I'd have to check, but I'm pretty sure that's one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Yesterday I rented Music and Lyrics, though I had heard rumblings it wasn't very good. And it wasn't, even the charm of Hugh Grant wasn't enough for me. I thought that both Hugh and Drew Barrymore looked rough and run-over in the film, and found myself fast forwarding over most of the music to get to the end to find out in which trite and cliched way Drew and Hugh ended up together.

I come in here to remind myself of recent movies that I've wanted but forgotten to rent, and I'm gonna queue up Children of Men and Little Children. I hope they don't disappoint!

Children of Men is very good. Just don't watch it on a day when you feel sad.

Am I the only one who thinks a Bugsy Malone-style movie, Little Children of Men, would be worth seeing?

I recently watched Confederate States of America. This movie isn't recent, but somehow I'd missed it. It is a BBC-style mocumentary about what would have happened if the south had won the Civil War. I thought it was hilarious and extremely well-done. In fact, when it ended I immediately watched it again.

I saw it recently and thought it fascinating. I know the alternative history wasn't necessarily accurate (if you can say that about alternative history) but a lot of the parodies like the anti-Communist 1950s film were absolutely spot on. And the footnotes about the brandnames mentions were jaw-dropping.

I saw Letters From Iwo Jima last night. I generally dislike war movies, but I really liked this one. It was very interesting and well done, and Ken Watanabe is a great actor.

I've wanted to check that one out since it became available, jcpdiesel -- glad to hear it was good.

About three years late, I rented Love, Actually, and it made me want to live in the Richard Curtis version of London when I grow up. (What? Everyone's moneyed, attractive, and, for the most part, romantically successful. I'm sure psammead and others can vouch for the authenticity of the depiction.)

I rented that sometime last year, and though it was well-done, it kinda bored me. I think it's because I watched it late one night when I was tired but couldn't fall asleep.

Just saw The Painted Veil, which I quite liked. Edward Norton was admirably restrained and Naomi Watts was tortured and beautiful, as always. The story was compelling (Thanks to the novel, I suppose) and looked gorgeous. Highly recommend.

The Painted Veil was great, but >>I hated that Walter died even though I had a feeling that would happen.<<

Well, at least they didn't change the story in the movie from the novel for a happy ending, though.

I've been watching A Royal Year, or whatever that documentary on Windsor Castle is called, and Prince Phillip is hilarious, particularly when he's driving around in his Rover, terrifying the pheasants and probably everyone he encounters.

We watched For your Consideration tonight. It isn't Christopher Guest's best movie but it was still fairly funny. Catherine O'Hara is always a scream and what she did with her face was just spooky.

Absolutely! I look out over the Thames from my mews flat while planning my dinner parties with the Prime Minister. It was like Richard Curtis had read my diary!