The World According to Who?

In Identify Thief Sandy Patterson [Jason Bateman] has just given up his job with a big company to start afresh in a finance company with some of his colleagues, when he finds out that someone has stolen his identity.

He is arrested by police for allegedly missing a court appearance, but it becomes clear he is not the right person when they receive a mug shot of the other Sandy, who is actually Diana [Melissa McCarthy].

His new job is now in jeopardy, and it appears the police cannot do anything as the thief is in Florida, so out of their jurisdiction. But Sandy comes up with the idea of going to Florida and bringing Diana back to confess all. Of course this part of the story is completely unbelievable!

However, there are some hilarious escapades en route, with Diana providing most of the laughs. It is a comedy after all, so it doesn’t have to be plausible, right?

I did enjoy this film, even though the story was rubbish. Good if you want a laugh.

Oz the Great and Powerful starts off in Kansas, as you would expect…… Oscar Diggs [James Franco] is a magician, conman and womaniser who travels around the countryside with a circus. He gets in to a bit of trouble and manages to make his escape in a hot air balloon. But it goes from bad to worse when the balloon heads straight in to a tornado.

As predicted, he lands in Oz, and meets a witch, who proclaims that he is the long awaited wizard who will end the troubles in Oz and bring peace back to the land.

When I went the place was full of kids! But I wouldn’t have said it was a kid’s film. Yes, it is suitable for children, but not just for children.

It is of course a fantasy, with a bit of irony and humour thrown in, and a bit silly. Not the best film I’ve seen this year, but certainly watchable.

Managed to go to the pictures in a last minute dash. It was so last minute, I was expecting to see “Hansel & Gretel” [not my usual sort of choice but a friend said it was okay]. But turned out I’d got the timing completely wrong, so though Parker had already started, I managed to sneak in during the opening credits, so didn’t disturb anyone.

I’ve seen a couple of Jason Stratham films, and I know he’s usually the baddy, and he’s violent, but he does it very well, and he is nice eye candy.

This one starts off during a robbery in a State fair. A few of the thieves are dressed up as clowns and Stratham is dressed as a priest. He plays his part so well, that a panicking security guard actually thanks him for his kind words during the robbery. Nice touch there!

As usual, things don’t go according to plan later, and he’s left for dead. But of course he isn’t dead, and goes for revenge. This leaves his wife and father-in-law vulnerable from attack by the mafia, but he manages to get them out of the way in time.

Meantime he’s using the services of an estate agent [Jennifer Lopez] for the likely location of the thieves who had left him for dead. Turns out she’s as unscrupulous, though not as clever, as him and offers to help him for a cut.

There were a couple of bits that I thought were too stupid to be plausible, but in general, enjoyed the plot and the action.

Thumbs up for this one too.

Saw this one a couple of weeks ago – I was surprised that Don chose it, thinking he would go for the more manly “Die Hard” I was expecting the usual soppy rom com but was pleasantly amused. It was quite funny, and entertaining without being OTT.

Nat [Rose Byrne] and Josh [Rafe Spall] get married after a whirlwind romance. Josh’s best man [Stephen Merchant] does a superb job of continually being inappropriate. Nat’s sister [Minnie Driver] is married to a doctor, but the romance has gone long ago, and she is hilariously cynical. The marriage guidance counselor is also quite unique, and not at all what you’d expect.

This is not your typical rom com, there are a few twists and turns that could have spoiled the film badly by being oversentimental, but it was handled with wit and humour. Well done I thought.

This one gets the thumbs up from me.

Lincoln is based on a short period on President Lincoln’s term up until his death in 1865, when he successfully passed a bill abolishing slavery in the USA.

The President had long campaigned to put and end to slavery, but was concerned that the end of the civil war and the return of the southern states would ruin his chances of passing the bill. In order to remove the risk of the bill being overturned by the returning states, he needed to have the bill passed by the end of January and effectively delay the end of the civil war.

This film shows the struggle he had to gain enough support to get the bill through. It’s quite a long film, and not exactly action packed. However, Daniel Day Lewis played his role tremendously well, and I would say his Oscar was well deserved.

Not really a film for those looking for entertainment, but well done none the less.

Django Unchained is a Tarantino film, so for that alone I thought was worth a look.

Django [Jamie Foxx] is a slave being transported with several other slaves by the Speck brothers. Dr. King Schultz [Christoph Waltz] arrives in the woods and asks to speak to the slaves. He’s looking for one in particular who can identify the Brittle brothers, three men who have carried out some ruthless crimes including murder. It turns out that the doctor, a dentist, is working as a bounty hunter. He frees Django and enlists him to help him identify the Brittle brothers, taking care of the Speck brothers in the process.

Django and Dr Shultz make a good team, and when the doctor finds out Django’s history, he agrees to help him find his wife Broomhilda.

Their search takes them to a plantation owned by Calvin Candie [Leonardo diCaprio], who forces his slaves to fight to the death in “Mandigo” fights. Dr Schultz and Django pose as potential buyers of one of Candie’s slaves for fighting. However, Candie’s loyal slave Stephen [Samuel L Jackson] susses out that Django and Broomhilda know eachother.

This film is typical Tarantino style. There is lots of violence, shooting, blood, and great sound effects. There is also humour and the usual Tarantino cameo, which is very funny.

It’s quite a long film, but at no point was I looking at my watch wondering when it would be over. Even if you don’t like films with lots of violence, or westerns, it’s worth a watch. Very well done.

We saw this one last week, it’s about Alfred Hitchcock (obviously), but also highlights the contribution by his wife Alma, who never got any credit for her work.

Hitchock [Anothony Hopkins] has just completed “North by Northwest” and is looking for his next hit. Having been subjected to suggestions that it was time for him to retire, he decides to go for something that will shock the audience and prepares to film “Physcho”. His long suffering wife [Helen Mirren] is not impressed, but eventually gets behind him to help with the work. He has difficulty getting the film makers to back him, so funds the project personally.

This is not a Hitchcock film, it’s a film about Hitchcock, and as such has received mixed reviews. But I found it very entertaining and well done. It shows the man behind the films, and the woman behind the man. It also gives an insight in to the actors who played the leads in the film “Phsycho”.

Worth a look.

I’ve been making up for lost time, seeing as many films as I can lately. I saw Flight this week, having already seen the trailers. Denzel Washington rarely disappoints, so wasn’t too concerned about it being overly dramatised.

Denzel plays a pilot, Whip Whittaker, of a commercial flight, who regularly drinks too much and takes cocaine. He’s divorced with a young son, and doesn’t have a good relationship with him or his ex-wife.

The flight scene, leading to the crash is very well done – I found myself tensing up as the scene was played out. Whip manages to stay cool, directing his co-pilot and flight assistant to help him bring the plane down as well as they can with minimum loss of life.

During his time in hospital, he meets a recovering addict, and they meet up later. Meantime, toxicology tests make it clear that Whip should not have been in charge of a plane, even though it’s acknowledged that what he did was nothing short of a miracle.

Very good film, well done. Though I was a wee bit unconvinced at the ending……..

I’d been wanting to see this one as soon as I started seeing the trailers. I’ve never seen the stage version, but a friend raves about it. I was warned by several folk to bring lots of hankies. By the time I did see it, I’d heard lots of criticism about the choice of actors for some roles and their ability to sing.

Well, I didn’t need the hankies (I’m really not the emotional type), but I thought the standard of singing by the actors was excellent. Including Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman. I thought they played their parts brilliantly. Helena Bonham Carter was good as always. Sacha Baron Cohen was a surprise – he was pretty good. The girl who played Cosette, Isabelle Allen was very good. I could go on – they were all good.

But the star of the show had to be Anne Hathaway. I expected lots of miming, but if she was, she was damned good. Her part was most impressive.

Thoroughly enjoyed it and didn’t think it was too long at all. Well done and well impressed.

Quartet stars Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins as retired opera singers living in a retirement home for musicians.

Reg, Wilf and Cissy are friends in the home, though Cissy [Pauline Collins] is showing signs of dementia. Wilf [Billy Connolly] is a bit of a rogue, blaming his bad behaviour on the results of suffering a stroke.

Every year the home puts on a concert to raise funds to keep it running. The arrival of a new resident, Jean [Maggie Smith] brings back some old difficulties that were never resolved.

This film is a wee bit slow, but there are quite a few good laughs. Pauline Collins is brilliant.

Thumbs up.