Reasons for watching it: Everybody's been talking about it, and it seemed cool to see a much-hyped film shortly after its release, so that I could read all the other reviews without worrying about spoilers, and hopefully join in the conversation.

Circumstances of watching it: cartesiandaemon's friends T&R invited us to join them to watch the film. We saw it the Grafton Centre Vue, which is a fairly generic commercial cinema. They had a pick-n-mix counter but nearly all the sweets were full of gelatine so I ate honeycomb flavour icecream instead, which was nicer but not as good for nibbling at while the film was going on. If I'd been on my own I'd have chosen an earlier screening; for me, a three hour film starting at 8:30 is a bit much to take.

Verdict: Watchmen is cinematically impressive even if it's not really my thing.

( detailed review (minor spoilers) )

Reasons for watching it: cartesiandaemon recommended it to me, and was curious to know what I would think of the controversies raised by it.

Circumstances of watching it: While cartesiandaemon was here, we'd planned to spend some time just curled up together watching Firefly. But he'd lent out his Firefly DVDs and not been able to get them back, so we watched this instead. I actually really like watching a film with a friend like that, when they've already seen it so don't mind if I make occasional comments during the action, and we can discuss it straightaway afterwards. And it's something I don't always think of doing when I have a visitor because I assume I ought to be paying more direct attention to them; I should consider it for future, at least when I have someone staying for a few days.

Verdict: The incredibles is good fun but doesn't quite live up to its potential.

( detailed review )

Reasons for watching it: cartesiandaemon lent me the dvd, so I assumed it's worth seeing. It turns out to be something of a classic too, but I'm a film philistine so I didn't know that.

Circumstances of watching it: I was cold and lacking in energy of a shabbat afternoon, so I wrapped myself in blankets and sat down to watch a film.

Verdict: The Sting is engaging and twisty.

( detailed review )

Anyway, I'm very glad I watched it, it was fun, and I'm one degree less hopelessly uncultured for having seen it.

Reasons for watching it: I really liked the sound of it when everyone was raving about it. I've liked other Pixar stuff, and it just seemed like my kind of film.

Circumstances of watching it: Joanna spontaneously invited me to join her at the cinema, and since for once I was actually free this evening, I jumped at the chance. So we went up to the big cinema at Hötorget, and sat through some seriously inappropriate trailers (mostly involving people shooting eachother and having on-screen sex), and a very cute little Pixar short about a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, with the gag that the hat is actually magic.

Verdict: Wall·e is very watchable, but doesn't make entire sense.

( detailed review )

Verdict: The Princess Bride is really one of a kind.

Reasons for watching it: People close to me have been quoting it at me my whole life, and for a long time I was so annoyed with the whole thing that I was reluctant to see it. And then darcydodo and cartesiandaemon ganged up on me and so I had to succumb.

Circumstances of watching it: cartesiandaemon helpfully lent me the DVD. Since I am home sick today, too ill to do anything that requires brainpower, but not ill enough to spend the whole day in bed, I thought I'd give it a try, and it's an appropriate film to pick in the circumstances.

( detailed review )

Reasons for watching it: No very obvious reason; it just happened to be an English-language film that was on at the cinema.

Circumstances of watching it: I'd just got back home from seeing ewtikins and hairyears off, and was settling down with tea and my flist when Joanna called me and asked if I wanted to go to the cinema with her and her mother. I was a bit tired, and it was exceptionally cold outside, but I thought, why not be sociable. And indeed it was a lovely evening; Joanna won a lottery for an Easter egg, and we had a nice chat over tea afterwards, so I'm glad I braved the cold night.

Verdict: Once is a bit slow-moving but quite charming.


( detailed review )

Reasons for watching it: It seems to be a big part of the memetic landscape these days, and I care about the subject matter.

Circumstances of watching it: It was being shown at a meeting of the Jewish - Christian dialogue group, which I do want to get into, so it seemed like a good opportunity. The group was so recognizable as an interfaith group; the late middle-aged Christians radiating respectability, the rather older Jews of a particular generation plus a smattering of younger idealists (it's heartening that there are at least some of those). I felt right at home.

It wasn't very useful as an interfaith event; the film plus the faffing about getting the equipment set up took so long that there was only 10 minutes left for discussion. And the discussion consisted of a Catholic environmentalist telling us how several German churches have raised money to fit solar panels to their buildings, and our emeritus rabbi telling us about the principles of not destroying and not hurting living creatures. Oh, and a question from the floor which wasn't really a question, but a Survivor rambling on about how he was unable to forgive a certain Nazi officer who killed several of his friends in front of him. This stuff is important, sure, but it was absolutely off topic and there wasn't anything useful anyone could say.

I wish we could have discussed the film, or at least had a more in depth discussion of environmental issues in Judaism and Christianity. So I'm hoping you guys will have something to say about the review anyway.

Verdict: An inconvenient truth is almost too rhetorically polished.

( detailed review )

Reasons for watching it: I wanted to watch a Jewish film with my bar mitzvah class, and this was the only vaguely appropriate one available. One of the class had recommended it, and I think she was right to do so.

Circumstances of watching it: There were various logistical problems with organizing this film showing. In the end, I managed to join the synagogue library, which turned out to have a much poorer selection than I'd remembered. In fact, almost everything falls into the two categories I was trying to avoid, either Holocaust stuff or faky Yiddish nostalgia crap. The Producers and The Believer I suspect are too old for 12-year-olds, especially as they don't have that good a grasp of modern Jewish history. Very few of your recommendations were available, sadly. I considered Annie Hall but decided that Woody Allen annoys me too much, and the theme sounded like it would not be very interesting to pre-teens.

In the end I picked up The summer of Aviya, which is Holocaust-related but set in the 50s and dealing with a Survivor getting on with her life. I have a vague memory of seeing it at about the age my pupils are now, and it's based on a YA book so it seemed likely to be well pitched.

Then there was trouble about where we were going to watch the film. We'd hoped to watch in one of the pupils' homes, but didn't manage to organize that. Luckily, the Jewish Centre has a youth room, with comfy sofas, a computer, a Playstation, a small handful of books and board games and a huge wide-screen TV, and we were allowed to borrow this room for the evening. But when we settled down to watch The summer of Aviya, it started jamming and skipping about ten minutes in. One of the youth workers who was floating around lent us Livet i 8 bitar instead.

Verdict: Livet i 8 bitar is rather high-grade fluff.

( detailed review )

The copy we had had no subtitles available, so I'm quite proud of my ability to follow the dialogue in variously accented Swedish! It wasn't quite the positive rounding off of the term that I had hoped for; the film came to and end and everyone just drifted off. But never mind. One of the pupils gave me a bunch of flowers, which made me feel like a real teacher. And on the way home I visited the Stockholm food fair which is going on at the moment, and ate a nice snack meal at the booth belonging to the Ethiopian restaurant. Mm, injera.

It's the last bar mitzvah class of term on Monday, and we're supposed to be watching a film. It's part of their curriculum to watch a couple of Jewish films and discuss them, and it seems a nice way to celebrate the end of term.

However, my mind is absolutely blanking on what we should watch. So can anyone think of a good Jewish-themed film? I would really prefer it not to be about the Holocaust, because there should be more to Jewish education than trying to guilt kids because lots of people died. Also I'd rather avoid rose-tinted nostalgia about pre-emancipation Europe (such as Fiddler on the Roof and Yentl), if possible.

It also needs to be suitable for 12-year-olds, bright, mature 12yos, but still 12. I'm more worried about themes that are too complex for them to connect to their experience, than about the odd naughty word or reference to sexuality (Swedish people seem to be a lot less prudish about kids discussing that sort of thing than Americans anyway). Generally, I want something that is not only about a Jewish theme, but at least somewhat in line with the values that I am trying to teach.

I also have to find said film in a rental shop or in the synagogue library between now and Monday, which might be a challenge. So I need as many suggestions as possible in case I can't find the right one!

Reasons for watching it: I was quite curious about how they would handle the subject, the more so because people keep asking me for my opinion of the film "as a British person", so I rather needed to see it to be able to have these conversations usefully. Besides which I really like Helen Mirren as an actress.

Circumstances of watching it: ploni_bat_ploni called me last week and suggested it for that evening, so in a fit of uncharacteristic spontaneity I agreed.

Verdict: The Queen is well acted but insubstantial.

( detailed review )

The other problem with the film is that it made me very depressed about just how much the UK has gone downhill since 1997. The more so since I saw it the same week as the vote to make an utter, unbelievable hash of what remains of the House of Lords. I should probably talk about my opinions about that trainwreck in more detail actually, but the short version is that I am sickened that Blair has got away with such a blatant measure to remove the last vestiges of any checks on the PM's personal power.

Also, GIP. For reviews of things that aren't books, and general cultural noodling. I think I should restrict the letters one to stuff that's directly related to languages and words. Amusingly, the first step in making it was googling for a picture of a purple mandlebrot, and one of the first hits that came up was redbird's purple mandelbrot icon.

Reasons for watching it: Various people were ethusiastic about the film when it came out last year, particularly rysmiel.

Circumstances of watching it: I have had a very weird few days. I thought I was better from the annoying cold I had last week, and indeed I have no more specific cold symptoms, but I am very, very, very tired. Going into work Thursday and Friday was probably a mistake; by early afternoon I was really struggling to keep my eyes open, let alone concentrate. So Friday afternoon I came home early and spent most of the afternoon asleep. In spite of about 15 hours' sleep between Friday and Saturday, I was still dead tired on Saturday. I dragged myself to synagogue, just, as I'd promised to read the section from the prophets and to go to lunch with ploni_bat_ploni afterwards. PbP fed me ever so well and looked after me during the afternoon, and I was starting to think I might be getting my energy back.

That was until I tried walking a few hundred yards to a shopping centre. That short stroll left me falling over exhausted; I had to lean on ploni_bat_ploni to avoid collapsing in the street! She pointed out, quite rightly, that I was in no possible state to go to a party as I had planned that evening, and invited me instead to spend a quiet evening curled up in her bed watching a film.

Verdict: V for Vendetta is beautifully done if somewhat unsubtle.

Caveat: I've tried to keep spoilers out of my review, but the comment discussion is full of spoilery Mcspoiler spoilers of spoileriness

( detailed review )

ploni_bat_ploni is such a great host! Yesterday involved pancakes, and a girlie shopping trip, and lots of good conversation as ever. But in spite of my best intentions I didn't set off for the lab until nearly 6 o'clock. I looked after my cells, wasn't awake enough to start any actual experiments at this point. But the weather had changed overnight with the result that I had to come home in driving snow, wearing the clothes I'd put on for 10 degrees and sunshine on Saturday. That was an unpleasant experience, to say the least.

Today I simply could not wake up, finally dragged myself out of bed at around midday, and couldn't focus enough to do even half a day's work. I'm thoroughly sick of being sick, I can tell you.

I've had a lovely day with my family. We had a huge argument, mainly about education but also about social mobility and prescriptive grammar and politics and all sorts over lunch. The we spent the afternoon watching Shrek, which is cute, and nicely animated, and does a reasonable job of defying expectations. I'd like it as froth apart from the fact that it utterly, horribly butchers Hallelujah. There are some bad covers I just can't forgive.

Then the first chanukah candle, interspersed with lots of silliness. I don't care very much about chanukah, but having the whole family together singing cheesy chanukah songs badly is lovely.

Reasons for watching it: I'm a huge fan of Diana Wynne Jones, and also the trailer impressed me.

Circumstances of watching it: My mother reminded me today that I'd been raving about the trailer last week, so I organized to go to the Picture House arts cinema with my cousin H this evening.

Verdict: Howl's Moving Castle can probably best be described as trippy.

( detailed review )

Well, as my first ever introduction to anime, that was quite an experience. H tells me that a lot of anime is even more "whacked out" than this, but on the basis of this sample I'm ready to try more of this brand of weird.

Reasons for watching it: I'd seen the media hype and I was interested to see how it was going to work. And generally curious about how there could ever be a followup to the seminal Colin-Firth-in-a-wet-shirt BBC version.

Circumstances of watching it: I'd planned to go with my mother to see it at the Cambridge arts cinema this afternoon. And our plans got muddled up by various things so I ended up seeing a later showing with my cousin H, and my Dad saw it at the original time, and my Mum didn't see it at all, and everybody got cross and stressed about logistics and argh. Anyway, I got to see it in the end!

Verdict: The 2005 Pride and Prejudice does novel things with the story but isn't much more than a standard Hollywood rom-com.

( detailed review )

Verdict: Un long dimanche de fiançailles ('A very long engagement') is an impressive and emotionally effective piece.

Reasons for watching it: Primarily, rysmiel's review. But also for the reason that I'm sure applies for 90% of its audience: it has the same director and lead actress from Amélie.

Circumstances of watching it: The local arts cinema, at the Dundee Contemporary Arts centre, helpfully decided to show it.

( detailed review )

On the subject of films, I have finally got round to acquiring some DVDs, and I can't get them to work. Has anyone ever tried to play a DVD (using a computer with a DVD player rather than a dedicated player attached to a TV) and not been able to see anything except a rainbow-coloured test card, while the software acts as if the film is playing normally, you can stop or fast-forward or whatever? And does anyone have any clue what this might be a symptom of?

Verdict: Amélie is my favourite film in the world ever! It's beautiful, and funny, and adorable.

Circumstances of watching it: Lovely Channel 4 decided to show Amélie on Christmas day. I really wanted to see it again, and luckily lethargic_man hadn't seen it and was keen to, so that was that settled.

( detailed review )

Wow, just writing this review has put me into manic grinning mode! Anyone who hasn't seen this film absolutely should.

It was also cool to watch it with P'tite Soeur who is well up on allusions to French culture, and the Thuggish Poet who is good at spotting subtexts and being generally literary, and lethargic_man with whom I could use the film as a springboard for lots of fun discussions about the difference between films and books as media, and why fictional relationships generally fail to resemble real relationships, and other good things.