Movie Review: How to lose a guy in ten days (2003)

Plot: Benjamin Barry is an advertising executive and ladies’ man who, to win a big campaign, bets that he can make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days. Andie Anderson covers the “How To” beat for “Composure” magazine and is assigned to write an article on “How to Lose a Guy in 10 days.” They meet in a bar shortly after the bet is made.  

Rating: 6.5/10

Before yelling All right, all right all right, wearing a cowboy hat and going into space, Matthew McConaughey was best known for acting in a long list of questionable romantic comedies. Since it kept that handsome mug of his fed I’m not too despondent about it, and he was able to star in a number of slightly amusing ones, such as How To Lose A Guy in Ten Days.

It is easy to say what I liked – I found the stints Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) pulled on Benjamin Barry hilarious. They are such cliché’s and so highly irritating I’m surprised the character didn’t completely lose his mind. Kate Hudson displayed a good amount of comedic ability and it seemed that she was having a great time with this movie. The inclusion of Kathryn Hahn and Adam Goldberg as colleagues slash friends to Andy and Benjamin respectively were also good decisions as they are great supporting actors. The plot managed to maintain its cool – I’m not going to claim that this is a plausible scenario nor a very wise one, but they did manage to link the two characters up by deliberate actions of Barry’s coworkers. The only scene to which I took exception to was the singing at the formal dinner party – I mean which two professional people would do that with both their employers present?

How To Lose A Guy in Ten Days isn’t the type of film to win an Oscar obviously, but I don’t think it had ever such esteemed expectations during production. From a comedic standpoint it had some great laughs and from a romantic one it isn’t nauseating mostly because our main female lead was from the start cynical and amused at her job challenge. It is highly recommended that you don’t watch this if you can’t switch off your brain once in a while to enjoy a movie though – not for the very serious minded movie buffs 😀

PS: As a side note to romantic comedies I might add that the valuable lesson that can be taken from this is to never play with other people’s emotions. It is really not nice to use someone as an article accessory or to win a bet at work, idiots.

February 10, 2017February 8, 2017 by Natasha Categories: Movies, Review, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: Adam Goldberg, Annie Parrise, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Michele, Movies, Reviews, Romantic Comedies, Shalom Harlow, Thomas Lennon 5 Comments

Watched, Read, Loved: January 2017

I’m not going to bless you with that whole “how quick did this month go” crap, because let’s face it; January 2017 took its sweet time being done. At this stage I’m so deliberately avoiding bitching about politics on here, but please note that I do a whole lot of bitching in private about that man who is committing genocide.

I had my birthday on the 25^th. I am now officially on the wrong side of 25. I’m 27, so I’ve already been on the wrong side for a whole year, but I was ignoring that at 26. Apart from suddenly stressing about retirement plans and the meaning of my entire existence, I’m not too stressed. I have decided that 27 good things WILL happen to me this year, so I will keep you in the loop.

Here is what I got up to this month, which is an impressive amount! #GoMe

Movies watched:

10 Things I hate about you:

Confession time: if I had to go live on an island indefinitely with only ten movies to watch, I’d very likely pack 10 Things I Hate About You in.  I love everything about this film – how 90’s everything is: Julia Stiles’ hair, the clothes everyone wore, the music and the cars. I die every time Heath Ledger gifts us with that smile; it is equal parts pain and pleasure. The quick bantering and the ridiculous teenage humor make me laugh every single time. I actually wrote a post about how much I love this film, so I won’t turn it into a whole review here, but I’m sure you are getting the point here that I love this film.

How to lose a guy in ten days: Kate Hudson used to be my ultimate girl crush as a teenager – she’s so pretty and preppy and blonde. I’m now at a point where I want actresses to be more than pretty, preppy and blonde, but I still find her a good romantic comedy lead. She wouldn’t hold up in more serious roles, but these? I’ll cast her any day. It also contains the delicious Matthew M.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962): I finally managed to finish up my Blindspots for 2016. To round the year of with To Kill A Mockingbird was a great idea – what an incredible film.

Passengers (2017): These films with the strange release dates make it impossible to put them in the correct year. I watched in this year, hence this year will be referenced. I actually really liked it and think that the Oscar nod for set design is well deserved. I know it didn’t go down well with everybody, but I actually quite enjoyed it despite the numerous flaws.

Fool’s Gold (2008): This falls in the time frame where Matthew McConaughey became the romantic comedy guy, something which still grates on a lot of people today. I do think that Fool’s Gold lacks certain important things like a proper plot, but I didn’t hate it at all.

Scream 4: I finished up my run on the Scream franchise this month. I am so sad! Because while I can definitely watch it again, I won’t ever be able to watch it for the first time again. I’m only posting this for Halloween, because I’d love to actually do a Halloween month this year, but please know that I did love this so much!

Sicario (2015): Don’t you just love when a film is good enough to inspire you to read up on what you are watching? Shortly after the film ended I read up all about Juarez, Mexico, and the increasingly dodgy sounding CIA. Sicario is a great film that stays with you after you watched it and I will definitely be revisiting Denis Vileneuve’s film in the near future.

The Princess Diaries:A Royal Engagement (2004): I remember this as a decent movie, which it was NOT. I adore the first Princess Diaries, but the sequel suffers from the sequelitis and it is rampant with bad acting, bad pacing and general badness. The years have been kind to Chris Pine – he is so much more attractive right now than he was in 2004.

Love, Rosie (2014): I’m still trying to formulate some thoughts on Love, Rosie. Did I like it? Moderately so. I know for a fact that it contains some of the most awkward of scenes ever invented, and I was horrified and cringed so much. It gets a little drawn out and the story is never really strong. I do think that Sam Claflin is simply beautiful and that if just smiled all the time the world would be a better place.

Vrou Soek Boer (2014): I got my fix of Afrikaans films with Vrou Soek Boer in January. It translates to “A woman is looking for a farmer” but it was a much cuter film than that translation suggested. I enjoyed it very much!

Sisters (2016): This is surely the biggest waste of cash of 2016 for me. I bought this on DVD, sure I would at least like it okay. Nope. I hated it. What a stupid, unfunny film.

The Accountant (2016): To embrace my mood of needing to watch people beat up things I picked up the Accountant. Ben Affleck’s hit of 2016, where he is an autistic superhero, fulfilled that need on some level but I was also left feeling vaguely unsatisfied with the ending.

Series:

The X-Files Season 1: I am having so much fun with the X-files. There is nothing better when you discover a series and along with the discovery is the fact that there are so many seasons with a lot of episodes per season. SCORE! It took me a few episodes to get used to the layout of the show as well as the whole 1992 vibe the first season has going for it. It is pretty good and smart, as well as some funny conspiracy moments going on.

Alias Season 3: Alias has been great to me. I still need to finish Seasons four and five. I had some issues with the third season such as Sydney being a complete psycho, but overall still really great.

True Blood Season 1: I’ve been in the mood torewatch this for a while now. After watching a few episodes that need was cured because True Blood has some grating characters in that I somehow softened in my memory. I might still finish it, but right now there are other better shows that deserve attention.

Books:

The Collaborator (Margaret Leroy): Few books have stayed with me like this book has. I’ve had the worst book hangover since then and such troubles finding another book to seek my teeth into.

The Road to the Sea (Ciara Hegarthy): I’m going to go rampant on this book when I finally review it. Overly descriptive and insanely boring, this is one of the least favorite novels I’ve picked up in a while.

The Power of Six (Pittacus Lore): I’m almost done with Book Two in the Lorien Legacies. Although I am still enjoying, the first read and progressed a whole lot better.

What have you been up to?

February 7, 2017February 7, 2017 by Natasha Categories: 2017, Movies, reading, Review, Series, UncategorizedTags: 10 Things I hate about you, 2017, Alias, Amy Poehler, Anna Kendrick, Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Benico Del Toro, Bok Van Blerk, Chris Pine, Chris Pratt, Ciara Hegarthy, Emily Blunt, Fool's Gold, How to Lose A Guy In Ten Days, January, Jennifer Lawrence, JK Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Josh Brolin, Kate Hudson, Lika Berning, Lily Collins, Love, Love Rosie, Margaret Leroy, Matthew McConaughey, monthly rundowns, Nico Panagio, Passengers, Pittacus Lore, Sam Claflin, Sicario, Sisters, The Accountant, The Collaborator, The Power of Six, The Princess Diaries, The Road to The Sea, The X-files, Tina Fey, To Kill a Mockingbird, True Blood 11 Comments

FTF: Five Favorite Films about Weddings

Happy Friday! It’s been yonks since I fired up this bad boy. Five things Friday started way back (I think probably 2013), and I’ve done a few here and there. I’d like to do some more in the future – I love lists so much, and let’s face it, they are so easy to put together! Today’s feature is about the age old institutional – tying the knot. There are so many movies focusing on weddings that it should probably be an entire genre on its’ own. There are so many! I’ve seen a ton, but I’ve never hidden the fact that I am able to enjoy the most gory and the most fluffy films equally as much:)

Let me know about your favorite in the comments section!

 

5: Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement

Number 5 on this list was hotly contested, let me tell you. I ended up choosing The Royal Engagement because I’m such a huge fan of the Princess Diaries. It deviated quite badly from the books, but it managed to be pretty good. Anne Hathaway, Chris Pine and Julie Andrews are a power team in TRE, and the message is a bit lame but also strong – don’t marry for the wrong reasons (something that wasn’t already obvious), and what might seem as the best choice for you probably isn’t what you really want.

4: Wedding Crashers

Can this film make the list? It isn’t about weddings in the way the other films here are about weddings, but it definitely deals with them. This movie is the top point of silly and has some hilarious moments. It is one of the few films where combining Vince Vaughn and Isla Fischer works, and I wouldn’t have thought it possible to combine two such horribly annoying people and get a proper result. The film also stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Christopher Walken, and those three alone can probably carry any film without too much effort.

3: 27 Dresses (2008)

I actually smashed this movie in the review here. I do enjoy it though, and am frequently worried that I first have to be a bridesmaid 27 times before I get to put on a white dress. Anway, remember that Tinder post I put up? Still getting feedback from it which is great! Back to why I chose this as a favourite – it is about a girl that loves weddings and finds that her partner isn’t what she always expected her spouse to end up as.

2: Runaway Bride (1999)

EEK! I love this movie. The only movie about weddings that could possibly be even more favoured than Runaway Bride is the one listed below. Julia Roberts has always been my girl crush. She’s so beautiful and smiley and talented. I loved Maggie Carpenter’s spirit and love for family and independence. Her matching with Richard Gere always results in chemistry and us wondering why they never made babies together. This film is all about identity and finding yourself before you end up with a partner – quite ahead of its’ time!

1: The Princess Bride (1987)

❤ Is there more to say? This film is everything – Buttercup and Westley and their escape and love story ❤

Honorable mentions:

Mamma Mia (2008)

When asked whether Pierce Brosnan can sing I would immediately think that he’s placed shortly under Rebecca Black for artistic capabilities. However, that didn’t stop him or Colin Firth going at it. This movie is definitely not for everyone. It is firstly a musical. Some of Abba’s most iconic songs get somewhat butchered (okay, a lot), and I’m sure I saw this listed as one of the films that make most heterosexual males feel suicidal. However, if you are game for watching Meryl Streep clearly having the time of her life, pondering why exactly Pierce Brosnan has such piercing blue eyes (he) and just want to watch people dancing and singing about love, this film is definitely something you can watch.

The Five-Year engagement (2012)

I do remember this – it is Emily Blunt and Jason Segel and they are engaged for ages and end up wondering if it is worth it. I actually think long engagements are silly – its’ that thing if the guy is committed you don’t need to worry and I assure you, most modern relationships have enough things going on without having to make it seem more official. This movie didn’t suck at all, and although I can barely remember it, I think I enjoyed it at the time.

Bride Wars (2013)

Despite this film rather pissing me off every time I watch it, I always end up watching it quite often. It is the most stereotypical of the lot, and perpetuates the notion that women turn into Godzillas the moment they get engaged. Just as a fact: the majority of brides I’ve worked with have been friendly and accommodating and calm, so it is once again a case where a few psychos make the entire bunch seem awful. It is also quite below Anne Hathaway to be degraded into the boring girl role – she’s immensely talented and deserves more. But like I said, I end up watching at least once a year for some strange reason, so I obviously don’t hate it that much.

Made of Honour (2008)

I‘d like to watch this again sometime, but I do remember Patrick Dempsey and surprisingly Michelle Monaghan – why did I think it was Selma Blair?? I see this film holds a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but we all know the raters on there are really just haters. Made of Honor is so not Oscar material, but it was fun at the time!

The Big Wedding (2013)

This cast is impressive AF – De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams are joined by a younger cast composed of Amanda Seyfried and Topher Grace. Okay, Katherine Heigl too, and I suspect that reviewers rate her badly on purpose. This movie is not that bad, but it can be seen as a bit boring though.

Father of the Bride (1991)

LOVEEEE. Need to watch again to properly remember and review.

Dishonorable mentions:

Monster-in-law (2005)

One of J-Lo’s better attempts at comedy, though without a doubt still rather low on the list of funny things.

The Wedding Planner (2001)

Read my review here. It is such a stupid film man. I see JLo is quite frequent on this part of the list.

Bridesmaids (2011)

Hmmm. Everyone LOVES this, though I don’t. I need to watch again to make sure this hate is accurate. It is a vulgar film and humour at its worst – just eugh.

Sex and the City – the Movie (2008)

I never saw the show and can tell you jack shit about it. It was before my generation, and the one episode I tested out never caught. I did see the movie though, and it raises a few eyebrows in my head – this couple clearly never heard anything the other said.

Movies I haven’t seen yet:

Big Fat Greek Wedding

The Corpse’s Bride

My Best Friend’s wedding

The Wedding Singer

Well, there you have it. This post turned out way bigger than I thought, and I hoped you had as much fun as I did! Let me know what you thought in the comments below 🙂

December 9, 2016December 2, 2016 by Natasha Categories: 2016, Five Things Friday, Movies, movies, UncategorizedTags: 27 Dresses, Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Ben Barnes, Bride Wars, bridesmaids, Colin Firth, Cynthia Nixon, Diane Keaton, Father of The Bride, Five Things Friday, James Marsden, Jane Fonda, Jason Segel, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Julie Andrews, Kate Hudson, Katherine Heigl, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Made of Honor, Matthew McConaughey, Melissa McCartney, Michelle Monghan, Monster In Law, Movies, Owen Wilson, Patrick Dempsey, Pierce Brosnan, Princess Diaries, Richard Gere, Robert DeNiro, Robin Williams, Rose Byrne, Runaway Bride, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sex and The City, Susan Sarandon, The Big Wedding, The Five Year Engagement, The Princess Bride, The Princess Diaries, The Wedding Planner, Topher Grace, Vince Vaughn, Wedding Crashers, Weddings 2 Comments

Movie Review: The Wedding Planner (2001)

Plot: Mary Fiore is San Francisco’s most successful supplier of romance and glamor. She knows all the tricks. She knows all the rules. But then she breaks the most important rule of all: she falls in love with the groom.

Rating: 5/10

A long time ago before Mathhew McConaughey starred in critically acclaimed projects like True Detective and that other horse movie everyone liked, he was involved in some romantic comedies, which, for a lack of a better phrase, sucked. The Wedding Planner is quite bad. I’m talking plot, I’m talking acting. I knew what would happen when Steven saved Mary – it was so damn obvious that he would be the fiancé of Fran. I really hate any movie where there is justified cheating involved. The Wedding planner at least didn’t stoop that low, and points to them for not writing Fran as a terrible woman, which somehow is enough reason in a film to justify her future spouse to cheat on her. What I mean to say is that at least The Wedding Planner did not stoop that low, because I would have not been impressed. For all his dubious actions, at least Steven only made his move after breaking it off with Fran (to be clear, only because Mary told him NO). There were a few scenes where Massimo was deliberately dumbed down, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit irritated – a different nationality and accent does not make you worthy of ridicule, American story writers! I also don’t want to say “Poor Judi Greer is Judi Greer again”, but it is true, and she’s so young here it was probably the first film where she was cast as the supportive best friend with a touch of ditzy. She will be my first choice to cast as a lead female if I ever get to write and produce a movie, because the woman has earned it. Her acting is most certainly better than that of Jennifer Lopez. I’m glad she left behind the urge she had in the early 2000s to be an actress, because while she’s impressive in her music genre, her talent certainly doesn’t pull through to acting.

Mostly, The Wedding Planner is a movie that makes you understand why its’ genre gets hated so much. Predictable, a little bit sexist and completely unbelievable, this film is better suited for the Dark Ages than it is for today

August 10, 2016August 6, 2016 by Natasha Categories: Movies, movies, Review, Reviews, Romance, UncategorizedTags: Jennifer Lopez, Judi Greer, Matthew McConaughey, movie, Reviews, Romantic Comedies, The Wedding Planner, Weddings 3 Comments

July 2016: Watched, Read, Loved

Gosh I’m glad it’s August! I am over the cold in Johannesburg. For reals man. July was a pretty decent month. I got to see my bestie, and even though the circumstances weren’t that great, I am grateful that I at least got to spend some quality time with her.

Personally I think my eyes finally cleared with a few people in my life – there is a certain level of selfishness I can’t tolerate, and this person finally reached it. I should have cut ties ages ago, but when I bond to someone, you really have to nuke me out of it. Well, I’ve been nuked.

Hmm, what else? I’ve had a couple of hectic weekends and it reflected on my scarcity on my blog, which always happens and always frustrates me. I’m going to do my very best to post more often, as it makes me super happy.

And here’s a rundown of what I’ve been watching and reading. Enjoy, and tell me below what you’ve been up to 🙂

Watched:

At home:

The Proposal

I saw this film before I opened this blog, and I have always thought that it was an okay film. I actually really enjoyed this so much when I watched it again. Queen Sandra Bullock and a very young and adorable Ryan Reynolds certainly make an interesting couple onscreen, and I thought the dialogue and hysteria was spot on and funny in the film.

The Wedding Planner

Oh, Maththew McConaughey has a few gems under his belt before he started being all badass in things like True Detective and that other horsey movie that everyone liked. This is a boogy, definitely, and it was silly enough that I got quite annoyed. There were a few pros, which I will mention when I review the film soon, but let it be noted that Jennifer Lopez is a fantastic singer (for her genre) but acting should never be part of her repertoire.

 

Valentine’s Day

VD worked well, and it is surprising because the film is packed with actors and actresses, and that rarely works. Mostly it is just a situational feel good film, but there is nothing wrong with that!

 

Runaway Bride

I’m on such a Gary Marshall/Julia Roberts run, it is not even funny. They do seem to be a dream team, because when they get together there always seems to be some romantic comedy as a result that is actually enjoyable to watch. Between this and Pretty Woman I enjoyed Pretty Woman much more, but I definitely liked this.

Skyfall

I already reviewed here, and if you haven’t read it yet, rest assured that I really liked this Bond film. It’s my second favorite after Casino Royale, and I must say, I am really surprised how much I’ve enjoyed all these films.

 

The Ugly Truth

It’s really ugly, and it’s really bad. The awful dialogue results in awful acting, I’m not really blaming our leads here at all, it’s just a shit film with crap writing and is as believable as anything Donald Trump says.

 

27 Dresses

JAMES MARSDEN. You have no idea the amount of hilarity this man causes in my family. I really like him, but his dress sense in this film was absolutely awful. Like, AWFUL. It is also a depressing movie – I will shoot myself before I’m a bridesmaid 27 times, it’s just not right or fair. I love our girl Katherine Heigl in here, and thought there were pretty good moments between the rapid romances and problems being solved easily.

In Cinema:

The Legend of Tarzan:

I reviewed this one here. It’s man candy season in this film. I’m not gonna lie. However, it isn’t nearly as bad as the trolls want you to believe, and I am still calling it the most pleasant surprise of 2016.

Series:

Vampire Diaries Season 4

I finally switched it back on! It was a time issue, not because I’m struggling to watch it. It is still quite a solid show, but there are a few dips, something that probably can’t be helped when you travel this far into a show. I’ll post all the reviews once I’m done watching, then I can do them consecutively across a couple of weeks : )

Books read:

The Obsession – LOVED this!

Honest Illusions – It was okay – review here

Currently reading:

I’m actually in the middle of way too many books! I am reading Twilight again (the shame, I know) and I am definitely enjoying it more than Blood Bound (Rachel Vincent). I can promise you, when I get through this book, the review will be up here in no time and it will be a bad one – this book is so stupid. It is taking me ages to get through it, a damn shame because it is supposed to be a quick read.

So there it is – I am way behind on everything in life at the moment, but at least I got to do see and read some great material! What have you been up to?

August 8, 2016August 8, 2016 by Natasha Categories: 2016, Fun, Life Lately, Movies, movies, Nora Roberts, novels, reading, Review, Reviews, Romance, SeriesTags: 27 Dresses, Alexander Skarsgard, Blood Bound, Christoph Waltz, Damon Salvatore, Daniel Craig, Elena Gilbert, Gerard Butler, Honest Illusions, Ian Somerhalder, James Bond, James Marsden, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, july, Katherine Heigl, Malin Ackerman, Matthew McConaughey, monthly rundowns, Movies, Nina Dobrev, Nora Roberts, Paul Wesley, Rachel Vincent, Reviews, Richard Gere, Runaway Bride, Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Skyfall, Stefan Salvatore, Stephanie Meyer, The Legend of Tarzan, The Obsession, The Proposal, The Ugly Truth, The Wedding Planner, Twilight, Valentine's Day, Vampire Diaries 3 Comments

Movie Review: Magic Mike (2012)

Plot: A male stripper teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women, and make easy money.

Rating: 5/10

The five reasons I liked this:

Without them, it would have been horrendous. There is no storyline, no character development, no chemistry, no imagination. That’s it. The female characters are one dimensional and Cody Horn has less facial expressions than Bella Swan. If you don’t expect too much, you will enjoy it. Just have a high threshold for embarrassment because trust me, it is HIGH.

December 15, 2015December 17, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Movies, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: 2012, Alex Pettyfer, Cody Horn, Joe Manangiello, Matt Bomer, Matthew McConaughey, Movies, Olivia Munn 12 Comments

Blindspot 2015: Interstellar (2014)

Plot: In the near future, Earth has been devastated by drought and famine, causing a scarcity in food and extreme changes in climate. When humanity is facing extinction, a mysterious rip in the space-time continuum is discovered, giving mankind the opportunity to widen its lifespan. A group of explorers must travel beyond our solar system in search of a planet that can sustain life. The crew of the Endurance are required to think bigger and go further than any human in history as they embark on an interstellar voyage into the unknown. Coop, the pilot of the Endurance, must decide between seeing his children again and the future of the human race.

Rating: 8.5/10

Dr. Brand sets the somber tone for Interstellar with his rendition of Dylan Thomas’ famous words: “Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”The devastating wasteland that earth has become has had a profound effect of the human race – Earth has finally revolted against the never ending abuse it received and is slowly getting revenge – the human race is dying out.  NASA, nearly defunct, searches desperately for a planet that can sustain human life; as well as a way to get there alive.

That is how Cooper, a retired astronaut, gets to go into space again. His daughter Murph never forgives him, even as time passes in its strange pattern and she grows older.

I expected to hate Interstellar. I actually hoped I would – nothing is more annoying than the hype big movies generate. Sure, it is great for their budget, but it is so conformist. I thought it would be fussily intellectual – which I hate – but it wasn’t. There were some big concepts but it didn’t go overhead. The concepts weren’t constantly being discussed on screen either, which helped move the story in understandable lines. Interstellar managed to march towards three hours without killing the storyline. It was needed to properly illustrate the story.

 

The graphics were amazing. Christopher Nolan and his team did a phenomenal job. The vast emptiness of space was beautiful and in stark contrast with the destructive zone Earth has become – there is a feeling that at least the human race didn’t destroy space yet. The wormhole – can I just say WOW? That doesn’t sum it up accurately but it was the only feeling I felt, awe. The water planet and then crazy Matt Damon’s planet, and I will get to him in a moment, was absolutely beautiful to behold.

The cast did a wonderful job. Matthew McConaughey as Cooper – his apathy with being on earth, his decision to leave, his role as an astronaut – it was wonderful.  I love his slow Texan drawl so much. It makes him sound lazy and hurried at the same time, and it worked for the character. I wasn’t jumping around when I saw Anne Hathaway, but it is a testament to the excellence of Interstellar that she didn’t annoy the living hell out of me. Both McKenzie Foy and Jessica Chastain as the young and older Murphy did great – the two meshed their actions well enough that they ended up looking as the same person. Murphy’s story was really sad; losing her mother and her father and then having to watch the years pass knowing he was out there and never getting to see him. I also enjoyed Timothee Chalamet and Casey Affleck as young and older Tom Cooper, although the character took a backseat compared to Murph’s story.

Now, let’s just focus for a few seconds on the MAD Matt Damon. I think he did a really good job in here, that his role was well done and that he was great in his part here – not a big one but an important one, showing the perils of being alone too long as well as being crazy. Why anyone would let him back into space (i.e. The Martian), I don’t know, but I’m worried.

Now, it has to be mentioned why I haven’t rated this movie at least a 9/10 – the quality certainly justifies it. I cannot for the life of me understand why LOVE had to be brought into a movie that is pure, wonderful science, and by one of the only TWO women in the movie. Anne Hathaway’s amazing Brand was totally killing it, and there she went, her choices being influenced by her silly little love story. It didn’t gel and deducted awesome points from the character and the storyline. It is a movie about SCIENCE. Done.Love is a human emotion and thus not quantifiable, idiots. If it was Anger, Jealousy and Hate would also be quantifiable.

 

Apart from that one slight, Interstellar was a jaw dropping, humbling experience. I will gladly watch it again – it seems like the type of movie where you will always notice something new. The great concepts, the wonderful score by Hans Zimmer, the graphics and the acting makes for a masterful movie that can now live with the greats.

 

PS: I will post two Blindspots in October, as I had no time to review one in September 🙂

October 9, 2015October 6, 2015 by Natasha Categories: 2014, Blindspot, Movies, ReviewTags: Anne Hathaway, Blindspot, Blindspot 2015, Casey Affleck, Christopher Nolan, Earth, Interstellar, Jessica Chastain, Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey, McKenzie Foy, Michael Cane, Sci-Fi, Space, Space Movies, Timothee Chalamet 12 Comments

Wolf of Wallstreet (2013)

My name is Jordan Belfort. I’m a former member of the middle class raised by two accountants in a tiny apartment in Bayside, Queens. The year I turned 26, as the head of my own brokerage firm, I made $49 million, which really pissed me off because it was three shy of a million a week

Plot:

Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government. (via IMDb)

Her father is the brother of my mom. Like, we grew up together, and she grew up hot, you know, she fucking grew up hot. And all my friends are trying to fuck her, you know, and I’m not gonna let one of these assholes fuck my cousin. So I used the cousin thing, as like, an in with her. I’m not like, gonna let someone else fuck my cousin, you know? If anyone’s gonna fuck my cousin, it’s gonna be me. Out of respect.

Rating: 8.5/10

I was called a heretic by a certain friend of mine for claiming I would watch this film in two segments, divided neatly in half. I couldn’t do it. Not only was I afraid that I would be burnt as a witch did I dare commit such a horrific crime, the Wolf of Wall Street was too damn good to just turn off and do something as mundane as sleep.

Leonardo DiCaprio scores the home winning run in his portrayal of Jordan Belfort. How he didn’t win an Oscar is now really beyond me. DiCaprio is threatening to become the most undeservedly under celebrated actors of our lifetime and I just can’t see why. Did he annoy someone at the Academy Awards? Is he not a good enough person? Didn’t he just donate a gazillion dollars to saving the earth from angry killer people? I thought the small part of Matthew McConaughey (WHAT is up with these weird surnames?! I have to friggin spell-check that shit every five seconds) showed what a great actor Matt is – not like in Ghosts of Girlfriend’s Past. However, nothing could reach the brilliant charm of DiCaprio.

There seems to be only good things floating around the internet about this – save one or two jackasses who wants to incur the anger of my bestie – but I had been warned that the movie was somewhat offensive and shocking. I would just like to ask that the whole world grow a pair because it was not that bad. Really, there is a lot of boob, drugs and swearing but compared to other material it is merely on the same level – not breaking any new records. If you have lived through the Game of Thrones series then you can stomach The Wolf of Walf Street.

It naturally took me fifty thousand years to get around to watching this – you know I never get into the hype of things lies. (I was actually just a bit scared of the time I would have to sit through watching this – who has three hours of uninterrupted time?) The movie is a whopper in terms of time, hence my initial plan to watch it in segments. Except for one or two scenes I thought went on a bit too much, the movie moves effortlessly from scene to scene with the required attention to detail, never once dragging to an extent where it felt like three hours – a nearly impossible feat.

The most offensive part of the movie was the constant reminder that this all went down and that Jordan Belfort is a real man that did these things. Seeing him only as a character in a movie is one thing but fitting the drugs and greed into one live human being seems unbelievable. I simply cannot fathom what madness could possess a person to become like that.

So, everyone on the planet bitches about this teensy tiny fact, but how the fuck is Leonardo DiCaprio WITHOUT AN FRIGGIN OSCAR?! He is brilliant. He is good. He always gives good performance and never does anything remotely shitty. He is entertaining as Jordan Belfort and endlessly so. HE just gives such authenticity to the character and makes you see the corrupt soul of the man he portrays.

Another gobsmacking performance came courtesy of none other than Jonah Hill. He is not quite on the low Adam Sandler has reached, but he has some movies that makes me wonder how he did not burn the second he set his feet in Hollywood. He was weird and very freaky in this movie, married to his cousin and prone to violence in the WoWS.

Both wives of Belfort were beautifully portrayed by the Margot Robbie and Cristin Milioti. His second wife was much more up to handling his debauchery, merely because she had already had some experience in the weird world Belfort was a resident of. I liked her – I think her main attraction was the money but she was beautiful and intelligent enough and I think that equipped her with enough power to know that she could tell him where to get off and didn’t mind yelling at him. I didn’t think he deserved either wife.

The Wolf of Wallstreet is a truly rare movie in the sense that there isn’t a bad moment. My only complaint is some of the scenes really felt dragged.

Looking under the “shocking” cover of the Wolf of Wall Street you will discover an excellent movie exploring what greed does to a person.

Recommendation: Just do it. Belfort certainly did.

July 28, 2014 by Natasha Categories: Movies, ReviewsTags: Cristin Millioti, Donnie Azoff, Jonah Hill, Jordan Belfort, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Mark Hanna, Matthew McConaughey, Movies, Reviews, Wolf of Wallstreet 12 Comments