Films 23, 24, 25 and 26, and Book Thirty Four

[spooky_miss]

Film 23 - I Robot

I Robot – so good I watched it twice! Well, strictly speaking the first bit was good, but then I got distracted towards the end, with all the action-y bit, so I decided to watch it again as I wasn’t quite sure how much I missed. It stars Will Smith as a man in the future, where they have a lot of robots who help them with their lives – cooking, cleaning etc. Will Smith is convinced that the robots could go bad and steal things, kill people etc, even though it is against the three laws of robotics (as set out by Issac Asimov, on whose books the film is based). Everyone thinks that Will Smith is mad to think that, but one day they find a robot who has developed a more complicated brain than others. It then turns out that Will Smith has more knowledge of robots than it at first seems. Overall this is a good film, it makes really interesting points about the ethics of robotics and things, but it sort of loses it in the second half when the “action” bit starts, isn’t quite as good as the first bit, which is more about how they live with robots in their general lives. It was better than I thought it would be though. 7 / 10

Film 24 - Labyrinth

This is the sort of film that everyone raves about, which puts me off a little, but its not too bad a film. It’s about a girl who wishes for her baby brother to be taken away by the goblin king as she doesn’t want to babysit him anymore. The Goblin King (David Bowie!) then comes and takes the baby away, and the girl has to go through a labyrinth to get him – helped by various Muppet characters. They’re all quite good and funny, and the story goes along nicely, but theres nothing amazing about the film. Although I admit I do love the bit with the stairs and the baby at the end! And David Bowie’s songs aren’t too bad either. Recommended if you like the Muppets really, but theres nothing else that special about it. 6 / 10

Film 25 - Inglourious Basterds

This film is actually amazing! I really don’t know why I didn’t watch it earlier. It is about a group of Jews during World War 2, led by Brad Pitt, who take it upon themselves to go around killing major members of the SS and Hitler’s government. They build up this ferocious reputation for themselves, which leaves all Nazis scared if they hear of them. At the same time there is a woman who owns a cinema in Nazi occupied Paris, who had previously seen her whole family massacred by one of the Nazis, played by Christoph Waltz, who definitely deserved his best supporting actor Oscar, he is so great in the role. She meets a Nazi war hero in a café, and he invites her to Nazi functions, not knowing that she’s actually a Jew. She organises for the showing of a film made of the war hero’s exploits in her own cinema. All the top Nazi people are there, along with the Jews who are trying to kill them…and there the story becomes horribly historically inaccurate, but it really doesn’t matter because it is still a good film and story, it is so exaggerated that you don’t watch it thinking it is a real historical film. I love Quentin Tarantino’s films, and I love historical films, so this is a great mixture of the two, although you shouldn’t watch it expecting historical accuracy. And it wasn’t really as horrible (as in violence and blood) as I was expecting – Kill Bill was worse I think. I recommend this to anyone who likes Quentin Tarantino, and anyone who likes a film with great acting and powerful images. 10 / 10 :)

Film 26 - The Boat That Rocked

I am sure I have already reviewed this a couple of times this year, as it’s a film I can watch over and over without getting bored of it! I love all the different characters of the DJs, and the soundtrack is just great. Recommended, as always :D

Book Thirty FourFive - Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

After reading "The Return" by Victoria Hislop, I was interested in reading more about the Spanish Civil War, and thought this book was a good place to start, as I really like George Orwell's writing. It describes how he came to Spain and joined up with one of the groups who were fighting, his experiences at the front and then when he was wounded and went back to be with his wife. It was a good book as obviously he had been right there, so you knew that what he wrote was true, from his perspective anyway. It was quite reflective in parts as well, which was good, reflecting on why they were fighting and what it was all for. I did get a bit mixed up with all the political groups and who and what they were all fighting for - but then I think it seemed like quite a complicated conflict politically, so maybe its just complicated anyway and its not my lack of political knowledge which is at fault - although I know I need to learn more about the different political parties and what they all stand for (I hope theres a "Teach Yourself Politics" book, haha). I did enjoy this book, as I enjoy all of George Orwell's writing, I'm not sure what I like about it but its just really good. Recommended to anyone who wants to know about the Spanish Civil war from someone who was actually there - and also to anyone who likes to read good writing! :) 8 / 10

That makes the 35th book, which means to keep up with my (unofficial) aim of reading 10 books per month I need to read 5 in the next week - I might achieve it, as I'm going on two long train journeys and having a couple of days off work so might have time...but I doubt it. Maybe I'll cheat next month and read some either really short books, children's books, or crime books, as I always seem to get through them quickly!

I *still* need to write about Gotham 11 and Slimelight - I will hopefully get that completed on Monday. But then I will have my whole weekend to write about then - as I'm going to Whitby Goth Weekend :D It will be fantastic! I can't wait! :D And I'm also reading the most stereotypical book to read on a visit to Whitby :D