Susan Hated Literature

dir. Michael Gondry

Starring:

* Jim Carrey - Joel Barish
* Kate Winslet - Clementine Kruczynski
* Kirsten Dunst - Mary
* Tom Wilkinson - Dr. Howard Mierzwiak
* Elijah Wood - Patrick

So you fall in love with someone, things go badly and you break up. Whats the next step? Why deleting them from your memory of course. Isn’t that just a great idea for a film?
It took me a while to go see this film, prolly because of Jim Carrey’s name in the credits. I’ve really liked some of his films; Man in the Moon and whatever that reality TV show one was called, but more often than not I don’t particularly enjoy them

But this is a wonderful film, funny and sad at the same time it illustrates a relationship falling apart, and then through the erasing of Joel’s memories shows us how the relationship began. And shows the audience that these two people clearly love each other. Managing to combine the wackiness of the idea with the tenderness of a love story I really enjoyed this film.

Really nice. But sad at the same time

Writ & Dir: Emilio Estevez

• Harry Belafonte - Nelson
• Nick Cannon - Dwayne
• Emilio Estevez - Tim Fallon
• Laurence Fishburne - Edward Robinson
• Heather Graham - Angela
• Anthony Hopkins - John Casey
• Helen Hunt - Samantha
• Joshua Jackson - Wade
• Ashton Kutcher - Fisher
• William H. Macy - Paul
• Demi Moore - Virginia Fallon
• Freddy Rodríguez - José
• Martin Sheen - Jack
• Christian Slater - Timmons
• Sharon Stone - Miriam
• Jacob Vargas - Miguel
• Elijah Wood - William
• David Krumholtz - Phil

As you can see from that impressive cast list, this is a bit of an ensemble film, which means it runs the risk of the audience not caring about the characters. And I’m afraid it failed. I just didn’t care about any of them.

And the story itself was a whole heap of nothingness. I mean, I’m sure that it may have an impact on people who lived through the time, or for those who are big fans of Bobby Kennedy, but as a film it just didn’t work. It tried far too hard to push through some big message, but ended up coming over as heavy-handed, irrelevant and, to be blunt, crap. The various stories of the different characters are un-engaging. The acting is all fine, but the characters themselves are pointless. Pointless and boring. I kept hoping for it to end.

What did work was the insertion of clips of RFK, but to be honest, while I liked watching them I found it impossible to actually listen to anything that Bobby was saying. Maybe it was because I was so bored with the film, I don’t know.

Maybe it is because I don’t know anything about Bobby Kennedy, but this film did nothing but make me yawn. Then again, the film isn’t really about Bobby, it is about the people of the time and the affect he had on them. Everyone seemed to love him, or at least everyone in the film did, considering the fact that he got assassinated I’m sure someone must have disliked him. The film is a snapshot of one day in these various people’s lives, but that is it, there is nothing to focus on, or think about, or engage with. I just didn’t care about anything that happened.

Sure the ending works, but not because you care about any of the characters, but simply because it is people getting shot and panicking in a realistic manner. And of course because you know that this is all based on the truth.

Final verdict? Don’t bother with it. It’s crap.

IMDb | Cinematical | Edward Copeland on Film | Black Sheep Reviews

• Elijah Wood …. Matt Buckner
• Charlie Hunnam …. Pete Dunham
• Claire Forlani …. Shannon Dunham
• Marc Warren …. Steve Dunham

Just so you know, this film is called Hooligans, Green Street Hooligans and Green Street depending on where you are.

Football has never really had a good film made about it, not that I’ve seen anyway. I mean most people enjoy that Christmas favourite Escape to Victory, but despite having Pele, the football isn’t really that good. Is Green Street any better? Football-wise, I’d have to say yes. But this film isn’t really about football at all. It is about the West Ham firm, the GSE (Green Street Elite), and football fans’ violence and how this all appears to an outsider.

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Dir: Frank Miller, Robert Rogriguez & Quentin Tarantino
Writ: Frank Miller

• Bruce Willis …. Hartigan
• Mickey Rourke …. Marv
• Jessica Alba …. Nancy Callahan
• Clive Owen …. Dwight
• Nick Stahl …. Roark Jr./Yellow Bastard
• Elijah Wood …. Kevin

It is hard to know how to describe this film, I suppose I could say that Sin City has three stories, each based on a different graphic novel by Miller. Or that it is just an experiment in style and how to make a film look original.

The film opens with soon-to-retire cop Hartigan (Willis) as he attempts to save 11 year old Nancy Callahan from rape and death. I’m guessing you’ve figured out it isn’t a fluffy-bunny film right? Because there is a hell of a lot of violence. In the main it is fairly cartoony, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have impact, and there are a few scenes that’ll make anyone wince.

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