Three out of three

The library came up trumps this week with some good films to watch while Dr G was away in Sweden. And at £2 each for a week too - bargain.

1) The Queen - Helen Mirren is ace, doesn't take her clothes off AT ALL and acts everyone else of the screen, with the possible exception of Micheal Sheen who plays Tony Blair. Well worth a watch.

2) The Good German - George Clooney, Toby McGuire and Kate Blanchett in old Berlin just after the 2nd world war ended. It's about the human cost of war. A deliberate film noir pastiche, quite slow but fine if you watch it in chunks and pause occ to make a cup of tea or a phone call. The old film stock from that time jars slightly against the new footage but you can see why they used it, it gives atmosphere. I really liked Clooney, who looked even more like Clark Gable in black and white, and Blanchett channels Greta Garbo's accent quite effectively. If you can't get hold of some real film noir, this makes a good substitute.

3) In Bruges - this was way funnier than I expected it to be. You get the feeling that Colin Farrell wasn't REALLY acting, just being himself. It's only slightly marred by Ralph Fiennes attempting to be as good as Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast. He doesn't menace, he whines. That aside, everyone else acts their pants off, Bruges looks great, and it's a proper adult film with a real ending.

All in all, a good film week. This evening's we continue the German film festival with The Counterfeiters. Will let ya know if it's worth your time or not.

Off to mow the lawn now,
Lucy