would be The Riddler. The character of Reese seems to be set up here with the potential of a fuller story. Personally I’d love to see the Riddler, but preferably someone else (not Reese, and not that actor). And just imagine what Nolan’s Riddler would be like… 

So people: have you seen The Dark Knight already? And if so, any random thoughts or musings about future movies you want to share with us?