You’ll need a few tools to get this working. appscript, py-IMDb and CocoaDialog. Install each of these, and for the latter, note where you store it. I’m not going to go through the code, as it is fairly well commented. If you can’t get it to work, leave a comment and I’ll see if I can help.

IMDB2iTunes.py

Note that you will need to save the file above, and rename it so it has a .py extension.

From the starting sequence, where we see the result of a society where no children have been born in just over 18 years. The death of the “youngest person alive,” juxtaposed with the terrorist attack which narrowly misses the hero, Theo, (“If you took cream and sugar, my friend, you might not be here now”), and the dystopian London that we see glimpses of demonstrate how bad a world without the voices of children would be.

I didn’t really know what I was expecting going into this film, I had some visions of a Science Fiction feature, but wasn’t really ready for what ensued. Future Britain (2027) has become the last bastion of civilization. America and Europe have both fallen into disarray, and with a huge influx of Fugees (refugees), the Department of Homeland Security (UK) have taken to incarcerating, and perhaps terminating all of the illegal immigrants.

The beauty of this film is that it is an entirely plausible future. The culture of fear that the Western Governments are already peddling regarding different people and their status as terrorists has in some places already resulted in riots where the dominant culture has actively sought out people from a particular ethnic background and targeted them with violence.

When Theo goes to meet with his cousin, who lives in the secure, gated section of London, we are exposed to the hypocrisy that is already present in our cultures. Whilst in Greater London, and the rest of Britain, foreigners are quickly caged, removed and shipped off to somewhere else, the parklands in the inner sanctum have Zebras and Camels, led and ridden by people of non-anglo background. Similar to how in the days immediately following September 11th 2001, when the rich oil sheiks were permitted to fly out of the USA, even though it was their cousin that was the mastermind behind the attacks.

Without spoiling too much, Theo, excellently portrayed by Clive Owen, has a somewhat shadowy background. His ex-wife, an American and therefore an illegal immigrant, is the head of a terrorist group, and kidnaps him to ask him transport a young woman, Kee, to the coast. It’s pretty evident she is the first pregnant woman in over 18 years, and when the transport goes pear-shaped, Theo and Kee are on the run.

What’s fantastic, even though there is a significant amount of violence, is how gripping this film is. You don’t realise until after the movie finishes just how involved in this film you have become. As Theo wanders around miraculously avoiding bullets, you are literally on the edge of you seat. Ignoring the deep political, philosophical and social statements, the action and tension in this film will keep you entranced and enthralled for the full 109 minutes.

If you only see one film this year, make sure it is Children of Men.

Dub In Ya Mind [Beach Club Mix] • Afterlife • Café Del Mar • Volume 6

This film nearly lost me in the opening sequences. Sure, the young magician act was magnificent, and well done, but the party was poor. It was almost like the pre-screening audiences had totally missed all of the salient points, and there was a percieved need to bring in a narrator to bring everyone up to scratch. And if it can’t be done subtly then they took the easy way out: stopping the film mid-frame, and having the narrator talk over the top. Cheap.

Luckily, as soon as the party was over, things settled down to a better tempo. The parallels between the film, and lives of Robert Downey Jnr and his love interest neatly intersected with those that were present in the novel on which the film touched many times. Downey Jnr himself was good as the lead character (and narrator - Grr), although since he was supposed to be playing a 34 year-old. Surely they could have actually found someone a bit younger, or who looked a bit younger to fill this role. Or did they find a nobody, train him up nicely, giving him detective lessons, just to get Downey at a cheaper rate? (In joke - watch the film and you’ll get it).

The star of the show was undoubtably Val Kilmer, in the delightful role of Gay Perry, a formerly (?) gay private detective. Michelle Monaghan makes a very good struggling actress, and looks very nice with not much on. The big surprise is that of Harlan Dexter. A very old, very balding Corbin Bernsen is almost unrecognisable as the former star of LA Law. I didn’t even realise until researching for this review that it was indeed him!

This film is most definitely worth a watch. I’m half tempted to re-edit this and remove the silly narration scenes, but I’m way to lazy to do that.

…that’s Dreamz with a Z.

I went into this film with an idea in my head as to what it would be about. There has been a significant amount of advertising, and, to be honest, it looked good. With not being a real fan of the Pop Idol-type shows, but knowing more than enough about them to understand even the most in-jokes, I felt I was fully prepared for whatever the movie threw at me.

I was surprised. Whilst the film was poking fun at the popularity contests that are the current crop of New Talent shows, it went far deeper than this into it’s satire of American family and political life.

With a title sequence that had music reminiscent of a civil war flick, I was unsure as to if I was in the right theatre. If it wasn’t for the teaser where we see just how shallow and self-absorbed Hugh Grant’s character is, I would have asked around, or even ducked out to see the number on the door. And the opening scenes, with Dennis Quaid took a few seconds for me to adjust. He is clearly a parody (and a very close one!) of the current US President. Whilst at times he looks a bit like George W. Bush, as soon as he walks, talks or moves, he clearly becomes the kind of person you clever Americans have elected again.

Maybe it is time I read newspapers. I’ve learned a lot this morning. It turns out North Korea and Iran are not like Doctor Octopus and Magneto at all…

The lack of understanding of current affairs, the ease by which he is pushed around by his staff, the cluelessness as to what to say, Quaid certainly hits the nail on the head. It seems like it’s way over the top, but this nagging feeling inside me keeps saying this is exactly what Bush is like behind closed doors. A spoiled little boy who was pushed into the presidency by his parents and advisors, and doesn’t really know what he’s doing. Someone who doesn’t realise the laughing stock he is internationally, and possibly even nationally. Perhaps, if Bush read the papers, then he might not be so likely to follow the whims of his handlers quite so easily.

And the characters involved more directly in the show are magnificent as well. Mandy Moore in her second real satire movie (she was in a rather anti-fundamentalist christian movie some time ago) simultaneously manipulates the population and her family and loved ones. She certainly is shaping up to be the next anti-establishment sweetheart.

I’m not physically attracted to other people, but if you want me, I’m yours.

I’m not sure who this movie is aimed at. If it were my audience, then I’m sure it would be a hit. Those people that couldn’t stop watching Farenheit 911, loved Three Kings, and were somewhat scared by Wag the Dog. But Mandy Moore seems to still have a younger, less politically astute or aware following. And the lack of impression that this is actually a political satire in the advertisements seems to indicate that it is a film for the fans of American Idol, a chance for them to laugh at the show they love and themselves for loving it.

Don’t get me wrong: this is not a film that was funny all of the time. There were plenty of moments that just didn’t ring true. However, it kept me entertained for most of the two hours. Certainly looks a whole lot more fun than The Da Vinci Code.

Jaq will be stoked. The Dark Crystal is possibly the best Henson thing ever created.

Best. Thing. Ever.

(Thanks to Ash Green for the link!)

This totally sums up my opinion of the most recent Star Wars film, and much more eloquently than I ever did.

Culture Snob, you are going to be on my RSS feed.

This has got to be the best idea for fan-fiction I’ve ever come across.

Do yourself a favour, read the Darth Side…

After watching that, I wanted to see the film.

I wish now I hadn’t seen the promo film, as it pretty much used all of the jokes in the movie. Except the Poo Flinging ones, but there were only two of them.

It wasn’t an especially bad film, but once they got to the island, it sort of went nowhere (except for the occasional good bit). The first half-hour was fantastic, but they couldn’t keep going for long enough, and I tired of it well before the end.

And the end was pretty poor, too. Alex should have eaten something. Kids should be shown more about what the real world is like.

I’m not going to write any more - it wasn’t a thought-provoking film, and it should have been more fun than it was. Wait for it to come on TV.

Whenever someone asked why I left 2046, I always gave them some vague answer. It was easier.

So began 2046, the new film written and directed by Kar Wai Wong.

It continually amazes me when I watch a subtitled film, particularly at the cinema, how quickly you begin to ‘hear’ the actors saying the words in English. Films that draw you in, like 2046, with it complex, interwoven relationships between reality and the text the main character writes, quickly become as easy to follow (in the dialog sense, not necessarily the plot sense!) as a film in your native language.

And 2046 was certainly a film that you had to work to follow. Beginning in (what we later find to be) the fictional world (/place/time?) of 2046, we see a Japanese man, on a train, counting incessantly. This quickly returns to when Chow, the main character and journalist/writer, was preparing to leave Singapore. The bulk of the story takes place in the hotel in Hong Kong where Chow lives throughout the second half of the 1960s.

The film focusses on his relationships with several women. The first woman we learn about is LuLu, also known as Mimi, a girl he knew in Singapore, who has apparently forgotten him. After she is murdered, he wants to move into her room, 2046, in a (small?) hotel; but it is unavailable, and he moves into 2047 instead. He comes to like that room, and stays there, and has relationships with Bai, and Wang Jing Wen, the eldest daughter of the hotelier. I won’t say any more about the plot, other than it’s worth it.

Do you know what people did in the old days when the had a secret?
The used to climb a mountain, find a tree, and cut a hole in it.
They, they would whisper their secret into the hole, and fill it with mud. That way, no-one would ever find out their secret.

Films like this are thought provoking. When you walk out of the cinema wanting to talk about the film, and what it’s really about, you know the little over 2 hours you spent there was worth it. Jaq was of the opinion that the film is about unrequited love: loving what you can’t have. Jing Wen loves Tak, but is not allowed by her father to be with him; Chow loves Jing Wen, but she does not love him, she only loves Tak; Bai loves Chow, who does not love her. Do people love one another more if they are not loved back?

(Bai) - Can I borrow you tonight?

(Chow) - I promised myself there was one thing I would never lend someone else.

What is it that Chow has vowed never to lend? He doesn’t say, and that to me is the key to films like this. I interpreted it that Chow never wanted to lend someone “false hope”; Jaq interpreted it that we would never lend his love. Leaving something to the imagination, while still providing a framework to make an interpolation means that people take from a film according to what they put in, and are capable of thinking.

All of the women in 2046 are stunning beauties. When some of them ‘become’ androids, apparently they are airbrushed: I didn’t notice. The (near) flawlessness of their faces (and bottoms, which get quite a lot of screen time) mean that they could be inhuman.

Apparently, each of the actors only speaks in their language, yet they all understand one another. I did notice there were several languages (Chinese, apparently both Cantonese and Mandarin, Japanese, and Cambodian - or something else), but I think that only adds depth and magic to the film.

I didn’t realise until reading another review (post-watching) that some of the characters (Chow, and Su Lizhen #1) are in his previous film, In the Mood for Love. That might be next on the DVD list.

Verdict: I love it.