December 2011
13 posts
2 tags
#256: About a Boy
“It was torture. For five minutes I realised what life would be like if I were, in any way, interesting. If I had anything to say for myself, if I did anything. But I didn’t do anything. And in about thirty seconds she’d know and she’d be gone like a shot”
I really do like this movie a lot. There’s so much I relate to in it. Trying to live your life as an...
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#255: The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Watching this one again made me really want to read the book again. I remember barely anything from it except that it’s really different and probably much better. Still, overhead shot of raptors running through the long grass? There’s cool stuff like that.
Also, since I last watched these movies I’ve become aware of some new dinosaur species that hadn’t been discovered...
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#254: Jurassic Park
I watched this last year but I looked back and I noticed I didn’t really write anything about it. Here are my Top 3 moments (with animated GIF’s!):
#3: Dilophosaurus
It goes from super cute to super terrifying in an instant, it looks amazing, the sound design is fantastic and Nedry’s a bastard who gets what he deserves. It’s plainly super awesome.
#2:...
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#253: Jackass 3.5
I woudn’t usually count a movie that I didn’t watch in one sitting, but with something like this I think it’s probably acceptable. I did it in three shifts. The first time it was my mum who put it on, the second time I think it was my dad and the third I just did to round it off and include it here. Anyway, I haven’t really watched any Jackass stuff since the first...
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#252: The Spiderwick Chronicles
I thought this was alright. I never really saw much in the way of advertising when it came out and I’ve never read the book(s), so I was kind of caught off-guard by the pace of it. For some reason I was expecting something slower, but it’s kind of like Labyrinth mixed with a dash of Assault on Precinct 13. With creatures that happily remind me of Critters.
I didn’t really...
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#251: Another Earth
Can you see that quote from The Hollywood Reporter on that poster? Bleeeuuurrrgh!
But anyway…
I was listening to the Nerdist podcast with J.J. Abrams earlier and they were talking about The Twilight Zone and clever sci-fi in general. This seems very much in touch with that kind of thing, albeit with a slightly more ethereal, arty, cinematic vibe. It was good. Inventive, smart,...
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#250: The Inbetweeners Movie
I really have no idea how someone who doesn’t watch the show would react to it, but as a fan I’d say it plays like a good extended episode. There’s nothing about it that will come as a surprise, but I laughed a lot and now I probably won’t think much about it again.
Frothy, lewd, silly fun.
Grade: ***
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#249: The Tree of Life
Yeah, this was very good. The bulk of the movie is about what I expected: beautiful, subtle, sad, truthful. But what surprised me most was the way in which the artier, more abstract interludes affected me. I think usually my response to scenes like that is a kind of disaffected, critical respect. In this case I honestly found myself quite moved. I mean, the whole thing’s a visual feast,...
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#248: Serendipity
Even though I pretty much hated this movie the first time I saw it, watching it again now I can see how I’ve seen it so many times since. Most rom-coms I like are defined by specific moments - most often big romantic speeches - and this has those, but around them everything’s so light and fluffy and breezy it all just buzzes by in a heartbeat. It’s dumb and it’s...
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#247: Hugo 3D
I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with this. I wasn’t a massive fan of the book and, because it’s about cinema, I thought there was a real chance this would be one of those rare occasions where the movie adaptation could be better than the book. Not so.
I’ll give Scorcese credit for making it look awesome - it’s maybe the first time I’ve felt 3D was being...
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#246: Hercules
I quite liked this actually. It’s not quite as smooth as most of Disney’s better efforts, but it’s funnier than most and, like I may have mentioned before (see: Percy Jackson…, Clash of the Titans), I do kinda dig seeing Greek mythology on screen. And in this case it brings a slightly more adult edge to the table. Attempted infanticide, heads being lopped off, an...
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#245: Gremlins
“While everybody else is opening their presents, they’re opening up their wrists.”
Oh, Gremlins. How delightfully dark you are.
Watching this again actually made me realise how seminal it this movie might have been in terms of my taste. Everything that’s good about it - from the smalltown nostalgia to the violence to the wicked sense of humour - represents...
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#244: The Station Agent
I’ve seen quite a few indie dramas this year that have felt lacking somehow. They have the tone right - they’re not flashy, they strive for realism, warmth, humour and poignancy in small moments - but they never seem to quite reach what they’re aiming for. This one did.
And, y’know, when I think of buddy movies I usually think of 80’s action comedies, but this...
November 2011
19 posts
2 tags
#243: One Day
Wow. What the fuck, man? I was 100% expecting sweet romance and instead it’s all Paddy McGinty’s Goat style tragedy. Seriously. It’s so grim from start to finish that there was practically nothing I enjoyed. Anne Hathaway - who I’m a fan of, for the record - has a depressing life. Jim Sturgess has a depressing life. Depressing things happen. That’s it. Any slight...