Saw another two films recently – How to lose a guy in 10 days, and The Tuxedo. In case you’re wondering what’s inspired this filmfest, I’ve got a month’s (free) trial membership to lovefilm, which are a postal based DVD rental agency. You basically pay them a flat monthly fee, and they then send you DVDs to watch (based on your ‘rental queue’). You keep each one for as a long as you like, then send it back when you’re done, and they send you the next one. My subscription is for 2 movies at a time, which works quite well as you can be watching one while one is in transit!
Anyone who’s been before will notice the whole new look (d’ya like?) – it’s not fully dynamic yet, but all of these pages are now generated from Perl templates, fully stuff across from the database. Next step is to make it fully dynamic, so that the pages are created on the fly from the database.
Do have a look around, and check the list of websites that I use over to the left there…
Disney have a wonderful way of playing with emotions, and here again they strike gold, making us care about the titular stars – both of whom are actually pretty unlikeable with very few redeeming features! It’s also a surprise to see Disney handling the sci-fi quite so well – the space-based opening sequence especially came as a surprise to me. Disney doesn’t pull any punches when dealing with (Lilo’s) broken family, and the emotion is pretty raw at times… but this is a cartoon, and so of course the emotion is tempered with classic Disney humour and top notch animation, not to mention one or two surprises along the way. There are enough subplots are and adult nods (like Stich playing a B-movie monster rampaging through a model village – awesome!) to keep older watchers engaged, but the action is fast enough to keep younger children enthralled. So, not just one for the kids, although if they get a hold of it, expect viewing after viewing after viewing…..
After a very bizarre opening sequence, this film settles down to it’s main stage, which is a street in New York, and a guy in a phone booth. Shown in real-time, this follows a conversation between a smarmy PR guy (Stu – Colin Farrell) and the nutter on the phone that’s got a high power telescopic silenced rifle trained on him from an overlooking window. The basic premise is that the sniper feels he is doling out justice to those who deserve it (Stu is apparently his third target – the other two being dead), and only by “coming clean” can Stu avoid more deaths. For most of this film, I was on the edge of my seat – the sound of the rifle being cocked set my heart racing every time it happened, and I went from despising Stu, to pitying him, to even sympathising with him. At times I was squirming in my seat with the demands that were made of him. I was kept guessing at every turn (except the very end, which I found a little predictable) – and I thought the portrayal of the police’s role as excellent. Nicely added to the dramatic tension while also bringing in a “will they figure it out” aspect. Not really a family movie, and a real breath-holder, but absolutely worth a rent.
I popped this film into the machine expecting a high tech war/conspiracy thriller/sci-fi – how wrong I was! Despite a very interesting premise and very clever ideas and truly stunning special effects, for me this was ultimately a story of human relationship and adventure – that fact most of it was set hundreds of miles underground was almost irrelevant. Good solid acting all round – hats off the wonderfully odious Dr Zinksy – although one or two more familiar faces wouldn’t have gone amiss. However the story is absolutely gripping – there’s a wonderful sense of the growing tension, and you do end up caring for the crew going down to the core…. It misses out on a fifth star because the ending is just a little too abrupt and neat, the script strays into the incredulous just too often, and it is a little lacking in star value. But definitely worth a rent for an evening’s solid drama and excitement.
Isn’t it strange how compelling other people’s lives are?
I feel like I could spend all day reading other peoples’ weblogs, when actually nearly all of it pretty innane nonsense (much like this one!). In one sense, I still reckon they’re not so different from columns in the press.
Should probably mention that baby boy arrived safely (Ben), and has duly turned our world upside down, especially in the sleep department. 3am was bedtime for Daddy this morning – cheers Ben!
Well, a long time since the last update, but I least I have the excuse of having been away for a week!
We went to Centre Parcs, in Sherwood Forest, which was actually a really good holiday. The villa was very comfy, with excellent heating, plus an open fire! They more or less ban cars from the site (except on changeover days), which makes it quite pleasant to walk and cycle around, and certainly at the time of year that we were there it wasn’t too busy either.
Also just moved into my new office (vey exciting), although it is exceptionally noisy – all the undergraduates talking outside!!
