First off, I just want to apologise for my absence. I had intended to do some sort of huge epic length post explaining why I'd been away and what was to come, but well, as I'm sure you can see that just didn't come to fruition. However, I told myself I would try and do this, a new (hopefully) weekly feature, in which I talk about the movies I've been watching during that week. I know it may sound as though it's going to be about my favourite movie(s) of the week, but, putting it bluntly, it isn't. As you may or may not know, writing reviews is hard work, and this whole, not let myself watch another movie until I've reviewed the one I've just watched kind of doesn't work, because in a lot of cases, I get bored, tired, I'm not in the mood, etc. It is hard, and it is time consuming, and writing a review of every single movie I watch just isn't practical. I'll probably get around to reviewing them eventually, but basically, this is just going to be a little overview of the movies I've watched over the week, my impressions and shiz, and it should kind of tide you over, until I can bring myself to actually write a review.
Before I start however, I'd like to mention something else I intended, on doing, but decided against, and would appreciate feedback where it's concerned. If you just want to hear about my movie impressions, skip ahead to the subsequent paragraphs. What I had wanted to do, was make myself a magazine, which would be sold online to whomever wanted it, and would basically cover all the different things I'm interested in. There would be very little fact, and more opinion however, as anything I could tell you that is solid fact, could be found better in a professional magazine, or some other source, like the internet; and so everything I would put would be my opinions, and impressions on whatever it may be. A minimum of 4 movie reviews (at least one a week) per issue, Book, Game, TV and Comic reviews wherever possible, breaking news, announcements, new games/movies/etc. and my opinions on them. The reviews however would more often than not be for older things, and would therefore be drastically different from all professional magazines that cover only the latest and greatest in entertainment. I could also cover independent games, and potentially movies, having contacts in these industries, and it would give it it's own little twist to make it even more different from everything else. It would be an interesting and exciting project, I could meet new people and broaden my horizons, improve on my skills, learn new things, experience new things, and potentially make some money out of it. However, it may be for the better to get there gradually. Work on the finer points
before starting the magazine. As opposed to the magazine itself being the journey, it could be the culmination of everything I've learned on the journey, and could be bigger and better because of it, gradually getting even
still bigger and better, as I improve even further. First, I should work on my blog, youtube etc. and everything that would have been in the magazine (and possibly more) can come up here, in order to actually meet the people, and create an audience/potential fanbase for myself before starting anything big. The internet is vast, and also free, so attracting an audience won't cost me, or them, a penny. It'd be great to hear your opinions.
Anyhoo, onto the actual point of the blog: the movies I've been watching, and my impressions. First up is
The Sixth Sense, an incredibly powerful, and moving movie that really touched me, and has received rave reviews from everyone I know that's watched it. I did a bit of an impressions video for it in my second Vlog on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYHam5XpcpA. Basically it's the story of Dr Malcolm Crowe: a child psychologist who is going about his regular day to day life, trying to solve children's problems, when he discovers a child with a remarkable story, and decides to take up the case. The story is thus remarkable, because it resembles another child's problems that he failed to solve in the past, and therefore sees this child as a way of redemption for his errors. The psychologist, is Bruce Willis (more recently seen in the likes of
RED and
The Expendables), and the child is Haley Joel Osment (the
Kingdom Hearts series), and together - along with a great supporting cast - create an engaging psychological thriller full of heart-wrenching twists and turns. As it says on the box: "A real must-see-twice film".
Second: we have
Nuns on the Run (1990) a bizarre comedy that sees Robbie Coltrane (mother-f*cking
HAGRID!!!!) and Eric Idle (the voice of Merlin in
Shrek the Third) dress up as nuns to try and escape from the police, the Triads, and a bloodthirsty gang - all of the above willing to slit their throats - with a huge cash sum. Also, it has Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler in
Doctor Who!) in it. That is literally all I need to say. I loved it, go watch it now.
Next up we have
The Waterboy (1998) an interesting comedy featuring Adam Sandler (
Grown Ups,
Funny People,
You Don't Mess With the Zohan,
Bedtime Stories,
Click,
50 First Dates, Hell what hasn't this guy been in?!) as Bobby Bucher, the local Football (American football) team's Waterboy, who literally single-handedly turns the entire Sports movie genre on it's head. It's a Rom Com, it's a Sports Movie, it's a 'the nerd becomes popular' movie, and it has a lot of heart where it counts. Sure some parts can be crude, but it made me laugh, and it nearly made me cry, within the same flick.
Fourth, we have
The Hangover (2009). There is very little to be said about this movie, that hasn't already been said. Just Google it, and you'll find a myriad of reviews that all say pretty much the exact same thing. Be warned, you will literally be bent double with laughter! It shouldn't need explaining, as most people will have already seen it, but for the benefit of those who have just been awoken from under the rocks they've spent the last year or so living under - I hope it was comfortable enough for you. It's the story of a man and his friends who go off to Vegas for his 'stag do' so that they can truly have a night to remember in celebration of his marriage. Things get a little out of hand however when they wake up in the morning with their hotel room trashed, a tiger in the bathroom, Doug (the man getting married) missing, and pretty much no recollection whatsoever of what happened the night before. Now they have to find Doug, and clear up the mess they made, so that they can get back to LA for the Wedding. Very funny movie. Very
very funny movie. Please watch it. Even if you already have. Just watch it again.
Fifth (it was the last week of school, so we watched a lot) is
The Wave/Die Welle (2008), a German film about autocracy, dictatorship, fascism, and how an innocent seeming movement can spiral further and further out of control. Unfortunately we only managed to watch 2/3 of this, however we will watch the last 40 mins or so after the Christmas break, and I'll be able to offer my full impressions then, although I can tell you that it is a
very powerful and engaging film, with a lot of clear messages. Worth hunting down if you're into that sort of stuff, and don't mind reading subtitles.
Sixth is
My Best Friend/Mon Meilleur Ami (2006), a French film this time, in which a woman bets her business partner (the unlikeable François) that he has no friends and challenges him to show her his 'best friend'. Thus it dawns on him that he has no friends and a desperate struggle to find someone that he could deem his best friend ensues. Unfortunately we didn't have time to watch the last 10 minutes of the movie (which is a major pain in the ass) and so I can't comment on what I presume will be a delightful and touching ending, to go with the rest of the delightful and touching story, but that'll just have to wait and see. Well worth watching.
Seventh was
The Miracle of Bern/Das Wunder Von Bern (2003), another German film. This one I'm not entirely sure about. We only watched the second third of it, because we supposedly watched the first third sometime in 2009, and we'll not be able to watch the last part until sometime after Christmas: thus you can consider me thoroughly confuddled. It's something to do with 1954 when the German's won the World Cup, whilst still recouperating from WWII... and eating your own rabbits. Yeah, that was the note we ended on. "WTF? He's just eaten his own fricking rabbit?!!?" "And that's about all we have time for, have a nice Christmas and I'll see you in January!"..... Seriously.
Eighth was
Shaun of the Dead (2004), and unfortunately I didn't get to watch all of this one either. I saw up until the part where they have to go and save his mam, and then the next time I see it, they're rescuing Sarah or whatever his bird is called so they can go to the Winchester. Confluffling having different classes with different people and watching different movies but whatever I guess. I will definitely get around to this one though. It's basically a rom-com with Zombies. Look at the box. Look at reviews on the internet. If you haven't seen this movie already (this advice is totally hypocritical considering
I haven't seen it properly yet), go and watch it
RIGHT NOW!
And finally, I saw
Casino Royale (2006). Incredibly, this was the first Bond movie I ever saw, and I must say it was a life changing experience. Watching it for the first time at 14, I am highly, HIGHLY impressed, and would rather like to see every single one of the other movies in the series (yes even the crappy* Timothy Dalton ones) dating back to I believe it was 1962. Lots of fun times there then.
Casino Royale is basically James Bond before he became 007, and about becoming 007, and it was also the movie that got me interested in Texas Hold 'Em (
Red Dead Redemption is potentially teaching me how to play it) and overall, it's just James Bond. What more can you say? Everybody who's anybody has at the very
least heard of him.
Anyhoo, this has been my overview of the movies I watched this week. It's only now writing about them that I realise I've seen 9! Sheesh! It'll probably not be that many usually, but nonetheless, I will try and keep this up every week. It'll probably be something I throw up on a Sunday, or the Monday after the week. Stay tuned this Boxing Day/Boxing Boxing Day for #2, and make sure to check out everything else I put on here, and also check me out elsewhere.
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