Aren't Weddings Lovely? NO!

Just before we get into all the Oscar nominated films, let's take a moment out and talk about a movie that will make you laugh till your sides hurt. Had their been 10 nominations for Best Picture, there's always a chance that this could've been nominated. (Along with other snubbed movies like Drive, Shame, Tinker Tailor, Tintin... What are the Academy thinking this year?) Today, we look at Bridesmaids.

The concept for the film is not necessarily something you'd expect from a comedy. It's one lady's life turning to misery and disappointment. It's a fairly simply concept. Annie (Kristen Wiig) is asked to be the Maid of Honour at her childhood best friend, Lillian's (Maya Rudolph) wedding. However, the rest of the bridesmaids are not the most most compatible lot. Firstly, there's lad-ish sister in law, Megan (Melissa McCarthy), then pretentious and charitable Helen Harris III, who is slowly stealing Lillian away from Annie. There is also Becca (Ellie Kemper) and Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey). Due to her jealousy and declining personal life, Annie starts to over stress and cause a lot of issues over the wedding. Though their may be a ray of hope in the form of good cop, Nathan (Chris O'Dowd).

Karaoke did not go down so well at the bridal shower. 

First of all, all the performances in the movie are brilliant with a special mention to Kristen Wiig (Who is nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar) and Melissa McCarthy (nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.) It's not often that comedy roles go so well noticed, but McCarthy in particular deserves the recognition that she is receiving. She is absolutely brilliant as the brutish Megan. Highlights of her performance include taking a dump in a sink while wearing a very expensive dress and wrestling Annie on a bed and claiming to be 'her life.' Kristen Wiig, as Annie, is also superb. Not only is she hilarious when she needs to be, she portrays her more negative emotions with as much conviction. Chris O'Dowd, in his first big Hollywood movie after his humble origins in the I.T. Crowd, is also fantastic. While his accent is hit and miss (an immigrant perhaps) he is funny, witty, but also the most soulful character in the film; honest and well natured.

'Did you hear something?'
'I don't know, I covered my ears.'

The film was incredibly well written and the comic timing was spot on. Some of the editing, as well, was brilliant. Nothing particularly special in the way of technical elements such as score, soundtrack, or camera shots, nor was there anything  bad. It was simply very generic in these terms. Definite;y director Paul Feig's best film to date. The film is a bundle of laughs that doesn't try to hard. It doesn't focus on the one liners or fart jokes (while they are included), it does what all the best comedies should do. It turns daily things into hilarious moments as well as exaggerating every last detail.

A really fun movie. Not one for all the family, mind you. The opening scene is a sex scene (a very awkward one) and the c word is yelled into a teenagers face. Keep it away from the children. A must see of 2011 and, while I don't thing Melissa McCarthy will get the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, it still fills me with joy that people can recognise great comedic performances.

Best Bit? The montage of different crimes committed to get Chris O'Dowd's attention. I couldn't stop laughing.

Gang Fight.

Today we delve into the gritty, grimy world of the gang land. It's a movie that, I assume, not many of you have seen or even heard of. I hadn't until a few days ago when it was recommended to me by a friend (@JLHoyte on Twitter if you want to follow him, he's very funny) The movie was made in 1979 and is the very definition of a Cult Movie. This is The Warriors.

The premise is an extremely simple one. All the gangs of New York send nine representatives to a huge gang gathering in The Bronx hosted by Cyrus (Roger Hill), the leader of the largest gang in New York. Cyrus proposes that all the gangs unite and take over the city as they outnumber the cops. However, despite most of the gangs seeming to 'dig it', Luther (David Patrick Kelley), leader of the Rogues, assassinates Cyrus while no one is looking. Unfortunately for him, Fox (Thomas G. Waites), the scout for The Warriors, witnesses the whole thing. Luther tries to kill him too but the police have secretly surrounded the gathering and blind the gangs with spotlights. Chaos erupts and the gangs flee. Luther realises that he'll have to stop The Warriors before they reveal who shot Cyrus and so he frames Cleon (Dorsey Wright), leader of The Warriors. Cyrus' gang then want all of The Warriors in their grasp. This leaves The Warriors in the very difficult situation of getting back to their territory in Coney Island from The Bronx without getting killed by every gang and cop on the way.

There's a moment you know you're fucked.

There is something extremely lovable about this movie. There are some glimpses of great acting, particularly from Roger Hill as Cyrus and James Remar as Ajax, one of The Warriors. Hill is wonderful. His spell binding speech is some of the first dialogue in the movie and it pulls you in with every word. It also invites you to use his catch phrase, CAN YOU DIG IT. Remar is the slightly sociopathic member of The Warriors. Violence, rape, these are his games. He plays the part with such conviction that you really would not want to meet him down a dark alley at night. The final mention for acting, and the best acting in the movie, goes to David Patrick Kelley, who plays Luther. Luther is a rare type of character. Similar to the likes of The Joker or Alex DeLarge, he simply does things that he feels like. Kelley puts a raw, unsettled nature into his character which makes him generally disturbing. Especially his part in the climatic scene. Is really creepy and really well acted.

'Stop being such a whiny beach.'

The best thing about this movie is by far its style. It is slightly surreal in its portrayal of gangs. Rather than the low trouser wearing, gun wielding, ghetto raised gangsters or Italian mob families that we are so accustomed to, these gangs all have a distinctive, and often quirky, 'mark.' Something that distinguishes them as a gang. This goes from vests, all the way to clown baseball players. The location, style and way of shooting looks like it may well be inspired by A Clockwork Orange but it does work to great effect. My main issue with this movie is it does seem very dated now. While it is constantly tense, the language, clothing and general attitudes are things of the past. It is definitely from the 'funk' era. It also contains plenty of mediocre acting as well as the good acting. A very generic score and way too often I found myself unable to tell characters apart. 

This does not bring the movie down as a whole. The fight seems, while sometimes are a bit messy, are really fun to watch and you really feel for The Warriors in all this bad luck. It is a fun film that is full of twists and turned that will keep you entertained for 90 minutes. You will hold your breath and you will be shocked. Can you dig it?

Best bit? Personally, I really enjoyed the fight scenes in the field with baseball clowns (The Baseball Furies) and in the bathroom with roller skaters (The Punks). 

Quick update.

I haven't been watching a lot of movies recently. I know, shock horror. I plan to start cracking my DVDs open and also heading down to the cinema more often this year. As we all know, 2012 looks to be the best year for movies for a long time. I have a whole list of movies I must see.

However, last year, if you read my blog back then, you'll remember I reviewed all of the Oscar Best Picture nominated movies. This year I will try to the same thing. I'm waiting for the nominations in the hope that I've seen at least two or three of the movies. I will have just over a month to get through all of the ten nominations. To prepare, I've been looking at the BAFTA and Golden Globes nominations to get an idea of what I must see.

So basically prepare for a lot of, probably very sleep deprived, reviews of the Oscar nominated movies from the 26th onwards.

See you soon.

The Sexiest Female Characters in Film?

So Empire Magazine are currently holding a poll for the Sexiest Movie Characters. Now, as a film blog, I thought it was important that I raised some thoughts on the matter. I'll stick to female characters since my love of Brad Pitt and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will over run my male choices. I've added links to any reviews I've done of the movies and I've included some favourite scenes. Do read older reviews, they're rather funny. But here's the thing: I can only pick 5. My short list is open to change but here's my current short list and reasoning IN NO ORDER:

 #1: Alison Lohman as Christine Brown in Drag Me To Hell.

Why Christine Brown? In the movie, all sorts of disgusting things happen to her. Things that should be (and are) very un-sexy. However, that being said, when nobody is being sick on her or something similar, she has a cracking dress sense and always looks very attractive. 'So do most actresses!' I hear you cry. Here's where Christine Brown differs from other, typical horror movie pretty girls: The grave scene. As shown above, Christine digs up a grave and hops on in. Cue pouring rain, wet t shirt, angry shouting, and getting dirty. How could one not find that sexy? Especially considering I kinda like a girl with a bit of a bad attitude. You'll hear me say that a few times. One of my favourite scenes in a horror movie... Ever.

2# Cameron Diaz as Tina Carlyle in The Mask

When she first walks in the door, all the characters on camera turn and stare at her. She just has that effect. This is young Cameron Diaz. Before she was extremely skinny, back when she was hot. Why is Tina Carlyle so sexy? All sorts of reasons: She's trouble, she sings, she dances, she looks like that. She's brilliant in every way and she was the first time I felt the urge to wolf whistle the screen. And when she sings, I have the same reaction as Jim Carrey in this scene. 

3# Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan in Sin City

I suppose Nancy Callahan is a bit of a cheat considering she's an exotic dancer/stripper. Her job is to be sexy. Good thing is, she succeeds. But what makes Nancy even better? She's got a heart of gold. She's a complete sweetheart. A beautiful, sexy stripper who would do anything to help her friend. Now that is sexy. Plus, when she dances like this, not much else matters.

#4 Natalie Portman as Evey Hammond in V For Vendetta

If you've followed this blog for a while, you'll know Natalie Portman is one of my favourite actresses and I find her extremely attractive. So attractive in fact, that I almost just posted five different roles of hers as the five sexiest characters. But I decided that's not fair, so instead I narrowed my options down. I found it hard to choose between three of her roles: Evey, Nina (Black Swan), and Sam (Garden State). I decided that Sam's innocence made her less sexy, as did Nina's insanity. Evey on the other hand, is incredible. She is very attractive but not only that. She's loyal, strong, independent, beautiful, and very, very cool. Plus, she is the only women to look just as attractive with hair and without. I think she's extremely sexy. 

Nina

Sam

#5 Emma Stone as Wichita in Zombieland 

Oh, what about her isn't sexy? Hot brunette girl with a gun. Who is also a complete badass. And also a sweetheart. And also super hot. And has a bad attitude, and we've already said that I like that. She just looks so cool all the time and whether she's flirting or being a complete bitch, the words just roll off her tongue. Admittedly, Emma Stone is another actress I find beautiful all the time (See her as Olive in Easy A) but there's something especially sexy about Wichita. Maybe it's the mystery surrounding her or the fact that she could kick your ass and you'd still think she's perfect. And she comes with just a hint of danger... She doesn't even have to speak... Just look at her.

Olive

Below, I've included a load of others that just didn't make the list. In order of how close they came to being in the top five.

Mila Kunis as Lily in Black Swan

Zooey Deschanel as Summer in [500] Days of Summer

Ellen Page as Bliss in Whip It!

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann in
 Pirates of The  Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Nicole Kidman as Satine in Moulin Rouge!

Lyndsy Fonseca as Katie in Kick Ass

Brie Larson as Envy Adams
in Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers
in Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Oldeuboi

There is nothing cryptic about today's title, it is simply the original Korean title for the movie we're looking at. This movie has been hailed as one of the greatest international movies ever made and it stands at number 92 on IMDb's Top 250 films. It's considered the best film in the loosely connected 'Vengeance Trilogy'. So is it up to the hype that surrounds it? We'll see. Today, we're reviewing Oldboy.

The movie opens with a mysterious man dangling another man over the edge of a building by his tie. When asked what his name is we cut away to Dae-su Oh (Min-sik Choi) in a police station, very drunk and out of control. He is picked up by No Joo-hwan (Dae-han Ji) but soon lost at a phone booth. Dae-su Oh wakes up in a room. He has no idea who has trapped him here and he has no idea why. He spends the next fifteen years trapped in his little room with only a tv for company. He begins to train, build up his strength, and find a way to escape. He swears vengeance on whoever trapped him and when he is finally out of the room he goes on a journey to find the truth. With help from Joo-hwan and Mi-do (Hye-jeong Kang) he begins to unravel the mystery surrounding his capture.

The low prices at Oldboy hotel literally had people fighting for rooms.

All performances in the movie are outstanding. Min-sik Choi is outstanding as Dae-su. His emotions are gritty and raw. It's absolutely captivating to watch him from start to finish. Not only is his tantrum in the police station one of the funnier scenes I've seen for a long time, his brutality which verges on insanity is horrible to watch yet impossible to look away from. At some points you'll like him, some points you won't, and some you'll just be shocked by him. It's brilliant. As an antagonist, Ji-tae Yu is fantastic as Woo-jin Lee. He has a perfect balance between psychotic and plain evil. He's got enough of a human side to develop a tiny bit of sympathy for him but  mainly he's crazy and cruel.

What really stood out for me in this movie was the technical side of things. Chan-wook Park really knows what he's doing as a director. Everything is perfectly timed. Everything looks perfect. Everything is perfect as far as the technical aspects are concerned.  The fight scenes, particularly the long corridor fight, are spectacularly shot. The corridor fight scene involves a huge number of guards against one man. The first camera shot shows us how small the corridor actually is. The next one is a an extremely long single shot that follows the fight down the side of the corridor. It's incredible to watch. The use of sound in the film is also brilliant. Often music (or more often silence) will juxtapose what's happening on screen. It creates a really eerie atmosphere that works wonderfully with the explicit nature of the film.

Some people thought Dae-su had a fear of lifts. He didn't He was scared of women.

Overall, this film is definitely not for the faint hearted. While it has funny moments, they are completely outweighed. There's even a tooth-pulling scene, something that really makes me wince. However, it is a great movie and well worth a watch... if you can stand it. And pay attention. It twists more than a roller coaster.

Best Bit? It has to be the corridor fight scene. Cinematic brilliance as well as wonderfully choreographed.

P.S. It looks like a western adaption of this has been announced. Spike Lee is set to direct and Josh Brolin to star. While I know not all adaptions and remakes are terrible (Infernal Affairs - The Departed) I still don't like how many of modern films are remakes or western adaptions or reboots of already great movies or franchises. But then again, it may be awesome. We'll see. Perhaps it'll look something like this:

Josh Brolin as Dae-su?

I Am The English Psycho...

Hello Blogging type people. It has come to my attention today that there is an American Psycho remake currently being considered by Lionsgate. Now, it's not 100% official as the script still hasn't got the go-ahead. However, I would like to take a moment to discuss/ slate this idea.

Let's start with the defense of the possible remake. The movie is different to the book. Many supporters of the remake claiming that the previous movie didn't do the book justice. It is far more likely that this new movie will be more explicit (like the book) and less funny. It's also being pushed forward by Noble Jones, a director who has worked with David Fincher a few times. But now we'll take a look/ rant about why it's a terrible idea:

Firstly, the original movie is brilliant as it is. I can't understand how someone can look at it and say, I could make that so much better. Whether you're David Fincher's prodigy or not, it would be nigh impossible to improve on the movie enough to warrant a full remake. No film is perfect... Even my favourite movies have their flaws. Also, Jones want's to shift the plot into the modern day rather the 80s. Considering the book is a satire of the 80s business world, I can't see how fans can defend the hope of the new remake being closer to the film. And is anyone really going to play Patrick Bateman better than Christian Bale? It's become such an iconic role. The pure psychotic nature of Bateman is something that will be incredibly difficult to re-capture without stealing of Christian Bale's performance.

A friend of mine is very wise with these matters. He suggests that, if a film company want to make money off an old idea, re-release a film. Re-master it. Release some new box set. Don't remake the entire film when their are better and more original ideas out there. If this Noble Jones is going to be some great director, he should show us something new and cement his place in the film industry rather than present an old idea and for it to not live up to it's previous versions. I don't want a micro-budget American Psycho, I want new films that take my breath away.

/Rant over/

Die Hard. Again. And Again. And Again. (Part 2)

Here's the second part of my Die Hard reviews. The first part is here. Five years after the second Die Hard was released, a third installment came out. Then it'd be another 12 years before we'd see anything Die Hard related in the cinemas. How did they keep a franchise going despite the massive gap in time? How did they adjust? Lets have a look, starting with Die Hard: With A Vengeance.

John McClane, (Willis) now almost a full-blown alcoholic, is on suspension from the NYPD. However, when a bomb goes off in a department store and the police are stuck for answers, a mysterious man named Simon (Jeremy Irons/ Graham Greene) phones and asks for McClane. He states that if the police want answers, McClane has to complete the tasks Simon tells him to. Task one: Wearing a rather offensive sign in the rough part of town. Fortunately for McClane, Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) steps in to protect him from a group of thugs. Not so fortunately for Zeus, this means he is now involved in Simon's games. Simon gets McClane and Zeus to run around town trying to stop bombs that he has rigged. However, Simon is planning a little more than he's letting on.

Both McClane and Zeus were extremely suspicious of the phone.

Despite being an alcoholic, being suspended and having not spoken to his wife, McClane continues to prove how cool he really is. By adopting a slightly more I-don't-care attitude, Willis provides a better performance than his second outing as the character. He brings the same wit and bad ass-ness that he's brought for the first two movies but this time they it comes with a fresh dowsing of pessimism. However, the stand out  performance of the movie comes from Samuel Jackson as Zeus. Continuing Die Hard's theme of having a handy black sidekick is presented with a twist this time around. Zeus is strong willed, sassy and powerful. He's very funny, if not very racist. The antagonists, Jeremy Irons and Graham Greene are superbly dark and smart. Their plots provide more twists than either of the first two movies and they create such a tense atmosphere which makes the film extremely exciting.

The Die Hard science begins to get a little bit out of control in this movie. There's ridiculously high and yet survivable falls, surfing on giant dump trucks, and goons with even worse aim than ever before.  But all of this only helps to make the movie all the more fun to watch. My least favourite aspect of the movie is not the slowly sinking realism but the incredibly annoying choice of music. Throughout dramatic moments of the movie, we are treated to an instrumental version of 'The animals went in two by two hurrah hurrah'. (Technically known as When Johnny Comes Marching Home). Something about it doesn't fit.

Overall, another good movie. Not as good as the first, slightly better than the second. Good fun and definitely worth a watch.

Best Bit? Personally, I have a soft spot for the dump truck chase in an underground system of water tunnels.

And finally we come to the fourth and (currently) the final installment in the series: Die Hard 4.0 (Or Live Free Or Die Hard)

So the plot of the last movie is slightly more nerdy than the others. This time, the terrorists are hackers and they're developing a system that can systematically shut down the entirety of the United States, one bit at a time. McClane (Willis) gets involved after he is sent to bring internet hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long) to Washington. Soon after he arrives at Matt's apartment though, unknown assailents begin shooting at Matt and McClane. After getting him out safely, McClane turns to Matt to gain some insight from his hacking knowledge and together they plan to bring down mastermind Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) and his assistant Mai Linh (Maggie Q). Unfortunately for McClane (and in some ways, fortunate for Farrell), Lucy Gennaro McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), John's daughter, gets caught up the whole ordeal and despite her disliking of her father and his attitudes to things, she relies and trusts in him to stop the terrorists.

Thomas Gabriel never understood the idea of
 going on a date and showing one's guns.

In the twelve years that John was absent from our cinema screens, a lot changed in his life. He lost all his hair, stopped talking to his ex wife and daughters, became a much angrier and older man. Willis continues to develop and adapt the character we've grown to love but still sticks to his roots. The years have aged him, and he shows us that. Also a brilliant performance from Justin Long. Admittedly it's a role that he plays more than any other, the awkward nerdy teenager. But the contrast between Willis and Long is so perfect it makes the movie great fun to watch.

Die Hard science goes to a whole new level in this movie. Death seems to become a thing of the past, or at least all of the characters have developed super strength. Cars are driven into helicopters, people are run over but able to continue fighting and fighter jets will destroy half a city on a very vague order.  However, being a more modern movie, the special effects, camera work, and general appearance of the entire film is a league above the other three movies. Probably the most silly out of all four movies but also one of the easiest to watch. There's lots of action and lots of explosions to keep your eyes busy.

In my personal opinion it's the weakest of the four films but compared to a lot of action films released nowadays, it's still of a better quality. It's fun and it's everything we love from Die Hard, if not a bit more exaggerated and silly.

Best Bit? The fight scene between Mai Linh, John McClane, and Matt Farrell. A whole new level of fight scene with use of cars, elevator shafts and a combination of them both. Or extremely tense tunnel scene when cars are flying all over the place.


A great set of movies. All worth a watch. And don't forget, yippee ki-yay, motherfuckers.