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Movie Monday – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

August 15, 2011

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This week i got around to watching a film that i have wanted to see for a long time. Every time i go to watch a film i would pick up the case for Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind and then decide not to watch it because people always say you either love it or hate it, lots of mixed reviews and from what i got from people telling me about it was that it wasn’t the most easy watching film, so usually i would just put the film back down.

But this weekend i finally watched it, i had never actually read anything into the film before, all i knew was what was written on the back of the DVD case, other than that i was completely oblivious to what the film was or how it was filmed in a similar fashion to that of Donnie Darko meets all other films that try to mess with your head and get you thinking sort of way. Now don’t take it that the film is like Donnie Darko in the sense that it is really dark, i mean in the way that Donnie Darko has the under lining meaning or story-line to the film, eternal sunshine has its story-line like this too.

Eternal Sunshine is a sort of two in one film, it is about romance and heartache. The romance part comes when two people meet randomly after, Joel, the main character, played by Jim Carrey, decides to ditch work and ends up at a beach. Later the heartache factor comes in where Joel comes to realise that the love of his life, Clementine, has had all her memories of him removed. It all becomes to much for Joel and he too decides to opt in for the same treatment that Clementine had done, only to realise he has made a huge mistake.

This film really likes to play tricks with you, as i have said already, the film makes you think something is happening one way, however in fact there is a completely different storyline being told right in front of you, but it takes a while to work out what exactly is going on. I really enjoy these kinds of films, anything that gets your mind working is good in my books!

As for the statement that people say its either a love it or hate it film, i totally disagree, nothing in my opinion is too obscure than other films, this film has been written by someone who obviously has a great mind for complex story-lines. I suppose if you like to watch more brain dead films that require no intellectual thoughts then this film wouldn’t be for you, but for the majority of people, its a great film and gives you something to work at while watching the film, finding out what exactly is being shown.

I don’t like to ruin any film on anyone so i won’t say too much about the film. The film is about an hour and forty minutes, here is the overview of the film from IMDB:

A couple undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories when their relationship turns sour, but it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with.

There are a lot of popular actors in this film including Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood. The camera work is brilliant in this film in parts, in one part camera manipulation is used to make fully grown adults look the size of a 10 year old, usually computers are used to achieve this kind of effect, but if you watch the bonus features of the films you can see how the trick is done. Here is the trailer below.

The official music video for Eternal Sunshine and the Spotless mind is by polyphonic spree and is called Light & Day, the video is odd the way it is made, if you were to come across it you wouldn’t think it is the official video for the film, the only reason i know it is, is because it is on the DVD. The music video is below.

Movie Monday – A Marathon!

August 08, 2011

Since last week i have watched so many film, i seem to be getting more into watching films these days. Even though i have only started doing these Monday ‘challenges’ for me to watch more film i feel like it is working. When i first started with these blog posts i said that i rarely find time to sit down and watch a film, now though or at least in the last week i have gone mad watching films.

So for today’s Movie Monday, i have not just watched 1 film, or just two but 5 films in the last 7 days! Thats just insane! and unheard of for me. I now enjoying sitting down and relaxing after work and throwing on a film, but for the most part of the films i watched over the last week, the majority were on T.V! Thats an even more uncommon thing for me, i never watch films that are on T.V, i hate watching films when there are ads in them! and i was surprised to see so many films that i like were on T.V.

Out of all the 5 films i watched, only 2 of them was new to me, all the other ones i had seen previously, but i liked them so much that i decided to watch them again, couldn’t resist watching them when i saw that they were coming on T.V.

Children of Men

The first film i watched was last monday night, the film was Children of Men, this is a brilliant film. I first saw this film a few months back, my brother showed it to me. If you havnt seen this film i would highly recommend that you do watch it. The film’s plot revolves around the concept that humans have not been able to reproduce for years and when a young woman manages to fall pregnant, the film follows her on her journey. The camera work in this film is amazing, in one scene the camera shot must go on for about 10 minutes straight without breaking, which gives a powerful impact and makes you really aware of what is happening.

Clive Owen and Michael Caine are in this film and they are a perfect match for the film. This is the film description from IMDB;

“In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child’s birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.”

Men of Honor

The next film i watched stars Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr., the plot of this films is about the first African American to become a Navy Diver.

The film description from IMDB reads;

The story of Carl Brashear, the first African American, then also the first amputee, US Navy Diver and the man who trained him.

Speed

Speed is a film i heard a lot about but never got around to watching it. This film came on T.V last week and myself and my family sat down and watched it. To be honest it wasnt for me, i had always wanted to watch this film but i didnt really enjoy it. I found it more humorous than i should have, its probably the fact that its a relatively old film and the acting and style is just old and cheesey and the plot and how it is performed is insane and simply impossible.

I am still glad that i have managed to see the film, and i might watch the next film in the series, Speed 2, not sure if it is going to be an improvement but i might as well give it the benefit of the doubt!

The IMDB plot outline is as follows;

A young cop must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.

Speed has some great actors in it thought, including Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper and Sandra Bullock .

The Guard

The guard is the second of the five films that i hadnt seen before last week, this is the newest out of the lot, it is still in the cinema, so i made sure i went to see it. i had heard a lot of good feedback about the film, and seeing that it is an irish film i had to go and check it out, you know, support the local cinema!

The film obviously follows a guard around, and the plot is how a drug smuggling group re trying to get drugs into Ireland, with Brendan Gleeson playing the main actor, he is out to find out the truth. This film is hilarious and simply one of the best films i have seen in a long time, and probably the best Irish film that i have seen. The cast also includes Don Cheadle who plays the role of an FBI agent who has been following the drug smuggling operation for some time now. You would recognise Don from films such as Iron Man and Reign over Me.

The IMDB plot outline is as follows;

An unorthodox Irish policeman with a confrontational personality is teamed up with an uptight FBI agent to investigate an international drug-smuggling ring.

The Social Network

The final film which i watched last week was the Social Network, a film based on the success of Facebook and follows how the idea came about and through to the success and court cases revolving around Facebook.

I have lost count to the amount of times i have watched this film, i really enjoy this film, i like the storyline although bits have been changed to dramatise the storyline a lot. I watched this film with a friend of mine who had not seen the film, i especially enjoy the watching the special features of the film, it shows the challenges of filming the social network along with how special effects were used to replicate one actor to play both the twins in the film!

Movie Monday – Sherlock Holmes

August 02, 2011

Over the last week i finally got to watch a film which has been on my ‘to watch’ list for a long time. Ever since Sherlock Holmes first came out in 2009 i had wanted to watch it, but for some reason i didn’t make it to the cinema in time and for some reason it took until now for me to get around to watching it!

Image via Wikipedia

I was really looking forward to watching this film, myself and a friend sat down on Saturday night to watch it. From the very start i could tell it was going to be a great film. The way the sets and locations were decorated and with the brilliant cast including Jude Law, Robert Downey Jr. and Rachel McAdams it was acted perfectly and just like i imagined Sherlock would be, i had never read anything relating to Sherlock before, but knew what he was about.

The fight scenes were very well done, Sherlock at one stage found himself in a boxing ring (underground as it seemed) and was taking a fairly big beating. Suddenly the film went in slow motion and explained step by step how to disable the opponent then would replay the moves in real-time speeds. Simply excellent camera work and acting by all the actors involved.

The plot of the film was that Sherlock and his partner Dr. Watson had to prevent an overturn of the government by a man who they thought they killed at the start of the film.

I really enjoyed this film and am certainly looking forward to the second film in the series coming out later this year (December), i am sure that i will definitely make it to the cinema this time to see it!

Its all over

July 26, 2011

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Its been about a week and a half now sine the final Harry Potter film has come out, i went to see the film the Saturday after the film came out, and being that it had the option for the first time in the entire series, i opted to watch the film in 3D!

I am fully aware of how much overrated 3D is, to be honest most films could do without it, usually the films i enjoy most are not 3d and i also feel the only films that actually work as 3d are cartoons, simply because they are animated and are fully created using computers and therefore can be worked perfectly using virtual cameras to make the best 3d high definition quality with eye popping effects!

Anyway that was a bit of a tangent, i saw the final installment of harry potter (Deathly Hallows Part 2) in 3d and i am glad i did. There was nothing over the top about it, nothing popped out at you, i had expected to see some spells going straight towards the audience, but nothing of the sort. They kept it simple, depth was pretty much the only factor of 3d in my opinion, and you got a greater feel of how large an area you were looking at.

The film is brilliant, definitely a great way to end the series, they seemed to of really made Neville into a huge role model and the battle scenes were great. Surprisingly though **SPOILER** when Fred died in the film, it didn’t actually show it happening! I thought this would of being a sure thing that would of had a big build up in the film, however they seemed to completely skip it until after the main battle when they panned to him lying there with his family around him, i think that this scene should have been included.

Although, like all of the other films, they had to cut parts out and it is expected that this would happen. Anyone who didn’t read the books wouldn’t have passed any remark on things like this, but i suppose as someone who read the books, you always want to see the whole lot made into a films, but others might not feel like sitting through hours and hours for a film!

Alan Rickman, who plays Severus Snape, was definitely the scariest character in the film, surprising since he was the hero in disguise and Voldemort was supposed to be the person of fear! I was wondering how they were going to tackle ending the film, in the books it skipped ahead to 19 years later, obviously the whole cast would be older and have there own family (they didn’t hang around with only 19 years) and the book ended with them all on the platform sending their own kids to Hogwarts.

When the ending came, i couldn’t help but laugh, literally out loud! Everyone in the cinema seemed to agree as they were laughing too! I was thinking they would attempt to make them look older by using some sort of computer magic, but this didn’t happen, i guess they thought if this was the last time they were going to be on screen for Harry Potter they might as well look as normal as possible. They way they achieved making them look older (only slightly older looking to be honest) was by lashing on a lot more make-up and sticking them into more formal / older looking clothes than they would usually wear!

Anyway it was a great film series and its sad to see its over, but no doubt there will be plenty of special features once the film come out on DVD. All that remains now is to go to the Harry Potter theme park in Florida, which is on my to do list! It’s a great excuse to go back to Florida again, it was great the last time and i am sure it will be just a good next time i manage to go!

Movie Monday, week 2- Old School

July 25, 2011

Cover of "Old School (Full Screen Unrated...

Cover via Amazon

Keeping this ‘movie challenge’ up this week with week 2. Over the last week my friends came down to the house, we ended up watching a film that is not new to me, but a film that is good for a few laughs. Whenever friends come over it is best to keep the films light-hearted for the most part, nothing too serious because if you are having a laugh and throw on a serious film the chance are the mood of the room will change.

I had intended on watching a different film this week, but in the end just stuck with this one. I think i will watch the original film i wanted to watch, this week, and talk about it next week!

Old School is about a group of men who are trying to regain their youth by turning one of their friend’s homes into a ‘frat’ (party) house although none of them attend university anymore. Old School is a good film to watch if you don’t want anything too serious, something that will give you a good laugh but it’s not something that is extremely stupid like a lot of films i have seen over the years!

Without spoiling the film the nearby university gets wind of the new frat house that has been set up by the group of lads, and try their very best to get it shut down, even by making them take part in a list academic events to prove they are worthy and are beneficial to the college lifestyle whilst providing a benefit to the members of the frat house.

Old School features a very strong cast of popular comedic actors including Vince Vaughan, Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell. Also Ellen Prompeo makes an appearance in the film as an old love that Luke Wilson once had from years ago, if you are a fan of Grey’s Anatomy then you would recognise her as being the lead female actor who plays Meredith Grey.

Old School picked up a rating of 5.6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes which is not too bad! The film runs for about an hour and a half and if you have not had the chance to watch the film before now i would recommend you take a look at it, it’s nothing too amazing but is definitely good for a few laughs. Here is the trailer below for it if you are interested in it!