Monthly Movies: September'09

Not a single dubbed movie in September... EXCELLENT!!! It's so good to be back in Belgium ;o)

And I just switched to the new Blogger Post Edit thingy... with lots of new options I plan on fiddling with, starting with the "break"! I've wanted that option for sooo long... I'm guessing it won't make a difference if you click in from your "following" reader (or whatever it's called) since that takes you straight to the post page (as opposed to the full blog page), but if you're reading this from the main Blog page... and you want to know what I thought of September's movies (Abrazos Rotos, Inglorious Basterds and Public Ennemies), well then get ready to JUMP! :p

did it work? ;o)

I see my plan on saving money by living up on campus seems to be working... were I living downtown like before (once upon a time) I'd probably be seeing 1-2 movies a week, alone or accompanied! But the thought of getting in the car, going downtown... all by myself... not going to happen! Then there's the fact that September has always been a slow month movie-wise. I've already seen a few things on the horizon that promise better things for October! :o)

Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces). A.k.a. Pedro Almodovar's latest movie starring a fabulous Penelope Cruz. Funny I should end of seeing this one in Belgium instead of in Spain when it came out last Spring! My friends in Alicante aren't Almodovar fans (and it's hard to get them out to the cinema these days for just about anything) and I just couldn't muster the energy to go by myself. So when I saw it in the programme of the local arts/independent cinema (so non-dubbed films) I couldn't resist!

I'd say as a general rule I'm not too fond of Almodovar. There's something about his style that annoys me. That and I get frustrated his are the only Spanish movies that are given a chance at an international release and I wish people would discover that there's more to Spanish cinema than this one man! But then time and time again (at least in the past decade) he manages to win me over with a moving story, engaging characters and talented actors. And this time he's done it again! Penelope Cruz is more of a secondary character here, and yet she's the focus of the story as the object of affection of two powerful men. The main story is about a blind famous scriptwriter who lives in Madrid and tells his tale of passion and art during the making of his "final" movie 15 years before (so it's mostly via flashbacks). As the pieces come together we soon realise where it is heading, but the story is rather mesmerising so not once do we lose interest (and neither does the person he's directly telling the tale to).

So perhaps not a new masterpiece for "Pedro" (Spain isn't even submitting it to the Oscars, but then that's good news as far as I'm concerned, time for someone else to get some spotlight!), but an excellent movie and a great job by the actors involved (and notably Penelope Cruz who deserves some more time in the awards spotlight for this one), and one I enjoyed very much!

Inglourious Basterds: Tarantino's latest already got the full treatment from me here. What can I say several weeks later? Still think it was a blast and would have no trouble going to see it again! :o)

Public Enemies: Yup, I saw this one again! One can't have too much of a good thing (Johnny Depp), can one? ;o) I stand by my original positive opinion, if just to mitigate by saying that on second viewing the pace felt a bit more dragged out, and I loved the various accents!!! (got to see it in English!!!)