Movies, Movies, Movies - July

July was a banner month for movies, at home and away - check the [late] reviews:

Hancock: Loved it! Will Smith is perfect. Jason Bateman helps him make over his bad public image and Will plays along, learning to compliment people and improve his listening skills. The anti-hero superhero flick. Charlize delivers a surprising performance. Definitely worth seeing in theatres.

Wanted: Angelina is amazing in this and so is James McAvoy. Morgan Freeman turns up in this too (is he the hardest working man in show business today?) Unbelievable stunts and effects but a very, very violent film. Saw it with my brothers and Richard and then went out for dinner with a disappointingly long long wait.

The Dark Knight: Unlike Hancock who rules his movie, Batman is a supporting player in his own sequel. This film belongs to the Joker and Heath Ledger is incredible. Definitely an Oscar-worthy performance (and now he's nominated for a Golden Globe). He made me think of Jack Nicholson in The Shining (not in Tim Burton's Batman). This film is long and beautifully executed but ultimately I felt it had no soul. Replacing Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal was barely worth the effort. Aaron Eckhart was good (how many aa's between them?) and Gary Oldman and Micahel Caine were solidly reliable in their reprise performances. Maybe the producers had the film recut after Heath's death to salvage every one of his brilliant on-screen moments? Or maybe Batman just isn't tough enough to overcome the maniacal Joker? It was great to hear a similar take on the film by the British reviewer on BBC's The Culture Show.

En route to Dublin they actually showed us Drillbit Taylor with Owen Wilson helping out a bunch of kids. Whaaa?? I didn't even bother plugging in my earphones for that one. They also showed Definitely, Maybe with Ryan Reynolds as the father of Abigail Breslin who tells her the story of how he met her mother, one of 3 possible women. (Kind of like Mamma Mia where there are 3 possible dads.) Rachel Weisz and are great and even Kevin Kline shows up as her older lover and former prof. Glad I got to see this perfect inflight movie free (instead of paying $6.99 on Pay Per Vu)

While in Ireland we saw really cheesy movies on RTE Two including Blast from the Past with Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone. [Nothing could compare with the thrill of seeing Crime Spree (shot at the now closed Hargrave Pub) when we were in St. Martin in 2004.]

After finally enjoying some free wifi at Shannon Airport, we saw 3 movies on the way home:
1. The Other Boleyn Girl with Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana. REALLY enjoyed it (despite having to dodge the head of the kid who kept jumping up in front of me). I'm sure the book was engrossing but now I don't have to read it. Amazing how true stories can be the most shocking, even though IMdb says there are a few historical inaccuracies in the film.
2. Fool's Gold with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConnehey was TOTALLY lame. Plus, because it included a plane crash they edited out the last key scene and jumped to a ridiculously pat ending.
3. Over Her Dead Body starred Eva Longoria as a ghost bride who tries to sabotage her ex-fiance's new girlfriend - a beautiful psyhic. The captain kept interrupting the dialogue and it didn't matter because it was pretty lame and predictible.