A Conversation with New Year's Eve

Sorry for the day's delay. Someone decided it would be a good idea to have new releases spread out on three different days this week, leaving New Year's Eve and The Iron Lady until Friday, so I could only but watch it on Thursday. New Year's Eve was a film I wanted to 'converse' with from the get-go, and after seeing it I've realised how much fun I shall have with this one. So let's get going, shall we?

CHRISTOPHER: Even though it is the 27th of April, I figure it is always okay to interview New Year's Eve. After all, it didn't come out on New Year's Eve. Geez, even Valentine's Day made the effort to come out on Valentine's Day.
NEW YEAR'S EVE: I didn't want to undermine everyone's actual New Year's Eves by making them want to come see me instead of getting drunk and actually having a good idea. So I thought, why not come out at the start of December? Then I'd just undermine Christmas.

C: I don't recall you ever being successful. Christmas still went ahead. 
NYE: Still, I was top of the box office.

C: And in your second week you got beaten by some singing chipmunks.
NYE: I ended up earning more than the singing chipmunks.

C: The singing chipmunks have a higher rating than you do on Rotten Tomatoes.
NYE: I have a better cast than the singing chipmunks.

C: The singing chipmunks are probably more comfortable to listen to than you and your whiny cast are!
NYE: TOO FAR. I'll have you know that people enjoy seeing Katherine Heigl in romantic comedies!

C: Do they? Name some, then.
NYE: ...singing chipmunks?

C: Very convincing. Now, tell me a bit about yourself.
NYE: There is just so much to say. Well, it is New Year's Eve, a night where everyone falls in love and stuff and everyone's happy because they've started a new year and I tell the story of a whole lot of people who want to find love/have love on this magical night. First, there's...

C: Please don't feel compelled to tell us a brief summary of everyone involved in this film. I'm afraid if you did that you'd probably give away your entire storyline.
NYE: But really, I don't mind, everyone's probably figured it out anyway...

C: We really don't have time. If we did, we'd be here until Christmas, by which time you'd probably have another holiday themed movie out.
NYE: Well, you see, we thought that, but some British movie...I don't know, what is it called? Ah, Love Actually, already bet us to the punch with that one.

C: I guess being British helps when you're making holiday themed multi-plot films with big casts.
NYE: Yes, I've realised this, but the fact they've taken Christmas kind of shot that horse in the face. Maybe, we could set the next holiday film in Britain about a British holiday, starring American people. What's a British holiday?

C: Queen's Birthday?
NYE: Perfect. Maybe the Queen could fall in love, on her birthday.

C: For one thing, it isn't her real birthday. For a second thing, she's already married.
NYE: Damn. I thought Josh Duhamel would have been quite the catch for her. Well what about that king guy from The King's Speech?

C: I'm afraid he's dead.
NYE: COLIN FIRTH IS DEAD?

C: No. The actual...never mind.
NYE: Hmmmmmmmmm. I bet there are lots of ways we can show that people really feel the love of Queen's birthday. We have to involve Katherine Heigl and Sarah Jessica Parker. And make a really photoshopped photo, filled with blue and red because that what is on the British flag - but the Americans will think it is all about them since their flag is blue and red too. Genius. And we'll also have another musical montage, because that went down a treat. Maybe we'll get Colin Firth in there, even though you say that he is dead. But I dunno, I hope he has gotten over that stutter. That could prove problematic when he's filming his love story with acting maestro Katherine Heigl.

C: You really need to stop thinking.
NYE: I've got a tagline!

C: Oh good lord.
NYE: "Even though it isn't really the Queen's birthday, you can still find right royal love on this holiday."

C: And just when I thought you couldn't get much worse than 'Let love be your resolution'

What I got:

Reviews Round Up: Skyline, Devil, Life As We Know It.

Skyline

There are many reasons why a few people who are more skilled in the visual effects area shouldn't make a whole movie themselves. Skyline is definitely one of them. The visual effects are great, I'll give it that, but the rest of the movie? Not so much. It's an alien invasion flick. Oops, I should have said *SPOILER ALERT*. This movie doesn't make any attempt to avoid all the clichés that you usually see in these types of movies. Instead, it takes everything you've ever seen before, gets some below average actors to act it out, and throws a whole lot of nice effects just to keep the audience mildly interested. The only thing is, the finale is so stupid it was as if the aliens had thought of it themselves. Which is a shame because, up until then, the movie wasn't 'so bad it's funny'. That ending made me laugh. I just wish I knew why the aliens were doing what they were doing, and I also wish we left the same stock characters we had to deal with the entire movie. They weren't exactly the heroes that could have made this movie a little bit better.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

Devil

'From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan'. Judging by his latest works, that's not something that you ought to be throwing out there as the main marketing tool for a movie. The great thing about that one sentence is the fact that Shyamalan had little to do with the movie, apart from the fact that he wrote the story that goes with it. Devil didn't exactly make me change my opinions on Monsieur Shyamalan, but it did show that he can still write a good story, with a lot of suspense and tension. Like similarly themed 127 Hours and Buried, this film makes good use of it's claustrophobic premise, but it doesn't really take off like the others do. It's kinda scary, yes, though it did feel a bit like Paranormal Activity, and it did drag in some places. The ending feels a little too 'Hollywood', as it tries to get all sentimental and emotional, but it's a satifying ending to what is essentially a 'whodunnit' tale. There were a lot of flaws within this film, but I felt the payoff was worth it. I'm actually looking forward to what the rest of the series will bring.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

Life As We Know It

As I said in last week's 'What's Happening Where I Am', I feel guilty (and somewhat ashamed) to say that I really enjoyed Life As We Know It. Okay, yeah, I admit it was quite predictable and pretty much the same as every other romantic comedy Katherine Heigl has ever been involved with. But I had a good time watching it, and I even cried a little bit as well. And with a baby that cute, how could I resist? Seriously, get over it, it's not that bad. I do admit I was in the mood for a romantic comedy (especially after watching the two other movies in this post). I wasn't in the mood to be challenged intellectually. Surprisingly, Katherine Heigl wasn't that annoying (like she was in Killers). And Josh Duhamel was...uh...Josh Duhamel. I actually think this is a movie that can be easily enjoyed by the most part of the female variety. But if you ain't going into this with an open mind, it will probably suck for you. Which is a shame, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

DVD--Ramona and Beezus

or: Being a kid again

One word to sum it up: Sweet

Jeez, how long has it been since we've had a good live action family film? Well, since the world seems to love shoving tales with little innocence and happiness down our throats, not many. But along comes Ramona and Beezus, an adaption of the popular book by Beverly Cleary. For once, a family movie with a great deal of fantasy seems perfectly realistic, as it seems to get into the mindset of our nine year old heroine: Ramona Quimby.

The plot is very straightfoward: Ramona and Beezus focusses on the misadventures of nine year old girl Ramona (Joey King) and the trouble she causes for her family. It also takes a look at her relationship with her sister Beezus (Selena Gomez), her Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her father who is newly jobless, which slowly tears a hole in her family.

Ramona and Beezus just seems a little different than the other family films. You either see kids having magic powers or a really depressing family to make them stand out from the others, but Ramona is more wrapped up in her whimsical fantasies and incidentally causing trouble for everyone else, which makes her more special than everyone else. While her antics get a little repetitive towards the end, it's always fun to watch her as it reminds one of how cool it is to be young and seemingly unaffected by the outside world. It's also good to have someone as likeable as young Joey King taking the lead role in her small, fragile shoulders.

Many Disney stragglers will go for this since it has Selena Gomez from 'Wizards of Waverly Place' in it. Surprisingly, unlike Miley Cyrus, Gomez makes a good transition from TV to the bigger screen without becoming too dependent on her pre-determined stardom. And thank goodness she isn't annoying. Well known actors like Josh Duhamel, Ginnifer Goodwin, Bridget Moynahan, Sandra Oh and John Corbett round out an excellent cast which give this a little more goodness than it should have any right to have. Ramona and Beezus is far more enjoyable than it should have been, and would make a sweet movie to watch with any girl under 12...there's enough for the adults to enjoy.

THE VERDICT: Sweet, family fun.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

DVD--When in Rome (post #300!)

or: Young people in fluffy rom-com...example #5123

One word to sum it up: Predicatable.

As explained in my review of The Rebound, I can't stay away from romantic comedies. Upon falling sick and having to spend two days at home, I embarked on a quest through Blockbuster for some movies to bust boredom. What I came up with? When in Rome. Even though romance pisses me off, I always watch this kind of film when I am sick because, well, they don't require too much thought.

Beth (Kristen Bell) is obsessed with work and refuses to fall in love until she finds someone she loves more than her work. She travels to Rome for her sister's wedding, and goes to the famed Fountain of Love and takes some coins. Upon returning to New York, four men start coming onto her as she has their coins. But she finds herself falling in love with Nick (Josh Duhamel), even though she thinks their relationship is the result of one of the coins. However, the other four men keep coming in between her real relationship and, well, her sanity.

This movie should be arrested for excessive use of rom-com cliches. The end could have been seen from a mile away. In fact, you could probably tell what the end was going to be without actually watching the movie. It's mostly devoid of laughs, which is a shame because it has a genuinely funny cast. Will Arnett, Danny DeVito, Dax Shephard and Jon Heder (also, a cameo from Pedro of Napoleon Dynamite fame) play some pretty strange characters, but unfortunately, I didn't find them funny. They were characters who I have become so used to seeing in other films of this type and there wasn't really anything outrageously funny to laugh at.

Kristen Bell, however, has some pretty infectious charm. She probably makes the movie worth watching, even though her character completely pissed me off. She was like a more whiny, more preppy combination of Summer from (500) Days of Summer and Andy Sachs from The Devil Wears Prada...she didn't believe in love and cared about her job more than anything else. Josh Duhamel was a likeable enough romantic lead, but his comic timing was somewhat painful and he should really just stick to action films. While When in Rome is so much of a rom-com it's a criminal offence, it can't help but make you smile...in some weird way.



THE VERDICT: Unfortunately one of the worst offenders in recent rom-com history, but it's young leads, Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel, make use of this small opportunity to show off their charms.

4/10