Natal em Lisboa 2015

A series of concerts in churches to celebrate christmas.
Free entrance, seats reserved to the capacity of the church.
I went to the concert on Sunday. It was Saint Nicolaus day. A Romanian quartet playing Romanian christmas carols and some chamber music from Bach.

The Good Dinosaur

The latest Pixar movie. It has stunning visual effects with incredible water scenes. I read that it is extremely difficult to animate water.
The story is about a dinosaur that gets lost and tries to find his way home. He has a companion: a neandertal that behaves as a dog. It makes you wonder if dinosaurs were not extinct how would the human species evolve? Maybe we would be dinosaurs' dogs. It has a great message: everyone leaves a mark in the world, we just have to figure out what ours is...

Our brand is crisis

A movie with Sandra Bullock that tells how politicians win elections even when they are last in the voting poles.
The strategy, the dirt, the twisting facts, the insinuations, all the schemes that are used.
Interesting movie. Never believe in politicians' promises!

Suffragettes

This is a movie about the Suffragette movement in England. It is inspired by true events. A woman had to become a martyr so that women could have a vote. Several women had to struggle for this right to become universal.
There are still countries where women cannot vote.
New Zealand was the first country to let women vote. This was back in 1893. In Portugal it was in 1931, but it had a lot of restrictions: only single women, older than 31 years old or emancipated., if married they needed consent from their husbands. Only in 1968 the right for women to vote was universal.
It's a movie that is worth watching.

Nome próprio

I don't usually go to the theatre. Is is more expansive than the movies and it has not many sessions per day.
But last weekend I went to see "Nome próprio", a comedy about a group of friends that meet for dinner and talk about the name that one of the couples is going to give to their unborn son.
The dinner soon turns into a fight and some truths being said.
The actors are very good and the text is well written. It is a good adaptation of the french play.
Not to miss!

The Girl in the Spider's Web

Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are back!
The book is not written by Stieg Larsson, who unfortunately died. But it has its style, the suspense and a story that makes you want to read it and check what happens.
A man that is a brilliant computer engineer is murdered. The only witness is his son that suffers from autism but makes perfect drawings and solves complex math problems. Together with Lisbeth and Mikael they are going to catch the killer and understand the motivation being the murder.

Steve Jobs

The controversial Steve Jobs played by Michael Fassbender in a great movie directed by Danny  Boyle. Great script, great music, beautifully filmed.
It is set before three important presentations: 1984 - Macintosh; 1988 - neXt; 1998 - the Mac. Steve, Joanna, Lisa, Sculley, Woz and Andy Hertzfeld are present in all three events.
Great quotes:

Andy Hertzfeld: We're not a pit crew at Daytona. This can't be fixed in seconds. 

Steve Jobs: You didn't have seconds, you had three weeks. The universe was created in a third of that time. 

Andy Hertzfeld: Well, someday you'll have to tell us how you did it.

Steve Wozniak: What do you do? You're not an engineer. You're not a designer. You can't put a hammer to a nail. I built the circuit board! The graphical interface was stolen! So how come ten times in a day I read Steve Jobs is a genius? What do you do? 

Steve Jobs: Musicians play their instruments. I play the orchestra.

Seven pounds

Seven pounds is a movie about a man that causes a car crash with seven deaths and tries to redeem himself by helping seven people in need. One of those is a woman with a heart problem waiting for a new heart with whom he falls in love.

The Idiot, by Fiodor Dostoyevsky

This is a book about a prince that is reintroduced to the Russian (Saint  Petersburg) society after being ill for several years in Switzerland. He is socially inapt and he does not have the Russian manners that were expected. Hence the name of Idiot.
He is to marry Aglaya Yepanchin, a girl from the upper class, but Nastassya Filippovna, a beautiful woman with a bad reputation, cuts in the way.
It depicts the Russian society of the time. One particular character is named Ganya. He is the stereotype of a man that is not extraordinary, conscientiously knows it and tries to do everything to become extraordinary, even killing.

Don Quixote

A classic by Miguel de Cervantes about a man inspired by cavalry books that leaves in search for adventure. He is accompanied by his servant Sancho Panza, by his horse Rocinante and by Sancho's mull. Things don't turn out as expected and they end up having three major adventures, Sancho becomes the governor of an island. Don Quixote changes from the Knight of the Sad Face to the Knight of the Lion because he defeats a lion he encounters on the way. There are some funny parts. I think Don Quixote is a good man but he is deluded.

The most famous quote:

Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, "Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless."
"What giants?" asked Sancho Panza.
"Those you see over there," replied his master, "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length."
"Take care, sir," cried Sancho. "Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone.

Mr. Holmes

This is not the Sherlock Holmes we are used to see in the big screen or read in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novels'. This is an old and somewhat bitter Sherlock Holmes that is struggling to remember why he retired to the country. He has the help of a little boy that is eager to discover what happened. 

It is an interesting movie  about memories and regrets.

Minions

It is a funny movie but the plot could have been better. Minions can only find a meaning for their lives when they have an evil person to follow. But they are also experts in ruining the evil's life.

If you want to have a little fun in 1,5 hours, you should watch this movie.

The characters are adorable!

Inside out

What a great movie! The main characters are our emotions: joy, sadness, disgust, anger and fear.
It shows the importance of balanced emotions. Leaving anger, disgust and fear in charge is not a good option. Joy is overrated. Sadness is very important in our lives.
A must see!

Penguins of Madagascar

A really funny animated movie about the origin of the Penguins of Madagascar.
Don't miss the beginning of the adventures of these Penguins.

Big Eyes

The newest movie by Tim Burton. It is the true story of an american painter whose husband gets all the credit from her works.

Christoph Waltz plays a con man and Amy Adams plays the talented painter.

The husband never admitted that he didn't paint the works.

Mortdecai

A light comedy with Johnny Deep, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor. 

An eccentric lord that is broke and needs to get some money helps solve the murderer of an art falsifier.

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby

A movie about a couple whose child dies and that need some time apart. It has three versions - her, him and they.

Birdman

What a crazy movie!
A blockbuster actor completely messed up that adapts, directs and performs in a Broadway play.
Michael Keaton and Edward Norton are great.

Imitation Game

This is a very interesting movie!
Alan Turing committed suicide at the age of 42. Thanks to him modern computers exist.
Had he not died so young, he would have marvelled us with great innovations, for sure!
Benedict Cumberbatch has a great performance. I also enjoyed the soundtrack by Alexandre Desplat.

In the woods

I'm not particularly fond of musicals, but this one is enjoyable and it mixes a lot of children stories.
Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp (the Wolf) have a great performance.