Man of the Year isn’t a movie I mentioned in my Movies of 07 post, but that’s mostly because there was no hype around it at all, and I only found out about it when the trailers started appearing on TV last week. The set up: A comedian gets elected president. How much more do you need? Robin Williams is Tom Dobbs, a Colbert-esque comedian poking humour into news. One night, a member of the audience suggests he run for president. So he does, and because of a glitch in the computerised voting system, he gets voted in. Storyline ensues. What’s most important about this movie is that it’s got Robin Williams. Robin Williams. And Christopher Walken! Sure-fire humour! ...

I don’t know, stuff is happening but then stuff isn’t really happening. My sister’s moved out. It’s a little different, because she was the one that did most talking. We’re compensating though, and anyway she’s still calling regularly. Adelaide sounds like a nice town. Been listening to Hilltop Hoods a lot more recently =D Sweet hip hop. Oscars were good this year, though I thought Ellen held back a bit. The winners were for the most part deserving, though cases could be made for various others to have got it (Rinko Kikuchi was robbed). ...

Let’s think the unthinkable, let’s do the undoable, let’s prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all. WFT-II was the only British software company that could be mentioned in the same sentence as such major U.S. companies as Microsoft or Lotus. The sentence would probably run along the lines of “WFT-II, unlike such major U.S. companies as Microsoft or Lotus …” but it was a start. ...

Reporter: Mr Howard, you’ve said that pulling troops out of Iraq would be a bad thing, and– John Howard, PM: Yes, and I’ve maintained it, the Coalition should not be pulling troops out of Iraq, and I stand by George’s troop surge. Reporter: Is it true that you’re also sending in more troops? John Howard: Yes, we’re looking at sending in more troops, to help train more Iraqi police so that they can maintain law and order in Iraq. ...

Babel is one of those occasional movies that aim to be a little “high-concept”, exploring new ways of storytelling in movies, usually to express an idea rather than tell a direct plot. It’s left up to the viewer as to whether they absorb the message, or indeed what message they absorb. Crash was one of those that proved to be successful enough with viewers and critics alike; it remains to be seen if Babel will quite achieve the same. ...