The A-Team (2010) Film Review

If you don’t know what The A-Team is (and I’m talking old school – the TV show) then you are not from my generation. Here, watch this.

If you need to know, Hannibal is the brains. Face is the, well, face (handsome charmer). Murdoch is crazy, but good with planes and stuff, and BA Baracus is scary and good with mechanics. That’s the A-Team.It was awesome. Then, in 2010, a film version was made, starring Liam Neeson as Hannibal and Bradley Cooper as Face (the other guys aren’t that well-known yet). I was fearful, but when I discovered that I’d accidently recorded it off telly recently, I figured I may as well give it a shot.

The film is a modern take on the original. The A-Team are Rangers, and the film tells their origin story; working on real missions, until they are framed for a crime and locked up. They need to break free and prove their innocence. I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed it. Lots of running and explosions (my favs) plus comedy and a pretty darn good interpretation of both the characters and the concept. Nice one.

 

Valentine’s Day (2010) Film Review

What happens when you get a whole bunch of stars together to tell a whole bunch of stories? Valentine’s Day. And much as I expected to dislike it, being very Hollywood and corny… I loved it. I loved the romance, I loved the slightly unexpected twists (and that many of the twists were not that unexpected), it was just great.

I’m not going to try to recount the plots – there were just so many intertwining. All you need to know is that in LA on this particular Valentine’s Day, heaps of people interact. Some get together, some don’t, some break up, some rekindle their love. It’s gentle and fun and has a huge cast. If you get sick of the stories, you can spend some time trying to name everyone in the film. This is a great film to know for playing 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

 

 

Hitchcock (2012) Film Review

Surely, everyone has seen Psycho. If you study Media at high school, you’ve probably studied it. It’s a great film, well structured, and has given the world the shower scene, one of the most well-known attack scenes ever. I’d never thought about the process of getting it made in 1960. The film has adultery, robbery, murder, cross-dressing and whatever it is called with the dead mother’s corpse. Really, it is a surprise that it was made.

Hitchcock tells the story of Alfred (Antony Hopkins) and his wife Alma Reville (Helen Mirren), their love and her role in his career. It’s a good film. It’s better than good, but a long way from great. The performances are strong, and I wasn’t at all bothered by the extreme make-up used on Hopkins to make him look like Alfred Hitchcock. The story is complete and concise, and tell the story well. But it didn’t blow me away. Interesting, but not overly exciting.

Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel have been nominated for an Oscar for Makeup and Hairstyling

Helen Mirren was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and was nominated for a BAFTA for Leading Actress