What´s Your Number?

If you see Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson or...Drew Barrymore on a poster, you know there is a risk that it´s a romantic comedy. Some actresses seems to stuck into a certain genre, mostly because it sells tickets. When it comes to Anna Faris, she is not the typical romantic comedy girl, wich is great. She have tried to be flexible, try different kind of characters. One of her best movies so far is The House Bunny, a Playboy girl moves into college to help a group nerd girls be sexy. It had a great combination of a college comedy with funny dialogue. Let´s not forget her performance in Observe And Report, as a shopping mall diva. On paper, What´s Your Number? looks like another romance production, made to please all you girls who dream of the perfect man ( wich i already know i am ). So is this what we call in Sweden :- Kalkon rulle, or is this actually funny?


Ally Darling ( Anna Faris ) get fired from her job. On her way home, she buys a magazine, with an article named What´s Your Number? The article asks the reader to calculate how many people you had sex with. As Ally starts to calculate, she finds out she had sex with 20 men. Wich is more than she expected. She decides to track down all of her ex boyfriends, to see wich one has grown up, and hopefully find someone to marry. Her neighbour Colin Shea ( Chris Evans ) is a ladies man, always with a new woman. He decide to help her track out her ex boyfriends. Along the way, things are not going how Ally have expected.

The story itself is pretty dumb. Why would you look for all your ex boyfriends, and not just move on with your life? In this case i know why, she doesnt want to sleep with guy number 21. But anyway, What´s Your Number? is not as bad as i thought it would be, but that is because of Anna Faris comic timing. She makes this romance story fun at some moments. The biggest problem is it´s hard to be interested in her quest. They could have made her ex boyfriends more special, and it might have worked better. Now, were just left with a pretty thin comedy, that should have a completely different storyline. Anna Faris is a comic talent, she can deliver a good performance with the right material. But here she is the only reason you watch through the whole movie. My advice, if you want a romantic comedy that´s fun, rent I Love You, Phillip Morris, gay men know how to make romance movies more entertaining.

Rating: DD

Don´t Be Afraid Of The Dark

If you by any chance have not seen The Orphanage, i might have to give you a true Bitch Slap. This movie is one of the best horror movies since the millenium, so there is no excuse not to see it. Producer Guillermo del Toro did a hell of a great job with director Juan Antonio Bayona, they found the perfect balance between old school horror with a fresh twist. When i heard about a remake of the 1973 motion picture Don´t Be Afraid Of The Dark, i did not have high expectations. With a cast of Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison, does this remake give you any chills at all?

Alex Hearst ( Guy Pearce ), Kim ( Katie Holmes ), and Sally Hearst ( Bailee Madison ) move into Blackwood Manor, a very old mansion, located in  Providence County, Rhode Island. Alex daughter Sally does not want to live here, even if her mom send her to stay with her father. While staying at the mansion, Sally discovers a basement, wich seems to have a lot of material left by painter Lord Blackwood. While she look around, she start to hear voices from the old fireplace. She begins to open the fireplace, not knowing what is waiting for her and her family.

I have said this before, but Guillermo del Toro is a very talented film maker, and most of the time he is involved in a motion picture, you know he will deliver quality. Now, this is not as frightning as The Orphanage, or as well made. But still, Don´t Be Afraid Of The Dark is quite a pleasant remake, with a strong performance by very young Bailee Madison. The creatures are quite creepy, with their odd looks. On the negative side, it might be that there are plenty of old house horror movies out there, that we have seen this before. But thankfully director Troy Nixey try and add some suprises along the way, wich is necessary. If you´re tired of the usual high school slashers, then this might actually please you. And who would have thought Katie Holmes can deliver a good performance?

Rating: DDD

A Lonely Place To Die

When i see the scottish flag, i always feel home. Since i did travel over there several times and i have seen alot of the country, i just loved the scottish people and their hospitality. The scottish scenery is amazing with the majestic landscape. I actually read about this movie while it was in production, that it was beeing filmed in Scotland. Need to say i was very curious what it would turn out to be. The trailer gave me high expectations, does A Lonely Place To Die deliver what i was hoping for?

Deep in the highland forests of Scotland, five mountaineers are on hiking and climbing on different locations. While taking a rest, they hear a strange noise. As they get closer they find a small chamber underground, where someone buried a young Serbian girl named Anna. She is still alive but very weak. The group decide to try and help the girl back into the closest village. There is just a few problems. The kidnappers find out the mountaineers have found the girl, and now are on the hunt for them. Also, Anna´s father, a rich Serbian gangster who wants her alive, is prepared to do anything to have her back.

It is the strong efforts from the actors that saves the movie from being a dissapointment. Especially Paul Anderson, a british actor with so much power in everything he does, if you did not see his powerful performance in The Firm, you should rent it. A Lonely Place To Die is a well made thriller, but does not effect me as much as i would have hoped for. The scenery is perfect filmed, as you would be right back in the highlands. The problem is that i was hoping for more intensive scenes while the hunt is on. Some more brutal moments. But the last 20 minutes makes a big step in the right direction, when we are served with some really nice moments. All together this is a solid british thriller, with strong acting.

Rating: DDD

The Change-Up

Have you ever wanted to be someone else than yourself? I think we all thought the idea at some point. But does it really make you more happy? This is what The Change-Up brings up, switch your body along with your personality with someone else, and try and live a completely different life. The idea is not new in motion pictures, remember Big with Tom Hanks? Does the concept still work, or should it stay on the writers table?

Dave Lockwood ( Jason Bateman ) is a hard working lawyer, husband to his wife Jamie ( Leslie Mann ), and they have 3 kids. Dave wish he lived more like his best friend Mitch Planko ( Ryan Reynolds ), who sleeps with hot girls, party and just do whatever he feels like doing. They decide to have a boys night, just to have a good time. After a lot of drinks, and lots of laugh, they walk over to a fountain to pee. Dave says he wished he could live Mitch´s life. Something happends at that moment. The fountain makes that wish comes true, Dave and Mitch switch bodies. The next morning they find out what happened. Now they must live completely different lives untill they can go back to their own bodies.

There is nothing original about this movie, but who cares? This is really funny, and its a male comedy. Finally...we guys need comedies like this who says just what we think. We are not romantic, we dont like flowers and decorations. We love 3 things:

# Tits
# Friends
# More tits

I know this will make some girls pissed off. But The Change-Up wants to bring up the subject, how men in their 30´s try and live family life and leave everything else behind. And it is not possible. We guys have simple needs, we don´t care about shoe colors, hair cuts....no just simple things like a strip club and we are in heaven. There are alot of scenes with so many funny lines i had a really great time. It is the perfect male comedy for us in our 30´s, there is so much truth to this. Director David Dobkin has found the perfect balance for a comedy, where he tries to tell it like we men see things. One of the best male comedies for a long time, i´m getting this one on blu-ray for sure, along with some Carlsberg and pizza. Ok, maybe some striptease would be nice also....

Rating: DDDD

50/50

In most families, we all know someone who had cancer, some survived, some did not manage to survive. It is a very sensitive subject. I am one of those who hope that science can find a way to destroy cancer, with help of new technology when i am no longer alive. Because as we all know it takes time to find new ways of finding new treatments. 50/50 is a motion picture who brings this subject up, from director Johnathan Levine ( who did the amazing movie The Wackness ). Will 50/50 reopen wounds, or is this a story that you can actually get a different perspective out of the subject?

27 year old Adam Lerner ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt ), is a journalist, living happy with his girlfriend Rachael ( Bryce Dallas Howard ). His best friend Kyle ( Seth Rogen ) thinks his girlfriend should give more blow jobs, instead of beeing so boring. When Adam is checked during a hospital visit, tests show he has a rare form of cancer. Everything becomes blurry. He tries to get some answers, but he is left mostly confused. His best friend Kyle is supporting him all the way, while his girlfriend and family tries to deal with the situation. His mother Diane ( Anjelica Houston ) who already taking care of her husband in Alzheimer´s disease,  is very worried over her son´s diagnose. But Adam does not plan to give up, he wants to live life and does not need negative thinking from people around him.

Even if the subject is very tough, this is actually a really funny movie . I am not talking about the disease as funny, it´s the message itself to stop fear the worst, and do what you want to do. You have nothing to loose. And this is where 50/50 works best, it can joke about cancer, and about medical care, without beeing insulting to cancer patients. I know if i personally would be diagnosed cancer, i would not want anyone to treat me like a child, if they did, i would tell them to piss off. Joseph Gordon-Levitt takes his role seriously and tries to give a credible portrait of a young man in this situation. Seth Rogen is actually the highlight of this movie, he delivers some really funny lines, as an example, when he finds out Adam has cancer he says :- Don´t worry, Patrick Swayze has cancer and he is fine. Adam :- Patrick Swayze is dead. Kyle:- Really? that´s really fucked up, don´t even think about him ok?. Honestly, it was quite a long time ago since i could laugh as much as i did watching 50/50 . I highly recommend you see it, it is the best cancer movie ever made so far.

Rating: DDDD

Contagion

If someone would ask me what i know about viruses, i would not know anything about the subject. I just know what the papers write, and of course working in health care you learn some smaller basics. Honestly i don´t know if i want to learn much more, since there must be many types of viruses wich are very dangerous. In this movie Contagion, a virus spreads all over the world just as fast as Fabio combs his golden hair. Will Contagion make people fear the future, or will it at least make us more observant on what could happen?

Hong Kong. A buisness woman Beth Emhoff ( Gwyneth Paltrow ) is ready to travel back home to Chicago since her work is done. She seems to have a bad cold, but her health is becoming worse very quickly. 2 days later she falls down, having seizures. Her husband Mitch ( Matt Damon ) follows her to the hospital, but there is no way to save her life. His son Clark also seem to have been infected with the same virus, and just that same day he lost his wife, his son dies at home. Dr Ellis Cheever ( Laurence Fishburne ) who works at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is asked to investigate the virus. He finds that it is spreading faster than expected, and asks Dr. Erin Mears ( Kate Winslet ) an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, to continue the investigation in Minneapolis. More reports are coming in about infected people, and something needs to be done before the virus spreads further.

Virus movies have been made in all kinds of shapes. The closest one to Contagion would probably be Outbreak in 1995 with Dustin Hoffman. And i have to say, the message still works. It does not matter if the story itself have been made before, in different ways. It is still possible a virus could spread all over the world and start chaos, the problem is how do you stop it? With an incredible cast like Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Judle Law...and many more, we know we are served with talented actors. So far so good. My only problem with Contagion is that i would have wanted some more rage, and fury, from the characters, about their situation. Matt Damon seems to be one of the few who tries to live into his characters life, who lost his wife and son, and his life falls apart. A bit more of this in some of the other characters, and Contagion could have been even better. Still, this is a solid piece of work. It is worth watching since the subject will always be current. I must not forget to mention Jude Law's effort, he is really effective as a cocky reporter, who tries to give people the truth. If you are afraid of germs, Contagion will definitely make you a nervous breakdown. But if you enjoy suspense thrillers in the medical world, this should make you pleased.

Rating: DDD

Conan The Barbarian 3D

Growing up as a kid, i loved the comic books Conan The Barbarian. It was brutal, and took the revenge theme to a whole new level. The first movie made back in 1982, with Schwarznegger as Conan, became a cult classic. It was an epic tale, of a young boy who seek revenge on his parents death. The so called sequel Conan The Destroyer had some fun moments, but was not even close as good as the first motion picture. Its taken a very long time to do an update, since 1984. For many different reasons, but here it is. And its in 3D, so does Conan The Barbarian please sword swinging Comic Con fans?

Corin ( Ron Perlman ) saves his childs life on the battlefield, just before the mother dies. The boy is named Conan. Corin is the chief of an barbarian tribe, who tries to learn his son to survive in many different ways, in case he must defend his own life. One day Conan´s village is attacked by the evil warlord Khalar Zym ( Stephen Lang ) , who is looking for the last piece of the Mask of Acheron. His daughter Marique finds it, wich will give Khalar great powers. Conan tries to stop them but ends up chained. Seeing his father die, he is left in the village, and sworn to revenge his fathers death. Years later, Conan ( Jason Momoa ) is still on the hunt, now as a pirate in the city of Messantia. With some help, he sets slaves free from one of Khalar´s soldiers prison, where he gets new information of Khalar´s location. The real journey is just about to begin.

If you were hoping that this is as epic as the original movie, then you will be dissapointed. Conan The Barbarian is way more brutal than before, but thats not negative. What makes this movie work is what director Marcus Nispel set out to do, bring Conan alive once more to kick more ass than ever. There is some bad acting, but try and look at this from a entertainment perspective. Conan The Barbarian 3D is a macho movie, just as hard as Ron Jeremy´s morning wood. If Conan were alive today, he would swing his sword to destroy Gossip Girls for sure, that´s why we need Conan to set things straight. Sometimes it´s just nice to destroy first, and ask questions later.


Rating: DDD