Elvina

Tanned. Star Trek: Original or Next Generation?

Children of Men In the year 2027, humankind faces the likelihood of its own extinction. No child has been born in eighteen years, and the world's youngest citizen has just died at 18. Set in and around a dystopian London fractious with violence and warring nationalistic sects, Children of Men follows the path of Theo Faron, a London peave activist-turned jaded bureaucrat who is drawn back into the world he left by his ex-wife Julian and the unexpected discovery of a lone pregnant woman, Kee. With the hope of the entire world resting on a lone woman, a 'fugee' (refugee) at that - it's up to Faron to take up the desperate bid to get Kee and her child to safety. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started watching this movie, but the premise sounded intriguing. It did not disappoint. This movie has a distinct, unique feeling to it, largely due to the way director Alfonso Cuarón filmed it. Very few but very long takes are the hallmark of this movie, and the feeling it imparts on the film is that one isn't 'watching' the story unfold, but is being taken along with Theo on his journey through perils and danger. I was amazed at how 'real' this approach made everything look. When Theo walks into a coffee shop, buys a coffee, walks out again and then the shop blows up - all in a single scene - I was gobsmacked without quite realising why or how it had looked so real. I recommend watching the bonus material to see how they did these takes. Immense choreography was needed as well as a multitude of rehearsals before filming one of these long scenes. Clive Owen was wonderful to watch. He seems to be a big guy with a lot of presence, but he doesn't 'take up the screen' at all, and the fact that he doesn't act like a stereotypical American Hero, dashing through the fray and dodging bullets every step without fear, is refreshing. Don't get me wrong - there is a LOT of bullet-dodging in this movie. Most of it is incidental, however. London is in turmoil. While the government is trying to stem the tide of fugees (refugees) coming into the country from all over the world where everything else has utterly collapsed, a group within the UK are trying to move along the Uprising and get rid of their oppressors. Into this turbulent mix comes Kee, a fugee woman who is somehow, miraculously pregnant. I don't mean this to sound corny, but in a world without children, all people can think of is how they can use Kee and her baby to further their own political ends. Imagine London meets the Gaza Strip and you'll have an idea of what the setting of this film is like. There is swearing, quite a few f-words, I think, and some of the scenes are very graphic - not many in terms of violence but the childbirth came as a bit of a shock to me (I hope I'm not giving away any spoilers by saying that ). Once again, it was done in a long, continuous take and I wondered how on earth they made the baby look so real when there were absolutely no cut-aways where they could have inserted a real baby into the shot. The filming of this movie was impressive. It painted a very real version of a unhappy future where mankind is confronted with it's own demise - and a single beacon of hope for the future. I have to admit that this movie had a 'bookish' feel to it while I was watching - that is, the kind of feeling that always makes me wonder whether the film had been a novel first. Turns out it is a adaptation of P.D. James' novel "The Children of Men". There is a whole era of "British dystopian genre" (as I call it) out there (e.g.: 1984, Animal Farm, etc.), and to me this film carries over that same dystopian, unhappy feel prevalent in those classical books. This movie is more entertaining, though. Michael Cain also appears as Jasper Palmer, and Julianne Moore plays Theo's ex-wife Julian. Claire-Hope Ashitey plays Kee, which is the first role I've ever seen her in, but I'm impressed with her as well. I give this four cool faces out of five - B) B) - because I felt a bit gipped by the ending. If he got shot so much earlier - by Luke in the building before he and Kee walked out - then you think he might be doubled over a little, at least? Grunting in pain a bit instead of just running around like nothing was wrong with him? Yeah, I felt gipped - not that he died, but that there was no foreshadowing of the bullet wound being so mortal that it suggested he might die. Theo: "Who's the father?" Kee: "Don't you know, Theo? I'm a virgin." (laughs)

Yup. I made my husband wait around because I knew something was coming. I'd missed it twice before in the cinemas, not knowing it would be there. Yeah, I agree on that point and forgot to write about it.

Spiderman 3 ~ I went and saw this after reading some reviews here, even after being warned off by some friends. I can't believe I spend the price of a movie ticket to see this crap. "Emo Parker" was so laughable that most of the "serious" nature of this film completely passed me by. It was also incredibly predictable. I saw what was coming with Hobgoblin, and as well with the guy who becomes Venom. What was the deal with that stupid dance sequence!? We already got the point by then that Parker was losing it. If it was all a setup for what happened to MJ, it took forever and was pretty incredulous. The movie itself seemed to drag on for ages. About three separate times I thought the movie would end, but it just... kept... going... The only thing that made this movie slightly bearable was the fact that there were about four guys sitting behind us who kept snickering and cracking jokes all through the movie. They seemed to think it as incredulous as us, and we were paying more attention to what they were saying than the twaddle that was happening on the movie screen. A terrible movie with any potential unused. Rubbish. I rate it one angry face out of five angry faces. The Holiday ~ This movie starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet looked funny in the previews I saw, so I rented it out on DVD and watched it with my hubby and a friend. Bad move. The premise was kind of amusing, and I enjoy Kate Winslet's acting, but very soon the movie Cameron Diaz was explaining her life story to her new beau - over and over again, I might add! - and the movie began dragging on unbearably. It came to the point where we were booing the screen whenever Cameron Diaz appeared, and I even ended up fast forwarding her parts by popular demand. Kate Winslet was great. Her story was more interesting than Diaz's, and her lines were far less redundant. Diaz seemed to just talk, talk, talk, repeating herself continually more often than not. The Holiday had some funny parts, but overall was boringly overlong. I think the director would have done better to concentrate on Kate Winslet's character instead of Diaz's. I must sound anti-Diaz here. I don't mean to. She was good, but whoever wrote the dialogue and/or edited this movie didn't do a very good job and the movie suffers for it. Two cups of English tea out of five; just for Kate. :) Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End~ An enjoyable addition to the Pirates movies. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had high hopes seeing as Geoffrey Rush is back in it. He didn't disappoint, and neither did any of the other actors. I liked that this movie seemed to focus more on the characters of Captains Balbosa and Swallow, and Elizabeth, rather than on Will. The ending was a pleasant surprise in that I hadn't expected a Disney movie to do what they did to one of the main characters. It wasn't a happy ending for all, but a conclusion was definitely reached in the movie, and I left feeling that it had been wrapped up rather nicely, with plenty of room to expand into a Pirates 4. The interplay between Balbosa and Swallow was hilarious, and it was interesting seeing what happened with Davy Jones. After a run of bad movie viewing lately, and despite the knowledge that Pirates 3 was three hours long, I really enjoyed this movie. Five Arrs! out of five! :D :D

memory

oblivious

lose

Horrible

"This would be fine if I was the bride at a pagan wedding," cried Moire, naked in the downpour since she had locked herself outside wearing only a thin blanket that was now sopping wet and completely see-through. She banged on the metal casings of the nearby drainpipes shouting, "Let me in!" at the top of her lungs, praying for deliverance before her neighbours could see her. New words: Eruditeness Lecher Enlightened Grubby

medieval

still

C'mon! (Only beause I got that song in my head, you know: "Celebrate good times, come on...!")

falling

friend

awesome

parrot

drunk lambs

16 Blocks - I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, rented out only because I saw a trailer at the video store and it didn't look too bad. I expect good acting from Bruce Willis, and although I feel he was a little underused in this story, it wasn't so bad that I didn't enjoy it. Bruce Willis plays Jack Mosley, an aging, burnt-out detective who seems intent on drinking his way through what's left of his life. By chance, he is assigned the unenviable task of transporting a man he thinks is a convict (Mos Def) from jail to a courthouse 16 blocks away. An easy assignment, his boss tells him. Along the way Mosely decides to stop by a local liquor store to get a bottle of fortification, leaving Def's character in the car, much to his consternation. Mosely ignores Def's rambling about how he has to be in court by ten, thinking him just another criminal and they have plenty of time for a pit stop. What Mosely doesn't know, however, is that Def is really supposed to testify against Mosley's colleagues, and the entire NYPD wants him dead. When the hit men come for Def, Mosley must choose between loyalty to his colleagues and protecting the witness. He discovers his reflexes aren't as slow as everyone thought when it counts... I loved the way they show Mosely's reflexes. I thought it was all over at the very beginning, but director Richard Donner did a great job in showing Mosely's reaction to things that are happening so quickly, and that helped draw me into this beaten-down character who's still got something left in him. Made me wonder how good he'd once been if this is how it is for him now. Mos Def played his part well also, although his way of speaking kind of grated at me and I sometimes found it hard to understand. David Morse was a good antagonist; I usually like him in his roles. All in all, I thought 16 Blocks was not great, but good. Simple entertainment if you want to watch something with a bit of action and an interesting twist at the end. ~Elvina

I'm happy to give you feedback for something you've written, but I'm not sure why you're posting something someone else wrote... do you want feedback for it - or her... or something...?

So... Are you planning on posting more than this?

I don't have much time to comment right now, but the impression I got from this was telling, telling, telling. It's like your focus in the telling is not on the action, what moves the plot along, but on what's happening, if that makes sense. For example: Instead of making the narrative more active by showing the action first, and then Ceran's reaction to it, this reads more slowly because of the order in which you tell things. Also, you switched the attention to quickly from something minute - the rubies - to something large scale and happening elsewhere - what's happening on the battlefield. A new paragraph was needed there, and some more description of what the setting would have been very helpful; I had little clue as to the setting of this. Sorry if that sounds harsh. Like I said I don't have much time so I'm probably being brusque. This story has definate potential. Is it the opening of a story or some other part? Elvina

Thanks! And what a bummer that the site has to resort to that. Mutters, "Spammers..."

YAY! It's over! No more of this: *is left with a novel that has no direction* Gah. I think a rewrite is in order. Well done to all of you who made it, though, and good try to those who gave it a shot but found that life intruded a little to much (or were just lazy like Venefyxatu - Bwahahahaha!). Merry Christmas to you all! Elvina

So, ermm, is a 21-letter word enough? Well, I hope so, because I'm putting forth the first word for the Bs. Beryl Meaning: a mineral, beryllium aluminum silicate, Be3Al2Si6O18, usually green, but also blue, rose, white, and golden, and both opaque and transparent, the latter variety including the gems emerald and aquamarine: the principal ore of beryllium.

The Prestige Set against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century London, this story is about two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy - full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences. From the time that they first met as young magicians on the rise, Robert Angier (Huge Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are competitors. However, their friendly competition evolves into a bitter rivalry making them fierce enemies-for-life and consequently jeopardizing the lives of everyone around them. This story has a killer twist at the end. It's not so much a killer twist in that you never saw it coming - which you don't (or, at least, me and hubby didn't). It's more that you come out of the movie still dealing with the ramifications of the killer twist. I spent a good bit of my evening afterwards thinking about how much some foreshawdowed things all made sense now. I was actually almost bored at the start of this movie. It jumps around a LOT, but that's part of what gets you engrossed once things start happening. I don't think I was really engrossed until maybe half an hour into it. The story turns very morbid, especially at the end. Huge Jackman was great, though his accent was a little off. Strange, since he played the Duke in Kate & Leopold with a perfect English accent, but then I guess that particular high-English accent had no part being spoken by a turn-of-the-century non-Duke English magician. I didn't like how morbid it became as it progressed, or the depths to which these two characters went in their competitiveness, but the story and the ending are still quite good from a technical standpoint. For that reason, four stars. Elvina