QUICKIES
The Expendables 2 - An odd film. Part of you feel that EX2 is trying to be a parody of action movies in the same way Scream is of slasher movies. It veers from cliche to cliche with either sullen seriousness or violent camp. It never, however, gets the right level of fun from the utter rubbish that the first film did. You feel sorry for Crews, Couture and Lundgren who put the work in before Arnie and Willis are brought in at the end for the fanboy wankfest of seeing them with Stallone on screen killing badguys. Of which, JCVD is totally underused and seems to be evil because the film needs a villain. Norris, when he is onscreen, steals the movie from everyone by just being the action movie force of nature that he is. Final Rating: 2/5
The Shadow - To be honest, what lets this film down is the fact that the villain is crap. That is through no fault of John Lone who tries his best, it is a mistake made by the creators of the movie. Alec Baldwin is sufficiently gruff as the hero atoning for his past. The rest of the cast, however, are a bit of a mixed bag. It is the director, Mulcahy, who steals this movie. Whilst he is let down by a poor script, he creates a visually wonderful world that captures the feel of 1930's New York and the pulp roots of the character. Final Rating: 2.5/5
Airplane! - Easily one of the funniest movies ever made. If one joke misses you, or you don't find it that funny, don't worry there'll be two or three more hitting you straight after. Though the breakout star was Nielsen, and he showed a comedy genius in this film, the true star is the brilliant Lloyd Bridges. Though, to name stars takes away from the rest of the cast. A movie that is funny with the 100th watch as it was the first, pure comedy. Final Rating: 5/5
Hitch - A warm, affable, charming and amusing romantic comedy. A fine leading and support cast. Yes, it falls into the cliches of the genre and, frankly, it is nowhere near the level of an Ephron written romcom. However, there is something enjoyable about this fluffy piece of cinema that has no doubt to do with the chemistry of Mendes and Smith. On the face of this movie, you kinda feel sorry that Kevin James, who puts in a likable performance, has fallen in with the Adam Sandler crowd. Final Rating: 3/5
Jennifer's Body - Diablo Cody blew with away with the exceptional Juno. To say that Megan Fox was one of the better aspects of Transformers 1 and 2 is damning with faint praise. Here she pulls of creepy and attractive quite well, despite being a model more than an actress. Cody delivers a fun script that understands horror as a metaphor but it is not the level of Juno or Young Adult. The director, Karyn Kusama, delivers some fine visual and creates the requisite creepy atmosphere. This is, however, feels flat. It is not a gory or particularly scary film, it is enjoyable, and cannot decide whether it wants to be a horror or comedy whilst never veering toward one genre long enough to be satisfying. Final Rating: 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment