Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) Film Review

After their adventures in the previous instalment, Dale (Charlie Day), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Nick (Jason Bateman) decide to go into business for themselves with the Shower Buddy a kind of car wash for your shower. When Bert Hanson (Christoph Waltz) and his son Rex (Chris Pine) cause them to become hugely in debt, they devise a ridiculous kidnapping and extortion plan which they attempt, but give up when things don’t go to plan. Unfortunately for them, Rex has decided that it is a far better plan and blackmails them into going through with it – with him as a partner. And it gets ridiculous.

I just had a look at what I thought about he first film – I felt that it wasn’t enough story for a full film, but it was ok. Perhaps that is why I liked this one more – perhaps it had more plot, or something. At any rate, I did quite enjoy this one, with all of it’s filthy humour, and it was good to get a few callback characters like Dean ‘MF’ Jones (Jamie Foxx), Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey) and Dr Julia Harris, D.D.S. (Jennifer Aniston).

Spectre (2015) Film Review

James Bond (Daniel Craig) is off around the world, against agency orders following some interesting leads. M (Ralph Fiennes) is not happy. Especially because there is a new group coming in, headed by C (Andrew Scott) who wants to put the 00 program to bed. Then there’s the bad guy, who’s name I’m not going to give because that alone is a bit of a spoiler alert, but he’s played by Christoph Waltz yet again doing a magnificent job as a bad guy. And there’s a lot of plot and action and the like.

And it is awesome. I was the only James Bond watcher in the world who didn’t like Skyfall (or so it seems), so I was glad to enjoy this. Bond films have a wonderful reputation for magnificent opening sequences, and this is no exception. Worth seeing for it alone!

 

Big Eyes (2014) Film Review

Margaret(Amy Adams) has escaped a bad marriage with her daughter and suddenly falls for charming and charismatic fellow artist Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz). Before she knows it, they are married, and Walter has started taking credit for Margaret’s popular Big Eyes paintings He markets her art like no-one has before, with prints, posters, postcards – anything the masses can provide. And as they become wealthier, she becomes more unsatisfied and he becomes more abusive until finally she breaks, chosing to stand up for herself, her daughter and her art.

It’s a mysterious one – I wanted to like it, as it is a great story, and based on truth as well. But I felt little chemistry between the two initially as they fell in love and I just couldn’t get into the story. I didn’t find any emotion, I couldn’t car what happened, and it mostly even lacked the beauty of artistry that is typical of Tim Burton.

Big Eyes won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical (Amy Adams) and was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical (Christoph Waltz) and Best Original Song – Motion Picture (Big Eyes)

Inglourious Basterds (2009) Film Review

Imagine if you could go back to World War 2 and kill a whole heap of Nazis… how would you like to do it? How about get Brad Pitt to lead a bunch of Jewish soldiers as a small unit that sets out to kill them, striking fear into the heart of leadership, including Hitler himself. Now imagine you are a young Jewish girl whose family are slaughtered by the soldiers of one really nasty Nazi. And imagine you had the chance to get him and many other main Nazis… including Hitler himself. Now imagine all of that is directed by Quentin Tarantino. Yup, that is how excellent this film is.

It gets totally and utterly ridiculous at times; wonderfully, really. Funny and absurd. If you don’t like violence, it’s not going to be your cup of tea. But I would recommend watching the opening sequence – I think it is the best opening sequence of a film ever (although then there is Sexy Beast…) Christoph Waltz is utterly amazing in this role.

Inglourious Basterds won an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Christoph Waltz) and was nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing (Quentin Tarantino), Best Writing, Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino), Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing and Best Achievement in Sound Editing.