Django Unchained Movie Review

Hubby and I don't always spend our weekends renovating, sometimes we just want a break to relax and unwind a little. Saturday was such a day. After getting through the mountain of dishes in the kitchen, we decided to head to the movies and see Django Unchained at the Palace Barracks. 

For those of you who haven't heard of the movie, Django Unchained is about a slave who is purchased by a German bounty hunter, to help the bounty hunter in his quest to find three wanted men. The story then evolves into the bounty hunter partnering with Django and promising him to help him search for his lost wife, Broomhilda. Like all good Quentin Tarantino films, you should expect a lot of bloodshed (which clearly I had forgotten about going in) and perhaps more graphical content than you need to see at times. It is definitely an action movie, even bub was trying to get in on it from time to time and giving me a good kick.

The movie is set two years before the civil war, so you can expect to find a lot of racism and racist slurs in this movie. It will perhaps open your eyes to a different time.

It is a longer movie than expected with a run time of 2 1/2 hours but still well worth the watch in my mind. The only negative I found was Quentin Tarantino's cameo appearance, where he tries to take off an Australian accent and it goes terrribly wrong and turns into a South African accent. 

Five for Friday

I am stealing the idea of my good friends from Style from the Suburban Intellect blog and giving you five things of interest for your Friday.

1. Cuteness

This adorable Koala Joey made it to page 3 of the courier mail today. Click here to read the full article.

Image from The Courier Mail

2. The Intouchables
A fantastic French film that has made it into mainsteam cinema. It is based on a true story of a friendship that develops between a French aristocrat (who is a quadriplegic) and the man he hires to be his carer. Watch the trailer below.

3. A Classy Summer Spritzer
I was introduced to the concept of Verjuice combined with soda water last weekend and love the idea. Not only does it taste great but it's non-alcoholic, if you're stuck driving for the day. Kids can also feel like grown ups drinking this. Mixed portions work out to be a bit like cordial but the cordial is replaced with Verjuice. 

4. Movember
It's official, movember has begun! Show your support for prostate cancer and facial hair. Read more about this great cause on the official movember site.

5. That Shop
I discovered That Shop, as what I assume is a pop up store next to the Pearl Cafe at Woolloongabba last weekend. I'd love to buy some of their dresses when I have a bit of money.

 Image from That Shop

Taken 2 Review

With nothing better to do on a Saturday night, Hubby and self decided to visit the local cinema complex last night and see Taken 2. We managed to get one free ticket through Cinebuzz but still ended up paying $18.50 (booking fee included) for an adult ticket for a 90 minute movie. Is it just me or does that seem a bit steep?

If you've never heard of Taken 2, here's the official trailer...

We both loved the first 'Taken' movie but had low expectations going into the 2nd one, after hearing poor reviews. Unfortunately, the reviews were correct in this instance. The storyline follows from the last movie and there there are a number of holes in the plot. You are left wondering how did the movie suddenly jump to here and why didn't they show this. I was left feeling disappointed after paying $18.50 for one ticket and would recommend this one as a DVD rental.

On a more positive note my Sunday morning has started with a trip to the Banneton Bakery, where the food is always fresh and amazing. I will have a long walk to go on this afternoon after sampling their almond croissant, apricot and pistachio danish and raspberry brioche. I'll leave your mouth watering with this image.

  

When Technology Ruins Traditional Experiences

Image from appadvice.com

I took my 10 year old niece to the cinemas yesterday to see Ice Age 4 but was quite frankly appalled and freaked out by a guy sitting two seats down from me (my niece was on the other side of me). So what was it that annoyed me so?

He took it upon himself to use his iPad and iPhone (whilst in the cinema) for the duration of the film. It ruined my cinema experience and I couldn't concentrate on the film. I think iPads should be banned in the cinema (due to the amount of light they give off), just like mobile phones are meant to be...but that didn't stop this guy. All I can say is that it was inconsiderate and he was clearly bored and shouldn't have been watching the film at it.

Foreign Films

Do you enjoy watching foreign films? I do every now and then, provided I'm not feeling tired and can pay attention to the subtitles.

Just for something different, my friend and I headed out to see a German film last night called 'Vincent Wants to Sea', which is about a 27 year old man who has tourette's syndrome and has just lost his mother. His father puts him in an institution, where he makes friends with Alexander (a man with OCD) and Marie (a woman with anorexia). Whilst it is definitely a drama, it has its humourous moments. I really enjoyed it. You can view the trailer with English subtitles here:



So after whinging to my friend last night that the weight loss wasn't going so well (even though clothes were looser and I needed a belt with jeans), I got on the scales this morning and am now under the 65kg mark - woohoo! Five kilos to go to reach my first ideal goal weight. Hope I can keep this up...Easter is going to be a real challenge.

Safe House Movie Review

It's a rainy Saturday afternoon, so what's a girl to do other than go to the movies? The power of vito rules out chick flicks and horror movies, so you decide on a mutually agreeable movie with your parter, Safe House. You get there early for the 2pm session and then look at your tickets you just purchased to realise there was a 1:30pm screening and according to your tickets, you're now 10 minutes late. On the plus side, you enter the cinema just as they're showing the last couple of ads.

I personally liked the movie but as my husband pointed out, it was a bit like a Tom Clancy novel. It did have a nice twist towards the end but you always knew one of them had to be bad...without going into too much detail and spoiling things. Ryan Reynolds performance in it was fantastic and I can't believe how much younger Denzel Washington looks in the 2nd half of the movie, once again without spoiling it too much.

Here's the trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8hRkrhaeww&feature=fvst

Image from Vanity Fair

Now here's my continuation to the February photo challenge...

Day 9 (of 29) Challenge - Front Door

Our poor front door is in a horrible state. Admittedly, it wasn't in the best state when we first moved in but swelling from the heat has ruined some of the vinyl, when attempting to try to close the door.

Day 10 (of 29) Challenge - Self Portrait

I have so many friends that are better at taking self shots than I am but here's my attempt.

Day 11 (of 29) Challenge - Makes You Happy

Cider on a Saturday night at home.

Day 12 (of 29) Challenge - Inside Your Closet

A lot of empty hangers, needing clothes.

Day 13 (of 29) Challenge - Blue


A beautiful rainbow in a sky of blue

Is there such a thing as too many celebrities in a movie?

A recent trailer for the movie 'New Year's Eve' has me wondering whether movies are ever any good when they have a number of well known actors/actresses in them. Looking into a few examples, I've found that movies with a good plot and a number of celebrities work e.g. Love Actually, whilst movies with a number of celebrities and individual plot lines melding into one , do not e.g. 'Valentine's Day' and 'He's Just Not That into You'. I will be interested to see how the box office does with 'New Year's Eve' and to know what your opinions are.