Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, 2012

Ice Age: Continental Drift, 2012
Directors: Steve Martino, Mike Thurmeier
Cast (voices): Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguziamo, Queen Latifah



Stage: Home theatre (a very sh**** copy unfortunately)



Ice Age in short: When Scrat accidentally provokes a continental cataclysm with a storm, Manny is separated from Ellie and Peaches on an iceberg with Diego, Sid and Granny but he promises that he will find a way to return home. While crossing the ocean, they are captured by the cruel pirate Captain Gutt and his crew. However they escape and Manny plots a plan to steal Captain Gutt's ship and return to his homeland in a dangerous voyage through the sea. But the cruel pirates seek revenge against Manny and his family and friends. 



Preps: You don't need preps for Ice Age. It's cool. The only issue or question is, what have they prepared now and how have they upgraded the last versions. Since my voices tell me that I only can see the synchronized version at the theatres, I finally give up on waiting and provide myself a very sh*** copy of this piece. I want to see it. 


Reality:  Well, I am not disappointed. I am always full of ears whenever Seinfeld steps in the room, have always been a great fan and a huge admirer. As Manny, I can see Seinfeld's faces in spreading the irony. The other side of the coin, Sid, always gives me goose bumps of laughter. Like in some kind of reality show, the main characters in this animation cannot be a fail. Maybe similar story to Shrek, where Eddie Murphy together with Banderas runs the show completely.

Now, the fourth part deals with worlds breaking apart - and explains a really funny theory, how the continents were shaped. It's always a pleasure seeing the squirrel chasing its nut and as always, I am eager to make it to the final scene, where I will again see the nut heaven.

Ice Age is very much alike to Tom / Jerry cartoons or something similar, as I cannot get fed up with it. I would be happy to see this prolonged in some other sequels, which is much more than we could say for any type of movie. But in this sense, I believe the creators of recent animated movies that became notorious really tried to assemble some of the greatest comediants or live show entertainers combined with the best humor and ironic dialogues, plus a funny story. It cannot be a bad assembly.

Therefore, even though we have already seen three parts, I am still hungry for more. This one I liked, as it is somewhere on the same level as its ancestors/previous versions. The stories are something you easy relate to and find it deep in your heart - all the emotional rock n'roll, the uprise, hard downfall (pirates and captivity, being separated from a family) and then a happy ending. Like in good old Disney days.


My personal rating: 7,5 (solid piece, right on the level of all the other Ice Age's.).


Ice Age 4 on IMDB

 

Keeping the Faith, 2000

Keeping the faith, 2000
Director: Edward Norton
Cast: Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman, Ben Stiller


Stage: Home TV selection, nice Wednesday evening after an exhausting day


Keeping The Faith in short: Best friends, a priest and a rabbi, fall in love with the same girl. However, neither of the men can pursue the relationship due to their religious beliefs: the priest cannot break his vow of celibacy and the rabbi cannot marry her since she is not Jewish.



Preps: Well, I have seen this piece in the local theatre. And I think I have seen it afterwards. I am in the mood for this also this evening. It has been hell of the day and I need something relaxing and funny.



Reality: As said, I know the point of this piece and the storyline. It is memorable and nice, so you don't need some kind of special state of mind to watch what you know already. I know it won't burn my braincells anyway, but I will have fun. Know this for sure.
So we have a threesome, the funny point deriving from the "old friends come together again, two guys fall for the same woman", kind of plot. The situations that come from two friends fighting for the same woman, can come up either a disaster, funny you could die from, or the average fun stuff. This piece definitely has some highlights and is above average. Most of the situations are closely connected with the fact that one of the guys is a rabi, the other is a priest, the girl is a serious business woman. They know each other from the time they were kids and from a fling two of them turn out to have a more serious affair. When she wants to continue experimenting, he backs off. The point is about getting over burdons (or pre-requisites) you are wearing with you at the time of getting involved with someone. How long lasts a fling, how far can you go before you claim this is a relationship?
I don't usually believe you can do a good cast and be a good director at the same time. In my opinion in this piece Norton did quite a good job. OK, I like Norton by default, however in this piece I cannot complain that some cast was hurt or affected by his directing the piece. While I am watching, I cannot decide, whether she is attractive as hell, or does she have in teeth what Julia Roberts posesses in hers as well, magnitude. The teeth of Anna are enormous. When she laughs or smiles, the smile is through the whole screen. Not that this is something bad. However, it's as unique as it can be and definitely drags attention.
The movie is filled with good script and phrases you need to remember when trying to communicate with your next/existing/previous partner. Plus scenes you need to laugh to. Nice music that keeps you relaxed. Makes you think the movie is supposed to make you enjoy it. The boy practicing and singing at his guy bat mitzvah, for instance (the announcement he's becoming a man, not a boy anymore). Or priest making a scene at that same bat mitzvah. Going to the movies with Anna and half the church members, waiting to catch you doing the wrong thing. The movie is filled with this stuff and I love it.
Up to some extent the story relaxes, on the other hand reveals things are never simple, even if you want to put them or claim them simple. Which job is more important, to the god or to your soul? who do you betray, if you don't follow, him or yourself? And what do you do if you are unlucky and need to leave your faith to be with the one you love? Complicated things, if you want to think about them. However, the movie doesn't reach the depth of this and certainly can leave you just laughing, not thinking deeply about all emotions that are handled in this one.



My personal rating: 6,5 (nice, relaxing, funny. Also deep, if I choose to take it this way. I love the music and I love the energy between main cast).

Keeping the faith on IMDB

17 again, 2009

17 again, 2009
Director: Burr Steers
Cast: Zach Efron, Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann



Stage: Home TV selection, Monday evening.



17 again in short: At 17 Mike O'Donnell is on top of the world: he's the star of his high school basketball team, is a shoo-in for a college scholarship, and is dating his soul-mate, Scarlet. But at what's supposed to be his big game where a college scout is checking him out, Scarlet reveals that she's pregnant. Mike decides to leave the game and asks Scarlet to marry him, which she does. During their marriage, Mike can only whine about the life he lost because he married her, so she throws him out. When he also loses his job, he returns to the only place he's happy at, his old high school. While looking at his high school photo, a janitor asks him if he wishes he could be 17 again and he says yes. One night while driving he sees the janitor on a bridge ready to jump, and goes after him. When he returns to his friend Ned's house, where he has been staying, he sees that he is 17 again. He decides to take this opportunity to get the life he lost.


Preps.. Think I have seen this already. Am not sure. Or I started it.. nevertheless, I know the story so it seems a good substitute for my spanish (cancelled) class.


Reality: Arh. Again, one in the range of movies about the same topic. Becoming young again. Getting a second chance. Something you blew when you were young. Or think you did and get a remorsement and a good shot to repair the damage.
In any case, the movie sets off really teenagish, if I may say so. High school drill, homerun or a basketball game, the man of the game leaves the life behind because his girlfriend is pregnant. Gets a second chance 20 years later, which he lives being depressive over the thought he blew it all away because of a pregnant girlfriend.
In any case, waking up as a teenager again means loads of things. Once in a while I am surprised with the way a new creature is represented and placed into the story. Usually, these types of a movie come up with a substitute (either adult playing his teenage son/daughter and vice versa). So in some sense, this is an upgrade. A nephew, a lost son, coming to town for a school year.
Now the fun can begin. He still has a mind of a 40 year old, hence he chases elder women (inappropriate for his current age anyway). Now, what does he seek.. to upgrade the basketball career, to fell in love again.. as a spectator you are not sure. But for a fact, this piece is about getting close together with your family again, cherish what you have achieved and not aim for the stars, because you are going to miss the current fun. It is funny, how we spend lifetimes dreaming about things we think we could have, but in fact never achieve them, plus, we never indulge things that are at the touch of our hands. So close, yet, we never appreciate given things in our lives and current achievements.
Numerous funny scenes derive from simple momentum where you have an adult thrown into the pimple high school world again. World, where you get your ass literally stuck to the toilet, because your friendly schoolfriends used some superglu on you. World, where there is no alcohol yet, and no real parties. World, where you get to study hard and do not have any real legal rights. So untattractive, it seems, once you get to think. For me, I would never get back to my high school. However, I would go back in the years I have studied. Those were better years, with means and measurements, with fun and work, with almost being adult problems and solutions. When you are bold. When you dare. When you think you can be the president if you wanted.

The moral of the movie is really Hollywood like. I mean, come on. If a couple needs a divorce, it should get one. For the better of all involved. In this case, the remorsement or the second chance takes place. Women are obliged to forgive. Should I say inclined to forgive? Hm..
A semi average comedy. Amusing to watch. Won't give you any depth or any solutions. In this case, a weirdo with a beard saves the day. And a happy ending is inevitable. But in this piece, I kinda like it.



My personal rating: 6,0 (a decent vice versa comedy. Funny and thoughtful. Plus, a super excellent neatly assembled piece of a young man. Almost illegaly handsome young man).


17 again on IMDB

Sister Act, 1992

Sister Act, 1992
Director: Emile Ardolino
Cast: Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy



Stage: Home theatre, TV selection. Evening after exhausting aerobics double class and dancing.


Sister act in short: Sister Act is about a Reno lounge singer named Deloris Van Carter who witnesses her mobster boyfriend killing an employer. She is then hidden in a convent under a witness protection program. She soon makes friends with the nuns especially Sister Mary Robert, Sister Mary Lazuras and Sister Mary Patrick. After the Mother Superior catches Deloris going out to a bar in the night time followed by Mary Robert and Mary Patrick she orders her to join the church choir. Only to find her coaching the choir and turning them into swingin' singin' sisters. The choir proves to be a big success with the surrounding neighborhood, but will Deloris' boyfriend track her down...




Preps: again one of the early nineties. One of the classics. I cannot count number of times I have seen this piece. I just love it.



Reality: True.. This, besides Ghost, is one of Whoopi Goldberg prime comedy casts. You cannot not enjoy her performance. You should be a lunetic not to like her and not to become a huge fan of nun society, after seeing this piece. The storyline is interesting, hiding a notorious (not successful, but known) singer in a convent. To pray, do her sermons and wait to testify. The true story is hidden obviously in the conversion she makes and the turnover in her soul, when she all of the sudden, wants to do good and feels the need to do so. Turning the choir into a huge success is obviously her natural role and she takes this over with a sense of music. However, I believe the piece reveals the true mistery why noone wants to go to church and why is "heavenly" music the one that packs the joing. As Mary Clarence claims in Sister Act (one of my favourite quotes):

Reverend Mother: Girl groups? Boogie woogie on the piano? What were you thinking?
Delores: I was thinkin' more like Vegas, y'know, get some butts in the seats.
Reverend Mother: And what next? Popcorn? Curtain calls? This is not a theater or a casino.
Delores: Yeah, but that's the problem. See, people like going to theaters, and they like going to casinos, but they don't like coming to church. Why? Because it's a drag. But we could change all that, see? We could pack this joint.
Reverend Mother: Through blasphemy? You have corrupted the entire choir!

Delores makes church an interesting place to go to, all in the name of music that they are singing. And on the other hand, she becomes revealed once media hops on the chance to expose the new age in convent.

All in all, this is a funny piece, filled with excellent music, a new approach to faith also for all the people that don't go to church and think ironicly of processes/religious rituals. Whoopi Goldberg is truly superior in her role, speaks as the voice of the masses, that won't allow religion in their lives. I have learned a lot about the life of nuns - from an amateur point of view, however, I also think it has shown the non-religious point of view and things we need to respect. Being a nun is a matter of choice and if it suits to lives of individuals, noone is to say this is wrong or lame. It showed the fun part, if they want to be fun. That everything is possible. And proved the saying "God works in misterious ways".


Still, a sanctuary and place to hide, convent. Not only for ones hiding from being killed. The place, where I believe you find your soul and purpose, because the burden of every day dissappears and all you can do is think of the big Why. Nevertheless, I think the movie is one of greater comedies in the nineties and you are going to enjoy it big time.


My personal rating: 8,0 (funny, entertaining, good scenario, good story, good flow. I adore Whoopi and think it is one of her bigger triumphs)



Sister Act on IMDB

College Road Trip, 2008

College Road Trip, 2008
Director: Roger Kumble
Cast: Raven-Symone, Martin Lawrence, Kym Whitley



Stage: Home theatre, TV selection


College road trip in short: When an overachieving high school student decides to travel around the country to choose the perfect college, her overprotective cop father also decides to accompany her in order to keep her on the straight and narrow.


Preps: Hm, an evening at home, am half sick and looking for entertainment. I need to see what's on menu for tonight. Martin Lawrence might be a good selection.


Reality: Ehm.. I am terribly wrong. Martin Lawrence, least in this piece, is NOT a good selection for any night. This comedy is really underestimating the observers, the sense of humour might amuse an eight-year-old child. I mean, the scenes are badly played, the scenario/texts are awful, there is absolutely no way I buy the pig and the relationship between Lawrence and the magic pig.
Maybe in some sick reality I would once have written that it's a decent comedy. However, I cannot claim that. I hope that when I have kids they will also not like this sort of movies, not the ones, that are played so terribly. What it is with average directed american movies that they think the audience can buy anything? That anything is good enough for us..
Enough spitting, you get it, I don't like it. However, the movie touches an important part of one's life, getting your kid into college. For US citizen and many other countries, this is firstly, very expensive, secondly, you need to let your teenage child far far away (in most cases) and thirdly, it practically shows, what kind of a parent were you and if you feel threatened or frightened to leave the kid out alone, then you haven't been doing much of a job. In US college in most cases of average families means life time savings or if you got lucky and some auntie reminded you in her will. Otherwise, the prime colleges are usually very distant from an average family with average income. In this sense, Slovenia can still be called heaven, because education in college is free of charge and a lot of people are abusing the status. Nevertheless, the prime goal of this movie is supposed to be a devastated father, not willing to let go of his little girl, finding out she's an adult afterall and making bonds with the father (sadly, at the end of journey you get to spend with your folks anyway). Well, better late then never.
However, everything you see in this piece is a pure example of how not to show anything like this. You never feel the real interaction between the actors, exaggeration was the key to this movie's delivery. Lawrence isn't Jim Carey and he shouldn't try to play a clown like that. Jim at least has his perticular audience. In Lawrence's deal, he would need to decide what to be and not try to resemble top comics from this genre.


My personal rating: 1,0 (waste of time. Totally. Not even close to what I want to see in this kind of storyflow or genre).


College Road on IMDB

Nothing to lose, 1997

Nothing to lose, 1997
Director: Steve Oederkerk
Cast: Martin Lawrence, Tim Robbins





Nothing to lose in short: Nick Beam's life couldn't get any worse. He discovers he has been living a lie and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. So when T. Paul, a carjacker, attempts to rob him, it is the last straw for Nick. With everything to gain and nothing to lose, he kidnaps T. Paul and attempts to put his life back together.


Stage: home TV selection, Saturday night


Preps: None in perticular. But I have nothing more interesting to do, hence..


Reality: This kind of movies should be prohibited. There should be a test under which a movie rates high enough to enter TV selection. Nothing really close to a comedy. The story is not believable, but this isn't the only sin this movie is making. All sorts of mistakes and misbeliefs, but nothing can settle the initial problem the movie has. The drive. What is this man, after he discovers he's being betrayed, after? What will he do and why? The viewer should have the answers, not make them up as we go through the movie.
Martin Lawrence, as the role of the chimp monkey that waltzes around Robbins all the time, trying to get his attention or prove his intelligence and misfortune that drove him to be a robber. Quite predictable, with stupid delivery and unpersuading cast. Things that happen to them while they are on a road, could buy (maybe) a child, and by that I don't mean to be offensive towards children or underestimate their intelligence. But this piece definitely underestimates our intelligence. Hence, delete and forget forever. I can't believe this was on the prime time of the local TV.



My personal rating: 0 (yuk. don't waste your time)

Nothing to lose on IMDB

Bringing down the house, 2003

Bringing down the house, 2003
Director: Adam Shankman
Cast: Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy



Stage: home theatre, Sunday evening, randomly chosen


Bringing down the house in short: Peter Sanderson is a divorced, straight-laced, uptight attorney who still loves his ex-wife and can't figure out what he did wrong to make her leave him. However, Peter's trying to move on, and he's smitten with a brainy, bombshell barrister he's been chatting with online. However, when she comes to his house for their first face-to-face, she isn't refined, isn't Ivy League, and isn't even a lawyer. Instead, it's Charlene, a prison escapee who's proclaiming her innocence and wants Peter to help her clear her name. But Peter wants nothing to do with her, prompting the loud and shocking Charlene to turn Peter's perfectly ordered life upside down, jeopardizing his effort to get back with his wife and woo a billion dollar client.


Preps: well, nothing more exciting to do on a Sunday night, plus I am a bit tired. This was on my list a while ago, however I need something sweet and relaxing. I know this one will be no brainer for my cells.


Reality: Well, true to the last bit. It is no brainer. You need no cells to burn. Easy and simple to understand, filled with some sit com moments, no smart laughing, but fun.
It's amazing how Queen Latifah can wear so many clothes in such various colours, that would never fit a rounded lady, but she looks hot in them. I could call this a special Queen Latifah genre, as these movies that contain her, are very similar. She is either a cop, a detective, a baby sitter, a criminal(name the profession), she always has a guy besides (more or less attractive) and makes a "cool" impression. You get to learn the cool vibes, the cool language.. so you feel equipped to go under the hood and in one of those districts.

As said from starters, it's not a specifically intelectual piece. And it's not even trying to be. It has the energy and the moves, it has the good music that makes you want to dance all night long and it has humour that relaxes you. Plus, in this perticular piece we have the privilege to see Dear John again, which is also the plus of it. I haven't seen this guy ever since, so I am quite excited about this.
Now, being Queen Latifah is something, but trying to copy her is another. This is why Martin looks like an idiot when trying to do it. Joan Plowright from The Golden Girls is another addition to this movie and she casts a strange old lady that is a good flavour to this movie.

It gives second thoughts to our prejudice we carry in our inside. Are people really what they seem to be or is it on us to discover their innerself, may it be good or bad. And how much that prejudice influences our decisions? Would a lawyer from a good family really take a convict under his roof? Don't really think so. Would this same person really change everything he knows or stood for? Also, not really likely. But in this piece, it is shown in the most humorous way. As I am against most of movies Queen Latifah plays in for the same reason (find the humour really stupid and underestimating to the viewer), I need to admit that this piece is above the average in this made-up genre. Entertaining, but not really profound.


My personal grade: 5,0 ( a cute comedy to have on a Sunday night).


Bringing on IMDB

The Guard, 2011

The Guard, 2011
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong


Stage: Home theatre


The guard in short: Sergeant Gerry Boyle is a small-town Irish cop with a confrontational personality, a subversive sense of humor, a dying mother, a fondness for prostitutes, and absolutely no interest whatsoever in the international cocaine-smuggling ring that has brought straight-laced FBI agent Wendell Everett to his door.


Preps: Another one waiting for my attention. But I don't have a clue what it's about.


Reality: One of the hardest time waiting to figure out what the movie is really about and why do I find it extremely underestimating to the audience (read: Stupid).
The scenes are wrong, the plot is really plain and the action we see is really trivial. Can I say anything good about this piece? I am trying very hard. Mocking Irish people in american cop world is .. well, I find it really lame. Drug busts are a worthy theme and comedies that revolve around them can be really strong. Or hard dramas. Well, this piece is neither of the both and even though I am struggling through the cast and its energy, I cannot bare it anymore. After 20 minutes, a shut down. I think it doesn't deserve your attention, or mine. I think it's a waste of time in more than one level. If we only had good quality dialogues, or scenes, or irony, or.. well, anything. A definite no no. How do these pieces even get the funding anyway, I wonder.




My personal rate: 0 (argh. Waste of time. Nothing in this piece to cherish or get familiar with. Skip it and do something better!)

The Guard on IMDB

Father's day, 1997

Father's day, 1997
Director: Ivan Reitman
Cast: Billy Cristal, Robin Williams, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss




Father's day in short: Jack Lawrence is a smart allec lawyer who is one day visited by an ex-girlfriend who tells him her kid was his. Enter Dale Putley, a depressed goofball who is also a writer, meets with the same ex-girlfriend who tells him her kid is his. One day Jack and Dale meet and discover what had happened: they've been told the same story and now there's a question of who the real father is. They learn their son is following a rock band called Sugar Ray around. So Jack and Dale hit the road to Sacremento and find their drunk, lovestruck son. Soon after they bring him back to their hotel room, their son escapes and Jack and Dale must use teamwork to find him again, bring him home, and find out which one of them is the real father.


Preps: Just at home, doing nothing and this is on TV. Let's check it out


Reality: Sometimes our televisions should carefully go through the programme they are making for the viewers. I mean, how stupid can the audience get, being submerged to sh... movies like that? My conscious wakens and yells in dispair.

Ok, starting with the cast. I have seen both protagonists, Williams and Crystal, in better shape and definitely better movies. Here they are a clown version of themselves. Not appettite luring.
Secondly, the storyline. I mean, really? Two persons, trying to find the son they don't want to have in the first place and falling in the arms of another lovely woman, filled with lies and betrayal. Seriously?
Now, what are we seeking in this piece? I think it belongs to the irony of the past actions. I the sense, that we really must think about what it is that we are doing with our time and what are the actions we might regret in the future. It's not normal to react the way these two men react. You can see it in some "Everybody loves Mary" sense, but still. I hate the resemblance. It is not true that a possible father will go and chase a possible son just for the sake of being with him or trying to get his attention.

The chase is a mixture of a roadtrip and some lame movies on the topic. This piece is trying to be what it's not and it's killing it. Where is the creativity? Why don't you make the best out of these two fine actors? Again, I cannot bare to watch it up to its end and I lose the grip at the second quarter. Lost, erased, gone. Forgot about it already.


My personal rate: 0 (argh. Another waste of time. unfortunately. Don't make it a waste of time for you :)


Father's day on IMDB

American Dreamz, 2006

American Dreamz, 2006
Director:Paul Weitz
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Hugh Grant, Mandy Moore




Stage: Home TV selection


American Dreamz in short: The new season of "American Dreamz," the wildly popular television singing contest, has captured the country's attention, as the competition looks to be between a young Midwestern gal (Moore) and a showtunes-loving young man from Orange County (Golzari). Recently awakened President Staton (Quaid) even wants in on the craze, as he signs up for the potential explosive season finale.


Preps: None in perticular, I am just home and have some time to spare.



Reality:Well.. pathetic. Is the director so lame that he thinks there could be a case where a president of US wouldn't function because of a TV show? Or that he could really hide away? Really? I mean, Really?

This is a classic example of a movie that wants to be serious and funny at the same time. You don't get to be a drama and a comedy at the same time. You don't use actors that have a giant role in comedies, and in this case Grant does his job decently. Not if you want a drama about the president.
Oh, wait. Or was it the first intention of the piece to make fun out of president and his role? This reality isn't really funny, nor entertaining, nor dramatic, nor sad. Just plain stupid. Nowhere you could have a president running through the newspapers instead of going to the crowds and shaking their hands, at least.

Hugh Grant in the role of the TV leader isn't as bad as everything else is. Well, I don't admire his role. I just love the man in dramas and romantic comedies. This, trying to be a mixture of both, fails and lets me down completely. Dennis Quaid, as far as I am concerned, is one of greater names in late nineties. But here, he is a complete disaster. I don't buy even a minute of his cast. As if he didn't know the role (or the scenario). Or was it on purpose?

No strings attached. I stop watching. I cannot bare it.




My personal rate: 1,0 (yuk. skip it. If you are a fan of TV shows, maybe. But on the second hand.. No. skip it!)


American Dreamz on IMDB

Mars Attacks, 1996

Mars Attacks, 1996
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker


Stage: Home theatre, TV selection for a Friday night


Mars in short: It is a normal day for everyone, until the President of the United States announces Martians have been spotted circling Earth. The Martians land and a meeting is arranged, but not everything goes to plan, and the Martians seem to have other plans for Earth. Are they just misunderstood beings or do they really want to destroy all of humanity?


Preps: Hm. never seen this piece, although I am aware of its notoriousness a while ago. And the people who's opinion I respect, told me it was a nice piece to see.



Reality:Well, another dissappointment. Genuinely, I despise parodies on a certain type of movies and I seldom find them funny anyway. So I am neither fan of more stupid ones like Austin Powers, nor am I a fan of more sophisticated ones (are there any at all?). Anyhow, this is a fine example of making a remake of more than five movies on the topic of aliens, chasing extraordinary images, fighting with weird weapons - and aside, using top notch actors, like Nicholson, Brosnan, Parker and hoping the crowds are going to come because of that cast.
Now, life isn't a bunch of marshmallows all the time. Put it differently, I have seen disastrous pieces put together with the finest crew. One of more dissappointing ones includes Will Smith, Wild Wild West. And this is just one example from the top of my head.
This piece dissappoints me too. No real act. Nicholson acts like the leader of bunch of clowns, which is, ironically, exactly what the movie is all about. Parker is there for the sake of representing the beautiful feminine side (yet limited). All the others just float through scenes instead of acting.
I give up. Not worhty of my time, not worthy of yours. If you are a fan of Austin Powers, you might enjoy it. In all other cases, don't. Really don't :)


My personal rate: 1,0 (and only because I adore the most of the cast. I thought the movie is shitty!)

Mars Attacks on IMDB

Potiche, 2010

Potiche, 2010
Director: Francois Ozon
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini



Stage: Kino Šiška, Liffe stage



Potiche in short:When her husband is taken hostage by his striking employees, a trophy wife (Deneuve) takes the reins of the family business and proves to be a remarkably effective leader. Business and personal complications arrive in the form of her ex-lover (Depardieu), a former union leader.


Preps: I was actually going to see the Shame, however the movie was misplaced or something and wasn't running here on this date. They put Potiche instead. So I haven't got a clue what I am about to see.




Reality: well, I am deeply surprised and touched by this piece. With elegance, it strives to outburst as one of the attempts for fight for women rights. It is placed at the beginning of the emantipation fight, in late 70ies, when women didn't have any perticular role in politics, yet alone in the boards of directors or in a role of CEO. The "housewife" takes a deep breath and puts up with a challenge to lead a factory. Which does perfectly, until the husband returns. All the rivalry and bad feelings arise - the same stuff that was flushed down the toilet before, becomes the obstacle between a husband and his wife, and also creates a dispute in formerly united family.

In this sense, I see this as one of true pieces to describe the fight for equal rights and the rise of women on different important positions, like presidents, chairmen (chairwomen) and finally, also as mayor of one city, or a delegate.
In this piece the transaction is done smoothly and romantic, with a fine sense of humour, so that the viewer has fun viewing different scenes and indulging the past or the scent of how it used to be like. I loved also the dialogues, witty and profound, they seize in depths of relationships these people have between each other. With a slight retrospective every now and then, the movie also jumps through time. The plot is simple and the story convincing. Maybe a bit too romantic - we are aware that negotiations usually aren't as smooth as depicted here. Still, a relaxing and fun way of thinking of making women part of what once only the men world was.


My personal rate: 8,0 (a surprisingly intelligent and simple piece at the same time. With a clear message. Women can turn everything upside down in all senses).


Potiche on IMDB

Listy do M.; Letters to St Nicholas; Pisma Sv. Nikolaju, 2001

Listy do M., Letters to St. Nicholas; Pisma Sv. Nikolaju, 2011
Director: Mitja Okorn
Cast: Maciej Stuhr, Roma Gasiorowska, Tomazs Karolak




Stage: Liffe, Kino Komuna. With the director in the room


Listy in short: Five stories of five women and men intertwine in Warsaw on 24 December. Different priorities, different lifestyles and different things they have lost in their lives. What they have in common is that they all wish for a change. How will each one of them spend Christmas and how it will affect their lives?



Preps: A lot of media fuss around this piece. Obviously, because of the good diplomacy and anarchy we live in in our beautiful Slovenia, local cinemography isn't supported as it should be. Even the prospects like Okorn, don't get the funding, unfortunately. With scientists you call it flee of brains, with directors, flee of good movie directors to another country. To cut the long story short, he got the funding at Polish government, after proving himself with a series shooting in Poland. The movie exceeded 600.000 viewers in its first week of screening. Obviously I am more than a supporter to slovenian movie directors and whenever I am on LIFFE, I will certainly go and see all the slovenian, croatian, bosnian, serbian movies. A lot of patriotism running in my cinemascopic veins, but merely in this area. So I am curious what the fuss is all about.




Reality: Wow. So cute my heart melts. From its very beginning to the end it keeps me happy and curious how it goes on. Therefore I claim it has a flow, a realistic story one can easily embed in his/her own life, regardless of the country you come from. The universal Christmas celebration brings a lot of people together and drives even more souls apart. How come everyone needs to be happy and everyone should be happy at Christmas?
A lot of people just aren't happy around Christmas period. So many reminders to push the true family love spirit and things you should do around Christmas. It isn't a surprise, a lot of suicides happen in this period and if someone measured the depression some people feel being alone in this festive season, there would be a huge surprise I guess in the actual number of people that aren't happy. If you add those that pretend to be happy and have a family, you would come up with a surprising figure. The matter of fact is, rarely people get to be really really happy about their lives and the period of Xmas is the period that inevitabely reminds us about the things one should have to be perfect and to be "human" - among those is also someone to spend the Xmas evening with, waking up with perfect man/woman beside you, having your child at the table when the dinner is happening, spending the evening chatting with the persons you love truly expressing you love them..
The movie in its very beginning shows the true opposite. Not all people want to celebrate, because they feel there's nothing to celebrate. On the other hand, a lot of people are working on this evening, their bosses don't care about their wishes. A lot of people seek work so they would forget being alone on this holy day. Furthermore, when I see someone making a suicide, later on surviving by a strike of luck and trying to convert his unhapiness to hapiness by force (obviously fail in the first xxx attempts, but at the end of the movie - predicteably wins his game). The movie depicts different really sad and real situations, that occur on the christmas day in Warshaw. And tries to convert them into real happening afterwards, that in some cases leads to hapiness, in other leads to more misfortune.
Sane humour inside, a lot of black ironic scenes, where you need to laugh, even though the scene is truly sad. The kids pouring water to turn into ice before the doorstep to make people fall. The man throwing out the TV. St. Nicholas falling down the floor, later on chasing a young man across the store, just to get the hot chick's phone back. The radio guy wearing a frosty costume to make his kid smile while he's working the Xmas eve/night. A lot of others that make the audience shiver with laughter and positive optimism that doesn't end until the end of the movie.

A brilliant movie in its genre, something true and real, yet inspiring and romantic. Something you need to see in the festive period. Something that will make you want to have your own Xmas tree. Something Slovenia should be grateful to Okorn for. I loved it.


My personal rate: 9,5 (in its genre, something so smooth, funny, romantic and excellent you truly need to see it!)


Listy do M. on IMDB

The Three Musketeers, 2011

The Three Musketeers, 2011
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Cast: Logan Lerman, Matthew Macfayden, Ray Stevenson




Stage: home theatre


The three musketeers in short: The hot-headed young D'Artagnan along with three former legendary but now down on their luck Musketeers must unite and defeat a beautiful double agent and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war.



Preps: Hm.. another remake. Am a bit curious. Though I don't expect a lot. I might be wrong.


Reality: This must be a joke. A young D'artagnan, running around chasing a dream and something the three musketeers once represented. The dialogues are awful, the costumes look shitty and out of place. Placement seems like taken from another movie, actors likewise. The story isn't believable and it jumps from one scene to another like from one time to another. In other words, it's without a real clue and out of reality. I am not sure what makes directors want to make a sci-fi version of something that once was a good movie with a good theme.

When a "space ship" in the shape of a giant balook enters the stage, that's it. I am out of patience and just erase this. Not worth my time. Yuk.





My personal rate: 0 (don't waste your time, not worth it)

The musketeers on IMDB

Soapdish, 1991

Soapdish, 1991
Director: Michael Hoffmann
Cast: Elisabeth Shue, Kevin Kline, Sally Field, Robert Downey Jr.





Stage: Home TV selection


Soapdish in short: Celeste Talbert has been the queen of the soaps for over two decades. Montana Moorehead needs to get her out of her way before she can move on and begins her program to get her to leave. She hires an old boyfriend of Celeste to be on the show and has Celeste become a murderer in the script, but each attempt has unforseen consequences.

Preps: I have never heard of the piece and the cast in the beginning drives my attention sharp. Therefore I sit and stare :)


Reality: Making soap operas must be a killer in terms of scenarios. Always same issues, same drama, same settings. How to make this interesting and appealing to the crowd, this is the big question.

This movie tries to give a background to the soap operas, however, while doing this, it turns into one of them. This piece is namely, nothing more than previous setting of soap dishes it is trying desperately to give a serious insight into. instead, I am looking at a version of a Jerry Springer meets Oprah Winfrey, seasoned with some of the favourite dishes of the past (Dinasty, Dallas, and some of the spanish http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcuisine of these days.). The only thing missing is Antonio or Alfonso or Jose, coming with his open arms, claiming everlasting love. Nope, I am wrong, here he is. Kevin Kline in role of Jose Armando or whatever those spanish clowns are in soap operas.

In any case, if you are a fan of soap operas, you might enjoy this one. It doesn't have any body, any realistic story, any plot that I could stick my eyes into and no real ending. Which is quite good for a soap opera remake. But very bad to my standards and definitely not my genre. The cast is awful, eventhough distinguished. As if they were making fun of making the movie or presenting themselves. I am sure all of them can do better.


My personal rate: 1,0 (bljah!!)

Soapdish on IMDB

Horrible bosses

Horrible Bosses, 2011
Director: Seth Gordon
Cast: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis




Stage: Home theatre

Horrible bosses in short: Nick hates his boss, mostly because he's expected to work from before sunrise to after sunset and his boss, Mr. Harken, calls him out for being a minute late and blackmails him so he can't quit. Dale hates his boss, Dr. Julia Harris, because she makes unwelcome sexual advances when he's about to get married. But Dale is on that pesky list of child offenders so he can't quit. Kurt actually likes his job and his boss, well, up until his boss dies and the boss's coked-out, psychopathic son takes over. But who would be crazy enough to quit their jobs in such poor economic times? Instead Nick, Dale and Kurt drunkenly and hypothetically discuss how to kill their bosses, and before they know it, they've hired a murder consultant to help them pull off the three deeds.


Preps: Hm. seems interesting, but on the other hand, I fear that it cannot exceed comedy genre (or to say it differently, I fear that it's making fun out of things that aren't funny).



Reality: Your boss is your biggest priority. The only task you have is keeping your boss satisfied in all senses /and all possible interpretations. True? According to the piece so true.

People aren't machines. This means they come programmed with feelings. And that sometimes relationships between the boss and the subordinate are beyond anything you could imagine to have to bear with. And in most cases it's definitely done the way the boss wants it. Like it or not, you are here to make him happy and you aren't spending your money, but the money he's signed up for or is responsible for. If the boss is the owner, then you are actually spending his money. So sometimes it needs to be according to the saying "your money, your game". which means we are forced to turn the boat as the boss likes it and not as we would.

This piece shows a rebel yell of three individuals that despise their bosses for different reasons and plan how to kill them. The abuses we can see prior to the stupid plan and delivery of it, are quite common in business world and even though they might not seem real, they are real and we often hear about this. However, there's nothing really an individual can do to avoid this. Rather than sharing the thoughts and dreams how to kill the boss, I would think of how to deal with this. There is no universal recipe, but the pain is universal. Does the power you hahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifve on one position equip you also with means to hurt your subordinates? Yes, it does. But how to avoid the temptation to tread on people like the ones you knew treaded on you? That's the remaining question.

The piece is below average and besides thinking on the way I could handle my own career life with another solution, the movie didn't offer me anything. It's really sad that I managed to see another piece surely underestimating the audience. Cast is respectable, yet thin in delivery. The setting is pretty much unimaginative. The only thing true are the issues that these guys are facing. But this question remained unanswered - how to be a subordinate that deserves /and knows how to push with this/ to be respected.


My personal rate: 2,0 (surely a waste of time!!!)


Horrible bosses on IMDB

The Jane Austen Book Club, 2007

The Jane Austen Book Club, 2007
Director: Robin Swicord
Cast: Kathy Baker, Hugh Dancy, Amy Brenneman


Stage: home theatre


The piece in short: Explores Austen's adage that general incivility is at love's essence. Sylvia's husband dumps her for another woman, so Bernadette and Jocelyn organize a book club to distract her. They recruit Sylvia's daughter Allegra; Prudie, a young teacher whose marriage may be on the rocks; and Grigg, a sci-fi fan who joins out of attraction to Jocelyn. The six read and discuss one Austen novel per month. Jocelyn tries to interest Grigg in Sylvia; Allegra falls in love with a woman she meets skydiving; Prudie contemplates an affair with a student; Sylvia's ex keeps popping up. In the discussions, characters reveal themselves in their comments. By the end, are truths universally acknowledged?

Preps: I have heard this piece is splendid and need to check it out for myself. The cast seems amazing. And I like Austen and movies made from scripts that base upon her work. Let's dig this a bit deeper.


Reality: The marriage is as strong as its weakest partner. One of many sayings in this piece that cannot leave you cold. The setting is brilliant, the story is very real. Revolves around real life and real situations you can sit into quite easily. The marriages that break and finding true reasons why this is so, how did it happen. To have a book club can be only a thing in US, I don't suppose they are so popular in Europe. Nevertheless, I am inspired by these strong women that are trying to find a special way and find a mutual interest in the Jane Austen's work. Also, finding guys that are willing to participate, seems a bit awkward, but turns out funny. Draws my interest and in some sense makes this movie a bit more believable and not so much put into yet another village surroundings, where women besides their household activities, don't have much to do, so they chat in a book's club.

I love the dialogues and I love the energy of the cast. I seem to know most of them from some television shows and I like seeing them again in this setting that is just a bit upgraded from the TV setting I am familiar.
It's a lovely family movie, or should /dare I say, chick movie. I suppose most of female population would really enjoy looking at this. And finding out there definitely are men around that read something more than Finance's headlines, Times new roman and car ads. And that they are able to speak about this. This is not really common, therefore not really so believable.

Nevertheless, they seem to fit into this women's environment like a pie on a plate. Maybe the whole movie could be treated as a positive commercial for reading books, because this present time seems to revolve around other media and books seem to be forgotten. Well, not in all circles. The piece implies that true romance could happen in a perfect environment like in the smell of old books in an antique shop or in a library :) Which is perfect antipod for every media movement we are facing in this weird time, where noone seems to have time for anything.


My personal rating: 7,0 (a truly remarkable piece, for relaxation and dreaming aways - for girls. With some fine quotes for sure)

Are we there yet, 2005

Are we there yet, 2005
Director: Brian Levant
Cast: Ice Cube, Nia Long, Aleisha Allen



Stage: home theatre, one of selections of our brilliant commercial TV ;)

Are we there yet in short: The fledgling romance between Nick, a playboy bachelor, and Suzanne, a divorced mother of two, is threatened by a particularly harrowing New Year's Eve. When Suzanne's work keeps her in Vancouver for the holiday, Nick offers to bring her kids to the city from Portland, Oregon. The kids, who have never liked any of the men their mom has dated, are determined to turn the trip into a nightmare for Nick.


Preps: I have seen the commercial for this - the trailer just before I started watching. Am at home by coincidence and start watching it.

Reality: Oh, another family movie. The one you don't miss anything if you never see it. On the other side, you get a perspective in having kids. Ice Cube is in the role of potential spouse of a divorced mother with two kids. And he gets his ass kicked by them. They turn out to be the worst pair to handle, in terms of what bad things you can do to the "enemy", as they claim him, because they find him just as all the others, in queue for their mother.

The most precious thing to this man appears to be his car. In the time of babysitting he somehow changes his mind. Spending time with kids results in wreckage of his Precious. Now for people that are thinking of having kids this piece could be either commercial on how to do it or the antipod - you might consider never having them after watching this. Ice Cube somehow is funny, gets under your skin and you are surprisingly in the role where you like him, and in time, also like the kids - somehow it reflects the karma the movie is supposed to reflect. I find it amusing, although it's nothing more than a Sunday movie.

The jokes, used here, are semi-average. Some of them brilliant. The alter ego of Nick in the shape of a doll is also worth some attention - nevertheless, not as developed as it could be. Therefore, a minor entertainment. As the whole piece is, unfortunately nothing more.

My personal rate: 3,0 (for the sake of the funny scenes and the tough time the children show to Nick, truly worth some admiration from viewer's perspective - because I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of such a guy, trying to impress someone you aren't able to)

Are we there yet on IMDB

The Bridesmaids, 2011

The Bridesmaids, 2011
Director: Paul Feig
Cast: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne




Stage: home theatre, at the seaside with one of my best friends on a beautiful morning


The Bridesmaids in short:Annie (Kristen Wiig), is a maid of honor whose life unravels as she leads her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), and a group of colorful bridesmaids (Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper) on a wild ride down the road to matrimony. Annie's life is a mess. But when she finds out her lifetime best friend is engaged, she simply must serve as Lillian's maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke, Annie bluffs her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals. With one chance to get it perfect, she'll show Lillian and her bridesmaids just how far you'll go for someone you love.


Preps: One of the hot buns in our cinemas. Don't know anything about it, nor know cast.


Reality: Yuk. another comedy with a vague idea to fill in the seats with rotten jokes and weird romance. Rotten in terms of bad ones, not brilliant irony. The storyline runs around three friends, one of them getting married and weird situations they face when getting closer to the date. The real issue, exposed in the movie, is a dispute between money and having none. Plus, being a bride's maid when being one or another. Providing ideas and not backing them up with money, and vice versa, thinking you can buy everything with money.

It turns out that the movie neither had a good idea, nor the delivery of this idea. Some funny scenes, otherwise nothing more than a Sunday movie, where you can easily sleep out most of it and where you cannot miss if you miss it.

A thought that ran through my mind somewhere in the middle.. on the shower before the wedding.. do you get dogs as present for the guests? So Hollywood like.. I hated it. Dogs are live creatures, not something to be given as a token. Horrible.


My personal rating: 0 (don't waste your time, ain't worth it!)


The Bridesmaids on IMDB

Daddy Day Care, 2003

Daddy Day Care, 2003
Director: Steve Carr
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Jeff Garlin, Anjelica Houston

Stage: home TV selection, nice Wednesday evening






Daddy Day care in short: In the comedy Daddy Day Care, two fathers lose their jobs in product development at a large food company and are forced to take their sons out of the exclusive Chapman Academy and become stay-at-home fathers. With no job possibilities on the horizon, the two dads open their own day care facility, "Daddy Day Care", and employ some fairly unconventional and sidesplitting methods of caring for children.


Preps: I have seen this for several times now. It obviously comes every now and then again to the screen. As I am a huge fan of Eddie Murphy, it's almost a must see.

Reality: This is not one of Murphy's victories. I could claim it a sweet family movie, but unfortunately nothing more. It's not even close to Murphy's knees, speaking from a perspective, when a fan has seen most of his movies, his stand up's, his talk shows, etc. I believe he's one of the people that put a name to the comedy. Well, in this movie I have a good feeling that he just needed some money and luckily enough, loved the genre. He does create magic with children on screen. Nevertheless, he turns out a bigger clown he really is. So no real acting here, from none of the actors. But the expressions of the kids and their faces are more or less genuine, as they are so young.
The story itself is impressive and should serve as an example in times of recession. Losing a job might not be such a disaster, if you think about some niche or something you might be good at. You just as well may find yourself indulging this and loving it. As these characters did. The message of the story is great, if you look at it from growing kid's perspective. Putting a three year old to five different language courses, sporting lessons, violine, choir, etc.. well it might be an overload. Daddy day Care on the other hand makes things as they have once been at grandmothers or grandfather's day care. This means that childhood remains childhood. And that time with the kid is more important than career, making money to buyoff time you haven't spend with your child. A good story and a good moral at the end.


My personal rating: 5,0 ( see it for the message sake, not for a good movie sake. And Murphy has some brilliant moments. Apart from that, not worthy of your time..)


Daddy Day Care on IMDB