In deference to the small Japanese children in our party, we went to see “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” dubbed into Japanese. It seemed a bit slow, but maybe that’s just because I only understood every 20th word. Even so, I thought the giant spiders were quite scary, though they didn’t seem to bother the 5-year-old girl next to me.
Articles about films
Harry Potter to Himitsu no Heya
Waking Life
Amazing animation, though Joanne found the pervasive floatiness a bit disorienting. Lots of interesting talk about dreams.
The Royal Tenenbaums
Occasionally Hollywood puts out a really good black comedy. Like this one. It made a nice respite from European culture when we saw it in a shopping mall in Lisbon.
Mulholland Drive
A mind-bending film. Lots of funny little David Lynch-isms to keep you amused – I liked Angelo Badalamenti as the Coffee Nazi. And lots of fun to sit around after wards and figure out how it all fits together.
The Man Who Wasn’t There
What a great film. What a great performance from Billy Bob Thornton. What great cinematography. And what a strange ending.
The Fellowship of the Ring
Breathtakingly exciting, and breathtakingly beautiful. And it took my breath away too.
Harry Potter
Well, it was exactly like the book, so not really worth watching. Still, nicely put together – the casting was pretty good, the special effects were good (Lord of the Rings comparisons are probably unfair), and the overacting performances were just right.
Karmavore
The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Film at karmavore.com is a bunch of capsule reviews of films that dare to portray women not as damsels in distress, love interests or other plot devices, but as characters in their own right. There are some excellent recommendations on this very nicely designed site. And they deserve a medal for coming up with that name.
Amelie
Quirky, great-looking and silly. What’s not to like about it? I even liked it on second viewing, even the corny ending, which actually wasn’t jarring.