The Absurdly Appropriately Titled ‘About Time’ review and trailer« lloydmarken

Richard Curtis was recently on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The two of them go back a bit to when Ferguson was large alcoholic comedian and Curtis was the writer of the Blackadder and Mr Bean TV series.

Surprisingly their patter was strained. Ferguson made jokes at his own expense about times when he was suffering from his disease. Curtis at one point said I believe quite genuinely “I’m so happy to see you doing so well.”

Curtis understood the need to be funny on the late night talk show but he couldn’t trivialise the depths Ferguson had recovered from nor the heights he had scaled since. It revealed a part of his nature that has been evident in his work since the beginning. Curtis can do funny but he is quite prepared to acknowledge the harshness of life as he did in the interview and as he has in his work.

Curtis was the writer or arguably the best romantic comedies of the past two decades, certainly of those from Great Britain.  Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones Diary, Notting Hill and Love Actually all contain themes of courtship and the trend continues in his new film About Time. Curtis has publicly stated this could be the last romantic comedy he directs.

Like Clint Eastwood’s last western Unforgiven, Curtis approaches this film as if to make a final point on the sub-genre that he helped establish. Domhnall Gleeson plays a young man who on his 21^st birthday is told by his father that the men in the family can travel through time to any moment in their lives.

They just go hide in an enclosed dark space (preferably a closet ) and concentrate really hard. Tim decides he will use this gift to find love. We follow him as he falls in love with the lovable Mary played by Rachel McAdams.

Their courtship takes up the first third of the movie and the hook of the trailers has had Domhnall doing over awkward date mistakes. Stuff up the first time you have sex. Go back and do it again. Say the wrong thing when meeting the in-laws for the first time. Go back and do it again.

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War Dogs Review trailer

I like to picture Jared Leto and Jonah Hill sitting in a dark hookah bar, one-upping each other with weird, deranged laughs. Jared Leto was playing the Joker but even so, I think Jonah Hill won.

In War Dogs, Jonah Hill plays Efraim, a young 20-something high school drop out who casually becomes a multi-million-dollar arms dealer. No big deal. He brings grateful high school bud David in on the deal and soon the two of them are rolling around naked on crisp 100 dollar bills (I assume: this wasn’t in the movie, it just seems intuitive).

Do they get in over their heads? You betcha. As soon as they meet Shady Henry (They don’t call him that to his face. Or call him that ever, come to think of it) (You can tell Bradley Cooper’s shady because of the beard. And the shades) it all goes to pot. But they’re such knuckleheads they actually pound fists over surviving The Triangle Of Death just by blind luck.

 

Source: War Dogs | ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES

This Means War, a real date movie, review, trailer

This Means War is clearly a film that is targeted at people who are out on a date. It is one of those romantic comedies that tries to appeal to both men and women, by having attractive guys as well as plenty of explosions. The initial release date was later than planned but they moved the release forward so that people could go to see it on Valentine’s Day.

The action in the film is quite goofy and it is definitely below the par of what you would expect from the director, McG. This can be forgiven however because the film is actually quite funny and is definitely enjoyable by both men and women. It is certainly a chick flick, but one that guys will happily go to see as well. The film stars Chris Pine, Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hardy and it tells the story of what happens when two CIA agents fall for the same girl.

There is no denying that this sounds like a terrible storyline for a film, and most people will go in with incredibly low expectations. However, the film is pleasantly surprising and there are laughs throughout. It begins with an interesting gunfight which is sure to appeal to the men in the audience, and will make sure that they don’t leave the cinema immediately.

The scene is, however, rather over the top and it over quickly so that the women can be satisfied with the relationship problems that the film is dealing with. Chris Pine and Tom Hardy play CIA agents and they are both undercover on a cruise ship; the former is the captain and the latter is a travel agent.

Their role is actually to travel around the world and take into custody dangerous criminals. The two characters are polar opposites which makes their on-screen chemistry quite interesting. Pine plays a playboy while Hardy’s character is much more reserved. There are also best friends which makes the whole plot even more complicated.

What this does provide is a fantastic film that will satisfy both girls and guys. It does however remain a traditional romantic comedy and the explosions at times feel thrown into the film as a way just to satisfy the men, but it does work.

There are numerous twists in the film and the action scenes build quite satisfyingly. By the time the end comes around you will so grateful that it is only 90 minutes long as this is probably the perfect length. The film is very funny and you will remain entertained right from the first moment through to the very end.

Those to go to see This Means War begrudgingly and with preconceptions will be the most pleasantly surprised and probably won’t be able to stop smiling throughout the entire film. The balance of its content is really what makes this flick a bit different, it’s not too boring for the guys and not too flashy the girls and it’s certainly not as ridiculous as you are probably thinking.

Zookeeper a gimmick movie that shouldnt be let out of the cage review trailer

 

The setting of Zookeeper starring Kevin James is the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. The movie is about James trying to win back the lady of his dreams with the help of some talking animals that act like Dr. Phil by dispensing advice on mating and dating. What comes through quite loud and clear in the film is the life lesson they put across It is not what the filmmakers may have intended, the stick to who you are and love will come along, no it is something entirely different than that.

The movie makes innocent and naïve people like Griffin Keyes played by James hope they can have the sultry veterinarian Kate played by Rosario Dawson or the beautiful leggy Stephanie played by Leslies Bibb. Also, we are to believe that in five years working together Griffin never glanced at Kate with animalistic intentions. How is that possible when the actress exudes exoticness and sensuality even in safari khakis.

But poor casting is the least of Zookeeper’s worries. The story and script of which five writers had a hand including James is nothing shy of boring. James is doing exacting what he has done since the King of Queens.

He can go through all the ups and downs of the movie and all his misadventures like taking a quill to the cheek, splitting his pants are kissing a rock with his face. The bottom line is it is just the same gimmick as before and gets old quickly. What is sad is that James has the talent he has shown it before when the script was there for him.

In the movie the animals decide to romantically intervene on benefit of Griffin. They get fed up with his attitude and break their silence. Because they want to see him win back Stephanie who when you last saw her was dumping the poor guy after he proposed to her at the beach. What Stephanie wants is a sugar daddy and not a zookeeper.

Five years have passed and he is still carrying on with a broken heart. But all sparks fly when Stephanie shows up at the zoo to attend Griffin’s brother Dave’s engagement party. Dave offers to give his brother a job at the dealership selling luxury cars since that is how Dave got beautiful girls like Stephanie. The animals immediately worry Griffin will leave so they intervene each given the opportunity to share its wisdom and their own unmistakable ways.

What is difficult is the lack of continuity of the movie and how it shows things that are supposed to be Boston but are not. But things that pass for comedy are Ken Jeong as Venom who talks the gangsta talk and without a doubt the movie’s best part was while eating at a T.G.I. Friday’s Griffin who had taken Bernie out for the night end up jamming to Flo Rida’s Low party and slow dancing with ladies in the crowd.

Trishna, Tess of the D’Urbervilles in India review trailer

 

Take a classic novel, transplant it into the Indian subcontinent, and put a noted director at the helm and what do you get? Trishna. The novel is Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles and in the hands of Michael Winterbottom, this centuries old tale is brought to life in modern day India, with the enchanting Frieda Pinto in the lead role.

The Slumdog Millionaire star shows that she is way more than just a pretty face in this quite brilliant modern adaptation of a favorite oldie. Trishna is a bright, young peasant girl trying to make her mark in today’s India. Following the arc of the original Trishna is, as Hardy fondly described Tess, a pure woman, and we follow her on a journey that gives her both hope and disappointment in equal measures.

The journey starts in Rajasthan, her home village, into the smart hotels where she works hard to cater for spoilt, western tourists and a brief dalliance with Mumbai where she tries to break into the film industry known as Bollywood, where dreams are manufactured for the masses. This all accumulates in Trishna asserting herself in an act of pure desperation which, invariably, ends in tragedy.

Michael Winterbottom is one of the most respected British directors, and in his eyes he sees the bustling Indian society very like the rapidly changing face of England that Hardy so eloquently observed in his original book. He places Trishna firmly in this turbulent world, and it’s interesting to note that the double standards concerning the behaviour and treatment of the sexes is still very much in existence today.

He has also, thankfully, much simplified the complex plot that Hardy weaved, and has also dropped nearly all the religious references. One of the boldest steps he took while creating this movie is combining the two main male roles from the original into a single character.

The smug and superior son of the Manse, Angel Clare, and the idle and lascivious inheritor Alec D’Urberville meld into Jay Singh, the educated son and heir of a property developer. He has made his money by transforming former Indian palaces into a chain of hotels for tourists from the west. Jay is a double edged sword in that he is Trishna’s true love but also her seducer. It is their relationship that grabs your attention, particularly at the end.

This reworking isn’t perfect, it has both pros and cons. Purists may argue that the toning down of the original’s complexity weakens the story, whereas you also have to consider that the rambling narrative it dispenses with transforms it into a tight story. Frieda Pinto shines in this movie, and it is a testament to her talent that one so beautiful can so brilliantly portray a girl who is so uncertain of herself and her whole identity.

Slumdog Millionaire turned Ms Pinto into an international star, and Trishna will keep her there. Riz Ahmed is also excellent as Jay Singh, and pulls of a difficult part with style. This beautiful couple make an awesome screen presence, and this movie is well worth a look.

 

 

Answers to Nothing review trailer

Movies that have storylines that crash through each other are not only produced in LA, but the city does seem to be well suited to them because it’s one of the only places where strangers are not likely to have much to do with each other, therefore the theory of six degrees of separation is a bit more intriguing.

There have been plenty of stories written in this fashion and based in LA such as Magnolia, and Crash, and now a new Matthew Leutwyler film called Answers to Nothing that features a group of lost souls that are attempting to get over their own personal demons.

The basic plot line of the movie revolves around the search for a missing girl in a neighborhood that the strangers share, but they do not have much more in common outside of knowing of the missing girl and the fact that they are all ok with being less than perfect as long as no one else knows it. Packed with sociopaths, the plot will make most people a bit queasy, but only because some of the less than brilliant revelations are not so farfetched and can be a bit disturbing to swallow.

One of the main characters attempts to justify their own form of vigilante work, while another one thinks that it’s best not to tell his wife about the affair he is in the middle of to protect her from any pain. Another is filled with self-loathing racism and these are just the more positive characters which should offer just a brief illustration of the dark nature of the movie.

There is a sense that the film is supposed to be a bit emphatic, but unless Leutwyler is really this dark then it is actually hard to connect with the characters because they just invoke feelings of distaste. Despite this fact, however, the movie is almost worth seeing due to a performance by Dane Cook, and the stand-up comedian really seems at home in a dramatic role which is pretty unlikely given his previous history of work.

Cook does a wonderful job of coming off as a jerk that is callous and shallow and it’s fun to watch him try to get emotionally invested in anything and because Cook does such a wonderful job it’s hard to imagine this character gets any type of closure or growth out of anything he does.

Also wonderful is Aja Volkman who plays the mistress of Cook’s character Ryan.  Ryan is a shrink that should be focused on the fertility treatments his wife is getting to help them have a child, but of course he is more interested in the rock star Tara and what she can do below the belt.

Both the women are treated pretty horribly and Ryan is quickly established as the one to hate without reason because while he may have some daddy issues, as a shrink you would think he could do a little better job of dealing with them.