Saturday 14 March 2015

Mini Reviews: Brothers (2009), Taken 3 (2014) & Delivery Man (2013)


I watched Brothers as part of my crusade to watch every Jake Gyllenhaal film out there. Brothers is actually a remake of a Danish film of almost the same name, back in 2004. It’s a powerful drama that begins with Capt. Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) being presumed dead in Afghanistan. The main focus of the story is how his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) cope with his disappearance. 

Although slow paced at times, I was glued to the screen the whole time and was fascinated by the events on screen. It’s some of the best acting I’ve ever seen from Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire. The ending in particular stuck with me all night, and as much as I could praise this film, it’s not one you would happily re-watch on a Saturday afternoon. One thing I’ll say is that if you fancy watching this, don’t watch a trailer! It gives away the whole film.






This is what I dream of every time I hear the doorbell ring...
My ultimate guilty pleasure, Liam Neeson. To be honest, even I can say now that the guy really needs to play a different character soon. Although admittedly, I’ll still go and watch whatever film he’s in! Taken 3 is...exactly what you expect. Although, no ones been taken this time. Unless you want to be poetic and say Bryan’s ex-wife’s life was taken away. Boo. Now Bryan is on the run trying to find her killers.

Taken 3 wasn’t as bad as I was gearing myself up for, but it certainly wasn’t a masterpiece either. Still, it was miles better than Taken 2. There was a twist I guessed a mere milisecond before it happened, but most people probably would have guessed it ages before. This really needs to be the end of it though now, I won’t support any more Taken films. I just get too much stick. Oh, who am I kidding…







I can’t believe Delivery Man was out two years ago. Wow! I was a huge Vince Vaughn fan a few years ago and I try to make an effort to watch his comedies when they come out. Delivery Man tells the story of David (Vince Vaughn), who discovers that after his many fertility clinic donations he is the father of over 500 children, and now a large quantity of them are trying to oppose the anonymity rules.

Although this isn’t my favourite of his films, I did enjoy Delivery Man. It’s a silly premise, but fairly unique (to me at least!) but I can’t help but think it would have worked better as a drama?! One with dark humour of course. It just felt like the jokes weren’t funny enough, but there were some touching moments and I had a little cry at the end. Worth a watch for sure, but don’t rush!


8 comments:

  1. Great reviews! I really liked Brothers, now I think I'd like to watch it again. It's been so long.

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    1. Thank you :) I'd love to see Brothers again, I might have to convince some family to see it and I'll watch it with them!
      - Allie

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  2. Brothers was excellent. Definitely the best Tobey Maguire performance I've seen. The Delivery Man was okay, nothing more. Haven't seen T3 yet. I will soon and probably hate myself in the morning.

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    1. I really don't want to hate on Delivery Man, but it should have been so much better. One day I'll watch all 3 Taken films back to back, and then wallow in self pity :P
      - Allie

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  3. Great mini-reviews! Brothers has been on my list for a long time; I should check it out soon.

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    1. Thank you! It's an absolute must watch, but you have to be in the right kind of mood. Brothers is perfect for a rainy evening in :)
      - Allie

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  4. Brothers was a little bit of a disappointment for me, but I still somewhat enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of Portman and Gyllenhaal.

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    1. Oh no, really? I thought Natalie Portman in particular gave a really good performance in this :)
      - Allie

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