Here’s another brilliant video by the guys at How It Should Have Ended. I couldn’t imagine a better ending to the movie! ;-)
Archive for category Comedy
All About Steve
Feb 16
I don’t know why Sandra Bullock has received so much criticism for her acting in All About Steve. And at the same time she was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actress category for her work in The Blind Side. I will admit that I’m a Bullock fan, but nonetheless I can’t see any reason why her acting in All About Steve could be considered less than par.
Mary Horowitz (played by Bullock) is an introvert crossword puzzle constructor who falls in love with Steve (Bradley Cooper), a cameraman for a local news network. Fearing being single for the rest of her life, she follows Steve as he travels across the country, chasing news stories with his crew. At first Steve thinks that Mary is crazy, and starts panicking every time she’s near. But when both of them are faced with disaster, they each learn something valuable about the other.
While watching the movie, I was dreading the ending that was most probable, but was then surprised when it turned out differently. It felt very refreshing seeing a more realistic conclusion to the story (which I won’t reveal). Maybe this movie isn’t for everyone, but I definitely enjoyed it.
The cast in Valentine’s Day is phenomenal. Included are Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Jamie Fox, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, and Taylor Swift. I don’t know how they got so many well-known actors and actresses to sign up for this, but it did pay off. It was the first thing that made me curious about this movie. And then, after seeing the trailer, I knew I was going to watch it.
Valentine’s Day takes the proven “multiple storylines” formula, makes us identify with at least one of the stories, and then interweaves all the lines in very intriguing ways. At its heart this is a movie about love. Not necessarily just about the “butterflies in my stomach” kind of love, but about most of the aspects of relationships that you go through at some point or another (good and bad). I’m not going to go into the story at all, since there are so many parts to cover – it would take too long, and reveal too much.
What I liked about this movie is that it portrayed relationships more realistic than most other movies would. With some of the characters there’s a happy end, for others there’s not. And in a few instances some very good relationship values, that other movies shy away from, come through. This movie provides quite a lot of laughs too, so it’s quite a good entertainment package. Do yourself a favour on Valentine’s Day, and go watch Valentine’s Day.
I heard about Up in the Air (directed by Jason Reitman) about 6 months ago, in the UK. Of course it was released there shortly after I was back in SA, so I had to wait a while longer for it to be released here. But it was worth the wait.
Ryan Bingham (Played by George Clooney) works for a company that helps other companies fire their employees. Ryan is this company’s top “consultant”, and travels across the country most of the year, telling dozens of people every day that they’re being “let go”. Over the time he’s grown to love the travelling, and it has become his life. When his company employs Natalie (played by Anna Kendrick), who plans to make his travelling obsolete by introducing new technology, Ryan is not impressed. He is then instructed to take Natalie along with him for a few weeks, to show her the ropes. The struggle to deal with all the changes that threaten the life he’s learned to love brings many new experiences and Ryan learns much about what is missing in his life.
I really enjoyed watching this movie, because it dared to delve beyond the superficial. Ryan’s difficulty in dealing with change speaks about a lot of things we face nowadays. Ryan is used to being alone most of the time, and is only focused on his own goals, but starts to wonder whether a complete lack of any meaningful relationship might be a concern. Is it really worth it, living so isolated and separated from anything deeper than a mere acquaintance? I won’t tell you what his conclusion is – you’ll have to go watch Up in the Air yourself. It’s a great movie.
The Spy Next Door
Feb 12
How hard is it, as a foreigner, to learn English over many years of acting in English movies? Apparently very. While Jackie Chan is great for action and combat scenes, he still can’t string together a sentence with each word pronounced correctly. I would have expected a little more.
His latest Hollywood movie, The Spy Next Door, is a laugh. But not for the right reasons. I found myself laughing at a lot of things that are just totally unrealistic and seem a bit stupid. But I guess this film wasn’t intended for intelligent, discerning adults that expect a certain level of sophistication. It’s probably better suited as a family movie that parents watch with their kids. At that level it would probably not seem so… simple.
The first thing that irked me was the relationship between Bob (played by Jackie Chan) and Gillian (played by Amber Valletta). We don’t get any back story or anything to help us identify with their relationship. It’s just suddenly there. And I couldn’t feel it at all. It didn’t make any sense why two totally different people like that would fall in love. Not that it couldn’t happen, but with no background it’s harder to believe.
The bottom line is this: it’s more of a family movie (if your family includes kids), so just bare that in mind if you do decide to go watch it. If you approach it as such, you might enjoy it a lot more. :)
I’m coming to trust Marc Lawrence to write witty comedies time and time again. And each time it will star Hugh Grant. Did you hear about the Morgans (2009) was no exception. Hugh Grant plays a lawyer who’s separated from his wife (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) because he’s cheated on her. But he deeply regrets this mistake and wants to make it up to his wife. It’s at this point that they both witness a murder, are spotted by the murderer, and are subsequently taken into protective custody by the police. During this time their relationship is put to the test, while the murderer plots to find them at their secret location. For the rest you’ll have to watch the movie.
What struck me immediately was how Hugh Grant’s character had the exact same personality of the characters he played in Two Weeks Notice and Music and Lyrics. Incidentally both of those were also written by Marc Lawrence. Seems to me this guy is writing his movies specifically with Hugh Grant in mind. Not that that’s a criticism. I love this type of character if he’s played by Hugh Grant. He does such a good job of it.
One thing that might be considered a criticism is that it’s rather slow-paced. There’s no real action until the very end. But I guess that’s just a matter of taste. Personally this didn’t bother me. The movie is more about the relationship between the two characters anyway. It’s about how they deal with their issues.
Marc Lawrence’s humour is always something I enjoy. It’s mostly a few levels (intellectually) above the humour in your usual comedies nowadays. I just love it when someone makes the effort to think of a clever joke instead of resorting to material of “below-the-belt” nature. For that I applaud Marc Lawrence.
If you liked Two Weeks Notice and Music and Lyrics, this one will not disappoint. It’s not necessarily better than the two aforementioned movies, but it’s definitely a good watch.
After seeing the trailer for Planet 51 (2009, starring Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Gary Oldman, and Justin Long), it seemed like a very funny story. So when the time came, I was looking forward to a few laughs. The story is about an astronaut who lands on a planet, expecting no intelligent life. Of course, he discovers the opposite is true, and learns what it’s like being the “alien” for once. I won’t bore you with any more details.
I was quite disappointed with this movie. Firstly, the trailer already showed all the funniest parts. The rest was slightly amusing, at best. And while it wasn’t a “bad” movie, it didn’t capture my imagination enough. Furthermore, the plot wasn’t particularly gripping. It was straight-forward and offered no depth.
For quite a short movie, this one felt very drawn out. I constantly kept thinking, “this is dragging on too long”. If you don’t mind a movie that offers not much more than a few chuckles, you might not mind watching Planet 51. But for most people I’d say this one’s not worth it.
