Emily Mortimer – Susan Hated Literature

28 SEP

Redbelt

When is a martial arts film not a film about martial arts? When it is a David Mamet film of course.

Redbelt tells the story of Mike Terry^[1] who is a struggling^[2] Jiu-jitsu instructor. His wife, Sondra is forced to direct money from her business into his in order to pay his bills. And she isn’t that happy about it. Especially because Mike will not fight in competitions; he sees them as weakening. A fight is a fight, a competition has rules and regulations, it isn’t a real fight. He also spouts “philosophical” statements about Jiu-jitsu and life in general. The main one being that there is always a way out.

Howl’s Moving Castle

I always meant to see Spirited Away, but never got around to it, so I’m glad I got a chance to see this film, by the same director, in the cinema. Based on the book of the same title by Dianna Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle is an anime cartoon telling the story of Sophie, a young hatmaker who is cursed by the Witch of the Waste and turned into a ninty year old woman. The only way for her to break the curse is to help Howl and his fire demon Calcifer break the curse that they are suffering under. Read more about Howl’s Moving Castle …

18 JUL

Veronica Guerin

Went to see Veronica Guerin last week. It a film based on the true story of Veronica Guerin, a journalist with the Irish Independent who was murdered in 1996 because of her investigations into organised crime in Dublin.

In the film Cate Blanchett plays Veronica and from what I could see the rest of the cast as played by Irish actors (including a wonderful cameo from Colin Farrell). Its a good film, but watching it I couldn’t help but try and compare it to what I would see as real, and obviously as a film it isn’t/wasn’t real. Still overall it was a good film, that doesn’t really take too many liberties with the truth (or at least what I think of as the truth). Read more about Veronica Guerin …