Easy A [2010]

High school girl, Olive, tells her friend a lie about losing her virginity – the lie is overheard – overblown – and suddenly everyone thinks Olive is a slut and ostracized like in The Scarlett Letter. Olive embraces the persona – allows others to “use” her and brag that they slept with her to hide various issues (homosexuality & feeling undesirable) – until this backfires in a huge way.

What I really liked about EASY A was the idea that “it’s none of your fucking business when and if I lose my virginity” – which is something I quite appreciate because there are too many films that revolve around teens losing their virginity and the glorification of it.

I liked Olive’s family, Thomas Hayden Church as the aloof teacher and Emma Stone as Olive. The writing was pretty solid for a teen flick – though it was a bit thin and cliché – it wasn’t bad.

What I didn’t care for was the webcam self-aware narrative aspect – Olive claims that she’s invisible – and writes it off as not being cliché high school girl film – but the entire film even when she was getting all the attention – she was still not listened to and not cared about for herself. It may have been me – but it seemed like almost every time she spoke – she was interrupted or ignored. Even when she embraced her bad girl persona – she found a certain level of self-respect – but no real respect from others.

I didn’t like how some of the characters were razor thin - even Olive was a bit thin. It took her no time to invent the persona and just accept and act the part. I would assume more outrage and denial would’ve gone on in real life before the embrace and full turn into the mega-slut persona.

Also, I know that 80’s romantic comedies and John Hughes films are ingrained in certain people’s hearts – but the references in this film were unnecessary. Yes, an acknowledgement of those films is fine – but you should create your own memorable scene instead of co-opting a famous previously used scene – you may think you can’t do better than what has been done – but you’ll never know unless you try. Just try.

[Guess it showed back up again - - so here you go]

Overall – it sounds like I have more complaints than love for this movie – but I really liked it for what it was. It was cute and fun at times – though it was flawed – I can appreciate it.

Easy A [2010]

Son of a bitch...

I had a whole entry written up about my likes and dislikes and they were well thought out and well put and interesting - published it Thursday for Saturday... but Blogger apparently lost it all. I have a habit of thinking my reviews out in my head - writing them out in a Word doc on the side while I'm doing other things - and then once done - I copy and paste - schedule - and close (and not save) the word doc and forget. So, my review for EASY A is lost. Okay... Here's the rundown...
It's a good movie - I agreed that the whole approach of "who cares when you lose your virginity" approach - sick of those other teen movies that obsess about it. I liked the acting for the most part - even if I felt the characters were written without a lot of depth. I liked the questions raised about perception versus reality of which is worse. Didn't care for how no one ever seemed to listen to Olive at all - even when she was getting the attention - that really bothered me. Also, didn't find it realistic how quick Olive embraced her "bad" girl persona - a little bit of time denying would've been more realistic instead of going out and going nuts buying corsets to wear to school.

D is for... [part 2]

Loud, violent, and proudly derivative, the post-apocalyptic action-thriller Doomsday is the latest from UK cult director Neil Marshall, who impressed horror fans with his previous efforts, Dog Soldiers and The Descent. Both pictures established Marshall as a director with a knack for reinventing well-worn genre pictures, but here, he seems more interested in stitching together favorite scenes and elements from established horror and science-fiction films. Escape from New York is the main source for Doomsday, though there are plenty of nods to The Road Warrior and its multitude of Italian-made carbon copies, as well as the zombie/plague subgenre; the lovely but impassive Rhona Mitra is the Snake Plissken-esque loner sent by police (represented by Bob Hoskins) to infiltrate Scotland, which has descended into anarchy following a viral outbreak. The disease has surfaced in London (now a walled city), and Mitra is dispatched to find a scientist who may possess a cure. Marshall's vision of Scotland in ruins brings together the punk/modern primitive costume design of George Miller's Mad Max trilogy with some eclectic homegrown elements (knights on horseback defending a gang leader's castle), and while these touches are novel, the picture as a whole should ring overly familiar to any viewer who's spent time in the exploitation trenches during the past 25 years. Younger and less discerning audience members will undoubtedly enjoy the plentiful violence and gore, as well as the unbridled performances of the supporting cast, especially stuntwoman/actress Lee-Ann Liebenberg as the heavily tattooed Viper. (synopsis provided by Amazon.com)

directed by Neil Marshall

released 2008

Doomsday [2008]

To cap off my week of actual solid reviews – and not mini-reviews and bluster – I present to you a marquee review for a film that at certain points I couldn’t shut up about.

A plague has taken over Scotland – and the British decide to just build a high security fence and forget about the diseased people. Twenty-something years later – the plague is reemerging in London – in hopes of finding a cure – they send a super agent Sinclair and a squad of grunts into Scotland hoping that they somehow solved the problem – or left clues as to a cure - after the fence was sealed off. She’s given 48 hours to find a cure – or die with everyone else in the plague.

Let’s get the bad out of the way. There’s a transport tank-thingy and it’s supposedly got some really thick bulletproof glass – and one of the punk rocker survivors breaks it with a bottle. That’s it. The rest is made of pure awesome.

The director Neil Marshall knows what it takes to make a good horror film – as he’s proven it with Dog Soldiers and The Descent – and with Doomsday he proves he knows what it takes to make a great action film. He’s got a criminally overlooked talent for composing shots to give you something interesting to see with every frame. He gives you the best angle – not the stylishly hip cool ‘look at me’ angle – he gives you the best angle to see what’s happening. With CGI – this skill is probably not one people look for in a director – as you can always “fix” shots after the fact – but Marshall has done a pretty good job making films using old school techniques – and not relying on CGI.

As far as plot – it’s a standard action set-up. Here’s a timeframe that something must be done and here’s the reason why it needs to be done with such urgency – it’s short simple and easy to understand. The film doesn’t try to be complex or vague or have a ton of intrigue – it’s not one of those kind of films – it’s boldly called DOOMSDAY because it’s meant to be blatant, loud and in your face.

The acting is fantastic throughout the entire cast. Rhona Mitra is equally sexy, tough and believable as a super agent Sinclair - she’s got a boiling intensity to her that works really well. Bob Hoskins as her handler – is perfect in a surly growling performance that reminds you of The Long Good Friday. Malcolm McDowell is as scene chewing as ever as the “king” of one of the two surviving groups in Scotland. David O’Hara as the tall dark and evil government man is pitch perfect the way you want your uptight bureaucratic arseholes in these sort of films.

Then the biggest acting nod goes to Craig Conway as Sol. This would be a career making performance for some – he steals almost every scene. His shtick as leader of the punk-rock cannibals is to be loud, crass and strangely charismatic. He shouts, dances and punches his way into my heart – and is the cherry on top of this film. The film would only be very good in my mind if not for Conway’s performance and intensity.

It’s hard to describe how well done the action in this film. It’s chalk full of chases, fights and all the essential elements that a growing boy needs. It’s has what I like to call ‘ultra-violence’ – where it’s not necessarily blood and guts all over – but just hard over the top unflinching action.

I can’t ever see it being proclaimed an original film – so everybody can drop those preconceptions that films have to be original to be good. I look at this film as a tribute to the post-apocalyptic action films of the 80’s – namely John Carpenter’s Escape series & the Mad Max films. It pays tribute by NOT goofing on them or by giving a winking and a nod – it accomplishes its tribute by just delivering. It’s a simple concept that’s done far less in Hollywood than it should be – and that’s yet another reason why this film rules them all. It’s not a Hollywood film – it was partially funded by the Scottish film board – and shot far away from Hollywood in England, Scotland and South Africa.

As the writer, editor and director of the film - Neil Marshall - said in an interview about Doomsday “it’s so outrageous you’ve got to laugh” – and I agree completely – as it’s that outrageousness that makes me love it – and over look certain flaws and plot holes - and give it a perfect 5 out of 5.

Strangely enough, this is one of those films I do not recommend to people – as it’s obvious to them that they would enjoy it or not enjoy it – so I don’t push. Take a look at any of the screenshots – and think to yourself if you can deal with a film that’s as blatant as that – and you’ll know if you will like it or dislike it. It’s that simple.