Couples Retreat (2009)

I tend to go into films with low expectations. I don't like being disappointed so it's easier to just not expect very much, that way there's a better chance of being pleasantly surprised...

With Couples Retreat I wasn't pleasantly surprised. It was pretty much as I expected. A bit of seriousness, a bit of talking and a few laughs here and there... a reasonable way to spend 2 hours or so.

I suppose you can't help but think of Favreau and Vaughn's 1996 film about relationships - Swingers. The set up for this is kind of like it could be a Swingers 2... 13 years on and those young, free and single guys are married... however their relationships are getting a bit stale, things need to be shaken up, apparently. That's kind of where it leaves Swingers though. In the end this is really just an ok romantic comedy set on an amazing looking island paradise. It really does look fantastic.

The problem with this film is really that I think a lot of critics wanted it to be, for want of a better title, Swingers 2. I wanted it to be Swingers 2. I'd love to believe that Favreau (and Vaughn) are still as sharp as they were back than. In fact I do kind believe that they are. The problem is that they could never really make Swingers 2 now. Not unless they just spend their own money and make it as a pet project. They really are too famous now. Swingers 2 would never be a big blockbuster film, and any film that these guys would star in today has to be a blockbuster... otherwise it would be considered a failure. There were a few scenes in this film that I thought were really good and that were insightful, but it just didn't seem to be what they were going for overall. That was a bit frustrating though, that there was a glimmer here or there of a better film... alas it was not to be.

I don't know if Couples Retreat is going to be a blockbuster but I certainly think it's going to take in a decent amount of cash. It's not half as bad as some are making it out to be. I mean, if you take it as just a normal romantic comedy then it does try to get a bit heavy for a while. And I do think there are too many couples in it, they could have dropped one and had more time to tell more of the stories for the remaining three, but there are some good, funny scenes in it that I think a lot of people would laugh at.

It's not a classic and no-one will be talking about it in 13 years time, but if you have nothing better to see over the weekend and you just want a bit of a date movie then you could do worse.

6/10

Quantum of Solace (2008)

In case you were wondering about the... odd title. Quantum of Solace takes it's name from the title of a short story from a collection of James Bond stories called For Your Eyes Only written by Ian Fleming. So now you know.

We'll start at the start. It was great to see the familiar style of opening titles, the posing sillhouttes and trademark gunshaft and the swell of the great new Bond theme tune. Hmm... not a great start. Actually, I like the music in the song, it's quite grandiose - just like you want from a Bond theme tune - however Jack White and Alicia Keys... vocally it just doesn't work. You really start to notice how long the opening titles are, that's just not what you want at the outset...

The film itself starts promisingly though, great opening sequence, more action than you can shake a stick at. From then on it gets a little disappointing though... It's not that I didn't enjoy it. It was an enjoyable film; there were some great action scenes and Daniel Craig looks great in those white pants but let's put it this way... if I wanted to see Bourne 4 I'd have waited to go see Bourne 4.

I also feel I should mention the plot, there isn't really one. Other people I know have complained about this but to be honest that's not what bothered me about the film. Does anyone ever remember the plot of a Bond film? The main thing you remember are the locations, and there are some great locations in this... Though I have to ask anyone who's reading this - Mathis's house looks a lot like a house that's in one of the Transporter films... does anyone know if it's the same house??

Anyway, what I didn't like about it is that Quantum of Solace just doesn't seem like a Bond film. And I know that everyone goes on about how this Bond is "closer to the books" (which I haven't read). And that it's grittier, more realistic, there are less "accoutrements" - like the crazy gadgets and invisible car, and the villians are just on the other side. But you know what? I like the gadgets, I want to see super villans, James Bond should fight his way though a mob and emerge without a hair out of place. It's that stuff that makes a Bond film a Bond film... without that it's just another action film with an amazing budget.

I'm just not sold on the new Daniel Craig Bond at all. I'm not a mad James Bond fan but I've seen a lot of Bond films and I like the old James Bond. Bring back the old James Bond!

6/10

But I will admit, I thought the invisible car was a step too far...

Stop-Loss (2008)

Stop-Loss refers to the Stop-loss policy used by the US Military to involuntarily extend the length of active duty that a US service member undertakes. Basically it means that even when a soldier has reached their agreed date for the end of their active duty, the military can invoke the policy to send that soldier back to active duty. It has been described in some quarters as a "back-door draft". This film is about a one such fine soldier (played by Ryan Phillipe) who has been stop-lossed and what happens to him and his close knit group.

To be honest Stop-Loss is one of those films that just doesn't really go anywhere... Ok now, lots of films don't go anywhere, but they aren't really meant to and it works. Stop-Loss is not one of those film. Being generous I'll say that there was a kernal of an idea there and also I actually do admire that they made the film in the sense that while I'd heard of this "back-door draft" I didn't know much about it and it's not something you hear about that much over here. So that was interesting. Also because I'm a bit of a pinko it appealed to the liberal side of me. All well and good however, it's just not that good a film.

There are moments to it, there are good scenes and decent performances, but on the whole I just couldn't tell if it wanted to be all out against war, if it just wanted to show the stresses that soldiers are put through, how war changes them, how the people at home are affected by it or just highlight the practice of stop-loss and come out against it, or not. Honestly, the film just didn't follow through on any of them really and ultimately it was pretty unsatisfying. It had a good premise, I liked the range of characters that it covered but since it never really added enough depth to any of them it's hard to say that it was really worth making in the first place.

Anyway, like I said, there were good parts. I particularly liked seeing Joseph Gordon-Levitt - I liked him in 3rd Rock From The Sun and I loved Brick so it was great to see him in the film, though... like everyone in this film, he probably could have done more.

Ah, it's frustrating, thinking back there were good scenes and while the characters were somewhat stereotypical they weren't really overly so, so it could have gotten away with it if it was just a tighter film. I'd loved to have liked this film but it just didn't have the focus that it needed to make it relevent and in the end it just petered away into the ether. Forgettable.

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

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Be Kind Rewind is the latest film from director Michel Gondry. It stars Mos Def and Jack Black. I don't think this is a good thing.

As I mentioned in my review of The Science of Sleep, I'm a big fan of Gondry, I think he's great, I loved The Science of Sleep and I think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the greatest films I've ever seen. However. Be Kind Rewind is not. Ah, I don't really want to be too hard it on... it wasn't awful... but it wasn't good.

Briefly, Be Kind Rewind is about a couple of guys, Jerry and Mike, who work/hang out in a local video store in a neighbourhood which city planners are set to turn into a souless shopping mall (or something along those lines anyway). Jerry is a bit of a conspiracy nut and could be fairly defined as a loser. Mike on the other hand has a bit more character about him, he's a neighbourhood boy who wants to prove to the father figure in his life that he can do more with himself. Mike's chance comes when that father figure - Elroy Fletcher (played by Danny Glover) leaves him in charge of the store. So far, so fine and dandy. Except that Jerry somehow manages to become magnetised and as a result wipes all the tapes in the video store thereby ruining the store and Mike's chance to prove himself. "Oh no!" I hear you say. Fortunately they come up with an idea... to recreate the films they've wiped and rent them out instead... it's a crazy plan but it just might work!

Anyway, the plan does take off and the plot goes from there. Unfortunately the film never really does. There were a couple problems that I see with it. The biggest problem I think it had was that it never really worked out what it wanted to be. Gondry has a tendency toward... a certain whimsical sweetness in his films... and there was a bit of that, with the "Fats Waller" sub-plot and the plight of the video store in the face of development, however they were never made much more of. Also there was the idea of the relationship between Mike and Elroy which was never really worked on. Instead the film is kind of taken over by the, admittedly funny, takes on the wiped videos. Which would have been fine if they really had taken over the film, except that they didn't either, instead there was this mish-mash of different themes and genres that never really came together. Add to this the fact that Jack Black pretty much played the same character that he always plays in comedies... which would have been find if this was just an out and out comedy... but it wasn't and it just became annoying.

All in all I think the Be Kind Rewind was really a lost opportunity. Now I'm not sure what direction I would have preferred Gondry to have taken with it but I am sure that it was a lost chance for Jack Black to do something a little different, in the same way that Jim Carrey did in Eternal Sunshine. I blame the director though, I do think that Jack Black is capable of playing other roles, I just think that Gondry was content to let him do his thing, there was so little direction in the film anyway that it hardly mattered. It was a real pity it didn't really work though, I mean The Science of Sleep was a mish-mash but there was enough of a core there with the relationship between Stéphane and Stéphanie to hold it altogether while Be Kind Rewind had nothing like that.

Anyway I know I'm kind of slating it... I do want to state though that it's not that I was expecting a lot more from it just because it's a Gondry film and he's one of a favourite directors. I was a bit apprehensive going into it anyway and I didn't know what to expect. Unfortunately it just turned out to not be a very good film... *shrug* It was pretty funny in parts though, I'd really like to watch more of the re-made videos.