WeatherGrrrl's Station

Must see. Yes you must! This movie rocks! Not only does it feature Tony Leung, one of my all time favourite Hong Kong actors but there are stunning high rise views of the city that just blow you away. The basic premise is there’s a cop undercover as a criminal and a criminal undercover as a cop. I won’t say more about the plot as there are some great twists and turns along the way and it is so satisying to be surprised.

One weakness: The female roles are inconsequential. I suspect much footage ended up on the cutting room floor.

Two notes: The cover on the dvd is bizare and has nothing to do with the movie. Just ignore it, hopefully next time they reissue they’ll fix the art work. The dvd was rated R in the US. This rating is incorrect. This movie is no more than a PG13. The MPAA has no clue and quite frankly drive me nuts with their inappropriate ratings.

Stunning. Mark Kermode raved about this movie on Fivelive but it never did turn up on the big screen here in Morris so I had to wait until it was released on dvd to see it. In everyway imaginable this movie is mind blowing. You might describe it as the ultimate feminist revenge movie yet all the major players in the film’s development were men. The visual compostion of the movie is incredible. Add to that an amazing sound score plus psychologically rich script and … wow. It just blew me away.

Go. Buy. Watch. Cringe. Shiver.

Current temperature 7F/-14C

RomCom. Despite its failings this movie made me laugh out loud multiple times and there are many things to love in it. Jude Law for one plus Kate Winslet and Eli Wallach for two more. Even the two children are wonderfully sweet without any sickly after taste.

The problems come with the two American leads; Cameron Diaz and Jack Black. The early scenes with Cameron just suck and I’m not sure if it’s her performance and/or the script but luckily things improve and by the end she’s an integral part of the movie’s warm vibe. As for Mr Black, WTF? Pardon my french but what else can I say? This has got to be the oddest piece of casting, I’ve seen, in forever. I have no clue what he’s doing in this movie, (he brought money to the table?) and there are times when his face is so plastic that I suspected he’d been hitting the botox with gay abandon.

Probably a rental, more than a big screen experience, its a fun piece of popcorn for a date.

Current temperature 27F/-3C

Intellectual. And I mean that in a good way! This is a movie that actually rewards higher brain function and paying attention. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman make great protagonists, neither being entirely attractive but fascinating to watch interact. I managed to work out about half of what was going on but was quite pleased to discover that the filmakers were able to surprise me at the end. Now I look forward to watching again just to see if it all atually hangs together when you have the full skinny.

I’m not making several comments, or dropping hints, here because this is a movie you really should see unspoiled the first time so you can fully enjoy the final act when all is revealed.

Go, see, enjoy.

Current temperature 14/-10C

Bond is back! Daniel Craig is brilliant; his Bond is suave, sophisticated, and looks like he’d actually be capable of killing someone if he needed too. There’s lots of amazing action and more phsycological complexitiy than has been in a Bond movie for a long time. Eva Green, who plays Vesper Lynd, is wonderful and has great chemistry with Craig.

Craig, in fact, has chemistry all over the place. There are definite homoerotic overtones in a number of situations and the relationship with Judi Dench’s M is just loaded with sexual innuendo.

The infamous torture scene from the book made it into the movie and was very disturbing, as it should be. I was surprised at the rating the movie was given but then the MPAA is so off the deep end they don’t recognise adult material unless it uses a single f word. Do not take children to see this movie, it’s not like the Bonds of yore and entirely unsuitable for them.

Current temperature 23F/-5C