Hmph. Well, I promised myself under threat of extermination that I would write about this one if it killed me since I’ve missed another batch of reviews (I’ll get to them, most likely repeat viewings will help me come up with something to say) and I just need to force myself to write. But, again, it’s a 2008 movie about which little can be said. I wanted to see this movie for a long time which sets it apart from a lot of this year’s stuff from the start. The funky title plus an Olsen twin where you wouldn’t expect to find an Olsen twin were enough for starters. When I found out it had Josh – Drake and Josh Josh, Josh Peck – in it too, plus Ben Kingsley not exactly being Ben Kingsley, it really looked promising and a screenplay nod at next year’s Oscars seemed (and still seems) like a shoe-in (it’s just that kind of movie – I don’t know).

But … meh. It’s all well and good. At the start, the 90s references threaten to become embarrassing: a Forrest Gump bus ad here, a gameboy there, beepers a whole character in themselves – “Has this got something to do with Kurt Cobain?” Kingsley (playing a psychotherapist) asks Peck at one point. But as the movie progresses, these gimmicky nods practically disappear entirely and are more notable by their absence, being as they were the movie’s most interesting aspect. By the end, it’s the kind of indie coming of age drama that’s been done many, many times before. For the 90s nostalgia, ironically, I’d sooner pull out a movie from the very year in which this one is set, Reality Bites (it’s similar in other ways too). For the coming of age stuff … boy, just take your pick. Don’t get me wrong, it’s kooky and quirky and all the actors do fine, particularly Kingsley – but it’s nothing special whatsoever.

An update is long overdue here – Autumn is coming, I’ve got a good solid two weeks coming up in which I fully intend to bring my movie-watching and reviewing back on track so don’t worry. I’m mainly doing this now, however, ‘cos I’m finally feeling it for two movies that I think everybody’s been feeling it for since forever, lol – Milk and Benjamin Button. The trailers for both look fantastic.

Disclaimers as always, it’s just a little fun, it’s still very early days yet; if you’re gonna comment (and please do comment, don’t let all this put you off; I don’t even have time to get mad these days lol) be nice about it; if something obvious is missing (like, until now, Milk and Button) it’s usually deliberate because I don’t predict anything unless, as I say, I “feel it” (whatever that means) ... but of course, let me know of lesser things I may have missed.

Best Picture

• Milk
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Mamma Mia!
• The Argentine / Guerrilla
• Defiance
• Revolutionary Road
• Wall-E / The Dark Knight ?

Best Director

• Gus Van Sant Milk
• David Fincher The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Sam Mendes Revolutionary Road
• Steven Soderbergh The Argentine / Guerrilla
• Edward Zwick Defiance

Best Actor

• Sean Penn Milk
• Frank Langella Frost/Nixon
• Josh Brolin W
• Leonardo Dicaprio Revolutionary Road
• Hugh Jackman Australia

Best Actress

• Meryl Streep Doubt / Mamma Mia!
• Julianne Moore Blindness
• Kate Winslet Revolutionary Road
• Dakota Fanning Hounddog
• Michelle Pfeiffer Cheri

Best Supporting Actor

• Josh Brolin Milk
• Michael Sheen Frost/Nixon
• Bryan Brown Australia
• Heath Ledger The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress

• Kathy Bates Revolutionary Road
• Dakota Fanning Winged Creatures / The Secret Life of Bees

Best Original Screenplay

• Milk Dustin Lance Black
• Redbelt David Mamet
• Synecdoche, New York Charlie Kaufman
• The Wackness Jonathan Levine
• Wall-E Andrew Stanton

Best Adapted Screenplay

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Eric Roth
• The Reader David Hare
• Revolutionary Road Justin Haythe
• The Time Traveller’s Wife Jeremy Leven and Bruce Joel Rubin

Best Editing

• Quantum of Solace
• The Dark Knight
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Michael Kahn
• Revolutionary Road Tariq Anwar

Best Cinematography

• Defiance Eduardo Serra
• The Reader Roger Deakins
• Revolutionary Road Roger Deakins

Best Art Direction

• Milk Charley Beal / Bill Groom
• Revolutionary Road Kristi Zea
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Mark W. Mansbridge

Best Costume Design

• Australia Catherine Martin
• Milk Danny Glicker
• Defiance Jenny Beavan
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Bernie Pollack, Mary Zophres
• The Other Boleyn Girl Sandy Powell
• The Reader Ann Roth

Best Make-Up

• Defiance
• The Dark Knight

Best Score

• Carter Burwell In Bruges
• James Newton Howard Defiance

Best Sound

• Mamma Mia
• Wall•E
• The Dark Knight
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Best Sound Effects Editing

• Wall•E
• Quantum of Solace
• The Dark Knight
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Best Visual Effects

• Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• The Spiderwick Chronicles

Best Animated Feature

• Coraline
• The Tale of Despereaux
• Wall-E

Best Documentary Feature

• American Teen
• Encounters at the End of the World
• Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
• Lou Reed’s Berlin
• Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Eeps, I’ve added quite a few since last updating this post so I’m bumping it to the front page even though the top spot hasn’t changed (and I still don’t see it doing so either, for the record) ...

1. Music of the Spheres – Mike Oldfield
   The first few bars had me hmming over its overwhelming similarity to Tubular Bells which I list among the greatest albums ever made, and I’m sure there are negative reviews out there to that effect. But though that similarity can’t be denied, the feelings this filled and left me with are completely different from Bells … it’s the most reverential work of art I’ve seen, heard, or witnessed in years. It’s music to bow down to almost. I don’t think I even want to hear anything better this year.
2. Join With Us – The Feeling
   So close to pipping the Oldfield album, this was. It peters out at the end with a bunch of tracks that could easily be removed and render it a practically perfect 45 minuter. But no matter – the greatnesses here are huge … like Supertramp and ELO plus a little bit more, it just leaves you with a smile on your face.
3. Je sais que la terre est plate – Raphaël
   Of course, I knew I’d love this one, the guy is a musical god as far as I’m concerned. His sound is slightly different yet again, though perhaps not as stark as the switch between albums 1, 2 and 3 … here, he finally gets use of the full Bowie band and the production skills of Tony Visconti but his is the voice that shines through. I adore “Adieu Haiti”, “Sixieme Etage” (continuing his flair for appeasing those of us whose French isn’t exactly top notch with a catchy series of “oh-oh”s :)) and “Tess”. Like Caravane it’s short at 35 minutes, but it feels much much longer and I could listen to it twice over in one sitting anyway.
4. Volume One – She and Him
   Zooey Deschanel sings. Seriously do you need any other reason to listen? Okay … because it’s LOVELY. Okay? I love it anyway
5. 15 Minutes Ago – Jessica Lombard
   Not many people will have heard of this girl; I don’t even know quite how I first came to know of her. But from listening to a few of her quite stripped down (production-wise) songs on MySpace, my heart leapt when I found this album on iTunes. It’s wonderfully produced, the words reach right inside you, and her voice is just astonishing. Think Jewel only, 12 years old (somewhere along the line I’d changed that to 15 in my head – I’m even more amazed having just read that again on CDBaby …)
6. I Know You’re Married, But I’ve Got Feelings Too – Martha Wainwright
   I liked her first album but I’ve kinda stuck on listening only to the first track in iTunes ever since … this one has a much greater chance of having total regular rotation. It sounds so much like her mother and aunt the McGarrigle sisters in places it’s uncanny, I’m not sure if this is deliberate or that she’s just naturally grown into the family shoes (her first album really wasn’t so recognisable). “So Many Friends” is my fave so far.
7. Fire Songs – The Watson Twins
   I really liked their work with Jenny Lewis a couple of years ago and this doesn’t disappoint as a follow-up. It’s perhaps not an album I’ll play a lot ... but like the Paul Weller album, it’s just one of those records whose quality you just can’t deny.
8. Funplex – The B-52s
   The most fun album of the year so far. Like John Waters meets Shampoo or something, and B-52s-ey all the way
9. At Mount Zoomer – Wolf Parade
   (thanks to Cinematically Correct for the recommendation) I liked this – reminded me of Arcade Fire’s first album “Funeral” and as such, I really hope they have the success they need to make the sound they clearly want to be making. It’s certainly more rhythmically interesting than the bulk of what I’ve heard this year, s’just the production quality didn’t seem to be quite there for me.
10. Backwoods Barbie – Dolly Parton
    Her voice is just beautiful – I still haven’t really got onto the major binge of her back catalogue that I’ve been planning ever since I saw The Best Little Whorehouse…, but it’ll be happening soon I’m sure. The title track is cheesily beautiful, “Better Get to Livin’” is awesome, but it’s the cover of “Drive Me Crazy” here that leapt out of the blue and made my day, I’m crazy for it lol.
11. 22 Dreams – Paul Weller
    Not really my cup of tea but I can’t deny it’s an incredible production. I love the allusions to childhood imagery, of course. Definitely will listen to it again.
12. The Age of the Understatement – The Last Shadow Puppets
    Someone mentioned Scott Walker in a Newsnight Review of this and I was almost immediately sold, lol, and I wasn’t disappointed. If there’s a reason this doesn’t remain in my top ten till the end of the year, then it’s only that I’m jealous I didn’t come up with it first. Huge.
13. The Seventh Tree – Goldfrapp
    I’m having trouble believing that this album came from the same people who gave the world Supernature, lol. This is just so cute, exactly the kind of candyland pop I adore the most. The lead sounds like Cathy Dennis in places, and the songs like something the Poole sisters of Alisha’s Attic would conjure. I can’t wait to listen to it more.
14. Rockferry – Duffy
    Was very surprised how right the hype was on this one – even the comparison on Newsnight Review to Dusty Springfield which really put me off. It is simply a perfect album.
15. We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things – Jason Mraz
    All I can remember from Mraz’s last album (I haven’t heard the first) is “Wordplay”, but I’m quite sure I liked it all. This definitely struck me as even more catchy, though. His voice is gorgeous, almost girlish at times. I adore “Lucky”, it’s like my life right now
16. I Stand – Idina Menzel
    I’m not sure if I’ll listen to it as much as I’ve found myself listening to “Still I Can’t be Still” (and I hadn’t even heard of “Here”, an album which apparently came between that and this) ... but “Gorgeous” and “I Feel Everything” in particular are almost certain to be on my best of year playlists.
17. Smilers – Aimee Mann
    It’s growing on me As with “Forgotten Arm”, I really wasn’t so sure of this on a first listen but the story kind of eats into you and it makes more sense and sticks in the ears more with every listen.
18. Breakout – Miley Cyrus NEW
    I’ve been growing to love the whole Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus thing all year and this was a great capper to all that. The songs as usual are about 50 / 50, half just about acceptably standard pop and half simply perfect IMHO – “Bottom of the Ocean” in particular caught me at the exact right moment – like literally within hours of when I needed it the most … “This is it. Let go. Breathe …”
19. I Don’t Wanna Go to School – The Naked Brothers Band NEW
    hehe. I loved their song/s on the iCarly soundtrack but I couldn’t have imagined the grin I had on my face listening them for an album’s worth. Such a beautifully clear lead vocal and a good two-thirds of instantly memorable songs. “I’ll Do Anything” is my fave so far, almost certain to go on the end of year playlist.
20. Identified – Vanessa Hudgens
    So well produced and supercatchy. Reminds me of the Rachel Stevens / Holly Valance / Dannii Minogue type Poole / Dennis composed albums we don’t seem to have had in a long while. Actually thinking now maybe this deserves “most fun album” over the B-52s. I’m not sure, they’re both electric
21. Momofuku – Elvis Costello and the Imposters
    Finally! I think I got so tired of being disappointed with Elvis Costello releases that I’ve probably deliberately missed the last handful – but this is the Elvis Costello that I love and this, too, will likely only grow on me as the year goes on.
22. My Paper Made Men – Amy Studt
    I feared initially that this would be a lot like the first album – I’d shout from the hills how I loved it but in the long run the playcount has really only settled on three songs, “Ladder in Your Tights”, “Misfit” and “Just a Little Girl” (two of which happened to be from a Poole pen – edit ooh and “Under the Thumb”! of course, which is also a Karen Poole song lol … so not a bad album at all in fact …). On a first listen this is definitely more fun in its first half, but that’s not to say that on a second, third, and fourth listen since I didn’t let it run all the way through. “Nice Boys” is a song I object to on a personal level but if they don’t release it to conquer the charts while the sun is shining then they’re crazy (whoever “they” are lol). It’s Shampoo-tastic lol.
23. Forth – The Verve NEW
    Very nice sound. I can’t wait to listen to this one again, it came in a night of major catching up but it was certainly one of the best of the bunch.
24. Harps and Angels – Randy Newman NEW
    Another I’ll need to listen to again. There’s a live version out on some group or other, that could be a good way to do that I kinda sniggered as the album began as I often do snigger at Randy Newman after Family Guy or whatever did the parody of his typical style of song. But it’s a real album that makes me happy, and “Feels Like Home” is the best final track of the year next to Duffy’s “Distant Dreamer”.
25. A Mad and Faithful Telling – Devotchka NEW
    It’s a couple of weeks since I listened to this so the memory’s not so great but I remember it was fairly catchy while I thought it’d be annoying, Devotchka being tied in my brain to Little Miss Sunshine still, though I quickly remind myself the music was one of the few things I liked about that movie.
26. Bittersweet World – Ashlee Simpson
    It’s Ashlee, you probably know what to expect. On a first listen none of these songs really stand out to me as awesome, not even in the sense that “I Am Me” or “L.O.V.E” or “Autobiography” have become fixtures on my most-listened-to tracks in iTunes. But I’ll listen to it over and over ‘cos I have a very angry teenage girl in me sometimes lol.
27. To Be Loved – Joan As Police Woman
    I think I liked this more than her first album, but I’ve only listened to each of them once so I can’t really stand by my opinion. She was a lot of fun when I saw her live supporting Rufus Wainwright. Her studio work seems pretty stoic by comparison. This is almost certainly too low for now, hopefully I’ll get a chance to listen again before the year is out.
28. Liverpool 8 – Ringo Starr
    Not as good as “Choose Love”, but it’s as competently done as you’d expect from an ex-Beatle working with Dave Stewart.
29. Pocketful of Sunshine – Natasha Bedingfield
    I had to think about whether this was original enough to count as a new album ‘cos it’s kind of a mishmash of b-side-y songs and parts of Nb after that album failed to set the US aflame or something. I decided yes, there are enough original songs here – the Nb songs are always worth hearing again. And frankly, for “Freckles” alone it’s worth it.
30. Home Before Dark – Neil Diamond
    I just saw a short concert on BBC interactive with some songs from this and already I’ve started to think again about my kneejerk reaction to the album, it’s possible it’ll really click with me one day and I think it’s “One More Bite of the Apple” and “Slow it Down” that hold the key. For now, I’ve gotta say, it does feel a little passionless and a bit too much like someone trying to use the perfect “12 Songs” too much as a template instead of trying something original again.
31. Viva La Vida – Coldplay
    The already overplayed title single is of course irresistible – I wanna jump around just about every time I hear it. But like all their best standalone songs, the album just feels lost around it. It’s rarely anything but “nice”. It’s possible it’ll grow on me, and certainly worth it for Viva … but it’s far from great.
32. Melody – Sharleen Spiteri NEW
    Of course, I wanted to like this just because of it’s title (and, I might add, the way the title appears on the cover, hehe) – but it’s never much more than catchy. I can’t wait to hear more from her though, ‘cos it’s cool that she made something so different from the Texas stuff and managed to pull off the “old” sound without sounding as godawful corny and fake as Mark Ronson and co … though that said, I’d still sooner recommend “She and Him”.
33. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust – Sigur Rós NEW
    The beat might be faster but I honestly still found this mostly as dreary a dirge as anything they’ve produced. As I do with Jack Johnson I feel there’s a time and a place for Sigur Rós and for me it was the end of Vanilla Sky (which makes me hmmm … maybe the reason so many people like these guys is they constantly remind them of Tom Cruise plummeting to his death LOL). I’ll admit to getting a few goosebumps on whatever track it is the orchestra totally soars … but while some people I’m sure find this blissfully relaxing, I just get more irritated each time the lead opens his mouth.
34. iCarly: Songs from and Inspired by the Hit TV Series – Various
    It’s a compilation, I usually don’t allow those – but it’s a good compilation, the dialogue snippets are hilarious and even the non-Miranda songs are surprisingly enjoyable (I could definitely get into The Naked Brothers). The Miranda songs turn out to be all covers, but they show her voice improving vastly since recording the theme song (which features here in an extended version). I really hope she gets to do a full solo album some time.
35. The Slip – Nine Inch Nails
    Less scary-noisy than last year’s Year Zero and, weirdly enough, I liked it more than the much more ethereal and ambient Ghosts. One of my favourite songs of theirs, and the one that really introduced me to them in Natural Born Killers, is Burn, and this album pretty much stands up to it all over.
36. Flavors of Entanglement – Alanis Morissette
    Mostly meh, but again, it’s the girl voice. Nothing stands out quite as much as Thank You or Ironic or whatever but, big BUT, I absolutely love, love, love “In Praise of the Vulnerable Man”. It’s so corny, but someone kinda had to write it, and that that someone turned out to be Alanis … it’s just perfect.
37. Bring Ya To the Brink – Cyndi Lauper
    It’s dancey which as a rule I hate; but I love when the tunefulness bursts through, and those incidences are frequent enough for me to listen again given the opportunity. Can’t think of a lot more to say than that.
38. Third – Portishead
    It takes some adjusting to, but I’m surprised to say that I found some of this pretty lovely. Again, I’ve not a lot more to say. It’s mid-June and I’m just tying up the loose ends, I wouldn’t normally listen to this type of thing.
39. Sunday at Devil Dirt – Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
    Since getting into Belle and Sebastian a couple of years ago I’ve been really wanting to listen to Isobel Campbell’s solo stuff – I really hope this is just a bad intro to it. While it’s a really nice album, her voice is pretty much swamped by the Leonard Cohen-ish tones of Lanegan, and I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
40. Little Dreamer – Beth Rowley
    It’s kind of gone out of my head already, but a pleasant enough listen while it lasted. Very well produced and like I’ve said already, girl voices are the best
41. Phoenix – Asia
    About what I expected from this band even though I haven’t yet got around to taking in their back catalogue. They sound exactly like the era they were born in and though I can’t be certain, I’m pretty sure that fans will be pleased.
42. 11 – Bryan Adams
    Meh. Standard Bryan Adams. I love the guy ‘cos he did the Spirit songs but most of his other stuff sounds the same to me. It’s still very catchy though.
43. Accelerate – R.E.M.
    LOUD! This almost gave me a headache lol. It has its moments, but really, it’s just too loud for me. I can’t say the title doesn’t warn, I guess.
44. 19 – Adele
    Standard well-produced female vocals. I’m just a sucker for girls’ voices so this is probably too high already.
45. It Is Time for a Love Revolution – Lenny Kravitz
    Everytime I listen to him I have to remind myself he produced Vanessa Paradis’ wonderful first and only fully English language album, always a good way in. And this album definitely has its moments, particularly “A Long and Sad Goodbye”
46. Lessons to be Learned – Gabriella Cilmi NEW
    Another perfectly listenable girl voice to join the crowd … I’ve literally nothing more to add on that. It was better than I expected.
47. Discipline – Janet Jackson
    I could do without the computer voice stuff, seems like trying way too hard to be cool to me. I seem to recall this had some nice songs on it somewhere, but it’s a while since I listened and it didn’t exactly rock my world or anything.
48. Simple Plan – Simple Plan
    I was sure I’d listened to Simple Plan before and liked them but my itunes library is telling me it’s only been their movie soundtrack presences that have reached my ears till now. It’s a little unintentionally hilarious in its whininess as I think is to be expected from this kind of band … but I don’t know, I kinda liked it.
49. Ghosts – Nine Inch Nails
    Would make a great movie soundtrack … not really iPod material … but it’s a lot healthier than the deafening “Year Zero”.
50. Sleep Through the Static – Jack Johnson
    Meh. Nothing wrong with it … but I think I said in my review of the movie, there’s a time and a place for Jack Johnson and for me I think Curious George was it.
51. Watershed – KD Lang
    Hmm. This really didn’t make much of an impression on me at all. Positioned here with the benefit of the doubt lol, I’ll maybe listen to it again some time.
52. Dig Lazarus Dig! – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
    It’s at the bottom for now but don’t worry, it won’t stay that way. This is as up and down as anything Nick Cave has done – the one thing I don’t understand is why it hasn’t been released under the Grinderman name, since to me it sounded much more like “them” than “regular” Nick Cave lol if that even makes sense.
53. Consolers of the Lonely Hearted – Raconteurs
    Fun, but nothing special. I’d happily let a track from it play if it cropped up in iTunes Party Shuffle soe time.
54. A Little Bit Longer – Jonas Brothers NEW
    Probably unfairly low because I listened to it in the same night as The Naked Brothers’ CD … I love all the Disney pop stuff and this was no exception but the beautiful voice of The Naked Brothers just blew it entirely out of my mind. I’ll probably give it another shot some time.
55. Jukebox – Cat Power
    I forgot to add this to the list when I listened to it ages ago. I can’t remember a lot about it except, nice voice but completey unremarkable. Meh.
56. Last Night – Moby
    Standard Moby. Which for me isn’t too exciting. It seems to me this guy dropped off the map for a while, and to come back with just exactly the same thing he was doing, seems like a decade ago now, that’s practically become a joke in the meantime, is incredibly lazy. I just can’t listen to the same loop unadorned for more than a handful of repetitions, no matter how amazing a sound it is, I’m sorry.
57. E=MC² – Mariah Carey
    I have no problem with Mariah Carey, matter of fact I’d really love to love her. But there’s really nothing new on this album, and the title too temptingly invites ridicule, especially when she starts talking about “That Casablanca movie” in ways that indicate she (or her writers) has clearly never seen it.
58. Hard Candy – Madonna
    Appalling. (Really, that’s all I have to say.)
59. Anywhere I Lay My Head – Scarlett Johansson
    Seriously, I did not think I’d hear anything this year worse than Madonna … seriously. This starts out like, “crap, did I download a fake again?” – but it progresses to being simply hilarious midway. But by the end, I just felt sorry for her. It’s so bad it made me feel good about my own album, lol. That Bowie was involved is just insult to injury lol.Eeps, I’ve added quite a few since last updating this post so I’m bumping it to the front page even though the top spot hasn’t changed (and I still don’t see it doing so either, for the record) ...

“Charlotte has pudding in her Prada …”

Umm, yes, excuse me where’s my award? I actually watched it. LOL. Oh you ain’t heard nothin’ yet …

I didn’t realise while watching Mamma Mia and being swept away even more there than I imagined I might be (which was a lot) that it might need to become a new term for cinematic surprise. For – and I hope this significantly shocks anyone who knows me – I was most definitely Mamma Mia’d by this movie.

I never had any interest in the TV series – I’ve probably watched at most a third of three separate episodes, never making it beyond an ad break, lol. But I’m not a woman (not the kind “They” talk about, anyways …) or a gay man so that’s the way it should be, right? The movie sets up most things however, even while really even that wouldn’t be necessary because SATC is just one of those things you know of even if you avoided it like the plague for the last 10 years. It still surprised me how well the movie stands alone to a relative newcomer.

I still find it shallow – yes, even when, as I’m told, that means I’m “not getting it”. I get it. But call it principals, call it whatever you want, I decided a long time ago that I would never fall to the ease of telling jokes based on bad feeling, insult humour and the like – that line in West Side Story always resonated with me when Tony and Maria first meet and he asks if she’s making a joke by giving him the time of day, and she replies, “I’ve not yet learned to joke that way; I think now I never will.” And that’s me. So I don’t find much of these kinds of comedy amusing in the slightest even while I understand how most people do because it’s easier than taking that miserably honest stand. I could go on and on about such things as the image of the little girl surrounded by girl talk and repeating everything they say and why such rituals are the reason all these gender stereotypes perpetuate and over time become acceptable and so on and so on … but surprisingly, these weren’t my overriding thoughts while watching the movie. Like I said, there was a point at which these thoughts simply got Mamma Mia’d to one side LOL.

I think it was Mark Kermode initially (but I think a lot of people came running to his side and I assumed I’d be there with them when I ultimately watched the movie) who said the movie is just as shallow as ever and nothing more than a parade of labels etc devoid of meaning. Sure enough you get in the first hour what amounts to a filmed photoshoot of various designer wedding dresses and a parade of name dropping and product placement. But in the end I truly have to question exacty where those who can call a movie shallow that ends in the line, “dressed head to toe in Love – the only label that never goes out of style,” came to that conclusion.

For it’s in the second hour where the movie becomes what I kind of hoped it might’ve been but never once thought it would be. It’s kinda like Clerks II, the ten years later thing; “can we keep this act going like we used to? Yes, no, maybe?” It’s like what I wanted from Bratz which, though I loved it still, could’ve been just that little bit more questioning of the little things that are perhaps “wrong” about Bratz dolls. This movie shows the SATC girls’ tried and true lifestyles falling apart just a little with age. There are moments with each of them where they look downright hideous on the screen, and that’s okay. It really does go hand and hand with Mamma Mia in showing that there’s life after youth afterall.

Yep, I’m as shocked as you are. It’s far from the worst movie of the year. I laughed more than once; I cried more than once. I cried over a handbag LOL. But it’s what that handbag (err, purse) means in that moment, being given to someone who isn’t always clad in labels, that makes you cry. When Sarah Jessica Parker says, “it was the best money I ever spent” it’s got nothing to do with Louis Vuitton. This movie really does have something to say, and it really deserves a lot more effort to understand than most critics have given it – it’s their job afterall, if you ask me. Kermode asked listeners to write in to the Five Live show with their credentials and stuff, like in an effort to find intelligent people who saw this movie and enjoyed it. Well, I could mention my degree – whoops, I just did – but I’m still not as smart as he is when it comes to talking and writing about movies. I know that there’s something in this movie that’s worthwhile, but I’ve probably failed miserably at conveying that … but it’s not my job; I would love if someone like him could see this movie the way I saw it and talk about it. ‘Cos all I can really say about it is I loved it.

Jennifer Hudson and the little “sex!” girl were awesome too (and that’s really saying something about the little girl after that “coloring” scene was played to death in the promotional run-up to the movie’s release), I just realised I forgot to mention them.

Wowser. I think this deserves something of the chain of thought experience treatment. I loved director Timur Bekmambetov’s Russian extravaganzas Night and Day Watch and was pretty disappointed when I read he was putting off the next in that series, Twilight Watch to do this instead. But I had to admit, from the trailers this looked pretty visually stunning enough to keep me happy; and as it began, though my kneejerk reaction to a lot of movies like this – that it feels almost painfully like a first-time writer’s movie (I know, it’s based on comics etc, I’m just saying what it feels like whenever I see a complete “nobody” introduced in a movie as though we’re meant to pity him just ‘cos he’s played by James McAvoy, lol) – was quickly swept away by the insane gunplay that genuinely rivals Shoot ‘Em Up for silliness.

In fact, the whole thing could be summarised as that movie meets Miranda with all the visual marvel of Timur Bekmambetov in the mix. There’s a Fight Clubby underdog’s revenginess to the first half hour that I really dug with reservation ‘cos I knew that it wouldn’t last out the movie, and sure enough it doesn’t. Luckily there’s a neat enough story to fill out the rest of the running time. Sure, the “loom of fate” is about the most ridiculous depiction of Fate ever to grace the cultural landscape, LOL … but it pulls itself back together for a slightly surprising finale and a brilliantly stirring end monologue from McAvoy. It must be said it’s the most I’ve liked Angelina Jolie in a movie since Life or Something Like It, too … lots of ‘tude going on with her here Definitely one I will enjoy many times more.

I’ve heard a thing about Batman that I’d heard a lot before, but I’ve heard it a lot recently since the new movie came out, and that’s in a nutshell that “Superman is how America sees itself; Batman is how the rest of the world sees America.” Well, with Hancock perhaps we’ve found a rival superhero for the U.S. to identify with, lol. There’s a sequence here where Hancock meets the PR man played by Jason Bateman as Bateman’s car gets stuck on a trainline. The classic superhero setpiece, right? Yet just about any way Hancock can screw things up, Hancock does screw things up. We see glimpses of similar “rescues” early on the movie – H sure gets the job done, but usually at the cost of mucho avoidable carnage. It kinda reminded me of the opening of Team America. It’s very funny, but just a little frighteningly true.

I’m in severe catchup mode right now (I’ve actually had to force myself to skip a bunch of reviews including Son of Rambow, Zohan and Harold and Kumar just so I can start writing again – I’ll watch them all again and review them later in the year, I promise) so I’d heard plenty about this movie and the gist was pretty well summed up on Mark Kermode’s podcast in that apparently it’s “half a good movie” – the bad half allegedly coming when a “second superhero” shows up (avoiding spoilers).

Well, I was really enjoying the movie for a good hour or so till I began bracing myself for this revelation. What can I say but I was pleasantly surprised; and I really can’t see where the last third of this movie resembles such mindless knockabout finales as Transformers etc, the story is surprisingly bracing right to the close – I found the movie following the “revelation” closer to a good Mr. And Mrs. Smith than anything else (if that’s too much of a spoiler then I apologise – if you haven’t seen it by now then phooey :-P).

The only thing that really would’ve made it better for me would’ve been a little more of French Daegy, lol – what you see of him in the trailer/promo clip is just about all there is, and hilarious though he is, I don’t think that quite warrants the cuties tag

Yuck. I can’t apologise enough for being a whole month late with this one, it should’ve come up at the end of June and in my defense the songs have been playing in the pink pod thing on the front page since around about then And it is only a month lol. So before it gets any later, I’m just gonna rush through these things. It’s been an amazing year so far and blah blah blah Sorry if I repeat myself here from my albums post, like I said I’m just getting it out of the way.

1. Fire from 15 Minutes Ago by Jessica Lombard
– I could pick just about anything from this album but this was the last one to really stand out to me in a way I hadn’t heard before. It’s kind of unfair to focus on her age but you kinda can’t help it at the same time, it continues to amaze me that this girl only just entered her teens, and the leap from those first MySpace recordings I heard earlier this year to this album which is among the best produced I’ve heard this year just blows my mind.

2. I Feel Everything from I Stand by Idina Menzel
– It was between this and “Gorgeous”, but, as with the Jessica Lombard song this is the one that most recently resonated with me. I get this song completely ‘cos I feel so much sometimes it’s infuriatingly hard to put into words. And that opening line, “Like a prima ballerina, I tip toe tip toe around you constantly …” ... wow. That and Idina rocks of course

3. Without You from Join With Us by The Feeling
– Hmm, now of all the songs whose impact has changed in this list since I made the list, this is the one that actually seems more apt. I love this album so much, but the snare on this track is just something else, I’m convinced I must be like autistic or something ‘cos I get such a kick out of its timing in the chorus lol.

4. So Many Friends from I Know You’re Married But I Have Feelings Too by Martha Wainwright
– McGarrigle-tastic hehe. This track is the definition of kooky to me. “I have lost so many friends I have gained so many memories …” Ugh, I know my playlists usually have some kind of hidden meaning in them, that’s the whole point of it to me; but this is just weird.

5. The Great Beyond from Smilers by Aimee Mann
– “Go Honey Go”. Oh god. I actually haven’t listened to some of these songs since making the list and I’m scared to listen to this one now ‘cos I know it’s gonna make my cry something frightening. I imagine this song being used to phenomenal effect in a movie some day. I’m actually amazed nobody has started working yet on a movie based on Aimee’s last two albums, come to think of it.

6. My Three Sons from Momofuku by Elvis Costello and The Imposters
– I loved this album because it was the Elvis Costello I originally fell in love with before he started to do more alternative projects (nothing against that, I’ve just really missed the old him). This track is ironically the one that least resembles that Elvis on the album but it’s beautiful in its own way. I just love this kind of tenderness I can believe in.

7. She Ran from My Paper Made Men by Amy Studt
– Ba-da-da—bow. I was really worried this album would veer off on a massive tangent from the Poole-and-Dennis-like stuff of the first what with how long it’s taken her to release it, so tracks like this were a pleasant surprise. Again, it’s really an album I could pull anything off for this list.

8. Adieu Haiti from Je Sais Que La Terre Est Plate by Raphaël
– Another album I could just pick anything from, but this one has a whole lot of English in it, hehe, so it just about wins out. Really whenever I mention Raphaël I just end up wanting to say the same thing so I’m just gonna say it: seriously if you’ve never listened to his stuff, give some of it, any of it, a try, even if you don’t speak a word of French; it’s all amazing, and it really doesn’t matter where you start, I honestly think he’s the best musician working today.

9. Lucky from We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things by Jason Mraz
– Sigh. It was about me and my princess. No more But I’ll stand by it as a wonderful song about how wonderful love can be; about how much more, in fact, there can be in a relationship between a boy and a girl than just plain old love.

10. Freckles from Pocketful of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield
– Oh it’s so freakin’ corny but I crave it constantly and I almost don’t wanna hear from anybody who doesn’t need to be told what this song has to say from time to time. I love it. This also featured on the iCarly compilation which makes it even cuter and cooler

11. Sweet Darlin’ from Volume One by She and Him
– Like I said for the album – it’s Zooey Deschanel singing, what else is there to say?! This is by far the best track on a really fun and honest album.

12. Distant Dreamer from Rockferry by Duffy
– The perfect way to end an album and this playlist (we’ll call the next one a bonus). Seriously as this one played the first time I listened, I had it on my iPod so I couldn’t see where I was on the album. And like the whole song, ‘cos I’d loved the album up to that point, I was just begging it, “please be the last song!!” ‘cos so many albums go on past the point where they should end. And it turns out that it was the last track after all. No song I’ve heard so far this year states my current philosophy better.

13. Amazing Grace (for me Melody) by Kim Seifert
– Okay, unless you listen to it in the pink pod thing you won’t hear this one, lol; though you can hear Kimmee sing “Amazing Grace” just about any day she performs in Second Life since she usually finishes her last set by dedicating it to someone. I’ve become an obsessive nut over her and Harmonia in SL since this performance but still, words can’t express how much it meant to me that she did this; even having looked into the whole SL live music thing and realised that the whole “naming your audience” thing is really just another tool to keep ‘em coming and keep ‘em tipping etc … I don’t care. Kimmee is such a special person and she’s been really nice to me outside her shows too; Harmonia too; and these 3 minutes were where it all began for me.

I may have only seen this once since the first time seeing it on the big screen, and I really don’t know why but for its sheer length and weight for what, at a first glance, seems like a relatively simple and almost corny tale to tell (I mean: it’s literally about “getting back in the saddle”, lol …)

I’ve written about how much I love the girl and horse subgenre, possibly more than any other kind of movie, and what I realised to my surprise watching this one this time is, it might be the best of the bunch, because of the huge void it places between the girl and the horse that only makes their bond more beautiful in the end. It might sound silly that I’d forget such a thing, but I’d forgotten just how much the horse features here. I remembered the horror of the accident at the start, but I forgot about the central part of the set-up which is that this movie is about two desperately wounded and broken creatures (“Who’s ever gonna want me like this??”) finding their feet again.

It’s one of those movies that is all about a person trying not to cry, and finally finding the moment where they find they can. It’s interesting that the episode of This American Life I listened to last night had a sorta-similar story to that of Grace here feeling responsible for her friend Judith’s death. It doesn’t get much more painful than that feeling, I think; that old cliché, “It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault, it’s not your fault.” Some clichés are clichés ‘cos they work.

“We need to show Pilgrim how to help you get on. ‘cos y’see, there’s a point where neither of you is gonna need me anymore. And we’re there. I’m not asking.”

Then there’s the other characters. I love how communication (or the lack thereof; or even the transcendence over the verbal kind) is conveyed in the movie. At times even the humans appear somewhat horselike and animal in their behaviours to one another, it reminds me of the shrieking towards the end of The Birds when certain characters almost seem to be becoming avian. I haven’t read the novel but I imagine that the great chunks of silence here are explained by way of beautifully descriptive inner monologues etc. Rather than try and fill those out in dialogue or cut them entirely, the screenwriter and then Redford choose to simply allow those silences to speak for themselves, the camera lingering on a glare, a stare, a turn of the head slowed down by doubleframing. It’s a huge reason why the movie winds up so long but I think it’s wonderful that Redford had the liberty to do that. As anyone who knows me will know, I’m all about silences; I couldn’t possibly hold this movie’s use of them against it.

If nothing else, it also happens in my opinion to be by far the best work Scarlett Johansson has ever done. It’s really like the book, the movie, the character were made for her.