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!