Archive for May 30th, 2008

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The Bank Job

Friday, May 30, 2008

Bank Job

“The true story of a heist gone wrong… in all the right ways.”

We both love Jason Statham, so it was a no brainer seeing this one. It has a great, vintage 70s movie feel to it, which went perfectly with the costumes, hair, etc. It was a clever story we both enjoyed. The pacing was a tad slow, but we didn’t mind it because the characters were interesting. They put together a great ensemble cast with Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore and the rest of the crew.

What I didn’t know going in was that this was based on a true story – I think I would have enjoyed it that much more had I known that up front –  it’s such an incredible story BECAUSE it actually happened. I’m sure it was jazzed up for theatrical effect, but nonetheless… 

Some great suspense and then last 20 minutes or so are really intense. Great performances all around. And the ending couldn’t have been better. The tag for the movie is “The true story of a heist gone wrong… in all the right ways.” If you dig heist movies, this is a good one. I’d give it a 3 1/2 out of 5. 

~ HELENA

Add’l Info: Released: Mar 7, 2008 • Runtime: 111 minutes • Rated R for sexual content, nudity, violence and language

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Deception

Friday, May 30, 2008

Deception

“When you’re in this world, no one is who they seem, and everyone is playing the game.”

We saw this one a few weeks ago. We’re both big fans of Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman, and this movie seemed sexy and suspenseful from the preview. It was really good through most of it and then the ending didn’t do it for me. Also, I had a hard time with Michelle Williams’ character. As you can see from the pic above, she’s pretty small…any scene she had with Hugh Jackman was like watching him with someone that could pass for his daughter. It was creepy, and even though his character is supposed to end up kind of on the creepy side, I don’t think that’s what they were going for. It just seemed mismatched to me… but maybe it’s just me. The performances were well done – especially Ewan. Nobody plays someone who’s stressed and scared as well as he does – check out his movie, Rogue Trader for the most intense hour and a half ever. 

Aside from the physical mismatch of Michelle and Hugh’s characters, I had trouble with Hugh Jackman’s character in the end. He’s so slick through the whole movie [in a good way] and then his character took a left turn for me in how he was dealing with the situation that didn’t go as planned. It just didn’t jive with how they built his character’s personality and took me out of the movie – disbelief stopped being suspended. 

There are definitely some great scenes and some nice sexy times… so I think as long as you know the ending isn’t as good as it could have been and you just go along for the ride, this movie is worth a rental. I’ll give it a 2 1/2 out of 5. 

~ HELENA

Add’l Info: Released: Apr 25, 2008 • Runtime: 108 minutes • Rated R for sexual content, language, brief violence and some drug use

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Transformers

Friday, May 30, 2008

Optimus Prime and Bone Crusher

“Their war. Our world.”

Since I referenced Transformers in the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull review, I figured I’d add it next… 

Obviously this was a summer blockbuster from ‘07 and has been on DVD for a while now. We happened to buy it on HD DVD [before we knew who won the war... we were punished for being early-adopters, but that's another story...]. And we’ve watched this movie over and over. It never gets old. The visual effects are just incredible. We were both concerned about Michael Bay directing when we heard he go the gig, but he did a fantastic job. The pacing was perfect. The writing was also well done with some really funny dialog throughout, but especially between Shia LaBeouf’s character and his parents. Shia was the perfect Sam Witwicky – both funny and smart, and very believable. My husband and I both watched the cartoon back in the 80s so it was fun hearing the original voice of Optimus Prime. For me, Bumble Bee stole the show. Who knew robots could be so emotive… This movie is definitely a great start to what will most likely be a long-running franchise. 

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Sex and the City

Friday, May 30, 2008

Sex and the City

“Get Carried Away.”

I’m posting this because I just got a great ojective review on this movie from my friend, who went to the Boston premiere last night. I have to stipulate that I am not a fan of the show [just never watched it, so I have no opinion one way or the other], nor have I seen this movie myself. That being said, here’s my friend’s take on it…

She used to watch the show on HBO and felt the sex scenes got more and more gratuitous, which wasn’t her thing, but when it started playing on TBS, she enjoyed it more because it was more about the story and the characters. She said if you enjoyed watching on TBS, then you’ll enjoy the movie. It wasn’t nearly as over the top as the HBO version of the show – it was more about the characters getting on with their lives and she said it did a good job of going more in depth with each character. She said the story was fun and overall she recommends it to any Sex and the City fan. There were a couple of “holy crap” scenes in there, but for the most part it was more tame than the HBO version, which is why she liked it so much. So if you liked the crazy over-the-top HBO version, this movie may let you down. 

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