I'll Be Home for Christmas - 19th November 2013

Tuesday Night is (a Christmas) Film Night continues the festive film and cheesy cheer with;

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Well, where can one start with this film?

It was made in 1988 and stars a young Courteney Cox, Hal Holbrook and Eva Marie Saint, who make up part of the Bundy family; Nora, Joseph and Martha respectively. (Daughter-in-Law, father and mother). It's set in a small American town, during the second world war and follows the family through one Christmas.

The Bundy family also have three sons, two of which are serving in the forces and one younger son who is keen to join. The eldest son; Mike is married to Nora and they are expecting a baby. The middle son; Terrel is at odds with his father. And the youngest son; Davey follows the progress of his elder siblings as they travel the world in the air force and army.

The general premise of the film is; the family will be together and at home for Christmas, as Mike is granted leave after his tour of duty, as is Terrel. However you just know that somebody will not be coming home.

I won't spoil it too much by filling in the detail, suffice to say there will be tears on Christmas Eve.

I'll Be Home For Christmas is an unremarkable film, albeit with a slight dramatic edge that made us avoid the "off" switch for it's 96 minute duration. It's quaint, festive and thought provoking, that is if you wanted to analyse the juxtaposition between the desire for peace at Christmas and the ravages of war. There were moments of pathos, there were moments of fun, but generally there were just moments.

The story held itself together, but only just. And the ending was truly disappointing. They seemed to rush it, attempting to tie up the lose ends very quickly, after building up to this point for most of the film.

We really should research these films more, prior to committing to watching them! Luckily for you, it is not available via Amazon.

Never say that we at TNiFN Towers do not provide a service. We watch these films so you don't have to.

Here's hoping next week's offering is a better one.

TNiFN Rating 45%

IMDB Link

If You Believe - 12th November 2013

Like it or not Christmas is on the horizon and here at Tuesday Night is Film Night we like to get into the spirit nice and early. So to kick off our season of Christmas movies we have chosen;

If You Believe

Like it, loathe it or just put up with it, Christmas is just around the corner and here at Tuesday Night is Film Night we have a penchant for Christmas films and try to squeeze in as many as we can before the big man arrives with his heavily laden sack. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be many new good Christmas films around. We have a few, or we have seen a few already, but they are few and far between now, so we have to make do with the odd classic, the odd new one and the plethora of cheesy, American, schmaltzy films that abound the satellite channels at this time of year! These can be hit or miss, they tend to follow the same formula and are not ratings winners, not by a long way, but sometimes you find one that hits the mark, from a story perspective, even if the acting is more wooden than Santa's sleigh!

Anyway, we watched If You Believe which follows the life of Susan Stone, played by Ally Walker, (who has an impressive list of roles on IMDB, we've not heard of a lot of them though). Susan is a publishing house editor, who is struggling with her writers, struggling with her family, having been recently divorced and fallen out with her brother. So, life is not too rosy for the grouchy, Scrooge-like, curmudgeonly Susan, that is until she discovers a 7 year old girl in her apartment. It transpires that this girl is Susan's inner child, AKA Susan at 7 years old, full of joy and childlike innocent, intent on getting the adult Susan to mend her ways, change her outlook and reconnect with the people that surround her.

So far, so good (ish). Yes it is formulaic and cheesy, but if you can see past this thinly veiled layer of sentiment, Mom's apple pie and the good old American dream and just take the piece for what it is, it does possess an innocent charm, that may not melt the most cold of hearts, but thaw them just a little.

Susan gambles on an unknown writer, whose book is too long, too new and too dangerous to publish, but it is all she has to save her career. When she actually reads it, she loves it and goes off to spend three weeks with the writer to edit the book into a publishable form. Can you guess what happens next, to the single, unloved Susan? It wouldn't be a Christmas film without a modicum of romance now would it? Yes indeed! A little bit of romance to warm your cockles! Susan's writer is Thom Weller played by Tom Amandes, (no, we've never heard of him either) and fight it so she might, she starts to fall for our handsome Prince Charming, all the while being egged on by her constant companion; her 7 year old self.

We really should point out that Susan's 7 year old companion got quite annoying at the start of the film, with her very loud, constant berating of her older form. The child actor playing Susan junior is Hayden Panettiere and was clearly one of those precocious child acting brats that really should be seen and not heard, but she does (like it or not) give a great performance and was clearly made for this role and her involvement within the plot is key to the story.

Anyway, we digress. Back to the story, there is not much left to retell apart from the part and this is common to all the films of this ilk, where everything looks fine and dandy, but the rug gets pulled out from under the feet of one of the leading characters and we have that solemn moment when you never know if it is going to be a happy ending or not.

Rest assured, it would not be a good wholesome, heart warming Christmas movie if it didn't have a happy ending! If You Believe follows the formula to the letter and things turn out just fine.

If You Believe isn't a good film by a long stretch of the imagination. However, don't get us wrong; it is entertaining, it provides a great dollop of Christmas spirit, it ticks all the boxes but it would not be a hit at the box office. However, if you want to sit by the fire, with a glass of eggnog, staying warm from the winter chills and be entertained for 87 minutes then If You Believe can do that for you.

Don't expect a high rating though, as one of our number at TNiFN Towers fell asleep halfway through, which is always a good indicator as to a films' content!

See you next time for some more Christmas cheer.

TNiFN Rating 53%

IMDB Link

Indecent Proposal - 5th November 2013

Tuesday Night is Film Night is trying to get back into a rhythm after missing a couple of weeks in October due to other commitments and before we start the countdown to Christmas, there's just time to slip in a quick;

Indecent Proposal

Yes, we go way back to 1993 for this ostensibly three handed interplay between Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson and Robert Redford.

The delightful Demi Moore plays Diane Murphy, who is in a solid relationship with her husband David Murphy (Harrelson). Things are looking up and David starts to live out his architectural dream; his own design for their marital home. Just as things are going well, a recession hits and they start to lose everything; money, jobs and eventually the unfinished dream house looks like it will go too. They beg some money to try to keep up repayments on the mortgage, but it's not enough. Until David hits on an idea and they race off to Las Vegas to gamble away their remaining money in attempt to win more back. At the start they do well and are thousands of dollars up, but it's not enough, they just need to double up. At this point, it starts to go wrong and they end up losing everything, not before Diane is spotted by billionaire John Gage (Redford) who is immediately attracted to her. And this is where the story starts to really unfold.

I will assume that you all know what the indecent proposal is, one million dollars for a night with your wife, but this film is more about the relationship between Diane and David and not the one million dollar night, in fact the sequence of scenes for that night is extremely brief.
The film does take awhile to get to this point and there are several overlaid scenes setting us up to this point, ensuring that sufficient background information is there.

After the indecent proposal is proposed and carried out, after some heartfelt discussion between the Murphy's I might add, we start to see the real crux of this film, where one evening of desperation leads to what could be a lifetime of dishonesty, disloyalty, mistrust and misunderstanding. We see David and Diane's relationship crumble after David loses faith in Diane's honesty and questions her motives. All the while Diane is being pursued by John Gage, who is not relentless in his quest to continue to see Diane, much to the chagrin of David. Eventually David and Diane split up and go their separate ways, but what is to become of them? What happens to Diane and John?

Obviously we have no spoilers here, you'll need to be watch the film for the complete story, let's just say I was slightly surprised by the final result,  not overly displeased, but it was a bit saccharin sweet and schmaltzy, which after a tense drama was a bit of a let down.

As for the film itself, on the whole the story-line is good, believable I guess. The interplay between the characters was extremely good, especially Moore and Harrelson. Nice though it is the number of slow, semi nude scanning shots of Demi Moore was a tad predictable. Yes, she has a cute body, but continued gratuitous panning shots don't really add to the tension, but I guess it added a degree of sexual allure to the love scenes. That's not a complaint, there just seemed to be a lot of them, along with several quick jump shot edits where Moore was filmed from all angles, so was hard to see which end you were looking at. (Again, not complaining!)

As to the peripheral cast members, Oliver Platt provided some levity to the piece, playing a lawyer friend of David's, with some funny lines to lighten the mood somewhat. Also near to the end, we have what is slightly more than a cameo appearance from Billy Connolly, playing himself as a celebrity charity auctioneer, which was nice but didn't really add to the film as a whole and seemed to be a cash in on Connolly's fame at the time, I may be wrong.

All in all, Indecent Proposal was better than mediocre, the TNiFN female contingent enjoying it more than the male. So the scores are going to reflect the female vote, but it's the male contingent that writes the words!

TNiFN Rating 68%

Frost / Nixon - 3rd November 2013

I admit it, this is not a Tuesday Night, so to blog a Tuesday night is Film Night film, on a Sunday is pushing the envelope of sensibility somewhat, but we have been pretty busy here at TNiFN Towers, so a Tuesday film was never really going to happen. However we have caught up and decided to throw in a quick Sunday night version of TNiFN, just because we could.

So this week's film was a departure for us, gone is the chick-flick and rom-com, as we throw down the gauntlet on a gritty political drama;

Frost / Nixon

The subject matter speaks for itself, we all know about the rise and subsequent fall of President Richard Millhouse Nixon, as we are also aware of the varied talents of one David Frost, but do we know much about when they met for a series of interviews in the late 70's? This film follows the drama as the story of the story unfolds.

Writer Peter Morgan manages to capture in his screenplay an incredible tense, dramatic interplay between the disgraced former president and the jet setting TV presenter, in this gritty film. The action, if it can be described as that, is akin to a boxing match, where the underdog is clearly Frost and the supreme champion is Nixon, but can Frost make anything from this battle? Certainly the mainstream US media do not think so, as none of the major news networks are interested in taking the interviews and so the majority of the funding to pull off the recordings, is produced by Frost himself.

Once the film gets underway, there is a modicum of scene setting, some background information, therefore imparting sufficient information for us to get drawn into the main action, which of course is the interviews themselves and it is a testament to Peter Morgan's writing and Ron Howard's direction that a film that ostensibly deals with two grown men talking in front of some camera's becomes a gripping, dramatic and fascinating production. Obviously, if you know about the history, you will know the outcome, but even so the journey to that inevitability is most entertaining, enlightening and intriguing.

Frank Langella provides a magnificent performance as the jowl wobbling Nixon, who vehemently defends himself of any wrong-doings in front of Frost. Michael Sheen is as always a real treat as the ever smiling Frost, managing to capture the nuances of the TV giant, in almost every way. Supported ably by a talented and well picked cast, notably Kevin Bacon as the ex president's adviser come bodyguard Jack Brennan. Also the supporting team for Frost led by John Birt the producer of the interviews (Matthew Macfadyen) and two researchers James Reston and Bob Zelnick, played by Sam Rockwell and Bob Zelnick respectively.

So, this pugilistic battle between political heavyweight and TV's up and coming chat show host is an odd mix. Nixon clearly plays Frost as a fool and dominates the first three days of filming and it looks to be a lost cause for Frost and Nixon will come away from it and seen a better light as a result. However in the final day's filming the tables are turned and Frost produces body- blow after body-blow, forcing the president to admit his failings, the cover-ups and eventually an apology to the American people over the scandal that was Watergate.

Frost / Nixon journals a very important stage in political history and does so with aplomb. As a gritty political drama, based on reality it is perfection. It has the ability to keep you focused and it's also a movie where the underdog comes up trumps, after facing adversity and we all like that in a film.

TNiFN Rating 75%

By the way, we passed 5,000 page views this week, so thank you to all those that stop by and read our little cinematic bloggage.

Bad Teacher - 22nd October 2013

So after last week's mini break, we are back here at TNiFN Towers to watch yet another Tuesday Night is Film Night film. Did you know, with tonight's film, that makes our grand total of cinematic sensations (or otherwise) to a grand total of 177?

Yes indeed, we are coming up to our 4th anniversary! So look out for a big celebration then. Or not as the case may be.

Anyhoo, to tonight's film and it's a bit of a comedy tonight, from 2011 it is;

Bad Teacher

Let us get straight into the plot here, no shilly shallying!

Cameron Diaz stars as teacher extraordinaire Elizabeth Halsey. I say extraordinaire, she is downright lazy and has no real interest in teaching at her school. However, she wants to get a boob job, (stay with it), but since getting ditched by her rich boyfriend, there's no way that she can pay for that! So her only real option is to stick with the teaching or try to cook up some money making schemes.

OK, the plot seems to be a little weak, but it's a comedy and to be fair it was very funny.

Back to the plot. Elizabeth teaches at John Adams Middle School, which seems to be a right mix of goofy teachers and kids! The love interest for Miss Halsey comes in the form of dishy teacher Scott Delacorte, played by the equally dashing (apparently) Justin Timberlake. However, gym teacher Russell Gettis (Jason Segal) also plays a hand. And rounding off this quadrumvirate of educators is Amy Squirrel, played the extremely funny Lucy Punch. Squirrel is a fantastic character, very funny in a quirky way and provides Elizabeth with some competition for the rights to be close to Mr Delacorte.

So, it is not an overtly complicated scenario, Elizabeth's vanity demands a boob job and she will do what she can to get the money to achieve this. However, the easiest way to get the cash is to win the bonus offered for the best test results in the State tests, but this means teaching, which is not something that Miss Halsey relishes, but it is a means to an end.

So, in this respect, and not trying to give too much away, Bad Teacher is a bit of a feelgood movie. Which is always nice, but don't let that fool you, oh no, the swearing in this film certainly makes up for the cutesie dialogue! Which is also a good thing, it provides a perfect comedic juxtaposition between soft, gentle comedy, with well placed and well delivered verbal filth!

There are some great performances from the leading four actors, but there is also a great supporting cast which really make this film fun to watch, particularly Lynn, played by Phyllis Smith (who was also in Butter). This character provides a perfect foil for the brash Miss Halsey, as Lynn is quiet and unassuming, which makes for some great scenes.

I think this is what really sums up Bad Teacher for us, it's the interplay with the characters, the differing outlooks from them, the opposites and the contradictions that make it so funny. You expect one thing, but get another. Extremely funny film, not one to be taken seriously at all, just sit back relax and enjoy.

So, in summation, a very funny, very watchable film. Great characters, a nice easy story line and some brilliant scenes. Cameron Diaz is at her beautiful best and Lucy Punch is perfect as the goody two shoes Miss Squirrel. We really enjoyed Bad Teacher.

TNiFN Rating 73%

Wonder Boys - 8th October 2013

Tuesday Night is Film Night continues into October with a comedy drama from 2000;

Wonder Boys

First things first, let us take a small pirouette around the cast of this film and hey, why not do it with bullet points? Why not indeed.

• Michael Douglas plays English professor and writer Grady Tripp
• Tobey Maguire plays James Leer, a troubled but brilliant student of Prof. Tripp.
• Robert Downey Jr weighs in as the demanding and voracious editor and literary agent Terry Crabtree.
• Frances McDormand plays Sara Gaskell, love interest to Prof. Tripp and Dean at their university.
• And finally in this mini roundup of the main characters, Richard Thomas plays Walter Gaskell, husband to Sarah and boss to Prof. Tripp. (Who some of you may remember as John Boy Walton, from The Waltons).

It would normally be at this juncture that the blog would turn to the plot of the film and start chronicling the storyline, but there hangs a bit of an issue, a problemette if you will. After 30 minutes of this 107 minute slog, there was no real plot, no real story and no real cohesion between one piece of dialogue and the next. Some information was presented in a narrative from the central character; Prof. Grady Tripp, as if he were proffering his story from his own book (which was probably true). However, it did not get much better in the remaining 77 minutes.

In a effort to outline a bit of the story let us say that the thinly veiled plot encompasses the following threads; Grady Tripp's wife leaves him. Tripp is struggling with a new book. His editor Crabtree fly's in to take a look, with a view to publication. Tripp is in a relationship with his boss's wife. An introverted student of Prof. Tripp is a prolific and gifted writer. A jacket worn by Marilyn Monroe makes an appearance and is subsequently stolen.

And someone shoots a dog.

And this all happens over a disastrous weekend.

That really is about it. Some positive notes; the acting was marginally better than OK. There were some funny moments. I know this for a fact as I counted them on the fingers of one hand.

What else to say about the film? It's based on the 1995 novel, of the same name, by Michael Chabon. Having not read the book, I cannot comment as to whether it is better than the film, but it would be hard pressed to be any worse.

Reading some of the reviews on Amazon, it seems our view is in the minority and some people enjoyed this film, one reviewer states;

".... if you are looking for an intelligent, quirky comedy then you will be delighted and dazzled by this little gem."

I would counter this with; in our opinion it was awful. It seemed to be a disjointed, ramshackle affair, where a thin, weak and insipid plot was bolstered only by some talented actors doing their jobs properly.

I would quite enjoy an intelligent, quirky comedy / drama, but this was not one of them.

As for the all important scores;

TNiFN Rating 40%

The Adjustment Bureau - 1st October 2013

Tuesday Night is Film Night rolls into October with;

The Adjustment Bureau

Oh lordy lordy! Where to start with this film? I'm not sure that any dalliances here to provide a detailed synopsis, or even a basic one will do this story justice. It's totally out of left field and is one of those weird fantasy fiction films, with it's feet firmly planted in reality, that you can never be sure if you love it, hate it, or just tolerate its reverie.

OK, let me give the normal spiel about the origin and plot-line of the film; The Adjustment Bureau is based upon the short story by Philip K. Dick (Adjustment Team) which introduces us to David Norris, played by Matt Damon, who is a young New York congressman running for Senate. However a few twists in his campaign trail lead him to lose out to his rival, but are these twists; life dealing David a bad hand, fate or some other forces at play?

At this point, we meet the love interest in this fantasy, romantic, thriller; Elise Sellas played by the delightful Emily Blunt. David clearly falls head over heels in love with Elise, with a "love at first sight" moment, but again is this chance meeting fate or a chance to adjust the destiny of these two characters?

It transpires that it is the latter. We learn this, when an "adjustment" fails to occur and the "plan" for David Norris is again twisted by true fate, rather than planned adjustment.

Confused? I thought you would be, but stick with it. Although in reality it would be better to watch the film and see for yourself what I am struggling to put into words!

Anyway, after an adjustment failure, it is deemed necessary for David to meet the Adjustment Bureau who turn out to be an agency working for The Chairman. Now, the film leaves you to make your own mind up who The Chairman is, some may draw the conclusion that he / she is God and the Adjustment Agents are angels, that is certainly alluded to, but in fairness to the screenwriters this is not confirmed and you can judge for yourself. The point being; this is the fantasy part of this thriller, where this agency is tasked with continually making adjustments to the lives of the mere mortals of earth, to ensure that they continue down the path that was destined for them. Some deviation is allowed for some decisions that are made, but these do not include what route one's life takes or what doors may open for you. And it is pertinent to note the mention doors there, as the Bureau's agents travel through doors to stay one step ahead of their assigned cases. The doors are normal doors, but their exits are not where one would expect them to be, i.e you can enter a door in one location, but you exit in another. Oh and you will need a hat!

Even more confused?

Yes, all the Bureau's agents wear hats, it's the way that The Chairman limits movement for them! I did say you need to watch the film to understand.

Back to the plot. So, David Norris the up and coming politician has his route to the White House planned. This is the path his life should lead. However, a second chance meeting with Elise, after the failed adjustment, changes this and this is when he learns of the Adjustment Bureau. They tell him all about their plans for his plan and he needs to maintain this secret for fear of being erased. However Norris being the tough cookie as he is, he is not going to take this lying down and thus begins the search for Elise despite of the Bureau's warnings.

There is a lot more to the film than the above, but this should give you some idea of the story and it isn't as absurd as it may sound. At first we did start to wonder what we had left ourselves in for, but it was well worth sticking with, as the fantasy story-line was underpinned with a firm grounding in reality and if you can accept that life will always take twists and turns based on fate, then perhaps you can allow a little credence to a creative and original tale of life adjustments made by men wearing hats.

It's difficult to pigeon hole The Adjustment Bureau into any one genre. It was certainly a thriller, as there were moments that made us gasp with surprise, but it was also a feelgood movie, as although the adjustments were meant to keep Elise and David apart, his sheer determination had to win out and for all that commitment it was clearly a romance as well.

So hopefully this will have intrigued you enough to perhaps seek the film out and make you own mind up, we certainly enjoyed it. As for the all important TNiFN rating...............

At this point, I feel I need to raise the issue of the scores, we normally have 3 scores, which are a value out of 10 and then an average is taken. Some say that averaging may bias the scores, thus not reflecting a true value. Perhaps we should score a total out of 30. I'm not so sure, but I take on board the suggestion. So this week I am going to take the total score and produce a percentage result, thus providing a rating based on the scores which would not matter on the numbers of viewers scoring, whilst still adding a higher degree of granularity above and beyond that of a mark out of 10.

Has the rating system confused you more than tonight's film?

TNiFN Rating 73%