Only a coupla new flicks out today - Horrible Bosses, The Guard, Priest and Beginners. Horrible Bosses is the long awaited comedy starring Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day as three very put-upon workers deciding they need to off their 3 horrible bosses. I say long awaited as it came out in the US ages ago and it got a very good review on a movie blog I follow, and the previews have been showing here for months. Ben didn't even recognise Jennifer Aniston as a saucy dentist sexually harrassing her assistant. Should be funny and a bit dark. Stay tuned for Jennifer Aniston double movie review in near future (saw Just go With It last week, surprisingly good).
Beginners is a gentle drama/comedy/romance starring Ewan McGregor and Melanie Laurent (the lovely French cinema owner from QT's Inglourious Basterds who gets her revenge on the nazis), Ewan's character's dad has come out as a homosexual at the age of 75 before passing away from cancer. Ewan has to deal with this but then meets Melanie's character who starts to bring him out of his shell. Apparently much warmer and funnier than that sounds, this is getting really good reviews. Probably quite whimsical.
Priest is a supernatural action thriller starring Paul Bettany in a role eerily similar to his role in Legion which failed miserably, as it seems this movie is likely to as well. An ass-kicking priest and his assistants take revenge on the vampires who live below ground after they kill his sister and abduct his niece. Seems to only be on at Cineplex (South Bank, Hawthorne, Victoria Point and Balmoral) in 3D.
The Guard is going to be my movie of the week, released today. I saw this last week and it is quite brilliant and I urge you to go see it, especially if you liked In Bruges. Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh (brother of Martin McDonagh who directed In Bruges), this is one hell of a debut film. It's a great blend of action, detective movie and black comedy. The movie is set in a small Irish village where Gerry Boyle is the head cop, but he doesn't really do things by the usual cop book! The opening montage illustrating Gerry's unconventional approach to policing is very effective at setting up this movie as a very odd, black comedy. It opens with Gerry investigating the murder of a local lad which soon turns into something much more. A visiting FBI agent from America (Don Cheadle) is investigating a drug smuggling ring in the area, and it doesn't take long for Gerry to connect the two events. A buddy cop movie seems to then be unfolding, but of course it doesn't stay on the straight and narrow path for long as the pair's investigation continues.
The best part of this movie are the funny lines from Gerry and the odd friendship between Gerry and FBI man Wendell. At times, both you and Wendell are wondering whether Gerry is serious, sarcastic or just a little bit loopy. You just don't know how to take him, and yet he is very endearing, a really good hero to cheer for. Brendan Gleeson (the hitman who wasn't Colin Farrell in In Bruges and Mad-Eye Moody in Harry Potter series) is absolutely wonderful as Gerry. The guys who play the 3 ringleaders of the drug gang are also quite funny, especially Mark Strong who is probably best known from Kick Ass. You will find some very quotable lines in this film, from both the good guys and the bad guys. Although sometimes you're not sure who is worse - the crooks or the cops.
A surprising yet satisfying ending caps off a movie that was pretty compelling anyway. I think Empire really got this one right - a five star movie and also with their comment that this is a movie where you come away really wishing that the lead character would get his own series of movies. You could just keep watching Gerry all day long to see what he would do or say next.
Here is a link to the trailer if I haven't talked it up enough. Hope you like it!
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3330710553/
Other bits and pieces that are around - Peter Gabriel 3D is probably a live concert, showing at Dendy Portside this weekend. Russian Resurrection Film Festival is on now at Palace Cinemas, check the website for movie listings and times. Advance screenings of The Help this week at various locations, was #1 film in the US last week.
Tribal Cinema is busy this week, regular screenings of The Last Circus and The Princess Bride all week, with one off sessions of The Room (worst movie ever I've heard, I must catch up with this) on Saturday night and Troll 2 on Friday night. The Population Film Festival takes over all day Sunday with documentaries and shorts addressing issues around population growth and our environment and social issues. Tuesday night sees a bad movie double, Toxic Avenger and Killer Condom.
Sorry this was so long!
Yeah you're right, this was waaaaaay too long. I don't think I've ever seen anyone type so many words and make so few points
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