Movie: Philomena

I've been to a lot of movies this year. So many that my local cinema palace has upgraded me to a VIP. I find it funny that it took almost to the last day of the year to get to probably the best movie of the year (in my humble opinion). Sure, Pacific Rim was pretty spectacular, but Philomena is the movie that stays in your mind  for much longer afterwards.

Firstly, I am a huge Steve Coogan fan. The guy's a genius. 24 Hour Party people is one of my favourite movies, even if some of the facts have been mixed up a little. In fact, Steve Coogan is the only reason I had any interest at all in Philomena. I was very excited to see that he wrote the script as well as playing the lead role. I had faith that he would inject just the right amount of humour into the dialogue, and he does. There was quite a bit of laughter from the good sized audience. They even laughed at a line in a particularly dramatic scene that I didn't think warranted a laugh.

A word of warning to Catholics. This movie is quite critical of the past behaviour of the Catholic Church. I myself was brought up in the Catholic religion (I completely rejected the entire thing many years ago now), so I was quite comfortable with the criticism (I agree with most of it. In the distant past they were guilty of some heinous crimes).

The plot is genius. If you don't know the basic story already, Steve plays an out of work journalist looking for an idea for a book. Nobody wants his Russian history book idea, so he reluctantly decides on a human interest story. He meets Philomena, who fifty years before, had done the wild thing with a boy, and got herself in the club. The nuns take her in, but sell her baby to some Americans. Steve the journalist agrees to help find her son after all these years. Of course, both the journalist and Philomena are changed by the journey. It's a riveting story, and each little bit is revealed as the story progresses. The twists and turns are fantastic. I'm a Sherlock Holmes/Agatha Christie/Jonathon Creek buff, and this script is worthy of any of those three, with the added bonus of it being based mainly on truth.

I'm sure glad I didn't read the book before seeing the movie. I just wonder how different the movie is compared to the book. No doubt there are differences, there always is. I really would like to read the book now to get the full story. It looks like it could be better than the movie.

The acting is terrific. Steve is great as the journalist, but Judy Dench is brilliant as Philomena. I smell an Oscar nomination.

Movie: Ender's Game

This is a very entertaining movie. Not at all what I was expecting. It's quite a deep film that raises some very philosophical questions.

I knew practically nothing about this story before I went to see it, other than it was based on a popular science fiction book (I'm not really a novel reader, except for perhaps Dan Brown and Alan Dean Foster).

The story is set in the future, many years after a mysterious race, who turn out to be insects, although we never see any in actual combat. It brings back memories of one of my favourite films, Starship Troopers. They are both militaristic films, and in both the Earth is in danger of being over run. However, in Ender's Game the major cast members are all 14 years old, except for Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley and a few others. So it is a bit like the junior version of Starship Troopers.

So, in the beginning, the Earth is attacked by a race of insects, who are driven off by a hero. Jump forward a few years, and those very same invaders are about to try again. Now this is the fun part. Because of video games, in the future the best people to lead the army and defeat this evil enemy are teenagers. Yes, you read that right. Apparently there aren't any mature age career soldiers who are up for the challenge. That statement brings up waht may be the films only real problem in my mind, and that's the tone. This is a dead serious film, when it probably would have been better with a slightly lighter touch. That's not a criticism though, because I still really like the film. I may just have the wrong idea about what teenagers respond to these days. Maybe my demographic is the the wrong audience for this film.

There are a few twists in the plot, which were surprising to me at least, but I haven't read the book, so I don't know how different the film is to the book. Those twists may be in the book.

I was amused by Ben Kingsley putting on a South African accent, and then I read that Gavin Hood, the director, is a South African, so I assume it is some kind of in-joke by the actor (or maybe it's a tribute). Gavin Hood, incidentally, also made another film that I quite like, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

I like the cast in this movie. Asa Butterfield plays Ender, and he does it very well. I didn't realise he was in a movie called Hugo until I looked him up on IMDB (I have the DVD of Hugo, but I didn't make the connection. I'm not a big fan of Hugo). There was one actor who really caught my attention, Moises Arias, who plays a bad guy. Well, maybe not a truly bad guy, maybe over ambitious is a better description, who locks horns with Ender and gives him a hard time. I won't say how that ends, but it's a big turning point in the film. And of course, when is Harrison Ford ever not good? Oh, and don't forget Ben Kingsley of course, just to round things off.

I just had a look at BoxOfficeMojo, and it looks like Ender's Game is not doing great at the box office (87 mill return on $110 mill production cost). I have to admit it doesn't greatly surprise me. I did mention that I thought the tone was odd, so maybe other people are finding it hard to decide if this movie is really for them. It's not really a little kids adventure (like Sharkboy and Lava Girl), and a lot of adults would find it slightly silly (14 years olds saving the Earth from a killer race of giant insects?...), so this film may find it difficult to connect with the right kind of audience.

No doubt it will be more popular on DVD and HD TV. The sound is great, and the CGI is very good, although the anti-gravity floating still looks like people on wires (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney were much better at floating in Gravity). I particularly liked all the battle room sequences, despite the slightly dodgy floating.

Movie: 3D Gravity

First of all, I wasn't ever planning to see this movie. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney floating around in space for an hour and a half? It didn't seem a very promising storyline to me. Anyway, Sunday afternoon, and I just wanted to get out for a while. I had a look at what movies are around, and of the ones I hadn't seen yet, nothing really grabbed my interest. So I had a look at IMDB, saw that Gravity has made about half a billion dollars already around the world, and decided to have a look anyway, just in case all those people were right, and I was wrong.

By the way, just before the movie, I saw an interesting trailer. Russell Crowe playing Noah. Just relax and try to picture that in your mind. It's nice to see Emma Watson back in the movies. I actually like her, and feel sorry for her because of the whole Harry Potter thing. How would you like that hanging around your neck for the rest of your career?....

So, back to Gravity.

This is a great movie. Not at all what I expected. Totally unbelievable of course, but that doesn't matter. The story was contrived as an excuse for great visuals. Hardly any character development. I still have no idea who George Clooney's character was. But this is Sandra Bullocks movie all the way. For most of it, she's the only one in it. I hope that's not giving too much away. And in some parts she's hardly wearing any clothes. I guess that was so they had something titillating for the marketing materials. The whole floating in space thing is done exceptionally well. I suspect that this time they had no need for the vomit comet like they did in Apollo 13, and everything was done with an old Apple Mac and a bit of blue cloth stuck on a wall.

The 3D was a little disappointing. It didn't stick out like it usually does on this type of movie. That may have been because of the smaller screen I watched it on. I wanted to feel like bits of space junk were going through my eyeballs at high speed.

So, there you have it. Sometimes a film will surprise you, and this one did. Not much substance, but great fun, exceptionally well crafted.

Movie: 3D - The Day Of The Doctor

You may well ask yourself why I would bother going to see a movie that was already on TV a few days before. That's easy to answer: 3D and surround sound. That makes a big difference, at least to me. I am a huge fan of 3D, so I'll gladly go to see anything in 3D really. Anyway, I never actually saw the ending of the movie (or the very beginning for that matter) when it was shown on TV, so at least going to the cinema to see the whole thing was a new experience for me.

So, this particular movie is part of the 50th year anniversary celebrations of Doctor Who, which had the unfortunate distinction of first being shown around the same time that President John F. Kennedy was shot. Of course, nobody was paying a lot of attention. Through a bit of fortunate insight, the BBC repeated the first show a week later, thereby starting the global tsunami that is Doctor Who.

This movie brings together three doctors to save the world, yet again. There are plenty of references to past (and future) doctors, and as is the case with nearly all time travel based movies, it has a convoluted plot until all the bits start to assemble themselves near the end.

There are some mighty big scenes in this movie, which means they either had a lot of money to spend, or they found some clever high school kid to knock up a few bits on his Apple Mac for a bit of extra pocket money and a new iPhone. Either way, it looks spectacular. The 3D is pretty good: subtle, just the way I like it. The way the Dalek's eye stalks poke out of the screen at you was a nice touch.

We get a glimpse of the next Doctor after Matt Smith, although you only see his eyes. And there is one memorable cameo towards the end. This is a very worthy celebration of the current status of Doctor Who, as well as a great tribute to Doctors past.

Young Kookaburra...

I saw this young Kookaburra in the park today, and couldn't resist dragging out the camera and snapping a couple of happy pics:

3D Thor - The Dark World

Boy, there sure are a lot of these Marvel movies floating around now. I'm finding it hard to keep the timeline straight in my head, because they all reference each other, and I haven't see them all yet, and the ones I have seen, I've seen them out of order. Originally, I had no intention of ever seeing The Avengers, until I discovered it was made by Joss Whedon, and that was enough reason for me to take a look. Now I'm hooked on the whole thing, including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D on TV.

This second Thor movie pretty much carries on the story line of the first Thor movie. All the same characters are back, including Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman. Fortunately, last night one of the TV stations screened the first Thor, which is great because a lot of what happens in the second Thor movie wouldn't make much sense unless you had seen the first one. Characters would appear to come out of nowhere.

 So, with the first one fresh in my head, I really enjoyed this second one.

The movie, like the first, starts with a flashback. Whereas the first movie flashed back to Odin's younger days, this one flashes back to when Odin's father was younger. There was a weapon, called the Aether, which Odin's father captured, and because there was no way to destroy it, he buried it where he thought nobody would ever find it. Flash forward, and Natalie Portman is still pining for he-man Thor (that's what I meant about seeing Thor 1 first. Natalie and Thor had a "moment"). The nine realms are about to converge, so strange things are happening to space and gravity. The realms are intersecting with each other at certain points in London (London is as good a city as any, I suppose...), and Natalie finds one of these spots. Through circumstances that can only happen in a Marvel movie, Natalie is transported to the exact location where the Aether was buried many years previously. The Aether is a liquid entity, and proceeds to enter Natalie's body (no, it's probably not what you're thinking...) The rest of the movie is basically about the original owner coming back to claim the Aether, and Thor trying to keep him away from Natalie's body. The bad guy, Malekith, is played by an unrecognisable Christopher Eccleston, a Doctor Who in a past life.

I mentioned before how these Marvel films reference each other. Well, Captain America makes a humourous little cameo (he has a new movie coming soon). Stan Lee also gets another gig. Also, it has become tradition for these movies to have after credit sequences pointing towards upcoming movies. Well, be sure to stay till the very end, because this move has TWO after credit sequences (I left after the first, I wasn't expecting there to be a second one).

Flowers

More flowers from the park today:

More Flowers From the Park

Orchids and Ladybugs

I'm told on good authority that these flowers are orchids. However, I don't know what they are called:

I was feeling very relaxed, and decided to just lie down on the grass for a bit. That's when I saw a couple of ladybugs traversing the grass:

A Couple of Abstracts

Here are a couple of abstract pictures of Ari. I like the texture of the second one.

More Wildlife From The Park

An interesting abstract picture of a Kookaburra:

A Few More Flowers From the Park

Flowers

A few more flowers from the park today.

Movie: Robbie Williams - Take The Crown Tour

I only found out about this movie at about 2AM this morning (I'm a night owl), so I don't know if this movie has been playing for long, or if it was a special screening for today only. Anyway, I booked a seat and went along to see it.

This latest tour is a comeback tour of sorts. He doesn't done a major tour since 2006. In the meantime he released a couple of successful albums (sales-wise that is. A lot of critics were unimpressed, but what would they know?). I liked Rudebox. I thought it was great that he would try something daring instead of doing more of the same. I also liked the next album, Reality Killed the Video Star, although it was less experimental than Rudebox.

The current tour is in support of his latest album, Take the Crown, which I haven't got yet, but look forward to hearing. He presented some of the songs in the movie I saw today.

The concert was spectacular. He's really gone all out with his staging. He had some great Robbie Williams "Heads", made out of steel and other materials:

 And his band is first rate (I think I'm in love with one his backup singers!). He plays all his big hits, and I'm sure he could have gone on for much longer. The only downer was that Williams was performing with a bad back, which restricted his movement, so his usual high energy running around was curtailed a fair bit. No matter though. He sounds as good as ever, and he has a real easy rapport with his audience. That's made more remarkable by the fact that this concert takes place in Estonia. I wouldn't have thought that too many people would understand English, but I'm probably wrong.

There are quite a few clips from this show, in Tallinn, on YouTube, including some from the concert that weren't in the movie:

"Strong", from Tallinn concert

And I found this backstage video as well:

Preparing for Tallinn

Movie: Jobs

First of all I want it to be known that I am a techie, and that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are two of my idols.

I really like this movie, and to think that because I believed what some of the supposed respected film critics said, I was going to give it a miss. I am coming to the movie from a different angle than most film critics would. I work in the tech industry, and have been involved in technology for the last thirty years. This is my area. I've read a few of the insider books about Apple and I've read a couple on Steve Jobs. The movie is necessarily compressed, otherwise it would go on for 10 hours, and even then, some landmark points are only given a few seconds screen time. It's like a Steve Jobs highlights movie. Fortunately, having read the books, I was able to fill in the gaps, so I knew what everything was and where everything fit. His relationships with his various women was given very little screen time, and the story of the development of the Macintosh, which I admit could fill a movie on it's own, came and went very quickly, but at least it was given a little bit of time.

Ashton Kutcher certainly looks a lot like Steve Jobs. He does this funny walk which started to annoy me a little. I don't even know if the real Steve Jobs actually walked like that. Otherwise I think he did a good job. He won't win an Oscar or anything. Some of the other characters were a little underdeveloped, but in a movie as compressed as this, something had to be sacrificed to fit in the time line I suppose. The only other performance I liked was Dermot Mulroney, as Mike Markkula, who got the money for Apple to get going in the first place. All the other actors, including James Woods, who got about twenty seconds on screen, were there just to move the story along.

I can't help thinking that the story of Steve Jobs and Apple probably needs a TV mini series type of treatment, because a lot of things were left out of the movie, such as the iPhone and the iPad. The film didn't even mention that Steve Jobs died, so there could well be many people who see the movie about the iPhone guy, and not know he is no longer with us (I can't imagine there would be too many of those around).

Well, that's all. I'm glad I actually did go and see it. I think I'll go an re-read Walter Isaacson's book again.

And if you're interested, here are a few books I've found about Steve Jobs and Apple:

"Leading Apple With Steve Jobs" by Jay Elliot at Amazon.com
"Icon Steve Jobs" by Jeffery S. Young and William L. Simon at Amazon.com
"Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson at Amazon.com

And one of my favourites, "Revolution in the Valley" by Macintosh pioneer Andy Hertzfeld, although it may be hard to get now.