Jamie's Talk

The Men Who Stare at Goats

There is a secret new age army who uses paranormal abilities to defeat the enemy instead of weapons. Bob (Ewan) is a reporter who follows Lyn (George) to write a story about the new army. Kevin Spacey plays the bad guy and Jeff Bridges a hippie / army leader. It is very funny especially the dancing scene. It has dark humour like Burn After Reading without the witty lines. If you liked Burn After Reading, this is a close second cousin in humour. Good cast. Bonkers storyline but entertaining.

9

This animation is about a group of 9 fabric characters who are the last survivors on earth. The earth has been destroyed by machines that have taken over the world and they are killing everything in sight. Number 9, the last of the fabric characters convinces the others to destroy the machines rather than live in fear and hiding. Good animation. Quite dark, not suitable for young children.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

This is the last movie that Heath Ledger made and he died during the filming. The director wasn't going to finish the movie, but with the help of Heath's fellow actor friends - Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell the story was complete. Set in London a travelling show invites people to enter the imaginarium of Dr Parnassus through the mirror. People follow their dreams but in order to do so, they unknowingly give up their souls to the devil. Great cast. If you like fantasies like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Alice and Wonderland, you will enjoy this movie with more adult themes.

Fame

This movie is shot like a documentary following a group of teenagers from their auditions to their graduation from the Performing Arts school in New York. It is not as wholesome as High School Musical, nor is it as gritty as the original Fame movie. The music is modern and relevant for today's reality TV addicts.

Up

Carl and Ellie are best friends from childhood. They get married and move into a lovely house. The next part is sad. Many years pass and Carl is forced out of his home by developers, so he ties thousands of ballons to the house and sets off for Paradise Falls in South America. There he meets his lifetime hero who iss hunting a very rare bird. I love the characters - Russell (boy scout) and Doug (dog). Good plot, although sad in parts, it is funny and an uplifting movie.

Surrogates

This movie is a bit like iRobot. People use robots / surrogates to live their daily lives. They operate the surrogates from home and experience the outside world through the surrogates. That why they can do their jobs efficiently, create beautiful images of themselves and they do not experience danger or illness. However the people start to die as their surrogates meet tragic deaths. Bruce is the FBI agent who solves who is behind these crimes. Good plot.

District 9

Set in South Africa. An alien spaceship with 1 million aliens are stranded in District 9. They have been there for 2 decades and the citizens want them moved out. The aliens have superior biotechnical weaponary. A government agent is appointed to evict the aliens and re-locate them to District 10, in the process he is infected and mutates into an alien. It is shot in a documentary style. Good plot.