100 Words… – Page 18

100 Word Review – The Philadelphia Story (1940)

May 12, 2015March 6, 2016Posted in 100 Words..., Comedy, Drama, RomanceTagged 1940s, Cary Grant, Comedy, Donald Ogden Stewart, Drama, George Cukor, High Society, James Stewart, Jimmy Stewart, Katherine Hepburn, RomanceLeave a comment

As it’s her birthday, today we are going for another classic Katherine Hepburn masterpiece.

Tracy Lord (Hepburn)’s ex-husband (Cary Grant) and a tabloid reported (James Stewart) turn up a few days before her second wedding, making her question what type of woman she is and what type of man she should marry.

Fantastic cast and director George Cukor (My Fair Lady, A Star is Born) aside, the script is a masterpiece which won Donald Ogden Stewart an Oscar for best script. Stewart won Leading Actor.

It was remade in to musical High Society (1956), but it doesn’t compare to the original.

100 Word Review – Bringing Up Baby (1938)

May 11, 2015March 6, 2016Posted in 100 Words..., Comedy, F-Rated, RomanceTagged 1930s, Cary Grant, Comedy, Dudley Nichols, farce, Hagar Wilde, Howard Hawks, Katherine Hepburn, leopard, RomanceLeave a comment

This is the film in which I fell in love with Katherine Hepburn.

Cary Grant plays a mild-mannered, confused palaeontologist who is swept up in the whirlwind that is heiress Susan (Hepburn) and her pet leopard, Baby.

A great, fun film, farcical and wittily written by Hagar Wilde (Carefree) and Dudley Nichols (Stagecoach), and directed by Howard Hawks (His Girl Friday). It’s romantic, it’s risqué and it’s roll-around-on-the-floor funny. I’m not exaggerating.

“It isn’t that I don’t like you, Susan, because, after all, in moments of quiet, I’m strangely drawn toward you, but – well, there haven’t been any quiet moments.”

100 Word Review – The Heat (2013)

May 10, 2015March 6, 2016Posted in 100 Words..., Action, Comedy, F-RatedTagged Action, buddy, Comedy, cop, FBI, Katie Dippold, Melissa McCarthy, Paul Feig, Sandra Bullock2 Comments

Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarty star in this truly excellent F-rated film, one of the biggest grossing movies of 2013.

Ashburn (Bullock), an uptight FBI agent, is paired with Mullins (McCarthy) a rough-around-the-edges street cop. They must learn to work together to bring down a ruthless drug lord.

Director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) and writer Katie Dippold (currently writing Ghostbusters (2016)) work together brilliantly, bringing in the best bits of cop dramas and buddy comedies to create the best action comedy of recent years.

This is not a “nice” film nor a “girly” film, but one which will have you laughing for days.

100 Word Review – Evil Dead II (1987)

May 9, 2015March 6, 2016Posted in 100 Words...Tagged blood, Bruce Campbell, Deamons, evil, Evil Dead, gore, possessed hand, Sam Raimi, spiritsLeave a comment

Although technically a sequel, this is easily watchable by itself and is probably better described as a comedic remake of The Evil Dead (1981).

Bruce Campbell stars as Ash who takes his girlfriend up to a secluded cabin in the woods. When evil spirits attack the cabin their biggest challenge is surviving the night.

Definitely more comedy than horror, Sam Raimi has laid it on thick with ample amounts of creepy camera work, strange noises and gore. Lots and lots of gore. If you have ever wanted to see a man fight his own hand, this is the film for you.

100 Word Review – Pitch Perfect (2012)

May 8, 2015March 6, 2016Posted in 100 Words..., Comedy, F-RatedTagged a cappella, Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Comedy, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Moore, John Michael Higgins, Musical, Rebel Wilson, singing, university1 Comment

When I first saw the trailer for this film, I presumed I would hate it. I could not have been more wrong.

Anna Kendrick stars as Beca, a freshman who is determined to become a music producer. She joins The Bellas, one of the university’s singing groups, against her wishes, and “changes the face of a cappella”.

There is a little more to it than that, but you’ll have to watch it. Yes, there is a lot of singing (it’s about a cappella!), but there is enough humour (gross-out and otherwise) to keep even the biggest grouch entertained. Watch it!

100 Word Review – Election (1999)

May 7, 2015March 6, 2016Posted in 100 Words..., ComedyTagged About Schmidt, adaptation, Alexander Payne, Comedy, dark, election, high school, humour, manipulation, Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Sideways, The Descendants, vengenceLeave a comment

An Oscar-nominated comedy which felt somehow fitting for today.

Whatever you think of Reese Witherspoon, this film is brilliant and she shines as the obsessive high-achieving student determined to become student body president. Matthew Broderick stars as the teacher who gets in her way.

Directed by Alexander Payne (About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants), although it may be set in a high-school, this is not a teen comedy. It is certainly not Ferris Bueller!

Witherspoon is truly chilling and plays off Broderick’s frustrated civics teacher beautifully. The result is a dark, dark comedy with underlying themes of vengeance, fixation and manipulation.

100 Word Review – Braindead (1992)

May 6, 2015March 6, 2016Posted in 100 Words..., ComedyTagged Braindead, Comedy, Dead Alive, gore, Horror, Peter Jackson, rat monkey, zombiesLeave a comment

Also known as Dead Alive, this is one of Peter Jackson’s first feature films. But don’t expect hobbits.

I don’t know what to say about the plot. There is definitely a leading man. And something about monkeys raped by rats to create killer rat-monkeys.

To be honest the whole thing is a visceral blur of severed … everything. And just when you think they must have run out of fake blood, there will be more.

I have a strong stomach when it comes to onscreen gore, but this is something else.

Equal parts hilarious, ridiculous and disgusting. You have been warned.

100 Word Review – Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

May 5, 2015March 6, 2016Posted in 100 Words..., Comedy, DramaTagged Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Comedy, Drama, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Steve Carrell, Toni Colette2 Comments

This is the first film that made me both laugh and cry in equal measure.

When Olive (Abigail Breslin) finds out she is a finalist in a beauty pageant on the other side of the States, her father (Greg Kinnear), mother (Toni Colette), brother (Paul Dano), grandpa (Alan Arkin) and recently suicidal uncle (Steve Carrell) set out on a road trip none of them will forget.

There is not a weak link. By the end of the film you will feel like part of the family. It also features one of the greatest dance sequences ever choreographed. It is sublime.

100 Word Review – Romancing The Stone (1984)

May 4, 2015March 6, 2016Posted in 100 Words..., Action, Comedy, F-Rated, RomanceTagged 1980s, Action, adventure, Comedy, Danny DeVito, Diane Thomas, Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, Robert Zemeckis, RomanceLeave a comment

With promotional images like this, what’s not to love?

Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas star in this romantic action adventure about a novelist (Turner) who sets off to rescue her sister from Columbian smugglers. On the way she encounters a soldier-of-fortune (Douglas) and becomes embroiled in an adventure she could never have imagined.

I’ll admit to being rather sceptical going in to this, but it is actually brilliant. Think Indiana Jones, but with more romance and a three dimensional female lead. Why all adventure films aren’t like this one, I don’t know. A wonderful escapist film, and it’s on Netflix.

100 Word Review – Robot & Frank (2012)

May 2, 2015March 6, 2016Posted in 100 Words..., Comedy, Drama, Sci FiTagged Comedy, Drama, Frank Langella, future, James Marsden, Liv Tyler, robot, Sci Fi, Susan SarandonLeave a comment

This film is the perfect Sci Fi for people who don’t generally like the genre.

Set in the not-so-distant future, Frank (Frank Langella) is a retired jewel thief whose son (James Marsden) gives him a robot designed to look after him.

Susan Sarandon and Liv Tyler also star in this brilliantly made film which is simultaneously funny and tragic in parts. Although the film is set in the future, assisted-living robots are not as futuristic as they seem, making this ultimately a very moving story about the importance of family, the passing of time and the human need for companionship.