Lives of Others

July 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment |

One of the latest movies we watched: a very intense movie on the life of a writer in former Eastern Germany before the “Wende”, while his life is monitored 24/7 by the Stasi, the Secret Police. German spoken with English subtitles, adding to the grim atmosphere of the movie. Excellent movie, 5 out of 5.

The movie generated flash backs of my trip to Berlin on the 21st of July, 1990 with 2 friends when Roger Waters did his version of “The Wall” on Potzdammer Platz (a location which was part of the former “no-man’s land” of the Berlin Wall). We drove straight through Eastern Germany and were astounded by the desolate, gloomy and dark appearance of everything…

Posted by roger | Filed Under Blog, Movies 

Cloverfield

July 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment |

The film fans might know that the title refers to a recent monster movie from the US. I watched it last evening and it was a total waste of time and money. There are some original elements - like the way the movie is recorded through the eyes of one of the actors with a camcorder - but that’s about it. The “camcorder effect” also makes for really awkward viewing and when the movie was finished I had a headache. The effects are good but sparse. 1 out of 5

Posted by roger | Filed Under Blog, Movies 

Stardust

June 23, 2008 | 6 Comments |

I watched that movie last night. Apart from being a very funny movie with a number of famous faces in it (O’Toole, De Niro, Pfeiffer) it had some cool special effects and some pretty scenery: it was filmed on Skye. I think I recognized the Quiraing and shots of the Cuillin. Enjoyed it. Especially the performance of De Niro was extremely funny. 4 out of 5.

Weather: lovely day, bright, sunny, moderate wind, no midges…

Posted by roger | Filed Under Blog, Movies 

Gattaca

June 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment |

If you’re into Science Fiction with a twist last night’s movie on Five “Gattaca” was worth watching. A very determined Ethan Hawke as a genetically “invalid” sneaking into the Gattaca space program and a very pretty Uma Turman as his secret love. They find themselves in a number of cleverly intermingled plots: an identity con to trick the genetics based future society, a murder mystery, a love affair and a brother-against-brother competition. All this painted against a rather weird, futuristic setting with an almost Gothic ambiance to it. I’d say 4.5 out of 5…

Posted by roger | Filed Under Blog, Movies 

Local Hero

December 2, 2007 | 1 Comment |

Yesterday we watched a movie called “Local Hero”. It’s a funny story of a US hotshot from Texas trying to buy a (fictional) Scottish village to setup an oil refinery. During his stay in Scotland, trying to round up the deal with the locals, he grows fond of the village and its sometimes eccentric inhabitants.

It’s a very funny movie full of remarkable characters: the unknown biker who rushes through the village every day, the guy on the roof non-stop working on the slates, the fisherman changing the name of his boat every day, the old man who lives in a hutch on the beach. Music is from “Mr. Dire Straits”, Mark Knopfler.

If you haven’t seen it yet, try to get hold of it. Well worth the effort!

Posted by roger | Filed Under Blog, Movies 

I Robot

October 18, 2007 | Leave a Comment |

There’s a book by that title from the hand of the famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov and there’s also a movie (2004) with that title featuring actor Will Smith. The movie is loosely based on the book by Asimov. But there’s also a US based company selling all kinds of robots, called iRobot. From cleaning robots to tactical robots to be used in war zones and industrial robots. I know of some people I used work with, who bought themselves a vacuum cleaning robot from iRobot and were extremely pleased with it!

However, if you’ve read the book and seen the movie, there’s almost an eerie resemblance with the book/movie and the company. Admitted, the book/movie feature robots with capabilities way beyond the ones for sale at iRobot, but still it made me think…

I agree, this has nothing to do in particular with life here on Skye but the whole computer and gadget scene is still an interest of mine so every now and then I will abuse this blog to vent thoughts on these topics….

Posted by roger | Filed Under Blog, Movies