The Descendants

Director: Alexander Payne
Release Date: 27th January 2012 (UK)


Alexander Payne directs 'The Descendants' with George Clooney as Matt King. A father and husband who struggles to connect with both of his daughters but is forced too when his wife is left in a coma after a boating accident.


Payne, famous for directing About Schmidt, Sideways and Election creates this character arc between the whole family. As an audience you are captivated by their troubles, and really sympathise with George Clooney's performance as Matt King, with this emotional roller coaster of a film.


Based on Payne's previous work, such as Election I was expecting the typical character arcs and the journey it takes them on. As like, Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt you see Clooney's character discover different things about himself through the film, therefore the film had some similarities to Payne's previous filmography.


The music fitted in brilliantly with the Hawaiian theme, when there was a somber moment the music encouraged this, somewhat making the moments more beautiful. 


George Clooney has this ability to play brilliant and diverse characters. As a cheeky, slightly cocky writer and single dad in One Fine Day, 1996 was where he won me over as a talented actor. His works improved and branched out from there, and despite seeing him in previous roles and having preconceptions of Matt King's character  he was not only believable, but portrayed him superbly through emotional and hard-hitting scenes. 


A brilliant sub-plot to the film was the pain King had go through, not only was his wife in a deep coma, but he discovered that she had cheated. Seeing Clooney act out anger, grieve as well as panic all simultaneously was which made this film for me. 


There were some slightly humerous lines within the films. Alexander King, the oldest daughter (played by Shailene Woodley) is a troublde teenager who was put in to rehab for alcohol and drug abuse. However, she has a friend to get her through the grief, Sid (played by Nick Krause) quite slow, not all there teenager brings comedic values by laughing at inappropriate times and making inappropriate jokes. 


A quote I really understood and related to in this film was: "I don't want my daughters growing up entitled and spoiled. And I agree with my father - you give your children enough money to do something but not enough to do nothing". This quote showed the businesslike side to film, King inheriting land from distant relatives along with a bulk sum. With King's strong morals and values it encourages the audience to be able to relate and this quote sums this up perfectly.


Another aspect was the filming, scenes were shooted brilliantly. When Alexander discovered her mother's life-support machine was being turned off, she was in a swimming pool. The speech went silent as the music did too, accompanied with a slow-motion shot of her screaming and crying underwater. The shot was beautifully heartwarming for the audience to really acknowledge her pain.


All aspects considered it makes this film a brilliant watch. You really see the journey of this distant family and it is sentimental seeing them brought closer through the distressing journey.


The Descendants is captivating, well filmed with suitable music, brilliant acting with hints of light-hearted comedy every so often. All these things round off a perfect film. I'd advise anyone to go see it, there is something for everyone and it's worth a watch; not a miss.

RATING: 9/10

The Sitter

Director: David Gordon Green

Release Date: 20th January 2012 (UK)

After drunken-hazy hit Pineapple Express and not-so popular Your Highness, David Gordon Green is back with 'The Sitter'. 

Jonah Hill plays Noah Griffith, a suspended college-student who offers to babysit for the evening. Three-troubled children along with high demands from his 'girlfriend' leads Noah on a night he would never forget, where he ends up in tremendous trouble.

Personally, I think that it would benefit Jonah Hill's career if he were to star in a popular 'serious' film. His filmography so far consists of:

Evan Almighty

Superbad

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Funny People

Get Him To The Greek

Arguably, the films contain the same humour with the same style of jokes. It is popular with audiences yes, however to be defined as a real actor, personally it would be better seeing him as a serious role.

The Sitter has the same humour. There are some funny one liners, Blithe (Laundry Bender), the youngest child and only girl is my favourite character from the film. Her one-liners and exclamatory comments such as 'It was me, I just sharted' were the funniest moments of the film, if anything the only funny part of the film.

As similar with Superbad, I believed the plot unfolds too drastically, is unbelievable and predictably bad. It felt difficult to understand the film, what with everything happening. It seemed as though Gordon Green took it a little too far, making the film less enjoyable.

Fans of Superbad- it is worth a watch merely because you will enjoy the lack of storyline. Despite the fact I enjoyed 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' I seem to question where are traditional comedy values going? It needn't be so extreme to make people laugh, however some may enjoy it.

RATING: 3/10

Goon.

Director: Michael Dowse

Release Date: 6th January 2012 (UK)

Judged by family and his town as an outcast, Doug Glatt is landed with a brilliant opportunity. At a local ice hockey game Glatt punches a confrontational member of the local team. Scouted for his anger issues with his strong punches he enrols as part of a team, only to work up towards a better team and to lead them to victory, or not, by his fists!

As an audience you emphasise with Doug. You see family life pressures where character arcs are created. Sean William Scott is famous for playing Steven Stifler in the early American Pie's, then several years ago similar character Wheeler, in Rolemodels. Glatt is an outcast, slightly slow and not extremely lucky with ladies, compared to previous works, William-Scott plays the opposite role to the norm, however does it successfully for you to emphasise with him and enjoy this new type of role.

The films comedic value is a big bonus, many laughs throughout make the film easy to watch, a surprise was the level of violence throughout the narrative. Arguably, the story depends on violence to somewhat help the narrative along. 

Worth a watch for a light hearted film, with an intriguing narrative and choice of characters. See Glatt struggle and strive in this competitive, easy to watch film with something for everyone.

RATING:  8/10

New Year's Eve.

Director: Garry Marshall

Release Date: 8th December 2011 (UK)

New Year's Eve has been released in our cinemas just in time to excite fans for the upcoming New Year's. We meet many different characters, all with their own heart-warming stories. We learn through-out how they are intertwined and linked to one another in different ways.

With a bucket-load of celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker, for the fashion fans, Robert DeNiro, for the Taxi Driver fans, Lea Michele, for the Glee fans, a wide-variety of experienced  actresses Hilary Swank, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer and for all the fans with a soft-spot Zac Efron, you would not be disappointed, despite the fact he has lost his luscious locks!

However, like the films prequel Valentine's Day, personally I found the film predictable. Katherine Heigl annoyingly is a talented actress but she consistently plays the same character. Hopeless in love and waiting to be saved, arguably she is good at doing so but I hoped to see her branch out slightly. Lea Michele, famous from Glee, had a singing part. You can argue, she is good. But instead of it being uplifting and romantic it felt again predictable, cheesy and quite embarrassing. In comparison, Robert DeNiro plays an bed-ridden old man whose life is filled with regrets. He is dying from cancer and wants to make through the year. Having supported DeNiro from his early career, and his performances in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino, Taxi Driver and even his newer roles such as Meet The Fockers and Stardust it is obvious his acting skills are extremely diverse. His story is heart-warming and sweet, with the element of surprise which Marshall does very well.

Each of the characters members of the audience can relate too, and through fans from the previous film, it has a lot to 'live up to' somewhat, through that the romantic comedy value is there, it is an easy-viewing fun film to watch without thinking too much, with light-hearted jokes involved to make you laugh throughout, so it scores points for that. However, award winning? Maybe, maybe not. Personally it is uplifting and sweet, would I suggest seeing it? If you like rom-coms and romantic films, yeah. However, just a warning you do not see Efron half naked, he does ride a motor-bike though...

RATING: 6/10