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An absolutely fabulous film! One of my childhood favorites. I purchased it on DVD a year or so ago, watch it again, and it still holds up. All live action, wonderful score, and an ending that still makes me sob like a baby!

-Erik-

But isn't it possible that Yoda was trying to lure Count Dooku ( is that the right name? ) into a false sense of security? That's the way I rationalised it, or do you think I making up excuses for shoddy continuaty?

Good point Erik, but it could still be a ruse? oh, look at the lame green dwarf, let's kick him in, and then the next moment you've got a cosmic powered Bruce Lee on your hands!

In reality I think I agree with you though.

1988 Thor.

Euhm, they don't play There Will Be Blood in my cinema!!!!

But they fucking play The Flock!

THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Such a perfect cinematic experience. From the standout performances of its cast, to the brilliant music, the cinematography and the perfect editing, this would've been PTA's masterpiece, if he wouldn't have already made Magnolia. I'll let this sink in, first, before I go on about this one...

Oh, you have to hear it in the movie. It's not your typical filmscoring It's one of those scores that are exactly right for the movie, and its responsible for so much of the tone of the film, that it's hard to think of it without this music.



Because it's one of those Great Movies!



And that is a dirty shame!

Yeah, Juno is really the Little Miss Sunshine of the year. Not fantastic, indeed, but nobody said it was a masterpiece. It's just a very charming movie with great scriptwriting (the dialogues, mainly) and a great production design. Enjoyable, indeed.

Good list of films. I'd say you've seen all the great films of the year, now all you need is to see The Great Film to top it off

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
Phileas Fogg and Passepartout travel from studio backlot 8 to meadow 14 in this not-so-epic yet epic-in-its-cameos silly version of Jules Vernes famous story. It's all overly kid-friendly, so I guess it serves as a great introduction for the juniors, but anyone above that age will get irritated over the enormous errors and improbable situations (no compass?). Still, there were a few great gags, and 'spot the celebrity' is always a fun game to play.

Oh, I don't know, but going 'hey, that's Kathy Bates!' and 'wtf, governor Schwarzenegger in a dress?!?' (there's even a blink-and-you'll-miss-it showup from John Cleese ) always keeps me from getting bored

Yep.

It has Jackie Chan in it. 'Course it bloody is!

Stardust
Based on the story by Neil Gaiman, whom I consider to be one of the finest story tellers on the planet today, this is an absolutely charming fairy tale with many momentous Gaimanisms (incorporating a plethora of west European folklore elements with a twist). The story follows a more or less familiar line (as is fairy tales'wont) where a human boy whose background is shrouded in mystery goes on a quest to find a Fallen Star, only to be swept up in the battle for ascendance to the magical land's throne and True Love.

Well-acted throughout, with DeNiro's sky captain striking a very fine and impressive balance between broad and believable and Michelle Pfeiffer (who still looks marvellous!) major standouts.
The two young leads (Charlie Cox as Tristan the boy and Claire Danes as Yvaine the fallen star) are a positively lovely couple.

Pluses: the acting, the sweeping score by Ilan Eshkeri, the sense of fun from all involved, and the old-school charm.

Minuses: The cross-look between fantasy and 19th century has been done in The Golden Compass, and most of the broad, sweeping shots (and an important bit of the music) is *very* reminiscent of The Lord Of The Rings (which is just a minor quibble as it's obvious that The Lord Of The Rings trilogy will influence fantasy films for many more years to come).

Standout scenes:
-the watcher at the wall
-the scene between Ricky Gervais and Robert DeNiro (which is quite a bit funnier if you've seen Extras)
-the "zombie"-prince fight scene
-any scene where Danes "shines"

A rich 4 out of 5.

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La Vie En Rose

The richly acclaimed film about legendary French chansonière Edith Piaf is stunningly acted (with lead star Marion Cotillard very deservedly winning the Oscar for her tremendous tour de force), but is oddly fragmented and episodic (causing not a little confusion in timelines) and superficial which gives the film a very flat and uninvolved sense.

While Piaf's life is one of truly great tragedy and fear, we are never really involved in what goes through her mind. The audience is a mere observer of scenes that -although apparently pivotal- are inadequately explained in an emotional context and hence leave us rather cold. We don't get involved.
We merely watch.
Which, for almost 2 and a half hours, is a bit of a chore to be honest.

Of course it doesn't help much that I personally was never fond of Piaf's stylings, but I can see where her life would have made a terrific (and terrifying) and very engrossing story...and this wasn't it.

Pluses: the acting, the sound (I can't figure out if they cleaned up old Piaf recordings or rerecorded those songs, but it sounds perfect).

Minuses: Sorry. It's unengrossing. In fact I'd go as far as to say that it's rather boring.

Standout scenes: 10-year old Edith, up 'till then portrayed as silent and sickly, bursts out into The Marseillaise on the streets with a power and emotion to drop anyone on their arse.

2 out of 5

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El Methodo

A Spanish black comedy / drama about a group of people coming together at the huge multinational Dekia to apply for -we suppose as it's never explained- a top-level management job in the middle of the great anti-globalization riots in Madrid in 1994.

Expecting a last interview, the applicans are sat together in a board room and explained they will undergo a series of tests according to the "Grönholm-method", which is a group process.

What follows is a series of increasingly uncomfortable assessments where no secret remains safe and no one is spared facing his own weakness.

A film that remains interesting throughout (though not always as believable as I'd have liked, although the script writers have been very clever at occasion) with a huge sense of claustrophobia and loss of control. While not the best film I've seen to tackle these subjects, it does keep you thinking and talking afterwards about the choices that you are faced with and your own ethics and limits, and that alone is impressive enough for a film.

Pluses: EVERYONE in the film is beautiful! Especially Natalia Verbeke (Montse in the film). Bloody HELL!
Good script, excellent location direction.

Minuses: Everyone in the film is beautiful...which isn't really too believable. In fact there are more things not always completely believable (the "bathroom scene" still makes little sense to me)

Standout scenes: The first person voted out. Very disturbing. Very wrong.

4 out of 5.

And as any true friend would do, I'd consider it my solemn duty to point out where you are obviously, irrevocably and irrefutably wrong to ensure sparing you any inevitable future embarassment.