A Delightful Dessert!

We need more comedies nowadays - flicks that can make us laugh our hearts out such as Extract! Having said that, I find comedies always difficult to please than tragedies. Slapstick comedies never work for me  - anything by Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy and the list goes on and on. I'm a Woody Allen fan, but there's only ONE Woody Allen in this world.

So when I watched Extract (at no extra cost apart from my monthly TMN subscription) on The Movie Network last night, I was absolutely thrilled. Jason Bateman, who's every woman's boyfriend, is once again outrageously funny. I never paid attention to Mila Kunis when she was on That 70's Show, but I started to take note of her femme fatale performance in Black Swan. In Extract, she's just the naughty, trashy con woman who traps every single man with her sexy and seductive looks. Even Ben Affleck is a pleasant surprise in this flick playing the ultimate hippy bartender who's always stoned.

If there's ever such a kind hearted, real-life man like Jason Bateman, even I will marry him! This movie just proves that what I've been saying about men is once again true - all men are ruled by their dicks! But this film is more than that - it's a funny, realistic picture about the clash between the middle class and the working class. Add in racial stigma, mid-life crises for both men and women, labour relations and brainless gigolos - these all constitute a very funny and delightful movie. It's like having a carrot cake for dessert!

What's Wrong With The Lincoln Lawyer?

I was disappointed withThe Lincoln Lawyer after seeing it over the weekend with a girfriend for the first time in the AMC Theatres at Yonge and Dundas. This flick has a lot of twists, but all of them are pretty predictable.

I don't know how popular Michael Connelly's novel was when it first came out in 2005, but the plot, based on this novel, is kind of weak. What is the motivation to kill and why didn't Ryan Phillipe finish all of his victims instead of leaving this one half dead?

Contrary to what most film critics said, I find this flick weak on a number of fronts. The first half of the film is so slow that it can put anybody to sleep. When the movie finally picks up its pace, the vulnerabilities start to appear - one by one. Brad Furman is not a famous director having just got only one movie within his portfolio (The Take) prior to this one. But what was he thinking by using the same bungalow of Ryan Gosling's in the 2007 Fracture as Matthew McConnaughey's house on a Los Angeles hilltop? Did he think that moviegoers would not be able to recognize and remember the same location at all?

Also, movie trailers are supposed to build suspense, but NOT give the entire story line away. For The Lincoln Lawyer, the bikers scene was already in the promotion trailer and we all knew that Phillipe is the bad guy before going to see the movie!

Having said that, this is one of the better movies that Matthew McConaughey has made after his rise to fame. But it's the supporting cast that made this movie a half success - particularly, Shea Whigham who plays an outstanding jailhouse snitch summoned as a court witness. He steals the entire show with just 10 minutes of air time! All the male supporting actors carry the movie - William H. Macy, Josh Lucas, John Leguizamo (I'm dying to see his new one-man show on Broadway!), Michael Pena and Bryan Cranston.

I guess I would have been happier if I didn't have to pay full price for this flick!

This Is True Grit

2:22 is a movie you'd love to hate. The cast and promotion misled you to thinking that big stars like Gabriel Byrne and Val Kilmer are in the lead cast - not true. In fact, the whole movie features a cast that is not particularly well known, but they are all good! Byrne and Kilmer are just supporting actors, each appearing for probably less than 10 minutes in the whole film.

But I didn't end up disliking the movie - I actually quite liked it! This is true grit in its literal form - dark, depressing, no faith in human beings, friendship and loyalty. Leading man Mick Rossi won the Best Actor Award in the 2010 Milan International Film Festival. He's a complicated man - kind, ruthless, calculating and spontaneous all encompassed within his character. Producer Lenny Pitondo is from Toronto, but I also get an impression that this film was shot in Toronto, although I'm not 100 percent sure.

What on earth happened to Val Kilmer? The dashing young pilot, outshining Tom Cruise in Top Gun, has turned into a sloppy, overweight, very unattractive middle-aged man. It obviously doesn't help that he kept taking on 'loser' roles in recent movies.

This movie intrigues me because it took me by surprise. I recognize the Toronto scenes but the film is very European in style and ambiance. It's like watching a European mafia movie - violent, dark but artistic. And that's Mick Rossi too - apparently he's a very accomplished guitar player prior to his acting career.

Jeremy Irons Rocks

I've never doubted that I would love the new TV drama The Borgias which debuted last Sunday night on Bravo! But it turned out that the first two episodes of the nine-part, hour-long TV series exceeded all my expectations. It's like watching The Tudors, but even better.

Set at the 15th century Italy in 1492 at the height of the Renaissance, this period drama is all about hypocrisy, sex, power and animal magnetism. Jeremy Irons as the Papal Rodrigo Borgia is the ultimate evil holy man. At 62, Irons still has that 'creepiness' in him since his Dead Ringers days.

Shot in Hungary which serves as the ancient Rome, the cinematography is unparalleled. Neil Jordan of The Crying Game fame is in the Director chair in this Canadian, Hungarian and Irish international co-production.

Canadian veteran actor Colm Feore is at his best as Borgia's arch rival Cardinal Della Rovere. Another Canadian Francois Arnaud is mesmerizing as Rodrigo's son Cesare. The suspense built up by The New York Times just prior to its debut really intrigued me. Jeremy Irons was commenting on the fact that when he first received the script, he told director Neil Jordan that he found it difficult to play Roderigo who was so bloated that he could hardly fit his coffin when he passed away. But judging from the first two episodes, the tall and lanky Irons played the role with perfection. And the women who played his daughter and his first mistress are heavenly beauties.

I'll be very surprised if this TV drama doesn't move forward to win numerous awards in the coming months.                                              

This Drug Is Worth Addicted To

You know how a good or bad movie can sometimes make or break your weekend? I saw Limitless last night and it definitely made me feel great about this weekend.

Apart from Inception, this must be one of the most creative flicks lately. In my opinion, this film is worth at least one Oscar award. From a crazy yet convincing plot to the outstanding cinematography to the edgy music and a witty screenplay, this movie entertains and intrigues you. You'll walk out of the cinema saying there's a reason why you still want to see movies when they first come out because of such brilliant productions.

If you don't like Bradley Cooper, you shouldn't go see this movie because he's in almost every single scene. But who doesn't like Cooper in this day and age? He's a boy next door with deep, piercing blue eyes and a 6'1" physique plus he's one of the genius producers of this film as well. He's funny, charming, natural and would not even let Robert de Niro steal the show. I'm sure no woman fan of his was disappointed when he finally broke up with Renee Zellweger. Rumour has it that he's dating his co-star in this movie - Australian actor Abbie Cornish who looks like a young Sharon Stone.

What constitutes a great thriller? An ingenious plot with unexpected twists; and an impossible but convincing story line that stretches your imagination. This thriller keeps you sitting on the edge of your seat, but even better, it makes you laugh as well. What dream drug can make you suddenly speak every single foreign language (although his Chinese is hardly comprehensible) and fight like Bruce Lee? I'll gladly be addicted to NZT!

Two thumbs up for this movie even though I was not familiar with the director Neil Burger, a Yale fine arts graduate, who directed The Illusionists as well.

Old Man My Ass!

The farcical comedy RED, made by boomers for boomers, is delightful to watch. All actors are boomers and seniors who can still carry their own weight - Bruce Willis, John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker with Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox and Helen Mirren. The only non-boomer is Karl Urban, the Kiwi supporting actor who plays the CIA hot shot William Cooper.

The entire movie is a farce because the plot is about a team of former CIA agents coded RED (Retired but Extremely Dangerous) who's not ready to retire into oblivion yet. They group together to once again fight the evil government system which trained all of them.

The characters are all pretty strong in their own personalities - Bruce Willis as the tough guy turned romantic suitor; Brian Cox and Helen Mirren as the former CIA love birds who only now ironically reunite after their retirement; John Malkovich as the eccentric spy who lives underneath a car and is paranoid about everything and everbody who comes near him; and finally Morgan Freeman who kills his would-be murderer in a hospital where he's going through the last stage of liver cancer.

This movie is not a masterpiece, but it makes boomers feel good when the key message strikes home - retired experts are still better than their younger counterparts who are continually clumsy and outwitted by the older group of agents.

The movie is best summed up by John Malkovich's character in the film - "Old Man My Ass!!!"