Wuthering Heights - 16th July 2013

Tuesday Night is Film Night takes on a classic story tonight, as we sample the 2011 adaptation of;

Wuthering Heights

Andrea Arnold wrote the screenplay, and directed this controversial 2011 adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic love story. This classic tale of obsessive love of Cathy, by Heathcliffe, takes a sombre turn, as Arnold defines a very bleak and moody dynamic with her screenplay.

Just to bring those who haven't read this Brontë classic up to date, it follows the life of a poor orphan boy; Heathcliffe, who is rescued from poverty and taken in by the Earnshaw family where he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy.

This movie is almost as dreary, bleak and desolate as the windswept Yorkshire moors, where it is set. Andrea Arnold opted to film with a lot of hand held cameras and jump-cut editing, with very dark, dismal and minimal lighting. As a result, the film is difficult to follow, the dialogue is very sparse in the first part of the film and doesn't really build any momentum at all.

I'm sure those of you with an eye for an artistic film, may jump to it's defence, but even with some stunning scenery, I'm afraid art or no art, this film is destined for the bargain bucket.

I cannot really add any further to this, I am sure there are better versions of the story out there, maybe one that may do justice to the Brontë original. This one however seemed to be art for art's sake. Even the use of strong language seemed to lend itself more to the arty-farty brigade, rather than adding some gritty gravitas to the story. Just because you introduce modern day swearing into a classic piece of literature, doesn't make it more of a classic, in fact it presents itself as being pretentious and self indulgent on the part of the director.

The only thing that could have saved this movie, would have been the appearance of Kate Bush, running over the windy moors, belting out her greatest hit!

In short; terrible.

In long; arty, pretentious and terrible.

As for the TNiFN scores; 3 out of 10.

Next!!

Johnny English Reborn - 9th July 2013

Tuesday Night is Film Night is here yet again! And as the summer evening sun warms us, we draw the curtains on that and settle down to witness;

Johnny English Reborn

Yes indeed, the hapless and gormless MI7 agent is back. Johnny English is here to save the day, but first he has to ruin it for everyone.

Made in 2011, Johnny English Reborn sees Rowan Atkinson delightfully recreate his spectacularly English; Johnny English, after his first outing in the eponymous film from 2003.

After a disaster in Mozambique (cue facial tick and twitchy eye), English was stripped of his knighthood, removed from the Secret Service and exiled to Tibet, where he studied at the (kicking) feet of Tibetan monk's. (It will all become clear if you watch the film).

Anyway, the upshot is, after several years in the wilderness, he is summoned back to London to head up a new operation to uncover a plot to assassinate the Chinese premier. In London he meets up with the new MI7 chief Pegasus, AKA Pamela, played the very lovely Gillian Anderson. He also catches up with the gadget man for MI7; Patch Quartermain played by Tim McInnerny. And finally, he gets reacquainted with the top agent; Simon Ambrose played by Dominic West.

Unfortunately, there is no return appearance for Ben Miller as Bough in this second outing for Johnny English, although he is credited in the movie, so one can only assume his appearance hit the cutting room floor in the final edit. Instead the role of assistant to Mr English falls to young Agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya).

As for the actual plotline, it is the usual fare; techie gadgets for your agent on the street, mishandled by the occasionally pompous English. Various double agents, working for various different agencies and a mad Chinese woman running round with a hoover, trying to kill everybody! (Again, you need to see it).

There's no real need to articulate within this internet based vehicle for movie facts, the full letter of the story, to be honest in the grandest scheme of things, it is not that important. What is important is the acting, the dialogue and the situations, it is a fun filled film. To all intents and purposes it could be a Bond movie, if it were not for the farcical notions and the hapless meanderings of the main character. As the movie taglines state; "A little intelligence goes a long way"! And; "One man. One mission. No chance".

In summation Johnny English Reborn delivers the goods, Atkinson is as always, superb. Daniel Kaluuya as Agent Tucker makes a decent sidekick, (but he's no Bough). And the other leading characters all fill in the gaps quite nicely.

A thoroughly enjoyable movie, which on the TNiFN clap-o-meter, pushed the needle round to a healthy and hearty 8.7 out of 10. (Who introduced fractions of a vote?!) 

Not a great review, but a great movie. See you next week.

The Change-Up - 2nd July 2013

Tuesday Night is Film Night tries out a "body swap" movie tonight. So, will it be bigger than Big? Or will it be Vice-Versa? Or could it be a Freaky Friday on a Tuesday? Whatever it ain't, it is;

The Change-Up

Clearly the "body swap" genre has been done many times. And many times, it has been done very well. Big is a classic. Freaky Friday is a fun film, but what does The Change-up bring to the big screen, that will make it any different?

Well, to start off with, it's of an adult nature (15 certificate). There's swearing and nudity in it!

Brilliant!

However, it's most abiding quality is; it is totally hilarious! They have taken the genre, applied it to the typical story; two people wishing for each others lives and made it extremely watchable and massively funny.

Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman star as Mitch Planko and Dave Lockwood respectively. Best buddies since school. Dave is a family man, with a loving Wife; Jamie (played by Leslie Mann), along with 3 children. He is an up and coming lawyer, in a big and busy firm. Things are good for Dave, if a little hectic. Work is busy, home is busier, there's just no time to fit it all in.

On the other hand, Mitch is a jobbing actor, who is also a lazy, pot smoking, layabout. Life is also good for Mitch, albeit a bit monotonous and without much hope for the future.

On a night out, the two buddies discuss their separate lives, just wishing, if only for the moment, that they could swap lives...................

........ you know what is coming next.

However, the source of the body swap magic would be a spoiler, so we're not saying how it comes about. Needless to say that it does. And with the usual consequences.

As soon as the swap is made, then cue well over an hour of total hilarity, as our two leading characters, attempt to work out how to now live each others' life.

The film weighs in at 112 minutes, so is quite a lengthy movie, but it fills it so well. The story is perfect, the characters are perfect; Reynolds and Bateman play both of their roles so well. Normally with "body swap" movies, you get a lot of sadness and pathos, when they discover they don't like their own lives and then they hate their new lives even more. Yes, there is a degree of that, but the schmaltzy stuff is kept to a minimum, as they concentrate more on the funny bits!

We think what makes this film work better than others is that the two characters; Mitch and Dave are totally different, but not in age, as in some other films of the same genre. They are just like chalk and cheese, so the awkward situations they are forced into, are so much funnier as a result.

As with all TNiFN reviews, the spoilers are down to a minimum here, we would not want to to spoil your enjoyment one iota. So please watch The Change-up, you will be so glad you did.

As for the scores, The Change-up amasses an unprecedented 9 out of 10.

Picture Perfect - 25th June 2013

Tuesday Night is Film Night returns to the pink and fluffy safety of the romantic comedy tonight as we focus our attention on;

Picture Perfect

From 1997, Picture Perfect stars the delightful Jennifer Aniston as Kate Mosley, an advertising agency employee. Kate gets overlooked for promotion, because she is single, with no commitments. The head of the firm believes she could quite easily move on, as nothing is keeping her there, for example; no mortgage, no car loan, no kids and no husband. As an excuse, it is pretty lame one, but that is the basis to the start of the film and our story hinges on this fact.

A fact that, that gets turned on it's head, when a colleague of Kate's, (Darcy O'Neil, played by Illeana Douglas) informs the boss that Kate is in fact engaged to be married!

Shock, horror!

To clarify this, we need to skip back to the start of the film, where Kate bumps into Nick (Jan Mohr) at a wedding, where Kate is a guest and Nick is videoing the proceedings. This is where we find out that they both are single and there appears to be an attraction, if only slight. Anyway, a photograph of them together, gets into the hands of Darcy, who then uses this as evidence that Kate and Nick are an item.

Confused?

However, the ruse that Kate is to be married, impresses the top man at Mercer Advertising and he offers Kate the promotion that she has been waiting for.

Queue the panic, as Kate has now got to get her way out this tangle. The promotion is all very well, but it is based on a lie, that she needs to play out, if only she can get Nick to agree.

She meets up with Nick and reveals her tale of woe. She then puts to him a proposition, would he come along to a executive meal with her bosses and some top clients, as an introduction to them, but then act out a bust up, making her look good to her employers and giving Kate an excuse to break up their "relationship", albeit a sham one. Nick agrees to this, based on the fact that he actually likes Kate, but he doesn't really let that show at this stage.

So that is the basic idea, preposterous as it may seem. Slip into the mix a young, but still annoying Kevin Bacon as the roguish Sam Mayfair, the office Lothario and someone Kate has wanted to get to know for awhile, to give this relationship film another twist. Also add into the plot a role for Olympia Dukakis as Rita Mosley, Kate's Mother. Dukakis adds a bit of spice and humour to the story, much needed humour at that, as laughs were few and far between.

Picture Perfect is the formulaic, feelgood film. A romantic comedy, where you know that it will all turn out well in the end, which it does. The journey to get there is based on a weak and lacklustre plot-line  but the acting is good, Aniston is brilliant and lovely to watch, but the film viewed16 years on from it's release, looks dated. It was fun nevertheless and worth a look, if only out of interest.

The slightly flat synopsis and review is reflected in the TNiFN Factor, which is a "could do better" 6 out of 10.

Flight - 18th June 2013

Tonight, Tuesday Night is Film Night hops genres again to try out a drama, but will we be flying high, or facing a crash landing, as we watch;

Flight

Released in the UK in February 2013 (a recent film by TNiFN's normal standards), Flight is a thought provoking drama, weighing in at a hefty, but extremely watchable 138 minutes.

It tracks the events before, during and after a domestic flight from Orlando to Atlanta, crashes. Although, due to the heroic bravery and skill shown by the pilot, only 6 people died from the 102 people on board. However, there is a twist.

Denzel Washington stars as William "Whip" Whitaker, a skilled pilot of many years, who now flies for South Jet Airlines, a small domestic airline. Unfortunately, Whip is partial to a drink or two and the occasional line of cocaine. He spends the night before his flight to Atlanta, with an air stewardess; Trina Marquez. (Played by Nadine Velazquez). They don't get much sleep and there is drinking and drug taking going on. And whilst still intoxicated, Whip goes off, with Trina, on the flight to Atlanta.

Whitaker hides his intoxication fairly well and the flight gets off on time, but immediately hits turbulence on it's ascent. Whitaker and his slightly nervous co-pilot; Ken Evans (Brian Geraghty) manage to ride out the heavy storm and they hit some still air, but the plane is clearly damaged and as the flight continues, further damage occurs and..........

...... at this point I will stop the description of how the aeroplane ends up crashed, but landed in a field. This part of the film employs some brilliant special effects and the actions of Whitaker, to get the plane down, are best viewed rather than described. And this section is key to the rest of the film.

So, with a crashed plane and the vast majority of the passengers surviving, Whip Whitaker should be a hero and the media certainly builds him to be that way, but as there is a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation, Whitaker is reluctant to be in the media spotlight and he knows full well that his intoxication, will have a great bearing on the outcome of the investigation.

After a brief spell in hospital, he hides out at his Father's old farm, lying low and attempting to avoid drinking. However, after a chance meeting in the hospital, with a recovering heroin addict; Nicole (played by Kelly Reilly), he starts to fall off the wagon. And all the while, the lawyer that is representing Whitaker is trying to ensure that any damning toxicology evidence is quashed and inadmissible at the Federal hearing discussing the outcomes of the NTSB investigation.

Flight is a fantastic story, but it's not just about a plane crash, it's not just about heroic flying, it's not just about the perils of alcohol and drug usage in excess. It's about the realisation of addiction. It's about the consequences of addiction. It's about the relationships of addicts. It's about the relationship breakdowns that surround you, with family and friends. It's about the honesty of others, but moreover it's about the honesty of an addict, that moment of realisation when you know that you cannot deny yourself of the truth any longer.

These are the problems that William Whitaker must face. And Denzel Washington plays this part with such grace, realism and gravitas. He brings the character to life on screen, with the assistance of some brilliant direction from Robert Zemeckis. Also the appearance of John Goodman as Whitaker's friend and supplier of drugs adds some fun and levity into what is a sobering story. Great special effects and magnificent soundtrack makes Flight a fantastic movie and a definite one to watch. Oh and look out for a brief cameo appearance by the one and only Piers Morgan, but please don't let this put you off!

All in all Flight is a brilliant movie, thoroughly enjoyed by me (the ladies of the house, not so much), but it still manages to get 7.5 out of 10.

My Best Friend's Wedding - 11th June 2013

We can't believe it's nearly half way through 2013! We'll have to start planning our Christmas movies soon! But until then, Tuesday Night is Film Night presents, a Summery feeling film, as we watch;

My Best Friend's Wedding

Starring the absolutely lovely Julia Roberts and the equally gorgeous Cameron Diaz, My Best Friend's Wedding follows the story of Julianne Potter (Roberts) whose best friend for many, many years; Michael O'Neal (played by Dermot Mulroney) decides to get married. Up until this point, Julianne has been happy to be best friends but the thought of losing Michael to another woman, hits home how much she actually loves him.

Essentially, she has 3 weeks to break them up.

That's the basic idea, the first section of film establishes the relationship between Julianne and Michael, up to the point where he drops the marriage bombshell. The middle section of film starts where Julianne meets Kimberley Wallace (Diaz), Micheal's bride-to-be and leads up to the wedding day, along the way Julianne tries various tactics to get the happy couple, to be not so happy!

It's a strange twist to the romantic comedy genre, in that you normally root for the friends to be together, but in this case, the Julia Roberts character is being so manipulative you don't want her to win the battle of the bridegroom. Even though Kimi (Cameron Diaz) is a bit scatty, crazy, loud and ever-so slightly annoying. It's this twist that makes the film more appealing, than the bog standard rom-com.

On the comedy front, the laughs are not that plentiful, there are clearly a few characters added to provide the comedic foil to the more serious break up / make up issues going on. There are a couple of funny scenes though, which are really quite enjoyable. Plus Julia Roberts has a few funny moments, which help the film along.

However, there are some tear jerking moments also and why wouldn't there be in this typical chick-flick? Ably supporting Roberts is Rupert Everett who plays a work colleague  who happens to be gay, but turns out to be a better friend then she thought and helps her sort things out.

All in all, not a bad movie at all. Seen better, but seen a lot more worse. The TNiFN scores on the doors for My Best Friend's Wedding is a pleasant and respectable 6 out of 10.



After proof reading this week's blog, I thought it's a bit short, I guess the reason is, as a rule of thumb, the more verbose the blog, the better the film. This weeks blog is not that verbose is it? That says something. Enjoy!

The Proposal - 4th June 2013

So, after quite a few weeks away, it was inevitable that Tuesday Night is Film Night returns to the warmth, loving security of the pink and fluffy genre that is; romantic-comedy. However, will it be a chick-flick victory or a rom-com flop. We shall see as we take on;

The Proposal

Where to start with this film? Storyline or cast? Let's take on the cast list first, then go on to what  they do within this film.

Firstly our leading man is Ryan Reynolds, who plays Andrew Paxton. We have not seen Ryan Reynolds in any TNiFN films, so he was a fairly unknown quantity, but he acquitted himself extremely well in The Proposal and is certainly an actor that we would like to see again.

Our leading lady is the superbly talented, totally gorgeous and most wonderful Sandra Bullock. A great actress and so lovely to watch on screen. Sandra Bullock plays Margaret Tate, the very pushy boss to Ryan Reynolds' Andrew Paxton.

Alongside Bullock, we have two other leading actresses, who make a holy trinity of loveliness in our movie. They are, the ever-so delightful and aging gracefully Betty White, alongside the fantastic actress and extremely lovely Mary Steenbergen. Mary Steenbergen plays Grace Paxton, Andrew's Mother. And the talented Betty White plays Grandma Annie, Andrew's Grandmother.

So that's the cast partially assembled, onto the plot. As we know, Margaret Tate is the pushy boss of Andrew Paxton. They work in a large publishing firm, based in New York. It transpires, very early on in the film, that Margaret is Canadian and due to issues with her visa, she is liable to be deported from the USA and would have to spend a year in her native Canada before being allowed to return to the States. Essentially losing her position in the company and having to relinquish control to the person she has just fired.

Enter Andrew Paxton, who has been Miss Tate's assistant for three years, hating most of the time and wishing his Hitler-esque boss would suffer from some kind of sad demise. This starts to change when Margaret drops the bombshell, that she and Paxton are to be married! This is news to Andrew, but it is the only way the devious Margaret can remain in control.

So that is the proposal. What follows is their battle to hide the fraudulent nature of their proposal from a do-goody immigration official, who is intent on outing their deception and worst still trying to make Andrew's family believe that the marriage is true love.

OK, the actual plot started off to be a bit thin, but this is soon built upon as the story develops. Sub plots unfold, especially the relationship between Andrew and his Father, which brings a serious thread, to a generally humourous and jocular story.

Inevitably, I suppose, Margaret and Andrew fall in love, but what happens in the end, well you'll have to see for yourself. Needless to say it is a bit of a tearjerker at the end, as that massive pink and fluffy feelgood factor kicks in! We do love a good chick-flick!

The Proposal is a warm, tender and very funny story, played out by characters defined early on in the film, characters that mellow and change. The hard exterior of some, dissolving to show their soft, vulnerable side. It is a great film of it's genre and a definite one to watch.

So, what does the voting TNiFN members think? The Proposal gets a massive thumbs up with a big 9 out of 10.



Previous Tuesday Night is Film Night films, that the cast of The Proposal have been in;

Mary Steenbergen; Four Christmases, Elf, Back to the Future III, One Magic Christmas

Sandra Bullock; Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Blindside, A Time to Kill

Betty White; The Lost Valentine