Bend in the Weather (Entries tagged as movies)

meme: Top 25 IMDB Movies

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:54:00 +1000

Responding to Sandra's Post on the top 25 IMDB movies...

(Bold the ones you saw in theater, italicize the ones you saw some other way instead, and leave the unseen ones alone.)

Here's my scores:

1. Titanic (1997) $600,779,824
2. Star Wars (1977) $460,935,665
3. Shrek 2 (2004) $436,471,036
4. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $434,949,459
5. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $431,065,444
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) $423,032,628
7. Spider-Man (2002) $403,706,375
8. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) $380,262,555
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) $377,019,252
10. Spider-Man 2 (2004) $373,377,893
11. The Passion of the Christ (2004) $370,270,943
12. Jurassic Park (1993) $356,784,000
13. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) $340,478,898
14. Finding Nemo (2003) $339,714,367
15. Spider-Man 3 (2007) $336,530,303
16. Forrest Gump (1994) $329,691,196
17. The Lion King (1994) $328,423,001
18. Shrek the Third (2007) $320,706,665
19. Transformers (2007) $318,759,914
20. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) $317,557,891
21. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $313,837,577
22. Iron Man (2008) $311,708,133
23. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) $310,675,583
24. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) $309,404,152
25. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) $309,125,40.

I knew I was a movie whore, but 23 outta 25... wow. (I'm planning on seeing Iron Man, and never really was interested in the The Passion of the Christ).

It seems I do enjoy the big screen... there's nothing like cuddling up with a loved one and watching something fly out and hit you whilst you both jump and cluth each other. Having said that, it's mainly the 'big titles' I go to the movies to watch, I probably see a ratio of 50:1 (Home:Cinema).

Well... that filled in 5 minutes of boredom as I wait to head to the hospital...

Visit Disney World - in the luxury of your own home

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:28:00 +1000

We all enjoy a good holiday. Getting the time to take one always seems to be the problem for me however. I think I may have just found the answer...

If you're like me you grew up watching The Wonderful World of Disney at 6:30pm every Sunday. Here we marveled at cartoons of Mickey, Goofy and other great Disney characters. (So much so, many the hostnames on my home network are now named after Disney characters! ).

It also introduced us to classic 'childrens' movies like Herbie, 101 Dalmatians, Mary Poppins and Alice in Wonderland.

It's probably the dream of every child to visit the magical place of Disneyland or DisneyWorld.

With the help of Google you can now explore DisneyLand without leaving your chair!
Google has produced a 3D interactive representation of Disneyland inside Google Earth.

If you've got Google Earth installed try the following:

Once Google Earth loads, search for "Disney World".
Click on the golden Disney Mickey Ears - This will load an information window.
In the info window click on Show Disney World in 3D.

The 3D world contains over 1,500 3D models and will let you explore right through the park. The models are highly detailed and a sight to behold!

It's nearly as good as being there!
Just think - no more queues for rides, no long-haul flight getting there, and the park is now open 24 hours for you.

Have fun exploring!

The online reference tool

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 23:43:56 +1100

I find life with the Internet is as common as getting up in the morning.
I often find that routine tasks I used to use a manual system I rely more and more on online equivalents.

Here is a quick run down of some of the quick resources I use regularly.

Dictionary - Easy to use when you're looking for a dictionary for a quick lookup of a word.
Thesaurus - Great when you're finding 'that' word.
Urban Dictionary - For common 'slang' and non-formal English, handy for forums and the like.
Flickr - Find a particular photo you are after.
Wikipedia - Great online encyclopedia.
Computing Dictionary - Excellent way to find the definition for those computing acronyms!
Movie Database - IMDb contains everything you ever need to know about a movie or television show.

Best of all, a lot of these are available as Firefox search plugins. This means you can drop down the list where the Google search sits in the top corner and select your desired website and type in your search option. Very funky!

There is a bunch of other sites that regularly make it to my bookmarks and it includes:

Bureau of Meteorology
Australian PostCode search
White Pages and Yellow Pages
WhereIs
TV Guide
Travel Time on the roads
OnlineConversion - covert any measurement!

These are just a few of the sites I use on a regular basis. My local web database has thousands of sites -- ensuring everything is only a click or two away.

So what sites do you rely on to quench your thirst for knowledge?

Our 'new' notebook

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:41:41 +1100

Jason, one of the guys I worked with at Telstra wished to sell his notebook.

Pauline and I have been in the hunt for a good notebook for some time... after our old one had the screen die on us. That notebook was going to cost us more to repair than buy a new one!

So we jumped at the opportunity! It's only approx. 6-9 months old and at $700 with all the goodies included it was a bargain! So it's gone to a good home!

The computer is a Compaq Presario V2157AP Basically it's a widescreen, 1.4Ghz Mobile Celeron, with a 40GB HDD and 256MB of memory. Comes with a 802.11b/g wireless connection, 10/100 ethernet port, a built in modem, firewire, USB2, Dual-Layer DVD ReWriter and a 6-in-1 digital card reader! More than what we need.

Basically we'll use it for photo storage and able to watch xvid movies whilst on holidays!

Here are some pictures of it in action. Click to see larger versions.

Doom: The Movie

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 11:01:14 +1100

Last night I went to see Doom: The Movie.
If you've ever played any of the iD Software games (Doom or Quake), you'll enjoy the movie. It's basically a fantasy shoot-em-up.
Don't expect a big story line, as you'll be disappointed, but if you don't mind two hours of chilling out and enjoying mind-numbing shooting and gore then you'll love this movie!
I headed down to the cinema with both Pauline and A.C. (a Doom/Quake die-hard!) to ensure a few hours of gore! The cinema was reasonably empty; besides the occasional typical nerd with glasses as thick as coke-bottles and afro hair that wouldn't look out of place on an African American. (In this case it was probably a case they hadn't had a haircut or used a brush for some time!

UAC where something has gone terribly wrong.
The hardened marines part of the Rapid Response Tactical Squad are sent in to isolate and remove that threat - at all costs!
With enough fire-power for a small army, and enough baddies to keep you occupied you know there is going to be lots of gunfire!

Don't see the movie if you want a story-line. You won't find it in this movie!
If you are looking for a movie to keep you jumping and your heart-beat up and don't mind some blood and gore, then you'll enjoy it.

It's rated 'M'... so probably not one for the kiddies. However there are much worse films they could see.

If you're a gamer, it's worth seeing. If you don't know what Quake or DooM is all about, you can probably miss this one.

Rating: 7/10

Napoleon Dynamite

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:05:58 +1000

Pauline and I decided to watch a movie... to take our mind of waiting for results....

We chose Napoleon Dynamite....

Some movies are just made to be stupid. Napoleon Dynamite is one of those movies.

People under 30 will probably find it funny... those over 30 will shake their heads and wonder how they can recover those last 2 hours.

Napoleon Dynamite is a movie set in the mid-west of USA... in one of those non-descript country locations. Population, probably 1,500-5,000.
All the characters are likely to be high school drop outs and will not amount to much... and the charm is in what little their characters do.. and the sterotype 'loser' they play.

All the characters are boring... and you wouldn't of blamed the characters from committing suicide.. it's that depressing a movie.

It's been made to be a cult movie, but unless you're a big fan of Jim Jarmusch style movies... you'll probably not like it.

It's so stupid at times... it's funny. Though it wears off after the first 30 minutes. I found I only kept watching it, like those caught watching a train wreckage.

Rating: 4/10

Wedding Crashers

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 15:14:17 +1000

There has been many movies about weddings over the years. (Popular ones that spring to mind are My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The Wedding Singer.)

Wedding Crashers, is however quite different. It's a movie based around the notion that females are 'vulnerable' at weddings due to the romantic atmosphere and as such are 'easy targets'. Hence both John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) two womanisers regularly crash weddings to lure on these poor unsuspecting women.

Whilst it sounds shocking... it's quite funny.

The two go to wedding after wedding, and have huge success along the way...
Some of the stories and aliases they pull out are hillarous!

They then pick the wedding of the year and end up getting more than they bargained for.

Quite funny and shows the non-serious side to the whole wedding ceremony. It's not a film you'll remember in a year, but one that will fill in a few hours.

Rating: 6.5/10

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 22:14:10 +1000

It would be hard pressed to find someone in the western world that hadn't heard of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The original 1971 movie (known as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) is a classic that many generations grew up to love. It always still rates highly when shown on TV. Gene Wilder who played the original Willy Wonka is etched into the memories of millions of children!

Pauline has been twisting my arm for weeks to see the updated version of this classic. So we sat down and watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
It's a movie full of colour, fun and excitement.

Unfortunately Roald Dahl the author of the book 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, past away in 1990 and will never see the modernized version that is true to the book... probably one of the biggest complaints that the first one suffered.

Johnny Depp plays Willy Wonka is funny, crazy and disturbed all in the same breath. Charlie Bucket is played by the wonderful child actor Freddie Highmore. Johnny Depp apparantly suggested Freddie for the role of Charlie after they both starred in Finding Neverland.

It's a fantastic movie, that sticks to the plot from the book. Those that never read the book and only saw the Wilder version will be disappointed. Those that know the book will love this version.

Kick your feet up, become a child again and enjoy this movie as you sing along with the Oompa-Loompas!

Rating: 8.5/10

Herbie: Fully Loaded

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 11:02:54 +1000

Don't you love a good family movie? One that you can sit down with those under 10 and enjoy. We don't always have to see a movie of violence and colourful language to enjoy a movie!

Herbie: Fully Loaded is just that.. it's a family movie.

Many of us grew up watching Herbie gathered together around the TV to catch another episode of Herby on The Wonderful World of Disney.

This is a Disney movie, and as such is geared to the kids. Having said that it's still enjoyable for adults, as they are transported back to simpler times and warm memories as a child watching Herbie!

It's corny, sure. Full of items that define gravity and reality; certainly. But Herbie was always this... and it's what we come to love.

You'll best enjoy Herbie watching it in this vein. Trying to make sense of the movie will result in you not enjoy it. Watch the movie in the eyes of a child and you'll be laughing right through.

Whilst a kids movie, and an enjoyable one at that; it still packs a number of high quality and recognisable actors.

Lindsay Lohan plays Maggie Peyton, Herbie's new owner. Lindsay is an up and coming actress, who'll be bound to get many more roles. The 20 year old star who also featured in "Mean Girls" brings a warmth and innocence to the movie. She's supported by Michael Keaton (Batman, Batman Returns, Desperate Measures and Multiplicity), Matt Dillon (of There's Something about Mary, and Wild Things fame), and Breckin Meyer (known for classics like Garfield, Go, Road Trip and Rat Race).

It's a silly but fun movie. Kids will love it. Adults will fondly remember their childhoods. It's worth seeing for the 'feel good' marks.

It won't be a movie you remember in 10 years, but to fill in a few hours and disappear from reality; it hits the spot.

Rating: 5/10

Cinderalla Man

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 10:40:39 +1000

I am one of the few that enjoys boxing. Not for the brutality of the sport, but more to do with the fact of the amount of training and commitment a boxer has to go through prior to a fight.

It's a wonderful true story of Jim Braddock, a man during the depression in the 30's who rose above, against all odds.

It is a defining role for Russell Crowe, who immerses himself into the role of Braddock. He is well supported with both RenÃ©e Zellweger (playing Braddock's wife) and Paul Giamatti (probably best known for his role in Duets) as his ever faithful manager.

This would definitely be Crowe's best role to date and makes Gladiator look all too Hollywood by comparison. I won't be surprised if he goes on to win awards for his portrayal of Braddock. It's a convincing and well played role.

It's a touching movie that shows the 'human side' to a fighter, often entering a ring to fight to support his family.

Even if you're not a boxing fan (or even a boxing hater) you'll appreciate the movie.

Well worth seeing. It's one you'll not be disappointed when leaving the cinema.

Rating: 8.5/10