The Last Movie You Saw On DVD or VHS or TV.

Over the week-end I've seen,on DVD,.....

Death Note .......and Death Note-The Last Name.Due to the slow pace and minimal action,it may seem a bit bland to those used to the current Asian shock/horrors with the girl with the long black hair.Fans of the original Manga will be pleased that it's a,more or less,exact replica of their treasured "comic books".I found both films very enjoyable.I hear that DN3 is in the pipeline

Zathura My third favorite kids film after The Goonies and Explorers.Smarter than the average rainy-day kids film.It's Close Encounters for 10 year olds

The Hills Have Eyes (2006).Split skulls and spilt guts.Wes Craven's savages get real nasty in a ballsy,bloody update.Looking forward to THHE 2

Malefique.
This is a great low-budget horror from France.It was made in 2002 but I only tracked it down through this 2006 release from play.com and it only cost me a fiver door-to door .
You don't normally associate horror films made in France.It succeeds on every level.Bloody enough for the shock hounds,smart enough for the Rod Sterling set,driven by very strong character work from a strong cast ( I for one would NOT like to be locked up with Marcus,once seen,never forgotten ) and for a low budget film,the SFX aren't that bad.All in all,due to it's style,a very enjoyable yet disturbing film.

WARNING.......Hollywood has picked up on this and is planning a re-make,as yet untitled.
Yet more proof of the lack of imagination in U.S. studios.


Eragon (2006).
A swords and sorcery adventure that really should have been better.Visually,this film could have been set in the same time line of Lord Of The Rings.The surrounding sceenery is stunning and originally thaught that it was filmed in New Zealand and was very surprised that this was not the case.
The Dragon SFX are very good and totally believable.Eragon is a 3 book story and Eragon 2 is in the works.Let's hope they do that little better on it.

"The Illusionist" with Edward Norton, a Hitchcockian period piece with a "Wuthering Heights" and Bergman's "The Magician" influence. The twist ending was not telegraphed but I began to figure it out in the final scenes before the revelation. Rufus Sewel is a great heavy as the conniving and ambitious Crown Prince Leopold. Edward Norton is always good and plays the role to the hilt. Although CGI is an element, it's effectively used in the plot as the "magic." Very much worth seeing.

watched the "borat" dvd again this afternoon .
watching it for the second time allowed us to really appreciate the work that was done by borat and his team .
i have to admit that it's a bit crude at times - just like real life - ; imo he managed to catch a real "slice of life" .
how he managed to catch so many people off-guard is somwhat puzzling to me .
hbg

Quite liked Zathura.

This Easter weekend I saw only five films:
- Kirikou et la sorcière (1998), an African cartoon, you don't see too many of those.
- Crash (2004), very well-made film, which did not increase my desire to live in LA
- Honey Baby (2003), European road movie on a European theme, hard to follow for non-Europeans I guess.
- The Battle of Shaker Heights (2003), very US coming of age film (don't understand why it was listed as comedy on the DVD cover)
- Battle Royale II, failed sequel to Battle Royale, bloody and too long.

"Blood Diamond". I suppose I'm just becoming a major wuss in my old age because I can't take all of the blood and gore and the pain anymore. The last half-hour, I was online and tuned the movie out while my husband watched it. Have no idea what happened in the end.

"We were soldiers" - Mel Gibson. I managed to fall asleep half way through, despite the loud gunfire.

Just caught up with Capote on cable. Hoffman was magnificent. The dichotomy between Capote using Smith and caring about him was powerful and real.

This weekend I did two DVDs:
- The Other Side of Heaven, a depiction of a US Mormon missionary's work in the Pacific in the 1950s, including the questionable disrespect for the local culture.
- In My Country (2004), an at times moving story woven around the Truth and Reconcilliation commission in South Africa, with a rather predictable ending.

Wedding Belles.
I first caught this down to earth,gritty film on Film4 last week-end but,due to the very broad Scottish accents,I missed a few lines here and there,so had to get it on DVD with English sub-titles.
It's a study of 4 life-long girl friends as one of them prepares for her wedding,but their lives are thrown into turmoil with a series of hilarious,shocking and heartbreaking revelations.
This is British movie-making at it's best.It has a flawlessly brilliant cast ( including Shirley Henderson),of wholm I am a big fan.
Funny and filthy,(Mary Whitehouse must be spinning in her grave),I enjoyed every minute.

This weekend:
- An inconvenient truth, a very well-constructed documentary about global warming. The only weak point I considered was Al Gore's self-promotion that was distracting from the main point.
- Cocktail, I could not get into the story and when Tommy Cruise's antics got too boring I turned it off.

"A Place in the Sun." Elizabeth Taylor, young and exquisite, Montgomery Clift, strange and tortured and Shelley Winters, sad and pathetic.

Last weekend I revisited the Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon sotilas, the remake from 1985). It was a long time since I last saw it. I saw it with English subtitles this time and was surprised how bad the translations were, definitely an amateur at work! The film is longer and rawer than the original (1955), but, because of its focus on realistic action sequences, the human aspect is somewhat lost. I prefer the older version which has more humour and humanity (and, unrealistically perhaps, less profanity).

Finally saw "Dreamgirls" tonight. I thought it was pretty good but then two-thirds into the movie, I began to lose interest and it just seemed to go on and on.

But Beyonce is one stunningly beautiful woman, isn't she?

Once Upon A Time In America.
229 minutes of movie magic.a film you must see more than once before you die.It moves from nostalgic to tragic,with healthy doses of comedy,drama and romance.
Spanning 5 decades in the lives of our two "heros",DeNiro and Woods,this sprawling story,which covers the years 1922 to 1968 on New York's gangster-ruled Lower East side,is conveyed through flash-backs,flash-forwards,dreams and fantasies.
The Ennio Morricone music score is both memorable and haunting.
Is this better than Goodfellas?....I say yes !

Happy Feet.
This is a cracking kids film,easily one of the best non Disney/Pixar films for ages.At it's heart it's a glorious celebration of individuality,diversification and acceptance.It's got great visuals and a level of "cartooning" that's almost real.
Must mention Robin Williams who is back in fine form doing 2 seperate voice-overs.
Alongside our tap-dancing hero's story is an eco-friendly message which is not a bad thing but if you find this a little too preachy then sit back and enjoy the sight of loadsa penguines bursting into pop and soul classics every 5 minutes or so.
This is a cracking film for "kids" of all ages.

"Once Upon a Time in America" is a genuine epic story and although also involving organized crime is difficult to compare to "Goodfellas." I'd give them both four stars. The truncated version of the former is not the one to see -- rent the full length version, although I don't believe cable has shown the short version for years.

I'll try and catch "Happy Feet" on that recommendation (haven't avoided seeing it -- it's on cable, but always seem to pick another film I wanted to see instead).

I was in a mellow mood, so I selected Little Miss Sunshine and Happy Feet for this weekend. Little Miss Sunshine did not move me, even though I did get what the film was about (the obsession with winning that makes the majority of us into losers and the creepiness of beauty pageants for minors). Happy Feet on the other hand made me laugh several times.

Passkynen

I really enjoyed the dysfunctional family dynamics in Sunshine. And the way they all pulled together in the end, in that rather outrageous way. I swear, there was something I recognized from my own adolescence in that sullen, depressed son, who refused to speak with his family, but wrote notes instead. (Not quite as dramatic, of course, but that "How come I'm stuck with these impossible people? Get me outa here!" feeling. I found it quite touching when his love for his little sister pulled him out of his black hole.

Tombstone

Had a bit of a musical week-end.Managed to get my hands on a VIP Golden Circle ticket for Prince's opening night on Wednesday August the first at The O2 (formerly known as The Dome) in Greenwich,so I slapped The Hits Collection into the DVD player (on repeat) :wink:

Followed that with The Blues Brothers.
The story is simple.Jake,fresh out of prison,and his brother Elwood,decide to re-form their old band to raise funds needed to save their old orphanage from closure.They drive a magical car,cheat death loadsa times,destroy more public property than Godzilla,and end up being hunted by the army----all to save a grumpy old Nun and her needy orphans.
IMHO this is the best musical comedy ever made.It boasts a roster of talent that must be heard to be believed--- Cab Calloway,Aretha Franklin,Ray Charles,James Brown and John Lee Hooker.All legends of the music industry.

Then it was onto Ray.
Jamie Fox achieves what few performers have in the tricky world of portraying genuine icons,to seemingly fuse with the spirit of the subject.
This is a great bio-pic,and the sound-track's not bad either.