The Hangover 2

I find myself in the cinema at the very least once per week so the amount of cinema visits each year is reasonably high however the percentage of these visits which are to see comedies is very low.

The first Hangover was fun - I like farcical comedy and The Hangover pulled it off quite well. The sequel was as much as a surprise as it was inevitable so on opening weekend The Nerdy Trio found themselves seeing what must be only our second comedy of the year (the other being Easy A).

PLOT: If you have seen The Hangover you have seen The Hangover 2 - kindly swap Vegas for Bangkok and monkey for tiger and Robert‘s your fathers brother (so to speak). END PLOT

It is quite an achievement for Todd Phillips to brazen out the fact that The Hangover essentially remade itself with The Hangover 2 and be completely unapologetic. The plot follows exactly the same beats as its predecessor only this time the quest to find their missing friend becomes more elaborate and extreme.

The Hangover 2 is one of the most laziest concepts for a film in recent history but it does have one very important thing going for it - the cast.

Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis are all likeable enough to almost make you succeed in blocking out the overwhelming sense of déjà vu. They are all very fine in their roles and are fun to watch on screen. If it wasn’t for the cast The Hangover would have slipped by unnoticed and again they save the day.

This time around we see a lot more of Mr Chow (on several levels) however the sub-plot with Paul Giamatti, Interpol and Chow’s subsequent arrest bogged down what was already a slightly over long running time and was the driest part of the film.

As with all comedies some of the set pieces worked and were genuinely amusing and some fell completely flat - monkey’s smoking is not funny and to be honest I don't even find it particularly controversial. Chow and the monkey should be given to Bangkok never to be seen again.

The Hangover 2 is amusing and I did find myself chuckling away on several occasions at its sheer stupidity but it is in no way a great film. It doesn’t have that little sliver of originality to separate it from The Hangover . The Hangover 2 gets a 5/10 - the cast can reunite in ten years time for the inevitable reunion drink but until then sober they should stay.

It didn’t make me any less in love with Bradley Cooper and for that I am somewhat grateful and quite frankly a little relieved.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Summer season is here and that can only mean one thing - yet another unnecessary Pirates of the Caribbean film.

I hold the first POTC in high regard as it is a really fun swashbuckler. It’s okay that the inevitable sequel followed but by the third over-long, bloated and self satisfied sequel came I was more than done with this franchise. The theme in Hollywood at the minute is the reboot and POTC has jumped on this bandwagon and dropped the “gangs-all-here-itis” disease that it has suffered from since the first instalment, got rid of the deadwood and come back with its latest offering Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

PLOT: Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) knows where the Fountain of Youth is and gets tricked onto Blackbeard’s (Ian McShane) ship by ex-girlfriend Angelica (Penelope Cruz) and forced to lead them to the fountain. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) chases them down posing as a King’s Privateer hell bent on getting revenge on Blackbeard for the loss of his leg and for stealing the Black Pearl, a ship in which Barbossa has himself stolen from Jack Sparrow on several occasions. There is an unrequited love story even blander than the Will/Elizabeth saga. There are mermaids who don’t get enough screen time. The badass and underused Spanish show up to renounce Pagan Fountains. I like to think that the mermaid drowned the cleric. Proceedings have a sense of deja vu about them. I still despise Johnny Depp. END PLOT

POTC recycles plots to almost criminal levels of self-plagiarism - swap Aztec gold with Fountain of Youth, the Royal Navy with Spanish Armada and Will/Elizabeth with Philip/Serena and we have a new movie. As with the third instalment this film is far too long and filled with too many Johnny Depp scenes.

The entire London section should have been cut as it added nothing to the film. There were quicker ways to get the film started and any time spent in Tortuga is always welcome fun.

There is a fine line between homage and rehash and the battle in the blacksmiths was very much an unwelcome rehash.

Johnny Depp once again has far too much screen time as Jack Sparrow. In Curse of the Black Pearl he is not the lead character - he is supporting cast and the film works so much better with lesser amounts of Sparrows own drunken brand of comic relief.

Every time Johnny Depp rocks up with his latest quirky character I roll out my “if all his performances are quirky and original then none of them are” phrase. I don't get the hype over Johnny Depp.

Depp portrayed Jack as a drunken cockney idiot whereas Geoffrey Rush is clearly enjoying himself playing a full on pirate complete with appropriate levels of RRRRR. I love the character of Barbossa as much as I dislike Jack.

When you look at Barbossa and the things his character has achieved in the POTC saga it shows that we are following story of the wrong character:

The life and times of Hector Barbossa:
1) Successfully leads a mutiny on the Black Pearl
2) Locates a casket of Aztec gold and fritters it away on whores and booze in what one can assume is a right old laugh
3) On the discovery that he can no longer feel, taste or die he embarks on another epic journey to locate each piece of Aztec gold and return it to the casket from whence it came.
4) He died (we all have off days) but was also brought back to life again in time for the 3rd film. One can only assume the afterlife was a right old laugh complete with whorish ghouls and the devils ale.
5) I am sure he did something memorable in At Worlds End but I refuse to acknowledge the film exists
6) He loses the Black Pearl in an epic battle at sea with Blackbeard
7) Saws off his own leg with a sword.
8) Gets back onto dry land after the self amputation despite the life threatening amounts of blood loss
9) Wheedled his way into the Kings Court and is trusted enough by said King to captain a ship and find the Fountain of Youth
10) Is currently vacationing in Tortuga no doubt frittering away his time on whores and booze.

All of these events are explained by a single throwaway line in their respective films. Barbossa will no doubt turn up in Episode 5 with a new leg, shaved head and a Russian Bride who has a birth mark on her left foot shaped like a map to the Lost City of Atlantis and brush it off as an after effect of too much whoring and boozing. The real adventure in the POTC series takes place off screen.

POTC always picks up whenever Barbossa is on screen and when Barbossa and Jack had time together the film was noticeably lifted. The problem is these moments were often short and far apart.

Penelope Cruz was as feisty as ever. I absolutely loved the Spanish theme running through the film which even livened up the tired score. The Spanish Armada were underused and the revelation that they wanted to destroy the Fountain of Youth rather than use it for themselves seemed a bit strange as they failed to destroy the two chalices in their possession which were required to successfully avail of the fountains power. At least they weren’t as useless as the British Navy.

The fantasy creatures in this film were mermaids who were very creepy and not as shitty looking as the kraken.

Despite all the negatives I did enjoy this film and it annoys me to admit it as I really and truly wanted to hate it. There are some good set pieces and at times there were glimpses of genuine humour.

On Stranger Tides is leagues better than At Worlds End and is not a shabby way to start off the summer fluff season. It gets a 7/10. I still hate Johnny Depp.

Facebook - 30 Day TV Challenge 1 - 10

My additive personality means that I had to move straight onto the next facebook challenge. Unfortunately my addiction does not stray to television watching so expect to see many of the shows repeated through lack of options.

Day 1: Your All Time Favourite TV Show
Choice: The West Wing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSXJzybEeJM&feature=related

I remember watching this show when it first aired on tv although I have no idea how I stumbled upon it as I would have been relatively young at the time.
I start this tv show every May as it was my go-to background programme for when I was revising. The West Wing is a programme which is too good for background noise and I always ended up watching it more than trying to figure out how to draw the correct table for LIFO/FIFO/AVCO.
There are better dramatic moments than this scene but this is one of the Presidents best put downs on the entire show.
The West Wing will appear more than once on my list. I also passed my exams.

Day 2: Favourite Comedy Show
Choice: Black Books

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY5-0It0acU&feature=player_embedded

Black Books must be about ten years old now but it hasn't aged and is still one of the most quoted shows in our house and amongst The Nerdy Trio. I will admit that I absolutely suck at it to the point that it becomes a minor occasion when I manage to splutter out a quote.
Dylan Moran, who plays Bernard, wrote the show along with Graham Lineham who also wrote another Irish comedy Father Ted which will appear on the list later on.
The humour is mostly dry, drunken bitter Irish sarcasm with the occasional slap stick set piece thrown in.
The long haired guy is Bill Bailey one of the UK's top comedians and fully deserves this accolade as he is hilarious. Tickets to his show have been purchased for December and we can't wait
If you can find the dvds I'd recommend it

Day 3: Favourite Animated TV Show
Choice: American Dad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyG63u2Rhzg

I was desperate to stay away from South Park as much as I could for the TV Challenge since it appeared too frequently on the Film Challenge.
Luckily I own the American Dad boxsets too so South Park wont be used to extremes this time around.
This isn't the funniest clip from American Dad but I quite like the parking music so you will just have to believe me when I say this show, when it is on form, is very good.

Day 4: Favourite Game Show
Choice: The Crystal Maze

This is where my choices start to get lost in international translation as this is such a cult classic. Basically a team go through the Crystal Maze doing daft challenges in order to accumulate crystals. The more crystals obtained the longer they had to complete the final challenge. This show ran for years and I don't think any team ever won the grand prize.

It is constantly repeated on Challenge tv and it is still a great, if not ridiculous way, to kill an hour

Day 5: Favourite Detective Show
Choice: Castle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5WjSljQTLA

Detective shows are something I don't really watch however Castle is the exception to the rule due to a love of Nathan Fillion in our house (mostly on my mothers side) (that never gets any less awkward) (it gets worse if Firefly is on)

Castle is a procedural show with enough charm to make it watchable but not strong enough on the story arc side to make is better than average or to warrant a place on the dvd shelf.

As per usual the supporting cast are the most underused and entertaining.

Day 6: Favourite TV Show From Your Childhood
Choice: Animals of Farthing Wood

I absolutely loved this show as a kid - I still have all the magazines stuffed in a box somewhere and refuse point blank to let any kids touch them let alone read them. Animals of Farthing Wood ran for 39 episodes and followed the story of a mixed group of animals whose forest had been destroyed and turned into a housing development.

For a kids show it was very story arc heavy (no filler episodes in this show) and at times it was emotionally traumatising. There was one scene in which Mr and Mrs Hedgehog were unsuccessful in crossing the motorway and lost their lives due to being flattened by a lorry. They died holding hands. Cried buckets as a child.
I haven't watched it since I was a kid and the BBC never repeated it or released it on dvd. If they did I would buy it in a heartbeat. They don't make kids tv like they used to!

Day 7: Your Least Favourite TV Show
Choice: Sex and the City

I can find absolutely nothing likeable about this show. I watched the first film in the cinema as a group of girls from my old workplace were going and I couldn't stand a trip to the cinema with me not being part of it. Awful 90mins. I have seen snippets of the tv show mostly due to my inability to find the tv remote and change channel. It just isn't my show at all

Day 8: A TV Show You Just Don't Get
Choice: Katie Price and reality tv in general

This drunken slapper is an ever present feature in UK magazines. Katie Price aka Jordan is a former model who has her own tv show which like a poisonous tumour grew and grew until no matter where you look this woman is constantly in your face. She has an ex-husband, a washed up pop star, who also has is own reality tv show and a soon to be ex-husband who is desperate for his on tv show.
The fans of these shows should be rounded up and hunted for sport. By me.

I blame The Osbornes for starting this godforsaken trend.

Day 9: A TV Show That Went Downhill Badly
Choice: Lost

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKvRn0mel1c

The first season of Lost is amazing tv but the longer it stayed on the air the more ridiculous it became. This is the exact moment I switched Lost off forever.

Day 10: Favourite Television Theme Tune
Choice: Phoenix Nights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P_U0M8dXJE&feature=related

I had to resist the urge to go for the obvious choice of The A Team but Phoenix Nights deserved a place on the list one way or another. It is another British Comedy show written and directed by Peter Kay who is now the top comedian in the country and on his day is even funnier than the great Bill Bailey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSWzBnt0dlc

Kay's humour is so British I don't know if any of his shows or his stand-up ever made it to the international market.
All of the music in Phoenix Nights (usually purposely crap remakes of modern artists one of the most amusing being Eminem) was created on a keyboard in Kay's house.
The tv show is funny but the cast commentary is even better.

The next ten days follows in ten days time

Priest

There are some actors who are forced upon regular frequenters of the cinema and no matter how hard you try you cannot escape their constant presence. In contrast there are actors at the other end of the scale - those who don’t appear in many films per year but exert enough class to warrant excitement whenever they do give us a weekend off from the latest blah starring blah blah blah.

In case it wasn’t clear from the above - today I went to see Paul Bettany in Priest.

PLOT: The age old battle between humans and vampires is still going strong in the dusty future. Due to what I presume were budgetary issues within the Roman Catholic Church they embark on a major internal restructure in which Priests are reassigned and retrained as warriors with slight superhuman powers. There is no mention of the army. The head priest aptly named Priest (Paul Bettany) fought gallantly in the war with the only black spot being the apparent death of Black Hat (Karl Urban). Priest starts using the word “Familiar” to describe human vampire supporters and this reminds me of Blade 2 which in turn reminds me of Norman Reedus and once again thoughts wander onto crossbows and general badassery (not that I am obsessed or anything).

Anyway………..

Black Hat kidnaps Priest’s daughter and teams up with sidekick Hicks and Female Unrequited Love Priest (Maggie Q) in order to stop the vampires which are headed by the 2nd most attractive Familiar in existence. There are hints that the Catholic church may or may not be corrupt. Paul Bettany has the most American accent in American History. There are no sinister ministers here but knife wielding warriors. Karl Urban has about three lines but conveys emotion through moving his black hat in a sexy manner.

Priests 1 vs. Vampires 0 vs. Catholic Church -1 END PLOT

Humans vs. Vampires isn’t an original concept but there are times when execution trumps originality. This wasn’t one of them.

Priest is very much run of the mill - the only original aspect of the plot is that it is completely devoid of originality.

The cinema was only showing Priest in 3D so we had no choice but to fork out the extra £2.00 for our viewing pleasure. The 3D experience allowed us to watch the Captain America trailer in 3D and to see some falling ash in Priest. If you have the choice 2D is the way to go although the clever choice would be to skip this film altogether.

Other than the non existent 3D Priest looked exactly how you would expect a post apocalyptic film to look - dusty, old fashioned and futuristic. The woman wear old fashioned dresses, denim no longer exists, baddies ride dirt bikes and goodies ride pimped up nitro fuelled super future bikes.

Black Hat is the only human vampire as the rest are dodgy CGI which made the vampires in I Am Legend seem lifelike. His name was never mentioned in the film so I had to go to IMDB in order to figure this out - first time I have ever researched a blog.

Everything about Priest looked cheap, basic and outdated. The effects were basic - too basic for the cinema

Priest is the second film Paul Bettany and the director Scott Stewart have made together and I hope it is the last. Bettany is too good an actor to be slumming it with an inferior filmmaker - the sooner he gets over the notion that he is an action star the better.

Bettany was fine as Priest although the American accent didn’t work as it sounded completely unnatural and he gave off the impression that he was concentrating a little too hard on his lines.

Karl Urban is becoming an actor to watch out for and in Priest he was very good with the little he was given to do. He had the act of slowly lifting his hat wearing head in a sinister fashion down to a fine art. He does look good in cowboyish clothing and with that stubble he may make a very good John Marston if they ever made a Red Dead Redemption film.

The rest of the cast headed by Maggie Q were all okay. The film was so short no one really got a moment to shine.

There are some films which start great and fade towards the end, there are some films which are okay but waste so much potential and there are some films which are just bad.

Priest is in the final category - it was a way to kill 88mins but this is a bad film. Its only saving grace is that the CGI vampires didn’t sparkle. Priest gets a 4/10.

If Guillermo del Toro made Priest is would have been awesome although it may have been another Blade 2 which was the weakest spot in a career of greatness although it did have Norman Reedus..........…….crossbows.................distraction.........

Insidious - contains spoilers

Wednesday night is movie night but on occasion we do splash out and treat ourselves to a midweek dinner/cinema trip. The Nerdy Trio was depleted by one therefore Hilts and McQueen set off to see a scary film about what we thought was a freaky house and a possessed child.

PLOT: Josh (Patrick Wilson) and his wife Renai (Rose Byrne) fail in their parental duties and let one of their kids play in a darkened attic. Dalton falls off a ladder and finds himself in a coma. Three months later Dalton is still in said coma and life has gone on with the added bonus of spooky stuff happening. After a visit from a priest Renai resorts to more proactive methods to get to the bottom of proceedings and seeks the help of Elise the knower of exposition. It transpires that Dalton is a gifted traveller which allows his soul to leave his body at night and go wandering around the Astral Plane. Dalton’s soul wandered too far into The Further and is being held captive by a demon who wants to get into Dalton’s body and wreak havoc amongst the world. Luckily for Dalton, Josh remembered that he also has the gift of travelling just in time for the third act. Josh goes into the Astral Plane and wanders around The Further in order to find Dalton which he does with extreme ease. Josh is chased by what can only be described as Helena Bonham-Carter on her way to an audition for Miss Havisham. There is a twist so obvious it could barely be called a curve. END PLOT

I am a great believer in the notion that the less violence found in a horror film the scarier it usually is as it relies on jumps and scares which do not involve an underwear model running away from a lumbering retard with a kitchen knife.

Insidious manages to rely on such scares and jumps for the 1st act of the film. Once the creepy happenings begin they do build at quite an alarming rate and I will admit that there were two people in the screen hiding behind their coats.

The plot trundles on in normal fashion with an overemotional mother and doubting father. In the 2nd act the father gets on board with the notion of Astral Planes and the inexplicably named The Further and everything grinds to a glaring halt. Insidious stopped being scary the exact moment the dude from Saw (also the writer) drew the demon who had kidnapped Dalton’s soul. It was a gay Darth Maul. I noticed it. Hilts noticed it. The cinema noticed it. In that extended shot of a sketched Darth Maul the tension left the cinema and we all went into bemused giddy mode.

I don't know either Patrick Wilson. I don't know

We were then treated to a round table meeting with Darth Maul popping up behind several of the characters in what became an equal part unintentionally boring and unintentionally funny 2nd Act. The laughter created by Darth Maul broke up the boredom of the back story into Josh’s traumatic childhood.

In the 3rd Act we are introduced to The Further which is an eerie place filled with smoke machines, candles and red lighting. It was such a camp setting I was half expecting Meatloaf to burst out through the smoke and serenade poor bemused Patrick Wilson. Darth Maul was also listening to some music played on a ukulele. Or something.

The cast all played it straight with Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Barbara Hershey all doing a good job. The problem was their serious performances clashed with the campness of The Further, Darth Maul and the general tackiness of the finale and just made them look silly much to the audiences amusement.

I will admit that I did like the idea of the dad being the hero as usually when there are kids involved in a horror film the dad is either nowhere to be found, totally useless or dies and it's the mum who saves the day. It was a refreshing change.

The (non) twist came and the screen cut to black only for the word INSIDIOUS in big red Gothic style letters to flash onto the screen complete with screeching violins. It created a rare moment of cinema bonding as the fifteen people in screen 7 all stood and made eye contact with each other in a silent WTF was that moment of wondering then we all left the cinema in fits of giggles.

The film is written and directed by the two guys that brought us the original Saw which is a film that I do hold in quite high regard - although I have not nor will I ever watch any of the sequels as it became part of a horror craze that I cannot stand. It was a solid effort but it missed the mark as a serious supernatural horror and it took itself too seriously to pull off the Drag Me To Hell style humour.

Insidious starts off with so much promise - the scares are genuine to the extent I was actually wondering if I would make it until the end of the film but once it lost its way it never recovered.

Insidious pulls of the rare feat of being terrifying, boring and hilarious all at the same time. You should see it in the cinema, preferably with the crowd I did and you will have a great time. It gets an 8/10 - a great, if somewhat baffling, cinema experience.

Hanna

Hanna is one of those movies which sneak up on you out of nowhere. The trailer came into circulation about a month ago and it was more than enough to convince me that this one would be worth a look.

PLOT: Sixteen year old Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) lives in a snowy forest with her father Erik (Eric Bana). Hanna has no friends but can kill a deer with a crossbow which automatically takes me out of the movie to focus on the other crossbow wielding badass which is in my life.
Hanna has been trained by Erik to kill Marissa (Cate Blanchett) an operative of a nameless organisation which has genetically modified babies and turned them into super soldiers. Hanna kills the wrong person. Erik defies the laws of geography and swims from a snowy forest to a Moroccan beach. There is science but it is never explained. Hanna finds a friend. I hate the Chemical Brothers. Hanna kills the correct person. END PLOT

Hanna is told from the point of view of a sixteen year old rather than an aged action stars and this gives us a fresh outlook to a tired arc. Whilst fleeing for her life Hanna has her first kiss, makes friends and discovers that there is life outside of training and learning Arabic.

The “being chased by a nameless agency” plot isn’t exactly an original concept but what makes Hanna different as it went for intelligent casting. Saoirse Ronan is one of the best young actresses around and carries the lead role exceptionally well - she has a great career ahead of her.

Eric Bana has rode the wave of being the best thing in Troy for years now and it was nice to see him pop up in Hanna. Cate Blanchett is fine in an underdeveloped role - we are told she is the head of the modified baby organisation and also that her decision alone shut it down but this is as much information as we are given.

There is a growing craze of music groups composing film scores. Daft Punk came first with Tron and although their computery sound suited the film I hated the soundtrack as much as I hated the film.

Hanna has followed suit and brought The Chemical Brothers on board. Their music was effective in a few of the fight scenes but there was no distinguishable theme and it certainly didn’t have a strong hook. The Chemical Brothers score wouldn’t be out of place in an underground rave circa the mid 90’s and frankly that is where they should have stayed.

Hanna was directed by Joe Wright the director of Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. Atonement contains one of my favourite shots in a movie - the long flowing single camera shot around the beach in Dunkirk. Hanna also contained this style of shot during a fight scene in an underground train station but it didn’t have the same wow factor as Atonement.

Hanna is a solid film which shows that Joe Wright can move away from the costume drama and confirms the class of Saoirse Ronan. It gets a 7/10. I really enjoyed the film but there was just something missing which I cant put my finger on.

Facebook - 30 Day Film Challenge = 21-30

Just to complete my trilogy of pointless posts here is the third and final part of my 30 Day Film Challenge. The saga ends here.

Day 21: Your Favourite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film

Choice: Sunshine

Sunshine is my 2nd favourite Danny Boyle film although curiously the best Danny Boyle film, Shallow Grave, doesn't actually feature in this list. It's a decent little sci-fi thriller which ramps up the claustrophobic feeling to a stressful degree. It also boasts one of the best scores in recent memory with John Murphy's main theme being used in tv shows, Kickass and that annoying advertisement for the cinema which plays in the cinema

Day 22: Your Favourite Horror Film
Choice: The Ring

I was seventeen when The Ring came out. It was the first proper adult horror film I had the pleasure of seeing in the cinema and I was bloody terrified. The kid crawling out of the tv stayed with me for a long time. The Ring 2 is nowhere near as good and is unintentionally funny in places - it just shows what a difference three years can make to your viewing opinions.

Day 23: Your Favourite Thriller/Mystery Film
Choice: Roadkill (aka Joyride)

This isn't the best thriller in the world but it is bloody entertaining. It's the story of two college students and a waster older brother getting stalked by a trucker on a C.B radio. It's cheesy but it's fun. Paul Walker and Leelee Sobieski are terrible actors but Steve Zhan is hilarious. If you haven't seen it I would recommend it just because it is great fun!

Day 24: Your Favourite Animated or Children's Film
Choice: South Park: The Movie

If I went for Disney I would have chosen Beauty and the Beast and if I wanted to be different I would have thrown in Persepolis but I can't help loving this film. People either love South Park or they hate it and I am very much in the love it category. The plot is basically an extended episode of the series only a much better offering than the big screen attempt of The Simpsons. The film has its fair share of songs most of which are better than anything Alan Menkin could come up with. La Resistance is a parody of One Day More from Les Miserables and is wonderfully over dramatic and serious.
Let's not forget that this is also an Oscar nominated film!

Day 25: Your Favourite Documentary Film
Choice: South Park: The Startling

I really struggled with Day 25 as my dvd collection contains not one single documentary film. I chose The Startling as it is a parody of Cloverfield and the latest craze of hand held documentary films with South Park taking the piss in its usual way

Day 26: Your Favourite Foreign Language Film
Choice: The Good The Bad The Weird

It was tempting to go Spanish for this but my dvd collection does have its fair share of Asian films. This is a South Korean remake of The Good The Bad and The Ugly and although the original is considered a classic I think the Korean version is much more fun and entertaining. It also has a killer score.

Day 27: Your Favourite Independent Film
Choice: Clerks

Clerks is the story of two shop workers and how they pass their time at work - basically they stand around all day and talk about Star Wars. The "Casualties of War" conversation regarding construction workers on the Death Star is classic and not unlike the ridiculous conversations that The Nerdy Trio find themselves having. A sequel came out about ten years later cleverly called Clerks 2. The budget was bigger which enabled them to shoot in colour and cast Rosario Dawson. It doesn't have the charm of the original but it is still very entertaining.

Day 28: The Most Obscure Film You Have Ever Watched
Choice: Oldboy

This film was recommended back in the days of myspace and on the advice of those more knowledgeable than myself I sought it out and watched it.. Oldboy was my first foray into Korean cinema and it was uncomfortable yet absolutely riveting viewing. I was emotionally traumatised for days after watching this film.

Day 29: Your Favourite Film As A Kid
Choice: Watership Down

My favourite film as a child is now my favourite book as an adult and this review explains why in detail that I would never be able to convey:

http://intellectualmediocrity.blogspot.com/2011/05/watership-down-richard-adams.html

It may be about rabbits but their story never fails to make me cry

Day 30: Your Favourite Film This Time Last Year
Choice: The Boondock Saints

I lied about this being my favourite film from last year but thirty of the lords days have passed and I didn't manage to get The Boondock Saints onto my list. It's flawed, cheaply made and speaking as an actual Irish person the accents are questionable but I don't care as I love every minute of it.

Even though I promised this was to be the last in the trilogy I have decided to follow the trend of the reboot and a new trilogy based on the 30 Day TV Challenge will be here in approximately ten days time.

Episode One: New Blog. New Font. Old Routine.

I haven’t written one of these blogs since the great Myspace evacuation of late 2010. The combination of having nothing to say coupled with the most non-committal attitude towards pretty much everything excepting of course the intake of oxygen has its downsides.

To recap since my last non movie related blog:

Still working in the same job
Still single
Still at home
Still under the delusion that I will make it as a writer without actually writing anything down.

The sudden urge to blog about me ties in with my yearly trip to get my tarot cards and ruin stones read on Saturday. The first time I got them read was a year to the day after my father died and it was quite an emotional experience so it became a tradition although we are a good couple of months away from that particular anniversary.

Every year it is a pleasant experience and to be honest it's always nice to hear that you are on the right path with all the hard work paying off etc etc etc. This year it was different as Saturday was the most negative reading I have ever had and I am finding it difficult to just brush off what my reader told me.

I went in and sat down at the table as per the norm and my reader sat down beside me. She announced that she always watches her clients as they enter and sit down just to see what aura or impression they subconsciously give off. This was the first time she had done this with me.

I have a triangle tightly wrapped around me which indicated to her that I am very territorial and give off the impression that I believe my space is mine and mine alone. This isn’t negative but rather I am content in and have complete control over my own space and heaven help any uninvited guest. She told me my GRR factor was positive and I need to keep it up. I have a very good level of selfish control and I should be proud of this!

The reading started off with my ruin stones and although there were positives they were built upon a negative undertone.

One of the ruin stones told me that by May 28th (the end of that particular cycle) I will have spoken my truth and the other two stones told me I would have the complete support of my most important friends and family when I do so. This was grand nothing overly alarming there.

When it came to my cards I knew things were going to go wrong when my first card was The Hanged Man. The Hanged Man is a man hanging by a tree by a hook. When the hook is cut the card is turned upside down and the man is no longer hanging but is standing in the sun.

Right from the off my reader told me there is something in my life with is holding me back.

The next couple were some I had got before - the Wheel of Fortune (in the good sense - demons at the bottom and the sun at the top) and a King on his Throne (in charge of my surroundings) Things were taking a positive turn then is all went wrong.

The card for myself at present was a the number 9 fear card - ten is the highest in each section of the pack. It is quite a negative looking card - a blindfolded woman shrouded in a pink cloak surrounded by nine swords.

We didn’t dwell on this until the next card was shown which represented my immediate future and low and behold we got the number 4 fear card, This one consisted in a dead man laid to rest on a bed covered again in a pink shroud. This time three of the swords were on the wall with only one lying on the bed.

We then stopped the reading completely and went over everything in greater detail.

Pink in this particular deck of cards represents people and my readers gut instinct was that the people in my case were family but this was based on nothing more than her gut feeling (the other options were friends, lovers and co-workers)

The fact that my fear went from 9 to 4 is a good thing. The fact that there were three swords on the wall meant that I have dealt with hard times before and succeeded so there is no reason to doubt that the fourth sword will soon be placed on the wall and I can rest in peace.

My reader tied this in with speaking my truth by May 28th and she didn’t hold back in her assessment.

Basically she believes that I am being held back by my family and in particular this one member who, whether it be on purpose or subconsciously, goes out of their way to belittle me and make me feel worthless to the extent that I have lost all my confidence and ability to move on in life and push myself forward.

By May 28th the chances are quite high that if I speak my truth I will be telling someone to fuck off out of my life.

This freaked me out as family and friends have always been such a black and white issue for me. I am close to my family and I am close to my friends. The family I don’t particularly see or have many, if any, dealings with I don’t consider family - they are relations and distant ones at that.

Don't get me wrong I come from a big Irish family and I spend quite a lot of time with them but those on the outside of my life are very much on the outside.

It is the same with friends. I have friends, of course I do, but they are friends who I love, spend time with and would do anything for. I don’t have acquaintances. The numbers contained in my phone are limited but they are all used.

We decided to pull my final card just to see how things would pan out. The final card is my future based within the next couple of months ie by the end of the summer.

The final card was the ten of chalices. It was a really pretty card with ten chalices (cups) all running through a rainbow. There was a calm river with people holding hands beside it. It is pretty much the most positive card you can get in the deck.

In order for me to achieve full happiness by the end of the summer I have to speak my truth and weed out that one person in my life who is holding me back. If things continue as they are my life will remain stationary.

It could be as simple as that crabby old aunt who constantly asks “why are you not married yet?” (my readers words and not mine). If I cut off all family members who asked about potential boyfriends I would have no family left!!

My friends pointed out that the day before my reading I had a major facebook cull and deleted over half the people I am friends with - gone are the people I went to school with and haven‘t seen since I was eighteen. I wouldn’t stop to chat to them in the street so I really don’t care to read about how much they drank on any particular Wednesday night.

I was tempted to blame my dad which would have got me out of a hole (aka used it as an excuse) but my reader was adamant that this is a living person in my life at present so my Wee Tam is off the hook this time around.

The most negative person in my life is my damn cat although our house wouldn’t be the same with a daily Karina vs. Mika battle. I floated the idea of the cat being the source of all my problems to the mother and the brother. They agreed with me but made it clear that the cat was going nowhere. There is a hierarchy in our house and the cat is at the top of it ;-)

I will admit that I did sit and think about my family and who my mystery putter downer is but I have no idea. My reader told me that when it hits me it will hit me in the most obvious way.

I am not known amongst my family for keeping quiet. If I have something to say I say it and if I disagree with them I let my feelings show. It is true that my family know what buttons to push but they also know what reaction to expect.

The only person holding me back is me. I knew that before I went into my reading and I know it now. I cannot allow myself to take that out on the next family member who asks about my non existent boyfriend in an attempt to make myself feel better.

My reader is moving to the South of France in September so this was our last reading together. She will do it online via email but I wouldn’t have availed of this option regardless of Saturdays reading.

I didn’t come away from this particular reading feeling content, relaxed and emotional in a good way. I came away from it feeling suspicious of my family and friends and upset at the notion that someone I love is setting out to hurt me.

This was my last reading. It isn’t my readers fault - she can only describe the cards which are in front of her. Perhaps it is more offensive to her that I enjoyed it when it was fun and was being told what I wanted to hear but as soon as it took a slightly negative turn I have bailed but I don’t care - I would rather bail as I have seen this reading as nothing other than an excuse to blame someone else for my failings.

This post is long but my blog is called Mundane Rambling for a reason. If the shit hits the fan on May 28th I will let you all know.