Movies

How to Lose Friends And Alienate People - 6/10

I went to see this is Cineworld today with Iano and Jack. I had seen some trailers for it, which didn't make it look great, so I had some mild negative assumptions, and I had also heard a lot of people saying they thought it was shit, but I was still dying to see it because the main character was being played Simon Pegg.

For those of you who don't know, I am mildly obsessed with Simon Pegg. I fell in love with him while watching Spaced a few years ago, and have been smitten ever since.

I am also a big fan of Kirsten Dunst, after her roles in some of my favourite movies, like The Virgin Suicides, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Bring It On, Eternal Sunshine... and of course Interview With A Vampire when she was only wee.

So anyway, despite not having high hopes for this movie, I actually thoroughly enjoyed it.
Its loosely based on the memoir of Toby Young, and follows a man's blossoming career as a journalist. Basically, Simon Pegg moves to New York and tries to get stuck into all the ladies.

This movie delivers the lols, especially the spoof trailer in it for Megan Fox's character's new movie, 'Teresa - The Making of a Saint'.

"The faith is strong in this one."

I love how there is always Star Wars references in Simon Pegg movies. I also think it's cool that he got to work with Gillian Anderson, because he's a big fan of hers and of The X Files.
There isn't too many laugh-out-loud parts, and the ending seems a bit rushed, but it's an overall feel-good film. Simon Pegg is his usual adorable self. I'd probably give it a 6/10.

I saw two amazing movies recently, The Chaser and Taken. Both involve similar plots, involving the themes of the sex-trade industry, kidnapping and a manhunt, but are very different stylistically.

The Chaser - 8.5/10

I dig South Korean movies as they usually tend to be gory as fuck and rarely have a happy ending. Some notable Korean films would be the Vengeance Trilogy by director Chan-Wook Park, and also A Tale Of Two Sisters.

The Chaser is a thriller about a dirty-cop-turned-pimp, whose girls are going missing one by one. It is established that the girls are being murdered, and although the murderer is caught early on in the film, they don't have enough evidence to hold him, and a desperate struggle begins to prove that this man is the killer, and to find one of the girls that may still be alive.

This film is not as gory as some of its Korean predecessors, but I still felt pretty sick and unhappy when it was over. I love when films affect you physically. In my eyes, this film is a triumph for first-time director Hong-jin Na, and I look forward to his next film The Murderer out next year.


Taken is about a girl who goes to Paris and gets kidnapped and sold into the sex trade industry. Her da just happens to be Liam Neeson, and and also an ex-C.I.A. agent and he legs it to Paris and tries to find his daughter, killing 27 people along the way. This is a kick ass movie.
7/10

Currently listening to: Bitter End.