Jaws

This is of those films I can watch over and over. Of course I have to be in the right mood to start with, but if it’s on TV and I’m channel surfing, it doesn’t have to be one of the better scenes to coerce me into seeing it through and there are some excellent scenes. This made me laugh:

Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, where the movie was filmed, did experience an increase in tourists following the film’s release. However, other seaside resorts did not fare so well that year. Overall, the holiday industry suffered as a result.

OK, so the shark does look a bit rubbery, but it’s the atmosphere. That setup on theOrca (their boat) near the final act, the bonding between those men. Also, I’d say the scariest parts are never the actual shark attacks, but the build up to them. That tuba duuhh duuuuuh ditty (courtesy of Tommy Johnson, according to Articulate). Oh, the bit that made me jump the most? I’ll always remember it – that floating corpse. It scared the hell out of me!

Waterworld

I remember seeing this when I was little. I would’ve been 7 or 8 when it came out, so I wasn’t really thinking too much about reviews and took it on its own merits. Articulate (OK so that’s not the poster’s name, but it’s easier for me to write!) mentions:

Waterworld was nominated for worst picture, worst director, worst actor and worst supporting actor at the Razzies, with Dennis Hopper “triumphing” in the latter category.

Which is a shame, I’d say. I was taken by pissing in a contraption that’d make urine into a tasy drink just as I was taken by the floating town and the massive wrecked ship near the end. Seeing the submerged city was cool too. Also, what was so very wrong with Dennis Hopper?! I thought he was a perfectly suitable ott monster to be chasing the main characters. I wasn’t too taken by the protagonist and co, true enough, but given the situation they seemed quite fitting. So it’s not a groundbreaking film, but I do find parts inspirational even if all together the film seems a little flawed.

The other way to read books is made to look and feel more like the real thing. Called the eBook Reader, this book-sized Sony-made device boasts a large battery life and space for over a hundred books. There are already thousands of book titles available to be used in conjunction with the reader from Waterstone’s eBook store. I doubt and I hope that these don’t replace the trusty paper-based book we all know and love. I’ve seen things like this eBook that emerged a few years back and didn’t hear any more about them.

Google Book Search provides tools for publishers and authors. Have a look here for more information. You’ll notice I’ve added a Google Book Search box to the right

Visit Google Book Search

Check out Sony’s eBook Reader

Tropic Thunder has a brilliant ensemble cast and features one of my favourite actors, Robert Downey Jr. It pays homage to films like Platoon and Apocalypse Now, and it is laugh-out-loud funny.

Tropic Thunder sees Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) filming his directorial debut a war movie and it going badly. When he enlists the help of the author of Tropic Thunder the book, Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), the grizzled nam-vetran suggests they take the sheltered actors to the jungle and rig up cameras to shoot a far grittier movie. At this point things get all too real and Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr) and Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) must fight their way through the jungle and its hostile inhabitants.

The cast are all good, but two of them really shone for me – Downey Jr and Tom Cruises’s unexpected cameo as Les Grossman. Downey plays an Australian method actor whose dedication has driven him to have a controversial skin pigmentation to turn him black. All of his jokes are delivered perfectly. Jack Black’s Jeff Portnoy, who is known as a comedy actor playing all the roles himself (Nutty Professor style) loses his drugs and spends much of the film in a cold sweat. At his most desperate when tied to a tree, he offers his services to his comrades if they release him – “I’ll cradle the balls, stroke the shaft, work the pipes, and swallow the gravy.” . Stiller’s character sees Tropic Thunder as a way to reboot his waning career after his last lukewarm performance in Scorcher 6 (shown in an amusing trailer at the beginning of the film) and doesn’t realise that fiction has suddenly become a battle for survival. Tom Cruise’s character Les Grossman is a complete maniac and constantly shouting, be it at colleagues, friends, or ransom-demanding Viet-Cong bad guys. In his more philosophical moments he dances to rap music and dishes out reassurances – “Speedman is a dying star. A white dwarf headed for a black hole. That’s physics. It’s inevitable.” It is a pleasant surprise to see Cruise in this role and he gets plenty of laughs.

Exchanges between Downry Jr and Stiller concerning his “Simple Jack” character are both funny and at times immoral, but shouldn’t be taken to heart. Equally there are jokes concerning race, but these are never overbearing.

I would rank this near to the likes of Shaun of the Dead and Borat for laughs and for that bit more substance than your average insipid comedy – you know, the kind that have those DVD covers of puke-worthy pinks and whites with people’s faces all over them, it’s the same for books and music too…

Go see it! You will laugh. Oh, and I know what dude I am. I’m the dude playin’ the dude, disguised as another dude!

Enjoy.

Here’s the link to the full song. I’m not sure how long it’ll be up, so click now (unless you like James Bond, then apparently, don’t)!