Archive for December, 2006

The Bourne Supremacy

The Bourne Supremacy

The Bourne Supremacy is the sequel of another film, The Bourne Identity, in which a man suffering from amnesia tries to remember his past after being rescued at sea by the crew of a fishing boat. He seems dangerous because he has an array of skills in fighting and self-defence.

The Bourne Supremacy is an action thriller directed by Paul Greengrass. The role of Jason Bourne is played by Matt Damon. The film is also starred by Joan Allen as Pamela Landy and Brian Cox in the role of Ward Abbot.

The story starts in India where Bourne is living with his girlfriend. Bourne is trying to reconstruct his past because he suffers from amnesia. At the same time, in Berlin, a group of CIA agents led by Pamela Landy is carrying out the purchase of important files when a man kills two people, leaving a fingerprint on the detonation device. Landy begins an investigation and she finds, in a forbidden access data base, that the fingerprint belongs to Jason Bourne. While Landy goes on investigating, Bourne leaves India because someone, who is trying to murder him, kills his girlfriend instead.

Pamela Landy arranges a meeting with Ward Abbot and they have a tense conversation, Abbot tells her about Treadstone, a kill squad where Bourne has been working. Landy goes on with the case, she also suspects Bourne to be involved in a former assassination case, so she wants to find him. Bourne is arrested in Naples but he manages to escape. Landy and Abbot, who don’t get on well with each other, have to search for Bourne together. Bourne calls Landy and he agrees to meet Nicky, Bourne’s colleague. He asks her some questions but not convinced by her answers he escapes again. After Nicky and Bourne’s conversation, Landy doubts whether Bourne is the murderer. Later on, Bourne visits Abbot, they have an interesting conversation and after it Bourne goes to Moscow where there is a chase. He gets injured and the man, who has been trying to kill Bourne, dies. Finally, Bourne phones Landy and she gives away his real identity.

The film is set in different places all around the world but it doesn’t portray landscapes in full. Instead it shows marginal surroundings and the CIA headquarters. The plot conveys a sense of continuous intrigue all throughout the film. All the actors give a superb performance contributing to keep the emotion.

Although I found the chasing scenes rather unconvincing, I thoroughly recommend the film because it is impossible to know what is going to happen in the end. If you like thrillers, don’t miss The Bourne Supremacy, it won’t let you indifferent.

The Interpreter

The Interpreter

The interpreter, which could be considered as a thriller and as an action movie at the same time, is directed by the famous director Sydney Pollack. It is a gripping film in which Nicole Kidman plays the female lead. She is Silvia Broome, a UN interpreter. The role of Tobin Keller is played by Sean Penn. Tobin is a secret service agent who must protect the Head of State of all countries that are in UN meetings in the United States.

Silvia Broome overhears someone who is planning to assassinate the African Head of State (Zuwanie), so Tobin Keller is the secret service agent who must investigate if Silvia is telling the truth or if she has invented everything. At first, he does not trust her but then after some strange incidents he realizes that something important is bound to happen when Zuwanie gets to the United States. Apart from this, throughout the film, there are several clues which seem to point towards Silvia as the person who could have reasons to assassinate Zuwanie: She is African; her parents were killed by a landmine put by Zuwanie in Matobo, where she lived with her parents…

The most amazing part of the script is the invented language, which is called Ku, which is Silvia’s mother tongue. It is an unpredictable film, which could have been a real story because all related to politics is also unpredictable and sometimes very obscure as it is shown in this film. I found the plot rather confusing sometimes but it is what makes this film special.

I recommend it if you want to watch a film that impresses you, because there are some hard parts that make you think about what is happening in our world nowadays. Moreover, another reason to watch it, is that although at the beginning might look as if it were a copy of the film ‘The Bodyguard’, they have nothing in common. And finally, you should watch it because it is the best performance by Nicole Kidman I have ever watched.

A place to live

Asturias

I think, nearly all of us live in The Central Mountain, and I am sure that we have never been to a lot of beautiful places we have very near.
People from others towns or regions could well be jealous of us, as we are very lucky because we have beautiful scenery to admire with mountains, rivers, and rich fauna and flora some of which is protected. We can enjoy different activities such as cycling, fishing, hunting, trekking, skiing, climbing, …

We have a very rich history, the most important our mining history, but we also are on the Way of St James and the Silver Route and we preserve a lot of traces of them.
There are a lot of different festivals and fairs where you can buy things made by craftsmen. They can make the most incredible things with glass, wood, …

And last but not least our gastronomy, here you can eat everything, fish, meat, vegetables, sweets,.. and all of these are superb.

So now, I ask myself why do we always want to travel to other places if there’s so much we don’t know right here?

Love Actually

Love actually

Sweet, extremely charming and plenty of amusing moments, “Love Actually” is one of the best romantic comedies in the last years.

Directed and written by Richard Curtis, ” Love Actually” is a delightful comedy set in London with about twenty leading roles properly played by a whole cast of talented actors, most of them, big stars.

The start and the end of the film take place at Heathrow, the most important airport in London at Christmas time. The plot is about nine different stories with one thing in common: Love. But not only the typical cloying love between a couple but also the love between siblings, friends, parents and children ( not always with a happy ending) and obviously romantic love that let the director prove the tittle of the main song of the soundtrack: “love is all around”

Well-acted by a cast that includes Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister who falls in love with his new secretary, Emma Thompson as his sister, a perfect housekeeper with marital problems or the role of the heart-broken writer played by Colin Firth, ” Love Actually” will make you smile and maybe cry because this film definetily touches your heart. Don´t miss it!!!!

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl with a pearl earring

The film was directed by Peter Webber in 2003.He is not a well known film director because this has been the first of his films to be shown in cinemas, until then he had only directed films for TV. It is set in Holland in the seventeenth century and it shows how Holland in that century, as the rest of Europe, was divided into two groups of people: the rich and powerful, and the poor and hungry. The majority of the poor were working for the rich.

In 1665 in the city of Delf, seventeen-year-old Griet is the daughter of a ceramic painter who has recently gone blind. She is sent to work as a maid for the painter Johannes Vermeer. After some days Vermeer notices her interest in painting so he begins to teach her about paints and other things related with painting but at his wife’s back.This relationship has consequences for the maid due to the jealousy of wife and daughter.
The main roles at this film are played by Scarlett Johanson and Colin Firth. She is not yet a film star but after this film she will be known all around the world and you can realise that she is going to be one of the most beautiful, well paid-actress in Hollywood in not so far a future.
But otherwise here we have Colin Firth,an experienced actor with with a ten-year-old successful career.

The director in this film is far more interested in images than words because there are very few dialogues during the ninety minutes of film.The most remarkable thing in it is how Peter Webber uses lights and shadows and of course the music to transmit the strained atmosphere among the characters. Another point treated very carefully is the photography which must be mentioned in a very positive way.
The film will not appeal to many people because the action is very slow and if you don’t like historical films I strongly recommend you not to see it because you will find it extremely boring.

Laws of Attraction

Laws of Attraction

The film is directed by Peter Howitt. The main stars are Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan and it is set in New York.

Laws of attraction is an hour long film with a plot that is realistic and romantic at the same time. It is about two lawyers in a case of famous stars finding themselves loving each other out of court and hating each other in court.

The film is about two divorce lawyers, Audrey Woods and Daniel Raffery, who like each other but in court hate each other as they both want to win the case. She is very strict and always goes by the book while he is much more easy-going. She is very smart, her mother works for a popular newspaper, always thinking in cosmetic surgery and advising her daugther with her love life, and he is the tipycal guy who doesn’t care too much about his appearence but all women love. The only thing that they have in common is that they both have to be the best lawyers in town no matter their own lives, knowing that they are very attracted to each other.

When they think it is all over, both of them get involved in a public divorce between a rock star and a fashion designer. The bone of contention is an Irish castle of three million dollars that both future divorcees want for themselves. Both lawyers have to go to Ireland to chase down the servants. In Ireland they meet and get lost during the night, they spend the night in the caravan where it is very clear that they like each other but work is work for her.
They arrive at the castle finding themselves in a romantic Irish festival. After a night of drinking and having fun, Audrey and Daniel wake up as husband and wife. She is not happy about it but it is the best for both of them as they have a public case. They decide to live in her flat but in separate rooms until the case is over. Everything goes fine until they get to court where he wins the case because he finds a note from Audrey´s client saying that the star has another castle for his lover and the loving lawyers decide to split.

Again Audrey and Daniel have to go to Ireland as the clients are in the Irish castle and they shouldn’t be there until the case is closed. Once there they discover that they are not married and the clients, now back together again, try to help them to get off with each other.
Finally Audrey and Daniel get married as they can’t live apart from each other.

The film is quite funny and it is a girly film to watch in Sunday afternoon. The plot can happen in real life, and the acting is quite good. I like the two actors because they work quite well together being opposites at work and very attracted to each other in their love lives.

I recommend this film for lovers, romantics and fans of Pierce Brosnan.

The Hours

The Hours

“The Hours” is based on the acclaimed book “Mrs. Dalloway” by Michael Cunningham. The film follows a single day in the lives of three women in different time periods.

In Richmond, England, Virgina Woolf (Nicole Kidman) is starting to write her book in 1923. She is under the care of doctors because she has a severe case of mental illness. She is planning a party so she receives a visit from her sister and her children. During this period Virginia must face the decision of running away to London or staying with her husband.

In Los Angeles, 1951, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) who is pregnant thinks she won’t be a good mother to her son and her future baby. She must make the decision of running away from it all or going on living miserably with her husband. As she reads “Mrs. Dalloway”, she empathizes with its main character. Laura decides to commit suicide, but then she changes her mind.

In New York, 2001, Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) is a publisher who is planning a party for her friend, an author dying of AIDS. She lives with her girlfriend, Sally, who doesn´t understand why Clarissa is so sad.

All the three stories are connected with de novel “Mrs. Dalloway”, as one is writing it, one is reading it and one is living it. I think Clarisse is the only one of the three women who has a reason to be depressed, her friend succumbs to madness and kills himself so the party is cancelled and Clarissa meets Richard’s mother.

Nicole Kidman is brilliant as Virginia Woolf, Julianne Moore is captivating and Meryl Streep gives an amazing performance.

The music, composed by Phillip Glass, ties the three stories together as if they were happening simultaneously.

There is no doubt that “The Hours” is a great film. I recommend it to people who like thinking after they have seen a movie. Although the film is superb, it isn´t for everybody, the story is touching and a bit depressing.

In Good Company

In good company

In Good Company is a worldwide known comedy film directed by Paul Weitz. Released in 2004 and set in New York, it’s a masterpiece of its genre. Dennis Quaid plays the starring role, Dan Foreman who is a prestigious executive in a company; Scarlett Johansson plays the role of Alex, Dan’s eldest daughter, and finally the actor who plays the part of Carter Duryea is Topher Grace.

Dan Foreman, 51, is the director of the publicity department in a sports magazine, Sports America. He leads a perfect life with his two daughters and his wife, who is pregnant. As well as this, he gets on really well with everybody at work. But everything changes when a huge corporation buys the company he works for and he’s forced to replace his actual job for a worse one. The worst thing about it is that his new boss, Carter Duryea, is 20 years younger than him. In spite of his youth, this man is an ambitious and promising executive who is trying to achieve his goal. The relations between these two men grow tenser when Dan finds out that his eldest daughter, Alex who is 18, is having an affair with Carter…

This film is a high quality production since it’s full of realistic dialogues and contains lots of amusing parts. The film stars give a superb performance which makes the film ever more entertaining. Furthermore it shows the ups and downs of the business life which makes us realise that not everything is perfect.

From my point of view, In Good Company is a film with which you can learn a lot while you have a good time. If you like good comedies you shouldn’t miss it. Besides, it can appeal to all ages. I found it really interesting; that’s the reason why I definitely recommend it!

Girl with a pearl earring

Girl with a pearl earring

The story is set in Holland 1665. Delft is a city full of humble Protestant families who live on craftsmanship and trade. Griet, who used to help her mother at home, has to go and serve in an artist’s house because his father has gone blind and he can’t go on working in his tile workshop. So this is how the story begins, and this is how Griet meets for the first time the artist who would change her life.

In the Catholic district, a family was about to welcome a new baby. Everything was a mess, and they needed a new servant to help washing the clothes and doing the shopping, but most of all, she was needed to clean the master’s studio. Vermeer, which was his name, was the head of a numerous family, and one of the most prestigious painters in the city. He needed order to paint, and so he wanted someone special to clean his room. Griet was not very well received when she arrived, but she could get used to it, and he did all the work she was told to do without complaining returning home on Sunday to give her money to her parents. But the thing she liked most was to clean the studio, bit by bit, taking care not to move any of the objects out of their place. As time passed, Griet got more used to the house, and she sometimes permitted herself helping Vermeer choose the background for his paintings. The problem began when a regular customer of Vermeer, Van Ruijven, saw Griet and wanted a painting of her. Everyone new what happened with girls he wanted to be painted , and so they refused to do it, but as Van Ruijven insisted again and again, Vermeer had to think of a solution. Unfortunately, problems do not usually come alone, and she had to deal with her suitor, the butcher’s son, Vermeer’s jealous wife, who considers Griet a threat, and her daughter Cornelia…

Girl with a pearl earring is a special film based on Tracy Chevalier’s book. Its main point is that it is not a film with difficult dialogues, but very visual and sensitive. There is no dialogue in a lot of scenes where the feeling which stands out is the comprehension between Griet and Vermeer, and words are not needed. The setting is also a really well used resource to make the film appealing.

And finally, I would like to say I recommend this film, but I am going to go further and say that I recommend everybody to read the book by Tracy Chevalier, because it is far better and more complete. Anyway, the film is a very good adaptation and it is also very recommendable. It is the perfect film for people who like using their visual sense and learning art, mixed with, why not?, the typical or not so typical love story.

An interactive lesson based on the TV show House MD

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If you like the TV series House MD you will enjoy doing these activities about the show and also an interview with the British actor Hugh Laurie that plays the cynical doctor.

I hope you’ll like it!

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