Movie Watchings 2010 – March

Deutsche Version | February | April

March, 11th

10 Things I Hate About You

Director: Gil Junger

Heath Ledger … Patrick Verona
Julia Stiles … Kat Stratford
Joseph Gordon-Levitt … Cameron James
Larisa Oleynik … Bianca Stratford
David Krumholtz … Michael
Andrew Keegan … Joey Donner
Larry Miller … Walter Stratford

Synopsis: Cameron has a strong crush on Bianca but he’s not the only contender for her attention. His opponent Joey is not only a model but also financially well equipped. To make matters worse Bianca is only allowed to go on a date if her older sister Kat has one, too. And Kat has no intentions to date in the near future and she’s also not the most uncomplicated person.
Cameron needs to find someone who isn’t afraid of the challenge and that’s were Patrick Verona comes into play.

My Opinion: It’s a nice, modern day adaption of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Heath (RIP) and Julia make a great couple. They have to because even though this is a movie about a triangle and a couple only the couple really works. Especially Cameron and Bianca pale in comparison, Cameron even more so than Bianca who has at least a few good scenes with her sister and the Prom scene.
But it’s still very watchable and has a cool soundtrack.

March, 21st

Ghostbusters

Director: Ivan Reitman

Bill Murray … Dr. Peter Venkman
Dan Aykroyd … Dr. Raymond Stantz
Sigourney Weaver … Dana Barrett
Harold Ramis … Dr. Egon Spengler
Rick Moranis … Louis Tully
Annie Potts … Janine Melnitz
William Atherton … Walter Peck
Ernie Hudson … Winston Zeddmore

Synopsis: Peter, Ray and Egon are scientists in the widest sense of the word. They studied psychology and parapsychology and their experiments are on the fringe of actual science.
Their life changes drastically when the university fires them and the Sumerian God called Gozer tries to enter this world via Dana Barrett’s fridge.

My Opinion: It’s still a very funny movie and I still enjoy all the physical jokes in it, e.g. when they get slimed on or when they destroy a ball room with their proton packs or when Ray thinks of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
But I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by the quality of the Blu-ray. Especially in front of dark backgrounds you can see a lot of grain. They either didn’t clean up the picture at all or they didn’t do a very good job at it.

March, 31st

WALL·E

Director: Andrew Stanton

Ben Burtt … WALL·E / M-O (voice)
Elissa Knight … EVE (voice)
Jeff Garlin … Captain McCrea (voice)
Fred Willard … Shelby Forthright – BnL CEO
MacInTalk … AUTO (voice)
John Ratzenberger … John (voice)
Kathy Najimy … Mary (voice)
Sigourney Weaver … Ship’s Computer (voice)

Synopsis: WALL·E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth Class) is a robot that presses trash into cubes and piles them. It – he – has done it for the last 700 years and seems to be the only functioning robot left on Earth. The Humans left even more than 700 years ago. But then a search drone called EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) lands there to check if Earth has became inhabitable again. It – she – finds proof for that and returns to the last Humans out in space. And WALL·E, having fallen in love with her, begins his biggest adventure and follows her.

My Opinion: E.T. meets Number 5. 😉 The big eye trick always works. It’s fascinating how this movie manages to communicate so much without having the characters to say anything. I also love all these “product placement” jokes that aren’t in-your-face. Like when WALL·E has recharged, he makes the same sound a Mac does when it’s booted up. Or EVE looking like a modern day Apple product. But I also loved “Also sprach Zarathustra” (2001) or AUTO (HAL 9000 anyone?).
Then I watched the bonus material and laughed again about the short movie BURN·E and the way it interwove with WALL·E.

The Hangover

Director: Todd Phillips

Bradley Cooper … Phil Wenneck
Ed Helms … Stu Price
Zach Galifianakis … Alan Garner
Justin Bartha … Doug Billings
Heather Graham … Jade

Synopsis: Doug is about to marry and he, his friends and his wife’s brother want to enjoy their bachelor party in Vegas. Only that they can’t remember any of it the day after. And even worse: Doug has disappeared. But instead they have a tiger, a baby, a police car and a lot of trouble. What the hell is going on here?

My Opinion: The viewer is as puzzled as these three guys. The movie is a single row of WTF?! moments (especially when you see it for the first time) and the characters are all very “eccentric” on their own, especially Alan (the bride’s brother).
I had a lot of fun watching it again.

April