virtual-sushi

I’m terrified preg-coms are coming in fashion. Juno was good fun though. Jennifer Garner was sort of creepy (actually, so was Bateman) and Michael Cera was flat and boring but Juno herself was extremely personable (and overly bratty only a few times). The plot was well-paced. There were a few good bits of dialogue in there too, despite Juno and Paulie having absolutely no onscreen chemistry. The soundtrack felt like it was trying a bit hard to be indie, though it remained gentle and unobtrusive.

Cute. Wait for it on DVD.

I’ve not looked forward to many movies in the cinema for a while. The only thing that’s kept me going is the promise of Johnny Depp in Sweeny Todd. Honestly, there aren’t very many good actors out there and out of the few there are, Johnny Depp has got to be one of the best. If he starred in Lord of the Rings, it’d be the best trilogy ever. If he starred in Star Wars it’d be the best trilogy ever. If they hadn’t made the last two films of Pirates of the Caribbean, it’d be the best trilogy ever.

There’s no mistaking what Sweeny Todd is about. Opening credits show it all: Blood and romantic grotesquery. The movie starts off bloody and doesn’t go too far off track. The entire plot formula is simple, but you’ll watch it for the atmosphere. Burton’s rendering of Todd’s London is dirty and macabre and fun. The only thing that let it down for me was the singing. I have a low threshold for people belting out plot lines, and most of the movie is propelled by song lyrics. In fact, it seems like the trailers include pretty much all of spoken words (possibly the studio was worried a musical wouldn’t be so successful?) Still, some brilliant lines, like Todd’s repeated description of London. Brilliant acting too. Extremely Burtonesque, which is a good thing if you like his movies; an awful thing if you don’t.

I’m told that Charlie Wilson’s War has the same writer as The West Wing, and would be ranked alongside a mediocre episode from that series. Knowing that may convince me to give the show a chance. The movie is a based-on-a-true-story (kind of like Fargo was…) retelling of how the first Afghan War was won in secret thanks to the efforts of one Texan senator (played by Tom Hanks). Hanks plays this role well in his typical heart-warming sad-sack style.

One negative is Julia Roberts, who looks a bit like a weird alien and is far too monodimensional. Possibly I’m a bit biased after watching Notting Hill on telly last weekend. The CIA man is an excellent character that gives life to otherwise-dull moments.

The movie manages to maintain a close and personal sense of conspiracy with the main characters trying to effect a change below the radar. I, personally, had some trouble understanding all the words due to the heavy texan drawl employed.

Doesn’t need to be watched on the big screen. Definitely don’t watch it in Odeon’s “premier” seats. One slip and you’ll end up with your knee half way into the back of someone else’s head.

(n.b. There’s a good comparison between the movie and real life located here.)

Why would my local cinema wait until the busiest (probably) movie-watching day of the year — the Thursday after Christmas — to let their prebooked-ticket machines and their credit card machines break down? I hate missing the beginning of a movie more than I hate missing the end, and bits in the middle.

Still, assuming nothing Earth-shattering happens in the first few minutes, like a virus killing everyone on Earth, I Am Legend really is a solid movie that paced itself and ended well. Some good bits with Will Smith showing how lonely being the last man on the planet can be.

The vampires are really quite poor and not terrifying at all. A shame after the atmosphere of tension that is set up every time just before you see one. It’s best to treat them as no more than simple plot devices to drive the core of the movie.

Worth seeing in the cinema or on DVD.

As a side note, this is the first time in years I’ve watched a movie in a crowded cinema hall. A good reminder of how horrible it is. It must be a universal law that if you bring 200 people to one place, there’ll be at least one baby that can’t stop crying, five guys who can’t stop pointing out the obvious in loud voices and two who are incapable of figuring out how to silence their mobile phones.

Didn’t have high hopes going for this one. What little I did have was mainly based on the expectation that Vince Vaughn would give the movie a bit of a Dodgeball flavour.

First half of it was a bit bland, but not offensive. Shortly degenerated into cliche after cliche though (the elf DJ talks like a gangster - portrayed by Ludacris!). Most of the visual gags have been done before too (the sleigh has a fasten seatbelt light, Vince Vaughn obstinately and vehemently claims he isn’t going to a dinner with the parents before the scene cuts to show him going to dinner anyway). The entire plot is predictable by the time Vaughn caves in and calls his brother for bail money, about 20 minutes in.

Mind, I am being a bit harsh. Kevin Spacey brings a bit of life to the monodimensional bad guy character, and there’s a fun in-joke during his character development scene.

Still, this definitely is a movie for the kids. And pets.

I just saw The Golden Compass with the intention of coming out of the cinema telling everyone how the book was better (honestly, I’ve never been able to do that before). I can’t though - the film was just too awful.

So awful.

Obviously any movie that intends to start and finish in the same day cannot include as many twists and turns as you can put in a book, but it should give you enough to understand what’s going on. A rule that’s especially important for something like the His Dark Materials trilogy, where the plot is embedded within a lot of mythology. Unfortunately, it looks like the director selected chapters at random. The only good bit of the book - the last few chapters - was discarded totally! As a result, the most I could say for the movie is that it was a confusing, plotless series of meandering ambiguities that ends before it properly begins.

And they could have saved it all if they just had more Jedi.