FlickChick

RIP Death at a Funeral

You will by now be familiar with my absolute abhorence for remakes. I especially hate the remakes of films from living memory.

So, can anyone explain to me why the yanks continue to take all these fantastic Brit shows/movies and ripping out their soul. What makes The Office, Life on Mars etc so appealing is their very Britishness. What's next? An American Dr Who... oh wait, that's called Torchwood!

So what has inspired this latest diatribe? A Hollywood remake of Death at a Funeral. But not just an American version... an African American version. Now I get that Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock etc are an exceedingly popular style of comedy. But when the Brit version is just so damn brilliant, why spoil that?

What's even more ridiculous is that instead of the little person being a foreigner, he will be white. And not just any white guy - the very same guy who played the role to perfection in the original British version, the fabulous Peter Dinklage. What the???

Hoo-ya

It sounds like an Aesop fable, The Producer and The Soldier. I refer of course to the controversies surrounding Oscar nominated film The Hurt Locker. I won't go into my opinions on the actual issues however I will say this regarding the soldier claiming to have coined the term "hurt locker".... Dude, I've seen at least one film where they used the term and it's over 10 years old (see below). Also, if you hire a lawyer to speak for you at a press conference, let them do the talking. You attack your own credibility using terms like "displeasement". [She writes with much eye rolling].

THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER

PLOT: A strangled woman's naked body is discovered on a military base. It is the daughter of influential and respected General Campbell and it is up to Paul Brenner and Sara Sunhill to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death. No ordinary murder, the officers are stymied at every turn by secrets, loyalties, and the 'Army way'.

"What's worse than rape? When you know that, then you'll know everything."

DIRECTOR: Simon West (Con Air)

CAST: John Travolta (Old Dogs, Swordfish), Madeline Stowe (We Were Soldiers, Last of the Mohicans), James Cromwell (Becoming Jane, Babe), Timothy Hutton (The Ghost Writer, The Good Shepherd), James Woods ("Shark", Be Cool)

LOCATED IN: Thriller or Action

FOR MORE THRILLERS:

Courage Under Fire
Murder By Numbers
The Bone Collector
The Pelican Brief

TOP TIP: Can't find the DVD you want? Ask at the counter, it might have been put back in the wrong place!

Are migraines the future of cinema?

So I finally got my groove on and headed over to check out Avatar in 3D. Now blatant American propaganda and smurf references aside, as always I enjoyd Cameron's narrative and the action. It's why he's remained on my top 3 list for over 2 decades.

However, what is the big deal about 3D? Frankly, as someone who lives in stifling heat and humidity for 360 days of the year I don't enjoy 'really experiencing' a jungle climate onscreen. Swatting at non existent flies does not a fun movie make. I thought the aerial shots were interesting but in 3D, nauseating. My vision-challenged friends struggled to balance wearing 2 pairs of glasses at once.

However, it was all worth it to see Sam Worthington burn through the screen. His talent is undeniable and I don't envy anyone forced to share the shot with him!

This weekend's watch list

This week we experienced a very sad loss in the flickchick household... our DVD player is on the fritz. Especially terrible as I have had to drive to whoop whoop to get it fixed. Stupid warranty people. But with this weekend 35 degrees and beyond humid we've taken refuge in the old DVD player under the only fan in the house.

Watch list:

The Hot Chick
Hitch
Austin Powers 1&2 ("I want my babyback babyback babyback ribs")
The Hangover ("Tigers don't like cinnamon")
The Proposal

What have you seen lately?

Emotionally abusive relationship? Check! Shirtless boyos? Check! Must be a New Moon...

I was very pleased to attend the first day screening of New Moon yesterday... why was I very pleased? Because all the Twi-hards appear to have attended midnight screenings across the country meaning that my session was delightfully scream-free.

Being my least favourite of the books, I wasn't all that excited about seeing it on film. I won't sport with your intelligence by rehashing a plot that you can find with a simple google search except to say not a lot happens as it's mostly backfilling the Bella/Jacob relationship and foreshadowing the events that transpire in the 3rd and 4th books. But what a difference a new director makes! Okay, the fur-splosions still redline in the ridiculous zone but I did enjoy myself. The film is looooong.... That said, the performances were good, the special effects were, for the most part, well executed and it has the right balance of suspense and mush. The sparkliness is much improved and gone is the blue filter from Twilight. This one has a warmer tone to it - ironic given the coldness of the subject matter.

I really liked the visual injection of Edward's character as the voice of Bella's conscience. I had wondered how they'd illustrate that. There were a few shots I really loathed simply for their lack of originality - e.g. the passage of time through changing seasons (come on... been done... so boring!) and lots of circular dolly shots gave me vertigo... or maybe I was just nauseated by the frolicking run through the woods shot. C'mon, really??

However the issues of tacky lighting and art direction appear to have been overcome.

Kudos must go to Billy Burke for his (again) great performance as Charlie. He really nails the daggy but adorable concerned father.

I will say that having watched this really laid bare the manipulative side of Edward's obsessive overprotection - Tell someone that you don't want them and then later tell them you lied to protect them and get defensive that they believed it so easily?? Total emotional abuse!!

Totally freaked at one of the early scenes when I had a pavolian reaction to a shot reminiscent of Gmork from Neverending Story. Still have recurring issues from that same wolf eyes shot and to see it repeated here means I am unlikely to put the bin out after dark ever again.

PS - Also enjoyed the montage of Victoria's escape from the wolves, Bella cliff diving and Harry's heart attack. Very cool musical interlude and the right way to show speed without SHOWING speed.

PPS - I also suggest that putting when young actors in a scene with Michael Sheen, they better up their game!
xx

What I watched this weekend...

Toy Story I & II
The Peacemaker
Monarch of the Glen Season I, II, III
3 eps of "Castle"
3 eps of "Big Bang Theory"
"Wuthering Heights"

Thoughts, comments, musings?
Til next time kidlets.
xx

The Five Best Film Villains (non human category)

Having a circuitous conversation with Father of Flick Chick with regard to this recent terrific Pajiba Random List, we got to listing our fave non human film villains... Now you could break this down even further into robots vs aliens vs wierd things to fall out of Jim Henson's head but I decided on those exhibiting or exceeding human intelligence and here's where we landed... Check 'em out... The final five? Who did I forget?

Five Best Film Villains

Roy Batty, Bladerunner