Category: Movies

As we have been travelling it has been 4 weeks since we last went to the cinema. We had seriously considered catching a movie while in France but I figured that the whole language issue might possibly limit the enjoyment of it 😉  I was pretty sure that the dialogue would consist of more than our limited french which revolves around being able to order coffee, various items of food and asking where the toilet is.

So, back in England and off to see Babylon AD starring Vin Diesel. Now if you are familiar with Vin’s past works you will know that it generally consists of action, limited conversation, limited facial expressions and a storyline that survives on lots of explosions and car chases. This was no exception.

Macho dude gets paid to escort important but freaky young chick safely out of cesspool that is Russia (many years from now). Bad dudes following them all the way, bit of martial arts thrown in with car chases, explosions and the like.

As you can tell I was rather unimpressed with this movie and in particular Vin Diesel. The dude is getting older, time to move on and actually try some acting. 2 out of 5.

Thoroughly loved 1 and 2 in this series and you have to figure that at some point it is going to fall flat. Well this was the one.

Look you can’t dislike the acting, CGI or storyline as they were fine but it just didn’t have the fresh wit or cheeky humour of the last two. It just seemed to rehash the same old things or put forward the obvious one liners. The cheesy bad humour (which was so funny in the last movies) just didn’t come off well in this one. I’m quite left flat by it and can’t even be bothered to finish this review.

1.5 out of 5.

Rated PG12 they have got to be kidding. I so wouldn’t let my kids go to see this. I was terrified of Heath Ledgers role as the Joker. It truly was far more violent than I was expecting. However, he did deliver on the role and came off brilliantly as an extreme and dangerous character. He managed to put his own fingerprint on this role taking it to another level from Jack Nicholsons previous take on it.

One thing to be incredibly thankful for is that they replaced Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes.

Michael Caine, Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman all return to take up their previous characters. All are fabulous in continuing the efforts from the last movie, the story moving on from where it left off last time – Batman finally capturing the Scarecrow then facing the next villian, the Joker.

It is quite a long movie but at no point was I bored or wanting it to end. I won’t give any of it away as the twists and turns are great but pretty obvious. Go along for the ride and don’t overthink it. 4.5 out of 5.

This movie crept up on us. We have been fans of the X Files and clearly remember where I was the first episode that played in NZ. We then followed it for the next 9 seasons. Even in Australia it was our regular Wednesday get together for X Files and Mancini Pizza night.

So the second movie titled “I want to believe”, how was it? Gillian Anderson’s reprised role of Scully was like watching the series. She dropped back into character seamlessly. Mulder played by David Duchovny just didn’t have the witty lines to deliver that were always a riot in the series. Billy Connolly was superb (as always) and it was great to see Mitch Pilleggi do a short return at the crucial moments as Assistant Director Skinner.

The plot was interesting and although not a big screen blockbuster style movie it held its own. It came off more as an extended series version which in my opinion worked well. You can only get so much CGI in movies before it all starts to get old hat and the art of story telling is lost. I enjoyed this however a little bit less relationship angst between Scully and Mulder would have served better and more subtle humour substituted instead.

There were inhouse jokes or memories for keen X-Philes (those obsessed with the show as they were called) such as the pencils stuck into the roof, a jibe regarding GW Bush as a possible alien or abductee etc. Look out for more as I am sure they are in there.

Anway, I would give it 4 out of 5.

First off, loved this even more than “The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe”! The graphics were amazing, stunning scenery of NZ of course, enjoyed having the same cast back from the last film, costuming marvellous, musical score fabulous…

Check out the Disney website for the movie. I would go back to see this movie over and over again. It captures the images I had made up in my head as I read the books as a kid, the creatures are magnificent and the story telling keeps you engaged through the whole film. 5 out of 5.

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/narnia/

Set in 1957 Indiana returns for the 4th instalment of the Spielberg/Lucas whip cracking, one liner, treasure finding adventure. Of course, there has to be a baddie and this is the Russian communists headed by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett). The formula for another Indy instalment is all there, the baddies, the trail of clues to the treasure to be unlocked, deadly creatures, high energy fist fights and car chases, cheesy one liners and as little of the CGI that is often used in movies these days to cover up a bad plot. As much as I enjoyed the movie it didn’t have as much of the energy as 1,2 and 3. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, there were plenty of high energy scenes but I didn’t get left breathless. A few scary bits kept me on my toes and the humour was good as always and of course focused around the age of Indy and key things happening at that time in 1957. The best part I think was the scene with the nuclear bomb and how Indy gets out of that one.

In all, it was enjoyable and good to see Indy back on the screen. 3.5 out of 5.

Memorable quotes:

Indy to Irina Spalko “I gather by your “wubblewoos” your Russian”

Mutt “What’s he gonna do now?” Marion “I don’t think he plans that far ahead”

Vantage Point directed by Pete Travis stars Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox (of Lost and Party of Five series) and Forest Whitaker. Recently I saw “The Last King of Scotland” and Forest gave a an incredible performance in that one. But, back to Vantage Point. Based in Salamanca, Spain it follows the attempted assassination of the US President told from different peoples perspectives. Each perspective adds a bit more to the riddle of the story as the assassination plot unfolds.

At about the 3rd “rewind” and replay of another perspective the idea was starting to grow thin but thankfully it then starts to play out through to the end. The plot was interesting and it sometimes reminded of Babel. One scene in particular is the perception from a distance of a altercation between a man and a woman. From the first vantage point it appears to be one sense of emotion but from a different vantage point the scene tells a different story. The point being that what you see is not always the reality. Overall I would rate this a 2.5 out of 5. I would probably watch it again just to pick up on any extra subtleties that I missed and to see the performance of Forest Whitaker again.

10,000 BC

Roland Emmerich has also produced Independence Day and one of my top films The Day after Tomorrow so I was expecting quite a bit from this one. To be honest the CGI just wasn’t that convincing in the Egyptian building site scenes however the boats floating down the Nile were magnificent. You win some and you lose some. There was also possibly some issues with the movie quality either at the cinema end but it looked more likely to have been bad camera quality or something to that effect as it had blue and red interference during a particularly darkly lit scene in the movie. The acting was rather bad, the locations were stunning and the plot interesting. I wouldn’t be inclined to see it again and would probably rate this one 1.5 out of 5.