the howie

Last night I went to the movies with housemate. He was seeing movie number 7 for the year, I was seeing number one.

We saw ‘Law Abiding Citizen’

I had never head of it, infact these days it is rare if I had heard of any film.

It was an odd film, towards the beginning it got quite gruesome andI thought I was going to have to sit through someone being chopped up by chainsaws and knives and things, but thankfully it didn’t show that.

As the film went on it got more and more absurd and unbelievable.

It wasn’t really a good move, i’m giving it 3 / 7

Each year I put up a list of all the movies I saw at the cinema that year.

for 2009 the list is as follows

‘Terminator 4′

‘Observe and Report’

‘Paul Blart Mall Cop’

‘funny people’

‘This is it’

I haven’t had a worse year since the late 90’s. Having babies ruins everything.

I just got to see my 4th movie at the cinema for the year. to think it was just a few years ago that i saw 45 movies in one year.

Tom and i went to see ‘This Is It”

It was a toss up between this and 2012 but 2012 was way too long and we are both old men now.

Also we both think MJ made some pretty awesome tunes and he knows how to put on a show.

It was a strange film because it’s not a docco and it’s not a concert movie. It’s a mish mash of rehearsals and sound checks for his THIS IS IT tour.  It was really interesting and I enjoyed it but as a film it was a bit too long at 110 minutes.

The content was amazing, it was going to be an amazing stage show, the lighting, the moving stage it was cool. And boy oh boy was the band tight. MJ was what you would expect, a little odd but when it came down to the business of dancing and singing he was on the money. It was also cool to see how involved he is in the whole production of putting on a show.

A good film if you love Jackson’s music and love stages and rigging and lights and stuff.

Probably not a film for you if you just want to see what all the fuss is about, and if you are a die hard MJ fan you should probably take in a spare pair of undies because you will probably love it so much a bit of wee comes out.

for me. 4 / 7

Last night I got to see my 4th movie for the year. This has been my worst ever year for visits to the cinema, having a child ruins everything.

Last night Tom and I went to see ‘Funny People”

I really liked it, it made me laugh a lot. It’s probably because i’m immature and jokes about genitals and farting will get me every time.

5/7

Last night after a romantic dinner at the RSL club Tom and I went to the pictures.

We saw ‘Observe and Report’

It was very very funny. In some ways it was quite similar to Paul Blart - Mall Cop. Only this was the adult only, politically incorrect version. I really liked the absurdity of Paul Blart, but this one was 1o times better. I had a great time, it made me cringe, it made me laugh out loud.

5.5 / 7

Today for the first time in months and months I went to the movies.

It was good to be back in the carpeted embrace of a cinema.

The movie of choice today was ‘Paul Blart, Mall Cop’

It was a very funny movie, absolutlety absurd and unrealistic but it was funny so who cares.

The only problem I had with this movie was that you see the whole move in the trailer, so if you go see this movie try not to watch the trailer.

4/7

No Country for Old Men

Rambo

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Juno

Run Fat Boy Run

Vantage Point

Get Smart

Hancock

Dark Night

The Bank Job

Pineapple Express

Wall-E

Burn After Reading

Traitor

Quantum of Solace

Madagascar 2

A pretty poor efort really.

We watched Madagascar 2 yesterday, it was a piece of crap. I was so bored. I wouldnt have been bored if I had never seen the Lion King. It was a mini version of the Lion King with inserts of madagascar 1.

2 / 7

In other news I just ordered an Ipod touch. I used some of my velocity points to get it. I had heaps of points and so it was time to use them. Although now i only have enough points to go to port macquarie instead of return to Tonga and it took me a few years to get those buggers.

I’m not sure how i’ll get the points back my flying is about to be quite rare. 2008 was a big year for flying working for 2 organisations who like to send me places plus weddings and a family holiday to the UK.

2009 So far i know i’m going to Melbourne some time in August. Shame I love flying.

Daniel Craig has done it again! Another awseom bond movie. I’m really enjoying this building of bond, how he becomes the man we all know and love. One thing that was missing was cool gizmos and gadgets.I think I said the same thing about Casino Royale, but at least casino royale had the defribulator in the glove box of the austin martin.

There was a lot more outdoor action in this bond and a lot less bedroom action. This is a good thing.

6 /7

Last night wife and I went out to the flicks.

We arrived at the cinema at 6:10pm for our 6:20pm screening of ‘Traitor’.

The lady at the candy bar ripped our tickets and then we headed upstairs where the noob standing at the cinema entrance ripped our already ripped tickets in half. All i was left with was a stub of paper that told me the movie time, no title. Dumb!!!!!

Then the movie started 20 mins late, we had to sit there and watch the amazing slide presentation put together buy a greater union work experience kid who manged to use every font on the computer.

Once the movie began, it was really good. I didnt know anything about this movie but really liked it. It explored Islam and Christianity and how extremeists in both can justfy what they are doing is right and that they are the good guys.

It had some twists, some of them predictible others not so much.

5 /7

This evening wife and i went to the pictures.

We watched ‘Burn After Reading’

It was a strange film. I hadn’e even heard of it. but jenny told me it had Geroge in it so I was there for some eye candy. I would have liked George’s beard to have a bit more grey in it.

The movie, well it was strange, I already said that and it was. I enjoyed it on the most part, although john Malcovic’s character anoyed me after a while, which was probably the point. A bit of violence, comedy and romance.

Brad Pitt played a very strange man.

I know this doesnt sound all that positive, it wasnt bad, just weird and quirky. you should watch it.

4.5 / 7

What a great movie. It’s really great that a big studio movie can take a risk of making a movie with hardly any dialouge and it pays off.

I was really impressed, it had the PIXAR magic, awesome graphics, great characters with funny interactions and observations of current western culture. It explored consumerism, and mis treatment of the planet.

6 / 7

Today was fullly hectic.

It began with a trip up the blue mountains to wish bevis a happy birthday.

Party skills where in full swing with me, tom and jenny finding some chairs and remaining in them for the majority of the time we where there.  We ate, talked and gave bevis a big ass bottle of wine for his birthday.

then it was home time for some packing and water changing for the turtles.

After about 25 mins at home I was up to hornsby station to meet tom so we could have a man date in the city whilst jenny was at the swans.

tom and i trained it to the city and went to the apple store, we used some macbook pro’s to look up movie times and headed to the union to watch ‘pineapple express’.

It was a strange movie and i think they struggled to fill 2 hours with pot jokes and smoke rings. It had some quite funny bits but on the whole it’s probably a dvd only movie.

3 / 7

after the movie oporto was eaten, then some sitting at central while jenny was still swanning. tom and i chatted about life and scantily clad women. Eventually jenny arrived and tom just disappeared, i went to the station entracne to help jenny with our bags and when i came back in he was gone. My guess is he ran off with one of the scantily clad women we saw earlier.

Then wife and i trained it to mascot and walked to the Stamford hotel where we are sleeping tonight, in the morning we head off to Adelaide for 4 nights of freezing cold baby-mooning.

last night wife, lachie, sam and I went and saw ‘the bank job’.

It was ok. Jason Strathom seems to only have one character.

The movie had some action, and a a very small amount of one liners whic was a bit dissapointing, UK films normally are great a inserting one liners.

Also it had a lot of nipples, not needed nipples.

3 / 7

Last night I went into the city to see ‘The Dark Night’ with a bunch of peoples.

First stop was the Sydney City RSL club for some dinner. It didn’t disappoint.

tom booked the tickets for the 9:20pm session becasue he wanted to see a movie in Greater Unions new ‘G-max’ cinema.

You walk in and think wow this is a bit posh. Big seats with lots of space between them. Little tables. It all looks rather swanky. That is however until you actually sit down.

The seats are hard and there is no recline in the back rest whatsoever, then there is the little table. A nice idea but there is a light in the middle of the table that shines in your face the whole movie. and it the seats are so far away from each other that if you want to pass some popcorn to your buddy you have to call a taxi to give you a lift.

But worst of all is the incline of the cinema. The cinema is almost flat, infact once you are sitting in your seat it feels like it’s uphill to the screen. the seats are so tall that you cant even see the bottom half of the screen. so asi talk about the movie below i’m only commenting on what i saw, there could have been much more that i missed out on.

G-max is dumb.

The top half of this film was great. Heath ledger as the joker was amazing, he really was creepy and did an awesome job. There was explosions, and shooting and Batman’s cool bike.

There where some dumb bits too, this dumb machine that worked like sonar through the whole city’s mobile phones. It was a dumb machine.

I think the transition for two face was a bit poor and too sudden.

But overall a great film, well worth a watch.

Infact I might have to go see it again at a different cinema jus tto see what happens in the bottom half of the movie.

5/7

Last night Jenny andi saw ‘Hancock’.

It was pretty good.

It started out quite funny but then midway through it stopped being funny and went a bit to serious for my liking and by the end it was all a bit to soppy and disney.

I like the concept of a drunk reckless super hero. And will smith was good at it.

4/7

Tonight in an attempt at winding down from a mammoth week of work and moving house, wife and i headed off to the flicks to see ‘Get Smart’.

I read a review the other day saying that if you go in to thie film expecting it to be like the much loved tv series you will be dissapointed but if you go in to it just to watch a funny spy movie then it will entertain you.

I wasn’t all that entertained, i had a couple of laughs but on the whole i wasnt impressed. The teenage girls in the cinema all laughed quite a lot so maybe i’m just getting old and grumpy.

3 / 7

Today I was in the city for a work thing, I scored the job of standing at the resource table. It was pretty cruisy, listeing to music and chatting to people if they came to my table.

When it came to pack up time I did the usual. (pull out your phone and pretend to be on an important call)

But you can only do that for so long, i packed up some signs and moved some tables, then a female colleague of mine cam over to me as she was just verbally abused by a man when she went and asked if she could pack up that table he was sitting at. She asked if i could go over and have a go. So i went over and quietly asked the man if he wouldnt mind helping me pack up the table and chair. He didnt take to kindly to me asking that and stood up and swore at me a bit telling me it was his table, he then took a swing and punched me quite hard in the arm. Part of me would like to say he punched me in the head casue that would make the story more exciting but i’m kind of glad he only punched me in the arm. It was a good hit!

Being the super violent man that I am, I decided it was best to walk away.

In the end we let him sit at ‘his’ table for a while and someone a bit later had a go at packing it up. After some more verbal abuse he eventually let the team pack up.

In other news i saw ‘Vantage Point’ this evening, it was pretty good altough i was getting bored of watching the same thing over and over.

3.5/7

After work wife and I went to see ‘run fatboy run’.

It was a fun movie, simon pegg does good films, and this was no different. It was much more tame than ‘hot fuzz’ or shaun of the dead’ but it was still really good.

The story was predictable but tha didnt matter casue there was lots of funnies and quirky characters.

5/7

Sam and i just saw ‘rambo’.

If i had to sum this film up in two words i would use ‘wet’ and ‘bloody’.

It was a pretty damn violent film with people exploding, limbs flying across screen and decapitated heads on sticks.

Sly was old, and luckily he didnt say much. I was impressed for a film directed by the main character that he didnt take all the screen time. It wasnt the best film, it was pretty much just violence and gore. It was a definatly just made to cash in on the rambo name.

but it was still worth watching, and quite short. The whole second half of the film was one continuos shot of rambo walknig down his dad’s driveway.

4/7