Review: 127 Hours

I sort of have a love-dislike relationship with Danny Boyle. Shallow Grave, A Life Less Ordinary, 28 Days Later and Sunshine are some of my favorite films, but I haven't even bothered to watch Boyle's other films as they don't appeal to me at all.

Now here's his latest film, 127 Hours. On the one hand, we have an interesting story. On the other, James Franco. While I know very well that he is a good actor. I knew that long before I saw 127 Hours as I've been following his career for about a decade, since he became one to watch with roles in Freaks and Geeks and James Dean. Over the years, I just feel he's becoming more and more pretentious. Basically my love for James Franco the actor transformed into a strong dislike for the person these past 10 years.

So James Franco carrying an entire film? Oddly, it kinda works here. Let's face it, Aron was kinda stupid. Yes, go climbing without a buddy. Yes, go do that without letting anyone know where you're going. I sighed to my sister, so this is what people who don't have enough stress in their lives do? They are bored and seeking adventure and think they can just do it all. In that respect, James Franco is perfect for the role. And I swear, he gives a beautiful performance. But really, is it a better performance than Ryan Reynolds trapped in a box in Buried? In my opinion, no. I could feel Ryan's frustration and desperation. Franco's not so much. So why is James getting all the love and is Ryan overlooked? Probably because 127 Hours is based on a true story, it ended on a positive note and is helmed by an Academy Award-winning director.

As for the film, I wasn't fond of the use of splitscreens. I felt it was unnecessary. It's a simple film based on a true story. No splitscreens, this isn't 24. While I'm totally on board that this is a good film, I think an Oscar nomination for Best Picture is a bit too much. I don't think it's anywhere near as good as Boyle's other films I mentioned earlier. A 3/5.

Review: Buried

Buried is an impressive little film featuring a strong performance by Ryan Reynolds. Why he isn't getting any recognition for his role is beyond me. Reynolds is always a solid actor, and here he proves he can do more than play the funny and charming guy. I refuse to believe that James Franco in 127 Hours really is any better than Ryan here and James is getting love from the people who give out awards. Not that I have seen 127 Hours, but I'm pulling James into this, because I hear he also has to carry lots of screentime all by himself.

Buried is about a truckdriver named Paul Conroy, played with effective desperation by Ryan, who wakes up trapped in a coffin with a lighter and a cellphone. And that's basically it. That's the story. The film works better if you don't know more.

I, of course, want to talk about some other stuff as well, so consider this your SPOILER ALERT.

The great thing about Buried here, is that the only thing we get to see is Ryan trapped in the coffin. There are no outside shots. We don't see his kidnappers. We don't see how Ryan got into the coffin. It's just Ryan, the coffin, the phone and his lighter. And it works. I felt Ryan's desperation and frustration. There's a sequence somewhere in the film where I felt they were stretching it a bit, with the sudden appearance of a snake. It was a bit much, but other than that, the film kept it small and plausible. /END SPOILERS.

It's not a perfect film, but pretty damn great. A 4/5.

Happy birthday, Ryan Reynolds!

Happy 33, Ryan! I can't believe you're in your 30s. This means we're getting old. I still remember watching you on that kids show The Odyssey! And I thought you were really cute in that X-Files episode with Laurie from That 70s Show, long before you turned into leading man material.

I was thinking about making a top 5 of my favorite Ryan performances, but I can't pick! I JUST CAN'T PICK! I always love Ryan, it's like a disease! Therefore I will just list everything I have ever seen him in:

The Odyssey, The X-Files, Two Guys, a Girl & a Pizzaplace, Dick, Van Wilder, Buying the Cow, Scrubs, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Blade: Trinity, The Amityville Horror, Waiting..., Just Friends, Definitely Maybe, Wolverine and The Proposal.

That doesn't seem like a lot now that I've listed everything, but it does mean I have been watching this man for over a decade. Okay, now I feel really old.

The Proposal is a success?

I continue to be puzzled by The Proposal's box office success this summer. Box Office Mojo tells me the romcom is currently sitting on $145 million domestically! That's the 13th highest grossing movie this year, sitting right between Paul Blart: Mall Cop at #12 with $146m and Liam Neeson's Taken at #14 with $145m (but a few thousand less than The Proposal). Since the film is still in theaters it's more than likely the movie will surpass Mall Cop.

I saw the movie weeks ago, didn't have time to write/post a review and now I barely remember the movie. I mean, I liked the movie, I'm just not sure what I liked about it. Well, besides Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock.

Or maybe that's just it. People really like Reynolds and Bullock. According to Box Office Mojo, The Proposal's opening weekend gross of $33 million is Bullock's highest opening ever. While Bullock is one of America's sweethearts and most of her movies end up doing pretty well or at least decent, her openings are not that strong. Her previous career best opening is 2007's Premonition with $17m. It's been a while since Bullock starred in a romcom like The Proposal. Romance The Lake House was released in 2006 and comedy Miss Congeniality 2 was released in 2005! Her last true romantic comedy was 2002's Two Weeks Notice with Hugh Grant! Were people suffering from Bullock withdrawal and en masse flocked to the theater when The Proposal was released?

Then there's Reynolds, who has turned into quite the capable leading man since his days on Two Guys, a Girl, & a Pizzaplace. People generally like him and his supporting role in Wolverine was well received. Excluding Wolverine (which clearly wasn't about him), Reynold's career best is also The Proposal. His previous highest opening was for 2005's The Amityville Horror, which grossed $23.5 million. Reynolds seems to be one of those actors that appeals to both females and males. I never hear guys say they like that Orlando Bloom guy. But Reynolds has appeared in a lot of guy flicks, such as Van Wilder, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Blade: Trinity and the aforementioned Wolverine. Has his casting helped The Proposal? Would guys rather take their girlfriends to a romcom starring Ryan Reynolds than, say, Matthew McConaughey?

Take McConaughey's latest romcom, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (awful title, btw). The movie opened only a few weeks earlier than The Proposal. It grossed $15 million in its opening weekend and ended up grossing $55 million domestically. To be fair to McConaughey, his previous three romcoms (Fool's Gold, Failure to Launch, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) all grossed between $20-$25 million in their opening weekends. Nothing to be ashamed about at all!

So what I really have been wondering lately is why is The Proposal a big hit and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past came and went without much notice? I wasn't too kind to both movies when I reviewed their trailers, but I gave kudos to GOGP for being less generic than The Proposal. Though it seems pretty obvious how both will play out, yes? I didn't want to see either on the big screen, but ended up seeing The Proposal just because a friend wanted to go see it. She thought it looked funny.

Maybe The Proposal is just the better movie. Maybe people were tired of McConaughey's romcoms and were waiting for Bullock's instead. Maybe Ghosts of Girlfriends Past just isn't an appealing title. Who knows?

Bullock & Cooper in All About Steve

I'm hoping to figure at least part of this out when Bullock's next romcom, All About Steve is released on September 4. She plays an eccentric crossword puzzler who think CCN cameraman Steve (sexy Bradley Cooper) is her true love and follows him around the country. I've seen the trailer and the movie looks awful. But both Bullock and Cooper are at career highs at the moment so I expect the movie to do well despite its awfulness. If so, it seems it doesn't really matter how awful or generic a romcom is, as long as you have two appealing leads, the movie will do well at the box office. To be continued...

Dear Scarlett Johansson,

You are one of my favorite actresses. But sometimes I really hate you.

Review: Wolverine

Just caught a 7 pm showing of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Theater wasn't packed, but to be fair, it's a holiday here today and most people are out doing other stuff. I wasn't sure what to expect of the movie. I somewhat successfully managed to stay away from trailers, clips and stills, as I didn't want to get spoiled. I knew it's about Wolverine (duh), the great Liev Schreiber plays Sabretooth, the Friday Night Lights kid is Gambit (finally, Gambit!), Dom Monaghan is in this for some reason and Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool (what's a Deadpool?).

My brief X-Men history first so you know where I'm coming from reading this review. I've never read the comics, but I did watch the cartoon when I was a kid. Wolverine wasn't a favorite: I liked Gambit and Rogue. I liked X-Men and X2, but never saw The Last Stand.

First something that I loved! The opening title sequence. It was beautifully done. The credits played over scenes of Logan (Hugh Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schreiber) fighting in several wars, but never dying. A good font was picked too. I hate it when movies have stupid colored fonts that don't stand out from the background. Kudos to the people behind this sequence.

Logan and Victor eventually meet Stryker and join Team X. The other members are Wade 'Deadpool' Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), Chris 'Bolt' Bradley (Dominic Monaghan), Fred 'The Blob' Dukes (Kevin Durand), John 'Kestrel' Wraith (will.i.am) and David 'Agent Zero' North (Daniel Henney). Or so Wikipedia tells me. It was fun seeing these guys interact. I would have liked to see more of them, but this movie is called Wolverine and not Team X unfortunately. More on that later.

Then comes stuff mostly about Wolverine and his girlfriend Silverfox (played by Michelle Monaghan 2.0, Lynn Collins), which is where the movie fell flat for me. I just didn't care enough. I kept waiting for Sabretooth to reappear to make things interesting again! That's not a good sign, I think. Though it's a compliment for Schreiber I guess.

This next bit is SPOILERY: the movie feels pretty short with a runtime of 107 minutes. This is probably just me being hypercritical but whatever, I'm just going to say it: there's a scene that feels like filler. I was actually sitting there thinking 'what is the point of this scene? who wrote this crap?' As established early in the movie, Wolverine cannot be killed by guns, him having healing powers and all. Yet there's like a 15 minute sequence where Zero tries to shoot him even though he knows he can't kill him that way. They sorta make up for it by at least acknowledging their stupidty afterwards. END SPOILERS

The ending left me wanting more, but not in the sense that I want to see a sequel. This has more to do with the movie feeling short and the final battle not being that suspenseful. This is a prequel and we know certain characters appear in the X-Men trilogy. It should not be a surprise that Sabretooth survives.

I want to talk about the other mutants a bit. BEWARE OF SPOILERS! I read a lot about Ryan Reynolds' casting as Deadpool. I know Reynolds is a fan of the character and that's why he agreed to do the movie. I love Ryan. I'm very pro-Ryan in movies. But this felt pointless. He's in the movie for 5 minutes, just like Dominic Monaghan. Come one! I know this is Wolverine the Movie, but if you include these guys, use them. Will.i.am wasn't bad at all as Wraith. Good choice! I liked Durand as the Blob. Taylor Kitsch was an okay Gambit. I think my expectations were too high for that one. He didn't really feel Gambit-y IMHO. The movie includes a young Scott Summers (Cyclops). I wasn't really feeling his addition. It made me confused timeline wise. But I'm no expert.

Overall, the movie was enjoyable, but it felt flawed to me. Hugh Jackman gave a good performance, but it was Liev Schreiber who kept my interest. A 3/5.

Trailer Park: Confessions of a Shopaholic

I don't watch a lot of trailers online, so this feature will mostly feature (hee!) trailers that were attached to movies I've recently seen. Keep in mind that I live in The Netherlands, and that the trailers attached wont necessarily be the same as the ones in your country. In this post I'll review the trailers that were attached to Confessions of a Shopaholic.

My guesses: He's Just Not That Into You, Bride Wars, 17 Again

Sunshine Cleaning
This was unexpected! I didn't think a little movie like Sunshine Cleaning would get a theatrical release here. I mean, the movie is doing well in the US, but in limited release. Isn't that usually code for direct-to-DVD here in The Netherlands? Guess they are wising up. Anyways, loved seeing the trailer on the big screen. Amy Adams is adorable. I want to see this movie now!
To be viewed: probably on DVD cause it will end up getting a limited release here as well and no one I know wants to see it.

17 Again
Except for the Zac Efron factor, this movie looks pretty entertaining. But the scene where Leslie Mann abuses Zac's face, made me cringe. He looks exactly like her husband, played by Matthew Perry? Yeah, right.
To be viewed: on DVD. I will not support Zac Efron projects until he leaves Footloose alone.

He's Just Not That Into You
I'm just not that into this movie anymore. The more I see this trailer, the more it bores me. How is that possible when the cast includes Bradley Cooper, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, Justin Long, and Kevin Connelly? Did I mention the Bradley Cooper factor?!
To be viewed: on DVD

The Proposal
Poor Sandra Bullock. Poor Ryan Reynolds. Okay, not poor Ryan Reynolds. He gets to be married to Scarlett Johansson. But they both deserve better than this. The Proposal doesn't look bad, it just looks awful. Nothing we haven't seen before. I'd rather see Bullock's other romcom, All About Steve. Not that that movie looks like a winner, but at least it has Bradley Cooper in it.
To be viewed: on TV

Fave Movie Moments... Waiting...

Waiting... is a great little gem. The movie follows Mitch (the adorable John Francis Daley) on his first day at work at restaurant Shenaniganz. It's this scene that really makes the movie.


Simply brilliant. I have nothing else to add.