August 2013 Movie Reviews and Round Up

I'm going to come right out and say this. My August has been pretty lousy for movie watching. I was in Thailand for the first couple of weeks but as there were monsoon rains battering my cabin in the woods (rainforest) one evening, I sat in and watched Green Lantern as it was playing and I was sick of watching Al Jazeera. Then I watched five films on the plane ride home (but I'd already seen most of the decent films on offer) and then I've been rushing to catch up with new releases ever since. My biggest regret is that I think at this rate I might have missed Pacific Rim on the big screen. Must try and catch Elysium instead to make up for it.

Anyway here's what I watched this month:

Green Lantern: Not sure why everyone hated this so much. I had incredibly low expectations which must have helped but Ryan Reynolds is likeable, the constant CGI didn't completely alienate me and Peter Sarsgaard is perfect for playing baddies. Then again I've never read the comics so have no idea if this adaptation is a disgrace to the fans.

Admission: First film I watched on the plane home. Paul Rudd and Tina Fey in a strange but mildly entertaining dramedy. Strange tone and mixed messages but quite memorable characters and occasionally amusing script.

Identity Thief: Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman star in a suprisingly sweet road trip comedy that was not the complete car crash I expected. McCarthy struggles with such an unlikeable character and Bateman plays the same old schtick but it had some amusing moments.

The Croods: Family animation that angered me at first but vaguely charmed me by the end. Ryan Reynolds again too.

Broadcast News: Classic satire and irritating love triangle from James L. Brooks. Great performances from Holly Hunter and Albert Brooks and enthralling look behind the scenes of the news room. Also the last film I watched on the plane home from Thailand.

2 Guns: "For an action comedy, 2 Guns delivers plenty of shoot outs and a healthy dose of exploding stuff but the script is weaker when it comes to the comedy. Without the charisma of Washington and Wahlberg, it is easy to assume this might have gone straight to DVD. It's quite fun while it lasts but you certainly don't want to spend any time afterwards pondering the plot. 2 Guns is neither Washington nor Wahlberg's best but it's still worth a shot, just probably not 2"

Lovelace: "fails to fully penetrate the dark heart of the story despite some hard core performances from an excellent cast. It is however an eye opening look at an industry that I suspect is only getting more vicious and more worrying as time goes on."

Headhunters: Finally got round to seeing this bonkers Jo Nesbo adaptation. Not sure if I was feeling overly sensitive for some reason but I found this incredibly violent. Obviously that means I quite enjoyed it. Fast paced thriller with some crazy moments of pitch black humour.

We're The Millers: "may not break boundaries in its border crossing but it is a road trip fueled by excellent comedic performances and a few side splitting scenes; a comedy about a family that is definitely not suitable for the whole family"

You're Next: "The comparisons to Scream and the touting of You're Next as the future of horror are forced and not fair to Scream or this film. While it shows some great potential and has some beautifully scored moments, it will be even more interesting to see what director Adam Wingard has in store for us next"

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa: Mildly amusing throughout but like most British TV characters when they make it to the big screen, a little lost and stretched thin. Steve Coogan is game and the hostage crisis set up provides good laughs but loses its way towards the end.

Dark Tourist: Watched this at FrightFest 2013 but was too tired to stay awake and kept nodding off and then waking with a jump moments later. Not sure I missed much but I did get to interview the star and director before the film.

Rush: review coming soon at Static Mass Emporium.

The Lone Ranger: "According to Box Office Mojo, The Lone Ranger may have only just managed to scrape back it's over $200 million budget with a particularly poor domestic take. It looks likely that instead of becoming a Pirates size franchise, this might be the Standalone Ranger after all"

Apart from film watching, I've also been writing at Yahoo Movies and Filmoria, continuing to read the second Game of Thrones novel, A Clash of Kings and keeping up to date with Breaking Bad series 5. I've also just started watching Dexter series 7 so I'm only about a series behind on that one!

Best film of the month: Rush

Worst film of the month: Dark Tourist

Most popular phrase of the month judging by my mini-reviews above: Mildly amusing

How was your August? What did you see? What did you like? What did you hate?

Lovelace Review

Deep Throat is probably not a film best known for its astounding performances. Lovelace on the other hand, which is the biographical story of the star of the notorious skin flick, is packed with perfect performances from a brilliant cast. Amanda Seyfried takes centre stage as Linda Lovelace, the good girl gone bad as she becomes a celebrity after the phenomenal success of history's most profitable porn film.

Unsurprisingly Lovelace is not a film full of fun and games, harmless bed filled romps and unnecessarily thorough blow jobs. It is a story of manipulation, domestic abuse, sexual slavery and one woman finding the courage to just say no. Linda Lovelace may have appeared to enjoy the limelight at the height of her fame but she later spoke out against pornography and told a far different story than what the smiles had previously suggested.

The majority of the film dwells on the (relative) highs of Linda's relationship with husband and prime manipulator and abuser Chuck Traynor, only hinting slightly at the darkness that lurked beneath. Finally Lovelace decides to reveal the full story and the sordid details of her relationship with the repulsive Chuck, perfectly played by a never more seedy Peter Sarsgaard. The film then flashes back and fills in the stuff we weren't seeing before; the beatings, the forced prostitution and coercion and the misery that Linda was feeling.

Seyfried is excellent but the surrounding cast also shine with Sharon Stone (virtually unrecognisable) and Robert Patrick as Linda's parents particularly making an impression. Their concerns, advice, reactions and coping with Linda's new found celebrity and the subsequent fall out are the most tragic elements of the story and Stone and Patrick are fantastic in their limited scenes. The pair of performances and the empathetic script make Lovelace's parents both monstrous and deeply sympathetic.

Where Lovelace fails to fully penetrate greatness is that it never feels complete. The story feels half told and therefore fails to have the full impact that it could. Even though it tells its story and then flashes back to re-tell it some more with added details, so much seems missed and the worst excesses of what Linda went through feel skipped over and shied away from. Perhaps directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman desired restraint but I imagine Lovelace's own book Ordeal didn't hold back when it came to her suffering at the hands of Traynor and other men.

Lovelace fails to fully penetrate the dark heart of the story despite some hard core performances from an excellent cast. It is however an eye opening look at an industry that I suspect is only getting more vicious and more worrying as time goes on.

Watch the trailer:

Recent reviews at I Love That Film:

2 Guns Review

Monsters University Review

Man of Steel Review

This is the End Review 

Fast and Furious 6 Review

Iron Man 3 Review

Olympus Has Fallen Review

July Movie Reviews and Round up