We bought a zoo!

Saw this movie today with Laetitia. It's about a single father and his two kids who need a change from their noisy and stressful city life, so they buy a house on many acres .. that just happens to have a zoo.

It's also about a family struggling to cope with the grief of losing a wife and mother.

And it's also about courage, adventure and (of course) true love.

It's a beautiful movie. Do yourself a favour and go see it.

(And either movies are getting deeper or I'm getting sappy in my old age, but I cried - several times.)

Red Dog

Saw a movie tonight, thanks to a friend's generous gift of a pair of tickets. We chose Red Dog, and loved it. Very cute, sad, romantic, very Australian. Beautiful scenery and witty cinematography. And of course we now want a kelpie!

Highly recommended.

Fox and Child

When we're in Brisbane, Laetitia and I like to find movies that we can't see back home. There are only two cinema complexes in Mackay, and they're both BCC. If the film ain't mainstream and popular, it likely ain't comin' to Mackay!

So the day after the wedding, we went to the Palace Centro to see The Fox and the Child, a beautiful movie about a young French girl and her fascination with a wild fox near her family's rural home.

The photography in the movie is wonderful. I'm glad I wasn't the cameraman, with some tricky and cold-looking sequences chasing wildlife through snow-laden forest. I was also impressed with the honest approach taken; this is no idealised fairy tale. It's quite realistic in presentation, apart perhaps from one incident (but I won't discuss that here as it would be a bit of a spoiler).

Recommendation: If you're a photographer or videographer, you'll love it. If you like wildlife, go for it. Your children will certainly enjoy it. Otherwise, take it or leave it; the plot isn't really that exciting.

Inkheart

Beautiful. I cried. Twice.

Burn After Reading

A confusing movie. Funny in parts, but I completely lost track of who was who. And I could really have done without the swearing (cusswords and misuse of God's name). I know it was supposed to be a farce (and it was, in that respect the movie was quite well made) but… well, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

Recommendation: Only if you like the F word. (I don't.)

Lemon Tree

A lovely movie about a Palestinian woman whose lemon grove becomes a threat to (Israel's) national security when the Israeli Defence Minister moves in across the road. She finds a lawyer to help her to take her appeal against the trees' destruction to the Supreme Court.

A little understanding of Israel-Palestine geography helps, as the movie moves around bit. I'm glad my mother suggested I get that straight in my head before I went to see Lemon Tree. Personally I could have done without the love interest, but nobody asks for my opinion.

Recommendation: A beautiful movie without a Hollywood happy ending. Worth seeing.

The Visitor

While in Brisbane, we went to the Palace Centro to see The Visitor, a beautiful movie about a university professor whose life is turned upside-down by a couple he finds squatting in his seldom-visited inner-city apartment. So far is it from a mainstream Hollywood movie, it doesn't even have a happy ending. The rich characters and the meaning they find in their growing relationships were wonderful.

Recommendation: Definitely see this movie!

I am not a film critic - honest!

Hmm, this blog is starting to look like a movie review site—or at least, like I do nothing but sit around watching movies. Ah well, year 8 camp for three days starting tomorrow, so that should spice things up a bit…

End of the Spear

Saw End of the Spear this afternoon. Very moving, it's a true story about Christian missionaries whose example of love and forgiveness saved the Waodani people of Ecuador from extinction. Well dramatised, beautiful photography (well, beautiful scenery, and skilful videography), and a gripping tale.

Recommendation: If you get a chance, see this film!

Mamma Mia!

Saw Mamma Mia with a whole group (mostly female) from our church. Somewhere between a musical and an excuse to play Abba songs, it actually did have a half-believable plot and was certainly a bundle of laughs. I don't remember the original (if I ever saw it), but this version was well cast, full of energy and life and (of course) outrageous outfits. Good fun for any Abba fan! (And I wasn't the only man in the cinema! I think I counted about 4 others…)

Get Smart

Yesterday (cheap Tuesdays!) we went to see Get Smart. Yes, it's a little different from the original TV series, but it's a great movie nonetheless, with all the classic Get Smart humour and awkwardness. Everything you'd expect from a spy movie spoof! And Anne Hathaway was gorgeous and very sexy as 99, she got the old “Oh, Max!” just right.

Recommendation: Definitely see it if you like the original TV series, spy movies, spoofs, technological gadgetry or romantic comedies.

Prince Caspian

On Sunday (yes, I have been seeing a lot of movies lately) we went to see Prince Caspian, the next instalment of The Chronicles of Narnia. Not quite the same as the book (for example Caspian was only 12 in the book!) but not enough to seriously matter. Decent acting, beautiful scenery, superb cinematography.

The subject matter, on the other hand, I find uncomfortable. Does God really leave us to our own devices at times? Yes, he will never leave us nor forsake us; but when he doesn't immediately answer a cry for help, well… what then? How do we know what to do?

Hancock

On Saturday, at Laetitia's suggestion, we went to see Hancock. It was funnier than I expected it to be. Not entirely believable, but a welcome change from the usual super-hero fare.

Recommendation: Worth seeing, it's good fun.

The Band's Visit

Saw this movie in Brisbane, at the Palace Centro. Simply wonderful! It could almost have been an Australian movie: quiet, filled with awkward pauses and meaningful silences, cultural conflict and satire, real believable characters.

An Egyptian band travels to Israel to play at the grand opening of an Arab Cultural Center, but due to a confusion with consonant aspiration they end up in a tired backwater town in the middle of nowhere. And of course the Arabs and Israelis have a long-standing cultural antagonism…

Recommendation: Beautiful, poignant, funny. See it if you can!

One Movie …

Like Simone, I'm not that much of a movie person, but this looked like fun, so I'll give it a go.

1. One movie that made you laugh
Amelie

2. One movie that made you cry
It's a Wonderful Life

3. One movie you loved when you were a child
Star Wars (that would be what is now known as “Episode IV”)

4. One movie you’ve seen more than once
Run Lola Run

5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it
Perhaps Shrek?

6. One movie you hated
The sequel to Clerks. (I hated it so much I didn't finish it.)

7. One movie that scared you
I don't watch scary movies. I was so scared by the opening sixty seconds (all I watched) of Aliens that I couldn't sleep! (Come on, I was a teenager at the time.)

8. One movie that bored you
Don't remember any (so boring I've forgotten them, I guess).

9. One movie that made you happy
Barfuß

10. One movie that made you miserable
In a manner of speaking: Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage

11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see
I dunno about not brave enough. Not stupid enough perhaps…

12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with
Laetitia
What? She isn't a movie character? Oh right. Well then, how about Cinderella in Ever After?

13. The last movie you saw
The Black Balloon

14. The next movie you hope to see
Something funny or moving.

15. Now tag five people: I tag Laetitia, Ruth, Allison, Scott, and you!

The Black Balloon

It's $8 for any movie, any session this weekend, so we had to go see something. After more than one recommendation, we chose “The Black Balloon”, an Australian movie about a family with an autistic son. The other son struggles to come to terms with what that means for him and his relationships with other people.

I found it very touching, and it really made me reflect on just what the parents of some of my students must go through at home. I did have trouble at times believing that the two boys were as young as they were supposed to be. The humour and romance were typically Australian, which is to say delightfully understated. I especially enjoyed the long poignant silences and meaningful looks. (And don't blink too much during the opening credits, or you'll miss the only black balloon in the whole movie!)

Highly recommended.

The other Boleyn girl

This afternoon, it being Tuesday and me not having to be at school, we went to the movies. We saw “The Other Boleyn Girl”.

I liked it, although I would have enjoyed it just as much with less sex scenes. (The ones there were, were done relatively tastefully, and a few were merely implied; but I'd have preferred more of the latter.) An exciting storyline, convincing characters, and a very dramatic historical setting. Considering that you already know who gets it in the end, they did a marvellous job turning it into a gripping movie.

Whether Anne really was that sly and conniving (and whether she really did commit incest) will remain a mystery, but I had no trouble suspending disbelief for the sake of being immersed in the storytelling.

We found the very end of the credits rather odd. There was the usual notice about “entirely a work of fiction, and any similarity to any real persons alive or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional”. Unintentional? Surely not!

Recommendation: See it, if you're over 18. (If you're not, you may not even understand it.)