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July 2011 - a month in movies
Jul. 31st, 2011 09:20 pmOkay - going to try something a little different. Instead of writing and posting a review for every film I see - I'm going to do it on a monthly basis instead. Given how many movies I see a month (I think this month is a more populous one than usual!) it gives me a chance to write about everything I see.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - I belong to the ‘if you can’t say anything *nice*...’ school. So what I will say is the opening scenes with the launch of Apollo 11 were worth the numb bum. As was the voice cast (Hugo Weaving AND Leonard Nimoy - how much more pointy eared awesomeness can you take?), the meeting of two icons and the ‘proper’ use of the word ‘w*nker’ - with a Scottish accent. Yes, I am five - you’ve noticed.
Oh and the 3D was actually very well done. Shame about the damn movie mind.
Bridesmaids - I *really* wanted to like this - the reviews (with a few exceptions) have been good. It promised to be a ‘different’ romantic comedy. Um - yeah. I’ll stick with the ‘50’s screwballs myself.
Bit too close to real life to be a ‘proper’ rom com. Not to mention that I tend to like my comedy the same as I like my toiletries - cruelty free. Mileage may vary.
Labyrinth/The Princess Bride - the 1980’s were crap for many reasons (least of all, secondary school) but there were some class movies. Such as these two. David Bowie has never been better in a film (yes, this is better than The Man Who Fell To Earth - not like that’s hard) and what can one say about The Princess Bride that hasn’t already been said... The future Mr Beckymonster better be a fan is all I’m sayin’.
X-Men: First Class - ( chatty monster is chatty )
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - I cried (typical) my mascara didn’t run (which isn’t typical) and the ‘audience participation’ was different. Still an awesome film, mind.
Schwing Along Wayne’s World: So, I must have been the only person in the (packed out!) cinema who *actually* saw the film at the cinema the first time around - It was the first film I saw after I passed my driving test. Yeah, many many memories attached to this film!
Even so - this was awesome and hearing an entire cinema of people singing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has to be a highlight of the year. Audience participation *definitely* welcome here!
The Black Cauldron: Disney’s 25th full length animation and an excellent representation of the company’s 80’s nadir.
No, really, this is *bad*. Not as bad as the Rankin-Bass take on Lord of the Rings (or rather ‘Everything up to Helms Deep’) which for which there are no (polite) words to describe that awfulness... but it makes a good hash of it.
The main problem, is that it tries to marry up the greatness of The Sword In The Stone with the ‘darkness’ of a Sauron wannabe - complete with ‘cute’ Disney sidekicks. And an insipid hero who needs a good kick to get over himself. All I can say is that John Hurt gives good bad guy and there were some interesting early fx.
Other than that - glad I saw it and can we please have Little Mermaid soon?!
Tree of Life : (Cut and pastaed from my phone, pre and post movie: )
ToL - of note - regardless of film. Saw poster for 'Jane Eyre' and sighed like a Regency Heroine;) Oh Mr Fassbender!
Also - had more emotional connection to said poster than ToL. Though have to say that the 'creation' stuff up to the dino extinction event was just glorious and the best bit of the damn movie.
Cars 2 + Q&A w John Lasseter: So, not one of Pixar’s best, but it is nice to be able to watch one of their films and *not* cry buckets at it. This is not a bad thing!
Still, an improvement on Cars with a definite gauntlet being thrown down to Eon Productions with the opening sequence (Bourne? Schmourne!) and Michael Giachinno’s score sounding like it could have come from any non-Barry Bond soundtrack (and that is a compliment!)
Though for laughs - the Toy Story Hawaiian Vacation short delivers by the bucket load. Constant giggling the entire time.
Also, John Lasseter can talk for *hours* and this is a good thing!
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)
( Yup - I got talkative again )
Basil - The Great Mouse Detective - If last week was Disney trying to do fantasy - this week it’s Disney doing Sherlock Holmes. Or not in so many words as it’s supposed to be based on a series of books (that I’ve never heard of)
Anyhow - a *lot* better than the week before’s effort (not like that’s hard!) but still rather enjoyable yarn in which Basil is the mouse version of Sherlock helping a wee girl find her missing father and stop the dastardly Rattigan from overthrowing Her Majesty Queen Victoria - the mouse version. Not the real version as that would be very silly indeed.
Again with the scary characters (a peg-legged bat) and scenes (one involving the dispatch of a hapless minion, involving the biggest damn kitty you ever did see that has as much menace as a Bond villan doing the same) but it’s still a ripping yarn.
Beginners
( Before I start - a rant. A short one mind, but a rant all the same. )
Thankfully the movie was more than worth it and they showed the trailer for Jane Eyre (2011) as well. One of my favourite books of all time, having fallen in love with it aged 16 (I was reading Pride and Prejudice for ‘A’ Level English at the same time, but this I read for pleasure) and starring the very lovely Mr M. Fassbender - guess who’ll be there with *bells* on.
So - the movie. It’s a beautiful, thoughtful, gentle film that looks at love from all angles. Given that one of the ‘main’ relationships is highly unconventional (a septuagenarian comes out after his wife dies, pursuing the relationships he never could before. His son is a bit bemused by this) this can only be a very good thing.
It’s not preachy and it’s not conventional - the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is actually more than that - which is nice to see. The relationships are beautifully well played and try as hard as it does - the dog (through subtitles) doesn’t completely steal the show.
Christopher Plummer does that all by himself. The scene where he speaks of why he married is enough to break hearts - it did mine (hankies might be useful!).
Well worth a watch.
The Big Lebowski
Okay, I admit it, I’ll hand in my cinegeek card here and now. Because between this and my antipathy towards the work of Quinten Tarantino (all mouth and no trousers) and my comments about Tezza Malik - there will be those who will be askingbaying for my head for it.
I don’t *grok* the Coen Brothers, kay? I enjoyed this, I laughed but... I just don’t ‘get’ their humour. I’ve sat through a number of their films now and...
I love a good bit of surrealism as much as the next melted clock but other than going ‘ah! so that’s where *that* quote comes from!’ this did not strike with me. And yes, I enjoyed the whole ‘Slacker Raymond Chandler’ vibe to it but other than that...
Enjoyable, glad I’ve seen it but that’s about it.
And that is *almost* that for July - I've seen Captain America: The First Avenger as well but I'll add that to next month's list. Needless to say - <3!
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - I belong to the ‘if you can’t say anything *nice*...’ school. So what I will say is the opening scenes with the launch of Apollo 11 were worth the numb bum. As was the voice cast (Hugo Weaving AND Leonard Nimoy - how much more pointy eared awesomeness can you take?), the meeting of two icons and the ‘proper’ use of the word ‘w*nker’ - with a Scottish accent. Yes, I am five - you’ve noticed.
Oh and the 3D was actually very well done. Shame about the damn movie mind.
Bridesmaids - I *really* wanted to like this - the reviews (with a few exceptions) have been good. It promised to be a ‘different’ romantic comedy. Um - yeah. I’ll stick with the ‘50’s screwballs myself.
Bit too close to real life to be a ‘proper’ rom com. Not to mention that I tend to like my comedy the same as I like my toiletries - cruelty free. Mileage may vary.
Labyrinth/The Princess Bride - the 1980’s were crap for many reasons (least of all, secondary school) but there were some class movies. Such as these two. David Bowie has never been better in a film (yes, this is better than The Man Who Fell To Earth - not like that’s hard) and what can one say about The Princess Bride that hasn’t already been said... The future Mr Beckymonster better be a fan is all I’m sayin’.
X-Men: First Class - ( chatty monster is chatty )
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - I cried (typical) my mascara didn’t run (which isn’t typical) and the ‘audience participation’ was different. Still an awesome film, mind.
Schwing Along Wayne’s World: So, I must have been the only person in the (packed out!) cinema who *actually* saw the film at the cinema the first time around - It was the first film I saw after I passed my driving test. Yeah, many many memories attached to this film!
Even so - this was awesome and hearing an entire cinema of people singing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has to be a highlight of the year. Audience participation *definitely* welcome here!
The Black Cauldron: Disney’s 25th full length animation and an excellent representation of the company’s 80’s nadir.
No, really, this is *bad*. Not as bad as the Rankin-Bass take on Lord of the Rings (or rather ‘Everything up to Helms Deep’) which for which there are no (polite) words to describe that awfulness... but it makes a good hash of it.
The main problem, is that it tries to marry up the greatness of The Sword In The Stone with the ‘darkness’ of a Sauron wannabe - complete with ‘cute’ Disney sidekicks. And an insipid hero who needs a good kick to get over himself. All I can say is that John Hurt gives good bad guy and there were some interesting early fx.
Other than that - glad I saw it and can we please have Little Mermaid soon?!
Tree of Life : (Cut and pastaed from my phone, pre and post movie: )
ToL - of note - regardless of film. Saw poster for 'Jane Eyre' and sighed like a Regency Heroine;) Oh Mr Fassbender!
Also - had more emotional connection to said poster than ToL. Though have to say that the 'creation' stuff up to the dino extinction event was just glorious and the best bit of the damn movie.
Cars 2 + Q&A w John Lasseter: So, not one of Pixar’s best, but it is nice to be able to watch one of their films and *not* cry buckets at it. This is not a bad thing!
Still, an improvement on Cars with a definite gauntlet being thrown down to Eon Productions with the opening sequence (Bourne? Schmourne!) and Michael Giachinno’s score sounding like it could have come from any non-Barry Bond soundtrack (and that is a compliment!)
Though for laughs - the Toy Story Hawaiian Vacation short delivers by the bucket load. Constant giggling the entire time.
Also, John Lasseter can talk for *hours* and this is a good thing!
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)
( Yup - I got talkative again )
Basil - The Great Mouse Detective - If last week was Disney trying to do fantasy - this week it’s Disney doing Sherlock Holmes. Or not in so many words as it’s supposed to be based on a series of books (that I’ve never heard of)
Anyhow - a *lot* better than the week before’s effort (not like that’s hard!) but still rather enjoyable yarn in which Basil is the mouse version of Sherlock helping a wee girl find her missing father and stop the dastardly Rattigan from overthrowing Her Majesty Queen Victoria - the mouse version. Not the real version as that would be very silly indeed.
Again with the scary characters (a peg-legged bat) and scenes (one involving the dispatch of a hapless minion, involving the biggest damn kitty you ever did see that has as much menace as a Bond villan doing the same) but it’s still a ripping yarn.
Beginners
( Before I start - a rant. A short one mind, but a rant all the same. )
Thankfully the movie was more than worth it and they showed the trailer for Jane Eyre (2011) as well. One of my favourite books of all time, having fallen in love with it aged 16 (I was reading Pride and Prejudice for ‘A’ Level English at the same time, but this I read for pleasure) and starring the very lovely Mr M. Fassbender - guess who’ll be there with *bells* on.
So - the movie. It’s a beautiful, thoughtful, gentle film that looks at love from all angles. Given that one of the ‘main’ relationships is highly unconventional (a septuagenarian comes out after his wife dies, pursuing the relationships he never could before. His son is a bit bemused by this) this can only be a very good thing.
It’s not preachy and it’s not conventional - the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is actually more than that - which is nice to see. The relationships are beautifully well played and try as hard as it does - the dog (through subtitles) doesn’t completely steal the show.
Christopher Plummer does that all by himself. The scene where he speaks of why he married is enough to break hearts - it did mine (hankies might be useful!).
Well worth a watch.
The Big Lebowski
Okay, I admit it, I’ll hand in my cinegeek card here and now. Because between this and my antipathy towards the work of Quinten Tarantino (all mouth and no trousers) and my comments about Tezza Malik - there will be those who will be asking
I don’t *grok* the Coen Brothers, kay? I enjoyed this, I laughed but... I just don’t ‘get’ their humour. I’ve sat through a number of their films now and...
I love a good bit of surrealism as much as the next melted clock but other than going ‘ah! so that’s where *that* quote comes from!’ this did not strike with me. And yes, I enjoyed the whole ‘Slacker Raymond Chandler’ vibe to it but other than that...
Enjoyable, glad I’ve seen it but that’s about it.
And that is *almost* that for July - I've seen Captain America: The First Avenger as well but I'll add that to next month's list. Needless to say - <3!
