As my faithful reader will probably recall I love going to the pictures. The Danes, bless their cotton socks, very generously show all films in the original language with Danish subtitles which is such a fabulous gift and I am duly grateful (the only problem is if the dialogue is in any language other than English, I can't read the subtitles but I can live with that.) So most weeks I take myself off to the cinema to check out the latest releases. While a film has to be truly gruesome for me not to enjoy it, I think it is fair to say that there have been relatively slim pickings recently. The last film I really enjoyed was The Hunger Games, which, to be honest, I did not expect to enjoy. The Hunger Games is probably the next big franchise teenage package. I believe The Twilight saga is now finished - didn't get into that at all. Perhaps one for the DVD? The Hunger Games is essentially Lord of the Flies meets Spartacus meets Star Wars. The heroine is the rather superbly named Katniss Everdeen and also stars the marvelous Stanley Tucci as the blue-haired game show host Caesar Flickerman.
More recent offerings have included (in no particular order) Men in Black 3 - definitely a franchise that has run out of steam. WE - not as bad as it could have been considering it was directed by Madge. It was a lovely film to watch, beautifully shot and edited but a rather weak story line. It is largely focused on the affair and subsequent marriage of Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII; there is also a parallel modern day story of a married woman having an affair with a security guard at an auction house (I think) that is auctioning off a number of items formerly owned by Mrs Simpson. Interestingly, I felt the film was saying more about Madonna's experience being married to a high profile Englishman but maybe I read too much into it.
Surprisingly, one of the more enjoyable films was The Avengers. Mark was expecting Steed, Emma Peel, et al rather than the comic book heroes version <g>. It was actually rather good; I'm not a big fan of films with lots of computer graphics but to be fair it would be very difficult to do this film without it. What was surprising was how funny it was. Lots of witty one-liners and typically 'British' humour. At the end when reading the credits I found out it was directed by Joss Whedon who also directed Buffy the Vampire Slayer - one of my all time fave TV shows - so all became clear.
Snow White and the Huntsman was OK. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was rather nice - Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt not too taxed by the script or the plot and an amusing comic depiction by Kristin Scott Thomas as the Prime Minister's press secretary all contributed to a pleasant, modern-day fairy tale. Last week I went to A Dangerous Method which starred Keira 'I can only act with my mouth open' Knightley. Not bad considering she has only two facial expressions. It did contain rather bizarre scenes of aforementioned Ms K having her a**e slapped by Mr Fassnidge but I guess we all have to earn a living somehow. The film is primarily about the relationship between Jung and Freud and (a**e slapping scenes notwithstanding) was not as bad as I was expecting. This week's viewing delight is Spiderman - let the computer graphics commence <g>.
More recent offerings have included (in no particular order) Men in Black 3 - definitely a franchise that has run out of steam. WE - not as bad as it could have been considering it was directed by Madge. It was a lovely film to watch, beautifully shot and edited but a rather weak story line. It is largely focused on the affair and subsequent marriage of Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII; there is also a parallel modern day story of a married woman having an affair with a security guard at an auction house (I think) that is auctioning off a number of items formerly owned by Mrs Simpson. Interestingly, I felt the film was saying more about Madonna's experience being married to a high profile Englishman but maybe I read too much into it.
Surprisingly, one of the more enjoyable films was The Avengers. Mark was expecting Steed, Emma Peel, et al rather than the comic book heroes version <g>. It was actually rather good; I'm not a big fan of films with lots of computer graphics but to be fair it would be very difficult to do this film without it. What was surprising was how funny it was. Lots of witty one-liners and typically 'British' humour. At the end when reading the credits I found out it was directed by Joss Whedon who also directed Buffy the Vampire Slayer - one of my all time fave TV shows - so all became clear.
Snow White and the Huntsman was OK. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was rather nice - Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt not too taxed by the script or the plot and an amusing comic depiction by Kristin Scott Thomas as the Prime Minister's press secretary all contributed to a pleasant, modern-day fairy tale. Last week I went to A Dangerous Method which starred Keira 'I can only act with my mouth open' Knightley. Not bad considering she has only two facial expressions. It did contain rather bizarre scenes of aforementioned Ms K having her a**e slapped by Mr Fassnidge but I guess we all have to earn a living somehow. The film is primarily about the relationship between Jung and Freud and (a**e slapping scenes notwithstanding) was not as bad as I was expecting. This week's viewing delight is Spiderman - let the computer graphics commence <g>.
You can't possibly have been watching La Knightley having her a**e slapped. The woman is an absolute twig and has no a**e!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing me up to speed with the movie world. The last film I saw at the cinema was the James Bond one with Toby Stephens (drool) as the baddie and lots of ice. That's really all I remember about it.
I've never seen Buffy the Thingummydoodah! And I'm utterly convinced that Katniss Everdeen is an anagram of something...
Buffy rocks - just sayin'
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know! I'm just not in touch enough with my inner teenager to find all that vampire stuff amusing. Louis Jourdan in a cape, now you're talking vampire!!
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