Two weeks ago Netflix sent me a nice little e-mail saying they’d finally partnered with Nintendo and created a disc that allows you to stream instantly from your Wii. After I was done doing my own dance of joy I clicked “send me the disc” and have been in love ever since. I now get to stream Netflix titles over my beautiful TV instead of my tiny computer screen!!!
Now that my geek is showing, one of the first movies I streamed was The Ugly Truth. While I don’t think this film is quite to the caliber of When Harry Met Sally, I enjoy it because it took the time to actually develop a plot and characters instead of just running into clichéd romantic comedy scenarios. Don’t get me wrong, you can pretty much predict the ending of the movie from the get go, but what I am saying is that despite this The Ugly Truth is genuinely funny and enjoyable to watch.
The only part of this film that is a somewhat genuine issue for me is the last 10 or so minutes. We’ve already figured out at this point that our lead characters are going to end up together (I don’t consider this a spoiler because come on, did you really think it’d be a romantic comedy without the leads hooking up?) but something about the way it happens seems sudden and tacked on to me. Katherine Heigl & Gerard Butler have enough chemistry and wit that they pull it off, but it still seems rushed. It’s almost as though since the writer knew it was a romantic comedy and they’d end up together in the last scenes he concentrated on making the buildup convincing and well rounded and then petered out in the last twenty pages.
The bottom line is this movie is cute and the actors and director bring wit and chemistry to the screen. That’s all you want in a good romantic comedy, and The Ugly Truth has enough other pluses along with it that you really enjoy being along for the ride.
Abby: I love how you think every man is as perverse as you are.
Mike: Oh, I don't think. I know.
|
|---|
|
|---|
Showing posts with label gerard butler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gerard butler. Show all posts
Friday, April 23, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
How to Train Your Dragon
Hiccup’s small village has a unique set of pests – dragons. While all of his fellow Vikings train to kill the dragons and stop the ménage Hiccup is sidelined because he is viewed as incapable. After one attack Hiccup finds a young dragon stranded in the woods unable to fly away; slowly Hiccup trains the dragon and learns that everything his fellow Vikings know about dragons is wrong, but he is unsure how to show them without endangering his dragon and disappointing the entire village.
How to Train Your Dragon is what a good family film should be. It is a well written, directed and crafted film that aims not just to please the children in the audience but the entire family and delivers a positive message. Hiccup is a very identifiable character for a person of any age; he is a teenager who wants to be recognized for who he is but as he is different from those around him he is instead shunned and made fun of. Through the film Hiccup has to learn to become comfortable with himself and take ownership of who he is – a great message for teens and children.
Above and beyond the fantastic message How to Train Your Dragon holds, the film is simply a joy to watch. I could care less about 3D (though I did see it in 3D), this film is simply an adventure movie from start to finish and doesn’t sacrifice story to do this.
What did shock me a bit about How to Train Your Dragon was the end of the film. I’m not going to give anything away, and I would be interested in knowing if the book ended the same way, but some things happen that I don’t think would normally happen in a children’s film – but these events are also woven in through the bulk of the film. The adolescent characters are Vikings and they are thrown into dangerous and deadly situations for the length of the entire film & characters do get hurt.
The animation and 3D in How to train Your Dragon are stunning. I don’t agree with the ad campaign that boasts the “3D makes even AVATAR jealous”, but seeing this film on the big screen – in any format – would be an experience that cannot be replicated at home no matter how good your television is.
Directors: Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
Writer: Dean DeBlois
Hiccup: Jay Baruchel
Stoick: Gerard Butler
Gobber: Craig Ferguson
Astrid: America Ferrera
Snotlout: Jonah Hill
Ruffnut: Kristen Wiig
Tuffnut: TJ Miller
How to Train Your Dragon is what a good family film should be. It is a well written, directed and crafted film that aims not just to please the children in the audience but the entire family and delivers a positive message. Hiccup is a very identifiable character for a person of any age; he is a teenager who wants to be recognized for who he is but as he is different from those around him he is instead shunned and made fun of. Through the film Hiccup has to learn to become comfortable with himself and take ownership of who he is – a great message for teens and children.
Above and beyond the fantastic message How to Train Your Dragon holds, the film is simply a joy to watch. I could care less about 3D (though I did see it in 3D), this film is simply an adventure movie from start to finish and doesn’t sacrifice story to do this.
What did shock me a bit about How to Train Your Dragon was the end of the film. I’m not going to give anything away, and I would be interested in knowing if the book ended the same way, but some things happen that I don’t think would normally happen in a children’s film – but these events are also woven in through the bulk of the film. The adolescent characters are Vikings and they are thrown into dangerous and deadly situations for the length of the entire film & characters do get hurt.
The animation and 3D in How to train Your Dragon are stunning. I don’t agree with the ad campaign that boasts the “3D makes even AVATAR jealous”, but seeing this film on the big screen – in any format – would be an experience that cannot be replicated at home no matter how good your television is.
Directors: Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
Writer: Dean DeBlois
Hiccup: Jay Baruchel
Stoick: Gerard Butler
Gobber: Craig Ferguson
Astrid: America Ferrera
Snotlout: Jonah Hill
Ruffnut: Kristen Wiig
Tuffnut: TJ Miller
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The Ugly Truth
Mike Chadway has the most offensive public access show in the Sacramento area, on The Ugly Truth he talks about men, and what men want out of women. Enraged one night local morning show producer Abby calls in and gives Chadway a piece of her mind & his highest ratings ever. Abby’s boss hires Chadway to boost their shows ratings. Angry and relationship challenged Abby agrees to a bet with Chadway, he’ll get her doctor crush to date her or he’ll quit.
The Ugly Truth is a romantic comedy in the tradition of great romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally, which is a refreshing tradition after a string of boring, bland romantic comedies pumped out as cheap date movies. Instead, The Ugly Truth actually manages to build character, plot and chemistry while engaging in the formula of “meet cute” and romantic conflict.
What made The Ugly Truth work for me was the character of Mike Chadway, played by Gerard Butler. Chadway is a womanizing, offensive, egotistical, dog of a man but the writer thought enough about the character to make him human and actually give him empathetic characteristics. There is a reason Chadway is the way he acts now, and even better there is a second side to Chadway that is slowly revealed through the movie.
I think The Ugly Truth will play well to audiences of both sexes. Men & women enjoy the chemistry between Chadway & Abby, and the humor is rooted in the battle of the sexes, something that can always manage to appeal.
Director: Robert Luketic
Writers: Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz & Kristen Smith
Abby Richter: Katherine Heigl
Mike Chadway: Gerard Butler
Georgia: Cheryl Hines
Larry: John Michael Higgins
Joy: Bree Turner
Jonah: Noah Matthews
Elizabeth: Bonnie Somerville
Colin: Eric Winter
Abby: I am not desperate! Why, did you think I sounded desperate?
Mike: Listen to you. Desperately asking me if you sounded desperate?
The Ugly Truth is a romantic comedy in the tradition of great romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally, which is a refreshing tradition after a string of boring, bland romantic comedies pumped out as cheap date movies. Instead, The Ugly Truth actually manages to build character, plot and chemistry while engaging in the formula of “meet cute” and romantic conflict.
What made The Ugly Truth work for me was the character of Mike Chadway, played by Gerard Butler. Chadway is a womanizing, offensive, egotistical, dog of a man but the writer thought enough about the character to make him human and actually give him empathetic characteristics. There is a reason Chadway is the way he acts now, and even better there is a second side to Chadway that is slowly revealed through the movie.
I think The Ugly Truth will play well to audiences of both sexes. Men & women enjoy the chemistry between Chadway & Abby, and the humor is rooted in the battle of the sexes, something that can always manage to appeal.
Director: Robert Luketic
Writers: Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz & Kristen Smith
Abby Richter: Katherine Heigl
Mike Chadway: Gerard Butler
Georgia: Cheryl Hines
Larry: John Michael Higgins
Joy: Bree Turner
Jonah: Noah Matthews
Elizabeth: Bonnie Somerville
Colin: Eric Winter
Abby: I am not desperate! Why, did you think I sounded desperate?
Mike: Listen to you. Desperately asking me if you sounded desperate?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
RocknRolla
I am a fan of Guy Ritchie. Snatch is one of my personal favorite movies and I think Mickey is just one of the best characters committed to celluloid in the past few decades. I have been in a Guy Ritchie funk since Snatch came out; sure he did Swept Away and Revolver but neither one of those films got much love…and Swept Away was just ripped apart by everyone. In short, Madonna killed Guy’s career. Those of us that have had that opinion about the Madonna/Guy marriage of course find it funny that Rocknrolla has come out at roughly the same time as the announcement of Guy and Madonna’s split. We’ve all been hoping that this split signals the return of Guy Ritchie to the cinema he does so well.
Rocknrolla is vaguely similar in concept to some of Guy Ritchie’s other films. It takes an odd assortment of characters all somehow involved in the criminal underground in Britain and their paths interconnect and try to pull them all down a ugly and dangerous spiral that will end in their deaths. In this outing One Two, Mumbles and Handsome Bob are the Wild Bunch a trio of moderately successful thugs. Stella is creative accountant to Uri who gives work to One Two under the nose of Uri who is trying to use Stella’s skills to get money to Lenny. Lenny is a blue-collar thug if you will who makes his dime off real estate scams and doesn’t see his way of doing things as old. Archie is Lenny’s enforcer who is trying to track down Lenny’s step son Johnny, a supposedly dead junkie/rocker managed by Mickey and Roman. There is really no way to truly sum up this film’s plot. But if you’ve seen a Ritchie film you can put the pieces together and figure out at least the style that the story will be told in.
While I enjoyed Rocknrolla it is by no means a typical Guy Ritchie film. All the elements are there, and you enjoy watching all the pieces get put in place and whacked back out of order. However, the prevailing feeling that I got out of this film is that Guy is stretching; it’s been eight years since Snatch came out and it feels like Guy is a little unsure of himself. This is not a bad thing however, the film is enjoyable, well done and something that no one except Guy Ritchie could do. It put me in a mood where I enjoyed the film and I know going out of it that Guy is coming back and his next movie is going to be even more like the Guy Ritchie I know and love.
One of the things I do love about Guy Ritchie’s films is that he takes at least one actor in every film that I love and makes them play a character that I couldn’t picture them in. In Snatch that is Brad Pitt and Mickey. In Rocknrolla that is Gerard Butler. I adore Butler and while One Two isn’t as out there of a character as Mickey I just didn’t quite see Butler as a fit in Ritchie’s world – I was wrong. Butler is fabulous.
Go support Guy Ritchie. He doesn’t really need the money, but I want him to keep making gangster movies because that is his genre.
Director & Writer: Guy Ritchie
One Two: Gerard Butler
Mumbles: Idris Elba
Handsome Bob: Tom Hardy
Johnny Quid: Toby Kebbell
Roman: Ludacris/Chris Bridges
Uri: Karel Roden
Councilor: Jimi Mistry
Stella: Thandie Newton
Mickey: Jeremy Piven
Archie: Mark Stong
Lenny: Tom Wilkinson
Archie: People ask the question... what's a RocknRolla? And I tell 'em - it's not about drugs, drums, and hospital drips, oh no. There's more there than that, my friend. We all like a bit of the good life - some the money, some the drugs, other the sex game, the glamour, or the fame. But a RocknRolla, oh, he's different. Why? Because a real RocknRolla wants the f---ing lot.
Rocknrolla is vaguely similar in concept to some of Guy Ritchie’s other films. It takes an odd assortment of characters all somehow involved in the criminal underground in Britain and their paths interconnect and try to pull them all down a ugly and dangerous spiral that will end in their deaths. In this outing One Two, Mumbles and Handsome Bob are the Wild Bunch a trio of moderately successful thugs. Stella is creative accountant to Uri who gives work to One Two under the nose of Uri who is trying to use Stella’s skills to get money to Lenny. Lenny is a blue-collar thug if you will who makes his dime off real estate scams and doesn’t see his way of doing things as old. Archie is Lenny’s enforcer who is trying to track down Lenny’s step son Johnny, a supposedly dead junkie/rocker managed by Mickey and Roman. There is really no way to truly sum up this film’s plot. But if you’ve seen a Ritchie film you can put the pieces together and figure out at least the style that the story will be told in.
While I enjoyed Rocknrolla it is by no means a typical Guy Ritchie film. All the elements are there, and you enjoy watching all the pieces get put in place and whacked back out of order. However, the prevailing feeling that I got out of this film is that Guy is stretching; it’s been eight years since Snatch came out and it feels like Guy is a little unsure of himself. This is not a bad thing however, the film is enjoyable, well done and something that no one except Guy Ritchie could do. It put me in a mood where I enjoyed the film and I know going out of it that Guy is coming back and his next movie is going to be even more like the Guy Ritchie I know and love.
One of the things I do love about Guy Ritchie’s films is that he takes at least one actor in every film that I love and makes them play a character that I couldn’t picture them in. In Snatch that is Brad Pitt and Mickey. In Rocknrolla that is Gerard Butler. I adore Butler and while One Two isn’t as out there of a character as Mickey I just didn’t quite see Butler as a fit in Ritchie’s world – I was wrong. Butler is fabulous.
Go support Guy Ritchie. He doesn’t really need the money, but I want him to keep making gangster movies because that is his genre.
Director & Writer: Guy Ritchie
One Two: Gerard Butler
Mumbles: Idris Elba
Handsome Bob: Tom Hardy
Johnny Quid: Toby Kebbell
Roman: Ludacris/Chris Bridges
Uri: Karel Roden
Councilor: Jimi Mistry
Stella: Thandie Newton
Mickey: Jeremy Piven
Archie: Mark Stong
Lenny: Tom Wilkinson
Archie: People ask the question... what's a RocknRolla? And I tell 'em - it's not about drugs, drums, and hospital drips, oh no. There's more there than that, my friend. We all like a bit of the good life - some the money, some the drugs, other the sex game, the glamour, or the fame. But a RocknRolla, oh, he's different. Why? Because a real RocknRolla wants the f---ing lot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
