Movie: The World's Fastest Indian (4.5/5 stars) 2005

Starring Sir Anthony Hopkins as Burt Munro, a speed freak forever tinkering with his 1920 Indian motorcycle seeing how much speed he can squeeze out of it. In the movie, he realizes his dream and takes the machine across the pacific to the Bonneville Salt Flats in the late 1960's to set a land speed record.

I loved this movie from start to finish, all of Burt's small quirks, his forever saying, "What?" because he was hard of hearing, his laid-back attitude and how easy it was for him to make friends (which he did absolutely everywhere), his encounters in LA, his naive nature... it's all golden.

Having lived in New Zealand for over five years now, it's hard to think of a movie that has captured the unusual kiwi attitude the way this one has. it just feels kiwi, and that's a good thing to be making and showing the world.

The only reason that I docked 0.5 stars from this movie is because of Hopkin's kiwi accent, which was not very good. It IS a tough accent to get right though, and didn't affect my enjoyment of the movie much at all.

This isn't just a movie for New Zealanders though, it's as much a movie about one lone man against the world and the small town man going out and succeeding. It has such universal appeal that I can recommend it to anyone.

Movie: {Proof} (3/5 stars)

Proof is about a mathematical proof. For a movie about math, you thought that there would be more lucid math discussions, but seeing as this is a hollywood movie and they have to give this to a broad audience, I guess I get why they left it out.

Gwyneth Paltrow plays the daughter of a world famous mathematician (yes, these people do exist) Anthony Hopkins. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the love interest and math student who hangs around (he plays Hal - that's important).

I liked almost everything about this movie - the acting was good (although I've seen Paltrow much better - Hopkins is his normal self), the writing, directing, dialog and the math nerd band playing "i" were brilliant. However, the one thing that I didn't like really took a toll on the movie. The editing was horrible and you never quite know if you are in the present or one of the many pasts involved in the story line.

The flashbacks have the same look and feel as the present, so it was never obvious until a couple of minutes into the scene where you were. This throws off my ability to immerse myself into the movie and I kept getting pulled back into my living room. It was annoying and detracted seriously.

Still, I feel it was ultimately worth watching and was enjoyable overall. There were some really funny scenes in this movie and it was a shade short of a comedy. I don't think it will change your life however, so if you're looking for a movie with real impact, look elsewhere.