Category Archives: media

DVD: Coach Carter

September 24, 2005 – 10:15 am

DVD: Coach CarterA by the numbers high-school drama. Samuel L. Jackson gives a good performance - a more complex character than he usually portrays. Watchable, not much thinking required. A good movie to recover from the flu to.

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DVD: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

September 18, 2005 – 12:42 am

DVD: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Worth a repeat viewing. There’s a lot of truth about relationships to be gleaned from this film.

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DVD: The Princess Bride

September 6, 2005 – 10:53 pm

DVD: The Princess Bride
What better way to spend an evening than to watch this movie with your wife while cooking dinner for her. Timeless film, but probably could benefit from subtitles so I could follow those few lines I hadn’t already memorised. Rangehoods can be pretty noisy things at times.

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DVD: Anger Management

August 20, 2005 – 5:38 pm

DVD: Anger Management
Another Adam Sandler movie, in the traditional sense. Usual cast, usual type of humour, but it somehow manages to be entertaining in spite of itself. The West Side Story songs seemed to fit particularly well.

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DVD: Unforgiven

August 14, 2005 – 5:20 pm

DVD: Unforgiven
Clint Eastwood made another great movie: you can tell it’s something similar in storytelling approach to million dollar baby. Chronicles he story of a widower whose wife has tried to turn him away from the life of crime he had led.

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DVD: Shaun of the Dead

August 13, 2005 – 5:50 pm

DVD: Shaun of the Dead
A movie I’ve been meaning to watch for a while, and finally made the time to see it last night - I found it laugh-out-loud funny in places; they really made a rom-zom-com (Romantic Comedy, with zombies) that works well in both genres. I’d avoid it if you’re not a fan [...]

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DVD: Garden State

August 13, 2005 – 5:50 pm

DVD: Garden State
Not quite what I expected; enjoyable, but somewhat fragmented in telling the story of a man who is coming to grips with life after the various anti-depressants he has been taking most of his life. Natalie Portman plays a truly annoying character, but doesn’t quite make the character sufficiently likeable.

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DVD: Dances with Wolves

August 8, 2005 – 1:07 am

DVD: Dances with Wolves
I’ll have to admit to watching this in a few sittings; a justifiable award winner for the depth of human relationships it presents; I watched the director’s edition, and so perhaps the cinematography was a little indulgent, but there was still quite a bit to enjoy in the film. Unusual for a [...]

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DVD: Man on Fire

April 30, 2005 – 11:38 am

DVD: Man on Fire
While not as good as Training Day, and not entirely an action movie, I still like this one for its odd take on a redemption tale. Quite grisly in places, and while not showing everything in excruciating detail, you wouldn’t say that it leaves all the gore to the imagination.

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DVD: The Thin Red Line

April 24, 2005 – 3:49 pm

DVD: The Thin Red Line
A lot of stars, a lot of action; I thought that the movie lacked an overall plot: it felt like a sequence of war stories that had been stuck together. A good movie to be watching over the Anzac Day weekend; to be reminded of the horrors and difficulties of being [...]

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PS2: Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

April 2, 2005 – 3:14 pm

PS2: Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

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DVD: Tais-toi!

March 17, 2005 – 9:32 am

DVD: Tais-toi
While not as funny on the small screen, and knowing what is going to happen, this french comedy about two criminals - one a hardened, strong-silent-type, the other a good-hearted simpleton - and the development of their unlikely friendship still has laugh-out-loud moments.

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DVD: House of Cards

March 12, 2005 – 11:34 pm

DVD House of Cards
Well put together series; I think I prefer the book.

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[DVD] Harry Potter 1

March 11, 2005 – 8:58 am

[DVD] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Watched this one with Kel - I’ve read all the books, and seen all three movies, and she’s seen a few snippets of one movie. It’s still entertaining on the third or fourth viewing, although really, I just want to know how the whole series of books is going [...]

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DVD: Some Like It Hot

February 12, 2005 – 4:55 pm

Some Like It Hot

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DVD: The Singing Detective

February 12, 2005 – 12:22 pm

The Singing Detective
Avoid.

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DVD: The Cooler

February 12, 2005 – 12:21 pm

The Cooler
A movie about luck (with a lot of adult content), presenting (yet again) the seedier side of Las Vegas. The more I see these Las Vegas films, the less I want to visit. For a look at the concept of luck, I’d recommend Intacto instead.

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DVD: 25th Hour

February 12, 2005 – 12:19 pm

25th Hour
It’s hard to make a movie that’s sympathetic to the plight of a convicted drug dealer: this is achieved by not focussing on what the lead character has done wrong, but rather looking at the missed opportunities that lead him down an unwise path.

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DVD: 2001 - A Space Odyssey

February 12, 2005 – 12:17 pm

2001: A Space Odyssey
Amazing visuals and effects (given that the film was made in 1968). Some great scenes of incredible tension, but overall, this is a very slow-moving film, even for Kubrick.

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24

February 7, 2005 – 1:17 am

DVD: 24
Whoa. What a rush. The series just doesn’t let up with tension, plot twists, and a whole range of complexity. The DVD also provided the alternate ending (more of a Hollywood ending than the series offers). Some twists, I was slightly ahead of the characters, but often, I didn’t see things coming until the [...]

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