Movies I've seen recently #13

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

I love reading books, but some books are just too boring to enjoy. Among those is Jane Austen's books (I have only read one of them, but that was enough. And I allow myself to generalize on this topic). Well, that said, I think the film was way better than the book. Now I am just wondering if I should watch the "old" version with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy?

Atonement (2007)

I read the book by Ian McEwan last year (did I write about it here?) and it was also pretty boring... But the film touched me so much more than the book. Because of my scepticism towards the book, I was quite sceptical towards the film to begin with. Until the last 15-20 minutes of the film I still had this "blah-feeling" about it, but then it just hit me and tears streamed down my face for the rest of the film... I couldn't remember this ending from the book, so it was surprising - and it just shows that the book wasn't able to catch my attention enough to remember what happened.

Cold Mountain (2003)

This is probably the best film out of the three in this post. I love it, Jude Law is great as usual and Renee Zellweger too. Her character is pretty cool. It's such a bitter-sweet story, but I really enjoyed it.

[Photo sources: 1 2 3]

Movies I've seen recently #12

I Heart Huckabees (2004)

Ok, I must admit that the only reason why I wanted to see this movie was Jude Law starring in it. It is a crazy comedy with a ton of black humour... and it didn't really match my sense of humour. Too bad.
Well, I definitely prefer Jude Law in chick flicks/rom coms/whatever you like to call them.



Blue Valentine (2010)

This is not a feel good movie, more like a feel sad movie, but it's still a really good movie. The performances by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling are great in this one. I could easily watch it again. Plus I really like "their song"...

"You and me" by Penny & The Quarters


Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)

This is such a quiet, weird and quirky movie. I'm not sure whether I liked it or not. The little boy is cute. And that's the only thing I remember (I'll admit that it's been a while since I saw this movie... not exactly "recently", ha).

[Photo source: 1 2 3]

Movies I've seen recently #11

Elizabethtown (2005)

Some parts were really good, some were not good at all. I must admit that it's been awhile since I saw this movie and I can't remember that much from it (I guess, that's not exactly a quality stamp). Somebody dies and somebody fall in love and there is some sort of stupid memorial stuff, that was quite cringeworthy. That's all I remember.


Match Point (2005)

Another Woody Allen film. I usually like his quirky movies. This one was very good, I loved the twist at the end. And Matthew Goode is always charming...


The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

I'm not sure I got the point (if there is a point in this movie). It is a very colourful movie and that is definitely  a plus. It is fun at some point, but most of the time it is just confusing. I thought it was kind of... messy? Great acting though, Adrien Brody is good.
By the way, the little film in the beginning, "Hotel Chevalier" was weird too. But the song playing during the prologue was fun.

[Movie stills from here, here and here]

Movies I've seen recently #10

Gigantic (2008)

The description of the movie from IMDb: "A mattress salesman finds his plan to adopt a Chinese baby augmented by the arrival of a young woman, who comes into his workplace, falls asleep on one of the beds, and starts to affect his life upon waking up." Sounds like a weird story, right? It is! It is a quirky story and overall I think I like it, even though I didn't figure out why the homeless guy was in it. Zooey Deschanel is just a quirky as usual and I love that.

The Good Night (2007)

I don't know about this one... First, the intro was just weird. Second, it was not as funny as expected. It is about a former pop singer, now writing jingles, who feels more and more depressed and unsuccessful, until he meets mysterious Anna. The problem is that he only meets her in his dreams and as you might have guessed, he will do anything to sleep and dream about her all the time...

Hysteria (2011)

One of my classmates recommended this movie about how the vibrator was invented and I must say, I was sceptical at first, I mean, the history of the vibrator?! But the label "comedy" made me feel less put off. And it turned out to be a very good and funny movie! Maggie Gyllenhall is doing a great job and so is Hugh Dancy. I will definitely recommend it.


[Images: allmoviephoto]

Movies I've seen recently #9

Leap Year (2010)

The first time I saw this movie was on the plane back home from China two years ago. I really liked it back then, so I rewatched it when it was on TV. It is a sweet rom com, no surprises, a lot of clichés, but I enjoyed it anyway (of course - rom coms is one of my guilty pleasures). Matthew Goode is, by the way, very very charming in this film!

Along Came Polly (2004)
One of the best things in this movie is the scuba instructor Claude's accent! "Exactliii, like se hippoo", "Gut bye, Pollii" (check it out in this video from 2:53). I think Michael O'Sullivan from Washington Post is spot on with this review: "Is Along Came Polly a great film? No, probably not, but it is a very amusing one".

Jersey Girl (2004)
Ok, maybe I'm just a big crybaby, but this is seriously one of the saddest romantic comedies I have ever seen. This is a movie I prefer to watch on my own as the water level in my eyes tend to rise several times during the movie. I just can't help it. But, of course it's not sad all way through, it is a rom com after all. And little Gertie is the cutest little girl!

Picture Perfect (1997)

A classic chick flick, nothing special. Kevin Bacon's character annoys me and sometimes Aniston's as well. The story is pretty predictabl, hence the classic chick flick label I put on it.

[Images: AllMoviePhoto]

Movies I've seen recently #8

Becoming Jane (2007)

This is a portrait of Jane Austen before she became a famous writer and it's pretty good. James McAvoy is so charming as Mr. Lefroy in this film! The dance scene is one of my favourites (1:08) It really surprised me that he suddenly appeared, gotta love that smile!





The Kids Are All Right (2010)

The kids of a lesbian couple seek out their biological father, and when their mothers find out about that they try to welcome him into the family. It's not easy for them though. First of all, I think Annette Bening's character is sooo annoying in this film! Not a film I'll watch again, but it was ok.

Good Luck Chuck (2007)

Not recommendable. I don't even know why I started to watch it in the first place - the plot doesn't even sound that interesting ("In order to keep the woman of his dreams from falling for another guy, Charlie Logan has to break the curse that has made him wildly popular with single women: Sleep with Charlie once, and the next man you meet will be your true love." - from IMDB).  It is not even that funny, even though it is claimed to be a comedy.

Movies I've seen recently #7

Water for Elephants (2011)
Just as good as expected! As you might remember, I loved the book, so the expectations were quite high. The atmosphere is just as I imagined it when I read the book. The only complaint is that the acting wasn't the best at all times (Robert Pattinson's facial expression were a bit off sometimes...). But it's probably just me, who think that.

Across the Universe (2007)
Actually I'm not too crazy about musicals. Usually I think there is too much singing going on in musicals and the constant singing annoys me, but in this film it was not bad at all - probably because I knew a lot of the songs and like Beatles music in general. So if you like The Beatles, you should see it!

Hairspray (2007)
I only watched this movie because it was the only thing on TV and I was bored. It's just as bad, as I thought it would be. Bad songs and a stupid plot (plus John Travolta is incredibly annoying dressed up as a woman). The only good thing about this movie is James Marsden and he's not playing a big part in it, so it's not worth the time really. Watch 27 Dresses instead, if you need a Marsden fix.

Photos: David James (IMDb) and AllMoviePhoto.

Movies I've seen recently #6

Hooray! Two months of freedom lies ahead! 3 weeks of travelling and lots of time for book reading, movie watching, taking photos and relaxing. Much, much needed :)

My Blueberry Nights (2007)

I remember seeing the cover for this movie years ago, when I worked at a gas station, where you could rent movies. When I saw the cover, I decided that I had to see this movie someday. It took four years before that happened, so maybe I've built up some crazy expectations, I don't know. At first it disappointed me, but now, a few days later, my view upon it is more positive. The story isn't great, but I really like the mood in this film - the soundtrack is perfect for this atmosphere (or maybe the atmosphere is as it is because of the music?).
Furthermore it's a beautiful movie visually, it's full of rich colours, which also adds to the atmosphere. And last, but not least, Jude Law is in it and that's always a plus, haha. I love his accent.

My favourite song from the soundtrack: Cat Power - The Greatest



The Painted Veil (2006)

One of the best things about this movie is the incredibly beautiful Chinese scenery. If I return to China one day I definitely have to go more inland to the countryside instead of staying in the big cities.
The story is good as well, just a little bit too long-drawn-out. Especially in the beginning I was a little bored.

[Photos from Allmoviephoto]

Movies I've seen recently #5

Hello! I'm back from Italy! I haven't had the time to go through my photos yet, so photos post will have to wait. I have more than 900 to choose from. Instead you get a little review of some movies I watched before I went to Italy. These film posts are great - it helps me remember all the films I see.

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

The reason why I chose to watch this movie was primarily because Eddie Redmayne is in it. And he did a good job, but his part was rather small (by the way he was great in Pillars of the Earth - that's where I know him from - you should watch it if you like the book by Ken Follett, it's great as well!).
Nevertheless I liked the movie, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana are also doing a good job here. I'm just really happy that I didn't live at that time.


Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Despite the fact that I don't like Will Ferrell, who plays the leading role in this film, I actually liked the movie. (More precisely it is his eyes I don't like + I can't stop thinking of him as an elf after watching ELF many years ago). Maggie Gyllenhall is great as always and I like the plot too.


Sherlock Holmes (2009)

I liked this one as well, it's full of action and surprises. I love the interaction between Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Dr. Watson (the always great Jude Law). Rachel McAdams is also doing a good job + her dresses are nice. I'd recommend it and now I have to see if the sequel is available at the library.

[Photos: AllMoviePhoto]

Movies I've seen recently #4

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

Fine, nothing spectacular. Just as expected, a chick-flick for a lazy day when you don't want to think too much about the movie you're watching.

Before Sunrise (1995)

A good love story, except the fact that I kept thinking "this is so unrealistic, this would never ever happen in real life". It doesn't make it a bad movie, it's just a little annoying to think that, but I guess that was my own fault. Sometimes their conversation was too... artificial?. Anyway, now I want to go to Vienna. And I want to see the sequel Before Sunset.

Away We Go (2009)

Cute and fun feel good film. The couple in the movie is travelling around, to find out where home is going to be. Great soundtrack as well (by Alexi Murdoch). It reminded me a lot of the soundtrack from Into the Wild (read my thoughts about it here)

Broken English (2007)

Good, but the female character was a little bit annoying, whereas the male character was very very charming, but too good to be true. Unrealistic, but fine chick-flick (I really don't know why it bothers me so much that the movies are unrealistic. It has never been a problem for me before).

[photo sources: allmoviephoto + hotflick]

Movies I've seen recently #3

If you have some extra time this weekend and you don't know what to do, you could watch a movie or two. And if you can't decide which movie to watch, here's some inspiration. I'd go for Breaking and Entering if I had to watch one of them again.

Breaking and entering (2006)
There is an architect in it. And Jude Law is in it (he's the architect, Will). It's good. Watch it, if you get the chance. Watch the trailer here. By the way, it took me a long time to realise, where I had seen Will's wife before (it happens quite often when I watch a movie, do you know the feeling?). By the end of the movie I figured it out, it was Jenny from Forrest Gump!


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
I liked the story, but it was a bit too long for my taste. In my opinion it could have been much shorter without ruining the story. I have the short story somewhere, maybe I should read it to see if it's better than the movie.


Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
I read the book last year and I must say I like the movie so much more than the book. There was to many almost identical lists in the book, the movie is more fast-paced, which definitely is a good thing in this case. A good entertaining movie, if you don't feel like thinking too much.


The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Same category as Bridget Jones's Diary. Absolutely better than the book. I found it a bit weird that Simon Baker played Christian Thompson though. To me, Simon Baker is the mentalist (haven't seen him anywhere else until now) and he's really good in the Mentalist, so it was hard for me to see him as a young writer. Plus I imagined Christian to be much younger and dark-haired.


[Image sources: tribute and AllMoviePhoto]

Movies I've seen recently #2

On the plane back home I celebrated New Year's Eve with these movies.

Drive (2011)

I'd heard a lot about this movie, so when it was right in front of me, I thought Drive would be a good way to start the flight. And it was good, in spite of a few nasty scenes. I loved the interaction between Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. So sweet!


Crazy, stupid, love (2011)

Another movie starring Ryan Gosling felt like a must see. It was quite fun, I really liked it. I could easily watch it again, even though it might be a little bit predictable (but just a little). Eye candy in the shape of Mr. Gosling is always a good thing.


Notting Hill (1999)

It was okay. Fine pastime activity if you don't have anything else to do - which was exactly my situation. I usually like to stay awake the whole time during the flight.


When Harry met Sally (1989)

Okay, this movie was not good at all. It was so boring and there wasn't anything pretty to look at to distract me from the boredom. Maybe it's just beacuse it's old. Maybe not. I think I should've chosen Ratatouille in stead.

[Image sources: All Movie Photo, IMDb and RomanceEternal]

Movies I've seen recently #1

Well, maybe the word "recently" is a bad choice as it's more than a month since I saw these movies, but that's just a minor detail, isn't it?
I simply love long flights if there is a little screen in front of me, so I can watch movies. Actually, I hardly ever sleep during the flight, because there' s so many movies I want to see. On my way to California before Christmas, I chose these movies:

Big Fish (2003)

I had no idea what this movie was about, I had just heard the title somewhere and thought I wanted to give it a try. The circus part reminded me of Water for Elephants (haven't seen it yet). It was a bit odd, but I liked it.

Midnight in Paris (2011)

My first Woody Allen film, but not the last. It was just as good as expected, both the story and the visual part. Paris is such a beautiful city. And so is Marion Cotillard (beautiful, that is - not a city). Definitely recommendable - the best of these four films!

Friends with benefits (2011)

I was entertained all the time during the film, so it was not bad, but it's not a must-see. It was fun though. I'm just happy that my parents wasn't watching it too. Too many nude scenes for that, haha.

Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011)

Well, this is a bad, boring movie. Usually I like Jim Carrey's movies, but this one wasn't good. Maybe I'm just too old for it.

[Photo sources: IMDb, AllMoviePhoto, FrontRoomCinema and AllMoviePhoto.]

Movies I've seen recently

A Good Year - It was good, a nice and quiet feel-good movie (wow, that was a lot of "good") and Marion Cotillard is still incredibly beautiful.
Yes Man - I loved it, in general I love Jim Carrey's expressions, which I think I've mentioned before, no? And Zooey Dechanel is very good in this film too. I also like the idea of saying yes to everything. Maybe I should try something similar, it could be kind of fun, don't you think?

[Photo sources: AllMoviePhoto and IMDb]

One Day

I am in the midst of moving and starting at university, so my life feels like a huge mess and everything is a bit chaotic these days, to say the least. Hopefully, things will calm down soon and I'll get used to my new life.

I just found the trailer for the film One Day with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, based on the book by David Nicholls (I wrote about the book here). The film will be released here in September, I'm not sure whether or not I'll go to the cinema to see it, but I definitely have to see it sooner or later. It was released a few weeks ago in the States, have you guys seen it?
Anyway, here's the trailer, I think it looks promising!

Fabulous Potter

A week ago I went to the cinema to see the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I was not disappointed (I never am when it's Harry Potter).
My opinion about the film in three words (and a lot more if I go into details): I love it (but I love everything Harry Potter-related). It was just the perfect ending, I think. Strange, that it's over after all these years. And a little sad too. No more books or films to look forward to.
Tears came to my eyes several times during the film, there's so many sad scenes in this one, but luckily I had those 3D-glasses to hide my tearful eyes behind. It was the first time I've seen a film in 3D. I think I prefer 2D. Those glasses were a bit painful...

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Yesterday I finished one of the best books, I have read this year (and I have read quite a few by now), so I guess it's time for another recommendation.
Even though this book has got a lot of negative ratings on Goodreads, I had a good feeling about this book, even before I started reading it. Probably because of the pretty cover and the title (and the fact that it takes place in Paris and there's a Japanese in it too - it almost can't get any better if you have a weakness for France and Japan). 

And I must say, that it really did live up to my expectations. It made me both laugh out loud and cry and I enjoyed every page of this book. It's the kind of book where you get the feeling that you know the characters and don't want it to end, because you know you'll miss them (am I the only one who get this feeling?). Though the last few chapters are quite tragic it's a really good book, highly recommendable!

The book is also made into a film, Le Hérisson (or The Hedgehog). Another addition to the constantly growing list of must-see films! Seriously, I have to watch movies more often with all those movies I want to see.

I'm not able to describe the main characters better than they're described on Goodreads, so you'll get the description from there:

"We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence.
Then there's Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter."
(from Goodreads)

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

I've wanted to see this movie for a long, long time and finally I got a chance to see it last weekend. It was not at all like I'd expected it to be, but it was good, I really liked it. I don't exactly know what I was expecting, maybe that it would be lighter or something. Maybe because Jim Carrey was on the cast list - so far I had only seen him in comedies (I simply love all those funny faces he makes). But he was really good in this one, and so was Kate Winslet. I like her crazy hair colours.



I think I have to see it again, it was not always easy to distinguish between what is memories and what isn't. It was quite confusing, so it is probably even better next time I see it, when I have a better idea of what's going on.

This song from the soundtrack is pretty good.
Jon Brion - Theme (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Soundtrack)




[images: IMDb + allmoviephoto]

Something beautiful

Can't believe it's already May! Time flies like crazy. Soon it's time for exams (the first one will be in about two weeks), so I better start looking at all the formulas I have to know by heart, luckily I have plenty of time for that.
It's also time for something good; a new Harry Potter movie. In the weekend I stumbled upon the trailer for the very last Harry Potter movie. I love Harry Potter, both the books and the movies. This trailer gives me the shivers, it will be awesome. If you want, you can see the trailer here.

Friday I went for a walk in the woods with my camera. It is so pretty this time of year with the sun shining through the leaves and white anemones covering the forest floor.