Mini Reviews: Dear John (2010), Enchanted (2007) & The Interview (2014)

Rom-coms used to be all I would watch, but since starting this blog and widening my horizon, it’s left a whole ton of films like Dear John sat around just waiting to be watched. I get the TV all to myself on Tuesday nights whilst the other half is away, so I got to tick Dear John off my list not too long ago. It stars Channing Tatum as John, a US Army soldier, who meets Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) whilst on summer leave.

It’s exactly what you’d expect, and it’s fairly predictable, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, and I can’t speak for the rest of my fellow ladies out there, but I’ll happily watch Channing Tatum shirtless on the beach any day! Not a film I feel the need to re-watch any time soon, but enjoyable nonetheless.

I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of comments I received on the Thursday Movie Picks: Fairy Tale Adaptations post I did which featured Enchanted. It felt like I was the only one in the world who had never seen it! Needless to say, I made sure I watched it very soon after. If you’ve been hiding under a rock like me for the last 8 years, Enchanted is a real-life, Disney musical about the princess Giselle (Amy Adams) who gets sent to real-world New York city.

It was just the right kind of cheesy, with songs that are catchy and easy to recall (as my 20 year old brother can prove!) and it was so full of charm from beginning to end that I just couldn’t stop smiling. The CGI work is a little off, but that can be forgiven. Glad to say that I’ve finally watched it!

Why do I keep doing this to myself?! I can’t stand James Franco, I really, really just can’t bear him, and yet I just can’t help myself and keep giving him chances. I guess I’m still trying to find another This Is The End. I’m not sure how much of the ‘The Interview has been banned/Oh no it hasn’t’ scandal I believe, but it was enough to get me to watch it one weekend. So, in this, Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen) run a celebrity chat show, and are tasked with interviewing North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Un. Um, and kill him.

Honestly? I thought James Franco was alright in this. He surprised me. However, the film itself fell flat. The first half was decent, just the right kind of silly, but it wasn’t the un-believable factor that killed it for me. It just wasn’t very interesting! I got bored halfway through and caught up with Twitter instead. Sorry!

Thursday Movie Picks: Live Action Fairy Tale Adaptions

This week’s theme is right up my street. I love fairy tales! Or so I thought. Once I got my notebook out and thought about all the live action fairy tale movies I’d seen, I realised I’d seen, um, 2. Well, if I stretched the definition of fairy tale a bit too much, then maybe it could be more, but seriously, how have I only seen 2?! And so, in the ritual of picking 3 movies to discuss, I’ve come up a little short.

I won’t give up that easily though. Instead, I’ve chosen 3 live action fairy tale adaptations that I really want to see soon, so you can expect to see reviews of these on the blog sometime in the near future.

Stardust (2007) is based on a tale by Neil Gaiman of the same name. I only know of Neil Gaiman through his work with The Sandman at DC Comics, but that alone makes me interested in Stardust. I guess the real question is, should I read the book first or watch the movie?

Enchanted (2007) is something I need to watch very soon. From what I gather, it’s sort of like a Disney movie making fun of itself? All I really know is my 20 year old brother who’s a complete lads lad loves this movie, and he and my Mum are often found singing duets from it, and well, how can it be bad?

As soon as Into the Woods comes out on DVD here in the UK, it’ll be straight on that night. I simply ran out of time this January to watch it in the cinema. With Chris Pine as a complete over the top Disney prince, this movie really can’t go wrong for me. Of course, I love the rest of the cast too!

Review: Run Fatboy Run (2007)

I'm going through a little Simon Pegg phase at the moment (really?! you wouldn't guess from our draft list!! haha!) after getting my other half to watch Shaun of the Dead for the first time. I forgot how much I loved his films and I hadn't seen Run Fatboy Run since it came out in the cinema 7 years ago, so it was about time I re-visited it!

On his wedding day, Dennis (Simon Pegg) panicked and ran away from his future wife who was pregnant with their first child. Five years later, his ex-fiancée Libby (Thandie Newton) has moved on and leads a successful life with their son Jake and her boyfriend Whit (Hank Azaria). Dennis is determined to win her back and so enters a marathon to prove himself.

If you've ever seen one of my favourite Christmas films Jingle All the Way, the theme is familiar. Bad Dad must better himself and right the wrongs he did in the past. Admittedly, what Dennis did 5 years ago was truly awful and certainly can't be solved by running a marathon, but that's all I'll say without spoiling the ending for you.  That's what I could never get my head around when I watched this film, how does running a marathon fix anything?!

You can expect the same kind of humour as Simon Pegg's other films. Swear words dotted about, funny faces and the middle finger, and subtle moments where if you blink you might just miss them. Also, as an un-fit person trying to get fit, this film is hilarious. We've all looked like Simon Pegg above during our first spin class, right? I think I can do outdoor running just as well as he can too, although I'm slightly better dressed.  That is EXACTLY what I looked like in the ONE spin class I ever attended!

I love the Simon Pegg film humour, its typically British (see my At Worlds End vs This is the End post coming soon...) and I have to say although it made me want to vomit a little bit the blister scene had me in stitches.  I did kind of miss Nick Frost after Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz but I suppose that can be forgiven!

Hank Azaria makes a great sort-of bad guy, but the supporting characters are fantastic too, mainly Dennis' best friend Gordon (Dylan Moran) who only spurs Dennis on because he has a huge bet on him completing the marathon, and Dennis' landlord Mr Goshdashtidar (yes, I checked my spelling) who declares himself Dennis' assistant coach and slaps him with a spatula every 5 minutes.

For me Mr Goshdashtidar (I copied and pastes Allie's from above ha!) was the highlight, which is surprising as a fan of Simon Pegg but he stole ever scene he was in.  It wasn't as funny as Shaun of the Dead, but then it was more predictable so you sort of saw the jokes coming, whereas in SotD you literally had no idea what was going to happen next!  They took the rom-com and turned it on it's head (albeit kept the predictable bits) and limited rom bit and focused on the com bit.

I really do love this film. I cried a little at the ending, but then it doesn't take much to set me off. Run Fatboy Run is my ideal film when it comes to comedy, and I love how it doesn't have to have a Hollywood hunk to be a great rom-com either. I have to mark it down for Dennis' actions at the very start of the film though, as I image to some it would make his character come across as very unlike-able. 

 

I will also recommend a Simon Pegg film (except How to lose friends and alienate people...) because I love his sense of humour and difference his films have to other comedies out there.  If you haven't seen it, see it, if you have, see it again.

Review: Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

I like to be honest in my reviews and I was NOT looking forward to this film.  In fact, I started watching it around five times and had to turn it off after ten minutes because the sight of Ryan Gosling with a terrible moustache and a brown cardigan (plus the cover of the DVD) horrified me!  We tried to watch it at the last Flick Chicks movie night but (happily for me) it wouldn't work!  But we had to face it at some point so last nights Flick Chicks movie night was that time, no excuses!!
Come on, this guy is a total babe in every film he's in, we had to watch this just to balance it out a little!

So after finally watching the (whole) film, we can review it.  The film revolves around Lars, a young-ish man who after the death of his father moves into the garage of the house him and his brother owns.  Lars is a bit of a recluse although does hold down a job, but he doesn't like being touched or spending time with people even his own family.  This all changes when he meets his girlfriend Bianca, a wheelchair bound half Brazilian, half Danish brunette, who happens to be a 'real girl' doll.  The story follows how his family and the locals react to his delusions and how they support him throughout his 'relationship'

So you can see why the prospect of this film scared me, but it turns out I was wrong.  This film was moving and heartfelt and Gosling was incredible as the delusional Lars and his love for Bianca made her into a real character in the film that you felt like you knew by the time the film ending.  There were some cringeworthy moments that I might struggle to watch again but they just added to the good humour of the film and the sympathy for poor Lars and his struggle to deal with human emotion.  This was probably the biggest cringe moment (please excuse the terrible quality of the video):

Aww, but we got to hear him sing again?! What a sweetie...

Overall, this is a love story, regardless of what you think about the situation the film surrounds, this is a man finding love and learning to open up.  It just happens to be that who he finds love with is a doll. 

Without spoiling anything, there's a twist that I didn't really see coming. Knowing that it was an Oscar nominee, I knew it wouldn't be straightforward so I was expecting something.

Trivia:  In order to help Gosling stay in character, the cast and crew treated Bianca (the doll) as a real person, she had her own trailer and was only present on set when she was due to be in a scene. I giggle just thinking about this!

Bonus photo of us looking mega confused/conflicted/horrified:

I really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it.  Ryan Gosling stole the show (as he does quite regularly) and made you fall in love with Bianca as much as he did his family and friends.

I really enjoyed this too but I just didn't connect with Bianca as much as I would have wanted to, so I struggled slightly. Not that it's the films fault though!

Review: Bridge to Terabithia

Last week I posted a message on the IMDB boards, asking for some recommendations. I asked about films that had a huge plot twist, after watching The Usual Suspects. Now I know, asking for that is kind of a spoiler in itself, but I was curious! I had several replies with the usual Sixth Sense, Fight Club, etc, but one post stood out to me in particular. They suggested Bridge to Terabithia, which I'd heard of, a Disney film! That alone was enough to make me dig this film out.

Although curious, I was a little apprehensive too. I love Disney films, don't get me wrong, but at 24 years of age I worried I was too old to appreciate this. Oh, how wrong I was!

Do you recognise that baby face by the way? It's Peeta from The Hunger Games! I couldn't get over just how young he looked, this film isn't even really that old! It even has Zooey Deschanel in it, but I got really confused because she is basically Jess Day in it...

Anyway, the film is about two children Jess and Leslie, who have a really tough time at school, and in Jess' case, at home too. They find some land just a rope swing over the river away, and turn it into their own imaginary, magical land. Each creature they imagine is based on someone in their lives, which is an interesting and often comical idea.

I won't ruin the twist for you, but I didn't see it coming at all, and I was looking for it to, and it really hit me hard. This is a Disney film, folks! I almost turned it off just so that I could imagine it never happened...

I really loved this film and I knew my Mum and littlest Brother had seen it, so I asked them what they thought about it. They had a completely different opinion to me and thought it was boring and depressing! So this film isn't for everyone, I now know. But if you have a spare hour and a half, and you feel a little curious too, just give it a try.





Review: Juno (2007)

After being out on Saturday night till the wee hours, and spending all day playing table top games with friends on Sunday, I was shattered and had just enough time to squeeze in a film before going to bed. I needed something light-hearted and not too long, so I put on Juno.

 

 

If you've never heard of Juno before, it's a comedy/drama centralised on a 16 year old girl called Juno MacGuff, who gets pregnant after a night with her best friend Bleeker. She then has to make an important decision about what to do with the baby.

 

I bought this on DVD about 2 years ago, I'm pretty sure it was a 'Oh hey I've heard of this film, and it's mega cheap!' kind of moment, and so it's sat gathering dust ever since. I am SO glad that I finally watched it last night though.

 

What struck me first of all was the soundtrack. I'm not normally one to comment on music in films but the songs were so catchy, I've got one stuck in my head right now as I'm typing this...'Here is the church and here is the steeple, we sure are cute for two ugly people'... I am going to have to find the soundtrack for my iTunes tonight for sure.

 

What got me next was the humour. I love comedies, all kinds, from staged, obvious American humour to sarcastic British humour, but this really made me laugh out loud. Not belly laughs, but little snorts here and there. The humour in this is really subtle and if you were half listening you'd miss it all together, but I think that makes it funnier! Just a quick example below...

 



 

 

I thought I knew exactly what was going to happen before I even watched this. Not that I minded much, but I'm sure you can imagine what kind of plot I was thinking of. And I was wrong. I was so happy to be wrong, because that made me love this film even more. Get this, my other half even turned his laptop off just to finish watching this with me. Now, you really know it was a good film!