Joseph Gordon-Levitt – NZ Film Freak

Top 4: Favourite Christmas Songs

Best Christmas songs

I’m honestly not a massive fan of festive music. However, here are four (and a half) songs in my December play list:

Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Written by Frank Loesser in 1944, the original was sung by Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams, which I just think is a gorgeously dramatic and almost comedic rendition. I love this!

Although the second part is by Betty Garrat and Red Skelton, their version just looks creepy…

However, the first version I heard was by Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone, which I heard in the hilarious movie, Elf.

Updated 2015: Just found this song done by Sharon Van Etten and Rufus Wainwright (he’s on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack)… This is definitely awesome.

Lady Gaga and the handsomely dashing Joseph Gordon-Levitt have done a cover of it too, but I don’t think it was that great…

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December Will Be Magic Again
Okay, sure, Kate Bush is a little on the peculiar side, but so is Fiona Apple and Joanna Newsom, and yet we have enjoyed their music. Or at least covers of their songs like when The Decemberists covered Newsom’s song: Bridges And Balloons. So, give Kate a chance with this one, please.

I found it the most magical song to listen to, particularly when reading the lyrics along with the song. Her stories are so enchanting.

Upon the black-soot icicled rooves,
Ooh, and see how I fall.
See how I fall…

Come to cover the lovers.
(But don’t you wake ’em up.)
Come to sparkle the dark up.
(With just a touch of make-up.)
Come to cover the muck up.
(Ooh, with a little luck.)

—
Merry Christmas Everybody
Written and composed by Slade in 1973 – I love this song. It’s a tad melancholy, but I think Christmas can be slow, reflective time of year anyway.

—
Sleigh Ride
Composed by Leroy Anderson during a heat wave in 1946, the lyrics were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950.

However, my favourite version is by KT Tunstall. She’s made it rockier.

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Just as a side note, although not a Christmas song as such, 17 by Kings of Leon weirdly makes me think of Christmas..? Maybe it’s just the use of bells.

So those are a few to add to your play list this Christmas! Enjoy!
Jodie.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Director: Chrisopher Nolan
Written: Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. Characters created by Bob Kane
Released: July 2012
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman
—

Perhaps my expectations were simply too high. I loved the 2008 The Dark Knight so much that I expected this film to be equally as captivating and shocking… Just in a different way due to the obvious absence of Heath Ledger… *sigh*.

Bane Joker — The Joker was way more scary, more funny and much more shocking than ‘Bane’.

Of course it was epically shot with fantastic sets, lighting, special effects, stunts and characters – kudos to Mr. Nolan who is a fantastic film maker with Inception and The Prestige being my two of my favourite movies of his…
It’s just the storyline of The Dark Knight Rises sucked a bit…

Now, I know many people who have seen the film will be up in arms about what me thinking badly of this Batman film, and the people who haven’t seen it will be gob-smacked and shaking their heads. But seriously, if you just ignore all the “10 out of 10” and “better than the previous film” comments and take away your high expectations that will probably blind you into thinking that it is epically incredible… You will see that it wasn’t – at least not in every way. This is why:

I go to see superhero films because I like to see super people acting heroically. However, I found that for the majority of the film, Batman was in a spot of bother with no foreseeable way of escape. It just got depressing watching Batman being defeated right until the end pretty much… I mean, it’s called a three-act structure because there are ups and downs that keep the audiences’ attention. It just seems that the hero’s journey was going increasingly downhill from the beginning.

Also, Batman’s enemy, Bane, is a masked man who sounds like he has an amplifier attached to his belt which, although it was creepy, his voice kept distorting and I missed quite a few lines.
Plus, the fact that his name was “Bane” began to sound like “Wayne” (as in Bruce Wayne) and they were talking about being in ‘pain’ a lot too, so the rhyming didn’t help the understanding of the characters. Christian Bale’s Batman voice gets on my nerves too… Sometimes I just couldn’t take him seriously.

I have to say I was extremely concerned about Anne Hathaway being Catwoman! However, she certainly stole the show – the Cat Burglar was incredible. Good on Anne Hathaway for her performance.

Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were obviously flawless, that barely needs to be mentioned; they’re both very well established and respected actors for good reason.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt was terrific too – I’m sure we will see more of him in the following Batman films.

I only know people who thought this film was fantastic. Having said that, every one of them could think of at least one major thing that they would change in film.
I’m afraid I will have to break the mould and not give full marks to this very well made film.

It’s worth seeing, but don’t get your hopes up.
Jodie’s rating: 6/10

Inception

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Released: 2010
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine
—

Wow! If you liked the Matrix you’ll like this!

A mind-twisting film which demands the full attention of viewers as it’s not an ‘easy watch’. By that, I mean that a passive audience is not going to be handed the complex idea of dream inception and deep characters on a platter.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the primary dreamer or extractor hired by a corporation-owner, Mr Saito (Ken Watanabe) to plant a lucrative idea into Robert Michael Fischer’s (Cillian Murphey) mind via a dream. This is to encourage him to decide to break up the energy conglomerate which he recently inherited to make way for Saito’s company.

inception_luciddreaming

Despite this not being an easy task. But to add to the challenge, Cobb’s late wife invades the dreams, potentially sabotaging the entire job and putting the dreamers (including Joseph Gordan-Levitt and Ellen Page) in fatal danger. This is because dying in a “dream within a dream” will not wake them up, but send them into limbo which is basically no-man’s land for what seems like an eternity.

That was a mouthful!

This epic film is a James Bond action meets Matrix science fiction meets a totally unique twist of a psychological thriller, which incorporates the modern fear of privacy invasion and increasing reality that companies have the most power.

With so much going on and so much to think about during the movie, the two and a half hours whizz by.

My favourite scene would have to be the parallel storyline of the van that is driving the unconscious dreamers, with the storyline of the conscious dreamers within somebody else’s dream. (Yes, it’s difficult to explain).

It’s the fast-paced dream versus the slow motion van that explains the time difference between dreaming and real life.

The count-down begins as the slow motion van is driven off of the bridge and the dreamers need to accomplish the mission and wake up before their physical selves drown in the van. It’s so intense!

The cliff-hanger ending leaves much debate between viewers – so after much philosophical thinking, logical analysis and heated debates with friends, you would be back in the cinema for a second viewing or buying the special edition DVD from the nearest store.

The devoted and flabbergasted viewers will find themselves questioning how they come to certain decisions (are we in a dream?) in the same way the Matrix promoted questions of fiction and reality (is this world physically real?). In the same way as Sims players question if somebody is playing our lives out.

Of course, different people take away very different things from this movie. The most popular comment being “I don’t get it.”

INCEPTION. With a stream of shallow chick flicks and rom-coms, Inception was a breath of fresh air for those who enjoy a bit of an “epic”.

Of course, the film and talented cast is not all that creates such a movie – Hans Zimmer’s haunting scores were essentially what gives you chills!

Not forgetting the song that was the cue for the dreamers to wake up in the film (and is everybody’s alarm clock sound now) – Non, Je Ne Regrette Rein sung by Edith Piaf. It stirs emotions of apprehension and nostalgia in the audience which is parallel with the characters’.

I’m sure you can tell that I am an Inception fan, but I have to say that such a long and complicated film has less entertainment value by the third or fourth viewing.

However, it’s a “must have” for all dedicated DVD collectors or movie-making enthusiasts.

Even if it is a DVD that is not watched frequently, it’s a film that will always spark conversation and is kept handy for casual social viewing for a wide audience.

Jodie’s rating: 8.5/10