Films

I have recently signed up for a service called 'Netfilx'. That's actually not the service,its the name of the company, but it describes the service. You pay a monthly subscription and they send you DVDs based on the list of desired DVDs you provide for them. My room mate got me into it, but she is on a slightly more expensive package then I am so she gets 3 at a time while I get 1. At least 2 of my immediate family are very much into films, and I assume a lot of others are too as it seems to be quite a lucrative industry, so I thought I would just give a quick list of what I have seen so far and maybe a wee comment and leave the rest open for discussion.

in chronological order;

Beowulf:Directors Cut.

I really like Beowulf. It was just up my street as I actually quite like fantasy if its done well (eg Lord of the Rings). I also liked that Beowulf wasn't just a hero, but he was flawed and messed up. I thought it was quite powerful but many, many would disagree...

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

I've obviously seen this several times before but got it to educate my American friends. I love it, and with a bit of translation it went down well.

28 Days later

Now then, I loved this. So exciting and one of those films where you can't help put yourself in the shoes of the lead character, and ask yourself what YOU would do in every situation. I think that's a good sign in a movie. Like Beowulf though, it had a kind of semi and probably very realistic twist which made it so good. Was a little out of breath when it was finished although It did leave me with some unanswered zombie related questions. NOT just another horror film.

28 Weeks later

The natural next film. Same theme but different characters from 28 days later. Still good though with a fantastic 'Zombie theme' which is so subtle, think of that Mike Oldfield song from Exorcist. Fantastic scene at start. Maybe not quite as good as the original.

The Jerk

A film I'd always wanted to see, but there have always been higher priority ones available. With my new service though I could be extravagant. Pretty entertaining but not 'laugh a minute'. It still had some hilarious and obviously classic scenes in it. I also really like Steve Martin which helped.

Navin - ''You look so beautiful and peaceful, you almost look dead. And I'm glad, because there's something I want to say that's always been very difficult for me to say. I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit." There. I've never been relaxed enough around anyone to say that.''

Brilliant, i nearly died.

Princess Bride

I had the same reaction from everyone when they heard that I'd never seen this, the same reaction, bizarrely, most people give when finding out someone has never seen 'Star Wars' or 'Back to the Future'. It is true that the people offering this reaction were all female, and generally all under 13, but i was assured I'd like it. When I saw it had Cary Elwes in it, who arguably has the best comedy face ever, I had to see it. I enjoyed it and even laughed in numerous places. Well done girls, you got one right.

I'm just going to pause here to say that 'Poison' by The Prodigy has just come on my iPod, sandwiched in between James Blunt and Justin Timberlake on shuffle. Oh my goodness what a song that is (Poison)! Never forget people, and if you have that song readily accessible, go put it on. If you're American, then I'm so so sorry you didn't have that song growing up.

Moving on..

American Gangster

Now we get serious. This had great reviews and may even have been up for an Oscar of two, but didn't really offer anything new. I liked it, and enjoyed watching it but it just seemed like they got two really good actors and some guns and drugs and then just laughed all the way to the bank. Like I say though, still good so I guess that makes my previous comment invalid.

Juno

Again, a big player in movie land. Not really what I expected but really enjoyable. It was quirky which always helps and was not dissimilar to 'Napoleon Dynamite' in its presentation which, ironically, made it different. I don't know what else to say about it which is why I will never be a movie reviewer/critic. It was an original plot though, and had a good soundtrack.

Narnia

One I had been looking forward to for ages. It was terrible, so bad. What a waste of time. From start to finish I got exponentially more irritated by every one of the four children. How can you have such snotty and bland kids as the lead characters?!!! Was that the point? did I just not get that? I know we're not supposed to like Edmond, but the others? The movie was also filled with an infinite number of events that just would simply not happen and were totally unrealistic. Now I know what you're thinking, but I am not talking about a wardrobe that leads to a new world, talking beavers or spontaneous Turkish delight. I am talking about simple things which were important to the flow of the movie, they way the children acted, or the things they said and mostly, the decisions they made. Compare that to 'Lord of the Rings' for example, in that movie I thought all the characters behaved realistically relative to their situation. I think on meeting a white Witch for the first time and for only a few minutes, I personally would not want to join her CLEARLY evil empire simply on the promise of some sweets. I just think individual scenes of importance or even otherwise could have been done so much better. Finally, one of the main reasons I was so excited about this disaster was the promise of an exciting end battle to rival Lord of the Rings in terms of fantasy and action. The prospect of Cheetahs going into battle against Polar Bears sounded like one of the most thrilling things in cinema (for me anyways...). What we did have though was a couple of public school boys totally untrained for combat, running around patting vastly superior fighters on the head with a sword and having them collapse. If this is how easy it was to win back Narnia, I'm not sure it was worth it. I must now concede I have not read the books, but If this film is remotely representative, then they are some of the worst books ever written. I have been assured though that they are not. Long Live the BBC.

The Other Boleyn Girl

Very good and I surprised myself how much I enjoyed. As far as I know, a lot of 'artistic license' was used, as there is no historical information on the 'other' sister, but this didn't seem to matter. I always find it fascinating to watch films on how life used to be, 'artistic' or otherwise and I usually want to go buy a history book afterwards. I also must admit I needed help in understating what was going on in this relatively straightforward film. I did feel that is lacked a good battle, but since by the end of the film King Henry and completely cut his ties with Europe and the Catholic Church over a fling, I'm guessing one wasn't long in coming after the credits and gone up. One other pretentious observation I would make is on the strength and resilience of the 'other' Boleyn girl, Mary. Despite a ridiculous traumatic life, she remained pretty cool about things, which is a little too Hollywood but I guess its no different from every other film.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Great stuff. I actually watched this before 'The Other Boleyn Girl' and I preferred it. I'd heard things before about this particular English victory, and it was nice to see it in context with other events. Naturally I read up a bit on the background on Wikipedia afterwards and got a bit more educated. It seems that Elizabeth was quite lucky in her reign, but that itself all the more to a good film, which it was. I liked how powerful the Queen was, in spite of her personal turmoil, and the final scene of her on the cliff overseeing the battle was cool. I think Clive picked the right one though...

The Holiday

Utter crap.

That is my list. If you've made it this far well done. It actually took me until 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' to realise that to write a review you have to say WHY you like it, but oh well.

I'll try and keep it updated, if you care...

Well we are 4 days into Euro 2008 and already my predictions look stuffed. For once in he last 30 years Holland decided that they would actually try playing football at a major championship and look what happened? They minced the Italians 3-0. Not that I nor anyone else can complain too much, as nobody likes the Italians. But they were my tip for group winners so unfortunately my hard fought reputation as being an expert football pundit must take precedence. I actually used to be obsessed by the Italians, and there is still a faint soft spot for them, but nowadays my head overrules my heart and it is easier to come to terms with the fact that they are essentially a bunch of cheaters who will always be more attractive then I will be. I feel it only fair to also concede that I had the Dutch to finish bottom. Oh dear. The silver lining is that I have the 'plucky' Romanians to come second, which at the moment is looking good, and should that prophecy come to fruition then I feel I will have more then redeemed myself.



To be honest its not a total disaster just yet. My only other problem is the Swiss who I have to come second. They killed the Czechs and lost 1-0 which I am naturally unhappy about. I feel I got it spot on in terms of ability, but unfortunately lady luck left the club with another guy that night.



I don't know if I've mentioned it or not in previous posts, but It should be noted that I have a problem with the word 'where/were'. I've never understood when to use 'where' or when to use 'were'. In my head they just both sound the exact same and its always been like that. I actually remember why. Can you believe it is simply because I was off sick they day we covered it in primary 5? Its true, I remember it, but didn't think it was significant enough to go back over in my own time. Who would have thought one day I would be writing to the world, cursing the day i missed the 'were' lesson at school. I must say I am improving all the while, but would ask for your continued patience as you read and uncover my disability.



I want to talk about American driving next. I have no point in particular, other then to say that it is terrible. Knowing full well that the odd American (no pun intended) checks this website, it is testament indeed to my confidence in this matter that I am still willing to post this entry on any public viewing space at all, nevermind a Blog with over 4 hits a day. For fear of backlash, I will sight but 2 examples. The first, and most striking, is the Americans total refusal to use their indicators. What makes matters a million times worse, is the fact that American car manufacturers seem to know this, and have subsequently deemed it totally unnecessary to include this fundamental safety feature on any of their models! Instead, some bright spark came up the quite unbelievable suggestion that it would save everybody a lot of time and energy if indicators were combined with the rear headlights. What this means is that same idiot, as well as his superiors, thought that it was perfectly reasonable to assume that a motorist, traveling at over 70mph on a busy highway in pouring rain, could quickly and easily distinguish the difference between a brake light, a rear light, and a vehicle making its way onto their bonnet. Thankfully this potentially embarrassing problem has been left totally moot thanks to the general refusal to indicate in the first place.

I feel I could go on for a lot longer, but I won't.

The second piece of evidence can clearly be seen pretty much anywhere in America were a person driving a car decides they want to get out. This nasty inconvenience causes the driver to drive around for a while until they see a space 4 times the length of their own vehicle. Naturally they brake without warning, and then 9 times out of 10 they will do one of two things; either they will sit and eye up the space, wondering if their vechile will fit, despite the departure from the same space by a German U-boat just minutes before hand. Or, after some time of mental arithmetic and phone calls they will confidently decide that they will in fact fit, only to wheel spin away in terror at the prospect of some innocent bystander witnessing their parking attempt, or another vehicle appearing in the rear view mirror on the distant horizon. Every now and then though, when the planets align, the conditions for an attempted park are perfect. This then is the signal for the driver to make their way into the space being sure to stop only when the front bumper of their car has nicely chipped the back bumper of the parked car in front. Once this phase has been achieved the driver slips it into reverse, before flooring it until a similar result occurs with the rear bumper.

A lot has happened since the intensity of the Seattle Wolves 'try out', and I can only apologise for not keeping my blog up to date. It would be impossible to recount everything that has happened, so I will bore you with just a highlight which happened just last week.

It happened last Saturday evening, when the Brazilian national football team rolled into town. I had known about the game with Canada for some time, but had decided that it wasn't worth the effort or money to attend. I had also heard rumour that it was a sellout, so forgot about it completely. However, the Thursday before the game, a friend of mine was good enough to post me a message on my favorite social network website, telling me he had a ticket available should want it. I did. I very much did. However it was one of those situations I'm rather uncomfortable in, where he was going with a large group of friends I wouldn't know, and I would have to just dive in and adapt. They were ''having beers and a BBQ'' for a few hours before I was due to arrive, which made me a little more nervous as I turned up to their house alone. Turns out it was OK, and I actually knew a few other people there quite well and the ones I didn't know, were really nice. So off we went. Whilst the majority took the bus to the stadium, I went in a car with a guy and two girls. We parked a bit away from the stadium which gave the other 3 the chance to nip into a bar on route for a pre-game shot. The lines/queues were huge 5 mins before kick off which was a total shambles and as we were just showing our tickets to get in we heard the predictable roar of the opening goal. 1-0 Brazil, 2mins. Oh dear, this could get ugly. We raced to our seats and knuckled down to watch what was a pretty good game. Canada had a lot of good opportunities and should really have scored quite a few, but Brazil, in their lazy way looked outstanding. They were crap and brilliant in equal measure, and you felt that if they wanted to, they could have scored 100. The annoying thing about Brazil, is that they didn't want to, which was frustrating. It ended 3-2, which made sense because whenever Canada scored Brazil just sauntered up and went back in front. Great stuff though, and it was nice to check 'watching Brazil' off my lifetime football goals list.

Euro 2008 starts tomorrow morning, which I am very excited about. Its gonna be hard to catch all the games bu I will do my best. Germany to win. You heard it here first.