Film Review: CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE (2011)

Directors: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
Writer: Dan Fogelman
Running time: 110 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
UK Release date: 23^rd September 2011

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 11^th November 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Every now and then you have to let a little romance into your life; I know this can be hard for some, but believe me, it’s really worth getting in touch with your mushy side every now and then. As a bit of an old romantic at heart I have no problem with the occasional rom-com; so long as it’s a good one (not overly schmaltzy, that kind of thing). Having heard some good reports on this one I decided to give it a look when it came up in the TV listings recently… Here are my thoughts.

I actually found it quite engaging eventually; it was a little hard to get into at first but when the narrative began to settle down I could see a structure there that had potential. Brief summary: When Emily Weaver (Julianne Moore) announces to her husband Cal (Steve Carell) that she wants a divorce, his world collapses around him. She had slept with another man, David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon) and Cal finds that hard to take since they had been together since high school. He takes to going to bars to drown his sorrows and is taken under the wing of Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) who shows him how to dress, behave and (most importantly) how to pick up women. At this he is quite successful (eventually) but he feels there is still something missing. Meanwhile there are a couple of other sub-plots going on. One involves Cal’s son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo), who has become infatuated with his babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton). She, meanwhile is holding a torch for Cal… With me so far?... Also, there is law student, Hannah (Emma Stone) who Jacob had been unsuccessful in picking up when we first meet him (I can’t really say any more about her without giving too much away, so here I’ll stop). All these threads eventually tie together in what (at times) appears like a French farce, but which does ultimately have a very valid point.

All the performances were very good with Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Julianne Moore taking centre stage. I thought Kevin Bacon was slightly underused, and more could have been made of Emma Stone’s character. Over all, it’s pretty well made but the narrative does tend to wander in places. An endearing film that does have quite a strong message about love and about soul mates. I freely admit this old romantic found it quite relatable.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.5/10

IMDb Score: 7.5/10 (based on 158,600 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1570728/

MetaScore: 68/100: (Based on 40 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 78/100 (based on 199 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 80/100 ‘Liked it’ (based on 76,762 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/771203531/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Jacob: I'm going to help you rediscover your manhood. Do you have any idea where you could have lost it?

Jacob: The skin under your eyes is starting to look like Hugh Hefner's ball sack.
Cal: [Carefully looks at himself on mirror and sighs... ] Yes, it is.

Jacob: I'm wildly unhappy, and I'm trying to buy it, and it's not working.

Robbie: You wanna talk about The Scarlet Letter, Ms. Tafferty? All right. Well, the A they're both wearing - I think it stands for "asshole." Wanna know why? Because they fell in love and love is for stupid assholes. And this book is just about a bunch of assholes who fell in love, like assholes, then had to die, like assholes. I'm sorry about all the "assholes."

Liz: Your life is so PG-13.

Hannah: Will you take off your shirt... fuck! Seriously? It's like you're Photoshopped!

Cal: Are you pointing at me?
Robbie: You're pointing at him?
Emily: She's pointing at him? OH!

Cal: I have loved her even when I hated her... only married couples'll understand that one...

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://crazystupidlove.warnerbros.com/dvd/
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crazystupidlove
Trailer:

Film Review: THE HELP (2011)

Director: Tate Taylor
Writers: Tate Taylor (screenplay), Kathryn Stockett (novel)
Running Time: 142 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12

Genre: Drama
UK Release Date: 26^th October 2011

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 29^th July 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is one of those films that I wanted to see when it came out but somehow managed to miss. Fortunately it came up on TV this week and I had the opportunity to give it a viewing this morning. It had quite a lot of critical acclaim on release so I knew it would be good; the question was, how good? Well I’ll tell you about that after this very brief summary.

When Skeeter Phelan returns home to Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960’s she gets herself a job at the local paper. She is employed to write a weekly column on housekeeping although she has higher ambitions. She wants to write a book about life as a maid, but from the maid’s point of view, something that was highly illegal in Mississippi at the time. Of course she can’t let the maids employers, many of them her friends, know about the book so she does it in secret. Initially, her main source of material is Aibileen Clark who works for Elizabeth Leefolt bringing up her children, cooking and cleaning. As time passes, Minny Jackson also relates some of her stories after a major falling out with her employer, Hilly Holbrook. She finds another position with the young Celia Foote who is a bit of a social outcast. More and more people come to Skeeter with their stories as events unfold and eventually it is finished… Apart from one story; Skeeter’s own… But what repercussions will there be for those involved? I’ll leave it there or the Spoiler Police will not like what I gotta say.

Very well made with a nicely paced plot that always keeps the audience interested. Some great performances also add to the enjoyment; Emma Stone played the inquisitive graduate, Skeeter Phelan with great assurance. Viola Davis as the central character Aibileen Clark was really excellent, as was Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson. Bryce Dallas Howard was also first-rate as the main villain of the piece, Hilly Holbrook. I also thought that Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote did an excellent job. Also worthy of note were; Ahna O'Reilly as Elizabeth Leefolt, Allison Janney as Skeeter’s mother, Charlotte, Sissy Spacek as Missus Walters and Chris Lowell as the obligatory love-interest, Stuart Whitworth.

A film that has a real feel-good factor, it very much concentrates its focus on things from the perspective of the women, on both sides of the story, but in particular the maids. I found there were some very touching moments along with quite a lot of humour. It’s set at a time and place where a lot of things were changing very rapidly, particularly in the aspect of race relations and you can see a lot of ignorance and bigotry. I should point out that not all the employers are bad; there are one or two stories that relate how the maids were cared for very well. Over all, I found this film quite uplifting; one I’d happily watch again at some point.

SteelMonster’s verdict: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

My Score 8.7/10

IMDb Score: 8.1/10 (based on 98,862 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/

MetaScore: 62/100: (Based on 41 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 76/100 (based on 197 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 90/100 ‘Liked It’ (based on 67,805 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_help/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[first lines]
Aibileen Clark: I was born 1911, Chicksaw County, Piedmont Plantation.
Woman: And did you know as a girl growing up that one day you'd be a maid?
Aibileen Clark: Yes ma'am, I did.
Woman: And you knew that because...
Aibileen Clark: My mama was a maid. My grandmama was a house slave.
Woman: [whispering as she writes down] "house slave..." Did you ever dream of being something else?
Aibileen Clark: [nods yes]
Woman: What does it feel like to raise a white child when your own child's at home being looked after by somebody else?

Aibileen Clark: You is kind. You is smart. You is important.

Stuart Whitworth: I've never met a woman that says exactly what she's thinking.
Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan: Well, I got plenty to say.

Hilly Holbrook: They carry different diseases than we do. That's why I've drafted the Home Health Sanitation Initiative.
Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan: The what?
Hilly Holbrook: A disease-preventative bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the coloured help. It's been endorsed by the White Citizen's Council.
Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan: Maybe we should just build you a bathroom outside, Hilly.

Charlotte Phelan: Love and hate are two horns on the same goat, Eugenia. And you need a goat.

[last lines]
Aibileen Clark: In just ten minutes, the only life I knew was done.
Mae Mobley: [calling after her through the window] A-a-a-aibee!
Aibileen Clark: God says we need to love our enemies. It hard to do. But it can start by telling the truth. No one had ever asked me what it feel like to be me. Once I told the truth about that, I felt free. And I got to thinking about all the people I know. And the things I seen and done. My boy Trelaw always said we gonna have a writer in the family one day. I guess it's gonna be me.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://thehelpmovie.com/us/
Trailer:

Film Review: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)

Director: Marc Webb
Writers: James Vanderbilt (screenplay/story), Alvin Sargent (screenplay), Steve Kloves (screenplay), Stan Lee (Marvel comic book), Steve Ditko (Marvel comic book)
Running time: 136 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12A

Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
UK Release date: 3^rd July 2012

Watched at the Picture House (K-town) Sunday 7^th July 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

It’s Saturday afternoon and the new Spider-Man film is out; what’s a man to do? Well, why not pop down to the Picture House in K-Town and catch said movie; which is what I did. It was showing on the small screen upstairs and, with it being a Saturday, there were plenty of dads with their youngsters in tow. I’ll admit I was slightly in fear of tantrums and flying popcorn, but I managed to behave myself all the way through… the kids weren’t too bad either. But I digress; here’s a brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

Peter Parker, whose parents disappeared when he was young, has been brought up by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. A quiet lad who always had a bent for science, he one day stumbles on an old brief case that once belonged to his father. This leads him to a company called Oscorp and his father’s former colleague, Dr Curt Connors. Whilst there he is bitten by a spider, a very special spider developed by his father who had been working on cross-species genetics. Dr Connors has also been working on a similar project but with little success. A girl that Peter knows from school, Gwen Stacy, also works as an intern for Dr. Connors and they find themselves drawn together as the effects of the spider bite become apparent. He finds he has great strength and agility and he designs and makes some web-slingers. But then tragedy strikes and he feels he must go out and clean up the city. Meanwhile Dr Connors experiments on himself and the results are quite horrific; a monster is now stalking the city and it’s up to Spider-Man to stop him! I’ve probably said too much already but I’ll leave it there or the Spoiler Police (Spidy Division) will have me hosing used webs off all the buildings in Manhattan (again).

I found it quite hard to look at this film without drawing parallels with Sam Raimi’s 2002 film Spider-Man. The two are very similar in many ways although this one did try to stay a little more grounded. As far as performances go, well everyone did a decent job; Andrew Garfield coped well with the dual role of Spider-Man and Peter Parker and Emma Stone did a decent job as Gwen Stacey. I thought Rhys Ifans did a very decent job as The Lizard/Dr. Curt Connors and Denis Leary was fine as the cop Captain Stacey (Gwen’s dad). But I must give a special mention for Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben and Sally Field as Aunt May; a masterful piece of casting; both were perfect (IMO).

Comparing the two films (it’s hard not to), I felt that this one didn’t really add anything that the original did. Yes, it’s a slightly different take on it, but essentially the same. There are long periods spent setting up dramatic plot points that don’t always pay off and I also felt it was far too long. The CGI is all very well done and the fight sequences are also well executed but I did have the nagging feeling I had seen it all before. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good film, but (IMO) not different enough from Sam Raimi’s effort to be a great film. Even so… Recommended, especially if you haven’t seen the original 2002 movie.

My score: 6.8/10

IMDb Score: 7.8/10 (based on 29,271 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0948470/

MetaScore: 66/100: (Based on 42 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 72/100 (based on 228 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 84/100 ‘Liked it’ (based on 291,053 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_amazing_spider_man/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[Peter finds an old satchel in a closet]
Ben Parker: I forgot all about that thing. It was your dad's...

[at Oscorp]
Gwen Stacy: [to Peter] Don't get me into trouble. Do NOT touch anything!

Peter Parker: We all have secrets: the ones we keep... and the ones that are kept from us.

Peter Parker: Ahem, you know, if you're going to steal cars, don't dress like a car thief.
Car Thief: You a cop?
Peter Parker: You seriously think I'm a cop in a skin-tight red and blue suit?

Gwen Stacy: How did you get up here?
Peter Parker: The fire escape.
Gwen Stacy: That's twenty stories.
Peter Parker: Your doorman's intimidating.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site: http://www.theamazingspiderman.com/
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theamazingspiderman
Trailer:

Film Review: EASY A (2010)

Directors: Will Gluck
Running time: 89 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Comedy/Teen
UK Release date: 22^nd October 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 22^nd October 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

As some of you may know, I’m not big on comedies. It may be because I have a peculiar sense of humour, but, for the most part, what Hollywood thinks is funny is usually antipodean to my opinion (bet you’re looking up what ‘antipodean’ means now). I’ll still keep trying them out form time to time though… you never know, there just might be someone out there in ‘La La land’ on the same wavelength as me! And so we come to ‘Easy A’; a teen comedy (not encouraging so far), all about a girl of (alleged) easy virtue (still not encouraging, but hey, I’ve come this far…). Well, despite many misgivings, I must say it wasn’t half as bad as I thought it might be (& that’s high praise from me!… for a comedy). Now, since I’ve been accused of giving too much away in my plot summaries, I will just give you the very briefest outline of what it’s about (you’ll probably get more from the trailer than I usually give away… but, (sigh), if I’m getting complaints I guess I’d better pare it down a tad or 12).

Olive Penderghast is at high school and she lies to her friend, Rhiannon, about sleeping with a boy (for reasons I won’t go into). As they do, rumours spread like wildfire, and before she knows it, Olive finds herself with an unwanted reputation. The question is… what is she going to do about it?... So there you go, the new and improved ‘outline’… Hope you liked it and I didn’t spoil the entire movie for you… If I did then you have my profound apologies.

I said earlier that I didn’t find this film too bad, well, I might even go so far as to say I actually enjoyed parts of it quite a bit! I thought Patricia Clarkson as Rosemary (Olive’s mother) and Stanley Tucci as Dill (her dad) provided a great comic foil for her character. Her favourite teacher, Mr Griffith, played by Thomas Haden Church, and his wife, played by Lisa Kudrow, also added another dimension to the piece. Of course, it was Emma Stone, as Olive, that held the whole thing together, and I thought she put in an excellent performance. Honourable mentions go to; Malcolm McDowell as Principal Gibbons, Penn Badgley as Woodchuck Todd, Amanda Bynes as Marianne, Dan Byrd as Brandon and Aly Michalka as Rhiannon.

A witty script with some great dialogue made a welcome change from many recent (so called) comedy efforts I’ve seen spewed out of ‘tinsel town’ in recent years. It also has a pretty good soundtrack with some tunes even I recognised! There is a minor problem with it though… The way Olive chooses to deal with her problem is dragged on a bit too long and after a while it gets a bit monotonous. Fortunately it picks up though and it got saved from a lower score by a rather cool ending (sorry… no clues). Over all, although not perfect, I found this a witty, pretty well written and entertaining comedy… Recommended.

My Score: 7.1/10.

IMDb Score: 7.1/10 (based on 61,651 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1282140/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86/100 (based on 174 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/easy-a/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[first lines]
Olive Penderghast: The rumours of my promiscuity have been greatly exaggerated.

Woodchuck Todd: Screw all these people, Olive!
Olive Penderghast: Haven't you heard? I already did.

Rosemary: Not to mention how have you been dressing this past few day. No judgement, but you kind of look like striper
Olive Penderghast: Mom!
Dill: [to Olive] A high-end stripper, for governors or athletes.

LINKS:
Official Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/easya/
Trailer:

Film Review: ZOMBIELAND (2009)

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Running time: 84 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 15

UK Release Date: 7th October 2009

Watched on DVD Sunday 6th June 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I sadly missed this one at the cinema last year, not showing at the local and transport issues getting to the nearest Cineplex. So it was with much anticipation I put the DVD into the player. The good news is I like it; I like it a lot! Here’s a brief summary then I’ll tell you why.

As is normal in most zombie films, some mystery virus has turned most of the Worlds population into flesh eating zombies. A young college student, known as Columbus, is making his way back home following a bunch of rules he’s made for himself since the world became Zombieland. He meets Tallahassee, a rough tough loner who has a thing for Twinkies. The duo decides to travel together, but is soon met by sisters Wichita and Little Rock, who con them out of their vehicle and weapons. The guys find another vehicle and catch the girls up. To cut a long story short they end up travelling together to Hollywood, and then the fun really starts. I will say no more, I don’t want to give too much away.

This is a really well made comedy zombie flick. Plenty of blood splatter and very inventive ways found to dispatch the zombie hoards. Great performances from all of the main cast, Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus, Woody Harrelson was particularly good as Tallahassee, Emma Stone as Wichita and Abigail Breslin as Little Rock. There is another major star that has a cameo, but I won’t give it away here, just in case you haven’t seen it yet.

As I said at the beginning, I really like this film; it has a great soundtrack too, if you open with Metallica you’re always going to get a vote from me! There are plenty of laughs and also some touching moments too. Over all, recommended, but maybe not for the more squeamish out there.

My score: 7.9/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1156398/
Official Site: http://www.zombieland.com/
Trailer/Featurette: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi179635481/