Films, lots of Films!

I made the mistake of walking into Ricordia Media, one of the city centres bigger music and dvd shops, during a rainstorm this week. The mistake was that a lot of good films I hadn't been to see at the cinema have now come out on dvd. I left, poorer, but with Marie Antoinette, The Departed and The Prestige. 3 very different films!

My 3 year old couldn't sleep because of a thunderstorm so the three of us, me, my son and Antonia, sat on my bed watching Marie Antoinette. What a beautiful film! My degree is in clothing design, but never used, so this was heaven to watch. My daughter is already on her 3rd watching of the "princess" film, as she calls it! We all know the story to some degree so this wasn't the most important part of this film. Just watch it and swoon!

Before getting the chance to watch any of the other dvd's we had an appointment with the cinema itself to see "Pirates of the Caribbean 3". Quite honestly, it made me laugh, it was better than the second one, but nothing on the first, and yes, whatever you have heard about Keith Richards' appearance, it is a funny cameo. The Odeon was absolutely packed, which, if you know it, is quite something. It is a huge, ornate cinema that has been preserved rather than split up like many in the UK have. If you liked the first 2 you will like this one. As usual the ending was left open for the next installment!

We also managed to acquire Aliens and The Beach from Blockbusters neither of which I have seen in a long time. I haven't seen a bad Leonardo film, except Titanic ;), so I can't believe The Beach can be that bad. I will soon find out!

The Prestige was the next on my list. This stars Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Caine. As I had never heard of it I not going to assume everyone else has! A cameo by David Bowie as the scientist/inventor Tesla was good. It is a strange film and anyone interested in magic tricks will enjoy it. The Prestige is the name given to the climax of a trick. The story is basically about 2 competing magicians, one of whom is obsessed with stealing the secrets of the others most famous trick. It has many good twists and turns and keeps you guessing right until the end. This is not based on reality, so don't think you are going to see the "real" secrets of magic. This is about magic tricks based on magic, not trickery!!

Finally, I sat down and watched "The Departed". One word "WOW"!. If you haven't seen it watch it. If you don't like violence, tough, watch it anyway! This knocks anything Scorcese has done before into a cocked hat. I didn't like Goodfellas, because of the violence, but it just seems to be right in this film, maybe I have got used to it over the years. Jack Nicholson is great and very scary. I love Ray Winstone in anything and he doesn't disappoint here. The boys, Matt and Leonardo are on great form. This is a terrific film! I can't say anymore, it won the awards and deserved to.

If you wonder where I get the time, well watching until 1.00 a.m. kind of answers that one!