'Forgetting Sarah Marshall'
So, with the knowledge that 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' is a rom-com of sorts, you can probably guess where the film's gonna go from the off. And you'd be pretty much right, the film isn't exactly unpredictable in any way. But nor does it have to be when the film is full of strong characters and hilarious one-liners. Written, directed by, and starring Jason Segel, 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' focuses heavily on characterisation, making it so even the 'good' characters are flawed and the 'bad' characters are somewhat sympathetic - they're all human after all. The film doesn't break new ground in any way (except for it's attempt to make the on-screen penis acceptable in American cinema - may this mission continue and succeed!), but it contains great performances from everyone, including Russell Brand who is actually genuinely hilarious as man-whore rock star Aldous Snow. Funny, smart, sweet, and undeniably joyful, especially the beautiful 'Muppets' homage towards the end.
4/5
'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'
It's kind of hard to know what to say about some films sometimes, because sometimes they are just good. Not just good, as in "that was just 'good', nothing more though", more as in that a film can be an entertaining slice of celluloid, for no real reason other than because it's entertaining. I guess it may be weird to say that about 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' - it's bleak, it's disturbing, and it's a little more subversive than your typical thriller (just look at the main character). But, above all, it's just incredibly gripping, rarely letting the attention span slip, a detective procedural that looks like it might get tied up in it's complex plotting and back stories and family histories, but actually manages to come out more coherent than many other thrillers. Roll on, David Fincher's interpretation coming at the end of this year! Gonna be interesting to see this get the Hollywood treatment...
4/5
'Meet The Parents: Little Fockers'
'Meet The Parents', whilst hardly a masterpiece, was a solid comedy, consistently funny, memorable in places, and worth it to see Robert DeNiro take the piss out of himself. The sequel, 'Meet The Fockers', was alright, but hugely forgettable. Literally, the only thing I can remember about it is a foreskin landing in a fondue. This third entry doesn't decide to learn from the previous film's mistakes, instead only becoming more and more mundane. Firstly, the title is hugely misleading, the 'little Fockers' appear in very few scenes, don't really impact the plot in any way, and their scenes are mostly confined to witnessing horrible things children shouldn't witness. That's the main problem with 'Little Fockers' - how predictable every joke is. When you see Ben Stiller's child climbing up a wall in the background while Mr. Stiller (or Focker if you prefer) is talking about how great and responsible a parent he is in the foreground, it's pretty damn obvious what's coming next. And those are only the jokes that aren't repeated. De Niro is reduced to saying 'Godfocker' over and over again. There is nothing else to the joke. Just that phrase, which wasn't really very funny in the first place. Still, the film becomes slightly more entertaining and funny as it goes along, and viewers' patience is rewarded by Jessica Alba in her underwear. I'm a man first and a critic second, after all...
2/5
'Megamind'
Sometimes you go into a film certain that you probably won't like it. I know, I know, it's a terrible thing to do as a film fan, and I like to think I have an open mind. But something about 'Megamind' just made me think I was gonna waste £1.50 on 3D glasses, and one and a half hours in the cinema. Well, every 3D film is a waste of £1.50 (I honestly do not care for a blurry, saturated extra dimension to the visuals, it is nothing beyond a gimmick that filmmakers don't even the balls to make as gimmicky as possible so it'll be worth it), but I had a feeling that the film would be terrible, PG-rated slapstick ending with a cring-inducing song and dance number. I am pleased to say that 'Megamind' went above and beyond the call of duty in offering a family-friendly superhero satire that remains consistently funny, consistently well-observed, and looks great on top of that (even WITH the 3D). There was a dance sequence, but it was VERY brief, so all is forgiven. 'Megamind' gets along nicely with it's strong characters, making sure we care about nearly every character, and not care about the ones who lost our affection when they went TOO DAMN FAR! The ACTUAL bad guy, in other words. Seeing as this is a film where the bad guy is the good guy, the good guy becomes a very minor character, and a very minor character becomes the bad guy. But not the bad guy who is the good guy. It all, miraculously, makes sense, and is a brilliantly coherent and consistent romp, staying on just the right side of subversion, more daring than your average family animation, but not so much as to be potentially alienating. Great stuff, proving that, while certainly no Pixar, Dreamworks animation studio is delivering far more hits (this, 'How To Train Your Dragon', 'Kung-Fu Panda') than misses (Aliens Vs. Monsters - sorry AVM fans!).
4/5
Okay, so there's a lot of films for me to catch up on, so I'm gonna post this one for now, and maybe get around to doing some more soon. Hopefully. Definitely. Probably not. The mystery is half of the fun!
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