Wanted

It's been awhile since I took in a Sunday afternoon matinee, so I decided to check out Wanted. I knew very little about it going in, other that what I saw in trailers.

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov and based on a comic book written by Mark Millar, the film is about Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), a young man very bored with his uneventful life. Wesley finds out that his father, who abandoned him as a baby, was really an assassin and part of a fraternity of assassins who was just murdered by another fraternity member.


Wesley is recruited into the fraternity by Fox (Angelina Jolie), who worked with his father. The head of the fraternity, Sloan (Morgan Freeman), schools Wesley on the ins and outs of the assassin game and his special ability that he always confused with anxiety attacks. The motto of the fraternity is "kill one, save a thousand", and feel that they get their orders from fate itself.


I enjoyed the film and thought it was very action packed and chock full of highly implausible feats. The crowds on the IMDB boards seem to identify it as being a cross between The Matrix and Fight Club. I wasn't familiar with the comic book or novel beforehand, but I thought the story was great with some unexpected twists and turns. I have to say that I hadn't expected to see McAvoy in a summer action blockbuster, given the hype for his turn in the Oscar winning Atonement. I thought Wesley's transformation was really good as he didn't start out good and cocky like most films where the "chosen one" has to be trained to fulfill their destiny. I also was reticent to see this because of Angelina Jolie.


Sometimes an actor will have their professional life eclipsed by tabloid press and none as much as the whole Aniston/Pitt/Jolie fiasco. I didn't want to see any of her movies since then because I couldn't seem to see her as anything else but that homewrecking hussy, and this is coming from someone who had a mad girl crush on Jolie until then. I saw it anyway and have to say I enjoyed her thoroughly. She did what she does best and should stick to roles like this where she smolders, looks sexy and is badass and stop trying so hard to be artsy and serious. The only thing I would have to add regarding Miss Jolie is this....damn girl, eat a sammich! Everybody else was awesome, too.

Highly enjoyable if you aren't expecting anything more than a pure, total and complete escapist popcorn flick.

More ramblings to come.....

Hookers

My handsome and talented friend, Marcel Petit, is premiering his documentary, Hookers, in Saskatoon this coming weekend. The film is a documentary about how former street workers transitioned from the sex trade to go on to school and other careers. Marcel has made the film partly as a tribute to his mother, one of the women featured, to honour her strength. Unforch, I don't think I will be able to make it up to Saskatoon to see it, but I will see it as soon as it makes it down to the Queen City. If you are in the Saskatoon area, definitely check it out, or catch it at a film festival near you.



Much love and happiness, Marcel!

More ramblings to come......

Quickie Reviews

I know, I know...I totally suck. I always promise I'm back to posting regularly and then I don't. How can my three regular readers ever trust me again?! I promise I'll make it up to you....somehow. I have managed to make it to the theater and I'll give a short summary on what I've seen thus far.....


Sex and the City
My girlfriends and I were really looking forward to seeing this film long before it came out and so was every woman and gay man who was a big fan of the show. I personally loved it, despite it being almost two and a half hours. I do think you'd really have to be a fan of the show and familiar with the characters and plotlines to really grasp the gravity of some of the things that happen straight off the bat. Everybody who was a regular character came back and brought their men with them. Cast was good, writing was good, it was all good. I especially liked the addition of Jennifer Hudson as Carrie's new kick ass assistant, Louise. Highly recommended, only if you are a fan of the show.


What Happens in Vegas
I had heard good word of mouth about this one and decided to check it out. I wasn't sure I'd like Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher together in a romantic comedy. It wasn't too formulaic and I thought they had some good chemistry. It wasn't too overly sappy or cornball. Basically, Diaz and Kutcher meet as strangers in Vegas and hit it off and spend the night partying together only to wake up and find out that they got married. They are court ordered to stay married after one of them wins a lot of money and they start fighting over it. Much humour is provided by their two sardonic friends (Rob Corddry and Lake Bell) who help them try to win the court battle in very sneaky ways. I went in not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised.


Kung Fu Panda
My kids were looking forward to this one, partially because they've been showing trailers of it for ages. I happen to enjoy Jack Black, animated or not, so I thought it would be okay. I thought it would be cute, but it was actually fairly entertaining, although a little formulaic. Black is Po, a panda who wants more than anything to join the elite group of kung fu animals trained by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman). His father however, wants him to follow in his footsteps in the soup biz. Po's inner conflict commences. I wouldn't rate it as high as say, Horton Hears a Who, but it was amusing, tolerable and enjoyable.

More ramblings to come....(no, really)....