Week #8 in summary...! Cillian Murphy week, Part II

Wow...up to week eight already?! Just as a pre-warning, not this coming week, but the week after (12th-19th??), A Movie a Day maybe taking a break. Don't worry, I will make up for it with an extra week at the end. And I will still manage to watch a few films. Reason? Got the job of doing make up for the local production of Les Miserables, and probably won't have enough time in the day to get a movie in. This could be subject to change, though.

Anyway, I watched a few more Cillian Murphy movies this week, and I think there are very few left to dig up in the future that I still should watch. I think it's fair to say that Cillian Murphy may just be my favourite actor...yes, right up there with Leonardo DiCaprio.

• The Edge of Love (2008) This movie I watched a year and a half ago, and clearly overrated it. Upon the second, more educated watch, the rating was slashed in half. 4/10


• Insomnia (2002) I have now watched every single Christopher Nolan film. And enjoyed every single one of them. Yeah, he is God. 8/10


• Red Eye (2005) Sit buy an impossibly cute guy with amazingly gorgeous eyes on a plane, who seems a little stalkerish? He's trying to kill your Dad. And there's not a lot you can do, Rachel McAdams. 6/10


• Watching the Detectives (2007) Cillian Murphy does comedy. And is good at it. Are their any ends to this guys talents? No, I don't think so. 4/10


• Boy (2010) New Zealand actually does make good films. Boy should be getting Oscars...10/10


• Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) This film has to be the most beautiful piecce of cinematic art...ever. 7/10


• Adventureland (2009) Kristen Stewart makes pot cookies. Jesse Eisenberg gives away a giant-ass panda at knife point. Yup, this movie is preeeeety interesting! 8/10

I think you can sort the best from the worst in this group of movies. It's just a shame that the Cillian movies I watched this week weren't as good as last weeks round.

Highlight of the week: Hmmmm...no real highlights spring to mind at the moment. Oh, I did get my driver's license!

Lowlight of the week: The weather has been so cold and miserable for 'Spring'. And I guess I should say something about the Christchurch Earthquake. No city is more beautiful than that place, and I hope with all my heart that it comes back to normal.

Boy

As you should probably know by now, Boy has become a New Zealand phenomenon. It has become the movie that has defined our nation, in a much better light than Once Were Warriors. Us Kiwis sure had good reason to go gaga over Boy, because not only can we all relate to it, we can all be proud of a film we have made...not just a film we have provided the graphics for (i.e. Avatar).

Boy (James Rolleston) is a dreamer who loves Michael Jackson. He lives with his brother Rocky (Te Aho Eketone-Whitu), a tribe of deserted cousins and his Nan. Boy's other hero, his dad, Alamein (Taika Waititi), is the subject of Boy's fantasies, and he imagines him as a deep sea diver, war hero and a close relation of Michael Jackson (he can even dance like him). In reality he's 'in the can for robbery'. When Alamein returns home after 7 years away, Boy is forced to confront the man he thought he remembered, finding his own potential and learn to get along without the hero he had been hoping for.

The best thing about Boy is that it starts off being really, really funny. I mean side-splittingly funny. Though it continues this throughout most of the rest of the movie, it takes on a real heart breaking turn. No, this movie isn't depressing, rather, it takes a story we can all relate to: realising that our hero isn't as perfect as we expect them to be. When Boy realises who his father really is, it sucks, big time. You can't help but feel sorry for the guy.

New Zealanders love this, as I'm sure the international audience will too. It has be gathering some rave reviews from Australia, and should hopefully be released in America some time soon. While I'm sure they won't get the full gist of the movie because it is a Kiwi film made for Kiwi's, they will love it's humour and fantastic nature. James Rolleston makes a fitting debut as Boy, and manages to capture the hearts and minds of the audience through a performance better than what we see on the average episode of Shortland Street. Taika Waititi, taking on writing, directing and acting roles in this movie, does all of these tasks expertly well, and I can't wait for his next project to come out.

Boy has such charm and fearlessness that most of our films refrain from using, which makes it all the more special. It can be silly without seeming stupid. It can be heart breaking but it isn't depressing. It could make you sides sore from all the laughter but you will still enjoy every second of it. Take it from me: if you aren't uplifted by this movie, you're an egg. If you miss this film, then you are one major rotten egg.

The best New Zealand made film ever. I can smell the Oscar buzz that should be surrounding this movie, too...

10/10