Review: Life of Pi

Year: 2012
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Director: Ang Lee
Key Players:  Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan and Adil Hussain 

In a Nutshell:
A novelist asks a man to recount his story of being shipwrecked with a tiger.

The Bottom Line:
I usually hate sitting in the front row of a cinema, but I loved sitting so close to the screen during Life of Pi. The movie was so full of imagery and visual wonder that I loved the colour to wash over me.

I loved every minute of Life of Pi, the story was fantastic and for a film that many directors burnt out on it looked like Ang Lee accomplished this adaptation easily.

The main drawing point of the film, the tiger, looked fantastic. In fact all the cgi was amazing and provided the sense of true wonderment as this story unfolded. 

The film easily made the audience laugh and then drawn into the drama.

I loved the hell out of this movie and it restored my faith in Ang Lee after his horrible adaptation of Hulk (Seriously, what the hell was that?).

A bit of Trivia:
Suraj Sharma had never even seen a Tiger until promoting the movie in Australia.

Film #365 - The Double

Year: 2011
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Director: Michael Brandt
Key Players: Richard Gere, Topher Grace and Martin Sheen

In a Nutshell:
A CIA operative is dragged out of retirement to catch the last target that he missed.

The Bottom Line:
I wanted #365 to be something memorable, but I lost track of what I was watching (I watched 6 movies yesteday).

Anyway, This film had heaps of potential. Richard Gere being the target that he was always thought to be hunting, getting caught up in a copycat murder that threatens him. I loved that aspect of the film.

However a lot of other things fall flat, there’s the relationship with Topher’s family that could have been fleshed out and really did nothing to advance the plot.

But still, I didn’t mind this movie, it kept me interested and invested in the whole movie. Rent it on DVD for a saturday night at home.

Random bit of Trivia:
Richard Gere turned down the roles of John MacLean in Die Hard…. What an idiot.

Film #364 - Crazy, Stupid Love

Year: 2011
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Key Players: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Julianne Moore

In a Nutshell:
Julianne Moore dumps Steve Carrells ass so he meets up with Ryan Gosling to learn the secrets to hooking up with random women.  

The Bottom Line:
I went into this film with trepidation. I was expecting another cliches romance movie. And it was that, but it also had a lot of heart to it and I laughed my way through it.

All the characters do their part marvelously, especially Carrell as the man who just wants his wife back, and all the women are swooning over Ryan Gosling these days and I can see why. Dudes got a body exactly like mine.

I loved the films climax where it all just goes tits up, and the scene in the office where everybody though Carrell had cancer was hilarious.

Valentines day is coming up and, gents, this would be a movie that you would both enjoy.

Random bit of Trivia:
There was a competition on set as to who could think of a title for the movie, the winner getting an iPad.

Film #358 - Nude Nuns with Big Guns

Year: 2010
Genre: Action, Drama
Director: Joseph Guzman
Key Players: Asun Ortega, David Castro and Perry D’Marco

In a Nutshell:
A nun in a drug dealing crime syndicate gets backstabbed and seeks revenge.

The Bottom Line:

I’ll tell you straight up, this movie does indeed have Nude Nuns walking around with Big Guns. It’s not just a clever title and you will get what you come for.

From the first five minutes the only thought I had was “Someones been watching way too many Robert Rodriguez movies”. Problem was he missed the point of them.

This movie was slow, uninteresting and at times totally confusing as to what anybody was actually doing. By the end of it I was uninterested in the big guns or the nude nuns because I just didn’t care less.

Random bit of Trivia:
Watch Desperado, it was a way better movie.

Film #357 - The Sunset Limited

Year: 2011
Genre: Drama
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Key Players: Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones

In a Nutshell:
After saving his suicidal life on a train platform, Samuel L Jackson brings TL Jones to his apartment to have a reflecting conversation about mortality and faith.

The Bottom Line:
I watched this because I wanted to see what a TL Jones directed movie looked like. What I got was a pretty intrigueing movie set only in one scene with two characters having a debate about the existence of god and the value of life.

Being a one scene movie with only two characters just talking, I did lose concentration  here and there. It’s a play adapted film and should probably have stayed in the theatre for full effect. But nevertheless it was still a pretty good movie with each character doing a pretty solid job.

It was a TV movie so if it comes on tv again then give it a shot.

Random bit of Trivia:
Samuel L Jackson was already 46 when Pulp Fiction Premiered.

Film #339 - The Last King of Scotland

Year: 2006
Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller
Director: Kevin MacDonald
Key Players: James McAvoy, Forest Whitaker and Gillian Anderson

In a Nutshell.

Seiously, what the hell is with Tumblr just randomly deleting paragraphs and shit. 

The movie was great, James McAvoy is awesome.

Random bit of Trivia:
The presidential vehicle used int he film was the one used by the president at the time.

Film #338 - 127 Hours

Year: 2010
Genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama
Director: Danny Boyle
Key Players: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara

In a Nutshell:
Watch as James Franco tells his arm to hit the showers.

The Bottom Line:
I watched this almost a year ago to the day and loved it. I love all of Danny Boyles movies so this is no surprise.

James Franco plays a good part of the dude trapped under a rock for a week. 

Random bit of Trivia:
The camcorder James Franco used is the one that Aaron Ralston used.

Film # 337 - Barton Fink

Year: 1991
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
Key Players: John Turturro, John Goodman and Judy Davis

In a Nutshell:
Barton Fink, popular playwright, gets sucked into the Hollywood script writing machine and has to deal with the oddball people within that machine.

The Bottom Line:
Look, I just wrote this movie up and then Tumblr deleted it.

Movies brilliant, John Turturro is excellant. The End.

Random bit of Trivia:
The bird diving intot he ocean at the end of the film was entirely coincidental.

Film # 336 - The Trip

Year: 2010
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Key Players: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon and Paul Popplewell

In a Nutshell:
Steve Coogan invites his comedian friend along for a gastronomic review of England.

The Bottom Line:
Man this film was boring. It seemed like it was a feature length film of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon doing their famous impersonations. 

Seriously, dont worry about it.

Random bit of Trivia:
So boring.

Film #331 - Das Boot

Year: 1981
Genre: War, Drama
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Key Players: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer and Klaus Wennemann

In a Nutshell:
Tells the story of a German U-boat in WWII.

The Bottom Line:
If someone asked me “What is your favorite war movie of all time?” I would immediately answer “Das Boot”.

The film is amazingly claustrophobic and amazingly effective in displaying life in a tiny little U-Boat. The one thing I love about this film is that it shows the side from the Germans point of view, most of them only in the war because they were told to.

The film is slow burning, because U-Boats weren’t exactly in firefights every day. The pace is slow, displaying the boredom and repetative nature of life in the tub, but when an attack occurs and you don’t see what happening, relying on the sonar it is terrifying.

This is one of my ten favorite movies of all time. 

Random bit of Trivia:
Wolfgang Petersen confined the cast indoors for the duration of filming to give them that sunless look.