The Flick Chick

I’m a huge fan of both Guillaume Canet & Marion Cotillard and watching a movie which he directed and she’s the leading actress is like a dream to me. This movie took so long to be shown in Australian cinemas and luckily, after the LONG wait, this movie didn’t disappoint.

Yes, it’s really long. Yes, it’s very French. Yes, it’s an ensemble cast and there are so many actors involved. But it’s a really good movie.

It’s a movie about friends who went holidaying together at a villa in south of France and during their stay, secrets are revealed and chaos happened.

The performances are terrific (I wouldn’t expect anything less from this cast) and the story is realistic and it really draws you in. Can’t wait to watch it again on DVD.

This is one of the saddest movies I’ve seen…ever. It’s just so dark, gloomy and depressing. And it’s also really long. But I just couldn’t take my eyes off it, mainly because Javier Bardem’s captivating performance. In this movie, he’s Uxbal, a man who has terminal cancer and trying to hard to rectify his life and look after his two kids before he dies.

I’m not a huge fan of director Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu. I’ve seen Amorres Perros, 21 Grams and Mother & Child, but I can’t say that I really enjoyed them. His films are usually tragic and gloomy.

Nevertheless, I would recommend this movie mainly because of Javier’s beautiful performance. It’s really worth it.

OMG, how awful is this movie? I had huge expectations for it because I liked ‘Knocked Up’ and after hearing that Judd Apatow is producing this movie, I expected it to be good. I also heard that this is a female version of ‘The Hangover’ and I really enjoyed that movie.

Anyway, I had to walk out halfway through the movie because I couldn’t stand it anymore. It’s totally totally NOT funny. I had maybe two giggles…but that was about it. The movie tries very hard to be funny, they inserted a joke every few minutes, but they’re such cliched jokes and had been done sooo many times. It’s one of the worst movies I’ve seen this year. Believe me, I don’t walk out of movies many times. The other time was a ‘Pirate of Carribean’ movie because it was just far too long.

If you haven’t been dragged along by the ‘hyped-up’ publicity surrounding this movie, please please please don’t waste your money and watch another movie.

I’m not a person who understands comic book movies very much. I didn’t like the first three X-men movies. The first one was okay but as it progressed, it just got worse and worse. I totally hated the Wolverine movie. That was just plain weird and boring. So when I heard that they’re making another X-Men movie, I wasn’t excited at all. But when I found out Michael Fassbender & James McAvoy was in it, I couldn’t care less about what kind of movie it was. As long as they’re both in it, it would turn out to be a good movie.

And boy, was I right! I really liked this movie. Yes, it’s a comic book movie…but the actors are really good. Somehow, I could relate to them. The mutants are just people who feel different and discriminated against. Both James McAvoy & Michael Fassbender are brilliant in it. I also liked Jennifer Lawrence (who played Mystique) a lot. Unfortunately, January Jones’ acting was wooden (as usual, nothing has changed). But she’s not bad as a pretty window dressing.

I didn’t know much about this movie before I went to see it. The filmmakers did a great job in keeping almost every element of this movie a secret before it’s out in the cinemas. As a result, I didn’t have any preconception or expectation before I went to see it. And I must say that I really enjoyed that feeling.

I didn’t know any of the young actors in ‘Super 8’, but they’re all brilliant. Elle Fanning was both gorgeous and captivating. I can’t wait to see more of her movies. 

The story is actually pretty simple. The film focuses on a group of friends  from a quiet small town who got together to make a zombie movie. They invited a girl from school (played by Elle Fanning) to play the leading actress. Together, they sneaked out at midnight to film at the town’s train station.  While they were filming, a train accident happened in front of them and changed their lives forever. Friendships are deepened, love bloomed and many other things happened as the film unravels the mystery behind the train crash.

I had so much fun watching this movie. I can’t even remember the last time a movie makes me feel this way. It was exciting, scary and heartwarming at times. I’d definitely watch this again when it comes on DVD.  J. J. Abrams, you’ve done it again!

When I think about this movie, I can’t stop comparing it to ‘127 Hours’. Both the lead actors in these movies are trapped and they have to figure out how to survive and come out of their unfortunate predicament.

Ryan Reynolds stars as an American truck driver who works in Iraq during the rebuilding phase of the country. Some Iraqi insurgents kidnapped him and buried him in a coffin with only a mobile phone and lighter to equip him. They demanded one million dollar from him or he’d be left in the coffin to die.

Nevertheless, unlike James Franco, Ryan Reynolds doesn’t have the chops to entertain audiences all by himself for 90 mns. After about 40 mns, I was beginning to feel unsettled and ready to switch to a different DVD. Maybe it’s not totally Ryan’s fault. It could be that the script is terrible. I can easily say that the storyline seems preposterous at times.

I know there’s a lot of love for this movie, but it’s not going to get it from me. The movie is perfectly acceptable. It’s not great, though. It doesn’t make me want to run and hire all of the director’s previous movies (I think he only did this one, anyway) or make me admire Ryan Reynolds. My advice is, don’t go and see this after you’ve seen ‘127 Hours’. You probably won’t like this movie very much.

I think Liam Neeson is a good actor. He’s tall, he’s got that VOICE and he has a commanding presence in movies. Liam could also be one of the few action heroes I like (if he keeps doing these kinds of movies). Unlike other action stars such as Bruce Willis or Sylvester Stallone, he’s more of a thinking action star (like Matt Damon, for example). He’s not all buffed up but he has some intelligent things to say (unlike Sylvester Stallone and all his mumblings in ‘Rocky’ or ‘Rambo’).

I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone, because this is not just an action movie - it’s also a mystery. Basically, Liam plays Dr. Martin Harris, who went to Berlin for a conference. He was caught in a car accident and went to a coma. When he woke up, he found out that someone else has stolen his identity. He began to wonder if there’s something wrong with his memory (was he really Dr. Harris) or was he just experiencing some level of amnesia?

January Jones stars as Dr. Harris’ wife, Liz. I was looking forward to see her on the big screen. She’s beautiful (as always) but her acting is pretty wooden. In comparison, Diane Kruger is wonderful here. Her presence is refreshing and she has good chemistry with Liam.

If you enjoyed ‘Taken’, you’ll love ‘Unknown’. I certainly loved it.