A Christmas Carol in Disney 3D

I know this is a beloved book and is particularly famous in the US but I have to admit that I didn’t know the story before watching the movie. It is a great story though, and it must be nice growing up listening to it around Christmas time.

The animation in the movie is outstanding. I don’t watch a lot of animated films but they have come a long way from when they started making these. The facial expressions, movements and especially the hair are so real that it makes me wonder why they would even make it an animation, it almost looks like a life action film. It will be interesting to see where this will lead. I don’t believe life action films will ever be obsolete (since I am studying to become an actress, I should hope not!) but animation is coming closer and closer to the look of life action that they might have to keep it to stories that can’t be done with life action.

Jim Carrey (voice of: Scrooge/Ghost of Christmas Past/Scrooge as a Young Boy/Scrooge as a Teenage Boy/Scrooge as a Young Man/Scrooge as a Middle-Aged Man/Ghost of Christmas Present/Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) is really the right guy for the job. He is so versatile that I didn’t even notice that it was him doing all those voices until I read the credits. Colin Firth on the other hand I recognized immediately. Also because they really make the characters look like the actors.

This is turning out to be a very positive review, so I have to pause for a minute and remember that I didn’t think the movie was that fantastic. It is a beautiful story beautifully told but it really did have its lengths. Scrooge is flying through the air an awful lot and in the beginning there is too much time “wasted” on showing that he is a bitter old man. This was the second film I have watched in 3D (as a whole film) so I was still dazzled by that but without the 3D I think I might have found it slightly boring. Even though for children it must be scary. There were a couple of very young children in the cinema (why would you bring kids that can’t even speak yet to the cinema?) and they kept screaming a lot. It is a perfect film to buy for your children and show them every year around Christmas in case you are too busy to read the book to them (which I hope you are not).

The Men Who Stare at Goats

A nice contrast to A Christmas Carol, this political comedy is really only for grown-ups. I had read a few bad reviews on other blogs which made me wonder whether I should even watch this film but I actually thought it was hilarious! It is one of these films that seems like the film makers make it simply to amuse themselves. It doesn’t take itself seriously at all and I was happy to laugh along.

Ewan McGregor (Bob) is a journalist at a small paper somewhere in the US. When his wife leaves him for their editor, he decides to prove his worth by going into war. On the way he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who is part of a special army unit that tries to win wars with psychic powers. Lyn is on his way to find the leader (Jeff Bridges) of this New Age Army somewhere in the desert.

George Clooney and Jeff Bridges are particularly funny in this. The U.S. army is such a serious institution and it is interesting to see it in a different light. Surely The Men Who Stare at Goats will not be one of the films which will be remembered in a few years but it was entertaining to watch and would be fun to see with a few friends and some wine on a DVD night.

It seems to be blockbuster season at the moment. We had the choice between watching X-Men: Wolverine and Angels & Demons and chose the latter mainly because of the bad reviews that Wolverine got (even though the trailer looks excellent!).

Angels & Demons is a sort of sequel to The Da Vinci Code, which came out in 2006 and which was actually quite bad. I am saying sort of because the only way to tell that it is a sequal is that it has the same main characters. But everything and everyone else is different. I read both books a few years ago and have to say up front that they are a lot better than either of the films.

The Story: Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is a Harvard Professor of Symbology who recently helped the French Police solve a case (in The Da Vinci Code) and is now contacted by the Catholic Church in Rome. The Pope has just died and the sect, the Illuminati, are now threatening to kill the four Preferati (the favourites to become the next Pope). One is to be killed at different secret locations throughout Rome, each full hour starting at 8pm the same evening. At midnight, a stolen canister holding anti-matter will lose all its battery and will therefore explode and blow up the whole Vatican City and parts of Rome.

The entire film is like a major scavenger hunt. Langdon and a female scientist who was working on the anti-matter project are trying to find a path that leads to the church of the Illuminati while the Swiss Guard are not really helping them, even though they called Langdon to come to help. The only person who really seems to be on Langdon’s side, trying to help, is the Camerlengo (Ewan McGregor) who is in charge of the Pope’s office during the time of conclave.

The subject of the story is really interesting. I love conspiracies, especially when they are remotely based on the truth. I always wonder how much of it is true, and how much is pure fiction. The film shows a lot of the Vatican City and Rome and sculptures in Rome that face a certain way and I really want to know whether these sculptures are really facing that way or were just put there for the movie. Also the things said about the Illuminati. I know the sect itself is (was) real, but I would love to know if the path Langdon is following is actually real or whether Dan Brown invented it completely.

Angels & Demons is a much better film than The Da Vinci Code, although I preferred Audrey Tautou as “the girl”. There is no love story whatsoever in the second film (not that it is necessary) – the scientist is merely there to help Langdon solve the case. She could as well have been a man. As expected, Ewan McGregor steals the show. He is absolutely brilliant as the Camerlengo. Without him, the film would be half as good. He brings a certain sincerity to his role and the movie which Hanks is lacking. Even though I liked the film, my advice would be to wait for the DVD to come out to watch it. Or even better: read the books!

One of my favourite films. This is a story about Truth, Beauty, Freedom and above all things, Love.Christian is a young writer come from London to Paris to live a penniless existence and write about love. The only problem is, he has never been in love. This changes radically when he lays eyes on the “sparkling diamond” Satine, a can-can dancer at the Moulin Rouge.

He convinces her that they should be together, but what neither of them knows is that she is suffering from a fatal disease. The other problem for their love is that the rich, insanely jealous Duke wants to have Satine to himself and is spending a fortune to turn the Moulin Rouge into a theatre.

The first twenty minutes are a dazzling mixture of colour, light, music, singing and dance. Everything is going so fast that the audience is swept up in this strange and wonderful world. It slows down after a while when the actual story begins. The camera angles and cutting techniques are quite unusual. It is a bit like watching a very long music video.

“Come What May” is the only song written specially for the movie. All the other songs were taken from popular music, such as “Roxanne” (Sting), “Your Song” (Elton John) and “Like a Virgin” (Madonna).

Moulin Rouge! is the third film in Baz Luhrmann’s “Red Curtain Trilogy”, which includes Strictly Ballroom and William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (another one of my favourites). It is a spectacle of costumes, lights and great songs. Not to be missed!

Moulin Rouge! has received the MovieCat Award for great creativeness and beautiful cinematography.

Woody Allen’s new film. (His latest film, Vicky Christina Barcelona, was just shown at Cannes. It will take a while for it to come to the cinemas.) Cassandra’s Dream is the last film of a London trilogy. But I would place it right in the middle: not nearly as good as Match Point (which is fantastic), but definitely not as bad as Scoop (which is simply not good).

Two brothers, Ian and Terry (played by Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell), are having serious financial problems and turn to their rich uncle (the wonderful Tom Wilkinson) for support. He is more then willing to help the boys out: “Family is the most important thing in life,” he exclaims. There is just one small favour he needs in return. Uncle Howard wants the two to “get rid of” a business relation who is threatening to disclose facts that would mean ruination for him. How far would you go?

McGregor and Farrell really make the film. They are hysterically tragic. Two failures looking for a bit of happiness in this world. There is just no way not to love them.

(Photo: Ness/ London 2007)