The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Audio books usually lack something compared to regular books. It’s not the case when you can hear the late great Carrie Fisher reading her own brilliantly funny account of the wonder days of Star Wars and its ensuing fame. It made me smile every day. Perhaps a more appropriate title would be “My infatuation with Harrison Ford”.
I just finished watching Van Dieman’s Land. It was terrible.
Elle and I caught a trailer for the film some time ago, which gave the false impression it would be interesting.
And Van Dieman’s Land – AKA Tasmania – being Elle’s home state in Australia, we also thought it’d be nice to see some familiar beautiful scenery and hear some historical accounts. We were mistaken.
The story tracks the hardships of hardened escapee convicts through the hard Tasmanian wilderness. Then it tracked the hardships of hardened escapee convicts through the hard Tasmanian wilderness.
It was monotonous. Until things got even harder and food become more scarce. So, as you do when in this situation while bush walking through Tasmania, you start knocking off your mates one by one and eating them. The only piece of suspence was who was next to become stew.
In fact, as there was an absence of any other storyline, perhaps they should have named the flick, “Guys walking through bush, eating each other”.
Once again I made the most of the best entrainment in the skies, and watched a movie in my Emirates flight – this time on my way to Birmingham.
Before the movie, I listened to a few hours of Don Giovanni – in preparation of watching it in the flesh tomorrow by the Welsh National Opera. My boss recommended this latest Woody Allen film, as I had asked him for a good Woody Allen film. I’ve seen that Allen is quite witty, and knew his creativity, but never seen any of his films.
To begin with I had trouble finding the film. I went through the whole list twice, all the while never expecting Owen Wilson to be the star. I’m used to his exploits in kids, action, or cheesy romantic comedy flicks – which is listed in my order of preference. I never expected Wilson to have the tools to cover such subtle comedy.
I was thoroughly impressed with the movie. It was brilliant. Such a unique story, such an awkward scenario, such entertaining characters spanning three eras.
A writer, riddled with self-doubt, is nostalgic for Paris in the 1920s. He magically escapes his unhappiness with the present day to rub shoulders with his idols from yesteryear.
He works out what’s right for him in the end. But not before falling to a new low with his already disapproving pending parents-in-law.
The film had some classic moments which made me laugh so loud I may have bothered my fellow passengers.
Ernest Hemmingway was exactly as I pictured him. His focus on courage was hilarious. After a few drinks and speaking freely, I loved his challenge “who wants to fight”.
Many of the other characters also had their own charm. I loved Salvador Dali wanting to draw Owen Wilson’s portrait infatuated with adding the rhinoceros within a tear – proving just a bit too peculiar for the others.
A very unexpected result of this movie was the strong desire to visit Paris. Many romanticize the French capital, which I’ve never subscribed to. Until now.
The artistic flair, the flowing of warm emotions, the desire to follow dreams. It all sounds and looks amazing.
I thought I’d probably enjoy this film, but mostly for some rich dialogue. It was a surprise to find such a sweet flick. I thoroughly recommend it to everyone.
I enjoy flying home to Australia. It’s a 15 hour stretch in front of the industry’s best in-flight entertainment. I usually make the most of it and watch as many movies as possible – which i must say is a bit of a luxury for me.
The first movie I watched was The Trotsky, a unique Canadian comedy directed by Jacob Tierney.
In it, the lead character Leon – played superbly by Jay Baruchel – believes he’s the reincarnation of Soviet Union architect, Leo Trotsky. And in a trying transition period between schools Leon uses the knowledge gained from Trotsky’s bio and seeks out the allies that Trotsky had. He endures some failures, but his ideas and resolve are unswerving.
Does he find success, does he emulate his role model? I can’t spoil it. However, one thing is for sure, he knows what be wants and gains the right counsel to navigate through the tough times.
I imagine it’s quite a unique concept to craft a movie about a student choosing to force Communism into the Canadian public school system. And the movie achieved a wonderful result and built the story exceedingly well. I enjoyed it a lot.
4 proletariat uprisings out of 5.
The second film I watched was The Kings Speech – after a reasonable interlude taking Lewis for a walk up and down the aisles a few times.
I had heard a lot about this film, perhaps as it stars Australian Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush. Incidentally young Geoffrey used to find himself around my grandmother’s table at lunch time, being from the once small town of Toowoomba – west of Brisbane. He’s obviously cone a long way since those days.
Everything I heard about the film was glowing. After seeing the film I must agree.
The film is about England’s King George VI, and his attempts to I’ve overcome a stammering problem. Rush’s character was the unlikely Australian speech therapist, who had some quirks which didn’t bide well with Royalty.
The scene was set in the 1930s, in a country on the brink of war with Germany. With the passing of his father, and his country under such harsh adversity, the King needed results now, more than ever.
The climax builds into will he triumph or stutter the country into an embarrassing position unmotivated for the challenge at hand.
Thoroughly recommend this film to colonials who enjoy a good story with a dash of historical references to the Monarchy.
3.5 sea shells she sells by the sea shore out of 5.
While waiting for Elle to exit the local grocery store, my kids and I did something I wasn’t sure I’d ever have to do again – enter a DVD hire shop. It almost seems like a redundant business, with the amount of file sharing and DVD swapping that goes on. But we did it, and I’m glad we did. Otherwise we may have missed seeing Shaolin Soccer – a fun and interesting movie which seemed to miss the mainstream audiences which we’ve practically become with some help from the kids.
The storyline was close to being an unfortunate cliché. The scene was set with a dominant sporting team, and an unfortunate hero or two vying to do the unthinkable and beat them at their own game. The way it was depicted was unexpected, with well translated comedy. And as you can imagine, it does conclude leaving the viewers feeling good – although the way in which it finishes certainly is not part of the cliché I was expecting.