Monday 14 February 2011

Movie Roundup

Random recent movies.

Faster (2010): This movie gets to the point of the Rock shooting people, and driving around fast. And being faster. There isn't a lot of subtlety to this movie, it's easy to tell who the bad guy is, and you aren't so much rooting for the good guy as you are for them to get on to the next shooting. Dwayne Johnson and Billy Bob Thornton are the two big names you'll care about (and Oliver Jackson-Cohen trying to be the next Timothy Olyphant), and Maggie Grace is there to look beautiful (she succeeds). The sort of action movie to watch while waiting for your brain to engage.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005): This involves, as far as I can tell, a lot more of the video game continuity than the other previous movie. As such, there's a huge dumping of exposition at the beginning, and lots of "hi, I'm some character you'd know and care about if you played the video games" (which I haven't) turning up. Dark and moody first half, then lots of big fight as the second half. Meh.

Our Daily Bread (2005): German movie, presented without commentary (and basically without anyone talking!), about the food processing industry. We get to see animals (pigs, chickens, cattle, etc), agriculture and even salt produced with all the mechanical progression and human non-interactive interaction from start to finish. I'm sure all vegans/vegetarians would recommend this movie to turn people off meat, but I doubt it'll get a high success rate. Most interesting moment for me: a woman sitting there, chopping off pig's trotters, basically thinking "here I am, cutting off pig's trotters... sigh". An interesting look at the goings-on most people don't even want to think about.

The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977): Classic, classic movie starring Marty Feldman, partly written by Marty Feldman and directed by Marty Feldman. Also starring Michael York, Ann-Margaret, Peter Ustinov, Roy Kinnear, Spike Milligan and others! Great movie, yet another take on the ol' Beau Geste story, with some brilliant moments of humour inserted by Marty Feldman. Bizarre and a must see.

Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2011): The latest in the current schlock of giant monster films, with lots of giant (mega!) snakes and huge gaterades! I mean, gateroids! Starring (and co-directed by) Debbie Gibson and Tiffany! Yes, those Debbie Gibson and Tiffany! And yes, there is cat-fighting between them, and a song reference or two! (Behold the ! !) And starring A Martinez as the only person who can act! It's giant snakes and gaters and has-been pop-stars! What else could you want! (I mean ? !)

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