The Red Shoes

A couple of weeks ago, I spent the weekend at my in-laws' place, and Sunday afternoon we sat on sofas and watched old movies, one of which was The Red Shoes. I decided to blog about it mainly because my last post was about Black Swan and how rubbish it was, and The Red Shoes sort of seems to be the film that Black Swan wanted to be. In The Red Shoes you actually get a sense of the dancer's descent into madness. It's beautiful, dark and twisted, like all the best things in life...

At certain points you're left wondering whether the things happening in the film are actually happening, or just occurring in the protagonist's mind. When she dances with a man who turns into a piece of newspaper, you're left wondering whether she's actually dancing through the streets, or in rehearsals, or on stage. It's really obvious throughout the movie that her mind is slipping and she's becoming obsessed with the dance.

Part of the reason why it works so well is that there's a heavier focus on the actual dancing: Moira Shearer is a dancer as well as an actress, which means that all the dancing shots don't have to be taken from the neck down. Shearer can also act. She's got the crazy stare down, which Portman couldn't quite hit in Black Swan.

If you've been thinking about going to see Black Swan, find this instead. It's a million times better.

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Black Swan

I had heard so many great things about this movie that I felt like I had to go and see it. My friends, my colleagues, critics whose reviews I read were all raving about it. Apparently, it was a deep, dark, suspenseful movie about a dancer's descent into madness. Sounds like just my cup of tea.

Well. I must have been watching a different film, because the one I saw was full of wooden acting, had a plot that verged into the ridiculous, and was basically completely unbelievable. About half the cinema left during the first thirty minutes.

Portman was Keanu-esque in her total lack of emotion. The plot was weak and shallow. I took nothing away from the film other than a sense of having lost a couple of hours.

And then I went to my in-laws' place at the weekend and watched The Red Shoes, and I thought, yes. Now there's a film about a dancer getting a bit obsessed and feeling like she's going crazy. Black Swan really didn't pull it off. Utterly awful. Don't waste your time or your money on it.

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True Grit

This movie works because it has a sense of humour. A young girl whose father has been killed sets out to avenge his death, leaving her mother and sibling behind in a search for vengeance. She teams up with two of the best bounty hunters she can find - both of whom reluctantly agree to help her - and eventually comes across her father's killer.

It's a beautiful story told with humour and empathy. Definitely recommended.

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The Secret of Kells

This was recommended to me, and at the time I was sceptical about it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I tend not to be a huge fan of animated movies, and secondly, it seemed like it might be a bit saccharine and full of hippy-child-magic. However, I thought I'd give it a go, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was lovely.

Brendan is the nephew of an abbot, who is building a huge wall around his remote town to keep out the raiders who are travelling through the country, killing people and ransacking towns. A master illuminator arrives as a refugee, along with this pet cat Pangur Ban. He brings with him an ancient book of wisdom, as yet unfinished, and enlists Brendon's help in completing it. However, in order for the book to be finished, Brendon has to journey into the forbidden forest outside to find the right kind of berries to make ink. Once there, he meets the mysterious Aisling, who helps him on his way.

The relationships between characters are beautiful and simple. The only thing I didn't like about the film was the stereotypical nature of the background characters, who all seemed to be like caricatures of their races. Other than that, it was a charming film, definitely worth watching, even if you're not usually a fan of that kind of thing.

Here's the trailer:

Dandelion Mind

I love Bill Bailey, and his latest show is no exception. My colleague went to see it, and said it was awesome live as well. My favourite of Bailey's DVDs remains Part Troll, but Dandelion Mind will give you an evening of laughter, so definitely worth watching.

Arn: The Knight Templar

This was a weird film. It's in Swedish with English subtitles, though there are bits of various other languages spoken throughout the film as well. I got a bit confused that the characters seemed to be able to speak Swedish, French and English, but were fighting for Norway. Having said that, I know pretty much nothing about the history of that whole area, so perhaps I'm just manifesting my ignorance.

Arn, the son of a farmer, is sent to spend his childhood in a monastery. He's educated there and catches the attention of a monk who is also a great fighter, and who teaches Arn how to fight. Fast forward a few years, and Arn leaves the monastery and falls in love with a girl he's not allowed to have. He's sent away to do penance as a knight templar in the Holy Land. The girl, who is also in love with him, is sent to a cloister for twenty years as her punishment. Whilst in the cloister, she befriends the future queen, and when the latter is finally released, they stay in touch.

I won't give away the ending; it's sort of worth watching for the novelty value, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it. One of the main problems was that I found myself rooting for Saladin purely because the guy who played him was damn hot, and also because I just have more sympathy for anyone who wasn't the Christians in the crusades.

Arn, on the other hand, looks at times like Matt Damon and at other times like Ewan McGregor, and spends the first part of the film seeming quite slow and dim-witted, which doesn't inspire much confidence in his hopes as a future knight.

Hmm. Odd.

Skull Heads

This looks absolutely terrible, but somehow still quite tempting: