Movie ramblings

Just got up after midday... perfect thing to do on the weekend. Am now eating blackforest flavoured yoghurt for breakfast - hmm... not quite as successful as the chocolate. Probably go out for sushi for lunch today... yummm... the local sushi train place has $3 for all plates on Saturday, and lunch runs from 11 to 4! Otherwise no other plans. Wouldn't mind seeing the latest Danny Boyle, Sunshine. Maybe some shopping. Probably play Civilization IV.

Last weekend we finally got around to organising the web of cables in the study. It's ridiculous how many there are. We had been putting it off because we were waiting for someone to come and fix the desk from when it was broken in the move. 3 months later, and they finally came to look at it, only to say that it can't be fixed and will have to be replaced. Anyway, here are some photos of our efforts!

Mmmm....nice and tidy. Not a knot of cords in sight.

Note the mess of power cables... after we tidied them up!
That's 3 power boards.
And Gideon's brand spanking new laptop...mmm... shiny.
It has disco lights, that's my sort of computer!

I was recently most chuffed to discover that two of the songs I heard at the start of the credits of two different movies, that I thought sounded like my two favourite singers, were in fact so, on each occasion (yes, I know, too many segments to this sentence). Rob Thomas sings the song "Little Wonders" from Meet the Robinsons and Sarah McLachlan sings "Ordinary Miracle" from Charlotte's Web... just marvellous.


Oh, and I just noticed that the Curse of the Golden Flower is opening in Darwin this week. I had thought that it would not be mainstream enough to play... so I'm wrapped! According to Empire Magazine, it overtook Titanic for highest earnings at the Chinese Box Office. It's the latest Zhang Yi Mou / Gong Li movie... they haven't made one in years, but they are always good....Raise The Red Lantern - just exquisite.

Geordie & the Vogts trip to Darwin coming your way next blog.

Now, for some reviews:

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ON SCREENS
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Meet the Robinsons: 3.75/5

Cast: relative unknowns

In a Nutshell: Best Disney computer animation yet, but not quite as good as Pixar.

Brief Synopsis: Orphan Inventor is chased by an evil man from another time and in the process finds a place to belong.

After seeing the shorts, I was very reluctant to go see this one - it looked like a nice try from those Disney computer animators, but a little too much like trying to be the Incredibles, and ending up like Chicken Little. Happily, I was proved wrong. It has a lot to live up to in the CGI stakes (Incredibles, Shrek, Nemo) and doesn't quite make it, but it gets close. Extremely enjoyable, sometimes funny, sometimes quirky, sometimes sappy and mostly imaginative, Meet the Robinsons manages to bring a modern slant to The Jetsons with a touch of the Incredibles thrown in. Worth a watch, but it'd be ok to wait for DVD.


Becoming Jane: 3/5

Cast: Anne Hathaway (Princess Diaries), James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland)

In a Nutshell: Competent effort

Brief Synopsis: The story of English literary icon Jane Austen

So much potential, and yet it fails to score much more than an average. It could have been a Shakespeare In Love, but instead it was another Miss Potter. Perhaps the problem is that the first half of the movie is much like a sub-standard Pride & Prejudice, nowhere near the league of the most recent BBC series, or the Kiera Knightly movie. Thankfully, it eventually starts to deviate, and that is where it starts to get a bit more interesting, and even still, it does not really take off. There is not enough chemistry between the two main antagonists, and their secret affair is somewhat unconvincing. McAvoy (as much I like to watch him on screen) is not manly or foreboding enough and Hathaway, while quite good, is not quite vunerable enough. It's a reasonable attempt, but the standards of P&P or S&S fans are much too high.


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ON DVD
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Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America for Make Benefit of Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan: 1.75/5

Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G)

In a Nutshell: Mockumentary, with mostly crass humour with light sprinklings of irony.

Brief Synopsis: Borat, a news reporter from Kazakstahn, goes on a road trip across the USA

I am sorry to say that I am a witless, apolitical ignoramus who didn't quite get this movie. I was waiting for the scenes that would have me in stitches and tears, as I was lead to believe would happen, but instead I just found it crass and mostly quite painful to watch. There were a couple of scenes that I thought were quite clever and funny, but they were quite rare, and that over the top mocking humour really wore thin quickly. Sorry.


Charlotte's Web: 3.25/5

Cast: Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Oprah, Cedric the Enteratiner, Kathy Bates, Reba McIntyre, Thomas Haden Church, Robert Redford, Andre 3000
In a Nutshell: Fun and fuzzy

Brief Synopsis: Runt pig is saved from being put down, but must enlist the help of a spider to attempt to keep out of the smoke house.

It's just rather lovely. Nothing extraordinary, much like what I was expecting, a modern version of the cartoon version - but it's a well loved formula, so why change it? The animation with live actors works pretty well, there are only a couple of moments where the CGI of the pig looks a bit wonky. The huge cast of voices was picked perfectly - the boy who plays Wilbur is just gorgeous. In the end, it doesn't diverge much from E. B. White's story, and that's just the way it should be.


Love Wrecked: 1.5/5

Cast: Amanda Bynes (She's the Man), Chris Carmack (The OC)

In a nutshell: Annoying and stupid

Brief Synopsis: Girl gets shipwrecked with the singer she has a crush on, and omits to tell him that they are on the other side of the island from their hotel.

I really like Amanda Bynes, she is a very talented comic actor. However, doing this movie was not a good move. The story line sounds kinda fun, but being stuck on an island in a strange kind of teenage stalking situation does not an entertaining movie make. I should have known better.


Step Up: 2/5

Cast: Channing Tatum (She's the Man), Jenna Dewan (Take the Lead), Rachel Griffiths (Muriel's Wedding)

In a nutshell: Just so many other boy-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks-does-good-and-learns-how-to-become-a-champion-dancer/athlete-in-a-ridiculously-short-time,-and-perhaps-gets-the-girl movies.

Brief Synopsis: Delinquent hip-hopper doing community service in an Arts College somehow ends up as the dance partner of a trained dancer and must learn the ropes quickly.

Too much like so many other movies of the same genre. Take the Lead, Save the last Dance... even The Cutting Edge. There's absolutely nothing new here at all. The two leads are nice to look at, but Channing Tatum spends the whole movie mumbling, which is really annoying. Only thing in it that I liked was Mario's acting turn.