Tuesday 12 August 2008

Back at last

I've been a bit remiss in my posting the last week. I had a really bad virus last week which left me in bed and feeling miserable. I didn't even switch on the computer between Monday night and Friday night! As you can imagine not much has been happening in my life whilst I've been working my way through several boxes of tissues, several packets of Lemsip and watching several series of 'Friends'.

I've seen a few movies (on DVD) recently - most of which I'd recommend to some degree or another.

Kite Runner - I didn't know when I chose this one that most of it would be subtitled and the dialogue in Arabic. I'm getting the hang of subtitled films though, as it didn't detract from my enjoyment at all. This was a beautiful story set in Afghanistan (mostly) about the friendship between two boys, and the effects of the various political upheavals of the last two decades on their lives. I think possibly it may be slightly more enjoyable as a book - but the film still gets 8 out of 10.

Vantage Point - this was an intriguing sounding movie. The same story told from several different viewpoints until you build up the complete picture. Sadly despite an amazing cast it didn't really live up to my expectations. My major gripe was at the end of the film I didn't really understand the motivation of Matthew Fox's character - and that annoyed me as I felt that the film was pretty much nonsense because of it. I won't say any more as there are some very nice plot twists and I wouldn't want to give any of them away. Not a long movie, so a diverting way to spend an hour and a half. Only 4 out of 10.

Bucket List - I chose this film because I love Morgan Freeman, I don't generally like Jack Nicholson so I wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy the film or not. It's a pretty slow start, but keep going. Although you can pretty much work out what will happen at the end from the start (two old men with terminal illnesses, it doesn't take a genius) the film is well thought out, and occasionally funny. Both actors play characters that are a bit of cliché for them - Jack Nicholson's larger than life and Morgan Freeman's serene and wise... but at the end of the movie I still found it sad and there was a bit of a surprise in the final scene. I give it 7 out of 10.

We are now rushing headlong into two weeks of the Olympics. So far I have managed to watch absolutely none of it... and probably won't either (unless the BBC have a rush of blood to the head and decide to show some baseball).