The Girl With Dragon Tat

If you have read the book you will be annoyed at what they left out and if you haven't read the book you won't understand what is going on because of what they have left out. Obvs.

Somehow they have managed to misrepresent Blomkvist (or whatever the lead dudes name is called) in an even worse way than the first adaptation by the Swedes.  However David Fincher (fight club, game etc) did his best and the direction was pretty awesome and the opening credits were Bond-esque, so much so my mate actually wondered if Daniel Craig would only play the part if the had such credits...  there was also the obligatory awkward torture scene that the sadistic Craig seems to enjoy partaking in as the submissive half.

Overall the most fascinating thing about this film is the accents, so clearly they couldn't all be speaking Swedish else it would have flopped at the international box office as we are all too lazy to read subtitles and if we wanted to read then we would have just read the book right?  Anyway  it is blatantly Swedish story with Swedish characters and funnily enough set in Sweden the majority of the characters have Swedish accents...but that is where the confusion lies...the majority?? why not all or none? Luckily Daniel Craig didn't attempt an accent, that would just be weird like Christopher Plummer or Robin Wright being Swedish.  But I really don't understand why it was just Daniel Craig who didn't, am pleased but confused...

So if you haven't read the book go see if you like to be befuzzled by choice of accent use, enjoy scenes of torture or just love staring at Daniel Craig.  If you have read the book, don't go see it unless you like being disappointed.

Another Earth

It is always a gamble to walk into a film without having heard anything more about it than its genre; however it is awesome when it turns out to be a decent film.  In the case of “Another Earth”, it was promoted as a “Sci-Fi” category, yet this could be up for argument and almost does the film a injustice.  It could be said this is one of the most human, down-to-earth (excuse the pun) stories to be told. 

It shows humanity at its weakest and most vulnerable, it emphasises how beautiful relationships are  based on secrets and lies, it demonstrates stunningly how humans can adapt to the different situations they find themselves in, it is thought provoking and amazingly it evokes all the senses, even touch, which is a pretty special accomplishment for a film.

 

It absorbs its audience in the most all-encompassing way, despite the fact that it could easily have been filmed on a hand-held camera for all the Hollywood flare it does not have.  It is a philosophical journey, slow paced and unpredictable in a predictable way.   The dialogue is minimal.  This film has “Indie flick” written all over it but not in a pompous artsy way.  The use of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound is haunting and continuous.  Best of all the ending is satisfying but not spoon fed.

Basically I loved this film, but do not go see if you are one that takes a bite out of the apple of cynicism and cannot cope with a little self-reflection. 

Horrible Bosses

This review is a few months late and rather short.

The Big Year

This film has been slated by critics, but maybe it was because it was billed (excuse the tenuous pun) wrong.  Fair enough it has Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin, three names that would normally be associated with comedy performances.  However this was not a comedy, yes it was mildly amusing in places, but it was NOT a comedy so don’t go expecting one else you’ll be joining the 80% of audience that walked out!  Fair enough a bog standard film regarding bird watching may not drawer in the audiences as much as a comedy, so it was a clever marketing technique. 

Yet miss selling it this way seems to not give it the justice it deserves; as it was a very captivating story. Even if you are not into birding, you do genuinely want to find out what happens in “The Big Year”.  Also the characters and friendships are developed really well, which does not often happen in a traditional comedy.  It is also mightily educational you will definitely come away knowing more about birds than when you went in and not have been bored stupid.

Although it does not conclude satisfactorily, don’t stay till the end of the credits as you will not find out who comes in 3^rd even though you really want it to be that girl from The Office US (not that anyone would be sad enough to actually do that). 

Johnny English

This film amazingly made itself a parody of two parodies, The Pink Panther and Rush Hour, therefore was unbearably predictable.   The dreadful comedy timing changed it from genuinely funny to slapstick and the only people that laughed at this awful slapstick and cheap jokes were the people sitting in the row in front of us who appeared to have come together on the special bus.  Although I did laugh at one scene which involved ball crushing, but I was the only one, perhaps that’s my evil streak.

Put it like this, if this film was a tree and you cut it in half it would have ridiculous written from its edge to its core!

On a more positive note it did take the piss out of blatant sponsorship and product placement, which did make it quite entertaining rather than usual annoying spin it gives to films.   However even the continuity in the product placement was bad as it was throughout the painful 2 or so hours, for your amusement (as you are going to need something to do) look out for the disappearing gun and the amazing way that Johnny English appears to teleport.  Also for the petrolheads out there here’s a little “where’s wally” for you….look out for obvious, but maybe not so intentional, Evo reference.   Yes it was that bad you start noticing such things and reading way too much into them, towards the end even the special bus brigade were not laughing.

However in a massive contradiction to all of the above at the end I turned to my brother and actually said “Well that was awful did you enjoy it? Cos I did!”