Monday, 23 May 2011

Gullivers Travels 2/10

Another film mostly focused on wowing audiences with computer graphics without concentrating on anything else!
This film is completely soulless. It's a great payday for everyone involved.
How many times are we going to see Jack Black play a fat bum playing air guitar and rocking out!
I watched this film with my Niece and Nephew and my girlfriend. The kids sniggered once at the pissing on the burning building sequence and that's it, they weren't bothered by it. My girlfriend couldn't keep her eyes open.
Studios are going to have to do better than this if they want to get people back into cinemas and away from illegal downloads.

The Fighter 5/10

I've always found Mark Wahlberg to lack any kind of charisma on screen apart from his debut movie Boogie Nights. However, even though I liked him in this film it's a shame the film wasn't so flawed.
Even though I like Biopics I can't help but find that they ALL tell the exact same story but through different famous actors, musicians, fighters... - for example this seems to be the common tale:
Man is from an extremely poor upbringing,
Man is found to have a very good talent,
Man is rocketed to superstardom, sometimes told through montage,
Man can't handle fame and fortune develops an addiction and becomes a womaniser,
Man is falling in popularity but has a cult following,
Man gets old and dies,
Mans legacy lives on,
The end.

This isn't too different for The Fighter. I will say the fight sequences in the film are superb, it's kind of a shame there isn't more, I understand the film makers were trying to focus on characters and story but let's face it, we've seen this a million times before.
Another little problem I had was with Christian Bale, he is a very good actor but for some reason I just couldn't buy into him.
The film isn't bad but isn't great either which is why I scored it 5/10

Thursday, 19 May 2011

Anger Management 5/10

A repeated viewing, having seen it in years and I laughed a number of times which is a good sign for a comedy.  The film has it's faults but Jack Nicholson is great.  A pretty good comedy.

The Hitcher (remake) 6/10

I actually like this film and won't be snobbish to it just because I happen to really like the original.  Compared to a number of remakes or other horror movies that have been out in the same vein, this is actually pretty good.

Oceans Eleven 9/10

We watched this after coming back from Las Vegas.  I hadn't seen the film in years and it still holds up and is a very enjoyable watch, something the sequels just couldn't match.

The Next Three Days 5/10

Pretty good thriller.  It gets pretty ridiculous in the last quarter which was a bit of a struggle to suspend disbelief.  Not bad, it kept my attention.

The Bullet Train 5/10

Pretty good 70's film from Japan starring Sonny Chiba in a relatively small role.  You would believe this film was based on true events in the way it was written and constructed, but it's fiction.  Pretty good but over long.

Burlesque 1/10

Cher has had so much facial surgery you cant tell whether shes laughing or crying.  Her face is static, so much so I believe she has to eat through a straw!
The film is 2 hours long but if you were to take out all of the uninspiring and very long dance sequences the film run time would be around 10 mins.  Characters and dialogue are so bad it's painful.
Dull!

Little Fockers 2/10

My god!  Not funny.  The "Focker" joke was exhausted in the 2nd movie...  No more, please!  This film has a whiff of Cash Cow all over it.

Morning Glory 2/10

I thought this film could be interesting with Harrison Ford in a comedy role playing a grouchy anchorman/journalist.  But no, this was unengageing, run of the mill, soulless stuff.  This comedy didn't raise any smiles.  It had a great cast, Ford, McAdams, Goldblum and Diane Keaton.  It was a shame the money wasn't also spent on writing a better funnier script.