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I do see why people think so highly of this movie, but (and please don’t kick me for saying this) for me it feels a bit outdated.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?

To continue with the touristy activities from the past couple of days, yesterday I also went to see Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I wasn’t that much into Any Dream Will Do (I watched it, but couldn’t really care less who won), but my mother and sister were, so I had gotten them tickets. We had front row seats on the Upper Circle, certainly not the best, but still not too shabby.

Photograph by Tristram Kenton © The Really Useful Group Ltd 2007

“Wow”. That’s how I came out of this musical. Not a “Wow! That was a great!”, but more of a “Wow. That was… weird.” I’m completely convinced now that Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote this musical when he was high; Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is just a bizarre jumble of musical styles strung together as a musical.

I wasn’t familiar with Joseph at all. I kind of know the biblical story and I knew the two main songs from Any Dream Will Do, but for the rest I had never seen or heard anything about it. Those two songs (‘Any Dream Will Do’ and ‘Close Every Door’) I actually like, but the rest just felt weird. Let’s put it this way: there’s one song that’s a sort of country & western “yee-ha” song. There’s another song sung with a french accent. Then there’s a Jamaican blues-like song. Another song is sung by a camel and a snake (no, I am not kidding). Then the Pharaoh is literally The King, as in: Elvis. It’s just a strange mix of all different genres. 

Photographs by Tristram Kenton © The Really Useful Group Ltd 2007

And then there’s Lee Mead. For the non-UKers, Lee Mead was the winner of Any Dream Will Do, an American Idol-like tv talent show in search for a new star for on the West End. He plays the titular character Joseph, but unlike the previous talent show winner of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? (Connie Fisher) he doesn’t have to carry the whole musical on his shoulders. The two songs from the tv show are the two songs he gets to sing. Oh, he sings along a little bit in three or four other songs, but it’s not a lot. The narrator for me is the real star of Joseph; she (or in some productions he) sings and act/dances in practically every scene and vocally has the most difficult parts. To be fair though, Lee Mead was great as Joseph and he sang the songs perfectly. I’m just a tad disappointed he didn’t get to do more. 

I am a musical lover, but Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat just didn’t work for me. This is the first Andrew Lloyd Webber musical I’ve been to, so maybe it’s just his musicals that don’t do it for me (although I do like The Phantom of The Opera songs, even though I’ve never seen an actual production of it).  Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy myself, especially during the after-finale megamix. It’s just… typically when I like a musical the songs get stuck in my head and I yearn to back in the audience again, seeing and hearing all the songs all over again. Here though that didn’t happen and apart from those two great songs the rest of Joseph is just a bizarre, weird show.

The last couple of days my mother and sister were here to visit me and see London, so I’ve been off doing touristy stuff. Yesterday we went to the Tutankhamun exhibition at the O2 and it’s definitely worth seeing.

Some backstory first though (cause I love talking about myself). I’ve got a bit of a history with Egyptian history. I grew up reading and loving everything about ancient history: Romans, Ancient Greeks, Mayans, Incans, Egyptians, Vikings. To be honest, I didn’t like the history part about it. History is focused on the politics and people, while what I was interested in was all the cultural aspects surrounding those different times. Like the art styles, belief systems, clothes, and other stuff like that (I still love reading myths about the various types of gods; there’s a reason all my hardware is named after a god/goddess). The main reason I wanted to go to the Dutch gymnasium (high school type, if you want to know more about the Dutch education system, there’s a good Wikipedia article) is that you then get Latin and Ancient Greek, plus a great 10 day trip to Rome.

Anyhow, my main love was Egypt. During my second year I studied hieroglyphics as an extra self-defined and prepared course (my school thought some “smart” kids needed more mental stimulation besides the normal easy courses and gave us free reign to whatever extra course we wanted to learn), which, although way more difficult than I at the time had expected, fueled my enthusiasm for all things Egypt even more.

Then for my 16th birthday I finally got to actually go to Egypt for 10 days. I visited Cairo, then took a plane to Aswan and spent a couple of days on a cruise boat to Luxor (only to discover I get very very sea river sick). I got to see a lot of museums, a lot of temple and graves, and of course the Pyramids of Gizeh. I even was contemplating studying Egyptology or Archaeology, but it was my dislike for the politics and actual history that stopped me from choosing that path. That, plus I was practical enough to realise my math and logic skills would be way better suited to computer science (which would also offer much better job opportunities). 

So the Tutankhamun exhibition yesterday was a real treat for me; it kind of re-ignited my passion for the ancient times. You should realise though that Tutankhamun’s death mask and any of the coffins aren’t part of the exhibition. I knew about the death mask (it’s not allowed to leave Egypt anymore), but had expected at least one of the coffins. The other artifacts make up for that though, most of them are gorgeous; my favourite being a golden diadem that was found on the head of King Tut’s mummified body. The quality of some of the pieces is amazing; inlaid stones, intricate details, perfect condition, these objects were buried for more than 2000 years!

The exhibition showcases the life of Tutankhamun and that of his family, explaining the world he was born into. It does a great job of telling a story, without assuming any previous knowledge about it. Unlike some other exhibitions, the artifacts aren’t just put into glass cases in one big giant room and you’re wandering from case to case, not really understanding the context of the objects. Here the exhibition manages to give you the full picture; every room is another chapter of the story and you walk through the exhibition each time learning (and comprehending) parts of Tutankhamun’s life. The atmosphere is mesmerizing and mysterious. The exhibition makes clever use of lighting and shadows, highlighting the artifacts in wonderful manner. There’s a perfect moment right at the start, where you’re suddenly transported to the world of Egypt and it’s secrets. 

For me the £17 entrance ticket was completely worth it and it makes me want to visit Egypt again. Who knows? Maybe next year for holiday?

Episode 68: “Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow.” 

Remember that funny animated cat video from a few months back? Since then the creator has made two more just a cute animations. They both remind so much of my own cat!

Interesting links for July 9th through July 17th:

• The man who brings movies to life – Short interview with sound effects genius Ben Burtt, who did the sounds for Star Wars, Indiana Jones and nor Wall-E.
• Bubble Calender – Oh man, I want one of these: it’s a poster-sized calendar with a bubble to pop every day. A bubble wrap poster! How cool is that?
• Twitter Timeline During Zombie Attack – The ttile says it all; what would the updates on Twitter look like if a zombie attack was going on? Some of this stuff is so funny!

Regular readers of this blog know how much I love my Threadless tees. I’ve got 6 of them myself at the moment and have bought 7 as presents for others. And I keep seeing more designs that I want. I’m not typically a t-shirt person, so it’s really the designs that makes me want to buy them. That’s why these new products are perfect for me.

They’ve been around for some time now, but Threadless (teaming up with Blik) offer also wall graphics of a select number of their designs. And most of them are so pretty! Depending on the size and complexity of the design, the price ranges from $30 to $50. It’s not something I could justify buying right now (not with the small flat we have, wouldn’t be worth it), but I can imagine once I have a larger place getting a couple of these.

The wall designs consist (most of the times) out of multiple smaller stickers, so you’re not restricted to arranging them in the same way as the original design. There are a couple designs that are also part of the Re-Stik collection, specially designed so you can use them over and over again (perfect for kids).

The US shop only delivers to US and Canada, but there is also an overseas distributor in the UK. Sadly though, this is more expensive (for instance £40 instead of $45), but it’s better than not being able to get them at all. To see all the designs head on over to the Blik website.

I sometimes manage to get free tickets to pre-release screenings, but rarely get to share this with my friends. With Wall•E though I was able to get about 20 tickets and with a lot of coordination via email and Twitter, I got a great repsonse of all the people willing to go. So last Saturday morning a huge group of geeks gathered together at the Vue cinema in Shepherd’s Bush to watch the wonder that is Wall•E.

Wall•E is a small waste allocation robot, left behind on Earth to clean up the mess humans made. It’s been a couple of hundred years, since the humans left, and he’s the only one of his kind still working. Wall•E fills his lonely days with compressing trash, building large towers of processed waste, while collecting little treasures, like christmas lights and Rubik’s cubes. His whole life changes when Eve, a shiny white robot, arrives on Earth with a important classified mission.

I don’t want to give any more than that away of the plot, cause I think the less you know, the more you’ll enjoy it. I for one loved Wall•E! It’s definitely my favourite Pixar film now and I guess it may even be my favourite film of this year. So many things just work and it’s just this little perfect gem of a movie. As with most other Pixar movies, Wall•E is a true family movie, that everybody any age will enjoy. And it’s timeless. In 20 years time, people will still look back at this film and laugh at the same moments. While some may say that is true for previous Pixar animations, I truly think Wall•E will be the one to go down in history as a classic.

You may have heard there is no dialogue in Wall•E and that is only partly true. There is some dialogue, but none from our two main characters Wall•E and Eve. They largely communicate through beeps and body movements, with the occasional robotic “Wall•E” or “Evah” thrown into it. Any other studio might have messed this completely up, but in Pixar’s competent hands it works. The noises the robots make convey their meanings perfectly; every beep, rattle and ting feels like a sentence, as if they’re just talking some language you don’t understand, but do comprehend. It shouldn’t be a surprise though. Pixar didn’t just get any sound effects editor, they got the best in the business: Ben Burtt, who was also responsible for the sound effects in all the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies. Besides that, Wall•E and Eve are animated brilliantly, expressing their emotions through movement. Anger, shock, fright, happiness: it’s all conveyed through wonderfully choreographed motions. This and the sound effects together help describe a relationship that should be recognized across language barriers.

I think that relationship is one of the main reasons I like Wall•E more than other Pixar movies. Wall•E is first and foremost a love story, and the romantic in me just resonates better with this movie than the previous ones. There’s more to the movie than only the love plot though and to some that may be Wall•E‘s only pitfalls. I can’t go in to it, cause I don’t want to spoil it for you, but for me it fitted perfectly as part of the story (cut it away and the movie just wouldn’t have worked). 

I already said a bit about Wall•E’s and Eve’s animation, but I should also highlight their designs. Wall•E does look a bit like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit, but it doesn’t feel as if they were ripping that off. It seems to me that if you want a robot that is similar to the human form (that doesn’t have legs), you’ll quickly come down to a comparable design. And Wall•E feels much more functional; all his parts are integral to do his work. Eve on the other hand does look as if she’s been designed by Apple; she slick, white, shiny, round and everything (like her arms) clicks away to form one smooth object.

If I haven’t made it clear already, Wall•E is visually stunning. Besides the design and animation of our two main characters, the rest of the world is also as amazing. Earth is just how you imagined it could be if trash was overflowing so much (although I hadn’t expected the towers of processed trash) and it serves as a great desolate backdrop to our lonely protagonist. Other scenes are jaw-droppingly beautiful and I can only imagine the amount of work that must have gone into creating them. Even if the story and characters hadn’t been this great, I still would have recommended this movie for the visuals alone.

Wall•E may be the most perfect movie of this year and I don’t think anybody could dislike this movie. If you could only see one movie in the cinemas this summer, go see Wall•E (although The Dark Knight might give it a good run for it’s money). I have a feeling this will remain one of Pixar’s greatest movies and it’ll go down in cinematic history.