Movies

Managed to score a couple of tickets to tonight's premiere of Casino Royale at the State Theatre. Woo hoo! I got to flash my magic pass and walk down the red carpet with DB. None of the photographers bothered to take a picture of us, despite me positively glowing from my morning facial and DB looking stunning in her slinky black dress. Oh well... Bondy was rather late, which wasn't very surprising - Sydney traffic is crap and Market Street was reduced to a slow crawl. But we did get to see his arrival (luckily I know all the right people!) despite the ushers shepherding everyone into the theatre so that he wouldn't have to deal with us plebs.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

The movie was pretty good and Daniel Craig really is hot as James Bond. The incredible first action scene had JB running after scarface monkey-man as he effortlessly jumped up and over a construction site. Even the mid-movie card game kept us on the edge. You get to see alot of Sony products in the movie, by the way, not to mention a Ford car (before JB develops a penchant for Aston Martin) and JB falling in love, of all things. If anything, it's slightly too long but still pretty exciting.

Tags: James Bond, Casino Royale, The State Theatre.

The Prestige
SPOILER ALERT!!!

It seems that someone has a strange obsession with strangely obsessive people, generally the sort that become obsessed through the loss of a loved one, and I'm not naming names, Mr Nolan... But that's okay 'cos I really do l do love your work, especially Memento and now this movie.

This is such an intriguing movie. In a way the ending was quite disappointing in that, had you taken Cutter's initial advice to watch closely ("for you will be rewarded") you can pretty much work out how Angiers and Borden manage to create their illusions. But it's only disappointing in the way that a rollercoaster, with its many twists and turns, resolves itself in the end. It keeps your mind thinking, assessing how previous events fit in when it starts to become obvious that, say, Bordern is actually a twin, each living the one life. More interesting is the ongoing theme of duality, the get-your-hands-dirty magician versus the clean and classy showman, the similar rivalry between Edison and Tesla with their opposing methods of electricity transmissions (Edison's bully tactics to further his technology of direct current is almost as awful as what the magicians do to each other...), the competition between science and magic for audience attention, the rubber ball versus the top hat...

But even beyond that is the tale of two men that become increasingly obsessed by their rivalry. While one man's story is explained by relatively ordinary means (though to have one of the twins cut off their fingers to maintain their illusion is pretty startling), it is even more amazing to find that Angiers resorts to the wholly extraordinary to create his most amazing illusion. Even if you accept the possibility of using electricity to create exact duplicates of yourself, to bring yourself to killing yourself night after night is about as crazily obsessed as you can possibly get. It's still spooky for me to think about it, not to mention the mind-fuck of trying to work out which, if any, is indeed the *real* Angiers. Is he in the box or taking the applause?

Much more exciting than your typical magic show. And so very spooky.

Technorati Tags: The prestige, movie, Christopher Nolan, magic, obsession, rivarly.

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Wolf Creek.

At the end of the credits there was the usual disclaimer that "any resemblance to characters or events is strictly coincidental" blah blah blah. But the brief on-screen notes book-ending the movie would have you believe otherwise. This is unnecessarily deceitful - it's bad enough that we have the Aussie accents, the not unfamiliar concept of Brit tourists trekking across the country in a bomb, the scorched earth and the blazing sky synonymous with Outback Australia. For me the movie is scary because it is so close to home; your typical Hollywood horror movie (not that I would necessarily watch them) occurs in a land an ocean away.

Sure, it's still thousands of kilometres from Fox Studios to Halls Creek. But to put such horror into a landscape that I find incredibly beautiful just makes it worse. And what pans out is thoroughly disturbing. I don't want to give too much away but I guess the experience of it is something that I just can't convey. It even SOUNDS bad, especially the "head on a stick" scene. And then to juxtapose that with a sunset of such rich and vibrant and beautiful colours is to emphasise the horror even more.

I held on tightly to JPB's hand like the wussy little girl I can be. Later on that night, the memory of the sound of the knife penetrating the flesh kept me up into the early hours.

Tags: Wolf Creek, Movie.

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This is not a trend...

Too late. Madonna's gone and rubbed ABBA all over it. But don't worry, Clown, 'cos what you've got is so extraordinary and special and I hope that the spirit lives on long after Hung Up has dropped out of the charts.

Tonight I went to a preview screening of Rize and was blown away. The movement! The bodies! The people! Wow! Once again, dance is a wonderful thing, it's something real and human and give you hope. Here, the dancers have turned to dance as an alternative to the destructive force of gangs and, while the different groups are quite competitive, the movement is extremely aggressive and there still are instances of destructive violence that is common in a place like LA's South Central, there is so much spirit that makes it a beautiful thing. LaChapelle uncovers some truly amazing characters and gives it a bit (a LOT) of polish, complete with tight glistening bodies in slo-mo action. There's Miss Prissy, who is Prissy by day and something completely different at night GO GIRLFRIEND! and Tommy the Clown who is the father of the whole thing! Even the "liturgical Krumping" rings some kind of truth there.

It's been a good year for dance documentaries, hasn't it? People should be out on the streets dancing because dance is good. Don't take my word for it, see these movies and see for yourself.

Tags: Rize, Dance, Documentary.

Previously: Tom: A National Obsession

I was so into season two. Watching a recording of last night's episode was a bit of a shock. Was it really this cheesy last time around? Were the stars really this boring? And the only couple that seems to do a decent job of dancing (as opposed to just hamming it up) is Chris and her partner, she's doing her best to be this season's Holly though not quite as sharp or as quick. As for Dicko, he's musical and co-ordinated but he looks bloody shocking and, sure, he's a bit funny but I just can't quite bring myself to liking him.

Give 'em a chance, Jhuny, give 'em a chance...

MEANWHILE I saw Mad Hot Ballroom last night. Brilliant!!! Following teams of ballroom dancers from several New York City public primary schools from dance lessons to the finals at the World Financial Centre, it was more than just about dancing (though there's some pretty good dancers in some of those schools!) It's about the social diversity of New York, it's about turning the lives around for children, turning them into Ladies and Gentlemen (as one of the teachers puts it), and the unexpected benefits of dance. It was great to see such a bright and generally open-minded bunch of kids. Kids are great. Dancing is great. Go see the movie! And watch out for the boy with the beautiful eyes...

Tags: Dancing, Dancing With The Stars, Mad Hot Ballroom.