Monday, January 29, 2007

random movie post

This weekend I was able to catch The Queen and Dreamgirls in the theatre. They are almost exact opposite in terms of story and style. The Queen is very much British, quiet and dignified, almost done in a documentary style. Helen Mirren was absolutely brilliant as the Queen of England. The story is about what happened in the royal family the week after Princess Diana died. It is a struggle between old Monarchy traditions of noncompromise and the new way of people power as the Queen refuse to honor Princess Diana who is no longer a part of the royal family but the people of Britain willed it to be so. It is very interesting story and as I was watching, I keep wondering how the filmmakers know that this is indeed what happened since all people involved are still living. I mean how do they know the Queen didn't want the flag to be at half mast until Tony Blair basically scared her about the abolishment of the Monarchy. Do they have actual sources for these things?

Dreamgirls was all glamour and glitz, full of sassy attitude. A typical rise of the band group, fall of the band group story with lots of good music. Although I suppose there were actually a little too much singing and not enough story telling. There wasn't any depth to any of the characters, only a brief sketch. Of course the breakout star is Jennifer Hudson, the 3rd place of American Idol 3. She really was very good in there, not bad for her first movie (won Golden Globe and SAG).

So I am 2 down on my Oscar movie list. I have decided I should catch up on all the good movies before award night. Of course I already missed some but I still hope to see these:

Children of Men - I heard the cinematography was very good
Pan's Labyrinth - comes with Tochi's high recommendation
The Last King of Scotland - a pretty rare subject
Babel - This one was nominated for best film, although I have a feeling it is going to have a bad ending.

While I am on this subject, I suppose I should list some of the movies I am looking forward to this year if nothing else, it will force me to remember watching them. From the list it looks like it will be a summer of sequels and superheroes again. how unoriginal...

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix - Must finish the series!
Spider-Man 3- The only superhero movie I am going to see, I am already tired of all of them (Batman vs Superman, kill me now).
Transformers - I recently saw the trailer for this, you guys have to check it out, it look awesome!
The Simpsons Movie - gotta see
Pirates of The Caribbean 3 - must ..see..Orli...

Now that I see my list, it all seems to be big budget commercial blockbusters. I hope at least to see one or two good independent movie as well.

9 comments:

Velius said...

Probably the same list here, minus the harry potter movie. Why not batman? He's so awesome,he's like spiderman but without the super powers. Superman was forgettable though. But here's a scenario for you, Spiderman vs Optimus Prime!! Go!

Kungfucius said...

I saw Pan's Labyrinth last night, and I'll concur with Tochi that it's a very good yet sad movie. You'll want a piece of magic caulk once you're done watching :)

Kungfucius said...

Er i meant to say chalk, not caulk -_-

moonfleck said...

Oh no! DOn't tell me it is sad lol. I hate sad endings :(

Kungfucius said...

Well ok, I guess the ending is only 50% sad, depending on how you look at it :P

Tochi said...

Good job Kung! It's not a sad ending, after all, all endings are just beginnings. :)

Anonymous said...

So it's a sad beginning then?

moonfleck said...

lol it is gettin worse and worse

Tochi said...

This is all part of our evil tactic to get Catnipped to watch Pan's before we ruin the entire story. :)