Week of the movie

This week really has been the week of the movie. I really don’t think that I have ever had a week where I have watched so many movies, videos or other.

I have to say that the civic theatre is far funkier than I remember it being at Mamma Mia and it has to be the coolest place ever to watch a movie. It is International Film Festival Week in Auckland at the moment and for some reason I was dragged to a James Dean classic Rebel without a cause from the 1960’s. Thoroughly wicked movie, its most explicit scenes included a passionate, though tongue-less…I don’t think I will even deem to call it a kiss – they just kinda pushed their lips together… and special effects included a car driving off a cliff after a chicken run exploding on the rocks. Mighty stuff.

The Fantastic Four. I think I am almost getting a little sick of Marvel comics turned into movies. Some very cool effects – Mr. Fantastic freaked me out a little with his hand going under the door (remind anyone of shutting a door on their hands?) – and it really helped to explain The Incredibles a bit. Unfortunately, these Marvel comics follow such a similar plot with the same kind of ending (anyone else notice a parallel with Spiderman?) that they have become way to predictable. You think they could really come up with something a little more original. Like War of the Worlds…Hmm what can I say, thought aliens were wicked but what kind of ending is “oh yeah they died of the common cold” – so not convinced. But I guess that was H.G. Wells’ fault.

For some reason the maiming of people with axes and knifes seems so much more brutal than the use of a sword or a pistol. The opening scenes in Gangs of New York left sickness in my stomach that set the scene for a pretty good movie on the whole. Although I have to say I was quite disappointed that the ‘spoiling’ of DiCaprio’s face included a small black scar on his otherwise blemish-less cheek. The story of the early beginnings of New York was certainly interesting – quite a nice insight into western society in a day where democracy was preached and yet police had so little power to actually uphold it.

Far too many movies, not really enough work. Oh well. I guess that is the life of a music student.