Monday 30 January 2012

Long time, but not no see.

It really has been way too long. I'm afraid life has caught up with me a little, and laziness has also had a part to play. But, that doesn't mean I havent been keeping a watchful eye over the cinematic world and here is a quick overview of the best films ive seen over the past few months (both at the cinema and on dvd)


                  
                                            
             

The Help, was to be expected: sweet, poignant and with some very strong performances, portraying a possibly very real look at the lives of the black help in 1950s america. It's only downfall, may be the fact that it is exactly what you expected, and to the standard you expected it to be. Certainly no worse, but not that little bit extra special either.

50/50 was the bitter sweet comedy about a young man dealing with the fact that he has cancer. It's weird that a film which doesn't really have much going on and isn't really that comedic (even with seth rogan throwing in the quips) can be a quiet yet moving film, thats enjoyable to watch and has you rooting for it's very likeable main character (played by a very good joseph gordon-levitt). I don't particularly like seth rogan in his predictable vulgar best friend role that he is sooooo used to playing. I just want him to branch out a little. For me, he was the only let down in an otherwise very sweet and poignant movie.

I didnt see The Beaver at the cinema. It got average reviews and I have very strong opinions around mental health and how it's portrayed. However, it was on sale in hmv and i was bored, so i thought what the heck. It's a film about a man (mel gibson) who is suffering (and has done so for many years) with severe depression. He learns to deal with this by living through a puppet he finds; creating a total different character, and beginning to regain his life back (as a beaver puppet...). Now i know it sounds a little odd, and i'm not sure it comes across that clearly onscreen, but i actually think it is a very important and real look at depression and how it can make a person feel, and the desperation it can lead them to. Gibson (as controversial as he may be at the moment) did a brilliant job of playing two parts of the character, and although the film as a whole did lack somewhat, his performance, and the focus on his illness was brilliant.

I've said it before and i will say it again; i could watch robert downey junior paint a wall. Thereby i was always going to see Sherlock Holmes: a game of shadows even when the first one was distinctly average and i didnt have high hopes for the second. However, i was very pleasantly surprised. The plot was better, the "baddie" was better, and the jokes were funnier. But most of all, the bromance between sherlock and watson was worked on, developed and played on, and that is what makes these modern remakes so entertaining.

The Artist: unexpectedly beautiful, refreshing in todays society, gorgeous to look at and superbly acted. I didnt know what to expect, and i think the "silence" takes a little to get used to, but once you do, you are thrown into a heart warming story which is lavished with detail, care and love. GO see it!

Well, there's an update, lets hope it doesnt take me as long to write the next one.