Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

It's more kids oriented, but there are some scenes that will bring the house down...
The Rock rulz ;) and who doesn't want dwarf elephants as pets :D

Haywire

I just saw Haywire...
Despite good script, great actors, good director something is amiss. Maybe the sound editing?
Apart from that, some scenes were filmed in Ireland, so it made my day trying to recognize the places and made me want to go back to Ireland soon ;)

Ice Age - A Mammoth Christmas

Getting ready for Christmas ;))

And the nominees are...

Today the Oscar nominees were announced.
Can't wait till 7th of March to see who will win: James Cameron or his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow. If she wins she will be the first female to win the best director.
On a personal note, I hope that Granny O'Grimm will win in the short animated films category :D
Here are the nominees:
Actor in a Leading Role:
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”
Actor in a Supporting Role:
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”
Actress in a Leading Role:
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”
Actress in a Supporting Role:
Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Animated Feature Film:
“Coraline” Henry Selick
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
“The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
“The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
“Up” Pete Docter
Art Direction:
“Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
“Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray
Cinematography:
“Avatar” Mauro Fiore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” Christian Berger
Costume Design:
“Bright Star” Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” Colleen Atwood
“The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell
Directing:
“Avatar” James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman
Documentary (Feature):
“Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” Nominees to be determined
“Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa
Documentary (Short Subject):
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
“Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
“Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra
Film Editing:
“Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
“District 9” Julian Clarke
“The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
“Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz
Foreign Language Film:
“Ajami” Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
“The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
“Un Prophète” France
“The White Ribbon” Germany
Makeup:
“Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
“Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow“
The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore
Music (Original Score):
“Avatar” James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
“Up” Michael Giacchino
Music (Original Song):
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
“Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Best Picture:
“Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
“District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
“An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
“Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
“Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
“Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
Short Film (Animated):
“French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
“Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park
Short Film (Live Action):
“The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
“Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
“Kavi” Gregg Helvey
“Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
“The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
Sound Editing:
“Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
“Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
“Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
“Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers
Sound Mixing:
“Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
“Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
“Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
Visual Effects:
“Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
“District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
“Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton
Writing (Adapted Screenplay):
“District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
“An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
“Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Writing (Original Screenplay):
“The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
“Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
“The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
“A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

The Proposal

Funny, funny movie, I laughed a lot, Sandra Bullock is really the queen of comedy...
I mean the eagle sequence is absolutely hilarious, the dog is cute, Scarlett Johansson's husband is a doll, Alaska is spectacular and Gammy is to die for ;)
I definitely recommend it, especially in this weather when everything is bleak and you get depressed so easily...

Sherlock Holmes

I have a new New Year Resolution: A movie a day keeps the doctor away...
No... :)
A movie a day keeps the spirit awake :))
I saw today Sherlock Holmes directed by Guy Ritchie with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law.
It's absolutely brilliant - it has a lot of action (weird I know but it's a new Sherlock, who knows a lot of tricks...), the script is well written, and the best part is the chemistry between Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law - they are a perfect match.
It's one of Ritchie's masterpieces, and shows that he is more than Mr. Madonna and that he can direct a blockbuster movie as easy as a low-budget movie.
I'm almost certain in 2 years time a sequel will follow. So till then here is the trailer.
Cours mon lapin cours...

Waiting for Santa...

Golden Globes Nominees

And the nominees are...

Best Motion Picture -- Drama
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
Up in the Air

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture -- Drama
Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sadibe, Precious

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture -- Drama
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Tobey Maguire, Brothers

Best Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy
(500) Days of Summer
The Hangover
It's Complicated
Julie & Julia
Nine

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy
Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
Marion Cotillard, Nine
Meryl Streep, It's Complicated
Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia
Julia Roberts, Duplicity

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy
Matt Damon, The Informant
Daniel Day Lewis, Nine
Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes
Joseph Gordon Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Mo-Nique, Precious
Julianne Moore, A Single Man
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Penelope Cruz, Nine

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Matt Damon, Invictus
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

Best Animated Feature Film
Coraline
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
The Princess and the Frog
Up

Best Foreign Language Film
Barria
Broken Embraces
A Prophet
The White Ribbon
The Maid

Best Director -- Motion Picture
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Clint Eastwood, Invictus
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds

Best Screenplay -- Motion Picture
Up in the Air
It's Complicated
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds

Best Original Score -- Motion Picture
Michael Giacchino, Up
Marvin Hamlisch, The Informant
James Horner, Avatar
Abel Krozeniowski, A Single Man
Karen O. and Carter Burwell, Where the Wild Things Are

Best Original Song -- Motion Picture
"I Will See You," Avatar
"The Weary Kind," The Crazy Heart
"Winter," U2, Brothers
"Cinema Italiano," Nine
"I Want to Come Home," Paul McCartney Everybody's Fine

It seems that I have a lot of catching up to do this Christmas ;)
I'll let you know my favourites :D

Nový Měsíc

Movie night tonight :)
The gang is back again, hurray, hurray!!
And what a better way to celebrate than a ... vampire movie :D
Unfortunately no popcorn fights could occur because I reserved the wrong seats and we were separated by an aisle, but we actually wanted to watch the movie. What movie?
Well...
Yes, it's Nový Měsíc (that's New Moon for the inexperienced in Czech language ;) http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1259571/
The long awaited sequel of Twilight is here! And guess what: it's better than the first movie :))
The special effects are more spectacular and the slow motion movements are coool.
The cinema was divided in Team Jacob and Team Edward and I think Team Jacob had more fans... At least the cheering was louder when Jacob was around.
If you haven't read the books you might not like the movie or understand most of the scenes, or as Adi said: when does he bite her? And when he discovered it won't happen any time soon he was a little bit disappointed :))
But all in all it was a good movie. Now we just have to wait for the next episode :P

Cat man do

Another episode of Simon's Cat adventures...
Does this scene look familiar?
It happens in my house every morning...

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead

I saw today one of my favourite movies: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead!
It's a weird film, half theatre half film, an absurdits drama, but it's funny funny funny.
The movie is based on the original Broadway production of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" by Tom Stoppard, which opened on October 9, 1967 at the Alvin Theater, ran for 420 performances and won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Play.
It counts that the director wrote the play, and the dialogues are absolutely brilliant.
Gary Oldman and Tim Roth are a perfect match as you can see in the dialogue below ;)

Granny O'Grimm

Good news today, Granny O'Grimm was nominated for an Oscar :D
I first saw it at the Irish Film Festival in Bucharest in September and it totally killed me.
I'm not a fan of short animated films, but this one is quite special.
I hope it wins the Oscar, I know I'll keep my fingers crossed on March 7th, 2010.
It's the coolest Granny in the World, I'm just happy she isn't mine :)))

Irish Film Festival in Bucharest part 3

Today was Short Film Day.
I haven't seen short films in a while, I'm not a fan, but the films that I saw tonight were great, so I didn't regret at all.
Here are some samples:

Ice Age 3 3D!!!

Wow! Wow! and Wow again :D
We went today to see Ice Age 3D and we had a laugh, not only because the movie is brilliant but also because we were looking like mutants with our 3D glasses :))
What can I say - this is a movie you should definitely see in cinemas, the 3D experience is beyond words, it's a must see...
And the movie was sooo funny, with some new characters and some totally hilarious scenes - like the crashing of the pterosaurs (one of the best scenes of the movie) - loads of funny accents, really a treat for the whole family...

JCVD

I didn't have the opportunity to go to the movies today :( so I stayed home and... watched movies instead ;P
I watched JCVD http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1130988/ with... Jean Claude Van Damme!
I know, I haven't watched a movie with him since I was a teenager, but I heard only good things about this movie and I decided to give it a try...
and I didn't regret it!
It's an unbelievable good movie, with an incredible script, great direction and Jean Claude demonstrates that he can actually act, not like his counterpart Steven Segal :P
It's a dark comedy in which JCVD plays himself - a washed up actor who gets in trouble by accident, and how he copes with the situation he's in.
I think it's his best role so far, so who knows maybe from now on he will be known as the actor JCVD not as the Muscles from Brussels...
If you have time you should check it out, it gets my 2 thumbs up :)

World Environment Day

This year's theme is 'Your Planet Needs You - UNite to Combat Climate Change'. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the climate convention meeting in Copenhagen later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.
Please take time to watch on Youtube till 14th of June the movie Home http://www.youtube.com/user/homeproject by Yann Arthus-Betrand. He is a famous photographer, who takes pictures from above, in a hot air balloon. All his albums are amazing, the landscape from above is mindblowing and not a thing you have the opportunity to see it everyday.
The movie is an ode to the planet's beauty and its delicate harmony. Through the landscapes of 54 countries captured from above, Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on an unique journey all around the planet, to contemplate it and to understand it.
Go watch it and you won't regret it...

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State of play

I went today to see State of Play http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0473705/.
Considering that nobody wanted to come with me, I decided to see it alone, because I heard great things about it.
And I have no regrets, it's a brilliant movie, with enough twists and turns, fast pacing action and great characters. I almost forgot how good an actor Russell Crowe can be...
The script is well written, Tony Gilroy is a great thriller writer (he also wrote Duplicity), although this time he was inspired by the BBC Tv Series with the same name.
Now I have to find the series to see if they are better than the movie or not ;)
A special mention deserves Helen Mirren who plays her character beautifully.
All in all a good movie, worth watching. It gets all my thumbs up :D

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

I can't believe that a sequel can be better than the original movie, but this is the case - Night at the Museum 2 is bigger, better and funnier :) http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1078912/
Apart from the characters from the first movie, some of the new arrivals must be mentioned - Napoleon (Alain Chabat in his first Hollywood movie), Al Capone (a marvel in black and white) and of course, the lisping Pharaoh with an affinity for couscous (Hank Azaria in triple role - he also played Rodin's Thinker and the Statue of Abraham Lincoln).
And I shouldn't forget to mention the most important baddies of the movie. They had smaller parts than the rest, but they were meaner - of course I'm talking about Darth Vader and Oscar the Grouch from The Sesame Street!!!
It's a funny movie, with scenes that made me cry with laughter, especially the Octavius scenes when he attacks the White House and meets with the squirrel.
It's a feel good movie and I liked it!
Go see it, I highly recommend it!!!

P.S. A special mention deserve the 3 Cherubs played by Jonas Brothers singing the Titanic song :)

Angels & Demons

The latest movie after a novel written by Dan Brown now in cinemas!!!
The first kkk+1 movie shown at Cinemapro!!! (no, it's not a ku-klux-klan movie, but it's something to do with the movie's resolution)
What can I say, I didn't like The DaVinci Code movie, but also I didn't like the book...
I heard that the book for this movie is actually better than the movie itself http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0808151/ so I might read it to understand more, because the movie doesn't explain a lot.
I liked three things about this movie:
First: the cinematography - it was really beautiful, especially all the scenes filmed in the fake St Peter's Church, Salvatore Totino did an amazing job, and I discovered that he was also the cinematographer for U2's video Staring at the sun :)
Second: the music - Hans Zimmer made a score that complements the movie beautifully
and Third: product placement: the new Lancia Delta. They only have to use some scenes from the movie and the commercial is ready!
What I didn't like:
- the accents - they were terrible, when everybody was speaking italian they sounded chinese, you couldn't understand a word, Ewan McGregor's irish accent sounded very scottish...
- the story was quite complicated and it wasn't explained very well
- and unfortunatelly Tom Hanks who should't take roles like these, but probably Ron Howard made him do it, considering this is their 4th collaboration :P
So this movie gets only one thumb up :(

P.S. But the day ended really well when Shakhtar Donetsk trained by Mircea Lucescu won the UEFA Cup against Werder Bremen with 2:1!!!
Although I'm not a football fan, I am really happy for Lucescu, I always admired him and his son.

White Night of the Museums

I started this lovely night with a visit to the Village Museum where I had to take a crowd bath as some political analysts would say - maybe I should run for elections this autumn ;)

I never saw so many people at this museum... ever!But it was interesting to see all this people running around like crazy, trying to see all there is to see in 30 minutes so they can go to the next museum on the list.
Next I went to the Peasant Museum - I know, a lot of country style today - to see a documentary about the african music in Mali: Dambe, the Mali Project http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1206539/.
The documentary was shown during the European Film Festival in Bucharest and tells the story of 2 famous Irish musicians - Paddy Keenan and Liam O'Maonlai (from Hothouse Flowers) - who decided to play with their african counterparts at the world's most remote music festival "Festival au Desert" in Essakane, near Timbuktu (the annual gathering of the Tuaregs from West Africa).
It was a really interesting documentary and afterwards Dearbhla Glynn (the director) and the producer answered the questions asked by the audience.
We found out that the movie was made in 4 years, that Mali musicians are really talented and that music has no language barrier.



I discovered the Kora http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kora_(instrument) which is an amazing instrument, it looks like a lute and sounds like an orchestra. The Kora in the movie is 700 years old, and the man playing it - Toumani Diabate - comes from a long family tradition of kora players. His family's oral tradition tells of 71 generations of musicians preceding him in patrilineal line! That sounds like a lot, but unfortunatelly the life expectancy of Malian people is of 50 years.
After so much culture I took a stroll down... not memory lane but Calea Victoriei where I clashed with other people who planned the same thing.
I arrived at the MNAR Museum to watch the crowd waiting patiently to enter the museum, and after a few photos I decided to call it a day and go home!It was a great Saturday evening and the only reason I am happy that Depeche Mode concert was cancelled is the Irish documentary :)