The Terminal
I wasn’t expecting much from this, but simply because of Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg figured it was worth a try. The film itself was a quite nice enjoyable simple little movie. Apparently the film was inspired by Merhan Karimi Nasseri an Iranian refugee who has been living in the departure lounge of Terminal One in Charles de Gaulle Airport since August 8, 1988 (apparently he is still there).
Catch Me If You Can
Another Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg movie, this time definitely based on a true story. This one felt less right, you have a clearly 28(ish) year old actor playing a 15 year old con artist. The story itself was quite interesting but I couldn’t get over the fact that there was someone in his early teens pretending to be an airline pilot. Tom Hanks was his usual wonderful self.
The Ladykillers
The third, and final, Tom Hanks film this month. And, in my opinion, by far the best. Tom plays a professor who also happens to be a “criminal mastermind”. He, and his gang of fellow thieves, pose as a band in the basement of the house he is renting from an unsuspecting Christian widow. Naturally everything that can go wrong does and, well, you’ll have to watch it to find out. But it made me laugh more than once so it has to be good.
The Life Aquatic, with Steve Zissou
Having enjoyed the Royal Tenenbaum’s I was kind of looking forward to this, but it disappointed. The story felt a little worthless and until the gun fight between Bill Murray (playing Steve Zissou) and a band of pirates, just didn’t seem to be going anywhere. The only reason the gun fight was good was because it was between a bunch of athletic pirates and a 60 year old man in a pair of blue speedos. Not what I had hoped for.
The Island
I’d heard mixed reviews about this but ended up really enjoying it. Most of the reviews I’d read complained about holes in the plot but I think these people are just being picky. Maybe if I stopped and thought about things I’d notice the same errors but then you miss bits of the film. I sat down, watched the film, and enjoyed myself. I do think they’re trying to get some sort of point across (I can’t say what as it will spoil things) but feel that if you ignore the message and just try to enjoy yourself you’ll have a good time. Well worth a viewing.
Warriors of Heaven and Earth
This disappointed me a little. I guess it was about what I expected but it was very similar to the Warriors (although I haven;t seen that in a while so I could be wrong?). It was clearly a big budget movie, with the fight at a castle in particular having some impressive scenes. The scenery was beautiful all around, and the costumes were great. If you like this sort of film it will do you well, but it wasn’t what I was hoping for.
Swimming with Sharks
A movie about a movie producer and the hell he puts his underlings through. The film starts off a little slow and tells the story through a series of flash backs building up to the, largely unexpected, finally. One of Kevin Spaceys earlier films and fairly enjoyable, but it’s showing it’s age (just look at those hair cuts).
Robin of Sherwood
A tv series rather than a film but I got this for Christmas and it was a big favourite from my youth. I debated asking for this before Christmas. I wanted to see it but was worried my new pair of rose tinted glasses were getting in the way and I’d ruin my memories, but I’ve just finished the first series and it’s really good. There are a few slightly dodgy bits (the music is very 80’s synth) but I’m really glad I asked for it. The sword fighting is surprisingly good, and the scenery is wonderful. It’s clearly incredibly big budget as well, the amount of extras would put some modern day movies to shame, and a lot of the sets are massive (entire markets/ villages etc), not the sort of thing you see nowadays. I’m currently half way through the second series and will have to order the third from Amazon soon. It’s a shame the show was cancelled after the third series as apparently they had a fourth planned and there are lots loose ends to tidy up.
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