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Unique, endearing and quirky; 500 Days of Summer is not, as the title may suggest, a story about frolicking in the hot Summer sun, but as the Narrator tells us, is in fact a story that's not a love story; well at least not the kind we've come to expect. Tom Hanson (Joseph Gordon-Levitt - of 3rd Rock from the Sun fame) has always believed that his life will only be complete when he meets his one true love. Tom had trained to be an architect but lacking belief in his abilities has been employed to write greeting cards for the past three years. Tom meets Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) when she begins working as a PA for his boss and instantly falls for her.
500 Days of Summer
After a brief courtship over work meetings and a karaoke night, Tom and Summer hook up. Summer, a victim of a divorced family, immediately lets Tom know she doesn't believe in love and doesn't want a serious relationship. This does not stop Tom from falling head over heels in love with her. When Summer breaks it off with him after 290 days, Tom is a broken man. He is helped through his devastation by counselling sessions from his two best mates, Paul (Matthew Gray Gubler) and McKensie (Geoffrey Arend) and from his worldly younger sister Rachel (Chloe Moretz) but still dreams of reconciling with Summer. Only after he finds out she is in fact engaged to another man, does the reality hit home. Tom quits his job and focuses his attention on his architecture. No longer a believer in love and feeling hopeless it is Summer that convinces Tom that he was right all along about true love and opens him up to the possibility of his own happy ending.
What I haven't told you about 500 Days of Summer, is that we start at the end, the beginning is some time after that and the middle is cut into pieces and thrown back together haphazardly and not so much chronologically. So basically we get glimpses of everything from day 3 to day 333 but it won't make any sense unless you watch the whole film. This can be a little frustrating but did keep me involved; why is Tom so miserable? what's happened to Summer? it's only day 380, what's going to happen next? Told from start to finish, 500 days of Summer wouldn't be nearly so interesting.
There are no mega stars in 500 Days of Summer but it does have a very solid all round cast. Chloe Moretz's gives a mature and very cool performance as Rachel, the younger sister with more knowledge of the world than her much older brother. Matthew Gray Gubler's Paul provided the sanity to Tom's situation but managed to be funny and quirky at the same time and Geoffry Arend was well cast as the girlfriendless work mate. Gordon-Levitt is definitely very believeable in is role as Tom and provokes the emotions I imagine director Marc Webb was after - "come on man, snap out of it". Deschanel is cute and convincing as the casual and non-committal girlfriend, a boy-girl role reversal in action.
500 Days of Summer is what I'd call a dark Rom Com, not as uplifting as some but different and edgier than most.
September 14th 2009 02:56
Abbie Richter (Katherine Heigl) is a career focussed, over analysing control freak who hasnt managed to land her knight in shining armour but who is certain he exists. After pressure at work from her TV network bosses and falling ratings on her morning show, Abbies boss brings in a new face, Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler). Mikes feature demonstrates what men really think and what they really want e.g. jelly wrestling. Abbie finds Mike completely offensive and sees his presence as the end of quality content in her show. The viewers, however, love him. Desperate to get rid of Mike, Abbie makes a bet with him that if he can successfully coach her into landing her new neighbour, hot Dr Colin, using his belief system of what men want, she will work with him on the show; otherwise he must leave for good . Unable to refuse the challenge, Mike accepts and sets about reinventing Abbie into the woman every man wants.
The Ugly Truth
I thought this movie was just plain funny. There is definitely a warm up period at the beginning where I was in doubt. Its probably to do with the fact that I wasnt used to seeing characters quite like this. Sure theres always the devilish, cheeky or outright bad boy but hes not normally uncouth, a bit overweight and completely unfiltered when his thoughts are concerned. It took me a while to warm to Mike Chadway but by the end hed won me over. The writers used a few tools to soften him up including the father figure role he plays to his nephew and the revelation that hes been screwed over by women in the past but at the end of the day I think I just liked him because he was made a really funny team with Heigl. Heigl is absolutely adorable as Abbie. Shes funny, ballsy, neurotic and totally committed to the part. Im a huge fan and this is fantastic performance.
The writing in The Ugly Truth is fast and witty. There are some hilarious situations and while we all know what happens in the end, its entertaining enough to be satisfied with that. Youll pick up some similarities between Bridget Jones and Abbie Richter and probably with some of your own girlfriends. As for Mike, hes somewhere between Stifler and most guys I know. Some feminists are up in arms about the chauvinism in the movie but if youve lived the real world youll see the ugly truth in all of it and have a good laugh.
District 9 began its life as a short film titled Alive in Joburg directed by Neill Blomkamp and starring its producer Sharlto Copley. Peter Jackson entered the scene when studio politics got in the way of another project Jackson & Blomkamp were working on and Jackson decided to back Blomkamp in adapting Alive in Joburg into what would become District 9. And let me tell you; this movie is well made, well acted and about as real as a sci-fi can get. Our story begins when we meet Wikus van der Merwe (Copley), the man selected by his father-in-law boss at the private security firm MNU, to relocate the 1.8 million aliens (shrimps) from District 9, where they have been living since their arrival on earth, to a new compound 250 km from Johannesburg and away from the human population (yes, this is a direct parallel to the relocation of 60,000 coloured people from District 6 which was declared a whites only area in 1966).
While serving an eviction notice to one of the alien households, Wikus discovers a suspicious black fluid which he accidentally sprays on himself thus initiating a process that will slowly morph him from human to shrimp. He becomes a wanted man by his former employer as he now represents the critical genetic link that will enable them to harness the alien weaponry, previously useless to them.
Rather than be dissected for analysis Wikus hides out in District 9 and befriends an alien named Christopher Johnson who promises to restore him to his human form if they can only break into the MNU headquarters and retrieve the black fluid which is actually fuel for their spacecraft. The mission will prove difficult and involve a lot of heavy weaponry and some pretty full on shoot outs.
What I like about this movie is that its a Sci-fi but its accessible to the general audience, its not too out there. We can relate to the issues of segregation, family bonds and misunderstanding other cultures. And there is a message, a reminder firstly that were not so different from one another and secondly that communication is vitally important. If the humans had communicated better with the aliens they could have eliminated all their problems by helping the aliens harness the fuel and sending them home after all, thats all they both wanted. The irony of it all
District 9 is knocking the door of being a comedy. Not your typical slap stick humour but more the kind where you get the feeling the director is laughing at himself along with the rest of the human race, including you. Copleys South African accent is quite endearing as is his general nice guy doing a tough job persona. If you are a fan of Flight of the Concords or the Office, this is the kind of humour will probably hit the mark with you.
Its refreshing to see movies from outside the US Hollywood scene doing well. I suspect that District 9 is going to surprise a few people and will hopefully do wonders for the South African film industry but its up to us to support these independent movies
it can only be a good thing for the future of the film industry.
I hate to tell ya boys but amidst all the gangster action, semi-automatic weapons and needless violence Public Enemies is actually a love story. Our tale begins when John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) smuggles a few pistols (or more accurately some pretty serious firepower) into the Indiana state prison and breaks out his buddies so that they can resume the task of robbing banks.
But all is not well for our gang of thieves. The first sign of trouble is when Dillinger, out socialising in the Mafia safe haven of Chicago, falls for a part French, part Indian coat checker, Billy (Marion Cotillard). And all thieves know that bank robbing and women just dont mix. The second sign of trouble is when J Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) decides to put a spotlight on Dillinger as a way to gain publicity for his federal police force. He appoints Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) in charge and the chase begins
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Loosely based on the 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Benjamin Button is quite a curious case. When the town clock maker loses his only son to the great war, he builds a very special clock, one that goes backwards, in the hope that if time is reversed, his son might return to him. Alas, this was not the case. What did happen was that when a baby was born on the day the town of New Orleans celebrated the end of the war, that baby was born at the end of his life rather than the beginning. Instead of growing older with each day this child grows younger.
The biggest curiosity of the Curious Case of Benjamin Button (played by Brad Pitt) is how on earth does this work and more to the point how could it possibly be portrayed in film. The answer is
quite cleverly
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The Reader is a touching movie of awakenment, love and self examination but will leave you wondering just how you should be feeling. Our central characters meet when Hanna (Kate Winslet), a mid thirties ticket taker on the cities trams, demonstrates an act of kindness in helping an infirm 15 year old Michael (David Kross) home when she finds him collapsed outside her building. Once recovered from the scarlet fever that had plagued him Michael returns to Hanna's flat with flowers of gratitude. The pair quickly develop an intimate and deeply sensual relationship, Hanna seeking companionship and Michael overwhelmed with feelings for the older woman. For Hanna, Michael reading to her, is his greatest gift.
Hanna and Michael
The relationship comes to an abrupt halt when Hanna is told she is to be promoted to work in the office. Rather than admit her illiteracy, she simply disappears, with no explanation to Michael. He is hurt deeply and returns to his parents. Eight years later, we discover that Hanna left to join the Secret Service and is currently on trial with five others for the murder of 300 jews. Now a law student, Michael's class is present in the court room to study the trial
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In these times when animated movies are a force to be reckoned with at the box office, viewer expectations are high. While largely aimed at the younger generation, the animated movie will usually deliver a good dose humour that sails over a youngsters head but hits the mark with the older audience. Unfortunately, grown-ups, Ice Age 3 forgot about you this time
but dont worry, your kids will love it.
In Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Manny and Ellie are expecting their first child. Their buddy, Diego
Ice Age 3 - Dawn of the Dinosaurs
is concerned that hes losing his edge as a hunter by settling down into family life. When Diego indicates to Sid that hes thinking of leaving the group, Sid begins to feel all alone, alone, alone (cue, all by myself
.). So when he discovers three eggs lying unattended on the ice, he decides to adopt them and create his own family
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Margaret (Sandra Bullock) is a successful, no-nonsense, terror-inducing book editor who is also Canadian and working in the US with a soon to expire visa. Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) is her long-suffering assistant who dreams of one day becoming editor himself. The deal - Andrew must marry Margaret so that she can stay in the country and he can get the promotion hes been working so hard towards. Win, win situation right? Well except for the fact that they now must go to Alaska for the Grammys 90th birthday and convince Andrews entire family theyre legit all the while a particularly zealous US immigration official is determined to expose them as frauds.
Andrew and Margaret attempt to convince US Immigration
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Ive heard this story described as being about the death of dreams. For me, its more about the living of life. Revolutionary Road highlights the notion that we all have a choice, that we form our own destiny. Its almost a warning.
Revolutionary Road is based on the debut novel of the same name by author Richard Yates. Although written and set in the fifties, the themes are more relevant today than ever before, as people now more than ever want more from their lives
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For anyone who's worried that this movie is one for the boys, don't be. The Hangover is genuinely funny, has appealing characters, a ripping soundtrack and a story that just keeps on getting better...with just a dollop of crassness to keep the lads happy.
The Hangover takes the classic tale of Buck's Night gone wrong, puts it on steroids and takes you on one wild ride. We start out with Doug (the groom-to-be), Alan (the brother-in-law), two best mates Phil and Stu and one worried bride to be. Sounds familiar right? Well along the way let's throw in a Mercedes convertable, Jaeger shots, a Bengal tiger, Mike Tyson, an Asian gang, kidnap, extortion, at least one wedding...and did I mention the baby? Suddenly this classic tale is reworked, revamped and revitalised
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Comment by Movie Marauder
on Public Enemies
Le Flick
It's Showtime...Movie Reviews