Snakes on a Plane
J saw the ads, and said in some bemusement: “It looks terrible!”
Oooooh yeh.
The Sentinel
We went to see this movie yesterday – Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland are always good (and for the latter, I have just one word: Stereotype). It was fun to watch, but I don’t reckon I’ll ever bother watching it again. It was pretty predictable – down to the twist at the end, even.
Basically, a fairly standard action flick. Didn’t particularly have me wondering what would happen next, didnt surprise me at all, but still kept me entertained for 2 hours or so. Kim Basinger and Eva Longaria were both quite good, too, when they had screen time.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
We’re watching this tonight, because it is rainy outside and there is nothing good on the teev.
However – one of the baddies is David Tenant! Dr Who!! So terrible.
And my goodness, didn’t all the actors grow up.
And th idea that pegasuses only drink simgle malt whiskey… love it.
King Solomon’s Mines #2
Patrick Swayze was surprisingly good, although I wonder whether Quatermain was American in Haggard’s original. He looked surprisingly buff for a man who must be in his mid to late 40, surely, if not in his 50s. I don’t know why the girl was, but she was pretty average; the black guy, who played Mbosa (?? the one who turns out to be the king, anyway…) was really good.
I also didn’t realise that this was a telemovie, which is why it was so darn long – nearly 3 hours’ worth of it. And, not to spoil it too much, but they don’t even get to the mines until the last 15 minutes! It’s not really the point of the whole thing.
I think – I think – I might have to read this. Eventually. If only for comparisons sake.
Later edit: turns out I have seen the chick before. She played Dr Elsa Schneider, in the last Indiana Jones movie, which brings me to the other thing I meant to say – Alan Quatermain is basically Indiana’s father. Speilberg must have been a huge fan of Haggard.
Yo ho ho and a whole lot of rum
Yep, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean part TWO yesterday. And it was GREAT.
Jack Sparrow was the same as ever – deceitful, duplicitous, and delightful. Once again Johnny Depp was magnificent. I heard a few days ago that ‘they’ (that nefarious they who seem to be behind everything bad… very X-Files) didn’t want Sparrow to be like he was, but someone said to give him a go (I’m sorry, how you can you ever doubt Depp and his ideas in a film?). And so we have Jack Sparrow, the bestest pirate in the innumerable seas.
Keira Knightley was mildly painful as always. She is only just bearable as Elizabeth. At least the accent is appropriate in this context… unlike as Guinevere…. Orlando Bloom was ok.
My one beef with this movie was Davey Jones’ crewmen. I can accept that they might turn into sea-creatures, but I wanted them to be more recognisably actual sea-creatures, rather than just barnacle-encrusted monsters. I did like, however, the number of different sea myths that could be put into this movie before being saturated and dumb. Davey Jones, the Flying Dutchman, the Kraken… very nice.
King Solomon’s Mines
Just went to the vid store. I had no idea that a new movie had been made of King Solomon’s Mines! With Patrick Swayze as Alan Quatermain! This might give me a feel for whether I should actually go and read the books… I have heard some dubious things about the worth of H Rider Haggard’s style… the story will hae to be pretty good, I think, to make me go read it. Just looked it up in Wikipedia (my respect for which as a general source of probably-true information has grown recently), and I don’t think I realised that the oldest Alan Q book was published in 1885…
Zoe is my hero
We’re re-watching Serenity. I love it. Zoe really is fantastic.
I aim to misbehave…
Huckabees again
Naomi Watts is really fatastic in this movie… for most of the movie, she’s only been a voice and the occasional face; now she’s onto the Existential Detectives, and she’s trying to figure out whether or not to be pretty…
I [heart] Huckabees
I wrote quite a long post, for me, about this movie, which I’m watching at the moment. It got et by the puter because for whatever reason, I lost the internet for a minute. I don’t think I can be bothered writing it all again. It involved:
— I’m watching it because of seeing it reviewed on The Movie Show, and David loved it.
— I’m watching it for something completely different from what I would usually watch, although it is a little bit like The Life Aquatic (but better)
— The cast is excellent. Dustin Hoffman is a legend, and so is Lily Tomlin; Mark Wahlberg is surprisingly good, and Jude Law plays a total prat.
— OK, the bit that I just watched, with the mud and sex and stuff – that was really damn weird.
— This is a really, really funny movie; I’m loving it.
We love trashy TV
I’m watching a bit at the moment, in between Stargate episodes, as J is mucking around somewhere. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is on one channel – I’ve written about it before; I do love its glorious trashiness (although I am still really not convinced by Nemo as some sort of nautical Raj, I do still love the “Call me Ishmael” line) - the Logies is on another, with some terrible dresses; and Law and Order is on yet the other commercial channels. Love Sunday nights.
Randomly Yours, Alex 