My Week in Film - Life is Sweet

Headed out to the theatre this week to catch up on some releases from the weekend before last. Choices were: Amal and The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2. Double win this week, both films were a hit. I was happy to finally catch up with Amal which has been on the festival track since TIFF last year and has received across the board good reviews. Those reviews are well deserved, the film is very touching and speaks many truths of human nature be they good, bad or somewhere in between. Set in India, it follows a autorickshaw driver Amal through his daily and chance encounters which shape his world and that of those around him. After the film there was a surprize treat was waiting for the audience as Richie Mehta (director/co-writer), Rupinder Nagra (star) and two of the producers were there for an impromtu Q&A. It was clear that the audience loved the film as they expressed their encouragement for the film to be shown in multiple settings. Amal will continue to have an expanded release in the next few weeks. Next up for theatrical releases is The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2. Now, I do think they could have made a better title but other than that I knew I would likely see it considering how much I enjoyed the first film. I can say with confidence that I really enjoyed the second one as well. I thought individual stories of the 4 characters were all believable and really got the awkward, smooth or overconfident 'next steps' of flying the coop. I also love films about friendship. Not only do the 4 main characters do a great job but the supporting cast was brilliant.

It's been a while since I've taking part in a blogathon, and that needed to change. With the challenge posed for the Sight Unseen blogathon over at Cinexcellence I couldn't resist: pick up a DVD that you would normallly pass by on to watch & review. Game on! My selection was Legionnaire, click through for full review.

Now we get to the super sweet films, both of which are stars on screen with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in The Game Plan and Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard. Both selections came from being on available on the library shelf. I picked The Bodyguard because I had never seen it before, and I remember when it came back in '92 and everyone had seen it and the song "I Will Always Love You" was played everywhere. My expectations were not high and it was fun in a way, as you could easily tell what would happen next. I wouldn't say it would hold up for repeat watchings due to the fact that there is very little chemistry between the two leads and that is what holds a film like this together. Next up is The Game Plan, which I was looking forward to as it looked like a fun sport type film and then an unexpected family member gets thrown in the mix. Fun premise! Then the film opened and I saw the Disney symbol. Ah, okay - this will be complete family fare, which could be fine and it almost was. I did enjoy the numerous charming moments but I felt overall it was a kids movie with not a lot of content that was engaging as an adult.



Trailer madness. Watching The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 and two of the trailers were: High School Musical 3 and The House Bunny. What does this say about their demographic? I don't think people who would be interested in Sisterhood 2 would go to The House Bunny, Sisterhood is about friendship, being and finding yourself, not pretending to be something else.

High School Musical 3 Trailer - spoiler free
The House Bunny Trailer - spoiler free until 3/4 the way through, offensive throughout

If those are too saccharine for you check out the Trailer for Burn at Twitch a horror/thriller about people who spontaneous combustion. Disturbing images in the last third of the trailer.

With seeing a fair amount of DVDs and yes, VHS tapes I took the opportunity to pick up a new knitting project. I was at the point where everything needed finishing touches which I can't do while watching film. So, a new hat is in the works. I can now say I'm comfortable with both yo (yarn over) and SK2P (slip, knit 2 together, pass over slipped stitch - it's a double decrease). I did have to watch a demo for the last one.



See how far along it is after just 4 films?



What did you see this week?