Films, Gaming and … properties!

Right, first off, quick micro reviews of a few films I’ve watched:

I am Sam
One of Roz’s films, not really normally my cup of tea (a tad chick flickish), but still quite enjoyable none the less.

Both Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning really steal the show. For such a young girl, Fanning really does seem to have cracked acting spectacularly. It was also nice to see a new film with Michelle Pfeiffer in, it seems like quite some time since she has starred in a decent film.

Overall, while the story was very touching, it was also a little predicable. It reminded me in some respects of Rainman, but not quite up to this league.
7/10

Duel and Jurrasic Park
Watched Jurassic Park shortly after rewatching duel. Spielberg certainly knows how to direct suspense and tension, and after watching the documentary on Duel, I can see that he looks to Hitchcock for guidance in this respect.

Both great movies, Jurassic Park especially is almost the pinnacle of summer blockbusters.
Duel 6.5/10
Jurassic Park 8/10

True Romance
Just rewatched this before. I have to say that there are 2 scenes in particular that really make this movie for me.

The first is the conversation between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper, in which Dennis Hopper explains coolly and calmly the origins of the people of Sicily, knowing that what he will say will lead to a quick execution.

The second the conversation between James Gandolfini (he of Sopranon’s fame) and Patricia Arquette in which James Gandolfini explains how easy killing becomes after the third “hit”… Here’s the quote in full:

“Now the first time you kill somebody, that's the hardest. I don't give a shit if you're fuckin' Wyatt Earp or Jack the Ripper. Remember that guy in Texas? The guy up in that fuckin' tower that killed all them people? I'll bet you green money that first little black dot he took a bead on, that was the bitch of the bunch. First one is tough, no fuckin' foolin'. The second one... the second one ain't no fuckin' Mardis Gras either, but it's better than the first one 'cause you still feel the same thing, y'know... except it's more diluted, y'know it's... it's better. I threw up on the first one, you believe that? Then the third one... the third one is easy, you level right off. It's no problem. Now... shit... now I do it just to watch their fuckin' expression change.”

Good film, great direction by Tony Scott and a great scripy by Quentin Tarantino
8/10

On the Gaming front I’m still enjoying Killer 7 and have also just found out that a new update for Half Life 2 has been posted. The game now seems to be running just as smoothly as it did previously. Phew! Now I have the conundrum of which game to continue playing, Half Life 2 or Killer 7!

On the property front, we have been given the go ahead for our mortgages and the surveys have come out fine, so it’s just a case of our neighbour finding a property that she likes before we own not one, but two properties! On top of that, we become landlords. All very frightening stuff.

To be continued!