So hot on the heels of my horrendously late Week 7 post, here is my Week 8 post. This week’s topic is World Cinema and I have just the film in mind that I don’t think anyone else will write about! Huzzah!
Beowulf & Grendel
No, this is not the animated film starring Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, which although is alright, it’s not a patch on the live-action 2005 film starring Gerard Butler and Stellan Skarsgård (who, incidentally, is fantastic, and also stars as Bootstrap Bill Turner in Pirates of the Carribean, as well as Cerdic, a famous anglo-saxon king, in King Arthur). This proves that IMDB are wrong with their ratings on this one (6.5 for animated, 6.1 for live-action – it should be 7 for animated, 8 for live-action).
The film is an almost stylised version of the original poem, and it’s gritty and bloody. The film is Icelandic and I think really captures what I imagine that era to be like. Plenty of mead, raping, pillaging, blood and most importantly… troll rape. Yes you heard – this film has a slightly disturbing scene in which … well, I’ll leave it up to you to watch. I recommend this film – but take it with a pinch of salt. It’s just a great action film. With troll rape.
Bonus Points: Another foreign film I think is brilliant is City of God! So runner up to that…
Oh man, I’m so late with this Hannah is going to smack me around a bit… anyway, Metal Mummy is back with another Movie Meme and this week the topic is simply (hah!) the 80′s. Wow such a short theme title, yet covers a whole decade of films. There are no genre restrictions or anything – just the 80′s. I’m just going to go with the first awesome film I can think of because I’m so damn late with this post… sorry Hannah!
The Evil Dead
This is arguably one of the best horror films of all time. In it’s time it was groundbreaking, and now, it’s… well it’s just fantastic still. It’s timeless and never ceases to amuse me. Sam Raimi did himself proud with this film and used inventive filming techniques throughout. Shocking, yet noticeably tongue-in-cheek, this over-the-top horror/gore film really hits the spot with me. Never mind all these blockbusters and action films of the 80′s – this is where it’s at – low budget brilliance. Bruce Campbell is just fantastic and perfectly cast, and the sequels are almost on par, if yet many times more daft and ludicrous.
Dead by dawn!
With a record number of entries this week, Hannah’s Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme really is becoming quite a hit! So proud of you hun, so despite the horrendous theme of this week being Chick Flicks, I feel I should take part. So without further ado, my choice is:
The Notebook
I have to say, The Notebook is actually a rather fantastic film. It’s a truly idyllic romance film which has plenty of moments to make any lady gush. Based starting in 1940, the protagonists Noah and Allie meet and are inevitably destined to be together. It’s a real fairytale-inspired story with turmoil and heartbreak. A truly soppy film which I’m normally a fan of, but it does a really good job of getting you to empathise with the characters and thus getting more involved in the story.
I was, however, disappointed that a laptop didn’t feature in the film…
Oh and Rachel McAdams is fit in it. Much better than that Mean Girls crap anyway.
Well another week has passed and my lovely Hannah has done another Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme. This week’s topic is your favourite actor. Initially when Hannah asked me, I had no idea. There are so many good actors. I’ll focus on this one…
Sir Christopher Lee
A fantastic English actor he is, Sir Christopher Lee has been in numerous films. According to IMDB, he’s done/doing 269 films, and at a ripe old age of 88 is an impressive feat. That’s 3 films a year, and considering the Lord of the Rings trilogy took over 5 years to make by itself, I’m not quite sure how he did it… Nevertheless, this brilliant actor has been in many fantastic films and his deep, strong voice is instantly recognisable.
In fact his escapades are not just limited to screen acting, but he also does voice work (who wouldn’t with such a fantastic voice?) and does a surprising amount of singing for various artists and for his own work and featured on a couple of Rhapsody‘s albums.
A truly multi-talented man he is, I think Sir Christopher Lee is truly deserving of “my favourite actor” this week 
Click the lovely logo to visit Hannah’s blog and join in the fun!
This week’s Metal Mummy’s Movie Meme is chosing a film about actor Leonardo DiCaprio. He’s done quite a few great films, but someone has already done the one I was thinking of whilst reading Hannah’s blog post. So I’m going to do…
The Departed
Starring alongside Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and Martin “Father of #tigerblood” Sheen, DiCaprio plays an under cover police officer in a tangled web of gangster mayhem. Double bluffing and twisty turns make this film really enjoyable — and importantly for this film unpredictable.
My other favourite films starring Leo are Titanic (sorry Hannah, but I think it was fab), Blood Diamond, Catch Me If You Can and Romeo and Juliet (which was a close second to my choice this week!).
No, this is not the animated film starring Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, which although is alright, it’s not a patch on the live-action 2005 film starring Gerard Butler and Stellan Skarsgård (who, incidentally, is fantastic, and also stars as Bootstrap Bill Turner in Pirates of the Carribean, as well as Cerdic, a famous anglo-saxon king, in King Arthur). This proves that IMDB are wrong with their ratings on this one (6.5 for animated, 6.1 for live-action – it should be 7 for animated, 8 for live-action).
