So, Paddington (voiced by Ben Wishaw) ends up in London, gets adopted by Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville) and his family, but the evil Millicent (Nicole Kidman) wants to get him and so adventures take place.
Many kids in the UK and Australia grew up with Paddington – a bear from deepest Peru who came to London and was adopted by a family. Possibly, you could even say most kids know of him. I’d heard of him, but I didn’t know the story, and had very little interest in watching this film despite being told repeatedly that it was amazing. And it was a really good kids film with a great cast, a fair bit of humour and a lot of niceness. Enjoy with some kids – that’s the best way!
Paddington was nominated for BAFTAs for Best British Film and Best Adapted Screenplay.
It’s an alternative world, where if you become single (even through death or divorce), you are taken to a hotel where you are stripped, put into identical clothes and you have forty-five days to find love or you are turned into an animal (to give you a second go at finding love). The only way you can give yourself a greater chance is if, during the hunt, you bag one or more ‘loners’ – single people who live and thrive in the woods. David (Colin Farrell) ends up at the hotel with his dog/brother, but decides to take an alternative path.
This is an insane, strange, mysterious, hilarious, fantastic, strange, wonderful, awful, amazing, strange film. I totally loved it, but there are many reasons I couldn’t see it again. The performances were all so strange and controlled but utterly perfect, and Colin Farrell in particular was amazing. I don’t know exactly who I’d recommend this to, but I’d certainly recommend watching it like I did, at an outdoor screening like Shadow Electric at the Abbottsford Convent in Melbourne, with an audience who enjoy laughing aloud.
The Lobster was nominated for a BAFTA for Best British Film.
Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Ben Wishaw, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant. Directed by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. For many, this list alone would be enough to make it worth seeing Cloud Atlas. For others, it is having read the novel by David Mitchell (I believe it is not that David Mitchell). Still others would have seen the trailer and been amazed at the sheer scale of the project.
I think it is impossible to summarise the plot in any simple fashion. It covers a multitude of characters over time, place, even on different planets. The characters are linked, although it is not always clear how or why. It’s pretty fascinating to see how the story has been created.
I must admit, I started watching expecting that I would hate this film, and hate it a lot. That’s certainly where I started. There were snippets of plot introducing characters but then flitting away before I had the chance to find out much about them. The amount of prosthetic work and make-up was annoying, and I’m not really a massive fan of fantasy as a genre. Once I had committed to disliking the film, a strange thing happened. I started to really like it. A lot. I let go my previous convictions and just enjoyed it for what it was. And it was good. Not brilliant, but a good, solid fantasy film. Though I did wonder about the Hugo Weaving character that was an awful lot like Old Gregg from The Mighty Boosh… anyone who can explain that to me, I’d be greatly appreciative.
As has often happened for me, this has inspired me to read the book, although I think I need some time between watching the film and reading the book.
Inspired by the life and times of Bob Dylan, I’m Not There follows a variety of storylines and characters that seem to be Dylan, or certainly are inspired by him. Christian Bale plays a young folk singer, Jack Rollins, whose rebellious folk music inspired a generation. However, when he plays electric guitar at a festival, his fans feel betrayed. He leaves the music scene and finds religion.
Cate Blanchett plays Jude Quinn, a folk/rock singer during the sixties who is living through drugs and identity crisis, fighting against stereotyping whilst trying to keep his voice.
Ben Wishall plays Arthur Rimbaud, a poet whose interjections are commas and fullstops to the rhythm of the film.
Marcus Carl Franklin plays Woody, a young boy who travels America, avoiding the law. He sings beautifully, songs of the depression.
Richard Gere plays Billy the Kid as an older man, a hermit in hiding after being shot by Pat Garrett. After discovering that Garrett is going to destroy Riddle County where he lives, he confronts Garrett and finds himself on the run again.
Finally, Heath Ledger plays Robbie Clark, an actor starring in the bio-pic of Jack Rollins (the character played by Christian Bale). We see him fall in love with Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who he marries. They have children, then split up.
There is so much in this film. I had expected that I would find it pretentious and annoying, especially having a woman cast as a male character. It all seemed ridiculous. Instead, I found it to be beautiful and poetic. It did not bother me that the stories mashed over each other, or that the key connection between the lot was the music. The hypnotic nature of the film lulled me in and took me over. The cast is incredible, with some of the top actors of this generation. I wonder how the film would have gone with unknown actors. I feel that it would have worked in much the same way, but perhaps with less acclaim.
Cate Blanchett was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for her performance in I’m Not There.
James Bond is James Bond is James Bond. What new is there to be said about it? He’s charismatic and charming. There’s a bad guy who is seemingly unstoppable. There are a lot of explosions and (spoiler alert) Bond eventually comes out on top.
I was really disappointed by this film. I’m not sure why; it was everything it was supposed to be. But it did very little for me.
As I was watching something else explode (and I do love seeing things exploding onscreen. I don’t think I’ve seen anything explode for real. I’d probably like that too) I was trying to nut out what it was. Daniel Craig wasn’t doing it for me. Instead of having that cheeky twinkle in the eye that Bond is supposed to have, his eyes just seemed dull and dead.
As for the plot, if you’ve seen a trailer, you know that Bond is shot early on and believed to be dead. Of course, this is a Bond film, so we know he’s not. But it still would have been nice for the suspense to have been drawn out somewhat more, rather than him reappearing so soon.
Plus, all I’ve heard about this film is how amazing Javier Bardem is as the bad guy, but even that didn’t work for me. Everything felt really by the book and flat. Ah well, soon there will be another Hollywood action film that will blow me away.
Roger Deakins was nominated for an Oscar for Cinematography and was nominated for a BAFTA for Cinematography
Thomas Newman was nominated for an Oscar for Music (Original Score) and won the BAFTA for Original Music
‘Skyfall’ was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song and won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song – Motion Picture
Skyfall won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film
Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers were nominated for an Oscar for Sound Editing
Scott Millan, Greg p. Russell and Stuart Wilson were nominated for an Oscar for Sound Mixing
Scott Millan, Greg p. Russell and Stuart Wilson, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers were nominated for a BAFTA for Sound
Javier Bardem was nominated for a BAFTA for Supporting Actor
Judi Dench was nominated for a BAFTA for Supporting Actress
Stuart Baird was nominated for a BAFTA for Editing
Dennis Gassner and Anna Pinnock were nominated for a BAFTA for Production Design
ireckonthat 