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%
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
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
A departure from the norm here at Tuesday Night is Film Night, a switch of genres if you please. There's going to be a touch of thrilling, sci-fi drama, as we watch;
Chronicle
It has been a while since we have seen anything sci-fi based, so it was with some trepidation that we loaded Chronicle into the DVD player, but the trailer was intriguing and it looked promising.
The story starts with Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) who acquires a camera and starts to record his life. Andrew is an awkward, shy individual whose mother is dying of cancer and he doesn't get on with his drunk and pernicious father. Andrew rides to school with his cousin Matt Garetty (Alex Russell), who tries to bring Andrew out of his shell. At one point they attend a party, camera still filming everything, where they meet up with Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan), who has discovered a rather strange hole in the ground. This is where the sci-fi bit kicks in. Inside the hole is what appears to be an alien rock or at least an extraterrestrial object, that glows and on closer inspection it appears to attract objects towards it. All very strange. The upshot of this encounter is that the three boys discover that some of the power has transferred to them and they now have certain powers, very much akin to telekinesis, where they can make objects move. That doesn't sound like the basis of a good film, but please stick with it.
So far, so good, but why is the film called Chronicle we hear you ask? Well, the whole film is retold via medium of personal camcorders or CCTV, hence it is chronicling the story for us. So there are lots of PoV shots and for those moments when you need a wider shot well the camera is owned by someone who now has the power to make things move, so he controls the camera mentally. You'll see what we mean if you watch the film.
Back to the story. At first the emergence of these powers were just a bit of fun, just messing with toys and cameras, then they used their powers to mess with others, just for a laugh, moving cars etc. Then they discovered as they grew stronger and better with their controls they could actually fly. There's a really cool section in the film where we seem them enjoying the freedom and fun their unique talents have brought them.
However this is where the film starts to turn dark. Andrew inadvertently uses his power to take swipe at a car driver who is following them, this swipe sends the car careering off the road and the driver ends up in hospital as a result. This juxtaposition between the lightheartedness and the darker side of having super powers is very much in evidence as Andrew, who is becoming mentally the stronger one between the three of them, starts to spiral out of control.
The story builds and builds, getting darker and darker and we end with a tumultuous finale, where the special effects are ramped up to the maximum as Andrew does battle with his internal demons and those who are trying to stop him.
All in all it was a really good film, most enjoyable even for a sci-fi. It is fairly short, only weighing in at 80 minutes, but it builds up the layers of storyline, using dialogue to good effect at the beginning and not relying on too much CGI intervention, as opposed to the end, which is a cavalcade of computer generated wizardry. We did particularly like the camera work, utilising the handheld cameras to capture the action, but doing so in a smooth way, i.e not too much jumping around. It was a very clever and somewhat unique way of retelling or chronicling if you like, the story.
Although it was appreciated from the sofas, the scores were just a tad better than mediocre, the female members of the panel voting down due to the lack of romance! You can't please everybody.
Chronicle is well worth a watch.
TNiFN Rating 72%
IMDB Link
After a great deal of debate, the film being retrieved from the Tuesday Night is Film Night archive this week is;
21 And Over
Here with have a comedy written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who just happen to be the screenwriters on The Hangover series of films, so it comes as no surprise that 21 And Over is in very much the same vein. In fact one synopsis states;
"The night before the medical school interview that will determine his entire future, a promising college student is dragged out by his two oldest friends to celebrate his 21st birthday. But as one beer leads inevitably to another, the evening spirals into a grand misadventure of mayhem and debauchery that will have far-reaching effects for the whole trio".
The three friends are; Miller, Casey and Jeff Chang. Miller has dropped out of college. Casey is doing well and looking to go into business and Jeff Chang is being dragged out for a 21st birthday surprise, on the eve of his medical school interview, much to the chagrin of his very controlling father.
Miller is played by Miles Teller. Jeff Chang is played by Justin Chon, who has appeared in the Twilight films. Casey is played by Skylar Astin who was in a recent TNiFN film Pitch Perfect. These are the three main characters, along with a love interest for Casey in the form of Nicole (Sarah Wright). The film follows the three friends as they go out for one drink, to celebrate Jeff Chang's birthday, which very quickly spirals into something a lot grander. Based in and around a college campus with the obligatory sororities and fraternities, it is very much a college version of The Hangover, as Casey and Miller attempt to return the very wasted Jeff Chang to his apartment in time for his father to deliver him into his medical interview.
In all fairness, the synopsis and the brief description above does not bode well for a good film. It's been done before, it's just another one in the long line of films of the same ilk. And yes, twenty minutes in and we were thinking; "what on earth have we let ourselves in for!" The first third of this 93 minute film did drag on a bit and the antics and comedic scenes were few and far between. It did however perk up in the middle third with some good laughs, as we see Miller and Casey going through hell and high water to get Jeff Chang sobered up and returned safely. However, it still didn't lift enough to be any better than the other films in the same genre.
But then, in a strange juxtaposition, the film turned direction and although Jeff Chang was still as high as a kite, the storyline sobered and became more of a buddy movie, as Miller and Casey shared some home truths and also discovered a darker side to Jeff Chang and his recent past, that they were unaware of, making them even more desperate to help their best friend get to the interview on time.
Just as a side note, Jeff Chang was always referred to as Jeff Chang, never Jeff or Chang, but Jeff Chang. Hence the constant repetition of Jeff Chang in the previous few paragraphs, but we digress.
So with the facts falling into place and the antics trailing off, the film rolls on to its inevitable, or so you would think, conclusion. Although things do not necessarily end up as you first think. Regardless of that, the ending is the best part of the film. The beginning was dire and almost a struggle to get through. This was probably due to the fact that it was trying too hard to be shocking, but just spouting constant expletives, does not a funny film make.
The middle was bearable with some good laughs, but nothing you haven't seen before if you've ever seen American Pie or The Hangover. So all in all a fairly average film, certainly not the best in this genre, but enjoyable nevertheless.
Loathed as we are to quote the sentiments of another film review site but Rotten Tomatoes probably puts it best when it states; "Though it strives to mimic The Hangover, 21 and Over is too predictable, too unabashedly profane, and too inconsistently funny to carry the torch".
If only we could write short, succinct and knowledgeable reviews such as that! "Oh but you do" we hear you cry. Gosh! You're too kind. Bless you kind reader, bless you.
Enough frivolity, onto to the critically acclaimed and most imperative part of this esteemed blog, the summation of the panels reckoning, conferred in the form of a percentage.
TNiFN Rating 71%
IMDB Link
It's time to dust off the DVDs, access the archives, browse the BluRays and find a film for this week. Tonight we take the short hop back to 2013 for a film starring Vince Vaughn;
Delivery Man
Pleasantly surprised is the initial response. For a more detailed synopsis and review, well dear reader, read on.
Vince Vaughn (Four Christmases) is David Wozniak a New York meat delivery driver, for his father's meat company. David is a lovable underachiever, who tends to make the wrong decisions as he travels through life, he tries to do the right thing, but inevitably gets it wrong. Over the years he has tried many money making schemes but all seem doomed to failure, as a result he is in debt and in trouble. His girlfriend is pregnant, but is going to deny David the rights to see the child.
Not a good situation.
However, one of his money spinners from twenty years ago, rears its ugly head again and not in a good way. It transpires that David made several hundred sperm donations to a fertility clinic, which he got paid for and due to a mix up at the clinic, his donations were used on multiple occasions.
533 occasions to be exact!
And twenty years on 142 of his biological children are now filing a lawsuit to find out who exactly is their biological father, the only thing they know is that he went by the pseudonym of Starbuck.
So there we have it, in a nutshell so to speak. What a brilliant premise for a film. It actually transpires that the screenplay for the film was used on a Canadian film from 2011 called Starbuck, which had limited worldwide release, so the screenplay was reutilised for Delivery Man. Interestingly Starbuck gets a higher IMDB rating than Delivery Man.
Either way the story is really good, the hapless and somewhat irresponsible David, tries to turn his life around when he finds out the personal profiles of the 142 biological children and searches one out, just out of curiosity. When this turns up a real positive, he starts searching for others and while still retaining his anonymity he helps them out where it is needed, as he discovers his biological family in all walks of life.
So David is finding his family, while his friend and lawyer is putting together a counter case to maintain the anonymity and recoup some financial reward via a punitive claim. It might not sound that enthralling but it is a multifaceted story that jumps between the relationships of David and his biological kids, his own tight-knit family, his lawyer and his girlfriend. It is the proximity of these threads that intertwine together that makes a fascinating and fun story. Although classed as a drama / comedy the emphasis is on comedy and obviously the feelgood factor as well. It doesn't take itself too seriously, only when it needs to and you know that at the end, all will be fine and dandy, but how David and his enormous family get there is well worth the 105 minute journey.
The few paragraphs above do not really capture the essence of the film and perhaps does not sell the story as a whole, certainly looking at the IMDB synopsis we weren't expecting much, although the trailer was a tantalising glimpse as to how good the film could or would be. It is not going to be to everyone's liking, but Vince Vaughn is perfect for Wozniak, the surrounding cast and there's quite a few of those, are really rather good too. It's not big names in the cast list, but there doesn't need to be, Delivery Man is all about the story. It is unique, fanciful maybe, but touching, funny and dare one say it; heartwarming in places.
As for the scores, some of the panel liked it more than others and there is a division between the generations. Some comments were issued like; "It was good, but not that good" or "It was alright, but I did drift off for a few minutes"!! It's a good job we're not judging for the Oscars!
TNiFN Rating 78%
IMDB Link
Tuesday Night is Film Night has come back around again. This week we hope we do not hit a bum note, as we watch;
Pitch Perfect
Well Pitch Perfect was certainly not off key. In fact it was a fun film, that takes a look at a cappella singing with a tongue in cheek approach, but one which highlights the vocal talents of its perfectly pitched cast.
Based on the book by Micky Rapkin, Pitch Perfect follows a bunch of college students who form various singing groups to progress through several competitions hoping to reach the grand finals. No really surprise there and in that regard Pitch Perfect is fairly standard in its approach to the story, but unlike High School Musical it has a degree of attitude, the sentimental moments are replaced by some brilliant comedic scenes and it doesn't take it, or its subject seriously.
Barden University boasts several a cappella groups, but the story focuses on the Barden Bellas and The Treble Makers, the Bella's being an all female group, led by the very controlling Aubrey (played by Anna Camp). In the new college year a somewhat dark and quiet student arrives in the form of Beca (Anna Kendrick) who does not relish the thought of college but it is forced into it by her father, who says she should embrace college life and join a group to get the full college experience. No prizes for guessing which group she joins.
We last saw Kendrick here at TNiFN in the awful Drinking Buddies, needless to say Pitch Perfect is a whole lot better. Previous to that we saw her in What To Expect When You're Expecting, which also featured the unique, Australian actress Rebel Wilson who plays Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect. Fat Amy is the character with most of the funny lines and is a great foil to the more serious characters. Also judging by some of the outtakes, a lot of it was unscripted.
Back to the story for a moment, well there isn't a great more to add to the story, it is standard stuff for this genre, you all know it's going to end with a grand finale, where the characters that fell out earlier will be reunited and the smug characters will get their comeuppance. It is not the story that is important in the grand scheme of things, the appeal for Pitch Perfect is the interplay with the main characters; Beca is sullen but talented and needs to be bought out. Fat Amy is in your face and funny. Aubrey is controlling. Stacie (played by Alexis Knapp) has a couple of outstanding points, you can work that out for yourselves. Lilly (Hana Mae Lee) made us laugh in every scene she was in and for a particular reason, which you will have to watch the film to find out.
On the flipsdie to the girls you have the Treble Makers, with a love interest for Beca in the form of Jesse (Skylar Astin). Leading the group was Bumper (Adam DeVine), a character who every time he opened his mouth you just wanted to fill it with a fist! Obnoxious and egocentric and destined not to be in the finale as a result. That's the formula. However, the mere fact that you want to punch him, means that the actor is doing his job, so points there.
Other highlights for us were the TV commentary team, who interspersed the competition scenes with some ridiculous and funny commentary, giving a welcome and differing juxtaposition to the on stage vocal talents.
Which brings us to the music itself, the soundtrack (away from the a cappella singing) is very good and the choice of songs is many and varied, but always spot on. The actual group singing is brilliant if a little cheesey in places, but that is expected, one surmises, as the story is not serious and it is not a musical in the real sense of the word.
All in all Pitch Perfect was a great film to watch, it was funny, entertaining, not so cringeworthy as we first thought and demonstrated the vocal talents from a great collection of actors. Not an overtly high rating but big enough to suggest that you should watch this film, we also had an extra panel member this week, which was a pleasant addition and boasted the male contingent to the tune of one.
TNiFN Rating 79%
Just a foot note to this blog, in between last week's and this week's film, we passed the 10,000 page views mark. Not a massive amount but to us it is impressive. Thanks for everyone who has clicked on our page.
IMDB Link
