London Boulevard, 2010

London Boulevard, 2010
Director: William Monahan
Cast: Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley



Stage: Home theatre, late night showing


London Boulevard in short: Mitchel ('Colin Farrell' ) just got out of jail and wants to stay legitimate but his friends involved in the messy London underground fear him and wants him to join them again but Mitchel tries his best to stay away. He gets himself a job as a bodyguard for a retired actress Charlotte (Keira Knightley) who is still hot news for the paparazzi. Mitchell, through his friend Billy eventually meets the underground Don by the name of Gant (Ray Winstone) who wants Mitch to work for him because of Mitch's reputations. While working together Mitch and Charlotte fall in love. Gant asks Billy to get the guy who sent Mitch to jail but it turns out to be the wrong one, Gant kills the guy in front of Mitch and lets Mitch know that he has to work for him now that Mitch has seen him commit the murder but Mitch refuses. Gant keeps trying to force Mitch to his side promising him good ranks.


Preps: I don't know what it's about. Haven't seen or heard about it. And I mean anything. So what's left for me is the feeling it's going to be a good one.



Reality: Well, a decent action afterall. It's a bit of a mixture and I think the director couldn't decide whether to have a good action, a good drama or to show some romance. So he made a decent mix of everything. The bad thing about mixes is that after a while you lose taste. So trying to please all the tastes leads you to average level. Unfortunately this movie is (stays) on average level. So we have a frightened and a bit looney actress, desperately seeking for her Avenger. This one comes in shape of Farrell, a beautiful ex con. Obviously they will fall under the sheets, the question that remains is when and if some of the luring reporters might catch them inbetween.
But we have also a figure of a drunk drugged monkey in shape of her regular guardian. Throughout the movie I am not sure how this figure entered the actress's life and what role in perticular can he play. Because he looks as if he ran out of Monty Phython and most certainly doesn't belong in the picture.
The action is good, but only as it runs in paralel and cannot really reveal it's hurt to the viewer. I mean, the deeds are mean but the whole picture when I look at it from a distance is a bit annoying. Also doesn't really fit. The only connection is that the people trying to get into the actresses life are thieves and ex con is the perfect choice if you want to get inside. Nevertheless, being Lock, Stock and Two smoking barrels and Notting Hill at the same time, hurts the overall feeling one has when watching the movie. No doubt that Farrell has The Looks, but you know, he can act, too. So give him the bloody scenario he can actually show it to us. We don't want to just watch his body, with all do respect. I would love some good dialogues and some music, maybe some creative scenery, etc.

All in all, you won't be dissappointed. But you will look at it as you would look at a decent meal. Nothing revealing, but still satisfactory.

My personal rating: 6,0 (average, yet better than most of the ones I have seen in the last 2 weeks).



London Boulevard on IMDB

Somewhere, 2010

Somewhere, 2010
Director: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Chris Pontius


Stage: Local movie Theatre in Ljubljana district Vič


Somewhere in short: Hollywood actor Johnny Marco, nested in his luxury hotel of choice, is a stimulated man. Drinking, parties and women keep a creeping boredom under wraps in between jobs. He is the occasional father of a bright girl, Cleo, who may be spoiled but doesn't act it. When Cleo's mother drops her off and leaves town, Johnny brings her along for the ride, but can he fit an 11-year-old girl into his privileged lifestyle?

Preps: Well I have heard a lot of good critics speaking about this piece - in a good way. Besides, Coppola is a famous name and I wanted to see this at Liffe, the movie festival, last November, but I never got the tickets. Now, finally, a chance to induge this.


Reality: Another one of the miserable ones. The movie, I mean. I run out of the cinema almost. If I had this one on my disk, it wouldn't have survived the first 30 minutes. Now, considering I am sitting in the theatre with two of my girlfriends, I have a bit more patience to see if anything happens. In my opinion, nothing. The world depicted is not real. It cannot go like this, even if you are a famous actor. The drive I see within the movie could be or derive from the sense of remorse for leading such a life once you are confronted with your kid, you left with your previous spouse. Nevertheless, the world where a famous actor shows his behind on the balcony and the girls are going mad about it - showing their tits, ass, and having sex at a glance, is not the one I am familiar with. Or I acknowledge.

The movie is too static and doesn't show the energy, nor the drive, vision, call it whatever you might want to. The lead actor, as gorgeous as he is, gets on my nerve with every minute more he spends on the stage. The others are so pale that I even cannot notice a part where they start really playing. I am dissappointed in many ways, I really expected more from the movie Coppola made. But, they cannot all come out as genious ones, true? The only philosophy I can follow is the one where you think about whether it's worth giving up your normal life and trade it off for some actor's fake life. Bad in any way I think about it.

Don't watch it. Neither a showoff of a Hollywood life, nor a showoff of a life of a modern Hollywood James Bond. For this is what I suspect the main lead actor is trying to pull off. In my opinion, a bad failure.


My personal rate: 0 (no comment, a total waste of time).


SOmewhere on IMDB