What I Watched This Week (w/e August 17th 2008)
DVD
There Will Be Blood (Blu-ray) - Paul Thomas Anderson had been very quiet since making Punch Drunk Love in 2002 and obviously found the time to read Oil! by Upton Sinclair. He has stormed back with an epic film about the discovery of oil in California and the loss of innocence of the state and silver miner turned oil magnate Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis). When the Oscar nominations were announced I figured that Day-Lewis was a cert for Best Actor and the main awards would either go to this or No Country For Old Men. The Coen brothers' film won out but this is as good a film as their neo-noir western. Day-Lewis is immense and ably supported by Paul Dano (last seen in Little Miss Sunshine) but the technical aspects are mind blowing: Anderson's direction is phenomenal, the cinematography by Robert Elswit is stunning and Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead fame) marks his film debut with an eclectic and quite brilliant score.
When I saw it in the cinema, I said that I needed to see it again and the same applies after watching it at home - Paul Thomas Anderson has created a film of such depth and intelligence that it's almost impossible to take it all in one viewing. I'll probably watch it again in the next week or two and appreciate it even more than I already do (if possible). :D
[/url]Surf's Up (Blu-ray) - Watched again with the two commentaries - review here.
Illegal Tender - Clichéd dialogue and bizarre logic make this mediocre at best - it seemed like a Latino version of a Blaxploitation film, but less entertaining; full review here.
In Bruges - Great sweary fun with fine performances from all involved and a terrific script by Martin McDonagh; full review [url="default.asp?a=106681"]here.
Judex & Nuits Rouges - The first discs I was provided with suffered from a pixelisation problem that apparently only affected the first pressing so Eureka kindly provided me with replacements which I watched and altered my review.
21 (Blu-ray) - A really interesting story that zips along with stunning visuals and an accomplished performance by Tim Sturgess; full review here.
Persepolis (Blu-ray) - More intelligent that the other films (Ratatouille and Surf's Up) that it was nominated with but less fun. It's one of those films that gets more enjoyable the more you watch it - full review here.
Books
Sin City - Welcome to a new category, if I've read anything worth noting it'll be here. This week I read all seven Sin City books, was pleasantly surprised about how faithful those that comprised the movie were translated to the screen and now can't wait for the second and third instalments. Those that made Sin City (The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill and That Yellow Bastard) are fantastic graphic novels, with great prose and stunning illustrations. Of those to come, I wasn't that impressed by Family Values but think that To Hell And Back will make a great film especially, if as rumoured, Johnny Depp plays Wallace. The vignettes from Booze, Broads & Bullets will probably fit in somewhere, just as The Customer Is Always Right bookmarked the first film.
Television
La Vie en Rose - I missed this at the cinema and wanted to see it when Marion Cotillard won the Best Actress Oscar but never got round to it so I V+ed it and watched it this evening. Edith Piaf is probably best known for singing Non, je ne regrette rien (introduced well into the film) and her work helping the French resistance in the Second World War. Bizarrely, not only does Olivier Dahan neglect to mention her assisting the resistance, but completely bypasses the war choosing instead to concentrate on her romance with World Welterweight Champion Marcel Cerdan. Cotillard is superb, but the film is lacks what it takes to make a true biopic and portrait of the woman. :)
Olympics - I don't really care about the running, jumping or swimming - all that interests me is the boxing which has been of a very high quality though the same can't be said for the judging and refereeing. The scoring of rounds was found not to work when Roy Jones Jr. was robbed in South Korea 1988 but the introduction of computer scoring is equally unpredictable: judges score for illegal blows (slaps), not for jabs or good body shots (which often incur the referee's displeasure) and several fights have been won by larger margins than should have been the case or even by the 'wrong' fighter. I don't know whether the answer is CompuBox (or an equivalent) or a combination of judging and punch counting but something needs to be done.
When I saw it in the cinema, I said that I needed to see it again and the same applies after watching it at home - Paul Thomas Anderson has created a film of such depth and intelligence that it's almost impossible to take it all in one viewing. I'll probably watch it again in the next week or two and appreciate it even more than I already do (if possible). :D
[/url]Surf's Up (Blu-ray) - Watched again with the two commentaries - review here.
Illegal Tender - Clichéd dialogue and bizarre logic make this mediocre at best - it seemed like a Latino version of a Blaxploitation film, but less entertaining; full review here.
In Bruges - Great sweary fun with fine performances from all involved and a terrific script by Martin McDonagh; full review [url="default.asp?a=106681"]here.
Judex & Nuits Rouges - The first discs I was provided with suffered from a pixelisation problem that apparently only affected the first pressing so Eureka kindly provided me with replacements which I watched and altered my review.
21 (Blu-ray) - A really interesting story that zips along with stunning visuals and an accomplished performance by Tim Sturgess; full review here.
Persepolis (Blu-ray) - More intelligent that the other films (Ratatouille and Surf's Up) that it was nominated with but less fun. It's one of those films that gets more enjoyable the more you watch it - full review here.
Books
Sin City - Welcome to a new category, if I've read anything worth noting it'll be here. This week I read all seven Sin City books, was pleasantly surprised about how faithful those that comprised the movie were translated to the screen and now can't wait for the second and third instalments. Those that made Sin City (The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill and That Yellow Bastard) are fantastic graphic novels, with great prose and stunning illustrations. Of those to come, I wasn't that impressed by Family Values but think that To Hell And Back will make a great film especially, if as rumoured, Johnny Depp plays Wallace. The vignettes from Booze, Broads & Bullets will probably fit in somewhere, just as The Customer Is Always Right bookmarked the first film.
Television
La Vie en Rose - I missed this at the cinema and wanted to see it when Marion Cotillard won the Best Actress Oscar but never got round to it so I V+ed it and watched it this evening. Edith Piaf is probably best known for singing Non, je ne regrette rien (introduced well into the film) and her work helping the French resistance in the Second World War. Bizarrely, not only does Olivier Dahan neglect to mention her assisting the resistance, but completely bypasses the war choosing instead to concentrate on her romance with World Welterweight Champion Marcel Cerdan. Cotillard is superb, but the film is lacks what it takes to make a true biopic and portrait of the woman. :)
Olympics - I don't really care about the running, jumping or swimming - all that interests me is the boxing which has been of a very high quality though the same can't be said for the judging and refereeing. The scoring of rounds was found not to work when Roy Jones Jr. was robbed in South Korea 1988 but the introduction of computer scoring is equally unpredictable: judges score for illegal blows (slaps), not for jabs or good body shots (which often incur the referee's displeasure) and several fights have been won by larger margins than should have been the case or even by the 'wrong' fighter. I don't know whether the answer is CompuBox (or an equivalent) or a combination of judging and punch counting but something needs to be done.
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