Anna Karenina

Friday 12th February 2016

Director: Joe Wright
Year: 2012
Stars: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Macfadyen

Anna Karenina feels, in many ways, an awful lot like the book. Which isn't a compliment. After spending months slogging through the book a few years back, I did not feel satisfied at all with the ending. The film left me with exactly the same feeling. I guess it says something about the movie that it manages to be so faithful to the book...

... in some ways. When Anna Karenina starts, it is very visual and highly stylised. This continues throughout the movie, but somewhere along the way it manages to hone in on the things Tolstoy (I assume) was trying to convey when he wrote the novel - even if the book, at least to me, never really felt very stylised at all.

As my husband pointed out, Anna Karenina feels like something of a bit part in her own story. I imagine that's really on purpose, but it's annoying when she's clearly meant to be the central character. In the novel she bangs on about Kitty a lot. In the movie Kitty hardly features - but then, that's not surprising. Because whilst she's talked about in the novel, nothing  really happens to her. I guess it can't be the fault of the film that I hated the novel - but it has other problems too. Keira Knightley just doesn't seem right for the role of Anna Karenina. She's trying too hard. At times, it felt like she was trying to be Helena Bonham Carter. But Helena Bonham Carter doesn't belong in this movie either.

I would highly advise going and watching (or even reading) something else. Maybe the BBC dramatisation of War and Peace. Or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Or just Pride and Prejudice. Just not this.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Thursday 11th February 2016

Director: Burr Steers
Year: 2016
Stars: Lily James, Sam Riley, Bella Heathcote, Sally Phillips, Charles Dance, Jack Huston, Lena Headey, Matt Smith

This is exactly what it says it is. Pride and Prejudice... with zombies. That would have been the pitch for the movie, it's the title of the book, and there's not really any other way to describe this movie. Which is all fine, if you like Jane Austen novels. And zombies. And can see the appeal of marrying the two.

Happily, I like both. And am more than happy for them to be joined together. There are no surprises at all here (save for the fact that the story from Pride and Prejudice, even with the zombies, remains basically intact), and that's fine by me. I knew what I was going to get, and I got it. Whilst I'm sure many would disagree, my Thursday night didn't feel at all wasted.

Rating: 4 out of 5

A Royal Night Out

Thursday 4th June 2015

Director: Julian Jarrold
Year: 2015
Stars: Sarah Gadon, Jack Reynor, Bel Powley, Emily Watson, Rupert Everett

The only film I've seen in the last month (look, I've been, umm, busy, OK?!), I quite enjoyed A Royal Night Out. Admittedly, I probably enjoyed it mostly because I went to baby cinema to watch it. I haven't been to baby cinema since I went with my son about two years ago, and, for the majority of the film, my daughter loved watching the screen. She's 4 months old and already a bigger TV fan than her big brother. Which makes me happy, 'cause I can watch a movie with her!

A Royal Night Out has a fairly simple plot (always a good thing when you're with a baby). It's VE Day, and the then young Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II), wants a night out. She gets what she wants, and all kinds of antics ensure. She and her sister Margaret get lost, separated, end up buses with no money... y'know, all the kind of stuff you'd never do if you were a royal and had somebody looking after you 24/7.

No, it's not complicated - but it is simple and fun. Which I was more than happy with at the time.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Adam

Saturday 6th December 2014

Director: Max Mayer
Year: 2009
Stars: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison

I recorded this when I saw it was showing on TV, not really knowing much about it. It sounded interesting though - a movie about a man with Asperger's Syndrome who develops a relationship with one of his neighbours.

I can't really tell you what the problem with this movie is - on paper, it sounds good. There's nothing wrong with the script, and there's nothing wrong with the acting. The problem was just that I felt no emotional engagement at all - and I can't really tell you why. It just wasn't there.

Adam begins with Adam's father dying (that shouldn't ruin the plot for you - it's barely mentioned later in the movie, although of course it does affect everything about Adam significantly, if subtly). I commented at the time that a movie about Adam's relationship with his father would have been more interesting, but as my husband rightly pointed out, his father can't escape in the way other people can. So the dynamic changes, perhaps to something less interesting. Although in many ways maybe this is about Adam's relationship with his father. But it still didn't engage me emotionally enough to care...

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Water for Elephants

Sunday 17th August 2014

Director: Francis Lawrence
Year: 2011
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz

It's been a while (about 2 months, in fact) since I updated this blog. It's not due to a lack of movie-watching, just a lack of time. So I'll attempt to catch up over the next few days...

The first movie on the list is Water for Elephants, something I had wanted to see for some time, but hadn't received the best reviews. This meant I decided to reserve judgement, which was probably a good thing, as I ended up enjoying what I saw.

Jacob (Pattinson) is a veterinary student who ends up running away and joining the circus after his parents die. Whilst the circus owner, August (Waltz) takes a liking to him, sort-of, Jacob takes something of a liking to August's wife (Marlena, played by Witherspoon). Needless to say, things don't work out too well.

It is a beautiful looking movie, and well acted too. It kept me engaged whilst I was watching it. Perhaps not a masterpiece, but certainly perfectly enjoyable for a Sunday evening.

Rating: 4 out of 5

What to expect when you're expecting

Friday 27th June 2014

Director: Kirk Jones
Year: 2012
Stars: Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Brooklyn Decker, Anna Kendrick, Dennis Quiad, Chris Rock, Chace Crawford, Ben Falcone, Matthew Morrison

The second of two anniversary movies, this is one that I had recorded on TV a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't convinced it was going to be that good, but an easy-to-watch comedy had a certain type of appeal.

What to expect when you're expecting tells the story of five different couples going through pregnancy. A number of different types of pregnancy are covered, from miscarriage to a couple who struggle to get pregnant to the unexpected pregnancy.

Overall, this was a pleasant surprise. The women, for the most part, were likable - or at least you could understand where they were coming from. And when you couldn't, it was funny - like it was meant to be. The actual pregnancies were treated with tact as well as humour, and the awful jokes I dreaded didn't exist. The men were a little harder to like - maybe it's just because I've never been a dad, but the scenes in the park with the dads left me cold. I just couldn't connect with them.

My one final (minor) complaint is that the movie stops when the babies are born. That's just not where it ends - that's where it all begins! But then, I guess this means I cared about what happened to the characters - and I suppose it means there's an obvious sequel. Whether that's a good or bad thing is a different question...

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Fault in our Stars

Friday 27th June 2014

Director: Josh Boone
Year: 2014
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern, Sam Trammel, Willem Dafoe, Lotte Verbeek

As it was our anniversary today, Dan and I decided to treat ourselves. We dropped our son off at nursery as normal, then headed into town for a tasty lunch and a visit to the cinema. The cinema listings hadn't been that great, but there were a few movies we were willing to see. The Fault in our Stars looked to be one of the best (the trailer did its job of selling the film to us), and it was on at an appropriate time (we had to be back at nursery by 5.30pm).

The story sounds like a relatively familiar one - two teenagers fall in love, but they are both having to live with cancer. As is often the case, whilst the trailer did a good job of selling the movie to us, it also enabled us to guess the ending.

I'm sad to say that we were right about the ending. And that's mostly because there was nothing new or inventive here. I've seen this movie before, in one guise or another, so, so many times. Whilst hubby claimed he felt sad in all the right places, I didn't have any such concerns. Maybe I'm heartless, but this was so close to the run-of-the-mill plot that Hollywood chucks out that it just all felt made up to me.

I can't really recommend this. If you haven't seen this sort of movie much before it's perfectly enjoyable, but in this case, once you've seen one, you've seen them all.

Rating: 2 out of 5

It's Complicated

Thursday 17th April 2014

Director: Nancy Meyers
Year: 2009
Stars: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin

It's really not. In fact, it's rather dull. A divorced couple (Streep and Baldwin) start to see something in each other again, and begin to have an affair. Except one of them is horrid, and the other one is bonkers.

What is complicated is the reason why I chose to watch this. I suspect I fancied the idea of a romantic comedy because I haven't seen one in ages.It's just a shame I picked one with no romance and unfunny comedy (not there was even a lot of that). I also really need to remember that I find Meryl Streep incredibly annoying. I can cope with her as the supporting actress, but put her in a lead role and I'm put off instantly (Mamma Mia, for some bizarre reason, being the exception to this rule).

If you like Meryl Streep, you'll probably love this. If you're me, read reviews like this before watching anything with her in it again.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Easy A

 Wednesday 19th March 2014

Director: Will Gluck
Year: 2010
Stars: Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Penn Badgley

After having watched this the whole way through, I still can't remember whether I've ever seen this before or not. It feels incredibly familiar, yet I couldn't remember the ending, and there seems to be no record of me watching it on this blog. I did enoy it though, so I guess it doesn't matter whether I've seen it before or not.

Easy A is clearly more dependent on personal taste than many movies. I watched this with my husband who wasn't that impressed. Usually we fundamentally agree on whether a movie is good or bad, but here we didn't seem to. Maybe it's just a proper girly movie.

Personally, I thought Easy A was a fresh take on the teen school movie. The central character, Olive (Stone), was very together for a teenager, and whilst obviously written to sound good (and not really to come across as a real person), she was a joy to watch. The plot is a good, enjoyable, one, if somewhat unrealistic. And perhaps this is why my opinion and my husband's opinion differed so much. Whilst I enjoyed the movie for the script, and what it was, if you were expecting a slice of realism, you weren't going to get it. But then, can you name a Hollywood movie about teens at school that features realism heavily? The Breakfast Club? Grease? hard, isn't it...?

Rating: 4 out of 5

Beginners

Monday 3rd March 2014

Director: Mike Mills
Year: 2010
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic

Similarly to Once, Beginners is a movie which feels as if it has little direction. In direct contrast to Once, Beginners feels like its meant to have direction and a purpose, but the filmmakers haven't quite figured out what this is. Or been able to translate this into something an audience can figure out.

There's a lot of attempts at meaning here - attempting to explain sadness, attempting to say something about being gay (I'm not quite sure what), attempting to discuss death and depression... but none of its very successful, and all of it feels quite frustrating.

I can't even say I can appreciate what Beginners was trying to do, because I really don't know what that was. About the nicest thing I can say is that there's nothing wrong with the acting - but I'm not sure why they're acting what they're acting.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Once

Wednesday 26th February 2014

Director: John Carney
Year: 2006
Stars: Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova

Watching Once is like watching an hour and a half long music video. Which isn't actually as bad as it sounds. Sure, you have to be in the right mood to watch it, and that means not wanting a complex, involved plot. Or much dialogue. But if what you're after is something easy on the brain and pleasant sounding, Once isn't a bad choice.

There is a semblance of a plot here. A guy who busks (Hansard) and an immigrant girl (Irglova) meet, get to know one another and spend lots of time singing songs and playing instruments together. That's pretty much all there is to it.

Once works because it doesn't try to be anything more than it is - it all feels very real, and in many ways quite voyeuristic. The actors sem so normal, and the camerawork is so unintrusive, that you feel as if you're watching people just go about their normal lives. Which might be why I spent quite so much time questioning the girls choice to wear her slippers to the local shop.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Did you hear about the Morgans?

Monday 10th February 2014

Director: Marc Lawrence
Year: 2009
Stars: Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica-Parker, Natalia Klimas, Vincenzo Amato, Jesse Liebman, Elisabeth Moss

This was something of a disappointment - to both me and my husband, who had massively different expectations when we started watching it. I was fully prepared for an ordinary run-of-the-mill rom com, with bad jokes, sweet (sometimes sickening) scenes, best friends and lots of angst. My husband was expecting something much closer to Date Night, with its case of mistaken identity and running away from the bad guys.

Did you hear about the Morgans? has no mistaken identity issues, but it is all about running away from the bad guys after the lead (separated) couple (Grant and Jessica-Parker) witness a murder. They are taken into protective custody and sent to Wyoming. Queue lots of dire 'New Yorker in the sticks' jokes.

The problem with all of this is that it's much, much worse than Date Night. The movie just doesn't know what it wants to be, and falls completely flat. Hugh Grant plays his normal self, but instead of this coming across as charming (think About a Boy, Four Weddings and a Funeral) it's just annoying- mostly due to the terrible script. The romantic elements are horrendously nauseating (worse than most normal rom coms), and the jokes, on the whole, just aren't funny. Which, overall, simply makes for a really boring (and predictable) movie.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Jane Eyre

Monday 3rd February 2014

Director: Cary Fukunaga
Year: 2011
Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell

I was looking forward to watching this, as I was very much in the mood for period drama, and I already knew I enjoyed the story of Jane Eyre (I've read it a number of times, and watched various versions of it in the past).

In many ways, this didn't disappoint. It's faithful to the story, and manages to create a pretty good atmosphere. Whilst the story gallops along, picking out the most salient pieces from the novel, each scene feels drawn out, dramatic and gloomy - just the way, I imagine, Charlotte Bronte intended. We follow Jane Eyre from the time she is orphaned, through her school days, to her life as a governess at Thornfield, and then to her time as a school mistress in a small village. Of course, the main story here is Jane Eyre's love story, but the rest of her life is highly relevant.

The problem with Jane Eyre is that there aren't really any surprises here. I don't really know why this was made, as there are no new insights to the story. If you don't know the story, but like period romances, you'll probably enjoy this. If, like me, you know the story well, you might wonder exactly why this has been made.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Wedding Daze

Tuesday 5 November 2013

Director: Michael Ian Black
Year: 2006
Stars: Jason Biggs, Isla Fisher, Michael Weston

Yep, still ill. Still finding bizarre movies to watch. This time round, I fancied something a little more light-hearted. Well, Wedding Daze is certainly that. Along with being odd.

Close to the start of the movie Anderson (Biggs) asks Katie (Fisher) to marry him. They have never met each other. That's the least ridiculous thing that happens in this movie. If you're happy to go along with this and suspend all sense of disbelief, this has some very funny moments. If you can't get over how stupid an initial plot devise that is, you'll hate everything that follows.

Thankfully, I was ill. I was willing to let most things go. And even laugh about a number of them. The story may have been a little different if I'd chosen to watch this at the cinema...

Rating: 3 out of 5

Ever After: A Cinderella Story

Sunday 13th October 2013

Director: Andy Tennant
Year: 1998
Stars: Drew Barrymore, Dougray Scott, Anjelica Huston, Patrick Godfrey, Megan Dodds, Melanie Lynskey

I chose to start watching this because I wanted something easy to put on TV before I began to watch Downton Abbey. It being such an old movie, I assumed I had seen it before. An hour and a half later, I was still watching Ever After, and Downton Abbey was waiting for another evening. Either I have seen this before, but it was so many years ago I don't remember, or I really just missed this movie first time around.

It's not really anything special - as stories go, it is actually just a relatively straight telling of Cinderella, although an attempt has been made to make a little more realistic (the carriage doesn't turn into a pumpkin, and the Fairy Godmother is actually Leonardo da Vinci). You can probably tell from the second half of that sentence that the movie is still pretty whimsical.

All this is fine if what you're expecting is a movie fairy tale. Which I was, and I was perfectly happy with it. Perhaps it's not a work of brilliance, but for me it was a fun and enjoyable (and unexpected) way to spend a relaxed Sunday evening.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Invention of Lying

Thursday 5th September 2013

Director: Ricky Gervais, Matthew Robinson
Year: 2009
Stars: Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Rob Lowe, Tina Fey

I had recorded this when I was in a "well, it's a movie that's been recommended, so maybe it's worth a watch". I was, however, fairly dubious about whether it would be any good or not, as I've never been a fan of The Office, and this was directed, written by and stars Ricky Gervais.

So the fact that I was laughing along at the right moments and finding it all pretty amusing within 5 minutes came as a pleasant surprise. Even more surprising was the fact that I was still finding the whole thing funny 5 minutes before the end. The premise is simple, and a pure Hollywood pitch - lying doesn't exist, until one man invents it; and discovers he can get away with basically anything.

It's not a clever movie by any means, and if you're looking for something to tax your brain, this isn't it. But if you want some simply humour on a lazy day, you could do worse than The Invention of Lying.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

Wednesday 24th July 2013

Director: Burr Steers
Year: 2010
Stars: Zac Efron, Charlie Tahan, Amanda Crew

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud is not the most instantly engaging film I've ever seen. In fact, after having watched the first half an hour and been called away for some baby-related reason or another, I dismissed the movie as "not really worth a watch". That didn't stop me recording the next hour and a half though, just in case things improved.

Charlie St.Cloud (Efron) loses his younger brother in a car crash, but for the next five years still goes to meet him and practice baseball. This results in everybody thinking of him as the town oddball, and him giving up his sailing scholarship. But things change when an old schoolmate, Tess Carroll (Crew), appears on the scene.

Things do improve - not tremendously, but enough to keep me engaged on a quiet Wednesday afternoon when I didn't really want to be doing anything else. Once the character of Tess gets properly introduced, things get a little more interesting. They are still completely obvious (although not in the way you think after having read this review), and this really isn't a movie for those who like films to keep them guessing, but it's not a bad choice if you're after a switch-off moment or two.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Date Night

 Saturday 15th June 2013

Director: Shawn Levy
Year: 2010
Stars: Steve Carrell, Tina Fey

Right, I've been totally rubbish at updating this blog for the past month or so, so get ready for a plethora of posts! I'll try to make sure they don't all appear on the same day...

The first of the movies I've seen in the past month and don't-really-remember-that-well is Date Night. Although actually, this one I remember better than others - mostly because it was a lot better than I was expecting to be. I started watching it knowing I generally hate Steve Carrell and most movies he's in, so not expecting much.

In Date Night, Phil and Claire Foster (Carrell and Fey) are a normal suburban couple, who, by taking somebody else's reservation at a restaurant, end up being chased, shot at and generally getting into trouble for something they know nothing about. And yes, (just in case you didn't see it coming) there are lots of jokes about the fact that taking somebody elses reservation is an awful thing to do, even whilst getting shot at.

It turns out Date Night is actually quite a fun, if relatively mindless, screwball-type comedy - and Carrell helps, rather than hinders, the movie. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like the brilliantly funny screwball comedies of the 1930s, but if what you're after is a few laughs on a Saturday night, you could do worse than Date Night.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Switch

Sunday 2nd June 2013

Director: Josh Gordon, Will Speck
Year: 2010
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jeff Goldblum


This is the first TV movie I've watched in a while that I didn't particularly want to see when it was released at the cinema. Evidently, there was a reason I didn't care about its release. Which probably tells you all you need to know about how worthwhile watching this movie on TV was.

Kassie Larson (Aniston) decides she wants to have a child, but, as she's unattached, wants to find a sperm donor in order to do so. She discusses this with her best friend, Wally Mars (Bateman), who is clearly jealous of another man getting to father Kassie's child. Do you see where this is going? Well, you're not far wrong, whatever you're thinking.

The Switch is very definitely in the romance, rather than comedy, area of rom coms. All the same, I really just didn't care at all about any of the characters in this movie. Things got marginally better once the child appeared, but even so, this was most definitely two hours of my life I could have happily spent doing something else.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

The Host

Monday 1st April 2013

Director: Andrew Niccol
Year: 2013
Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, Chandler Canterbury, Max Irons, Jake Abel, William Hurt, Scott Lawrence, Boyd Holbrook

Oops, it's taken me a while to blog about this movie! I was keen to both watch and read The Host, as I enjoyed the Twilight saga so much, and The Host is written by the same author, Stephenie Meyer. I started reading the novel before making it to the cinema, but just couldn't get into it at all. It seemed to move at such a slow pace, and I just found it a bit of a slog. So when I went to see the movie at the cinema, I was nowhere near having finished the book.

This turned out not to be such a bad thing. The movie moves along at a much faster pace, and even only having read the first tenth of the book, I knew that a lot of detail had been cut out. I had no problem with this at all, and quite enjoyed the much speedier pace of the movie. This isn't to say that The Host was a brilliant watch, but it was enjoyable enough for a Bank Holiday weekend cinema visit. 

The basic premise is that aliens have taken over human beings bodies, and replaced human's souls with their own. Wanda is a soul that has been placed in Melanie's body, but Melanie refuses to give it up and leads Wanda to a group of humans who haven't yet been taken over by souls. Melanie's brother and partner are living there, and Wanda slowly comes to understand why humans behave the way they do.

It's a relatively satisfying movie, and now that I've read a lot more of the book, that's become more enjoyable as well. I can't complain about the pace of the movie, but I do know that in a few months time I'm unlikely to find the story that memorable.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5