People with Problems

Movie Review: House of Sand and Fog (2003)
This is a pretty dark drama with Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley. They play two tragic figures united by a dispute over a beach house. Connelly's husband has left her and has retreated into her family house. Unfortunately she doesn't have the money to keep it. Kingsley plays an ex-Iranian colonel who is forced to take menial labour jobs to maintain his family's image. When Connelly's house is seized by the courts Kingsley thinks he's found a way to help his family but Connelly isn't about to give up. Things spiral out of control into an even bleaker ending. I was pleased to see the same mother & son pair (Shohreh Aghdashloo and Jonathan Ahdout) from the season four of '24' playing Kingsley's wife and son. Despite the somber mood this is a fantastic movie. 8/10

Movie Review: A Very Long Engagement (2004)
Another film from my favourite French director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (director of Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children, and Amelie). This contains a lot of the same stylistic markings and subtlely inserted CG as his earlier films but this is quite a sad film. A young woman, Audrey Tautou of 'Amelie' fame, searches for her fiance who is missing and presumed dead from WWI. He was found guilty of trying to flee the trenches and is forced into no-man's-land where he disappears. Tautou's character never gives up on him and follows a series of mysterious clues to learn the truth. As in all of Jeunet's films the balance of beautiful cinematography, subtle but believable CG effects, wonderful music, and colorful characters makes this a movie to watch and enjoy. 8/10

Movie Review: Kinsey (2004)
Somewhat dry biopic about pioneer sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. The movie was well done but I think I'm a little tired of seeing Liam Neeson in the wise man role. He's a jedi in 'Star Wars', then he's Aslan in 'Chronicles of Narnia', now he's a sex expert. It's a shame though because despite his character's brilliance he's a flawed character and thus interesting. I just wish it wasn't Neeson in the role. I would have preferred to see a documentary about Kinsey with real footage of the key people involved. 7/10

Movie Review: Death Note (2006)
I caught this on Japanese TV. A young man named Light Yamagi finds a magical notebook. Writing someone's name in the book will cause them to die. Light begins writing down criminals' names and soon the police are searching for the mysterious cause of all these deaths. The police enlist a young computer hacker known as 'L', who never blinks and eats an ungodly amount of snack foods, to track down Light. Meanwhile, Light is visited by a Death God (I think it's his notebook) who only Light can see. This is based on a manga and I'm sure the CG Death God looks just like the character in the comic. However, he looks to me like a modelled character from a FPS game such as Unreal or Quake. He looks pretty good but doesn't fit in at all with the background. I couldn't follow all the philosophical discussions going on (it was all in Japanese) but I found the movie pretty interesting. Part 2 of the movie openned in Japan on Halloween and I'd like to see this sequal sometime. 7.5/10

TV Review: Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000 / Season One)
Written by and starring Larry David, the co-creater of 'Seinfeld'. Seeing as I've been in Japan since the end of 1998 I never got the chance to see this show. It's just like Seinfeld but much nastier. As it's broadcast on HBO the characters drop the F-bomb every once in a while and some scenes are too risque for the major networks. Larry David plays himself and the show usually involves him putting his foot in his mouth or doing something really stupid which comes back to bite him in the ass at the end of the show.