Magic in the Moonlight

Light, beautiful, funny, extravagant, colorful, childish, lovely, entertaining, easy. These are the words that come to my mind when I think about Woody Allen’s new movie Magic in the Moonlight.

Last saturday I wanted to see something light and entertaining, something not too serious. Magic in the Moonlight was just the right choice.

Magic in the Moonlight was very different from the previous Allen’s movie that I saw, Blue Jasmine (review here). The costumes were beautiful and so was the scenery. The storyline was not the most brilliant but somehow that didn’t bother me. Colin Firth (as Stanley) is a man of great and somehow inexlicable charm and I like him. Eileen Atkins was wondeful as Aunt Vanessa. And then there was Emma Stone, the leading lady, as Sophie. There was something fake about her. She didn’t impress me but I think that she was suitable for the role as Sophie. With her big eyes and lovely smile she was able to play this fake psychic who enchanted almost all the people that met her.

Magic in the Moonlight was fulsome, it was a little naive and silly. It wasn’t the best of Woody Allen, nor was it worst. Still, it was the perfect choice for my saturday afternoon. It made me laugh and it was romantic. It filled my heart with lightness and beauty and that was what I needed.

Bridget Jones – Mad About The Boy

I love Bridget Jones -movies and I’ve read the books also, so I was excited to hear that there’s a new Bridget Jones -book. Mad About The Boy.

What I love about Bridget is that she has the ability to laugh at herself. The books (and movies) have humour, love and silly everyday events, and the reader (and the viewer) can relate to them. Bridget is a girl next door, added with little silly features.

Mad About The Boy was also funny, there was love and silly everyday events. There was motherhood and children, lice and bedtime stories. It has a happy ending.

But I also felt that Bridget was a little too immature and very desperate. By desperate I don’t mean her grief over dead husband Marc but the despair about ageing and finding a man in her life. Nonetheless, these are the topics that are familiar to many women. Ageing scares people, so does loneliness.

Besides, it sucks that Marc died. Why couldn’t Bridget have her happy ending with him after all the fuss? That would have been a good way to finish the story of Bridget.

Mad About The Boy was a good read, one time. If they make a movie of it, I may see it. Another book to leave behind.

PS. 70 followers, thank you!

We’re the Millers

Drugdealer, stripper, virgin, runaway, that’s the Millers. I didn’t expect much when I went to see We’re the Millers, I only knew it would be a comedy.

I didn’t know Jason Sudeikis, who was playing David Clark (drugdealer). I did know Emma Roberts (Casey Mathis, runaway), Will Poulter (Kenny Rossmore, virgin) and, of course, Jennifer Aniston (Rose O’Reilly, stripper). They all hate each other but end up pretending to be a family. Endless arguing and bickering. Lousy sexist jokes and not so funny jokes about something else. Plenty of troubles and some dead people. And in the end the bad guys end up in the hand of the police force.

I remember Will Poulter from the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In that movie he was smaller and played a very annoying boy Eustace Scrubb, the cousin of the Pevensie children. In We’re the Millers he is a teenager but his manners are the same.

When I watched the film I was thinking, in all honesty, “what am I doing here”. We’re the Millers was not a movie for me. I’m not into miserable sexist jokes or potty humour. I know why I went to see it, because of Jennifer Aniston. I always fall into the illusion that she makes watchable movies because she was so good in Friends. I must say that Jennifer Aniston looks so good and she’s beautiful. But why does she make so crappy movies? Her movies are always something like We’re the Millers, mediocre and not so funny comedies. I’m sorry, I don’t like.

But there was something good in We’re the Millers. In the beginning, forced to be a family, these lonely people end up loving each other and that’s a nice thing.

Red 2

There are some great actors in Red 2. I think Helen Mirren (Victoria) is gorgeous and John Malkovich (Marvin) is good, as always, when he’s acting the weird guy. Bruce Willis (Frank) is in a role very typical for him. Catherine Zeta-Jones (Katja) and Mary-Louise Parker (Sarah) aren’t doing anything special. Anthony Hopkins is acting the same way as in his maniac roles before, with the same manners and expressions.

Red 2 is all about guns. Brainless shooting and ambition to kill as many people as possible. Shooting and killing was even a little bit mind-numbing. Red 2 is also trying to be funny and momentarily it is, some of the jokes almost made me laugh. Mostly I enjoyed Marvin’s character. I also liked the loyalty between these retirees.

Retired, extremely dangerous guys overpower all the younger ones and don’t like to be called old. There is a hit man Han Cho Bai (Byung-hun Lee) who’s trying to kill Frank, but Frank beats him too and convinces him to join the fight and track down a missing portable nuclear device.

The plot is ordinary and good actors don’t save the movie. Red 2 was below average. It was silly, but I think it was ment to be silly, so on that it was a success. It’s also nice to see some older action heroes and women in action roles (Helen Mirren). I was able to watch it without falling asleep, but after a while I began to think that it was a bit boring. If you want mindless entertainment with big guns and lousy jokes, Red 2 is for you. I must say, though, that mindless entertainment is sometimes a good thing.

Los Amantes Pasajeros

I’ve always liked the films of Pedro Almodóvar. He makes films that are full of rude characters, weird plots, anguish, weird humor (mostly about sex) and lots of people who jabber, scream, cry, love and, very strongly, show other feelings. Almodóvar’s movies are different, that’s for sure and I know that many people don’t like them.

Yesterday I went to see Los amantes pasajeros (I’m so excited! in English). I was so disappointed. Yes, weird humor about sex. Yes, odd characters. No, no rational plot. And the whole time I thought that the movies was very amateurish. It was a surprise because in the movie there are many famous Spanish actors and actresses, like Javier Càmara and Lola Dueñas. It just didn’t work.

Even the best can’t always succeed. Los amantes pasajeros is the worst film of Almodóvar. But I love Spanish people (that’s why I married one).

Lo siento, Pedro!