Cinema - Crazy, Stupid, Love.

There were four trailers played before I saw Crazy, Stupid, Love. The first was one for an upcoming Anna Faris comedy called What's Your Number? which looks devastatingly obvious. I'd be surprised if Faris' character doesn't end up getting with Chris Evans' character, even if she has to look back through all of her ex's to realise that he is the one. After that came Friends with Benefits, which of course has already been released in the US to mediocre reviews...but we all saw this movie in No Strings Attached, right? The next one, Abduction, was just a random one to show us that no matter how hard he tries, Taylor Lautner will always be a brooding teenager. Then came along New Year's Eve, which is along the same lines as Valentine's Day - meaning that not only does it have the same director, it will also have the same ill-attempted twists and eventual cliches in every story. You see, what the rom-com genre has become is a web of cliches and predictability, because there are only so many ways that a love story can go.

However, with Crazy, Stupid, Love, the movie doesn't try to do five hundred things at once, ending up in a big hot mess of stereotypical soup. Nor does it just focus on two people going through something as hard as love. Instead, the film has a few stories, which are given the right amount of attention, and have a few twists here and there which can't be seen from a mile away. It all starts with Cal Weaver (Steve Carell), a lovable schlub who has been married to Emily (Julianne Moore) for 25 years - but she has decided that she wants a divorce because she slept with colleague David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon). Cal, now all alone and on the verge of depression, spends his nights at a bar telling everyone the story of how his wife cheated on him. Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), an impeccably dressed ladies-man, notices Cal and decides to teach him how to 'embrace his manhood'. Now we have Cal Weaver, on the brink of divorce, dressing like he actually should, becoming a bit of a ladies man himself. Just as Cal becomes a master of winning women, Jacob meets the lovely Hannah (Emma Stone), who he actually falls in love with - as opposed to just taking her home for one night. And then there's also the story of Cal and Emily's 13 year old son Robbie (Jonah Bobo), who happens to be in love with his 17 year old babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton)...and he's never giving up on trying to win her over.

The best thing that Crazy, Stupid, Love has going for it is the fact that the several stories within the film are finely balanced and they each run a lot closer together than it would appear. Along with that, the film manages to recycle ideas, but make them look as good as new. Not only do they look new, they also become painfully real. Crazy, Stupid, Love knows that it is about finding love and being in a relationship...all that kind of stuff. But it doesn't spend time trying to make any single people jealous by watching people be cute together. Instead, it just draws you into what it's like to find love/fall out of love/be in a relationship. Which is cool, because in each story there is a phase of a person's romantic life: first crush/unrequited love, bad break-up, finding 'the one'. The way each of these phases intertwine and cross paths which each other is something which I thought was pretty cool. Needless to say, in a world where 90% of romantic comedies suck, this one doesn't.

Half of Crazy, Stupid, Love's success can be attributed to it's enormously talented cast. There's Steve Carell, in Date Night mode...except swapping the stupidity for a little bit of sadness. Ryan Gosling, the man of the moment, shows that he can do comedy. The only problem I had with him in this film was the fact that I kept comparing him to how he was in Blue Valentine. That's not a good idea. Julianne Moore is as good as she always is, being as radiant as ever. Emma Stone is a little cutie pie, again showing off the natural humour and charm that she put to good use in Easy A, just in reduced amounts. Marisa Tomei is a standout, playing the crazy five-years-sober teacher. She has some very fine moments, given the amount of opportunity she has to make people laugh. Young Jonah Bobo does a pretty convincing job as a lovelorn boy who is both misunderstood and misinformed. As for Kevin Bacon...well, everyone seems to hate Kevin Bacon these days.

If there is something that I didn't like about Crazy, Stupid, Love, it would have to be that the film's tone was pretty uneven. Other than that, I found this movie pretty darn enjoyable...it would be the perfect date movie, if I had a date. I was in absolute hysterics at one point (if you've seen the film, you probably know which scene I'm talking about). Hey, romantic comedies don't have to be all bad. What's Your Number?, Friends with Benefits, New Year's Eve and...uh, Abduction: I know it's too late, but take note for next time.

THE VERDICT: Crazy, Stupid, Love is a perfectly sweet and funny romantic comedy that doesn't let predictability stop it from achieving almost greatness - and the cast is pretty cool, too.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

Cinema - X Men: First Class

This is one of those movies that I wanted to see because there were a bunch of hot guys in it. Okay, I know that sounds really vain and teenage-girly, but my goodness, seeing my #2 favourite hot guy Nicholas Hoult on the big screen? It was too great of an opportunity just to turn down. But seriously, I was one of the ones who went nuts over the first trailer that came out. And then I basically just ignored the rest of the advertising that came after that. Because, really, I felt so guilty only wanting to see this movie because I'm in love with Nicholas Hoult (yeah, he's like my Justin Bieber) and I have a mad girl-crush on Jennifer Lawrence. I haven't even seen any of the other X-Men movies, but I will next week. And no, I didn't have much trouble understanding this movie, because the background knowledge I gathered from Wikipedia really helped.

Anyway, since every man and his dog has reviewed this movie, I won't go into plot details that much. As you probably know, this is the movie that tells us all about the mutants before they became the 'X-Men', as such. There's Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), a telepath, who has a sort-of adoptive sister Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), who can change her form. Then he crosses paths with a CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), who is eager to find out more about what mutants Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), Emma Frost (January Jones) and Azazel (Jason Flemyng) really are, and what they are doing. Through Moira and an unnamed 'Man in a Black Suit' (Oliver Platt), Xavier first meets Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender), who wants to kills Shaw, using his magnetic powers; and a young genius called Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult), who is later revealed to have big feet and desperately wants to change his appearance, like Raven does. Hank sends Xavier and Erik on a scientific journey which brings them a lot of other mutants, like Angel (Zoe Kravitz), Darwin (Edi Gathegi), Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) and Havok (Lucas Till).

First of all, there are a lot of characters in this movie. I know why there are lots of characters, and I thought it would bother me that there were so many, who were around all of the time, but it surprisingly didn't. Sure, you could say that some of the characters were really two-dimensional, but those were only the ones who kinda faded into the background, like Darwin. Otherwise, I was really impressed with how real they made the mutants. I especially loved how Raven and Hank struggled to deal with the way they were, and how because of their appearance they will never be accepted into society. Which is when the audience can almost feel guilt-tripped into thinking that it really doesn't matter what's on the outside. Even though mutants don't exist, and if they did, we'd all fear them because we don't know exactly what they are capable of. But really, some of them are just big, insecure teddy-bears inside who just want to be normal in their way.

With X-Men: First Class, director Matthew Vaughn is again trying some new stuff out and this is far from similar to his other works. Here he really puts humanity on show through the mutants, which is great, and while he gets the audience thinking about all of these morals, he has also created some grand entertainment. Sure, he did well with his Brit drug flick Layer Cake, tried his luck with family entertainment in Stardust, and created a bright and colourful action/comedy called Kick-Ass, but Vaughn has truly solidified his place as one of the better modern movie directors around here. You can see that he was trying to go for more of a The Dark Knight sort of feel instead of swaying towards mindless action, and it really works. The first scenes are really the only major letdown, as they bugged me to no end...it was such a sombre way to start off a fun film. However, Vaughn has made a solid superhero flick, which has it's fair share of exciting action sequences, but most of all, it has a different style to many: that brilliant 60's Bond flair. Now that was why this movie was so kick-ass, because being set in the 60's just made everything cooler.

While Vaughn's direction is a major highlight of this film, most of the epic entertainment comes from our stars. Sure, everyone was great. Jennifer Lawrence provided some much-needed sympathy for her character, and it was great when she finally accepted that she was "mutant and proud". Nicholas Hoult was hot really interesting in his role, as most of his power didn't come from being a mutant, he was just really smart but unable to deal with normal social situations well. Kravitz, Till and Jones rounded out a nice lot of mutants. Rose Byrne was nice enough as one of the only humans. Kevin Bacon was superb as the villain...I swear, I could see the ice forming on that guy. The only one that really annoyed me was January Jones. She looked bored out of her brains in this. It was like she was forced to wear slutty white clothes and turn into diamonds. She should have been great, but she just looked like a marketing ploy.

When you have an ensemble cast like that, though, the leads have really gotta step up their game. Was this a problem for James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender? No. These two pretty much made the film, with their undeniable man-chemistry and genuine awesomeness. McAvoy was really good, as he usually is, and it's his charm and wit which gets him through the movie. He's smart, he's jovial, he means business, but he also has a good heart. McAvoy plays that out perfectly. Hey, he may be awesome, but Michael Fassbender completely steals the show here. Can I just point out that I've found my true love now? Fassy was bad-ass in this movie, turtleneck and all. His performance, I have to say, was one of the best I have ever seen in a superhero movie. He just played the angry guy so well, that it's hard not to fall in love with him. Even if you're a guy, because I have heard of a few men who confess to man-crushing on Fassy after seeing this one. He is just brilliant. So brilliant that I have to use italics just to stress my point.

Anyway, X-Men: First Class is grand entertainment. The running time is a little too long for my liking, and the ending is a little strange, but I had a good time watching it. It's a fantastic addition to the league of superhero flicks taking over Hollywood at the moment, and certainly one of the most stylish around.

THE VERDICT: From it's 60's styling to it's fantastic direction to it's brilliant performances, X-Men: First Class proves that it is a superhero movie to beat. It's not perfect, but it's a good time.

What I hoped for:

What I got: