Big Fish (2003)

Oh Tim Burton, I don't think anyone could have pulled this movie off the way that you did.
I had no idea what it was about when i sat down to watch it, and i really, really enjoyed this. SO much!
At first it was a little confusing, I was thinking 'umm? how are these crazy stories tying in with real life?'. But, then as i continued watching i came to realize that, that was kind of the whole point to the movie. His son- having heard these fairy tale stories all his life, didn't know who his father was. The stories couldn't possibly be real could they? ; D
The way the timeline of the movie was set out was also really interesting, it kept going back and forward and chopping and changing - never a dull moment. They really got the story and said "here! here it is!....it's over here too". And kudos to them, because it worked out really well!
I really loved the way they made this 'big fish' appear, because he was realisitic-ish, but also fairly cartoony. And i *love* the sound that he makes when he is caught (during the wedding ring story).

I'd also like to remark on how awesome Danny Devito looks as a Ringmaster. Seriously. LOOK.!!

I think he may have picked the wrong profession !! :P

I believe this is the type of film making Burton should be spending his time doing. Not remaking previous films with a creepy 'gothy' style. Although, Sweeney Todd was pretty awesome (Alice in Wonderland was not).
It was also really good to see a Tim Burton film that didn't star Johnny Depp. He's a wonderful actor and all, but the team of Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp is becoming bland and over used, and I would really love to see Burton do more films like this one.

There is an important thing in this film that i think is worth mentioning, and to relate back to the Burton teams bland-ness - the poet in this film, who is living in Spectre - everything is the same day in day out. There is no room for his creativity to wander, nothing exciting to inpsire him. He just fizzles and plays with 3 lines of really average poetry for years and years. Without change and excitement, things are bland. And i really fear that is what is also happening to the Burton team! :(
However, I enjoyed almost everything about this movie!!
Probably some things I didn't like was Ewan Mcgregors accent, I just couldn't believe it was his accent. It didn't seem very natural? Maybe it's because i know his face too well, and know what he actually sounds like? So perhaps it's a fault of my own?

Anyway, I would say that this film is without a doubt one of the best Tim Burton (directed) films out there :)
I highly recommend it for everyone to watch.
4 and a half buttons for you!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Hmmmmm......
Well, I watched it.

Shia LaBeouf (who plays Indiana's son) annoys me so much..... I think the only thing he didn't annoy me in was Disturbia....he's just got this arrogant annoying face that makes me want to kick him in the teeth. I don't even know what it is about him.

I don't think it had enough of that Indiana mystery that i'd become familiar with in the other Indiana films. I knew where it was headed before I probably should have known? I found it just predictably lame.
Harrison Ford still played Indiana as good as he ever did, even though hes all old and stuff!
If they start trying to make more Indiana films with Shia La Beouf in them I am going to have to punch him.
Was kind of cool that they got the female star from the first one (probably the only female on Indiana Jones that i've been able to stand) and put her back in here again! :) Although, I feel like the whole main character having a son he didn't know about thing has been way over used....it has no meaning anymore, it's just gimmicky.

I found Cate Blanchett's portrayal of a KGB agent to be pretty poor, especially considering the high expectations she's previously set for herself in my eyes. I found her accent wavered a lot, and i just couldn't quite buy into her character....?

I can't even really think of a scene that i enjoyed from this film O_O
I didn't find it terrible, but I didn't overly enjoy it either. I spent most of this movie pulling cranky faces at Shia LaBeouf and trying to comprehend *how* they thought that Aliens could be a suitable thing for an Indiana Jones film.....
It has definately fallen short of expectations.
I am awarding this film with a 2 button rating

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Sean Connery ^_^
After watching The Temple of Doom, i intended to go to bed, and then i realized that Sean Connery was on the cover of the next Indiana Film, so i just *had* to stay up and watch it haha! :)
To be honest, i don't think there was much about this movie i didn't like.
Harrison Ford is awesome, Sean Connery is awesome and the two of them work so well as a father son team.
The whole adventure was a mystery, i never knew where they were going to end up next....

Probably my favourite scene in the film was when Indiana and his father were tied back to back on chairs, and Indi's dad fumbles around with the lighter and accidently sets the room (which was a highly flammable room, aparently) on fire. And then they discovered a revolving door in the fireplace (note: i also found it ironic that the only spot in the room that wasn't on fire was the fire place).

As with every Indiana scene, there was an epic transport struggle. There's always some form of battle ontop of/around/involving moving vehicles. I was very impressed to see that there was a tank involved this time! And Indiana took it on whilst on a horse no less! Brilliant!!! <3

I'm going to give this movie a 4.5 button rating! :o)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Well, i thoroughly enjoyed this film also...!

'Willie' annoyed me so much though, so much that i was literally yelling at the tv to shutup whenever she spoke. Whinging little whinger!
I do remember mentioning to Andrew as Willie was attempting to mount the elephant "HOW can one person be so naturally unco-ordinated"... after Andrew smiled at me, i then realized *who* i was and how naturally unco-ordinated i am....haha
I must say, Short Round was awesome. totally awesome. i wish to give him many hi 5's. 

Points I didn't like about this movie were the supernatural fire pit and the whole human sacrifice thing... thought i sort of get that it was an essential part of the movie. But, here's the thing. If you believed with all your might in a god, and that god needed souls/people/sacrifices, would u not want to provide him/her/it with willing souls. Souls who also believed in this same god and wanted to be close to them?... that makes sense right?
So - why would they try to sacrifice a girl who has no affiliation with them what so ever? who has no idea on the fundamentals of their beliefs.... who doesn't even know the god who you're giving her to. Wouldn't that kind of be like spitting in your gods face? Sure, I would have appreciated the death of Willie as much as the next 'Thuggee' cultist, but it made no sense. More sense than Black Swan, but still - not a lot of sense.
Another thing that didn't quite make sense, was the cutting of the bridge. This bridge had two separate sides, the left side and the right side (obviously). Now, if you were to cut the left side, why then would the right side break?
Surely if this were accurate, the bridge would have just not had a floor, would have potentially knocked all the enemies off it, and all he would have to do is tarzan across to safety. simple and effective! Though i suppose this was a movie... haha so, yeah. kudos!
very much liked :)I give this 3 and a half buttons, would have been 4 is Willie didn't annoy me so much... and would have been 3 if Short Round wasn't so cool :)

Black Swan (2010)

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Okay, so I know this wasn't on the list... But i watched it and i really wanted to talk about it.
I admire Natalie Portman, she's a brilliant actor.
But, this movie confused the crap out of me.

It confused me so much that i don't think any amount of re-watching could ever help me piece it together...

This movie started off really slowly, I was seriously on the verge of boredom wishing for something to happen soon.
And i certainly got my wish.... sort of.

I understand that this is sort of like a ballet story playing out in real life, parallel with the ballet... I understand the story of Swan Lake and what happens, I just don't think it was as accurately portrayed in this movie as it could have been.

I am no stranger to looking at things from abstract points of view, but even within abstract- there is always sense...sense of some description. But i see no sense in this abstraction of her character. More so in the way she was abstracted.
Throughout the movie it was becoming increasingly evident that the main character 'Nina' played by Natalie Portman, was crazy. And as a result of this, there was a sort of disconnection with her character. I no longer cared about her, whether this is intended or not I am not sure, but I certainly did not feel the least bit bad when she died.
She'd think she was seeing her face on other people, mainly on 'Lily'.... I became completely confused as to whether they were actually her, or if they were real at all. She even began to see her face on 'Beth' aswell... which just confused the issue even further.
I feel her psycho moments she experienced weren't relate-able at all. It was like suddenly she walked from a ballet movie into a sci fi- given that they randomly decided to introduce really crude 3D elements and overdone effects...
I dont think this movie knew what it wanted to be, a horror, a drama or a ballet film?
I heard lots of people saying that this movie was 'fucked up', those same people said this was a good film.
HOW is being confused and bored fucked up? I'm confused and bored most days...
this film did not a thing for me at all...
And for that, i give it half a button rating.....booo hiss

Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Okay, so this might come as a bit of a shock to you...but apart from watching random snippits of Indiana Jones films on tv, i have never actually watched a whole movie......
<dramatic voice>....until tonight!</voice>

Tumbling boulders, snake pits, car chases, alcoholic women and Nazi's!
I enjoyed the heck out of this movie, even down to it's dodgy eye patched villians and excessively booby trapped valuables. (as im sure indiana jones *the film* is famous for).
I love the idea that *somewhere* hidden in the wilderness are temples filled with really creative traps guarding something 'sacred'.
I'm not sure if i liked this movie for the reasons that people in the 80's would have. As most of me liking it was of course mockingly laughing at it (but with love!).
Even caught sound of the wilhelm scream.... ;)
Favorite scene I would probably say is the scene where they're in Egypt and there's this big "get Indiana Jones" thing going on.... a guy with a sword pushes through the crowd and there's this moment where the guy is standing there swishing his sword around and is all "i has sword! you will never defeat me!" and then Indiana gets his gun out and shoots him. .... brilliant timing! It is exactly what I want to happen to people in movies that do that whole "here's my weapon, watch me dance around with it" thing.

One thing that sort of put me off was, it went a little too long... like, i thought the movie was wrapping up... but then it just kept going.
Not in the way Lord of the Rings(Return of the King) did, or the "Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch" (for those of you unlucky enough to know what I'm talking about).
Just in the way to make bladder bursting pam think that it's nearly toilet time, only to find out that it's still going... so i had to pause it... But- after business was done, i had no problem getting right back into it. fan-freaking-tastic. haha

I am awarding Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark with a 3 and a half button rating..!
Very much looking forward to more of Indiana!

The Pixar Story

To Infinity and Beyond Indeed!!
What a massively refreshing way to start my movie project!  I definately enjoyed the hell out of this, not only as an animator but as a child who still remembers clearly the exact moment she saw toy story and a bugs life!
Whenever i watch a "making-of" special i always get tingleys of excitement for the community feeling that grows within successful collaborations. It's so heart warming to see people come together and share ideas and create something so breath takingly awesome that it makes even your audiences forget it's an animated film. They're no longer watching a animation, they're watching characters live their lives on screen.
Also, being an animator i can definitely relate to sleeping under your desk only to get up and animate all day... then do it all over again the following day! haha
I don't know of anyone who could watch this documentary and not feel happy about life in general. It's such a great, heart touching story. It would have been so disappointing for John Lasseter to live and breathe Disney for so long - only to get the sack for trying to approach things differently. I am personally, so so thankful that John stuck with it, turning around and being so awesome that Disney begs for you back again, is fantastic! way to stick it to 'em Johnny boy!
I found it very insightful finding out where funding came from, how business relationships formed and networking happened within the creation and success of Pixar. To be honest it kind of makes me massively disappointed that I live in Australia, and that our film industry is (compared with America) absolute balls.
Makes me want to start an animation revolution! who's with me!!! ??
There were so many times throughout this documentary that i literally squeaked with excitement.
They definitely did a brilliant job of presenting this story... i don't know what more to say on this topic.
But- if you haven't seen this- it's very very highly recommended, and i award this film a 5/5 button rating ^_^
I love you PIXAR!!! <3