This is visually stunning. Scenes are coordinated such that dresses match wallpaper, with a richness of detail is wonderfully stimulating. The film is mainly based in 60s time so there’s lots of funky interiors, but makes brief mental escapes into 2046 with some ambiently futurist sequences. The story itself is unexciting as is the narration, however the performances and moodiness amply makes up for this. Very much an atmospheric film reminding me somewhat of Krzysztof Kieslowski, and actually a French/German co-production.

Fairly depressing. I do like depressing movies, if only because they make you feel fortunate and give you something to reflect upon. But they should leave you feeling a bit more than this. It’s hard to argue that one may or may not be better off taking a risk so I suppose its good that there’s the occasional film that suggests not taking a chance on life is reward enough. It was well produced and Gyllenhaal does an excellent job although could have been an incarnation of Donnie Darko. Worth seeing but personally I preferred Southern Belles which is not entirely dissimilar yet a fair bit more entertaining.

His living room is the most depressing place I’ve ever seen :D

I really liked this, partly because it was almost too familiar to me as a prior resident of Provence. The sounds of the house, the cicadas, the warm air blowing through the lavender and across the ominous blue calm of the pool. The inwardly fastidious English writer amongst the picturesque villages of the Luberon, sharing the house with a French girl, was not foreign, but had me gasping with horror (topping up the wine bottle with water aftering taking a swig!). The end was a little too much for comprehension. Subtle in many ways. Addendum: I knew I’d seen Ludivine somewhere before, it was in 8 femmes (a five-star film).

In my cultural explorations some years ago I discovered the Oh/Ah My Goddess! (ああっ女神さまっ) OVAs and film and fell in love with the lighthearted simplicity of the stories, the Norse mythological influences, and not to mention Belldandy herself. The OVAs have excellent dubbing, but watching the fan subs in Japanese is so much more entertaining due to tonal differences in the speech. Other than a few films this is the only regular Anime I consume. Let’s hope there’s a series 3!

The day to day stories in this series can be somewhat tedious but the characters are amiable. For me the engagement is in the concept of Atlantis and the ancient technologies (I was rather upset that the old space ship was destroyed). This is another series with a human-like foe (the limitations of acting), yet in this we have the twist that they’re genetic mutations from a long distant past and the potential to bridge the gap. I like that they use organic/biological materials in the ships, although this isn’t original and reminds me of the Lexx. It’s not a series that I’ll rewatch.

I find the story fascinating. The issues surrounding artificial beings that resemble humnas (ceylons, replicants, androids…) have been covered in many a place. What I find most interesting are the issues of establishing civilisation, not afresh, but with the dregs of a previously affluent society. It meshes reality with a vision of the future. The cast is truly excellent and the day to day stories fairly engaging. I may have to watch 1&2 again whilst waiting for the third season come the end of the year!

Starring Jackie Chan as it does, I can imagine what kind of film you might think this is, indeed I’m not really a fan of martial arts films. In fact I was rather taken by suprise when it started as a Chinese historical epic, then jarred to suddenly wake up on a rather cool boat in present day Hong Kong where Jackie Chan’s archaeologist character lives. The story cuts back to this historical drama frequently whilst exploring Indian temples, a levitating Guru, an Indian princess and Bollywood dance routine (cut a bit short I might add), a rather novel fight on a glue-covered conveyer belt (in which Indian princess’ gown has to be ripped off), the terracotta army, caving, weightlessness, and uh a fair bit of flying (on wires if you know what I mean). An amusingly entertaining mashup of stylised China and India in a fictional thriller.

I used to drink this all the time when I was in Cannes. Chilled it was wonderful to sip from a hot bubble bath, or as a more expensive and tasteful alternative to the cheap rosés I consumed throughout the hot summer. It just suits me to a tee with its wonderfully complex and subtle balance of sweet acidity. I’d forgotten about it for a while, but having just discovered a bottle in the fridge I shall be consuming it again!