I finally got around to seeing the Constant Gardener the other night, the only part I haven’t figured out yet is why Rachal Weisz won best supporting actress at the Oscars.
The Constant Gardener joins the infinite list of to be watched once and never again.
Strange, but true and more of a what might have been scenario…
The original casting choice to play Neo in the Matrix was Will Smith. He turned it down because he just didn’t get it.
Jean Reno turned down the role of Agent Smith to do Godzilla instead.
Just goes to show what you think of as a great movie could have been dog turd.
Technorati Tags: Jean Reno , Hugo Weaving
Saw the trailer on TV for the Pink Panther today.
I thought trailers were meant to make movies look good. Obviously not.
Will somebody tell Steve Martin he’s not funny anymore, but more importantly will someone fire Jean Reno‘s agent. He turns down the Matrix, single handedly creating Hugo Weaving career, and makes movies like this!?
We’re never going to review this movie, to see what idiots who actually went to see it thought, check out the Technorati results here.
Technorati Tags: Pink Panther
Watched first fifteen minutes and ended up watching After Sunset instead.
I could attempt to review the fifteen minutes I watched, but I’m too busy thinking about whether J Lo ruined Ben Affleck’s career or whether their entire relationship was to mask the fact that Affleck can’t act (and J Lo can’t sing)
George Clooney used to be known for being in ER, then more so for the lady on his arm. All of a sudden George has developed a conscious and gotten all political on us. Some may have thought of this as more of a move of wanting to be a Michael Moore-lite, but it looks like there’s more than catches the eye.
It turns out that George has given up his Oscars gifts for charity. A touching move given the fact that no-one really needs a diamond encrusted iPod, and who could really carry 21″ rims while carrying around an oscar on the same night?
Watch this space as this genuine charitable move becomes the new celebrity trend.
Technorati Tags: George Clooney, Oscars, Celebrity
Billed as the new Oldboy, A Bittersweet Life is the latest effort from the director of A Tale of Two Sisters, Ji-woon Kim. The film is yet another stylishly shot Asian movie, but lacks substance and eventually peters out.
The main character of the film Sun-woo is the right hand man of gang boss, Kang. Kang has to leave the country for a couple of days, but before leaving tells Sun-woo that he is seeing a younger woman and suspects that she is cheating on him. Kang orders his loyal henchman to watch over his girlfriend and should Sung-woo find out that she is being unfaithful, he has strict orders to kill her and her lover.
You don’t have to be a mind reader to see where this is going. Despite that, it is excruciatingly difficult to sit through this without simply wondering why? Someone’s life can change quite quickly and unexpectedly, but you’d hope that it would make more sense than Ji-woon Kim’s effort.
That said the film is still entertaining in parts. The fight scenes and comedic moments mean that the movie is worth the admission ticket. Overall though, A Bittersweet Life is quite poor in comparison to A Tale of Two Sisters, which was quite fortunate to be overlooked due to its similarity to two other films that were released around the same time (I won’t say which films because this will give away the ending)
This is yet another example of overhyped Asian cinema. While Hollywood efforts might have paled in comparison during recent years, there is no reason to celebrate a genre which exudes style over substance. Isn’t that why we complain so much about blockbuster?
Adfreak has an interesting post called ‘When will Apple ditch the name iTunes‘. I think that it is quite relevant because now that Apple are offering TV shows and other video content, the name is starting to become outdated and will now doubt need to be rebranded at some point.
In this age of emerging content channels, a generic brand name is becoming ever more important because by staking your colours to the mast now could prove to be an expensive decision in the long run. iTunes could become iMedia at some point. It’s all well and good for a company like Apple that can afford to rebrand and will also have the cash to spend on making a big song and dance about it, but small companies could feel the bite.
My main website PKelly PR is a good example of this. What happens if I branch out into another discipline. Most people that see my website address will think that it has to do with Public Relations and may overlook it. Given the fact that people change profession three of four times over their lifetime now, it would probably have been a better idea to go with something like www.pkellypr.com. However now that I’ve built up an audience, it’s going to be harder to change.
Some cinema chains in America are boycotting Steven Soderbergh‘s new film (director of Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven and Erin Brockovich) Bubble because the movie is opening in cinemas and being released on DVD and via the internet on the exact same day (via Boing Boing.)
The reason why the cinemas are boycotting the film is because the industry claims that it is eating into their financial margin. World to cinemas, your business model is changing!!! The sooner you realise this, the better. To say that a film being released on DVD and via the Internet is going to affect your margins is a tad misleading. Cinemas don’t make their money from ticket receipts, but from the huge margins they put on refreshments. Ever wonder what the point of that song ‘Let’s all go to the lobby and get ourselves some treats’ was? Well now you know.
What this really illustrates is that lot of cinemas completely misunderstand their customers. I don’t think that making films available on DVD or via the Internet is going to have a huge impact on cinemas. Do I really want to pay €25 for a film I don’t really want to see or watch a movie on my 12″ Laptop screen? The majority of people will still watch it in the cinema.
However what cinemas should really take note of is choice. I don’t want to be subjected to the same mindless Hollywood garbage week in, week out. Cinema chains like Cineworld (formerly UGC) in ireland are realising this and showing niche movies. Their competitors should take note and encourage the practice. Let’s face it if it’s the week of the St. Patrick’s Day Festival would a cinema make more money by showing the latest Paul Walker or Vin Diesel film, or rake in the customers by hosting an Irish film festival? Hmm classics like I Went Down, Intermission, The Commitments, etc or XXX and The Fast and the Furious? I wonder what people would choose 
There has been an incredible amount of hype about Breakfast on Pluto in Ireland for obvious reasons given the Irish director and stars. I heard a lot of positive things about the film before I went to see it last night and was left scratching my head about the majority of the praise afterwards.
Cillian Murphy gives a fantastic performance. I’ve been a big fan since 28 Days Later and really enoyed seeing him on the big screen again. However the film itself was a mish-mash of experiences that seemed to happily trounce along until the end. It could be best described as a two hour sketch show. Actors like Brendan Gleeson and Stephen Rea seem to just be making up the numbers which is a terrible waste of their talent.
Ruth Negga was highlighted as one of the stand out stars but apart from her maturity for such a young actress, I can’t see what all the hype was about. She pops on and off the screen playing the chewing gum that holds the film together, but that’s her character’s role not her acting ability.
I hate Gavin Friday, Bono’s best buddy, but he’s won me over after his appearance in this film. Why isn’t he making more movies? He’s the Irish Mickey Rourke in waiting. Hopefully some director or producer will spot him and put his talent to use, that way the Irish population will also be spared from his music and art for a while also.
I saw this movie last week and it’s easily the best film I’ve seen in a long time. Personally I can’t understand the criticism of Jarhead with most critics pointing out that it is drawn out and boring. Eh…that’s the point!
I’d sum it up as the first half of Full Metal Jacket (minus the bit where they actually go to Vietnam) for Generation X. Jake Gyllenhaal (thank God I’m typing that and not trying to pronounce it!) is Jon Heder with acting talent. Jamie Foxx showed why he won the Oscar last year. There is also a great cast of misfits that will keep you happily amused whilst striking an amazing contrast with some scenes which really highlight how strange Desert Storm must have been.
A definite DVD purchase, go see this film while it’s still in your local cinema if even to find out what ‘Filth Fun!’ is
