Children Of The Silk Road

Last year wifey won some tickets to see this at the cinema. We never got round to it, but on the weekend it was wifey's choice of movie (being her birthday and all) and she picked this.

"Children Of The Silk Road" is based upon the remarkable true story of journalist George Hogg (played by the annoying Jonathan Rhys Meyers, in his finest work since "Bend It Like Beckham), a Brit who during the 30's found himself in China looking for untold stories and ended up being the saviour to a heap of young orphan boys.

Hogg bravely chose to go to China in the 30's to try to tell the world about the atrocities being commited by the Japanese soldiers on innocent civilians. He gets caught by the Japanese early on into his trip and is about to be murdered when he saved by a small band of Chinese fighters, headed by Chen (Chow Yun-Fat, in his finest work since "Ban wo chuang tian ya"). Chen helps him on his way, where he eventually comes across an orphanage in an abandoned grand building. Here he meets up again with US nurse Lee (played by Radha Mitchell, in her best work since some guest appearances on Aussie sitcom favourite "All Together Now"). She challenges George to stay and help these abandoned boys rather than just run back home like a little nancy boy. George stays and ends up dramatically changing the boys lives. Word soon reaches him though that the Japanese will be coming, so he must take them on a seemingly crazy 700mile journey through the rough Chinese winter to refuge.
Will they survive and reach freedom? See it to find out.

Not bad and certainly inspiring in pieces. Meyers pulled it off reasonably well considering how unappealing he is to men in general, if not for a few scenes that were uncomfortably akward. One of the better movies set in China I've seen, perhaps even better than "Rush Hour".

Bushfires

Went for a family drive saturday up to Healesville. Had a look around, grabbed lunch, then decided to trek on a bit further. After about 30mins we came into Narbethong, where I'd never been before. This small town was badly hit by the fires. Here's some pics we took. Was thinking about going onto Marysville but the roads were still closed. Amazing to see first hand just how much damage they did.

How to lose friends and alienate people

Friday night settled on this for "Friday DVD night". here's my IMDB.com review.

"How to win friends and alienate people" is the story of Sidney Young (Pegg), the brains behind "Post-Modern Review", a British celebrity rag that pokes fun at celebrities. One day to his amazement he gets offered a role at "Sharps" magazine in NY, one of the most respected magazines in the industry. He figures he's there to shake things up, but he's wrong and is given some very boring "work your way up from the bottom" work to do.

From early on Sidney alienates most around him by being obnoxious, a little too rough around the edges and unwilling to "play the game". He struggles to find any allies until he gradually wins over Alison (Dunst, in her finest work since "Jumangi"), a co-worker in his department. Sidney soon learns though to get anywhere he'll have to sell-out to get their respect and fulfill his dream of having sex with rising actress Sophie (Megan Fox, who I know nothing of except learning she has an older sister from her IMDB.com profile).

Not bad overall, with Pegg surprisingly good as Sidney. At first you instantly hate him, but eventually he wins you over. A solid cast also featuring Jeff Bridges (who I'd assumed was dead) and Scully from the X-Files, who seems to be making a comeback. Some pretty clever scenes and some freaky ones.

Eagle Eye

Sat night wifey was up for a movie, so headed off to "Video Busters" to get something we'd both enjoy, especially her. Sadly I went at 3pm, just a terrible time for getting a video as not much has been returned from the previous night. After 3 laps of the store I settled on "Eagle Eye". This broke my rule of when i'm struggling to find something, always selecting a movie I've heard is crap but has famous stars in it over a movie I know nothing of with nobody's in it (although I'd heard LeBeouf is popular these days).

"Eagle Eye" is a "thriller" about two people (LeBeouf as Jerry and Michelle Monaghan as Rachel) who both receive weird phone calls requesting them to do crazy, dangerous things (think a modern day "Die Hard With A Vengeance"). After several attempts to escape these requests, it soon becomes clear this is serious- really serious. We are left for ages not knowing who or why is putting them up to this but around half way through we learn the shocking truth. Is it terrorists? Is it the Government? Is it aliens?

Surprisingly not bad. An interesting idea that's been done before, despite some ridiculous elements ie the kids trumpet. Ok for what it is, just a bit annoying at times.

RockNRolla

With wifey out Friday night, it was the perfect chance for me to see a film she'd hate. After a decent walk around the store, i stumbled across "RockNRolla". My buddy Gary had said it was solid, and I'd liked "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock...", so figured this was a can't miss. Or was it?

The film, like the others mentioned, is about a bunch of bandits who are all trying to pull something off and their stories gradually become intertwined. It revolves around Lenny (Tom Wilkinson, in his best role since "Rush Hour"), a shark who due to his connections decide what infrastructure projects go ahead. When a Russian offers $7million to get a stadium built quickly, Lenny finally meets his match. Throw in a precious painting, lots of cash, some junkies and small-time crooks and you have a recipe for disasters.

A great cast, most prominently led by Mark Strong as Archie (my favourite B grade actor of the 2000's) and Toby Kebbell as Johnny. Both these guys should have had more prominent roles and meatier dialogue. Sadly, the movie was relatively ho-hum with no great memorable scenes, except maybe the one where Handsome Bob asks a special request of OneTwo before his prison sentence. Akward but clever. A decent try but certainly two rungs below Ritchie's two great works.

An actual funny work email

A first year primary girl handed in the drawing below for a homework assignment.



After it was marked and the child brought it home, she returned to school the next day with the following note:


Dear Ms. Davis,
I want to be very clear on my child's illustration. It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip bar. I work at Bunnings and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent cold weather. This photo is of me selling a shovel.
Mrs. Harrington