Eight films what I saw

My brain is still absent without leave. I found a meme I meant to do but even that was too taxing. However, I get withdrawal if I don't blog for a few days and I have watched a load of films this spring. So I decided to review all the films I have recently seen which have been released on DVD in the UK since the beginning of 2007, in under fifty words each. If I try to review anything properly, smoke will come out of my ears, but this way you'll at least know what to watch and what not to, given that my taste in such things is impeccable.

In order of least-liked to most-liked:

Borat - Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. When you see truly bigoted people being taken for a ride, it is all fine and dandy, but some of the people involved in this film seemed both genuine and completely obvious, a combination of which made this embarrassing and uncomfortable to watch.

The Devil Wears Prada. I kind of hoped this would be funnier, but as it wasn't, I found it rather boring. However, it is most likely not my kind of movie. I instinctively imagine the book is better but it’s probably not my kind of book either. One for girlier girls, I reckon.

The Queen. It's very well done and everything, but I didn't really see much point to it. The film merely recounted events which were pretty much as anyone might have imagined events must have been. Still, Helen Mirren is great, even though it is quite discombobulating to find the Queen so sexy.

A Scanner Darkly. From the Philip K. Dick novel about one man’s downward spiral of paranoia fueled by recreational drug-taking and a culture of surveillance. The whole thing has been filmed and then made to look like a cartoon, which makes the whole thing even weirder than it already is. Um, interesting..?

The History Boys. From the Alan Bennett play, which feels very much like a play all the way through. With a few significant reservations, this was really good. [...], however, hated it so much that we had to stop it half way and watch Pretty Woman instead. Some people!

Pan's Labyrinth. This is great, but with surreality compounded in my case by fatigue and subtitles . It is about a little girl who befriends a faun, except with all the darkness and violence of the arse end of the Spanish Civil War, which is, of course, won by the wrong side.

Thank You For Smoking. I liked this film a lot. Our hero is a lobbiest for the tobacco industry, attempting to maintain a positive image for cigarettes. It is very funny, but it’s a kind of subtle wit which is rather rare in movies. Sort of Yes, Minister humour for the twenty-first century.

Little Miss Sunshine. I loved this film. It was one of those movies that makes you feel like you belong. It is a great film about the nature of winning and losing. I really ought to write a proper review some time, but please go and watch it in the meantime.


Edit: Meanwhile, as I didn't see until just after I published this, Timbo has also been going goggled-eyed.