Sweeties, Pies and Ginger

My work bought Karen and I a present when we got married, a voucher from Amazon.co.uk. We used it to buy a stack of DVD's that we'd been meaning to get and we also pre-ordered The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended Edition Box Set. It dully arrived last week, so we decided to watch all three movies back to back yesterday. Karen was feeling rather on the tired side so slept through quite a bit of it and went to bed way before I'd finished watching all three.

It's basically been a year since we saw all three movies on the big screen; the first two were the extended editions, so I was really excited to see how the extra footage in The Return of the King would change the feel of the movie. Unlike a lot of trilogies that are filmed over a number of years, LOTR really holds together well over all three films, I think they made the right decision to film them all back to back.

The only disappointment to watching the movies at home is the TV is just too small to do justice to the cinematography. These films really need to be seen of a big screen with a thumping sound system to really do them justice. I'm not sure if they've tidied up some of the effect from The Fellowship of the Ring, but I'm sure when I saw it at the cinema some of the CGI was a bit on the ropey side, it all looked pretty good on the telly.

The real question has to be, is The Return of the King improved by the extra footage? I have to say an unequivocal yes. I just can't believe they chopped some of it from the original theatrical edition. Granted, some of it's just background information, but the who bit about Aragon, Legolas, Gimli and army of the un-dead arriving on the ships was totally crap in the original, but it is explained much better in the extended edition and doesn't take up that many more minutes.

The only disappointing thing is that Denathor's madness is still not explained, so you're left wondering how he seems to know so much, but yet is not doing anything about it. I really think they missed a trick there and should have had him looking into one of those black ball things. Of course there's still the Hollywood ending and killing off of Saruman and Grima Wormtongue that detract from the original story, but you can't have everything.

Over all it's a great package and I would recommend to anyone who liked the movies to see the extended editions as they give a far better story than the original, in my opinion. If you're going to do them all in one sitting then I would recommend that you start in the morning as it's one long day for movie magic that's sitting before you.

Marlon Brando has died at the age of eighty. We have lost one of the true greats of acting. The horror, the horror...

BBC News Obituary...

While Karen's away I took the opportunity to nip to the cinema last night to the late showing of Touching the Void. It's a mountaineering tale of human endurance against the odds. I read the book many years ago when I was working in an outdoor shop, so I knew the story. If you've seen the movie but not read the book, then you have to read it, it's an amazing tail and really well written.

I was quite impressed by the movie and totally unimpressed be the foreign bint sitting near me who kept on playing with her phone; someone people have no idea. The film left me feeling totally energised and wanting to just drive and find some mountains to climb. I really miss going mountaineering, Cambridgeshire is just too flat. However, I don't think I'm going to have the time or the money until after the wedding to do any.

Went to see Lost in Translation at the cinema last night after work. Both Karen and I thought it was a good film, but we weren't sure if it lived up to all the hype that it got in the run up to the Oscars. Karen especially thought that she didn't get it and to a certain point I agree with her, however, Karen's been to Tokyo, so she should get it more than me. I'd say it's worth going to see though.

Got Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl out on DVD last night, as Karen and I stayed in for a quiet night. I must admit that I didn't really have a real desire to go and see this at the cinema as I'd heard varying reports as to how good it was.

I wish I had seen it at the cinema now as it was absolutely hysterical! I haven't laughed so much in ages, it was an absolute hoot and Johnny Depp deserves an Oscar just for the accent alone.

It's good to see that there's life in the old pirate film genre yet. When they make the sequel, I'll definitely be going to see it at the cinema.

Karen and I have been to the cinema quite a lot recently, first there was Finding Nemo and then Love Actually. However, all the films that we've seen recently have been eclipsed by The Lord of the Rings trilogy. We missed the first two films at the cinema due to unemployment and stuff, but the local Warner Brothers cinema decided to show the first two movies in the run up to the final instalment.

So nearly two weeks ago, Karen and I set off to see The Fellowship of the Ring: Special Edition at the local cinema. Karen was a bit apprehensive about going, I couldn't wait; The Lord of the Rings is my favourite book, I couldn't wait to see how Peter Jackson brought it on life on the big screen.

I left the cinema in two minds, I couldn't figure out if what I had just seen was the beginning of something great or just another run of the mill adaptation. I though some of the effects were on the ropey side, especially after hearing such good things about the effects throughout the series.

I knew I was going to book tickets to see The Two Towers, so I decided to reserve judgement until after watching the second instalment. It took Karen a couple of days to succumb to LotR fever and all I've heard since is Legolas this and Legolas that. The computer at home has even had the Hubble Heritage wallpaper replaced with Legolas, I think she's getting obsessed!

A week past Sunday we turned up at the cinema to see the second instalment, The Two Towers: Special Edition. I think I sat through the majority of the movie with my jaw on the floor, the sheer scope and ambition of the movie was dazzling and the effects were amazing.

The battle sequence at Helm's Deep was phenomenal and I finally understood why friends have been raving about this movie. The effects were so much better than the first movie and Gollum was amazing to watch.

I booked tickets for The Return of the King the very next day; it was going to be a long week as we waited for Monday night to come round. I was like a small child when finally Monday evening arrived and off to the cinema we sped. I think quite a few people were excited as the queue to get into the cinema was out into the shopping mall over an hour before the film actually started (after the adverts etc).

So what was the final film like...? Absolutely jaw dropping. I don't want to spoil it if you haven't read the book or seen it yet, but he battle it bigger, more ferocious and a visual spectacle like you've never seen.

If Peter Jackson doesn't get the best director Oscar then it's a travesty. This trilogy is without doubt he finest ever made on celluloid. It's so good it thrashes the life out of the original Star Wars trilogy and leaves it looking like a mere school room spat.

When they release a special edition box set, I'll be first in the queue to purchase it.

Things have been a bit on the hectic side at work over the last week, which resulted in me having top work over the weekend. Things went majorly pair shaped at around 18:30 yesterday evening, but I couldn't stay to fix things as I had to get home for dinner. There was nothing on the telly, so we stuck Delicatessen on and watched that.

Half way through Karen was fast a sleep on the sofa, so when the movie finished she went off to bed. I was still ironing shirts for the week ahead and since there was still nothing on the telly, I decided to watch Ichi The Killer.

This movie is by the acclaimed Japanese director Takashi Miike and is based on a Manga comic book. I'm not really sure what the film was about to tell you the truth as it was sometimes a little hard to follow what was going on. I think there was quite a bit of double crossing going on, but I haven't a clue why, I think some of that would be clearer on a second viewing.

The film centres round two people, the schizophrenic assassin Ichi and the sadomasochist Kakihara. A gang boss goes missing with a load of money and Kakihara sets out to track down the kidnappers. However, we already know that Ichi has done away with the gang boss and is slowly working his way through the rest of the gang. Why he's murdering them all wasn't made clear, or at least I didn't have a clue why he was taking them all out.

The movie is full of over the top violence with blood gushing everywhere, body parts being ripped off and general OTT visuals. Ichi has this razor blade boot thing that he uses to slice up his victims and there are a number of scenes of body parts flying as he chops his way through various people. Kakihara is also a bit of a loony when it come to the violence and can be see sticking spikes through peoples faces and even chopping off his own tongue.

I'm not really sure what to make of the movie as it was all a bit bizarre. I stumbled off to be at around midnight wondering why I'd just watched a movie like that. Truly disturbed and fucked up and not entirely a relaxing film to watch. I'll need to give it another viewing, but maybe with some other people so we can try and figure out what the hell is going on.

Went to see Love Actually last night with Karen, it was one of those advanced preview screenings, so the cinema was packed. I was a bit nervous as previous films written by Richard Curtis don't feature amongst my favourites. The film wasn't actually that bad, in fact it was pretty good, although it did seem to loose it's way in a few places.

The fact that the film was split into 10 different sub stories was stretching it a bit far, you never really got into any of the characters and were left wanting the film to concentrate on just a couple of the story lines. Because of this some of the stories lost their way as there just wasn't the time for them to develop properly.

That aside the film was quite funny and had me laughing and cringing, which was quite nice. Unfortunately butter fingers struck and I dropped a large drink all over the floor, which meant I had to spend the entire film with a wet foot.

Karen and I went to see Finding Nemo this afternoon at the cinema. I was a bit apprehensive about going in the middle of a Sunday afternoon and my worst fears were realised when we got into the cinema. Wall to wall children, what a nightmare. It wasn't so bad as we were on a row that only had three seats so we weren't next to any annoying little brats.

The film was excellent; animation has come on leaps and bounds since Pixar's seminal classic Luxo Jr. The modelling of the seas surface was amazing as were the scales on the side of the fish. Some parts looked real, that's how good the animation was, truly outstanding.

As with the other Pixar creations (Toy Story, Monsters Inc., etc) the story was thoroughly engaging to. The writers they use certainly know how to appeal to all ages and sexes; this is not just a kid's movie. Like their previous movies this one was filled with great characters that were very well voiced.

Karen's favourites were the baby turtles, who were certainly quite cute, dude. Personally I love puffa fish, so my favourite had to be the puffa fish, Bloat I think he was called. It was a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I'd recommend this film to anyone.

Karen was staying at her parents' yesterday evening as she was of to London with her Mum today. I decided that since I wanted to see a couple of films that Karen had no interest in I would got to the cinema. So off I toddled for the late showing of Underworld, the Kate Beckinsale vampire versus werewolf flick.

I'd heard that this film was influenced by a number of recent films from The Crow through to The Matrix. While you could certainly see which parts of the film were influenced by other movies, it wasn't this that ultimately left me feeling a bit disappointed.

The story was fine, a bit contrived maybe, but it was more the loose ends that annoyed me. Take for example the character Kraven, played by Shane Brolly, what happened to him! He just seemed to disappear and it was alluded to that he'd died, or did I miss something…?

They've left the door wide open for a sequel, only time will tell if they will bother. I might buy this when it comes out on DVD though, even if it's just to see Beckinsale in her rubber/PVC/leather get up again...

Went to see the latest James Bond movie last night, Die Another Day. I'd heard mixed reviews about it, some said it was quite good, other said it was pretty woeful. Personally, I though it was quite good for a modern Bond movie that has to compete with all the other big action movies. It's certainly no Goldfinger or From Russia With Love, but the days of those kinds of Bond movie are well and truly over.

Some of the set pieces were pretty amazing and the stunts outlandish, as you would expect. The cars were fast and full of gadgets, the Aston Martin Vanquish was gorgeous, although in real life it's probably just a tad out of my price range. As for the women, well they were nice to look at, but I though Halle Berry was as wooden as a railway sleeper.

If you're a fan of Bond, then you'll probably like it, although it is a bit more of an action movie, rather than a classic Bond flick.

Went to the cinema to see City of God yesterday and I must say it was well worth it. What an excellent film, a good story, some interesting acting and some excellent camera work all made for a very engaging film. It was at times funny, emotional, sad, uplifting and it was all based on a true story. I left wondering what's become of the central character, has he made it, I think I might just have to go and find out. So if you've got an inkling to go and see ya film this one it top banana, quite literally.

I’d quite like to have seen this movie at the cinema, as I thought it could be quite good, due to the Sixth Sense also starting Bruce Willis and being directed by M. Night Shyamalan. I didn’t actually know what it was about until I read the back of the DVD just before putting the disc in the player. Didn’t really know what I’d make of a film based around a possible real life comic book character.

The film was quite dark and pondering in places and didn’t really seem to be going anywhere. The camera work was good and I did enjoy a lot of the interesting angles and the general look and feel of the whole thing. However, the story line was a bit on the bizarre side and I felt that some of it was bit unbelievable. Bits weren’t explained, like why the relationship between him and his wife had deteriorated and why he couldn’t remember important details from his past.

The ending was the most unbelievable bit though, what a let down. In all the comic books I’ve ever seen the hero doesn’t call the police and have the baddie arrested. To inform those viewing the movie that this has happened with a simple bit of text was like telling everyone that you ran out of stream right at the end and didn’t know how to finish. Having said all of that, it was quite a good film, although it could have had a bit more depth to it.

Even thought I felt well knackered after a really boring day at work, I persuaded Karen that we should watch a movie. So after she'd got her fill of a rerun of Darius, Gareth and Will we settled down to watch Chocolat. As per usual Karen was asleep about five minutes into the movie, but by the end I really wanted a bit of action. No not that type of action, only the type of action satisfied by a beautiful bit of French crumpet and a suave and sophisticated British Secret Service agent.

I was a bit reluctant to watch Chocolat, as I was in the mood for a bit of an action flick or a really funny comedy. I must admit to being quite surprised, as it was a really good movie. I had been recommended the it by various members of my family amongst others, so I knew I wanted to see it, but I wasn't sure about watching tonight. I needn't have worried, as it turned out to be quite a funny movie even thought there was a deep and meaningful message underneath it all.

Juliette Binoche looked quite delectable, as the purveyor of all the chocolate delights and Judi Dench was superb as the old diabetic grandmother. Having said all of that, Johnny Depp's Irish accent could do with a bit of work, although it's presence was few and far between in the big scheme of things. It's definitely a movie I would recommend seeing as it's really quite funny and heart warming.

After Chocolat had finished and Karen had woken up and gone to bed I slapped The World is not Enough into the DVD player and sat back with an extra frozen beer, more on that later. Pierce Brosnan is definitely my second favourite Bond after Sean Connery and he really shows why in this movie. Packed with thrills and spills it's just classic Bond, even though it sees the departure of Desmond Llewelyn as Q. Judi Dench puts in another strong performance as M, and the Scots are well represented by Robert Carlyle as the main baddie and Robbie Coltrane as the Russain "business man".

The best bit of the whole movie is getting to see so much of the delectable Sophie Marceau. Who would you rather have? A pneumatic Denise Richards, who can't act for toffee, or the sublime French accent of Sophie Marceau? It's no contest really and you'd have to be a blind Neanderthal to even consider anything other than Sophie Marceau, the woman is simply a Goddess.