The White Countess

Since I'm so enamoured with When We Were Orphans (it is so so good) I have decided to rewatch

The White Countess and I loved it even more this second viewing. Perfect casting, perfect story, perfect writer and a very good film that seemed like it was made for me. Tears kept flowing and flowing..

Espion(s), Hot Ice - End, When We Were Orphans

Espion(s) is a very dull film. Considering its subject matter it should have been a thrill ride but no, I actually fell asleep in the last minutes and had to rewind and watch them again. This was not a good purchase.


I have finished Hot Ice which served its purpose and started When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro which of course is brilliant right from the beginning.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents Eps.6-7

Well these two were not as good as the first five I have seen (I actually fell asleep during Breakdown). That's all I'm going to say about them.

Straw Dogs (Remake), Rock of Ages, The Lucky One, Forbrydelsen Season II End, Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season One First Five Eps.,

Straw Dogs (Remake) This one was nowhere near as good as the original. I enjoyed it for different reasons. Alexander Skarsgaard was very good looking.

Rock of Ages This is a bad film. No other way to say it. I have watched it till the end though since I used to be a rocker (a rather tame one sure but I was)

The Lucky One This film was vanilla, totally vanilla. It produces some tears.


Forbrydelsen II was not as good as the first one but still I like Sarah Lund and the third season seems more promising.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season I  I have watched the first five episodes and they are good. Well I must be getting old since I turned to one of those people who like b&w old films a lot better.

Hot Ice is still going good. 

I Spit On Your Grave - Remake

After a night of exercise (having to take my deliveries from the central office of the delivery company) I have decided to watch

I Spit On Your Grave right away. First off I liked the original a lot better. This one looked as if to be made only for the shock value of how disgusting the revenge ends up being. And it was - even I, who is pretty much sanitised to on screen violence- had to look away at one scene. But gone are the thoughtful script, internal conflicts of the victim and the mindset of the perpetrators. They added an element of surprise that didn't carry a single element of suspense. All in all this was not a good purchase but at least I didn't fall asleep.


Meanwhile Hot Ice turned out to be an adventure romance (in the vein of films such as Romancing the Stone, Fool's Gold etc.) and it is not bad and I'm having a good read but it is not that impressive. But it is an old book where everyone smokes indoors and there is not one single mobile phone in sight which turned out to be one of its charms.

The Gallants, Native Speaker - End, Hot Ice

The Gallants  stayed away from this one for a long time despite the good reviews. I just didn't want to watch old men fighting and nostalgia etc. but in the end I have decided to give it a try (I'm in a bit of a dry spell, where nothing seems interesting anymore etc.) predictably I loved it. It has that certain HK film quirks and comedy which appeals to me and I loved the oldies and their fights were good too. I recommed (but do not expect any eye candy)

I have finally finished Native Speaker and even though it nicely escalated towards the end and I do love that I got almost all the Korean references it ended up not a book to my own heart. He is a good writer, it is a decent story but somehow we just didn't connect (by we I mean me as the reader and him as the writer).

So I'm planning to start on Hot Ice by Nora Roberts at my lunch break. Now in my visits to U.S.A I have seen that this lady is one of the writers who has most book on the shelves (of everytype of store). So when I have found one of her books at the secondhand book fair I didn't hesitate. I'm expecting light reading.

Leaves of Grass

Leaves of Grass - this one ended up being a pleasant surprise. I knew nothing about this one except that it starred Edward Norton as twin brothers and is directed by Tim Blake Nelson. Now I'm sympathetic towards him and I simply love Edward Norton so I have given this a try. And it ended up being on the same wavelength of thought as I'm. I wouldn't necessarily call it a good film but it worked for me. There were even moderate tears.