The Other Guys (* * *) [2010]

 Another actor who is interesting but never lives up to expectations is Mark Wahlberg. I've seen quite a few movies with him in it, and he always looks uncomfortable with acting. Which is probably part of the charm that makes me want to see another.

This was a surprisingly funny movie - two cops who're bumblers who're trying to get respect from the other cops by solving a case. They're pretty clueless about how to go about it even though they've stumbled on a huge scam. Worth a watch.

Flash Gordon [1980] (* * *)

I remember seeing this movie in the late 1980s and being embarrassed for the actors, and for all of us watching them in x-rated outfits..:) I saw it again now and, after all the crap Hollywood has thrown at us and knowing how easily the west shed their clothes, it didn't look quite as bad.

Still, it doesn't compare against the backdrop of fabulous comic books movies in the last 20 yrs - Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Phantom, Tarzan, Incredible Hulk, etc. So I don't recommend it. The Flash Gordon comics are superb - this was just very very average in script, acting and set design.

I gave it 3 stars for Queen's fantastic score for the film.

The Last Starfighter (1984) (* * *)

A very corny story about a video player who becomes the last starfighter to save two galaxies, but enjoyable nonetheless.


The thing about science fiction is that it can't help but be good, because it carries in it a projection of the future. That takes imagination rooted in reality. That's why so many sci fi stories have led innovation in science. Every single person has an impression of where we're going based on one's own experiences so these stories are like listening to someone else's experience.

In this story, for example, the young boy is stuck in a trailer park with only a video game for amusement. He beats the highest score just because he's so frustrated with his life and he finds that he's been chosen by a galactic talent scout to be a starfighter, based on the computer simulation of the game. How amazing of the writer to think up a deeper reason for video games - 20 yrs later the US Army is using similar techniques to train its army.

Miss Austen Regrets (2008) [* * *]

(I'm reviewing this next because I think I echo her sentiments completely when she says in the movie, "The only way you can get a man like Darcy is to make him up.":)

The movie is about the last few years of Jane Austen's life, before she dies at 41. You're introduced to a quick and witty mind in a shy woman who takes on the responsibility of financially supporting her mother and sister at a time when women only had value if they were someone's wife (England 1802 = India 2010).

You meet her as a confident and happy single woman whose niece asks her to help choose a husband. This makes her look back on her own choices. And, when financial troubles hit their family, regrets not marrying for money. Because, as her mother rages at her, love is a choice, money is a necessity.

The movie is based on the surviving Jane Austen letters, though most of them were burnt by her sister, Cassandra, after her death to preserve privacy. Much as I liked the story, I felt my usual irritation at the british accent that swallows words in breathy unpredictability. Too many of their actors/esses have the problem makng their movies seem insular.

Becoming Jane (2007) [* * *]

I didn't particularly like this movie because it flies in the face of evidence that Jane Austen chose to stay single. Yes, even if she was beautiful and brilliant. Too many would like to perpetuate the myth that beng ONE isn't good enough!

Anyway, for so many Austen fans, I'm sure digging up a historical, obscure but intelligent, lawyer Tom Lefroy for her passions is far better than the real suitor, Harris Bigg-Wither, who later went on to say that she was 'temperamentally unsuited to marriage'. What a jerk!

Becoming Jane though is too sentimental and speculative, the reasons for giving each other up too pious and I think I prefer the more real choices women make with economic independence - to remain single. Jane Austen died within 15 yrs of that decision and seems never to have regretted it.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) [* * *]

umm, like most Roald Dahl stories, this one did nothing for me. But maybe if you have young kids you'd like to show them this movie.

It's about a restless Mr. Fox who attempts to steal from 3 of the biggest farmers in the neighbourhood. He manages that fine, but brings down the biggest foxhunt on their woods. All the animals are forced underground and rally around Mr. Fox to try and outsmart the farmer posse. They do.

I have to say British and American anime fall far short of the eastern storytelling techniques simply because they lack any ethical or moral background. The characters do wrong, and then win. Or they do it for something terribly material, like food or money, and suffer the consequences of fighting for those limited resources, superficial stuff that doesn't interest me.

Some Like it Hot (1959) [* * *]

This is a black and white and Marilyn Monroe is by far the best actor around.

Two musicians witness a mob shooting in Chicago and are on the run disguised as women. The slapstick comedy was a little heavy going for me, not to mention the insistent background music which can give me a headache. I watched it through to the finish for Marilyn's work.

Not worth a watch - it's too noisy. But she's awesome in black & white.

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (2005) [* * *]

I never liked the Douglas Adams book - read a few pages and gave up. I think the movie has the same sense of humour as the book, it's been faithful in that way.

If you like sci-fi with a twist of caustic humour, you'll like this movie. Worth a watch simply because it's 24 on the list of THE best books ever written.(why?!!:)

Here's the story for those who want to know more: Arthur Dent's home is being demolished and his friend, an alien, comes and rescues him from a protest to hitchhike on a spaceship before the Earth is destroyed. What follows is a madcap adventure across the Universe and Love.

Watchmen [* * *]

Watchmen is a strangely interesting movie: it's a critique of superheroes and their excessive violence (they trash buildings and frighten people for eg.).

It's esp strange to see a movie about their growing disillusionment since we've never seen them in a very human light - Phantom, the comic, died the minute they tried to move his relationship forward; Superman grew very unpopular when he showed even the slightest anger towards Lux Luthor, etc.

Superheroes, in this movie, are very human. The hurt themselves, they hate their public, some of them fall in love very unsuccessfully with other superheroines ... the movie is very tragic-comic.

The reason that I didn't rate it very high is because it is so jaded it geared my mood down by several notches for a few days. Very much like a Tarantino movie, because the realism doesn't improve your reality, just brings to earth some pollyannas.:)

Pokemon - The Rise of Darkrai [* * *]

Finally (!) I understand what a pokemon is. lol! When my friends had kids (usually one each) the children would be crazy about pokemon coins. I used to wonder what it was about with lazy curiosity.

If I'm rating this movie at all, it's because it brought light where there was darkness in my mind.:)

Pokemon are these cute animals who have special powers and their owners are kids. The kids send them out to fight and the pokemon [unquestioningly] do their bidding (... see the benefit to egocentric childishness?:) Anyway, pokemon is just another word for animal-with-powers.

This movie was interesting on many levels because:
1. it had the architecture of Antonio Gaudi, the barcelona maverick - it's wonderful to see tasteful imaginative use of my hero's bizarre work, esp Sagrada Familia and his park;
2. the pokemon live in the wild, even though a few are tamed by these 'pokemon trainers' - an analogy to pet-keeping children's aspirations. Fortunately, these are clearly magical creatures, I'm relieved they've drawn them colourfully and unrealistically so that kids won't be tempted to demand impossible things from their unfortunate dogs, birds or cats.