The Brothers Grimm (2005)

Johnathan Pryce (Evita), Lena Headey, (Terminator, The Sarah Connor Chronicals), Matt Damon (Dogma), Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) & Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean).

An all star cast and even though the concept was good, telling the life - with embelishes of the Brothers Grimm from when they were children to adulthood, where they travel the land like a pre-supernatural duo, they find themselves working for the ruling French in Germany - Did I miss a history lesson but did the French actually occupy Germany? Well that might not be remembered by me, but the film was very dark which is hardly surprising as its from the direction of Terry Gilliam, who isn't known for his light work.

As always Johnathan Pryce did a sterling performance and I thought the Queen was really pretty too, shame she was a bad guy! To be quite honest and I don't take this lightly but I have this sinking feeling that the film would of been a whole lot better if Matt Damon wasn't in it, I just got a dread of disappointment every time he came onto the screen - I guess I just see him as Loki - even with the credible English Accent, it just didn't work for me but overall the film was watchable and good acting mainly held up by Pryce. I would say that I would not want to see it again, at least now I can say that I have.

Dreamgirls (2002)

I have been wanting to see this film for the longest time and with a star cast of Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Beyonce Knowles and it having singing in it, I thought this was going to be a perfect film for me, sadly it didn't quite hit the mark for me although Effie White (Jennifer Hudson) was stunning and made me cry every time she sang. I bought the Original soundtrack and I must say that I have got a lot more play out of that than the film, which I think it could of been better even though I can't quite put my finger on it.

Lyrics & Music (2007)

Leads:
Sophie Fisher - Drew Barrymore
Alex Fletcher - Hugh Grant

A washed up 80's pop writer for a pop band, realising that his career is not as it should be tries to revive it. His big break is when a mega star wants him to write a song for her  in a week, but without a lyricist  - his ex-band member, he is a bit stuck, cue Sophie Fletcher, a woman who comes to water is plants and then find herself coming up with better lyrics than the person he had been paired with for the job.
Sophie & Alex in this short time become a winning team and complete the song, which is loved by Superstar Cora Corman and is sung at the end.
I found it to be very touching and genuine movie even though Hugh and Drew are not especially strong singers, I felt like they were brave enough to even put themselves out there, so that is a sure enough reason to commend that....oh and be warned now 'Pop goes my heart' is very catchy and you will find yourself singing it ;)

Låt den rätte komma in (2008)

This Swedish vampire film with the translated British title "Let The right One In" was a well constructed, a good storyline and set aside from the shock nudity. it was an all round good film, it even had better pacing than Zodiac.

Shanghai Knights (2003)

Jackie Chan, stunning Chinese costumes, excellent choreography and Owen Wilson.

inconsistancies - no pinapples or lemons in 1889

liked the Gene Kelly skit with singing in the rain. and the guy from Queer as folk.
It's watchable.

G.I.Joe: The Rise of The Cobra (2009)

For all those who grew up in the States will be familiar with G. I Joe, a play toy for the boy who wanted to play dress-up by being a soldier, here the equivalent was Action Man who was somewhat of a eunoch, so at at the age of seven I thought they were all like that :)

Best bit: ...mmmm that's a tricky one, it was watchable as a film and it was nice to see two English actors (Sienna Miller and Christopher Eccleston) having a scene together with their respective accents and

Surprised by: After saying that he didn't do accents, I was quite impressed with Christopher Eccleston's Scottish accent.

Worst bit: When they used Celtic for the missile launch, even now there seemed to be something wrong with the graphics, as if they were supposed to look hi-tech but not quite made it although it was quite good with the CG for thee Eiffel Tower.

Zodiac (2007)

Based on a true story, adapted into a book and screenplay, Jake Gylenhall plays a cartoonist that becomes obsessed with a murder case that starts off as a simple code break. Also Robert Downey Jr is in this film but it still doesn't save it I must have been really tired and I nodded off to sleep but when I woke up, I just caught up with the story pretty quickly, that's the problem with real life stores, if an amount of time has passed, it is really difficult to judge how a film will be able to convert from a book.

Underdog (2007)

A great film for the kids with Jason Lee (My name is Earl) as the voice of Underdog, a dog with super hero powers.Other actors include James Belushi and Little J from Gossip Girl.

The Incredibles (2004)

A Pixar film about a family of superheroes and the denial of the father for the glory days of being a true superhero. This is a great movie for the kids filled with action, adventure and the wishful thinking of having a body like Elastigirl on my part. The vioce talents of Craig T. Nelson (Cheers), Holly Hunter (What women want) Wallace Shawn (Gossip Girl) and Samuel L Jackson (Afro Samurai)

El Orfanato - The Orphanage (2007)

Another Guillermo Del Toro movie, this one slightly more scary than El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) and even though there was a supposed happy ending, I was hiding behind the sofa with a really big pillow. The story is of a family who move into a disused orphanage, the woman who spent time there as a child wishes to give the opportunity to help other children by re-opening.

It is now on DVD in the UK, with subtitles and there will be a release US version soon in the states

El laberinto del fauno (2006)

Also known as Pan's Labyrinth, I much prefer this title because I think the film was more to do with the girl rather than the fauno, the mythical creature that Ofelia meets. this was a lovely film, very sad but magical. A Spanish speaking film (with subtitles) from the Director Guillermo del Toro, it is one of my favourite films that I have watched this year.

Watchmen - The director's cut (2009)

Not one of my usual films, mainly because I haven't really been into the whole comic book thing but I watched the film and it wasn't too bad, well some of it anyway, there was indecency (a blue schlong from Dr Manhattan), the cleaver in the head was a turn away moment for me as was the hot fat in the face and the cutting off of the arms from Rorschach's prison cell, and it did go on a bit longer than I expected and did find myself wanting to get up and get myself a drink in the sexed-up bit.

On the bonus side, the dialogue was good and easy enough to follow, it even sounded to me that text from the comic was used, the choreography was intense and enjoyable to watch and I really thought it was Robert Downey Jr, rather than Jeffrey Dean Morgan playing the comedian, which was really good because I usually guess who the actor is before my honey does and the last thing was that I loved the makeup for Nixon, it looked so like him.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)

We watched this last night and it was okay, it was more of the same of The Mummy franchise but thought it was watchable. Rick O'Connor's (Brendan Fraser) wife is played by a different actress,(Maria Bella) her brother Jonathan played by John Hannah and Alex (Luke Ford) who to me, looks like Jack Black and Mark Wahlberg rolled into one. Jet Li is also playing the bad guy - I'm sure he gets scarier every time I see him play a different character. The nice thing about this film was the fact when he Emperor Han is raised all he speaks is Chinese and although there were not any subtitles in the whole film when people are speaking Chinese, you got the gist about what was going on and it didn't distract from the massive explosions, CGI that was trying too hard to be something special and corny dialogue, in fact I would say it enhanced it.

Looking into the Harry Potter thing.

With the Harry Potter movie out and the household talking of nothing else I thought that I would make something for the eldest because he has a tendency to lose things so I am trying to find things that he won't want to lose. These will be a reference to what colours I need - now all I need to do is work out what to knit.

Miyazaki's vision in book form.

You will have guess I'm really excited about Ponyo on the cliff, so whenever there is opportunity to tell you about it, I will. Here is the art behind the film in book form, sold by Amazon, although it's not released yet, I would imagine it will be in time for the film to be in the cinema.

The trailer for Ponyo on the cliff

I have been so excited about this, so I wanted to share with you all about the joy of Hayao Miyazaki, first came to the western notice when there was critical acclaim for Spirited Away, this is the latest to add to his and Studio Ghibli's bibliography.


It has been converted to Disney, so I'm sure it will be in the collection of DVD's soon. Noah Cyrus will be the voice lead.



Here are some of the works over the years:

My neighbor Totoro
The Cat returns
Howl's Moving Castle
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Kiki's Delivery Service
Laputa: Castle In The Sky
The Castle of Cagilistro
Whisper of the heart
Only Yesterday
My Neighbors The Yamadas
Pom Poko
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Porco Rosso

The Incredible Hulk

Eric Banner (Edward Norton),Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) Emil Blonky (Tim Roth) and General Ross (William Hurt).

The great thing about Marvel characters is that there is a whole generation that have grown up with whether or not it was through the comics or through TV, we all knew that the Hulk always said "Hulk Smash" and th way that he puts out fires with one clap - that's kinda cool :)... anyway
the CGI was so much better than the film that came out before and I loved the cameos of Stan Lee, Lou Ferrigno, and Robert Downey Jr.

Is it worth watching? yes I think so, true love and it has things blowing up, always quite good for a relaxing night in.