Yes, we know, we had another week off last week. Gallivanting in that there London, but we're back now and this week we are watching a film that has been on the "to watch" list for quite a while. Sit back, relax, put the cat out, put your feet up, do what you like, while we watch;
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
There we have it and so we hear you ask, what was The Incredible Burt Wonderstone all about? Well it stars Steve Carrell as the eponymous Burt Wonderstone and Steve Buscemi as Anton Marvelton, these are not their real names, they are just stage names. The film kicks off with a flashback to the school days of Burt and Anton, for his birthday Burt receives a Rance Holloway magic kit which transforms his life, no longer will he be bullied, he will use magic to avoid the bullies. Along with Anton they hone their magical skills aided and abetted by the famous Rance Holloway's magic kit. With a puff of magical smoke, fast forward twenty years and the pair are now huge stars in Las Vegas and end up with a residency at Bally's Hotel where they continue wow the audiences for the next ten years, getting through various female assistants in the process. All called Nicole by the way. The last assistant being Jane played by the gorgeous Olivia Wilde (Drinking Buddies, The Change Up), but also called Nicole by the magical stars of the show, who by now are beginning to show signs of friendship fatigue. The over-the-top Burt leads a lavish lifestyle, entertaining many a woman in his oversize bed, while Anton just seems to be content with plodding on with the same old show.
All of this is about to change when the street magician Steve Gray, played by the annoyingly funny Jim Carrey, turns up in LA to film scenes for his TV show; "Brain Rapist". Carrey is totally over the top as Gray, taking street magic to another, very tongue in cheek level. And all of a sudden Steve Gray is the talk of the town and Burt and Anton are the old (top) hat magicians with dwindling audiences. This is not what hotel owner; Doug Munny wants to see and insists that the act is improved with some new tricks.
A few words regarding Doug Munny, played exquisitely well by the late James Gandolfini. In fact this character actually lifts the rather cheesey story to another level, the screenplay may not be that scintillating, but Gandolfini is just superb as Doug Munny. Again very tongue in cheek, but extremely witty.
Moving on, so when their new grand illusion goes horribly and hilariously wrong, the already frayed relationship between Wonderstone and Marvelton hits a new low and the pair separate to go their own ways. Anton heads off to work in under-developed countries, introducing magic to the kids, while Burt continues to bore the audience with the same old illusions until Doug Munny finally lets him go. So, very much down on his luck the once incredible Burt Wonderstone ends up performing his tricks in a nursing home, for the old ladies and gentleman, where luckily for the storyline and for our pleasure he bumps into the great, and now old, Rance Holloway, played brilliantly by the deadpan Alan Arkin. This twist of fate allows Burt to realise again what made magic so magical for him in the first place and with Rance he starts to think about performing magic again.
From here up to the end of the film the laughs increase, but no more synopsis, we don't want to spoil the end of the film for you.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone was described by Zoo as "outrageously funny", the comment from the sofa tonight was; "it's not a bad little film I suppose" and that coming from someone who actually stayed awake throughout the whole film, is praise indeed!
Steve Carrell is impressive as Wonderstone, but then Carrell generally is pretty darn good in whatever he appears in. Buscemi provides a perfect foil for the extravagant and exuberant Wonderstone, one could almost say the perfect character juxtaposition. Alan Arkin as Rance Holloway is brilliant and has some great scenes, his final disappearing trick being a case in point.
As for Jim Carrey, well he has not been a favourite here at TNiFN, in fact he has been described as obnoxious, creepy and toe curlingly cringe-worthy, but you cannot deny that for all of his rubber faced, often ad-lib'd antics, he can be very funny and he certainly was perfect as the very weird Steve Gray, even if he does steal some of the limelight away from the other cast.
All in all The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is very funny, very tongue in cheek and worthy of a watch. As for the scores, well drum roll please as we pull the rabbit out of the hat and award.........
TNiFN Rating 78%
IMDB Link
Tuesday 24 February 2015
Tuesday 10 February 2015
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - 10th February 2015
We're back! Did you miss us? Yes, we know it was only a week but if we take time out, we get inundated with posts on Facebook asking; "are you alright hun?" Um. Actually we don't. Moving on.
This week we are watching;
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
So you may be wondering what Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is all about, well it is about fishing for salmon, in the Yemen, strange though that idea may sound. Based on Paul Torday's book we see a very rich Yemeni sheikh (Amr Waked), who absolutely loves fishing, decide he would like to look at the feasibility of establishing salmon lakes in the fairly arid area of the Yemen. He approaches a British consultancy company, who in turn look to the government for assistance, who jump on the story as it would put a positive spin on the strained anglo-arab relations. So much so they press the leading fisheries expert from the Department of Fisheries and Agriculture to look into the feasibility, who in turn laughs at the ludicrous nature of the request.
So that's the plot in a nutshell, to add some detail to that Ewan McGregor plays Dr. Alfred Jones, the fisheries expert, who is seconded to work with the consultancy firm employing a financial adviser to the sheikh; Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, played the ever-so lovely Emily Blunt. This is all spun into a positive political projection by the Prime Minister's press secretary Patricia Maxwell, played superbly by the magnificent Kristin Scott Thomas. Throw in a love interest for Harriet in the form of soldier Robert Mayers (Tom Mison) and you have the perfect balance for a love triangle in this romantic comedy about salmon fishing!
Deep breath!
Dr. Jones is a very staid and almost tweedy middle aged man, who is in a steady but stagnating marriage, where his work with fish clearly makes him a very boring character, steady, unfunny and set in his ways. When he is offered to work on the ludicrous notion of introducing salmon to the Yemen, he scoffs at the preposterous nature of the request, but all the way he is cajoled into working on the project and making the plan a reality.
Working alongside Dr. Jones is Miss Chetwode-Talbot, who really starts out to be the antithesis to the good doctor, with very little, if anything in common. However, her very new boyfriend immediately rules out any love interest between Alfred and Harriet. not that Alfred would consider such a thing, his mere inclusion in this project is farcical, let alone any kind of dalliance with his new colleague, but there clearly is a spark of a romance, as they continue to work together and when the original love interest goes "missing in action"...............
Well, we've said too much.
All the while we have the government's over-zealous press secretary ensuring that the right people, are in the right place, at the right time and in front of the right reporters. Kristin Scott Thomas absolutely nails this role, she is anarchic, condescending, incorrigible and down-right funny and is a key element within the film, especially as the story takes a darker turn when some of the Yemeni locals take umbrage at the sheikh's fishy plans and try to scupper any further development of their homeland. They do so, unaware or not believing that he is not just doing it for the sport, but as well as being a very expensive past time, it will bring fertility to the land and develop the area for future generations.
Again, we may be letting too many cats out of the bag, or allowing too many salmon to float upstream!
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a delightful little film, taking an absurd plot and throwing in some mismatched individuals and allowing them to develop and grow throughout the 107 minutes of the film. It supplies some lovely cinematography, ranging from the lochs of Scotland to the arid deserts of the Yemen. Ewan McGregor is really brilliant as Dr. Alfred Jones, you see his character grow and flourish throughout the various twists in the meandering story. Emily Blunt just sizzles on screen, her natural beauty and acting skills shine from the screen. As for Kristin Scott Thomas, she is just a delight to watch, a great character portrayed superbly by an equally great actress.
As for the scores, the panel was divided yet again. Some enjoyed the subtle nuances in the writing, whilst others were visibly struggling to get past the tweedy boredom of the initial scene setting. Some thought the story to be quirky, funny and most enjoyable, others considered it a bit daft. Nevertheless, it is certainly a film that requires a viewing for you to make your own mind up on. Enjoyable, but the panel scores it a lowly;
TNiFN Rating 65%
Clearly the panel member writing this esteemed blog was on the side of the film, even if the others were not!
IMDB Link
This week we are watching;
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
So you may be wondering what Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is all about, well it is about fishing for salmon, in the Yemen, strange though that idea may sound. Based on Paul Torday's book we see a very rich Yemeni sheikh (Amr Waked), who absolutely loves fishing, decide he would like to look at the feasibility of establishing salmon lakes in the fairly arid area of the Yemen. He approaches a British consultancy company, who in turn look to the government for assistance, who jump on the story as it would put a positive spin on the strained anglo-arab relations. So much so they press the leading fisheries expert from the Department of Fisheries and Agriculture to look into the feasibility, who in turn laughs at the ludicrous nature of the request.
So that's the plot in a nutshell, to add some detail to that Ewan McGregor plays Dr. Alfred Jones, the fisheries expert, who is seconded to work with the consultancy firm employing a financial adviser to the sheikh; Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, played the ever-so lovely Emily Blunt. This is all spun into a positive political projection by the Prime Minister's press secretary Patricia Maxwell, played superbly by the magnificent Kristin Scott Thomas. Throw in a love interest for Harriet in the form of soldier Robert Mayers (Tom Mison) and you have the perfect balance for a love triangle in this romantic comedy about salmon fishing!
Deep breath!
Dr. Jones is a very staid and almost tweedy middle aged man, who is in a steady but stagnating marriage, where his work with fish clearly makes him a very boring character, steady, unfunny and set in his ways. When he is offered to work on the ludicrous notion of introducing salmon to the Yemen, he scoffs at the preposterous nature of the request, but all the way he is cajoled into working on the project and making the plan a reality.
Working alongside Dr. Jones is Miss Chetwode-Talbot, who really starts out to be the antithesis to the good doctor, with very little, if anything in common. However, her very new boyfriend immediately rules out any love interest between Alfred and Harriet. not that Alfred would consider such a thing, his mere inclusion in this project is farcical, let alone any kind of dalliance with his new colleague, but there clearly is a spark of a romance, as they continue to work together and when the original love interest goes "missing in action"...............
Well, we've said too much.
All the while we have the government's over-zealous press secretary ensuring that the right people, are in the right place, at the right time and in front of the right reporters. Kristin Scott Thomas absolutely nails this role, she is anarchic, condescending, incorrigible and down-right funny and is a key element within the film, especially as the story takes a darker turn when some of the Yemeni locals take umbrage at the sheikh's fishy plans and try to scupper any further development of their homeland. They do so, unaware or not believing that he is not just doing it for the sport, but as well as being a very expensive past time, it will bring fertility to the land and develop the area for future generations.
Again, we may be letting too many cats out of the bag, or allowing too many salmon to float upstream!
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a delightful little film, taking an absurd plot and throwing in some mismatched individuals and allowing them to develop and grow throughout the 107 minutes of the film. It supplies some lovely cinematography, ranging from the lochs of Scotland to the arid deserts of the Yemen. Ewan McGregor is really brilliant as Dr. Alfred Jones, you see his character grow and flourish throughout the various twists in the meandering story. Emily Blunt just sizzles on screen, her natural beauty and acting skills shine from the screen. As for Kristin Scott Thomas, she is just a delight to watch, a great character portrayed superbly by an equally great actress.
As for the scores, the panel was divided yet again. Some enjoyed the subtle nuances in the writing, whilst others were visibly struggling to get past the tweedy boredom of the initial scene setting. Some thought the story to be quirky, funny and most enjoyable, others considered it a bit daft. Nevertheless, it is certainly a film that requires a viewing for you to make your own mind up on. Enjoyable, but the panel scores it a lowly;
TNiFN Rating 65%
Clearly the panel member writing this esteemed blog was on the side of the film, even if the others were not!
IMDB Link
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