How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Running Time: 116 minutes.
Media: DVD.

Matthew McConaughey is a bit of a hero of mine, only in the sense that he seems to be the kind of gentleman actor who always ends up getting the girl in the end in whatever movie he's in... well, 90% of the time... so long as it's an action movie or a romantic comedy (of which this is definitely the latter and not the former.)

In fact, I would say that any romantic comedy that Matthew has starred in or will ever star in will raise the testosterone levels a considerable notch as he always seems to ramp up such levels up to a point where you can sit there and enjoy the McConaughey-ness of the movie, without reaching a point where you're spitting or scratching your private parts... Also most McConaughey-based romantic comedies usually come with a fairly wonderful cast, inclusive of an equally wonderful leading lady... of which How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days does so in spades, with the ever lovely Kate Hudson...

The plot is such that he's been challenged to woo Kate Hudson over in ten days, in order to win an exclusive carte-blanche over the advertising account of a diamond supplier in Europe. What he doesn't know is that there is a similar bet for Kate to date McConaughey and over 10 days destroy him completely to the point that he will break up with her...

So it results in boy meets girl, girl drives boy crazy, boy charms girl... All seems to go well until both actually fall for one another... So when the truth comes out, the remaining twenty or so minutes are spent trying to reach that "happily ever after" cliché of one trying to win the other back... I know it's a tried and tested formula, but it can, after a number of these movies, get quite tedious... And you long for a plot twist that only M. Night Shyamalan can provide...

Still, this isn't one of those "chick flicks" that make men grow a uterus... Despite the slight immaturity that some people may see in a number of characters played by McConaughey in movies both recent and previous, he pulls off his character spectacularly and gains respect from both male and female audiences alike... Hudson balances out McConaughey perfectly, forming a wonderful yin-yang combination.

I award "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" 4½ stars... Probably one of the highest ratings I've given to a chic- er, I mean, romantic comedy... Well, at least since reviewing Knight and Day... ;)

Definitely, Maybe

Running Time: 112 minutes.
Media: DVD.
 
Definitely, Maybe is one of those films that although it is a "romantic comedy" by genre, is not a romantic comedy which promises you a kind of happily ever after - and that "all your dreams are gonna come true" It's about how dreams often don't come true, and that love and marriage can end up in divorce. This is a realistic movie which really takes you on a journey with Ryan Reynolds' character, William Hayes, an advertising executive, who tells his daughter about his life before marriage and how he ended up meeting his mother and the other women that came into his life.

Abigail Breslin, who seems to be popping up almost everywhere nowadays, plays Maya, William's daughter... a very inquisitive, and fairly switched on ten year-old, who is caught up in the midst of her father's divorce and is the one who tries to work out, along with the audience, which of the three female leads, Emily (played by Elizabeth Banks), April (played by Isla Fisher), or Summer (played by Rachel Weisz) is her mother in the story that Will tells her.

You get carried along with the story, and you kinda feel caught up in Ryan's quest for some sort of balance to help him get through his transition from a young man in 1994, to a father in 2008. Having been down a similar path to the character of Will, I couldn't help but feel a few twangs in the old heart-strings when it came to the point that Maya realizes that things didn't quite work out for the best, but there was still a happy ending to the story... And yes, I shed a tear at this point... I am a sensitive guy, I won't deny it...

This movie keeps the audience glued to their seats, but not in a thriller kind of way, but more of a "I'd love to see how this all turns out" kind of way, and there's good reason behind it... This was by far a more refreshing change to the usual standard that one sees in romantic comedies nowadays. Definitely, Maybe gets top billing here, with five stars.

Knight and Day

Running Time: 109 minutes.
Media: Blu-Ray

I took a look at Knight and Day on Blu-ray recently... and could not tear my eyes away from the screen. The one thing that stood out for me was the amount of non-stop action that occurred from beginning to end in between the few "quieter" moments within the film. This is what, in my personal opinion would have occurred if you took the elements of suspense and action in the three Mission: Impossible movies (not counting the most recent one, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, which I'll review in about a week's time after I've take the time to see it...) thrown in a bit of the kind of unexpected romance factor that you would have seen in films like Romancing the Stone or Jewel of the Nile and given it a good shake...

I wasn't disappointed. Despite the script having been re-written a number of times during its development, Knight and Day plays out so well I was glued to the seat. Cruise plays Roy Miller, a CIA agent, believed to have gone rogue; whose erratic behavior and almost outlandish cowboy nature makes car mechanic June Havens freak out as his involvement in her life has thrown it completely out of whack... Tom Cruise, having been previously categorized as a bit of a whack-job by the general public from around the time that he appeared on that episode of Oprah where he jumps on the couch; seems to have played on this publicity and kicked it into high gear by drawing upon this, as well as his roles as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible movies and produced a character which is two parts James Bond to three parts sociopath and nine parts f[CENSORED]king hilarious.

Cameron Diaz shines as the slightly neurotic and radiant June, who ends up diving into the world of espionage like she's a natural... with a few hiccups along the way. I would love for there to be a sequel of this... But even if there wasn't, this film would still receive the 5 star rating I'm giving it now.

It's Complicated

Running Time: 120 minutes
Media: DVD

I have to confess I find Meryl Streep somewhat attractive, I loved her in Mamma Mia and I've at the same time despised her in both The Devil Wears Prada and Julie and Julia.

It is at this moment that I can say I found Meryl attractive again on this particular occasion. Here she plays Jane, a divorcee of ten years who finds the opportunity to rediscover the possibility of playing the field again... with her ex-husband Jake, played by the somewhat aging and slightly plump Alec Baldwin... who's remarried to the woman he left Meryl for!

Throw three kids and a potential love interest in the ever immortal and kid-at-heart, Steve Martin, playing Adam, an architect who has been retained by Jane to add an extension to Jane's home. Everything seems to be going smoothly until Jane swaps her ways with Jake for a more comfortable romantic interest with Adam. Jake as a result starts wanting Jane more than ever and does whatever he can to get her back.

The proverbial s[CENSORED]t hits the fan at a pivotal point that involves Alec Baldwin's nudity and a webcam, not a good combination by any extreme... for anyone (including the audience)! The idea of potentially seeing Alec's junk is not necessarily the only reason I'm giving this one less star, there's something that makes me feel that this movie's a little hammy, but not because of Martin, Baldwin or Streep, but some of the lesser known actors on the film.

All in all, I happen to have this film on Blu-ray and look forward to seeing it again on future occasions, though I may have to shut my eyes when Alec shows up in the buff! Four stars.

He's Just Not That Into You

Okay, my first rom-com review, woohoo! I don't normally do rom-coms, but I sat through this entire film one night on the telly and couldn't stop watching.

Nine people from Baltimore go through the trials and tribulations of love. It's a bit of a tangled web that's weaved. Let's go through the list of names here in the cast...

Let's see, Jennifer Aniston, she's like the queen of rom-coms and ever gorgeous... Scarlett Johansson who basically plays an absolute minx in this film... I kinda swooned in the scenes where she's present.Drew Barrymore, she's a little... laid back in this film; which could be explained by the fact that she also produced the film and so did not want too much attention drawn to her, and more focused on the other characters in the cast. Jennifer Connelly who seems a little older than the others, she seems like more of a 40-something than a 30-something in this film... No offence to Ms Connelly, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love her in the film, but she seems to strike me more as a more mature-age actor nowadays, her youth and potential that she displayed in Labyrinth all those years ago is no longer at its peak. And then there's the irrepressively cute-as-a-button Ginnifer Goodwin, she kinda made me feel good to be watching this film... I kinda felt I was seeing myself in Justin Long's shoes in this film... Bradley Cooper, Kevin Connolly and Ben Affleck finish off the ensemble.

So they're all trying to figure out who's into whom, whether one couple will work out or not... In the end there's a few people who get together, there's a few that don't... But all in all, it made me feel good about myself after watching this film... No sense spoiling it for anyone, you need to see it in order to truly appreciate this film.

There's one thing that stops me from giving this film a 5 star rating, and that's the compulsive paranoia of Jennifer Connelly's character... obsessing more on the honesty of hubby Bradley Cooper's cigarette habit than the honesty of their relationship; and then there's that "older" persona that she seems to ooze... Now here's a quick bit of math, Jen Connelly is 40 now, which means she was 38 when she made the film... But she still seemed to give an over-40's vibe in the film... far much more than Jen Aniston who ironically, was 40 when she made the film and yet gave a mid-30's vibe to her character... So I'm going to give it 4½ stars, and while it is just a ti-i-i-i-i-i-ny bit off because of the Jen-Con factor, this will definitely be in the near future part of my DVD collection as a re-watchable film over and over again.