Couples Retreat

Best buddies Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau return to dissect the modern marriage with some of their pals on a tropical island.

I can get a bit cynical when actors use their power to convince film studio to give them heaps of money to basically have a working holiday. It certainly makes acting look like an easy job. The film was a pleasant surprise for me as I was expecting it to be terrible but it wasn't bad. I got a few good laughs out of it. I think those with low expectations were what made me like it more. It is a good fun film with some funny lines. There was one by Jason Bateman that had me in hysterics. I also found the relationships of the couples very real as well. Vince and Jon have created some good characters that work well in helping develop believable problems that occur between the couples.

It is pretty common knowledge that Vince Vaughn pretty much plays the same character in all the films he does. I did not mind it so much in this film. He was not as annoying as he normally is. Plus he has so many co-stars to take the heat from him. I like how Jon Favreau is able to fit some acting roles into his hectic schedule as a big time director. Jason Bateman is always a pleasure to see and as mentioned above he has the best line in the movie. Malin Ackerman is the stand out of the women and is quickly establishing herself as a good actress. She seems to be sticking mostly to romantic comedies and is usually the best thing in them.

As long as your expectations are not too high then you should have some fun with this relationship comedy. I'm sure many couple will find lots to relate to in the film.

Astro Boy

Hollywood is not the only place where remakes are being made. The Japanese are now cashing in on their past successes to create new films.

I used to watch 'Astro Boy' when I was growing up. I don't think I loved it terribly as I can't remember much from it. It was just an enjoyable show I watched when I was younger. In some ways that is a good way to see the film as I don't have too many preconceived notions of what the film needs to be about. So it was a quite enjoyable film. Not the greatest but just a fun action film for younger people. I'm sure fans of the show will enjoy it. I don't know how faithful it is to the original story but I liked it for what it was. The only problem I had was Astro's birth. It's the same problem I had with Steven Spielberg's 'A.I.: Artificial Intelligence', and that is a parent replacing their dead child with a robot. I can not believe that a parent would do that. I know that grief is different for each person and they would do anything to bring the person they loved back to life, but making a robot version just seems kind of silly and ridiculous. I just can not believe it would happen. Invariably the parent comes to resent the robot child and wants to get rid of it, which seems even sillier to me. It is interesting how quickly Astro's father get rid of him in this film. I did like the background design of the film. You can really tell it is set in Japan.

There is quite a good voice cast assembled for the film. Freddie Highmore has not done much lately and he must look very grown up now. Luckily his voice has not broken yet so he can still play kids roles. Most of the other cast give nicely naturalistic performances that you did not see the actor doing the voice but rather the character. Except maybe Nicolas Cage. I normally like him but his voice to me did not suit his character. I found Eugene Levy really annoying too.

A good animated, action film for the kids but is fairly violent. But most of the violence is done to robots so it's not as bad.

Michael Jackson's This Is It

Before I begin this review I need to explain my taste in music. I'm not really a fan of any particular artist, except one. I like a song more so than an artist. My iPod has a wide variety of songs, mostly from soundtracks. The only one artist I like is 'Weird Al' Yankovic. Sorry to disappoint all my fans out there.

Michael Jackson was an artist that I had no strong feelings for one way or the other. While I enjoyed a few of his songs, I would not rave about them being the greatest songs ever written and neither would I run screaming if I heard them. All I needed to see was the man perform in concert. Although this is only rehearsal footage it is quite amazing stuff. Imagine what the concert would have been like. Michael is a stunning performing artist. I was totally blown away at how brilliant he is in this film when he is performing on stage. There has been a bit of criticism that the film does not show the true man but I don't think that is the point of the film. They have also criticised the fact that his family is exploiting his death. That is debatable but I do not agree. The film is all about Michael as a performer. The behind the scenes footage is showing him as a performer and how he comes to create his concert. It is also a way of compensating those who missed out on seeing the concet. I loved some of the video footage that was created for the concert, epecially the one for 'Smooth Criminal'. He is a brilliant singer and an incredible dancer. In some resepcts he dances a bit too much. There were some songs I felt where he should just be standing still but he always seems to be on the move, when ever there is music playing. He just can't help but let the beat get inside him.

I agree that there is a little too much footage of people saying how much they love Michael Jackson. Especially at the beginning when some of them get quite emotional. However I must say that once I saw the man perform I got quite emotional too. It was much like watching Heath Ledger in 'The Dark Knight' and seeing a brilliant performance and knowing we will never see any more from him again.

Leave your prejudices at the door and go see this film about one of the greatest performers of all time. Go see why there is more to him than a heap of tabloid headlines.

Fame

It is amazing the number of remakes we have had lately. Not many musicals have been remade but many are in the pipeline. I was very surprised when this one did not do so well. I expected it to be the big musical hit of the year. This year’s ‘Hairspray’ or ‘Mamma Mia!’.
After seeing the film I can understand why. It really wasn’t a musical in the traditional sense. People did not break into song and dance at every moment; they just performed musical numbers as they were at a performing arts school. The musical numbers were quite good and well performed and directed. The problem for me was the story. It seemed like they tried to cram in too much in a very little time. The film covers about 3 years and yet things go by so very fast. They try to include so many different characters that they don’t have time to properly flesh out all their stories. One example is a guy who is a dancer. At the beginning of the film we see him struggling to perform and kind of know he’s not going to do well (making you wonder why he was chosen). But then we don’t see him for the middle part of the film and then he turns up at the end. It would have been nice to see a bit more of his struggle through the film and see him at least trying. We also hear the students mention end of year performances they do, which would have been nice to see.
As mentioned above there is very little time in the film for any of the actors to get much time to fully develop their characters. So to pick out a good performance is hard. Of the young cast Kay Panabaker does very well as a naive actress but her story is very clichéd and Naturi Naughton is a great singer too. Of the adults, again not much time to do much. I would like to have seen more of Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth. But the best part of the film was Megan Mullally. We mostly know her from ‘Will & Grace’ and here she gives a performance so different from Karen that I was so pleased. She has a brilliant scene in the film when she takes some of the kids to a karaoke bar that was wonderful.
A very big disappointment for fans of musicals and those with fond memories of the original. I’ve not seen the original but hope to soon so as to compare.

Julie & Julia

This is a blog about a movie about a person writing a blog. Blogging has become so popular these days that movies are being made about them. It goes to show that there are great stories out there.

I've always been amazed at the huge surge in cooking and food shows that have sprung up lately. Chef's are becoming so famous. Cooking is becoming so access able to everyone. Julia Child's is probably one of the first cooks to do this, make cooking more access able and become famous from it. Julia is a person that I had heard of by reputation but did not know very much about here. All I knew was that she was a cook. She is such a big personality that it is no wonder she became as famous as she is. Nora Ephron has done a good job of combining the two stories of Julia Childs and Julie Powell. They work together really well in parallel showing two women and their love of cooking. The only problem is that Julia Childs is such an exuberant character that he personality over shadows that of Julie Powell. You want more of Julia and less of Julie. I take it there was not enough about Julie to fill a movie so they included the story of Julia as well. But it would have been better to have a just Julia movie. While Julie's story has some interest in the task she is attempting of cooking all the recipes in Julia's book, her journey is not all thainteresting. It does affect her marriage but to me that felted like something tacked on to give her story more drama. Julia's story had more drama more by virtue of her circumstances. An American woman in France trying to write about French cooking and get her book published. Don't get me wrong the film is very well made but half the story is the best.

I am always amazed each time I see Meryl Streep on film. The woman is simply amazing. She can play and role and not make it look like she is acting. You really think she is Julia Childs. She is one of our greatest living actresses. Amy Adams is very good too, but as mentioned above her story is not all that interesting. Stanley Tucci is very good in his role as Julia's husband. He plays a very supportive husband.

A warning should be placed on this film that you must have a big meal before you see it. It is guaranteed to make you hungry afterwards. A very good film that is worth seeing just for Meryl's brilliance.

Mao's Last Dancer

Recently I read Bruce Beresford’s book ‘Josh Hartnett Definitely Wants To Do This... True Life Stories From A Life In The Screen Trade’. It was an excellent book which is a diary of a year in his life. He spends most of the book telling of how hard it is to get a job as he is constantly waiting for money to come for the various projects he is involved in. It makes you wonder how movies get made sometimes. So in some ways its amazed this got made.
I was also amazed at how many people told me they had read the book when this film came out. I had not heard of the book or Li Cunxin before the film came out. Now don’t get me wrong the story is very inspiring and uplifting but I was a bit disappointed by its lack of menace. I got the impression that Li was treated badly in his life but he wasn’t treated all that bad except for not being allowed to extend his stay in the USA and only then is he held in the consulate for a day or two and then let go. I thought he may have been ill treated at the ballet school in China and forcefully taken away from his family but not so. The film is also told in a fairly conventional way. No great flair or interesting techniques used to tell the story. I was expecting more from Bruce. I’m not much of a ballet fan either so the dancing did not really interest me all that much. It may sound like I did not like the film but it was good, maybe not as thrilling as I’d have liked or expected. Despite that I still had a good cry at the end so the story must have affected me in some way.
Chi Cao is excellent as the adult Li. I believe he was chosen more for his dancing abilities than his acting abilities. But that kind of works in his favour as it means he is more effective at portraying a nervous foreigner. Bruce Greenwood is good as Li’s American friend. Joan Chen is also wonderful as Li’s mother.
I think I had very different expectations from this film that were not met. Most people will enjoy it, especially those who read the book. It is already the most popular Aussie film this year so it must be doing something right.

Whatever Works

Over the years I have come to admire some of the older comedians. It wasn’t until I saw ‘Bullets Over Broadway’ that I became a fan of Woody Allen. Over the years I’ve tried to see as many of his films as I can. Not only his new ones but his older stuff too. I think he is a gifted comedian and a good director. I’m always amazed at how he can make one film per year when most directors younger than he is can not manage that turn out. But not all his films are great and lately his strike rate has been very low.
Woody redeems himself with this film. I’m not sure if it is because he originally wrote it 30 odd years ago when he was funnier but this is the best film he has done in a long time. I was totally amazed at all the clever lines that were in the film. It is filled with hilarious one-liners. Many critics have not liked it and I think that is because he has created such an unlikeable character in Boris Yellnikoff. I just thought he was hilarious so did not mind that he was insulting everyone all the time. I also think that most people are getting sick of his ‘older-man/younger-woman’ romances. But it doesn’t bother me too much. Plus they say you should write what you know. In some ways the story is a little implausible but you tend to over look it when the film is as funny as it is. What I loved most though was the ‘breaking the fourth wall’ technique Woody uses here. I found it very clever and funny.
I have been a fan of Larry David for a while. He has done great work behind the scenes on ‘Seinfeld’ and both in front of and behind the scenes in ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’. His teaming up with Woody Allen is one of those matches you love to see. Larry is pretty much playing the same character he does in everything he does. He’s not an actor with all that much range but when he is as funny as this you don’t mind. He delivers so many clever one-liners so well. Rachel Evan Woods is a great young actress and can play dumb very well. Their relationship here reminded me of Woody and Mira Sorvino in ‘Mighty Aphrodite’. Although she is dumb she is using Boris for her own means. Rachel is also very funny in the film and plays her niceness well off Larry’s meanness. Patricia Clarkson is an excellent actress in all that she does. Here she does more great work.
I tend to think that only Woody Allen fans will get the most out of this film. With an unlikeable character and Woody’s usual romance it might turn some off. But if you are willing to over look that you will laugh yourself silly.

Blessed

There has been a really good run of quality Australian films this year. They have been mostly confined to the art house cinemas but some have snuck into mainstream cinemas.
This is one that is pretty much confined to the art house sector. There have been complaints that we only produce bleak, depressing film and this film does not help the argument. While I like to see Aussie films I just wish they would make more in my favourite genre, comedy. I think the problem is that comedy is a lot harder to make than drama. I’ve found that most comedies have not been developed long enough and are not as funny as they could be. So it is easier to make drama as they don’t need as much attention as comedy.
This film is about two parallel stories during the one day of a group of kids and what they get up then what their mother’s get up to at the same time. I thought it was a good film but not as great as I had hoped. There are many sad, confronting moments and the end is a bit depressing. As is the case with ensemble films like this some stories get more attention than others and you feel you want more. I think some plots could have been expanded to full films just on their own. The major problem I had though was that because the film is based on a play you can see the ‘play’ aspect coming through in the way the film performed. I did learn though more about the way dialogue can be suited to a play and film. There are also come very clichéd moments which made me cringe a bit.
Director Ana Kokkinos has assembled quite an impressive cast of Aussie actresses for this film. Deborah Lee Furness (Mrs. Wolverine) is excellent as is Miranda Otto. But the most impressive is Francis O’Connor. She is so brilliant in this film that it is worth seeing just for her performance. To be fair though her story probably has the most material to work with. The kids in the film are great too. Sophie Lowe who we saw earlier in ‘Beautiful Kate’ is once again proving herself as an actress to watch.
This is a good Aussie film but not as great as you’d hoped. While it has a bit of a depressing story, it is still worth seeing if you enjoy seeing how all families have their problems.

Moon

This is one of those films that you should know as little about before going to see it. I may have to reveal some spoilers so you should read this review after you have seen the film. All you need to know is that this is an excellent film which features a brilliant performance by Sam Rockwell that will surely get him an Oscar nomination.
Some of the greatest films are so incredibly simple in their premise and execution that they do not need all the flashiness of a big budget (see the previous film I reviewed). This film is set in the one place and features very minimal special affects but has such a brilliant story. Big budget special affects are all well and good but if there is no decent story to back it up you are just left with something hollow. I’m not sure if it’s obvious at all but I picked up the ‘twist’ to this film before I even saw it. In some ways I hate when that happens but it is reveal fairly early on and the rest of the story more than makes up for it. It is the reveal of this twist that carries the rest of the film. The only thing I did not like about the film was the use of the computer Gerty. I know it is meant to be a homage to ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ but I think it looks and sounds too much like HAL that it distracted me from the film. This might be due to the use of Kevin Spacey as the voice. Kevin gives an excellent performance but he sounds too much like HAL. I think they should have cast someone who sounds less like HAL and speaks less like a robot and a little bit more human.
Sam Rockwell is an actor who is mainly done supporting work in films. He is another actor I admire for being able to move from big budget to low and across many genres. In this film he gives the performance of his career until now. He is so phenomenal that it will hopefully get him some greater recognition. I have no doubt that he will get an Oscar nomination for this role but it’s too early to say if he will win. The way he is able to act opposite himself is amazing. The only other major role in the film is that of the computer voiced by Kevin Spacey. As I said he is great but I think he was miss-cast for me and it would have worked better with someone else, maybe even a female voice.
I encourage all sci-fi fans and even those who aren’t to go see this film. It goes to show how the simple things in life are often the best.

The United States Of Tara

I know this is not a movie but I have just finished watching the final episode in a TV series I’ve fallen in love with and I had to write about it.
I had heard about this show from my readings in the trade papers but before I saw it I did not know much about it. But once I saw the first episode I fell in love. I watched it with my friend Richard and if you could ask him he will tell you I was just simply amazed at its brilliance. I was totally blown away by how good it was. There have not been many TV series in which I love right from the first episode. Diablo Cody is fast gaining a reputation as an excellent script writer in Hollywood and these series further cements that reputation. She has now become one of my writing heroes. I hope to someday be as good as her. But sometimes it can be a bit intimidating at how brilliant it is.
One of the many things I love about the show is how accepting Tara’s family is of her condition. They accept her for what she is and don’t really complain all that much. It is so refreshing to see that in a story these days. I like how her kids even use some of the ‘alters’ to have fun with. Then there is Tara’s husband, Max. As mentioned, many husbands you see in these stories would not be as supportive of Tara and her ‘alters’ but Max loves her so much that he copes really well with his wife and her ‘friends’, especially the rambunctious Tee. However not all things her ‘alters’ do are good as we saw in one episode when Tee makes out with a guy Marshal has a crush on.
Besides the great stories in the series the show has some brilliant performances. Tara’s kids played by Brie Larson and Keir Gilchrist are excellent. Keir I especially like as it is so nice to see young gay characters being portrayed in TV. Finally things are changing. Brie as Kate is great too. I was not really as taken by her story and her relationship with her boss. Rosemarie DeWitt as Tara’s sister is the one person on the show who has the most amount of trouble with Tara and her condition. I suppose there had to be one person who was not completely cool with it. One of the big revelations is John Corbett. I know he has done ‘Sex And The City’ but I’ve not seen him do much since ‘Northern Exposure’. I think he is brilliant in this show.
The greatest thing though is Toni Collette. This woman is simply amazing. I think this is one of the single greatest acting performances in anything ever. Each episode completely blew me away. Just the way she inhabits the character of each alter and becomes them. I’m so proud that she is Australian. I’ve admired Toni before in movies but her role here is just so brilliant. I don’t think there are enough words in the English language to describe how good Toni is. I’m sorry I’ve been gushing so much but I just cannot contain my feelings about how good she is.
The series has just finished on Australian TV and I can not wait for its release on DVD and the second season. I cannot encourage you to watch this show enough. For anyone who lives near me I’d be willing to let you borrow my DVD when I get it to pass on the goodness.