Maybe I mumble. I know words tumble round in my head and sometimes come out a bit gobbly-gooped but I thought, even though they didn't make sense, they were generally audible. But maybe not. Maybe I didn't say my flight was at 9:25am outside my head quite as clearly as I was thinking it so you only heard the 9am part which is why you parked in the dropoff zone and not the proper parking and then had to move the car once you realised we actually had about 45 minutes left together before my flight (which was a good thing in my opinion and in this instance). Maybe "World's Fastest Indian", when spoken, does sound enough like "Flightplan" to get you into the wrong theatre (which I thought was almost a bad thing, but I moved theatres and found out it was six of one / half a dozen of another - I know, I'm a little fish swimming upstream of public opinion but the World's Fastest Indian is actually the World's Slowest Movie) And maybe, the same audio hiccup happens when saying "One Adult for Howl's Moving Castle: 9:20pm session, please. And a bottle of sparkling lemon. Please." and I end up in the most perfectly centred seat in Cinema 6 watching "Little Fish" instead. (which was okay before it even started because it's a movie I wanted to see and it gave me an "in" to blog about me mumbling) I dunno.. it all sounds okay in my head but the outside world is thinking maybe I need new teeth or something. It's a lesson in speaking clearly and of checking tickets for more than the Cinema number. I did want to see Little Fish, but I had my heart set on Howl's Moving Castle tonight. The lights flickered and dimmed in the gorgeous new Rialto in Newmarket and I settled into my very generous and comfortable $15 seat to slowly realised I was in the wrong theatre for the second time in a month. Last time, I moved to the right cinema, this time I settled back and enjoyed the movie. How great is Cate Blanchett? bloody great, that's how great. And Hugo Weaving, bloody awesome. And what about that whole threading the water theme through everything - starting with the sea, ending with the sea, the swimming pool in between, of treading water, of being apart, the idea of "jumping into love" and drowning in it, of being together, and that clear blue colour? the little fish.. the water.. even the shipping containers. And family. And love. And fuckeduppedness. Yeh, I agree, bloody marvellous. And yes, that is the guy from 21 Jump Street. This is about as good as movie reviews are going to get - let's recap: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Whatsit: must see / see it / see it if you like good cinema / don't see it / not fussed (solid: MEH) / avoid like the plague World's Fastest Indian: must see / see it / see it if you like good cinema / don't see it (I would have left half way through but I lost the will to live) / not fussed / avoid like the plague King Kong: must see / see it / see it if you like good cinema / don't see it / not fussed / avoid like the plague Chicken Little: must see / see it (it's fun AND short) / see it if you like good cinema / don't see it / not fussed / avoid like the plague Little Fish: must see / see it / see it if you like good cinema / don't see it / not fussed / avoid like the plague

Back in the day, when I went to school - you know, way back when we'd have to walk 10 miles barefoot in the snow for the privilege of an education? that's right! and by the time we got to school we were too tired and hungry to learn, so the teacher used to read us stories. Yeh, Back in the Day. My teacher, Miss Klitcher, read us The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was in Standard Three. That would have made me about 9 years old. I remember her sitting on a chair at the front of the class reading each day - a chapter maybe, who knows, I was too busy hanging on every word. I loved that story. I loved it so much, the very first chance I got to get my hands on that book I did. And I read it. Then I read it again. Over and over. By the time I got to McKillop College, aged 11, I had read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe nearly a dozen times. I was so excited when I heard that they were making a movie of the book. I was never a Tolkien fan, and I've only read one of the Harry Potter books, so I've not had the investment in the worry of a book-to-movie before. And to be fair, worry is too strong a word. I wasn't worried as much as looking forward to see how the story would look on the big screen and secretly hoping no one would muck it up. Andrew Adamson was to direct the film and I was pleased about that. I base that pleasure only on the fact he made Shrek and I thought Shrek was a great story, and the fact he was a kiwi - really, I am clueless as to who makes good movies and who doesn't. But surely, filming it in New Zealand, and having a sensible kiwi male direct the action, that's a great start. Not to mention The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a bloody good tale. I have never said what I am about to say about a movie before. It's a cliche, but I don't care. That movie, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was exactly as my inner 9 year old remembers it as she hung on Miss Klitcher's every word. The coats, the lampost, the beavers dam, the scary Ice Queen, the turkish delight, the fluttering flags on the tents as the army camped, the stone alter, the mice on the ropes, Cair Parvel - everything. I have no intention of re-reading the Chronicles. I like the way my childhood memories are stored and don't want my adult-self seeing past the magic - and Andrew Adamson has already captured those images from my memory perfectly. Perfectly. If you loved the book and have an inner 9 year old tucked away inside you somewhere, I hope you love the movie as much as I did. PS and off topic: the 2002 Old Jam link below takes you to the best blogpost this site ever produced. Ever. If you're interested. which you should be, cos it's the best blog post this site ever produded ev0r!

another good.good movie! two in a row - I'm on a roll! I was going to go to the Academy and see Steamboy but (yeh i should provide you with links but meh, i'm not going to - it's an anime film) but it didn't start til 9pm and my carparking building closes at 9:30pm and I decided to not stick around and watch the Tactical Ops Team do their training exercise: repelling down the side of the building where I work and busting in on our floor (oops did i say that outloud?) after they spent most of lunchtime practicing landing on the roof (we're on the top floor). Nice Geek Touch: before leaving our Floor to the boys-in-black, the Geeks put a bright pink moving sign on the huge plasma screen we have on the wall - It said: they went that way >>>> Actually that's all priviledged information - please don't tell anyone. It's just our little secret okay? ok. So. Yes. Scarlett Johansson is luscious, and Ewan is all trim and terrific and it's a really good move! "you know why the Wasp sounds like that?" "no, why?" "because we watched Empire Strikes Back and that's the sound the speeders made in Empire Strikes Back and we know what that sound is" "yeh, they sound like Pod Racers too!" "yeh"