ameurb Blog

Great feel good movie !

ameurb — Tue, 29 May 2007 21:58:45 GMT

I had been looking forward to this film since I first heard about its production, based on a best selling book, The Devil Wears Prada could be compared to Working Girl. It's all about female empowerment, showing how a lowly magazine intern learns the hardway what it takes to make it big as a woman in the fashion world.

Along the way we get all the cliche's you would expect, a runway soundtrack (heavily promoting Madonna no less), thousands of costume changes (Prada, Vivianne Westwood, Michael Kors etc all make an appearance) and the most important of any female enpowerment picture, the makeover scene ! About halfway through Andie realises that in order to succeed at the magazine she must make more of an effort and as such that involves a total hair and makeup overhaul (I'm sure this will be every woman's favourite part of the film !).

Anne Hathaway is great in her role as Andie but really its' Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep's show. Meryl brings a great deal of depth to the character of uber bitchy boss Miranda and actually makes her a human being with flaws, best empahised in the picture in a scene where her character finds out her husband has left her. Devoid of her armour of makeup and fashionable clothing, Miranda appears as shaken and vulnerable as anyone else would be in her place and it's a great scene. Emily Blunt also plays a bitchy character, Miranda's 1st assistant, who would probably be repulsive if not played by a more skilled actress. Blunt injects a great deal of comedy into her lines so as not to make them too acidic and is a great foil to Andie's overly sweet character. Stanley Tucci is also great in a sort of mentor role as Nigel, a sort of fairy godmother for Hathaway's character. Tucci is not overly camp in the role but does have the odd biting remark about Hathaway's characters size, but it's played more for comedy than nastiness.

Having seen the film and having read the book I have to say that out of the two I actually prefer the film but the book is a more realistic account of what it must of been like to intern at Vogue. The character in the book is far more selfish and potentially loathsome than the butter wouldn't melt character that Anne Hathaway plays, the book also fleshes out her character a lot more, establishing close family ties and the jump she has made from her small town roots to the busy New York cityscape.

Overall while the film is highly predictable and you can see the ending coming a mile off it doesn't matter, I still left the cinema happy as Larry. Watching an underdog overcome the odds and yet not lose herself is always a pleasent experience that cinemagoers love and this pictures box office performance surely shows that. Highly reccomended for all the girly's out there and even for some of the more sensitive guys too. If you enjoy Sex and the City etc this is a no brainer !

Nowhere near as good as the first but entertaining

ameurb — Tue, 29 May 2007 14:54:50 GMT

I tried to stay away from all the press reviews before I went to see this third entry into Disney's Pirates of The Caribbean franchise, largely because of the effect reviews had on my experience of Spiderman 3. Unfortunately I did cave in and what I read was not good, seems as though being a third installment makes you a target for negative press.

So as I sat down in a packed theatre (and I do mean packed, screenings were sold out all day !) I didnt have the highest expectations and expected an experience similar to that of watching any of the Star Wars prequels, basically a load of hype prior and huge dissapointment post viewing. Pleasently though I was surprised and as the film finished I did walk out of the cinema having felt entertained.......but in a silly saturday morning cartoon show kind of way, it was all about the spectacle.

The special effects are great and the action set pieces well thought out although the action is never ramped up to the level that it was in Dead Man's Chest, which holds the crown for action/adventure spectacle. In fact it isn't until the end of the film that there is a big battle sequence for sfx fans to salivate over, but it's worth the wait and very well done. Fans of Indiana Jones etc will be pleased with the level of action in this film.

Aesthetically it's as gorgeous as the previous two, with exotic locations and amazing cinematography but thats a given considering the 300 million dollar budget, it's hardly going to look dreadful now is it ? The partly CGI character of Davey Jones is still a techincal marvel and very believable (well as much as a half human squid man can be) and the trip to Davey Jones's locker is well handled with some good effects, done in a very Monty Pythonesque way.

Acting wise surprisngly Keira Knightley is on form in this one, displaying some range for once, I actually cared for her character and her relationship with Orlando Bloom's. Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow is charming as ever but I can't help but think Depp could do this role in his sleep and is somehow on auto pilot in this film, providing the odd chuckle but not being the most memorable thing about the film ( unlike he was in the first installment), I just wasnt that impressed . Geoffrey Rush's character takes Sparrow's place as the most fun character onscreen, chewing up scenery as he goes, he seems like he's having a great time and as such is a joy to watch. Another good performance is Bill Nighy's Davey Jones, who amazingly injects a great deal of emotion into what is essentially a cgi character, you actually feel a connection to that character and he becomes less of a cartoon villain and one with relatable/human motives. Personally I'm not a big fan of Orlando Bloom's acting talent (if there is any) and thankfully he isn't in the film that much save for the end, and I can't say his character is missed all that much but is needed for Knightley's character to play off for romantic purposes. Speaking of which the triangle of love between Depp, Knightley and Bloom's characters has been dropped in this installment, save for the odd line here and there, which I feel is a shame as I enjoyed that conflict in the previous two as it heightend the drama. A much publicized cameo by Keith Richards is present but not nearly as entertaining as you would expect, he's very passive and not as manic as you would expect, perhaps he was on a downer, lol but he does have a good line regarding Sparrow's mother.

This third installment had the responsibility to tie up all the loose ends left from the second installment and it manages to do that but I feel that it was overstuffed, especially with one character double crossing another only to be double crossed again etc it became a tad confusing and tired at points. Less use of this kind of plot device would of helped a lot but overall most questions are answered effectively by the script.

Fans of the series won't largely be dissapointed and neither will the cinema going public, it's a nice distraction as far as big budget fare goes these days and a million times better than trash like Spiderman 3. The series though has run out of steam/ good ideas, so I hope this is the final farewell. My cynical voice tells me though that the amount of money this picture is going to make for Disney will insure that the franchise won't be put to rest just yet but they won't be having any of my money when the next installment is released !

Enjoyable Erotic Thriller

ameurb — Tue, 29 May 2007 15:44:00 GMT

I don't understand why everyone beats up on Basic Instinct yet most people love watching this film regardless. People label it as trash and yet fail to recognize what it does right. Like it or not the film has an iconic place in mainstream cinema due to the leg crossing scene but this isn't the sum of the film, it has much more going for it. A highly entertaining script by Joe Esterhaus keeps things moving at a fast pace, while great direction from Paul Verhoevan clearly channeling Hitchcock (in particular Virtigo) makes this film a pleasure to watch. The sex is at times over the top but this an erotic thriller, the sex is a large part of the entertainment factor and it's very well done, beautifully shot and choreographed like an intricate dance routine (if you have the DVD you can see how well planned out the sex scenes were via storyboards, such preparation !). I don't think the film seems sleazy, or like the fantasies of a misogynistic male script writer, in fact, the women in the film are portrayed as powerful, often in roles superior to the men and with more control.

The character of Catherine Trammel was the role Stone was born to play and no one could do it better. She is gorgeous to look at but also holds the look of an intelligent woman, who could be calculating and murderous which is why she is so believable in the role of a femme fatale. Stone shows real acting talent in this movie, particularly in the films interrogation scene where all the subtleties of the character are played out in front of a stunned/dominated room of male police officers. We can tell she's playing with them but Stone doesn't vamp it up and make it camp, instead she is subdued, with the odd little smile and biting answer about her sexual practices for humor. In contrast though she is intense with the officers too, adding to the duality of her character and whether or not she fits their killer profile.

Michael Douglas is good in his role as supposed good guy Nick Curran. I'm glad he plays a multi dimensional character in this, who has as many potentially evil impulses as that of Stone's character despite being the films 'hero' character. Your never quite sure who to root for, his character or Stone's but they make a good pair and have great screen chemistry as each tries to control the other.

Jeaneen Tripplehorn plays a good supporting role as a police psychologist who has more to her than meets the eye and certainly it's the best role I've seen her in to date (she's in HBO's Big Love now right ?). Like all the others she has something to hide and towards the end of the film becomes more and more involved in Douglas's and Stone's affairs. A good addition I think to keep audiences guessing and have as a contrast to Stone's dominant female force as someone more submissive/dominated.

The unrated version of this film is the way to go, with more gore and sex. The violence isn't too much, even in the unrated version, but one scene, involving a lift murder, is quite graphic/nasty. The sex is explicit but it's hardly soft core pornography, much stronger stuff has come out of mainstream European cinema.

In conclusion this film is very entertaining and one of my all time faves. No matter how many times I watch it I'm always enthralled by the story and the look of the film. I kind of think given censorship today, it's the sort of film Hitchcock would make now as he was quite the sexual fiend but was never allowed to include explicit scenes in his movies. For all the reasons critics have attacked this film I love it for. It's pure pleasant, thriller, escapism with all the excesses you could ask for. It's not Citizen Kane guys but it's damn more exciting !