lightning strikes twice

Watched the Swans lose a thriller by 1 point today in the AFL Grand Final. All of the Beach Road (and probably all of Sydney) were devestated. That means the last five games between the two clubs have been decided by a total of twelve points. Amazing.

On a less national note, my basketball team, The Players, lost our grand final today too.  Not quite heart-breaking, but definitely disppointing.

“a gezellig environment is one which allows good times to happen”

starring Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins

Jet Li plays Danny, an intellectually and emotionally stunted man raised by Uncle Bart (Bob Hoskins) to be a ferocious killer, a human dog, restrained by a collar.  Bart is an evil man with evil intentions.  He claims to be helping Danny, but is obviously exploiting him, and it is not till a chance meeting with piano tuner Sam that Danny dsicovers a life away from violence.  Since his new life with Sam and his stepdaughter Victoria so at odds with his old life, they are bound to collide, and ultimately a resolution must be found.

This is one of the best martial arts films and indeed action films I’ve ever seen.  I’ve largely steered away from action because it is usually so inane, and martial arts films tend to have great fight scenes and terrible stories (see Tom Yum Goong), but Unleashed manages a great and engaging story, strong acting along with fantastic fight scenes.  Definitely a film to be rewatched many times.
8/10

September 9th.  Briefly: miserable weather, great friends (Greg & Liv, Paul & Jasmine, Mikey B), good food, infrequent drinks, betting $20 and winning $10, very North Shore crowd, Jellybean Jam, almost kicked out of Fringe bar after party, then hours of laughs and talking turkey back at my place in Surry Hills. Good gags.

The story of a small southern American town, the drama of a significant court case, and the curiosity of Boo Radley, as told through the eyes of Scout, an eight year old girl.

Scout and her brother Jem bring an innocence to the story of Tom Robinson, a black man unfairly on trial for rape of the daughter of Bob Ewell, the most despicable and laziest man in the town of Maybcomb. Tom is defended stoutly and admirably by Atticus Finch, Scout’s father. Boo Radley is the unseen neighbour of Jem and Scout, with the very thought of him engendering fear in Scout and her brother throughout their childhood. Other significant characters are the local sheriff Heck Tate, Aunt Alexandra, Miss Maudie and Dill, Scout’s childhood love interest.
I haven’t read this book since school, but was very eager to pick it up again and read this modern classic. It has all the attributes that made that era of literature so rich and rewarding, and is a highly enjoyable read. I did find myself, however, hunting out quotes as if I would have to write an essay on it for english class.

Martial Arts film with the same directory and lead actor as Ong Bak (don’t know if it is a sequel though.)

An elephant and its baby are stolen from Thailand and brought to Sydney. Lead action guys goes to Sydney to get elephants back. Lots of excellent action and fight scenes. Terrible acting and plot. Also the subtitles were hilariously wrong: at one point a cab driver says (in english) “they’re after us!” and the subtitles read “they were ricebuckets, definitely ricebuckets”.

I recognised a lot of the Sydney film locations. Some of it was filmed less than 100 metres from my house!

As a regular film: 5/10

As a martial arts film: 8/10

P.S. another favourite moment: a boyfriend and girlfriend inexplicably walk onto screen… girlfriend then berates boyfriend for buying a pirated DVD, then they walk off screen, and action continues (what the? did that just happen?)

The lifelong story of a filmmaker and his love affair with the cinema, and all that surrounds it.  Salvatore is a precocious young child who cannot be kept away from the town’s local cinema.  He is drawn to it at every opportunity, despite the protests of his mother, and the loving and feeble attempts of the projectionist to keep him away.  He learns a lot about life and love through days spent watching film, and the lessons inform the rest of his life, eventually drawing him back to the town as a much older man, a man who has grown so much since his younger cinema bound days, but who is at the same time so indebted to his past there.

An emotional and enlivening film, the european sensibilities in both plot and filmmaking seem so fresh when compared to even the best films from Hollywood.  I hope I watch this film many more times.
9/10

starring Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas

While watching this movie I was annoyed by the characters, and it wasn’t until several days afterwards that I realised that allowing myself to by this facet of the movie masked the beauty of the overall story.  The plot is thick with intrigue and love – at the same time.  And while Ralph Fiennes character was hard to sympathise with, it doesn’t diminish the tragic nature of the story that unfolds.

A plane crashes in the desert and the only survivor is a badly burned man who becomes known as the “english patient”.  He is lucky enough to have a genuinely caring nurse who seeks to make his final days as comfortable as possible.  The patient however has a compelling story that unravels and brings some unrest to the house.

We see the patient (Fiennes) as an explorer and adventurer at heart.  He is not personable or gregarious in the slightest, and it is with some surprise that we see him falling in love with the partner of a colleague.  The inevitable heartache that this causes drives much of the movie, but it is much more than just a love story (or two).  Good viewing.
8/10

I’d only seen the briefest amount of Wallace & Gromit previously, but it seemed like good fun.  The movie version is no different.  Wallace and his sidekick and pet Gromit are Anti-Pesto, the towns best defense against rabbits leading up to the annual vegetable competition.  And it is in doing his duty that Wallace meets and falls in love with Lady Tottington, who he must battle with Victor Quartermaine for the affections of.

After a failed experiment creates a “were-rabbit”, Wallace and Gromit are enlisted to catch the large and troublesome rabbit lest the competition be abandoned.

Light hearted and ultimately very funny, there’s much much more in this film that is right rather than wrong.  The characters are engaging and entertaining, the animation is excellent, and the tone is perfect for adults and kids.

8/10

starring Aaron Erckhart and Katie Holmes

Another clever film that makes me hold hope for Hollywood, this film delves into the life of a professional lobbyist for the most evil of industries, “big” tobacco.  Nick Naylor is the talented talker, the mouthpiece of the tobacco lobby.  He can turn almost any situation in his favour, such is his ability to argue and negotiate.  And he knows it is his special talent.  But he also realises that ultimately he is dancing with the devil.  The movie centers around the faint murmur in Nick’s head that maybe he is letting his son down, and his extraordinary ability to be the best at the hardest pitch job of all.

Not overly moralistic or simplistic, this film is smart and that makes it enjoyable — its not often these days audiences are treated so well!

8/10