Movie Review: Hot Fuzz

So, yesterday we decided to catch a matinee and we'd heard good things about the movie Hot Fuzz. It's a movie along the same line as Shaun of the Dead only this time, they are poking fun at cop movies instead of zombie movies.



I loved it! They did a superb job and it was laugh-out-loud funny. Simon Pegg does a brilliant job especially partnered up with his co-star from SotD.



This is definitely a movie to see and I guarantee that it'll end up in our DVD collection (sooner or later).

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Movie Review: Pan's Labyrinth

So, I saw this over a week ago now, but things were just too busy for me to review it right away. Plus, this is a film that definitely needs some digesting time and distance before I could formalize my ideas about it.

I'll start by saying that this is NOT a children's movie! We ran into a friend and his mom at the theatre who were seeing the movie because someone told them it was like a Narnia movie. Well, the comparison there is only true in the strictest thematic academic way possible. In terms of mood, it definitely is not like Narnia and any dark and scary elements that Narnia may have had seem like nothing compared to Pan's Labyrinth.

The movie is a foreign film made my a director whom I've heard is known for his work in the horror genre. I wouldn't call this film a horror movie, but I can definitely see his background coming through the movie. The suspenseful moments and dark feel of it are definitely reminiscent of a horror film. But, the subject and mood are different.

The film is set in Spain during WWII. The main character is a little girl who's widowed mother has remarried a man in the Spanish army. His job is to route out the rebel forces that are hiding in the country side. He is brutally efficient at his job and passionately believes in fascist politics of the time. He is cruel and only really concerned with his heir and unborn son. He isn't portrayed as a fanatical archetype though. He is given a realistic psyche which makes his character even more disturbing in its cruelty.

The fantasy elements of the movie are present from the beginning but so are the dark elements. We meet a fairy right away, but the way it is presented is in a cloak of forboding. The sound effects and cinematography are brilliantly done to achieve this mix of fancy and frightfulness.

There are interesting parallels between the girl and her step-father. Each are in difficult positions navigating through all the grey areas between what is good and what is evil; following orders or following what is right. Building toward the climax they do an excellent job of juxtaposing the cruelty of war and loss that the girl faces in the real world and her descent into the fairy-tale world. The fairy-tale world may be different from her own, but it is not all happiness and sunshine. There is the promise of happiness but first she must face several trials. I won't say anything about how the events all play out because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I'll just say that you can't even sit easy at the end because you're not sure what to make of it. It could be interpreted either way really.

It's a film that I hesitate to say is a "good" movie. It's one that I'm glad that I've seen it, but I probably won't watch it again. (In fact, my 'watching' of it is questionable in the first place since I spent sections with eyes closed and even plugged my ears a few times! Since it was a foreign film I'm sure I missed a bit of dialogue, but the dialogue wasn't really the important parts of those moments.) I like that the movie doesn't clearly take a side and it isn't all neat and resolved at the end. It makes you think and I like to think about the films I see. I loved the effects, artwork, lighting, and sound effects of the movie. If I could watch it again just for these elements I would, but the plot is a bit too overwhelming for me to handle. The story I can talk about in a detached way, but again, couldn't really sit through watching it again.

Organizing Tool: Shelfari

Drum roll please! Here it is! A long-overdue post reviewing the online organizing/sharing book site cleverly called Shelfari.

I'd been looking for a site like this after finding a similar app/website for DVD collections (which I've decided to review in a separate post, so I can go into depth the way I want to) called DVD profiler. Most of the book oriented apps/programs were ok but had some major flaws. While Shelfari is far from perfect, it's the best one I've been able to find so far. Plus, it's in beta so they are still actively developing it to improve the features. (That's also a downside since you're going to get all the bugs associated with a beta project). Now, let me jump right in to the review . . .

Features I Like

Here's an overview of some of what I consider the more valuable features . . .

1. Tags
   Ok, if you have a site like that and DON'T integrate tagging, you're just asking for failure. Not having tags in this day in age is like being without teased hair in the 80's! I really like this because it allows you to put books into multiple categories. I know I've always had a hard time sorting books into just one category in the past because many books have more than just one thing going on that you might want to reference them by. Plus, you can make your own categories. Plus, if you are a fan of a particular genre, you can see what other people are tagging with this category. Unfortunately, for the time being, actually tagging all your books is time-consuming with a bit of a clunky and inelegant interface. Hopefully, that will improve over time though. I submitted feedback about this and got a reply that it was something they were working on.



2. Reviews and Discussions
   This feature I think is great for it's potential, and not necessarily what is actively happening. You can read Amazon reviews as well as reviews from other Shelfari users. You can also submit a review from a book. Then there's the separate option to start a discussion on a book. So far, it doesn't seem as though people are really using this option to its full potential since it could form the basis for an ongoing book-club type of meeting place. This is something that I might try to explore a bit more in the future by starting some discussions about the books I'm reading.



3. Blogging and Bucks
   Another cool feature they've integrated, is they allow people to create a widget to add to their blog so that they can share part of, or all of the books on their shelf. Not only does this allow you to share what you're reading with people who visit your blog, but it also allows people who affiliate with Amazon another way to earn some revenue. It's actually made me consider being an Amazon affiliate, because this seems an easy way to potentially earn some revenue without subjecting my readers to advertising. You'll probably be seeing this little widget sooner or later on my blog. I don't want to put it up quite yet since I don't have enough of our books entered on Shelfari yet. Plus, I'd like to go through and have some tags up there first too.

Now I'd like to show you a bit of what Shelfari looks like . . .



This is your homepage. One of the things I find kind of frustrating right now is that not all of the books we own have the cover art uploaded. It looks really cool when they all have the appropriate covers on because it's like looking at a book display. I'm also finding it difficult to find the same edition that I have. You can add your own edition to their list, but chances are you won't have any cover art for it. Hopefully more cover art will get added as the service expands. As it stands right now, you can't scan in your own cover art either.






This is how you build your bookshelf. I have several issues with their interface. You can search by several different factors: ISBN (what I use most frequently), title, author, or subject. But, you can't combine any of these into a more advanced search. So, if you don't get it by ISBN and enter author name, you could get tonnes of search pages that you need to click through to find your book. Plus, one of the things I've found is that the same book could have multiple publishing companies, binding types, etc. But, as it stands right now, you can't search by any of these methods. I've found that my particular edition isn't often found, so I have to add it. But you usually don't have any cover art associated with it then. I'm really hoping they improve this feature soon. It'd be really nice to search for a bunch of books at once too. I've gotten quite a few uploaded, but I'm not even through one bookcase and we have four (not to mention a few boxes of books still). This project may take me years, especially with all the tagging aspects of it. But, I still think it's worth it.

Once you've added a book to your shelf, there is no way to immediately tag the book at the same time. You have to go to your shelf, view the book details and add tags from there. Then go back to your shelf and start building to get the next book. In my opinion it takes way too many clicks. It'd be really nice if once you clicked the button to add a book to your shelf, a box would appear for you to enter the tags quickly, without ever really leaving the search/build screen. Hopefully they are also working to improve upon this feature.




When you are looking at the books on your shelf, passing your mouse over one will bring up a menu for actions for that book. Here you can add tags, assign books to lists (top 10, reading, or wish list), start a discussion, or read reviews. You can also see if a book has any activity surrounding it, either a discussion or some opinions on it. Unfortunately, the menus sometimes stick open making it difficult to navigate around the site or get to the book menu you want.

Now, as you can see, it still has a long way to go before being a truly awesome site. However, there are a few important reasons why I'm toughing through the early stages and getting my collection input on the site.

• I'm really hoping the discussion aspect of the site will open up once people start using it like an online book group. I want to join a book group, but it's too difficult logistically to get everyone to meet regularly, not to mention the time constraints and differing opinions on what everyone should read. This may be a way of connecting with people who are reading what I am and discussion different aspects of literature with them.



• I want people to see the kind of books I'm interested in. If I have a book that one of my friends wants to borrow then they'll be able to find out and ask for it. Shelfari also has a feature that allows you to 'lend out' books on the site. Basically you can track which books you've loaned out and which ones you actually have at home. Also, if people see what I'm interested in, they may get ideas of books to recommend to me.



• I'm very paranoid and obsessive compulsive about lists. But this serves a practical function too. Imagine you are one of the people who had their house burn down. There were several I heard about this year alone. Yes, you'd be worried about your immediate necessities first, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to have a list of all the books you had, so you could replace some of them at least? This makes it ultra simple, as you'd only have to log on and place an order from Amazon.

Well, I think this post has been long enough. If you've made it to the end, thanks for sticking around. If you decide to try out Shelfari, or already are on board with it or another book organizing program, leave a message in the comments.

Movie Reviews: Derailed and North Country

Today I was planning on doing a big crafty roundup, but I'm feeling a bit uninspired. Plus, I realized that not all of my links for it are on del.icio.us, but a few are still saved at my home PC in my Firefox bookmarks, and I would really like to include those too. But, I still wanted to post something, so I figured I'd do two really quick reviews of a couple of (perfectly legal) movies a friend/co-worker lent to me.

Movie #1: Derailed

This movie stars Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen and is categorized as a suspense/thriller movie. It is based on a book, which I am morbidly curious about now that I've seen the movie.

I won't really try to describe the plot too much, but the basics are that two people meet (Aniston and Owen) and decide to start an affair, but get blackmailed by a 'violent criminal' (Vincent Cassel).

To be quite honest, I'm not really a fan of Aniston movies. I usually find her performance quite flat. However, she often stars in films opposite good looking guys and the movies are generally light and fluffy romantic comedy type films. Not my favourite genre, but good for an occassional indulgence. Clive Owen I've seen in King Arthur and in Sin City, neither of which really lived up to their hype in my opinion (and I don't even really remember Owen in Sin City either). I don't think this movie really improved my opinion of either actor.

The plot I found a bit interesting. The book might be the one thing that could improve upon it. However, I didn't really find the criminal mastermind very intelligent. My biggest beef was what he did with all the money he was getting. You'd think he could have laundered at least some of it. Or, how about not keeping it all in the same location, in the same bag it was delivered in.

The one small glimmer of a highlight in the movie was Vincent Cassel, whose performance I thought was the most convincing. I've enjoyed him in all the roles that I've seen him in (Elizabeth, Ocean's Twelve, and Brotherhood of the Wolf) and looking at his entry in IMDB, he's been quite busy. I love the amount of expression he has in his voice (he was also Monsieur Hood in Shrek) and eyes. I think he's an actor I'll look out for in the future.

Movie #2: North Country

This movie is based on actual events surrounding a class action sexual harrassment case during the 1980's. It stars Charlize Theron, Sissy Spacek, Sean Bean, and Woody Harrelson.

I enjoyed the performances and plot much more in this film than in Derailed. It wasn't a big blockbuster movie, but I thought it was executed quite well. It's not something I'd keep in my personal collection, but it was worth watching. The performances were all quite strong, but I particularly liked Theron and Spacek. Their work together on screen was fabulous. Sean Bean was also great as a supporting actor along with Woody Harrelson.

There's a lot of movies that are coming out this season that I'd love to see. But, not sure I'll get a chance to. We'll see what movie I get a chance to review next.

Book Review: Songs for Summer by Eva Ibbotson

I'm not going to explain the story at all for this one. I was trying to explain it to my husband yesterday in the car and it came out sounding like a bad soap opera. It really isn't that bad.

The story is set in the late 30's and early 40's and deals a lot with war politics in Europe. There are a lot of themes that get tossed around, but I don't really think they get explored as fully as they could. It had a similar tone and mood as other books I've read that are set in a similar time and era.

It's not a superb book, and it's a bit of a chick lit book when you get right down to it. I'm quite interested to read The Star of Kazan by the same author to see how it compares.

I haven't started reading another book, but I think I might re-read The Secret Garden soon. I'm going to try and make some headway on my Nintendo DS for a while.

Book Review: A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End

Ok, so I'll try to keep my review short, sweet, and spoiler free.

I really enjoyed how the last book wrapped things up. There are 2 plots in this series. The first, is the story of the Baudelaire orphans, Count Olaf, and the confusing VFD. The second plot, is the story of the narrator, who is also connected to the first plot.

In regard to the main plot I think it ended quite well. The denoument was not too rushed. The author stayed true to his writing style throughout. The characters had satisfying development. And, the ending was as believable as the rest of the story was. That's really all I can say about it without giving too much away. While nothing is certain, I get the feeling that book 13 was the last book telling the story of the Baudelaire orphans.

The second plot, the one that is only hinted and teased at throughout by the narrator, delivered perfectly. It's the kind of thing that the narrator couldn't just interject and explain to the reader, since that would be drastically against the narrator's character type. But, the final clue to it all is laid out for the reader. This is the plot that is going to compell me to read the whole series over again (preferrably when I own them all and can do it continuously). The two plots worked together exquisitely well, serving to deepen the mystery, heighten the suspense, and add a layer of complexity to the story and about how and why the story is being written.

I enjoyed the series as a reader. It was entertaining and not too easy to guess the plot twists and turns. Some parts were a little slow and the narrator's melodramatic tone could be tiresome at times. But, the enjoyable parts far outweighed the negatives.

I enjoyed the series as a teacher. I can see these books as an excellent addition to any classroom library. The series also opens up many different issues that would be of interest to kids. For example, I'm sure students could go on quite passionately about the differents ways in which the Baudelaire orphans are treated by the adults in their lives. Or, there is also the classic good vs. evil conflict to explore. I think this would also be a delightful read aloud for the whole class. It would give the students an opportunity to work through the difficult and confusing passages together and demonstrate that even the adult teacher can be confused by a book (well, it would if I were the teacher).

Finally, I enjoyed the series as a writer. Whether you love it or hate it, you can't deny that the author has a very distinctive writing style. The narrators voice definitely comments on and colours the story. Even the page layout sometimes serves to enhance the meaning in the story. None of it is done in an arrogant or overbearing fashion either. It is all part of the story. The story wouldn't be the same if the narrator were removed and the plot would be far less enjoyable if it didn't have the melodramatic flair to it. It's a great example of how a story can be so much more than just words on a page.

Audiobook Review: Princess in Training by Meg Cabot

I grabbed this on a whim the last time I was at the library last week. I realized the wonderful world of audiobooks when I listened to The Devil Wears Prada while painting my garage. It's great for those guilty pleasure books. The kind that are plot driven without complex literary features, allegories, themes, etc. These are the kinds of books that I enjoy reading once in a while, but that are not absolutely essential to read. So, by listening to them, I still enjoy all the juicy plot bits, but don't feel as though I'm missing out on a literary experience. Plus, I can listen while I do other things, because missing a small bit isn't going to ruin the book for me.

Anyway, this book is one of Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries Series. I think they are good entertaining books and are pretty well written too. One of the things that I like about this series is that it's written as though you are reading the journal of the young princess. This feature is quite interesting as a book, but listening to a narration of it is a bit difficult. Especially when the book had bits that were text messages, emails, or instant messages. It is one thing to read "OMG!!!" It is quite another to listen to someone narrate it. Plus, the author makes quite good use of typeface cues for emotion and emphasis. These came across in the audio version, but not with the same charm as in the book. Plus, the princess sometimes lists things, has class schedules in there, homework, etc. and these are much more easily digested as a visual.

One thing I liked about this book was that the character made reference to the movies as though they were based on her life, rather than the first books. She actually pointed out their innaccuracies. It was kinda funny to hear it commented on in the story. Another interesting bit of meta-writing was when the main character made an argument about the validity of entertainment media.

I found the main character to be a bit wearisome to listen to. Perhaps I'm just older than I was when I started reading it. I can see where it would have a lot of appeal and recognition for teenage girls though.

Overall, another enjoyable story, perhaps not the best format to enjoy it in though.

Side note: still haven't seen the second movie. Now I'm in the mood to watch that one.

Movie Review: Kingdom of Heaven

I'm getting a bit caught up with my reviews, as the weekend was spent cleaning, exercising, catching up with friends, and (a little) relaxing.

I had only mediocre hopes for this movie. It was a movie that was capitalizing on Orlando Bloom's success after Lord of the Rings and on the trend for epic movies. I mentioned in an earlier post that it was released around the same time as two other 'epic' movies: King Arthur and Alexander, if my memory can be trusted. I didn't much care for King Arthur and don't really have any desire to see Alexander. It looks as though Kingdom of Heaven is about as satisfying as the other two.

The viewer isn't given much of a chance to get to know Orlando's character. We know that his wife committed suicide and he is very sad and grieves for her. Then he kills a priest for saying bad things about her. I guess to give us an idea of the intensity of his mourning. Then his long lost father comes into town and they go off together. His father doesn't really know him, we don't really know him, but they all are big name actors, so they much be the good guys, right? I think they were stretching it a bit personally.

So, none of the characters really get a satisfying back story in my opinion. I would have liked to have seen more development of even a few of the main players. And how about we get to know a bit more about the Saracens while we're at it. That would also let us hear and see more of the fabulous Alexander Siddig who doesn't really get a lot of screen time.

The second main objection I had also centers around the character of Orlando Bloom. When we are introduced to him, in what seems to be a small village, he is the blacksmith. We can see he immediately stands out, since he can apparently read. But, his talents do not end there. After one sword lesson by some of his father's men at arms, he becomes an expert and defeats a Saracen shortly after he arrives in the middle east. (This is an even more amazing feat considering the fact that he was the only human survivor when his ship crashes on the shore. A beautiful black horse also survives completely unscathed from the ordeal as well.) Then, he takes quite quickly to his lordship as his father is ill and dies a short time after. He is given his father's estate in Jerusalem and makes an instant bond with it and with it's people. He is also the first person to think of digging a well in the dessert. (A skill I must assume he learned in his rainy province of France, and something no one in a dessert could ever imagine to do.) When the battles begin for Jerusalem, he is revealed as a genius of military tactics and he is given absolute devotion by all the men fighting with him. The only trace of a lesson we get through the whole movie is when he arrives to meet one of the royals and momentarily touches a model of a seige tower. I guess learning by osmosis really works. Either that, or learning to be a blacksmith encompasses many more skills than I had realized before.

There were a few nice things about the movie. If you like some epic battle scenes, this movie has some for you. Also, great scenery! The costumes and sets were all marvelous and really helped the movie feel as though you were there. There were a few really good actors, but as I mentioned they didn't really get much of a character to develop.

Book Review: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

So, a couple of days ago, I had about half of a review typed out and *thought* it got saved as a draft before my computer crashed. I came to check today, and apparently I was wrong. Since I am in a lazy mood, I'll just point you to the review that got me interested and aware of the book in the first place. I found the review through my favourite book blog - Jen Robinson's Book Blog.

I will add a few of my own comments on things that I particularly enjoyed. There was a nice amount of magic in the world. Enough to make magic 'magical' in the story and not enough so that it was commonplace. The author also did a good job of retelling the fairy tale so that it would appeal to a modern audience. In particular, the main character is easy to identify with.

I'm quite pleased to know that there is at least one other story that takes place within the same world.

Movie Reviews

So fall has arrived here in the lower mainland. While we continue to have sunshine the average temperature is dropping. The days are getting noticeable shorter again. The selection of summer produce is getting less and less at the local market. Our Thanksgiving was a fairly simple family affair at mom's. Lots of delicious food - the turkey was traditional, the perogies were . . . well maybe traditional German food, but not really your standard Thanksgiving fare. Something about this time of year makes me want to curl up at home and watch some movies or read some good books. So, Monday evening, hubby and I went out to the video store, where we managed to pick out 5 weekly rentals (we very rarely get new releases). Lance just noticed today that of the 5 movies we rented, only one of them is English. I wonder what that says about us.

I'll start this with the caveat that I'm not very good at movie reviews. I love discussing movies, but I don't really 'rate' them or anything. Plus, sometimes it's very difficult to express how I feel about them. I'll also mention I'm tired and (technically) working right now, so I don't really have time to look up all the details or find any great links.

Movie #1: Kung Fu Hustle

Yes, this is one of those super-cheesy martial arts movies. It is made by the same group of people who did Shaolin Soccer (I believe the main actor/creator's first name is Sam . . . ). When we saw Shaolin Soccer (hereafter SS), we loved it. It was full of cheesy campy martial arts funniness. Totally awesome special effects that played into the campiness of it and a plot that poked fun at the standard epic martial arts 'quest.' So, when we sat down to watch Kung Fu Hustle (hereafter KFH), we were expecting something similar. Maybe it was the setting or they were trying too hard, but it didn't deliver the same way as SS did.

The movie is set in a 1940's China (I assumed) that is overrun by gangsters. They had some awesome costumes and sets for the movie, so at first I was hoping they would really poke fun of the era and take more advantage of that. Perhaps it would have more of a campy musical-meets-martial-arts type of feel to it? Well, I was wrong. There were a few moments that were prime for parody and they were left to fizzle out. The movie also felt as though there wasn't any one primary 'quest' or purpose. The plot felt a bit jumbled and there were a few scenes that had me wondering about their purpose in the whole movie.

On the bright side, there were still some humourous moments (the knife-throwing scene particularly resonated with Lance and I) and some great campy martial arts. I would definitely recommend watching KFH before SS to really appreciate it.

Movie #2: Steam Boy

This movie is an anime movie. Anime is quite a rich genre with a lot of possible variation among different movies. But, I can't really narrow down the type of movie any more. Maybe my brain is just having a pause and not coming up with the correct term.

The movie is made by the same person who made the well-known movie Akira (I can't remember the person's name right now). It is set in Victorian England (it was a bit strange at first to see Victorian characters speaking Japanese, but I adjusted quite quickly) and is centered around a family of inventors. Steam power was the driving force at the time and the movie takes a few liberties with the capabilities of steam engines and steps a bit toward Science Fiction at parts. The core of the movie is definitely a popular theme in SciFi as it questions the purposes of science. However, the movie is not filled with scientific jargon and is quite accessible (or perhaps I'm more of a SciFi geek than I like to admit).

The main character goes through a bit of a struggle as he tries to decide who is right and who is to be trusted. He finally has to stand on his own and make his own decisions independent of others. The movie is quite serious, but does have a few funny moments. They aren't really laugh out loud moments, but they lighten the mood a bit.

Both Lance and I really enjoyed this movie and would recommend it if you enjoy anime movies and reading subtitles (I didn't even check if there's a dubbed option on the DVD.)

The other movies we rented may or may not get reviewed as I see them. It really depends on the relative levels of business vs. laziness on my part. But, I'll tell you what they are, 'cause I know you're wondering . . .

Castle in the Sky - It's by the same guy who did Spirited Away, whose name I can't remember either. I do remember that the production studio is called "Studio Ghibli" though. This was the one movie we'd seen before. We'd own it if we could find it at a reasonable price. That in itself should serve as an indicator of how well we liked it the first time we saw it.

The Chorus - This is one that I saw a preview for on the apple site a long time ago. I liked the preview well enough to put it on my list of movies I want to watch (yes, I have an actual list in my palm pilot). It's also a foreign film (the title is actually Les Chorsitres, but don't check my spelling on that) about a man who goes to a boy's school and turns things around with his music program. My description makes it sound like Mr. Holland's Opus. Maybe it IS like that movie, just in French. But, I'm kinda a sucker for music movies.

Kingdom of Heaven - We still haven't seen this and we kinda want to. Not sure if it'll be any good, but it's one we have to see to decide if it's worthy of adding to our collection, or just another piece of fluff. It came out about the same time as King Arthur and Alexander. We saw King Arthur in theatres and laughed at the inaccuracies. I'd own that one only if we were determined to collect all the King Arthur movies out there. That would mean also permitting First Knight into our collection and I don't think that'll be happening any time soon. Alexander I've seen parts of and it didn't really do much for me. Even the previews didn't really spark my interest much. So, now we have to see if the last movie is good enough to redeem the epic movies of (insert correct season/year here) or if they all sucked.

This is turning into a long post, but I also want to briefly mention that I picked up a few books at the library yesterday. They are both young adult fiction and I'm almost half way through the first one and am LOVING IT! It's called The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. It's a retelling of a fairy tale and I have those bittersweet butterflies in my stomach when I read it that tell me I want to read more but am also sad because the more I read the faster it'll be over. Only a few books really do that to me. The other book I got is by Eva Ibbotson and is a more modern book. I believe it falls in and around the time of WWII. I'm also looking forward to that book. I also got myself an audiobook of Meg Cabot's Princess in Training. I haven't read it, but it's one that I don't feel as though I *have* to read to enjoy it. Again, I make no promises about forthcoming reviews on any of these.