Lists, and movie lists

I am in London. Been here for 4 weeks and have 5 more to go before I head back. London has thrown all kinds of weather at me, some rotten, some downright awesome and some, well, some very very boring.

Right now, I am being treated to some half-hearted rain. The boring kind. I don't mind gloomy weather. I love it! I am okay with sunshine, as long as it does not last for days altogether. But a mild, half-hearted drizzle is not for me.

I have survived the boredom and the rain, through lists. Lists that tell me what tasks need to get done, at work and back at the apartment. 

I strike those tasks off my list (well, mark them with a green highlighter) and feel like I have achieved something.

Anyway, one of the tasks on my list for today is to blog. I thought the most apt post would be a list. So here goes, the usual...

Cowboys and Aliens

Oh avoid this one. Daniel Craig with a bracelet, taking on an alien attack. I wonder what the script writers were thinking. Other than an awesome sounding title, this movie has almost nothing to offer.

The campaign

A funny movie about two rivals campaigning for the elections. Good for a few laughs. It is highly likely that I missed a lot of the inside jokes thanks to my ignorance of American politics. Average, at best.

Crazy on the outside

Well, I had to go back to IMDB to recollect what this movie was about. It's about a good hearted ex-con, played by Tim Allen, who falls for his parole officer, played by Sigourney Weaver. There is the usual confusion, one bad guy, one good deed and everything falls into place. Maybe a movie you want to watch on a lazy Saturday afternoon on the television, if there is nothing else playing.

Brothers

This one is better. It's a war drama. Two brothers, one a good for nothing con played by Jake Gyllenhaal and the other a upright and well loved officer in the army,played by Edward Norton, currently serving in Afghanistan.

The plot follows, that the wife played by the lovely Natalie Portman thinks that her husband has been killed in action and the brother overcome by grief wants to make up for all the bad things he has done, by being there for the family.

The dead brother returns, however and there is a case of great misunderstanding, thanks also to the traumatic experiences he went through when he was missing in action.

Overall, a decent-ish movie, watch it if you like the actors.

Donnie Brasco

Well, Donnie Brasco is great!  Undercover cop- Johnny Depp, who begins to befriend the man (Al Pacino) is he using to infiltrate the mob.Fantastic movie, with two great actors.

A good gangster movie, with a lot of drama and apparently based on a true story, which makes it all the more awesome. I bet, you watch it and you want to go buy a leather jacket, like the one Depp wears in this one.

The sixth sense

Very average, I think I felt this more so because I have watched this after such a long time. But some movies are great no matter when you watch them (Hitchcock comes to mind) and others just seem outdated. This one seems outdated. Manoj Shyamlan lives up down to his potential

Dark City

Loved it! I watched this and thought, "What! How like Matrix, only to realise that it was made before the Matrix". The graphics are not great, but the plot and the direction is taut. Very Blade Runner like.

We follow a guy, who seems to be a serial killer. Only, he has no memory of it, but then in 'Dark City' not everything is as it seems. Oh, and it's got Jennifer Connolly.

One thing for sure, it is NOT a happy movie. Watch it when you are ready for a dark and brooding film.

Godfather II

It's no Godfather. But enough has been said about this movie and I won't say much more, other than do watch it if you haven't yet :)

To Rome with love

Ah Woody Allen, I know some of my friends will refuse to be seen with me, after I have said this, but  I find him slightly over-rated.

'Match point' was great! 'Midnight in Paris' was brilliant as well. "To Rome with Love" is pathetic. The only good thing about the movie? Penelopé Cruz. Enough said.

Safe

A typical action movie of the genre where a young boy/girl is hunted down and it is for the protagonist to ensure that she is safe. No one does it quite like "Leon' though and that is an unforgettable movie.

This one though, despite the talented Jason Statham, is very forgettable.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

I watched it just because it's name was so intriguing and also because it has Emily Blunt :D

I liked it.

It's a simple romance about a fisheries expert (Ewan McGregor) who is asked by a consultant (Emily Blunt) to help a Sheik set up salmon fishing in Yemen. An romantic comedy/drama set against this unusual backdrop of Salmon fishing in Yemen. It is a pleasant watch. Don't go fishing for the movie, but don't miss it if it shows up on the telly.

Here are a list of movies that I did watch but are so bad, that not a lot needs to be written about them. So do not bother watching these movies:

Abraham Lincoln - Vampire hunter : Horrible

Red Lights - About a clairvoyant and a couple of people out to expose him for the fraud that he is.

Wrath of the Titans - What were Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson thinking?

Looper - Just Pathetic, don't fall for the star studded cast. This is no clever movie. It sucks. Do not fall for it. If you want time travel, there are many more that will sate your interest. Especially the brilliantly made 'Safety not guaranteed', but more on that movie later.

Well, I am going to cheat and review the rest of the movies in the future posts to come. For now I shall mark my task for the day as done!

Sneak peek at the movies still pending on my list:

Safe House

W.E.

Safety not guaranteed

Pirates - Band of misfits

Ted

Argo

Skyfall

Prometheus

Cheerful weather for the wedding

Celeste and Jesse forever

Expendables II

Jack reacher

Hobbit- An unexpected journey

perks of being a wallflower

The Sweeney

Get Carter

Django Unchained