Got this film out and watched it on the weekend, knew almost nothing about it, but had been told I must see it…

It was a lovely film, based around the somewhat eccentric Mark Bittner, an aspiring musician who lived on the streets of San Francisco for years, who began to befriend the wild parrots in his neighbourhood. The parrots are fascinating and the work, in the way of observations and photography, that Mark undertook revealed individual personalities of the birds and it was really so touching without being overly sentimental.

Read more about on the Internet Movie Database it here.

http://www.wildparrotsfilm.com/

A result of a bet… I had the pleasure of watching the latest Bond film Casino Royale at the sky city Gold Class cinema, it was good fun, and I had a lovely night. It was all very extravagant, the first time I had seen a film Gold Class, and I enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine along with the film…

Daniel Craig as the new Bond was good, it was a more convincing return to the original Bond films, action packed, including a car chase near the end, and of course the ladies.

All good fun!
The official site.

I saw Hollywoodland before work (and my favourite, Startrek) early this morning.

And it was really quite dissapointing, and far too long. It started out as a fairly intriging murder mystery, all the usuals, private investigator, strange unexplained/unexpected suicide/murder of a Hollywood actor, strained relationships, cheating wives etc. probably in the 1950s. Superflupous side plots, such as Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) working on a side job, which seemed only to suggest that Simo is as much of a flake as George Reeves (Ben Affleck) the failed superman action hero who supposedly killed himself.

You are left hanging, in the end, with the understanding that George Reeves probably did take his own life, but there are a few things left unexplained, the extra bullet holes in the floor (he died of a gunshot wound), and the abrasions on the deceased arms (apparently not noticed by the coroner) not to mention a number of people who would have been happier without him around.

If you really want to see it, wait til it’s out on video.

We had Up and Down screening at work – and I had a sneaky late night preview of it ahead of time – and it’s great!  Definitely worth seeing, Up and Down is a black comedy, about a rough soccer fanatic who is trying to mend his ways and hold down a respectable job, while his baby-crazy partner is driven to buy an apparently abandoned baby from a dodgy pornbroker.  In the meantime the well-to-do father of an estranged son (living in Australia) is trying to tie up lose ends with his former partner in order to marry his current squeeze, a younger woman, with whom he has daughter with, who used to date his son (it is that complicated).  The characters were quite convincing and I really enjoyed this one, although it was a little cheesy at the end.

Plenty of people wandered out after seeing it not sure what to make of it, and it did offend a few of our older patrons, it is quite full on and the soccer fans were very aggressive in parts.

Having recently come out as a sci-fi lover (having been addicted to classic science fiction novels and of course Gene Roddenberrys’ original Startrek for sometime now) it is only fair that I be up to speed on David Lynch’s contribution to the genre…

I while back I watched Dune, it’s an early David Lynch film and, I think, the first big one for Kyle MacLachlan, you’ll know him as the detective Dale Cooper on Twin Peaks, and Jeffrey Beaumont from Blue Velvet. The plot seemed fairly complex (but aren’t they all when you’re living in 10191 and people are living on planets covered in sand where there has been no rainfall for generations..?) pretty early in the piece the protagonist, Paul Usul Muad’Dib Atreides (MacLachlan) is manifest as a chosen one… I loved the aesthetic, the characters and the special effects are also pretty cool for the 80s, although the riding the worm scene is not so convincing. Another must see, I’m still to check out the mini series, the Children of Dune, but I’m not holding out much hope they’ll live up to the feature film.

I was also pleased to discover that I am actually from Dune…

What with xmas and all that time off (haha) over the summer period, I went to the library on a mission, I picked up a very comprehensive book on cinema, 1880s through to 2001. Not exactly bedtime reading (size-wise) but as Rob is off in beautiful San Fransico for two weeks at the MacWorld Geek Conference, I decided to spend some time catching up on a few of those ‘must sees’ that slipped under the radar, or happened all those years before I was born.

Suffice to say I now have several pages of films to work through – not that I want to see them all – who has that kind of time?! I also decided to write about those movies I do see but don’t like, they are definitely out there, no matter how picky you are and how determined you are to avoid them… so over the next few days I will work through those drafts I have sitting waiting to be published and hopefully get some of those must and must-not sees out there.

Check out the Internet Movie Database…

I really enjoyed this film, and I think if you liked Les Poupées russes (Russian Dolls), and L’ Auberge espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) by Cédric Klapisch, and Domicile conjugal (Bed and Board) by Francois Truffaut you will enjoy this.

Although the music was a little cheesy in parts, the characters are endearing and believable. The film is divided in to four stories that link as characters’ paths cross and these stories interpret different stages of love and relationships. Quite sweet and romantic in places – including some passionate Italian kisses!

Manuale d’amore

It took a while, but I’ve just seen the Al Gore film, An Inconvenient Truth.

I’ve been concerned about the environment for so long – and at times it’s just so just so big a problem that one person seems so insignificant, but it just comes down to individuals making small changes every day. As far as the issue of global warming goes, there is nothing really new in this film, but Gore does a good job of breaking down the science behind understanding global warming or ‘climate change’. Anyone could walk away from this film an understand the crisis the environment is in.

It had more of a global perspective than I thought it might – after reading an article by Gore in the green issue of Vanity Fair earlier this year (more…) that seemed to assume that if you were reading the article, you were an American and that there was only one ‘administration’.

As you would expect, there were saddening pictures of disappearing glaciers, tree felling and the terrible effects of extreme weather patterns. Even a simulation of the effect of rising sea levels on many low lying cities, and not just those in America. Thankfully the film concludes with positive actions that may make a difference.

So go see the film, and visit the website:

climatecrisis.net

I went back to work late last night to watch this film – and it was cool!

Following a handful of individuals as they prepare to compete in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, we were given insight into the personalities of some unique and eccentric puzzlers.

Irritatingly American-centric at times, the film also touches on the history of the development of the crossword puzzle and its place in the New York Times, and includes a brief mention of Margaret Farrar, the first crossword editor for the New York Times.

http://www.wordplaythemovie.com/

Another excellent film by Werner Herzog staring Klaus Kinski.

Set in the 16 century and based on records that suggest this may actually have occurred, the film re-enacts the journey taken by an army of Spanish conquistadors through the Andes in search of the mythical El Dorado, the City of Gold. Kinski is as crazy as every, and was well cast as the merciless, power hungry Aguirre, leading his army – and his lovely teenage daughter to their deaths. The scenery is breathtaking as you would expect and the film is an interesting for-ray into the dark side of human nature.

The DVD I watched also had an excellent director commentary, which is also worth listening to.