Divergent

I have been waiting for this movie since I first read the book and found out they were doing a movie, and now I wish they hadn't released it. It's not fully finished. It's really just a garble of scenes that played together make no sense and completely ruin the source material.

Divergent has been on shaky ground with me since I finished the last book, those of you who have read the last book will understand why, but I was still looking forward to the film version. Unfortunately, I found the film version completely and utterly flawed. I know the age old saying, "books are always better than the film" but you can still have a good film adaptation in the right hands. Divergent was in the wrong hands. My view may be biased, having just taught the novel to my 9th graders but the amount of changes done to the film adaptation make it a poor representation of the novel.

Some scenes and quotes are present - "have you never seen a hamburger before" "Be brave" - but the story gets all tangled up and the meaning behind events are lost in translation. The aptitude test is all wonky - the choice should have been between cheese or a knife not a slab of meat. What was the reasoning behind that change? Little changes like that build up into a snowball and ruin the remainder of the film. The stages of initiation are chaotic and there are too many people involved. Tris doesn't get to beat up Molly after having her towel taken from her which is a crucial scene in her character development. Peter doesn't stab Edward in the eye with a butter knife - which would have been a wicked scene. Al's death means nothing because the relationship he wants with Tris isn't present in the movie and her rejection of him isn't present. Visiting Day doesn't make an appearance which sets the way for the second and third books, and instead Tris sees her mom in a rushed scene. Divergent is something everyone knows about, which isn't true in the novel. And don't even get me started on the absent Uriah.

I understand that films can never be the book, but Divergent loses its charm. There is no character development. The only character who I felt fit the novel version was Four, of course I think he was written horribly and so fit the stunted version of himself in the film.

I think part of the trouble was trying to do too much too quick. Although maybe quick isn't such a good term because this film dragged on and on. The sign of a good film is one leaving you wanting more and unaware of the time passing or your surroundings. I was aware. They complicated the story much more than they had to. If they had stuck to the story as written I think it would have gone smoother instead of trying to fit in a scene here and there and then try to weave it all together.

From the very beginning of the film I was on edge when it opened on a deserted ship. They go through all the trouble of creating a CGI abandoned ship which does nothing to further the plot or help tell the story. Likewise what was with that fence? It's suppose to be locked from the inside, again foreshadowing events to follow. Overall it felt like a cafeteria movie, picking bits and pieces of the book to form some semblance of a meal.

The only redeeming factor was Theo James as Four giving the audience something pretty to listen to and look at for the otherwise wasteful two-and-a-half hours. 

New Girl Season One

 

The first season of New Girl was a huge surprise for me, finally an American network show that was laugh out loud funny.I would argue the show is even better than Friends which seems to be the standard of American comedy. New Girl feels fresh and new and most importantly, funny. Three guys, one girl all approaching thirty and all unlucky in love share a loft together, there is definitely the right ingredients for a comedy and the writing and performances make it all come together. 

Schmidt is my favorite, everything he does is just hilarious and I think one of the best episodes is the Thanksgiving episode where Schmidt cooks.

Nanny McPhee Returns

Nanny McPhee was such a great success the first time around but I found the second one lacking. In Nanny McPhee Returns, Nanny McPhee comes to the aid of a woman with three children and two visiting cousins. Her husband is off fighting the war and her brother-in-law is trying to sell the family farm out from under them. The unruly children have to learn how to cooperate and understand one another and their respective circumstances. 

What was so great about the first one was the children. The adult characters were more in supportive roles. For Nanny McPhee Returns the children lose the focus and the amount of big British names, even in cameo appearances pull the attention away from the children. Even Asa Butterfield can't hold onto the spotlight because the rest of the children are unnoteworthy. When you have Maggie Gyllenhaal (American), Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans, Daniel Mays and Bill Bailey parading across the screen it makes the ridiculousness of Nanny McPhee too ridiculous. The adult characters are not ridiculous like they were in the first one so the magic feels out of place and overdone. 

The sequel lost its charm. The five lessons the children need to learn are learned too fast and the audience is left wondering if the lesson was actually learned. Unlike the first one there isn't a real push from the children to get rid of Nanny McPhee which I think is the problem. The children just accept her and go about their business. 

Also the film tries to tackle some big issues of the war - children's relationships with their parents, divorce and its effect on children and the real possibility that not everyone comes back from the war but these issues are just thrown in and not taken full advantage of in the plotting of the film. The few moments that were in the film were done well but I would have liked to have seen more of those. 

The film did make me cry though. Once when they get the forged telegram about the husband being killed in action and the revelation of the Maggie Smith's character at the end. The ending made up for the rest of the film by tying the first film to the second. As it turns out, Maggie Smith plays a grown up Aggy Brown and still has the baby rattle. It was a shinning moment in an otherwise lackluster film.

Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2

The Twilight Saga has finally come to an end and I'm not ashamed to admit that I've enjoyed every one. I'm still on the fence on whether or not the last film needed to be made in two parts. On the one hand it was nice because things were then spread out and the filmmakers could take their time with the story but on the other hand the part 2 wasn't able to carry itself as well as part 1. 

Breaking Dawn part 2. Bella has been transformed into a vampire, her child is growing like crazy, Jacob has imprinted on Bella's daughter and now the evil vampires from Italy are coming after The Cullens. Preparation for the final battle has begun. 

The film still had its comedic moments which have been there since the beginning, thankfully the screen play was written by the same person for all five films. I particularly liked the part where Jacob takes off his clothes and becomes a wolf in front of Charlie. Charlie has remained one of those great characters throughout the series that keeps the audience rooted in reality. And his "put your clothes back on" line is brilliant. Of course I don't think anything can top Bella's "You've nicknamed my daughter after the Lock Ness Monster!" More sexual innuendos almost all exclusively from Emmet whose only role in the film seem to be to make sex jokes and to show Bella's new strength as a newborn. 

I had two problems with the final film. First it didn't seem to have enough substance to last for 2 hours. There wasn't a lot of action that happened before the battle. Most of the film was waiting for witnesses to show up and explain to them the situation. It was nice to see a 'global' presence as far as the vampires went but didn't make compelling viewing. 

Lee Pace though was amazing! His new disheveled look grew on me the more I saw him and I loved his attitude. Kind of Han Solo-esque. I knew he was going to be in Twilight and I was really excited when I saw part 1 but when he didn't show up then I was disappointed so I'm glad I finally got to see him. I loved the relationship between him and Kate. "If we live through this, I'll follow you anywhere woman." There's a story to be had there. Getting ready for the battle had some good moments which picked up the pace. Bella finding out she's a shield and learning how to use showed good interaction between Edward and Emmet. Overall though the film was just waiting for the battle to happen which brings me to my second problem of the film.

Now it's been a while since I've read the books so I'm not sure what happened in the books but having the final battle pay out showing the deaths of Carlise and Jasper but then have it only be Alice's vision was kind of a cheat. I mean I'm glad it was a vision because no one died in the book but as an audience you felt cheated. The major action sequence of the film didn't even happen in the reality of the Twilight world. The vision made you aware of the film as a film. You were disconnect from the narrative because your mind is telling you this isn't how it's suppose to be (this isn't Harry Potter) and so you spend your time trying to figure out how it's happening. Is this Zafrina creating a visual for everyone? How is this happening which takes away from the joy of the film and in a way breaks the fourth wall. 

I know they talked about changing the end so I'll have to read the books again to see but they did my favorite scene where Bella is able to show Edward her thoughts so I was happy. I also liked how they ended the film by using the book pages to land on the final page and highlight the word forever. Again it broke the narrative and called attention to itself but it was nice touch although I can see how it would be annoying. It may have been better had Bella just said the final words in a voiceover ending the film how it started, but I can live with it. The one thing that they did change was the hair color of some of the Cullens which disrupted the continuity of the films.

I particularly liked the end credits where it gave credit to everyone who was in the films since the very beginning. I especially like the acknowledgement of Rachelle Lefevre who played Victoria in the first two films before being replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard in Eclipse. 

All in all Breaking Dawn part 2 felt like an ending. 

Friends With Benefits

My local news station does a question of the day everyday where they ask the public a survey question and a few weeks ago the question of the day was which celebrity do people want to stop acting and return to music? The answer was Justin Timberlake which I think is unfortunate. I happen to really enjoy Timberlake films and in fact I haven't seen one I didn't like. He's come a long way since NSYNC. 

Friends With Benefits came out at the same time as No Strings Attached and both movies have similar plot lines, two friends have meaningless sex but they realize later the love they were trying to avoid inevitably crops up. I enjoyed both films but I think Friends With Benefits is truer to life. It made sex funny and awkward. The friendship was there and believable and the surrounding characters worked to highlight the main relationship rather than pulling focus. And there was an emotional element present in the main characters caused by their parents' absence emotionally as well as physically.  

Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake had good chemistry on screen but they also had good comedic timing together which really worked to sell their relationship. I haven't been a huge fan of Kunis but she made me want to watch more of her stuff with this film. Woody Harrleson was fun in his non-typical role and helped get the comedy across when Timberlake was unable to. It was also a delight to see Jenna Elfman in a film again (I haven't seen her since EdTV with Harrleson). Patricia Clarkson was a bit of a letdown for me but it might have just been her character that I wasn't too fond of (she reminded me too much of my own mother in a bad way). I think her character was good to push Kunis towards Timberlake. I very much enjoyed the cameos of Emma Stone, Andy Samberg, Shaun White, Jason Segal and Masi Oka. They all made the most of the cameos but again didn't take away from the plot. They added a little something extra to the film that made it less flat than it could have been given the overused romantic comedy plot. 

I enjoyed the film overall. The actors were fun to watch, the plot moved forward without too many holes and it was funny. It hit all the marks of a romantic comedy. 

This Means War

The sign of a good film is that you would watch it again and again. With This Means War I wanted to watch it immediately after I had finished it, much like my favorite book. I couldn't stop going through some of the scenes in my mind. It was funny, entertaining with enough action and a great storyline.

Chris Pine (whom I love and haven't seen anything of his that I hate) and Tom Hardy (new kid on the block for me but discovered he played the bad guy in Star Trek Nemesis which is awesome) are two spies who unknowingly date the same girl but when they find out they pull out all the stops, using the full resources of the CIA, in order to come out on top. Reese Witherspoon (can't go wrong with her either) plays a woman tired of running into her ex who is now getting married without someone of her own. Her friend puts her on a dating website where she meets Hardy and then runs into Pine immediately after that in the video store. Who will she choose?

Pine is just plain adorable, as always playing the suave confirmed bachelor but he does it well. He flirts with Witherspoon just as much as the camera but he still has enough vulnerability to make him likeable. Hardy plays the British more reserved and chivalrous guy. He's safe which translates to boring for Witherspoon but he also has a soft spot. He's the one who wants to settle down, he has a kid. Hardy is playing Callum Bleu's role in Princess Diaries: A Royal Engagement where Pine played the same type of character. Hardy is also very likable but Pine has the edge. Witherspoon  is great in this role and somewhat makes a stand for women dating "like men" but she struggles with it falling back into the more traditional role of a romantic comedy heroine. She had great chemistry with both Pine and Hardy. I loved her harebrained attitude. 

The choice between Pine and Hardy is left to the very last moment and it played out beautiful. It isn't awkward and doesn't feel cheesy. Witherspoon is about to be flattened by the oncoming car and has to choose who to run to, Hardy or Pine who are on opposite sides of the unfinished freeway (what is it with LA and unfinished freeways?). The camera cuts from Witherspoon stuck between the two to an overhead shot of the scene covered in smoke. You have to wait for the smoke to clear before you see the choice she's made. With the romantic relationships tied together nicely, the film ends where it should, on a nice bromance scene with Pine and Hardy. I want to see more of these two.

The film brings together the best of action and romantic comedies with just a touch of bromance into one film. The film has lots of laughs and it's just a joy to watch. It's entertaining but has a good story to back up it up. Everyone gets their happy ending and the viewer is left satisfied. This is definitely a film I need to own.

Sherlock Holmes

 

Perhaps if I had seen Robert Downy Jr's version of Sherlock Holmes before seeing Benedict Cumberbatch's version I may have like this film more. This is not to say that the film was bad it just wasn't nearly as good as BBC's Sherlock. The film hinged on the title character which for the film fell flat. Downy Jr's interpretation of the characters didn't feel like Holmes. He was more sexually inclined and didn't seem as smart as he should. More than anything I perceived him as a pest rather than a consulting detective. I could see somethings working but overall it wasn't engaging. Jude Law as Watson I think pulled it off although he was boring as well as he was trying to pull away from Holmes. I liked the overall look of him, although there was a moment in which he looked Russian and I could see why he was cast in Anna Karenina. The relationship aspect of the film took away from the crux of the show, and here I may be comparing the film to Sherlock which has a great comradery between Sherlock and Watson, but the Holmes and Watson of Sherlock Holmes seemed like squabbling children. However, I did enjoy Downy Jr and Law together I just think the roles weren't right. 

Mark Strong is a great bad guy although his character was more laughable than sinister and Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler was a disappointment (here again I am comparing to Sherlock). 

The plot of the film is too supernatural, even though Holmes debunks all the magic in the end there isn't any inkling in the beginning that the magic is not real. As the audience you expect it not to be real because this is Sherlock Holmes after all but it begins to trick you into think it might be true until the very end. Part of the problem is that more time is spent on capturing cool special effects and slowing the camera down to really delve into the plot and characters. The camera work is partly why I never finished the film the first time I tried to watch it because it totally distracts from the film.  

Seeing a Victorian London was a good use of special effects. I especially enjoyed seeing the half completed Tower Bridge (not London Bridge), that added a nice element. You get the industrial feel of the city through the steampunk aesthetic.   

Even after all the plot problems it was still fun and light entertainment but not for those who found Sherlock first.