Ten Film Reviews from EK409 and EK005. Oh, and the Planes on the Way Home Too.

1. Shutter Island: I am getting a greater appreciation of Leonardo, even though he is still short. This was one of those twisting tales where it is impossible to know what reality is, where there are levels of believability on which everyone has a different truth. Suspenseful and interesting.
2. The Men Who Stare at Goats: George Clooney played a really strange role. It is reminiscent of the Cohen(?) Brothers movie he was in Oh Brother Something (?)—an exaggerated caricature. It is meant to be based on a true story (more ?) about training tactics of the US government. It was quite bizarre—actually, ridiculous. But I enjoyed it. Clooney seems to like roles where he gets to have bigger teeth.
3. Wall-E: Wonderful movie with no discernable dialogue. Not having dialogue makes for an extended use of imagination: there is an amazing forth series Buffy episode which does the same thing. There may have been tears. There may have been an environmental subplot.
4. Alice in Wonderland: Great costumes, especially Alice’s which seem to get puffier and puffier as the show goes on. In Burton fashion this is a darker visit to Wonderland. Alice is older and it is her second visit. The Mad Hatter is sadder, the Red Queen is madder. Fabulous.
5. The Box: Horror movie where couples receive a box from a stranger and are offered a lot of money if they open it, but if they do someone will die. I don’t want to give away the plot but ultimately what goes around comes around and it is spooky because there is nothing that anyone can do to change fate. It does therefore make an interesting exploration of the idea of fate.
6. It’s Complicated: Love story: chick flick. I can’t even quite remember the plot—because it was complicated maybe. I think that she has an affair with her ex-husband. It was nice to see a movie about older people instead of young beautiful things. It had its moments.
7. The Lovely Bones: Watched partly on the way there and partly on the way back, this was a strange sort of movie and quite sad. The lives of her family fall slowly apart as the protagonist watches from the other side of death. I was pleasantly surprised by the story which was richer and more interesting than I imagined an ‘Oprah’s Book Club’ book to be.
8. The Tooth Fairy: A relatively funny/silly movie about a man who doesn’t believe in the tooth fairy and so has to become one for a while. Funny moments and a denouement meant he becomes a nicer person. Bit arghhh (my phonetic for the vomiting motion).
9. Date Night: Steve Corell(check) and Tina Fey go for date in the city and steal someone’s reservation. They spend the rest of the night trying to get out of the trouble they get into because of their false identities. There were some funny moments that only these two could have carried out—they are serious comedians.
10. The Last Station: Although this was recommended by a work colleague, I didn’t really feel like watching this: I am glad I did. Helen Mirren is a miracle. This was really about her and her trying to cope with the quiet madness of Tolstoyism. Brilliant and probably the best movie of all the ones I watched on my trip.