10 Things I Hate About You

A reprint of an old review. I wrote it before Ledger's death, so it's quite weird re-reading it.

This film is hilarious. Loosely based on Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", 10 Things I Hate About You tells the story of two sisters, Bianca and Kat. Their overbearing father, who works in a maternity ward, and therefore has an immense fear of getting pregnant does not allow them to date. This does not bother Kat, who tends to keep herself aloof from her peers. It does, however, bother Bianca. After much pleading, her father changes the rules; Bianca can date when Kat does. This opens the doors for Bianca's many admirers, one of whom comes up with the plan of paying someone (Patrick Verona) to date Kat.

At times, this film almost comes across as a parody of itself. It's not believable, in the sense that you can see it actually happening - it's a little too out there, for that. However, the acting is good (with an extraordinarily young Heath Ledger, and an equally youthful Julia Stiles), and the characters are endearing. There are so many great lines in the film, i had trouble choosing just one for the title of this review. The music is amazing (the first CD I ever bought was the soundtrack to this film), and although the film does come across as slightly dated, it has some of the more classic moments of romantic teen comedy (ie, Patrick serenading Kat in front of their classmates, a scene which was parodied in 'Not Another Teen Movie'). To be quite honest, the film's worth seeing just for the guidance counsellor and her trashy novel.

In summary, this film is a must for anyone who likes romantic comedy. Or Heath Ledger, the little cutie.

17 Again and Sherlock Holmes

17 Again is about as cliched as you might expect. And I still loved it.

17 Again is about a man who, having given up his chance at a scholarship in a sudden decision to run after his (just revealed to be) pregnant girlfriend, in what is, incidentally, an extremely well-played and directed scene, then holds it over her head for the next twenty years.

Seriously though, that scene's great. It assumes that the audience has seen the trailer, and so doesn't fuck about spelling out things we already know. It just jumps right in there, and it's just so clean and edgy...

In some ways, that scene could have been the end of another kind of film - and this is what happens after happy-ever-after. 37-year-old Mike O'Donnel, as played by Matthew Perry, is disappointed and miserable in his life, and he blames his wife for that. It's no wonder she's divorcing him.

His transformation back into a teenager is one of the most cliched things I've ever seen (complete with the wise old janitor), but the first meeting with his ex-best friend was funny, original and a bit insane (there was an axe and some lightsabers. It was awesome).

So far, I've only seen Zac Efron as Troy Bolton, the basketball-playing male lead of High School Musical. This role is, in some ways quite a departure from Disney. He says "douche" for a start. And his hair isn't stupid (at least, not until it gets slicked down again). Matthew Perry, I'm more familiar with as Chandler Bing.

Alright, I'll be honest here. I started writing this review about six months ago (maybe longer - how long has this film been out?), and I'd gotten as far as what's written above...and then I stopped. For no apparent reason.

I did get 17 Again on DVD for my birthday. The film could be described as, in many ways, bits of awesome interspered with plot. This is not a bad thing. That isn't to say that it isn't sweet and touching (it is). Just that light sabers, swords, basketballs and the word 'pwned' makes everything better. Everything.

Incidentally, I might be going to see Sherlock Holmes in a few weeks - it depends if Mattie gets his act together or not. You can view the trailer for it here.

I'm intrigued. I like the things they've included, like the boxing - canonically, Holmes is quite a good amateur boxer - and references to violin-playing at 3am. It's clear that someone involved has read the originals, and that's a start. I can live with the steampunk victorian streets, too. They're very shiny. There seems to be quite a lot of action in this, and while Holmes was quite fit, I seem to recall that he was rarely involved in direct fights. More often he was running away.

This brings me to Irene Adler. Although I do love Rachel McAdams, as I recall, Adler was a woman Holmes deeply respected because, yes, she did get the better of him. They certainly never kissed. Holmes was asexual. If they had to include a love story, why not Watson's? I found the description of how he met and married his first wife quite romantic, personally.

Speaking of Watson, Jude Law doesn't look like him. I realise that I may well be thinking of film portrayals of Watson, rather than the actual canon, so I'll let that one go. I'm also willing to give Robert Downey Jr a chance. The man is a fine actor, and he has much of the voice and manner of Holmes 'right' to my mind, even though I always pictured him as being rather thinner and better shaved.

I wonder if they're going to include the cocaine abuse, the shooting practice at the walls of their flat, or that time Holmes decided to beat up a corpse?

New Movies!

So, it's finally happened. The film of The Time Traveler's Wife is finished, and has a release date. Two days after my birthday - Friday the 14th of August.

Watching the trailer, it seems they've stayed relatively faithful to the book. Neither Rachel McAdams nor Eric Bana look exactly like I pictured Claire or Henry, but they are both very good actors, and the film seems to have kept the major plot points. I'm looking forward to seeing it. The trailer can be viewed here.

Another book-to-film being released soon is My Sister's Keeper based on the book by Jodi Picolt. The trailer for that, again, seems quite faithful to the novel. I'm hoping it can revive my original love of the book, especially with Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin - who appeared in Definitly, Maybe - in two of the lead roles. It's interesting to see Cameron Diaz playing a character who's entire point is that she's a mother, but she seems to pull it off. That's out this Friday, and the trailer can be viewed here.

Finally, I'm afraid to say that I've cancelled my Unlimited Card. As anyone who reads this blog might have noticed, I'm no longer able to spend as much time in the cinema as I was before. I hope to get it back once I'm a little further through my degree.

He's Just Not That Into You

For those who want to try Yuna (Hedy Burress) spotting, she's playing one of Jennifer Aniston's sisters.

I've already introduced this movie in a few other posts, so I won't bother repeating myself here. A film with eight or nine main characters was a little hard to follow, for a start. Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) goes on a date with Conor (Kevin Connolly) who is in love with Anna (Scarlet Johanssen), who is having an affair with married man Ben (Bradley Cooper), who is married to Janine (Jennifer Connelly), who works with Gigi and Beth (Jennifer Aniston), who is not-married to Neil (Ben Affleck). Conor is also working with advertising executive Mary (Drew Barrymore) to increase his real estate business while Gigi is relying on Alex (Justin Long) to remind her to ignore the "signs". If a guy is that into you, he'll be asking you out. End of.

Did I miss anyone? Probably.

The film's not a huge, fantastic drama. It's a sweet chick-flick with far too many famous faces (I spotted Hedy Burress by narrowing it down to the three people with speaking parts whose faces I didn't recognise). It's a little hard to keep track of who isn't returning whose phone-calls, but it's still generally quite enjoyable in spite of that.

The film is rated 12a in the UK or PG13 in the US. You probably could take teenagers to see it, but they most likely wouldn't get as much out of it as twenty to thirty-something women, who would seem to be the film's main audience.

It was fun. It was two hours long but didn't feel like it. And the buzzword thing wasn't nearly as irritating as it might have been, since only one character really did it, and she was barely on screen.

This isn't the best movie any of these actors have made, but it's nice. Just not really special.

Australia

It is curious to note just how little Australia impacts the cinematic world. While I'm aware that Australia has a burgeoning film industry and has produced many good films, these probably will not be widely advertised, and almost certainly won't be competing with the latest Hollywood blockbusters. Most famous Australian actors and actresses - Guy Pearce, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and the late Heath Ledger, to name a few - will not be using their real accents in their most famous films, except, perhaps, on the commentary. And at the moment, I can only think of one film which is set in Australia.

So, with that kind of history, this film seems to be an Australian light in an all too American world. Australia, directed by Baz Luhrman (New South Wales), starring Hugh Jackman (also New South Wales) and Nicole Kidman (born in Honolulu, but raised in Sydney), and filmed in Queensland, may be Australia's big break into the commercial film market.

I do, however, find it rather amusing that Nicole Kidman is playing an English woman.

I also suspect that, epic as the film is, it may be slightly too heavy in tone for most audiences.