Peterbe.com

"Adaptation was supposed to have been a straightforward adaptation of the fact-based novel The Orchid Thief but instead Kaufman turned his script into the story of his problems adapting such a difficult book for the screen."

I saw this film today and it is probably one of oddest and softest films I've seen in a looong time.

It's about a Hollywood screenplay-writer called Charlie Kaufman (played by Nicolas Cage) and his twin brother Donald (also played by Nicolas Cage). Charlie is the sensitive and talented one but has absolutely no confidence in himself or his work. He envies his brother Donald who is just as extrovert as Charlie is introvert. Here's a picture from the film

Charlie's job is to write a screenplay based on a book about flowers but he can't do it so eventually he instead writes about him trying to write the screenplay. That's what the film is about. Oddly self recursive somehow.

Nicolas Cage, Maryl Streep and Chris Cooper all do a wonderful job in this film. The best I've ever seen of any of them.

Charlie Kaufman has also written the screenplay for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Being John Malkovich and here is a page with a picture of him and there is also a picture on this IMDB.com page.

Movie trailer
IMDB.com page

Just got back from the premiere of The Matrix Revolutions which is the last in the trilogy of the Matrix films.

I don't want to spoil it for anybody but I can say that I was impressed. Lots of computer animated laser guns, flying punches and causality questions. The story is as expected pretty shit but who cares. I didn't go to see the film for the love story or the "We're doomed! ...unless a miracle happens".

One thing is for certain: Don't rent this film on VHS. See it at the cinema with great sound and wide screen.

I particularly enjoyed the final fighting scene. My immediate impression is that Jacky Chan, Let Li et. al. have a lot of catching up to do :)

IMDB
Slashdot (careful some spoilers in the comments)
Pessimistic BBC.co.uk review

Uma Thurman, Quentin Tarantino and martial arts. How can that fail? It can't!

Johan and I went to see Kill Bill vol. 1 tonight and I am positivly surprised. My expectations were high nomatter how much I tried to surpress them.

Just one little warning: Don't see this film if you have fear of blood; animated, sprayed or poured. There's plenty of it and it took some getting used to.

Just like Natuarl Born Killers there's lots of changes in the format of the film, but not as much. There's one particular moment where Uma has killed some people with her sword in black and white and as she stops for a moment and blinks, the film changes to colour again. Splendid! Other than depicting past time, many films who try to be artistic change back and forth between black and white and colour for no particular reason. In this film it really made sense.

Enough said! Go and see the film when you can.

Trailers IMDB page

I just saw One upon a time in Mexico and it think it was pretty shit.

Antonio Banderas with his bloody guitar the whole time and like many others almost invinsible to bullets.

Shooting and blood the whole time. If you really want to see a film with lots of guns and violence but good, you should go and see City of God instead.

And also, if you're a fan of Salma Hayek (like me) you will be disappointed because she's in the film only for a few minutes.

Downloaded Best in Show yesterday and saw it today.

It's a fake documentary (like The Idiots and The Office) about a couple of totally mental american citizens. They're crazy about their dogs and the documentary is all about how they're getting prepared for the big Mayflower Dog Show in Philadelphia.

Made me laugh many times. I kept wondering: all the expertise they must have had must have been from the very same people they mock.

Last week I went to (finally) see City of God at Prince Charles Cinema and it was great. The reviews about the film was all promising and I had my hopes up high; a bit afraid that would ruin it, but it didn't.

This film really takes you "into the picture". I.e. it feels like you're there with them. How they do that I don't know but you feel scarily close to the violence and guns that appear a lot in the film.

A little piece of advise is to stay for the credits after because they show a little extra bit from the real true story.

Official site (shit, but has trailer link)
Pictures

Today I went to see Whale Rider at Odeon in High Street Kensington. We were first going to see Pirates of the Caribbean but the air conditioner in the auditorium was broken and in this heat even I wouldn't sit hour and a half with 50 people sweating like a pig.

The Whale Rider is one of those films which has lots of rewards from small international film festivals, and I now think the film deserves them all.

It's about cute little Pai on New Zealand. She's a Mauri and should be the heir to the trone as chief of the little village. The only problem is that she's a girl which her grandfather cannot accept. That is what the film is about.

You get a warm feeling for these people and their culture. If you think the dance sequence the "all blacks" do before a rugby game is chick, you'll love this film.

All in all the film feels like a sweet fairy tale like Amelie from Montmartre but with a contemporary important message. I suggest that you go to see this film. It's one of the most comfortable films I've seen this year.

Just went to see Terminator 3 at Warner Village in Angel.

Actually not too bad. It was fun and had some entertaining scenes in terms of action. The car chase scenes were great. Maybe I think this only because I saw it at the cinema with great sound.

A lot of old tricks from Terminator 2 Judgement day was in this film too. Like "I'll be back" and getting a biker outfit. This was bad but I suppose it was inevitable to connect this film with the previous one.

The film made me laugh many times. Almost always when Arnold does something almost ironic for example when he says "Talk to the hand!" as you'll see when you see the film.

My suggestion is: Go watch it. Don't expect too much and see it at the cinema unless you have a great home cinema system.

A plus for the atomic bomb explosion scenes.