I went to see avatar over the weekend and was impressed. I thought it was going to be a load of rubbish but was actually pretty good!

I saw avatar a couple days ago, it was brilliant. I think it's the 3D making you feel like you're actually there. :-)

@Eska, I was quite intrigued by the Tom Ford one as well, be interesting to see what he's made.

I know what you mean about arty cinemas, there are some rather amusing customs (such as everyone staying to watch the credits as if there's a deeply meaningful message located within them) but overall it's just so comfy and civilised. Plus I can go there for a little escapism on my own and no one thinks anything of it. At Vue there are always sweet-eating, seat-kicking rabbles of children, and you can't take a nice glass of wine in.... so many crimes.

Hi Teek, I guess I avoid the worst of the rowdy kids becaus I go on a week day in the afternoon. I don't think anyone notuces or cares that I'm on my own - that'd be their problem anyway. I usually have a nice chat with the staff about the films that are showing, about which ones arre good etc, they're lovely.

The Frog Princess is super brilliant - the best disney for ages. Me and a load of kids laughing our socks off all the way through.

I've got some more movie reviews and I'm going to write about them, once I've finished struggling trying to submit my systematic lit review to a journal.:-s

Great, roll on your completed article! Go Wally.

Hmm, what to review...Legion

Legion - In essence, angels with machine guns. God is disappointed with mankind, so around December the 23rd he decides to bring Armageddon on us, Hollywood style. Fortunately for us, Archangel Michael thinks there's some good in us and endeavours to save us all. Cue car chases, an ice cream van, a swarm of blue bottles and an angry Gabriel with a mace - all ensure that this film is a tense package of holy excitement. Alas, this film, given that it's supposed to represent the apocalypse, really doesn't feel as though it has much of a grand scale to it. It all takes place in a diner in the American outback, and it's pretty dark much of the time. Character development is also quite poor - I really didn't feel like I came to know Dennis Quade and most of the other characters could have been played better with cardboard cut outs. However, if you're into pious films, a pregnant women giving birth and a killer granny, then this could be for you.

Hi Folks I just saw Tom Ford's A Single Man, it was amazing! Very sensitive description of true love that must be hidden, and of secret, private grief. It made me think really hard about heterosexuality and the expectations we sometimes put on eachother - the relationship in the film just wasn't like that. I know not all hetero relationships have barriers of expectations, but I think there can be a default switch to this which is pretty common. A really beautiful film, in every way. Colin Firth is fabulous. Tom Ford is amazing!

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double posting

For my next film review, I am ashamed to say I watched Extraordinary Measures. Why did I make myself watch this? It's utter rubbish. At the risk of sounding unoriginal, it's extraordinarily crap. The movie follows the struggle of an ordinary family to find a cure for their two children who suffer from a rare genetic disorder, Pompe disease. The father researchers the condition on the internet, actually more thoroughly than I have researched for my own PhD (saddest bit of the film for me - since there's nothing like personal shame), and comes across a researcher who is producing ground breaking results in the field. Cue a lot of melodramatic bits and some sad music, as this almost made for television drama, tries every novice trick in the book to make you weep.
Unfortunately for the father, the researcher he has to work with is a bit of a bad-tempered, loose cannon. Forever losing his temper and getting angry at the slightest of inconveniences and challenges, you wonder why he doesn't suffer a stroke or some other stress related disorder before the end of the film. Fortunately, he's good, damn good - 'his research is light years in front'. But unfortunately, he's skint, damn skint - there ain't much money in research and most of his grants get rejected. Clearly, this was the most personally affecting part of the movie for me.
Anyway, it's a Hollywood movie and we all like happy endings. So they get the money, the drug gets synthesised and the kids are saved. I found it hard to empathise with the characters, particularly the children. I'm sorry but the little afflicted girl in it is a cheeky cow with an attitude problem.
If you like amateurish made-for-television melodrama, you'll love this. But then if you do, there's plenty of others to choose from, including:

Sally Mildren: The Easter Sadness
Clinging to Life: The Cathy Lane Story
At Death's Door: The Morrag Blane Story
Thinking of You in Hospital: A True Story