It's been a busy month for me - moving to a new home among other things - so this will be my movie list for the entire month of May. I haven't watched a lot of movies this month (so it's a short list) since a Community marathon (seasons 1-4) and a re-watch of Game of Thrones (season 1) have taken a bulk of my down time.
Intermission (2003)
There's some heavy Irish accent going on in this film and I had to watch this without subtitles. So imagine my effort in understanding what they were saying. Better yet, you could go watch this film and after your ears adjust to the thick accent, you'll realize this is well-directed with an excellent ensemble and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I sometimes enjoy Colin Farrell's performances especially when he's playing the bad boy (the first scene of him chatting up this girl was the best scene to me - proof here) and I always enjoy Cillian Murphy. This is a dark comedy, an indie film set in Dublin, with a handful of stories intertwined and chaotic with a purpose. Oh, and I'm happy to read that Roger Ebert gave this movie 3 1/2 stars.
Warm Bodies (2012)
Remember that little boy from "About a Boy"? (This was the time when Hugh Grant was still making decent movies that I cherished. Anyway...) That young boy Hugh starred with was Nicholas Hoult and in Warm Bodies he's the teen zombie R who does lengthy but witty voice overs and happens to be the love interest of Aussie Teresa Palmer. The story's a no-brainer (by the way, zombies in this story are like the zombies from Plants vs. Zombies - they eat brains) and the turns are predictable but this is a better love story than Twilight and with a much agreeable ending.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Ms. Kathryn Bigelow - I'm a fan. The Hurt Locker was a fine piece of work and so is Zero Dark Thirty. Even if I (and the rest of the world) knew how the story would end, I still found myself holding my breath during the last minutes of the film, which is the same feeling I got from Argo. Jessica Chastain makes one fierce CIA officer.
The Eagle (2011)
Whose idea was it to make this two hours long? I think Channing Tatum is an OK actor (you can even say a great one if you just can't look past that body) and I seriously thought he could pull off playing a Roman soldier in a period movie. He's put on an accent (I think) but it's not believable. His character, Marcus Aquila, can't hold a candle next to Russel Crowe's Maximus. Jamie Bell should have been the soldier and not the slave. As for the plot, again, why does a story about looking for a small eagle statue have to be two hours long?
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| If I could take Channing out of the equation and leave Mark Strong and Jamie Bell, could this film suck even less? |
This Channing Tatum movie I like way better than The Eagle. Who would've thought there would be so much comedic chemistry between him and Jonah Hill? They were so cute together and the jokes got funnier and funnier until the end. There's a surprise cameo at the latter part of the movie from an original cast member of the 21 Jumpstreet TV show which I'm sure you'll be delighted with. And if you've already seen 21 Jumpstreet, I hope to be the bearer of good news that a sequel is in the works and is scheduled for release next year.
Mama (2013)
This is a fantasy-horror film presented by Guillermo del Toro and stars Jessica Chastain and Jaime Lannister, also known as Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. There are elements in this movie that reminded me of del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth which is why I liked it even more and there's also a couple of cute kids here who definitely upped the creepiness level of the story. I thought this was a good, stylish horror flick that's my type of scary.
*Images via Rotten Tomatoes & Wikipedia
