And the winner is...

The votes are in! All five of them! And that’s including myself and my wife. That’s right, other than Shauna and I, only three other people actually voted in my little poll from last week. I guess writing a popular blog is more difficult than I thought. No worries though. I mainly write this blog for my own pleasure, so it’s all good.

In the end I voted for The Count of Monte Cristo and Shauna voted for Spellbound. There was one vote for The Pianist and two more for The Count. So, as promised, I will write a full review of the film in the next day or so and post it here. In the meantime here are a few summaries of some of the films I’ve been watching lately. I hope all four of my readers enjoy them.

Colin Farrell stars in this engaging little drama about the Vietnam War. Tigerland focuses on a group of recruits who are training to fight and are only a few weeks away from being shipped overseas. Don’t be misled, however, this is not an action flick. Farrell portrays Roland Bozz, a particularly disgruntled soldier with a knack for getting into trouble. He is regarded as the guy to talk to if you want to get out of the army. And getting out of the army is something Bozz believes in more than almost anything. Tigerland is a commentary piece that does a great job at showing how psychologically violent the war was even before the soldiers got there. I think it’s one of Farrell’s best.

What do you get when you have Ron Howard directing Tom Hanks, Ed Harris and Gary Sinise in a film about the Apollo Space program, during one of the most potentially catastrophic missions in the history of space flight? You get a film that is highly informative, intensely gripping and incredibly entertaining. I’ve read the book, written by Jim Lovell, and I’ve watched the fantastic HBO special on the Apollo Program, From the Earth to the Moon, and Apollo 13 is an exceptionally realistic portrayal of the events that took place in space in April of 1970. Well acted and beautifully shot, Apollo 13 is a masterpiece. You have no excuse for not having seen this film.

I don’t watch as many documentaries as I would like. Spellbound is a delightful film that focuses on eight teenagers as they prepare for, and compete in the 1999 National Spelling Bee. It’s an intriguing look at the students and their parents and the variety of methods used to train, encourage and win. I think almost any parent would find this documentary especially fascinating. It’s incredible what lengths some students, and parents, will go to in order to ‘bee’ the best. Toward the end Shauna and I found it difficult to watch simply because we couldn’t bear to see anyone spell a word wrong. It’s not often that a documentary can pull you in and make you care as much as this one does.

I don’t why it took so long for me to finally see The Pianist. I knew that it was going to be heavy – any movie that realistically depicts the holocaust during the second world war is bound to be heavy – so maybe I avoided it for that reason. I think I sometimes forget that a movie can be very dramatic and hard-to-watch and still remain highly entertaining. The Pianist is definitely one of those movies. I’m not sure I would own this, as it’s not the kind of movie that lends itself to multiple viewings, but it’s certainly an important film to see. Adrien Brody does a fantastic job and it’s easy to see why he won the 2003 Best Actor Oscar. The Pianist isn’t easy to sit through, but it’s one that really should be watched. I guess I should probably get around to seeing Schindler’s List one of these days. I’ve been avoiding that one for too long.

This film wasn’t on my Poll, but I did watch it recently so I thought I’d include it here. I got hooked on the Harry Potter books shortly after the 6th one came out and almost everyone I knew was reading it. While working a teen camp this summer a number of the counsellors actually decided to abandon their campers completely and read Harry Potter for the whole week. Well maybe it wasn’t quite that bad, but I guess I wanted to see what all the hype was about. Turns out the hype is quite justified. Shortly after reading the first book I went on to read five more and then promptly went out and bought the DVDs. While there is quite a bit missing from the book the films do a great job of bringing Hogwarts to life. I think it is brilliantly cast and the look and feel of the movie is just as I imagined it while reading the novels. I can’t wait for Goblet of Fire to come out on DVD!

AWOL trivia for 'Tigerland'.
Houston, we have some trivia.
Ebony and ivory trivia for 'The Pianist'.
Muggles, click here for Harry Potter trivia.

I was all excited about using T-R-I-V-I-A for Spellbound, but apparently there isn't any.