I loved it. Beautiful settings -- the shore, the countryside, forests, library -- oh my God, that library, -- interiors... Having Anne Hathaway play Austen and James McAvoy play Lefroy didn't hurt that much either.

The film follows the love story between Jane Austen and Thomas Lefroy. She's a young woman who wants to "live by her pen", he has to stay in the country for a while. While indeed there's more fiction to plot than truth, I believe it's executed nicely and in the spirit of Austen's works. It's been said that Lefroy was inspiration behind's Austen's (in)famous Darcy.

Amazon; IMDB.

Labels: austen, movie

And now that I'm done with anime, I'm watching NANA movies. Currently done with the first one, will watch the second one soon.

I don't really have much to say, since I'm just reprocessing the same storyline in different visual forms over and over. I really loved how the movie was so accurately styled, and how they managed to keep the most dramatic manga moments intact. Of course, disappointments were inevitable, because seriously, you can't expect a roughly 2hr movie cover all the twists and turns of that big chunk of a plot. Plus, everyone knows that animation is my preferred form of media (after books & manga :P).

I can't say I'm satisfied, but it's an okay movie. Definitely a must for all NANA enthusiasts. :P

Labels: movie, nana

The film.

Somehow, it wasn't what I had expected it to be. But now that I'm done watching it (and it took me a while), I don't quite remember what I've been expecting.

I loved it. For the first part, I hated it, probably because of my expectations. But the second part really grew on me. So, I loved the film. Even though I do believe that it's a bit overrated.

Perhaps.

Labels: movie

The film.

I've seen this about a month ago, and I've no idea why I haven't written about it yet, because I absolutely loved it. It's hard to say, though, why I loved it exactly. It's not an easy film to watch (and, I assume, an easy book to read), but it's quite enjoyable. There were moments that kept me on the edge of my seat, moments that were funny, moments that nearly made me cry. Sometimes I wanted to slap people involved, sometimes I cheered for them. As I was watching it, time passed really fast, but somehow the film seemed longer than it was. It's a contradicting feeling, yes, but that's the way it is.

I want the book now.

Labels: aj, movie

The 2007 film.

• I haven't actually read Beowulf, so I'm not going to talk about 'historical accuracy' and all such things -- and not like I talk about them, ever. Cinematography is a separate form of entertainment. (Though, I do bitch about some book-to-film transitions. Of course. But I digress.)
• I think one of the reasons I enjoyed this film so much was the heavily accented English. I love English accents of various origins.
• (I feel like doing this in a bulleted list, bear with me.)
• Beowulf is part of my "watch all films featuring your favourite actors & actresses" campaign, this one featuring Angelina Jolie & Hopkins.
• Oh, how computer graphics (this term seems so archaic... it probably is) have progressed over the years! During some scenes I kept forgetting it's been rendered in any shape or form, so realistic it all was.
• However, 3D stuff has a way to go. It doesn't quite move like we humans do, yet. It's either too fast or too slow. You know what I mean? And the eyes, obviously. Shadows, lights, midtones, all the good stuff -- but no life.
• Um, a slightly spoilerish point below, but it's also the last one, so feel free to skip the rest of the post. (Though, I do ponder how I'm supposed to spoil Beowulf, the 1010 CE manuscript.)
• When Beowulf fights his son in son's dragon form, and they both submerge, I caught myself thinking, "Hm, how can he stay under the water so long without as much as catching his breath once he'd emerged?" The thought of realism of fighting a dragon did not, however, cross my mind.

Labels: aj, hopkins, movie

The film.

I don't know, I really like it. I've watched it at a slow pace (how I always do it, unless I'm at the theatre or with evil speedy friends), and I enjoyed every minute. I loved the gloomy scenery, loved the photos taken by Ryan (the main character), adored Ryan's sorta goofy grin (seriously, it's amazing). The humour is not in-your-face obvious, and I really enjoyed its subtlety. It's not so much humourous, as it is witty, and I greatly enjoy it in a film.

There are some scenes that I've particularly enjoyed, but they're quite spoileriffic, and are of a 'you should've been there' variety, so I won't be describing them here.

Either way, I highly recommend this.

Labels: movie

The one w/ Keira Knightley as Elizabeth. (I'm so descriptive.)

• It took a while for KK to grow on me as an actress. Now that it's happened, she's here to stay on my list of preferences.
• I've been subscribed to P&P over DailyLit for 28 days now, but I've yet to start reading it. I'm slow when it comes to classics.
• I really enjoyed this film. I sat down with my Mum to watch it, and frankly, had a list of convenient excuses I could use to sneak out for the bigger part of the showing. I didn't need any, since I liked every moment of what I've seen. Some scenes were particularly beautiful; I might make some selected screenshots later to stick them into my ever-growing inspiration directory.
• Soundtrack is enjoyable as well. Will be getting.

Labels: movie

Just finished watching it, first thoughts, very jumbled and messy.

I may not ever rewatch this film, but I will definitely recommend it to anyone I know, should they express interest in seeing something I've recently enjoyed. This film has beautiful aesthetics, and in minutes I will be roaming the web finding as many screenshots as I can to save and browse through when I am in need of inspiration.

Funny, I'm not the hugest fan of cakes and pink and baby blue... Perhaps things change.

I have no idea how accurate this film is, history wise. To be honest, I'm one of those people who are willing to butcher up history to please their feeling of aesthetic appeal. This film has definitely done a wonderful job in just that -- aesthetically pleasing, to the core.

I wish I could still eat sugar.

Labels: history, movie

Live Free or Die Hard;
I can't not like a Die Hard movie, not ever in this life. In addition to that, Matrix has ruined me. I see something computer-related, I love it. Want to live in it. Squeeze it and hug it and call it George.

Yet another thing to add to my 'try not to try it at home': killing helicopters with cars. :P

Casino Royale;
Rewatch. I like rewatching films. I keep finding all these little details that I've missed the first time around.

Alpha Dog;
Didn't finish it. Not that I didn't like it, really -- I hardly dislike a film. I guess I was just in a wrong mood.

Blonde Ambition;
Oh. My. God. Well, it was amusing enough to keep me breathing for an hour and a half longer, but I could definitely have spent that time doing something else. I want excruciatingly white teeth now.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith;
I still love it after all these years. Not only am I a devoted Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt fan (as professionals, as a couple, as a family, as beautiful people, as humanitarians -- you name it), but I also like the hitmen/ special agents/ action/ romance/ comedy shabang. Never you mind all the things that are (possibly) wrong/ off in this picture. I really don't care. One of the rare things I want to get on DVD so I could watch it at any given time.

.

Television:

I watched first episodes of Gossip Girl and the Tudors, but neither of those had caught my heart. They're starting to air Heroes next week here, I'm not setting my hopes too high, since I dislike TV in general. But maybe, just maybe. Many of the people I love seem to love the series, and we've got similar tastes.

I ramble.

Labels: aj, bond, movie, rewatch

MOVIES.

Monster's Ball;
I'm all for fluffy romantic comedies and Jackie Chan action movies, to be honest. But my father isn't.

Monster's Ball won Oscar and has a shi-load of other awards and nominations. For me, it's all there in two single scenes.

Ratatouille;
WATCH. IT. NOW. IF YOU HAVEN'T. YET.

No srsly.

"But he's ruining the soup!!"

Bourne Ultimatum;
MMMM, muchos love for Mr Bourne.

"Enjoy your egg whites."

Labels: movie

Deja Vu (2006);
Shoot the critics, I loved the movie. IT IS ON A RARE OCCASION THESE DAYS, that I can watch the movie in one go. I usually let the disc sit in my DVD player/ have the file open for ungodly amounts of time, watching for 20 mins a day. This was one of those rare exceptions. Lovely.

I felt a bit wary about the ending, though. A part of me was dying to see it end the way it did, but another part of me kept screaming for the opposite. Oh, you know how my beliefs are.

Джентельмены удачи;
A good ole well-trusted Russian comedy FTW. :P It's a 3456th re-watch, but it works every time.

Mr & Mrs Smith;
Yet another re-watch. Yet another movie I can go and watch just about now and have fun, no matter the mood I'm in. Continuously do I stick to my evil ways of killing the movie critics off. :P

Остров;
I can't say that the movie wasn't worth watching, but I definitely don't understand what the buzz was all about. It didn't... touch me, the way it should've. Or at least the way I've expected it to, after reading so much about it and listening to all the awe-inspired comments. I say, "Blah. Go watch if you wish."

Mexican, the;
And another re-watch. (What? I barged into my mother's room, snatched the remote, and demanded ransom. I do it. Rarely, but I do it.) This movie is 6 years old, so I wonder why it still pisses me off, reading overly negative comments about it. I should've got over it years ago, no? No. I can never get over the fact that people refuse to watch movie, any movie, for what it is -- fun. Do I need to spell it out? F.U.N. Christ. There's also another word, it's called 'entertainment', but I figure if 'fun' is too hard to master, 'entertainment' would be a little bit too much. We'll get to it at a later date. >P

Labels: aj, movie, rewatch, russian

the Penguin and the Peddle;
Mmm, cartoons. But the penguins had teeth. It freaked me out something fierce.

Wedding Crashers;
I couldn't finish it. That's unusual. I guess I was in a wrong mood.

Babel;
It has Brad Pitt. Need I say more? :P

Okay, now in all seriousness, this movie was good. It successfully shows the differences. Now, if only it could totally zombify people to make them realise there's no need to change those differences but rather find a way to live with them, I would've been the happiest. Unfortunately, even movies like these flare up some wangst. Oh, well. Such is the world. Go watch the movie somewhere, if you haven't yet. It's good. I'd get it on DVD.

Good Shepherd;
Okay, now this one has Angelina Jolie in it. There's also Matt Damon, and it was directed by Mr De Niro. And we also get to see him on the screen. Need I say more? I thought so.

BUT YET AGAIN, it's good. I'm so sad I missed it in theatres! Some particular lines were a total killer. Seriously. I just died when I heard them. This movie is all kinds of good, watch it. Yay, movies about CIA. I'd get this one on DVD, too.

Black Dahlia;
Bitch, this movie was trippy. I seriously need to watch it again to understand all the stuff that's been going on. Whoa matey. Good times.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory;
Now, this one I actually have on DVD. *bows before Mr Depp* I'd totally attend his master class, were he ever willing to set one up. And I mean it in the least perverted way. For once.

The movie is some colourful good wholesome fun for the entire family. It's also extremely entertaining, and made me go all 'awww'. Aw. "You're really weird. Ha-ha" is my new favourite expression. :P

Labels: aj, movie

Shanghai Knights;
Amusing. I love Jackie Chan movies. You can't take that away from me.

Happy Feet;
This movie was one constant LOL. And I needn't mention that the animation is amazing, now need I? I'd totally get this one on DVD.

the Pursuit of Happyness;
I think I'm not the first one to say that, but this was a rather unusual role for Will Smith. My first reaction was 'lol wut', but he did prove that he's a very good actor. I enjoyed this movie. I even bought a Rubik's Cube. Couldn't solve it. Though admittedly I stopped trying like an hour later. :P

Жмурки;
Terrible of me, but I usually avoid Russian movies, aside from particular few. I kinda sorta had to watch this one, since it was popped into a DVD player in a middle of a get-together. I'm glad it was done, because I enjoyed this. The ending was hilarious. And a bit sad, because there's a whole lot of truth to it, too.

From Russia With Love;
Ah, Mr Bond, we meet again. I want to watch all Bond movies out there. :P

Labels: bond, movie, russian

the Number 23;
I watched this in theatre. I heard it got pretty bad reviews, but I liked it. I love the way Mr Carrey transitioned from being a strictly comedy actor to serious roles. He didn't go overly dramatic and kept his charm. I love the guy. And the movie was a blast, too. I did not become paranoid over #23, surprisingly, but I did become a bit paranoid over used book-stores.

Some scenes were particularly beautiful.

Four Weddings and a Funeral;
Aw, British humour. Sign me up any day. I love this movie, I think I can watch it again and again.

10 Things I Hate About You;
My favourite moment would be the scene where Heath Ledger's character sings.

Blood Diamond;
Have I not written about this one before? Doesn't matter, I loved this. Rather unfortunately, I fall into the category of people who get the message about critical zones from blockbusters and bestsellers. Luckily, I tend to explore the subject further.

Amazing acting, good story, wonderful scenery and camera work. I would watch it again, but it makes me sad.

Labels: movie, rewatch, watched in cinema

Dreamgirls;
This movie was, if anything, very engaging. I loved it dearly, and even recommended it to my father -- something I virtually never do, since my father is a very picky movie watcher. Though it did confuse me at times, but I think it mostly had to do with the fact that I forgot how it is to watch musicals.

Reign Over Me;
Kill me if you please, but I loved this one. Admittedly, I was able to predict a lot of things that were going to happen as the movie went on, but not in the sense of cliches. Also, it gave me a completely different perspective for New York City, visually. It was ... refreshing.

Three Amigos;
No comment, aside from 'silly', perhaps in a good way.

Midhunter;
No comment, aside from 'Battle Royale still owns the 'wh00t let's shove everyone on an island and kill them slowly (or not so slowly) one by one' theme'. :P

Labels: movie

Men in Black II;
I was in a foul mood not so long ago. I wanted to watch some comedy that I watched before, but not too many times. Neither of the DVDs my roomies acquired over the past half a year suited the purpose. So thank god for 'On Demand'.

I remember watching Russian dub version of this, and you know what, MIB dub is one of the many dubs that I've enjoyed as much, as the original. They did a great job on it.


For Your Eyes Only;
After my roommates and I watched Casino Royale, we had a heated discussion about Bond and his ... well, nearly everything. In the end it was decided that we're going to watch all Bonds. The original plan was to go in a descending order (newest to oldest), but since people are mostly inconsistent the next evening my roommates returned with this DVD.

They didn't like the movie, so it took us two nights to finish it. I knew what I was going for (my father is a die-hard JB fan), so I could easily watch and appreciate the movie. I don't know, I think it's fascinating to follow the evolution of one special agent through the ages. There are so many things in older movies that they seem to have removed in the more recent ones.

But then of course there are a lot of things that I'm sure were really serious like a decade or two ago; now though these moments only make me giggle.

I love James Bond.


Open Season;
Oh man. I don't know. I laughed like an idiot. And (possible spoiler coming up!) I loved the scene where Boog escapes Shaw's house. I didn't realize it at first, but man, that was some true thriller action! I was so amused afterwards, I was like 'whoa, whoa' for about a minute.

OK, I'm crazy, don't mind me. It's just that I truly love animation. So I get very animated when I watch them cartoons. (Bad pun unintended.)

Labels: bond, cartoon, movie, rewatch

Unleashed;
You know, I was expecting 'oh yes, another fighting movie'. I've got what I expected; but I've also got a bit more. In that sense, I wasn't disappointed. At all.

City Slickers;
I love this movie, if only because you can see a young Jake Gyllenhaal there. So cute. Otherwise, it's a rather enjoyable comedy. One of the scenes closer to the ending was a killer for me. Nothing too dramatic, I guess. To put it simply, it was perfect timing, and right on the spot. Tsk.

Life, or Something Like It;
To hell with it all, why do I always disagree with critics? I mean, yes, it's not the best; but I did find this highly enjoyable, and I'd watch it again. A couple of times. In a row. I mean, sheesh, you want deep soulful meaning, then go and read Lermontov. Asses.

Casino Royale;
I have a feeling I've written about this one before, no? Well anyway, the beginning had me. I only realized it when it all came to a sudden halt in that embassy. But I'm with the crowd -- for a while there, I was like 'but this can't be Bond', since I'm too used to the over-glamour-ized image of JB.

Tell you what: In the end, Daniel Craig is probably the best image of Bond to ever grace these movies, if only because his image is more logical for a super duper secret agent. I ended up liking Casino Royale. One of the not so many times that major critics and I come to a sort of consensus. Not that it matters for critics. Or me.

Labels: aj, bond, movie

Anger Management;
Sandler and Nicholson in one movie. I adore this. I can watch it over and over and over again.


Sin City;
It's another rewatch, and is another movie I'd watch again, but not too often. Has nothing to do with its quality or my level of likeness of it. It's just far from being a romantic comedy, I'd say.


What Women Want;
And another rewatch, and another movie I really liked. I always wonder why Helen Hunt doesn't get the recognition she really should. I love this lady.


as Good as It Gets;
I remember this movie getting rather bad feedback and accusations in bland-ness back when it had only come out. Apparently, yet another reason for me not to trust those critics, ever. I liked it.


Pay It Forward;
I've never even heard about this movie before. Which is weird, since I may end up not watching them or completely missing the release dates, but at least I know about movies. Like, yes, there's a movie like that. This one has completely missed me, it seems.

Anyway, I liked it as a whole, but I didn't like the message it seemed to have given me in the end. I'm not going to go in details, since it will completely spoil it, but seriously!

Labels: movie, rewatch

Well, it's definitely been a while since I've last updated, especially since I've last updated with anything not related to Harry Potter fanfiction. I've come to correct that. I bring you movies -- some will fall into a re-watch category, some are new (well, to me at least).

Let's start with re-watches and a bit of a ramble.

As can be understood from this post on my Vox, I love this year, in terms of cinematography. This year, continuations to four of my favourite 'sagas' come out on the big screen, one of them being the saga of Bourne.

Bourne Supremacy;
I guess a part of me always wanted to be a super-agent or something. I love movies about agents of all kinds. Bourne has a special place in my heart (I quite possibly love him more than Bond, James Bond).

Mission: Impossible II;
Another movie that I really do love, but for some reason I never really failed to predict what's gonna happen next. Never the less, I could watch them all again and again.

Pulp Fiction;
Oh man, I love this shit. I want to watch it, over and over again, and memorize every line, and know every song, and then continuously produce stupid Pulp Fiction references in my daily life. This movie is the shit. I have a lot of movies (stories, rather) that I like, but some of them just stand out. I can forget all about them, but it only takes one second to resurrect the relationship. They're like these friends, you know? The ones that you may fail to see for months, but then it only takes two seconds to connect again.

I'm sentimental, aren't I? Shall continue some other day. :P

Labels: movie, rewatch

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest;
Cliffhanger, bitch! Still can't believe I'll have to wait until May to see the third part, AHHH.

Jack rules. There should be more people like him.

ETA: at World's End promo pics! Yay! XD

Labels: movie

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl;
I've watched it before, and I just keep falling in love over and over. Oh, dear Jack Sparrow (it's captain, captain Jack Sparrow >P), how I love you so.

So wonderful. I want to know it by heart. Ahhh!

Labels: movie

Alexander;
This movie is FTW. Seriously. I loved it, and adored it, and marveled in its glory, because it's precious. It made me appreciate my name more, too. Beautiful.

Labels: movie

Beyond Borders;
killed me a little, totally did. Movies shouldn't be like that, so approached to life, so like life. It's illegal, I'd say.

Tomb Raider: the Cradle of Life;
I love TR movies. Make me want to get off my ass and move, move, move!! AJ is hott.

Brokeback Mountain;
I don't know. I wept a little. Seriously. It's just so... endearing/ heart-wrenching.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow;
Anticipated this one greatly, but didn't like it as much as I should've, given the anticipation. Enjoyable, though.

Labels: aj, movie