Love and Other Drugs

Love and Other Drugs stars Jake Gylenhaal (sp?) as a womaniser who can't stick at one job for very long - mainly cos he ends up shagging his female co-workers! He becomes a drug rep and meets Anne Hathaway's character who has early onset Parkinson's and they fall in love. Cue much shagging and nakedness - I'll admit I did slightly fall in love with Jake watching this. It's a sweet film that made me cry quite a lot!

Due Date

I finally saw Due Date today and really enjoyed it despite not really fancying it having seen the trailer. It stars Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis as a couple of men thrown together and have to take a road trip together across the USA. Within a short time I wanted to walk out as Zach G's character, Ethan, was so irritating but it did improve luckily. It's probably not the most original film ever with a few bits borrowed from other films but was good silly fun and featured a bit of Two and a Half Men which pleased me!

Jackass 3D, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one, The American

Well, I've been a bit slack with my reviews recently as we moved house and I've been very busy. Almost too busy to go the the cinema! I saw Jackass 3D at the start of November. It was as expected; a silly and sometimes slightly gross look at what those Jackass blokes get up to in the name of entertainment. A bit too much puking for my liking but very funny in places. I thought Johnny Knoxville looked really ill in it. He wore sunglasses most of the time but when he didn't have them on it was much more noticeable.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one is the penultimate film in the long running series based on J K Rowling's books. It was as enjoyable as ever with things getting darker and more perilous for the boy wizard and his pals as they try to locate the horcruxes and destroy them and Voldemort. It did feel a little over-long but was still an enjoyable film and I'm looking forward to the final installment next year!
The American stars George Clooney as a hitman in Europe. It's directed by Anton Corbjin (sp?) which I thought might make it a bit arty as I believe he is a former photographer. It was very slow although the trailer (I'm told) suggested it might be like the Bourne films whereas it was like those films but with most of the action removed and lots of shots of people walking places and hearing the phone ring to very slow music! Definitely not one of my faves and I even managed to have a little snooze in the middle. Normally I'd fight sleep in the cinema but I welcomed it last night!!

The Kids Are All Right

The Kids Are All Right stars Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple with two children who get in contact with their biological father without their mums knowing. Each woman used the same sperm donor and had a baby so the children have 2 mums at home and the same father. The dad is played by the lovely (although way too hairy!) Mark Ruffalo. It's a lovely film about family, marriage and how easy it is to cock things up. Well worth watching!

Easy A

Today I watched Easy A which boasts a stellar cast including Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci. Olive (Stone) is a clean-cut high school student who realises that by pretending to have lost her virginity she can get noticed. When she starts to offer her services to the geeky boys at school - pretending to have done various things with them to help their reputations - things start to get out of hand! Emma Stone is excellent in this part and the supporting cast are also fantastic. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson are particularly funny as her parents. This is a classic teen comedy in the same vein as Clueless and Mean Girls but with nods to 80's films such as The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles - you can't go wrong with a bit of John Hughes as inspiration!

Life as we know it and Despicable Me

Life as we know it stars Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel and is about a man and woman who end up having to raise a baby together after their friends die in a car accident. Their friends had tried unsuccessfully to set them up on a date and they didn't even make it to dinner as couldn't stand each other. It was an enjoyable and easy to watch film with likable lead actors although you could see what was coming a mile off!

Despicable Me 3D is an animated film with the voice of Steve Carrell as Gru, the evil genius. It's very funny in places and has some great 3D bits although I think it was mostly unnoticeable until the very end. Gru adopts three sisters as part of one of his despicable plans but predictably grows to care for them by the end of the film. There are some funny little yellow characters (the minions) which reminded me of Toy Story and the little green aliens although they're much funnier.

Eat, Pray, Love and The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud

I saw Eat, Pray, Love last weekend and was not over enamoured with it. It stars Julia Roberts as a woman having a mid-life crisis and decides to go to Italy, India and Bali "to find herself". I didn't feel very sympathetic to a character who is married to a good guy and has a nice life. Sure, her husband flitted from one job to the next but her life seemed okay. It was a fairly enjoyable film but was excessively long at over 2 hours (2hrs 10 perhaps?). My favourite bit was when her boyfriend (played by Javier Bardem) says he's taking her to a deserted island where there would only be "you, me and 200 parrots" but in his accent it sounds like "you, me and 200 pirates"! I'd heard about it on the radio and forgot til he said it and it really made me laugh!! Probably not a good sign that the high point of the film was that!!

This weekend I saw The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud. Another only okay film. It stars Zac Efron as a young man whose brother dies in a car accident and his life effectively comes to a standstill. It did make me cry a couple of times but was a little predictable and I'm never normally one for guessing what's going to happen in films. The major plus point to watching this film is that Zac takes his top off several times and there's also a scene akin to the one in Pride and Prejudice where Mr Darcy comes out of the water in his wet top!

The Town

We went to see The Town starring Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner; it's about bank robbers and is set in Boston. Affleck plays Doug who is the leader of a gang of bank robbers who take Claire (Hall) as a hostage for a short time. The film follows the activities of the gang, the FBI investigation into the robberies (led by Hamm) and the budding relationship between Doug and Claire (who doesn't know he was one of the robbers in her bank).
This was written and directed by Ben Affleck who is emerging as quite a talent both on and off screen after some notable flops (Gigli anyone?). I found some of the dialogue a bit tricky to follow with the strong Boston accents but still very much enjoyed it.

The Other Guys

I thought I'd better add The Other Guys as I saw it when we were in Toronto. It's not out here until next week - hence we saw that on the 30th Aug, 3 weeks before it's on here! It stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as cops who are stuck at their desks day in, day out until the star cops of their precinct die in a tragic accident. Cue lots of silliness but also some very funny moments. The stand out line for me was Will Ferrel saying to his gorgeous wife (Eva Mendes):

"These braised ribs taste like dog's asshole. I ask myself "Who would slow roast a dog's asshole and feed it to me?"'

Horrible but it made my hubbie and I laugh a lot!!

The Switch, Going the Distance and Cyrus

I watched The Switch last weekend. It stars Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman as two friends living in New York. She decides the time is right to have a baby so finds a sperm donor and he accidentally spills the 'donation' without her knowing - and when he is very drunk - and replaces it with his own 'donation'. Seven years later she moves back to NY after moving nearer her parents to have the baby and he realises the boy is his. It's a sweet romantic comedy. Nuff said!

Going the Distance was one I was barely aware of until a week ago and hadn't seen the trailer so didn't know what to expect. It stars Drew Barrymore and Justin Long as a pair who meet in a bar six weeks before she is due to leave New York for San Francisco and they fall in love. It then shows the impact of the long distance relationship on them. It has lovely performances from the lead actors but also very funny turns by the actors playing his two friends. It made my friend and I laugh a lot in places and was a lovely Saturday morning film!

Cyrus was not a film I was in a hurry to see despite the stellar cast of John C. Reilly, Marissa Tomei, Jonah Hill and Catherine Keener. It's about a man (Reilly) who meets a woman (Tomei) and her grown up son (Hill) who is a bit odd. It was funny in places but I didn't love it.

Salt

Quick one as am busy. I watched Salt on Saturday. It stars Angelina Jolie as a CIA agent who is accused of being a Russian spy. Lots of action although a slightly silly plot but good fun. Angelina is excellent in this type of role although I'm not loving her as a blonde - not a good look!!

Knight and Day

I saw Knight and Day this morning. It stars Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in a silly but fun film about a secret agent who bumps into a woman at the airport and they embark on car chases and crazy adventures. It's had pretty poor reviews but I think if you just expect some action and a few jokes it's a good film. I was grinning like a loon for most of it! Plus, you can't go wrong with a Tom Cruise film in my opinion although that may have something to do with the fact that I've never got over the teenage crush I had on him!!

Okay, so I saw Inception on Tuesday and couldn't be bothered to review it right away. It has a huge cast including Leonardo Dicaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Marion Cottilard amongst others. It's about obtaining or planting information from within someone else's dream. It was an enjoyable, if slightly confusing, film with fantastic special effects and well worth seeing at the cinema. That said it's not one I'd watch again and I think it might have been trying to be a bit too clever for it's own good.
Now onto a film that's not trying to be clever..... The A-Team. I really enjoyed it! I wasn't looking forward to seeing it (except for the bits where Bradley Cooper has his top off) but it was really good, silly fun and quite funny throughout. There was one bit which was a bit over the top effects-wise which reminded me of the bit in Die Hard 4 with the plane and the lorry (i.e. just a bit silly) - look out for the container ship. The plot was more or less the premise for the series, that they were set up to take the fall for a crime they didn't commit and were trying to clear their names. A good fun film for all the family!

The Rebound was today's film. It stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as a mother of two who discovers her husband is cheating and moves with her children to the city and Justin Bartha as the young man she employs as her nanny. Inevitably the pair fall in love in what is a very sweet and enjoyable movie about the pitfalls of a 40-year old woman dating a 25-year old man. Probably more for the ladies or chaps who enjoy a romantic comedy but definitely worth watching!

I saw Toy Story 3 3D this week and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I think I forget that these animated films are made for adults but are suitable for children.
TS3 picks up with the toys when Andy is just about to go off to college and the toys end up being donated to a day care centre where we meet some new characters included a cuddly pink bear called Lotso. We also meet the fabulous Ken - as in Barbie and - who is as flamboyant as you'd imagine! This did remind me of the previous films in places but not enough to distract from it being great entertainment and the 3D isn't really obvious with things constantly flying out of the screen at you. In fact, my friend commented at one point "it's not in 3D", which it is but it's just not really 'in your face' 3D. Buzz Lightyear is perhaps better than ever but I don't want to give anything away so will say no more!
This nearly made me cry so be warned if you're prone to crying at films (or anything like I am!). I say nearly as I was really trying not to as I didn't want to walk out of a cartoon with tears down my face - silly I know!
Anyway, it's well worth a watch!!

Killers, She's out of my league, Eclipse and Heartbreaker

I think we can see a pattern emerging here in that I always forget to review films right after seeing them and then play catch up. Not good enough I know but hey ho!

Okay, so I saw Killers a couple of weeks ago now and I really enjoyed it. It stars Ashton Kutcher as an undercover government assassin and Katherine Heigl as the woman he meets while she's on holiday. Fast-forward a few years and they're happily married and he's retired from the killing business, until Killers start coming out the woodwork to bump him off! A good fun film with two likeable lead actors and we get to see the lovely Ashton with his top off!

She's out of my League was another easy to watch film. Starring Jay Baruchel as the average Joe dating the woman out of his league and all the pitfalls associated with a 5 (him) going out with a hard 10 (her). Worth watching as it's pretty funny.

Twilight saga: Eclipse. What can I say? I'm a fan of the books although not such a massive fan of Rob Pattinson as Edward - not quite conventionally handsome enough for the Edward in my head. Don't get me wrong, I do like these films a lot and think Rob is very good BUT he's not quite what I imagined when reading the books. Anyway, this film is fairly true to the book although I did find myself a bit distracted at times trying to work out if certain bits were in the book or not - always an issue when watching films of books I've recently read. A fair bit of Jake-Abs action in this one which also included the line from Edward, 'doesn't he own a shirt' or words to that effect. The answer of course is, let's hope not! I shall be watching this again, possibly as soon as next weekend!!

Heartbreaker is a french film starring Romain Duris (I've never heard of him either!) and Vanessa Paradis (Joe le taxi anyone?). He is hired to break up relationships and is hired by her father to split Juliette (Paradis) from her fiance. Needless to say it doesn't go quite to plan. It was a funny and enjoyable film although I suspect many people went to see it not knowing it was French and subtitled as about 4 people walked out of the showing I was in which about halved the audience!

new reviews

I've been slack again! I saw Iron Man 2 and Hot Tub Time Machine on the 8th of May and didn't get round to reviewing them and then was ill so didn't have the energy or inclination to do so! Bottom line is that Iron Man 2 was not bad, although not as good as the first, and HTTM was very funny!

I saw Sex And The City 2 on Friday. What a disappointment that was! Carrie and co are basically caricatures of their former selves and the whole thing was silly nonsense. I loved the series and the first film - which I have on DVD - but this was not great at all. I didn't hate it so much that I wanted to leave part way through as one of my friends admitted after but it really wasn't something I'd watch again.

The Losers was another disappointment. It looked like silly trigger-happy fun but was quite slow despite only running for 98 minutes. The trailer looked pretty good but it turns out that the trailer was pretty much all the good bits so all that was left was loads of filler.

Not a good cinema weekend all in all. Let's hope for a better one next weekend! I'm going to try to see She's Out Of My League which looks quite funny, I hope it is!!!

Extract, Cemetary Junction and Date Night

I'm rubbish! Two films reviewed and then nothing for weeks. May not be cut out to be a blogger!!

OK, so I saw Extract a couple of weeks ago but here goes. It's written and directed by Mike Judge (writer/director of Office Space) and stars Jason Bateman (Juno) and Mila Kunis (Forgetting Sarah Marshall). It's about Joel (Bateman), the owner of a company making Extract (vanilla etc) and the ups and downs of his life both personal and at work. Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig and J.K. Simmons are also some of the great supporting cast members.

Cemetary Junction is written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant who brought us The Office and Extras. It's about three friends - Freddie, Bruce and Snork - living in 1970's Reading at a time when Freddie has decided he's had enough of factory work and starts working for a life insurance company as a door-to-door salesman. The supporting cast includes Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson and Matthew Goode, along with a great leading man in the form of Christian Cooke. I had read that this film is 'warm, funny and engaging' and it is all those things but I found it a little bit depressing in places; perhaps just the mood I was in. It certainly had funny moments and is definitely worth a watch.

Date Night stars Steve Carell and Tina Fey as husband and wife Phil and Claire Foster on a date that goes from bad to worse. As with many married couples they go on a 'date night' once a week so they have time for themselves; Phil wants to treat Claire to a special night out so takes her to a fancy restaurant in the city (Manhattan of course) and due to a case of mistaken identity, they end up on the run from a crime boss. Carell and Fey are very funny in the leads and although this may be a bit formulaic and predictable in places it's very enjoyable. An added bonus is that we get to see Mark Wahlberg with his shirt off a few times!

Whip it!

I just saw Whip it! which is directed by Drew Barrymore and stars Ellen Page. It's about a 17 year-old girl, called Bliss, who takes part in beauty pageants to please her mum but then discovers Roller Derby. Roller Derby involves skating as fast as you can round a track with a team of other women and beating the other team - sometimes quite literally! Bliss can't tell her parents about her new hobby - as Babe Ruthless of the Hurl Scouts - and has to pretend to be over 21 to be on the team so we get to follow her journey from learning to skate to the inevitable trials and tribulations she must go through in order to learn valuable life lessons.
The film was generally pretty fast paced and had me grinning most of the way through. A good fun film, perfect for a girls night out!

New plan

As I've not updated this more than twice and not for ages my new plan is that I'll use it to review films I've seen. I go to the cinema and watch DVDs a lot!

First review is Kick Ass.

Kick-Ass is a super-violent black comedy about a comic book loving nerd who decides to try being a superhero. It stars up-and-coming British actor Aaron Johnson in the title role as well as Nic Cage, Chloe Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

Dave (Johnson) wonders why nobody has actually tried being a superhero and decides it's time someone did. Inevitably he gets pretty badly hurt when trying to 'do good' as Kick-Ass and after some surgery, some metal plates and some time spent in hospital he's as good as new; or perhaps better as he now has nerve damage and can't feel much. He tries being Kick-Ass again and ends up being filmed saving a guy from a beating by three men and ends up being a You Tube sensation. As the story unfolds we also meet Nic Cage as Big Daddy and Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl who are like 'proper' superheroes to the young Kick-Ass.

There are some very violent moments in the film and a couple of scenes I found myself looking away; you'll know what I mean when you get to the bit with the huge microwave! Overall though it kept a grin on my face through much of the action with keeps the pace of the film moving along nicely.

I'd give this 4.5 stars and say it's well worth a watch!

Furry death!

Last night we watched the funniest episode of South Park! I forget how good it is as we rarely watch it because it's on quite late but occasionally flick through the channels and catch an episode. This one featured the 'furry death' and lots of pan pipe music (they call it pan flute). Sadly this was part one of a two-parter and although I've added South Park to Sky+ I think we've missed he second part. Here's a clip anyway.

http://www.southparkstudios.co.uk/clips/sp_vid_189025/

I also saw the film Precious which is really pretty tough to watch in places but ultimately quite an uplifting story about someone making an effort to improve their circumstances despite being given a terrible start in life. Mariah Carey was surprisingly good in it too.

I've been getting very excited watching the birds in our garden as at one point we had eight goldfinches on our bird-feeder. Very exciting! They're pretty little birds as you can see here:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/goldfinch/index.aspx

Sorry if the links don't work but I've never done this before so it's all a bit trial and error!

My first blog post

Well, this is my first blog and the first entry so I'll explain why I'm writing this. I always have lots to say about any given subject so thought it might be a good outlet for me to have another avenue to channel my thoughts. Maybe rant a little, who knows?

I may not write in this every day but I aim to post something at least a couple of times a week. Or, at least until I get bored and move onto something else! I suspect it may be the mundane details of my daily life so don't really expect anyone to read this but it's a good way for me to vent any frustrations - being careful, of course, not to name names if I'm bitching!! Seems a bit odd just writing whatever pops into my head and sending it out onto the interweb but hey ho this is the 'tenties' or 'teenies', or whatever we opted to call them in the end!!

To tell you a little about me. I'm a 34 year old female, married and living with my husband in the south-east of England. I realise my life is pretty good and in general I have no reason to complain about anything. That's not to say the small things don't irritate the life out of me and that, I suspect, is what I shall write most about. The reason I'm starting a blog is that I would like to be able to write but never seem to find any inspiration except for random ideas I never get down on paper. This way I can write about what I know; my life. I hadn't considered a blog until a few hours ago in my car when it seemed like the best idea ever. Anyway, we'll see.