Brüno (2009)

In 2006 Sacha Baron Cohen introduced the world to Borat, a reporter from Kazakhstan who shocked the USA when traveling around and looking for Pamela to make her his wife. The "semi-documentary" style movie gained Cohen an Oscar-nomination for Adapted Screenplay and many considered Borat the best comedy of the year.

This year Cohen brings his third character, a gay Austrian fashionista named Brüno, to the big screen. This time however it is not as easy to make the movie as documentary in style because Cohen's face is so well known all over that it's hard to fool people.


In Austria Brüno runs his own tv-show called Funkyzeit, but when he creates a disaster in the Milan fashion week, he gets fired and even his boyfriend dumps him. Deeply hurt Brüno decides to move to L.A. and become a celebrity there. His assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten) is the only one who has faith in him, and comes along.

In L.A. Brüno finds out it is not easy to become a celebrity, especially with his style - stereotypic gay guy who is not afraid to show a talking penis in his tv-show. Lessons are learned though, and as people become famous for their charity work, Brüno decides to bring peace to Middle-East. When even that does not work, he adopts a baby from Africa. And when even *that* does not work, he decides that to become a celebrity, one must turn heterosexual, like "Tom Cruise did".

Brüno is one of the funniest comedies this year. It is one of those that really make you laugh out loud. But it is not a movie to everyone as it's goal is clearly to shock conservative people. The story flows in a similar manner as does the story of Borat - Brüno travels around, meets real people and makes his moves to shock, irritate and question people, their openness and morals. This includes meeting a preacher who turns homosexuals to heterosexuals, a couple of PR-blondes, a bunch of hunters and a talk show audience.

Some parts are clearly staged but most of the movie is still hilarious, and especially the final scene in the wrestling ring made me cry out of laughter. And it is not just Cohen who makes the audience laugh, it is also the counter shame that one feels for the people who meet Brüno, who has totally no limits.

But despite its controversial theme, is Brüno himself homophobic? The stereotypic gay and the extreme sex scenes may be translated as homophobic as well.


Final verdict: Extremely funny and controversial comedy of a gay Austrian fashionista by Sacha Baron Cohen. Brings up the prejudices many people have against gay people and shocks with the open sexuality.

Directed by Larry Charles

Written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines
Cast Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0889583/


by Paivi

Observe and Report (2009)

Directed by Jody Hill
Written by Jody Hill
Cast Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Anna Faris, Michael Peña, Collette Wolfe

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1197628/

Reviewed by Paivi

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Observe and report is a strange comedy of a mall security guard Ronnie, played by Seth Rogen, who would like to be something more than just someone observing and reporting to the real police - he would himself love be allowed to carry a gun like a proper police officer. His prayers are answered in the form of a flasher who starts harassing the female customers and employees of the mall. Ronnie takes the "flasher case" as his own, and plans to solve it before the real police led by agent Harrison (Ray Liotta).

Apart from being the head of the mall security, Ronnie is in love with the beautiful Brandi (Anna Faris) from the cosmetics section, lives with his alcoholic mother (Celia Weston), has a bi-polar disorder for which he is taking medication and becomes friends with cute and friendly Nell (Collette Wolfe) from a coffee shop.

When Ronnie's dream of a career in the police force is wrecked because of his mental disorder and delusions, hell breaks loose in the mall.

Observe and report is a strange comedy, because it is not really a comedy at all and this is what makes it very difficult to review. The characters are not funny, but mostly sad and pathetic, and it is extremely difficult to actually like them in any level. None of them, except maybe Nell.

Security guard taking anti-depressants during lunch and with delusions of killing all the bad guys is just plain sad and not funny. Cosmetics sales girl allowing pretty much anyone to screw her and lying in her own puke is just plain sad and not funny. Alcoholic mother who blames her son for the fact that the father left the family is sad and not funny.


We are used to seeing the funnyman Rogen in roles that make you like his teddybear appearance, laughter and witty dialogue - like for example in Knocked up and Pineapple Express. This role brings us a different Rogen, dark Rogen who is ready to fire a gun and is not sympathetic at all. I personally prefer the other type of Rogen.

Duplicity (2009)

Directed by Tony Gilroy

Written by Tony Gilroy

Cast Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Tom Wilkinson

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/

Reviewed by Päivi

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Tony Gilroy, the man behind many engaging cinematic stories such as Michael Clayton, Jason Bourne -series, The Devil's Advocate, an Oscar-nominated director of Michael Clayton and also a man behind another new thriller State of Play (reviewed in here) has written and directed Duplicity, a story of two spies who end up falling in love.

Clive Owen is Ray Koval, a MI-6 agent on a mission in Dubai when he meets Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts), a CIA agent. There's something about Claire, thinks Ray, and ends up in bed with the lady... only to find himself next morning, drugged, and all his secret papers stolen by the other agent.

Time passes, the agents' paths meet again and it seems they can't stay away from each other. Because they know so many of the agent tricks, they start planning together a gig that would lead them to big money. But they have a problem: how to be able to trust each other? They are a perfect match in a way that they understand each other, but they are both so deep in their jobs that betrayal and mistrust is always in their minds.


Their plan involves two soap industry bosses, played brilliantly by Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti (check especially the opening of the movie, when the two middle aged bosses have a fight in slow motion - just hilarious). A lot of spying, counter spying and a very very complicated plot follows, and I'm not going to explain that to you because it would spoil the surprises, and eventually everything pretty much turns upside down and everyone is confused on who betrayed who.

The complex story is very well written and the actors play their parts nicely. Especially Giamatti and Wilkinson are awesome as those soap moguls who try everything to find the magic product and especially launch it first (no matter who originally invented it). It is interesting to see all the complexities in industry secrets, how those big companies are well organised like countries who hold national secrets and they even have their own agents in house. In case of a big invention that might bring the company billions of dollars, this is understandable.

Roberts and Owen are cute as professional spies who are very efficient and self confident in what they do, but who are so vulnerable and insecure when it comes to questions about love. Owen is showing his usual charm and he fits into the role beautifully. Roberts is a bit missing her charisma as an ice-cold spy, and it is easy to understand why Ray questions her love.

There are a lot of twists and turns in the story, and still the ending brought a little surprise with it, which is pretty rare nowadays. And I totally loved the end scene with the champagne and all. Duplicity is recommended to all who enjoy crime/thriller stories with some comedy inside.

17 Again (2009)

In 1985 Michael J. Fox went back in time to find himself coping with his then-teenage parents; in 1988 Tom Hanks grew Big overnight, from 12-year-old to adult; in 2004 13-year-old Christa B. Allen made a wish to be an adult and woke up as 30-year-old Jennifer Garner. This spring 37-year-old Matthew Perry wishes he was young again - and to his surprise (with the help of an elf disguised as an old janitor of his school) turns into 17-year-old Zac Efron.

Mike O'Donnell (Perry/Efron) was a brilliant basket ball player in high school, who had a wonderful career in front of him as a professional player. But as destiny has a habit of messing with things, his girlfriend Scarlett (young Allison Miller / adult Leslie Mann) informs him they have fooled around with unsafe sex and that she's pregnant. Mike gives up his own dreams and marries the girl and raises a family.

At the age of 37 Mike is frustrated, depressed man whose family life is getting ruined because of his constant self pity. Scarlett wants a divorce and Mike is forced to move to live with his best friend Ned (Thomas Lennon) - a software developer, rich guy and a grown up fanboy living in a house full of memorabilia from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

When Mike does not get the promotion at work that he was so waiting for, he thinks everything is over. He goes to his old school (where his own kids now go to school) and sees his glory in the 20 years old photograph. Suddenly an old janitor (Brian Doyle-Murray) asks him if he would want to be young again. Mike says yes, of course, and suddenly he's turned into his 17-year-old self - but current time, not by going back in time.

A lightsaber duel is needed for his friend Ned to believe who he really is, and agrees to pretend to be his father when he goes attending the school again. In school Mike becomes friends with his own son and discovers the lives of his children are not as good as one might think, and starts helping them out.

Adult Scarlett is amazed by how his son's new friend looks so much like her old husband, and feels strangely attracted to the young boy. As does the boy towards Scarlett.

Does Mike manage to fix his children's lives? Does he stay 17 forever? Does he become a big basket ball hero? Does Scarlett get her divorce? - See for yourself!

Much of the movie's appeal rests on Efron's young shoulders: without his charisma and very unique "presence" the movie would be much duller. But he makes the movie an enjoyment. 17 again is very harmless Hollywood comedy that does not really bring anything new to the genre, but it is very well done, the story works and the actors are really good. Well, imagining cute Efron becoming a boring looking Perry is not that fun, and I don't understand why on earth Perry was cast as adult Mike.

The supporting cast, especially Lennon as Mike's weird friend Ned and his love interest, the school's principal Jane Masterson (Melora Hardin) make some extremely fun scenes, for example during their first dinner together. Recommended to fanboys and -girls ;-)

If you want to see a well made, but totally harmless feel good movie, 17 again is a good option. It gives a few laughs, but performs it's humour in a thoughtful manner. Some overacting is of course visible, but not so much it would ruin the entertainment. And the story has a warm heart.

Directed by Burr Steers
Written by Jason Filardi

Cast Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Matthew Perry, Michelle Trachtenberg, Sterling Knight, Melora Hardin

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974661/

Yes Man (2008)

Yes Man is a story about a guy called Carl (Jim Carrey), who lives a pretty boring life as a junior loan officer at a local bank, has some friends, but prefers staying home watching movies rather than hanging out with them and is still saddened about the fact that he and his wife Stephanie (Molly Sims) divorced three years earlier. His friends are furious at him and especially his best buddy Peter (Bradley Cooper) is quite frustrated with his way to neglet his friends and always making excuses not to meet with him.

Then one day a guy from his past (John Michael Higgins) shows up and gives his a leaflet about a special personal development program and invites him to join them to their next meeting. Carl hesitates and is about to say no, but somehow finds himself at the meeting and suddenly for his own suprise becomes a new covenant for the program that emphasizes the power of saying yes to every opportunity that comes to your way. He soon finds himself being the typical Yes man, saying yes to flying lessons, saying yes to learn korean and even saying yes to the most unexpected loan applications he would never had approved before all this.

But no matter how ridiculous this all may sound, he actually realizes that his life is on its way to a new direction. His career starts to blossom, he has a new, fresh lovelife with a young woman called Allison (Zooey Deshanel) and things seem to be just great. But of course there is a downside to all this craziness and he eventually understands that his life is not only about saying yes, but there is a limit to everything and maybe saying yes to all the opportunities is not the answer to his problems.

This movie really is one crazy comedy and at some point you may face the fact that you either love it or hate it. Jim Carrey sure hasn't changed a bit as an actor and literally flies through the movie with his passionately entertaining and colorful wings giving some pretty darn good scenes to watch. But he surely can be a bit annoying at times and may divide the audience with his overactive character. He has a very strong presence and his charisma is just something else, but is it sometimes too much to handle? He is usually all over the place making faces, overacting and may get the audience to hyperventilate at times.

At first I really didn't know if I liked or hated this movie. But as the movie progressed I had to admit that Carrey is such a goof-ball that I cannot resist but like him, at least a little bit. At times I just laughed tears in my eyes, since some of the scenes were just so over the line. Entertaining comedy to cheer you up on a rainy, grey day.

Directed by Peyton Reed

Written by Danny Wallace (book), Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul and

Andrew Mogel (screenplay)

Cast Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper, John Michael Higgins, Molly Sims

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1068680/

Sunshine Cleaning (2008)

Sunshine Cleaning is a movie about a young mom Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams), who raises her son Oscar (Jason Spevack) by herself and is living in a small town, close to her father Joe (Alan Arkin) and her younger sister Norah (Emily Blunt), who still lives with their dad.

Rose was once the head cheerleader and got all the attention of the boys back then. But now she is facing the fact that she is a single mom, still having affair with former football player Mac (Steve Zahn), now a husband to another woman. If this already makes her feel bad about herself, what about the fact that all the other girls from high school have families and careers and she is simply a maid in a small cleaning company, going from house to house and cleaning other people's (also her former school friends) homes.

Then suddenly she hears from Mac that there is a need for crime-scene cleaners and decides to try this thing out with her sister Norah. Norah is a bit rebellious young lady and first laughs out loud at the whole idea, but soon they both find themselves at the crime scenes, cleaning up after all those deadly crimes. Things start to get better for Rose and the business is growing, until Norah messes things up and Rose is facing a new challenge and tries to figure out how to sort things out again and how to forgive her sister.

Sunshine Cleaning is a comedy all right, but I would say that this film is a mixture of both comedy and drama. Okay, it sort of plays around the peculiar lifestyle Rose and her family has and gives you a grin every now and then, but there is also some deeper aspects into this film. It's also a story about sisterhood and motherhood, the family ties and the freedom and acceptance to be yourself amongst your family members. It's also a story about new opportunities and the fact that it really doesn't matter what you do for a living, as long as you enjoy it.

Cast is well-selected and believable. I myself especially enjoyed Emily Blunt as Rose's sister Norah. She really caught my attention and I'm very curious to see more roles from this young lady.

The storyline is bubbly and colorful, but does also have its melancholy moments. It keeps your interest alive till the very end. This is a good choice for a movie to see if you want to experience a mixture of comedy and drama combined with everyday humour and some very interesting career choices.

Directed by Christine Jeffs
Written by Megan Holley

Cast Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Steve Zahn, Mary Lynn Rajskub

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862846/

Hannah Montana: the Movie (2009)

Hannah Montana is a Disney -phenomenon that has a great deal of appeal on especially young girls. Understandable: Hannah is a superstar every girl would love to be because at the same time she is a superstar, she is just a normal girl with normal teenage problems.

Hannah Montana: The Movie is the story of a girl who is living a secret double-life. During the days she (Miley Cyrus) is a normal school girl Miley Stewart, who has a best friend Lilly (Emily Osment) and who lives with her father Robby Ray (Miley's real life dad Billy Ray Cyrus) and brother Jackson (Jason Earles). But every once in a while she transforms into a brilliant, young pop star called Hannah Montana and draws arenas of young fans. Hannah is a bit like Britney Spears in her early days.

Miley has made a promise to her single father (her mother has died when she was young): she will keep Hannah a secret and won't let the popstar affect her normal life. As soon as the stardom starts interfering with Miley's real life, she will quit.

Easier said than done. Being a superstar is like a drug: once you taste it, you'll keep wanting more and you don't want to give up. So when Hannah starts taking too much of Miley's time, daddy decides that it is time for a break, and takes her (against her will of course) to the countryside, to see her grandmother Ruby (Margo Martindale).

Miley rebels at first, but then realises how much she had missed the peace and quiet of the countryside and riding on her horse. When Travis (Lucas Till) from the neighbour turns in, she notices there are some things in the normal life she can't live without.

The story of Hannah Montana: The Movie with all the glitter and fuss is a bit shallow for a grown up, but I'm sure it will have a very different appeal on younger girls. After all, with all the superstar stuff, Miley is a normal girl and with all her rebellion she is still unconditionally loved and supported by her father. In real life that might not be the case.

The movie involves all the features a young, shy girl just about to grow up would love (I was once like that and when I think of myself at 12 years old, I'm sure I would have loved a story like this): popstardom, horses on the countryside, a cute boy from the neighbour and the loving and caring adult who is always there and understands the young.

Besides from the shallow story, what bothered me was the overly stupid scenes which try to make Miley/Hannah more adult, more Cosmo-girl, more funny - when she's fighting with Tyra Banks over a pair of shoes for example. The best parts are the ones with some deeper thought in them - when Miley is having a discussion with her father in the end is beautiful.



Directed by Peter Chelsom
Written by Daniel Berendsen, based on Michael Poryes, Richard Correll and Barry O'Brien's characters
Cast Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lucas Till, Jason Earles, Emily Osment
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1114677/

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

Happy-Go-Lucky is a fresh and humorous movie written and directed by Mike Leigh. It's a movie about a 30-year old school teacher Poppy (Sally Hawkins), who is single, who lives in London and has a lot of friends and very positive and easy-going personality. She's all about happiness and can't really understand miserably behaving, unhappy people.

The story starts when Poppy visits a new bookstore and runs into this quiet bookseller (Elliot Cowan), who doesn't really care to share a word with her. But with her humorous attitude she turns that uncomfortable situation into a laughable matter and is soon out of the door and out of that weird situation. For her disappointment though, she finds out someone has stolen her bike, but hey, being the easy-spirited young lady she is, she doesn't really get too nervous, is just a bit disappointed she didn't have a chance to say goodbye to her bicycle.

The story continues when she gets home, to this nice townhome she shares with her friend for years Zoe (Alexis Zegerman) and starts to talk about the fact that after losing her bike she needs a driver's license. Zoe is okay with that idea as long as Poppy isn't planning to use her car from now on.

It doesn't take too long when Poppy is already taking her first driving lesson from a local driving instructor Scott (Eddie Marsan) who is a bit weird guy, has a pretty bad temper, some serious issues and takes his work as a driving instructor way too seriously. He's favorite saying is: Enraha! Enraha! And that becomes an inside joke between Poppy and her friend Zoe. Enraha! So it's a challenge for both Poppy and Scott, being miles apart with their attitude and personality, sitting in this tiny car for an hour every Saturday, trying to make it work. But for Poppy this doesn't seem to be a big problem and she keeps on coming back every Saturday, even though things are not going too well with Scott or the driving lessons.

The viewer can follow these hilarious driving lessons and the colorful conversations through the entire movie and eventually things go bad between these two, Scott totally loses it and gets violent towards Poppy. This is the final straw for Poppy and she tells him that she doesn't want him to teach her anymore.

Poppy also has some peculiar hobbies. She goes jumping on trampoline's after school and starts taking flamengo lessons with her co-worker. She also likes spending time with her friends and goes to pubs and clubs with them quite often, being a single woman she is. But she's not worried about her situation and doesn't stress about not having a family or a child at her age. She is simply happy like she is, enjoying every moment.

And it's no suprise that also love is about to find her. When she notices that one of her students Nick (Jack MacGeachin) is behaving violently at school, social worker Tim (Samuel Roukin) comes to her help to figure out what is going on with this young man. Poppy realizes that Tim is actually a nice guy and they set up a date. And that thing leads to another... So, you may guess the rest already.

This movie gave me some much needed positive energy. Poppy herself reminded me of a bright yellow balloon that has found it's way to get free from the balloon seller and is flying high in the blue summer sky, so free, so happy and so full of energetic yellow color. Saying this I have to give credit to Sally Hawkins who delivered Poppy's spirit with such an enthusiasm and talent I couldn't but admire her performance. No wonder she won a Golden Globe for her role.

The plot itself wasn't too deep or complicated. It was simple, straight forward and almost diary like. Just going through a period of time in Poppy's life. There were no hidden agendas, no twists and some things were predictable, but that didn't matter too much, since the whole movie was so easy-going and relaxed. And the dialogue in this movie, so bubbly and fascinating!

I think we all need a little bit of Poppy inside us! Darn good movie to watch when you want to lift up your spirits and have a good laugh!



Written by Mike Leigh
Directed by Mike Leigh
Cast Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Samuel Roukin
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045670/

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) - Movie Review

Confessions of a Shopaholic is based on two different Sophie Kinsella books (Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Shopaholic takes Manhattan), and the name just tells you all. This is an ironic story about a young college graduate Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) who happens to live in New York City and happens to have a bit of a problem. The fastly growing pile of credit card bills and the urge to shop beautiful things whenever possible, is giving her a headache of a lifetime. She just doesn't seem to be able to resist the beautiful mannequins on the display windows and is drawn into the luxurious, definitely over her budget stores, time after time, despite the unpaid bills she has.

After a funny girls night out and a little mix-up with mailing two letters, she soon finds herself working for a financial magazine (how funny is that!) writing a column by the name: The Girl in The Green Scarf, even though she dreams of doing something else, writing for a Fashion Magazine Alette. But here she is, giving advice on how to save money and use it wisely at the same time as she herself is in a pretty bad shape financially. And as you may guess, all this will end up being revealed and her boss Luke (Hugh Dancy) is not that crazy about all this, especially when her financial crisis comes to public in a TV show where they both are guests, talking about their magazine and Rebecca's amazingly popular column.

At the end she finds out that her true dream is actually not to work for Alette and she even decides to auction most of her clothes away to get the money to pay off all the credit card bills. She also realizes that she and her boss Luke might have a future together. So yes, happy ending after all this nonsense.

Rebecca Bloomwood is such a naive young woman, obsessed with high quality shoes, purses, scarfs, basically anything that you can name. She seems to face all the possible obstacles that you can face in the "cruel" world of materialism in the Big Apple. For some reason she reminds me of Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, but just like a cheap copycat compared to her. For me she was a bit goofy and her big, innocent Bambie looking-eyes made me want to laugh. I understand that there are thousands and thousands of women who can relate to her and feel for her, but still something was seriously wrong and lacking here.

The story gave nothing new, except one new trick to prevent me from using my credit card too often. Freezing it! But what a meaningless movie this is. It just goes on and on and on about her shopping, and the end, it was just ridiculously predictable and all those talking mannequins at the very end were like the icing on the cupcake expired days ago.

This is just one of those movies where you go empty headed and where you come from as empty headed as you went in. Or worst case scenario, you may find yourself at the closest Macy's and shop till you drop, or until your credit cards get overheated... Or who knows if the mannequins start talking to you? Spoo-ky!



Directed by P. J. Hogan
Written by Tracey Jackson, Tim Firth and Kayla Albert (screenplay), Sophie Kinsella (books)
Cast Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, John Lithgow, Kristin Scott Thomas
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093908/

He's Just Not That Into You (2009) - Movie review

Don't you just sometimes want to relax by watching a movie that is not so deep, but entertaining an funny? Even though you may run into some clichées and "I've seen it before" scenes? Well, I do and won't hesitate to see these so called Chick Flicks every now and then.

He's Just Not That Into You falls into this category. The storyline is bubbly and quite entertaining, and the cast is full of well-known actors and actresses. Names like Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly and Scarlet Johansson. Not to mention some new names (at least for me) like Justin Long, Ginnifer Goodwin, Kevin Connolly and Bradley Cooper.

In this movie there are several parallel stories of singles or couples who are desperately trying to understand each other and read other peoples behavior. This may sound a bit chaotic, and maybe it is, but the cast keeps the story alive and compelling until the very end.

The story begins with the early childhood of Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin), when she gets the first clue that men are not that easy to read. Years later she is still struggling to find a perfect match and finds herself always waiting by the phone for THE phone call, from a man who is obviously not that interested. But through a failed date with Connor (Kevin Connolly), she meets Alex (Justin Long), who is able to help her to read the signs men give and she is hoping her love life will get a bit better with his help. And everything goes well until she starts to misread Alex and thinks he's falling for her... Or maybe he is?

Gigi's friend Mary (Drew Barrymore) has her own obstacles when it comes to men and feels that she has been dumbed with every possible gadget that our modern technology offers. But she doesn't want to give up and believes she will find her man, eventually. She just has this problem wanting to share all her love-life details with her "perhaps not so straight" co-workers, which is not always the smartest way to do things.

When a man and a woman decide to be just friends, what do you expect happens...? Ben (Bradley Cooper) and Anna (Scarlett Johansson) run into each other at a local grocery store and sparks fly immediately. Ben tries to hold back and explains that he's happily married with his wife Janine (Jennifer Connolly), but Anna won't give up and persuades him into a relationship, which starts first as a friendship, but you know, who can resist Scarlett? I mean... Anna... ;-)

And what if you have been together for years, let's say seven years, and there is no sign of him to be interested in marrying you? Would you start thinking it's against the nature? Well, at least Beth (Jennifer Aniston) feels this way about his long relationship with his beau Neil (Ben Affleck) who seems to be totally against marriage and Beth can't help but think that maybe this is a bad sign. A sign of something much more serious. A sign that says that he will never marry her and even worse; is not that into you...

And of course ladies love to share their thoughts about all the disturbing details of their relationships and point of views from friends are always highly appreciated. Who else can give you help in these matters than another woman, since they know the best. Don't they?

You can expect to see a lot of new turns and little twists, but don't expect this to be too deep or a life changing experience. Entertaining and funny, but an average movie experience, I would say. And one star goes to the cast, absolutely!

Directed by Ken Kwapis

Written by Abby Kohn, Mark Silverstein
Cast Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlet Johansson, Justin Long, Ginnifer Goodwin, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper

IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1001508/

Tropic Thunder (2008) - review

No matter what is said of Ben Stiller, but this time he really blows a bank with a fun and witty comedic satire of movie making, called Tropic Thunder. Directed and co-written by Stiller, Tropic Thunder is definitely one of the most entertaining comedies of 2008.

Stiller himself is an action star Tugg Speedman, the star of six sequels of a Scorcher-franchise. Jack Black is Jeff Portnoy, comedian who in his Fatties -movies play an entire family of farting fatties. Robert Downey Jr. is an Australian 5-time-Academy-Award winning actor Kirk Lazarus, whose latest film Satan's Alley is about two monks affair.

These three are recruited to act in the most expensive war movie ever - Lazarus playing a black guy. When budget is blown away, the director (Steve Coogan) is forced to figure out some other way of completing the film. Vietnam vet Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte) whose book the film is based on, suggests an extreme method - place cameras all over the jungle and drop the boys to do their job on their own. This leads to unexpected situations where team spirit is really needed.

The story is full of brilliant satire towards the movie industry - actors, directors, producers, Academy - they all get their share. And in a wonderfully hilarious way. So often comedies don't make you laugh because they don't have anything original in them. Tropic Thunder is its own kind, and really made me laugh. It has the courage to go far enough in the satire and the courage to use language not often heard in Hollywood movies.

And you can hardly recognise Tom Cruise (who does a great job) in his disguise...



Directed by Ben Stiller
Written by Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux, Etan Coen
Cast Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Nick Nolte, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0942385/

In Bruges (2008) - review

In Bruges is probably the best comedy this year: filled with pitch black humour, dazzling dialogue, interesting characters, hilarious plot, damn good acting and beautiful photography.

Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are killers from London, who are sent to a beautiful medieval town called Bruges in Belgium, to relax and calm down after their last gig, and hopefully wait for their next assignment. Ken decides to take everything from the mini-vacation - he's excited about the beauty of the town and its marvellous sights in the lovely late autumn sunshine. Ray on the other hand is not that satisfied and complains about being sent to the stupid Belgium.

After few days the truth of their Ray's and Ken's last assignment is revealed. Their boss (Ralph Fiennes) takes action and comes to Bruges himself to sort things out. This leads to some shooting and serious action, but filled with black humour.

Farrell and Gleeson are a perfect pair - the other is older and wiser, calmer, and the other is young, restless, and still looking for himself. Fiennes is brilliant as the revenge seeking boss. Dialogue is just great and the story is full of surprises, not the least by a dwarf who is shooting a n art film in Bruges. In Bruges is the debut film by Martin McDonagh, and an extremely positive start for his film career!



Directed and written by Martin McDonagh
Cast Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780536/

Definitely, maybe (2008) - dvd review

Definitely, maybe is a sympathetic drama comedy in which 11 years old Maya (amazing Abligail Breslin) requests her divorced father to tell about the times before she was born - after getting so interested in love during the school's sexual education class. Dad (Ryan Reynolds) dresses the story in a mystery, and tells a story of one man and three different women, and how one of them became Maya's mom.

Daddy's past gets more flesh around it's bones along the way and his political past is fun to follow. The mother-mystery remains unique until the end and only in the last half of the movie gets a little bit cliched. Breslin and Reynolds work together amazingly well and they form the story a firm backbone.

Directed and Written by Adam Brooks
Cast Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weitz
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0832266/

The Bucket List (2007) - review

Life is short and very few of us does what they dream about, what they would really want to do with their lives. When the end draws near, it is the things undone that you regret. This dead serious subject is what the comedy called The Bucket List tells about.

After working his whole life as a car mechanic Carter (Morgan Freeman) hears he is suffering from incureable cancer and his life is ending sooner than later. In the hospital bed he has time to think about things and starts writing a "Bucket List", list of things he would like to experience before kicking the bucket. He gets a room mate with the same medical destiny, a self centered millionaire Edward (Jack Nicholson) and after a while these two very different men find many things in common. And finally they escaoe from the hospital to fulfill their dreams.

The director Rob Reiner (When Harry met Sally..., Princess Bride) draws a sympathetic story of a dead serious subject. What makes the story unrealistic is that as a millionaire it is financially so easy to make your dreams come true. There are some touching scenes, like the "kiss of the most beautiful girl in the world", but as a whole it is just warm hearted entertainment.

Directed by Rob Reiner
Written by Justin Zackham
Cast Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0825232/

Superhero movie (2007) - dvd review

Riding on the success of last years' superhero movies Superhero movie is an embarrassing act of comedy. Making parody mainly of Spider-man and X-men, Superhero movie failed to tickle my humour nerves and just made me yawn.

While dreaming of the cute blonde (Sara Baxton) in his neighbour, Rick (Drake Bell) gets bitten by a gene-manipulated dragonfly on a school trip. This gives him superpowers and he turns to be a superhero called Dragonfly. When a supervillain Hourglass (Christopher McDonald) threatens to slaughter the whole city, Dragonfly comes to help.

Craig Mazin (the writer of a couple of Scary Movies) uses the same proven-to-be-successful concept again, but jokes seen more than once don't convince anymore. The story is directly from Spider-man, with some additional fart jokes and bumping into things. Comedy veteran Leslie Nielsen is cast as Rick's uncle and Pamela Anderson as an Invisible Girl, mainly invisible.



Director Craig Mazin
Written by Craig Mazin
Cast Drake Bell, Sara Paxton, Christopher McDonald, Leslie Nielsen, Marion Ross
IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426592/

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) - review

I managed to get tickets to the final screening at Espoo Cine film festival and was expecting a lot from this new Woody Allen film. It had all the aspects of being a masterpiece: Woody Allen's witty writing and directing skills, brilliant cast, interesting storyline and beautiful sceneries of Spain.

The story evolves around two art-loving American women (Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson) who travel to Spain for a month. Hall's character Vicky is engaged, about to get married, very down to earth person, and her opposite, Johansson's Cristina is single and adventurous, and does not really know yet what to do with her life. They bump into a sexy Spanish artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who asks the girls to come with him, enjoy some good food, drinks - and sex.

This leads the girls to an adventure which involves among others the mentally unstable ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) and flips both worlds upside down. In the end they are forced to search their own feelings thoroughly.

Although I liked the overall story and the characters were fresh and real and the acting was good, in the end something was missing. With ...(read more) seeing the complexity of human relationships during the film, I was a bit let down with the anti-climax of the story in the end. But it is always wonderful to watch beautiful, talented people together - Penelope Cruz is always so charming, Scarlett Johansson knows how to be sexy and cute and it was fun to see Javier Bardem in a "normal" role after seeing him as a cold-blooded killer in No country for old men.



Director: Woody Allen
Written by: Woody Allen
Cast: Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall
Official site: http://vickycristina-movie.com/
Imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497465/