A teenage John Lennon, pre-Beatles, lives with his aunt, gets in trouble a lot and tries to resolve his relationship with his mother. He also discovers music, forms a band and meets Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
I quite like the Beatles. I knew a bit about John Lennon’s early life, but not a lot. I have no idea how accurately this depicts his life and relationships, but I found it a bit boring. The relationship between John and his mum seemed a bit creepy and the background music was ever-present, quite dominating and not that great, which is disappointing when it is a film about one of the greatest composers of his generation.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is an agent working for a secret spy organisation, but when one of their missions goes haywire leaving several of his colleagues dead, he is suspected to be a traitor. It is up to him to clear his name – and the only way to do this is a ridiculous and exciting break in to the pentagon to steal a computer file from an office with the most insane series of security protocol. And lots of exciting stuff happens – including a helicopter flying in the channel tunnel attached to the train. Crazy and awesome.
This is a great action film with everything you could ever want in an action film. Intrigue, excitement, explosions, the odd bit of humour and, of course, Tom Cruise. He’s a great action hero (just don’t bother with Jack Reacher), especially when he runs. I love Tom Cruise running.
What’s happened to Eric Bana? In my youth, he was a stand-up comedian who was huge on a sketch comedy show, then he started making films and ended up in a few fabulous Hollywood films. And now? Come back, Eric. Looking at IMDB, there are a few projects in the wings for him for 2013. Good.
But back to the film. If you know anything about your Henry VIII history, you’ll know that he wasn’t the best guy to be married to. Especially if you were Anne Boleyn. She got her head chopped off. This film follows the relationships between Anne, Henry and her sister, the other Boleyn girl, Mary.
I am always concerned to take history from films; of course, things are dramatised to make a good story and to keep the audience interested. Apparently, she was the lover of Henry VIII and had considerable influence.
Regardless of the exact truths of the film, it’s a good story. The film is not just about the relationships that the king had with these two women, but is about the politics of the time, with various fathers and relatives maneuvering the women into the favour of the king. It’s worth a watch. For sure.
I can’t remember what this was nominated for. I’ll have to check. Surely, it couldn’t be the acting. The acting was so appalling at the start of the film, it even seemed like Ewan McGregor was struggling with a Scottish accent, which given that he is a Scot, is shocking. It wasn’t the accent. It was the stiltedness of it all, which gets explained later, but just seemed bad at the start. Somehow (given that I’m aware that films are shot non-sequencially), the acting overall seemed to improve as the film went on.
Ewan McGregor is Dr Alfred Jones, a socially inept bureaucrat in the department of fisheries and wildlife in the UK who is approached by a wealthy businessman to set up Salmon flyfishing in one of the rivers in the Yemen. It seems ridiculous to him given the different climates and various other factors, but when the British government (represented by the wonderfully fouth-mouthed Kristen Scott Thomas) needs a good news story from the Middle East, all stops are pulled out to get the project happening.
It’s actually not a bad little story. Cute, a bit quirky, with a bit of drama and some decent sub-plots. It just didn’t quite work for me.
Emily Blunt nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Ewan McGregor nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
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