Change Your Image
fintastique
Reviews
She's the Man (2006)
12th Night meets Bend it like Beckham
Sorry if someone has used that tag line before but i'm not searching through 9 pages of reviews. the price of living in Europe we have to wait for some American releases.
I know I am way outside the target audience of this one but I like the writers.
After a brief flirtation with the bar and the novel by Amanda Brown in Legally Blonde writers Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith have returned to their true love the bard William Shakespeare. After adapting the Taming of the Shrew into "10 Things I hate about you" they have blended "12th Night" with "Bend it like Beckham". Though to be fair Ewan Leslie actually has first billing of the writers. I won't mention their other film Ella Enchanted as I never saw it and Karen and Kirsten were two of five writers associated with that film.
Anyway the film, Viola has a passion for playing soccer but girl's soccer is cancelled at her school so she decides to attend another school pretending to be someone else to play on their team instead.
To achieve this deception she must walk like a man, talk like a man and spit like a man. The walking isn't too much of a problem, the talking at times she sounds like Steve Martin in "Bringing down the House" with her overuse of African American street slang and the spitting she only does that once.
The most important bit of casting was Amanda Bynes as Viola a pretty girl but with a wig and sideburns could pass for a tall prepubescent boy, strange how different a haircut can make somebody. It's certainly an improvement over her previous film "What a Girl Wants" though I never saw "Lovewrecked" she carries the film though appearing in virtually every scene in some form or another, she has to.
The rest of the cast was of mostly of unknowns to me (Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Robert Hoffman) with the exception of the underused Julia Haggerty (the flight attendant in "Airplane 1 + 2") and the over rated Vinnie Jones. Though to be fair nobody plays a hard man footballer like Vinnie and he is not too stretched in this role, it would have been nice to have had a quirky football coach. As the principle played by David Cross is beyond quirky he is just annoying.
On the whole I enjoyed the film at times I cringed at some of the scenes but its pace sped us to scenes that were actually very amusing, if you enjoyed "10 Things" and "Legally Blonde" you will enjoy this though I know it maybe a little sweet for some tastes.
V for Vendetta (2005)
1984 meets the Matrix
This was supposedly scheduled for a 5th of November release but they missed it by three months. 1984 meets the Matrix though despite the writers of the later the Wachowski brothers it has more in common with the former. Don't expect too much action but lots of wordy prose and at times sentences that sound like someone is reading from the V section of the dictionary. Though they have promoting their first assistant director from the Matrix Trilogy James McTeigue to direct this one.
It's a strong cast Hugo "Agent Smith" Weaving dons the Guy Fawkes mask as the anarchist with an agenda. Natalie Portman is his unlikely collaborator. They are joined by Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt and Tim Pigott-Smith. Obviously somebody thought if they were going to set a film in London at least the supporting cast should be from that area of the world.
The plot has its twists, all I will say it is set in alternate universe where the government has absolute power and curfews and other controls are in place but one man the mysterious V has other ideas. I enjoyed it though it's more of a thriller than an action film.
Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
A computer generated prequel to Waterworld
Obviously they felt that the computers could handle water now and the first film was worthy of a sequel. All the familiar faces and not so familiar voices from the first instalment are faced with a serious case of global warming so their ice palace is going to be converted into water world.
No cave men this time just critters, the mammoth (Ray Romano), the sloth (John Leguizamo) and the sabre tooth tiger (Denis Leary). Plus Queen Latifa and cameos by Seann William Scott and Jay Leno. It's an average computer generated animation, if you enjoyed the first instalment you will enjoy it but don't expect Nemo or the Incredibles in terms of characters or sheer imagination.
Failure to Launch (2006)
Baltimore tourist board promotional video with romantic comedy
In "Hitch" Will Smith played a date doctor bringing couples together, whereas in this film Sarah Jessica Parker pushes families apart, helping to kick 30 somethings out of the nest.
Michael McConaughey is a 35 year old boat broker who still lives with his parents (he's actually 37). So SJP is called in as he is having failure to launch to help him on his way.
It's a cross between "How to lose a Guy in 10 Days" and "Point Break" (or at least a Baltimore tourist board promotional video). As Michael and his two buddies Justin "National Treasure" Bartha and Bradley "My little Eye" Cooper (who also live with their parents) go biking, paint balling, sailing, rock climbing and even swimming with dolphins.
But instead of Kate Hudson "How to lose" we get SJP, that's my biggest problem with the film, she is miscast at 41 years old she is looking too old for the part. Michael is great as the lovable rogue but I couldn't why he would go after SJP who is looking like a leathery blonde with a big chin when the lovely and kooky Zooey ("Almost Famous", "Hitchhikers Guide") Deschanel is her room mate. In fact some of the funniest scenes involve Zooey who has a bit of a drinking problem, not to mention the mocking bird my favourite subplot. The cast also includes Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw as his parents.
It was directed by Tom "Shanghai Noon" Dey and it's the first screenplay for TV writers Tom J.Astle and Matt Ember. It's a likable romantic comedy for guys, hence all the action sports a pity about the poster and SJP.
Firewall (2006)
Geeks with guns try to breach a firewall
Harrison Ford is 63 but real action movie stars never die they just do thrillers with a bit of action. He is a banker in the hard rain state (it never stops raining until well into the third act I think the rain machine broke) Seattle to be precise. He has the perfect life; a beautiful house designed by his beautiful wife Virginia "Sideways" Madsen and two fairly cute kids.
Just when Harrison thought a dumpster diver stealing his ID and running up a $95,000 gambling debt was his biggest problem. A suave blonde English banker Paul Bettany ("A Knights Tale", "Wimbledon") turns up unannounced and things really start to go really bad. Glad to see the Middle East gets a break and a Brit gets to play the bad guy. The cast also includes Mary Lynn Rajskub (the blind girl in "Road Trip") Robert Forster ("Confidence", "Jackie Brown") and Robert Patrick ("Walk the Line", "Ladder 49", "T2") It was directed by Richard Loncraine who also directed the Romantic comedy "Wimbledon" but it's the first screenplay for Joe Forte. It's an old story of getting leverage over a bank employee by using their family but this time its geeks with guns. It's certainly an above action thriller which reminded me at times of the "Fugitive".
Alien Autopsy (2006)
Ant + Dec meet Bill + Harry
The British TV Yoof presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly make their big screen debut (if you ignore their cameo in "Love Actually" where they interview the ageing rocker played by Bill Nighy). It's one of the strangest stories of modern times, the Londoners who discovered the Roswell alien autopsy film.
The cast also includes Bill Pullman as a Hollywood producer who wants to hear their story and Harry Dean Stanton as the original cameraman. Not forgetting the great Omid Djalili (the jailer in "The Mummy" and "Casonova"s servant) who gets to play a kebab shop owner.
I feared this would be a one joke movie (and maybe it is) but surprisingly it keeps its pace due to it's an amusing story with some good performances and some quirky characters including a Hungarian gangster and a granny obsessed with biscuits.
I doubt you will be rolling in the aisles but it's funny in its own way. Not to mention the choice hits of 1995 on the soundtrack. Unless you hate Ant + Dec (looking at the message board there certainly are) or the X-files, it is a Brit-com worth seeing.