365 Grateful - 5 & 6

Day 5 - January 5 2014

Date Night!

One of the reasons (I think) that Anthony and I have lasted together so long (apart from pure stubbornness!) is that we regularly take time out to do something together. Concerts, movies, dinner. Time with just the two of us...

Last night we went out for dinner at one of our favourite restaurants, The London. We ate outside (another thing to be grateful for - summer evenings!) and watched the silly Summernats folk wander around, all sunburnt and loud.

Then we went to the Dendy Premium Lounge to watch The Hobbit - Desolation of Smaug. It was our first time in the premium lounge and it was certainly a different way to watch a movie. The seats were very comfy, and I loved being able to have a beer and have a choc-top delivered halfway through, but it was also too comfortable, and because we were out past my bedtime, I found myself nodding off, like I would if I had been watching it at home.

It's also really expensive! Both the tickets and the food! Still, it was a nice experience (courtesy of a lovely friend that gave me the tickets for my birthday), and the movie wasn't too bad (I have to reserve judgement until I've seen it again fully awake!). So I'm grateful for that!

Mmmmm...Blueberries!

I'm grateful for berries. The sweet you can have when you really shouldn't be having sweets! I picked these today in my garden and I'm looking forward to enjoying them! As I've posted before, we love growing food and there's nothing like eating something out of your own garden. Berries are my favourite and they're so easy to grow! I'm grateful for berries today!

Mellie at the Movies

I've seen a couple of movies in the last week. So I thought I'd pile my reviews up for you...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I must admit that on going in to this movie, my expectations were fairly low. The last 'apes' movie was in part responsible for this, much as I love the eternal sookiness of Mr. Wahlberg. Even the fact that the wonderful Tim Burton directed it didn't make it as wonderful as they would have hoped.
Anyway, I was a little apprehensive, but interested to see it after hearing a couple of good reviews.
Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was a pretty good movie.

The basic premise is that Will (James Franco) adopts an chimpanzee (Caesar) orphaned during lab testing. The chimp is ultra-intelligent but eventually makes a mistake that leads to interaction with other apes. It's the precursor to the Charlton Heston film, so we all know what's going to happen, but it's still an interesting ride.

The acting was probably one of the only areas of the film that brought my rating down, as well as some of the side-story (the romance wasn't especially sparkly).  James Franco was OK, if not a little subdued. Brian Cox was his usual gruff self, with Tom Felton (a little overstretched on the American accent I thought) and Jamie Harris (good in a small role) playing his offsiders. John Lithgow, as his father with Alzheimer's was solid, as always.  

The CGI is first-class, with Andy Serkis providing some amazing work as the basis of Caesar's intelligent chimp. You can tell it's CGI, but you don't really care, because it's done so well. The scenes with the animals are well put together, and the climactic action scene is clever and well-shot.

There were a couple of little plot holes, but overall I found it an engaging story that found a way to tell a story (that we all know the ending of) without making it too unbelievable or unsympathetic for anyone involved. I don't want to give any more away than that, but I thought the end moments were quite well handled.

I'd give this one 4 out of 5.

Paul

This one is new to DVD, and we'd been keen to see it for a while (we couldn't take Oli to see it at the movies as it's MA, but he totally handled the swearing and mild drug references that were obviously the main reason for rating it this way).

Paul is about two British nerds who are travelling the 'alien trail' in the U.S, when they meet Paul, an alien on the run.

I do love this kind of humour. I loved Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, which were also co-written by Simon Pegg. There's just something about British humour that gets me. It's the uptight-ness I think (if you haven't seen Death at a Funeral - the British version - please do!).

Anyway, the performances are good comedy: from Seth Rogan's gorgeous portrayal of Paul, to the absolute geekiness of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, to the idiotic fanatacism of Kristen Wiig's religious girl and Jason Bateman's always reliable straight man. He's actually even a little evil. The only let down was Sigourney Weaver. Her portrayal is flat and boring and doesn't add much to the comedy.

The effects that created Paul are clever, but that's not what the movie's about. It's a fun story with lots of laugh-out-loud moments. A good one for a relaxing Saturday night.

4 out of 5.

Mellie at the Movies

This afternoon, we saw Captain America: The First Avenger.

I've really liked the other 'Avenger' movies, my favourite being Thor, I think. I know that on the whole, super hero movies are pure movie popcorn, but I can't help falling for them every time!

I liked the X-Men movies and Spiderman (the first 70 times I watched it - Oli was a touch obsessed), it always gave me that emotional tweak (especially number 2 for some reason), and as I kid I had a super crush on Christopher Reeve.

There have been some bad ones. I didn't get into Fantastic Four as much as I thought I would, and the Green Hornet had some boring bits, but on the whole, super hero movies are cool. I like being able to switch off my brain for a while.

Captain America was probably not my favourite, but still enjoyable. The first half especially was very good, with the setup and development of the story. Stanley Tucci played his German doctor as a sweet and interesting character, and Tommy Lee Jones was great as the gruff (when isn't he?) but likeable Colonel. Even Chris Evans, who was just annoying in Fantastic Four was good. He played the weedy Steve Rogers very believably (with some amazing CGI!) and was entertaining as the propaganda-spouting Captain. Even Hugo Weaving, who's in danger of being typecast as the creepy bad guy, was good. He certainly did the German accent convincingly.

The period style was well put together, with beautifully created New York streets, and some great war-room and society scenes. The effects were good, and thankfully not too much of the action went on in darkness.

There was a lot of unbelievable stuff in there, especially the 1940s 'technology', but hey, it's a superhero movie, so I'm prepared to suspend judgement on that one. The love interest angle was a little predictable and there were a couple of scenes that weren't explained well or played out to their potential.

Still, it was an enjoyable movie, which left me keen for the Avengers movie, due out next year.

I'd give it 3.5 out of 5.

Oh, and it had the Wilhelm Scream too, something that's captured my attention lately. It's a recorded sound effect that's a bit of an in-joke in the movie industry. It's been used in lots of different movies, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to Toy Story (see below). Ever since I found out about it, I notice it in everything. I've even got the app on my phone (all it does is the scream!). Now that I've told you about it, you'll notice it everywhere too!

Mellie at the Movies

I love movies. I've talked about them before and, as you know, spent a quarter of my life (so far) working in a cinema.

As I have been thinking about what to write in my blog, I have toyed with the idea of a movie 'review' every now and then. I don't want to do it all the time, as there are plenty of people who do that already, and probably better. Such as my lovely brother-in-law, who runs the Facebook page I Love Movies (check it out, won't you? As a favour to me??)

I always fancied myself as a bit of a movie 'expert'. More because of the sheer volume of movies that I've watched than any particular talent, but isn't bluff and bluster half the work of being a movie reviewer? So bear with me, dear readers, as I share my opinions, wanted or not. Perhaps you can also share yours with me?

I'm going to start my first 'review' with Transformers 3:

As I wasn't a huge fan of the first two Transformers movies, I wasn't expecting much from the third instalment. 

The premise was good; that the 1969 moon landing was a front for an alien salvage operation (not a spoiler guys, I promise!), but the potential for a great story got lost somewhere in the ruckus.

Don't get me wrong, I do like a good Michael Bay movie. There's nothing like The Rock, Armageddon or the Bad Boys movies for some good ol' empty headed action.

And the action scenes are good I guess. They are well choreographed and shot beautifully (the city-in-carnage scenes were quite spectacular) but like the rest of the movie, they were empty. There was nothing in the movie for me to invest my emotions into. I didn't really care if the whole lot of 'em got blown out into space.

There were a couple of funny moments. John Malkovich was the best I have seen him in a long time (I've gone right off him since his horrible portrayal of a Russian mobster in Rounders, and his even-worse Frenchman in Johnny English). He was funny and not too over the top. What a shame there wasn't more of him. Ken Jeong made me cringe with the antics of his paranoid office worker, and Kevin Dunn and Julie white were funny (as always) as Sam's very 'interesting' parents.

Sadly, Frances McDormand (who I love, normally), John Turturro (another favourite) and Patrick Dempsey all seemed to be phoning it in, and Rosie Huntington-Whitely (as Carly) was...well...just awful. Though in her defence, she probably wasn't hired for her acting talents (once you see her in the white dress you'll understand).

I know it's probably a Michael Bay signature, but I cringed at the sight of the tattered American flag flying high, and the shot of Carly walking in slow-mo as chaos reigned behind her. ACH! 

And before you shout 'but the kids will love it!', well I know of one 7 year old who didn't. Oliver's comment was 'how come the last movies are never as good as the first ones?'

Normally, I'd go and see an action movie for some pure escapism. Where I could leave my brain behind and have a good laugh, worry about the fate of the character/world/universe, and come out a little pumped on adrenalin. While I did laugh, this was probably only due to intentional humour once. 

Unless you're a transformers fan, or love looking at swollen-lipped supermodels draped over luxury cars, I'd give it a miss. 

I'd give it 1 out of 5. What did you think?

Movies

As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit of a movie buff. Probably less so now; either because there aren't many good ones or because I don't have time to watch too many (unlike my lovely brother-in-law who sees at least three movies at the cinema every week).

I was working at the cinema when Sam was born. Of course, being a casual employee in the private sector I didn't get paid maternity leave (actually I missed the boat on that one with both kids, but that's a story for another day), and I went back to work when he was 3 months old. That's ok because Anthony decided to start a home business and do all the dad stuff.

The great thing about working there though, was the free (and later after a big corporation took over, cheap) movies. We went to the movies a lot!

The first movie I remember taking Sam to was 'Austin Powers'. He would have been under 2, but I wanted to see it and I figured that if he got restless I could just leave, it wouldn't cost me anything.

As it turned out, I didn't have to worry. I had to take out him for a little settle when it it got noisy, but apart from that he was fine.

So from then on, we went to lots of movies. Sometimes just me and Sam, sometimes him and his dad while I was working, sometimes all three of us. He got very good at the routine very quickly. He was great at sitting still, and as he was fairly mature, able to sit through movies most kids his age would squirm through. Not that we let him watch movies that were too unsuitable. There were movies meant for older people than he, but he could generally follow what was going on, and totally understood the difference between fact and fiction, special effects and reality.
Oliver's the same. He can sit through movies (and TV shows) that other kids find scary or don't understand, but he does. He doesn't worry about scary stuff, because he's very clear about the whole 'it's just a movie' thing (we saw Harry Potter 7 (.1) last night and there was a bit where everyone in the cinema seemed to jump, but he didn't even flinch).

Needless to say, Sam grew up loving movies too. By the time he was 12/13, he was going quite often with his friends, but he still went with us too.
I loved having someone to talk to about movies, and actors, and he was also the one who would watch movies with me that Anthony didn't want to watch, like Slumdog Millionaire. We watched that together one night and he was very moved by it. He hadn't really seen much of what other cultures are like (my fault I guess, I hadn't really exposed him to much outside our own little city). I remember we had a great conversation about it afterwards.

Sam also liked the kinds of movies that Anthony likes: b grade and violent. Although, he would tend to groan about how dumb they were while secretly enjoying them. They often went to the movies together, Anthony enjoyed having someone with him who wouldn't cringe or complain about how stupid the movie was (well, much, anyway!)

The last movie we saw with Sam (at the movies) was 2012 (I think, though it could also have been Surrogates, the memories are a little blurred there). It was nothing out of the ordinary, I wish I could hold that memory a little closer, but I can't. It was something we did so many times, the same way each time. It wasn't special, it was just something we did as a family. I didn't think then that I'd want to badly to remember every little detail.

Actually, of all the 'moments' this year, when I've had a twinge of sadness about Sam, or when I've really missed him, many of them have been movie related.

First there was last Christmas. I had bought him 'Year One' on DVD, which he said was hilarious (we watched it some time this year, it wasn't). I often bought him DVDs for Christmas, so last year wasn't; any different. I was hard seeing that familiar shaped package sitting with all his other unopened presents.

About 3 weeks after Sam died, Anthony, Oliver and I went and saw Avatar. Movie-wise, it was OK: the same story I've seen in a million movies, and very impressive graphics. But it was beautiful too, lovely creatures and colours etc. I think Samuel would have loved it - it was an interesting mix of action and story and I remember at one stage crying because I realised that he'd never get to see it.

And I've done that a few other times this year. When we saw How to Train Your Dragon,  the final Harry Potter; Alice in Wonderland, Iron Man 2, even Toy Story 3; I cried because I knew Sam would have loved it. He had loved the first Iron Man and all the other Toy Story movies (he was really little around the time of the first Toy Story movie, so he was the target audience. He probably wouldn't have admitted to liking them any more, but I knew he had wanted to see it).

It's funny, with all those times I couldn't cry, a movie could generally set me off. A lot of it is knowing he would have loved it and will never see it, but it's also all the movie watching we still had to do together, and all the conversations that went with them.

I'll miss that.

Oscar night (of all times)

I started writing a post about the Oscars (the winners and such), but it just seems like old news now. I will share though, that I was quite affected by Monday night's telecast.

Since I was a little girl I have been utterly, utterly fascinated with the Oscars, and the movie industry in general. It's mostly my Dad's fault. He is a BIG movie buff, and he brought me up on a steady diet of musicals, Barbra Streisand and the occasional classic (The Godfather etc).
What you've gotta understand, dear reader (particularly any of you born after 1980), is that when I was growing up, there were only three TV channels for a very long time, and video players didn't really arrive until I was a tween. So on a rainy Saturday afternoon, we could either go to the movies or watch what was on TV (Of course once videos came out, Dad bought musicals, Barbra Streisand and the occasional classic, so I still had to make do). But the thing is, all these movies were AWESOME! Because we didn't know any better. We couldn't log onto IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes to see what other people thought or wait for Jim to post his review on Facebook ;)
Simpler times?

But despite the apparent lack of good cinematic fare, I did manage to become a bit of a buff myself (to be fair to my poor dad, he did have good taste in movies, and he did introduce me to some good ones, as well as the musicals, Barbra Streisand and the occasional classic, I just wanted to tease him a little).

So Oscar night was always a BIG DEAL. We maintained media silence for most of the afternoon, and if anyone dared tell Dad who had won something, look out! Of course, I picked up this attitude after a while, too. We'd write out our predictions and tick them off as each award was given out, and for 3 or so hours felt like we were part of it all. I must admit I had gone off it all in the past few years: perhaps too much god-thanking, and there were a few awards that seemed set up or a little bit political.

**Confession Time**
For a very long time I wanted to win an Oscar. I went through a quite serious acting phase, discovered I probably wasn't as great at it as some of the others in my drama class/group. Then I thought I'd maybe direct or even edit. Working in a cinema probably didn't do anything to dampen those thoughts.

So, back to the telecast. As I've mentioned before, I haven't done a lot of crying about Sam. In fact, I've found it quite difficult at times. But not on Monday night. I don't know what it was (and no, it wasn't hormones), but there were many times that things happening in the show made me cry. Some of it was 'I wish that was me', and some of it was Samuel-related:

• When they screened the 'In Memoriam' part (all the movie types who had died during the past year), I thought of Samuel. No surprises there.
• When Sandra Bullock thanked all the mums. I wonder how many other mums reacted to that?
• Every time a good-looking young man came onstage, I thought about how that could have been Sam one day.

Et Cetera. Funny huh? Something just pushed my buttons. I guess in a way it's good that I did that because I had a chance to do some 'emoting'.

Somewhere around here, I have a photo of me with an Oscar. If I can find it I'll post it. It's kinda cute. In the meantime, here's Oscar.