Last time I was in Santa Barbara, the condo I was put in had no TV. Well, it had a TV but the picture was terrible. If you already knew what the program was about you could sometimes tell what was possibly happening. Being of an engineering disposition, I had a look round the back of the TV and it looked like the cable had been yanked really hard at some point and someone had glued it back in position. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to have done a good job, if indeed any job at all, of reconnecting the electrical pathways between the cable connector and the innards of the TV set. By jiggling the connector around I could get a merely poor picture, with at least audible audio, but since I had to remain at the back of the TV to maintain that position its contribution to my viewing experience was limited. More unfortunately still, it seemed the repairer had reconnected the cable to the connector while the glue was still wet, and thus the cable was glued into the back of the set, while electrically disconnected.

Fortunately DVD players could be had for $30 and a membership PLUS 1 month’s unlimited movie rental from the local Blockbuster was only $14.50 or something. Here follows a lightning review of my viewing.

13/10/05

FRENCH CONNECTION, THE

Good cop movie, violent, but maybe not gratuitously so. It has a great nihilistic edge to it. Dvd extras are interesting too, seeing the actual new york cops the film is based on.

LAST SAMURAI, THE

Tom Cruise’s Dances With Wolves has him the idealistic hero caught up in sympathy with a culture destined to be wiped out. Cruise’s character is less squeaky clean though. The Samurai are treated respectfully, even reverentially in the film. Enough action to satisfy the vacant hollywoodgoer, but also poetry, cherry blossoms, a muted suppressed-love story… great film.

15/10/04

SNAKE IN THE MONKEY’S SHADOW

Early Hong Kong Kung Fu flick. Like Drunken Master but no jokes or Jackie Chan. Some great kung fu. Cool/Terrible movie.

SHIRI

Korean action flick. Pap.

16/10/04

KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE

Silly. First movie by the people who made Airplane. Funny, dated, features norks. Yay!

MASTER & COMMANDER: FAR SIDE OF THE WOOOOORLD

Probably rubbish, but I enjoyed it lots. Seemed to be too eager to educate us about interestin’ nautical facts. Cool that the officers were little kiddies and stuff. Great bit between the captain and his best friend the Doctor, when their lives’ ambitions come into conflict.

17/11/04

DAY AFTER TOMORROW, THE

Surprisingly intelligent (for hollywood - don’t get your hopes up!) pic. Wins bonus points for having British people with (a) real British accents (b) credible British behaviour (c) a distinct lack of a penchant for treachery and planting of bombs. Also contains a note of humility toward the 3rd world. Revelation!

TUXEDO, THE - WIDESCREEN

W00t! Tall Claire recommended this to me a LONG time ago as a great Jackie Chan flick, and I was not let down. Extremely enjoyable, plenty of what Jackie does best, and surprisingly little of what Jackie does badly. Outtakes are fun at the end watching his buffy-a-like assistant cracking up every time she looks at his face.

18/10/04

SHAOLIN DOLEMITE - THE MOVIE

I like crap movies, as long as they’re funny-crap, or cool-crap. This was so crap is was funny crap, then it wasn’t funny, then (for me) it was so not funny it was funny again. I’m glad I got this for free, and I’m glad I had something else to do while I watched it. It has ninjas, shao-lin, magic, voodoo, throwing stars, a prince, a ninja ho’ who can fight with her boobs, and a demon in dress socks. And davy crockett. You decide.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDLANDS

Great performances and one of those touching plots, stopped just short of sick-making pathos. Great characters. Main downside was lead girl’s bizarre accent that seemed to scoot around the country from Derby to Manchester.

20/10/04

MURIEL’S WEDDING

Had seen this before but forgotten what happened in it. Most enjoyable. A bit of a chick flick but with enough comedy for non-chicks.

FAHRENHEIT 9/11

Yay michael moore. If middle america had watched this surely the election would have gone the other way.

26/10/04

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN

What can I say, this documentary covers the lifestyles of the session guys who were the motown sound. They would seemingly play all the time, getting out of the studio sessions and straight down to the jazz club where they would improv all night. My appreciation of motown music has skyrocketed after watching this. There was no dubbing, no correcting of mistakes, everything had to be done live. These guys played on just about every motown hit from its inception to the mid ’70s. “More no.1 hits than the Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys and Elvis combined”

Wow. Thanks to Mikey for recommending this.

THE SCORE

Highly enjoyable heist movie with a little bit of depth and some cool twists in the tail.

28/10/04

SUPERSIZE ME

Watch this. I did. Buy a pedometer. I did. Cut down your junk food. I did. A bit.

TOUCHING THE VOID

Well made adaptation of the amazing book of the mind-numbing true story of a guy who fell down a mountain twice in one freezing evening and survived. I feel more sorry for the guy who left him for dead, then found out he wasn’t.

30/10/04

A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

At least three movies here. Tedious family drama with a sci-fi edge; ‘oo-no don’t kill the cute monster’ E.T.-type action tearjerker; and “My God, it’s full of stars!” bullshit at the end. Despite all this, enjoyed it a lot. The world is pretty convincing, the characters fun, and little (but fast growing) Haley-joel Osment fantastic in his kicked-puppy-but-this-time-a-robot-kicked-puppy role.

STARSHIP TROUPERS

Disappointed. Expected a braindead romp with big aliens and sort of got it, but it insisted on adding a shallowly-treated teen romance. Direction didn’t quite pull off the twists in the love story. For some reason, finding out the director was Dutch seemed to explain a lot.

01/11/04

SCHOOL OF ROCK

Started off weak but built. Diring the credits we get a real jam with some of the kids from the school of rock. Possibly the best bit.

KUNG POW! ENTER THE FIST

Ace ventura without the subtlety. If I’d been in company I would have been embarassed but as I was alone I laughed like a loon!