venerdì 26 dicembre 2014
Circle du soleil: worlds away
Beautiful, enchanting, wonderful. I love it. The acrobats are amazing, yes, but of course it's not just that, this is not a normal circus, where you have separate performances, no no, this is different, this is an experience. They are all together, and there's a plotline. Here, we see a girl coming to watch the Circus Marvelous. She exchange glances with the aerialist, then a strange clown gives her a flier of the guy's performance, and she goes to watch it. She's admiring him when he misses a catch and falls down. She jumps up to help him, but the soil gives way and they both are transported to the magical world of the cirque du soleil, where she wanders from tent to tent in search for him, but in every tent there are different situations, full of colors, flying acrobats, swimming acrobats, wall acrobats, trampoline's acrobats... strange animals that threatens her, but in the end they finally meet each other and then he flies for her, then he picks her up and they fly together... yes when I say fly I mean attached to a rope, doing acrobatic numbers, of course, but it's so beautiful, they're truly amazing. It is all so marvelous!! I have never seen them live, I wish I had, it's amazing.
An adventure in space and time - 2013
Written by Mark Gatiss :-) It's the story of how Dr. Who was conceived and brought to life, and its early years, the Hartnell era we might say.
The story of how Sydney Newman's idea for a new show would turn out to be the legend of The Doctor. A show for the kids, that grown-ups would like as well, so he wanted it to have a beautiful woman and a handsome man in it, with a old man and a kid who would get always into trouble, and thought that the main character had to be a doctor, to be autoritative and reassuring at the same time. Newman promoted Verity Lambert as producer of the show. They chose William Hartnell as the star.Despite difficulties at the beginning, Verity and Sidney believed very much in the show, and kept it going. It soon had a huge success, but eventually Hartnell started to be too old and ill to keep up with it. so Sidney came up with an idea to keep the show alive despite losing their main star. Regenerating the doctor, thus being able to have another actor in the same role.
It's was a lovely tv movie, and the actor really resembled the people they were portraying. David Bradley was William Hartnell, and I've seen the first episodes they were talking about, and it was lovely to watch this. Brian Cox played Newman, and Jessica Raine was Verity: here it shows again how bad I am with faces. As soon as I saw her I thought, I know her, I've seen this actress before, but couldn't place her, then I researched her and immediately saw it : she was Jenny Lee in Call The Midwife.
This was a lovely, affectionate tribute to the story, the legacy of Doctor Who. It made me cry when Hartnell in his home cried and said "I don't want to go" and then in the last episode he (or we) saw Matt Smith standing there with him by the Tardis. Heartbreaking, exactly as it happened to my doctor, Ten, before Eleven arrived. Oh my poor heart.
One day I should rewatch those specials in order to talk about them properly, but right now I'm not strong enough, I'm not sure I can take it.
The story of how Sydney Newman's idea for a new show would turn out to be the legend of The Doctor. A show for the kids, that grown-ups would like as well, so he wanted it to have a beautiful woman and a handsome man in it, with a old man and a kid who would get always into trouble, and thought that the main character had to be a doctor, to be autoritative and reassuring at the same time. Newman promoted Verity Lambert as producer of the show. They chose William Hartnell as the star.Despite difficulties at the beginning, Verity and Sidney believed very much in the show, and kept it going. It soon had a huge success, but eventually Hartnell started to be too old and ill to keep up with it. so Sidney came up with an idea to keep the show alive despite losing their main star. Regenerating the doctor, thus being able to have another actor in the same role.
It's was a lovely tv movie, and the actor really resembled the people they were portraying. David Bradley was William Hartnell, and I've seen the first episodes they were talking about, and it was lovely to watch this. Brian Cox played Newman, and Jessica Raine was Verity: here it shows again how bad I am with faces. As soon as I saw her I thought, I know her, I've seen this actress before, but couldn't place her, then I researched her and immediately saw it : she was Jenny Lee in Call The Midwife.
This was a lovely, affectionate tribute to the story, the legacy of Doctor Who. It made me cry when Hartnell in his home cried and said "I don't want to go" and then in the last episode he (or we) saw Matt Smith standing there with him by the Tardis. Heartbreaking, exactly as it happened to my doctor, Ten, before Eleven arrived. Oh my poor heart.
One day I should rewatch those specials in order to talk about them properly, but right now I'm not strong enough, I'm not sure I can take it.
It's a wonderful life - 1946
I love this movie, always has. I rewatched it now, for Christmas. As always it made me cry, but it ends well, of course. I like how it starts, with Heaven hearing all the town's people praying for the same person. First half of the movie is then to know George Bailey and his life, how he always wanted to travel, but he never did because he had to take his father's place after he died, and then he stayed in order to allow his brother to accept a good job in his wife's father firm. How George never went to a university because he had to lead the Bailey's Building and loan or else it would have closed, and the horrible, greedy, cold Mr Henry Potter would have won. Second half of the movie is about his worst crisis, when his uncle has lost all their money, 8.000 dollars, and George is now risking failure, closure, bankrupt and prison. He doesn't know what to do, it seems this is the end, and he is thinking of killing himself, when angel Clarence throws himself in the river to save him :-p yeah, because as soon as George sees a man in the river shouting for help, he only thinks about saving him. Clarence has been sent to help George, and when George says he would like to have never been born, Clarence granted his wish to show him what the world would be without him. His brother would have died at 8 years old because George wasn't there to save him, therefore his mother would have lost her only son. The man he worked for as a boy would have spent 20 years in jail for poisoning a boy, because when he was devastated for his son's death he put poison into a medicine by mistake, and George wasn't there to help him, Mary would have never married, and so on, things like that. Potter would have taken hold of the whole city, and everything would be different. George at the end cries and prays to have his family back, to be allowed to live and have his family with him again. Granted. He goes back to find his house is again there, and his four children are there to greet him, and his wife is so worried for him, and has gone through the city saying George is in trouble and everyone wanted to help him and now they're bringing in money. All the people of the town tipping in to help him, and a telegram from his rich friend saying whatever he needs he can have it. And a last goodbye from Clarence: No man is a failure who has friends.
George Bailey is played by James Stewart, and I've always liked him. Donna Reed was Mary, a lovely character. Lionel Barrymore was the horrible Mr Potter who stole their 8.000 dollars and then tried to have him arrested. Thomas Mitchell was that disaster of a uncle Billy. Henry Travers was sweet gentle angel Clarence.
I love it. It's a classic for a reason. :-)
George Bailey is played by James Stewart, and I've always liked him. Donna Reed was Mary, a lovely character. Lionel Barrymore was the horrible Mr Potter who stole their 8.000 dollars and then tried to have him arrested. Thomas Mitchell was that disaster of a uncle Billy. Henry Travers was sweet gentle angel Clarence.
I love it. It's a classic for a reason. :-)
mercoledì 24 dicembre 2014
チと千尋の神隠し (Chihiro)
The Japanese animated movie written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, which says it all, honestly. There has never been a Miyazaki movie that wasn't good!
This one, it's beautiful, I love it very much. It might seem strangely weird to western people, but it's not; it's sweet and poetic and yes, a bit strange but in a positive "this is a dream" way. According to films and mangas, Japanese culture is full with ghosts, spirits and other reatures of the sort. It's like when western movies are full of angels: same thing.
It tells the story of little girl Chihiro, forced to move to a new town. Her parents are driving her there now, but her father makes a wrong turn, and decides not to go back. He's one of those guys, you know : Trust me, I know a shortcut! or Don't worry, this car is a four-wheel drive!- yeah, I know that kind.. eventually they must stop because the road he took has a dead end, but they see a tunnel and get curious. Chihiro wants to go back, begs them not to enter the tunnel, but they don't listen to her: tsk, only because she's a child they never listen to her, poor kid!
They want to explore and reach a deserted village where they find a place with hot, deliciously-smelling food. There are no people anywhere, still the food seems freshly made, and it's a lot. Chihiro doesn't like this, but mom and dad start eating the stuff: Don't worry Chihiro, I've got a credit card!! That man always knows what's the important thing *rolling eyes* poor Chihiro growing up with them.
Alone, she wanders away to a bridge where a boy warns her to run away before sun goes down. She does, smart girl. Not like some characters in other movies where as soon as they are told "run, quick, it's dangerous" they immediately put their foot down, and start raising their voice and asking questions until the baddies arrive and they are in trouble, including the poor soul who tried to warn them.
Unfortunately when she goes back she finds that her parents are now two big pigs, and I mean literally, they have been transformed! Here starts a big adventure for little Chihiro, when she almost disappear and finds a job inside a bathhouse for spirits of any sorts: no one is refused access if they can pay :-/
She will face danger, but luckily she finds a friend in Haku, the guy that warned her before. He's a rather misterious character, saying he doesn't remember his own name since Yubaba took it, but somehow remembers hers, saying he knows her since she was little. I like Haku very much, and it bothered me when Lin said to Chihiro "don't trust him", but Chihiro does, because that same day while all the others sleep (they work the nights and sleep during the day) he calls her and she sneaks out without doubt. :-) Good Chihiro, always following her big good heart :-) Even when it seems to bring her trouble, like when she lets in the spirit without face, that feels so lonely and nobody wants, and that attracts people by means of rich gifts and then kind-of-eats them, but not Chihiro: when he offers her richies, she simply replies thanks but no thanks "I don't need it" :-D so he takes an interest in her and she cures him (thus saving those that had been swallowed) and even finds him a home :-) I guess he liked her because she was the only one who had been kind simply out of kindness, without hidden agendas, with no greed just politeness.
I liked this NoFace story, because when people make a lot of fuss because someone is giving them gold, that is just greed, not honest interest, and one somehow feels even more lonely than before. The more he eats the more he wants, he's never satisfied, because the void inside can't be filled by all that. With Chihiro, he won't be needing any of it. Anyway, back to Chihiro, one day she sees Haku in his dragon form, and he's badly hurt, and she's worried sick for him, and she goes to many risks to save him. He had stolen something from the bad witch Yubaba's sister witch Zeniba. Funny how Yubaba could not recogniza her baby after he had been transformed, but Chihiro had no difficulty in recognizing her parents in pig form: one could say that she was looking with her heart and with her love, not with her eyes.
Haku is touched by what Chihiro did, and makes a deal with Yubaba to let her go. When Haku and Chihiro are flying together, Chihiro finally remembers when she had met him before. When she was little she had fallen into a river but it had saved her, and at this point I screamed "Haku is the spirit of the river!!!" happily because rivers are important and usually rich, and although Haku's river doesn't exist anymore, houses and stuff have taken its place now, so Haku is without a home, at least now he remembers who he is and what's his real name, thanks to Chihiro. That's why he knew her, and knew he wanted to help her. :-) That was beautiful :-) I liked
him a lot and like Chihiro I too went "I knew you were good" :-)
I liked this film very very much. It was sweet, magical, poetic, full of heart, love and good feelings. It deserves all the awards it got! Hayao Miyazaki has done another masterpiece. :-)
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
ENG spirited away
ITA la città incantata
This one, it's beautiful, I love it very much. It might seem strangely weird to western people, but it's not; it's sweet and poetic and yes, a bit strange but in a positive "this is a dream" way. According to films and mangas, Japanese culture is full with ghosts, spirits and other reatures of the sort. It's like when western movies are full of angels: same thing.
It tells the story of little girl Chihiro, forced to move to a new town. Her parents are driving her there now, but her father makes a wrong turn, and decides not to go back. He's one of those guys, you know : Trust me, I know a shortcut! or Don't worry, this car is a four-wheel drive!- yeah, I know that kind.. eventually they must stop because the road he took has a dead end, but they see a tunnel and get curious. Chihiro wants to go back, begs them not to enter the tunnel, but they don't listen to her: tsk, only because she's a child they never listen to her, poor kid!
They want to explore and reach a deserted village where they find a place with hot, deliciously-smelling food. There are no people anywhere, still the food seems freshly made, and it's a lot. Chihiro doesn't like this, but mom and dad start eating the stuff: Don't worry Chihiro, I've got a credit card!! That man always knows what's the important thing *rolling eyes* poor Chihiro growing up with them.
Alone, she wanders away to a bridge where a boy warns her to run away before sun goes down. She does, smart girl. Not like some characters in other movies where as soon as they are told "run, quick, it's dangerous" they immediately put their foot down, and start raising their voice and asking questions until the baddies arrive and they are in trouble, including the poor soul who tried to warn them.
Unfortunately when she goes back she finds that her parents are now two big pigs, and I mean literally, they have been transformed! Here starts a big adventure for little Chihiro, when she almost disappear and finds a job inside a bathhouse for spirits of any sorts: no one is refused access if they can pay :-/
She will face danger, but luckily she finds a friend in Haku, the guy that warned her before. He's a rather misterious character, saying he doesn't remember his own name since Yubaba took it, but somehow remembers hers, saying he knows her since she was little. I like Haku very much, and it bothered me when Lin said to Chihiro "don't trust him", but Chihiro does, because that same day while all the others sleep (they work the nights and sleep during the day) he calls her and she sneaks out without doubt. :-) Good Chihiro, always following her big good heart :-) Even when it seems to bring her trouble, like when she lets in the spirit without face, that feels so lonely and nobody wants, and that attracts people by means of rich gifts and then kind-of-eats them, but not Chihiro: when he offers her richies, she simply replies thanks but no thanks "I don't need it" :-D so he takes an interest in her and she cures him (thus saving those that had been swallowed) and even finds him a home :-) I guess he liked her because she was the only one who had been kind simply out of kindness, without hidden agendas, with no greed just politeness.
I liked this NoFace story, because when people make a lot of fuss because someone is giving them gold, that is just greed, not honest interest, and one somehow feels even more lonely than before. The more he eats the more he wants, he's never satisfied, because the void inside can't be filled by all that. With Chihiro, he won't be needing any of it. Anyway, back to Chihiro, one day she sees Haku in his dragon form, and he's badly hurt, and she's worried sick for him, and she goes to many risks to save him. He had stolen something from the bad witch Yubaba's sister witch Zeniba. Funny how Yubaba could not recogniza her baby after he had been transformed, but Chihiro had no difficulty in recognizing her parents in pig form: one could say that she was looking with her heart and with her love, not with her eyes.
Haku is touched by what Chihiro did, and makes a deal with Yubaba to let her go. When Haku and Chihiro are flying together, Chihiro finally remembers when she had met him before. When she was little she had fallen into a river but it had saved her, and at this point I screamed "Haku is the spirit of the river!!!" happily because rivers are important and usually rich, and although Haku's river doesn't exist anymore, houses and stuff have taken its place now, so Haku is without a home, at least now he remembers who he is and what's his real name, thanks to Chihiro. That's why he knew her, and knew he wanted to help her. :-) That was beautiful :-) I liked
him a lot and like Chihiro I too went "I knew you were good" :-)
I liked this film very very much. It was sweet, magical, poetic, full of heart, love and good feelings. It deserves all the awards it got! Hayao Miyazaki has done another masterpiece. :-)
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
ENG spirited away
ITA la città incantata
Men in Black III - 2012
I like it. Sure it'll never be like the first one, but as number threes go it's not that bad. :-) This movie is actually better than the second one.
Story is: In 1969 K stopped a murderer and saved the Earth putting up in space a protective shield against a very aggressive alien race. He took him prisoner after cutting off one of his arms, and a special prison was built on the moon to contain him. It so happens now that Boris the animal (Jemaine Clement) escapes and wants revenge against K, but not just that! Boris finds a rare device that can take him to the past, and uses it. He wants to help his younger self kill K and stop the shield from ever being activated. Without K and the shield, the Earth will be conquered, and we have a nice image of alien ship all over town. Agent J goes back in time to stop it from happening. End of plot. Now on with the details. Boris' look can be either very cool or rather disgusting, depending on the point of view. It very nicely done, very well thought, impressive, so seen from the outside it a cool job; the character though is disgusting.
The new chief Agent O (Emma Thompson) has a small role, and I must say how I dislike the strange noises she made at Zed's funeral. What I liked was J (Will Smith) doing a K (Tommy Lee Jones) impersonation :lol: trying to speak like him :lol: I liked that :-)
After their first little battle, J says "Man, I'm getting too old for this. I can only imagine how you feel!" :lol: Truth be told, he is right, K is getting a bit old now...
How funny was the little child, when J was craving for milk chocolate, saying "Mommy the President is drinking my milk" :lol:
For everybody else now K was killed in 1969, but J still remembers it because he was there when it all happened... so now he goes back hunting Boris, wanting to kill him before he could do anything, but he's stopped by younger K (Josh Brolin) who works with a young O (Alice Eve). J does a nice recap for us all here: "I'm an agent of the Men in Black, but I'm from the future, We're partners. 25 years from now you're gonna recruit me and 14 years after that the guy you didn't let me kill today at Coney Island, he escapes from prison and jumps back in the past and unleashes a full-scale invasion of Earth. We got about 19 hours to catch him and kill him so, really, we need to go right now". Okay.
They work together, they meet Andy Warhol, who is really a MIB under cover: Agent W. They also meet Griffin who can see all possible futures and who gives K the Arc Net. They go to Cape Canaveral to plant it on the rocket to the moon, but the two Boris are waiting for them. J deals with future Boris, while K shoots off one of past-Boris arms. Then K's life is saved by a colonel that dies in his place. J is watching not too far away, and discovers with us that that colonel was actually his father: that's why at the end of the movie he said he had grown up without a father. This time, though, K follows J's previous advice and does not arrest Boris, he shoots and kills him instead. Back to our days, J finds old K alive and well, and life goes on.
At first I wasn't too convinced about a Mib film with so little TL Jones in it, the idea of Josh Brolin didn't seem so right, but after watching it I must take a step back and admit that it is. Brolin does a good job, he's a good young K, copying a bit of TLJ's ways, just enough but not too much because the character had changed after what happened. For examples, the way he looked straight at J before saying Okay was very much like TLJ, but he also was more loose, more open. K changed after that because of the colonel's death, and meeting little James touched him deeply.
Story is: In 1969 K stopped a murderer and saved the Earth putting up in space a protective shield against a very aggressive alien race. He took him prisoner after cutting off one of his arms, and a special prison was built on the moon to contain him. It so happens now that Boris the animal (Jemaine Clement) escapes and wants revenge against K, but not just that! Boris finds a rare device that can take him to the past, and uses it. He wants to help his younger self kill K and stop the shield from ever being activated. Without K and the shield, the Earth will be conquered, and we have a nice image of alien ship all over town. Agent J goes back in time to stop it from happening. End of plot. Now on with the details. Boris' look can be either very cool or rather disgusting, depending on the point of view. It very nicely done, very well thought, impressive, so seen from the outside it a cool job; the character though is disgusting.
The new chief Agent O (Emma Thompson) has a small role, and I must say how I dislike the strange noises she made at Zed's funeral. What I liked was J (Will Smith) doing a K (Tommy Lee Jones) impersonation :lol: trying to speak like him :lol: I liked that :-)
After their first little battle, J says "Man, I'm getting too old for this. I can only imagine how you feel!" :lol: Truth be told, he is right, K is getting a bit old now...
How funny was the little child, when J was craving for milk chocolate, saying "Mommy the President is drinking my milk" :lol:
For everybody else now K was killed in 1969, but J still remembers it because he was there when it all happened... so now he goes back hunting Boris, wanting to kill him before he could do anything, but he's stopped by younger K (Josh Brolin) who works with a young O (Alice Eve). J does a nice recap for us all here: "I'm an agent of the Men in Black, but I'm from the future, We're partners. 25 years from now you're gonna recruit me and 14 years after that the guy you didn't let me kill today at Coney Island, he escapes from prison and jumps back in the past and unleashes a full-scale invasion of Earth. We got about 19 hours to catch him and kill him so, really, we need to go right now". Okay.
They work together, they meet Andy Warhol, who is really a MIB under cover: Agent W. They also meet Griffin who can see all possible futures and who gives K the Arc Net. They go to Cape Canaveral to plant it on the rocket to the moon, but the two Boris are waiting for them. J deals with future Boris, while K shoots off one of past-Boris arms. Then K's life is saved by a colonel that dies in his place. J is watching not too far away, and discovers with us that that colonel was actually his father: that's why at the end of the movie he said he had grown up without a father. This time, though, K follows J's previous advice and does not arrest Boris, he shoots and kills him instead. Back to our days, J finds old K alive and well, and life goes on.
At first I wasn't too convinced about a Mib film with so little TL Jones in it, the idea of Josh Brolin didn't seem so right, but after watching it I must take a step back and admit that it is. Brolin does a good job, he's a good young K, copying a bit of TLJ's ways, just enough but not too much because the character had changed after what happened. For examples, the way he looked straight at J before saying Okay was very much like TLJ, but he also was more loose, more open. K changed after that because of the colonel's death, and meeting little James touched him deeply.
martedì 23 dicembre 2014
Madagascar 3: Europe's most wanted - 2012
Another one of their stories, where the zebra is even louder and the plot is even sillier. There are a few nice things, mostly related to the penguins of course, but aside from that I did not like it. In details, what I liked was: the line "only people and penguins can drive!" :-D ; penguins's pride: "no brakes?? Way to commit, soldier!" :lol: ; when the penguins said out loud what I was thinking : "status report?" - "The good news it, this song is almost over" oh good. I laughed when, after the lion screamed, the penguin said "don't make it any easier on the psycho!" :lol:
I liked it a lot when I heard the song "Con te partirò" performed by Andrea Bocelli. I was glad to see that they took a Ducati, in Rome, and not a Vespa, but it lasted only two seconds because right away the bad guys followed them in a whole row of Vespa. I haven't seen so many Vespa together in... I don't know, since the last Vespa-enthusiasts event, whenever that was. Come on, American moviemakers, may I remind you that "Roman Holiday" dates back to 1953??
Very boring things were the bad hunter-woman chasing them to hang the lion's head on her wall: I didn't like her but I guess she would scare a little child; all the songs and the dancing: boring and excessive! King Julien, as always, but I guess I'm alone in this since his part has been made a lot bigger in the two sequels, so it would appear that people like him, or that at least children like him. At least they didn't put the old granny in France too!
I liked it a lot when I heard the song "Con te partirò" performed by Andrea Bocelli. I was glad to see that they took a Ducati, in Rome, and not a Vespa, but it lasted only two seconds because right away the bad guys followed them in a whole row of Vespa. I haven't seen so many Vespa together in... I don't know, since the last Vespa-enthusiasts event, whenever that was. Come on, American moviemakers, may I remind you that "Roman Holiday" dates back to 1953??
Very boring things were the bad hunter-woman chasing them to hang the lion's head on her wall: I didn't like her but I guess she would scare a little child; all the songs and the dancing: boring and excessive! King Julien, as always, but I guess I'm alone in this since his part has been made a lot bigger in the two sequels, so it would appear that people like him, or that at least children like him. At least they didn't put the old granny in France too!
Dark shadows - 2012
I must confess I don't know anything about the original Dark Shadows old tv series, so I'm not commenting on that. Just this movie. Which is pointless and boring, in my personal opinion. I don't know why, in theory I should like this movie. The "ingredients" are all good, but somehow I don't like it. At all. I mean Tim Burton:good Johnny Depp:good Michelle Pfeiffer:good Helena Bonham Carter:good Jonny Lee Miller:good Chloe Moretz:good and yet I didn't like it. JL Miller's character was low and plain boring, and I didn't like his look. HB Carter's character was plain too, neither of them seemed to have a real useful role in the whole thing. Michelle seems sort of different: is it the makeup or has she done something to her lips? God, I hope not, that'd be a crime.
Eva Green as Angelique was... well, not too bad but not very captivating altogether. Boring, she was. A lot in this movie was boring, there was nothing exciting.
The story is simple: rich Barnabas Collins has a sex story with Angelique, one of his servants, and she falls in love with him but he doesn't care for her at all, and tells her clearly. She's a witch, and can have her vengeance as she likes it. She decides to kill the girl that he loved and then to turn him into a vampire- he had tried to kill himself after losing his love but "Angelique had cursed me to be a vampire so that my suffering would never end". Not satisfied, of course, she turns the town against him, so they bury him. She goes on living forever young, making money while his family slowly goes towards the ruin. He accidentally gets dug up in 1972 and he goes back to his family. He wants to bring his family's business back on top, but Angelique won't let him win. She wants either his love or his destruction. They have sex once, and that scene is so ridiculous, not funny at all. Boring. Anyway, story repeats itself and Barnabas states again he doesn't love her, so they're enemies again. At the end, during the battle, Angelique confesses while she's winning that it was all her doing: she turned Carolyn into a werewolf, killed David's mother and Barnabas's parents, but than David's mother's ghost kills her. :-D Good! The house goes on fire but the family is safe. His beloved Victoria, so similar to the girl he was in love with years ago, forces him to make her a vampire: she throws herself off the same cliff that saw Josette's death, so he's forced to bite her in order to save her. We see that they both open their eyes, meaning they both survived because they're both vampires, and yet he says "my curse has finally been broken"... What??? Are they vampires or not? Because if they are, the curse is not broken, he only has brought another vampire into town, I mean who cares about the townspeople, we don't even know their names right? What's the problem if now there are two vampires that need feeding... but if they're not vampires then they shouldn't be alive... and we know they are.
I liked a few lines though, like at the beginning, Barnabas's speech: "of all the servants I could have spurned, all the hearts I could have broken, I got the one with the secret. I got the witch" nice speech, this will teach you to use a poor servant for lust when your intentions are nothing noble!
When Carolyn says "Are you stoned or something?" and Barnabas replies "they tried stoning me, my dear. It did not work" :lol:
The scene when little Maggie was sent away by her parents because they thought she was crazy was so sad.
And there was Alice Cooper! The real Alice Cooper, singing at Barnabas's party.
Eva Green as Angelique was... well, not too bad but not very captivating altogether. Boring, she was. A lot in this movie was boring, there was nothing exciting.
The story is simple: rich Barnabas Collins has a sex story with Angelique, one of his servants, and she falls in love with him but he doesn't care for her at all, and tells her clearly. She's a witch, and can have her vengeance as she likes it. She decides to kill the girl that he loved and then to turn him into a vampire- he had tried to kill himself after losing his love but "Angelique had cursed me to be a vampire so that my suffering would never end". Not satisfied, of course, she turns the town against him, so they bury him. She goes on living forever young, making money while his family slowly goes towards the ruin. He accidentally gets dug up in 1972 and he goes back to his family. He wants to bring his family's business back on top, but Angelique won't let him win. She wants either his love or his destruction. They have sex once, and that scene is so ridiculous, not funny at all. Boring. Anyway, story repeats itself and Barnabas states again he doesn't love her, so they're enemies again. At the end, during the battle, Angelique confesses while she's winning that it was all her doing: she turned Carolyn into a werewolf, killed David's mother and Barnabas's parents, but than David's mother's ghost kills her. :-D Good! The house goes on fire but the family is safe. His beloved Victoria, so similar to the girl he was in love with years ago, forces him to make her a vampire: she throws herself off the same cliff that saw Josette's death, so he's forced to bite her in order to save her. We see that they both open their eyes, meaning they both survived because they're both vampires, and yet he says "my curse has finally been broken"... What??? Are they vampires or not? Because if they are, the curse is not broken, he only has brought another vampire into town, I mean who cares about the townspeople, we don't even know their names right? What's the problem if now there are two vampires that need feeding... but if they're not vampires then they shouldn't be alive... and we know they are.
I liked a few lines though, like at the beginning, Barnabas's speech: "of all the servants I could have spurned, all the hearts I could have broken, I got the one with the secret. I got the witch" nice speech, this will teach you to use a poor servant for lust when your intentions are nothing noble!
When Carolyn says "Are you stoned or something?" and Barnabas replies "they tried stoning me, my dear. It did not work" :lol:
The scene when little Maggie was sent away by her parents because they thought she was crazy was so sad.
And there was Alice Cooper! The real Alice Cooper, singing at Barnabas's party.
Red - 2010
Lots of fun in this loud action toy. :-D I liked it. Red means Retired extremely dangerous :lol: It starts quietly enough, for a few minutes, with retired Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) throwing away his cheques so that he can call again the girl at the pension department to ask for another one, an excuse to talk to her... but then he gets attacked in his own house, with a big big waste of bullets, and the adventure begins. First thing first he goes to Kansas City to get her because, he reasons, they were monitoring him so they know he likes her, so now she's in danger. Practically Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) gets home to find him inside, a man she only talked to on the phone but never met is inside her house, acting all normal, and of course she understandably freaks out. He has prepared her baggage, dusted the floor while waiting, and now he ties her up and brings her in the car. She'll feel abducted for a while longer, until the time when she frees herself and calls the police, and the bad guys intercept the call and she's in danger, but Frank comes in time to save her, and from that moment on she'll be a little quieter and he won't tie her up again.
Frank enlists the help of other retired agents: Joe (Morgan Freeman): they catch up quickly: I have a girlfriend (!?!?!); a commando came to kill me. Identify them for me, and Frank gives Joe a few fingers he took from the men that came to his house to kill him.
Marvin (John Malkovich) who seems completely crazy but Sarah's right, if he really got secretely drugged with LSD for 11 years then, wow, he's a flower.
Victoria (Helen Mirren) who like the others didn't find it easy to adjust to retirement. What a marvellous, beautiful woman, I like her very much.
Ivan Simonov (Brian Cox), not exactly a friend of course, but he needs his help to break into the Cia headquarters! Yep, he does! And brings Sarah with him...
Anyway, he goes to the archive where Henry the record keeper (Ernest Borgnine) helps him, then he has a fight with Cooper in order to steal his badge; his fight with Cooper was fun. My poor William Cooper , but to be fair he was still bad at this point. Still, the line "Cooper?? 6 foot tall, cute hair?" was nice :-) "hair was cute" confirms Henry :lol:
So, it would appear that in 1981 Robert Stanton (Julian McMahon) ,now Vice-President of the United States, did some kind of bad mess, I don't remember exactly, maybe he destroyed a village full of innocent people, I really don't know. Because of this, they become convinced that all of this is his fault, that he wants them dead to hide forever what he did. They learn this interrogating Dunning (Richard Dreyfuss), but they are surrounded. Joe sacrifices himself to let them go, but he was ill so maybe in a way he liked it better this way. They run away, but Sarah falls and is taken. Frank wants her back, but most of all wants to be sure she won't be harmed.
It's such an intense scene when Frank calls Cooper and Cooper acts all tough, until he learns that he's calling from his home! "I can't think of anything more horrible than to know that your enemies can hurt someone that you love. The feeling is almost indescribable" - Cooper is freezed with terror: "please..." and of course he promises not to harm Sarah in any way, but as soon as the call stops, he runs to his house with an army, only to find his family perfectly alright, probably didn't notice a thing. Frank could have... but he didn't.
Then there's a whole thing when they try to reach the vice-president, and a lot of agents in charge of his protection are killed for nothing, let me tell you, because they weren't the bad guys, but in movies like this nobody cares about them. At the end of all that waste of bullets, they abduct the vice-president and propose a swap: him for Sarah. It turns out it wasn't Stanton after all, it was Dunning.
Frank confesses to Sarah, not sure if he really wasn't sure he would make it out alive or if it was simply for show: "I tore up all those cheques. I just wanted to talk to you", but realising what has been going on and who the bad guy really is, Cooper helps Frank so all the good guys are safe and sound. Frank has won over his girlfriend, and there are no hard feelings with Cooper :-)
There's a scene that was in all the trailers because it's so cool: silly, even stupid, totally absurd, but in this kind of film it's ok: I love it! Sooo cool, when temporarely-bad-guy William Cooper (Karl Urban) is chasing after Frank right after he saved Sarah, and he hits them with his car. Frank's car starts to turn and Frank simply opens the door and in slow motion he quietly puts a foot on the floor and starts walking on in the road while the car keeps turning behind him, and starts shooting towards Cooper. :lol: it's fun :lol:
It was much more stupid the fact that that woman instead of shooting them would insist on launching rockets at them! Come on, they were right in front of her, a few meters ahead, on foot, and she uses a one-shot device which is so very slower than a gun already in an agent's hand... This was so stupid. Still, probably Marvin's line "old man my ass" is the most popular of the film.
When they investigate together, Sarah talks to Mrs Chan, played by Emily Kuroda. I remember her as Mrs. Kim from Gilmore Girls show.
Ivan was so romantic "three bullets in the chest. When I woke alive, I knew she still loved me. Or else it would have been the head. It was big risk for her, of course, but, one does crazy things for love"
Frank enlists the help of other retired agents: Joe (Morgan Freeman): they catch up quickly: I have a girlfriend (!?!?!); a commando came to kill me. Identify them for me, and Frank gives Joe a few fingers he took from the men that came to his house to kill him.
Marvin (John Malkovich) who seems completely crazy but Sarah's right, if he really got secretely drugged with LSD for 11 years then, wow, he's a flower.
Victoria (Helen Mirren) who like the others didn't find it easy to adjust to retirement. What a marvellous, beautiful woman, I like her very much.
Ivan Simonov (Brian Cox), not exactly a friend of course, but he needs his help to break into the Cia headquarters! Yep, he does! And brings Sarah with him...
Anyway, he goes to the archive where Henry the record keeper (Ernest Borgnine) helps him, then he has a fight with Cooper in order to steal his badge; his fight with Cooper was fun. My poor William Cooper , but to be fair he was still bad at this point. Still, the line "Cooper?? 6 foot tall, cute hair?" was nice :-) "hair was cute" confirms Henry :lol:
So, it would appear that in 1981 Robert Stanton (Julian McMahon) ,now Vice-President of the United States, did some kind of bad mess, I don't remember exactly, maybe he destroyed a village full of innocent people, I really don't know. Because of this, they become convinced that all of this is his fault, that he wants them dead to hide forever what he did. They learn this interrogating Dunning (Richard Dreyfuss), but they are surrounded. Joe sacrifices himself to let them go, but he was ill so maybe in a way he liked it better this way. They run away, but Sarah falls and is taken. Frank wants her back, but most of all wants to be sure she won't be harmed.
It's such an intense scene when Frank calls Cooper and Cooper acts all tough, until he learns that he's calling from his home! "I can't think of anything more horrible than to know that your enemies can hurt someone that you love. The feeling is almost indescribable" - Cooper is freezed with terror: "please..." and of course he promises not to harm Sarah in any way, but as soon as the call stops, he runs to his house with an army, only to find his family perfectly alright, probably didn't notice a thing. Frank could have... but he didn't.
Then there's a whole thing when they try to reach the vice-president, and a lot of agents in charge of his protection are killed for nothing, let me tell you, because they weren't the bad guys, but in movies like this nobody cares about them. At the end of all that waste of bullets, they abduct the vice-president and propose a swap: him for Sarah. It turns out it wasn't Stanton after all, it was Dunning.
Frank confesses to Sarah, not sure if he really wasn't sure he would make it out alive or if it was simply for show: "I tore up all those cheques. I just wanted to talk to you", but realising what has been going on and who the bad guy really is, Cooper helps Frank so all the good guys are safe and sound. Frank has won over his girlfriend, and there are no hard feelings with Cooper :-)
There's a scene that was in all the trailers because it's so cool: silly, even stupid, totally absurd, but in this kind of film it's ok: I love it! Sooo cool, when temporarely-bad-guy William Cooper (Karl Urban) is chasing after Frank right after he saved Sarah, and he hits them with his car. Frank's car starts to turn and Frank simply opens the door and in slow motion he quietly puts a foot on the floor and starts walking on in the road while the car keeps turning behind him, and starts shooting towards Cooper. :lol: it's fun :lol:
It was much more stupid the fact that that woman instead of shooting them would insist on launching rockets at them! Come on, they were right in front of her, a few meters ahead, on foot, and she uses a one-shot device which is so very slower than a gun already in an agent's hand... This was so stupid. Still, probably Marvin's line "old man my ass" is the most popular of the film.
When they investigate together, Sarah talks to Mrs Chan, played by Emily Kuroda. I remember her as Mrs. Kim from Gilmore Girls show.
Ivan was so romantic "three bullets in the chest. When I woke alive, I knew she still loved me. Or else it would have been the head. It was big risk for her, of course, but, one does crazy things for love"
lunedì 22 dicembre 2014
Legend - 1985
I watched Legend tonight, for the first time. Yeah, I had never seen it, can you believe it? It's a real shame, because I would have loved it years ago. I can still recognize the things I would have loved, but unfortunately I'm all grown up now, and all is different, the magic doesn't shine like it did when I was fifteen and still believed that there was magic in the world, that good always triumph, that most people are good, and all that kind of silly things. I can still see how I would have loved Lily's dress (Mia Sara), and her running through the forest... I'm sure that's what I would have loved the most. I read in the credits that Tim Curry and Robert Picardo (!) were in this film, but I honestly have no idea what part they were playing. Young Tom Cruise was cute, sure, but the fighting scenes were kind of ridiculous: no surprise there, though, because I know only too well that every fantasy movie before the Peter Jackson-Lotr era was never taken seriously. Never.
The fights were boring and ridiculous, it seemed to me like they were so long! I wanted to fast-forward them, but it was on tv, so..
Anyway, I liked Cruise's character, wearing a mini dress to show the legs off (yeah, I know it was an armor, thank you, but it looked like a dress with a mini-skirt, and he had cute legs :-p ), although honestly they should have chosen another name, I mean: Jack?? Come on, he is described like a son of the forest, a guy that knows all the secrets of the forest... and he's named Jack? Poof, magic's gone!
Lily is a perfect copy of SnowWhite, young, beautiful, pure heart, loves Nature, loves the forest and the animals... I liked her. Pretty, innocent, with a very pretty dress that moves in a lovely way when she walks or runs.
I liked it enough, watching it with the right spirit, but it's a pity I didn't watch it before. I wanted to, it just never happened.
The fights were boring and ridiculous, it seemed to me like they were so long! I wanted to fast-forward them, but it was on tv, so..
Anyway, I liked Cruise's character, wearing a mini dress to show the legs off (yeah, I know it was an armor, thank you, but it looked like a dress with a mini-skirt, and he had cute legs :-p ), although honestly they should have chosen another name, I mean: Jack?? Come on, he is described like a son of the forest, a guy that knows all the secrets of the forest... and he's named Jack? Poof, magic's gone!
Lily is a perfect copy of SnowWhite, young, beautiful, pure heart, loves Nature, loves the forest and the animals... I liked her. Pretty, innocent, with a very pretty dress that moves in a lovely way when she walks or runs.
I liked it enough, watching it with the right spirit, but it's a pity I didn't watch it before. I wanted to, it just never happened.
Volcano - 1997
I ... sort of like this movie. It's not great, but has its good points, and doesn't waste too much time on talking and denying and explaining, soon enough things start to get serious. It's boring when sometimes it takes too long before they get to the catastrophe... I mean, that's the point of the whole thing, so just get to it, please! The story is that of a vulcano suddently erupting in the middle of Los Angeles... yep, that's it. At first we have a few scenes to introduce us to the characters, of course, mainly with our hero Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones), separated but having with him his daughter right now of all the times in the world she could come: Kelly (Gaby Hoffman). Earthquakes start happening, people start to die, so Mike wants to consult geologist Amy Barnes (Anne Heche) who warns him of the terrible danger they may be facing. All of the sudden that danger comes right up to them, and kelly injures her leg, so he leaves her with doctor Jaje Calder (Jacqueline Kim) while he deals with the situation, which is his responsibility!! Lava is coming in the street, shops burn, cars melt, it's a real mess, but Mike has a plan, working it with Amy's help. Strange thing is, sometimes it seems that lava is coming out, and on, very quickly, but at the same time it's slow enough to enable them to talk, shout, drive, built, organize a lot of things! Same strange thing happens with the fire: I mean, on one hand it's supposed to be incredibly hot, right, but on the other hand they're right in front of it, so so close, all of them, and don't seem to bother. I mean, they only bother in specific scenes when it's supposed to matter because you must feel afraid for our hero, but then: nothing, as if it was innocent foam..
It's not the greatest movie in the world, of course, but considering its time it's not that bad... sure, some things don't make sense, but the point is: there's hero Tommy Lee Jones all the time !!! Okay, this is the main reason why I like it, I admit it. I've always had a weakness for Tommy Lee Jones, who knows why, and here he was around 50, 51, and he... well... I don't know how to explain it but I've always liked him a lot, he has just that tough look, strongly rough but also kind, about him... he's always grumpy, so when he smiles it feels like a precious thing.
Of course he's a great actor, which I guess probably has a great deal to do with his charm. He's really great, and when he said " I... I... I don't ... I don't know what to do " was really touching because he was this strong character, always making decisions and sorting things out... also when he said to Amy "find my daughter" he was so touching, because the character was showing his heart, right there and then. He could not go, he had responsibilities, a work to do, but he was very afraid for her safety.
I like the line the little kid says at the end, in Lt. Ed Fox's arms (Keith David): looking around him in search for his mother, he said "look at their faces, they all look the same" because of course they are all covered in dust, lots and lots of it. No more black or white, they all look the same. At the end Mike leaves Emmit Reese in charge (Don Cheadle) and takes a vacation to stay with his daughter.
This was such an american film, showing how all americans are hero... which is a good thing, actually, although unrealistic. Unfortunately the world is not so full of people ready to risk everything including their life to save a stranger.
There is also John Corbett in the role of Calder, the doctor's husband, who I suppose had a role in the film other that being a asshole, but I can't remember what it was.
I remember very well though when Mike Roark smiled and when he took Kelly up into his arms....
It's not the greatest movie in the world, of course, but considering its time it's not that bad... sure, some things don't make sense, but the point is: there's hero Tommy Lee Jones all the time !!! Okay, this is the main reason why I like it, I admit it. I've always had a weakness for Tommy Lee Jones, who knows why, and here he was around 50, 51, and he... well... I don't know how to explain it but I've always liked him a lot, he has just that tough look, strongly rough but also kind, about him... he's always grumpy, so when he smiles it feels like a precious thing.
Of course he's a great actor, which I guess probably has a great deal to do with his charm. He's really great, and when he said " I... I... I don't ... I don't know what to do " was really touching because he was this strong character, always making decisions and sorting things out... also when he said to Amy "find my daughter" he was so touching, because the character was showing his heart, right there and then. He could not go, he had responsibilities, a work to do, but he was very afraid for her safety.
I like the line the little kid says at the end, in Lt. Ed Fox's arms (Keith David): looking around him in search for his mother, he said "look at their faces, they all look the same" because of course they are all covered in dust, lots and lots of it. No more black or white, they all look the same. At the end Mike leaves Emmit Reese in charge (Don Cheadle) and takes a vacation to stay with his daughter.
This was such an american film, showing how all americans are hero... which is a good thing, actually, although unrealistic. Unfortunately the world is not so full of people ready to risk everything including their life to save a stranger.
There is also John Corbett in the role of Calder, the doctor's husband, who I suppose had a role in the film other that being a asshole, but I can't remember what it was.
I remember very well though when Mike Roark smiled and when he took Kelly up into his arms....
venerdì 19 dicembre 2014
Mission Impossible - 1996
This is edited in 2023 because I had omitted all details so I'm adding them now, but leaving below my earliest comment. In a few words: I'll never see this again.
So, the details:
It starts with Ethan and his team finishing a mission: he had a mask and they are successful of course.
On a plane, Jim Phelps receives a mission regarding a traitor who stole a list of CIA undercover agents. he'll have his usual team: Sarah Davies, Jack Harmon the tech guy, Hannah Williams, Claire Phelps his wife, and of course Ethan Hunt.
Prague - Phelps explains to them the plan, the mission, then we see their new tricks like exploding chewing gum and transmitter-glasses... basically: they leave the spyglasses in place so they can see what the traitor does... and the guy didn't notice... a pair of glasses that had no business being there and he didn't notice...
Moving on, they can't cut the power so Jack dies. Phelps calls for "Abort the plan" but Ethan refuses, wants to recover the disk (and I missed something here, who was this guy, did he just take the list from the computer there and copy it on his disk? I thought he had already stolen it... but who stole it really? I know who wants to sell it at the end...).
Ethan sees Phelps being killed on their communicators, and now he does call for Abort, but Sarah doesn't hear him - because Phelps had called for "cut all communications" probably.
Ethan sees Claire's car exploding. Sarah sees the "traitor" being killed, and when Ethan arrives running, he finds her dying. The disk is gone of course, and since the police has arrived, Ethan runs before tehy find him with a bloody knife in hand and two bodies.
Ethan calls for a pick-up and to inform them that the disk is gone. Kittridge meets with him, he's in Prague too. The man sounds very understanding, too much really. Ethan blames himself for the deaths of his whole team, then he realises that there's another team all around them, and it comes out that Kittridge suspected some agent to have been corrupted, so this whole mission was a fake, the "traitor" was one of his men, it was a "mole hunt", and Ethan's the only one alive, plus his family has received lots of money lately.
Kittridge loses the fake nice-attitude: "you have bribed, cajoled and killed, and you have done it using loyalties on the inside". So Ethan uses the chewing-gum and escapes. He runs.
It was a trick to see who would steal the disk, but it was a fake disk, the guy says.
Ethan goes back to their place, where they made the plan, but doesn't find the money he was looking for, and everything he'd need. There's a computer though, and he spends the rest of the night trying to contact the guy Max who was the corruptor. While he's there, Claire arrives not knowing that Jim's dead.
She came now because it's 4am, exactly when Jim said to meet.
Ethan makes some contacts and meets some people. He makes a deal with the woman who bought the list from "Job", the traitor's nickname. He delivers the list of agents, Max delivers Job. Claire wants to help. Ethan needs help and looks for other disavowed agents in the nearby.
Ethan explains to these two men that he wants to break in and steal from Langley, Virginia, inside CIA headquarters. They're Luther and Krieger. It's even harder than they thought when Ethan explains all the security measures there are. Still, they do it, the four of them.
Ethan stops Krieger from killing anyone though.
The famous scene where Hunt descends from the ceiling, then a rat arrives and Krieger lets him fall for a moment then brings him back up after Ethan takes the disc where he copied the agents' list - called the NOC list - but then Krieger lets his knife fall and they have to escape. Krieger is a bit hostile, afraid he won't get his money, while Claire is rather too friendly, after all she's a recent widow, is not right.
Ethan gives the list to Luther, to safeguard it, not let it get out.
Kittridge targets his mom and uncle to have him come out. Phelps turns up and joins Ethan.
They talk, and Jim says the mole was Kittridge, but we are shown that Jim faked his own injuries and that Krieger killed Sarah. Hannah was inside the car when Claire blew it up. Jim himself caused Claire's empty car to explode.
Jim asks Ethan to tell nobody he's alive. Jim gives the disk to Max, but Luther is there to jam the signal so she can't send it out. The money is in the baggage car, so Jim and Claire meet there to take it... only it's Ethan wearing Jim's face that hears her words. He wasn't sure about her, now he knows, but now Kittridge knows Jim's alive too, he's on the train and communicating with Ethan.
About to kill Ethan, instead Jim shoots Claire first and only hits Ethan. So Ethan can go after him, on top of a very, very fast speeding train. Krieger is on a helicopter to retrieve Jim, but after a long adventure, and Krieger really wanting to kill Ethan, He uses the chewing gum to make the helicopter explode.
Kittridge meets Max, Luther gives him the disk. Now Luther is off the disavowed list.
Ethan is not sure about himself, what he'll do, but on the plane he is given what he knows is a new mission, like it happens to team leader, like we saw happen with Jim.
---
Peter Graves was Jim Phelps for 178 episodes, and was always my favourite! I didn't see them all, unfortunately, but in all the eps I watched he was always my favourite, then the movie was made and Jim became traitor Jon Voight!! Not acceptable.
Aside from this, Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt is your usual Cruise. Jean Reno has one look and one outfit and sticks to it; Ving Rhames as Luther is ok!! Max is Vanessa Redgrave, the best thing of this film; Sarah is Kristin Scott-Thomas in a role sadly too short, and Claire is Emmanuelle Beart, who does nothing else but purring at ethan like a cat...
One of the very rare cases where later films are much much better than the previous ones.
---
Ethan Hunt - Tom Cruise
Jim Phelps - Jon Voight
Claire - Emmanuelle Beart
Kittridge - Henry Czerny
Krieger - Jean Reno
Luther - Ving Rhames
Sarah - Kristin Scott-Thomas
Max - Vanessa Redgrave
Curtain by Agatha Christie
This is one of the great Poirot books. I like it very much: it's a bit sad but very interesting and fascinating. It's Poirot's last case before he dies.
Poirot calls Hastings back at Styles Court, where they met so long ago and where their "hunting together" started. Poirot is old and weak, but his brain cells are as ever. He's there because a misterious murderer is there and Poirot knows who he is. What Poirot wants is to save his latest victim, if possible. Before the end of the book there will be an "accidental" injury, two suicides and a heart attack... then a letter will explain everything, same trick used in "and then there were none".
I think this book is fascinating, and in it there are Agatha's tough thoughts that we've already encountered in many of her books.
Spoilers, in case you care. I liked the idea of this man who in a way is a murderer but he never actually killed anyone. A cruel man, who would simply talk to mark other people's fate. He's described as having a gift for persuasion, he knows his characters, knows how to provoke a crisis. He convinced Luttrell that his wife was humiliating him too much and he caused him to shoot her, but she didn't die, probably because the husband didn't want her dead, he actually loved her, although sometimes she was a lot to take. It was cute to see him after she woke up and he was like "she wants to see me??" and he hurried to her room...
Norton also caused Hastings to almost become a murderer!!! This was Christie's brilliant touch, because honestly this story that Poirot tells us of how evil that man was, so much that the only thing to do was to kill him, could have looked a bit silly, exagerated, pretentious... but not after what we had read about Hastings. He was worried for his daughter, and lead to believe that she was in love with a scoundrel that once before had caused a girl to commit suicide after he had used her. Hastings comes to believe that she wants to elope with him, and her life could be ruined. Norton "explains" to him how he can't do anything, how he has to accept this failure, how he can't protect his own daughter... and Hastings can't reason any more, he has to protect Judith,in the heat of the moment he decides he must do whatever it takes. Hastings plans to kill him, and of course doesn't say a word about it to Poirot, but he could never fool Poirot before, he can't fool him now either. Poirot understands everything and puts a sleeping drug in his hot chocolate, that he himself insists until Hastings drinks it. The next day, having cooled down by a night's sleep, he's already abandoned such a terrible idea, and in the end he'll even learn that Judith never intended to run away with him, it was someone else she was in love with!! This was huge because Hastings had always been depicted as the gentleman, the honourable man! If he could be brought by that man to the point of orchestrate a murder, that this was really serious!
Poirot's health is very bad, he knows his heart could give out at any given time, and so he himself kills Norton, making everyone else think it was a suicide, of course. Still, he will confess everything in a letter to Hastings; he explains what Norton did, and tries to explain his position, about the fact that nobody should take the law into their own hands but on the other hand Poirot is the law, in a way, and in emergency crisis martial law is adopted... but still confesses he doesn't know if what he did is justifiable or not. He saved Norton's future victims, yes, but Poirot had always disapproved murder... adding at the end that he should go see Elizabeth, the sad girl whose sister had killed their tyrant father, and explain to her everything. Poirot had always been a romantic, and here too I guess he foresaw a way for both his friend Hasting and also for Elizabeth to find companionship in each other.
ITA sipario, l'ultima avventura di Poirot
Poirot calls Hastings back at Styles Court, where they met so long ago and where their "hunting together" started. Poirot is old and weak, but his brain cells are as ever. He's there because a misterious murderer is there and Poirot knows who he is. What Poirot wants is to save his latest victim, if possible. Before the end of the book there will be an "accidental" injury, two suicides and a heart attack... then a letter will explain everything, same trick used in "and then there were none".
I think this book is fascinating, and in it there are Agatha's tough thoughts that we've already encountered in many of her books.
Spoilers, in case you care. I liked the idea of this man who in a way is a murderer but he never actually killed anyone. A cruel man, who would simply talk to mark other people's fate. He's described as having a gift for persuasion, he knows his characters, knows how to provoke a crisis. He convinced Luttrell that his wife was humiliating him too much and he caused him to shoot her, but she didn't die, probably because the husband didn't want her dead, he actually loved her, although sometimes she was a lot to take. It was cute to see him after she woke up and he was like "she wants to see me??" and he hurried to her room...
Norton also caused Hastings to almost become a murderer!!! This was Christie's brilliant touch, because honestly this story that Poirot tells us of how evil that man was, so much that the only thing to do was to kill him, could have looked a bit silly, exagerated, pretentious... but not after what we had read about Hastings. He was worried for his daughter, and lead to believe that she was in love with a scoundrel that once before had caused a girl to commit suicide after he had used her. Hastings comes to believe that she wants to elope with him, and her life could be ruined. Norton "explains" to him how he can't do anything, how he has to accept this failure, how he can't protect his own daughter... and Hastings can't reason any more, he has to protect Judith,in the heat of the moment he decides he must do whatever it takes. Hastings plans to kill him, and of course doesn't say a word about it to Poirot, but he could never fool Poirot before, he can't fool him now either. Poirot understands everything and puts a sleeping drug in his hot chocolate, that he himself insists until Hastings drinks it. The next day, having cooled down by a night's sleep, he's already abandoned such a terrible idea, and in the end he'll even learn that Judith never intended to run away with him, it was someone else she was in love with!! This was huge because Hastings had always been depicted as the gentleman, the honourable man! If he could be brought by that man to the point of orchestrate a murder, that this was really serious!
Poirot's health is very bad, he knows his heart could give out at any given time, and so he himself kills Norton, making everyone else think it was a suicide, of course. Still, he will confess everything in a letter to Hastings; he explains what Norton did, and tries to explain his position, about the fact that nobody should take the law into their own hands but on the other hand Poirot is the law, in a way, and in emergency crisis martial law is adopted... but still confesses he doesn't know if what he did is justifiable or not. He saved Norton's future victims, yes, but Poirot had always disapproved murder... adding at the end that he should go see Elizabeth, the sad girl whose sister had killed their tyrant father, and explain to her everything. Poirot had always been a romantic, and here too I guess he foresaw a way for both his friend Hasting and also for Elizabeth to find companionship in each other.
ITA sipario, l'ultima avventura di Poirot
Sleeping murder by Agatha Christie
It was published after her death, but it was written years before, so must be read with this in mind, otherwise it'll seem full of mistakes; the most important of them is, to me, that Miss Marple is going around working in the garden and running up stairs, when already in 4.50 from Paddington she said she couldn't do it anymore and asked a girl to look around for her while she stayed sit at home.
Having said that, it's a nice story but the main investigators are a young couple, nice good people but very bad detectives that don't even see the obvious. The story is interesting, about Gwenda and her husband coming to England after she lived many many years in New Zealand. She buys a house and soon starts having strange feelings as if she knew it already, and it turns out that she had lived there for a short period of time when she was 3. A strange memory makes her think that a woman was killed in that house 18 years ago and they start investigating despite Miss Marple advised them not to. She's so worried about them that she keeps close and helps them sort it out. They should have had suspects as to the real murderer much sooner, especially after Miss Marple gave them a clue about those letters, but they didn't understand because they trusted him without doubt. The fact that they didn't even suspect him made space for a lot of boring conjectures about other possible suspects, and I admit I was a bit bored so I skipped a few lines because it was nothing more than a recap of things already said and also because they were nothing more than "maybe he was.. so maybe he came.. and maybe he did..." without any real, tangible reason to think that he actually did. They based all their thoughts on something that someone told them, without for a moment stopping to ask themselves if they were told the truth...
Spoilers are unavoidable now.
Gwenda's father had married Helen after his first wife had died. When she disappeared he apparently went mad saying he had killed her, but everybody believed she had run away with another man. Gwenda and her husband Giles start asking questions, and Helen's brother Dr. James Kennedy volunteers to talk to them saying he hasn't heard from Helen in a long time, but that she ran away with a man because she always liked men too much, that she wasn't a serious girl, that she wrote letters to him that proved she had not been murdered, and gives them those letters with a copy of Helen's handwriting to prove that they were authentic, then tells them of other men who at that time were in love with Helen: Jackie Afflick,a young man who he disapproved of; Walter Fane, a lawyer who she almost married but then left to marry Gwenda's father, and Erskine, a married man with an unhappy marriage. Gwenda and Giles believe all he tells them, and start from there to make their theories, never for a moment stopping to think of him. The only woman alive that actually met her and worked for her talks kindly of Helen, saying she was a good and serious young woman who loved Gwenda. Afflick tells them he wasn't in love, they were just having fun and that he pitied her; Erskine tells them that they fell in love but did nothing about it because he was not only married but with kids, and also that she had previously thought about marrying Fane only to escape from home because Helen was unhappy there. Fane tells them that it's an old story and he doesn't know much about it, and although it seems like a lie that he doesn't care, they give the wrong importance to a fact they learn: he always looks quiet and passive, yet as a child he once attacked his brother who had broken something important to him: they take this as proof that he could be violent, but never stop to consider how different it is to act on the heat of the moment when you're a child compared to thinking about it for months as an adult and then act violently after so much time. They think these three are the only suspects because they never doubt Dr. Kennedy, not accepting for true what the others say if it's in contrast with what he told them! But there's no reason for them to think Dr. Kennedy more reliable than the others. They don't know him as they don't know them. Erskine tells them she was unhappy at home and they don't ask themselves why. He tells them they never even considered running away, neither of them, and Afflick tells them Helen and him never really dated, just went out as friends to have fun, but our couple still thinks Helen was an easy girl who liked men too much because Kennedy had told them so. The more they learn the less he looks trustworthy, but they don't realise this. For this reason I skipped a part at the end when they theorize which of those three men is more likely the murderer. They were not even considering Kennedy!
The business with the letters should have been obvious though. Kennedy gave them a letter Helen wrote to him after leaving her husband, and also a piece of paper with a proof of her handwriting, and after having it analized Giles had proof of its authenticity, which could only mean two things: either Helen was never killed in that house, but went away and wrote that letter, or the letter is a fake and that means that the piece of paper used to authenticate it must be a fake too! And Kennedy gave it to them! There was absolutely no reason for believing him as blindly as they did!
ITA addio Miss Marple (goodbye Miss Marple, although it doesn't feel at all like her last case...)
Having said that, it's a nice story but the main investigators are a young couple, nice good people but very bad detectives that don't even see the obvious. The story is interesting, about Gwenda and her husband coming to England after she lived many many years in New Zealand. She buys a house and soon starts having strange feelings as if she knew it already, and it turns out that she had lived there for a short period of time when she was 3. A strange memory makes her think that a woman was killed in that house 18 years ago and they start investigating despite Miss Marple advised them not to. She's so worried about them that she keeps close and helps them sort it out. They should have had suspects as to the real murderer much sooner, especially after Miss Marple gave them a clue about those letters, but they didn't understand because they trusted him without doubt. The fact that they didn't even suspect him made space for a lot of boring conjectures about other possible suspects, and I admit I was a bit bored so I skipped a few lines because it was nothing more than a recap of things already said and also because they were nothing more than "maybe he was.. so maybe he came.. and maybe he did..." without any real, tangible reason to think that he actually did. They based all their thoughts on something that someone told them, without for a moment stopping to ask themselves if they were told the truth...
Spoilers are unavoidable now.
Gwenda's father had married Helen after his first wife had died. When she disappeared he apparently went mad saying he had killed her, but everybody believed she had run away with another man. Gwenda and her husband Giles start asking questions, and Helen's brother Dr. James Kennedy volunteers to talk to them saying he hasn't heard from Helen in a long time, but that she ran away with a man because she always liked men too much, that she wasn't a serious girl, that she wrote letters to him that proved she had not been murdered, and gives them those letters with a copy of Helen's handwriting to prove that they were authentic, then tells them of other men who at that time were in love with Helen: Jackie Afflick,a young man who he disapproved of; Walter Fane, a lawyer who she almost married but then left to marry Gwenda's father, and Erskine, a married man with an unhappy marriage. Gwenda and Giles believe all he tells them, and start from there to make their theories, never for a moment stopping to think of him. The only woman alive that actually met her and worked for her talks kindly of Helen, saying she was a good and serious young woman who loved Gwenda. Afflick tells them he wasn't in love, they were just having fun and that he pitied her; Erskine tells them that they fell in love but did nothing about it because he was not only married but with kids, and also that she had previously thought about marrying Fane only to escape from home because Helen was unhappy there. Fane tells them that it's an old story and he doesn't know much about it, and although it seems like a lie that he doesn't care, they give the wrong importance to a fact they learn: he always looks quiet and passive, yet as a child he once attacked his brother who had broken something important to him: they take this as proof that he could be violent, but never stop to consider how different it is to act on the heat of the moment when you're a child compared to thinking about it for months as an adult and then act violently after so much time. They think these three are the only suspects because they never doubt Dr. Kennedy, not accepting for true what the others say if it's in contrast with what he told them! But there's no reason for them to think Dr. Kennedy more reliable than the others. They don't know him as they don't know them. Erskine tells them she was unhappy at home and they don't ask themselves why. He tells them they never even considered running away, neither of them, and Afflick tells them Helen and him never really dated, just went out as friends to have fun, but our couple still thinks Helen was an easy girl who liked men too much because Kennedy had told them so. The more they learn the less he looks trustworthy, but they don't realise this. For this reason I skipped a part at the end when they theorize which of those three men is more likely the murderer. They were not even considering Kennedy!
The business with the letters should have been obvious though. Kennedy gave them a letter Helen wrote to him after leaving her husband, and also a piece of paper with a proof of her handwriting, and after having it analized Giles had proof of its authenticity, which could only mean two things: either Helen was never killed in that house, but went away and wrote that letter, or the letter is a fake and that means that the piece of paper used to authenticate it must be a fake too! And Kennedy gave it to them! There was absolutely no reason for believing him as blindly as they did!
ITA addio Miss Marple (goodbye Miss Marple, although it doesn't feel at all like her last case...)
The pale horse by Agatha Christie
Or "A pale horse", I don't know which one is more correct.
There is no known investigator in this book, only a known character... well known only to those who have read certain Christie's books: Ariadne Oliver. :-) Funny lady, nice.
It's a nice book, of course, well written as expected, but I prefer when there is a clear investigation of any kind and possibly a real investigator, not just a guy who got curious and started poking around. It's interesting, but not captivating as some of her other works. It has the murder of a priest and a phrase said by a dumb girl, casually during a conversation: to get rid of someone, there's the Pale Horse... Mark Easterbrook, a friend of Ariadne, gets curious, finds the place called the Pale Horse where three women are said to be witches, and apparently can get rid of anyone you want for you... at the right price. He will be helped by a brave girl and ultimately by a cop and the murderer will be found, and anyone who likes to watch Criminal Minds will not be too surprised by his name. I'll leave a clue at the end, not the name, but read it at your own risk :-p
"the unsub is looking for recognition and will inject himself into the investigation" :lol:
ITA un cavallo per la strega
There is no known investigator in this book, only a known character... well known only to those who have read certain Christie's books: Ariadne Oliver. :-) Funny lady, nice.
It's a nice book, of course, well written as expected, but I prefer when there is a clear investigation of any kind and possibly a real investigator, not just a guy who got curious and started poking around. It's interesting, but not captivating as some of her other works. It has the murder of a priest and a phrase said by a dumb girl, casually during a conversation: to get rid of someone, there's the Pale Horse... Mark Easterbrook, a friend of Ariadne, gets curious, finds the place called the Pale Horse where three women are said to be witches, and apparently can get rid of anyone you want for you... at the right price. He will be helped by a brave girl and ultimately by a cop and the murderer will be found, and anyone who likes to watch Criminal Minds will not be too surprised by his name. I'll leave a clue at the end, not the name, but read it at your own risk :-p
"the unsub is looking for recognition and will inject himself into the investigation" :lol:
ITA un cavallo per la strega
Super 8 - 2011
This is a great movie! Wonderfully made. I love all of it. It's mostly on the shoulders of a bunch of teenagers, but they do such a good job it is never a problem, on the contrary! These kids do a great job, all of them. Such a great movie, where we follow these kids and their discoveries, while they try to shoot a little film or simply try to survive and save each other. Joe (Joel Courtney) son of deputy sheriff Jack (Kyle Chandler); his best friend Charles (Riley Griffiths), and other friends Martin (Gabriel Basso), Cary (Ryan Lee) and the new entry in their little group: Alice (Elle Fanning). She's amazing, by the way.
They witness a train accident, then the army comes to town and troubles begin. They discover that years ago an alien had crashed on Earth and simply wanted to build himself a new spaceship to go back home, nothing else, but the army kept him prisoner, testing him and experimenting on him, torturing him, poor thing.
It was great the fact that we didn't see it until the end, added suspance and made the ending more special. The scene at the gas station was great, but also little moments like Joe putting makeup on Alice, or Alice proving her zombie part: great young actors!
Now the soldiers wants to take him prisoner again, but he won't allow it. He'll dig himself a big hole where he can do what he has to do to built his spaceship. He kills the soldiers trying to stop him, and takes some people prisoners. When Alice is one of them, the kids go to her rescue. it's not easy to escape from tunnels you don't know from the fast creature that did them, so they are found. Joe talks to it, and they make phisical contact when it picks Joe up in his hand.. well, one of his hands, then Joe talks to him some more, helped by the fact that phisical contact causes a psichic connection between them, and he tells it that he understands he just want to go home, and that yes, bad things, terrible things have happened, but it can still live! Those big eyes opening, as a clear sign that they are understanding each other, are great. At the end, a lot of things from the street are attracted to the same point, as if by a powerful magnet, although I don't understand why some things are and other things aren't, I mean, only one car in the parking space, one rifle but not the others, things like that. It doesn't appear to be a mistake, maybe there is a reason I don't know. All these things, together with those strange cubes built a big, great spaceship where he can finally enter and go home!! Hooray. It was a nice moment when Jack found Joe again, he had been so worried, and he hugs him and only says "I found you. I found you" and nothing else matters. It was the best thing to say. I loved it.
When the final credits start, don't switch it off but just wait, because there is more :-D There is the little film the kids made :-p About a p.i. investigating a zombie crisis created by the Romero Chemical :lol:
It was written and directed by J.J. Abrams, the same that rebooted Star Trek!!! Produced by Steven Spielberg, of course.
They witness a train accident, then the army comes to town and troubles begin. They discover that years ago an alien had crashed on Earth and simply wanted to build himself a new spaceship to go back home, nothing else, but the army kept him prisoner, testing him and experimenting on him, torturing him, poor thing.
It was great the fact that we didn't see it until the end, added suspance and made the ending more special. The scene at the gas station was great, but also little moments like Joe putting makeup on Alice, or Alice proving her zombie part: great young actors!
Now the soldiers wants to take him prisoner again, but he won't allow it. He'll dig himself a big hole where he can do what he has to do to built his spaceship. He kills the soldiers trying to stop him, and takes some people prisoners. When Alice is one of them, the kids go to her rescue. it's not easy to escape from tunnels you don't know from the fast creature that did them, so they are found. Joe talks to it, and they make phisical contact when it picks Joe up in his hand.. well, one of his hands, then Joe talks to him some more, helped by the fact that phisical contact causes a psichic connection between them, and he tells it that he understands he just want to go home, and that yes, bad things, terrible things have happened, but it can still live! Those big eyes opening, as a clear sign that they are understanding each other, are great. At the end, a lot of things from the street are attracted to the same point, as if by a powerful magnet, although I don't understand why some things are and other things aren't, I mean, only one car in the parking space, one rifle but not the others, things like that. It doesn't appear to be a mistake, maybe there is a reason I don't know. All these things, together with those strange cubes built a big, great spaceship where he can finally enter and go home!! Hooray. It was a nice moment when Jack found Joe again, he had been so worried, and he hugs him and only says "I found you. I found you" and nothing else matters. It was the best thing to say. I loved it.
When the final credits start, don't switch it off but just wait, because there is more :-D There is the little film the kids made :-p About a p.i. investigating a zombie crisis created by the Romero Chemical :lol:
It was written and directed by J.J. Abrams, the same that rebooted Star Trek!!! Produced by Steven Spielberg, of course.
Monsters vs Aliens
The 2008 animated movie featuring Susan, a soon-to-be-married girl that gets hit by a meteorite and grows veeeery big, and becomes one of the monsters. When aliens invade our world, it'll be her duty to help, along with a mad scientist who accidentally transformed himself into a cockroach, a fish man called The Missing Link that looked like the monster of the lagoon, a strange jelly-blog invented by accident in a candy farm, and a huuuuge bug. She's temporarely heart-broken when she discover how her supposedly perfect boyfriend really is (before "we are a team" then "it's your problem, nothing to do with me" ), and eventually finds herself in her new monster-persona, and her new friends. I loved the quotations: like the "code Nimoy" when the aliens are detected :lol: this one was the best; also the missile with "e.t. go home" written on it, or the President approaching the alien robot making me think of Mars Attack, or the Close Encounter scene...
All in all, a nice movie, funny and cute. Not the best of all, but so what, still a good enough one.
All in all, a nice movie, funny and cute. Not the best of all, but so what, still a good enough one.
M:I:III - 2006
Which means Mission Impossible 3, again with Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. He's finally decided to leave active duty because he fell in love with Julia and wants to marry her. He goes back on the field to save a girl (Keri Russell) he trained himself, but he can't: a bomb had been planted in her head and she dies. Ethan stays to bring down the man that killed her, Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and to get to him they infiltrate in the Vatican. Now, can we spend a few words on the dress that girl chose to enter the party at the Vatican?? Sure she looked pretty, sure she was sexy, problem is: you're not at a Los Angeles party, girl. Seriously, what were they thinking, why didn't they give her a different dress? She would have looked just as sexy in a black dress without holes! Come on! And more classy too.
I'd also like to spent a word on the scene where Ethan and Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) talk italian :lol: so this is like they truly sound every time spies speak a foreign language: when they speak russian or chinese or whatever I don't understand them so I think, wow they speak chinese among chinese people, they must speak it well if they are thought to be chinese! Then it happens that the language is Italian and then I know: no way in hell they could ever be mistaken for italian, not a chance in the world :lol: now, the woman in the car behind, he was from Rome! But I'm not criticizing, mind you, because as American movies go, they are to be congratulated that at least I could understand what they were doing, which is not so obvious as it might seem. So: no problem, I just had a nice laugh, and on with the film! It wasn't a bad movie at all; I still prefer the ghost protocol one because Jeremy Renner is adorable while J.R.Meyers is more like boring, in my opinion, but anyway it was a nice movie. Ethan was very sweet and deeply in love with his Julia, which was a good one, very much in love and also quick on learning how to fire to protect him and herself. I loved how he look desperately scared for her.
I was not surprised at all at the end when that guy turned out to be a traitor, honestly I wondered from the start for the simple reason that he was TOO nice: he was either the best, perfect friend or he had something to hide. I did not suspect the boss Brassel (Laurence Fishburne) because he was simply doing what was to be expected given the circumstances.
There were all the M:I things: masks, tricks, running, shooting and fighting. There was Benji (Simon Pegg) helping him. They went from America to the Vatican to China. Luther was also in this (Ving Rhames), and Maggie Q was the female agent of the day.
I'd also like to spent a word on the scene where Ethan and Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) talk italian :lol: so this is like they truly sound every time spies speak a foreign language: when they speak russian or chinese or whatever I don't understand them so I think, wow they speak chinese among chinese people, they must speak it well if they are thought to be chinese! Then it happens that the language is Italian and then I know: no way in hell they could ever be mistaken for italian, not a chance in the world :lol: now, the woman in the car behind, he was from Rome! But I'm not criticizing, mind you, because as American movies go, they are to be congratulated that at least I could understand what they were doing, which is not so obvious as it might seem. So: no problem, I just had a nice laugh, and on with the film! It wasn't a bad movie at all; I still prefer the ghost protocol one because Jeremy Renner is adorable while J.R.Meyers is more like boring, in my opinion, but anyway it was a nice movie. Ethan was very sweet and deeply in love with his Julia, which was a good one, very much in love and also quick on learning how to fire to protect him and herself. I loved how he look desperately scared for her.
I was not surprised at all at the end when that guy turned out to be a traitor, honestly I wondered from the start for the simple reason that he was TOO nice: he was either the best, perfect friend or he had something to hide. I did not suspect the boss Brassel (Laurence Fishburne) because he was simply doing what was to be expected given the circumstances.
There were all the M:I things: masks, tricks, running, shooting and fighting. There was Benji (Simon Pegg) helping him. They went from America to the Vatican to China. Luther was also in this (Ving Rhames), and Maggie Q was the female agent of the day.
Transformers: Age of extinction
Which is the fourth movie of the transformers series, year 2014, but with a whole new cast. Which is fine by me.
It's a big, loud toy, this movie. Nothing special but not bad after all; maybe a bit too long, I mean two and a half hours! Sure, they needed to waste some time presenting us the new cast : Cade (Mark Wahlberg) and his seventeen years old daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz), and also setting the new scene, where the good Autobots we knew are being hunted down by a secret section of the Cia; their leader Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) is working with a bunch of bounty hunters that I think come from the Autobot homeworld or something, and he wants to terminate all aliens on our world, to give the dead metal bodies to Joshua (Stanley Tucci), an inventor with a big company that uses it to create new robots that might one day take the place of soldiers at war. Only it turns out that to do so he used Megatron's head, and only thought of having control over them but he really never did.
Our friendly Autobots are hiding until Cade helps Optimus Prime: he did it for money but he still did it, so when Cade and his daughter were in life's danger Optimus saved them, of course, because he's like a paladin! From that moment on they are all fugitives. To get his life back, Cade decides to help them figure out what's going on. They end up fighting the bounty hunters and then all of Megatron/Galvatron's new bots. Joshua finally understands what he's done and that he never had control over it, so he switches to Cade's side, helping them.
Now, could we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that the blonde girl on the alien spaceship with strange things crawling at her legs does NOT scream like an idiot? Of course she loses of the gained points by running into her boyfriend (Jack Reynor) Shane's arms saying "you saved me, Shane, you saved me" and totally ignoring her father that was the one who had actually done the whole saving. Being honest, she gains back some points at the end when she comes back for her father, and then hugs him tight telling him he was always a hero. Good. You redeemed yourself!
At the beginning, I admit I had been scared they might kill my Optimus Prime, but after the first escape I was again confident he would make it to the end. Not only he makes it, but at the end he "convinces" some legendary old bots to join him in the fight as their leader: quite ancient, when they were created the creators chose a dinosaur's shape for them. Optimus rides a T-Rex-bot against Megatron's army. Way to go Optimus.
I absolutely loved Stanley Tucci, he's always great, especially when he's playing a farely decent guy: he was funny when he was fascinated by the chinese woman who was protecting it: when they meet again at the end (I was wondering where did she go) he says "did you miss me?" she says No and he gives her a look! Adorable.
Also his expression when the blonde woman tells him she's proud of him... the best things of the movie :-D
All of them together destroy all the evil bots and also the bad bounty hunter, but Megatron leaves promising to come back now that he's reborn. Optimus Prime leaves the Earth, probably to hide the dangerous seed, or maybe to find the creators and tell them their due... I'm not sure, maybe both.
Voice of Optimus was Peter Cullen; of Hound was John Goodman; of Drift was Ken Watanabe.
It's a big, loud toy, this movie. Nothing special but not bad after all; maybe a bit too long, I mean two and a half hours! Sure, they needed to waste some time presenting us the new cast : Cade (Mark Wahlberg) and his seventeen years old daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz), and also setting the new scene, where the good Autobots we knew are being hunted down by a secret section of the Cia; their leader Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) is working with a bunch of bounty hunters that I think come from the Autobot homeworld or something, and he wants to terminate all aliens on our world, to give the dead metal bodies to Joshua (Stanley Tucci), an inventor with a big company that uses it to create new robots that might one day take the place of soldiers at war. Only it turns out that to do so he used Megatron's head, and only thought of having control over them but he really never did.
Our friendly Autobots are hiding until Cade helps Optimus Prime: he did it for money but he still did it, so when Cade and his daughter were in life's danger Optimus saved them, of course, because he's like a paladin! From that moment on they are all fugitives. To get his life back, Cade decides to help them figure out what's going on. They end up fighting the bounty hunters and then all of Megatron/Galvatron's new bots. Joshua finally understands what he's done and that he never had control over it, so he switches to Cade's side, helping them.
Now, could we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that the blonde girl on the alien spaceship with strange things crawling at her legs does NOT scream like an idiot? Of course she loses of the gained points by running into her boyfriend (Jack Reynor) Shane's arms saying "you saved me, Shane, you saved me" and totally ignoring her father that was the one who had actually done the whole saving. Being honest, she gains back some points at the end when she comes back for her father, and then hugs him tight telling him he was always a hero. Good. You redeemed yourself!
At the beginning, I admit I had been scared they might kill my Optimus Prime, but after the first escape I was again confident he would make it to the end. Not only he makes it, but at the end he "convinces" some legendary old bots to join him in the fight as their leader: quite ancient, when they were created the creators chose a dinosaur's shape for them. Optimus rides a T-Rex-bot against Megatron's army. Way to go Optimus.
I absolutely loved Stanley Tucci, he's always great, especially when he's playing a farely decent guy: he was funny when he was fascinated by the chinese woman who was protecting it: when they meet again at the end (I was wondering where did she go) he says "did you miss me?" she says No and he gives her a look! Adorable.
Also his expression when the blonde woman tells him she's proud of him... the best things of the movie :-D
All of them together destroy all the evil bots and also the bad bounty hunter, but Megatron leaves promising to come back now that he's reborn. Optimus Prime leaves the Earth, probably to hide the dangerous seed, or maybe to find the creators and tell them their due... I'm not sure, maybe both.
Voice of Optimus was Peter Cullen; of Hound was John Goodman; of Drift was Ken Watanabe.
Megamind
It's funny, I like it, although I personally don't agree with a few bits. Megamind's voice is Will Ferrell... ok, I know he's considered this big comic genius, but really, why? I'm not crazy about him, personally I'd have liked someone else better. In the Italian version this is so much better, for example.
I loved the soundtrack, of course, with songs like Crazy train, Welcome to the jungle, and Bad.
The story was nice, with these two babies sent to Earth like Superman: one ends up in a rich family home, the other in a prison, raised by the criminals inside... then he's always avoided, badly treated. They always punish him as if he was the worst kid in the world, and one day he thinks: "Was this my destiny? Wait, maybe it was. Being bad is the one thing I'm good at. Then it hit me. If I was the bad boy, then I was going to be the baddest boy of them all!"
He breaks out of prison, goes "home" "There's no place like evil lair" :lol: and meets again all his little helpers "Who's a menacing little cyborg? Did you miss your daddy?" :lol: . He keeps doing the same old battle: abduting reporter Roxanne Ritchi so that Metroman will come to rescue her; usually Metroman wins and Megamind goes once again to prison, but this time the unthinkable happens: Megamind wins and Metroman is killed!! Megamind's the first who can't believe that. He becomes the master of Metrocity, no more hero to battle against... quite boring after a while, so he decides to extrapolate Metroman's powers and give them to someone else. By accident he gives them to Hal, the dumb guy working with Roxanne. Hal is happy of the cool powers because he thinks that being a hero he'll have Roxanne. Of course Roxanne wants nothing to do with him, so he turns bad! Meanwhile Megamind has being going out with Roxanne using a disguise, but when she realises it was him all along she's furious with him "Do you really think that I would ever be with you?" and leaves him. She's also hurt, though, because she liked him a lot, but now she thinks she's been tricked by the evil one! When Hal becomes real bad, Megamind is the only one that can stop him... well, it turns out that Metroman faked his death, but still he has no intentions of fighting again, so Megamind will fight Hal! And win, becoming the new hero and winning the girl's heart! All very nice and funny.
There were also the voices of Brad Pitt as Metroman, Tina Fey as Roxanne, which was my favourite. Jonah Hill as Hal, aka Tighten. David Cross as Minion, which was adorable. Ben Stiller as Bernard.
I loved the soundtrack, of course, with songs like Crazy train, Welcome to the jungle, and Bad.
The story was nice, with these two babies sent to Earth like Superman: one ends up in a rich family home, the other in a prison, raised by the criminals inside... then he's always avoided, badly treated. They always punish him as if he was the worst kid in the world, and one day he thinks: "Was this my destiny? Wait, maybe it was. Being bad is the one thing I'm good at. Then it hit me. If I was the bad boy, then I was going to be the baddest boy of them all!"
He breaks out of prison, goes "home" "There's no place like evil lair" :lol: and meets again all his little helpers "Who's a menacing little cyborg? Did you miss your daddy?" :lol: . He keeps doing the same old battle: abduting reporter Roxanne Ritchi so that Metroman will come to rescue her; usually Metroman wins and Megamind goes once again to prison, but this time the unthinkable happens: Megamind wins and Metroman is killed!! Megamind's the first who can't believe that. He becomes the master of Metrocity, no more hero to battle against... quite boring after a while, so he decides to extrapolate Metroman's powers and give them to someone else. By accident he gives them to Hal, the dumb guy working with Roxanne. Hal is happy of the cool powers because he thinks that being a hero he'll have Roxanne. Of course Roxanne wants nothing to do with him, so he turns bad! Meanwhile Megamind has being going out with Roxanne using a disguise, but when she realises it was him all along she's furious with him "Do you really think that I would ever be with you?" and leaves him. She's also hurt, though, because she liked him a lot, but now she thinks she's been tricked by the evil one! When Hal becomes real bad, Megamind is the only one that can stop him... well, it turns out that Metroman faked his death, but still he has no intentions of fighting again, so Megamind will fight Hal! And win, becoming the new hero and winning the girl's heart! All very nice and funny.
There were also the voices of Brad Pitt as Metroman, Tina Fey as Roxanne, which was my favourite. Jonah Hill as Hal, aka Tighten. David Cross as Minion, which was adorable. Ben Stiller as Bernard.
martedì 16 dicembre 2014
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
2011. I like this film very much, I think the best of the series so far. I like the characters, I'm happy Jeremy Renner is in it, and I like the action, it's lots of fun. The plot is kind of a detail, in a way, because I barely followed it. For some reason, there's always someone who would like a third world war, and here this crazy man blows up the Kremlin making it look like Ethan and his team did it, therefore the Americans. Then he intends to launch Russian missiles towards America to make it look like the Russian did it. It's as simple as that, but of course there are many steps before they can do this.
It starts with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) inside a russian prison, and a team helps him escape. I admit I felt mixed feelings about this: yes the action was fun and Ethan is the hero we want free, but still those in there are just simple guards, aren't they? It didn't seem right to me that they left them locked in there with all the prisoners loose, especially the first guard because he was alone, with all the prisoners kicking him. They might have killed him, we don't even know! I know it was a useful distraction to allow Ethan to get out, but still, poor people! It was cruel.
This way Ethan meets agent Carter (Paula Patton) and sees Benji (Simon Pegg) again. Their next mission brings them inside the Kremlin, and I admit I thought the trick with the jacket to change his look from uniform to tourist was more impressive to me that all his gadgets. I loved that, how quickly he changed into a perfect tourist! :lol: He was ready to go away, when the Kremlin exploded, and he was injured. At the hospital, local police thinks he did it. Proofs lead to him. Ethan later meets the Secretary who tells him that the russians think the americans did it, and that the President has activated the Ghost Protocol, meaning the whole Mission Impossible is cancelled and they are like outlaws, or something, but they are attacked, and he's killed. Ethan escapes with the Chief Analist William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), and decide to go on with the team, to stop the crazy one and avoid the worst. At this point there's a tipical Mission Impossible operation, where Ethan and Brandt pretend to be the two bad guys buying missile codes from a blonde assassin, while Carter pretends to be the assassin selling the codes to the real guys. All without masks because the machine didn't work. Good, why should it happen only to us, to have machines always choosing the worst moment of all to break? :-p Also the famous scene of Ethan climbing the tallest building, so famous even before the movie came out because apparently Cruise didn't want any stuntman, he did it all himself. Yeah yeah, very brave. Now, why does he want to take away stuntmen's job?
We have a moment of revelation when Ethan and Brandt exchange moves and Ethan asks him who is he really, and how could an agent with skills like his end up an analist? Brandt confesses to the others but not to Ethan what keeps troubling him : everybody thinks Ethan's wife left him, but he knows that she died because he was assigned to protect her and he failed. Oh, poor tormented soul, come here...
Then there's a lot of running, Ethan always runs a lot. I loved the conversation between Brandt and Benji about Brandt's jump and Benji saying "and I'll catch you" :lol: it was funny, and Brandt was adorable. Just as it was funny when after it was done Brandt said "next time, I get to seduce the rich guy" :lol:
As usual, more running and fighting, but team's work wins and they succeed. Only thing, the missile was launched, and they were fighting to avoid it hitting San Francisco, and succeeded that it was already there, it hitted something and landed on the water, but did not explode, and I thought: Really? American radars did not see it? America didn't do anything to stop it? They simply waited hoping that some people they did not know were on it could solve the problem for them? Come on!
At the end, Ethan tells them that he's happy with this team, and hopes to work with them again, and gives them all a mission, a recording they should take and listen to privately, that is. Carter and Benji takes it and go , but Brandt stands up and is going away without taking it. Ethan calls him back and Brandt confesses his shame, that Ethan's wife is dead because he failed his mission. But he's wrong. Ethan reveals that his wife is not dead. It was a most important secret for everyone "but you're telling me": Brandt was touched, Ethan trusts him :-) Ethan faked her death to protect her "as long as we were together she could never be safe. It wasn't your job to protect her, Brandt. It's mine." Beautiful, I liked it.
I hope they'll do another film with this same team, because I love Brandt, and Carter is okay. I liked her enough. Her too, please. But most importantly Brandt!
It starts with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) inside a russian prison, and a team helps him escape. I admit I felt mixed feelings about this: yes the action was fun and Ethan is the hero we want free, but still those in there are just simple guards, aren't they? It didn't seem right to me that they left them locked in there with all the prisoners loose, especially the first guard because he was alone, with all the prisoners kicking him. They might have killed him, we don't even know! I know it was a useful distraction to allow Ethan to get out, but still, poor people! It was cruel.
This way Ethan meets agent Carter (Paula Patton) and sees Benji (Simon Pegg) again. Their next mission brings them inside the Kremlin, and I admit I thought the trick with the jacket to change his look from uniform to tourist was more impressive to me that all his gadgets. I loved that, how quickly he changed into a perfect tourist! :lol: He was ready to go away, when the Kremlin exploded, and he was injured. At the hospital, local police thinks he did it. Proofs lead to him. Ethan later meets the Secretary who tells him that the russians think the americans did it, and that the President has activated the Ghost Protocol, meaning the whole Mission Impossible is cancelled and they are like outlaws, or something, but they are attacked, and he's killed. Ethan escapes with the Chief Analist William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), and decide to go on with the team, to stop the crazy one and avoid the worst. At this point there's a tipical Mission Impossible operation, where Ethan and Brandt pretend to be the two bad guys buying missile codes from a blonde assassin, while Carter pretends to be the assassin selling the codes to the real guys. All without masks because the machine didn't work. Good, why should it happen only to us, to have machines always choosing the worst moment of all to break? :-p Also the famous scene of Ethan climbing the tallest building, so famous even before the movie came out because apparently Cruise didn't want any stuntman, he did it all himself. Yeah yeah, very brave. Now, why does he want to take away stuntmen's job?
We have a moment of revelation when Ethan and Brandt exchange moves and Ethan asks him who is he really, and how could an agent with skills like his end up an analist? Brandt confesses to the others but not to Ethan what keeps troubling him : everybody thinks Ethan's wife left him, but he knows that she died because he was assigned to protect her and he failed. Oh, poor tormented soul, come here...
Then there's a lot of running, Ethan always runs a lot. I loved the conversation between Brandt and Benji about Brandt's jump and Benji saying "and I'll catch you" :lol: it was funny, and Brandt was adorable. Just as it was funny when after it was done Brandt said "next time, I get to seduce the rich guy" :lol:
As usual, more running and fighting, but team's work wins and they succeed. Only thing, the missile was launched, and they were fighting to avoid it hitting San Francisco, and succeeded that it was already there, it hitted something and landed on the water, but did not explode, and I thought: Really? American radars did not see it? America didn't do anything to stop it? They simply waited hoping that some people they did not know were on it could solve the problem for them? Come on!
At the end, Ethan tells them that he's happy with this team, and hopes to work with them again, and gives them all a mission, a recording they should take and listen to privately, that is. Carter and Benji takes it and go , but Brandt stands up and is going away without taking it. Ethan calls him back and Brandt confesses his shame, that Ethan's wife is dead because he failed his mission. But he's wrong. Ethan reveals that his wife is not dead. It was a most important secret for everyone "but you're telling me": Brandt was touched, Ethan trusts him :-) Ethan faked her death to protect her "as long as we were together she could never be safe. It wasn't your job to protect her, Brandt. It's mine." Beautiful, I liked it.
I hope they'll do another film with this same team, because I love Brandt, and Carter is okay. I liked her enough. Her too, please. But most importantly Brandt!
The chronicles of Narnia: The lion, the witch and the wardrobe
2005. I never read the books, I must read them one day. Based only on the film, I don't know why but I'm not much into it. Well, knowing me I guess I simply didn't much like the leading characters. The four kids: Peter (William Moseley) was the eldest, the good and wise one, but honestly also kind of plain. Susan (Anna Popplewell) was always whining, and never does anything, really; she was impossible when she tried to convince Peter to surrender: "listen to him, a sword doesn't make you a hero" : right, let's listen to the big bad wolf, everyone knows that's the right thing to do! *rolling eyes*
Edmund (Skandar Keynes) was unbearable: it's understandable that a kid might fight with his older brother because he misses his dad and can't stand seeing Peter as acting-dad, but from here to turn against his brothers and sisters! That's not acceptable. Instead as soon as he is in Narnia he tells everything to the Queen simply because he is afraid or because she offers him candies and tells him he might become a king, and him only, not Peter too! Stupid kid, turning against your family! You can fight them face to face, but you must be on your family's side against others!
Then there's Lucy (Georgie Henley), the cute little one, and I liked her.
In this film I liked Lucy, kind and innocent, I like Tummus (James McAvoy) and his sweet tormented look; the scenery of course, and Aslan the lion (Liam Neeson's voice), and the witch-queen (Tilda Swinton, good in the icy role of the bad witch).
That's it. The story is quite boring, really: the evil witch has iced the world and made everybody afraid of her, but luckly there's a prophecy (it's always the bloody prophecy!) that says that 4 human kids will come and save Narnia, and become the new kings and queens. Oh really, what a shocking surprise, a prophecy says our protagonists are all heroes... they certainly don't look like ones.
Peter and Lucy are not bad, him because he really tries, and her because she's little and can't do more than that.
Susan shots one arrow and her part is done, and Edmund wants to redeem himself attacking the queen, and is absurd how easily he can break her weapon... is that all she can do? They call her witch but without it she can't do anything?
At the end they are all crowned, of course: Queen Lucy the Valiant. King Edmund the just... I'm sorry, what??? Seriously???
Queen Susan the gentle... gentle... well, she was gentle to Lucy and Aslan... then king Peter the Magnificent... magnificent? Come on, where did these names come from?? maybe Peter the valiant, Lucy the gentle, Edmund the redeemed and Susan the sister... that's the kindest way, really.
I liked prof. Kirke (Jim Broadbent) when he wanted to hear all about their adventure in Narnia, but his part was very very small.
I did not recognize Neeson's voice at all, I was completely on the wrong track, thinking of a completely different name...
The film was entirely based on the four kids, and they weren't enough to have a whole movie on their shoulders..
Edmund (Skandar Keynes) was unbearable: it's understandable that a kid might fight with his older brother because he misses his dad and can't stand seeing Peter as acting-dad, but from here to turn against his brothers and sisters! That's not acceptable. Instead as soon as he is in Narnia he tells everything to the Queen simply because he is afraid or because she offers him candies and tells him he might become a king, and him only, not Peter too! Stupid kid, turning against your family! You can fight them face to face, but you must be on your family's side against others!
Then there's Lucy (Georgie Henley), the cute little one, and I liked her.
In this film I liked Lucy, kind and innocent, I like Tummus (James McAvoy) and his sweet tormented look; the scenery of course, and Aslan the lion (Liam Neeson's voice), and the witch-queen (Tilda Swinton, good in the icy role of the bad witch).
That's it. The story is quite boring, really: the evil witch has iced the world and made everybody afraid of her, but luckly there's a prophecy (it's always the bloody prophecy!) that says that 4 human kids will come and save Narnia, and become the new kings and queens. Oh really, what a shocking surprise, a prophecy says our protagonists are all heroes... they certainly don't look like ones.
Peter and Lucy are not bad, him because he really tries, and her because she's little and can't do more than that.
Susan shots one arrow and her part is done, and Edmund wants to redeem himself attacking the queen, and is absurd how easily he can break her weapon... is that all she can do? They call her witch but without it she can't do anything?
At the end they are all crowned, of course: Queen Lucy the Valiant. King Edmund the just... I'm sorry, what??? Seriously???
Queen Susan the gentle... gentle... well, she was gentle to Lucy and Aslan... then king Peter the Magnificent... magnificent? Come on, where did these names come from?? maybe Peter the valiant, Lucy the gentle, Edmund the redeemed and Susan the sister... that's the kindest way, really.
I liked prof. Kirke (Jim Broadbent) when he wanted to hear all about their adventure in Narnia, but his part was very very small.
I did not recognize Neeson's voice at all, I was completely on the wrong track, thinking of a completely different name...
The film was entirely based on the four kids, and they weren't enough to have a whole movie on their shoulders..
Charlie and the chocolate factory - 2005
Well now, when I was little I loved the old movie, but I'm grown up now. The only reason why I like this movie is Johnny Depp and the hilarious way he says most of his lines here. That's enough for me, especially if I watch it on dvd and can fast-forward some scenes.
I like mother Bucket, because I always like Helena Bonham-Carter. Always. You know how sometimes it can happen that you don't understand why a certain person has been chosen for a role than they tell you "she's the wife of..." or "he's the son of..." and that's the only reason? Well, not here, never, not with Helena Bonham-Carter and Tim Burton. They're a great couple, and I love him as a writer/director, and I love her as an actress.
I also like father Bucket (Noah Taylor) because he's nice and kind; I like how the two of them always love and support each other.
Charlie (Freddie Highmore) was okay, but nothing too special.
Willy Wonka is presented as a genius that started from nothing and became the king of chocolate: years ago the town people worked for him, then after a while workers started selling his secret recipes for money, and it got so bad that Wonka fired them all and closed the factory. Today, nobody in town knows who works in there,nobody's ever seen going in or coming out. The story starts with Wonka releasing five golden tickets hidden in chocolate bars: whoever finds them wins a tour inside the factory! The first is found by a German, very fat boy, Augustus Gloop. The second is found by an English rich, spoiled brat.. sorry girl named Veruca. The third by Violet, a super competitive American girl and the fourth by Mike Teavee, an awful tech maniac boy from Colorado. The fifth is at first believed to have been found in Russia but it turns out it was a fake one, someone forged a ticket and was found out. Charlie and his family dream about him finding a ticket, but he only receives one bar a year, for his birthday. No ticket. Then his grandpa gives him a coin to buy another one: no ticket. Charlie can't believe his eyes when he finds money on the street, but he uses right away to buy another bar: Golden Ticket!!! Hoooray!
I did not like Granpa's little dance, but maybe I'm just above the age-limit for that sort of things.
What I liked ? Wonka's answer to the question "don't you want to know our names?" : "Can't imagine how it would matter" :lol: he really can't, he's not being rude, he's just weird :lol:
also : "everything in this room is eatable. Even I'm eatable, but that is called cannibalism, my dear children, and is, in fact, frowned upon in most societies. Yeah. Enjoy. Go on. Scoot scoot." :lol: of course the scenery was lovely, with chocolate waterfall and river, with very green grass and everything. While tech boy smashes things, the fat boy falls into the river and is sucked into a huge pipe and here the Oompa Loompas come for their little song... two and a half minutes, really a quick fast forward, no problem. I loved this following bit: Wonka:"that pipe, it just so happen to lead directly to the room where I make the most delicious kind of strawberry-flavored, chocolate-coated fudge" - boy's mother:"then he will be made into strawberry-flavored, chocolate-coated fudge, they'll be selling him by the pound all other the world?" - Wonka:"No. I wouldn't allow it. The taste would be terrible. Can you imagine Augustus-flavored, chocolate-coated Gloop? yeuch. No one would buy it." which said by Depp is funny :-)
OOmpa Loompas again on the boat, all boring stuff to me. In the inventing room Violet insists on trying the new invention: full three-course dinner in a gum. A chewing-gum that tastes of tomato soup, roast beef with potatos and finally blueberry pie, which is the troubling part, because Violet becomes... well, violet, or blue if you prefer, and also hugely round. Another two minutes of song, but much less simply pushing a button :-)
Wonka has a solution for this: to the Oompa Loompas "I want you to roll Miss Beauregard into the boat and take her along to the juicing room at once, okay?" and to the mother: "they're gonna squeeze her like a little pimple. We gotta squeeze all that juice out of her immediately". which actually doesn't sound very funny written down, but it was when Depp was saying it, because of the way he says things and how weird his characters appears. It's different. It's not as if a man said it, Depp's Wonka is... another thing, somehow.
Of course these are all terrible kids, only Charlie makes nice questions that make him think back, although Charlie speaks much too softly for my tastes, I barely hear him: okay he's the good one, but that doesn't mean he can't have a normal tone of voice! I didn't even care much for Wonka's past, with that horrible thing in his mouth at all hours, his dentist father that didn't allow him candies and him secretly eating them and making notes...yeah. Let's move on.
The nuts-sorting room is full of squirrels, and spoiled Veruca wants one but Wonka won't sell them (Good!) so she goes to grab one herself. They stop to look at her, and when she tries to grab one they jump on her, hold her firmly on the ground, knock her head, decide she's a bad nut after all and throw her in the incinerator with all the other bad nuts... of course it's broken, so she'll land in garbage. Her father wanted to help her, but Wonka 'couldn't find the right key', and when the squirrels have done it,suddenly he finds the right key! :-p and I love the look on his face, kind of diabolical...
In the television room there's another invention: "Imagine, you're sitting at home watching television and suddenly a commercial will flash onto the screen, and a voice will say: Wonka's chocolates are the best in the world. If you don't believe us, try one for yourself. And you simply reach out and take it. How about that?" and he was very convincing when he said it, I really liked the idea, or maybe it was just the prospect of free chocolate... not sure.
The little twat shouts that Wonka has invented a teleport and only uses for chocolates, he's not a genius, he's an idiot, and stuff like this. The stupid kid then teleports himself, proving himself as the most stupid of all them kids. He forgot the little detail of the size, and he comes out very very small, simply saying : Now send me back... why does he think Wonka can send him back to his full size? stupid. Anyway, he'll get stretched by the taffy-puller no problem. Wonka:"boy is he gonna be skinny. Yeah. Taffy puller" and he's kind of creepy when he talks like that, with that tone of voice and that expression... :-D
this time the song is shorter, only a minute and a half, thank you. Charlie is the only kid left, so he won the final prize: Wonka wants Charlie with him at the factory, so to one day leave it to him. But "if I come with you I won't ever see my family again?" - "Yeah. Consider it a bonus". :-/ Come on, surely Willy was hard on his father, never going back, never a word... Many years have passed since he was a kid, after all.
At the end Willy takes them all, the house too, and it's a lovely image the old house inside the factory with sugar falling down as snow...
I don't like the fact that the Oompa Loompas are just one man over and over again.
ITA la fabbrica di cioccolato
I like mother Bucket, because I always like Helena Bonham-Carter. Always. You know how sometimes it can happen that you don't understand why a certain person has been chosen for a role than they tell you "she's the wife of..." or "he's the son of..." and that's the only reason? Well, not here, never, not with Helena Bonham-Carter and Tim Burton. They're a great couple, and I love him as a writer/director, and I love her as an actress.
I also like father Bucket (Noah Taylor) because he's nice and kind; I like how the two of them always love and support each other.
Charlie (Freddie Highmore) was okay, but nothing too special.
Willy Wonka is presented as a genius that started from nothing and became the king of chocolate: years ago the town people worked for him, then after a while workers started selling his secret recipes for money, and it got so bad that Wonka fired them all and closed the factory. Today, nobody in town knows who works in there,nobody's ever seen going in or coming out. The story starts with Wonka releasing five golden tickets hidden in chocolate bars: whoever finds them wins a tour inside the factory! The first is found by a German, very fat boy, Augustus Gloop. The second is found by an English rich, spoiled brat.. sorry girl named Veruca. The third by Violet, a super competitive American girl and the fourth by Mike Teavee, an awful tech maniac boy from Colorado. The fifth is at first believed to have been found in Russia but it turns out it was a fake one, someone forged a ticket and was found out. Charlie and his family dream about him finding a ticket, but he only receives one bar a year, for his birthday. No ticket. Then his grandpa gives him a coin to buy another one: no ticket. Charlie can't believe his eyes when he finds money on the street, but he uses right away to buy another bar: Golden Ticket!!! Hoooray!
I did not like Granpa's little dance, but maybe I'm just above the age-limit for that sort of things.
What I liked ? Wonka's answer to the question "don't you want to know our names?" : "Can't imagine how it would matter" :lol: he really can't, he's not being rude, he's just weird :lol:
also : "everything in this room is eatable. Even I'm eatable, but that is called cannibalism, my dear children, and is, in fact, frowned upon in most societies. Yeah. Enjoy. Go on. Scoot scoot." :lol: of course the scenery was lovely, with chocolate waterfall and river, with very green grass and everything. While tech boy smashes things, the fat boy falls into the river and is sucked into a huge pipe and here the Oompa Loompas come for their little song... two and a half minutes, really a quick fast forward, no problem. I loved this following bit: Wonka:"that pipe, it just so happen to lead directly to the room where I make the most delicious kind of strawberry-flavored, chocolate-coated fudge" - boy's mother:"then he will be made into strawberry-flavored, chocolate-coated fudge, they'll be selling him by the pound all other the world?" - Wonka:"No. I wouldn't allow it. The taste would be terrible. Can you imagine Augustus-flavored, chocolate-coated Gloop? yeuch. No one would buy it." which said by Depp is funny :-)
OOmpa Loompas again on the boat, all boring stuff to me. In the inventing room Violet insists on trying the new invention: full three-course dinner in a gum. A chewing-gum that tastes of tomato soup, roast beef with potatos and finally blueberry pie, which is the troubling part, because Violet becomes... well, violet, or blue if you prefer, and also hugely round. Another two minutes of song, but much less simply pushing a button :-)
Wonka has a solution for this: to the Oompa Loompas "I want you to roll Miss Beauregard into the boat and take her along to the juicing room at once, okay?" and to the mother: "they're gonna squeeze her like a little pimple. We gotta squeeze all that juice out of her immediately". which actually doesn't sound very funny written down, but it was when Depp was saying it, because of the way he says things and how weird his characters appears. It's different. It's not as if a man said it, Depp's Wonka is... another thing, somehow.
Of course these are all terrible kids, only Charlie makes nice questions that make him think back, although Charlie speaks much too softly for my tastes, I barely hear him: okay he's the good one, but that doesn't mean he can't have a normal tone of voice! I didn't even care much for Wonka's past, with that horrible thing in his mouth at all hours, his dentist father that didn't allow him candies and him secretly eating them and making notes...yeah. Let's move on.
The nuts-sorting room is full of squirrels, and spoiled Veruca wants one but Wonka won't sell them (Good!) so she goes to grab one herself. They stop to look at her, and when she tries to grab one they jump on her, hold her firmly on the ground, knock her head, decide she's a bad nut after all and throw her in the incinerator with all the other bad nuts... of course it's broken, so she'll land in garbage. Her father wanted to help her, but Wonka 'couldn't find the right key', and when the squirrels have done it,suddenly he finds the right key! :-p and I love the look on his face, kind of diabolical...
In the television room there's another invention: "Imagine, you're sitting at home watching television and suddenly a commercial will flash onto the screen, and a voice will say: Wonka's chocolates are the best in the world. If you don't believe us, try one for yourself. And you simply reach out and take it. How about that?" and he was very convincing when he said it, I really liked the idea, or maybe it was just the prospect of free chocolate... not sure.
The little twat shouts that Wonka has invented a teleport and only uses for chocolates, he's not a genius, he's an idiot, and stuff like this. The stupid kid then teleports himself, proving himself as the most stupid of all them kids. He forgot the little detail of the size, and he comes out very very small, simply saying : Now send me back... why does he think Wonka can send him back to his full size? stupid. Anyway, he'll get stretched by the taffy-puller no problem. Wonka:"boy is he gonna be skinny. Yeah. Taffy puller" and he's kind of creepy when he talks like that, with that tone of voice and that expression... :-D
this time the song is shorter, only a minute and a half, thank you. Charlie is the only kid left, so he won the final prize: Wonka wants Charlie with him at the factory, so to one day leave it to him. But "if I come with you I won't ever see my family again?" - "Yeah. Consider it a bonus". :-/ Come on, surely Willy was hard on his father, never going back, never a word... Many years have passed since he was a kid, after all.
At the end Willy takes them all, the house too, and it's a lovely image the old house inside the factory with sugar falling down as snow...
I don't like the fact that the Oompa Loompas are just one man over and over again.
ITA la fabbrica di cioccolato
sabato 13 dicembre 2014
V for Vendetta - 2006
I had watched this only once, years ago. I didn't remember anything, just the feeling that I liked it very much, that somehow it got to me deeply, but couldn't remember why. I came to think that maybe I hadn't been objective, maybe at the time I had a thing for Hugo Weaving and therefore liked this movie... I was really starting to think something like this, I'm telling you, then today I saw it again. And wow! it blew my mind. I'm not sure I can explain why, it's a combination of things. Mostly I'd say it has lots of good actors I like, and that means that wherever they turn there's someone I like, and that's not common. Then there's the matter of the voices. All the voices are like silk, quiet, poetic; come to think of it I think there were only two characters that used a loud voice, and they were both bad. But the good ones, they never shout. V is like poetic silk, if you can understand what I mean, but all the others too, quiet voices speaking slowly as if to give more importance to the words. Sutler is the one who shouts all the time, because he wants to impose himself.
It all starts with Evey's voice (Natalie Portman) reciting a rhyme "remember remember the fifth of november, the gunpowder treason and plot, I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot". At night she gets attacked because she's walking after curfew hour, and V (Hugo Weaving) comes to save her. They meet there for the first time. He always wears the mask, he never takes it off. They live on a future England were intolerance and fear are the government, under the slogan England Prevails. V wants to end this, he wants people to realise this. He goes to a tv studio forcing his program to be shown to all the people, to all the screens. I'm not sure, but it looks like there's only one channel..they all see it. So they see him talking and "sit down and have a little chat"; he tells them that They don't want this because words have power, and "the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression, and where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting submission" and that if you're looking for guilt "you need look into a mirror. I know why you did it. You were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. [ ... ] fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now High Chancellor Adam Sutler", then he asks them to "stand beside me, one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a 5th of November that shall never ever be forgotten". When he's escaping the building, he's stopped by cop Dominic (Rupert Graves), and Evey sees him and helps him. V is not sure what to do with her, if he should leave her where she is, unconscious on the floor to be found by the police that will for sure arrest her, or take her with him where she could never again be let free. He decides to take her, and brings her to his home. He tells her he wanted to help her, but now she can't leave because she could lead them to him. She doesn't know what to think, he saved her and seems nice, but also strange. She freaks out, though, when she realises that he has stolen her pass in order to get near a man, the Voice of London on tv. He doesn't deny anything, he says "yes, I killed him" and then "you seem upset", just like that, and she doesn't know how to deal with that. After a while, she tells him of when she was little, and her parents were protesting against the war, until men got in their house and took them away. She tells him that she's not brave like them, that she's afraid, but that she wants to help him, if she can, so he accepts her help, in order to get close to a disgusting bishop with a preference for little girls; Evey tries to warn him!!! This really sickened me for a moment, because she surely knew what he was! Thing is, she feels like a prisoner in V's house, and wants out of that whole story and thinks if she saves the bishop then it'll be even and she'll be free, which is quite naive, but V kills him anyway. Evey escapes and finds refuge in the house of tv showman Gordon Dietrich (Stephen Fry!!!). He takes her home, keeps her safe, and even tells her his own secrets "the truth is, you wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it". V goes on with his plans. He's killing all the people that years ago took part on a particular project. Now it's Delia's turn, and he appears in the dark of her bedroom: "you've come to kill me" - "yes" - "thank God" and they talk while he waits for the poison to kill her. She was one of the people that made experiments on people, killing many. Inspector Finch (Stephen Rea) starts to doubt everything he knows, his government, and where justice truly is.
Evey is living safely in Gordon's house, until one day he broadcasts a show he wrote that didn't go through cersors, where he ridicules Sutler (John Hurt). Gordon minimizes the problem, saying it'll be fine, but when they come to get him at night, he tells Evey to hide, and protects her while they bag him and take him away, like they did with her parents, and the last look he gives her is painfully touching. How wonderful was to find Stephen Fry in this movie, and his character is great, and obviously he does it wonderfully!
Evey tries to escape, but a man takes her, throws her in a little cell, shaves her head, asks for information about V. She doesn't say anything, and she's kept isolated, with food that even the rats refuse to eat, she's tortured, and every day she refuses to say anything. She finds in her cell a letter from a woman, Valerie, who was disowned by her family and then arrested because she had fallen in love with another woman. She reads "our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us, but within that inch, we are free", and she finds strength in her words, and every time she's left alone in her cell, she keeps reading it. It comes the day where she's told she'll be executed if she doesn't talk, and she calmly replies that she'd rather die. At that point, she's let free, and discovers that while Gordon was arrested and executed, she was found by V who took her to his home, and gave her this treatment to help her overcome her fear. Now she's stronger, she's not afraid any more. She's free, truly free. Evey is not sure how to take this, knowing that it was him who tortured her, but admits that she's different now. She thought everything was fake, that he wrote that letter, and that would have been very low and painful, but he didn't, and somehow this makes all the difference in the world. He explains that the letter was true, and he had found it years ago, when she had died in the cell next to his, then Evey goes away, no more afraid of being alone.
Finch finds out about that project, and thinks V is William Rookwood, the only man that was never found, while all the others died. V gives him an appointment and tells him and Dominic the true story of that project, where they were researching bioweapons, and discovered a terrible virus and used it against their own country, poisoning the water and causing thousands and thousands of deaths (at least 80.000), that lead to a state of fear among the people, and the persons involved in the project became rich selling the antidote. The people's fear lead them to elect Sutler in the new position of High Chancellor, practically a dictator. It turns out the police has a body that has been identified as Rookwood's, so who is V then?
When the 5th of November comes, Evey goes to his house to meet him one last time, as she had promised him; this surprises him "I didn't think you'd come". They dance and he tells her he leaves everything to her, even the choice to start the train that will blow up the parliament, then he goes to kill Sutler and those of his men still alive. V goes back to Evey to tell her that after twenty years he had found love again with her, then dies in her arms.
From everywhere people masked exactly like V come out in the street, all headed in the same direction, towards the parliament. All the policemen don't know what to do because no orders are coming, this because Sutler and Creedy are dead, so the man in charge orders them to stand down, and the people simply walk through them, until they are in sight of the parliament. Finch finds Evey and sees V's body, but she says England needs hope, and starts the train= big explosion, parliament down, fireworks in the sky. Finch asks Evey who was really V, and she tells him that he was 'my father, my mother, my brother, he was you, he was me, he was all of us" and as to confirm this we see all the people taking the masks off, and we see lots of faces. We see Dominic, but we also see Gordon, Valerie and the child that was killed. V is all of us, the idea that determined Gordon's and Valerie's actions.
Saying it like this it looks too plain, I don't know how to express the emotions. It was done really really well, loved the lights, loved the choice of actors, all of them. Wow when I saw Stephen Fry! and Rupert Graves! Now he has aged well, hasn't he? He's even sexier now.
I like that V never takes off his mask, and even after watching the end of the film we still don't know who V really is. Who was he? Apparently he can't be Rookwood, if he's been dead for years. While he was cooking we saw his hands were burnt, and we thought he was all burnt like they were showing him to us, escaping after the fire, burnt but not dead. I know though that when he was playing the torturer, his hands and face were not burnt. Okay, we don't see his face clearly, never, but it's not possible to mistake Hugo Weaving's jaw. There were no scars on his hands, either. We will never truly know who he was, because that's how he wanted it It's not the name that's important. It's the idea, the story that will go on.
It all starts with Evey's voice (Natalie Portman) reciting a rhyme "remember remember the fifth of november, the gunpowder treason and plot, I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot". At night she gets attacked because she's walking after curfew hour, and V (Hugo Weaving) comes to save her. They meet there for the first time. He always wears the mask, he never takes it off. They live on a future England were intolerance and fear are the government, under the slogan England Prevails. V wants to end this, he wants people to realise this. He goes to a tv studio forcing his program to be shown to all the people, to all the screens. I'm not sure, but it looks like there's only one channel..they all see it. So they see him talking and "sit down and have a little chat"; he tells them that They don't want this because words have power, and "the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression, and where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting submission" and that if you're looking for guilt "you need look into a mirror. I know why you did it. You were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. [ ... ] fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now High Chancellor Adam Sutler", then he asks them to "stand beside me, one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a 5th of November that shall never ever be forgotten". When he's escaping the building, he's stopped by cop Dominic (Rupert Graves), and Evey sees him and helps him. V is not sure what to do with her, if he should leave her where she is, unconscious on the floor to be found by the police that will for sure arrest her, or take her with him where she could never again be let free. He decides to take her, and brings her to his home. He tells her he wanted to help her, but now she can't leave because she could lead them to him. She doesn't know what to think, he saved her and seems nice, but also strange. She freaks out, though, when she realises that he has stolen her pass in order to get near a man, the Voice of London on tv. He doesn't deny anything, he says "yes, I killed him" and then "you seem upset", just like that, and she doesn't know how to deal with that. After a while, she tells him of when she was little, and her parents were protesting against the war, until men got in their house and took them away. She tells him that she's not brave like them, that she's afraid, but that she wants to help him, if she can, so he accepts her help, in order to get close to a disgusting bishop with a preference for little girls; Evey tries to warn him!!! This really sickened me for a moment, because she surely knew what he was! Thing is, she feels like a prisoner in V's house, and wants out of that whole story and thinks if she saves the bishop then it'll be even and she'll be free, which is quite naive, but V kills him anyway. Evey escapes and finds refuge in the house of tv showman Gordon Dietrich (Stephen Fry!!!). He takes her home, keeps her safe, and even tells her his own secrets "the truth is, you wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it". V goes on with his plans. He's killing all the people that years ago took part on a particular project. Now it's Delia's turn, and he appears in the dark of her bedroom: "you've come to kill me" - "yes" - "thank God" and they talk while he waits for the poison to kill her. She was one of the people that made experiments on people, killing many. Inspector Finch (Stephen Rea) starts to doubt everything he knows, his government, and where justice truly is.
Evey is living safely in Gordon's house, until one day he broadcasts a show he wrote that didn't go through cersors, where he ridicules Sutler (John Hurt). Gordon minimizes the problem, saying it'll be fine, but when they come to get him at night, he tells Evey to hide, and protects her while they bag him and take him away, like they did with her parents, and the last look he gives her is painfully touching. How wonderful was to find Stephen Fry in this movie, and his character is great, and obviously he does it wonderfully!
Evey tries to escape, but a man takes her, throws her in a little cell, shaves her head, asks for information about V. She doesn't say anything, and she's kept isolated, with food that even the rats refuse to eat, she's tortured, and every day she refuses to say anything. She finds in her cell a letter from a woman, Valerie, who was disowned by her family and then arrested because she had fallen in love with another woman. She reads "our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us, but within that inch, we are free", and she finds strength in her words, and every time she's left alone in her cell, she keeps reading it. It comes the day where she's told she'll be executed if she doesn't talk, and she calmly replies that she'd rather die. At that point, she's let free, and discovers that while Gordon was arrested and executed, she was found by V who took her to his home, and gave her this treatment to help her overcome her fear. Now she's stronger, she's not afraid any more. She's free, truly free. Evey is not sure how to take this, knowing that it was him who tortured her, but admits that she's different now. She thought everything was fake, that he wrote that letter, and that would have been very low and painful, but he didn't, and somehow this makes all the difference in the world. He explains that the letter was true, and he had found it years ago, when she had died in the cell next to his, then Evey goes away, no more afraid of being alone.
Finch finds out about that project, and thinks V is William Rookwood, the only man that was never found, while all the others died. V gives him an appointment and tells him and Dominic the true story of that project, where they were researching bioweapons, and discovered a terrible virus and used it against their own country, poisoning the water and causing thousands and thousands of deaths (at least 80.000), that lead to a state of fear among the people, and the persons involved in the project became rich selling the antidote. The people's fear lead them to elect Sutler in the new position of High Chancellor, practically a dictator. It turns out the police has a body that has been identified as Rookwood's, so who is V then?
When the 5th of November comes, Evey goes to his house to meet him one last time, as she had promised him; this surprises him "I didn't think you'd come". They dance and he tells her he leaves everything to her, even the choice to start the train that will blow up the parliament, then he goes to kill Sutler and those of his men still alive. V goes back to Evey to tell her that after twenty years he had found love again with her, then dies in her arms.
From everywhere people masked exactly like V come out in the street, all headed in the same direction, towards the parliament. All the policemen don't know what to do because no orders are coming, this because Sutler and Creedy are dead, so the man in charge orders them to stand down, and the people simply walk through them, until they are in sight of the parliament. Finch finds Evey and sees V's body, but she says England needs hope, and starts the train= big explosion, parliament down, fireworks in the sky. Finch asks Evey who was really V, and she tells him that he was 'my father, my mother, my brother, he was you, he was me, he was all of us" and as to confirm this we see all the people taking the masks off, and we see lots of faces. We see Dominic, but we also see Gordon, Valerie and the child that was killed. V is all of us, the idea that determined Gordon's and Valerie's actions.
Saying it like this it looks too plain, I don't know how to express the emotions. It was done really really well, loved the lights, loved the choice of actors, all of them. Wow when I saw Stephen Fry! and Rupert Graves! Now he has aged well, hasn't he? He's even sexier now.
I like that V never takes off his mask, and even after watching the end of the film we still don't know who V really is. Who was he? Apparently he can't be Rookwood, if he's been dead for years. While he was cooking we saw his hands were burnt, and we thought he was all burnt like they were showing him to us, escaping after the fire, burnt but not dead. I know though that when he was playing the torturer, his hands and face were not burnt. Okay, we don't see his face clearly, never, but it's not possible to mistake Hugo Weaving's jaw. There were no scars on his hands, either. We will never truly know who he was, because that's how he wanted it It's not the name that's important. It's the idea, the story that will go on.
As good as it gets - 1997
This is the story of Melvin (Jack Nicholson), a famous writer who spends his all time writing love books. He's OCD and always alone because he can't deal with other people. He's always nasty to everyone, but if you raise your voice he's immediately scared. Personally, I think he's nasty not because he likes it, but because this way people stay away from him.
He always locks his door, eats at the same place, at the same table, bringing his own plastic cutlery from home, and wants to be served always by the same waitress: Carol (Helen Hunt). When his neighbour Simon (Greg Kinnear) gets beaten up during a robbery and ends up for some days in a hospital, he's forced to take care of his little dog Vernell, and day after day he gets so used to it he becomes really fond of the little thing, so much that he changes his table in order to better check on him outside and even cries when he has to give it back. One day he goes to eat as usual but Carol is not there, so he goes to her house! He realises how sick her son is when he sees her run to the hospital with him. Melvin then asks his editor, or publisher, or agent, whatever, for a favour, and so her husband Dr Bettes takes a personal interest into Carol's son's health, sending the bills to Melvin. Now Carol can go back to work, to serve him his food! Simon, back home, is completely broke after all the hospital bills, and Melvin drives him to his parents' house to ask them for money: Melvin didn't want to go, so he wants Carol to go with him. Thanks to Carol, Simon finds himself again, and decides to go back. Since he doesn't have his home anymore, Melvin takes him in, however Melvin is very troubled because Carol is angry at him. With good reasons of course. Spending time with him, Carol had changed the way she thought of him, she had kissed him, but when she asked him for the real reason why he had wanted her on that trip, she was expecting him to confess he wanted her. Instead, Melvin tells her that his first thought had been that maybe if she had slept with gay Simon he might, who knows, change to etero maybe! Carol is outraged by this, specially if you consider that she was ready to sleep with him if only he had wanted it.
Simon is very grateful for Melvin's help, and also touched, and when he says that he loves him, I kind of expected some nasty remark, or quick back off, instead Melvin replies that he would be the luckiest man alive if that did it for him... and I don't know you but I was so impressed by that! Such a change for Melvin!
Simon talks to Melvin, and convinces him to go straight to Carol's house to talk to her and set things right. Melvin agrees and when he's about to go out, he realises he had not locked the door! Which might seem a small thing to someone, but he was totally OCD, so that's Huge!
Melvin goes to Carol and tells her that he feels better around her, that it relaxes him, and this was really cool, specially for someone always so tense and nervous, and she slowly forgives him, and they kiss, and they're really sweet, in a strange way. It's really a nice film, very nice. I like the actors involved, Nicholson as always plays a character who is a bit crazy, because crazy is what J.N. does best. Helen Hunt is an actress I like very much, because she looks like a real woman. Beautiful, talented and amazing, yes, but more importantly a "real" woman, and this is not so common as you might think!Not at all.
I liked many lines in this film, most of them said by Carol. Melvin of course said a lovely thing saying "you make me want to be a better man", which is always really lovely, but only when the man means it and if he actually does something to be a better person. Melvin does.
Among other things Carol says :
"When you first entered the restaurant, I thought you were handsome... and then, of course, you spoke" :lol:
and I love how calm she is after he tells her "judging from your eyes I'd say you were fifty", and simply replies "judging from your eyes, I'd say you were kind, so so much for eyes" - wow
The title of the movie is mentioned by Melvin after he runs to his doctor, as if he could give him an instant solution to his anxieties : What if this is as good as it gets?
But it wasn't. He had to work hard for it, but he'll have much more :-D
He always locks his door, eats at the same place, at the same table, bringing his own plastic cutlery from home, and wants to be served always by the same waitress: Carol (Helen Hunt). When his neighbour Simon (Greg Kinnear) gets beaten up during a robbery and ends up for some days in a hospital, he's forced to take care of his little dog Vernell, and day after day he gets so used to it he becomes really fond of the little thing, so much that he changes his table in order to better check on him outside and even cries when he has to give it back. One day he goes to eat as usual but Carol is not there, so he goes to her house! He realises how sick her son is when he sees her run to the hospital with him. Melvin then asks his editor, or publisher, or agent, whatever, for a favour, and so her husband Dr Bettes takes a personal interest into Carol's son's health, sending the bills to Melvin. Now Carol can go back to work, to serve him his food! Simon, back home, is completely broke after all the hospital bills, and Melvin drives him to his parents' house to ask them for money: Melvin didn't want to go, so he wants Carol to go with him. Thanks to Carol, Simon finds himself again, and decides to go back. Since he doesn't have his home anymore, Melvin takes him in, however Melvin is very troubled because Carol is angry at him. With good reasons of course. Spending time with him, Carol had changed the way she thought of him, she had kissed him, but when she asked him for the real reason why he had wanted her on that trip, she was expecting him to confess he wanted her. Instead, Melvin tells her that his first thought had been that maybe if she had slept with gay Simon he might, who knows, change to etero maybe! Carol is outraged by this, specially if you consider that she was ready to sleep with him if only he had wanted it.
Simon is very grateful for Melvin's help, and also touched, and when he says that he loves him, I kind of expected some nasty remark, or quick back off, instead Melvin replies that he would be the luckiest man alive if that did it for him... and I don't know you but I was so impressed by that! Such a change for Melvin!
Simon talks to Melvin, and convinces him to go straight to Carol's house to talk to her and set things right. Melvin agrees and when he's about to go out, he realises he had not locked the door! Which might seem a small thing to someone, but he was totally OCD, so that's Huge!
Melvin goes to Carol and tells her that he feels better around her, that it relaxes him, and this was really cool, specially for someone always so tense and nervous, and she slowly forgives him, and they kiss, and they're really sweet, in a strange way. It's really a nice film, very nice. I like the actors involved, Nicholson as always plays a character who is a bit crazy, because crazy is what J.N. does best. Helen Hunt is an actress I like very much, because she looks like a real woman. Beautiful, talented and amazing, yes, but more importantly a "real" woman, and this is not so common as you might think!Not at all.
I liked many lines in this film, most of them said by Carol. Melvin of course said a lovely thing saying "you make me want to be a better man", which is always really lovely, but only when the man means it and if he actually does something to be a better person. Melvin does.
Among other things Carol says :
"When you first entered the restaurant, I thought you were handsome... and then, of course, you spoke" :lol:
and I love how calm she is after he tells her "judging from your eyes I'd say you were fifty", and simply replies "judging from your eyes, I'd say you were kind, so so much for eyes" - wow
The title of the movie is mentioned by Melvin after he runs to his doctor, as if he could give him an instant solution to his anxieties : What if this is as good as it gets?
But it wasn't. He had to work hard for it, but he'll have much more :-D
Shall we dance? - 2004
I love this film, I really do. When it came out in Italy I didn't want to see it because the trailer was all wrong. They simply showed John (Richard Gere) looking at Pauline (Jennifer Lopez), and then the two of them dancing a tango together, making it look like they had an affair, thus destroying the whole movie. One day though I watched it on tv (it's free on tv) and I completely loved it, it was nothing like that trailer. The story here is that John has a job and a family that he loves, a wife, Beverly (Susan Sarandon) that he loves, and two children, a 14 y.o. daughter and an older son. Still, after twenty years of the same life, he feels like something's missing inside. Day after day coming back from work by train he sees Pauline looking out of the window with a melancholic look on her face, and he sees in her what he feels inside, in a way. One day he decides to go take a look. She works for Miss Mitzi's dance school, and John starts taking lessons. He doesn't even know what he's doing, until one day he asks Paulina out to dinner, well he asks her if she wants to grab a bite together or something like that, and she thinks what every girl would think at that point: that he's hitting on her. She tells him that if he joined the school aiming at her, he's wasting his time. He's kind of hurt, and thinks of ending the lessons, until he realises that he wants to dance! So he goes back. I mean, you can't blame her for saying those things. In nowadays society kindness is not usual. If a guy is nice to you, complimenting you, there's always a reason, it's never just disinterested kindness. It's perfectly understandable. On the other hand, I think sometimes men are probably careful about complimenting women they're not interested in in case they might think they're hitting on them... anyway, John goes back and he's really enjoying dancing, so much that it shows by looking at him. His daughter even tells mom that 'dad is happier lately' and she starts worrying, because she knows nothing about it. She's worried that he might have an affair, expecially because, as she says to the private investigator she hires to follow him, he's not the kind to have an unimportant fling, so if he's having an affair it's probably something important, and she wants to know and be prepared. She's kind of shocked to learn the truth. I mean, it's better than the alternative, but it's still a shock because it looks like he's a different man in some way. She tells the P.i. a nice story about what a marriage is, you know, the promise between two people that your life will never pass unnoticed 'because I'll be there to witness it', so even if he's no more working for her he tells her of the dance competition John has entered with his school. His daughter starts yelling encouraging words, to support him, with the result that he realises that they are there, and he's completely shocked!! Even more than her. Somehow this changes everything for him, he's embarassed about it. He apologises to his wife, saying he didn't tell anything because he was ashamed to admit that he wanted to be even happier that he already is, and other words like that, concluding that he won't dance anymore.
'You could teach me' says Beverly. He shows her the letter Pauline wrote him, in order to have no more secrets between them, and she understands that this was important for him, and enourages him to go to Pauline's goodbye party. He puts on a very smart-looking dress, all elegant and charming with a red rose in his hand, and goes to see Bev at work, and he's very charming, and the scene is lovely and romantic. Then together they go to the party where John introduces her to his friends and dances a last dance with Paulina. It all ends in music and a few scenes that show us where the characters are now, some time after.
It's a lovely lovely film, full of beautiful music and I like it very much. I also like the fact that Stanley Tucci is in here, because I like him very much; he's Link, a man that works in the same studio as John, and is thought to be a huge football fan, while the truth is he likes to wear shiny dresses and dance: it was really hard to watch when he danced with that long-hair-wig and the false teeth, all shiny and fake. oh God. Why some man make such a fuss of being bald? I don't understand... anyway he looses all that stuff in the end, and ends up with Bobby, the big blonde crazy about dancing too.
The end is lovely, and I'm happy they didn't make this a film about cheating as the trailer suggested. This way is adorable and beautiful.
It's a lovely lovely film, full of beautiful music and I like it very much. I also like the fact that Stanley Tucci is in here, because I like him very much; he's Link, a man that works in the same studio as John, and is thought to be a huge football fan, while the truth is he likes to wear shiny dresses and dance: it was really hard to watch when he danced with that long-hair-wig and the false teeth, all shiny and fake. oh God. Why some man make such a fuss of being bald? I don't understand... anyway he looses all that stuff in the end, and ends up with Bobby, the big blonde crazy about dancing too.
The end is lovely, and I'm happy they didn't make this a film about cheating as the trailer suggested. This way is adorable and beautiful.
sabato 6 dicembre 2014
Frozen
Yes, now I get it. Everyone was talking about Frozen, and Anna here, and Elsa there, and I was like: what? But now I get it, I totally do. I know why so many girls talked about this. Honestly, I don't know if boys can see in it what girls can. I watch Anna waking up in the morning and I see myself, I hear my mom asking me "did you just wake up?" and me replying "no, of course not, I've been up for a long time n..zzzzzz"; I watch Elsa and I remember the difficult times growing up.
I watch Anna and her enthusiasm and she reminds me of myself when I was little and still believed that the world was magical and fair; Anna saying to Hans "you're not awkward, I'm awkward, you're gorgeous, wait what?", so cute and funny, innocent in her own way, she speaks to us girls.
I watch Elsa during the "for the first time in forever" song and she breaks my heart, because of her sadness and loneliness, and isolation, and reminds me of all those moments of solitude; then I watch her during the "Let it go" song and I see what I think every girl understands, and feels inside, and can relate to. I know it was like that for me. When she sings "couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried" : have you ever in your life felt that you wanted to hide a certain feeling, and find that it was really difficult to do so? And "don't let them in, don't let them see, be the good girl you always have to be" not just hiding your feelings, but trying to show something different? Like trying to appear fine when you're hurt, or to appear happy when you're sad... it eats you inside. "well now they know" what a relief it is! Isn't it? "let it go can't hold it back any more, I don't care what they're going to say, let the storm rage on" oh it feels so good, even watching her slowly changing her expression, relieved, free for once, and also changing the way she moves, more confident finally, and also changing the way she walks, letting the storm inside her giving her energy, letting it flow inside her... so good. I can relate to that. Who couldn't? And "it's funny how some distance makes everything seem small" who hasn't felt this at least once, but probably even more than once? Something that made you feel hurt or embarassed, but when you finally can distance yourself from it, suddenly you can look at it in a different way, and it doesn't feel so heavy any more "and the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all" free, finally free from the burden on my soul! Come on, this is so beautiful is almost made the whole movie. Right here, in this song!
There are funny moments too, of course, like Elsa saying that you can't marry a guy you just met, and there's a sense of esultation, like Finally! A Disney film where she doesn't marry the first prince she meets! But most of all how beautiful is it that the act of true love is real, for once. How could it be True love between two people that just met each other? No, the only true love that was in this movie was the love that Anna felt for Elsa, and maybe even more the love that Elsa had for Anna. That was true for sure. Between Anna and Kristoff there will be love, but with time, spending time together, and learning about each other, and liking what they learn. It was beautiful when Anna chose to defend Elsa knowing that it would cost her life, because she thought she needed a kiss to be saved. So beautiful when Elsa finally realised that she could control her power not by suppressing her emotions but by letting love guide them. Trying to suppress her power, she had always felt afraid and lonely and without hope. Now she realises the right path is different, and she can finally be with her sister the way she always wanted. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
I watch Anna and her enthusiasm and she reminds me of myself when I was little and still believed that the world was magical and fair; Anna saying to Hans "you're not awkward, I'm awkward, you're gorgeous, wait what?", so cute and funny, innocent in her own way, she speaks to us girls.
I watch Elsa during the "for the first time in forever" song and she breaks my heart, because of her sadness and loneliness, and isolation, and reminds me of all those moments of solitude; then I watch her during the "Let it go" song and I see what I think every girl understands, and feels inside, and can relate to. I know it was like that for me. When she sings "couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried" : have you ever in your life felt that you wanted to hide a certain feeling, and find that it was really difficult to do so? And "don't let them in, don't let them see, be the good girl you always have to be" not just hiding your feelings, but trying to show something different? Like trying to appear fine when you're hurt, or to appear happy when you're sad... it eats you inside. "well now they know" what a relief it is! Isn't it? "let it go can't hold it back any more, I don't care what they're going to say, let the storm rage on" oh it feels so good, even watching her slowly changing her expression, relieved, free for once, and also changing the way she moves, more confident finally, and also changing the way she walks, letting the storm inside her giving her energy, letting it flow inside her... so good. I can relate to that. Who couldn't? And "it's funny how some distance makes everything seem small" who hasn't felt this at least once, but probably even more than once? Something that made you feel hurt or embarassed, but when you finally can distance yourself from it, suddenly you can look at it in a different way, and it doesn't feel so heavy any more "and the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all" free, finally free from the burden on my soul! Come on, this is so beautiful is almost made the whole movie. Right here, in this song!
There are funny moments too, of course, like Elsa saying that you can't marry a guy you just met, and there's a sense of esultation, like Finally! A Disney film where she doesn't marry the first prince she meets! But most of all how beautiful is it that the act of true love is real, for once. How could it be True love between two people that just met each other? No, the only true love that was in this movie was the love that Anna felt for Elsa, and maybe even more the love that Elsa had for Anna. That was true for sure. Between Anna and Kristoff there will be love, but with time, spending time together, and learning about each other, and liking what they learn. It was beautiful when Anna chose to defend Elsa knowing that it would cost her life, because she thought she needed a kiss to be saved. So beautiful when Elsa finally realised that she could control her power not by suppressing her emotions but by letting love guide them. Trying to suppress her power, she had always felt afraid and lonely and without hope. Now she realises the right path is different, and she can finally be with her sister the way she always wanted. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
"Let it go" lyrics:
the snow glows white on the mountain tonight - not a footprint to be seen
a kingdom of isolation - and it looks like I'm the queen
the wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
couldn't keep it in - heaven knows I tried
don't let them in don't let them see - be the good girl you always have to be
conceal don't feel, don't let them know - well now they know...
let it go let it go can't hold it back any more
let it go let it go turn away and slam the door
I don't care what they're going to say - let the storm rage on - the cold never bothered me anyway.
It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small
and the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all
it's time to see what i can do - to test the limits and break through
no right no wrong no rules for me - I'm free
let it go let it go I am one with the wind and sky
let it go let it go you'll never see me cry
here I stand and here I'll stay - let the storm rage on
my power flurries through the air into the ground
my soul is spiralling in frozen fractals all around
and one thought crystallises like an icy blast
I'm never going back - the past is in the past
let it go let it go and I'll rise like the break of dawn
let it go let it go that perfect girl is gone
here I stand in the light of day - let the storm rage on! - the cold never bothered me anyway
Iscriviti a:
Post (Atom)