I Am Number Four
Director: D.J. Caruso
Starring: Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant and Dianna Agron
UK Box Office: February 18 – 20, 2011
1. Paul – £5,517,121
2. Gnomeo & Juliet – £2,223,978
3. The King’s Speech – £1,685,180
4. True Grit – £1,466,979
5. Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son – £1,433,778
6. Yogi Bear – £1,370,585
7. Tangled – £1,295,709
8. Just Go With It – £984,355
9. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never – £820,592
10. Black Swan – £696,332
DVD Releases: February 21, 2011
Despicable Me
Director: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud
Starring: Steve Carell, Jason Segel and Russell Brand
Burke and Hare
Director: John Landis
Starring: Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis and Isla Fisher
Cyrus
Director: Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass
Starring: John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei
US Box Office: February 18 – 20, 2011
1. Unknown – $21,800,000
2. I Am Number Four – $19,500,000
3. Gnomeo & Juliet – $19,400,000
4. Just Go With It – $18,200,000
5. Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son – $17,000,000
6. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never – $13,600,000
7. The King’s Speech – $6,566,000
8. The Roommate – $4,100,000
9. The Eagle – $3,559,000
10. No Strings Attached – $3,120,000
Review: Just Go With It (2011)
Synopsis: A plastic surgeon (Adam Sandler), romancing a much younger schoolteacher (Brooklyn Decker), enlists his loyal assistant (Jennifer Aniston) to pretend to be his soon to be ex-wife, in order to cover up a careless lie. When more lies backfire, the assistant’s kids become involved, and everyone heads off for a weekend in Hawaii that will change all their lives.
The overall set-up (mooted by Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling) borders on farce, but through short-sharp bursts of comedy, manages to make a commendable attempt to break-free of rom-com conventions and head into surprisingly heartwarming territory.
Still, no matter how hard it tries, it unfortunately remains a desperately uneven film, suffering from Dennis Dugan’s basic, overly glossy direction and a ludicrously bloated, lingering running time.
The two leads, Sandler and Aniston, display a very natural comedic flare and, to the films advantage, combine their strengths – Sandler’s acerbic sweetness with Aniston’s down-to-earth warmth – to reasonable avail, establishing a tenable and charismatic on-screen duo.
It’s a testament to Aniston who, no matter how deadpan her post-Friends career has become, remains one of the best comedic actresses of her generation, wonderfully transferring her glowing off-screen, warm-natured personality, and sizeable womanly assets, into Katherine’s likeable and winning nature, essentially bringing her to life.
Prevailing in a supporting role, Bailee Madison, who plays Katherine’s youngest daughter, delivers a bubbly, witty and energetic preeminent performance.
Nicole Kidman, on the other hand, stars as Katherine’s frenemy Devlin Adams. It’s a somewhat inspired role, and certainly brings a breath of fresh air to the trailing central plot, but Kidman’s performance comes across as forced, unnatural and down right insane. Your never sure whether to laugh or cringe.
Just Go With It is so ridiculously overblown that it’s bereft of any true mentality, with the end wrapped up so hastily it makes the whole ordeal arguably pointless. Yet, through a zealous performance from Aniston and a suitably pushy script, it’s an infrequently entertaining effort.
Review: Paul (2011)
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reunite in yet another bromance buddy film, this time from director Greg Motolla.
Paul sees two best friends, Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) embark upon a tour of UFO landing sites after visiting Comic-Con in San Diego. Fleeing into the night after angering some aggressive rednecks, they have a chance encounter with Paul (Seth Rogen), a wise-cracking alien who implores them to take him with them before he gets dragged back to Area 51.
All too keen to indulge in a geek fantasy, the two nerds stash Paul in the back of their rented RV and attempt to return him to his landing site. But things don’t go quite according to plan when they accidentally kidnap a trailer park attendant (Kristen Wiig) and discover that they have an FBI agent on their trail (Jason Bateman).
For the most part, the story is solid. It impressively finds the right balance between road movie and alien flick, and results in an old fashioned, grand, amped-up final showdown.
Motolla’s direction, however, is all-too tame and demonstrates that a Pegg and Frost film is banal without their counterpart Edgar Wright. Mottola makes a commendable effort, but is clearly out of his comfort zone.
Pegg and Frost, even without Wright, put their real-life friendship to good use and create a likable duo, with naturally blowing, witty banter and individualistic personalities, enough to differentiate them from their previous on-screen personaes.
Seth Rogen proves to be a inspired choice for Paul, reminding audiences he is in fact a talented actor, and not the one hit wonder he was in danger of becoming. And Kristen Wiig, in her first mainstream film, shows off her natural comedic talent, getting her own fair share of laughs in amongst an already headstrong cast.
Jane Lynch and Sigourney Weaver, though awarded with limited screen time, both bring a remarkable sweet-wise quality to their respective roles, making you ache for more.
Paul is an adequately enlivening Saturday night movie, with gratifying gags, a savvy cast and enough sci-fi references to keep everyone happy.
Cinema Releases: February 18, 2011
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
Director: Jon Chu
Starring: Justin Bieber, Boys II Men and Miley Cyrus
Inside Job
Director: Chad Beck and Adam Bolt
Starring: Matt Damon, William Ackman and Daniel Alpert
Confessions
Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Starring: Takako Matsu, Masaki Okada and Yoshino Kimura
Cinema Releases: February 16, 2011
Big Momma: Like Father Like Son
Director: John Whitesell
Starring: Martin Lawrence, Brandon T. Jackson and Jessica Lucas
Review: No Strings Attached (2011)
Veteren comedy director Ivan Reitman returns with No Strings Attached, a rom-com that asks the question of whether or not friends with benefits can still be best friends without letting their emotions overrule their unattached “relationship”.
Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher), after years of failed relationships, make a pact to use each other for sex. But when Adam starts seeing their relationship as something more, Emma instinctively wants to run the other way.
No Strings Attached – while it may be too long for its own good, is overly predictable and relies too heavily on crass humour – delivers feasibly well on all levels under the trained direction of Reitman and a competent script by Elizabeth Meriwether.
Ashton Kutcher, reprising the role he’s played in every other rom-com, is likeable and entertaining enough. Natalie Portman, in a role that is vastly different to her award-nominated performance in Black Swan, often feels uncomfortable in a genre that’s clearly not suited to her talents, but undeniably manages to deliver a relatively natural, appealing and sexy performance.
The supporting cast, including standout performances from Lake Bell and Greta Gerwig, notably aid the two leads, often stealing the film and creating an enjoyable diversion to the weak and predictable central storyline.
No Strings Attached is ultimately a fairly enjoyable rom-com that’s made watchable by an above-average script, credible direction and the best intentions of the entire cast.
UK Box Office: February 11 – 13, 2011
1. Gnomeo & Juliet – £2,945,627
2. The King’s Speech – £1,986,871
3. Tangled – £1,969,148
4. True Grit – £1,823,254
5. Yogi Bear – £1,820,405
6. Just Go With It – £1,628,265
7. Black Swan – £1,069,931
8. The Fighter – £1,002,454
9. Never Let Me Go – £625,496
10. Sanctum – £361,832
Empty Screens 