No Strings Attached

         I originally had wanted to go see another movie at the theatre, but due to “technical difficulties” my film was unavailable. I was given a pass to any movie I wanted, but most of the movies I really wanted were only playing at night.... so I went to this one. Not that I didn’t want to see this one, but I wasn’t going to waste a bunch of money on a movie that really you can rent. This is my major peeve with movies.... there are a ton of movies out there that basically recycle plots and locations and frankly aren’t all that original.

          The plot revolves around two acquaintances who keep on bumping into each over the years, who end up eventually deciding to use each other for sex. Natalie Portman plays Emma a medical student with no time or inclination for love, while Ashton Kutcher plays Adam, a perpetually happy go lucky character coming from a recent break up and family problems. At first this plan is brilliant and a lot of fun, but of course, problems come up for the pair when each character realizes that they have feelings for each other that have nothing to do with "just sex"

          Let’s be honest here, this sort of boy meets girl at wrong time and then again at a better time kind of movie has been done to death. Though I still found some of the jokes funny, and well, Ashton’s butt is gorgeous, the story has been told better in other movies. Also, just a little rant here about sex scenes. I’m not a prude, but I don’t get why nudity and sex is supposed to be so amazing and shocking in film. And I know here in Canada we are way less strict about movie ratings, but I can understand why this movie is rated R in the states, I was a little surprised it wasn’t rated higher here in Canada (it’s just 14A here).

          The supporting cast was good, and even Portman and Kutcher have good chemistry, but this movie just seemed so predictable. It’s definitely a date movie, good for a couple laughs.

          This is for sure a Popcorn Movie, but it could be microwave Popcorn instead of theatre popcorn.

          Best Random parts of the movie: Reference to the Disney movie “Up!”, Cary Elwes’s just being in the movie, weird “Glee”-like television show that Kutcher’s character works for.

**1/2 out of 5, just an average film.

Sanctum

SANCTUM

          So yesterday my dad surprised me with an invitation to go see “Sanctum” at cheap theatre nearby (it was twoonie Tuesday – if you’re not Canadian, a twoonie is two dollars). He was treating me so I didn’t have the heart to say how little I felt like seeing this movie... So off we went.

          The movie is “inspired” by true events, and it is very loosely inspired. Basic plot is that a group of “cavers” are forced by unforeseen events to go deeper into the caves in order to find a way out, with lots of peril in their way.

          Okay... This movie was TERRIBLE! I mean, I admit I am usually fairly generous to movies in how I view them, but all I can say is awful. The lacklustre cast manages to have no chemistry and no emotional pull at all. The only part of the movie that had decent acting was scenes with just the dad character (Frank portrayed by Richard Roxburgh – who was the Duke in Moulin Rouge!) and the son character (Josh, portrayed by relative newcomer Rhys Wakefield). These scenes were somewhat better than the rest mostly because these two characters are supposed to be somewhat estranged and are only now getting to know each other. I think that is main problem. The characters had no time to be set up within the film. From the start of the movie to the disaster, there is maybe 15-20 minutes to introduce the 5 main characters and around another 5 minor characters.

          Visually, the movie was stunning, which is its redeeming point. However, I really would have rather seen a documentary on the big screen on caves and cavers, than this film. I believe that would have been 100% better. A note here, I did not see this movie in 3D and apparently it is quite stunning in 3D as well. I personally don’t see why this movie had to be in 3D, but if that is its only selling point, I think they should have spent more money on the script and actors who weren’t emotionally dead on screen.

          Let me but it this way in a small spoiler.... People die in this movie, (I won’t say who or how many) and I didn’t care at all. I wasn’t even really all that upset. Terrible acting, bad script with only visuals to carry this movie equals a terrible, awful, ghastly film. AVOID THIS MOVIE!

          Not even a popcorn movie, rotten vegetables to throw would be best

          Best random parts of the movie: use of the poem Kubla Khan by Coleridge, and “Ride of the Valkyries” being hummed near the beginning.

*1/2 out of 5

(a note, Sanctum – means a place of intense privacy.... can’t really be private in a small cave with a group of people)

The Green Hornet

The Green Hornet

Last week I went to see “The Green Hornet” with a girl friend of mine. As a woman, I know that the popular “comic book” movies are not really aimed at my demographic, yet I often love them. I think it’s the possibility that you can be more than what you are that really pulls me in.

Here is a quick synopsis for those of you who may not know anything about it. Britt Reid (portrayed by Seth Rogen) is the son a wealthy newspaper owner who has died, thus leaving the last family run newspaper in the incapable hands of Brit. Through a series of events, Brit is mistaken for a villain and decides that in order to foil other bad guys he will become one himself in order to take them down from the inside. With the aid of his new friend and his father’s former mechanic Kato (portrayed by Jay Chou), Reid becomes “The Green Hornet” (even though, it’s really Kato who does all the work.)

I felt the movie was cleverly written and the effects were good, but nothing more than what was to be expected. The highlights, for me, were the scenes between Kato and Reid as their friendship started and continued through the film. However, I felt that the subplot with Cameron Diaz (as Lenore Chase) was a bit pointless and a waste of Diaz within the film. Though her acting was fine and there was chemistry between Diaz, Rogen, and Chou, she was underutilized. Christoph Waltz was a great villain, who managed not to be one-note, which he could have been.

Best random parts of the movie....The use of Beethoven’s Eroica symphony, Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise, and James Franco’s cameo.

Overall, the film was great fun, but definitely a popcorn and candy kind of film, not a coffee and pastry sort of film.

***1/2 out of 5

First Post... Testing!

Hi to you, person who is looking at my sad first blog. I am still learning here and I am just putting this on for now as I am writing a review for Green Hornet which will be posted within the next 24 hours.