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Filmsi - A not so serious look at films and film reviews

Anything film =D

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Filmsi - January 2011

Friends With Money, 2006

For some odd reason I always end up reviewing a movie from 2006. There must have been many good movies during that year I suppose.

Well today's review is on Friends with Money (I keep wanting to write friends with benefits). A mature age drama/comedy from the director Nicole Holofcener is about a group of middle age (30-40 year olds) friends that are going through life and everything that goes with it. Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) is probably the most tragic of them all so it kind of goes without saying yeah you definitely feel for her. A teacher-turned-maid has major problems; first is she has no money, is in love with a married man and being surrounded by a bunch of wealthy friends is without a doubt patronizing. But her friends are of course not without problems; Christine's (Cathrine Keener) marriage is the on rocks and divorce looms. While Jane (Frances McDormand) is having problems dealing with life and is losing the will to live, having no interest in anything fun and is constantly getting angry. And there is Franny (Joan Cusack) well to be honest I couldn't really find a problem with her life at all. A spoilt housewife that does very little in her day apart from having personal trainers and spa appointments. Her wealthy husband takes cares of most things and they seem to have a functioning relationship. So I don't know what her deal is.

The perfect marriage?

It has become rather popular of late to have movies that depict real life - the deep and meaningful dramas about life and trying to avoid Hollywoodising real life thus meaning movies don't always end in a nice happy ending because life doesn't end like that. I'm always a big fan of movies about real life dramas that are actually realistic. Although I guess dramas about life is nothing new as my drama teacher use to say drama/art is about depicting life and there is very limited amount of stories really available and that the fundamentals are all the same its just twisted to suit the modern context - he was referring to Shakespeare's plays. But I can't help but think of what he said when I was watching this movie. Because yes these modern day dramas are more realistic depictions of life however the stories are the same. Friends with Money at first seem like a really intriguing movie and with some interesting characters. Characters that could develop and have loads of depth. To a certain extent Friends with Money did have that and the cast was pretty good. But I can't help but feel that the movie was a disappointment all round. For a movie that was roughly about one and half hours long not much really happened. I was constantly waiting for something to happen. Holofcener had slowly built the characters up and now the audience is quite fond of them however without a real conclusion the movie just ends and the audience is just left with questions unanswered and a bit disgruntled. Holofcener suddenly ends the film as if someone is telling Holofcener that she had to keep it within a certain time frame. Friends with Money isn't what you call an epic movie then it frustrates me that instead of giving a proper ending it was like she got bored with it. I know this is a whole realistic life drama but it's remains a movie and it deserves an ending instead of a half ass ending.

The thing about this movie was that it was going pretty good. The actors were convincing and even likable. Especially Aniston's character Olivia and I was hoping I could get some sort of satisfying ending for her but yea I didn't. I know it feels like I'm beating a dead horse but you don't understand Friends with Money had so much potential and it failed to success.

In conclusion Friends with Money is an interesting and intriguing mature drama about life however the film doesn't follow through. It has a good stories and characters but what is the point when the end makes you feel annoyed and disappointed. My rating would 5.5/10.

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January 25th 2011 @ 11:59

Posted By: Samira - Category: No Category

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Se7en, 1995

Hi everyone. How is everything going?
I recently watched Se7en with my cousins whom are all younger than me and about in their mid teens. No I wasn't babysitting they are way too old for that. On this girl's night in we decided to watch a scary movie instead of a sappy rom-com as most people would think we would choose. I hate horror movies. I cannot stress this enough, even reading some of the blogs on Orble (e.g. Horrorphile) scares me well not really but you get my drift. So at the thought of watching a horror movie late at night with a bunch of teens wasn't exactly what I wanted but of course I wasn't letting on that I was completely too scared to even try. One of my cousins has been kicking and complaining that she wanted to watch the Exorcism of Emily Rose. At the sound of this I was not happy. Yeah I probably be ohk during the screening but I know when I got to bed the next day all alone in my room I would just replay the images in my head. Yeah that's right I'm like a four year old. I can't sleep at night after watching a scary movie. I'm a full grown adult (although some might question this) and I cannot watch a horror movie. I don't know what happened I use to be alright with horror movies I think but than boom after watching a few I realised that I just can't handle them. Fortunately for me that night no one seemed keen to watch Exorcism of Emily Rose except of the said cousin who wouldn't let it drop. Even though she admitted that she was scared already by only having watched the trailer and I wasn't even scared. Some how after calming her down and ignoring her requests we found a compromise that we will watch Seven first and then watch Emily Rose after.To my great relief we finally began to watch Seven at 2am.

So after that completely unnecessary story of my life let’s actually get started on the review. Seven is about a series of murders that keep occurring a city. These murders are deliberates and are displayed like art work. Thus suggesting that these are from a person who clearly wanted send a message to the world possibly. Furthermore the way these murders are commit is absolutely horrendous and frankly psychotic. Thus two detectives probably the city’s best is employed to investigate. An old and retiring cop with a lot of experience in homicide Detective Somerset (played by Morgan Freeman) is partnered with a much younger and thus much less experienced Detective Mills (Brad Pitt). The two don't exactly get along, one is older and calmer that waits patiently for the information and everything to piece together while the other is hot headed and short tempered younger detective getting frustrated at the other for not wanting the same brash ways. Although the two ways investigating may be different both are well aware whom ever they are dealing in truly psychotic and very dangerous. The murders are characteristics of the Seven Deadly Sins thus having both a religious and historical significance. Each murder is committed in accordance to the Sin for example for gluttony a obscenely obese man was killed by eating too much and his stomach exploding.

This crime-thriller is amazing to watch. The suspense was held and although not exactly an action packed movie it sure keeps you entertained. It has a top notch cast with the likes of Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. I know Freeman generally gets type cast as the cool calm and wise older character but it's hard to ever hate him as he does a perfect job of it. Freeman has a presence that's kind of like hey everything is under control coz he's here. A much younger looking Pitt is of course a brilliant actor and although much of the movie isn't about character development and more of the murders and the murderer Pitt really does delivers to show how frustrate Mills is with the whole situation being stuck with someone that is so different from him. Furthermore his hot-headedness (if that's even a word) does become a important part of the story but I do feel for the guy but I won't going into too much detail. Other famous cast member includes Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey. Paltrow wasn't actually in the movie for a lot of the time so her part was rather minor. As much I hate reveal too much but I have to mention Spacey. Spacey as the killer that is down right scary, classic psychopath - lack of remorse, signs of grandiose, cold, manipulative yet incredibly intelligent.

As some of you might have realised by now I'm a huge fan of David Fincher and anything he makes impresses me even Benjamin Button. Seven was definitely not a disappointment, a darker film and similar feel to Fight Club rather his other offerings like the Social Network. Fincher is brilliant in the fact he works with the story and creates a world according to the story and he do so by ensuring that he is telling that story the best way. He doesn't have certain signature techniques or at least not that I know of. Although he seems to be into the darker movies but he has proven that he can go beyond the darker movies and do something modern as seen in the Social Network. He seems make use of darker shots often filming at night or when it's raining especially in Seven and in Zodiac (which also happens to be about a murder case) but using that to set the feel of the movie. Even still Fight Club which also a dark film had a very different feel because it wasn't the same story and it was obscure and intriguing rather than suspenseful. I think what I love about Fincher's work that is can be so flexible. He can make anything of any genre (away from a noir or crime) and make it enjoy and engaging.

The final verdict for Seven is that it's a slow paced crime-thriller which was pretty amazing. It's got the recipe for a good thriller - suspense, drama and of course an actual story to follow. My criticism would be that I didn't understand the role of Paltrow character much - there was an scene with her and Freeman I didn't see the point of it and bored me a bit. As mentioned briefly above it didn't really hhave much character development but I don't think it was important however it kind of felt that the film was trying but not quite getting there. Although the movie was nearly 2 hours long for some reason it felt very short like there is very little on the bone - I’m not sure it's a complement or insult. In one aspect if went quickly that must mean I was enjoying it, on the other hand if I felt like it wasn't enough thus I was clearly wanting more thus unsatisfied. Regardless of all that Se7en remains a good movie and if you haven't seen I suggest you give it a go. My rating would be an 8 out of 10.

Samira =D

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January 13th 2011 @ 12:08

Posted By: Samira - Category: No Category

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Open Air Cinema

Hey all

Just a short update today, some of you might know already especially those in Sydney but since it's summer there is usually a open air cinema screening around the country and of course in Sydney. I live in Sydney so here are the details for Sydney siters and anyone in Sydney around this time you all check it out.

It’s the St.George Open Air Cinema which is going to be running from January 12 to February 19. Unfortunately the pre-sale tickets are sold out but you can still purchase some on the night at the door.

The movie session times and details are available on the St.George Open Air Cinema site.
Here's the link
Really Long Link

Samira =D

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January 10th 2011 @ 03:48

Posted By: Samira - Category: No Category

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Just My Luck, 2006

Hey all. I hope everyone is well and alive and kickin’. I wish everyone a Happy New Year. Let's hope 2011 is awesome and it’s not a like a shit year or anything like that. And if you had a good 2010 let's hope 2011 is the same but if you had a bad 2010 let’s hope 2011 is nothing like 2010. So now that the niceties are over and done with let's go straight into the review.

I know even the poster is bad. Sorry to inflict this on you

Just My Luck (2006) was shown on TV recently you know with a lack of good TV viewing in the holiday season. Just My Luck is about a young 20-something lady, Ashley Albright played by Lindsay Lohan. Ashley is lucky in everything that she does - may it be her love life or work. A lot of is dumb luck. While somewhere in New York (I think) is Jake Hardin (Chris Pine) who is a struggling manager of a British band McFly. Unfortunately for Jake life is a constant struggle with him everything that could go wrong does. But one eventful night at a party Ashley and Jake meet and in the "heat" of the moment they share a kiss. You know as one does in a party - randomly hook-up with people. And with this random hook-up the luck between them is switched. Now everything goes wrong with Ashley. This then sets off on a some sort of whirlwind of events where Ashley and her friends search the guy who stole her luck.

Just My Luck is bad. It’s so bad that it kind of hurts. I mean this movie is really bad. But luckily for me I already knew that. I know what you are wondering why would I watch something that I knew was going to bad? Well I was bored and it was on TV and all I had to do was sit and watch. There is nothing to it really.

There is very little about this movie that was likable, even Lindsay Lohan was bad. You know back in the day she had potential. Well this movie confirmed that she lost that potential and now is looking for anything to do. Chris Pine on the other hand did not have the same thing going for him, he is a relative unknown at this point and it was way before Star Trek so clearly he needed a job as well. As romantic comedies go this is right at the bottom of this list of good ones. It was clichéd and had everything that is bad that goes with rom-coms (such as unoriginality and predictability) but not to a point of plain disgust and annoyance. Just My Luck was incredibly forgettable like if I hadn't just watched it I would have completely forgotten about it. I don't know whether it was the bad story or the horrid script or the appalling acting or a combination of all of them together that made this film just a complete waste of time.

Ashley despite being the main character was kind of annoying - there was nothing interesting or likable about her. She had this air of snob about her. And even when her luck was taken away and everything started to fall part you kind thought it was about time she got her fair share. How is it possible that one person can be that lucky? And in a sense it annoyed me and probably anyone who is generally not an overly lucky person.

The film hinges on just plain stupid, I know it's a movie but how can all these weird things happen to one person. And a lot of the time it's kind of due to her stupidity. Furthermore as if luck can transfer from one person to another that quickly and that obviously. Personally I thought if anything Ashley's friends needed some luck in their lives and should be kissed by her too. It also surprising that despite Ashley coming off a little bit a snob and it was must be hard to have a friend always getting what they want they still remain her friends and pretty good friends too, helping her when she as nothing.

As you can gather from my review I didn't like this film at all. It was just bad. Enough said. Look if you looking for a rom-com I suggest you go else where because you won't find something interesting or smart in this film. If I had to give it a rating I would give it a 4/10.

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January 3rd 2011 @ 08:47

Posted By: Samira - Category: No Category

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