Review: While We're Young (2014)

This is the part where I tell a fun little anecdote of what lead me to watch this movie, and more times than I care to admit, attempt to mask that the only reason I actually watched this movie was because of a particular actor or actress. I’m not even going to try that this time round. I watched this for Adam Driver. There. I feel so much better now. What I did learn though is that my husband has such a strong hatred for Ben Stiller that he refused to even be in the house when I watched this. That was new to me!

While We’re Young (2014) introduces us to Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts), a married couple in their 40’s with a deteriorating relationship. They aren’t able to have children and are drifting apart from their best friends who are new parents, and Josh is also struggling professionally with his latest documentary, which he has been working on for 8 years now. Whilst out for lunch one day, they bump into younger couple Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). Jamie is a huge fan of Josh’s work, and the four become good friends.

It all starts so well. There’s such chemistry between the couples, everything seems so effortless. Problems that are all too real are portrayed, like close friends growing older and taking separate life paths. Then there’s the humour, often  and subtle as we watch Josh and Cornelia get involved with the fun a carefree lifestyle that Jamie and Darby live. It’s around the midway point that I felt although this movie seemed predictable, it was still an extremely enjoyable watch.

Oh, that soon changed. The two couples go away on a spiritual cleansing break, which was weird enough, but then that ended in a far too long scene of everyone throwing up everywhere, which was just grim, not funny in the slightest. I’m pretty sure there was some kissing straight after too which is making me feel a bit ill just thinking about it. That’s where everything just takes a turn for the worst.

I don’t know what happened to the movie after that. The tone takes such a sharp turn it actually felt like I was watching another movie entirely. It becomes more and more about Josh’s documentary work, and it gets very dark, almost entering thriller territory. That’s all I can really say, because my attention soon started to wander.

It’s a shame, because this could have been a great movie. I can’t fault any of the actors involved, I thought they all did a great job, but something went wrong somewhere along the line.

Review: Demolition (2016)

After completely getting the release date wrong for this as well as double booking the same night for a work event, I was not doing too well in the planning of seeing this film (I think as I plan for a living, I apparently don’t like to do it well outside of work!).  Anyway, when it finally was released and I managed to plan a date night with Lou without double booking it, off we went armed with enough Nachos to feed a small army to see it.

This movie starts as with the trailer with Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) writing a letter to the vending machine company to complain about the fact he lost a dollar in one of their machines and that he was upset because at that point his wife had just died.  The rest of the film is how Davis deals with losing his wife including destroying everything he owns to find out what the problem with it might be.

That might be the worst summary I have ever written for any film ever.  I have tried but I don’t want to give anything away that isn’t I the trailer because it is definitely one you need to see for yourself.  I am still trying to work out how to review this because I can’t decide if I even liked it, loved it or hated it.  That’s probably a bit extreme, I certainly didn’t hate it!  I was not bored at any point during the film, I was content for the whole thing however I’m not sure whether it was supposed to be a comedy or a drama, I suppose they were going for this modern dramedy genre, making uncomfortable situations bearable with comedy.  I do like this idea because as Allie and any of my friends will tell you, I love to make a joke in a sad situation, I also laugh about things I probably shouldn’t.

In fact, as I have been typing about how I don’t know if I like this film, I have actually decided that I like it because it’s real.  Admittedly, not many people demolish everything they own (including their house) but people do respond to things like death in different ways.  Not everyone cries, people laugh, people go a little but crazy and people behave in the complete opposite way to how everyone would expect.  I love that.  I love that this has considered the idea that not everyone who losing someone is distraught and just because someone dies, you don’t need to put them on a pedestal. 

Also, there are some great supporting cast, Sam Shepherd as the grieving father and Naomi Watts as the pot head love interest trying to help Davis.  A massive shout out has to go to Judah Lewis, playing Karens’s troubled son, he absolutely stole the show in every scene he was in.  I’m looking forward to seeing him in more in the future.

Review: St Vincent (2014)

This was my 'Looking Forward...' movie back in December but obviously I never got around to seeing it at the cinema.  Then I completely forgot about it, until a few weeks ago...

I was hunting for something to watch the other day when I stumbled across this. I had no idea what it was about, but I remembered it from Jenna's Looking Forward post!

Vincent is a miserable, alcoholic War veteran who only ventures out of him house to gamble or meet his regular (pregnant) prostitute.  Due to unforeseen circumstances he ends up looking after 12 year old Oliver from next door, after his parents divorce and his mom works all hours to support them.

Bill Murray is back at his best, a grouch!  He delivers his dark, dry humour effortlessly and without question is the highlight of this movie.  Melissa McCarthy tones down her usual style to play Oliver's downtrodden Mother, Maggie and thank god she did, she takes a big step back to let Murray own the show.  Had she had played her usual characters (The Heat, Tammy etc etc) she would completely ruined this dark comedy with nothing more than toilet humour!  The most surprising transformation though was Naomi Watts as prostitute/stripper Daka, I didn't recognise her at all for the first 20 minutes.

Honestly, I couldn't stand this film. It's rare for me to hate something but the whole film irritated me. Who in their right mind would let their child find their own way home from school in a brand new town, and then not bad an eyelid about leaving them with their alcoholic next door neighbour?! Melissa McCarthy did nothing for me at all, I much prefer her comedy roles...

Its great to see Murray back on top form and in a lead role, his and Oliver's budding friendships is easy and comical to watch, especially when he puts him to work mowing his dirt!  Chris O'Dowd's role as Oliver's teacher seemed a bit random to me, why was he actually in the movie, did it add any benefit.  It feels like he was just included as a way to set up the ending (and the title) with Oliver's school project. 

Him and Oliver were the only characters I really liked! His first scene where he's explaining the different religions in the class just cracked me up. It's exactly how it was in my Primary School, a class full of kids all with their own religions, but let's sing hymns about God!

I spent the whole film expecting it to go all gooey and sentimental, but instead they just threw Murray in there instead to mix it all up.  Which is why the ending disappointed me, they kept is dry, dark and hilarious all the way through, swerved sentimentality at every corner only to end on a soppy moment.  It didn't ruin it for me (i'm a sucker for a weepie) but it changed the tone of the whole film.  They should have brought it back with an inappropriate comment from Vincent, but no!

Brilliantly entertaining, great cast and hilarious.

Honestly, for me, this was an un-funny Bad Santa. At least with Christmas films I can accept the things that make little sense!

Review: Birdman (2014)

Birdman had me excited when I very first heard about it, probably 5 months ago at a guess, so I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get round to watching it! I’m so determined to watch all of the Oscar nominated Best Picture films this year, but this one certainly wasn’t a chore to tick off the list.  I think we are doing pretty well on the Oscars tick list :-)  I wasn't that excited about this to be fair but I should have been, it was much better than I expected!

Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton) is best known for his role of superhero Birdman, over twenty years ago. The franchise was so popular that you could perhaps say that Birdman himself is more famous than the man behind the mask. Riggan now finds himself trying to reprise his career and get his name back out there, and he does so by writing, directing and starring in a Broadway show. He faces numerous problems in the run up to the opening night, not helped by the voice of Birdman in his head and the strange super powers he seems to have.  

The mood and theme of the whole film is easily summed up in the first five minutes as we see Riggan in his room, seemingly meditating, in mid-air, in his pants. His first line is a complaint about how the room smelt like balls, and well, I’m laughing just from typing it! I find dark comedies very hit and miss at times, but this just hit the spot for me.  It felt very inadvertently funny, like it wasn't trying to be funny but that made you laugh.  Zack Galifianakis made me laugh in every scene he was in, even though I'm not sure he was supposed to.

Really early on I noticed some key similarities between Birdman and Iron Man, the poster in the dressing room was very similar to the Iron Man 3 poster and, I thought Keaton resembled an older version of Robert Downey Jr.  I wondered for the first 30 minutes or so if it was sort of based on RDJ and Iron Man but then it specifically mentioned them in a news story. Admittedly, I was a but disappointed that my theory didn't pan out!

I’m not one to pick up on anything technical when watching films, but I loved the camera work (and editing?) in Birdman. Sure, there are long takes which must have been a pain in the butt for the actors involved, but the entire film looked like one take. If you look for it, you can tell where the breaks are, but it’s just so clever! This is the first film I have seen that has used this technique and i absolutely loved it.  I had read beforehand that it was shot as one long scene so I was really looking out for it, however I needn't have known, it was pretty obvious.  It gave the whole film a realistic feel, you almost felt as if you were there walking through the halls of the theatre.  It was so clever.

It pains me to admit I’ve seen very little of Edward Norton. I saw him last in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and the last film I saw where he had a major role was Fight Club. He’s an absolute legend in Birdman, and I will have a strop at Jenna’s if he doesn't win Best Supporting Actor. His character, Mike, makes you hate him and then love him within minutes of each other, and he’s got such a charm about him. I’m already jotting down his filmography… I however am a huge fan of Edward Norton ever since first seeing him in American History X, his character was truly evil in that but he played perfectly.  I think i have seen a fair bit of his work so far, but a quick check of the filmography may prove me wrong.

Speaking of Oscars...can Emma Stone have one too? YES YES YES!!! You already know how much I love her, but she really packs a punch in this. She’s so expressive! Heck, you might have already seen my tweet but just throw all the Oscars at Birdman. I’m sure I’ll change my mind again once I’ve seen some of the other Best Picture nominated films, but this is going to be one of my all time favourites.  I have yet to see all the films on the Best Picture list, but this is coming up pretty high on the list so far, I personally don't think Keaton will have a look in for Best Actor with Mr Redmayne in running, sorry but we all know it's true.

I like to keep reviews spoiler free so I’ll be brief here, but that ending! Can someone please invite me for coffee (I’ll have a green tea though thanks) so we can sit and talk about it for like, an hour? I already have 3 theories floating around in my head!  I think we need to discuss this because I have NO IDEA what to think!!

Review: Adore (2013)

I was bored on Saturday afternoon so I looked through my Sky box to find something to watch while I was re-organising my shoes, so I didn't want anything too taxing or that I had to focus on too much.  So, I picked this film but got more than I bargained for.  

 

It is the story of two best friends played by Naomi Watts and Robin Wright who inadvertently fall for each other's sons.  This wouldn't be weird, except they were childhood friends and raised their sons together, like brothers.  I'm sure situations happen like this in real life all the time, but I found it a little bit disturbing (particularly since I kept mixing up which son was which making it that much worse!).  Many reviews online are praising this a beautiful and heartfelt.  Don't get me wrong I think both the leading ladies are brilliant actresses and both play their parts spectacularly throughout the film.  The story is compelling and interesting but 'beautiful' and 'heartfelt' I didn't see.  This is touching on the very taboo subject of incest and although it's not technically incest, it borders on it, as both lead characters confirming they had 'crossed a line'.  

I think this film is clever in it's use of a taboo subject to make an interested film which was beautifully shot and well written also a key insight into various subjects, friendship, love, forbidden relationships, adultery and heartbreak.  

This sounds like a seriously odd film, but I have to say, at least it's an original idea! Not one I'll rush out to see but I'll happily watch anything once.

Overall, I have chosen my rating on the filming, the development of the character relationships, the writing and the acting.  Although, I found the subject a little bit out of my comfort zone, this doesn't take away from the overall quality of the film.