Tag Archive for just seen

Cowboys & Aliens

January 3, 2012 DVD, Just Seen, Sci-Fi
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Movie: Cowboys & Aliens
Director:  Jon Favreau
Writers: Roberto Orci (screenplay), Alex Kurtzman(screenplay), and 7 more 
Stars:  Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde

Okay I did not really want to see this movie. Come on: Cowboys and Aliens? Really? Doesn’t that just sound like every bad B movie ever made? When I finally did hire it, I made sure everyone who was listening heard the words “well it’s not for me, it’s for the kids, it’s to review, there’s nothing else left in the store today.”  And the video store owner kindly pretended he hadn’t heard any of it when, upon returning the movie, I gushed “that was awesome” in a tone that bore a disturbing resemblance to the one my kids use when coming off a roller coaster.

First of all, let’s be honest, with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford headlining this one, it really couldn’t lose could it? I like Daniel Craig a lot as an actor despite being somewhat ambivalent about him as James Bond (too serious for me) and far from being wasted on this role, he made it work. As for Ford, I have long suspected the man could play the part of a guy reading the phone book and pull it off.  Come on – does anyone really buy the idea of the President going from Air Force One to another plane via a cobbled together flying fox? No – except during those three seconds that Ford-as-President actually did it; in those three seconds, we bought it. And we didn’t hold it against him when the movie ended and the spell had worn off. So, Ford as the rough, tough, my-way-or-the-highway, town bully with a heart of (dusty) gold also worked.  The combination of these two more than made up for the rare “oh please” moments in the film.

And to be honest -there were precious few of those moments.  After all, if we accept the idea of people being abducted by aliens – even if only for the duration of the film – then why would this only occur from the mid 20th century?  Adapted from Scott Mitchell Rosenberg’s  2006 graphic novel of the same name, Cowboys & Aliens tells the story of Jake Lonergen (Craig), an amnesiac (being snatched by aliens will do that to you) who, with the help of Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford) and the msyterious and beautiful Ella Swanson (played by Olivia Wilde – possibly best remembered as Thirteen, Hugh Laurie’s foil for a while in the series House),  has to try to save a group of townspeople from alien abduction. In good old fashioned Western tradition the local Indian tribe gets involved – they’re being abucted too – and everyone must join forces against a common enemy.

Yes it does sound all very far fetched and somewhat silly. It shouldn’t work. But it does. In no small part because the actors are just so damned good.  You can’t help but get caught up in the story and the  - I hate to say this but it’s true – fun of the adventure. Think Indiana Jones meets Star Wars. You can’t help cheering for the cowboys and booing the aliens and just generally having a good time.

There are some heavy duty producers behind the film too, which I’m sure went a long way to helping the finished product look a million miles from B-Grade, among them  Ron Howard, and as executive producer Steven Spielberg.

If you haven’t seen it yet, get the kids, a bowl of popcorn, kill the lights and sit back and have some fun. You won’t be sorry.

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The King’s Speech

November 28, 2011 DVD, Just Seen
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Director: Tom Hooper
Writer: David Seidler (screenplay)
Stars:  Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter

Since I am possibly the last person on the planet to see this movie, I probably am the last person on the planet who should be reviewing it. Nothing I can possibly add will make any difference – especially as I was bowled over by it as everybody else.

I’ve long been a fan of the three main characters and they have been widely and deservedly praised for their performances.  Not only were they outstanding each in their own right, but none of them overshadowed the others at any point.

There was however, for me, another actor who stood out and whose performance I found equally as impressive and that was Timothy Spall  who played Winston Churchill. If you came away wondering where you had seen Spall before and just couldn’t work it out, go and raid your kid’s Harry Potter DVDs – Spall played the traitorous Wormtail. He was also in Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland and Enchanted to name but a few. I’ve always thought he was a good character actor, but I was wrong… he’s a brilliant character actor.

The Man of the House (TMotH) was as impressed with the movie as I was – and that is big praise indeed since he’s not quite the movie fanatic I am.  We both agreed that what took this movie to a higher level was the cinematography – at no point did the settings, scenery or even just the filming get in the way of the story the characters were telling. Yet at the same time, it wasn’t so stark as to be bland.

Directed and filmed with subtlety and delivered with discretion and respect, The King’s Speech is a classic already and should be a must have on any collector’s shelf.

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Breaking Dawn Pt 1

November 28, 2011 Just Reviewed, Just Seen, Movies, Paranormal
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Movie:   The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
Director:  Bill Condon
Writers: Melissa Rosenberg, Stephenie Meyer (novel)
Stars:  Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner

I admit I enjoyed the first Twilight story – both the book and the movie (though my preference would definitely sit with the book). The sparkly vampires didn’t bother me, mostly because I never thought of Twilight as anything but a love story.  No different to Romeo and Juliet (and yes I know I’m going to be in the brown, sticky stuff for comparing the two but come on, romance is romance okay?) By the time I got to Breaking Dawn I have to say I was over it and my honest opinion was Twilight not only could have stood alone as a single title, it should have.  But who am I to argue with the spending power of tweens the world over?  Especially when my 11 year old daughter is one of those tweens.

So having sat through all the other movies with her – and relieved to find that apart from a mild interest in Jacob, she’s not yet interested in the more intimate details of the love triangle – I was roped in to see Breaking Dawn.  Evidently it doesn’t fall under the scope of things you can bribe older brothers into doing on your behalf. I will grudgingly concede I have enjoyed Robert Pattinson’s other films, notably Remember Me, so I suppose it’s safe to put me in the Team Edward camp.

Which is why you could find me a week ago, at Hoyts munching on popcorn and wondering just how much  Pattinson were we actually going to see and who would be more uncomfortable – me or Miss 11?

The most striking thing about this movie is listening to the girls in the theatre – most of whom were between 11 and 16 the day we went.  Teams Jacob and Edward were either evenly split that day, or when bare chests are revealed allegiance is thrown to the wind…hmmm from what I remember of being that age, it’s probably the latter….

Wedding planners the world over probably adore Breaking Dawn – I’m sure it has done more for making a wedding ceremony desirable than any royal nuptials have in the past fifty years.  Yes, the wedding scene is long and drawn out and just a bit tedious – but then aren’t wedding ceremonies that way anyway, no matter how excited or happy you might be? The Dress was certainly a scene stealer- although the mixed message of ‘very sensual virgin’ may have (hopefully) been lost on the audience.  Pattinson, who normally does have a certain sex appeal (okay I think I’m officially in Team Edward with that statement), looked pale and wishy-washy throughout the wedding scene and I found his declaration of love mildly nauseating – but judging by the wave of sighs that went through the cinema that was not a feeling shared by other viewers.

Which brings us to The Honeymoon Scene. To be honest, I think this was the best part of the entire film – and I don’t mean that the way you think I do. This was the scene I worried about the most with regards to my daughter. I’m no prude but honestly how explicit does it need to be for this age group?  So I was very relieved when it was very tasteful, with pretty much everything left to the imagination and only the merest hints of innuendo.  Pattinson no longer looked like he was about to expire (can vampires do that?) and Stewart was convincing and amusing in her nervousness.  All in all, it was…nice and I think a few of the older teens there got a lesson in just how powerful ‘less is more’ can be.

Sadly, it went downhill from there.  Bella’s pregnancy was even more drawn out than the wedding, which is ironic given that it’s a supernaturally fast pregnancy and the ending was predictable even if you hadn’t read the books.

It’s not the greatest movie out there but it is not exactly the worst either. There are worse movies your teens could be seeing.  There is nothing explicit and there’s nothing overly disturbing (the birth of a vampire-human baby not withstanding  - and to be honest that’s a storm in a teacup too) and if there’s no award winning performances in it, well were you expecting there to be?

Twilight Breaking Dawn Pt 1 is what it sets out to be: the winding up of the story. The ends are being tied of nice and neatly. This is good – if only because it means that after next year’s release of Part Two, I won’t have to sit through any more of them.

RATING: 4/10

 

 

 

 

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