Drive
The rave reviews drew me to this film and even with all the hype I still had no idea what sort of movie it was going to be. Even now I'm struggling to classify it, as it seems to juggle multiple genres at the same time, and somehow it works. Aside from some deliberately slow pacing, there are moments where the film just takes your expectations and blasts them away in a shower of gore and profanity. Albert Brooks is a particular standout playing against type, while the rest of the cast underplays events. Only those looking for a racing film will be disappointed as Drive is more of a character study than a series of chases, but everyone else will be blown away.
9/10
Human Centipede - Full Sequence
Speaking of films that are hard to classify, I really have no idea what to make of this one. The is no plot to speak of, just a series of violent acts that lead up to one big long violent act. Tom Six seems to have no other intention here than to out do his first effort and give the complainers the gore filled mess that the first film wasn't. Filmed in glorious black and white, HC2 is as hilarious as it is disgusting. The acting is atrocious, the plot holes are plentiful and any sense of decency was thrown out the window before filming began. It simply defies a grade as there is really no way to measure it's worth. You're either up for it, or you're not.
Paul
With Edgar Wright no longer sheltering them, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg venture out into the wild with their first American project together. I was a little worried by the casting (Seth Rogan has a really annoying voice and Jason Bateman plays the same damn character in every film) but thankfully the film does just about everything right. The humour is adult and childish at the same time, the effects look top notch, and the chemistry between the actors is electric. You wont be disappointed with this road trip.
8/10
Green Lantern
After witnessing the films beatdown at the hands of critics everywhere I really wasn't expecting much from this one. I kind of hoped they were wrong, as Ryan Reynolds has a charming screen presence and the creation of this other world looked amazing. Little did I know that this world would receive barely any screen time and Reynolds was grossly miscast, delivering possibly the worst performance of his career as he blankly stares into space between forced gags. Unlike Paul, the cast in Green Lantern has no chemistry and the whole thing is a chore to sit through. The only good parts where set on the amazing world of Owa, a planet where Green lanterns from every alien race co-exist. it's just a pity that the film spends almost no time there, instead choosing to focus on Peter Sarsgards disgusting head and a flying cloud of yellow.
2/10
Thor
I want to love Thor, I really do but it suffers from a horrible cases of split personality disorder. When it's fun, it's damn fun, and you can tell the cast is having a great time. When it gets serious though, it really gets bogged down and feels like an entirely different movie. Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman get along like a house on fire, and the fish out of water story told on Earth is quite charming, but the shoehorned villain and lack of any real threat just make Thors journey feel a little less than urgent. As is the case with almost every superhero origin story, it's fun for a while until someone realises they need some sort of confrontation to wrap it up and just slap it on the tail end hoping it works.
6/10
Bridesmaids
What is said to be the chick flick version of the Hangover and other raunchy, guy-centric comedies turns out to be, well, a chick flick with a few fart jokes and swear words thrown in. The laughs are few and far between and not one of the characters is particularly likable. Even the attempts at throwing in the stock overweight comic relief only provide a handful of laughs before the whole thing drags itself to a drawn out, laughless conclusion. Comedies are supposed to be funny, that's kind of the point, and when they spend more time moping around you end up with a Judd-Apatow imitation, and that's not a good thing.
3/10
Horrible Bosses
This is the kind of plot that black comedy classics are made from, but unfortunately Horrible Bosses plays things a little too safe and ends up feeling like a stock Hollywood comedy with alot of wasted potential. The cast works well, the 3 main leads are very likable and the titular bosses are all bastards, but Kevin Spacey ends up derailing everything in the second half by hamming it up far too much and trying too hard to justify the heroes' actions. With a better director at the helm, and a desire to take the story in the darker direction it needed, this could have been a cult classic, but as it stands, it's just an average comedy with a kooky idea.
5/10
The rave reviews drew me to this film and even with all the hype I still had no idea what sort of movie it was going to be. Even now I'm struggling to classify it, as it seems to juggle multiple genres at the same time, and somehow it works. Aside from some deliberately slow pacing, there are moments where the film just takes your expectations and blasts them away in a shower of gore and profanity. Albert Brooks is a particular standout playing against type, while the rest of the cast underplays events. Only those looking for a racing film will be disappointed as Drive is more of a character study than a series of chases, but everyone else will be blown away.
9/10
Human Centipede - Full Sequence
Speaking of films that are hard to classify, I really have no idea what to make of this one. The is no plot to speak of, just a series of violent acts that lead up to one big long violent act. Tom Six seems to have no other intention here than to out do his first effort and give the complainers the gore filled mess that the first film wasn't. Filmed in glorious black and white, HC2 is as hilarious as it is disgusting. The acting is atrocious, the plot holes are plentiful and any sense of decency was thrown out the window before filming began. It simply defies a grade as there is really no way to measure it's worth. You're either up for it, or you're not.
Paul
With Edgar Wright no longer sheltering them, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg venture out into the wild with their first American project together. I was a little worried by the casting (Seth Rogan has a really annoying voice and Jason Bateman plays the same damn character in every film) but thankfully the film does just about everything right. The humour is adult and childish at the same time, the effects look top notch, and the chemistry between the actors is electric. You wont be disappointed with this road trip.
8/10
Green Lantern
After witnessing the films beatdown at the hands of critics everywhere I really wasn't expecting much from this one. I kind of hoped they were wrong, as Ryan Reynolds has a charming screen presence and the creation of this other world looked amazing. Little did I know that this world would receive barely any screen time and Reynolds was grossly miscast, delivering possibly the worst performance of his career as he blankly stares into space between forced gags. Unlike Paul, the cast in Green Lantern has no chemistry and the whole thing is a chore to sit through. The only good parts where set on the amazing world of Owa, a planet where Green lanterns from every alien race co-exist. it's just a pity that the film spends almost no time there, instead choosing to focus on Peter Sarsgards disgusting head and a flying cloud of yellow.
2/10
Thor
I want to love Thor, I really do but it suffers from a horrible cases of split personality disorder. When it's fun, it's damn fun, and you can tell the cast is having a great time. When it gets serious though, it really gets bogged down and feels like an entirely different movie. Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman get along like a house on fire, and the fish out of water story told on Earth is quite charming, but the shoehorned villain and lack of any real threat just make Thors journey feel a little less than urgent. As is the case with almost every superhero origin story, it's fun for a while until someone realises they need some sort of confrontation to wrap it up and just slap it on the tail end hoping it works.
6/10
Bridesmaids
What is said to be the chick flick version of the Hangover and other raunchy, guy-centric comedies turns out to be, well, a chick flick with a few fart jokes and swear words thrown in. The laughs are few and far between and not one of the characters is particularly likable. Even the attempts at throwing in the stock overweight comic relief only provide a handful of laughs before the whole thing drags itself to a drawn out, laughless conclusion. Comedies are supposed to be funny, that's kind of the point, and when they spend more time moping around you end up with a Judd-Apatow imitation, and that's not a good thing.
3/10
Horrible Bosses
This is the kind of plot that black comedy classics are made from, but unfortunately Horrible Bosses plays things a little too safe and ends up feeling like a stock Hollywood comedy with alot of wasted potential. The cast works well, the 3 main leads are very likable and the titular bosses are all bastards, but Kevin Spacey ends up derailing everything in the second half by hamming it up far too much and trying too hard to justify the heroes' actions. With a better director at the helm, and a desire to take the story in the darker direction it needed, this could have been a cult classic, but as it stands, it's just an average comedy with a kooky idea.
5/10
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