Rented "The Hangover" a couple days ago - it was hilarious. I especially liked the end scene when they looked through the photos on the camera... awesome! Brought back more than a few memories...

Crazy Heart

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - fun and strange

The Invention of Lying - They should have covered the "no suicide" corrolary to the "heaven" concept.

the Lovely Bones - I liked it, the 19 year old boy did not.

I cannot wait for the Runaways movie to come out! I always wanted to be Cherie Currie - or Jackie Fox. :bass:

Almost-14 year old daughter wants to see Lovely Bones. Bri, do you think it's appropriate?

She and a friend were going to see it Sat. night, but chose Leap Year instead. They enjoyed it.

Me, I'm still on my PBS Masterpiece Theatre kick. "Cranford" on PBS (from Elizabeth Gaskell novel -- ha ha, Bri can laugh about that, but it was better than Mary Barton), and now the umptyzillionth re-make of Emma is on PBS. I'm not enjoying it all that much though; I really don't care for the way Emma is being portrayed (she's not supposed to be that much of a bitch!) and Emma's dad, portrayed by Michael Gambon (Dumbledore #2) is much too whiny.

Love, love, love, Netflix. Also just finished watching "The Way We Live Today," from the Edith Wharton novel. Not one of my favorites, but pretty good.

It's fun seeing the same actors recycled over and over in different roles!

Imelda Staunton, who played Umbridge in Harry Potter, is a marvelous actress. Ooooh, and "The Way We Live Now" has a main character played by "Moaning Myrtle!" Loved it. :D

Imelda Staunton is a wonderful actress. She conveys so much even before she opens her mouth.


Most recent movie I watched was the BBC production of Hamlet with David Tennant in the lead and Patrick Stewart as the King and the Ghost of old Hamlet. I may have written about this elsewhere, but I can't remember ( early onset senility? :P)

Loved it. I was a little concerned that he'd be too Doctor Who about it...though was still very excited. I knew I'd enjoy it regardless. It's my favourite Shakespeare play; the one that got me into the Bard when I was a kid. And obviously, I love all things Tennant :P So I fully expected to enjoy it, 'despite' those concerns. As it turned out, I'd say it was the best Hamlet I have seen performed, possibly ever. I've seen many versions, on stage and on screen. They've all had somethng good about them and most have also had something bad. Of all of them, only one had hit me right in the solar plexus, before now: the old black and white Olivier version, which was the first one I saw, as a youngster. I sw that with no real expectations. Our Kid was into Shakespeare for his exams, and I was basically copying him :P But it came on tv, and I watched it in my bedroom, on an old black and white portable telly, with a shaky picture and it completely transported me. Even now, if I think back to that time, I can feel a catch in my throat and feeling of soaring excitement, tragedy and wonder. Hamlet: the ultimate antihero; a Yossarian for the Elizabethan age. Olivier was so breathtakingly beautiful, and his feigned madness so scarily edging into real insanity. It affected me deeply.

I've loved many Hamlets (Derek Jacobi was marvellous), but none of them has got me quite like that first one. Until I watched Tennant's Hamlet. I fell in love with the play all over again. He was brilliant, and desparate, and funny, and tragic. His indecision and inability to act was painful and believable. Patrick Stewart was awesome. Both as the King, Hamlet's uncle; and as the ghost of old Hamlet: the most believable and tragic ghost I've seen; and the most believably Father to young Hamlet. The pressing urgency of his fate came through so clearly and so darkly, it was almost painful to watch. Polonius, meanwhile, was played to perfection. A canny and occasionally ruthless statesman and advisor to the King, whose age was showing and whose memory was beginning to wander. His speech patterns so believable as the onset of senility.

The whole thing was played with such realism, in terms of delivery, that the viewer doesn't need to understand Shakespearian language to understand what's being said. The humour came through, with such an edge of darkness.

The setting of Elsinore was so well-designed, it was almost a character in its own right. Claustrophic and contained. The modern design included CCTV cameras capturing pieces of the action and the soldiers were armed with both swords and guns. This was a nation facing possible invasion (from Fortinbras) and the danger was palpable.

There were one or two bits that didn't work so well for me; but they were minor and based more in Shakespeare's writing than their execution: Laertes getting into Ophelia's grave with her for instance; Hamlet's competing in the extent of grief. These are points that always jar with me, in every version.

All in all, even with the bits that didn;t work so well, this version has stayed with me since I watched it a few weeks ago. I find my mind returning to it. It's left its atmosphere, it's flavour behind. Just like Olivier's did almost three decades ago.

Fame... My wife thought it was kinda gay. Me? I liked it. Go figure.

Finally saw District 9 the other night. Good movie. Was it a book first? It definitely had the feel of one.

Avatar. 3D yes Imax no.

I give it two stars. It's like Brokeback Mountain: no matter what the movie is, you can always just sit back and enjoy the Rockies shot by a top-notch cinematographer.

Too many of the effects pulled me out of the film instead of drawing me in. When the hack story wasn't doing it...

It sticks with you a bit, but the more I thought about it, the more I found not to like about it. They say that the secret to Star Trek's longevity is that Trek is hugely optimistic about the future, and about mankind's role in it. Well, this movie does not share that vision. That is all I will say without spoiler alerts.

The last Hamlet I saw was played by Mel Gibson.

Yeeeeesh.

I'll have to check this one out.

I hated the Gibson version. I actually couldn't see it out to the end.

Juni - I think the Lovely Bones would be ok for your daughter. No sex scenes, no gross-out over the girls murder. Is really about life after death.

http://www.vbhackers.com/f104/bbcode-spoiler-tag-10530/

Really? I couldn't decide whether my laughter made it worthwhile or if I should still feel robbed for the $1.09 I spent on it.

I watched Big Fan and Letters From Iwo Jima. Big Fan was OK, Letters From Iwo Jima I liked a lot. I thought a lot about my dad. He wasn't on Iwo Jima, but on Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa.

I want to see Flags of Our Fathers next