Limitless (2011) Vs Lucy (2014)

Sometimes, films sit in my ‘to watch’ list for so long, I forget how they ended up there in the first place. That was the case with Limitless, that I decided to finally watch on New Year’s Day. I didn’t even know what it was about! It was enjoyable, anyway, and it made me think of Lucy, which I hadn’t bothered watching after so many bad reviews. What I thought would be interesting was to watch both and compare them, as they kind of tell the same story after all.

In Limitless, Eddie (Bradley Cooper) is a down on his luck writer, recently dumped by his girlfriend, who is introduced to the drug known as NZT by a friend. The pill boosts his brain’s abilities exponentially and Eddie rapidly rises from a nobody to being highly successful and rich. The horrible side effects of NZT mean that Eddie can’t stop taking it, and his supply is dwindling.

Although I enjoyed Limitless and never felt bored, my overall feeling was ‘just a bit meh’. It wasn’t too predictable and unlike others, I enjoyed the ending, but the whole film was just lacking something that I can’t put my finger on. At times it feels like not much is happening, and then I focused on little annoying things that shouldn’t have mattered. Eddie’s girlfriend for example, who wanted nothing to do with him at his lowest, but was all over him once he was rich. What a cow!

I think Bradley Cooper is brilliant but he didn’t get a chance to use his full potential here. Still, it was an enjoyable film, but that’s about it, really.

Lucy’s (Scarlett Johansson) terrible boyfriend lands her right in the middle of a drug scandal. She winds up as a drug mule for CPH4, a drug that makes a person able to utilise up to 100% of their brain. The bag inside Lucy’s stomach rips as the drug goes straight to her bloodstream. She then seeks revenge on her captors, and well, then it turns weird.

Honestly, I thought the first half of this film was brilliant. I loved how it went back and forth from Lucy as she unlocks more of her brain to Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) explaining his theory, and the clips of nature to tie in with it all. Then it hit 40% brain power, and it all went to hell. No one seemed as alarmed by Lucy as they probably should be, and I have no idea how to explain the scene on the plane. I went from fully understanding and enjoying the film, to a confused mess.

Once the credits rolled, my fiance and I looked at each other and said ‘what?’. That’s my only way of describing it. So, perhaps not surprisingly, Limitless is my winner!

Review: Lucy (2014)

This movie was so hyped up I can't believe I missed it at the cinema, so when I spotted it on the plane movie list it was the first I went for...

Lucy (Scarlett Johannson) gets caught up in a deal gone wrong and ends up as a drug mule for a new drug.  The bag leaks inside her stomach and it unlocks her minds full potential and leaves he ready to take on her captors and get the ultimate revenge.

This film should have been great, it had such great potential and the story concept was brilliant, unfortunately for me it just didn't resonate on screen for me!!  The action is great and Johannson is great stealing every scene, unfortunately she leaves everything else in the shadows including the storyline.  The French Police Captain (Amr Waked) is a useless wet lettuce who blindly follows this random woman into a ridiculous battle for no apparent reason, when technically he probably should be arresting her!! Morgan Freeman's professor Norman adds no real value to the proceedings he just appears to be a narration to explain what is happening to Lucy (which in fairness helped me to understand what the heck was going on as at more than one point I had NO IDEA!!)

This has been raved about and many 'professional' critics think this is great.  I have to disagree, although the story concept was clever it just didn't play out well enough for me.  I spent most of the film waiting for the story to start and then the film ended... Oh!

Might have been a winner for most but not for me, over hyped and mostly a disappointment for me.  Although gaining a growing love for Scarlett Johansson in the last year so that's something.

4/10

The Top 5 Worst Films of 2014

Wow, to be able to write a list like this makes me feel like an actual blogger. I used to look at people with confusion when they would argue over a film and discuss just how awful it was, because I'd never really watched a film that I disliked. I guess I used to watch so little films that I only watched what I knew I would like, which is what I love so much about this blog. It's opened my eyes to a huge array of films that I never would have watched before. Some of them I've loved, and others, not so much.

So here is me, jumping on the Top 5 bandwagon with the Top 5 worst films I've seen that came out this year.

What If (2014)

You know, I never even got round to reviewing this. I couldn't even try now, I can't remember what this film was even about. When we saw it at the cinema and ordered our tickets, the guy actually said 'what?'. He forgot the film existed, and that the cinema was showing it. It wasn't a bad film by any means, but it was just entirely forgettable, just a few months after I originally saw it.

The Inbetweeners 2 (2014)

Another film I never got round to reviewing! I absolutely loved the Inbetweeners TV Show, and was so excited when the first film came out. My brother and I even introduced our parents to it, who also loved it, even if they didn't understand some of the phrases. I think too much time passed between the first film and its sequel, and although The Inbetweeners 2 started off fairly strong, after half an hour I was bored and witnessed one of the worst endings to a film I've ever seen.

The Monuments Men (2014)

I quite often get my own way when my fiance and I go to the cinema. He doesn't mind really and will sit through nearly anything, like me. However, I thought earlier in the year we should really go to see something of his choice, and he chose The Monuments Men. I didn't protest too much, war films aren't really my thing but with that cast, I thought it would be okay. This, sadly, was a complete snore fest, and even my fiance turned to my halfway through and said 'sorry, we'll see whatever you want to next time'!.

Tammy (2014)

It wasn't very long ago that I included Tammy in a mini reviews post on here. I love Melissa McCarthy and think Bridesmaids and The Heat are comedy gold, but Tammy really fell short of the mark. She played the kind of character that she plays best, but without another lead or a decent supporting cast, she just came across as irritating. A shame, but it definitely hasn't put me off her.

Sex Tape (2014)

Oh Jenna, I blame you for this one! Not the film itself of course, that would be a little harsh, you can't be completely at fault, but it was your choice for us to see this! You can read just about anyone's review of Sex Tape and my opinions are the same, I don't think I ever found a positive one. Stupid characters doing stupid things, none of which are funny. But to be fair to the film, the credits were really funny.

After seeing Allie had started this post I decided to work out what my Top 5 worst movies of 2014 were.  After finding a list of all movies released in 2014 I was gutted to spot how many movies I have missed this year (although in my defence it has been a busy year!).  I have now doubled my 'watch list' just from films in 2014.  So this list is my Top 5 worst films of the one I have actually seen....

Need for Speed (2014)

Sorry Allie, this film just wasn't for me (and in payback, I blame you for this one because you told me it was really good and that I should watch it! It was really good! I can't believe you had to be forced to see this but you willingly went and saw Transformers...).  The story was terrible, the plot holes were huge and ridiculous and there was no chemistry between any of the cast.  So disappointed as I am a big fan of Aaron Paul (in Breaking Bad he is amazing and steals the show for me most of the time) but in this there was nothing about him.

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

If you have seen my review of this you will already know I didn't like it.  The story was terrible, the cast worse and the dialogue cringeworthy.  It was too long and the action scenes moved so fast you had no idea what was going on, who was the good guy/bad guy/robot/dinosaur/human and ultimately by the end I didn't care anyway.

Lucy (2014)

A lot of people have been raving about this film (I haven't yet managed to review it myself) and I'm not sure if I'm missing something.  The acting was great, Scarlett Johannsen has the ability to act without saying a word which worked well for this but I kept expected the story to start, it felt like an introduction to the real story, which never came.  Not sure I thought it was that bad, just that from previous reviews I expected more so ended up disappointed.

Sex Tape (2014)

No need to say much as Allie said pretty much everything above but I will say This. Is. A. Sh*t. Movie.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Probably my biggest disappointment of 2014, mostly because I had really high hopes for it but I was let down.  As my childhood favourite, I was willing this to be great but it was far from it.  No chemistry, scary evil looking Turtles, random useless characters and terrible dialogue.  Music was great, but that is all that was great about this lifeless reboot.

What about you though? What films disappointed you this year?