The most baffling thing about this unforgivably stupid film is that when the lead character interrupts a critical business meeting to sing her adopted baby a lullaby over the phone, or turns her office into a playhouse by bringing the child to work and juggling her like a greased piglet we're supposed to find it charming. And when her boss reassigns her to a less stressful client account and she quits in a huff, we're supposed to think he's a loathsome corporate shark and she's a gutsy role model. I didn't feel that way. From the moment Diane Keaton's character inherits the baby she acts like an idiot while the people around her are sensible and tolerant. This makes it very hard to root for her when her life is turned upside down, and even harder to believe in her as a high powered businesswoman. This character, as written and played, couldn't find her feet with a flashlight. I'm a fan of Diane Keaton but this script does her no favours and her performance is an insult to working women, working mothers and to the concepts of common sense and perspective. And yes, I know it's meant to be a comedy but it does also have pretensions to making social statements and seems to be setting Keaton's character up as a role model, so the audience deserves a lot more. Awful, truly awful.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Not quite fantastic but interesting and worth watching
17 April 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I watched this film as a Simon Pegg fan and a general supporter of low budget British cinema, and it was well worth it. Pegg is engaging, Crispian Mills shows visual imagination and the casting of Amara Karan, the most beautiful and talented young actress in Britain, is a major plus. Early on I found it a little disjointed but this was a director and leading actor being true to their character. This film works very well as a character study, pretty well as a comedy and not too badly as a crime thriller. The scene towards the end where Karan's attempted escape sees her dragged back into the cellar is superbly shot and creepily effective. Good to see intelligence and imagination at work.
The Living Daylights
(1987)
Timothy Dalton was the definitive Bond
18 January 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This film marked the franchise's quarter of a century, and for me it was a very positive turning point. Timothy Dalton channels more emotion into one expression than Roger Moore summoned in seven films, and the way his Bond develops relationships makes this a deeper and more enjoyable character study than any other Bond film. This is evident not only in the film's monogamous love interest but in the growing respect and trust between Bond and Saunders, conveyed with intelligence and economy and making the death of Saunders and Bond's reaction to it actually matter.
Joe Don Baker and Jeroen Krabbe lack gravitas as the villains and both of their characters might have fared better in a Roger Moore vehicle but John Rhys Davies makes an impact, Thomas Wheatley does very well as Saunders and Maryam D'Abo shows an appealing balance of vulnerability and courage.
I question aspects of the direction, with some of Dalton's lines getting lost in the background, but the action sequences are well handled and Dalton carries the film from the first minute to the last.
This was a Bond with bite, a killer with a soul, and every time I see it I'm more convinced that Timothy Dalton was the definitive 007.
Joe Don Baker and Jeroen Krabbe lack gravitas as the villains and both of their characters might have fared better in a Roger Moore vehicle but John Rhys Davies makes an impact, Thomas Wheatley does very well as Saunders and Maryam D'Abo shows an appealing balance of vulnerability and courage.
I question aspects of the direction, with some of Dalton's lines getting lost in the background, but the action sequences are well handled and Dalton carries the film from the first minute to the last.
This was a Bond with bite, a killer with a soul, and every time I see it I'm more convinced that Timothy Dalton was the definitive 007.
The Holiday
(2006)
What a disappointment
3 July 2011
I love Kate Winslet, I like Cameron Diaz and Jack Black and I don't mind Jude Law, so I had high hopes for this movie. Unfortunately the female leads both give the worst, most self conscious performances of their careers. Blame Nancy Meyers the writer for a twee, contrived script and Nancy Meyers the director for pointing the camera at her stars and telling them to "act cute and adorable". If you like Richard Curtis but find his work too gritty and realistic, this is the movie for you. For the rest of us, it's an interminable embarrassment. One star for Jack Black, who at least tries to give a performance while everyone else is winking at the audience. Meyers wrote "Private Benjamin" and "It's Complicated" so she's obviously talented but she stunk the joint out with this one.
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