Movies of note
Not feeling particularly eloquent today so shall keep it short - here’s a list of movies that I can’t recommend highly enough:
- The Darjeerling Limited (Wes Anderson, creator of The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic) - excellent and very Wes Anderson, less quirky than other films and felt like a more mainstream effort though still very enjoyable. Casting of Adrian Brody was a surprise but he fulfilled his role unexpected and extremely well.
- Enchanted - old school Disney mixed with humour, light sarcasm and a cute storyline surrounded by lots of Disney taking the piss out of themselves, some stellar (over)acting.
- The Bee Movie - Not a Jerry Seinfeld fan and I found his voice really grating, but a cute movie despite this.
- Run, Fat Boy, Run (Dylan Moran and Simon Pegg, is this any surprise?) - Not as good as Pegg’s previous two movies but not bad, and Dylan Moran plays a bigger role which pleased me to no end!
- Juno - No surprise here either, cute indie pop/rock soundtrack, fast-paced enjoyable banter, well-written, flawed and lovable characters, lovey without being over-sentimentalized.
- Across the Universe - not quite a movie, not quite a musical, built around the Beatles anthology, there is some absolutely AMAZING cinematography and decent acting, and with all songs sung by the main cast (all unknowns to me other than Evan Rachel Wood who I found to be an alright, if not entirely believable actress and extremely mediocre singer, easily the weakest performer of the lot), there are some breath-taking songs performed that sound nothing like the originals - notably:
- “I wanna hold your hand” by T.V. Carpio
- “Come together” by Joe Cocker (in a gorgeous cameo during this musical number)
- “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?” by Dana Fuchs (who played Janis Joplin in a tribute musical)
- “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” by Joe Anderson (this is my second favourite performance in the whole movie in terms of stunning musical arrangement and beautifully graceful yet powerful and aggressive choreography, the first time I saw it my entire body was covered in goosebumps!)
- “Strawberry Fields Forever” by Jim Sturgess and Joe Anderson (heart-wrenchingly beautiful vocals and visuals, though the last few seconds of visuals during this sequence failed to grab me)
- “Revolution” by Jim Sturgess (Jim is the standout performer of this film, casting did well by putting him in this role, he sings this song with a very palpable and believable anger and passion)
- “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by Martin Luther McCoy and joined by Jim Sturgess for one verse and coda. This song made me break down into tears the first time I heard it, McCoy’s rendition cracks and whispers with real emotion, and is musically one of the most heartbreaking, beautiful performances I’ve ever heard. Pure heart and soul. Without a doubt, my favourite performance of the film.
- “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” - Joe Anderson, patients, and Salma Hayek (in a brief cameo as a sexy singing/dancing nurse). Absolutely fuckin’ amazing. Dark, menacing, sad and desperate, this song cuts to the core. Anderson’s voice is beautifully expressive and the musical arrangement of this song could not (IMO) have been done any better!
Looks like a lot of songs, doesn’t it? When you consider that there are actually 37 separate Beatles songs performed in this movie, it’s actually not that much at all! The ones not on this list aren’t bad per se, just that the ones on the list are in a league far above the rest in terms of performance strength (acting and musical ability) and musical arrangement as well as appropriate visuals/cinematography/choreography.
What movies from the past few months would you recommend? Other than ‘There will be blood’ and ‘No country for old men’, both of which put me to sleep.
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