Without the toilet humour it would have been quite a bit more enjoyable. I did however have to laugh, and found it to be a generally quite amusing and undemanding romantic cringe-comedy about some quirky, but actually fairly normal folks (umm, by my defintion). Indeed I would hardly call Ben’s character the most cautious man on Earth. Debra Messing (Grace, of Will and Grace) was a nice addition, and I particularly enjoyed Aussie Bryan Brown’s interpretation of a high flyer. Meanwhile Aniston was a bit flaccid but then her character was more than a little flighty (having said that, if she exists in real life—I want to meet her!). The scuba diving Frenchman’s accent was not very convincing for someone who does such a great job on the Simpsons, and I felt rather sorry for the blind ferret.

Although not half as entertaining as Dick it drew a good few guffaws from me. The characters weren’t the harsher caricatures I was expecting and really it was quite a tame politically-drawn comedy. I was suprised to find that both Hugh Grant and Mandy Moore performed well in their roles but overall it’s unremarkable.

This has been compared to 2 Many DJs, which is dance, whilst this is well, Gangsta-Hop or something. There are some cool, and indeed amusing moments, but the trouble is they’re just moments. The pace (of transition) is much faster than 2 Many DJs and the result is a bit of a racket frankly. The mixing is expert, and I’m sure it has its audience, just not me.

I heard the track Air on mariposahd.tv and was instantly addicted. It’s a great fusion of deep downtempo house with some strong basslines by Argentinian DJ Gonzalo Solimano. Some of the tracks are a little bland (Dip) but if you like the sexy beats of St. Germain you’ll very likely appreciate this—it’s a staple sound of FTV and trendy fashion shows. I had to have this immediately so it has become my second album purchase from iTunes.

I have to give this film credit for a very un-hollywood ending that is nonetheless satisfying. I’ve marked this as wishy-washy as I can’t think of a good time you might want to see it unless you’re killing time. I usually laugh at absurd or awkward moments in films but I seriously just felt uncomfortable during the dinner table scene, at least until the singing started. There is both amusement, and drama, but they’ve curdled a bit.

I was very pleased to see Joey Lauren Adams in it (albeit a limited role), especially with Vince Vaughn. These two starred in one of my top-five films together (A Cool Dry Place). I’m not entirely sure how I’ve ended up watching three films Ansiton flicks almost back to back, although she looked pretty hot, her perfomance in The Good Girl was better. She seems to be holding her own as an big screen actress which suprises me somewhat (as an [ex-]Friends fan).

It reminded me quite strongly of Proof, which is truly excellent. This isn’t as good and I felt the characters didn’t achieve quite the right fit—but then that probably heightened the story (the literary element of which was lost on me) and added to the amusingly odd antics. Poor kitty.

There’s a (usally brief) sex scene of some sort almost exactly every ten minutes. I timed it. As my first Brazilian film it wasn’t too bad and managed to purvey a fair bit of atmosphere, nonetheless it doesn’t have any real merit.

I found this movie entertaining mainly because it is set in Primrose Hill—one of my ertswhile localities, and even features my old school. Otherwise I quite liked it. It’s exceeding light hearted and marginally entertaining, requiring no brain activity to comprehend.

La Double Vie De Veronique was finally released on DVD (Tartan in the UK). This is my most favourite film of all time. It’s a masterpiece of moody romanticism and musings of universal intertwiningness, by Krzysztof Kieślowski and starring Irène Jacob (Best Actress, Cannes 1991). Irène also starred in the later Kieślowski film Three Colours: Red, both that and Blue are remarkbly similar. However just like each of the Three Colours trilogy has its own charms, Veronique is unique in its duality (throughout there are many moments of reflection) and it features a singularly moving musical score. Specifically Zbigniew Preisner’s fabrications of fictitious Dutch composer Van den Budenmayer.

I originally saw this film on French TV shortly after its release and I only came across it flicking through channels, it was a crappy set with bad reception, but the atmosphere drew me in and glued me to it. Some years later I got to see it on British TV, but haven’t seen it again in the intervening 10 years or so. In fact it would be fair to say it was the starting point in my affinity for film, and that it is still my top-rated film despite this time is testament to its impact on my memory.

The original trailer quoted someone from the Boston Globe: A tour de force of incandescent images. I couldn’t sum it up better.

A pretty and entertainingly comedic romance. I actually hadn’t absorbed the fact that it was set in the sixties but was immediately smitten with the traditional pop and funky title sequence, the combined use of old footage sat nicely with the OTT but cool reconstructed sixties interiors and splashes of colour coordinated pink and blue. Imagine if you dare, Austin Powers in Funny Face. The cast is nicely understated and contains a few amusing suprises such as David Hyde Pierce (Niles from Frasier; as, well, Niles) and Jeri Ryan (Six of Nine, as a stewardess).