howie’s halfpipe

anyone want to watch a movie tonight?

wife and i got a free pas to see ‘amazing grace’ so today we did.

It was ok, not the most fantastic film i have ever seen. I find it hard to get into movies set so far in the past. I’m just not much of a period piece person.

This is the sort of film that if you are a Christian you are probably supposed to be really moved by it, the inspiring William Wilberforce standing up to injustice and fighting to abolish slavery at the same time battling with himself and eventually overcoming his self doubt and triumphing.

Its a great story, and because of him slavery was abolished. But i didnt really feel moved or inspired by it. and if a films story doesnt grab me i find myself just disecting the other atributes of the film, the camera angles the sound the acting.

It wasnt a bad film, just not a howie film. you may love it.

3/7

Today wife and I went to the city to visit homer at the movies.

Before we saw the movie we had some maccas and ran into prawn, there was this guy saying ‘howie’ I had no idea who it was. They shook my hand and we chatted for a bit. took me a while to realise it was prawn. so hello prawn.

The simpsons movie was really good fun. It was funny and a bit more naughty than the tv show which was cool. Not to give it all away but there is some nudity.

I’m gonna give it 6/7

Last night I saw ‘Transformers’

Before the movie we went out to dinner and Tom managed to knock over Lezalee’s glass of red wine. Which ended up all over the white shorts I was wearing!

Somehow in the lead up to going to chatswood I managed to loose my ticket to the movie too.

The cinema man was very nice and let me go see the movie anyway, Nathan who bought the tickets showed the man his recipt proving that i was not trying to sneak in.

I came into this movie have fairly low expectations, firstly I was never a transformers fan when i was a kid, I found it all a bit too scary and felt much safer watching the epic tales of the Care Bears. Also I didnt think transformers was going to be very good becasue old school cartoons dont always have the same impact when hollywood gets hold of them.

But this film was fantastic, it was funny, there was some kick arse fighting, and the effects where pretty cool. I was really supriesed at how funny it was, there was little gags all over the shop. The only thing I didnt really like about the film was that the Sector 7 man was a doosh bag, his charactor was crap, and also some of the robot fight scenses it was a bit hard to see what was going on. More of a technical thing, there wasnt a lot of wide shots showing the fighting lots of close up robotic bits attacking each other whcih i dont know it somehow made the fight scenes a bit less dramatic for me.

5.5 / 7

The perfect friday evening.

Wife and I just saw ‘oceans thirteen’.

It was pretty good, george clooney is so cool. it was good to see all the boys back on the casino floor after the misshap of oceans 12 which really wasnt all that impressive. The only thing i didnt like in this film was the super computer that ran security in the new casino but apart from that it was pretty good.

Go see this movie.

6/7

yet again we saw this movie for free thanks to our booklet of movie money ’screen saver’ vouchers. the downside is that there is now only 4 free movies left, or 2 left if jenny decided to take me aswell.

Wife and I jusw saw shrek the thrid, which felt like we where seeing shrek 64. There wasnt really much to it. not ans many little one line funnies. Its been marketed to death this film and now i can see why. It cant stand up on its own.

3/7

wait til it comes out on DVD

Today wife and I saw the new pirates movie.

2 hours and 43 minutes.

Man o got quite bored in parts, i tried to go to sleep but the damn music kept waking me up. Not my type of movie, i’m sure a lot of people will find it fantastic, but really not my cup of tea.

but still in saying that it was free so I did enjoy seeing a free movie and there are much worse films out there that i could have watched.

3 / 7

(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
() Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(x ) Fight Club
(x ) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
(x ) Airplane

Total: 6

( ) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
() Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(x ) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Total all together: 9

(x) Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
( ) American Pie Naked Mile

Total all together: 12

( ) Harry Potter 1
( ) Harry Potter 2
( ) Harry Potter 3
( ) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
( ) Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch

Total all together: 14

(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
( ) The Grinch
(x) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
(x) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
( ) Robots

Total all together: 19

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(x) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
( ) King Kong

Total all together: 25

( ) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
(x) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
(x) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving Christmas
(x) Flubber

Total all together: 30

( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
(x) The Whole Ten Yards

Total all together : 34

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
(x) Coach Carter
(x) The Longest Yard
( ) Gridiron Gang
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask

Total all together: 41

(x) Bad Boys
(x) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Seven
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
(x) Ocena’s Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George

Total all together: 48

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2

Total all together: 53

( ) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
(x) The Notebook
(x) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old-virgin

Total all together: 57

(x ) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
( ) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
( ) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Total all together: 61

(x) BASEketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History
( ) Three

Total all together:62

( ) The Jackal
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
(x) Full Metal Jacket
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x)Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard

Total all together: 67

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(x)Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x)Hook
(x)Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days Later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld

total all together: 70

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( )Kingdom of Heaven
( )The Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness

Total all together: 72

(x)Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x)starWars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x)Star Wars A New Hope
(x)Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
(x)starWars Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks the caravan of courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endo

Total all together: 78

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
(x) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
(x) Red Dragon
( ) Anger Management

Total all together: 86

Last night i headed into the city to see with spider man with Tom, David, Anmol, Libby, Ryan, Martin , Matt and some other guy.

It was a pretty good movie, although it wasnt like the first 2. This one maybe it was becasue it was hard to come up with new ideas or maybe its becasue they felt like they needed to make this film quite long. Anyway the problem was that there was a lot of little irrelevent funny bits in it. Now funny bits in and of themselves are good but they didnt really add to the movie at all, they probably took away a bit. The action scenes were ok.

Toby does a good job.

5 / 7

Wife and I just saw shooter.

It was pretty good, mark whalberg is pretty cool. And best of all it was a movie without sex. Although they replaced the time that could have used for romance with more shooting. Oh and explosions, i love a good explosion.

5/7

Tonight we say ‘hot Fuzz’

Having seen and quite enjoyed ‘Shawn of the dead’ I kind of new what to expect, over the top scenes involving gore and blood.

It had them mixed with some black comedy and even a bit of slpastick.

It got better as it went along i feel, the first half was a bit full but once people started dying it got more interesting.

I’ll give it 4 / 7

‘music and lyrics’

2 / 7

just saw ‘Wild hogs’ with wife.

It was one of those predictable happy ending slap stick kind of movies. the sort of movie you know isnt going to be amazing but you know it will make you laugh a bit and entertain you for a bit over an hour.

You could see a lot of the gags coming a mile off, others a little more sneaky. The plot was pretty thin and after the main dudes got into some trouble the happy engind was pretty lame.

but having said all that i had a good time watching it, ir really was just a bit of harmless hollywood fun.

4 / 7

I saw ‘the good shepherd’ on tuesday ani forgot to blog about it.

Well it was damn long, bit over two and a half hours. It was good i enjoyed it, but at the same time i found it quite confusing, it jumped around a bit but also i dont know much at all about american political history so it was a bit confusing.

I’ll give it 4 / 7

then tonight was

‘man of the year’

I really enjoyed this film, it was funny, sometimes robin williams is a bit much, he has what i like to call the “jim carey, jack black sydrome’

sometimes hes too over the top that it becomes painful, but not in this move, he was really good. and the good thing is that the trailer didnt really ginve the plot away.

I’m gonna give it 5 / 7

I just saw ‘Miss Potter’.

I give it the massive 2 / 7 and it only gets 2 because i gave it a bonus point for being free (jenny’s grandma paid for us to go see it)

Just watched ‘kenny’

My goodness me that is a fantastic film, Oh deary me it made me laugh.

Who would have thought that 2 hours of poo jokes would work wonders in the film world.

think i might have to buy it on dvd, i could watch it again right away.

Today the wife and I went and had lunch at pie in the sky followed by a movie at Greater Union Hornsby.

We saw ‘Pursuit of Happiness’

It felt really long, some bits quite dull and really not needed. The characters where going through a tedious bad time so maybe the director wanted to audience to feel just as bad. It was not too bad a film just incredibly slow.

Will Smith is pretty cool.

I’ll give it 4/7

Now in some more exciting news.

I refuse to sit in my allocated seat at the cinema casue i think its stupid and I can say that i have never sat in my allocated seat.

Today was no different, we sat about 5 rows in front of where we were supposed to be, as it got closer to the film starting the cinema was getting quite full and the result was that about 30 ended up not sitting in their correct seats becasue of myself and jenny.

And none of them seemed to care it was a beautiful piece of  “Up Ya, Greater Union”

Myself, Jenny, Tom, Matin, Anmol, Debbie and Lezalee just went and saw ‘flushed away’. It was a mildy entertaining film, some funny bits but overall not fantastic. I think wallace and gromit creator man has sold out to america.

4/7

after the film we headed to Asquith KFC for the traditional new years day kfc meal, the theory behind it being that if you eat KFC on the first day of the year then food can only get better throughout the year.

My stomach feels like the SS KFC has sailed through, hit a gland or something and now there has been a giant oil spill in my bowels.

The goal, see 52 films in a calendar year.
The result, A giant FAIL!
Only 13 films for 2006, ouch!

The Family Stone
Good Night and Good Luck
The Producers
Munich
Syriana
Jarhead
The Aristocrats
Inside Man
Cars
Click
Boytown
Casino Royale
Happy Feet

Today Jenny, mum and Dad and myself all went down to the Armidale belgrave cinema to watch Happy Feet.

It was a good movie, and cool that it was made by animal logic an animation company in sydney.

It made me laugh, it was sad overall quite good, althoyugh there where a few flat spots and some gaps in the story.

4 / 7