Funny People: Review

Well surprise, surprise. The master of sexploitation comedy Judd Apatow can make a serious movie after all.

Funny People opens with George Simmons played by Adam Sandler, a comedian superstar who learns that he is dying from a rare blood disease. Suddenly his life is not so funny anymore. Simmons begin to examine his life which is really sad. He has tonnes of cash but no friends and family. At his last chance to make his life worth while, he takes Ira Wright played by Seth Rogen, a budding comedian under his wing and becomes sort of a mentor to him.

Adam Sandler was great in the movie. I like this formula he's got going where he makes one movie that's completely shitty but comes back and stuns with a really fantastic one. Like remember Click and how I'm sure everyone just went "Whoaaaa" at the you-know-what scene? Yeah. This has got to be one of the most deep roles he has ever done and I thought he pulled it off quite nicely.

Kudos to Seth Rogen to who proves that he can act after all. His character resonates with Anna Kendrick's character from Up In The Air. Did he do a really good job? Not really. But I was quite surprise at how serious he can be. He and Sandler work really well together, it's always fun watching the movie when their both kinda arguing with each other.

Let me be clear right now, this is not a comedy. It's a drama about comedy. It's a look at the lives of people who make a living by being funny and discovering that these people aren't really that happy after all. This is by no means any of the Apatow films you've seen before.

There are a lot of side stories in this movie, one being Adam Sandler's old flame, the girl he was suppose to marry but he screwed it up with her. He tries to reconcile things with this lady played by Leslie Mann, who is now married to Eric Bana but they end up falling in love again at the risk of breaking up her entire family.

I just gotta say one more time that this is a very very well written script. It's got great depth, it has mad plot and character development and it does have some great humor. I'm really quite shocked that the guy behind exploitation films like Superbad and Forgetting Sarah Marshall could do a really god serious drama. I clap for you Judd Apatow!

If you're looking for a really funny film to chill with you're friends.. Funny People is not it. It's a 2 and a half hour long film that humanizes comedians as real, broken people. You will enjoy this film but not in the way you enjoy the other Apatow movies. I think Funny People would have been a perfect film if it dropped about 20 minutes from the 3rd act of the movie. But still.. give this a watch ya'll!

I predict Oscar nod for Best Original Screenplay.

RATING: 7/10

Sherlock Holmes: A Very Late Review

I attempted to watch Sherlock Holmes 3 times. One time all my friends who I was suppose to see it with ffk'd (bloody bastards haha) The second time, I went to GSC, so excited I am finally gonna watch it and then my friend goes, " Surprise! We're gonna see Paranormal Activity instead!" (bitch) So the third time I finally got to see it, and hell was this movie worth the wait.

Sherlock Holmes is the character based on Arthur Conan Doyle's novels. This film however portrays the character as an eccentric. This guy is really weird.. brilliant, but weird. The movie deals with a sorcerer, Lord Blackwood whom Holmes has put behind bars. Blackwood is executed but is mysteriously resurrected from the dead to begin wreaking havoc in London. In comes Sherlock Holmes and his trusted sidekick Dr. Watson, once again to solve the mystery. and catch Blackwood before it's too late.

Robert Downey Jr. totally deserves his Golden Globe win for playing Sherlock Holmes. This guy can practically play any character possible. He's done Charlie Chaplin, he's done Tony Stark, Paul Avery, Joe Wershba and now the mastermind himself.. Sherlock Holmes.

He is fantastic as the detective. He pulls out each line with incredible humor which brings new light to the usually dark character.

I made this comparison after I left the cinema, something I kept noticing while watching the film. And no one agrees with me, hopefully you guys do.. I thought Sherlock Holmes was a lot like Captain Jack Sparrow. Okay let me explain. The way Sherlock acts is so reminiscent of Cpt. Sparrow. The outlandish behavior, the 'makes things up as he goes along' persona. Even their musical themes are sort of the same. You know.. the 'this is a very dangerous situation and you are not taking this seriously!' tone.

Right right right? Or probably it's because they are both done by Hans Zimmer. But anyway.. bottom line is Sherlock Holmes is the new Jack Sparrow. So grotesquely in your face yet you can't get enough of him. He's that crazy character everyone loves to watch just cause he is such a juxtaposition.

Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. are so great together. You can't hold a straight face watching them give each other shit throughout the whole movie. The film is incredibly hilarious but still maintains the same wit of a British film. I hope they make a Brit sitcom series about Holmes and Watson as roommates. That would be like my fantasy wish, yes.. don't judge me!

 Rachel McAddams is HOT. Nothing else to add sir.

I loved the first 2 parts of the film where it was the classic detective story of Sherlock trying to solve the case.. with retarded humor might I add. It's the 3rd act that really lost me. The detective story suddenly turned into a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. Wow suddenly there's a doomsday machine that they have to disarm, slow motion fights on a suspension bridge, a lot of explosions... I still like Sherlock Holmes, don't get me wrong.. it just turned into a completely different film from the first half hour of the movie. I was going like "Whaaa?"

I am definitely looking forward to the Holmes sequel. I hope they stay within the premise of the first film of being first and foremost a detective comedy, and not sell out to become an action film like what happened with the POTC sequels. Loved the film, t just lost me completely at the end, but it's still a very good, smart popcorn flick.

RATING: 6/10

THE 67th ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS!!

Award season has started!! Omg Omg Omg, you guys have got to understand, the movie award season is like second to a religious holiday for me muahaha. Yes it's sad I know. So I woke up at 7, drove my sis to college (stupid jam cost me a good 20 minutes) then rushed to my cousin's house cause I ain't got no Astro at home.

But anyway,the show was hosted by Ricky Gevais, who was kind of annoying really. He just keeps whining about why his shows aren't nominated and his jokes are sooo offensive,like really offensive.Amazing acceptance speeches by Mo'Nique and Meryl Streep ya'll, really touching.

Okay, so here you are, I watched the entire show with my laptop to get the winners list as fast as possible to post it up so here are the full list of winners of the 2010 annual Golden Globe Awards!

BEST MOTION PICTURE , DRAMA
• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Precious
• Up in the Air 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
• Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
• Helen Mirren, The Last Station
• Carey Mulligan, An Education
• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
• Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
• Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
• George Clooney, Up in the Air
• Colin Firth, A Single Man
• Morgan Freeman, Invictus
• Tobey Maguire, Brothers

BEST MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• The Hangover

• It's Complicated
• Julie & Julia
• Nine
• (500) Days of Summer

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
• Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
• Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
• Marion Cotillard, Nine
• Julia Roberts, Duplicity
• Meryl Streep, It's Complicated

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
• Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man
• Matt Damon, The Informant!
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
• Up
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Princess and the Frog

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
• The White Ribbon (Germany)
• Baaria (Italy)
• Broken Embraces (Spain)
• The Maid (Chile)
• A Prophet (France)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

• Mo'Nique, Precious

• Julianne Moore, A Single Man
• Penélope Cruz, Nine
• Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
• Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
• Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
• Matt Damon, Invictus
• Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
• Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
• Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones

BEST DIRECTOR
• James Cameron, Avatar
• Clint Eastwood, Invictus
• Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
• Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

BEST SCREENPLAY
• Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
• Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9
• Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
• Nancy Meyers, It's Complicated

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
• Michael Giacchino, Up
• Marvin Hamlisch, The Informant!
• James Horner, Avatar
• Abel Korzeniowski, A Single Man
• Karen O and Carter Burwell, Where the Wild Things Are

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
• "The Weary Kind," Music & Lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart)
• "Winter," Music by U2; Lyrics by Bono (Brothers)
• "Cinema Italiano," Music & Lyrics by Maury Yeston (Nine)
• "I Want to Come Home," Music & Lyrics by Paul McCartney (Everybody's Fine)
• "I Will See You," Music by James Horner, Simon Franglen; Lyrics by James Horner, Simon Franglen and Kuk Harrell (Avatar)

BEST TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA
• Mad Men
• True Blood
• Big Love
• Dexter
• House

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA
• Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
• Anna Paquin, True Blood
• Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
• Glenn Close, Damages
• January Jones, Mad Men 

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA

• Michael C. Hall, Dexter

• Jon Hamm, Mad Men
• Hugh Laurie, House
• Bill Paxton, Big Love
• Simon Baker, The Mentalist
 
BEST TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
• Glee
• Modern Family
• The Office
• 30 Rock
• Entourage

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
• Toni Collette, United States of Tara
• Courteney Cox, Cougar Town
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Lea Michele, Glee

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Steve Carell, The Office
• David Duchovny, Californication
• Thomas Jane, Hung
• Matthew Morrison, Glee

BEST MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
• Grey Gardens
• Into the Storm
• Little Dorrit
• Taking Chance
• Georgia O'Keefe

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
• Drew Barrymore, Grey Gardens
• Jessica Lange, Grey Gardens
• Anna Paquin, The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler
• Sigourney Weaver, Prayers for Bobby
• Joan Allen, Georgia O'Keefe

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
• Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance
• Kenneth Branagh, Wallander: One Step Behind
• Chiewetel Ejiofor, Endgame
• Brendan Gleeson, Into the Storm
• Jeremy Irons, Georgia O'Keefe

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
• Chloë Sevigny, Big Love
• Jane Adams, Hung
• Rose Byrne, Damages
• Jane Lynch, Glee
• Janet McTeer, Into the Storm

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

• John Lithgow, Dexter

• Jeremy Piven, Entourage
• Michael Emerson, Lost
• Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
• William Hurt, Damages

The Academy Awards nominees will be announced in February!!

Where The Wild Things Are: Review

Question.. Did this movie come out in Malaysia? Cause I don't remember this having any promos here. But anyway let's get on talking about this cool film called Where The Wild Things Are by the ever-so-awesome Spike Jonze.

Where The Wild Things Are is based on the Maurice Sendak children's book about a kid, Max who is misunderstood (and when I say misunderstood I mean adults think he's cacat akal) Max runs away from home and gets on this mysterious boat that takes him to an island where the Wild Things of his imaginations exist and he is crowned their king.

Once Max reaches the island and meets the Wild Things, the film becomes pure magic. You feel the beauty of a child's imagination. The cinematography is hella gorgeous here.Every fantasy landscape that you ever dreamed as a kid is in this movie I kid you not. The Wild Things are really well done, the special effects are very real, very believable. A treat for any fantasy lovers really.

But Wild Things does get a bit boring after awhile. It drags out the second act way too long. Most of the time it seems there wasn't really anything going on in the film. We get this string of montages of Max and the Wild Things having fun while Juno-ish music play in the background. Which really left me wondering what was the point to this whole movie. It's not like I wasn't enjoying myself, far from it, I felt like I was reliving my childhood watching them, I just kept thinking like... where's this story going?

And that kid Max Records man... he's is absolutely fantastic. He sold this film for me. This 10 year old practically carries the weight of the entire film. He was like the only human actor for a good 90 minutes of the movie. Records captures the innocence of children but also the destructive nature of their imagination.

I gotta admit, I thought the kid was a bit too wild. It's like I was witnessing the origin of a future serial killer or something hahaha. He's like running around screaming like a banshee, he's wrestling the Wild Things and scratching them in the holiest of hollies. The whole time I'm watching him do dangerous stuff with the Wild Things,I'm going like" OMG this kid is gonna get himself killed." Kinda reminds me of myself when I was 7.

Wild Things is not a kid's movie. I guarantee you if you take your kids to see this, they will be bored out of their minds. This is more of a kid's movie for adults to be nostalgic of their childhood. It has zero humor that children enjoy (you know.. the fart/burp jokes) but it does have lots of great moments that I think only a mature audience can appreciate.

Where The Wild Things Are is a visual opus, every shot is superbly beautiful and the visual effects, dare I say are on par with Avatar. As for the story... oh well. Gorgeous, profound and draggy. It's a film where the little kids will die of boredom, we teens will enjoy watching but will go "WTF?" at the end, and the adults will go "Sighhh.. those were the days"

I predict Oscar nods for Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography & Best Art Direction.

RATING: 6/10

Up In The Air: Review

Up In The Air! No it's not the sequel to Up. Hahahaha.. K that was lame. Retarded lameness aside, this movie is really really good. Fans of mature indie flicks like Little Miss Sunshine are gonna dig the hell out of this movie.

Okay so the movie is about a guy, Ryan Bingham who is like this downsizing agent. Companies pay him to fire their employers for them. And he's fired so many people that he has become a shallow person. He has no soul at all. He's so hollow that he loves being on the road and up in the air. He loves not having any human relationships or connections. In comes this young girl, Natalie who has this idea of firing people online thus saving the travelling expenses and crushing Binghams whole existence because he is aiming to get 10 million frequent flyer miles by staying up in the air as long as possible. So he decides to bring Natalie along to some of his business trips to try and change her mind.

George Clooney is absolutely fantastic here. We get the same charming witty character Clooney's use to playing but with a twist that this charming personality of his is just a mask of hiding the fact that he is really lonely. He has no friends, no close ties with family and no real home to go back to. The only place where he feels whole is when he is riding in an airplane because that's what he's been doing for so long. He's so cut off that the only goal that he has in life is to reach 10 million flyer miles. Which is kinda like a World of Warcraft geek wanting to reach level 10000000 or something.

And at the same time we are following this character Natalie as she watches her personal life fall apart as she is slowly turned into George Clooney' character. Not because she wants to but just because of what her job demands of her. Anna Kendrick is really amazing here. I didn't really notice from the start but she's one of Bella's friends from the Twilight series.. You know the really minor sidekick character who magically loves Bella? Yeah that's the one.

I love how she starts her character off as the very naive scared first time on the job person which I think we all can identify with to becoming a powerhouse to slowly burning out as the job begins to take a toll on her. And Anna Kendrick pulls off Natalie brilliantly!

It really makes me mad looking back at the Twilight series thinking that they had this amazing actress and they just threw her to the side to make way for spoilt "attractive" "actors." Remember in 2008 when all the Twilight freaks were lobbying for Rob Pattinson to get an Oscar nomination for playing Edward Cullen? Justice never seemed so sweet watching Anna Kendrick get nominated for her Golden Globe muahahahha. Suck it Twilight girls. I expect her to get a Best Supporting Actress nod but sorry hun Mo'Nique's gonna win it. At least you'll get nominated.

I also gotta salute Vera Farmiga who plays the female version of Clooney. She is smouldering in this movie. You get the sense that she is in control and you better behave if you want any of her cookies (if you get what i mean) She had George Clooney down on his knees throughout the whole movie. And she is hella hot. There's is one scene where she's naked on the bed with Clooney, that ass...... whoooooo hahaha.

Up In The Air takes a big stab at the whole elite status concept. Everyone wants elite status am I right? Everyone wants to get priveledges normal people wouldn't have simply because we think the lifestyle is glamorous or bla bla bla. Well too much of it is a bad thing I guess from what the movie is saying.

 

Jason Reitman the director is 3 for 3 right now. I loved Thank You For Smoking, I loved Juno and I love this little film he's done here. No it's not as funny as his previous two but it's definitely the most mature character driven pieces in the indie scene. Will it get nominated for Best Picture? I don't know really. Part of me wants it to, but with all the other great films that came out like Avatar, 500 Days of Summer and Precious, it's got real slim chances.

RATING: 7.5/10