Review: The Lobster (2015)

It’s times like this that I love co-running a movie blog. I’ve watched so many movies over the last (almost) 2 years that would have fell completely off my radar would it not be for the little blogging community that I’m part of here. I love reading reviews of movies I’ve seen, learning about the perspective of others is fascinating, but I also love reading reviews for movies I’ve never even heard of. Seriously, if I read a review singing the praises of a movie I’ve never heard before, I’ll do everything within my power to watch it that very night. And that is how I found myself watching The Lobster.  I really struggled to make myself want to watch this, I sensed it was outside of my comfort zone but I was determined to watch it anyway, especially with such a high review from Allie.

The Lobster (2015) has one of the craziest plots I’ve ever heard. I tried to explain it (badly) to Jenna before Christmas but with more time to think I might be able to make it sound more coherent. Set in a dystopian future, single people are arrested and taken to ‘The Hotel’, where they stay for 45 days with the goal of finding a new partner. Should they succeed, they are free to leave, but if they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choice and sent away.

I’m not kidding, that really is the plot! The movie starts with Colin Farrell’s character David, arriving at the hotel after recently losing his wife. With him is his brother, a dog, whose stay at The Hotel clearly didn’t go very well. It takes a while to get accustomed to this movie, it really throws you into the deep end. Everything looks a little dull, and everyone speaks in an almost monotone way that makes the humour that much more deadpan.  The deadpan voiceovers really confused me, for the first half of the movie I thought it was terrible acting rather than a conscious choice. Once I got used to it though I realised it was part of the overall effect.

Throughout the guests 45-day stay, they are forced to attend dances just as awkward as those you attended as a child, and guests are also brought onto stage to talk about themselves, in order to find common ground with the others. They can also extend their stay by taking part in an almost Hunger Games style activity of shooting down escapees with a tranquilizer gun. Each escapee, or ‘loner’ they shoot down is worth an extra day, and not surprisingly, there are a few veterans at The Hotel who may never leave!

I definitely preferred the first half of the movie to the second half, the second half felt a bit more chaotic which was logical based on the change of pace in the movie but I could barely keep up to be honest.  The first half however, I loved.  The bond developed between David (Colin Farrell), the lisping man (John C. Reilly) and the limping man (Ben Whishaw) was hilarious (although not sure if it was supposed to be!!).  Did anyone else notice that no one else in the film had a name other than David?!  I thought about it and checked IMDB and sure enough, not a single name!
 

I loved how this movie brought to light all the crazy conceptions we as a society have about relationships. Things like the fact that we feel like we need to find common ground with someone in order to be compatible, all the way to thinking that having a child is the way to solve problems within a relationship, suddenly seem that more absurd here. I’m a big fan of movies that get me thinking long after the credits have rolled, and The Lobster is one for sure.

My only real complaint was that by the second half of the movie, I felt it had all got much too clever for me, and I started to lose interest. Not in the story itself, but just the ongoings on the screen. I later read a full synopsis of what happened though, and I’m keen to watch this again now I fully understand it.  I'm not sure I would sit through this again to be honest.

This might be the craziest movie I’ve ever watched, and I can’t recommend it highly enough! It was truly insane but completely different to anything I have ever seen before.

 

Review: Cuban Fury (2014)

You might have heard of my love for the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are just amazing in my opinion, and I'm always excited to see something new that they star in. I remember seeing a trailer for Cuban Fury a while ago, and while it wasn't enough to make me dash to the cinema, I still wanted to see it, but at home instead.  I have to agree, I wasn't in a huge rush to see this but glad I did in the end.

Bruce (Nick Frost) and his sister Sam (Olivia Colman) were salsa dancing superstars when they were teenagers, but on the night of a competition, Bruce was beaten up by a gang and it put him off dancing for life. However, when he learns that his new boss Julia (Rashida Jones) is into salsa dancing, he decides it's time to face his fears and start dancing again, before his colleague Drew (Chris O'Dowd) steals her away.

Cuban Fury started off really strong. It told the backstory quickly and efficiently, and set the scene for the present tense with the comedy that I was expecting from Nick Frost. Chris O'Dowd's character was equally great as the annoying colleague.

After the intro, I just got a little bored to be honest. Bruce's friends were a little odd and seemingly pointless to the plot, Drew went from annoying colleague to completely unlikeable douchebag, and Julia annoyed me even more. What sort of boss leads on two of her male employees anyway? My only real source of interest and comedy came from Bejan (Kayvan Novak) who I thought was hilarious. 100% agree, he was by far the highlight of the movie!

I really enjoyed the whole film to be honest, I laughed regularly.  That is until the Dance off which very nearly made me turn the film off, it was too cheesy and false and horribly awkward, I just buried my head in a pillow and asked my cousin to tell me when it was over!  Luckily the scene was saved by an awesome cameo (which may have been the highlight of the whole film!).  The whole storyline was horrendously staged and tweaked to suit the jokes, it was almost like the jokes were written first and then they just came up with any old storyline to fit around them.

The actors were great through, Chris O'Dowd proved he can do rude and arrogant instead of his usual funny laid back guy and Kayvan Novak was amazing and stole every scene he was in.  Rashida Jones can be so much more than this character, who was ridiculous (why is the new boss out drinking, dancing and bowling with her new employees, way to show your authority!) I'm not certain why they made her the new boss in the storyline as opposed to a new colleague which would have made much more sense (maybe there was a boss lady joke they wanted to use!)

I was nearly nodding off, but then Bruce and Drew had a mixture of a fight and a dance off in the car park, nearly got ran over by Simon Pegg (best cameo ever!) and it all got much better from there. Drew got his comeuppance, Bruce completely owned the dance floor, and everyone was happy.

Apart from me. Okay, I was just a bit underwhelmed to be honest. The comedy was great but it just wasn't enough to make me forget the far-too-simple plot and other annoyances. Nick Frost was really good though, so I'm still I saw Cuban Fury. Give it a go if you like, but I'd rather stick Hot Fuzz on.

Considering the characters were pretty shocking (and some completely useless) and the storyline just a bit worse than that, I did still enjoy it.  I laughed a lot and cheered, booed and shouted at the TV numerous times.  Basically, if you watch it, don't think about it and you might be able to enjoy it.