Non je ne regrette rien….

Posted on August 18, 2007 by borysSNORC

I went to see La Vie en Rose with Yale last night. And after seeing the movie, I think you can kinda understand a bit more why Edith Piaf’s music tends towards the haunting and kinda… well… miserable. What a tragic and downright crappy life the poor woman had. And what a bloody bitch she became 😐 Why society tends to allow talented people to carry on like total preciously and pretentious little pork chops is beyond me. (The practice/concept of being sycophantic doesn’t mesh with my ordinary demeanor – but that is probably a whole other story.)

Anyway, I quite enjoyed the movie, it was the sort of thing I’ll probably not want to watch again, but well worth seeing. I liked being able to see the translations of the lyrics as the songs were being performed. And the lead actress Marion Cotillard was fantastic. I thought she did an absolutely amazing job of playing the eccentric and strange looking Edith Piaf – she must have studied Piaf’s mannerisms for hours – and the scene where she has just heard the news of a tragic plane crash was positively heart wrenching.

Make up artists deserve an Oscar too… Marion Cotillard is Hot with a capital H…. but they made her into the weird looking Edith … and then made her into a convincing (still weird looking) but now old and dying Edith, where she was looking anything but attractive…

French Film overdose

Posted on May 6, 2007 by borysSNORC

It’s been a weekend of indulging in French film. Yesterday afternoon I went to see The Singer in town with Yaleman. I’d won a free double pass to go see it, and had read and heard some great reviews about it, so I was quite looking forward to it. But… maybe it was all the glowingly positive critical acclaim that killed it for me, or perhaps I just wasn’t in the mood for it….. but I was a little disappointed with it. The film seemed to meander along at a rather slow pace, and while Gerard Depardieu (the only actor in France) and Cecile de France portrayed a very strong connection between the two main characters, the events and story line didn’t seem to really explain why the relationship develops, or even seem to show a progression. He seemed to spend most of the film irritating her, and she seemed to spend most of the film being alternately attracted to him and annoyed with him. Shrug?!?! I was expecting more.

The other film was last night’s showing at Azerbaijan of Combien tu m’aimes which starred the simply gorgeous Monica Bellucci. Monica, as you all know, is pure sex on a stick …. and this movie is largely about just that…. sex . She’s absolutely gorgeous and so sensual and alluring… (Is it getting hot in here? I need a moment alone now…. 🙂 So anyway, this movie, has a great cast, a patchy kinda farcical storyline, but is well worth the hour and a half just for Monica 🙂 I was so exhausted after fighting with my back pain all day, that I know I dozed off in the middle there for a bit, so the end wasn’t making a great deal of sense but everyone else seemed to really enjoy it, and I saw enough to know that I need to make time for a second viewing….. :S If anyone else has seen it … maybe you can explain what I missed while I dozed off.

More Turtles… Less Porn

Posted on April 21, 2007 by borysSNORC

Strangely enough… turtles seem to have been a continuing theme this week! I was going to take Angel to the cinema today to see Happy N’Ever After…. but then I finally found a couple of minutes to watch a trailer for it and decided that it looked like crap… so asked Angel what he was into… and next thing I know, I find myself taking him to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

Happy to admit that my expectations were exceeded – namely because they were extremely low in the first place… possibly because I’m not a fan as I’d never even seen a single Teenage Ninja Turtle cartoon in my life! I found that I actually enjoyed it quite a bit – and Angel loved it . He was asking if he could watch it again before the credits had finished rolling 🙂 The animation was really well done….there was one scene in particular when some of the turtles are fighting on a rooftop in the rain, and you can tell the animators had a ball with it… the raindrops look fantastic and they’ve carefully done all the reflections and lighting and ‘camera angles’ to make it look as schmick as possible.

In a continuing turtle vein…. we had lunch at a cafe in Victoria Point on Bunker Street near the new cinema there and we sat on a deck overlooking a lagoon which had literally dozens of turtles sunning themselves in the shallows! Hmmm…. wondering where the turtles are going to turn up next!
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Groovy movie meme from Dave 2…

Posted on April 12, 2007 by borysSNORC

I love movies, love going to the cinema, really love the coke slushies when you get there (especially if I remember to take a wee drop of bourbon with me!) also love collecting my favourite movies on DVD (am too frightened to add up how many I have), and love watching favourite old movies over again, especially with friends who may not have seen them.

So when I saw this meme on Blogography, I had to fill it out and repost, even though I’m dead on my feet after working all night and have only just got home at 12.20am!!! :S

Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times.

Threesome, Dazed and Confused, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Plunkett and Mcleane, Much Ado About Nothing, High Fidelity, Monsoon Wedding

Name a movie that you’ve seen multiple times in the theater.

Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love, American Beauty

Name an actor that would make you more inclined to see a movie.

John Cusack. Emma Thompson

Name an actor that would make you less likely to see a movie.

Mike Meyers, Ben Stiller

Name a movie that you can and do quote from.

Clerks, XXX, The Importance of Being Ernest,

Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs.

Dont really know the lyrics… but love 8 Femmes. and have t confess I know the lyrics to nearly every Disney cartoon ever… worked in a Disney Store part time for a few years while I was at uni :S

Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with.

Empire Records, Dazed and Confused, Reality Bites

Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see.

The Importance of Being Earnest, Amelie, Brannagh’s Hamlet, Grosse Point Blank, Before Sunrise/Before Sunset. Son in Law.

Name a movie that you own.

Transylvania 6500 🙂 how dodgy is that? Oh, and I also have Psycho Beach Party!!!

Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops.

You know I can’t really think of anyone impressive at the moment…. Can probably think of a few dodgy ones who ought not have bothered…. (might come back to it)

Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what?

Original Starwars, Superman, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Top Gun, saw plenty of movies at the Capalaba drive in when I was a teenager… we used to think the FM transmitters were so high tech!!! 🙂

Ever made out in a movie?

Plenty of making out at the drive-in. .. I mean that’s what it’s for, but as for the cinema…??? No comment (blushes)

Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven’t yet gotten around to it.

Meant to see a lot of movies…. Thank you for Not Smoking, Va Savoir, Clockwork Orange, Christiane F, all the Godfathers, Garden State and I’m sure there’s lots of others.

Ever walked out of a movie?

Forrest Gump in Munich.. it was supposed to be in English with German subtitles, but when we got there, it was in German… we nearly lost it when (after sitting through the ridiculously long feather thing in the intro, Forrest’s opening line was… Hallo. mein name ist Forrest Gump and then muttered something which I assumed was about a box of pralines!!!

Name a movie that made you cry in the theater.

Crash… (the recent one, not the one with James Spader where people are getting off on crashing their cars!) when I thought the little girl had been shot.. I just thought of Angel and felt the tears welling… it was awful.

What’s the last movie you saw in the theater?

Becoming Jane… (wait for DVD… ) why do they throw americans in this very English roles. Anne Hathaway is fine, but as Jane Austen???

What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie?

I tend to like cult/independent films and definitely enjoy the small fraction of foreign releases we manage to get here. Also like comedy films that are more witty, sarcastic or dark… not big on fart jokes etc.

What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?

Grease … think i was about 5 maybe? I think I also went to see Blue Lagoon at the cinema (even though I must have been very young for it) and Footloose when I was a bit older.

What movie do you wish you had never seen?

Breaking the Waves (three hours of my life I’m never going to get back!). Donnie Darko (I dont get it.. the damn demonic bunny thing… meh!) Oh and that abomination Bewitched movie (how could they!!!).

What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?

Team America – absolutely appalling

What is the scariest movie you’ve seen?

The Serpent and the Rainbow – they were burying people alive 😐

What is the funniest movie you’ve seen?

Mallrats – Where the hell did that come from ?!?

DVD sale!

Posted on March 18, 2007 by borysSNORC

There’s a world cinema DVD sale happening at Borders this week! And there’s lots of titles on sale that I’ve been coveting for ages! I’ve actually got quite a lot of foreign films on DVD now… though often it’s hard to find anyone who wants to sit down and watch them with me.

It seems that we only tend to get the absolute best foreign films being released here… someone, somewhere is weeding them out and we only get to see the creme de la creme of foreign content. So if a foreign film actually ends up with a cinema release in Australia, it’s generally worth checking out, as it has to be pretty exceptional for them to bother marketing it to us I think. We’re probably missing out on a lot of worthwhile films but it’s one of those things I guess.

I really enjoy world cinema, there’s always always some strange little cultural oddity that you notice, or sometimes the entire film is so bizarre when compared to your own life experiences and usually so disparate from the stereotypical American pop culture that we’re spoon fed constantly, that you can really feel like you’ve gained an insight into the lives and habits of people living in other cultures. Only downside from watching foreign films is that I can’t watch and work on my embroidery at the same time!!! I dont care how talented you are in the multi-tasking department – it’s absolutely fucking impossible to concurrently embroider and read subtitles….. unfortunately. 🙂 Though I’m finding more and more that my French is good enough that I can embroider and muddle my way through a movie without missing anything.
Anyway must try and resist going down to Borders to spend a couple of hundred dollars on movies…. when I should be saving for travel. 🙂 Well maybe just one? One little copy of ‘Farewell My Concubine’ … that’d be alright, wouldn’t it? 🙂
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Update:
I’m absolutely hopeless! Was killing time this morning waiting for the travel agent to open and popped into JB HiFi while I waited! Didn’t even have to get anywhere near the Borders sale and picked up ‘The Wedding Banquet’ at the same price… sigh… wont have enough money for new Turkish rugs at this rate!
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