Final Destination 4

Photo credit: madeinatlantis.com

Final Destination 4 was not as fun as the other films. But I didn't fall asleep during so I must not have been a total bore. 

Tale of Tales

Photo credit: www.nytimes.com

Tale of Tales was not really on my radar since I watched Salma Hayek talk about it and despite the fact that I respect the lady, I'm not very fond of her acting. However this was on TV and I thought to check it out and leave it if it turned out to be bad. Well it was just to my viewing taste. First of great cinematography. Clean uncluttered and focusing on the face of the actors along with wide open spaces and not a lot of crowds. There are three stories with some morality involved but it is mostly gothic horror and I loved it. Recommended if you are not squeamish and/or offended by nudity. 

You Only Live Twice

Photo credit: www.vulture.com

You Only Live Twice was one of the films of the "Bond Month" on TV. I'm not really that into Bond to be honest. The only novel I really like is Casino Royale and the only film I really enjoy watching is Casino Royale starring Daniel Craig (a man I didn't think would be a good Bond but he proved me wrong thank God). It probably has to do with the male self appreciation and the way the women are depicted in it. In Casino Royale Vesper was as much as a character as Bond but not other women in other novels (I think I have read three before giving up on the series, I love the way they eat lobsters with melted butter and drink champagne in the beginning of Goldfinger though). Anyway this one caught my eye and I recorded it and it turned out that Mr. Roald Dahl has written the script and the whole thing was very entertaining and unintentionally hillarious. In the above photo Bond is disguised as a Japanese person, seriously. The women are treated badly and all in all many of the scenes were funny, rather than exciting or entertaining. There was not much of a villain, apparently this one is iconic and inspired Spectre (a Bond film I didn't like at all). All in all I was entertained but probably not for the reasons the film makers had intended. 

How To Be Single

Photo credit: www.villagevoice.com

How To Be Single, I thought was interesting based on the trailers. However it turned out to be a different version of He Is Just Not That Into You. Anyway it at least had some positive message of sorts. 

The Water Knife

The Water Knife really worked for me. I actually had nightmares related to it last night. I loved his other novel The Windup Girl (which I actually purchased at LAX liking the cover of that paperback edition) and I loved this one just as much. However it was a mistake to get the audible version since the reader couldn't make the Spanish English accent very well (and two main and many of the side characters speaks that way). I highly recommend this one if you are into dystopian science fiction with very good world building. 

Southpaw

Photo credit: www.shescribes.com

Southpaw is not really that good a film. But it worked for me on all grounds. First off I love Jake Gyllenhaal ever since Love and Other Drugs. And I love Rachel McAdams ever since Morning Glory. And the rest of the cast were just as good with a rather lovable kid actor. It is a melodrama and I have shed tears and tears during. Not really recommended but I liked it. 

Hors De Prix

Photo credit: beautyflashblog.com

Hors De Prix (which I understand is translated as "Priceless")  is yet another one of those French rom coms in which some not so good things seem normal. Anyway our heroine is a paid sexual companion to a rich old man. She sleeps with the bartender in the hotel she is staying with the old guy, thinking that he is one of the rich men and that a little one night stand is alright if it is one's birthday (see what I mean?) Next year she comes back to the hotel with the same old guy and the bartender/waiter/porter etc. pulls the same trick. However this time the old guy realises it and dumps our heroine so she turns to our hero thinking him a rich guy. When she figures out -rather rudely I have to say - that he is poor, she dumps him there and then and goes to Nice to find another rich man to latch on to. But our hero is besotted with her and will not let her go. He takes it so far as to being a paid sexual companion to a rich old woman. Yada yada yada and they end up together, penniless and in love. Which was as it should be I suppose. I'm not going to recommend this but if it comes your way then give it a chance.