Movie #12 - The Hurt Locker

From the movies nominated for Best Picture, so far I've seen Inglorious Basterds, Avatar, Up in the air and (last night) The hurt locker.
The Hurt Locker is a Kathryn Bigelow's movie and it follows the everyday life of an American bomb squad in the war in Iraq.
It won the Bafta for Best Film and some people seem to think it will take the Oscar too.
I'll leave any discussion out for now about who I think will take the oscar and who I think deserves it.
In any case, this movie does deserve to be on this list. Basically, because of the performances. Jeremy Renner is great and is nominated for an Oscar too. Anthony Mackie is also impecable and maybe should have had an oscar nod with this movie.
The story is pretty basic but it is powerfully captured. Cinematography is great too. There is one scene in particular with Jeremy Renner with a fire in the background which I really thought it could stand alone as a beatiful picture.
I've never been in a war nor have I have ever been in Iraq, so I couldn't say whether the movie is accurate or not, but it sure felt realistic. And here lie two aspects that for me made the film less enjoyable. First, I thought that the choice of camera angles and editing make it too much of a documentary and less of a film. And that, along with the second aspect, which is the fact that I felt that the soundtrack was often absent, made me feel less involved in the film. So, even though it's a very good film, very well done, it is not one of those movies that in the end I was completely taken by it. Nonetheless, it is a great movie that I do recommend.

There is still a couple of movies I'd like to see before the Oscars, namely A Single man (by the former main stylist at Gucci, Tom Ford) and A Serious man by the Cohen brothers.

Since I'm sure the movies list will have new entries this month, here's an update on how things are now.

1) Slumdog Millionaire
2) 2001 Space Odissey
3) Dr Strangelove
4) It's a wonderful life
5) JFK
6) In the Valley of Elah
7) In Bruges
8) The graduate
9) The Godfather
10) Inglorious Basterds
11) Garden State
12) The Hurt Locker

Roadtrip!

Tomorrow, I'll start the ride back to Nijmegen. It's 2500 kms in two days.
As soon as I arrive, I'll have to catch up in terms of movies. The Oscars are here soon and this year, there are 10 nominees for Best Picture.
I'll write more in the Netherlands.
Tot ziens.

February in Portugal

I apologize for the long silence. This time I was in Nijmegen for a very short time, and it was a period of a lot of work. I'm now in Portugal again and here I will be for the next couple of weeks.
February is always a great month for movies in Portugal, because that's when most of the movies that were nominated for the Oscars premier.
In the last month I saw Avatar, Up in the air, and Invictus. They all deserve some comments but not now. I also read the last book of the Millenium trilogy (which was interesting but not exciting).
More to come soon.

A new wine in a new place

While in Portugal for the holidays, I spent 24h in a wonderful place in Alentejo (a region on the south of Portugal) called Herdade da Malhadinha Nova. This place serves both as a country house (with Spa) and a winehouse. The 24h spent there were amazing, even though it rained as much as in the Old Testament. The food was great, the scenery was amazing, and the wines they make are fabulous. One in particular gathered my affection: Malhadinha, 2007. It´s a red wine (from Alentejo obviously). It uses five types of grapes: Aragonês, Alicante Bouschet, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Touriga Nacional. Some tasting notes (in portuguese can be found here.

One particularly great thing about this wine (and the other wines from Herdade da Malhadinha) is that it has a very family-like management. And, in accordance, even the children of the family who runs the place have a task in the wine process. They are responsible for creating the labels of every bottle. So you'll easily recognize this wine in the gourmet stores (and they can be found in lots of places in the world, in over 20 countries), because they are filled with tender lovely drawings, like the one of Malhadinha 2007. Enjoy.

Back in Nijmegen

New updtate on the lists

What I've enjoyed since the beginning of this blog:

Movies:

1) Slumdog Millionaire
2) 2001 Space Odissey
3) Dr Strangelove
4) It's a wonderful life
5) JFK
6) In the Valley of Elah
7) In Bruges
8) The graduate
9) Inglorious Basterds
10) Garden State

Books:

1) The lady with the dragon tatoo
2) The Road

Artists:

1) Tim Christensen
2) Elbow
3) Orquestra Imperial

Wines:

1) 3 Bagos Lavradores de Feitoria (Douro - White)
2) Cortes de Cima 2006 (Alentejo - Red)
3) Dolium (Alentejo - Red)
4) Callabriga 2007 (Douro - Red)
5) Passadouro Reserva 2004 (Douro - Red)
6) S de Soberanas (Terras do Sado - Red)

Movie #11 - Garden State (2004)

Garden State is simply the best OK movie I've seen in a long time. It was suggested to me by a friend (Dank je wel Martijn) who presented it as an OK movie. And he was right in the sense that the movie is not one bit pretentious and if I think about it there is nothing really spectacular about it. But within the kind of movie it aimed to, is just perfect. Nothing is wrong with it.
So, the movie is Zack Braff (the guy from Scrubs) 's directorial debut. It was critically acclaimed and tells a story of a guy who seems not to feel anything and numbly goes to their parents home to be in his mother's funeral. The people he knows and the transformation he undergoes there make the film wortwhile. For me, a big part of the reason I liked the movie so much was Natalie Portman. That girl can act and she's pleasant to watch. Also, the songs that populate each scene in a perfect way were personally chosen by Zack Braff and he got an award for that.
Not a masterpiece, but a great movie.