Mini Reviews: Identity (2003), The Bourne Legacy (2012) & The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

I do love a good mystery/thriller! It’s hard to hunt this kind of movie down because once you know there’s a big twist, you find yourself trying to work it out, so when a work colleague mentioned Identity (2003) and said it ‘was a bit of a weird one’ I yelled for them to say no more and watched it that very night. It’s a brilliant movie about a bunch of strangers who all find themselves trapped at a motel, which is creepy enough until one by one they all get murdered.

It was an entertaining watch, and I didn’t see the twist coming, but my real complaint is that the twist came too early, and the actual ending itself was pretty unnecessary. Still, a good movie and I’d recommend it to other fans of the genre.

It took me far too long to watch the original Bourne trilogy, and with the latest movie on the horizon, I thought it was about time I watched The Bourne Legacy (2012). Plus, it’s got Oscar Isaac, so that was a selling point. (Spoiler Alert - That was a bit of a Cabin in the Woods moment for me, doh). I think my fiance enjoyed this more than I did, but it was an entertaining watch on a rainy weekend evening, with some great action scenes that had me on the edge of my seat and a little twist I wasn’t expecting either.

If nothing else, it’s got me really excited for Jason Bourne later this year!

It’s family movie night. We’d been planning for the last 2 weeks to watch Everest together. At the last minute, my Grampy decides Everest looked boring (argh!) and suggests we watch The Last Witch Hunter (2015) instead. Well….I do always say that I’ll watch any movie once. I didn’t even realise it was actually set in the present day, which cheered me up a little. It’s the kind of fantasy movie my 14 year old self would have loved, obsessed over actually, but now, it just wasn’t enough. It was entertaining at the time, but 3 weeks later I can barely remember it.

Which made me feel like a total snob when the credits rolled and my family gushed about how amazing it was. Well, they are the same family who hail San Andreas one of the greatest disaster movies! Sorry…

12 Days of Christmas - Day 7 Bad Santa (2003)

At out latest movie night me and Allie decided to move forward with our Christmas titles for the 12 days of Christmas, last night was Bad Santa.  I can't believe I haven't seen this before now!!

I swore blind that I had seen this only once before, but that it was when it came out so I couldn't really remember anything about it. The first 5 minutes convinced me that I absolutely did not watch this with my family when I was 14!

Bad Santa is NOT your typical Christmas film, Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) is a conman who every year gets a job as (the worst) department store Santa where he and his partner Marcus (Tony Cox) scope out the place.  In Christmas Eve when the store is closed, they rob the place and leave without a trace onto another town and another department store.  Problems arise however, when Willie's drinking becomes out of control and he builds an unlikely friendship with 'The Kid' who believes he is actually Santa.

I was really surprised by this and wish I had watched it sooner, I feel like it may become a tradition to watch over Christmas every year.  Although it is certainly NSFD, NSFT or NSFP (worth remembering if you're thinking of introducing your kids to a new Christmas film, don't!!) it a rally funny in places and Billy Bob Thornton is great as the miserable drunk who develops a bit of a conscience (who can forget the Advent Calendar scene!).  This should maybe be on the Trivia post at the end of the month but, I read that BBT was actually drunk through most of the filming, not sure whether it was method acting or a genuine problem, either way it worked for the film.

That advent calendar! And poor old Grandma! I can't remember laughing so much at a Christmas film. Some things were just subtly hilarious and really tickled me, who can imagine Santa throwing an empty bottle of liquor at a car and smashing the windscreen?

Tony Cox is so funny throughout, his one-liners are great (and apparently many were improvised as jokes on set but were kept in because they were so funny!) and it was great to see some dearly departed actors in roles I hadn't seen them in before (John Ritter and Bernie Mac).

The mood changes rapidly in parts, Jenna and I sat and predicted how the whole thing would end, in between laughing at how awful Willie was at being Santa and being grossed out by The Kid's snotty face. We were nearly right, but there are some very dark moments in this (and horrified children!)

There is nothing PC about this movie and that is probably part of it's charm.  A definite winner for the Christmas cynic and even for the lovers for something a bit different, a re-watcher for me...

I absolutely, whole heartedly loved this. Billy Bob Thornton is fantastic, and if you watched the Fargo TV show this year, he plays pretty much the exact same character, which just made it funnier for me, almost as if the events of Bad Santa existed in the same fictional universe!

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6 Elf (2003)

How can Christmas ever go by without watching this bit of movie gold.  I actually hated it the first time I watched it, but I learnt to love it for what it is. I had a funny experience seeing this in the cinema. It was my brother's 8th birthday and my Mum and I took him and a group of his friends. What's wrong with that you ask? It was the middle of January. To this date I don't know why it was still showing!

Buddy the Elf a normal sized human is raised in the North Pole as an Elf but his size wreaks havoc on the small community.  Soon he is sent to the US to find his real father but finds it harder to fit in, in the real world than he anticipated.

This is by far the silliest, most random, off the wall Christmas movie going but that is what I love about it.  You have to watch it with no expectations and try to switch your brain off completely so you just see the funny side of it all.  I'm not a huge Will Ferrell fan, in fact I usually hate films he is in (don't shout at me but I really dislike Anchorman, I think its massively overrated and not in the least bit funny!) but this tugs on my Christmassy heart strings and some of the one liners in it are amazing. "Santa's Coming? I know him" probably more about how it's said than the actual lines haha!

I love Will Ferrell already, but it's definitely the over the top 'ness' of it all that makes Elf so funny. It's so quotable as well, I really can't help but shout 'I know him!' when the name Santa is mentioned!

The story is ok, but it is overshadowed by Ferrell's overpowering verbal and physical comedy, much of the time the story is forgotten over an elaborate comedy sketch.  For me, that may be what makes it likeable, it's extremely easy to watch, you don't even really need to follow the story just enjoy gag after gag.  The escalator scene being my personal favourite:

Not the greatest story on Earth but certainly an entertaining jaunt perfect for watching while wrapping presents or with family (safe for kids as well as Dad, the train and planes!)

This is one of my personal favourites and I hope I can find to watch it this year before the big day!