I've been a lazy so-and-so since my return at the end of last week -- just too much else to get through to spend time blogging (like the nearly 400 accumulated non-spam e-mails!), but here I am again. As per my own tradition the first entry must be about the in-flight movies, rather than the ones I've actually stayed awake through in the last few days. I usually treat my choice of films to watch as a kind of catch-up, picking those movies that I probably should have gone to see at the cinema. This is the one area where I am unable to fault Virgin-Atlantic since they certainly have the best movie selection in the air.
No Country for Old Men (2007): This was the biggest cinema omission to make up since I'm a big Coen Brothers fan and had heard (even before its Oscar win) that this film was a return to form after their last two feeble offerings. And good it was, although I must confess that I would not personally rank it amongst their very best. Being faithful to the novel on which it was based must account for the very abrupt and in many ways unsatisfying ending, to the extent that I replayed it twice just to make certain that I hadn't fallen asleep at a critical point. Nonetheless I have already purchased the DVD to give it yet another go in due course.
Ratatouille (2007): I actually had tickets for a preview of this Oscar-winning animation from Pixar-Disney, but when we went along to the cinema, there was no print and therefore self-evidently no showing. What can I say? I guess I kinda liked it, but again I would not place it as Pixar's best. While very well done and the business with Peter O'Toole's snobby food critic brilliantly moving, I thought the "messages" a little heavy-handed and I must admit that I do find dozens of rats swarming around a kitchen more than a little disconcerting.
Rush Hour 3 (2007): This is not a movie that I would have dragged myself to the cinema to view, but since I enjoyed the first two -- solely because of Jackie Chan I must quickly add, I thought I would have a look at the third. And have a look is all I did, since they shut down the entertainment system before the film finished. Jackie is still a great treat to watch, even at his obviously advanced years, but Chris Tucker? Do me a favour, that man is soooo annoying.
Sweeney Todd... (2007): This was first up on the return flight and I don't think the smile left my face throughout. I loved it and was pleased to discover that both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter have sufficiently pleasant voices to do justice to the score. Tim Burton's gothic sensibilities were given free rein and the lashings of gore struck me as comical rather than disturbing. Definitely a film to be viewed again, especially as Sacha Baron-Cohen's bit of shtick was mercifully brief.
Superbad (2007): This was my final selection since I know it was a great popular success, if not completely a critical success. I sort of enjoyed "Knocked Up" which was reviewed some months back and was curious what the writing-producing stable had produced this time around. To say that three nerds want to get laid before leaving for college is to over-simplify the story, since the real theme is, I think, the meaning of friendship. That they are looking for sex as well is what probably appealed to the film's young audience. Fatty Jonah Hill is the potty-mouthed character who gets the best lines, but I had more empathy with his two friends played by "Juno's" Michael Cera and the weedy (but wonderful) Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Not really my cup of tea, but pleasant enough.
Ping ping ping -- entry keeps disappearing! Third time lucky??
2 comments:
Welcome back.
Kinda liked it? I loved it - ratat, but then it was home territory for me, and all the characters were people I knew. It was just laugh out loud stuff. Rats make much better human forms than cars....
This is the first positive review that I have read of Sweeney Todd.
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