Films

Tell us about a film or director that you like, the last film you saw, or fill us in on a film that you're looking forward to seeing.

The last film I saw is The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. It was the film Heath Ledger was working on when he died, so his role was very creatively filled in by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law. I've heard that some people had a hard time getting into this film, but I was hooked from the first moment. It was a magical tale, full of mystery and beauty. Plus the devil was played by one of my favourite people ever - Tom Waits. All in all, I loved it!

The film I'm most looking forward to (and it's already released, but I'm just late on the scene) is The Fantastic Mr. Fox. It's directed by one of my favourite directors, Wes Anderson, and they went back to Roald Dahl's unpublished, personal version of the book and made the film from that. 

How about you?

I watched Twilight on Sky the other evening aparently the sequel is coming out in the cinema soon .....

It was about vampires but ones who called themselves vegetarians (they didn't eat humans!) sounds corny but it was a romantic story about a vampire falling in love with a human and saving her life etc......I was hooked! Loved it.....

Fav film of all time though has to be Young Guns 2.....Hated the first one, loved the 2nd! (Or maybe Toy story! Loved that too) 

Claire - Community Champion

I can't even remember the last film I saw but I am looking forward to the new Nightmare on Elm Street film they are making to release next year.  I loved the originals & can't wait to see the re-make, the trailer looks very good.

My fav film is The Godfather, I love most gangster films but thats definately the best.  Mario Puzo, the author of the book is the only author whose non-fiction books I will read, other then his (I have the whole collection) all the books I read are true crime.

Tracy - Community Champion

 

The last film I watched was 'The Amazing Mr Blundell' we watched it as a family last weekend.It is a favourite of mine from when I was little - Martyn bought it for me last  year and I was so excited as I had only seen it a couple of times.The children enjoyed it too, which was nice.. they just didnt get as scared as I used to - they kept on asking when the scary bit was coming !!

My all time favs are the original versions of 'Rebecca' and 'Wuthering Heights'. Whenever I watch them the kids hate it because they are black and white.

Am looking forward to watching Twilight.. it has been recorded I just need to find time to watch it. 

 

I  didnt know they were remaking Nightmare on Elm Street... how cool. The first couple were good after that it just got silly .

 

 

 

Leanne - Community Champion

I started watching The Cove last night and it is seriously depressing.

It's about the secret slaughter of 25,000 dolphins per year in Taiji, Japan. So far I've only seen one scene that made me cry, but I know more is on the way. I've heard about this before and seen photos - but I imagine this one will be pretty intense as it's a newer film that's definitely out to shock & draw attention to this serious issue.

What surprised me is that it's not just an issue of killing dolphins - it's that dolphin meat is being sold in Japan, disguised as high-quality whale meat. Due to their level on the food chain, dolphins contain extremely high levels of mercury and this is very dangerous to consume. They're saying that mercury-related illnesses will no doubt be on the rise in Japan once again.

Anyway it's very sad and depressing but I think it's important to watch stuff like this (if you dare!) just to spread awareness... 

Like most things, it's a very complicated, many-layered issue that is not very simple to undo!

Hopefully I'll have time to finish it off tonight...

Hi

Whilst Alistair was with his sessional worker weekend before last , we took kids to watch Avatar. Amazing film..I really didnt think it would be my thing but it was fab .Actually has quite an emotive story line.. we watched the 2d version and would definately watch the 3d one.

Leanne - Community Champion

HI Elena

My husband was only saying the other day that scientist are trying to re classify dolphins as non-human humans.. something to do with their intellect .. and how they interact.   

Leanne - Community Champion

I heard that as well, Leanne - "non human persons" or something like that. Ah yes, here's the article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article6973994.ece

I want to see Avatar!

I finished The Cove last night and there was, fortunately, only 1 major scene that left me feeling uncomfortable. But I'm glad I watched it because I needed to know...

I had a dream about dolphins last night. Dreamed I was at a work party - a work summer party type of thing, and we were swimming and a dolphin somehow got into the pool and had a baby dolphin. Odd!

This weekend I watched Waltz With Bashir, a truly outstanding film and so beautifully animated. When it was over, I excused myself, went to my room and wept. I don't mean to scare you off though - it's very much worth watching! (And I'll cry at anything...)

I found it really fascinating to hear a story about a Palestinian massacre from an Israeli. I may sound very ignorant here, but I'd never heard of this right-wing group of Christians called Phalangists (the ones responsible for this massacre).

At one point it changes to real footage, and very effectively. I saw an interview with the writer/director afterward and he said he had to do that so that people wouldn't walk away from the cinema thinking that the people weren't real, that they were just characters on a screen.

It's affected me pretty strongly and even today I'm still in a bit of a daze. We tend to forget that war happens every day, all over the world.

Here is the trailer for any of you who are interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylzO9vbEpPg

The premiere of Temple Grandin: Innovator, Activist, Autistic is on 6 February in the states (on HBO). I guess we'll just have to wait to hear about it!

You can see a trailer for the film here:

http://planetthrive.com/2010/01/temple-grandin-innovator-activist-autistic/

 

When I was first learning about autism I watched a few of her lectures online and found her ways of explaining autism very effective!