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I saw Burlesque last night. Although I have to say that it wasn't very burlesque (just because you wear a corsett and dance on stage doesn't make it burlesque) I enjoyed it quite a lot. I needed something to take my mind of things and it did. I love Christina Aguilera's voice and she didn't do a bad job with the acting. Cher was really good. I never liked her much before I saw the movie but it changed my opinion about her quite a bit. Cam actually looked amazing. I didn't know he could be that sweet. In my head he was always James. Of course the story is nothing new but don't we all wish to be like Cinderella and make our dreams come true?!

Tonight I watched a fairly good crime film, Lonely Hearts, based on a true story. Ray Fernandez (Jared Leto) and Martha Beck (Salma Hayek) were the "Lonely Hearts Killers," who murdered at least 12 women, mostly widows, all with at least some money to their names, from 1947-1949. The cops who ran them down in the end were Elmer Robinson (John Travolta) and Charles Hildebrandt (James Gandolfini). Director Todd Robinson (Elmer Robinson's grandson) tells the story in a semi-documentary fashion, and there is nothing especially outstanding or surprising in the script. The cast, however, are all solid, including all four leads (Travolta and Hayek in particular), with Scott Caan, Laura Dern, Dagmara Dominczyk and Bailee Madison all providing good support.

New Years Eve. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It actually kind of made me want to watch Valentine's Day which I know is supposed to be similar.

Kill Bill, Vol. 2, is a movie that, obviously, you don't want to see without first watching Vol. 1. In this installment, The Bride (Uma Thurman) continues on the "roaring rampage of revenge" she began in the first film. Having settled matters with two of the five people who once left her for dead, she now must deal with Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), Budd (Michael Madsen), and, of course, Bill (David Carradine). Along the way, we learn important details, like The Bride's real name, and how Elle came to lose an eye. This one is slower and more talky than the first version; action-wise, there's nothing to match the big battle at the end of Vol. 1. Thurman remains a strong lead, and while this isn't Tarantino's best film, if you enjoy his other work, you'll probably find this one watchable. And, if you don't, you won't.

My movie tonight was a delightful British action comedy/romance called Wild Target. Victor (Bill Nighy) is a middle-aged hit man, who inherited his work as a "family business" from his father and grandfather. Rose (Emily Blunt) is a thief and con artist who we first see as she engineers an art fraud and bilks her mark out of 1 million pounds. When he discovers the fraud, he hires Victor to kill her, but Victor is taken with the carefree Rose from his first sight and can't bear to kill her. Instead, when some other killers come after her, he becomes her protector, with the unexpected aid of a homeless man named Tony (Rupert Grint from you-know-which movies). Director Jonathan Lynn gives us some nice action sequences, but also takes time to let us get to know the engaging characters. Nighy and Blunt are terrific leads, and there's some nice support from several leading British character actors--Rupert Everett, Gregor Fisher and Martin Freeman.

Tonight I watched Killer's Kiss, a very early Stanley Kubrick film (only his second feature). It's a modest, low-budget film noir with a simple story. We meet prize-fighter Davy (Jamie Smith) and night-club dancer Gloria (Irene Kane), who live in apartments that are on opposite sides of a courtyard. On the night when Davy is pulverized in his last fight, Gloria is attacked in her apartment. When Davy comes to her aid the two spend the following day together, and fall in love. But before they can leave New York, they'll have to free Gloria from her jealous ex-boss Vincent (Frank Silvera). While this one doesn't pack the punch of Kubrick's next film, the similarly-titled The Killing, it's pretty good, with a very effective climax in a showdown between Davy and Vincent in a mannequin-filled warehouse. Costar Kane had a very minor film and TV career, but went on to become a writer and co-author/ghost-write several celebrity biographies, for the likes of Betty Ford and Rosalind Russell (she wrote under the name Chris Chase).

Sherlock Holmes 2 - This was as much fun as the first one with great humour throughout, plenty of action and some great slow-mo camera work. Brilliant fun and very entertaining and filmed in the same style as the first which is good.

The Rundown is a sloppy but fun adventure film. The Rock stars as Beck, a one-man army type who, for some reason, works as a lowly collection agent for a mobster/bookie. His boss sends him down to remote Brazil to bring back the boss's son, Travis (Seann William Scott). Once there, Beck is plunged into a plot that's a mishmash of elements from Romancing the Stone, some of the Indiana Jones movies, and a lot more. As you can tell, it's not a very original script (nor is it very good), but the film is fast paced and The Rock, Scott and Rosario Dawson (as a bartender/rebel leader) are all engaging performers.

I'm just home from seeing the new film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Any fans of the Millennium novels should enjoy this adaptation, which has a strong cast and is fairly faithful to the source. Rooney Mara is a very good Lisbeth Salander, and this is likely to be a breakthrough role for her (as it was for Noomi Rapace in the Swedish films). Mara's Lisbeth is, I think, just a little closer to the character in the books, as she gives Salander a few hints of emotional vulnerability. Daniel Craig is a satisfactory Mikael Blomkvist, and Joely Richardson stands out among the supporting cast. It looks reasonably likely that director David Fincher, Mara, Craig, et. al., will be returning to film the rest of the trilogy; these are films I'll be looking forward to.

I watched the million dollar hotel by Wim Wenders again the other day and was reminded why it is one of my favourite movies ever.
The story is about an old hotel full of crazy people. One of these people dies and Mel Gibson comes in as FBI agend trying to find out what really happend. The story is been told from Tom Tom's(Jeremy Davis, Lost) point of view, who is one of the people living in the old hotel and therefore beeing a bit weird (but totally sweet). It's a really sweet and funny drama about life. And the soundtrack is by U2