Films Q&A/Tag

Favorite movie of all time?

I have a bunch of films I watched in my late teens during the 'I'm so alternative' phase that blew my mind and I still adore. But the movie I love and can happily watch over and over is Inglourious Basterds.

Favorite scene from that movie?

The basement pub scene. My first 'zomg who is Michael Fassbender, I die' moment.

Favorite actors/actresses?

Michael Fassbender, Kevin Spacey, Abbie Cornish.

Most annoying actor/actress?

Will Ferrell

Best director?

Don't pay much attention to directors' names anymore despite my admiration and respect for them, but the two favourites I know are Quentin Tarantino and David Mackenzie.

Favorite guilty pleasure film?

Sooo many, but Little Black Book, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and What Women Want are probably the top three.

Favorite tear jerker?

Atonement. I went to see it alone, hadn't read the book, and cried like a baby. Then made two of my friends come to see it with me so I had someone to talk to about it.

Character from a movie that scared you the most?

The only one that springs to mind is the doctor in the Human Centipede. But more sickening than scary really.

Movie you hate everyone loves?

Anchorman. I'm sorry, I just can't. I really did try several times.

Favorite movie duo?

Wallace and Gromit. And Candy and Dan in Candy, despite... everything.

Favorite animated movie?

Wallace and Gromit in the Wrong Trousers and Wallace and Gromit in a Close Shave.

What's the first movie you remember watching in theaters?

I know The Lion King is the first film I saw at the movies, but the first one I really remember is The Hunchback of Notre Dame. My Dad told us we were going to a church called Notre Dame, and my sister and I were sooo pissed. We believed we were going to church right up until we were dragged through the cinema doors.

If you could go back in time and marry actor/actress from back when who would it be?

Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music days.

Perfect Sense

If you're viewing this in a reader, click over to my blog and let me know what you think of the new look.

A few months ago now, I was intrigued by the film trailer for Perfect Sense on YouTube, mainly because it stars Ewan McGregor and Eva Green. Hello. It's also directed by David Mackenzie who was responsible for one of my all time favourites (and another starring McGregor), Young Adam. Sold, I had to watch it immediately.

The trailer reveals next to nothing about the plot, but it's one of those films where you can't really spoil all that much by telling people about it anyway as shown in this concise tagline from IMDb; a chef and a scientist fall in love as an epidemic begins to rob people of their sensory perceptions. It's sort of a film you see to enjoy the experience, rather than to follow an amazing twisted story - though the story is excellent!

I thought it was brilliant, and if you haven't seen it then I recommend you do so. I hadn't really heard anything about it before stumbling upon the trailer, but I'm not sure whether it wasn't heavily promoted or whether I just had my head in the sand at the time of its release.

Regardless of whether you've seen it yet or not, the idea of completely losing your senses one by one is pretty frightening, and an interesting idea to consider. If it were inevitable that you would soon lose each sense, what would you want to experience before it were gone? I've made my own little list below (have alphabetised them so they may or may not be in the same order as in the film - spoilers are no fun) and would love to know what would make your sensory bucket list.

HEARING

• Voices of all my loved ones. And maybe a recording of my own voice, too, since I don't get to hear what it "really" sounds like all that often. I probably wouldn't mind blocking out Wallace's early morning meows, but I'd definitely want to hear his purring
• I'm fairly sure I would listen to as much Rufus Wainwright as my ears could absorb
• I'm not really a classical music fan or anything but I'd want to attend something with a live orchestra. Ooh, like a concert of a film score? That would be perfect

SIGHT

• Obviously people's faces, as many as possible
• The night sky
• I'd want to see as much art in person as I could - I'd, probably selfishly, want to see more art than I'd want to create my own
• I'd want to see as much of the world as I could, which wouldn't really be possible if sticking to the film plot's time restraints. Thank goodness for my beloved Street View
• If I did have enough time, I'd want to see New York, aurora borealis, and Guanabara Bay

SMELL

• All kinds of foodie smells - bakeries and espresso and... ooh, frying bacon
• Orange and sandalwood essential oil
• Farm smells, beach smells
• Dior Homme Sport

TASTE

• The Marlborough salmon dish I had at Ortega recently - so good!
• All the chocolate
• I think I'd miss the taste of beverages more than the taste of food - so many beers, coffees, and milkshakes!

TOUCH

• Obviously again, hugs and kisses and the like
• Cuddles with Wallace, who is pretty much the softest fluffy cat I've ever met (also known as the most pampered)
• Walking on sand and jumping in shallow waves
• The feeling of taking off in an aeroplane, if that counts

Let me know what you think if you watch the film! And tell me what would make your list below.

The Social Network

Alright, so. I wasn't going to bother writing my thoughts on The Social Network, because I kind of figured that the ship had sailed. But people are still talking about it, and it's still number two on IMDb, so here goes… a brief blog of my thoughts (totally up the shit in terms of structure… and syntax… it’s bedtime).

Overall, I didn’t enjoy it. I had heard nothing but good things, and was totally looking forward to finally seeing it, and fully expecting to love it. But I just didn’t.

Before the film came out, I was already pretty well informed about the history of Facebook. From the get go, perhaps this is why I wasn’t impressed- I wasn’t really learning anything new. I do wonder if this is the exact reason why people love it so much- they didn’t have prior knowledge about the history of Facebook, so it was all new and interesting. I’m not trying to be a dick by saying that; if that’s the sole reason then the hype makes a lot more sense to me.

But regardless of that, technically I felt like it was filmed as a Ben Hur-length, intense, dialogue-filled drama… and then edited by Action Man.

The longest continuous dialogue (is that even a term? Sorry, it’s late) was the very first scene, which funnily enough was probably the most insignificant part of the whole film. From then on, everything kept chopping and changing, and flashing back and forward… this would be perfectly justified if there were huge amounts of action taking place, or a massive shocking twist at the end that pulled all the fragments together. There wasn’t.

Much like this blog post.

• As always, when I dislike a film, dear Rod at The Editing Room sums up everything quite nicely.

Day 9 of 30

I decided that doing one catch up post would be a silly idea, because it would be long and boring, and no one would read it. So we'll treat the past few days as a little break from 30 Days of Interpretation, and I'll start up again with Day 9 today. Forgive me?

• The last film you saw at the cinema

The last film I saw I have already mentioned; the wonderful film adaptation of John Marsden's Tomorrow When the War Began. If you've read the books and haven't seen it yet, you're a moron (or you're in some unfortunate country that's not screening it). If you haven't read the books nor seen it, I would recommend going to see it right now. I don't think it will affect your enjoyment of the books, and if anything it will make you want to read all seven (plus the follow-up trilogy) now! I found Caitlin Stasey really annoying in Neighbours, but just brilliant in this movie playing the lead role of Ellie (possibly due to the fact she's grown up a bit). I think the only person I didn't really like in the film was Corrie, but I didn't like her much in the books either.

Aw man, I want to go see it again now.