Gone Baby Gone

Hmm.

What initially feels like a very simple, weak story starts to get twisty and certainly interesting after about an hour, it's a passable popcorn flick. Some great actors in Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris turn in unchallenging performances, always watchable but never memorable. Casey Affleck proves he is a better actor than his brother, but he can't do much with an unbelievable screenplay that unravels in rather a plodding way. It deals with a moral dilemma about an emotive subject, but unfortunately ultimately lacks depth. It purports to deal with serious issues while being incredibly unrealistic. Ben Affleck's direction is similar to Clint Eastwood's, I was surprised not to see Clint's name in the credits, which I suppose is a big compliment to Ben Affleck, but that doesn't save a weak premise, hammy dialogue and a few wooden performances.

Overrated as 7.8 out of 10 on IMDB.

I'd give it 6/10 as it kept me watching to the end and I wouldn't have been disappointed if I'd paid to rent it.

El Gato con Botas (3D)

Or Puss In Boots for those of you not going to the cinema in Spain.

I watched this last night with 3 German girls who all speak conversationally fluent Spanish. I was freaking out, but figured it would be a good movie for my first time watching in Spanish. I was right. Really funny, well "acted" and even had the original voices for the two lead roles as they are native speakers! I thoroughly enjoyed it and was largely able to follow the action between my intermediate Spanish and seeing the action transpire on screen.

Also, for the haters out there, the 3D was really, really good.

If you see it in English and you can understand every single word, instead of the 30-40% that I managed, you're probably gonna enjoy it even more.

3/5 Great fun

Tangled



Disney's animated movies have been thoroughly eclipsed by Pixar's, but Tangled is a return to form. Telling the well-known tale of Rapunzel (and her 70 foot long hair), Tangled is Disney's first in-house all-CGI movie. It looks very much like a Pixar movie but under the surface it is more like the usual Disney fare. There are quite a few bland and boring songs but there's enough going on to keep you fully entertained and the attention to detail is on a par with Pixar. I liked it.

7.5 out of 10

I enjoyed it too. Well observed cat jokes, as well as sending up the genre well. Antonio Banderas was having far too much fun with that.

Yes - the 3D was good. Some CGI films do 3D very well.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I bought this on blu-ray and watched it last night. The entire way through the film, I kept thinking that I had missed bits because I had difficulty following what happened. Part of the problem was trying to track who was who. You never got to know each character well enough so when they said a name, I just couldn't work out who they were on about (though my inkling about the ending held true in spite of this).

Part of me was expecting the main character to be all the things in the title ie could make stuff out of household bits (tinker), can make disguises (tailor), army training (soldier) etc. I was hoping for a thinking man's Bourne. From this persepective, it was a major let down. I can see how people think it's a film where nothing happens (did you not see all the sex and nudity?) and I guess for the general public, you needed explosions and things. I prefer to see it as a spy version of Columbo, without the charisma of the titular character.


SPOILERS




Is it me or were there a lot of gay characters in this? I counted at least three - ellis, guillam and the mole.





End spoilers

I've not seen this film, but I have read the book.

I did keep missing bits, because it's a complicated story. I had to go back a chapter and re-read more than once, especially if I was reading just before I went to sleep which is when I mostly did...

It's the kind of book where you have to immerse yourself and actually live the story in your mind. Then it's very rewarding. I might read it again since last time was probably over 20 years ago!!

Totally agree JJW, although I find that with a lot of books, the are really absorbing. When it comes to filming them, they either cut out 80% of the plot and re-write the remaining 20% (the new Borne films, the original mini-series in the 80s was okay) so that the MTV generation can follow it, or they try and remain as true as the time allows and you end up with a complex film, that only afficianados will be able to follow.

Watching it multiple times might work CW, each time you'll discover something new.

Tokyo Gore Police

Bit of a DVD catch up here and I had been looking forward to this one. It all sounds good on paper: Tokyo Police do battle with murderous genetically-modified "engineers", who can produce weaponry from sites of injury on their bodies, making them very difficult to kill. Despite all this it is often quite a dull movie even though there's a lot going on. The ridiculous amount of blood and violence is rendered absurd by its comic book fakery (TGP would be very unpleasant if it were handled in the style of, say, Tetsuo) but it is entertaining in parts.





Overall, a bit of a disappointment.

5 out of 10

SPOILERS

Perhaps because le Carré's book was loosely based on the Cambridge Five, at least two of whom were gay?


End spoilers

lol that was on my to-do list, mostly because Eihi Shiina is hot.

"Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl" (same director) is also on my list for the same reason. I suspect it's also about 5/10

It's a long to-do list. I really love ridiculous Asian horror movies. In fact, I really love killer-Bs in general

"Audition" was a far better film. She's hot in that too, although not quite so bloody.

Didn't know that Spreadie. Makes more sense.

Unfortunately she comes across as quite bland in this movie....there's not much character development. Audition is definitely the better and more memorable film.

Super

Rather good

The Inbetweeners - You're already going to know if you're going to like this. I did. 8/10

American Pie - The re-union - As above, if you like the others, this isn't much different, it lacks the 90's teen comedy but still has a laugh. 7/10

Paranormal Activity 3 - Wasn't much different to the first couple, finished without really explaining a lot. 6/10

Appleseed

This japanese animated movie dates from 2004 and was one of the earliest animes to use extensive CGI. Even after 8 years it is very impressive visually. The post-apocalyptic story holds no real surprises but I never lost interest in the characters or plot. Basically, it's the story of Deunan Knute, a soldier who is rescued from a battle zone and brought to the idyllic city of Utopia. Half the population of Utopia are clones (who help balance out the more impulsive and excessive instincts of the real humans), but this doesn't sit well with certain factions and Deunan soon finds herself at the centre of a power struggle.



I'm not really much of an anime watcher (yet) but enjoyed this one.

7.5 out of 10