Bendable Blog

Yes I watched a chick flick without a chick around, it’s sad I know.  I don’t know why I even download these movies, the odds are I’ll have to watch them again with my next girlfriend; I should just save myself the hassle of watching it twice by not watching it in the first place (uhhh sure).  So anyway, as much as you could probably tell from the title (He’s Just Not That Into You) it was a RomCom, for some reason I didn’t put two and two together (that is my story and I’m sticking with it).

As you could probably guess from a movie staring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Scarlett Johansson, Justin Long, and Kris Kristofferson it’s actually a pretty well acted movie.  The plot was actually pretty different from what I would have expected.

Actually I think it’s probably best you don’t let your girlfriend see this movie, it may end all happy and whatnot, but there are all these things they say in the movie that will just make her start judging you and thinking that you aren’t really that into her.  Just keep her in the dark.

I started to write my review of Quantum of Solace as I was watching Taken and very quickly turned my entire attention to Taken, which explains my unusually short post on Quantum of Solace.

In the movie Taken, Liam Neeson plays a retired spook who just wants to be a bigger part of his daughter’s (played excellently by Maggie Grace (“Lost”)) life.  Against his better judgment he allows her to take a trip to Paris, and no sooner does she get there and she is kidnapped by human traffickers.  Luckily he is on the phone with her when this happens and he immediately goes into action mode to save her.

The spy stuff and the fights in this movie seem very plausable and real, he doesn’t get off the plane and have his “contact” meet him to give him a bunch of gizmo’s and weapons, he just uses his wits and his hands to work his way up the chain to the big wigs of the organization, not sparing anyone along the way.  He is a complete badass that anyone would want in their corner when the shit went down.

Again I want to say Maggie Grace was perfect in this role, at the time the movie was filmed she was about 25, but she is playing a 17 year old so convincingly that I thought I was wrong when I saw her.  I thought she was the girl from “Lost”, but then I settled on her just being some younger girl who resembles her.  At no point did I think she wasn’t a 17 year old.  Really surprising.

This is a fantastic movie and I’m surprised I haven’t heard more of it, everyone should see this movie. 10/10

I watched the latest Bond film last night and I was surprised how much I liked it, much more than Casino Royale.  I like how they are basically restarting the series with Bond being a lot less polished and not relying on gadgets as much.  My only concern was that it’s basically a sequel to Casino Royale and I haven’t seen it in a while, so I couldn’t remember all the names they were throwing about so much.

I believe I like this Bond the best out of all of them. 8/10

Last night I watched the new Guy Ritchie film RocknRolla, which is basically a heist film set in the seedy London underworld.  The real estate market boom has caused underworld types to go from standard drugs and illegal betting to controlling how people buy land and get zoned.  There is lots of money to be made if you have your hands in every piece of the pie.

I won’t go into the details, suffice it to say two roughnecks get played by the local crime boss and end up owing 2 million Euros and have to hold up a money transfer to pay it back, which unfortunately belongs to even nastier people.

It was a fun movie with a decent twist, and very Ritchie-esque feel to it.  I disagree with some people that the Guy Ritchie treatement was put on a film that didn’t need it.  This doesn’t feel like Snatch, other than there is a heist and some anti-hero main characters.  What I consider the Ritchie treatment is roughly four stories which are loosely bound together by one thing and all the stories are told simultaneously and come together at the end.  This movie is very linear and the stories are interwoven in a way that makes sense for this sort of local underworld.

Summary: I think it’s definately worth it to go see, especially so if you like a good Guy Ritchie heist flick.

As I’m always topical and up-to-date on the newest movies, I watched The Da Vinci Code last night.  I was never really interested in the book when it came out, or the movie when it was released.  I really don’t like movies that are either ”based” on real events or mix facts with fiction, I hate not knowing where the interesting facts end, and the rediculous fiction starts.

Anyway, I decided I’d watch it, and ultimately it was alright; nothing great, but not terrible.  There really just isn’t anything I feel worth mentioning about this movie, watch it or don’t, I doubt it will make a difference in anyone’s life regardless of your choice.  I saw the preview for Angels and Demons tonight and I assume it will be more of the same.

Rating: You will probably end up seeing at some point in your life, if you go out of your way now, you will have to sit through it twice, which is a waste.

I had the fortune to see The Wrestler on the weekend, it’s absolutely fantastic.  I used to watch “professional” wrestling back in the 80s with Hulk Hogan, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Andre The Giant, etc. and then again in the mid 90s with groups like Degeneration-X, the Hardy Boys, etc.  I went to Wrestlemania X8 (I have the fold up chair to prove it) in the 5th row at SkyDome (now The Rogers Center) and shortly after got a bit disenfranchised with it.  I don’t think it’s the kind of thing you watch alone, and since I moved to Toronto right after that, I didn’t know anyone else who was interested in it, and I just lost interest.

I think coming from that background – I know what a shoot and a spot are, I know who is the face and who is the heel, and I know what is real and what is fake – that I enjoyed The Wrestler even more than someone without that knowledge.  The movie doesn’t talk down to the audience, if you don’t know what those things are, you will have to figure it out.  Not having the typical “new person” who has to be shown the ropes and basically serves to explain the world to the audience, it feels way more real.  This could have been the real life story of any of the big 80s wrestlers, who just sort of disappeared.

This is the story of a fictional version of one of those hugely popular wrestlers who gave everything in the 80s when there wasn’t any money in it, and then fell on hard times as they got older.  Mickey Rourke is flawless in his portrayal of the protagonist Randy “The Ram” Robinson.  Set in 2009 after nearly 20 years of obscurity that followed his biggest pay-per-view event, he struggles to find the things the mean the most in his life.

There are several parts in this film that (unless you are the manliest of men, like me) you will shed a tear or well up, it’s really that powerful a story. Marisa Tomei is fantastic as the older stripper that Randy has a crush on, the scenes of stripper life is dead on (uhh, from what others have told me) and she is smoking hot.

Rating: If you have ever watched wrestling you will probably love this movie, if you thought it was all stupid, this movie should open your eyes to what you were really seeing.  Go see it.

I just finished watching JCVD, which is a fictional movie about Jean-Claude Van Damme, which stars him as himself.  This is a fantastic movie, the kind I hope he continues to make.  Well crafted, interesting story that is transferred to the screen in a very interesting way.  The basic plot is that Jean-Claude is going through some rough times with movies being taken by Stephen Seagal, losing custody of his daughter, and not getting any good film roles.  This leads him into a bank in Brussels which is being held up, and the hostage situation where the cops think he is the criminal.

I can’t say enough good things about this movie, and it includes some real moments that are touching and insightful.

Rating: Definately see this movie if you have any preconceived notions about Jean-Claude, I think this will change them.

I had heard from my friend Jay that Madagascar and Madagascar 2 are great movies that I would enjoy.  I finally had the opportunity to watch the first one the other night, and while I think it was an OK movie, I wasn’t thoroughly impressed.

I think the penguins were fantastic and could watch a whole movie of just them, but the zebra, lion, giraffe, and hippo storyline just didn’t catch me.  I felt everything from the zoo to the island was really far fetched, but not in the way that would make sense for this movie.

I don’t think my experience with this movie will stop me from watching Madagascar 2, hopefully it will have more of what I liked about Madagascar.

Rating: I think it’s worth renting, if you like this kind of animation, it does have some generally funny moments.

Technically these are two movies, but they are so intertwined and I saw them one night after the other, I’m reviewing them as if they are one.  Nightwatch and Daywatch were written and filmed in Russia, and the story revolves around two groups of supernatural beings that coexist with normal humans on the planet, one of light that guard against the night (Nightwatch) and one of dark that guard against the day (Daywatch).  The complete story is somewhat muddled, maybe by the translations and maybe a little by the editing, and therefor I won’t go into it much.

When I first heard about these movies, I heard the special effects were great.  Maybe people grade it on a curve as it comes out of Russia, it’s not bad really, but it’s nothing I haven’t seen before (granted it was made in 2004).  Ultimately everyone has a different power, but as the movie progresses it gets to the point where everyone has multiple powers which you had never seen them use before, and figure if they’d just used that power earlier it all would have gone much more smoothly.

In the end as you start to wonder how they can fix everything a giant Deus Ex Machina presents itself and everything is “put to normal” in a way.

Rating: If you like somewhat obscure films or you hang out with people who do, you might want to see this just so you have a common frame of referrence.  Otherwise you could skip it.

After sitting through Appaloosa on Monday I decided to watch something a bit more entertaining, which turned out to be Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  Peter (Jason Segel, also the writer) is an aspiring composer who has just broken up with his long-time girlfriend Sarah (Kristen Bell) and decides to take a vacation in Hawaii to forget her, but unfortunately finds she is there too, and she’s with a new man.

I really like Jason Segel on How I Met Your Mother, I think he has a natural comedic charm that comes through very well on film.  I wasn’t sure he’d be able to play the lead in this, but he really pulls it off.  Kristen Bell, of Veronica Mars and Heroes fame, is adorable but is completely blown away by Mila Kunis who plays the hotel clerk who Peter starts to fall for.  Mila Kunis is fantastic in this movie, it’s perfect casting and perfectly played, I might look up some of her other movies now.

Paul Rudd steals every scene he is in, but I’m fairly certain that is what he’s hired to do, since he’s done it in every movie I can think of.

The only thing I’m not too sure about is why they felt I needed to see Jason Segel’s dick about 4 times.  It’s not that I’m sexist, I’d probably wonder the same thing if I saw a woman’s vagina 4 times in one movie (I’m talking to you, Sharon Stone).  I’m guessing he’s just proud and not easily embarrassed.

Rating: Totally worth seeing for a bit of fun and that warm feeling you get inside from a happy ending.