I drink it up!

Loosely speaking, there are two types of movies: there are movies that at no time compel me to stop the viewing, or fast forward scenes, and there are movies that have that effect. 'There Will Be Blood' was very comfortably situated in the former camp.

Three things:

• Daniel Day-Lewis was superb. Very interesting character in Daniel Plainview.
• The setting. Circa 1900 and oil drilling never was so thrilling.
• Jonny Greenwood's score was an interesting gamble. I liked it.
  

I stop short of calling it a classic or masterpiece.

Starship Instinct

A movie I have enjoyed several times through and through. A very entertaining action sci-fi, as well as a satire. I'm rather surprised at the low ratings that it has attracted. Sure, as a satire, it isn't the deepest thing ever presented on the big screen, but I thought it was clever for a mainstream film. The acting is also denigrated, but it's all suited to the style and feel of the film.

More Verhoeven action. I really enjoyed this. The suspense was great, wonderfully assisted by the score (perhaps to its detriment actually). Michael Douglas was great. Haven't seen many of his works before, but I dug his raw performance, very primal. Sharon Stone didn't disappoint either, though I wasn't expecting much from her. She was cold, hot, a bitch, a genius psychopath.

Was rather nice to see Jean Tripplehorn, had only seen her in 'Waterworld' before (which is another film that I have enjoyed time and time again!). Very hot. But yeah, interesting plot, paced well, had me gripped to the end.

Reading its wiki article, surprised to see talk of "Gay rights activists strongly criticized the film and its depiction of homosexual relationships, especially the depiction of lesbian and bisexual women as psychopathic serial killers". Dismissing the politically correct nature of society, that is comparable to criticising the depiction of every fictional heterosexual male serial killer as unfair. I laugh at the very thought of people having watched 'Basic Instinct' in the 90s and then immediately branding lesbian or bisexual women as potential "psychopathic serial killers".

My only criticism is that some of the sexual scenes are overdone (lol, it's a Verhoeven trademark). But hey, if you're going to go over the top, you go over the top. I think I'm more annoyed at the number of times that Curran beds Trammell in the end... just seemed meaningless.

We always knew you were a whoopsie

First off, points to me for recognising Ian McKellen's voice. Well actually, I couldn't pinpoint the owner of the voice actually, rather I thought: "Hmm, sounds like Gandalf or something...".

'Stardust' was a fun fantastical adventure romance, adapted by the Neil Gaiman novel (which was much more darker in tone from what I've read) and which I assume was targeted at younglings (parental guidance advised - lightly depicted violence and gore). I felt in this aspect, it was a very nice modern rendition of the similar movies I had seen in my youth.

While I absolutely adore and idolise Claire Danes (very nice performance... great performances all around really), the whole no (or very blonde) eyebrows issue freaked me out. The lack of empowered female characters kinda bugged me (besides the villains, and we all know how they end up). Yeah, sure, Tristan's our hero, but ch'mon, let's apportion some of the important decision making and taking to other characters.

Gah, I really wish I had seen this in the cinemas. I remember reading about it before its release and priming myself to watch it, but for some reason I failed to do so. I would have been a very happy customer after leaving the theatre.

The humour was nice and readily available. The ever scheming princes were funny, Robert De Niro was great as the 'whoopsie' captain.

Okay time for some sly observations:

• Kate Magowan, who played Una, looks like Aussie swimmer Stephanie Rice.
  

UNHOLY AMAZING!@!

• Sienna Miller is rather nice looking. Albeit not of mind blowing proportions (as evident by my intact mind).
• Peter O'Toole, hxc.
• The numerical names of the princes were very hxc. 'Tis a strategy I may adopt when it comes to naming things (like children).
  

Voluptuous II

Continued from here...

Bahrain

As with Albania, it has a nice graspable shape. Points for having a pointy end, as well as being surrounded by water.

Bangladesh

Really shoddy location-wise when it comes to monsoon floods and cyclones. I dig its shape though, and the rivers that run through its body.

Belgium

I'm digging the slant.

Bhutan

Looks like a content rodent. I hope no Bhutanese are offended by that. If so, lighten the puck up.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The right side features the profile of a face.

Fail Hitchcock Fail

Borrowed 'The Hitchcock Collection Volume 2' from the library. It features Hitchcock's early British movies, before and around the time he reached fame.

Murder (1930)
Picture and sound quality were horrible. Couldn't make out what the characters were saying. The very top of the screen was cropped off for some reason. Something to do with his early films belonging to the public domain, and therefore being thrown around a lot.

Result: Gave up within the opening minutes.

Number 17 (1932)
No quality issues, just really boring. I managed to survive up to the 15 or 20 minute mark before total boredom set in.

After the success of those two viewings, I decided to do my wikipedia and imdb research to see whether 'Rich and Strange' was worth watching. It didn't seem so, so I skipped it.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Caught the remake on telly a few weeks ago. Made for pretty good viewing. My research brought up that the original was the first film to be a commercial success for Hitchcock. Good sign for me. I pop this in... and utter boredom sinks in again. I don't know what is in the water that the majority of the imdb community is drinking, but they are utter morons for thinking that this is better than the remake. Heck, Hitchcock himself thought the remake was better.

I theorise that these morons are British folks who don't dig the American flavour of the remake, or that they are 'elitists' trying to boost their own stock by going against the mainstream, or just possibly moronic. Seriously, ten stars my buttocks.

Result: Gave up. I really did try to will myself on, but to no avail.

I'll give 'Sabotage' a go next, followed by 'The Lady Vanishes'. High hopes.

Voluptuous I

Countries that have a nice shape and/or features (in alphabetical order):

Albania

Perhaps a dubious choice to start off the list, but I think Albania has a very nice, cosy shape, as if it would feel at ease in one's grip. Plus, it has a coastline and seems like it wouldn't take too much time to get to a beach.

Armenia

Kinda looks like a Gibson Thunderbird. Has a huge lake.

Australia

Okay, rather biased here, but Australia has a great shape. It's got character! There's a bit of symmetry to it with the two northern points and the hips on either side. At the south end, a cute little oddity in Tasmania. Ocean all around, how awesome.

Austria

Australia's little cousin looks like a chicken drumstick (imagination needed).

Azerbaijan

There's a bit of sci-fi to Azerbaijan. Lots of jagged edges, wings in all directions, a nose that leads the way into the ocean. I like how Armenia has rudely butted in and divided the country in two.

Continued here
(perhaps with the letter B next time around)

I'm not a whore.

I would have been better off if I hadn't viewed this. A few things to get off my chest:
- I can't believe Paul Verhoeven was behind this film. Director to two of my favourite films (not ultra favourite, but I dig em a lot), Robocop and Total Recall, I just associate a good time with him (as well as sci-fi action). Heck, Starship Troopers was awesome as well.
- A running time of two hours. Gah.

And now for some more disjointed thoughts:
- Dull viewing. Kept looking to the time tracker to see how much more I had to endure.
- That said, I did survive to the end. There was just enough substance to not leave me unfulfilled.
- That said, the story was horrible. Elizabeth Berkley was also horrible. Well suited.
- At least I can't accuse the film of having a pointless token nude scene.
- Gina Gershon's cool. First saw her in 'Bound' (directed by the Wachowski brothers, their first film actually). Of course, I can't remember anything about the movie except for Gershon and Jennifer Tilly. Gershon also appeared in 'Face/Off', I can't recall her presence at all...
- I can't understand why Verhoeven would chosen to direct this. Except... the boobs. He did it for the boobs.
- I love the idea of 'Showgirls' being a comedic satire. It eases the pain somewhat.
- That reminds me, when the stupidity of the plot and its development was getting to me, I started noticing the technical side of things. It 'felt' like a good movie, sounded pretty good, and was photographed okay.
- I remember reading about 'Showgirls'' inclusion in this list of worst sex scenes ever. Now that I've seen the film, I say: very good call. Supports the satire very much so.
- Kyle McLachlan... we don't get along.

You Looked So Good

So I'm not a fan of this type of music. I find it incredibly dull. Every song sounded the same. Bowditch sounded like every other indie/folk/rock female singer out there. Unmemorable. Pointless even... well, points for being a hottie.

Another listen will be given soon, but I'm not expecting to be blown away.

You're tearing me apart!

I found it difficult to connect with the characters. Wait no, I just didn't connect with the characters much at all. I had been made aware of the themes of teenaged alienation long ago, but none of it personally rang a bell with me. Don't get me wrong, I've gone through my teenage years (probably am still in it) being ultra emotional and all. Everything here felt exaggerated and foundation-lacking... as a result, I found it hard to sympathise with our protagonists. I'm going to assume that this was a movie of its time.

Dean in 'East of Eden' I enjoyed very much. Here though, it seemed too easy being all angst-ridden and confused. So yes, there are still lingering doubts regarding Dean (despite me thinking he was great in his first film).

The only thing that I enjoyed here were the early climactic points. Jim's confrontation with Buzz
was presented stunningly and left me gripping for the resolution.

The Four Seasons

Currently listening to this compilation of songs by The Four Seasons. Until now, they've always been in the 'Sounds familiar, can't connect name to artist' camp. Frankie Valli I was partially familiar with, mainly through his work on the Grease soundtrack (he sung the title track, written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees). Tangent: I always loved that track... my brother had taped the movie back in the day, and I used to watch it over and over again. I was always bemused about the criticism that a disco song open a '50s based movie.

Songs that I had heard before, but never realised who they were performed by: "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Can't Take my Eyes off You" (credited to Frankie Valli, but featured the rest of The Four Seasons anyhow), "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)", and "Walk Like a Man". The second track threw me off big time... I'd made the connection that the old school doo-wop rock and roll falsetto heavy music were definitely The Four Seasons. The disco flavour of that song just made me go "Wow!" - I couldn't believe it was a product of the same band. Now that's a song I had heard time and time and time again.

The rest of this anthology doesn't seem to my ears as strong as the tracks I were familiar with. It's still early days, I'm sure some will grow on me.

The stuff that dreams are made of...

Fun viewing. I was entranced by the plot, and by Bogart. He didn't have quite the same effect when I first saw him in 'Casablanca' - while I fancied Blaine, the cynical club owner, I didn't buy Blaine as the romantic interest. Here, he was suitably sly, but honourable, as a PI.

Yaknow, I really am not much of a film reviewer. I tend to ignore the technical intricacies, unless they are directly thrown in my face (that reminds me, I need to report on my viewing of 'Psycho' a few nights ago). From what I've read, John Huston was rather brilliant here. What can I say, I was drawn in totally by the plot and the performances.

This more than deserves another watch.

Meet Me in St. Louis Review

Judy Garland sure is something. Even nauseating perhaps, haha. Just stare at her face... her beauty is almost alien. As Esther Smith, she is plain adorable. Heck, the whole film is adorable. Not just a very sappy romance, but a comedy of consistent humour - I was in stitches for a large proportion of the running time.

The musical numbers naturally added to the flavour of the film. "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" did a great of job of introducing the characters and setting. "The Trolley Song"was pure fun, 'tis a song I need to learn for myself. Gah, just thinking about it makes me want to watch the scene again.

I'm going to reiterate the adorableness of it all. It's a positive story, a feel-good affair for all those involved and the Smith family is the type of fantasy (I presume). It is probably the family scenes that sucked me in big time, seeing the loving relations between little and big sister, seeing grandpa coming to the rescue...

It all made for great viewing. Despite not being too familiar at all with the movie prior to a few nights ago, this has rocketed high in my rankings. Just lovely.

A Sunny Prelude

In this blog, I don't post about life. Instead, I contribute my thoughts on various topics, such as film, music, literature, animals and life amongst other things. Wait, I believe I did say I wouldn't share much on my personal doings, didn't I?

It's funny how specific blogs seem to be geared towards their own niches. A comment in a website I was viewing before (Which Free Blog is the Best?) summed it up best:

"Generally speaking, I see blogspot and wordpress used for more professional blog uses (like if you wanted to start one on a general subject/topic, on a hobby, whatever) whereas livejournal and xanga are more of the personal type blogs (you know, for those emo kids who want to rant about the woes of their daily life)."

Also funny because I do have a livejournal, and it is very personal. I talk of the ludicrous scandals I get involved in, the murders I cover up, the pies that I stick my fingers in... But with this blog, I'll keep it clean of any such personal activity.

Why did I go with a blogspot? Well, looking at the pros and cons for this and wordpress, it seemed that the latter had quite a few security problems. Hmm, yes.