2 stars**

There’s a certain sign of the times worry when effects like those on display here in Thor are treated as just okay. Since when did these mastery CGI effects rate as simply average? Perhaps when they’re coupled with a slow story with little plot the big screen doesn’t blow the audience away.

So what’s it all about?

The warrior Thor (Hemsworth) is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard by his father Odin (Hopkins) for his arrogance and sent to Earth to live among humans. Falling in love with scientist Jane Foster (Portman) teaches Thor much-needed lessons, and his new-found strength comes into play as a villain from his homeland sends dark forces toward Earth.

Yet another ‘Marvel’ comic strip to hit the theatres with probable franchise follow ups to see how they mend the bridge and travel south again to learn from humans. The audience goes to see these movies, but expectation levels don’t rise so the film makers don’t need to make them any better. They’re okay, better on the big screen than a phone download, but where’s the discussion to be had after the viewing?

Master actor turned director Kenneth Branagh does a fine job, but while Anthony Hopkins gets the chance to shine as a king, Natalie Portman is lost in a small role that hides her quality. I still expect Stellan Skarsgård to break out with Abba songs, so his role as a ‘what am I doing here?’ type falls away.

Expecting more from screenplay writers Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz and Don Payne, they’re caught with the material from the original comic by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby which may have excited boys many years ago, but today the story looks like many others. The teenagers behind me talked all the way through, their attention not being kept to the screen. They laughed at parts that weren’t funny.

Maybe I’m trapped, like Thor, in a time warp wondering what comes next.

3 stars***

The major twists were not at all expected, which is great for a movie these days where some are so formulaic that you know you’re never going to get surprised again – and then along comes a movie like Chloe.

So what’s it all about?

The main character discovers that her husband is cheating on her. She decides to pay a Parisian prostitute to have an affair with her husband, and report back to her.

Just once does this movie fail to live up to its own expectations and that’s in the penultimate scene when the screenplay writer, Erin Cressida Wilson, takes the easy option and goes for the happy ending when she could have taken a number of alternative routes and given us more pleasure in finding out what happens next. Following her hit screenplay of 2002, Secretary, her scripts are a little edgy for the mainstream which is why this movie will be a hit, but only with minor clout against the box office blockbusters.

Julianne Moore takes her clothes off a lot and when she is fully clothed she really shines in her skimpy garments that would outshine many a twenty year old, never mind a lady looking at 50 around the corner. Amanda Seyfried also takes her clothes off a lot which is quite difficult if you only know her from her angelic virginal performance in Mamma Mia! For either lady this could be a make or break move in a career, but both these actors have a long enough movie history now to know that judgement will be over the longer period, rather than just for this exploitative dalliance.

What makes this movie are the unexpected interweaving stories that will either throw you off kilter or leave you feeling smug if you guessed where it was leading. Unfortunately, the trailer shows you one of the key twists, but in a way that was guaranteed to gain more viewers as the potential lesbian relationship unfolds.

Chloe will keep you talking for hours after seeing this movie. That can only be good because at least your brain gets a little exercise, mostly aimed at ‘why the choice of ending?’ Certainly Chloe’s choices of sexual partner in this movie are vast and varied!

1. FilmandMovieMaking.com – homepage!
2. Mamma Mia! script search update
3. Mamma Mia screenplay – script
4. Screenwriter’s fees
5. Screenplay writer’s fees
6. Gerard Butler loyal fan base
7. Mamma Mia (2008)
8. Screenplay formatting to industry standards
9. Rocknrolla (2008)
10. Cry of the Owl (2009)
11. Hush 2 Movie (2009)
12. 2012 Movie (2009)
13. Mamma Mia! drowns Titanic before Mamma Mia 2
14. Nims Island (2008)
15. Mamma Mia mistakes
16. FAMM Award winners for Movies: 2008
17. Save The Cat by Blake Snyder
18. The Bank Job (2008)
19. Screenplay Analysis
20. Nothing But the Truth (2009 DVD 2008 movie)
21. Screenplays or novel writing?
22. FAMM movie awards 2008
23. Screenplay software online
24. Doubt (2008)
25. London Olympics 2012.
26. Changeling (2008)
27. The Ugly Truth (2009)
28. What do script readers really think?
29. Screenplay Structure
30. Blake Synder – screenplay genius – 1957-2009
31. Mamma Mia! DVD day is here
32. Marley & Me (2009)
33. Inkheart (2009)
34. Best Christmas Film?
35. Nims Island Trailer
36. How to hire a writer
37. Ghost-writing screenplays
38. I Love You Beth Cooper (2009)
39. Nims Island update
40. Basic Instinct 2 :Risk addiction
41. Will top actors bring money to your movie
42. Screenplay rejection
43. Raindance Writer’s Lab Write + Sell The Hot Screenplay
44. Passengers (2008)
45. First things first: pre-production.
46. Quantum of Solace – Bond 007
47. Service options and detail
48. About
49. Mamma Mia! – The Movie (2008)
50. Script sample

So, according to readers, the most popular movies of 2009 were:

1. Cry of The Owl
2. Hush 2
3. 2012
4. The Ugly Truth

However, almost all of us in the real world know that The Ugly Truth wasn’t the 4th best movie of the year (more like 440th) so damned statistics are still lying. These figures tell us which movies we wanted to know more about so that’s probably why The Ugly Truth was searched for so much; so people could find out how to save their dollars before seeing the movie!

Abba Song movie

If it is, I will.

If it isn’t, I won’t, but I might be able to let you know where it is available, unless, of course, I can’t. The law is the law and I wouldn’t want to stop a millionaire getting their royalty payment if they don’t want it posted here.

The FAMM winners for 2008 are:

Roll the drums please …

Best screenplay:

• Barry Levy – Vantage Point
The quality of writing didn’t get any better than this inter-twining epic as we see the same event from several viewpoints which are then brought together for a great finale.

Best film/movie:

• Mamma Mia!
There was no doubting this runaway winner, appealing to all sectors of the market with its outstanding direction, acting, music and of course, a gem of a screenplay.

Best actor:

• Don Cheadle – Traitor
A first class act that shows why this genius gives us brilliant performances time after time, with this almost as good as Hotel Rawanda showing.

Best actress:

• Penélope Cruz – Elegy
Delightful, believable; Cruz gives a sexy, warm then cold performance that made you want to love her and then loathe her and love her again.

Best musical:

• Mamma Mia!
The winner takes it all. No other musical movie managed to get anywhere near this Abba/Greek entertaining journey. Fun for all, except critics who won’t be seen admitting the truth.

Best score/music:

• Shine A Light –Rolling Stones
Beats Abba’s songs by such a slight shade almost certainly due to the longer history and the larger variation of styles, but it was oh so close, they both deserved to win.

Best director:

• Guy Ritchie – Rocknrolla
Proving he’s back to his best. I can’t wait for the next two in the franchise. Almost as good as Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Best animation:

• Madagascar Escape 2 Africa
Well made, even if the plot was not a classic. The characters came alive.

Best short film:

• Gone Fishing by Chris Jones
Chris set his target to get a win at the Academy Awards for a short film; he’s on target with his nomination. A beautiful film looking at relationships; more than fishing.

Special FAMM mention 2008:

• Michael Caine
Who else could be a bit part actor in a movie and come away as the star turn. Someone (who?) said ‘you don’t direct Michael Caine; he just does a perfect performance every time.’ One of the greats of all time and continues to shine well into his mid-seventies.

Sorry if you favourites aren’t mentioned, please leave a comment to say who you think should have been included and/or who you believe should win these prestigious awards. If your faves are not here, it means we were too busy writing screenplays and missed your movie choice!

Sad or clever? That’s the question surrounding the people who spend all their life looking for mistakes in movies.

It may be a small continuity mistake where someone is wearing a ring in the scene and after a cut the actor is seen without the ring. Sometimes it can be an enormous mistake, for example where an actor is driving a left hand drive car in a scene and in the next cut is driving a right hand drive car. You wouldn’t have thought it possible, but it’s been done!

Mamma Mia has 46 mistakes spotted by these clever people who must be watching the DVD frame by frame to spot these mistakes.

Movie mistakes.com specializes in listing the mistakes made in movies. They also list any trivia, quotes, corrections and a chance to leave your questions for parts you don’t understand. Not surprisingly, there’s always someone available to answer your question.

For the Mamma Mia mistakes go to: http://www.moviemistakes.com/film7492

It would appear that the number of mistakes spotted rises with the popularity of the movie. This infers that big movies make more mistakes, but probably really means that people spend more time looking for an error in a major movie so they can boast spotting it, to their closet friends.

The more diligent spotters have found over 300 errors with Apocalypse Now and over 250 with The Harry Potter films, Star Wars and Wizard of Oz.

Sad or clever? Perhaps a little of both, unless you’re clever enough to spot one yourself.

It’s taken well over £69million at the box office so far and is still showing. It’s just £40,000 ahead of Titanic with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone a couple of million behind. Mamma Mia! should be the first ever UK movie past the £70 million post during the festive season.

I guess we’re ignoring inflation for the calculations as Titanic was a hit some ten years ago and ticket prices will have increased somewhat since then. No doubt someone will Google the answer and let me know.

Meryl Streep has been selected for two Golden Globe nominations, one for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Mamma Mia! She’s also been nominated as one of five for best actress for her role in Doubt.

The movie (Mamma Mia!) itself has been nominated for the Best motion picture for a musical or comedy award.

Twenty three weeks after it’s UK release, it also been the number one film in at least fifteen countries.

So what about Mamma Mia 2?

At first glance you can see why it’s such a good idea. Most of those that went and saw Mamma Mia! will go and see the next one, out of curiosity at the very least, but when a movie reaches such heights you can’t expect another to stay on that level. So that tells us that we’ll be disappointed with a follow up, but it’ll be a box office success.

‘The best songs have already been used,’ is another argument against number 2. However, the writers managed to unearth some masterpieces that probably weren’t on any Abba greatest hits compilation (until now) such as “When All Is Said and Done,” “Slipping Through My Fingers” and “Our Last Summer.”

Last but not least we must consider the immense talents of the director, producer and the play/screen writer who collaborated to bring as such a great work of art. Who’s to say they can’t just do it again? I’ll be there.

2 stars**

Where did Bond go? I went to the cinema to see a James Bond movie, but I think I missed him. You’ll always know a Bond film.:

• He always says “My name is Bond, James Bond.”
• He always asks for his Martini stirred and not shaken or was it the other way around?
• He goes and visits his friend Q to look over some far fetched gadgets and we’ll know that one or two will come in useful by the end of the screenplay.
• He’ll keep looking at attractive girls who then fall into bed with him having known him for all of five minutes and for one of two reasons; one – he’s the greatest lover ever, or two – they are a foreign spy and want to trick him, but they must sleep with him first due to reason one.
• His adversary will always be larger than life and have visions of taking over the world; he’ll always show Bond how he’s going to do that at the moment just before failure.
• There will always be comedy; Bond is a cheeky chap.
• He was very British, drinking tea in the afternoon.
• He always has a long lost love routine with the office girl and she’s loved him forever.
• And he has nice cars we get to see and admire.
• We wait with baited breath for the new Bond song.

I say I missed him because none of the above came true in this latest Bond franchise.

Here’s what a friend had to say:

Bond was good, but extremely shoot ‘em up bang-bang. At times outright scary. Pierce Brosnan used to bring the style and suaveness; what Daniel Craig brings is the 1000% raw testosterone combined with an impression of emotional vulnerability that would be his achilles heel, if he had one – which he doesn’t, because he’s Bond: James Bond. (That line was missing, by the way. I mean, why mess with the formula? It’s what we want.) I did not like the fact that they were also missing the gadget section with Q. I mean, that’s worth 1/2 the price of the ticket, but it wasn’t there. All in all, enjoyed it, but thought that Casino Royale was much better. Chase scenes were AWESOME! Bond girl was fabulosa.

So true. Daniel Craig does perform well, but he’s performing a new revitalized Bond, not the Bond we all know and admired. This follows on from Casino Royale and director Marc Forster obviously believes he has a formula in much the same way Batman films have changed.

In Quantum, Bond has gone missing and we’re left with a just above average effects movie where the screenplay is full of action and not dialogue, it’s shot too close so we can’t even really see the action and one of the main bond girls (Strawberry Fields) has such a small part I couldn’t believe she was gone so quick.

Perhaps this all explains why at least four writers were involved.

The song is easily forgetable; hopefully time will ease that thought. The sales figures look good at $450 million at the box office so far; why it’s only a hundred million behind Mamma Mia!

Yes, Olga Kurylenko was striking, but she forgot to sleep with Bond.

In the UK alone, the box office sales have been a few pounds under $67million.

Asda (Walmart’s UK joint venture) claims to have sold 300,000 units on Monday, which equates to:

• 10 copies a second and
• the DVD being in 15% of baskets.

Look out the US because you have the double deluxe version out on 16th December 2008.

It’s more a question of who isn’t getting it for Christmas?

Finally, the DVD we’ve all (well most of us) have been waiting for; the release of the Mamma Mia! movie on DVD.

Release dates vary around the world; in Australia it’s been available since 6th November, which may explain why there are so many copies available for free, out there on the internet and down the high street in those (cheating) cheap DVD sales where none of the artists, especially the screenplay writer, gets any money; royalties. Someone even had the cheek to use the contact page to offer me a copy a month ago!

I would guess the screenplay will be available online very soon as someone uses their DVD to scribe the script by use of their play and pause buttons. If you’re the first to do this or if you see a copy, please send me the link.

For a legitimate copy, the UK is releasing a single DVD whereas in the US the Mamma Mia! DVD is available as a two disk special edition.

I just have to decide whether to get one sent over from the UK or fly over and pick one up. With international postage expenditure the cost will be about the same, but with flying I could get it two or three days earlier.

DVD content:

Single-disc features
• Sing-along
• “The Name of the Game” deleted musical number
• Feature commentary with director Phyllida Lloyd

Two-disc special edition features:

The widescreen single-disc includes a bonus disc which includes:
• Deleted scenes
• Outtakes
• The Making of Mamma Mia! featurette
• Anatomy of a Musical Number: “Lay All Your Love on Me”
• Becoming a Singer featurette
• Behind the scenes with Amanda
• On Location in Greece featurette
• A Look Inside Mamma Mia! featurette
• “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” music video
• Björn Ulvaeus cameo

Many favourite websites are also listing a Mamma Mia gift set DVD. It all comes in a nice flashy box with a hardback journal for a few dollars/pounds more.

Please add your own reviews within the comments section.

The bottom line: buy it and wear it out. It’ll be a top seller and top of DVD charts all over the world. It’s still running at my local cinema complex, after all this time. I might just go and see it again on the big screen before I get the DVD for the small screen.

It could be the most given Christmas present of 2008!