Tuesday, 28 April 2009

Ghost Town


Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) isn't a people person - at all. After he "dies" for seven minutes during a routine colonoscopy he discovers he has the ability to see dead people. Dead people, chiefly Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), who need his help. Frank thinks he is still on earth because he needs to protect his wife, Gwen (Tea Leoni) from her new fiance Richard (Billy Campbell) and pesters Pincus until he helps him break them up.
We thought it was going to be an out and out comedy, with one gag after the other, but it turned out to be a sweet and gentle story about three people coming to terms with who they are in life - and death. We adored it. It was funny, moving and beautifully put together.
4 elephants.

Quantum of Solace

Bond and "M" discover an international network of power and corruption. After an assassination attempt on "M" all roads appear to lead to a shady character called Dominic Greene(Mathieu Amalric). Greene, a developer of Eco friendly technology, is helping General Medrano stage a coup in exchange for a piece of barren Bolivian land. Only Bond assisted by his latest beautiful side-kick Camille(Olga Kurylenko), stand in Greene's way.
Daniel Craig reprises his role in this latest of the James Bond franchise. This James Bond seems hard and callous. He wouldn't take candy from a baby he'd shoot it in the head. We understand where his bitterness has come from (the death of Vesper in Casino Royale) but sometimes this Bond just seems a bit too nasty. But having said that it is a great movie and in many ways perhaps this edgier Bond is more appropriate for the times we live in.
3 elephants.

Eagle Eye

Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBouef) is a loser with a super successful twin brother. When his twin dies, strange things start to happen to Jerry at a dizzying pace. Soon Jerry and a complete stranger, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) receive mysterious phone calls which throws them both together and pushes them both into ever increasing dangerous situations as they are chased across American by FBI Agent Thomas Morgan ( "musician" Billy Bob Thornton).
Eagle Eye was not on our list of must-see movies, but we are very glad we decided to watch it. This is an edge-of-your-seat thriller with an original script that holds your attention right to the end. The kind of movie that is so fast paced you are in danger of going into cardiac arrest. We loved it! A stampede of elephants could have raced across the room and we wouldn't have noticed.
We give it 4 elephants

Sunday, 29 March 2009

Jet Li's Fearless (Huo Yuan Jia)

The true story of the Chinese martial arts master, Huo Yuan Jia. The founder of the Jin Wu Sports Federation.

Yeah, we know. Another Jet Li film. But we like him, okay?? Jet Li stars in this true story of the most famous fighter in all of China at the turn of the 20th century. Spectacular fight scenes and an absorbing story that highlights how the West affected the Chinese culture when it ploughed into China. Brilliantly acted with some very emotional scenes and amazing set pieces. This is a great film, despite the horrible haircuts! Humour aside, we highly recommend this film.

4 elephants

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People


A British writer, Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) struggles to fit into life at a top notch magazine in New York.
Do we really need another movie that tells us that all people in showbiz and the media are transparent, shallow, youth-obsessed slimeballs? We think not. As per usual with this kind of movie, all the best bits are in the trailer. We giggled - twice. It really wasn't that funny and just turned out to be a run of the mill romcom with a cliche ending. The movie is based on Toby Young's memoirs and to be honest it made us embarrassed to be Brits. And other thing. In our opinion Simon Pegg (of Run Fat Boy Run fame) cannot hold his own in a movie without his hilarious sidekick Nick Frost. See Hot Fuzz and Shaun Of The Dead if you don't believe us.
1 elephant

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford) the son of mummy fighters Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evy (Maria Bello) O'Connell unearth the first Emperor of Qin with disasterous results.

You can't take a film like this seriously and you can't compare it to any other, because this is not what the film is about. It is simply a good 'ol family movie with great stunts. But we have to take issue with two things. Firstly, Rachel Weisz isn't in it and we missed her quirky take on the character. Maria Bello didn't bring anything to the movie. Secondly, c'mon now you casting people, are you serious? You cast Luke Ford as Brendan Fraser's son when in real life Luke is only thirteen years younger. The first thing we said when the movie started was that he looked way too old to play the son and that was a little distracting.

2 elephants