Hall Pass - 31st March 2015

Another week drifts by and we find ourselves here again for another Tuesday Night is Film Night. Tonight we skip back a few years to 2011 for a comedy with a touch of romance, maybe.

Hall Pass

Yes, it's another Farrelly brothers film, with the same laddish humour, but maybe some subtle nods to romance, just. So what is it all about we hear you ask? Well, in a nutshell......

Actually, a nutshell is not going to be big enough for the synopsis, so take a deep breath and read on. Hall Pass is about Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis), who are married to Maggie and Grace (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) respectively. After Rick takes too much of a lingering look at another woman, Jenna berates him for the faux pas and brings up the subject with her best friend Grace. Grace concedes she has noticed the same behaviour in Fred. This leads to a discussion regarding the guys obsession with sex. In turn this leads to the suggestion that if they cannot control their desire to gawk at other women, perhaps it is time that they should have a Hall Pass. In other words a week off from marriage to get it out of their system.

A novel concept for a storyline, perhaps with some mileage for a Farrelly brothers treatment. Unfortunately, the 105 minute long film doesn't really get going until the end of the first hour. In fact the first sixty minutes were almost slumping into a dull mediocrity, with the occasional flash of inspiration. Essentially the girls allow their respective husbands to go off and enjoy a week of bachelorhood again, as the wives go off to stay with relatives, the guys hook up with some buddies with the predilection of having a good time and taking full advantage of their freedom. It transpires that it is not as easy as it used to be. There are some funny scenes, with some laugh out loud moments. Stephen Merchant appears as a token Englishman and supplies some comedic moments, but it appears to be a little strained in places, where the script was trying too hard for laughs and clearly failing.

However, it does get better and there are some really rewarding moments, as the boys struggle to find suitable dates for their dalliances. However, in an ironic juxtaposition, the girls who are not out to have any kind of extramarital action, fall into an unlikely friendship with the local baseball team where they are staying and end up enjoying their freedom much more than Rick and Fred are.

The first three quarters of the film deal with the comedy aspect of this unlikely scenario and it plays to the inabilities of Rick and Fred. However the last quarter introduces some romance, but also ramps up the comedy somewhat and the ending is ten times as good as the start. Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis are fairly standard as the leading men, the same for the leading ladies, nothing really to write home about. However, some of the supporting cast do shine out, especially Stephen Merchant as Gary, whose finale during the end credits is certainly well worth the wait. Derek Waters who plays Brent, a part time DJ and barista in a coffee shop, also adds a degree of anarchy and fun to the last few scenes. Also, not forgetting to mention Nicky Whelan, who plays Leigh, whose shapely curves become a distraction for Rick and we do see those shapely curves in the full. This will not affect the scores in anyway. (It might).

And there we have it, Hall Pass is in comedic romp through a week of pseudo-bachelorhood for Rick and Fred, which turns out to be what they do not really need, but let us not spoil the ending. It's funny, but formulaic. It's somewhat sexy, but slow in places. Rewarding in the end, but a struggle to start. Overall it is a good film, it could have been better, however it could have been a darn sight worse! If Hall Pass is on the TV, then it'll be worth a watch.

The scores clearly reflect the positive side of the film, as certain panel members enjoyed it, managing to stay awake, which is a feat in itself!

TNiFN Rating 73%

IMDB Link

Lost in Translation - 24th March 2015

Tuesday Night is Film Night drifts back to 2003 for this week's presentation, a drama starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson where we hopefully will find out what gets......

Lost in Translation

Where does one start with Lost in Translation? Let us get the niceties of the cast out of the way and then tackle the story. Bill Murray plays Bob Harris and Scarlett Johansson is Charlotte. Bob is a 50-something actor who although past his prime is still getting work albeit in commercials. This leads him to work in Tokyo starring in an advertising campaign for whisky. Charlotte on the other hand is the young wife of a busy photographer with an assignment in Japan and Charlotte has come along for the ride. Both Bob and Charlotte are staying in the same hotel, both are jet lagged, tired but still find sleep to be difficult.

Charlotte is bored whilst her husband is out working and Bob is morose as his work is tedious and difficult due to the language barrier. Plus his dwindling  25 year marriage is continuing to suffer due to the distance between them, that and Bob's wife seemingly nagging him via the fax machine.

Bob first spots Charlotte in the hotel lift, it pleases him to see a friendly face within a sea of distance glances and thus starts a very slow, very deliberate coming together of these two disparate souls, worlds apart in history, age and purpose, but within this juxtaposed outlook their commonality of alienation in a foreign city pulls them together.

Lost in Translation is certainly not a fast paced film and the plot, although centreing on the unlikely relationship of the two main characters, is not overbearing or complicated at all. In fact Lost in Translation is more about the atmospheric approach to the story and in some scenes it is about what the characters don't say that is important.

Bill Murray is just sublime, providing the perfect characterisation for the aging actor Bob, as he struggles with life in a different culture. And as for Scarlett Johansson, who was just 18 when this film was made, she is just perfection. Scene after scene she just looks superb, by doing very little, just a glance here and a look there, it doesn't sound much, but within the context of an atmospherically drive storyline, that is what is needed and you can really feel a sense of sexual tension even though the relationship between Bob and Charlotte is not physical.

One supposes this is why Lost in Translation works so well, the viewer clearly enjoying the chemistry between Bob and Charlotte, then wanting the thread of the story to follow the normal formulaic approach of a love story, in this case a holiday romance or a foreign fling, but Lost in Translation is not a love story per se, moreover it is a diagnosis of a relationship where two very different entities are happily dropped together clinging to the one common denominator that put them together.

The story and direction by Sofia Coppola is just brilliant, the camera work, the settings and the undercurrent of music all combine to form a beautifully shot and produced film, not overtly arty and certainly without pretension.

However, differences of opinion here at TNiFN Towers will affect the scores. Some wanted the love story to be a love story, whilst others appreciated the subtle nuances as depicted on screen, accepting that the film was more about the thoughts of the characters as the film enveloped the viewer, rather than having those thoughts translated to deeds and acted out for you.

A film for thinking and not so much doing. (Apologies for the score).

TNiFN Rating 77%

IMDB Link

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World - 17th March 2015

After a little break last week for birthday celebrations, which ironically included a trip to the cinema, Tuesday Night is Film Night is back with another film from our archives (also known as; "DVDs we get as presents on birthdays"!)

This week we are going to be;

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Well that was a refreshing change! To paraphrase the synopsis provided on Amazon, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is about;

"..................with 21 days left until the end of the world. Insurance salesman Dodge (Steve Carell) is suddenly deserted by his wife and now has no idea how to spend his last remaining days. When a riot breaks out around his building, Dodge escapes in the car of his extraverted neighbour Penny (Keira Knightley). Seizing the moment, they embark on a hilarious road trip to reunite with their loved ones – Dodge with his long lost high school sweetheart and Penny with her family..........."

Just reading that is doesn't really enthrall the potential viewer does it? When in fact Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a lot more that that simple synopsis.

We start the film with the news of the impending end of the world due to the impact of a huge meteor, heading ominously and certainly towards the earth. Dodge Petersen hears this news with his wife, who inexplicably runs off, leaving Dodge alone in the car. He heads home contemplating his own, time constrained future, when a chance meeting with his outgoing neighbour; Penny (Knightley) changes his future for the better. They discuss their past and their very short future and when the neighbourhood erupts with rioting they decide to head out of town to seek some happiness. Dodge discovers a letter that his childhood sweetheart sent him just a few months previously and realises that perhaps that is who he should be with. Penny would like to see her family again, but as they are in England that is going to be tricky, until Dodge says he knew somebody with a plane. So armed with these goals, they set off on a road trip.

That sounds all a bit twee, simple and sentimental, but you need to get past the necessary scene setting to enjoy the multiplicity of the storyline. The film seems to be promoted as an "hilarious roadtrip" comedy, which it isn't. It is more a romantic comedy, a feelgood (to a degree) journey through the short life and impending death of Dodge, Penny and those that they come into contact with. It is also the juxtaposition of the differing outlooks towards the bleak future. Some choose to drink and party themselves to their own oblivion, while others seek peace with family and friends. Some choose to fight the system and try to survive, others just fight each other.

Steve Carell is just perfect for the character of Dodge, at first very dour, introverted and lonely, but who then blossoms whilst with Penny. Penny on the other hand is the opposite, initially outgoing, but then when the enormity of the end of the world hits home, she seeks solace with the person who has helped her the most in the last few days, namely Dodge. Keira Knightley is just superb as Penny, outgoing, pretty and funny. The supporting cast are also very good, providing the laughs along the way, perhaps with not the amount of hilarity promised if you believe the reviews, but funny nonetheless. Martin Sheen is particularly good as Dodge's father.

So all in all a really good film to watch. The storyline is refreshingly different, the end of the world maybe nigh, but this ain't no disaster movie. It may have the tagline of "The apocalypse has never been so funny", but it is not an hilarious romp through the last few days on earth, it is a funny film, but with tender moments. It's a funny film, but some of that comedy is quite dark. It doesn't follow a formula, so you don't know where the story is going, you're not sure whether the next scene is going to be hilarious or an altruistic moment between Dodge and Penny. 

Oh and the soundtrack is just superb, really brilliant music.

We enjoyed it and hopefully the scores will prove favourable.

TNiFN Rating 86%

IMDB Link

Walk of Shame - 3rd March 2015

Tuesday Night is Film Night is back once again and this week we are trying a bit of an unknown comedy, well unknown to us anyway and we wouldn't know a classic if it hit us right in the face! So go off and do what you need to do while we take a;

Walk of Shame

So what swung this film for us was the trailer, it has been on the "to watch" list for a while, a quick look at the trailer and it looked entertaining, funny and Elizabeth Banks in a tight yellow dress, is quite eye-catching! However, some trailers fool you into believing that the whole film is funny, when in reality they have crammed all the best bits into a three minute taster and you are left wanting when you watch the whole movie. Luckily this is not the case with Walk of Shame.

Meghan Miles (Elizabeth Banks) is a news anchor at a local Los Angeles television station, she has been presenting the Live at Five show for sometime when an opportunity for promotion to a large network comes along. Excitement rises as she is down to the last two hopefuls, however disappointment is around the corner when she apparently loses out to her rival. Depressed by the loss of promotion and upset that her boyfriend has left her as well, she is cajoled into going out to, what is now a commiseration drink, rather than the celebration her friends had originally planned. The inevitable drinking and partying ensues and inhibitions are lost and Meghan finds herself stuck on the fire escape of the club they were at. Luckily hunky help arrives in the form of the film's love interest Gordon (James Marsden). Gordon rescues Meghan from the fire escape and drives her, in her car to his apartment, for safety and other things.

This all happens within the first 10 to 15 minutes of the film, so it is a very quick scene setter for the major part of the film that follows.

Meghan awakes in the early hours, very much the worse for wear and in this strangers apartment, she cannot find her mobile phone, so uses Gordon's home phone to try to locate it, but fails. She then calls her home number, to pick up any messages and this is when she discovers that her rival for the large network job has been dropped as some skeletons were found in her cupboard, so essentially the new job is Meghan's, but she needs to get back to the TV station to present her normal afternoon show, so that her perspective new employers can see her in action.

Is that clear? And so we arrive at the crux of the story, the jeopardy part shall we say; Meghan is in a strange part of town, no phone and it turns out with no car as well, as it has been towed away. All she has is her car keys and a tight yellow dress and she needs to get to work to prepare for the broadcast later that day.

As a synopsis for the start of a film, it does tend to lend itself to the thoughts that this is not going to be any good, but bear with it, those first scenes where the storyline is laid out are far better in reality than the few paragraphs of waffle you have just read. Also, the next hour or so is a lot more entertaining as we follow Meghan trying to get across town back to the safety of work and that chance of promotion. She has to encounter gun-toting taxi drivers, hookers, the police, drug dealers, crack houses, pervy kids and all manner of undesirables who all manage to get in the way of her reaching her goal.

And yes, that is all the detail you are going to get, watch the trailer and take it from there. There's a lot more fun and adventure in the film that is not shown in the trailer and it is definitely a film to look out for. Elizabeth Banks, who has appeared in Pitch Perfect and The Hunger Games series of films, is lovely to look at and is equally as funny as she attempts to get back to the safety of the KZLA studio. There is a brilliant cast of characters surrounding her, the two cops are really funny, as are the boys from the crack den. And no it is not a serious film at all, there's no real melancholic love moments where the strain is too much for Meghan. There's no soppy "down on your luck" moment, where you're wishing for the lead character to pick themselves up again, it is not based on that feelgood formula, it is a basic jeopardy movie, in the same vein as The Hangover trilogy, or films of that ilk. And it is downright funny.

Walk of Shame is simple in it's story, which is all you need from an entertaining comedy, that and a barrel load of laughs and you will not be disappointed in that regard and that is why it will go on the "to watch again" list, that and the senior female member of the TNiFN panel managed to fall asleep halfway through. Again!

Anyway, enough procrastination and dilatory behaviour, let us away to the culmination of this esteemed and much admired blog; the scores. Walk of Shame trots home with a.....

TNiFN Rating 83%

IMDB Link