The first time I popped up from Notting Hill Gate station, I was disappointed. I had expected to see the market, and the house with the blue door. And maybe even run into Hugh Grant, spilling his orange juice on my Love Actually t-shirt. But then, you might say I am a dreamer.
Well you probably don’t want to hear more about elephants, so let’s talk about another favourite subject of mine : English actors. And don’t worry, it is not about him this time.
Confetti is the new British mockumentary that follows three couples as they battle it out to win the title of `Most Original Wedding of the Year’. Weddings still seem to be a good subject for a film. And maybe it could be a fun subject, but in Confetti it just isn’t. The three couples being a win obsessed pair of tennis players, a pair of nudists (and ofcourse they want to be married being naked, they are actually naked in the film, which is too much) and the last couple wants to have their marriage set as a musical. Well you can make a long list of cliches to use in a film like this, and they are all there. But I admit that the film has some funny and hilarious moments too.
There is one real highlight though, and his name is Martin Freeman. He was cute as Tim in the Office, he was cuter as Arthur Dent in Hitchhikers Guide, and he is cutest in Confetti. Cute and very funny.
So, if you like Martin Freeman, you might want to see it. If you don’t, well if you want to be entertained I guess it is an allright film. (7.5/10)
And you thought I hadn’t been in the cinema lately ?
American Dreamz
Did this guy really make About a boy too ? (Well done film, one of the few films where Hugh Grant actually shows he can act). American Dreamz is the worst collection of cliches and cheap jokes. Absolutely rubbish.
Lucky Number Slevin
I just don’t like Josh Hartnett that much. Apart from that, this is a pretty violent movie, but it turned out to be better than I feared after the first 10 minutes. And Bruce Willis is becoming a kind of a cult actor.
Inside Man
Denzel Washington, Jody Foster, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Clive Owen, all messing about the perfect bank robbery. Or is it ?
Not as bad as you think actually, Spike Lee directs.
Tagline : Six days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader (Tsotsi).
Now here is a beautiful movie : Tsotsi. This movie won the Oscar for best foreign film, and even though that isn’t a guarantee for anything, in this case it is well deserved. The story might be on the edge of being sentimental, but the talented young actors are doing a great job in this film. There are beautiful shots from the slum areas in Johannesburg, and life definetely isn’t easy down there.
The film has some very violent and shocking scenes, but that is how Tsotsi’s life has been. There isn’t a real happy ending, happily I would say, and even though Tsotsi takes a drastic decision at the end of this film, you’ll leave the cinema with hopes for a better life for him.
See this film, it is beautiful, and a welcome alternative for the other overrated Oscar winning movies currently running in the cinema (Brokeback Mountain is an exception here).
Directed by Gavin Hood
Cast Presley Chweneyagae, Mothusi Magano, Israel Makoe
Trust me, Rumor Has It, doesn’t have it – at all.
Jennifer Aniston, well, as David Brent would say – Next ! And Kevin Costner is ok, but the script is far from interesting enough to hold my attention for longer than 5 minutes. I normally would have skipped this film, but sometimes you just need to get out, and do something that can tame the bouncing balls a bit. With this film though, it didn’t help.
Don’t waste your time on this one, I already did that for you.
Plot: Jennifer Aniston plays a woman who learns that her family was the inspiration for the book and film The Graduate — and that she just might be the offspring of the well-documented event.
Directed by Rob Reiner
Cast Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo
Memoirs of a Geisha tells the story of, Nitta Sayuri, who transcended her fishing-village roots and became one of Japan’s most celebrated geisha.
Well this film has been nominated for both Bafta’s Golden Globes and will probably also be nominated for Oscars. It’s a big production, but I have to say it is so beautifully shot. There are some really fantastic shots and the colours are amazing, it’s like watching a beautiful photograph exhibition. So for me, if someone should win an Oscar for this film, it should be the director of photography. You could actually watch this film for it’s pictures, it’s a joy for the eyes, and walk completely satisfied out of the cinema. But there is also a story, a story about this somewhat hidden and secret world of the Japanes Geisha culture, and that story is interesting enough to make this a film worth watching too.
Yes, go see it. It might be a girl film though.
Directed by: Rob Marshall (Chicago)
Cast : Ziyi Zhang (disappointing to see that her blue eyes in the film actually were contactlenses!), Ken Watanabe
Talking about cheating. I am a regular customer of Cinemaxx in ?rhus, it’s my second home and I would nearly say that I have been there so many times, that I have paid for one of their screens. They have this silly system that they only check your ticket when you come into the building. After that you are yourself responsible for finding the right film and screen (they have 8). That has made me think before. So yesterday I saw the Geisha film at 12.30. That’s early, but I needed to leave my appartment because people came looking at it. And after the Geisha, I thought – what if. What if I just stay, and watch another movie, for free. After a short discussion with my conscience – I stayed, and watched Narnia again. This time with excellent sound, and on the biggest screen they have in Cinemaxx, which is huge. It certainly was cool to see James McAvoy this size, but despite a much better film experience, Narnia did not score any more points than last time, 7/10.
How bad a person am I really ?
I have been thinking about what it is that made this film so special. Well the fact that it is about a lovestory between 2 cowboys in the USA is quite original. And controversal, and as far from mainstream as you can get. All good ingredients for an interesting film. And their love story hits you just as hard as any other lovestory would have done. Maybe it hits you harder, because of the more or less hopeless situation the two men are in. 2 gay men, both cowboys, in a part of the USA where gay men not exactly were welcome. Far from welcome, the film actually shows clips about how villages react on gay people. And therefore they have to hide their love for the world. They both marry and have kids, and try to live a “normal” life. For years they only meet some weekends a year, which is tearing them both apart. They live this life for more than 20 years. And that certainly makes you think.
Ang Lee had already proven himself by making films like Crouching Tiger and the Icestorm. Jake Gyllenhaal was surprisingly (I had only seen him in The Day After Tomorrow) good . And Heath Ledger is excellent in this film, as the somehow silent and drawback Ennis.
The story is very gripping, their tenderness is heartbreaking, and their inability to be together is frustrating. You better take some kleenex with you when seeing this film. I needed it.
A must see : 9/10.
I found The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a bit boring. Maybe you should not compare the film to the Harry Potter movies, but if you do, Harry Potter is a lot more interesting to watch. Probably because the Narna story is a bit slow. And the sound was very bad in this dutch cinema, the screen a bit small and a break in the middle of a film (it’s 2h 20 long) is never good if you ask me. (And yes I am spoiled by Cinemaxx) And no, I haven’t read the book.
Good things:
Narnia features James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus, the Faun. Well he does have weird legs in Narnia, but he is one of the most talented young British actors currently around, if you ask me. Yes he was in State Of Play, together with this other Brit, what’s his name, something with a B it was …
Narnia features Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan, the Lion. Well casted, Lion with an Irish accent. We like that.
Narnia does have some nice special effects, talking beavers (pretty funny) and wolves, Aslan the lion, and all the other not so common inhabitants of the land of Narnia.
All in all the story is quite allright, but the pace of the film was too slow. So no more than 7 (out of 10).
King Kong : Cute monkey
I had no expectations whatsoever for this film. And I didn’t even like LOTR, which wasn’t Peter Jacksons fault, I just thought the books were a bit boring. But having seen the trailers of King Kong, I decided to go and see it.
So here are 5 things about Peter Jackson’s King Kong:
They were also showing a bit longer trailer for The Da Vinci Code, and have to say that it I now can see Tom Hanks playing Robert Langdon. He actually looked kind of cool with his long hair. Despite book which I found a little bit disappointing in the end, I look forward to this film.
