Rate Film!: 'Love & other Drugs' - My Review!

Rate Film!: 'Love & other Drugs' - My Review!: "Maggie (Hathaway) is an alluring free spirit who won't let anyone - or anything - tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie (Gyllenha..."

'Love & other Drugs' - My Review!

Maggie (Hathaway) is an alluring free spirit who won't let anyone - or anything - tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie (Gyllenhaal), whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie's evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.  (imdb)

This was such a treat and a really nice way to end a weekend. To be honest, 30 seconds into the movie I thought I was going to hate it because the opening scene was a bit corny and cringe worthy and I was left a bit disinterested.  The opening scene is when we are first introduced to Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal).  He is working in an electrical store selling state of the art TVs, radios, cameras etc and he just instantly comes across so far-fetched, over the top and unlikeable and the frustrating thing is we are meant to believe that everyone loves him!  He is a number one sales man and his ‘fun and flirty’ personality (even with the pensioners) makes him so irresistible. I got this all inside 1-2minutes! FORTUNATELY, this was all a bit of a knee jerk reaction and only 5mins later, I was getting hooked. Phew!

The fun starts when we are introduced to Jamie’s family, namely his brother Josh, played hilariously by Josh Gad.  He reminds me of Zack Galifianakis portrayal of ‘Alan’ in the brilliant ‘The Hangover’.  He was just so funny and completely mortifying as a character and he provided many a laugh out loud moment throughout the movie.  Jake and Josh definitely bounced well off each other and there was an obvious comedy attraction between the two of them.

The introduction of Anne Hathaway’s character Maggie kind of sets the scene for her on screen antics throughout the rest of the movie in that 60 seconds onscreen she bares her bare breast (albeit to have a medical check-up).  There are lots of bare breast scenes from Anne Hathaway!  Long gone are the days of ‘The Princess Diaries’, as Hathaway has definitely grown up and has embraced the leading woman role with a lot of enthusiasm – and this means baring a lot of flesh.  Forgive me if I sound like I’m making out that all she did was get her kit off because this is not my intention (although she did).  Hathaway demonstrated her fantastic acting abilities in that she had to cover comedy, sex and emotional drama all in one movie.  She succeeded and she was very believable.  

There was never any doubt as to whether there was going to be any onscreen chemistry between Hathaway’s character Maggie and Gyllenhaal’s Jamie.  The two characters seemed well suited because of their good looks, feistiness and outlook on life.  Although they both have their own battles to face, they are drawn to each other because they recognize that they need one another in order to help fight these battles. This lends itself to a bit of a rollercoaster ride of emotions which both actors captured extremely well and in a very believable way.

The casting in this movie was great and it was a treat to have appearances by the brilliant Hank Azaria and Oliver Platt.  The music was also good although strange at times e.g. it was meant to be set in 1996, so I don’t know what Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Heaven is a place on earth’ was doing in there?

 All in all I really enjoyed this movie and it definitely let me feeling good.  I liked the characters and the love story but the biggest selling point for me was the laughter that Josh Gad provided me.  I now want to see more of his movies – especially if he does that ugly crying again!

Rating: 7.5/10 

Rate Film!: Four Lions - My Review!

Rate Film!: Four Lions - My Review!: "Four Lions tells the story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point. I couldn’t wai..."

Four Lions - My Review!

Four Lions tells the story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point.

I couldn’t wait to see this film because I’m a sucker for anything controversial and I knew that with Chris Morris behind it, I woudn’t be disappointed!

This was such a brilliant movie!

I can completely understand the controversy because in theory the plotline for this film should make for a tragedy, a thriller or a gripping drama but certainly not a comedy!  Morris causes controversy because he manages to humanise a group of British Jihadi Islamist terrorists as they plot how and where to be suicide bombers. What makes it even more controversial is that Morris makes it funny!  It becomes almost Benny Hill’ish in places or even like watching Basil Fawlty running around, making a tit out of himself falling over and messing things up every 2 minutes.  There are so many laugh out loud moments and at the same time you can’t help but wonder should you be laughing at all.

The cast were brilliant and timed each comic moment perfectly. The two stand out performances for me were Riz Ahmed (who recently starred in ‘The Centurian’, see review) as ‘Omar’ and Kayvan Novak as ‘Waj’.  They portrayed two idealistic young terrorists who really believe in their plans for the “greater good”.  We even get a glimpse into Omar’s family life and it’s almost scary how normal it is for Omar and his beautiful young wife to sit down and talk about his mission.  His plans to kill and be killed!  They talk about it just as normal as me and my husband would discuss what we are having for dinner.  Its weird.

This is why this film should be credited and applauded because it raises issues.  Issues surrounding a lack of education and understanding, religious issues and political ignorance.  OK these issues have all been raised many times before but usually in such a way were they are designed to be clever, moral, ethical and almost preachy.  However this film was set in present day Britain, it was done in a comical way but there was still that underlying knowing that it could be based on a truth.  That’s what makes this film controversial for me – it’s a true scary comedy.

I really enjoyed this film and I think Chirs Morris is a really clever man.

Rating: 8.5/10

Rate Film!: TRON: Legacy - My Review!

Rate Film!: TRON: Legacy - My Review!: "The son of a virtual world designer goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed. He mee..."

TRON: Legacy - My Review!

The son of a virtual world designer goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed.  He meets his father’s creation turned bad and a unique ally was born who was born inside the digital domain of the grid.

I was a little sceptical going to see this because my husband convinced me to watch the original ‘TRON’ with him a couple of weeks ago because he “loved it when he was young”.  Needless to say I hated it. I even started to annoy myself by continually whining “what’s going on now?” “who’s that?” “huh?”.   But I thought I would give ‘TRON: Legacy’ a chance because there has been so much hype about it.  And I’m glad I did!

This movie was hands down better than the 1982 ‘TRON’ because it at least tried to offer an explanation at the start of the movie as to what it was about – I know people will argue with me that the first movie did, but it obviously skimmed past me.

The casting in the movie was great.  Garrett Hedlund was OK and believable enough as the main character Sam Flynn but he couldn’t compare with the more famous and well known faces namely the amazing and versatile Michael Sheen, the husky voiced hero Jeff Bridge and even the small cameo role by the ever fabulous Cillian Murphy.  There was plenty of eye candy for the boys though...but I couldn’t be bothered talking about the token babes.

The main thing that won me over was the amazing soundtrack by ‘Daft Punk’.  This is the best soundtrack I have heard in ages and it completely led the movie.  Never has a soundtrack captured a movie so well – it reminded me of the excitement I still get when I hear the ‘Terminator’ music.  Truly amazing and very worthy of an award.

However, the movie wasn’t without its flaws.  To be honest I didn’t really see the point in it being 3D and I think if I were to watch it again I would prefer to watch it in 2D on Bluray at home.  It actually highlights at the start of the movie that not all of the movie is in 3D and some of it is 2D.  Did they get a bit lazy or something? Some of the 3D bits were pointless (e.g.  the very start with the 3D house) and could have been used better in other areas e.g. I really enjoyed the games and the bike chases but in a blink of an eye they were over! I think they could have incorporated more of these action shots into the movie and embraced 3D better here.

There was also something which completely confused me in the movie – where on earth did they get a roasted pig and salad from?  Was there a farm and a vegetable patch outside that maybe they edited in the final cut?  That was just weird –why show it? Was there a reason?  These are the small details that I focus on (perhaps a bit anal?) and they wind me up a bit.

Perhaps, in not thinking about the roast pig, too much of their attention was spent focussing on the young CGI Jeff Bridges as ‘CLU’.  I heard a lot about this before seeing the movie and I was keen to see what they did.  Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed.  He looked a bit like Tom Hanks did in ‘Polar Express’.  I just know that when we watch it back in 10 years, we will be like “God that looks crap”.  A bit more work to be done there I think.

However, as I say I did enjoy it but mainly because of the amazing Daft Punk soundtrack and I would advise people to go and see the movie, just to experience the soundtrack.   It definitely added an extra 2 points on to my rating.

Rating:  An entertaining 7/10

Centurion - My Review!

A splinter group of Roman Soldiers fight for their lives behind enemy lines after their legion is decimated in a devastating guerrilla attack.

A group of men from different backgrounds are brought together by war and a conquest which will take them on a long, emotional and dangerous journey.  Cue running over snow capped mountains and forests, chases by wolves and demons and the token love story thrown in.  Will they all stick together? Will they all make it alive?   No it is not ‘Lord of the Rings’ its ‘The Centurion”!

Arragon, sorry ‘The Centurion’, is played by the brilliant Michael Fassbender and I really hope we see more of him in 2011.  Talking about eye-candy, the casting crew were definitely making sure that they pleased both the boys and the girls when they were making this movie.  I found the ‘demon’ girl (played by Olga Kurylenko) to be a right pain in the arse to be honest and I was hoping and praying that they would kill her off early on.  I won’t say if they did and I will let you endure her as well.  I mean come on, look at the size of her and we are meant to believe that she could pack a punch to rival Tyson!  In fairness I’m not a massive fan of violent babe characters, I find them toe-curling.

This was definitely a violent movie with lots of blood and guts, so I wouldn’t advise sitting down to watch this if you are having your dinner.

The more I think of it, this was such a bloke movie! The violence, the fighting babes, the manly Romans, the running, the fighting, total testosterone!!

The main thing for me was seeing McNulty, or Dominic West, from the brilliant ‘The Wire’ again! It doesn’t matter what he plays, he has that knowing glint in his eye and that cheeky chappy smile (all because of ‘The Wire’) and its always great seeing him pop up on screen.  I really made that sound like his character was like something out of ‘Cheers’, it wasn’t. He plays General Titus and his character is very serious.

All in all, I thought this movie was ok but a bit silly and too blokish.  I thought the casting was good and I was forever going “oh there’s your man!” but then usually following it up with “oh, thats him dead?”.

If you like ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Gladiator’ and ‘Predator’ then you will like this film because it’s a blend of all 3.

My rating: 5.5/10

The Ghost - My Review!

A ghostwriter hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.

This was a perfect Sunday night suspense thriller by Roman Polanski.  A proper sit down in front of the fire and try to unravel the plot movie. 

Being a woman, it was weird seeing Kim Cattrall aka Samantha from ‘Sex in the City’, taking on the role of a business woman, wearing a pinstripe suit and not mentioning the word ‘sex’ once.  Samantha aside, I thought the casting was great (with appearances by James Belushi, Timothy Hutton, Tom Wilkinson and the wonderful ‘I want to take him home and care for him’ Eli Wallach) although to be honest I don’t really know what I was to make of Ewan McGregor’s character i.e. the Ghost.  Having recently watched ‘The Social Network’ it was obvious that the characters were portrayed in such a way that you weren’t meant to like them.  I understood that and it worked, I didn’t like any of them.  But with ‘The Ghost’ I don’t think there was any real reason for me to be left wondering if I should like this guy or not - maybe it’s not me and it just wasn’t the best performance that Ewan McGregor could have given?  I think I prefer him in roles were he belts out that brilliant laugh. 

Pierce Brosnan portrayed the ex prime minister quite well.  That is, if we were led to believe that he was a man who was a bit shady and dependent on others, in this case mostly his wife Ruth, to constantly advise him and tell him what (and what not) to do.  Definitely not that likeable.

Although there was definitely twists and turns in this movie, there was room for more ‘edge of the seat’ thrills.

All in all it was a good film, well acted (question mark beside McGregor), well written and fast enough moving to keep you wondering what the ending is going to bring.

Rating: 6.5/10 (65%)

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - My Review!

A young fugitive prince and princess must stop a villain who unknowingly threatens to destroy the world with a special dagger that that enables the magic sand inside to reverse time (imdb)

This brings me back to when I was a wee thing watching ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ with the “dashing” Richard Chamberlain as ‘Allan Quatermain’ and knowing even then that I should be embarrassed for (not even secretly) enjoying the cheese feast before my youthful eyes.  I don’t know how it happened because I got the same kick from watching ‘Prince of Persia’.  I shouldn’t have liked it but I did.  I don’t know why or how.  From Jake Gyllenhaal’s over muscle arms and straggly hair, to Gemma Arterton’s character ‘Tamina’ being told every two minutes how beautiful she is, to the “omg I’ve seen this 1001 times” plot, to the “oh you’re such a baddy” baddies, I mean who hasn’t seen this before? But that’s probably why I liked it! Sometimes you are in a mood for a film that doesn’t require thought! From the very start of this movie you know its a ‘dashing young hero sets to clear his name and tries to win the heart of the young maiden’ type of movie.  Can you guess if he does?

I can’t help it, maybe I was in a weird mood but I thought it was OK

It is a popcorn movie and I’m giving it a generous 6.5/10 

Shutter Island - My Review!

Drama set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island.

“Another creepy masterpiece by Alfred Hitchcock” is what I would have expected to see quoted on the promotional posters after watching this movie.  The look, the feel and even the eerie sound of the ferry – which in two notes manages to nearly be as scary and effective as the ‘Jaws’ music – is completely reminiscent of classic Hitchcock.  In fact, the movie appears to be a successful collaboration of many box office hits including ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, ’The Sixth Sense’, the very recent ‘Inception’ and even a bit of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. Not that this was a bad thing, it just meant that I personally wasn’t as blown away by the many twists and turns as I should have been, because somehow I felt that I had seen them all before.  

Still, this movie was stylishly done and Scorsese managed to create an ironic twisted island whereby it was eerie and spooky yet in many scenes it also appears so calm and beautiful.  DiCaprio has definitely evolved into leading man status and he succeeds in drawing the audience in and taking them with him on his nightmarish journey.  However, being a lover of quite a lot of DiCaprio’s recent movies including ‘Inception’ and another classic Scorsese  movie ‘The Departed’, I’m beginning to think that he has been playing the same mysterious, moody, troubled, non-trusting character for a bit too long.  Maybe a bit of a change needed Leo?  

The best thing about this movie for me was when I came into work on Monday to discuss it with my friends and it became apparent quite quickly that we all had different ideas about some of the twists and turns in the movie – so when I thought that I had everything sussed out, maybe I didn’t.  Any movie that gets a good debate going with friends is a good movie in my opinion!

Enjoy!

Rating: 7.5/10 (75%)