Ghostbusters (2016) Film Review

Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is trying to be taken seriously as a science academic, but is haunted by her past with Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) and their book that dealt with the possible reality of ghosts. So when she meets up with Abby again, now working with the weird and wacky Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) and they actually see a ghost, she has to reconsider many life choices. Then things start to get a bit out of control in the ghost world; they end up hiring a very handsome and very stupid secretary, Kevin (Chris Hemsworth), get a fourth to their group, Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), become celebrities, but then quickly get shut down by Mayor Bradley (Andy Garcia) and… it continues.

Yes, there was a lot of talk about the remake of a classic film, and even more when it was revealed that the main characters would all be women. I understand the fear that the original, that so many of us grew up loving, might be tarnished by a remake. Well, I thought it was fabulous. It had much of the silly humour of the first, as well as a few of the scary shock moments. And what an awesome cast! I kind of wish that it had been more of a long-awaited sequel – I couldn’t be bothered with a whole origin story. But still, I just loved it. Especially the Holtzmann character – it’s been ages since I’ve seen such a fun 80s style crazy character.

The Godfather : Part III (1990) Film Review

The third part in The Godfather Trilogy, this film sees an aging Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) still trying to take his business straight. How? By going into business with the Vatican. Because that makes sense.

I’ve heard it said that many consider this to be the weakest of the films, yet I think it is still considered to be a good film. I dunno… I found that in the previous films, I quite liked Michael and hoped that he would come good. In this film, I felt he was too far gone – he was just so over the top, quite a caricature of who he’d been previously. And the whole Vatican story I found… quite stupid, really. I just couldn’t care less. Perhaps it was just too much Godfather in one weekend.

The Godfather : Part III was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Andy Garcia), Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction – Set Decoration, Best Film Editing and Best Music, Original Song

 

Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) Film Review

Like the two films leading up to this, it’s a big, exciting heist film with lots of misdirection and cleverness. This time, it’s all about revenge on Willy Bank (Al Pacino), a casino operator opening a new hotel, who has ripped off one of their own, Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould), causing heart failure and a coma.

My big issue with the last two films was the women in the film having very little character and being (sometimes willingly) manipulated very obviously by the men of the film. This time, it wasn’t the wives or girlfriends. The one female in the film, Bank’s top assistant Abigail Sponder (Ellen Barkin), initially appears to be in control and in charge, strong and spotting the bullshit being weaved around her. Then, she is painted as a ‘cougar’ (such an insulting term, but I won’t get started on that one today) and manipulated into seducing Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), one of the eleven who is playing a character as part of the plot. I guess the big question is – how good does the film need to be to be able to ignore this? (Or perhaps a bigger question – after being annoyed by this in the first two films, why did I go on to watch the third?)

Ocean’s Twelve (2004) Film Review

So, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is back out of jail (again) and he and the rest of the eleven have found things to spend their millions on. But Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) has found them, and insists on compensation. And then there is Francois Toulour (Vincent Cassel), a super-rich, super-clever gangster who wants to compete against Ocean to be considered the best thief in the world, and Isabel Lahiri (Catherine Zeta-Jones) a beautiful police officer who was dating Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), but now is set to catch him and arrest him.

Again, there is a lot of fun, trickiness and playing with expectations, but it is, yet again, ruined for me by the representations of the females in the film. At least Tess (JuliaRoberts) gets a bit of a better go this time, actually doing something (even if she is forced into it by a whole bunch of men she doesn’t even know… creepy) (although seeing her play a character pretending to be Julia Roberts was a lot of fun). Then there is the Catherine Zeta-Jones character, a high-ranking police officer who is driven to fraud by her emotions – the need for revenge against her ex, and who (spoiler alert) is manipulated into giving up her very successful career by the very same ex and her father, who she believed was dead. Men manipulating women a lot. Way to spoil a good, fun film.

 

Ocean’s Eleven (2001) Film Review

Danny Ocean (George Clooney) has two goals when he gets out of jail; to win back his ex-wife, Tess (Julia Roberts) and to rob the casino that belongs to her current beau, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). He gets together a crack team of specialists (ten others to be exact… hence the Ocean’s Eleven).

A heist film is great. A casino heist film is even better. And with a whole bunch of hunks and spunks, clever writing and fun technology, plus twists that have you thinking one thing then it flips? What more could one want? How about a half decent female character in here? There is only one woman of any significantce in this film, and she is an object to be possessed. What’s more (spoiler alert), when she learns that her current beau is not the nicest guy, does she go and work her own life out? Hells no. She goes back to the man who lied to her and ruined her life. Sheesh, this film would have been better with no women at all. Annoying, because I really liked the rest of it.