The Martian Trailer Typecasts Matt Damon

Poor old Matt Daaaaaaaaaamon. You'd think somebody in Hollywood had it in for him. First he got stuck out in the far reaches of space in Interstallar and now he's all on his lonesome again in the new trailer for sci-fi thriller The Martian.


Don't feel too sorry for him though. First, Christopher Nolan. Now, Ridley Scott. Matt Damon is getting his pick of the great directors in Hollywood. Maybe all this solitary stuff on faraway planets is Damon just trying to get away from all these other Hollywood actors and their spoiled behaviour on sets. Have you seen the cast list on this one?


Kristen Wiig, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Donald Glover, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena and Chiwetel Ejiofor. That all adds up to a lot of talent and just maybe a lot of tantrums that Damon got to mostly avoid.

This looks great so far but as it's not out till November, I hope this is the one and only trailer we'll get. It's already over 3 minutes long so we really need to see nothing more of this until we sit down to watch the film in cinemas thank you very much. 

More trailers at I Love That Film

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Review

Aside from a single curious scene, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is not what you would expect from the director of Zoolander and Tropic Thunder. It's not jam packed with outrageous or silly comedic moments but instead of full of flights of wild fancy, both imagined and eventually as part of an increasingly exciting reality.

Walter Mitty is an ordinary guy who struggles to fill his online dating profile as he has nothing of interest to say about himself. He wants to get the attention of the girl in his office at Life Magazine by signing up to the dating website but it is only really in his imagination that he has the courage to speak to her. That is until the photo that is destined to become the final ever cover of Life Magazine gets mislaid and Mitty has to set off an adventure to find the photographer responsible for taking the elusive photo.

Walter Mitty lives a boring life. In order to get past this, Ben Stiller the director has to have Ben Stiller the actor in an array of wonderfully created day dreams from pouncing through windows to surfing down streets and close combat with his boss in a lift. These day dreams are exciting and brilliantly created, putting the epic into a very ordinary life and counteracting Stiller's determined underplaying as Mitty. Stiller the director is on fine form with many neat touches that make Mitty's secret life shine.

However when Mitty cannot find the photo from Sean Penn's photographer O'Connell, it is his reality that really starts to dazzle. Taking in Greenland and Iceland and underwater skirmishes with sharks, jumping out of helicopters, escaping volcano eruptions and climbing mountains, Mitty's day dreams suddenly pale in comparison with his real life shenanigans.

Despite the location hopping and outrageous set pieces, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty remains a deceptively simple story. Find the photo, get the girl, discover the world and free yourself. Mitty is fairly miserable in his job. He is threatened by redundancy and has little to show for his life. Adventure is the answer to all his problems, eliminating his need to day dream and instead giving him the courage and experience to be a truly interesting person.

While Stiller does a fantastic job of bringing the story to screen, it is the script that is lacking. The direction gives life to the ludicrous events (both real and imagined) but the dialogue and characters fail to produce much in the way of emotion. It looks great and has a decent soundtrack but the substance is paper thin. It trots out the occasional laugh but piles on far more in the way of grating product placement. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a feel good but ultimately frustrating experience.

I've enjoyed your company! Why not check out more reviews from I Love That Film:

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

All is Lost

The Railway Man

Anchorman 2, Only God Forgives and more

Last Vegas

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Captain Phillips

Saving Mr. Banks

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Don Jon

Upcoming screenings: Mandela, Last Vegas, Secret Life of Walter Mitty

I've got three preview screenings lined up over the next couple of weeks. The first is Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, the second is Last Vegas and the third is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

The first on Monday is Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. I literally found out I had a ticket to this advance screening moments before I found out that the real life legend had just died. It is going to make the screening a very bittersweet experience. I grew up with my older sisters around me wearing 'Free Nelson Mandela' badges and always hearing about the good he had done  in the world. I'm sure Idris Elba will do a fantastic job in the central role and as I have not read the book, I am very excited to learn more about the man's life. I can guarantee that, particularly in light of this week's events, it is going to get emotional. Let's hope the film can do the man justice. Here is the trailer:



Next up is Last Vegas starring Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and um Kevin Kline... something tells me Jack Nicholson was busy? Four old buddies, friends since they were kids get together for one last hurrah in Vegas to celebrate the impending marriage of Douglas' character to a girl half his age. Looks like it could be quite funny. Douglas and De Niro are at each others' throats and Freeman's character just looks like he should be repeating the old mantra 'I'm too old for this shit'. Here is the trailer:



The final film I'm seeing next week is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, directed by and starring Ben Stiller. Comparisons to things like Forrest Gump have been thrown around and it certinaly looks epic in scope. Mitty is a day dreaming office worker who sets off on the adventure of a lifetime (or is he just daydreaming?) and looks like he will likely fall in love along the way with Kristen Wiig. I'm definitely intrigued about this one. Looks like it could be a great heart warmer hopefull for the festive period. Here is the trailer:



What do you think? Want to see any of these?

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Brand New Full Trailer

Brick, Champ, Brian and Ron are back, back, back in the Anchorman 2 trailer. Their legend became but a whisper told by the trees apparently and now nine years after the original, they return in a new decade to face the challenges of the 80s. When Ron and the gang start working on a 24 hour news channel, who knows what will happen? Check out the brand new poster and trailer below:

What we do know is Brick finds a kindred spirit in Kristen Wiig's not very bright lady friend and though the trailer doesn't show them; expect cameos from the likes of Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Moving on from the rampant sexism of the seventies, Ron looks like he's found another social group to target. His dim-witted attempts to break down racial barriers at the end of this trailer look set to lose him a few fans in the African American community but will they see beyond the insults to the noble heart beneath that salon quality hair? Only time will tell...



What do you think? Will this match the original for laughs?

Here's the teasers from a while back if you missed them:





More trailers at I Love That Film:



The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolverine

Pacific Rim

Man of Steel and The Desolation of Smaug

Review of 'Bridesmaids' (Paul Feig, 2011)

Synopsis: Down-on-her-luck Annie becomes maid of honour for her best friend Lillian’s wedding. Fighting and bonding with the other bridesmaids, Annie attempts to deliver the best wedding she can.

Kristen Wiig is officially a comedy Goddess. The co-writer and star of Bridesmaids takes centre stage after years on American television’s Saturday Night Live and being sidelined with smaller roles in recent comedies like Paul and Date Night. Here she is barely off screen and is a hysterical joy to watch throughout. Funnier than the entire cast of The Hangover (either of them), she would be enough to single-handedly split your sides, but with an ensemble this brave and funny and writing this hilarious, Bridesmaids is a laugh-out-loud comedy that deserves to rule this summer. The sisters are doing it for themselves!

Bridesmaids is very rude, occasionally very sweet and often ass-clenchingly awkward. If you think gross-out comedy belongs to boys, wait till you see these girls at their dress fitting. If you think men being mean to women is funny, wait till you see it as written by a couple of women. If you think the writer/producers of films like The Hangover push the boundaries of taste, wait till you see these girls get angry. But most of all if for some reason you think women, can’t be funny, give yourself a slap and go see this film!

The story might follow a fairly conventional path with the romantic-comedy trimmings resulting in an ending that lacks much surprise. However the narrative is tightly constructed and Annie really ‘hits bottom’ (allowing for countless awkward and self-deprecating moments) before the film delivers its predictable resolution. The script is brilliantly written with a touching and believable relationship between the two best friends, Annie and Lillian. The comic set-pieces escalate in a consistently hysterical fashion, standouts being the dress fitting and a plane journey that allows Wiig to show off what a gifted comedy performer she is. The script crackles with witty and memorable dialogue, much of it delivered by Wiig, but the supporting cast all get their own moments to shine as realistic and funny characters.

The best reason to see this film is Wiig. There is nothing she won’t do in this film for a laugh. Whether it’s flailing her legs in the air in the opening sex scene, toilet humour, acting drunk, selfishly ruining parties, or swearing at a young woman, all vanity is left behind. Wiig’s performance is consistently hilarious. As writer she has rightly put herself up-front, giving her a vehicle to finally show off her comedic prowess. The supporting cast are excellent with particular standouts being Melissa McCarthy as Megan (in another unflinchingly funny/awkward performance) and Chris O’Dowd as a sweet cop. However despite the presence of a couple of male British TV stars (O’Dowd and Matt Lucas), the women get all the best lines and even Matt Lucas is totally outshone by his look-a-like ‘sister’ in the film. All give solid, believable and occasionally completely over the top performances, but they are anchored by a sweet script that (like so many other Judd Apatow produced/directed movies) isn’t afraid to poke and prod at the state of people trapped in unhappy marriages.

Paul Feig directs effectively, drawing riotous performances from the cast and keeping the pace brusque throughout. Like many recent comedies that are produced, directed or executive produced by Apatow, the film is over two hours, but unlike some others, Bridesmaids does not drag or sag after the half way mark and its story feels full and not overburdened by an abundance of improvisation.

The film is a sweet look at female friendships, the madness that surrounds wedding preparation and could be seen to deal with the pressures put on modern women to conform, succeed (in both love and career) and above all get married! Wiig’s loveable loser clearly does not have enough respect for herself and the audience will find themselves rooting for her to make big changes in her life. However Bridesmaids is a comedy; there’s no message of self-empowerment and marriage and heterosexual romance are still held as the aspiration for modern women.

Aside from the overly familiar romantic comedy elements the film should be enjoyed for the hilarious script and the performance of a brilliant ensemble of very funny, very entertaining women. It is hugely refreshing to see a film with female performers totally lacking in vanity that is this rude, this vulgar and this amusing. Written by women, starring mostly women but aimed squarely at both men and women, Bridesmaids deserves to be a huge comedy hit.