Movie Review: The Proposal (2009)

Plot:  A pushy boss forces her young assistant to marry her in order to keep her visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada.

Rating: 7/10

It seems that I can put movies into two categories in my life – what I saw before the blog, and what I saw after I started the blog. There is some time difference (I think I started here in 2011/2012), so most of the things in the “before” section needs to be looked at again.

The Proposal is one of those films. For some reason didn’t enjoy it back then. I think I was convinced that Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds had no chemistry on screen. It’s not true though – they worked well together. Can I just be a bit happy for the challenged gender stereotypes in here? Bullock is the total boss and Ryan is her assistant and I was just like yasss queen.

Most romantic comedies have some gaping holes that should have been stories though, and The Proposal doesn’t really escape from that. I would have enjoyed seeing Andrew’s relationship with his dad being addressed as it was obviously full of anger.  It was sadly just used as a ploy to get Andrew to connect more to Margaret. I’m very confused why Gertude (Malin Ackerman) was named Gertrude and why the hell she was even in this story. She’s obviously Andrew’s old girlfriend, and that’s fine, but why is she only that? Like, she doesn’t cause Andrew to question what he’s doing, he doesn’t seem to b aware of her existence, nothing. It also seems that Malin Ackerman’s main claim to acting is walking into a room and to smile, waiting for the other characters to notice how pretty she is.  It’s mean, but I’ve yet to find a role where she actually has a purpose.

I really enjoyed Betty White as the grandma, she was a complete scream as usual. This woman has just seemingly spent her entire life being a complete joy to everyone around her, and I liked that her character wasn’t just this old granny, she had a ton of personality and opinions.

I definitely enjoyed this film. It seems I’ve given it quite a high rating with a seven, but films should be judged within their genre, and whether you had a damn good time. And I say YES to both of these questions!

August 30, 2016August 29, 2016 by Natasha Categories: Movies, movies, Review, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: Betty White, Canada, Craig T. Nelson, Malin Ackerman, Mary Steenburgen, Movies, Review, Romantic Comedies, Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock, The Proposal 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: Gravity (2013)

Ryan: Never mind, Houston, never mind the story! Ah. It’s starting to get hot in here. OK. Alright the way I see it, there’s only two possible outcomes. Either I, make it down there in one piece and I have one hell of a story to tell. Or I burn up in the next ten minutes. Either way whichever way, no harm no foul.

Plot: (Via IMDb) A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after a catastrophe destroys their shuttle and leaves them adrift in orbit.

I made this poster. Pretty chuffed with myself 😀

Rating: 8.5/10

So many feels!!! I can firstly mention that I have been completely cured of my hidden desire to be in space. Lying on the grass staring up will henceforth be sufficient.

Secondly, this is the first time in a long time I actually wished I had watched a movie in cinema. The effect of Gravity on IMAX would have been absolutely breathtaking, and I am really despondent I missed such a movie experience.

Thirdly, my derision with the Heat is now at a new level because Sandra Bullock in here and Sandra Bullock in there is just not the same thing.

I really appreciated the pace the movie progressed with. Everything that went down had a reason to it, and there weren’t those pesky drawn out scenes that I despise so much. The movie isn’t long and I was dreading length here initially, no one yaps too much, there aren’t too many characters, and the two available give such stunning performances I wish I knew why both of them didn’t get an Oscar for this. I could yap about graphics and stuff but it is not my field of expertise, so I will say it was excellently done and leave it at that. We can thus just focus on the beauty that is space, be humbled by how little we understand from it, and be eternally grateful that even though it is messed up, the Earth is an okay place to be in with its gravity holding us grounded.

Sandra Bullock’s character was amazing. She was so sad and broken, and her finding the courage to fight for her life when she felt she had nothing to live for will give me chills until the end of time.

I took away a real lesson from this movie: If your day is bad, it is highly unlikely that it will be as bad as Ryan’s in space. Gravity is all about the triumph of the human spirit, and I nearly pulled out a few hairs when it seemed the water was crushing her to death (watch the movie and you will know what I mean)

Matt: I get it. It’s nice up here. You can just shut down all the systems, turn out all the lights, and just close your eyes and tune out everyone. There’s nobody up here that can hurt you. It’s safe. I mean, what’s the point of going on? What’s the point of living? Your kid died. Doesn’t get any rougher than that. But still, it’s a matter of what you do now. If you decide to go, then you gotta just get on with it. Sit back, enjoy the ride. You gotta plant both your feet on the ground and start livin’ life. Hey, Ryan? It’s time to go home.

George Clooney (who is like wine), perfected the role as veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski. He was so calm and collected and such a relaxed presence even when things started going horribly wrong. I really enjoyed how he just handled and accepted what came up.

Bestie told me that Pappy has very strong feelings about this before I watched it, and I just had to see if he was right. He was (obviously) very right about it, and I LOVED it too much. I can definitely see myself rewatching and recommending the hell out of this movie – even if you don’t absolutely love it, you will still enjoy it. If I have to name my favourite top ten movies immediately, I can see myself working this in now!

Have you seen it? Did you like it? Let me know!

October 8, 2014October 5, 2014 by Natasha Categories: Movies, ReviewsTags: George Clooney, Gravity, Matt Kowaski, Movies, Ryan Gosling, Sandra Bullock, Space 15 Comments

Movie Review: The Heat (2013)

FBI Agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) is a highly skilled detective with a bitchy and condescending attitude that makes her very unpopular at the office. When a promotion is up, her boss tells her it might not happen because she is so unpopular, but that she still has a chance if she solves a case working with the Boston Police Department.

Another oddity is found at Boston PD – Detective Sharon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy), whose detective skills is somewhat shadowed by her unconventional methods. Will the two unlikely partners solve the drug mystery and find the drug lord Larkin?

Rating: 5/10

I’ve been busy watching some really light hearted stuff recently; with everything that is going on in my life I really don’t need too much sadness right now. I thought The Heat would have some happy feels to it like Warm Bodies did, but alas, it did not.

I guess you can see from that rating that I didn’t like The Heat all that much. It is just too light-hearted. It is all about cops who never follow procedures, police brutality and general rudeness. The two lead stars are too talented to be caught in nonsense like this. I really don’t get why either Bullock or McCarthy needed this movie. Bullock is already established as a leading lady in some impressive movies and McCarthy IS a comedy actress but she can afford to choose roles where she isn’t always the dirty/unkempt person.

The movie’s retarded storyline could have been saved with a few simple things. If most of the police/FBI weren’t incompetent fools, if the drug dealers weren’t portrayed as silly things and if Sandra Bullock’s character had some sort or redeeming quality things would have been a lot better. Bullock seems very keen to play a washed out cop, and yet she fails to do it with the charm she did Miss Congeniality. I can’t even say she was prissy – the word prissy implicates something cute and annoying, yet she was just annoying.

Director Paul Feig also directed Bridesmaids, and I really hated that too, so I think it is a given that I should steer clear from his movies generally. The movie is two hours long, and it seems very stupid for any comedy to run such times.

Recommendation: Meh

August 27, 2014August 25, 2014 by Natasha Categories: Movies, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: Comedy, Marlon Wayans, Mellissa McCarthy, Movies, Paul Feig, Reviews, Sandra Bullock, The Heat 13 Comments