Tuesday 18 September 2012

Anna Karenina, Hope Springs, That's My Boy Reviews


Yesterday I said that I’d review Anna Karenina, That’s my Boy and Hope Springs today.  So let’s start with the worst first...

That’s my Boy – well I’ve got to be honest, I really wasn’t bothered about seeing this (and definitely wouldn’t have bothered if I hadn’t had my cinema pass) and following Adam Sandler’s recent record I wasn’t holding out much hope for even a bit of a giggle with this one. 

It was exactly as you’d expect, silly – that’s probably the best word I can find for it – it’s a ‘college kids’ film full of innuendo and toilet humour.  It’s the story of a young boy who has an affair with his teacher, who then gets sent to prison because he was underage, but she was pregnant with his baby.

Sandler becomes a star because of his affair and brings up the kid who leaves home at 18.  Years later, Sandler is unable to pay his tax bill and orchestrates a reunion with his ex teacher/lover which involves finding his son (who is about to get married) and bringing him to the jail. 

Anyway, I’ve probably said far too much but in summary, it was actually a bit of a giggle and whilst exceptionally far-fetched was, in parts quite funny.  What was even funnier is that most of the kids who were in the movie theatre with me had no idea what most of the jokes were about (the 1980’s is referenced throughout the film – the music was 80s rock too eg Van Halen, Foreigner, which I quite enjoyed).  At one point, I heard a girl in the seat in front of me say to her boyfriend, “Who’s Han Solo?”... I guess that says it all!

 

 

Next let’s do Hope Springs – this is the story of a married couple played by Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones who’ve been together forever and have lost their spark.  They sleep in separate beds, no longer communicate and she’s had enough so books them into couples counselling, much to his annoyance.

They then travel to somewhere (that’s quite irrelevant really) and start their counselling with Steve Carell (well the character that Steve Carell plays, obviously!).  The story then follows them as they try to piece their marriage back together again.

All in all, it was slightly depressing but exceptionally well acted (as you’d expect from those brilliant actors).  I did rather enjoy it, however, I really don’t want to see people of that age having sex and found it a little cringe worthy in parts.  I’d definitely recommend it though, but as more of a chick flick.  See what you think, here's the trailer...


 

Lastly, let's look at a really excellent film Anny Karenina.  I know a lot of people who have read the original Tolstoy book and loved it,  I hadn’t read it so really didn’t know what to expect.  I've got to be honest, I found it a bit odd at first, not the story but how they’d decided to shoot it.  It didn’t make sense to me (although that could be because I haven’t read the book, I’m not sure) but it seemed to be all set in a theatre and they kept moving the set scenery depending on where they were supposed to be in the story, which I found a bit distracting and confusing at first and I did think about leaving up to about 20 minutes in because I was getting quite frustrated watching the scenery moving.

However, I seemed to forget about it after a while and got into the story which is about a woman who embarks on an affair with a much younger which virtually destroys her and those around her.  It was gripping and had quite an unexpected ending.  It was acted really well by Keira Knightly (who I’m not a massive fan of) and Jude Law who plays her husband.

It’s a fabulous love story and really quite intelligent (you don't get many films like that ... see my review for That's my Boy!).  Definitely worth a watch, here’s the trailer...
 


 

More soon lovelies, until then have a wonderful week and be fabulous.

Lots of love

Jx

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