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[Calach Pfeffer]

Warrior

A moving story of men punching men.  


A Dangerous Method

Freud, Jung, and who? A pleasing dramatisation.  


Twilight - Breaking Dawn, Part I

Excellent, excellent movie--unlike the other Twilight films in that this one "goes there".
Obviously wasn't meant to be funny, but it is.  

[Just Like Mr Benn]

I'm not susually into films, but last night i stayed up well past my customary time (9pm on a Friday night. I'm not a party animal) watching 'Rock and Roll Nerd: The Tim Minchin story'.

It's hard for me to judge these things from China, but my perception is that Minchin is now one of the biggest names in comedy in the world. Maybe none of you have even heard of him. Maybe his fame, whatever level it is, is confined to the UK, but the documentary covers his life from being a complete unknown in Australia to a medium level celeb. Really it seemed to be the story of his marriage as much as his 'rise to fame', and his wife, Sarah, is essentially the co-star of the piece.

I knew that Minchin met his wife at Uni, and that they've always been together, but I figured it's probably easy to be married when you're talented, rich and successful, and everything falls into your lap. It was fascinating to have the insight into what they went through.

Michin has a song, ostensibly about his wife that has the lyrics

If I didn't have you, someone else would do
Your love is one in a million
You couldnt buy it at any price
But of the 9 point 9 hundred thousand other loves,
Statistically some of them would be equally nice.

I agree with virtually everything that Minchin sings, but I think that he may be mistaken about this. The documentary is a raw and, forgive me for being corny, inspirational look at their relationship, along with fame and the difficult choices that people have to make make in pursuit of their dreams.

Even if you're not into comedy, or documentaries, or you have the same 44 Tv minutes attention span as me, I highly reccommend.

[Granny Mae]

The First Grader; the uplifting true story of the world's oldest primary school student. Set in Kenya, an old Mau Mau in his eighties is desperate to learn to read. Hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan Government. www.thefirstgrader-themovie.com might be a link. What an interesting true story.

[Calach Pfeffer]

War Horse -- d'awww! 

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy -- very like the book, only shorter, same oppressive, tense atmosphere. 

Hangover 2 -- utter crap 

Tucker and Dale Versus Evil -- laugh out loud moments (plus a few proper teeth-gritting horror lols). 


But what I'm pining over is Dollhouse. I finally got around to watching it (it lasted two seasons and aired first in 2009). It was great and I can't think of what else to watch now. Homeland looks like it'd be involving but I just don't care. Dollhouse had sci-fi tech, chicks doing stuff, and a Thoughtpocalypse. Can anything else really compare? Not even Walking Dead is that good.

[Granny Mae]

War Horse was a really great story with director Steven Spielberg. The film follows the journey of the horse named Joey and is set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War. What an adventure that horse had, and what great cinematography.

[rattie]

Well Granny Mae, there's two things I will harbour against you for a while....two movies you recommended last year.
Snowtown, which I bought on disk and gave to an American friend as a payback for her giving me Winter's Bone. I honestly wish I had a flip top head so I could remove my brain and give it a good rinse !
And, Sunshine and Oranges, crikey, I just spent a couple of hours of the only sunny afternoon we've had for a wee while, indoors sobbing my heart out with my pomeranian licking tears off my chin.
Thanks for those ?? Any more suggestions?
Cheers, Rx

[Granny Mae]

rattie, I can't even remember what those movies were about; I see so many. If you can see "Red Dog" and "War Horse" you will need your little pomeranian with you.

[rattie]

Haa, Red Dog, we watched that for class and the students wrote their end of term assignments about it. We live in a mining and foundry town so they found it relevant as well as cute because of Koko's fabulous acting.
Rx

[Granny Mae]

I think the students would also really like "The first Grader". Perhaps you should see it first and explain the situation about the Mau Mau before they see the movie.

[Jedi Smurf]

Saw "Red Dog" yesterday at the movies. All the Aussies should see this Australian movie which is set in the 1970s. I quote Rachel Taylor the Aussie actress."It's about how these people move to the Pilbara to work in the mining industry, make money and leave. But that doesn't always work out; they fall in love with the place and with each other. And the emblem of that is this dog,who is this dirty buggar who wanders around and eats things he shouldn't and farts on the bus. He's a little mongrel, but everyone falls in love with him."
To really appreciate this, it helps to understand what it is like for these rough Aussie blokes in isolated mining camps; they do unusual things and will gamble on two flies crawling up a wall. The red dog "koko" plays his part very well. Based on a TRUE story, this dog wandered all over Western Australia, hitching rides on all sorts of vehicles and seemingly knowing where he was going. A bronze statue of him was erected on the outskirts of Dampier (Western Australia) with a plaque which reads "Red Dog: the Pilbara wanderer. Erected by the many friends made during his travels." The film reviews can be Googled and will perhaps give a better overview of the movie. George will understand about that part of the Country and its red dust. I think ETR and other folk who care about animals, will really like this movie even if we Aussies appear a bit strange, particularly back in the 1970's. Please make the effort, it is worth it!

Granny Mae, thank you so much for recommending this movie. I don't know if I have ever smiled as much during the viewing of a film. Great soundtrack, best dog performance I've ever seen, and instantly leapt to the top of my list for best movies of 2011. I had never heard about it from any other source, so thank you again for the recommendation. 

[Granny Mae]

Glad you liked it Jedi Smurf! The horse in "War Horse" is also a very well trained animal which was trained by an Australian lady. My Grandfather fought in some of the places depicted on the Western Front in WW1. I have a copy of an uncensored letter he wrote while recovering in England from a battle wound before going back to the front. The original is in the Australian War Museum. I really liked this movie because it gives a really good idea about how things were for those soldiers and their horses. When my Grandfather mentions one battle at Bullecourt where the Australians had 26 thousand casualties and he mentions several other battles such as Ypres where 8 thousand Aussies were killed or wounded, one can better imagine these conditions after seeing that movie. Hope you get a chance to see it.

[A-Train]

A Couple surpisingly good movies I saw recently:

"Take Shelter" and "Sarah's Key"

[piglet]

Just watched Anonymous and thoroughly loathed it. No historical accuracy whatsoever (except for the visuals of the Globe Theatre) and it portrays the Bard as an illiterate moron.

[ericthered]

I agree I thought "Shakespeare in Love" was the worst...but "Anonymous" took the biscuit...

[A-Train]

Holy Crap!  Hugo is cleaning up.