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April, 2009
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2009-04-08 13:58
If "The Boat That Rocked" was a Paul McCartney song it would be called "Silly Love Songs". You may struggle a little with seeing the similarities between a song from an ex-Beatle with the film of a Brit director. But, respectively, McCartney is mostly known for his twee sentimental love songs just as much as Richard Curtis is known for his rather twee sentimental love films! Whether it is "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Love Actually" or even "Notting Hill", the love theme floats through the middle of Curtis' films like the proverbial butterfly. It is same again in TBTR. This time the love theme is focussed on love for rock music and among the central characters, an off-hook bunch of rebel-rousing pirate radio DJs pitted against the dour-faced set of bureaucrats and joyless establishment figures out to shut them down. The former set would literally die for their love of music and the latter set will probably die without love of any kind. Ultimately there's laughter, tears, camaraderie, subterfuge and most of all love. What is wrong with that? I would like to know...
0.3 March, 2009
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2009-03-27 16:30
Knowing is remarkable in some ways but here's the thing: I can't let you know too much if you haven't yet seen it otherwise you'll know the surprises to know in Knowing and then it might not be worth knowing Knowing! Or at least it will certainly spoil your enjoyment of it! What I can say is think of a blend of movies like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "The Number 23", "The Day After Tomorrow" then mix in some mystery, thriller, action and Sci-Fi into the broth. Bring to the boil then add a smidgen of spectacular special effects and you've got the basic pot that is served in Knowing. Nicholas Cage is engaging and his performance keeps you watching, albeit at a pedestrian pace, but when it finishes you leave with your emotions and imagination tickled as you ponder the possibilities it will have implanted in your mind or forced you think about.
0.3 October, 2008
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2008-10-31 06:00
A teenage niece refused to go and see this latest Bond film because, as she puts it, "it's too predictable." I couldn't agree with her less! Whereas the plot development follows the familiar 40 year old James Bond structure, the characterisation has changed. And that's my basic problem. I actually like my James Bond in the Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan mode: suave, wry, with humour, gadgets, girls, sex, shock and even some awe. Daniel Craig's gritty realism is fine up to a point but I don't care much for it at the expense of all the regular elements I've become familiar with. Without doubt Quantum of Solace is grand and exciting to watch but it lacks a certain amount of soul and audience engagement. This is something I hope the next Bond will take into consideration. I don't just want to be shaken by Craig's new interpretation of a grittier Bond: I need to be well stirred, too!
0.3 -
2008-10-23 21:00
You either like or hate the Cohen brothers. Their films tend to be a little quirky, outrageous, even pointless. But where they score big is in entertaining you with stories that aren't typically Hollywood or even linear. Theirs are stories that defy convention and stretch your imagination, without boring the pants off you. This was the case with this film which provides glimpses into a Brad Pitt, John Malkovich and George Clooney we have not seen before. If that's good enough for you then hold onto your hat cos you're in for quite an entertainment ride! Can't say I didn't warn you!
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2008-10-23 19:00
Amidst all the sci, fi, glitz, glamour and fast paced action behind Eagle Eye, there is a relevant story trying to get out. The story warns against the dangers of what could happen on too heavy a reliance on computers and technology. But, you have tob e very sharp to spot that story from the film which concentrates primarily on entertaining you with eye-popping action. It's certainly worth a viewing.
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2008-10-10 19:00
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People...
There's a sentiment in the film which goes something like this: when you are currently nowhere trying to reach somewhere you tend to criticise the thing, people and place you are trying to reach. When you do eventually get there what's the point of still criticising it? You are inside so why not just enjoy being there?!" To me this is precisely what this film is really about with Simon Pegg acting as Sidney Young a disillusioned intellectual who both adores and despises the world of celebrity, fame and glamour. The adventures he gets up to in the glamorous media world brings about many laughs as well as deliver social commentary with a deft touch. It is a deceptively enjoyable film which at one point made me think it was like watching what would happen if a drunken England football supporter was allowed to enter a glamorous Oscar ceremony. Mayhem happens, of course, but you enjoy chuckling for all the wrong or right reasons, depending on how you view the circumstances.
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2008-10-05 23:46
To anyone who asks me about this film I answer: "It was an action packed piece of Hollywood sh*t". If they persist I might expand to say: "It was a fun but ultimately pointless film whose soul purpose was to overwhelm you with gratuitus scenes of violence and destruction." For some people this is a good enough reason to see a film. It doesn't require a great deal of effort to try and unravel plot lines or intriguing twists. But it will overpower you with scenes with a high "wow!" factor. You don't really want much more than this on a Friday evening after work, do you?
0.3 September, 2008
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2008-09-26 18:20
Sometimes you have to ignore the critics if you are to enjoy a film without prejudice. So was the case with Taken, which sees Liam Neeson tackling a role of Bourne trilogy proportion. Point taken that Neeson is no Matt Damon but he gives just as good, or even better performance, to be honest. Neeson's character is quietly confident, in an understated, matter-of-factly way. Until he unleashes into the fighting machine using the set of skills accumulated working as a spy for many years, you would just think he was just an ordinary father, concerned about the well-being of his teenage daughter. The story was as tight as it could be but alas, I found it too short, even at 94 minutes and wished the action could have been extended. Maybe a second viewing could solve that problem!
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2008-09-19 18:45
Tropic Thunder only rolled one way: for laughs! If you go after reading all the controversy over Robert Downey Jr. playing a black character (in black make-up), you will get unstuck. In fact whatever you heard about the movie before you saw it is guaranteed only to sway you away from the film's true intention: to make you laugh at some established icons, conventions and situations. And some very well established conventions are lampooned in this film. The Hollywood Producer, the Blackman, Hollywood itself, the Action Hero and more. I didn't allow myself to give any greater importance to the movie other than as a vehicle to lighten up a Friday evening. Thus, I wasn't disappointed. Can't be certain how I would have enjoyed it if I had gone expecting anything greater than that. Maybe that's the best attitude to take as you enter the screening room!
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2008-09-12 18:45
One of the best things about Pineapple Express, from a personal, cultural perspective, is the background music. I heard several tracks from Caribbean artists featured and they filled me with a warm sense of familiarity and recognition. There were music from Peter Tosh (Wanted), Bob Marley (Time Will Tell), Eddie Grant (Electric Avenue) and I'm sure there were others. The film itself was funny, as you would expect from the makers of "Superbad" and "Knocked Up", following in their particular close-to-the-bone style. Sometimes it was just a little too close to the bone but if you like this you too will find it thoroughly hilarious at key points. It certainly is entertaining if you can suspend your normal world concerns, chill and consume it as just another silly movie where people compete for your attention.
0.3
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