Le Flick

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I was very excited to see this film. Mostly for the great cast; Robert Downey Junior (Sherlock Holmes), Jude Law (Dr Watson) and Rachel McAdams as Holme's love interest, Irene Adler. The cast do not disappoint, all giving outstanding performances. The costumes and set design too are exceptional. But as for the director, I give him an average (C-) rating.

Our story begins when Watson and Holmes arrive just in time to save the female victim of a ritual killing by Lord Blackwell. Blackwell is arrested for several previous killings and is hanged....or is he? Days later his tomb is found empty, apparently risen from the dead. Holmes is on the trail, but several more deaths ensue before the climax where Lord Blackwell tries to take over the parliament using witchcraft and sorcery...or is it? Anyway Holmes does get to the bottom of it and gets rid of Lord Blackwell once and for all only to reveal a more powerful enemy Professor Moriarty is lurking in the wings and thus setting this franchise up for the sequel.

Downey has admitted to experimenting with his portrayal of Holmes', mostly of his questionable sexuality. An idea that has disturbed Arthur Conan Doyle's descendants somewhat. But actually the brotherly relationship between Holmes and Watson is the highlight of the film. They are awful to one another but at the end of the day you know they have each other's back. Downey's Holmes is incorrigible and as much as Law's Watson wants to move on with his life he can't bear to leave Holmes to his own devices nor miss out on all the excitement. McAdam's is smart and sassy in her role as career criminal and the only woman capable of getting the better of Holmes.

The setting for this movie too is exciting. Not enough films of this period exist. Where superstition was a part of life, science and technology were advancing in leaps and bounds and criminal justice system allowed police to lock people up, ask questions later. With some scenes set to the backdrop and on top of the half complete Tower Bridge you get a real sense of time and place and it's thrilling.

My problem with this movie is that director, Guy Ritchie missed the essence of Holmes. Sherlock Holme's was the brilliant mind that used his powers of deduction from the tiniest of clues to piece together the mystery that escaped the rest of us mere mortals. If you wanted to be bedazzled by Holme's brilliant mind you will be dissapointed in this movie. Yes there are clues that Holmes puts together to solve the crime, but they are extravagent and outlandish. For example a spot of ink on the collar of Watson's fiancé and Holme's immediately can tell she cares for an argumentative boy aged 7 as if there could be no other explanation.

The real beauty of the true Holme's was that it was "elementary my dear Watson". Simple clues that become obvious once Holme's pointed them out. Richie's clues are complete leaps of faith. Instead Holmes and Watson are brutes. More action heros than detective and doctor. But I guess that's just making them more "current", I thought all the laboured fight scenes unneccessary and would have preferred a bit more intrigue and mystery solving from a Sherlock Holmes movie. But that's just my opinion. I'm all for a sequel, but let's get a new director!!!

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Twilight New Moon

December 1st 2009 00:31

Midnight, Thursday 19th November, heading home on the bus a throng of people outside the local movie theatre. What the heck is going on? Oh right! It’s the New Moon premier, you know little something that has dominating the radio airwaves, women’s magazines and talk shows for the better part of the year. The next day, reactions to the movie were luke warm, many a disappointed fan believed it didn’t live up to expectation. But let’s be reasonable - what movie could? Just like the lead female character, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), the hardcore “Twihards” have experienced unnatural and extreme reactions towards Edward Cullen (Robert Patterson). No two hour film could ever satisfy the insatiable lust that seems to have overwhelmed this group of people. For everybody else who is a fan of the books but not quite ready to lay down your life for Edward or Jacob or those like me, who are just interested because you want to know what everyone is talking about when they say “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob” then you’ll probably enjoy the movie.

In New Moon, the Cullens (a family of vampires living among humans in the small forestry town of Forks) are forced to leave town when they fear their cover is about to be blown. Bella is desperate to leave with them and when Edward refuses to take her, she sinks into a deep depression. The only way Bella can see Edward is through visions that appear to her in moments of extreme danger. Only the friendship of her childhood friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) helps Bella through these dark days. The plot thickens when Bella discovers that Jacob is actually a werewolf, charged with the task of protecting humans from the vampires. Edward and Bella are reunited when Edward believing Bella is dead seeks the help of the Volturi (a vampire council) to end his life. Bella learns his intention from Edward’s sister Alice and races to Italy to stop him. Ultimately, Bella will have to choose between the vampire who deserted her and the werewolf that will never leave her side.

It’s an interesting story, a fantasy that’s not too fantastical. I’m not sure there’s much in it for the guys. A great deal of the dialogue revolves around discussing feelings; Bella’s feelings for Edward, Edward’s feelings for Bella, Jake’s feelings for Bella, Bella’s feelings for Jake, Jake’s feelings about Edward; you get the picture. And much has been said about the ripped male physiques in the movie. In particular the pack of werewolves that transform back into humans wearing only shorts and running shoes; their ripped abs and biceps unashamedly on display. I’m sure this element will be the reason many go back for a second viewing. The guys might just have to settle with the knowledge they’re earning brownie points by showing their sensitive sides by accompanying their girlfriends to watch what is in essence a love story.

If you’ve seen the first Twilight movie, by the end of New Moon, you’ll be getting pretty attached to the characters and no doubt will be waiting with baited breath for the resolution to the cliff hanger ending of New Moon. If nothing else the Twilight saga is marketing genius in action.

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500 Days of Summer

October 8th 2009 01:41

Unique, endearing and quirky; 500 Days of Summer is not, as the title may suggest, a story about frolicking in the hot Summer sun, but as the Narrator tells us, is in fact a story that's not a love story; well at least not the kind we've come to expect. Tom Hanson (Joseph Gordon-Levitt - of 3rd Rock from the Sun fame) has always believed that his life will only be complete when he meets his one true love. Tom had trained to be an architect but lacking belief in his abilities has been employed to write greeting cards for the past three years. Tom meets Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) when she begins working as a PA for his boss and instantly falls for her.

500 Days of Summer

After a brief courtship over work meetings and a karaoke night, Tom and Summer hook up. Summer, a victim of a divorced family, immediately lets Tom know she doesn't believe in love and doesn't want a serious relationship. This does not stop Tom from falling head over heels in love with her. When Summer breaks it off with him after 290 days, Tom is a broken man. He is helped through his devastation by counselling sessions from his two best mates, Paul (Matthew Gray Gubler) and McKensie (Geoffrey Arend) and from his worldly younger sister Rachel (Chloe Moretz) but still dreams of reconciling with Summer. Only after he finds out she is in fact engaged to another man, does the reality hit home. Tom quits his job and focuses his attention on his architecture. No longer a believer in love and feeling hopeless it is Summer that convinces Tom that he was right all along about true love and opens him up to the possibility of his own happy ending.

What I haven't told you about 500 Days of Summer, is that we start at the end, the beginning is some time after that and the middle is cut into pieces and thrown back together haphazardly and not so much chronologically. So basically we get glimpses of everything from day 3 to day 333 but it won't make any sense unless you watch the whole film. This can be a little frustrating but did keep me involved; why is Tom so miserable? what's happened to Summer? it's only day 380, what's going to happen next? Told from start to finish, 500 days of Summer wouldn't be nearly so interesting.

There are no mega stars in 500 Days of Summer but it does have a very solid all round cast. Chloe Moretz's gives a mature and very cool performance as Rachel, the younger sister with more knowledge of the world than her much older brother. Matthew Gray Gubler's Paul provided the sanity to Tom's situation but managed to be funny and quirky at the same time and Geoffry Arend was well cast as the girlfriendless work mate. Gordon-Levitt is definitely very believeable in is role as Tom and provokes the emotions I imagine director Marc Webb was after - "come on man, snap out of it". Deschanel is cute and convincing as the casual and non-committal girlfriend, a boy-girl role reversal in action.

500 Days of Summer is what I'd call a dark Rom Com, not as uplifting as some but different and edgier than most.

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The Ugly Truth

September 14th 2009 02:56

Abbie Richter (Katherine Heigl) is a career focussed, over analysing control freak who hasn’t managed to land her knight in shining armour but who is certain he exists. After pressure at work from her TV network bosses and falling ratings on her morning show, Abbie’s boss brings in a new face, Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler). Mike’s feature demonstrates what men really think and what they really want e.g. jelly wrestling. Abbie finds Mike completely offensive and sees his presence as the end of quality content in her show. The viewers, however, love him. Desperate to get rid of Mike, Abbie makes a bet with him that if he can successfully coach her into landing her new neighbour, hot Dr Colin, using his belief system of what men want, she will work with him on the show; otherwise he must leave for good . Unable to refuse the challenge, Mike accepts and sets about reinventing Abbie into the woman every man wants.

The Ugly Truth

I thought this movie was just plain funny. There is definitely a warm up period at the beginning where I was in doubt. It’s probably to do with the fact that I wasn’t used to seeing characters quite like this. Sure there’s always the devilish, cheeky or outright bad boy but he’s not normally uncouth, a bit overweight and completely unfiltered when his thoughts are concerned. It took me a while to warm to Mike Chadway but by the end he’d won me over. The writers used a few tools to soften him up including the father figure role he plays to his nephew and the revelation that he’s been screwed over by women in the past but at the end of the day I think I just liked him because he was made a really funny team with Heigl. Heigl is absolutely adorable as Abbie. She’s funny, ballsy, neurotic and totally committed to the part. I’m a huge fan and this is fantastic performance

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District 9

August 24th 2009 01:49

District 9 began its life as a short film titled “Alive in Joburg” directed by Neill Blomkamp and starring its producer Sharlto Copley. Peter Jackson entered the scene when studio politics got in the way of another project Jackson & Blomkamp were working on and Jackson decided to back Blomkamp in adapting “Alive in Joburg” into what would become “District 9”. And let me tell you; this movie is well made, well acted and about as real as a sci-fi can get. Our story begins when we meet Wikus van der Merwe (Copley), the man selected by his father-in-law boss at the private security firm MNU, to relocate the 1.8 million aliens (“shrimps”) from District 9, where they have been living since their arrival on earth, to a new compound 250 km from Johannesburg and away from the human population (yes, this is a direct parallel to the relocation of 60,000 coloured people from District 6 which was declared a whites only area in 1966).

While serving an eviction notice to one of the alien households, Wikus discovers a suspicious black fluid which he accidentally sprays on himself thus initiating a process that will slowly morph him from human to “shrimp”. He becomes a wanted man by his former employer as he now represents the critical genetic link that will enable them to harness the alien weaponry, previously useless to them

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Public Enemies

August 12th 2009 03:42

I hate to tell ya boys but amidst all the gangster action, semi-automatic weapons and needless violence Public Enemies is actually a love story. Our tale begins when John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) smuggles a few pistols (or more accurately some pretty serious firepower) into the Indiana state prison and breaks out his buddies so that they can resume the task of robbing banks.

But all is not well for our gang of thieves. The first sign of trouble is when Dillinger, out socialising in the Mafia safe haven of Chicago, falls for a part French, part Indian coat checker, Billy (Marion Cotillard). And all thieves know that bank robbing and women just don’t mix. The second sign of trouble is when J Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) decides to put a spotlight on Dillinger as a way to gain publicity for his federal police force. He appoints Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) in charge and the chase begins

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

July 28th 2009 03:58

Loosely based on the 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Benjamin Button is quite a curious case. When the town clock maker loses his only son to the great war, he builds a very special clock, one that goes backwards, in the hope that if time is reversed, his son might return to him. Alas, this was not the case. What did happen was that when a baby was born on the day the town of New Orleans celebrated the end of the war, that baby was born at the end of his life rather than the beginning. Instead of growing older with each day this child grows younger.

The biggest curiosity of the Curious Case of Benjamin Button (played by Brad Pitt) is how on earth does this work and more to the point how could it possibly be portrayed in film. The answer is…quite cleverly

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The Reader

July 26th 2009 02:06

The Reader is a touching movie of awakenment, love and self examination but will leave you wondering just how you should be feeling. Our central characters meet when Hanna (Kate Winslet), a mid thirties ticket taker on the cities trams, demonstrates an act of kindness in helping an infirm 15 year old Michael (David Kross) home when she finds him collapsed outside her building. Once recovered from the scarlet fever that had plagued him Michael returns to Hanna's flat with flowers of gratitude. The pair quickly develop an intimate and deeply sensual relationship, Hanna seeking companionship and Michael overwhelmed with feelings for the older woman. For Hanna, Michael reading to her, is his greatest gift.

Hanna and Michael

The relationship comes to an abrupt halt when Hanna is told she is to be promoted to work in the office. Rather than admit her illiteracy, she simply disappears, with no explanation to Michael. He is hurt deeply and returns to his parents. Eight years later, we discover that Hanna left to join the Secret Service and is currently on trial with five others for the murder of 300 jews. Now a law student, Michael's class is present in the court room to study the trial

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Ice Age 3 - Dawn of the Dinosaurs

July 14th 2009 01:24

In these times when animated movies are a force to be reckoned with at the box office, viewer expectations are high. While largely aimed at the younger generation, the animated movie will usually deliver a good dose humour that sails over a youngster’s head but hits the mark with the older audience. Unfortunately, grown-ups, Ice Age 3 forgot about you this time…but don’t worry, your kids will love it.

In Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Manny and Ellie are expecting their first child. Their buddy, Diego

Ice Age 3 - Dawn of the Dinosaurs

is concerned that he’s losing his edge as a hunter by settling down into family life. When Diego indicates to Sid that he’s thinking of leaving the group, Sid begins to feel all alone, alone, alone (cue, all by myself….). So when he discovers three eggs lying unattended on the ice, he decides to adopt them and create his own family

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The Proposal

July 7th 2009 02:56

Margaret (Sandra Bullock) is a successful, no-nonsense, terror-inducing book editor who is also Canadian and working in the US with a soon to expire visa. Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) is her long-suffering assistant who dreams of one day becoming editor himself. The deal - Andrew must marry Margaret so that she can stay in the country and he can get the promotion he’s been working so hard towards. Win, win situation right? Well except for the fact that they now must go to Alaska for the Grammy’s 90th birthday and convince Andrew’s entire family they’re legit all the while a particularly zealous US immigration official is determined to expose them as frauds.