Inception trailer reviewing...

Welcome to the first of many Inception blog posts...it's fair to say that I am in love with a film that I haven't even seen yet.
In this edition, the trailers will be looked out, and you will discover how cool they are and why this film won't be able to flop (hopefully).

Trailer #1 (Teaser attached to Inglourious Basterds, August 2009)



To me, this is my favourite trailer because it tells you absolutely nothing about the movie, but it just shows a little of whats in store. It has the ominous music, and then the best thing:

EEEEEE!! Christopher Nolan!! He's at it again!! His last film was only The Dark Knight, which was pretty successful...and he has to make another movie to match it. Will Inception be it? I sure hope so.
Then there's the scenes of some loosely connected images...like:

Spinning top!!

Lots and lots of roads!! Cars on them!! In a city!!

A vibrating glass of water!!

Bath time!!

Hotel olympics!!

How they are all connected is beyond me, but the main theme of this trailer is defying gravity. My friend smartly said that the spinning top has something to do with the laws of motion which could be a big factor in this movie. But then again, this trailer paints a completely different picture than the third one. It doesn't illustrate the dream like state that this movie is really about.

However, you can understand that because no one knew much about this movie back then. In an Empire magazine they said that the plot of this movie was "locked away with the Colonel's eleven secret herbs and spices." So you weren't expecting a trailer on why the chicken from KFC tastes so good, were you? You were just wanting to see it for yourself.

Trailer #2 (Attached to Sherlock Holmes, December 2009)

Ah! There's talking in this one!! Though it's still really short and doesn't tell us anything concrete about the movie, it introduces the 'idea'. "What's the most resilient parasite? An idea." What that means, some will never know. However, we now know that the movie has something to do with ideas: how we create them, discard them, work on them.

"A single idea from the human mind...can build cities."

Cities folding on top off you...the stuff of dreams. What's creepy is that you can see the cars moving. Honestly, I have had many dreams just like that. And, Ellen Page is introduced in this trailer, with Leonardo giving her a lecture about "never recreating from your memory, always imagine new places."

There is so much going on in this trailer, it had to end with a scene like the one pictured above. Does it kind of remind you of Titanic??

So what I have gathered from this trailer is that a single idea puts the world in trouble and Leonardo will steal it. Which makes it the ultimate heist movie.

Didn't Joseph Gordon-Levitt look like such a bad-ass?? He is literally one of the best actors out there. Guys with guns have always been a favourite of mine=)

Trailer #3 (Attached to Iron Man 2, May 2010)

This trailer almost made me cry the first time I saw it. It makes the movie look mother f***ing awesome. There is absolutely no way somebody would not want to see this movie after seeing this trailer. You wanna know how many times I've watched this trailer? More times then I have seen The Hangover, (500) Days of Summer and Inglourious Basterds put together (they are my three most watched movies ever, and trust me, I've seen them A LOT!).

"...you talking about dreams?"

Yay! We have the principle storyline for the movie! No more ideas: just dreams.

"We create the world of the dream. We bring the subject into that dream, and they fill it with all of their secrets."

"And then you break in and steal it?"

"Well, it's not strictly speaking legal."

More dream like states, a bit more confusion. Still, you get the idea, right?

"...it's called Inception."

Now we know what 'Inception' is, let the fun begin. There is still the evidence gathered from the teaser trailer: defying gravity, vibrating glasses of water and such. Instead of looking like Titanic it's starting to look very much like The Matrix. But that's what everyone thinks.

"I think I've found a way home...and this last job is how I get there."

My goodness Marion Cotillard is painfully beautiful. What I'm thinking is that Cobb has lost his wife through this 'inception' business and goes to visit her via dreams, but maybe he can get her back? This is what I love about Christopher Nolan's films, he has a bit of romance in it, but not to much because he doesn't like making the audience feel uncomfortable.

"Dreams feel real when we're in them, it's only when we wake up we realise that something was actually strange."

Couldn't agree more. I always wonder what happens while I'm dreaming, and why I am dreaming about that particular situation.

"This was your responsibility! You are not prepared for this!"

Okay, here we go. Is Joseph the ignorant male or the villain of this story? Either way, it looks like he's picked up a really great character, and the audience will be like (500) Days of what??

"I have it under control."

"I'd hate to see it out of control."

So would I. This movie needs control otherwise it will turn out to be a big sci-fi disaster just like 2012 or maybe Plan 9 from Outer Space. Joking. Master Nolan has everything under control.

"You musn't be afraid to dream a little bigger darling."

My favourite line from the whole trailer. Famous last words too. Couldn't have thought of a better way to end the most epic trailer of all time.

So what do we think? Could Inception become the biggest and best blockbuster ever? I sure hope so, because the trailers promise so much! Oh an by the way, like many people, if you were wondering what the music was in the last trailer, it is called 'Mind Heist' by Zack Hamsey. A truly amazing piece of music!

Hope you have marked your calendars for Inception's release date!

Shutter Island

What's not to love about a Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio partnership? The Aviator was so good it almost hurt. The Departed was one of the greatest movies ever made. Gangs of New York...I have not seen. Shutter Island was what was to be expected from the partnership.
Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a man going to Shutter Island with his friend Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) to go and investigate the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer). Shutter Island is the home for the criminally insane, which has some crazy happenings, and Teddy becomes involved in this world and what he finds is something he could never believe.
I must admit, I was somewhat disappointed with the movie in the first half an hour. I found it dragged on and was quite boring, but that half an hour was crucial to the movie so it couldn't have been cut. It doesn't work well as a horror, and will be most likely remembered as a smart psychological thriller. This is by no means Marty's best work, likewise Leo's. But, in saying that, they have both produced some bloody good films, and this film can't quite reach their high calibre.
Shutter Island is creepy, and has some gasp-shock-horror moments. Towards the end of the movie, it redeems itself and becomes the stuff of nightmares. If you get a little bored/confused, please stick with the movie, because it is superbly crafted and you will love it. It's surprising that this film got a delayed release date which was closer to the Oscars, but didn't get any reognition. Michelle Williams at least deserved a Best Supporting Actress nod and the Cinematography could have been included.

Looking for a smart psychological thriller? Look no further than Shutter Island.
8/10

Do we like new look 'Alice in Movieland'?

...I sure do. Kind of fitting in with my dark side that Chrsitopher Nolan has dragged up out of me. Sorry, I'm talking about him again.

Hope all's well, last night of the production tomorrow =( But this means that more blogging can happen.

Hope y'all enjoying my reviews--which are coming out ever so slowly.

Toodles

Stevee=)

Batman Begins

I feel kind of guilty. I regard Christopher Nolan as my favourite director and my hero, yet I had actually never seen Batman Begins. Even though I had seen The Dark Knight and loved every second of it. The main thing that I can say about this movie is that it yet again proves the genius of Christopher Nolan, who could have directed just another superhero movie. But what he did was made a geniune action packed, dark and thrilling film which earns it's place as one of the best movies ever made--something which a superhero movie can never really do.
Batman Begins shows us the story of how Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale, a perfect choice) came to be Batman. He invented this caped crime fighter as a way to clean up the streets of Gotham City, which has turned into a mob-riddled city since the death of Bruce's father, who was killed after a night at the Opera. Batman is not the only trouble Bruce Wayne has though, as he is fighting his love for his childhood friend turned District Attorney Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes, who I thought was okay, but Maggie Gyllenhaal did much better).
While the film isn't as good as The Dark Knight (which is strange, because a sequel is never as good, even though TDK seems like a stand-alone movie), you can instantly tell what a great movie it is. The cast is everything: Bale, Holmes, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman...all fantastic. The script is inevitably well-done, and doesn't too much linger on the superhero aspect of it. Because, to me, superhero movies are always supposed to be cheesy as with silly one-liners and really bad special effects. Batman Begins is never cheesy, has memorable quotes rather than silly one-liners and the cinematography is outstanding and completely captures the darkness of the movie. This was one of those movies where it was really really good, and people had high expectations of the next installment. And what did we get? The Dark Knight. Proves you have to be Christopher Nolan to do the impossible.
I'll end with asking this: Christopher Nolan, what have you been drinking?!

A fantastic movie from the master Nolan, who can never let me down.
8/10

Memento

I'll say this before I begin: Memento is going to be one hell of a hard movie to review. I don't want to give away too much, because it will ruin the greatness of the movie. And it has also taken me a while to make sense of the whole movie, which I can't decide if that's a bad thing or a good thing. Yet, most people don't entirely get it, so I'm not alone.
Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) is a man whose wife has been murdered. He wants to find her killer and get revenge, but there is one problem: he has Anterogarde Amnesia, which means he has short term memory loss and can't remember what just happened, so he relies on polaroids to keep records.
First of all, Christopher Nolan is a bloody GENIUS! I honestly cannot express how much I am in love with this guys work, all of it is so out of this world and so AMAZING. Why hasn't he been given an Oscar? He is the greatest director out there. No one can possibly beat him. Not even Scorsese. Memento is so trippy, so well thought out, so much of a masterpiece. Never before have I seen a movie so unique, or so truly perfect. If you watch this and don't get it, then you have the beauty of the movie. You'll think about it for days, and then when you finally get everything, you'll love this film even more.
Guy Pearce delivers an amazing Oscar-worthy performance as Leonard, and is backed up with valuable support from Carrie-Anne Moss, who is equally as good. The greatness of this movie lies with Christopher Nolan though, who can do anything. I really hope he gets an Oscar for Inception because he really should have got one for this (and maybe The Dark Knight).

If I could write a movie half as good as this, I would be the happiest girl on Earth.
10/10

The A-Team

After Inception, The A-Team was a movie I knew I absolutely had to see in 2010. I don't know what drew me to it. Okay, obvious things out of the way first: Bradley Cooper is in it so of course I was going to see it. But then there was also Sharlto Copley, who has been my favourite actor since District 9, which happened to be his debut performance. Consideing he was bloody good in that, he had to be bloody good in this. And, hey, I didn't even know the TV program 'The A-Team' existed, but I wasn't exactly an eighties child either. So the whole remake thing with this movie didn't bother me at all...it wass like a whole new experience.
There are a group of Iraq war veterans: Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith (Liam Neeson), Lt. Templeton 'Faceman' Peck (Bradley Cooper), B.A. Baracus (Quinton 'Rampage' Jackon) and 'Howling Mad' Murdock (Sharlto Copley), who are looking to clear their names with the U.S Military after they are arrested for committing a crime that they were actually framed in. This is where the fun and games start...
The A-Team was never going to be a great critical success or garner heaps of awards nominations, but it did surprisingly well against all odds. Some people just didn't try, other people did their absolute best, which led to an uneven outcome which was patchy at the best of times. Yet, it was amazingly entertaining. There was some well-placed humour in it, which mainly came from the performance from Sharlto Copley, who made Murdock live up to his name: he really was 'Howling Mad'. Bradley Cooper was great as Face, and showed he can do comedy and then star in an action film without any problems...lets see more of that ripped body though, please! The action sequences were great and copletely blew everyone away. My jaw was dropped throughout most of the movie.
If I have anything bad to say about this it is that Liam Neeson was a major let-down to the whole movie. It was like he didn't care at all about this, and kind of made the rest of the cast look bad. And the direction gave me a little headache because the action sequences were filmed so fast that I couldn't tell what was happening...only that it was really really fast and there were all these bombs and OMG it just looks so violent so I'll go along with it...!

Entertaining, just not a critical delight or whatever.
7/10

Bright Star

To be honest, period dramas are really quite boring these days, because no one really cares any more about what happened a hundred and something years ago. Surprisingly, Bright Star seems to defy the odds, being a visually stunning and wonderfully crafted romance which is quite captivating thanks to the stellar performance from Australian actress Abbie Cornish.
Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) is a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind and makes all of her own clothes. She meets the romantic poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and falls in love with him immediately. This is a story of their love, up to his untimely death at the age of 25.
Jane Campion is one of the best directors to come out of New Zealand, if not one of the best female directors of this era. Bright Star is almost as good as The Piano, and you will find yourself drawing comparisons between these two movies. The real 'star' of this movie however is Abbie Cornish. She holds her role with such intensity that makes you believe every word she says. She will be the nxt big thing in Hollywood, and it was sad that she missed out on an Oscar nomination for this role. However, Bright Star has some dreary pieces, but that is only my personal opinion.

This is a masterpiece for die-hard fans of period drama and romance movies...if you prefer actions then this is probably not for you.
7/10

Obsession of the week: Christopher Nolan

Okay, so it's not an obsession.

Because thats just creepy. But its like I have just discovered what a genius this guy really is. I mean, I always knew it after seeing The Dark Knight, but there is more to Christopher Nolan than some really epic bat film.

Now, I have only seen two of his movies: TDK and The Prestige, so does that make him eligible to be my favourite director ever? Well, Sharlto Copely is one of my favourite actors and yet I have only seen District 9. So I'm sure you can make the exception.


The Dark Knight is one hell of a great movie. It could have been just a simple superhero movie with some really ludicrous situations and special effects, but its not. It is a great espionage thriller, with some terrific performances, especially from this guy here:

Now, tell me you don't like this film. Go on. I bet you can't, because everyone loves this film. I have this thing where I start to hate films that get lots of money at the box office...but not this one. Whatever Christopher Nolan does, I love. This movie made absolutely sure of it.

The Prestige, too, was really great. It was so trippy, I never knew what was going to happen and to be perfectly honest I didn't entirely get the movie, but with a second watch everything makes sense. I love movies like that, where you have to search for all the clues instead of having it served out to you on a silver plate. The Dark Knight is also like that-it gets better with every single watch.

I'm getting a copy of Memento sometime soon!

I'm as excited as a six year old having a birthday party. I feel so guilty for not having watched this movie before, but then again it's not entirely my fault because the video store doesn't have it. Like most good movies. I have been reading a bit about the movie (no spoilers, I promise), and it sounds so trippy. My goodness, this has to be a movie made for me!

Inception is out next month! I am still counting down the days!

I am just as excited about this movie. How do you top a movie like The Dark Knight? Well, you just have to be Christopher Nolan. As promised, a post of Inception coming soon. Until then, keep watching the trailer. I haven't got sick of it yet.

Christopher Nolan is my new director idol. No, I haven't forgotten about Quentin Tarantino, I've just been momentarily distracted. I don't know how one man can be such a genius.

Chris Nolan, you are amazing.

Be Kind Rewind

With Be Kind Rewind, I couldn't help but think there are two sides to the story. If you haven't seen it, then this is probably what you are thinking:
a) It will be pretty good since it is directed by Michael Gondry who directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which pretty much required a genius to make.
b) It spoof's other movies. Like Scary Movie or Epic Movie or Disaster Movie (isn't that title right?) or any other movie whose title ends with 'Movie' and has celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Carmen Electra trying their hand at acting. Please, ladies, put it away.
The movie comes across as a bit of both--it is genius thanks to the weird mind of Michael Gondry, but the spoof's aren't so bad and at least most of the cast can act. So, it won't go down in history as the greatest comedy ever made but it spends its time wisely.
Jerry Gerber (Jack Black) has just become magnetized and unintentionally erases all the tapes in his friend Mike's (Mos Def) video store. They face a problem, but fix it by setting out to remake all of the tapes, using low budget techniques and the public to help them. Their videos become even more popular than the original, and the demand for them gets higher and higher, which makes the pair local celebrities.
It's a pretty fun movie to watch, mainly because of the way they remake the movies. And at least the way they spoof the movies is actually intelligent unlike those 'Movies.' However, some of the humour in this movie is extremely dry and sometimes even painful to watch, and there is also surprisingly a lack of humour in this movie. If anything, the only genuinely funny bits of this movie are the remakes of the other movies.

To be perfectly honest, this movie is worth watching for the remakes alone. Otherwise, save it for a rainy day.

6/10

I apologize...

My blogging has been slack of late, but this is due to the sudden busyness in my life and the drop in movie watching. Trust me, I'm not happy. Have mid-year exams to attend to in the morning, followed by a boring day at school, then rehearsal for our school production (which opens in a week!!) for four and a half hours, and finally get to come home to...study. I managed to fit a couple of movies into my schedule though, which I am yet to review. See them at Rotten Tomatoes here:

• Be Kind Rewind: Pretty cool Michael Gondry flick starring Jack Black and Mos Def. Wish I could make some movies like they do.


• Bright Star: Very beautiful period romance drama from New Zealand's own Jane Campion. Abbie Cornish was particularly amazing in this film and I'm amazed she didn't get an Oscar nomination.

And coming soon...

• A detailed analysis on Gone with Wind ...all 224 minutes of it. Well not every single detail but it sure will be special. It's a work in progress, so don't go expecting it to pop up tomorrow because I will most likely be studying.


• Recipe for a great movie: The Dark Knight or what you'd call a blog post on why Christopher Nolan is so great. Every time I watch TDK I am always amazed by it's intelligence and sheer brilliance. Hopefully this will be the first of many posts which include the recipes for a great movie (no, Julie & Julia will not be included).


• Inception . The day is coming closer and closer...Inception will be out and I am going to tell you why it will be so great! Or I could just be saying a lot of stuff about how great Christopher Nolan is. Coz I'm good at that.

Anyway, I'll leave you with the amazing trailer for Inception...just in case you haven't already seen it...

Click on it...you know you want to!

Toodles...

Stevee=)

Invictus

A film about rugby and political issues in South Africa? *sarcastic tone* Oh count me in. I honestly couldn't think of two subjects that bore me more. But somehow, even though Invictus (2009) is about rugby and political issues in South Africa, I still liked it. I never thought I would see the day.
In his first term as president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman, who I used to think WAS Mandela) thinks of a way to ease the apartheid: set his rugby team out on a mission to win the Rugby World Cup. At first, this seems like an impossible task, but with the determination from player Francois (Matt Damon), the team might just get there.
So yeah, this film was like a Social Studies lesson, and the first half an hour was slow and boring. But it picked up, and for once I was interested in rugby. And to the dismay of many, I actually felt kind of happy about how this story ended. The film is carried by the inspired performances from Freeman and Damon, who really embody their characters in every possible way. Clint Eastwood, again, gets his hands dirty with another fantastic film...he seems to be manafacturing them by the minute these days. Unfortunately, the film is dragged down by the some of the lacklustre and boring scenes throughout, and it will probably be most likely remembered as a rugby film instead of a biopic.
7/10

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

I have a real weak spot for indie films that portray people's lives. I don't know whether it's because I like to watch other people's lives crash and burn and pick themselves up again and not have to worry about my life, or whether it's because they're actually good. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) was panned by critics, which is a shame because I really liked this movie.
Pippa Lee (Robin Wright) has had a life like a rollercoaster, but has since settled down to be married to a much older man, Herb (Alan Arkin). She remembers her life before then, and all of the people she met that shaped the way she is now. The arrival of Chris (Keanu Reeves) puts Pippa's life in perspective, and she starts to wonder what she wants to become.
It sounds a little tedious, but it's not. It is captivating from start to finish. This is due to it's major ensemble cast of Wright, Arkin, Reeves, Winona Ryder, Blake Lively, Julianne Moore, Maria Bello and Monica Belucci, who all turn out in force with wonderful performances, even though some of them are brief (such as Julianne Moore, who was fantastic as always even if she was only in about three scenes). I can't understand why this was so heavily panned, because it is a gem of a film which is by no means slow-moving at all.
8/10

Fantastic Mr. Fox

If anything, 2009 was the year for the animated film. The genre really demanded our attention, with such movies as the Best Picture nominated Up; the major animated blockbuster that was still well-recieved Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; and then the stop-motion spectacular Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). Even a guy who has never directed an animated film before, Wes Anderson, is extremely talented at it and sometimes you don't believe it is entirely animated--you may think it is an entirely eccentric film with furry creatures instead of people.
Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) is now a responsible father to his brood of little foxes and a devoted husband to Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep). But he never used to be like that. He liked to raids farms, taking turkeys and hen heckling. And now he wants to lead one more raid or three nasty farmers, which proves his true colours.
I must admit, I was a little disappointed with Fantastic Mr. Fox. But this is probably due to the fact that it was so well recieved and I was expecting too much from it. However, my disappointment didn't make it really dreadful for me. It was enjoyable, and had the dry humour which I love. Not to mention the amazing directorial work from Wes Anderson, who makes this movie a totally unique and an all-round great watch.
To be perfectly honest, the really young children may not enjoy this as it does get a little boring in parts. This is really an animation for seven years up, and adults don't have to use kids as an excuse to watch it.
7/10

Back to the Future: Part II

Wow I didn't think I would be ripping through the Back to the Future's so fast...I couldn't get enough of the first one so I was straight on to the next one a day later. For once, a sequel can actually be good, just not as good as the first one. In saying that, I do not think that Saw...what are they up to now? Oh right, 52. I do not think that Saw 52 is necessary to our viewing needs.
Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is on another time-travelling journey, this time into the future, right to 2015. When he visits this time period, he realizes that things have been changed and aren't going the way they were in 1985, so he must travel back to 1955 to undo the disasterous events that lie in the future.
Well, Back to the Future, to me, is addictive and it's so easy to be immersed in it's little world. What I found the funniest was their thought of how the world in 2015 would be...I know it was 1989 when this was made, but I don't know if it was a little too futuristic or not technological enough. But how were they to know that everyone would soon have iPad's? It isn't quite as enjoyable as the first one, mainly because I found the story to be a little rushed and complicated compared to the original. Other than that...very entertaining.
7/10

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Maybe watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) on a TV which got really bad reception ruined it for me. Or maybe it just didn't manage to be how I thought it would be. Or maybe my expectations were just too high.
Peter (Jason Segel) had it all. He had the TV star girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), who dumped him. Devestated, he decides to go on holiday in Hawaii. Little did he know that his ex-girlfriend would be there, with her new boyfriend, eccentric rockstar Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).
To be perfectly honest, this movie was a little too raunchy. Which kind of drew the attention away from the other laughs that were hiding somewhere. It was funny, but there were no real laugh out loud moments. In fact, most of the humour came from some of the minor stars (Paul Rudd was totally boss in this film, but he is always awesome so who am I kidding?) and the clips we see from Sarah's TV show. It ended out to be a disappointment but it wasn't a total failure. If anything, it could be sweet at times, particularly because of Mila Kunis playing Rachel Jansen, who the audience can easily relate to, unlike some of the other characters.
6/10

Back to the Future

Two years ago, if someone had said 'Hey you should watch Back to the Future!', I would have said 'No way.' Why? Because I hated the 80s. I still do, because I believe the world could have been a better place without brightly coloured leg warmers and those hideous banana clips. But most of the movies were half decent in those days. There, I said it.
Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is just a normal everyday teenage guy with a pretty girlfriend and his whole life ahead of him. He is friends with a mad scientist, Dr. Emmett Brown (Chistopher Lloyd), who has just invented a time travelling machine. Marty jumps in and before he knows it, he is living in 1955, and every thing is so so different...
One word to describe Back to the Future? 'Cool'. It is cool because most of the stuff in it is so out of this world that it's cool to watch. I can't really see a better example of humour that we just don't seem to have anymore. Michael J. Fox was cool. The effects were cool. The imagination was cool. In other words, everything about Back to the Future is cool. I don't hate the 80s so much now.
8/10

Inception alert!

My three favourite geniuses...Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. *sigh*

Inception is out next month!! I am so excited!!

A blog post on how great Inception will be coming soon...

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

'If ever a movie demanded your full attention...' was what the review read in the TV Guide. I couldn't agree more. Another film I was ashamed to say I had never watched...another film I wished that I had watched sooner. And, I guess, another film which I will be watching again. I really don't know how Charlie Kaufman could have dreamt this up.
Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) is having another depressing day, but he meets a fun-loving girl Clementine (Kate Winslet) on a train. He falls in love with her, but one day she disppears from his life. He finds out that she has had him erased from her memory. Angry, he decides to erase her from his memory too. But can he really forget about her?
Amazingly, this movie stays very realistic and you can actually relate to the people in it. If only Jim Carrey could make more movies like this, or maybe even resurrect his film career. But the real star of this show is probably Kate Winslet, who turns out her best performance in this movie. Who cares about The Reader? She was great in this movie, wacky hair colours and all.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is funny, heart-breaking and totally breathtaking. See it, you won't be disappointed.
10/10

Fight Club

You have no idea how excited I was that Fight Club (1999) would be on television over the weekend. It was just one of those movies that I was ashamed to say I have never seen (I really need to make a list of those). And you know you what? Fight Club was bloody awesome (ha, no pun intended).
An office employee (known as 'The Narrator', played by Edward Norton) meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a soap salesman, on a plane. The two are brought back together under unusual circumstances, and as they become closer, they decide to open up an organization which vents male agression. The first rule of Fight Club: you don't talk about Fight Club.
This film has all the violence I have ever wanted in a movie. Then it packs another punch with it's powerhouse performances from Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. And at the end, there is my favourite music moment in film history...'Where is My Mind?' totally narrates the rest of the scene. David Fincher has joined my ever-growing list of 'geniuses', it's actuallly hard to believe that he ever directed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
You know what? I'm going to bump the rating of this film up a little.
10/10

America: 'Hey Sweden, why don't we just remake your great films?'

Americans need to get their own ideas.
So yeah, remaking The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is understandable, because:
1. It is a critically acclaimed book series, which anyone-whose-anyone has read. So, if these people are a bit tired after reading those massive books, then they probably don't want to read the subtitles to a movie, which probably isn't as good as the book in the first place.
2.David Fincher's directing it. At least he's a director who knows what he is doing, not some guy who last directed a comedy which was 'Rotten'. If David Fincher is directing it, you know you have a winner.

But America has got their paws on Let the Right One In . Which is possibly the greatest vampire movie of all-time. And also one of the creepiest. This movie does not deserve to be given the American treatment. Because the Americans will literally take the idea, dumb it down to the lowest common denominator, and the magic left in it will be ruined by their idea of popular culture. Now, I don't mean to hate on the person that is the director of this- Matt Reeves , director of Cloverfield-because I'm sure he means well. But he just isn't David Fincher.

Let the Right One In has been changed to Let Me In, and the lead characters names have been changed from Oskar and Eli to... Owen and Abby.

Seriously?

Chloe Moretz will be playing Abby, and so far she has been proving to be one of the greatest young smart-ass actresses ever. Not that I hold that against her. She was terrific in (500) Days of Summer and has been getting quite good reviews for Kick-Ass. But can she handle the role of the she-vampire with the right intensity just as Lina Leandersson did? Well, she's been given a hoodie, so I guess that's starting a new punk look for the vampire...or maybe she found it too cold to be parading around the snow in a white blouse.

Chloe Moretz, complete with hoodie, as she-vamp Abby. Not quite the Eli we remember, but you know, I'd imagine that this 400 year old girl is quite down with the yong ones. Which is why she's in the hoodie, and making faces with her breath on the window, you see.

Lina Leandersson, playing the original 400 year old she-vamp Eli. No hoodie, just white blouse with a bit of blood coming out of her. You gotta love her for that.

Kodi Smit-McPhee will be playing Owen, who is a bullied young boy who befriends the she-vamp (haha, I like that way of putting it). Smit-McPhee is a young Australian actor who got his big break opposite Eric Bana in Australian flick Romulus, My Father. But you've probably seen him in the apocalyptic film 2012, just kidding, The Road. Not bad for a little Australian guy, starring in a film like this, which will get all of it's publicity from the controversy surrounding it.

Abby and Owen puzzle over a Rubik's cube-and possibly why they chose to remake this film-out in the cold courtyard. Look like a fine coupling to me. A little like a younger version of Bella and Edward. So if K-Stew and R-Pattz quit Breaking Dawn due to pay disputes, you know where to find Chloe and Kodi!

The director of the original, Tomas Alfredson, is understandbly not to happy with the Americanization of his film. That's because his film is a masterpiece, and he know's it. Everyone knows it. You just can't beat the originals, even if they are made in some funny language and require you to read for one and a half hours of your life.

Will I be going to see Let Me In? Probably not in cinemas. I understand it is going to be given a wide release, which is unfortunate because Let the Right One In was given a really small one. But I will see Let Me In one day. What I imagine it to be is full of gore and blood--just plain sillyness you get from average run-of-the-mill horrors these days. There will be an uber-awesome soundtrack, filled with rap music and possibly Justin Bieber (to, you know, keep up with the cool crowd), instead of the lovely harmonious pieces of music which can make even the hardest heart go soft. And Abby will become the next style icon--she will do for the she-vamp what Carrie Bradshaw did for the maxi-dress. Trust me, after you have seen Let Me In, you'll want to be seen in a hoodie (as pictured to the right, the simple black hoodie can make you look so much cooler).

So anyway, I did mention The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at the beginning of this post. I'd love to see Carey Mulligan playing Lisbeth Salander. Ten dollars says that they will change her name. It'll be interesting to see sweet Jenny playing a pierced computer hacker. And she'll still be going for the older men. Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Johnny Depp are all rumoured to be playing Mikael Blomkvist. This could be alternatively called An Education 2: Jenny Moves On? Because, you know, Americans like changing names of other peoples stuff so it seems like their idea.

Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. There's a really fun-loving, Care Bears watching, pink princess under all of that tough guy act, somewhere.

Ah, there's our Carey Mulligan playing Jenny in An Education. The Americans will water the role of Lisbeth down a little, because we would hate for Jenny's repuatation and look to be diminished! (oh right, she was having an affair with an older man...)

Just in case you were wondering:
Let Me In will be released in America in October 2010.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is slated for release in 2012. But the next two parts in the trilogy (all Swedish) will be coming later this year. However, critically speaking, the sequels haven't been doing well.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Finally! We watch a movie in class that is actually worth watching! I cannot believe that Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) is the first John Hughes film I have ever watched...I feel so slack. If only the DVD shop had more of his films!
Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) is just a regular teenager who is faking a sickie to get out of school for a day. He gets his sick friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) to come out for a day in the city, and he somehow manages to get his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) out of school for the day too so she can come along. The three get up to some crazy things, with Ferris being the ringleader. But his prinicipal and sister (Jennifer Grey) are on to Ferris wagging, and are out to catch him before it's too late.
Literally, this could have been a really stupid film, but it wasn't. All of it's stupidity somehow manifested itself into something great. Maybe it was the uber-cool soundtrack or the awesomeness of Matthew Broderick, or maybe it was just a really great film to come out of the 80's. If only all teen comedies could be as clever and funny as this one was. Unfortunately, we don't live in a world like that anymore.
It's worth seeing for the parade scene alone! Seeing Ferris sing along to The Beatles is really uplifting and will have you dancing in your seat!
8/10

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

Stevee's key tip to surviving Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) if you are over twelve years old: put yourself in the mind-set of a six year old and you will enjoy it! As soon as you go back to being yourself, then you might not enjoy it so much. You might think it is a little...silly.
Alvin and the Chipmunks are a superstar group of singing chipmunks, who are the hottest group on the market. However, they start high school (yes, chipmunks at High School) to try and get even more famous. Their world is turned upside down when a group of female singing chipmunks, called 'The Chipettes', come to their high school, and are set to battle them to the top of super-singing-stardom.
As I said at the start of the review, anybody with under twelve years old will enjoy this. So I am not going to take a very critical view on this movie, but I will say the thngs that are good about it: it is pretty fun, really cute and makes you quite happy. Now I will say the one major downfall: it's heavy reliance on slapstick comedy. There is only so much falling over and getting beaten around one person can take!
To give this film a rating is near impossible, but if I were a lot younger than I am, I'd rate it 8/10.
But because I couldn't really handle 88 minutes of reeeeeeeeeally high chipmunk voices berating my ears, I'll have to give it a 4/10.
It's still really entertaining though!

The Postman Always Rings Twice

I used to watch a lot of old movies...but not so much of late. All is well though, I remembered I had The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) gathering dust on my DVD shelf, so I thought I'd give it a go. Better late than never...yes?
A drifter, Frank Chambers (John Garfield) finds a restaurant which needs help with odd-jobs and returns. This seems like a harmless job, but he meets a beautiful woman, Cora (Lana Turner) who is married to a man who is less than great, and also the owner of the restaurant. Frank and Cora fall in love, and plot to murder Cora's husband, but once the deed is done, both must live with the consequences.
This was really Lana Turner's film. She surprised me, as I thought she was just another studio actress with no real talent, just used for her beauty. However, this role proved she was truly a wonderful actress, who unfortunately had little critical recognition. The icyness of her character was evident, and throughout the film I didn't know whether to fear her or kill her.
The Postman Always Rings Twice is a great film-noir, mainly because of it's atmospheric take on the story. It is also one of those movies you thank goodness that it is in black and white, because it makes it seem so much better! A really great example of the power of film-noir in the 1940's. They just can't make them like they used to.
7/10

The Ex

Don't you just love free-to-air television?? All of those movies that you had promised yourself you would watch-but couldn't be bothered getting them out from the DVD store-just come on two years later and you realise that your money would have been wasted anyway. That's the beauty of it. The Ex (2006) is one of those films that I thanked the greatness of free-to-air telly that I didn't have to spend a cent to watch it.
A slacker, Tom (Zach Braff), is forced to go work for his father in law when his pregnant wife, Sofia (Amanda Peet) quits her high-paying job to have their baby. But at Tom's new workplace, he meets Chip Sanders (Jason Bateman), who happens to be Sofia's ex-boyfriend, and also confined to a wheelchair.
Thank the Lord Jason Bateman was in this movie. Even when he is playing a complete jerk, he still seems so utterly cool! He totally pulled of the bright ensembles he was given and the wheelchair. However, apart from the awesomeness of Jason Bateman, this film literally had nothing else going for it. Okay, the small appearance from Amy Adams was cool, and some bits were mildly funny, but other than that, it was pretty flat and kind of offensive. For a comedy, of course. And it didn't help that I couldn't find any reason to watch the whole movie, but managed to stick with it right until the end.
Not exactly the laugh a minute I had hoped for.
4/10