#6 Movie asks a lot of big questions....

I attended a preview last night of a film coming out today (30 March) called "Never Let Me Go".  I had heard much about this film and was looking forward to seeing it, and I'm glad to say it did not disappoint.  This movie asks some really big questions and will keep you thinking about it for a while afterwards I suspect.  Ben and I had another big conversation after this one...
I can't tell you too much about this movie as it is best left to discover on your own.  It doesn't have a big twist or anything, it's just that it is very subtle and it's probably best to experience it the way the filmmaker wants you to.  From an overall point of view you would classify the movie as a touching drama with a bit of sci-fi.  So the first big question asked is "What is sci-fi" - most people think spaceships and/or aliens when you say sci-fi, but really most sci-fi is about presenting an alternative reality that could exist if something was possible that is not currently possible (e.g. space travel, robots, monsters existing etc).  Never Let Me Go is sci-fi in the sense of being very realistic and recognisable as our own world, but with one difference - a significant medical breakthrough in the 1950s that has not occurred in real life.  From this beginning, you are taken on a journey into the lives of three young people who exist in this world.  The three characters are Cathy (Carey Mulligan from Wall St 2), Tommy (Andrew Garfield from The Social Network) and Ruth (Keira Knightley) who attend the same school and whose fate seems to be very intertwined. The movie follows the relationship between the three as they grow up from 10 year olds into their teens and twenties, hence I would probably classify it mostly as a drama.  However it is in no way a chick flick - it is very touching and realistic (even within the sci-fi setting) and in no way cheesy or soppy.  Both guys and girls will be able to relate and should find it interesting.
I really don't want to say anymore about the plot, but basically this film should end up with you asking yourself "what is it to be human" and "what would happen if this medical breakthrough was really possible" and the answers are just not straightforward as the movie demonstrates. Thought provoking and with excellent performances (although Keira Knightley is still annoying with what I have labelled her "mouth acting"), I would give this a 4 out of 5 and recommend seeing this film unless you need action and explosions in your sci-fi.  Once you have seen it, I'd love to hear what you thought of it.

Vale Elizabeth Taylor

Sad news in this morning, Liz Taylor passed away overnight at the age of 79.  I sincerely hope that her legacy over time will centre on her great acting ability and beauty and not her tumultuous love life that filled so many tabloid column inches.  The "starlets" of today have taken her place in the tabloids, but will never achieve the same level of respect and longevity.  If you have missed out, try to rent out one of these better regarded movies in the next few weeks:

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Cleopatra
• Giant
• Butterfield 8
• The Flintstones Movie (joking!! - an unfortunate full stop on a significant career)

She had great style and talent, farewell to another screen legend.

#5 Movie Seen - Limitless

I decided to go see this movie on the spur of the moment, it wasn't well publicised and isn't on my list of must-see movies for 2011 (which is still an upcoming post).  I'm not familiar with the director's previous work either (biggest claim to fame was directing The Illusionist, which unfortunately suffered from that Hollywood affliction of two movies coming out on the same thing at the same time - The Prestige had a bigger director and stars and was the one I saw).  However the vague sci-fi premise and prospect of spending that much time with Bradley Cooper got this across the line.
A writer whose life is falling apart (losing girl, writer's block, appearance convincing others he's homeless(yeah right, long hair and five o'clock shadow = homeless)) stumbles across a pill that he's told will allow him to acesss 100% of his brain's capacity and change his life, having recently been approved by the FDA.  The first turns out to be true, the second untrue, but the side effects take a while to appear.  In the meantime, our hero Eddie has managed to get a haircut, new suit and leather jacket (!) which apparently addresses the homeless issue, finished his book, learned to beat the stock market and make money, and pull the chicks.  So far, so shallow.  There is a brief comment that Eddie is only making the money so he can finance a plan to make the world a better place.  I really would've liked more exploration of his plans so that you could sypathise with him a little more.  However, as his troubles pile up with the escalating health effects of the drug and shady characters following him to get hold of the drug themselves, you do get on his side.  The movie is quite suspenseful but stays on the realistic side with the action scenes so you can believe this could all happen.  The special effects are limited but well used.
I think the best thing about this movie was the debate that it sparked between Ben and myself afterwards.  It really raises issues such as whether such a drug is possible (Ben reckons that LSD was the government's attempt at such a thing but did not work out, I'm not familiar with the issues around it to have my own opinion) but more whether it is needed or whether "success" is more about your learning style and self-belief and using those to open up your brain's full potential.  And what is the definition of success anyway?  This movie is probably a good springboard for a deep and meaningful conversation as it is left fairly open.  I'd be keen to hear other people's thoughts on the concepts and ending if you go see it.  And ladies, Bradley Cooper is well worth spending an hour and a half with in this film.  It also has the plus of being Robert De Niro's best supporting role in quite a while.

# 4 Movie Seen - Hall Pass

Hall Pass is the latest movie from the Farrelly Brothers, who gave us There's Something About Mary and Me, Myself and Irene.Yep, it's another rude silly comedy.  It's about a couple of married suburban guys who are a bit frustrated with their sex lives, until their wives give them a "hall pass" which is a week off being married where they can do whatever they want.  The concept sounds a bit ridiculous but the setup actually makes it seem more plausible than it sounds, as the girls figure that it's the idea of being able to do it that the guys will enjoy most, not the actual cheating.  I thought that a lot of the humour in this movie came from it being quite relateable to real life - these average joes (Owen Wilson does a pretty good job of being ordinary) are always checking out young, really hot women and seem to assume that they will just have to run a quick pickup line to have gorgeous women falling all over them.  However these guys find it is a tad more difficult than that.  The fun really begins when the women realise they too have a hall pass and of course guys are lining up to spend time with these attractive women.  The movie had some really funny moments, but probably not as many as you would like compared to say There's Something about Mary.  As with all the Farrelly Brothers movies there is a bit of a moral and some gooey emotional bits (which probably are needed to offset the cruder scenes/jokes) but I would still rate it a solid 3/5 if you don't expect too much from your comedies.

"His" and "Hers" DVDs

Since I didn't get to see a movie today, I thought I'd have a whinge instead.  I have a real problem with those "For Him" and "For Her" pages in the DVD catalogues.  You know the ones.  They tend to come out most often at Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day etc.  Some genius in the advertising department decides to break up the pages of the movie catalogue according to demographics rather than the typical 'price' or 'newness' (or sometimes 'random collection of junk everyone already owns or would never buy'). This results in in the "For Her" page being limited to rom-coms and weepie dramas, and the "For Him" page being limited to action films and thrillers. Amazing.  It is brilliant that you can tell so much about a person's taste purely from their gender. If only this could be applied to other areas of life so we could neatly box people up based on gender.  Food - women would eat only chocolate and men would only eat steak. Books - Eat Pray Love for the girls and John Grisham for the guys. Drinks - Wine coolers for the girls, beer for the guys.

Okay, I know that there is a higher proportion of women than men that enjoy romantic comedies, and some girls don't like really stupid action movies or gory horror films.  But I know for a fact that I'm not the only girl who enjoys watching a range of film genres, including horror, sci-fi, action and Adam Sandler flicks. All the girls in my circle of friends are up for a good horror flick and don't need to hide behind their husband or boyfriend during the scary bits.  A movie I really enjoyed was "Shoot em Up" - a movie-length gunfight with absolutelly no plot whatsoever.  Please confirm for me that there are even more girls out there that do not limit themselves to rom-coms.

So this raises the question, why do the retailers and marketing hotshots persist with these sexist catalogues?  Do men really need a Big W catalogue to print a "For Her" page to decide they will buy their wife "The Notebook" or "My Sister's Keeper" for Mother's Day?  I'm sure some of those women are really pleased with that gift, but probably not all.  Some might have preferred Transformers 2, or maybe even another gift that you thought of all by yourself that she actually wanted.  It has crossed my mind to write to Target, Big W et al and complain about these catalogues but would this achieve anything?  Maybe I should do it and post what I'm sure will be a polite response....The only time I've been more outraged was when emap (publishers of Empire movie mag who I've been subscribing to for several years) wrote me a letter offering me a special rate on subscriptions to FHM Magazine (lad's mag) since I was such a loyal subscriber to Empire.  The implication being that if you like movies and read Empire you must be a guy!!!!  I never wrote that letter either, I definitely should have...

Of course, the final question this issue raises is exactly which gender is left to enjoy sci-fi films if it's not 'him' or 'her'......

"I'm going to see even more movies this year!"

Last year I saw a lot of movies.  At the beginning of each year I put a note on Facebook listing my Top 10 movies of last year for my friends to share their own list, and tell me where I'm wrong or have crap taste.  For last year I couldn't narrow it down to 10 and listed 20.  And that was just the best ones.  I believe the statistics are that the average Australian sees 7 movies per year.  I'm way ahead of that cause I don't have any other hobbies.  During the week of the Brisbane International Film Festival, I saw 11 movies in 7 days. Ten movies at the festival, then I saw The Town with my Dad during the week just for the fun of it.  Looking at Empire Magazine's Top 50 movies you should have seen in 2010, I probably saw about 12 at the movies and another 7 on DVD.  But that's only 19 out of what they rated as the best films.  So my goal for 2011 was to see even more movies than last year.  If you see more movies you're likely to see more good ones right? I also had a mini-goal to see all of the movies nominated for the Best Picture Oscar before Oscar night.

So, how am I going?

I totally failed the mini-goal.  Several of the films in the running were only released a few weeks before the Oscars in Australia and for some reason I had a lot of things on in those few weeks.  So my vote was on Social Network as I hadn't seen The King's Speech, but of course that won.  Still yet to see that.

On the bigger goal I am also not going real well.  To date I've seen 3 movies this year - The Green Hornet, Black Swan and 127 Hours.  This is below my own previous average and means I've already missed a few.  I now have to step it up if I'm going to get through all the movies I'm excited about this year (but that's another post).  So the plan is to do at least 2 movies this week while I'm still on holidays to catch up.  I'll let you know how they are.  Interested to know how many movies you see each month.