Funnily enough, a guy that I used to know a few years ago told me that he was in the running to play the title role in this movie, but I’m quite sure that he was just trying to impress me.

Wish I’d seen this version at the cinema instead. Hilarious.

Since the Harry Potter franchise is coming to an end, it’s lucky for us all that another series of novels has captured the hearts (and purses) of numerous young girls (and plenty of women too).

I’ve read Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse, and will probably read the fourth one out of curiosity at some point. I saw the Twilight movie last year and didn’t think much of it, but it was basically watchable. I decided to see New Moon because I was curious about whether they could turn that depressing book into a halfway decent film.

My local cinema had 2 screenings of the movie at 4pm in different screens, and luckily most of the girls who’d come straight from school in their uniform seemed to have been allocated to the other screen. My screen seemed to have a good mixture of teens, guys in their late teens/early 20s, a few mums with their daughters, and couples on dates…

On balance, I’d probably say that New Moon was slightly better than Twilight, but only because there was less Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and more shirtless, meaty Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Plus if you manage to stay awake until the end, you’ll be treated to a delightful yet all-too-brief scene featuring Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning.

I don’t want to spoil the plot too much (if that’s possible), but it stayed quite close to the novel. After a troubling incident, Edward dumps Bella. She falls into a deep depression for months and months, until she starts to spend time with Jacob. She also starts a disturbing habit of engaging in risky behaviour (riding motorbikes, jumping off cliffs) after she experiences hallucinations of Edward warning her not to risk her life during those stupid moments.

Then we discover that Jacob has become a werewolf, which sucks for Bella since his entire focus is not on her any more. Luckily, these werewolves only kill vampires, and they wear magic shorts which don’t require disrobing before the metamorphosis. But who cares about magic shorts when we can focus on Taylor Lautner’s torso?

Even though the guy must be at least 10 years younger than me, I still couldn’t stop myself grinning everytime I saw him shortless shirtless, and it was clear that plenty of girls watching alongside me were loving the view too. It was a great distraction from the dodgy plot, dialogue and pacing.

The only problem with all that meatiness on show, was that when Edward appeared again at the end of the movie, he seemed especially pale, gaunt and lifeless in comparison.

There were several cheesy moments in the movie, but the cheesiest for me was when we saw Alice’s vision of Bella as a vampire in the future. I couldn’t help giggling as I watched her running in slow-mo through a forest in a floral dress alongside Edward.

However, I enjoyed the musical background, which complimented the emotional scenes. I also liked those high wide shots, which gave a sense of scale to the forests in which much of the movie was set. Though the wolves looked quite unrealistic to me, I did like the scene where they were chasing Victoria, a redhead vampire who wanted Bella dead, through the forests. I also liked Charlie, Bella’s dad, who always comes across in a believable way. The fight scenes weren’t too bad either.

Overall though, my advice would be to give this one a miss.

Urban Recluse Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Further Reading:

For a much snarkier review of New Moon, check out Dustin’s hilarious review on Pajiba.

Also check out SamuraiFrog’s weekly summaries of Twilight (the first novel).

It’s an interesting list, as it features many films that people actually choose to see, the usual list of films recommended by the critics. There are some very good films on the list, alongside some dodgy ones (Music & Lyrics, PS I Love You).

I’ve seen 72 so far, which I’ve marked in bold. I’ve starred the remaining ones that I’d like to see (most of which are in my rental queue already). How many of them have you seen?

1. The Last King Of Scotland
2. Little Miss Sunshine
3. Atonement
4. Casino Royale [2006]
5. Deja Vu*
6. The Pursuit Of Happyness* (caught the end at a friend’s house, but that doesn’t count)
7. The Departed
8. Hot Fuzz
9. Blood Diamond
10. American Gangster
11. Children Of Men
12. Crash [2005]
13. The Bourne Ultimatum
14. The Devil Wears Prada
15. Run, Fat Boy, Run
16. The Constant Gardener
17. The Holiday
18. The Queen*
19. Die Hard 4.0
20. Walk The Line
21. Knocked Up
22. Inside Man
23. Million Dollar Baby
24. I Am Legend
25. The Prestige
26. Pan’s Labyrinth
27. Stardust
28. The Da Vinci Code
29. The Island
30. Hotel Rwanda*
31. Brokeback Mountain
32. Borat
33. Batman Begins
34. Next
35. No Country For Old Men* (saw bits of it last Christmas)
36. Night At The Museum
37. Mr. And Mrs. Smith (2005)
38. Michael Clayton
39. Notes On A Scandal
40. Finding Neverland*
41. Babel* (I have it but haven’t felt in the mood for it yet)
42. The Illusionist
43. Memoirs Of A Geisha
44. The Bourne Supremacy
45. Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End
46. Wedding Crashers
47. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
48. Ratatouille
49. Lucky Number Slevin
50. The Golden Compass
51. A History Of Violence
52. National Treasure
53. Apocalypto
54. Miss Potter
55. Ocean’s Thirteen
56. Syriana*
57. The Lives Of Others
58. Sin City
59. Stranger Than Fiction*
60. Transformers
61. The Interpreter
62. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
63. The Aviator
64. Spider-Man 3
65. Mission: Impossible 3
66. Wallace And Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit*
67. Munich
68. Flight Plan*
69. Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe*
70. War Of The Worlds [2005]
71. Hitch
72. 300
73. Collateral
74. The Kingdom*
75. 28 Weeks Later*
76. V For Vendetta
77. Cloverfield
78. Shooter*
79. Closer
80. Man On Fire*
81. This Is England
82. The Good Shepherd [2006]
83. Shrek The Third
84. The History Boys
85. The BreakUp
86. Meet The Fockers
87. Ocean’s Twelve
88. King Kong [2005]
89. Layer Cake
90. P.S. I Love You
91. The Terminal*
92. Superman Returns
93. Music And Lyrics (only because it was the only film shown on a flight I was on)
94. The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford*
95. The Simpsons Movie*
96. The Incredibles
97. Volver*
98. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street*
99. Fracture*
100. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory [2005]*
101. Iron Man

Video: Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie

While I was watching I wondered how it would be if we all wore one of those devices, if our moods and feelings were open for everyone else to see. Would it make life simpler, or more difficult?

Film by Eric Lerner. Music by Sigur Ros. (via Fubiz)

A couple of weeks before its release I was very happy to see a special clock display in Piccadilly Circus counting down the days, minutes and seconds until the premiere. Even the IMAX had a gorgeous ad display for Quantum on its exterior, though when I enquired about it they said they weren’t actually showing the movie there…

I’ve seen it twice now and may see it again if my mum decides to watch it after she returns from her Caribbean cruise. Although I was familiar with the events of Casino Royale, it had been a while since I’d last seen it, and during my first screening I struggled to remember some of the twists and turns (alliances and betrayals) from Casino which continued in Quantum. Before I saw the movie a second time, I watched Casino again and it all made much more sense, so I wouldn’t recommend seeing Quantum without a refresher.

I’ll try not to include any spoilers by focusing on characterisation and overall themes rather than specific plot points, apart from some basics that you’ve probably read elsewhere. The movie starts where Casino ended, with Bond finding an elusive link to the organisation that led Vesper to her doom and pursuing that lead with enraged focus.

Along the way, he joins forces with Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), a resourceful woman who is entangled in her own mission of vengeance. I felt that their characters connected on a deep emotional level due to their shared loss and common enemies. As Dominic Greene (the movie’s main villain) says, they’re “damaged goods.”

Bond also has a brief dalliance with Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton), whom I felt was like a lamb amongst wolves.

Daniel Craig gave an impeccable performance as a broken man, who channels his rage into action. I was also very impressed by Olga Kurylenko, and the way that her character was forced to confront her demons at the end.

Though there were no flashbacks featuring Eva Green, the ghost of Vesper Lynd lingered over this movie, and her death was interpreted for Bond in different ways by several characters.

I wasn’t convinced by the final fight between Bond and Greene. Though Greene was obviously a lunatic, and there was a lot going on generally, I felt that Bond should have been incapacitated a little bit in order to make it more believable as Greene (Mathieu Amalric) was comparatively weedy.

Many critics have bemoaned the lack of the staple Bond motifs: the quips, the sex, the gadgets, etc., but I think that the filmmakers maintained a good balance between telling a compelling story and including some of those elements when appropriate. The opening credits sequence and accompanying theme by Jack White and Alicia Keys were pure 007, with all the sensuous female shapes dancing about.

We still didn’t have Q and all the amazing gadgets, but I was impressed by the MI6 telecommunication interface. There was a hint of sex, but since he’s still grieving for Vesper it wouldn’t have been appropriate for him to have been jumping into bed every 5 minutes. There were some funny moments though, especially with M and Agent Fields.

The filmmakers could have taken the easy option and started this movie a few years after Vesper’s death, but I think that it was more compelling to continue the story started in Casino Royale as a stage in the character’s development. I have a feeling that the next Bond movie will have more of those familiar elements as he grows into the jaded superagent that he’s destined to become.

Though Quantum is the shortest Bond movie at 106 mins, it makes very good use of the time. In any story there are times of action, and other slower moments for conveying information and to give us a chance to catch our breath; in Quantum there were several times when a brief informative scene was dramatically interrupted by a surprising event, which would then lead back into an action sequence.

The action scenes were amazing too – James is certainly pushed to his physical limits in this movie. Whether in a car, on a plane or on foot, he can handle any foe. There have been comments on similarities to the Bourne movies, but I feel that any technical similarities are superficial as the motivations driving Bond and Bourne are so different.

At the beginning of Casino Royale, Bond launches his career as a double-0 agent with his first two kills, but in Quantum of Solace he becomes a killing machine, seemingly finding it more expedient to kill a suspected target than to capture him for interrogation. He also doesn’t seem to have much reverence for the dead; when a friend of his turns up dead, his discards the corpse without a thought. At one point he even gives Camille tips on how to kill her target.

In both movies, Bond has to overcome an obstacle placed in his way by a woman after he goes too far. In Casino Royale, Vesper refuses to give him any more money after he allows Le Chiffre to trick him but is subsequently financed by a friendly CIA agent. In Quantum of Solace, M tries to shut him down when he appears to be out of control, but a friend helps him to carry on with his plans.

I also found it interesting that in both movies, Bond’s nemeses were sadistic businessmen rather than the more idiosyncratic supervillains of previous Bond movies. Dominic Greene uses the current focus on environmental issues as a front for his evildoing. In real life, it has struck me that many corporations have recently embraced our collective concern for saving physical resources simply to save money or for the sake of appearances – if the general public didn’t care about it, they wouldn’t bother either.

In addition, one of the themes that came across quite strongly in Quantum was the fact that both the American and British governments were amenable to working with dictators and others with questionable motives when it suited their interests (remind you of anything?). In these ways Quantum of Solace brings to mind the hidden machinations of our troubled modern times.

Urban Recluse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Further reading:

• Time
• Telegraph

The rules:

1. Pick one film to represent each letter of the alphabet.

2. The letter “A” and the word “The” do not count as the beginning of a film’s title, unless the film is simply titled A or The, and I don’t know of any films with those titles.

3. Return of the Jedi belongs under “R,” not “S” as in Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi. This rule applies to all films in the original Star Wars trilogy; all that followed start with “S.” Similarly, Raiders of the Lost Ark belongs under “R,” not “I” as in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Conversely, all films in the LOTR series belong under “L” and all films in the Chronicles of Narnia series belong under “C,” as that’s what those filmmakers called their films from the start. In other words, movies are stuck with the titles their owners gave them at the time of their theatrical release. Use your better judgement to apply the above rule to any series/films not mentioned.

4. Films that start with a number are filed under the first letter of their number’s word. 12 Monkeys would be filed under “T.”

5. Link back to Blog Cabins in your post so that I can eventually type “alphabet meme” into Google and come up #1, then make a post where I declare that I am the King of Google.

6. If you’re selected, you have to then select 5 more people.

Tagged:

Nicholas
Semaj
Captain Incredible
Liane Spicer
Dr Monkey

Good Dick is not your typical romantic comedy. The title probably told you that.

Marianna Palka (also the movie’s writer and director) plays an anti-social, reclusive woman who only ventures out of her apartment to stock up on soft-porn videos, and Jason Ritter plays the video store clerk who follows her home and gradually becomes a part of her life. He is incredibly cute in a goofy way, and his optimism and good-natured persistence appear to repel and appeal to her in equal measure.

When he first pursues her, you may wonder why he does so; what this handsome, amiable guy seems to value so much in a dishevelled, hostile woman, but during the movie we realise that he has his own issues, and that he is somehow able to see her potential beneath all the barriers she has set up to stop people from getting close to her. As soon as he enters her apartment he starts to tidy it up, and he later offers her a gift but insists on washing her hair before she can have it. Though he constantly pushes past the barriers she has erected around herself, he does so in a way that doesn’t threaten her peace of mind, and accepts a good amount of verbal abuse from her without appearing to mind.

Although her apartment becomes a haven for him, it was her prison from something that would only be alluded to in the last few minutes of the movie.

I noticed that the men in this movie appeared to be acting in a more submissive role, which might normally be attributed to women. It was also clear that Palka’s character has a messed up relationship with her sexuality. At one point she suddenly jumps on Ritter and pretends to have sex with him as if she were a man. She tells him that penises are ugly (actually I agree with that!) and is visibly and deeply repulsed by the Zen Pussy: A Meditation On Eleven Vulvas video.

Derek, another video store worker, gets ridiculed for not knowing the location of the clitoris; Simon mourns the end of his relationship and is defended when Derek tries to ridicule him; and Simon and Derek later enjoy watching the Zen Pussy video.

Though I really enjoyed the movie, I felt that the developments occurring in the last 10 minutes were rushed. Overall though, it was a funny, sweet, and off-beat movie about love and sex, and I was glad to be able to see it at one of the few cinemas showing it.

Great soundtrack too; here’s the track from the opening sequence. Big Boots by Hello Stranger

Urban Recluse Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

What do you think might be going through Bond’s mind?

36 days…