Mamma Mia - Great Musical or Big Pile of Muck?

Mamma Mia Movie Review PosterAdmittedly, I am not a fan of musicals… perhaps at the theatre with a true stage presence, yes, but on the big screen, a resounding no.

Moulin Rouge, Chicago… I didn’t bother to see either of those movies, though they were touted as “big hits”. There is just something about throwing a song and dance number into a movie ever 15-20 mins that discourages me from any interest. This can also be said for Bollywood films… now those are musicals! The challenge in those is being able to determine the dialogue based on the poorly translated subtitles. As the Reel Ninja tells me, some of the beautiful Hindi phrases just don’t carry the same emotional message in English.

But I digress.

I am off to see Mamma Mia this evening with a dear friend, one who was aghast when I explained that I had not seen the other two afore mentioned movies because of their genre. Fingers crossed that I will make it out alive, and not cursing the $9.00 wasted. Truthfully, the $9.00 spent will be pennies for a couple of hours as RNW as opposed to cherished Mommy. Reel Ninja Baby (RNB) and Reel Ninja Dog (RND) are really making me earn my keep during maternity leave! “Hello Big Screen, I’ve missed you my darling”, I shall exclaim upon my entrance to the Empire Cinema!

If you’ve seen Mamma Mia, do tell of your praise or reverence for the film.

If you’ve not seen it, share why you’re keeping your distance.

July 29, 2008 | Filed Under Movie reviews | 3 Comments 
Tags: , , , ,

What I have learned from the movies - Written by JB!

I may not be a cinephile, but I love movies. I’m the type of person who collects her movie stubs and pretends to be a somewhat knowledgeable film critic when I tell my blog readers why I think Rambo had nuance. I’ve skipped school to see the very first showing of each of the Lord of the Rings installments, with my best friend, (and our parents we were that cool.) Heck, I even faked sick at work so I could catch the midnight showing of Spiderman 3, (let’s forget about that disappointment and try and move on.)

Basically, I’ve loved movies ever since my mom plopped me down in front of the TV when I was four to watch The Wizard of Oz for its cinematic importance. I’ve since discovered that there are more than three movies in the world (The Last Unicorn, Labyrinth, and The Land Before Time seemed to be the only movies I watched between the ages of 4 and 6). At the risk of being a one-trick pony, I’ve compiled a list of things I’ve learned from movies.

10. Martial arts are the most important skills you can learn. Every bad person in the world knows martial arts, so it’s important you’re able to out-kick them. Plus, you can fly.

9. Never lock your doors. The only time you do use the locks, a chainsaw-wielding serial killer happens to be outside your home. Of course, by the time you do begin locking your doors, you’re too late because he’s already managed to sneak in through the back door.

8. You don’t need to wear seatbelts, even if you’re in a high speed chase in crowded city streets with lots of traffic. In fact, moments after you put on a seatbelt will be the time your car will suffer an accident, usually involving lots of rolling around and, if you’re a bad guy, an explosion.

7. You don’t actually need to take driving courses or get a pilot’s license. You will instantly know how to drive any transportation vehicle the second you get behind the wheel, be it a helicopter or a standard Lamborghini, or a yacht. Also, when driving any mode of transportation, you don’t actually need to look at where you’re going. Feel free to carry on an engrossing conversation with your passengers.

6. It is perfectly acceptable to break out into song and dance. In fact, even if you’re making up the lyrics and choreography on the fly, everyone around you is following your cues in perfect sync and pitch.

5. It doesn’t matter what kind of building you’re in or your body size; every building is equipped with sound proof and very sturdy ventilation systems. Every ventilation system is easily accessible and conveniently has an opening over the evildoer’s office. The only time the ductwork cannot support your weight is when an evil minion is about to enter or has just left the room you’re spying on.

4. You can kidnap just about anyone in public without incident or being reported. The only witnesses are either geriatrics too weak to do anything about it, or too apathetic to stop you. However, you’re almost guaranteed to wind up with a bullet to the head or heart once the hero and his sharpshooters find you, especially if you’ve kidnapped a woman or child.

3. Your lipstick will never wear off, even overnight. Even if you’ve been in a comatose in a hospital bed for a week, you’ll wake up with luscious red lips and not a single mascara smear.

2. You’ll always get the boy or girl in the end, no matter how much of a jerk you’ve been. If the boy/girl is married, his/her spouse will always gladly step aside or sign the divorce papers amicably if it makes his or her ex happy with the person they were supposedly meant to be with. Of course, if there are kids involved, there is no husband or wife, only long-time exes who are best friends, or dead husbands or wives. The only exception is if you’re a superhero who has to forgo relationships for the wellness of humanity.

1. The person of the opposite sex that you hate the most and cannot fathom ever getting along with will, without fail, wind up being your soulmate. Especially true if you’ve already married him or her in a drunken frenzy before you woke up to find out just how much you loathe him or her.

This article has been written by JB, You can view her blog here.

July 28, 2008 | Filed Under General | 4 Comments 

Quentin Tarantino gets ready for Inglorious Bastards

Quentin Tarantino Inglorious Bastards MovieQuentin Tarantino, during the Provincetown International Film Festival 2008, announced that he had finished writing the script for Inglorious Bastards and will now start looking for actors. Tarantino is reteaming with the Weinstein Co. for his World War II action tale about a Dirty Dozen-like group of soldiers behind enemy lines.

Quentin Tarantino started writing this movie before Kill Bill: Vol. 1 but could not decide on a good ending and decide to put it on hold to do Kill Bill with Uma Thurman, a project he had been mentally preparing since Pulp Fiction.

Set in World War 2, Tarantino’s story revolves around a band of US soldiers facing death by firing squad for their misdeeds, who are given a chance to save themselves - by heading into the perilous no-man’s lands of Nazi-occupied France on a suicide mission for the Allies.

I hope Taratino had read up on WW2 before he started work on his script. We would not want Michael Madsen talking about Madonna’s music videos during WW2 and shooting Nazis. On that note, did you know that Madonna refuted Quentin Tarantino’s interpretation of her song ‘Like a Virgin’. She gave him a copy of her ‘Erotica‘ album, signed “To Quentin. It’s not about d***, it’s about love. Madonna.”?

July 25, 2008 | Filed Under Upcoming Movies | Leave a Comment 
Tags: , , , ,

Darjeeling Limited Review

Darjeeling Limited Movie ReviewDarjeeling Limited, starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman, is a movie that follows the tradition of being weird like The Royal Tenenbaums, Lost in Translation and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Directed by Wes Anderson, Darjeeling Limited is a movie about three brothers who have not spoken to each other for a year. To help them get past their troubled relationship, they take a trip to India to find spiritual guidance. The attractiveness of the movie stops there.

Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman are the stars of this movie in my opnion although you dont see them doing anything different compared to their earlier perfomances. Even if you are in a mood for a weird movie, be prepared to turn this movie off halfway as this movie is for die-hard Anderson fans.

This movie gets 5 “sweet limes” out of 10

July 24, 2008 | Filed Under Movie reviews | 6 Comments 
Tags: , ,