Megamind (2010) Film Review

After his world was destroyed, an alien was sent to Earth. Just like Superman. Only, not unlike Superman, there were two babies. Megamind (Will Ferrell) a blue creature who just cannot quite get it right, and Metro Man (Brad Pitt), a real Superman type. As children, Metro Man always won over Megamind, and Megamind decides, along with Minion (David Cross), he decides to be a real villain. He falls into a routine with Metro Man – he kidnaps Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey), Metro Man saves her and they go on. But one day, he kills Metro Man, and their world is turned upside down. Depressed, Megamind realises he needs a foe to continue, and he makes Titan (Jonah Hill), the hero. But nothing goes quite as expected.

It is a fun film, but it was only when I got about three-quarters of the way through when I realised that I had seen it before, so it clearly did stick in my mind. Good points? David Cross is fabulous as Minion, the strange fish companion. The character of Roxanne is being saved a lot, but there is a lot more to her. She still is the only significant female character, which is a shame. And I love that Megamind mispronounces everything.

 

Date Night (2010) Film Review

Phil (Steve Carell) and Claire (Tina Fey) have been married for some time, have small children, and find that they barely have energy to have their date nights, even though they clearly enjoy each other’s company. But when close friends tell them they are splitting, news that strikes out of the blue, they decide to make a big effort and go into town (New York, that’s the town) for a special dinner. When they can’t get a table at an exclusive restaurant, they pinch someone elses reservation. Hint: if you are going to do this, make sure that the people who’s reservation you take are not attempting to bribe anyone, and you don’t spend the night on the run for your life. Even if you do end up spending time with a shirtless Marky Mark.

I love Steve Carell, I love Mark Wahlberg and I especially love Tina Fey. How could I not love this film? It’s funny, ridiculous, but mostly extremely funny. And I could watch it over and over. Just ace times.

 

 

 

 

Mean Girls (2004) Film Review

Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohen) has spent most of her life in Africa with her zoologist parents, but has been brought back to the US for the final part of her education. She is unused to the politics and cliques of an American school, and quickly makes friends with a couple of outsiders, Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian (Daniel Franzese). But when there is the opportunity for Cady to be included in the clique of the most popular and meanest girls in school, Janis and Damian convince her to bring them down from the inside. But things go wrong as Cady seems to be becoming one of them.

The screenplay for the film was written by Tina Fey based on the Rosalind Wiseman book Queen Bees and Wannabes, and I wanted to totally love it for this. There is certainly a lot to love about the film; it is witty and funny, and many of the characters are totally awesome. There was just something that didn’t quite work for me. Whilst she did seem very naïve and sweet as Cady, I did not buy the relationships that Cady was forming. Especially her crush on Aaron (Jonathan Bennett) – there seemed to be very little chemistry there. It’s always awesome seeing Tina Fey and Amy Poeler on-screen, and I’m a big fan of Rachel McAdams (who is the magnificently horrible Regina George), but the whole time I watched this, I wished I were watching Heathers.

30 Rock – TV Review

I’ve recently finished watching season six of 30 Rock and I was pretty disappointed. I still had a few laugh out loud moments, but it really felt like it was going over old ground. What’s more, it felt as though it was so aware of it (especially with moments such as Liz Lemon looking directly down the barrel of the camera and announcing that even after five years, there were still things that she and Jack could learn from each other).

It’s my understanding that a lot of television series in the US are commissioned with a potential seven-year life. I recall Hugh Laurie mentioning in an interview that when he was signed on to House, there was a seven-year clause. If this is the case, then I guess when something is popular (in 2009, 30 Rock was nominated for fourteen Primetime Emmy Awards, the most in a single year), there is the inclination to get as much of it as possible, regardless of whether the quality is dropping. Actually, the quality isn’t dropping as such; it’s more that I expect more. Had I watched season six first, I think I would have laughed almost as much as season one.

Of course, I’ll watch season seven (I can never let it lie). But I’m not expecting a lot.