Letterboxd — Your life in film

Anne Hathaway has had a very up and down career, but this was definitely where she peaked before Les Miserables. Unfortunately I didn't find the story at all moving; I enjoyed the revelation scenes and felt that it was well acted with realistic characters, but as a supposedly 'intense drama', I found it quite empty.

I wanted to really like this but I found myself comparing it to Dirty Dancing, and I guess in some places even Moulin Rouge, far too often for me to fully appreciate it. As a directorial debut it's very good, and Baz Luhrmann certainly knows how to tell a story as he does incredibly well to engage everybody in a film about ballroom dancing, but it felt too much like an Australia soap opera in places for me to love it.

Breaking Upwards is a sweet little indie that follows an interesting and original story. The premise around a couple strategising their own break up opens up some brilliant questions for the audience making it engaging from the very start. You can tell that it is very low budget but that adds a sense of genuineness to a somewhat simple story. Zoe Lister Jones and Daryl Wein lead the film excellently and have a charming chemistry that makes their characters very likeable and relatable.

Notably Nolan's weakest film, but a fairly decent thriller on its own. Al Pacino gives a brilliant performance but Robin Williams' role put me right off, though I do have to agree that it is probably his best dramatic performance. Still, it made me feel as if I hadn't slept for days; there was something very bland about it despite how well the mystery unfolded. It just wasn't riveting enough, and by the end I just wanted to sleep too.

Well there are many reasons to like this film:

1. Denise Richards
2. Denise Richards kissing Neve Campbell
3. Denise Richards kissing Neve Campbell kissing Matt Dillon
4. Bill Murray

Unfortunately, twist after twist after twist, Wild Things isn't much more than just the mediocre, sexy thriller that it is. But I liked it.

Well this wasn't even slightly good.

With Cameron Diaz in the lead role it's hard to take the film seriously. Granted, you're not supposed to, but with a less well-known actress in the lead I might have actually cared about her character. The same goes for Justin Timberlake. Instead of wanting to laugh at these actors doing something a little outside of their stereotypical roles, it just felt like a bit of a joke; a bad joke that wasn't even slightly funny.

It was only part way through that I realised this was directed by Rian Johnson but I would never have guessed. Instead, it has a slight Wes Anderson feel to it which I really liked, mixing the crime, drama, romance, and comedy genres brilliantly.

The plot seems pretty simple but it's far from it. The constant twists keep the film constantly well paced, but most of all, the cast and their characters are fantastic. Rachel Weisz is hilarious, and Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo make a fantastic leading duo. They're all incredibly fun and the film itself is hilarious; thoroughly entertaining throughout.

Watching this made me think that I never liked the first two Men In Black films to begin with. Josh Brolin was great but that's about all I enjoyed.