Walk the Line

If you have not yet seen the film, there may be some spoilers in here for you!
So look away or I’ll… do something untoward to y’all.

Well I had planned that we go see Walk the Line two weeks previous, but as it turned out the screening was too late and the film was too long, so we saw it this week instead, and contrary to what my older sister stood by –it looks crap- I found it to be a good film.

For one, I did not expect anyone else to be in the screen watching it with us, –as usual- I was even more surprised to find that the larger proportion of people taking up the seat were probably at the youngest 65+

Directed by James Mangold –from Copland and Identity- Starring Joaquin Phoenix (John R. Cash), Reese Witherspoon (June Carter), Ginnifer Goodwin (Vivian Cash), Robert Patrick (Ray Cash), Dallas Roberts (Sam Philips), Dan John Miller (Luther Perkins), Larry Bagby (Mashall Grant), and Shelby Lynne (Carrie Cash)

What can I say; the film follows the life of American singer Johnny Cash up until the year 1969. Growing up on a small farm with his family, an accident with a work saw leads to the death of his brother Jack. Speeding up to about 10+ years the film follows Cash as he joins the army and begins to write songs, we speed ahead in time again to where the focus of the film begins; the 60s a time of singing, drugs and women for Mr Cash. As well as divorce marriage and singing in a prison, whoa that was like six spoilers at once, someone put me out, ‘cos I’m on fire here…

Well judging from the films audience I would say it’s for fans of Johnny Cash, or at least people that know who he is. Although I would recommend it for a person that can stand country-esque rock music in a film about a drug addict that looses faith in pretty much everything with a bit of comedy and romance on the side, then watch away; I find that some people these days are very narrow-minded about the films that they watch. I can say that I myself am guilty of such sin, but it’s only because I will not stand to watch most teen horror and most teen comedy, but I’m pretty sure that I am not the only person out there.

Larry Bagby played Larry in Buffy, now that’s where I remembered him from!
I know that due to its release at the opportunistic time that both Phoenix and Witherspoon were both nominated for certain awards due to their portrayals, and I can’t say I blame the award-people… not that I knew June Carter and Johnny Cash personally. But I felt that they’re singing was almost identical to that of their targets, and it will probably revive Cash somewhat, if not here then in America.

Well with the screenplay being based on Cash’s autobiographies I did not actually know what the film was about, nor did I know Cash’s life history, so I can safely say that I did not know what would take place in the film. Though I can say that Gill Dennis who co-wrote the screenplay played Man with a Cigar in Eraserhead, such a small world!

I’ve got to say, this was probably the second film wherein an actor/actress impressed me through singing the songs themselves (the other film was Nicholas Cage singing Love me Tender in Wild at Heart… which was a little creepy in the film)

Well one point in particular that I liked about the film –strangely enough- was that the two Phoenix and Witherspoon really looked like they were involved in the film, for instance in the duets they sing together, they have a good chemistry which makes the film that more enjoyable.
Now I’ve already mentioned the fact that the actors went through vocal training and such, but they are excellent with singing, Cash’s voice is almost identical. Now with Phoenix it wasn’t too much of a surprise that he would do a good job. It was Reese-Legally Blond-Witherspoon that was the real surprise of the film, besides her own singing in the film her onstage performances were the highpoint of her character –off stage she just seemed to nag a bit.
Alongside these points, I must also say I love when a film based on what could be seen as a serious matter, can also turn around and be funny in point, so its not always ha-ha funny, but sweet funny, and its always nice when a film reaches this particular point.

Well as per usual I cannot think of many bad points to the film, although I was a little surprised that they ended it so soon in 1969, and unless someone makes another biopic following after, people will never know exactly what happened to Mr Cash and his re-discovery of god an-all..

Well for an overall comment I thought it was a good film, although I could probably only recommend it to open minded people (that will watch any film), or fans of Johnny Cash –my older sister would not touch the film due to its relation to him, whom she apparently detests.

Cptalbertwesker Rating – 8/10
A nice film, but I did not like the group of four old ladies sat behind myself and my sister that needed to talk to each other about the film, but thankfully they did not spoil the film that much.

Final Destination 3

If you have not yet seen the film, there may be some spoilers in here for you!  
If you have not, then I will have to kill you in a very clever and inconceivable manner!

After enjoying the original Final Destination, and its chain of events that cause death to each character I felt that as it was the only decent film showing I should go and see it.

I was pleased to see that James Wong (X-files writer, and writer/director of the original Final Destination) had returned to direct the third film in the likely ongoing series.
Some anecdotes of my first viewing of a film during the school half terms: oh my god! For one the screen was almost packed, I had to sit next to some guy who felt the need to omit the word “Savage” every time he witnessed someone die, though this was  no where near as bad as the group of four girls sitting at the back of the cinema, shouting as though it were funny during the adverts, only to be told by almost everyone in the screen to shush.

Directed by James Wong –Of the X-files :D – and starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Wendy), Ryan Merriman (Kevin), Kris Lemche (Ian), Alexz Johnson (Erin), Sam Easton (Frankie), Jesse Moss (Jason), Gina Holden (Carrie), Texas Battle (Lewis), Chelan Simmons (Ashley), and Crystal Lowe (Ashlynn)

The film follows a group of teenagers in a graduation class that visit a fair as a sort of last trip. A large group of them pile onto a rollercoaster, but Wendy (Winstead) is not so sure of the whole idea, finally giving in, she joins her friends as they slowly begin the motions that would lead to their death.
Much like the other films in the series, the film begins with a premonition and leads to a select few escaping death. While the rest of the film tracks the deaths of each individual, not as inventive as the two previous films, but all as entertaining.

The actors and feel of the movie made it clearly known that this was a film for teenagers, going back to its roots, Final Destination 3 follows high school students rather than normal aged people.
I would say that it is a film that would attract people my age, rather than that of an older crowd… though I say this and I saw two older couples (late 30-40) at my particular screening.

The actors were nowhere near exceptional; after all for such a movie was I to expect any better? The acting was sub par, and nobody really stood out, sorry actor people … Though I can say that Chelan Simmons and Crystal Lowe were good at playing stupid bimbo type ditzy ladies.

In comment to the screenplay it was much better than that of the second movie; with only slightly referring back to the original films making Final Destination 3 a lot easier to tolerate than its direct predecessor. The same can also be said in regards to the films dialogue and characters, I was pleasantly surprised that the characters were fairly innocent throughout, and the screenplay kept me guessing.

The soundtrack was like any other teen movie, though I felt the continual use of “Turn Around, Look at me” was rather funny, and I believe that my sister would agree.

One definite plus to the film was it was nothing like Final Destination 2; which as you may have guessed, I appalled. Even though the film could have been, it was not a revisit to the original films, they were mentioned in accordance and that was all...
I suppose another point that I love of the film is that it is a sequel (which usually suck and I wouldn’t see) but there was no doubt that I wouldn’t enjoy the film (thankfully this was the case).

Unlike the original film and the sequel I found that the causation of the deaths were rather bland, and easy to predict (with perhaps the exception of Frankie… you knew the car was gonna crash, didn’t see that fan coming :P), for this I did not enjoy the film so much, but it was pretty well done all the same.
There is something that I cannot quite put my finger on in terms of the film, perhaps I did not enjoy how it was all put together, especially with most of the characters being fairly obnoxious, and extremely materialistic. For instance everyone owns a Mac, no PCs, only Macs, second… ‘oh I forgot my iPod!’ dear god!! But nowhere near as bad as ‘man when I die, will you bring me something like a PSP to play on?’ Um… HELLO!?? Advertising people!!… for this I probably could not stand the film, I hate… no, I detest blatant advertising like ‘oh look at my fantastic …..’, its almost like in the Truman show when Meryl advertises household objects because they are actually on TV advertising.

Overall it was a good film, tons better than the second, but not as good as the original. Not intended for the squeamish; trust me the film is full of blood, decapitation etc. I would recommend it to fans of the horror/teen movie genre, no real difference in the film to that of its predecessors.

Cptalbertwesker Rating – 6/10
An ok film, but would have perhaps been more enjoyable if the cinema was devoid of annoying people

Munich

If you have not yet seen the film, there may be some spoilers in here for you!  
If you have not seen it, then I shall terrorise you (that’s real bad, sorry)

I hold a great amount of respect for Steven Spielberg, mainly because I cannot stand the hoards of people that seem to think he is an awful example of Hollywood. I mean really… all of his films are usually good and yet most stuck up film students will laugh at someone calling him their favourite director… its stupid that’s what it is.

I knew that I would be going to see Munich as soon as I had heard about it… Spielberg makes some good films, and I was not surprised that once again he had made another.

Directed by Steven Spielberg –of rather large fame- Starring Eric Bana (Avner), Daniel Craig (Steve), Ciaran Hinds (Carl), Mathieu Kassovitz (Robert), Hanns Zischler (Hans), Ayelet Zorer (Daphna) and Geoffrey Rush (Ephraim).

I found Munich to be rather strange with the tons of actors from many different countries and thought it a nice change from just Americans, I thought it was really ‘nice’ to have actors like Mattieu Kassovitz and Moritz Bleibtreu as well as Daniel Craig, Eric Bana and Geoffrey Rush on the side is really unusual for such a high profile film.
Anyway, about the film; its based on the 1972 Olympics, in which the whole Israeli team were taken hostage and killed. The film follows the assassinations of members of Black September, the group that organised the situation. This is all seen through the eyes of Avner (Bana) who leads the team of agents (Craig, Kassovitz, Hinds, and Zischler) to assassinate their targets.

I don’t believe I have any quick opinions of the film, it was interesting, I had attempted to watch Black Sunday once, but it failed to get my attention, whereas Munich had all the pizzazz of a regular Spielberg film, darting across countries, troubled characters, etc.
Judging from the ranges of ages that saw it at my cinema it attracted many people.

What can I say about the actors, everyone seemed pretty top-notch, I didn’t really like Daniel Craig, but that’s probably because he’s British and looks weird, but the performances given by all were pretty much appreciated by myself, though no one stood out as omigod amazing.

As far as I can remember the screenplay was pretty flawless, and thoughtful, little in the way of predictable dialogue, which was very much a plus in a film that could have gone in a completely different direction.

If anything I can say that John Williams’s style sounds really different, whereas in Star Wars and Superman sound very alike, I have recently felt that War of the Worlds, and Munich hardly sounded like him. Although there are composers out there that have stuck to their style throughout like Thomas Newman; you can always tell when he has composed a score, the same goes for Jon Brion.

I can’t say I have seen many ‘assassination’ movies, but of all the ones I have seen I must say I very much enjoyed Munich, I believe most of all I think the flashbacks to what happened to the Israelis were very well received by myself, giving much more character to these 11 hostages, for which the film didn’t appear to be showing much of. The other main bonus of the film was the hoards of great actors, which strangely enough Spielberg’s films are full of.

I cannot think of anything bad… I may just be thinking too highly of it, but at the moment, the film was pretty awesome, although a friend of mine complained that it was too slow, though I did not find this myself. Only bad thing I can think is that the film went too fast! Seeing as the end came rather abruptly.

Overall it was a pretty good film, quite a bit of violence (as a warning) and bombs exploding, so if you are sensitive to that sort of thing, I suppose you should not watch it, otherwise I suspect I would recommend it to anyone.

Cptalbertwesker Rating – 8/10
It was a good film, first cinema experience that made me jump. Only aspects I didn’t care too much for was the old lady behind me that spoke rather loudly and the usher tore my tickets in half!! I had to tape them back together again!

Fun with Dick and Jane

If you have not yet seen the film, there may be some spoilers in here for you!
If you haven’t seen it then I will…. Steal your eyes or something

Fun with Dick and Jane was, I suppose a spur of the moment choice, it was that or Jarhead/Brokeback Mountain (the other two choices ending too late) so yeah, we picked the less thought out comedy *yay* But um, anyway it was alright.

We were placed in the same screen as Cinderella Man (i.e. mahusive), and once again only a few people were watching the film. What a coincidence.

Directed by Dean Parisot –who has never directed anything that I can say that I have watched, other than episodes of television shows- Starring Jim Carrey (Dick Harper), Tea Leoni (Jane Harper), Alec Baldwin (Jack McCallister) and Richard Jenkins (Frank Boscombe).

When a family go bankrupt due to a large case of fraud in Dicks company; eventually leading to the decimation of the corporation, Dick and Jane (Carrey and Leoni) resort to stealing/bank robbing in order to regain the life that they once had. This of course results in many humorous scenarios, and ultimately allows Dick to get all the pension money lost of the employees from Jack McCallister who staged the whole fraud thing.

It was generally a family film, granted not my usual cup of tea. But it was made for all ages, appealing to old and young audiences due to Carrey’s physical humour, and the references to the collapses of these major corporations such as Enron and Worldcom.

In comment to the actors I have little to say, Tea Leoni was a nominal female support, like any in a film such as Fun with Dick and Jane. Jim Carrey of course was the half decent reason of the film, alongside Richard Jenkins (if you ask me) who I found rather strange. Alec Baldwin was just playing pretty much the same role I’ve seen him in recently.

Being a remake, and a family film it was easy to predict what would happen in the film, the spontaneous way that goals were achieved, or attempted on the other hand I felt were rather unpredictable. Otherwise it felt like a regular Sunday afternoon family film, nothing spectacular.

The film was probably not something that I would jump at the chance to see; sure it’s got Jim Carrey in it, and I am in the group that find him funny.. but otherwise the film doesn’t really have anything going for it, ‘cept a few laughs. The physical comedy involved when Dick is trying to take his gun out of his hoodie was rather funny.

The film seemed too… I don’t know, perhaps it was the screenplay or something, but I would rate it low against other family orientated Carrey films like Liar Liar or the Mask.

It’s a family film, although the younger audiences will not understand the businessy aspects of the film, they will probably find a lot of it funny..

Cptalbertwesker Rating – 5/10
A pretty low rating, but not a preferred genre of mine, only highlights of the film were some funny parts and Jim Carrey’s physical humour.