Tanya does movies: August

I nearly forgot about the movies!  Whoops!  Here's what I watched last month, kitty-style.

This is the End (2013)
A lot funnier than I expected.  Low expectations = enjoyment from a movie.  Quite filthy, utterly ridiculous, so wrong you can do nothing but laugh.  Amazeballs ending as well.

Inferno / Desert Heat (1999)
Van Dammmme!   This was not his best work.  Wow.  I made it through, but it felt extremely laborious.  Don't get me wrong, this was a fun movie to watch, but purely for the bad acting and terrible storyline.  The sex scene was the funniest thing I've ever seen.  Check it out.

Texas Chainsaw (2013)
There've been a bunch of TC movies, but I thought this one was particularly good!  It continues on directly from the original movie, so you get to see what happened to the Sawyers.  Never mind that the actual timing is off!

The Purge (2013)
I have not been so disturbed by a movie in a long time.  Just the premise of it spooks me.  Imagine - one night every year laws are suspended.  You are allowed to do anything.  Eff that!  Very good movie!

The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas (2000)
I quite liked the first movie, in that I thought it did a good job representing the characters. Well, I liked this group of actors even more. Jenna from 30 rock did a fantastic Betty, and there was a Baldwin in it!  Also I am a huge fan of Kristen Stewart, she is comedy gold.

Epic (2013)
A cute movie in the vein of Ferngully.  Nice enough but I wouldn't call it epic per se.  Lots of cool voice actors though (Colin Firth!).

Pain and Gain (2013)
Really liked this one, The Rock (he will always be The Rock ok?) was freaking hilarious.  Made all the better because it's apparently based on a true story.  Fast paced and funny, even if really shocking what these crazy body builders did.

The Great Gatsby (2013)
So I only just read the book recently (well, listened to an audiobook anyway) and I'm really not one to go into all the symbolism etc so I didn't really get the book.   I don't like stories that don't actually have a story, like, not much happens?  Well, I suppose people die, but really stupidly I thought.  Worth a watch because it was of course beautiful.

Short Circuit (1986)
Johnny Five is alive!  Haha this movie kicked ass!  Super fun movie, the robots were really cool!  All practical, no CGI.  It had all the elements of a crazy 80s adventure movie, with chases and lame jokes and romance and incompetent security guards and Steve Guttenberg.

The 6th Day (2000)
Love watching Arnie movies I haven't seen before.  This movie kicked ass!  I don't know why I hadn't seen it before.  I liked the baddies that could keep coming back in clone form.  It had a bit of a Total Recall vibe, but different enough.  I've yet to watch an Arnie movie I didn't like.

Iron Man 3 (2013)
We bought this on blu-ray so of course it needed to be broken in.  RDJ is just the best.  His face and all that.

Olympus has Fallen (2013)
The President is the dumbest, seriously.  Totes giving in to the terrorists.  And never send your best bodyguard away, my lord.  Pretty good action movie, as far as action movies go.

And the pick of the month??  Short Circuit!!!

~Tan

Tanya does movies: July

Time to recap you on the movies I watched last month, Lolcat style.

Super (2010)

Partner had been on my back for ages to watch this, and why the frick didn't I?  It was a lot better than I thought, with Rainn Wilson as the actually quite scary 'super' hero, and Ellen Page doing her usual awesome self.  Another take on the 'real' super hero genre, I really enjoyed it.

Despicable Me (2010)
Catching up with animated movies I hadn't seen.  I thought this would be a lot better.  Although one of the characters did the nerdfighter sign, which was unexpected.

Morning Glory (2010)
I didn't expect to enjoy this movie as much as I did. I think that's the key to enjoying movies - keep your expectations low. Harrison Ford was the key takeaway from this movie - he was so hilariously grouchy I would recommend this movie just for that.

Admission (2013)
Hello Tina Fey, this is what you've been up to! Quite a good movie, hopefully it's not really like that is it? I personally don't get the concept of entrance essays, we don't have that here. Seems to legitimise discrimination? Anyway, enough of my half-baked outrage at systems I do not understand. Paul Rudd was also good.

World War Z (2013)
Hey I read the book before seeing a moovie *gold star*. I was actually disappointed. I kept waiting for stuff to happen, and nothing much ever did. Yeah there were billions of zombies, but I never really felt the threat? That sounds lame, I think the lack of gore really got to me. A very tame zombie movie. Nice idea, but nothing new.

Casper (1995)
Welcome to my childhood, where we had about 5 video tapes that were played over and over. Casper was one of them, and I hadn't watched it in so long I felt it was time to revisit it. As a child a lot of the cameos were lost on me, so it was fun to watch just to see Dan Aykroyd (kinda) reprising his role from Ghostbusters, along with brief glimpses of Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood and Rodney Dangerfield. I still love this movie *sigh nostalgia*.

Arthur (1981)
When you get caught between the moon and New York City... the best that you can do... is fall in love.... Arthur's theme is a song that's regularly played on our mix CD's, and yet I had never seen the film. Happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially Dudley Moore's performance as the loveable drunk.

Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
Wow, just wow. They just tried too hard and overshot the mark with this one. It was quite bad? Dudley Moore was still the stand out, but there were so many problems, it was just, bleh. My main problem was why that biatch wanted to marry him so much? Totes no motivation.

Arthur (2011)
OMG REMAKE! Despite the fact that I vomit into my mouth a little bit every time I see Rusell Brand, this movie was actually quite good. It remedied a lot of the problems of the original, mainly giving Susan movitvation as to why she is so desperate to marry Arthur. It was a bit overdone (as you would expect from Brand) but overall quite good. Brand is no match for Dudley Moore though.

The Flintstones (1994)
Yabba dabba doooo! I quite liked this movie. I like that the dinosaurs are puppets, and there's quite a bit of that breaking the fourth wall thing that Hanna Barbera loved doing so much. John Goodman is a great Fred, and I have a secret crush on Rick Moranis.

Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
Yet another cool cool movie that I'd never seen before. As the title suggests, it's about a babysitter who goes on adventures. Unintended adventures, sure, but those are the best kind. Just classic 80s fun and frivolity. Would recommend.

Romancing the Stone (1984)
Another awesomesauce 80s movie I'd neither heard about or seen. Fan-frickin-tastic. An indiana Jones-esque adventure movie with all that goes with it. Michael Douglas was super fantastic.

The Last Boy Scout (1991)
Bruce Willis playing... a cop. Have you seen this? Accurate. Anyway, really awesome movie. I especially loved Willis' 'de-affirmations' ie "you're a horrible person, everyone hates you". Aww.

They Live (1988)
Another movie that I shamefully had not seen before! Hey, freaky! Quite a good movie, interesting and not something that I have seen before. How good was the makeup? Especially for a move that is over 20 years old, it holds up very well.

9 (2009)
This one looked really good, and I was excited to watch it, but it just didn't do it for me. It might have been because the mysteriousness was not quite believeable. I dunno. Just soemthing off about it, but it was kinda cute to look at at least.

Bachelorette (2012)
Rebel Wilson was grossly under utilised in this film, but I really liked Isla Fisher and Kirsten Dunst. Isla Fisher does that ditzy girl so well, it's almost a crime. I was able to set aside my general anti-wedding movie feelings and quite enjoyed this movie for what it was - a stupid unrealistic set of circumstances that must be remedied before the big day.

Evil Dead (2013)
Heyyyy we got this on Blu Ray and it's super duper epic! The special features were especially good, any chance I get to see Bruce Campbell talking about what he's been doing and what he thinks is a huge plus. He also spoke about how he didn't want anyone trying to emulate his awful acting from the orignal movie. Aw.

Four Lions (2010)
This movie was quite funny, even if a little unsettling knowing that it was made prior to the Boston bombings, yet depicts similar (albeit in a comedically convoluted way) events. Seriously, spooky. But a good movie if you don't take it too seriously (which you shouldn't). Here is a much more eloquent review of this movie which I would recommend.

The Wolverine (2013)
What's not to like? Everyone likes Wolverine right? I expected it to be good and was not disappointed. It wasn't spectacular, mind, but enjoyable so long as you like comic book movies, which I'm sure you do. So yeah, claws out and mutany good times all round. *SNIKT!*

The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2013)
I love me some Muppets, and I'm in the process of collecting all of the Muppets' works. The Oz take is not their finest work, but it has all the muppety elements like the silly jokes, plus a lot of things from the books that you don't actually see used very often (the green spectacles, the magic cap of the flying monkeys). I really liked it.

Justice League:  The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)
DC may not have their act together on the theatrical front, but they sure can put an animated movie together.  I don't read a lot of the comics, but I do enjoy injesting comics in their animated form.  It's the best form really, because anything can happen in animation, where movies are restricted, even with CGI.  Anyway, Flashpoint is apparently some famous storyline, and it was fully sick mate.  It was really cool to see the good buys go crazy, and the different take on Batman was awesome.  Highly recommend.

Aaaaannnnddd the pick of July was.... Adventures in Babysitting, followed closely by The Last Boy Scout .

What did you watch last month? Do you have any recommendations for me?

~Tan

Tanya does movies: June

Last month was a month of blockbusters, and not nearly as many retro movies?  Maybe that's a good thing!

Texas Chainsaw (2013)
The Partner was on my case to watch this and now I wish I'd seen it sooner.  It's meant to be a direct sequel to the original  and picks up directly from the girl escaping.  I really enjoyed it - it gave a bit of depth (I know it's a crazy horror movie so only for a given value of "depth") particularly giving certain characters motivation for doing what they do.

Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
A very meh movie.  It was ok, made for kids.  Ewan McGregor was the highlight, his character was very good.  It also has that dude from Warm Bodies in it.  And I generally like the whole kings/queens/princesses thing.

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)
I had no idea what this was about before we started watching.  I didn't even see the cover of the movie, so I thought it was about cigarettes somehow.  I figured with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor it would surely be good.  And it really really was.  Super weird but also extremely touching, definitely worth a watch.

The Proposal (2009)
Oh god this movie made me throw up in my mouth a little.  Well, I should have known better because romantic comedies are going to be pretty disgusting.  Well, it was good for what it was.  I really wish Sandra Bullock would do some cooler movies rather than the usual, and Ryan Reynolds, you should know better!

VHS 2 (2013)
I hadn't seen the first one and you really don't need to.  This is an anthology of stories, each one capturing some a terrifying tale on tape, and then watched by some unsuspecting innocents who happen upon the abandoned tapes.  There's a wide variety of stories, including about demons, aliens and zombies.

Yes, this is a birdhouse made of VHS tapes.  What else could you possible do with them?

Men in Black 3 (2012)
Josh Brolin does a fine fine job as young Agent K.  Quite enjoyable, I'm sure you've seen the previous movies so expect more of the same.

Ok, a very tenuous link to  MiB3, but what a rad picture right?

Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
Dammit I can't believe I haven't watched Star Trek apart from the recent movies.  How rad are the movies?  I loved these movies.  Simon Pegg was brilliant.  As was Benedict Cumberpatch.  I didn't even think of Sherlock, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to think of him as a different character. Loved it.

This is a DIY project - make your own star trek tshirt! 

The Taint (2010)

This movie wins 'The most ridiculous movie I watched in June 2013' award.  I can't even describe it.  I'll try though.  So the water gets 'tainted' with a disease (?) which only effects the male population, which makes them, overly attracted to females (? trying to keep it clean - btw the movie is pretty crude).  It's up to one school kid who for some reason has a gun to save the world.  This one also falls into the 'So-bad-it's-good' pile, if you like that sort of thing.

Ninja Assassin (2009)
If you like crazy ninja action (really, who doesn't) you'll like this movie.  Apparently a spin off (?) of Speed Racer, which I love, this movie tells the story of a young boy recruited into a crazy ninja lifestyle from very young, only to turn his back on his fellow ninjas, who don't appreciate that very much.

This rad hoop was made by the one and only Lisa from Tea and Craft!  

Man of Steel (2013)
I went into this movie with low low low expectations, so was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it!  Partner (a comic-book aficionado) didn't like a lot of it, but in terms of the character he agreed that they did Superman a justice.  Still no contest between this and Christopher Reeve, the very embodiment of Superman forever and ever, but still a good movie.  Amy Adams was a rad Lois too.  Oh, one complaint, where the frick was Jimmy?

Escape from Planet Earth (2013)
A kids movie.  You know by now that I love kids movies, so that's not a bad thing, but this one was very average, even judigng against my low low standards.  Alien race responds to distress call on Earth, gets captured by the MiB and tries to escape.  Sounds more exciting than it was.

Waterworld (1995)
Kevvvvviinnnnn Kossstttneerrrr!  Such a great movie, I don't know why it gets such a bad rap.  It's like Mad Max on water, how could that be a bad thing?  The one thing I don't get - you think a dude with gills would be, like, an asset in a world of water, but nooooo everyone wants to kill him.  People suck!

And the pick of the month?  Star Trek was very very good, but I Love you Phillip Morris really got to me.

~Tan


Unless otherwise stated, all pictures randomly found on etsy.  Click the picture to see the original listing to buy the rad stuff.

GET TO THE CHOPPER

OMG I actually saw Arnold Schwarzenegger!  Actually, not even 10m away.  In the flesh.  He's in Australia doing, well I don't really know, but he came to a gym in the western suburbs to give a talk. It was a kind of, well, inspirational.  I was surprisingly in awe of Arnie, standing there, chatting away about his life.  I kept having to remind myself to listen to what he was saying because I kept getting distracted by the fact that it was Arnie!!!

We know how to welcome them in the West!

Anyway, so Arnie came to a gym near me, which is apparently the largest gym in the Southern hemisphere.  Go figure.

We only bought general admin tickets, because while I'm a huge fan, I'm not quite a VIP-$700-ticket fan.

There were about 1000 peeps in the crowd, but even then we were only 10m away from the Governator.  I took my super duper zoom lens with me, and got a few snaps of his royal Schwarzenegger-ness.

It was kind of funny to watch all the cameras and phones come out when Arnie first appeared.  I'm not making fun - I was one of them!

So I mentioned the talk was inspirational.  He gave a talk about his 5 steps to sucess, which weren't mind shatteringly novel, but coming from such an impressive figure, I found his words to be particularly weighty.  Here are his 5 steps to success, with some of the messages that particularly struck in my mind, albeit paraphrased below.

Arnie's 5 steps to success

1. Have a vision

If you don't have a vision with yourself you will just be floating.  With every rep I did, every set, I was thinking about lifting a trophy.

2. Think big

You can't fail from aiming high.  Even if you fail, as long as you get up that's not a failure. 

3. Ignore the naysayers

They told me not to be an actor because I had too many muscles, they said I looked like a monster.  They said I had a crazy accent, but it made me the perfect terminator because I sounded like a robot.

4. Work your ass off

You sleep for 6 hours, what are you going to do with the other 18 hours of your day?  Oh you want to sleep for 8 hours?  Well I sleep faster than you.

That's Danny Green there interviewing Arnie, for all you boxing aficionados. 

5. Give back

Give back to those less fortunate, share your success and it will make you happier.

Happily, he also spoke about his movies and answered some questions.  I took a short video of him talking about the formulation of his most famous line.  Danny Green was so cute totally fanboying over Arnie, describing to him his favourite scene from Commando.  (You can also hear me laugh when Danny Green says "let off some steam Bennett")

He also gave a shorter version of his steps to success:

1. have 20 inch biceps
2. have a charming Austrian accent
3. be able to kill a predator with your bare hands

Someone had an Arnie doll! 

I found him charming, very articulate, engagingly funny and really inspirational.  Arnie was extremely down to Earth, ready to make fun of himself, his 'crazy accent' and his ridiculous last name, 'what is it, Schnitzel?'  He also spoke about the importance of being happy, and only doing things which make you happy.   I'm already feeling more positive and enthused about changes I can make to contribute to my own success!

Do you have a favourite Arnie movie?  I'm a huge fan of Last Action Hero and Total Recall.  I feel an Arnie-a-thon coming on!

~Tan

P.s.  my friend showed me this video recently, and it needs to be included with this post!