FROST/NIXON

Watchable. Whoever needs all the behind-the-scenes? Filming the actual interview was gripping though.

CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA

Watchable. Humour and martial arts served in equal measures. Neither were spectacular but both were entertaining.

DEFIANCE

Watchable. Uninspiring at first soon becomes quite compelling. Good Russian and two arguing intelectuals' jokes (e.g. "You annoy me therefore I exist").

VALKYRIE

Watchable. Plenty of tension, a fascinating based on facts story. Acting could be better though. And the film would be more realistic if it had some German feel to it. Acting and lines are terribly English.

MILK

Watchable. I don't like narration in movies. Films are supposed to show things and not show some not always comprehensible scenes and then explain what you've just seen. It makes me feel like at a lecture. Indeed, I saw "Milk" just for its historic value. Other than that it's too American, too 70s and too gay for a straight European brought up in the 80s.


BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA

Watchable. I don't like films that make me cry and how can you not cry when it's about a lost dog and a few strays. Still, it's full of furry sweethearts who eventually find homes. All is well that ends well.

TWILIGHT

Third time. Just can't get enough of it. The two leads should have been nominated for oscars. They've taken if off already so I'm going to read the book while waiting for the obvious sequel.

Bad luck with cinemas. I've just come back from a holiday. Before leaving I didn't manage to get into the cinema at Haymarket to see "Slumdog Millionaire" - the movie hadn't started yet and people would be leaving 2.5 hours later but the staff apparently weren't working after 9 pm. How much are they paid that the cinema can't afford keeping one person 15 minutes longer to let in 6 paying customers?

Last night, after return I attempted to see "The Wrestler" at Chelsea. Another bad luck - the cinema suffered a power cut that very night.

In the meantime oscar nominations have been announced. Most films are yet to be released in the UK but so far my hopes are:
for "The Reader" to win the Best Picture award,
for "In Bruges" to win Original Screenplay or, failing that,
at least for "Happy-Go-Lucky" not to win anything,
for "Man On Wire" (Documentary Feature) to fail as well,
for "Hellboy" not to win Makeup.
As Bollywood usually has good music, "Slumdog Millionaire" could win Original Song.

SEX DRIVE

Watchable. The only scene at which I laughed out loud was when Ian looked like he was going to say "I love you" and what he said instead. Other than that, the action is so fast that you hardly notice the lack of humour.

TWILIGHT

Seen again. I still find it beautifully shot and acted. I might see it for the 3rd time;) Unfortunately I still don't understand why they can play basketball only in a thunderstorm. Can anyone enlighten me?

BRIDE WARS

Watchable. It's terribly cheesy and girlish but the warfare had good suspense.

ROLE MODELS

Watchable. It's full of weirdos but has some really funny bits in it, e.g. role players acting dying on the battle field.

I went all the way down to Ilford last night (1.5 hours from my workplace) to see "Silambattam" after checking with the cinema a week earlier if this Tamil movie was shown with English subtitles. I was pretty upset to find out on arrival that, contrary to what I was told on the phone, it wasn't. So I had a movie-less night but at least that cinema stocked "The Narnia movie companion book" so I could finally use my voucher to get the freebie.

My wake-up coffee today got me pondering about free stuff and more precisely about free coffee and that inevitably led my thoughts to the cinema again. Here is how:

In one of my previous jobs I had a colleague with a brilliant sense of humour. We lived close to each other so we often took the same bus to work. Once, after an argument about the fastest walking route from the bus stop to work, we made a bet. He took the escalator up to the walkway and I took the street to the downstairs entrance. On arrival I found him in the staff room standing in a relaxed pose preparing coffee with a triumphant smile: "You see, it gives me plenty of time: coffee".

My second coffee memory is from my coffee shop job. I would take customers' orders and shout them out to our incredibly good and fast barrista. Once I misheard an order, then corrected it but by the time the wrong type of coffee had been ready. When the queue passed the barrista came up to me energetically with a cup: "Your coffee".

And all these memories inevitably reminded me of one of my favourite movie scenes. Remember "Men in black"? The sceptic recruit doesn't believe in aliens. Then the agent nonchalantly opens the door to the kitchen full of extraterrestials and asks: "Are you sure you don't want some coffee?"

Never misunderestimate (quoting "W.") the humble drink. Coffee is meaningful stuff.

THE SPIRIT

Walked out. It took me ages to figure out what it was about and the storyline turned out to be lousy and full of sidetracking. Stylistically nothing to compare with "Sin City" - it's more like "The Pirates of the Caribbean".

CHE: PART ONE

Watchable. It's chaotic and not perfectly comprehensible if you aren't very familiar with the Cuban revolution or Ernesto Guevara's life - whatever was he doing before the rebellion? Also, the film could do away with many scenes. It's just painfully long. I watched it through because of the historically interesting personality.

YES MAN

Watchable. A comedy that goes from vaguely entertaining through funny to hilarious. Well-paced.

GHAJINI

Recommended. The movie takes just the main plot from equally brilliant "Memento" and then builds on it which results in many more twists and turns. Also, the storyline gets extended to show the beginning of the relationship and that is a proper comedy of errors.

TWILIGHT

Recommended. A sexy, dark, unusual, very sensual love story without a single love scene in it. Full of subtleties, suspense and mystery and with bits of humour here and there (my favourite is the scene when they first meet). Written and directed by women and based on a book by a female - a few guys walked out commenting it was crap, I loved the movie. A sequel is guaranteed - can't wait!

THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX

Walked out. Children's cartoons with a philosophical commentary and a depressing storyline, characters drawn to look ugly and it's all really, really slow.

THE SISTERHOOD OF TRAVELLING PANTS 2

Walked out. About superficial girls with stereotypical problems.

BEDTIME STORIES

Watchable. Guessing the outcome of the bedtime tales coming to life kept me watching but this movie tries very hard to be funny, yet it isn't. Adam Sandler as usual cast in the role of a lovable loser with no comedy skills.

READER

Recommended. Worthy of a few oscars. A gripping, powerful, moving, meaningful story, perfect acting.

AUSTRALIA

Watchable. This "southern" (an Australian equivalent of a western), with brilliant Hugh Jackman (the role as if written just for him) would be much better if it were faster-paced and shorter. Much faster and shorter. Recommended for watching on Fast Forward on DVD.