Archive for August, 2011

Leatherheads – *1/2

Posted: August 29, 2011 in 2008, Comedy, USA

There was a time when screwball comedies were funny and entertaining. In the fifties for instance when actors like Cary Grant and Doris Day ruled at the box office. Since the seventies, screwball comedies haven’t really been successful at all, with some exceptions of course. I’m thinking about When Harry Met Sally for instance, which is a classic.

The Doris Day and Cary Grant of now are Renee Zellweger and George Clooney. They are also entertaining and funny and somehow popular as well. Even though they seldom appear in smash hits. Having the two together in an old-fashioned comedy couldn’t go wrong, right? Well, it does go wrong and that’s only because of the script, which just is not all that funny.

The plot centres around an old football player who needs to recruit a young star for his team to make it profitable again and a pretty feminist journalist who’s writing a story about the young star’s allegedly false war heroism. The setting of all this is the start of the professional football association back in the 20s.

Zellweger is funny. Hey, just looking at her funny face, makes you smile. Clooney is overacting. I’m sure his intentions are good, but it doesn’t work. He has these facial expressions that he makes in almost every single scene, which is very characteristic for him, but they start to annoy. The main problem is that the movie just isn’t funny and that the romance doesn’t excite at all. Moreover, I personally know nothing about the origins of American football and did not get the many references to the game and its association(s). But hey, an American would probably also have issues with a screwball comedy set around the first Tour de France.

Anyways, it’s an okay movie. The kind you’ll enjoy when flying from Brussels to New York.


Seen in Roskilde, DK

Ok, the humans in this movie are stereotypes and underdeveloped, but who cares? This is a movie about the rise of the Apes! TIm Burton’s remake of the original Planet Of The Apes was underrated as well. Bad reviews, but great fun. Well, this is even more fun. The monkeys (not only the chimps) are awesome! Especially the main monkey, Caesar, steals the show. There’s a guy behind the digital creation and it’s the same guy who has played King Kong and Gollum. His name is Andy Serkis. Some reviews say he should get an Oscar for his ape-role. And why not? If Natalie Portman gets one when a double does all the dancing…

What is it all about? Hey, this is a blockbuster movie, you should know what it’s all about. It tells the origins of the Planet Of The Apes series. A scientist (a blank James Franco) comes up with a cure for the disease of Alzheimer (which also has affected his father). He first tests it on chimps, but it goes wrong as one chimp becomes incredibly aggressive and causes havoc in the lab centre. End of the research! However, the test chimp left a baby chimp behind and the scientist takes it home, raising it as a pet and a test subject. But the baby chimp grows older and smarter and stronger… until it has to be locked up in a primate asylum where it starts a riot!

Linha De Passa – **1/2

Posted: August 10, 2011 in 2008, Brasil, Drama, XX1/2

A social drama from Brasil. Good (amateur) acting. Gripping stories. But unfortunately not that much humor to make it a bit more pleasant to watch. A cleaning lady is pregnant with her fifth child from a third guy and is struggling hard to get the money in and keep her children on the right track. One is an aspiring soccer player. The other works as a delivery boy and is tempted in choosing crime as an option to getting more money. The third one is influenced by an evangelic church and tries to be as good as possible and the younger (bastard) child is obsessed about finding his real father who he believes to be a bus driver.

Yeah, heavy stuff.  The actress who plays the mother does a great job, but she is just not a likable person. The kind of woman you would see in a Dardennes movie. A smoking and drinking low class tramp almost. Difficult to sympathize with her. The three older children are all more interesting, but their stories don’t really fascinate as much as they could. And the bastard child just does not seem to belong in the story. BUt then again, this is a Brazil. Things just are difficult to explain there. 😉

Anyways. OK movie. But there could have been more in it.

Men Who Stare At Goats – 1/2

Posted: August 10, 2011 in 1/2, 2009, Comedy, USA

A journalist investigates in a story about some guys in the US army who are trained to use their paranormal power to fight the enemies without real weapons. Okay, sounds interesting. Especially since George Clooney is in it and Ewan McGregor and Jeff Bridges! But WTF. This is boring crap. it’s not even remotely funny. The trailer promises a dry, ironic tale about some nut cases in the US army and a failed journalist. Well, all the funny scenes are in the trailer. Skip this movie.