Bounty Hunter

Bounty Hunter

Staring:

Jennifer Aniston

Gerard Butler

The W.I.R.A.*

*What's It Roughly About

A comedy about um…..well a bounty hunter…and his ex-wife who he has to bounty hunt…..

Ok I really have to stop doing this....

I know I shouldn’t and yet I still do

My mind says…”no don’t!” ….but I can’t resist…

What shouldn’t I do? Watch the trailers for comedy films, that’s what! I should just look at the writing and the cover and say “ok this looks funny, I’ll take it.” By pressing the show trailer button on itunes or anywhere else you will most likely be sapping all the fun out of the film because they will show you all the best bits! Why they do this I don’t know….and who “they” are I also don’t know, obviously people who enjoy sucking the fun out of comedies….

Anyway mini-rant over let me start again. Ok so I recently saw Gerard Butler in a film called Law Abiding Citizen..a very dark and gripping thriller (also starring Jamie Foxx) and so I was interested to see how he would handle a sort of caper-comedy. I had no such doubts about Jennifer Aniston who, apart being ultra sexy (especially in the little black dress she wore for a lot of the film that showed off her legs really nicely…focus Sir Mark) has a background in comedy - from Friends through to the various films she has made.

The plot is pretty straight forward. Nicole (Jennifer Aniston) is a reporter who has a lead on a big story. She also was involved in a traffic violation that means she has to be at court to answer the charges….but the story comes first and she skips the hearing. Milo (Gerard Butler) is an ex-cop who now works as a bounty hunter…he is also Nicole’s ex-husband. He is over the moon when his boss hands him Nicole as his next assignment. Catching her is no problem but holding on to her definitely is, as she tries to explain about the story and he tries to get her to jail. Eventually he gets pulled into the world that she has uncovered involving shady cops and drugs and they both have to work together to bring the villain to justice….along the way of course romance is kick started again and the ending you expect at the beginning is pretty much the ending you get. Which is no bad thing - who doesn’t like a happy ending.

So what did I think of it?

I would say that it was an average film. I did laugh a few times but, as I said before, a lot of those laughs were expected in a sort of “oh yeah, I remember this scene is funny” kind of way. The two lead actors were ok - these weren’t complex roles so there was nothing wrong with either performance. I think some of the funniest lines came from the supporting cast and the two stars did the physical comedy well.

The film felt a bit patchy to me, as if it was trying to fit into several different genres and not being true to any of them. Was it a comedy? Was it a romantic comedy? Was it a thriller? Now some films can weave these threads together nicely and make a fun coherent story….this felt more like a whole collection of ideas being forced onto the screen…

One scene for instance involves a guy being tortured…or threatened with torture. I think the torture in question involved tattooing something on the guys eyelids. The man is gagged and looks genuinely afraid….as you would do if someone was about to tattoo something on your eyelids - well most people would, I pass no judgement on people who are into eyelid tattoos….. Now in a certain type of film this would be a scene that ratcheted up the tension, made you root for the heroes to come save them and sympathise with the poor tied up and gagged guy. However in this film the scene would come after some slapstick comedy, ex-husband / ex-wife bickering or an “oh my god why did we get a divorce” scene. It didn’t fit.

In conclusion:

Its certainly not a terrible film and, if you don’t watch the trailer first, its quite a funny film in places. However I think its ultimately unsatisfying as it doesn’t seem to know what its trying to be and this makes it struggle to take the audience along on its journey. Its like a GPS system for the car that keeps telling you to turn around when possible….So hunt this one down if you want but don’t pay too high a bounty

Grace rating:

6/10

Avatar

Welcome blog readers....to my first review...I hope you like it :)

I have always said that I never understood people who see films multiple times and that it's something I would never do….so with that in mind, here is my review of Avatar, a film that I have seen 4 times.

I had no idea what to expect from this film when I went to see it the first time. I had gone for the 3D to start with having been hooked by the bug of the third dimension years ago at an IMAX cinema. The trailers I had seen for the film had been vague as to the plot which is usually a good sign….not like some comedies that show you every single funny bit before you get to see the movie itself. I picked up my 3D glasses and prepared to be amazed! As usual I put them on too early and spent the time before the feature thinking…hmm this 3D isn’t all that impressive. Then suddenly I was nearly hit in the face by a flying “5” that shot out of the screen... then a 4... 3… 2 and 1.

All aboard for Pandora:

Like I said, I didn’t know much about the story and I actually liked that—it was like being told a story as a child where the direction of the tale and what happened next were a total mystery. I think we never lose the love of a good story throughout our lives.

The film starts on a transport ship taking a crew to a planet far away. One of those places where you have to stick people into freezers for the whole trip. The planet is Pandora and it is home to the Na’vi, but more importantly it is home to large deposits of the bizarrely named Unobtanium. The scene is set for a conflict of interests here as the humans—the military and corporations—want to simply move the Na’vi away from their homes and the Na’vi don’t want to move. However we have a massive advantage of firepower so after bribery fails there is threatening and then forced removal of the natives. All this sounds eerily familiar to the way big powers sometimes work here on Earth and I think you cannot help but recognise that underlying subtext to the film. You identify with the Na’vi and the humans who want to save Pandora, you are appalled at the military and the big corporation…well, unless you are the CEO of a big corporation, in which case you are probably fueling up the bomber to take out the sacred Home Tree as we speak.

I loved the environmental message within the film. It is the norm in a lot of science fiction films that we humans go and sort out some disaster on another world…we fly in like saviours and solve the universes woes….GO HUMANS! We Rock! Only we don’t, we have potential but we also have a planet that we are squandering and depleting of its natural resources for profit and exploiting other creatures and ignoring there fight for survival. Not a great CV for the galactic job of hero.

Avatar painted a picture far more closely recognisable as humanity. Some people were trying to protect the world but big business didn’t care so long as they made a profit. It felt very much like Pandora was the Earth and I was watching a documentary on the discovery channel about the Amazon rain forest instead of a film. That is not a criticism—it made me think and made me want to do something to prevent us from reaching such a crisis point here on the 3rd rock from the sun.

The animation and the effects are out of this world….it really is a spectacular visual experience and you can tell that no expense has been spared to create Pandora and all her wildlife. I am not sure if the 3D adds a huge amount to the film…I only saw it once with the glasses on and yet I enjoyed it just as much the other times.

I don’t think I have any criticisms of Avatar, although I am disappointed that it is being re-released with 8 minutes of unseen footage at the cinemas….this is just blatant profiteering and to my mind spoils the films memory a bit. I hope that after Lord of the Rings tried the same tricks with multiple editions that people won’t be so easily fooled and rush back to the big screens….although I think they probably will.

All in all I would recommend this film for anyone….go see it…..go see it now!

Grace Rating:

9/10

First Post!

Hi there :) We are Sir Mark and Lady Katy and we review things...
"What things?" I hear you cry
*waits for people all over the web to say "what things?"*

Well the answer is many, many, many things...
Things we have read....
Things we have watched.....
Things we have listened to....

Yes we are that versatile!

Sometimes we will post together and sometimes we will post individually....I can feel the excitement building....and later on we will introduce ourselves a bit better.  For now though.....on with the first review!

Step forward Sir Mark with a review on AVATAR!!!