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Watched a few movies recently. Here are my thoughts:

The Blind Side

Feel good movie but nothing special really. Not sure will Sandra Bullock won best actress Oscar. She did a good job but nothing fantastic.

7/10

Couples Retreat

Pretty good movie – I enjoyed it. Stars the likes of Vince Vaughn, Kristen Bell (who I think is brilliant) and Jon Favreau. Great location – makes you want to go on holiday to a beautiful island in the sun.

7.5/10

He’s Just Not That Into You

Really enjoyed this movie. Has loads of famous people. Pretty funny if a bit predictable.

8/10

Love Happens

Bit of a typical Jennifer Aniston type romcom. Enjoyable enough but nothing special.

7/10

Up In The Air

Really enjoyed this movie and its won loads of awards. Admittedly George Clooney just plays George Clooney but its well worth seeing.

9/10

Up

I had read some really good things about this movie. I thought it was good but just not that good. Animation as usual from Pixar was brilliant. Had some funny moments but its no Toy Story or Monsters Inc.

7.5/10

Serious Moonlight

An OK movie. Only watched it really because Kristen Bell is in it. Justin Long plays a different sort of character than he usually does. Meg Ryan played a different sort of character to her normal role and its good to see her in a movie – even if shes kindoff ruined her looks with the work she did on her lips.

It has a good twist at the end. Although saying that I pretty much guessed it.

7/10

Well I went to see Avatar yesterday. I was expecting it to be absolutely brilliant. Some people have said its the best movie they have ever seen. I havent heard any negative review of it so had high expectations!!

(Before you read on, if you have not seen this movie you may want to stop reading as there are some minor spoilers. Kind of…)

Too predictable

First of all I have to say that the movie was good, just not brilliant. The special effects were fantastic, the scenary and the whole Pandora world was AMAZING. However, it was just a bit too predictable. You could easily work out early on in the movie what was going to happen, who was going to die etc. The 2 “bad guys” are very stereotypical. The man in the suit who only cares about the money, and then hard guy who just wants to blow stuff up and has some sort of scar. Also, its very long at just over 160 minutes. It could easier have been cut down a fair bit.

Heard the story before??

Having a look online to see if I could read some “negative” reviews – maybe it was just me who didnt like it. However, I
found several reviews from people who didnt think it was overall brilliant. It is not just me who things its predictable and in some cases very very similar to other movies. First there is its similarity to Pocahontas. Someone has changed the synopsis of Pocahontas, amended in most cases just the name and suddenly its the synopsis of Avatar!!

Also, there is a Russian sci-fi noval  from the mid 60s which has things very similar. The novel is set on a planet called Pandora – same as in Avatar. Both the novel and movie take place in the 22nd century. The people who live on Pandora also have similar names. In Avatar they are called Na’vi, in the novel they are Nave.

3D movies – the future??

Anyway, like I said Avatar is still a good movie. Its a shame it has its faults. I would still recommend seeing it as its one of those movies you just have to see – if anything just so you know what other people are talking about! If you do go
and see it, go a see the 3D version to get the most of the special effects and all the 3D “ness”. If you wear glasses like me you will find the 3D glasses may not sit quite right. It wasnt as bad when watching Toy Story as it was a much shorter movie. Personally I dont think 3D is “the future of cinema” in any way but it has its uses. Still, like I said if you do watch this movie you might as well watch the 3D version on the big screen. You can watch the 2D version another time

Anyway, thats my opinion and I am sure many of you will think I am mad or an idiot!

PS – I had a thought about the main character Jake and how he lost the use of his legs when in combat. With 22nd technology they said he could get the use of his legs again but it was a matter of money and he couldnt afford it. (Still in the 22nd century not looking after the troops!!). Surely, the government could have paid for him to sort his legs out. It would have made his mission on Pandora easier!

PPS – The mineral which is so valuable is called Unobtainium. What a stupid name!! Wonder how long it took them to think of that! (Actually, done some research and the term unobtainium has been used since 50s be engineers to describe unusual or costly material. Still a stupid name! With $500m spent, surely a new better original cool name cool have been thought of.)

PPPS – Not actually about the movie but just read article about its main star Sam Worthington. He has admitted he is short-sighted and struggles to see on daily basis. He says when he squints people thing hes angry but its just because he cant see. He also said he “gets distracted by anything on set”. WTF?!?! Why doesnt he wear glasses or contacts?? Surely he was kidding?!?