Tag: jason

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Get Him To The Greek (2010) Review

Synopsis - We were first introduced to Russell Brand’s out-of-control rock star Aldous Snow in 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall, where he hilariously appeared as the love rival to Jason Segel’s recently-dumped protagonist Peter. While Brand’s role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall was relatively small, and asked very little of him in the way of acting, writer/director team Segel and Nicholas Stoller give him centre stage in Get Him to the Greek, in this, less sequel, more spin-off, to the 2008 comedy. While my expectations of Brand were high after his handling of the role in Sarah Marshall, where he played a rather exaggerated version of himself, he generally failed to impress in this first attempt at a major role. Snow is a role suited to the flamboyant, ex-heroin and sex-addicted,  dandy from Essex, whose stand-up and Ponderland shows I absolutely adore, so it was disappointing when he overacted the part. After Brand bombing as host of the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, it is perhaps understandable that the movie’s producers were keen to edge away from his recognizable humour and mannerisms, but, to me, this fell short of the mark; Snow as a character is not far enough away from Brand himself to merit a response praising impressive acting, nor close enough to encourage the kind of hysterical laughter we are used to with his usual antics. In my opinion, Brand should stick to what he knows, and perhaps take a leaf out of one of our other national comical treasures, Ricky Gervais’, book, who has basically made a living out of constantly re-dressing David Brent. Similarly, the film as a whole seemed to be lacking something, which stopped it just short of being a fantastic comedy. Don’t get me wrong, there were moments that left me crying with laughter (see ‘Geoffrey and furry walls’ scene, and Snow’s snidey comeback to a certain heavy-metal drummer), but there was no consistency in the humour. It seemed to sit on the fence between cracking farcical comedy (a la The Hangover and Superbad), and sentimental, yet light-hearted drama. While rom-coms pull this off all the time, Get Him to the Greek just couldn’t get the mix right, and any attempt at tragedy or emotional engagement left me feeling rather flat with the whole experience. It wasn’t all bad, however, and the upsides included some fantastic cameos (of which P Diddy was NOT one) and an excellent selection of pop-culture references, some rather more obsure than others; see aforementioned drummer comment and the best introduction to prog supergroup The Mars Volta ever. Jonah ‘Superbad’ Hill also played his role of  the responsible record company chaperone being led astray by Snow down to a tee, not disappointing but not particularly shining either. In all, Get Him To The Greek is a fun, pretty harmless piece of entertainment, but don’t expect a laugh-a-minute, as you’ll have plenty of time to rest between the sporadic aisle-rolling hysteria. 6/10 Steve

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Up in the Air review

Synopsis: The opening scene is pure hilarity, something I definitely enjoyed, and were people who have actually been fired recently in real life. The scene was organic, a word I use quite a lot, but this scene was just that- real, with real people. At any point during that establishing scene did it seem scripted to me, it was obvious they were being directed, but not so obvious that it was harmful to the overall polished-ness of the film. George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who travels from state to state firing people from their jobs because their bosses are too afraid to do so. So up until a little while into the film, he's leading a sheltered life of solitude and emptiness, but he doesn't realise this until he meets someone who complements him perfectly. What I found to be brilliantly astute was the way the air miles were portrayed within this film, as some sort of status symbol. Another thing I admired was how Clooney's character had a goal that he wanted to reach, it was as if he lived his life simply to achieve this. The way he spent every aspect of his life so sparingly was admirable, how he was organised, almost as if his life was choreographed. Brilliance, would be the best word to use here, how each scene was crafted with such precision. What do I mean? I'm referring mainly to the scenes where Ryan and Natalie(Anna Kendrick) are together, especially the scene where they both set out for the first time, the flow of that particular scene was clean, it was brilliantly edited, and was when I began to get a good insight into Clooney's character. Kendrick was great in this, her character was sheer brilliance, definitely her best role I've seen her in. Her cockiness-turned-understanding attitude was a good change of pace, I think she was portrayed as a cocky graduate quite well, and when she found out how damaging life can be, it was heartwarming, when she understood what she was doing was a little unethical and belittling. Theres not much else I can say without ruining the story, but it was such a good watch, another great from Jason Reitman, the ending was a bittersweet moment for both the audience and Clooney's character I think, but it was a stirring moment when he had returned to assist with the problems. Good film, good plot, good acting, witty, quirky dialogue, great cast, great film. 9/10

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Stallone's "The Expendables" Promo trailer

Not long ago, I posted the leaked trailer for The Expendables, which, has been taken down, so here we have another, better quality Promo trailer for The Expendables, courtesy of FirstShowing.net

As before, still looks badass, even moreso in HQ.

Kazed

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Jason Reitman's 'Up in The Air' trailer

From the Director of Juno and Thank You For Smoking, Jason Reitman, comes a story of a- You know what? This is why synopsis-es exist. Behold:

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a corporate downsizing expert - someone who fires people for a living - whose cherished life on the road is threatened by young hotshot just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and after he's met the frequent-traveler woman he never thought he'd meet.

I was a huge fan of Thank You For Smoking, but truthfully, I had no idea it was released here in the UK. I caught it a year after it's release, but that along with Juno were both pieces of cinema that I admire because of their satirical value.

I will definitely enjoy this.

Click here for the movie poster.

Kazed