Jessica Biel steals the show as glamourous and intelligent Larita in
Easy Virtue, a 1920s romantic comedy based on Noel Coward's play. After a whirlwind romance in America, Larita has married young earnest John (Ben Barnes), and when the couple arrive at the Whittakers' stately country house it's time for Larita to face her in-laws. Mrs Whittaker (Kristin Scott Thomas) is certainly not impressed to have an American for a daughter-in-law, while a withdrawn Mr Whittaker (Colin Firth) does his best to keep out of the way.
Miramax has made the brave decision of releasing a film version of Brideshead Revisited which takes a fair few liberties with Evelyn Waugh's novel. If you've read it (which I did for September's
PopUK Book Club) you may find the alterations distracting, but view the film as a separate entity and you can marvel at the acting and cinematography.
It tells the story of Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) and his involvement with the aristocratic Flytes, from his Oxford days with Sebastian (Ben Whishaw) to his relationship with Julia (Hayley Atwell).
The biggest strength of Pineapple Express (out today in the UK) is the brilliant chemistry between Seth Rogen as stoner Dale Denton and the yummy James Franco as his dealer Saul Silver. I have fond memories of the two actors
working together when they were younger in one of my favourite TV shows
Freaks and Geeks, so seeing them reunited in this movie was fun on a couple of levels for me.
Both Dale and Saul are the typical emotionally-stunted guys you see in a Judd Apatow produced movie (see Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up etc).
Keira Knightley's latest period offering,
The Duchess, is finally released at cinemas across the UK today. We've seen the stars at
the world premiere and attending
radio interviews, and now it's time to see if the film lives up to all the hype. Although the poster carries the famous Diana quote — "there were three people in her marriage" — the film has nothing to do with her (
as the cast and director told me when I met them recently) so that aspect of
the trailer is for marketing and doesn't reflect the content of the film.
Guy Ritchie has rolled out his tried and tested (and hugely enjoyable) gangster crime caper formula for his latest offering,
RocknRolla.
Like Lock Stock and Snatch before, RocknRolla brings the lives of London's criminals together in a funny, well-acted and entertaining action flick.
It's not just the capital's head mobster (Tom Wilkinson) and right hand man (Mark Strong) who take notice when a Russian billionaire (Karel Roden) arrives in town looking to make a big money land deal; a corrupt councillor (Jimi Mistry), plotting accountant (Thandie Newton), and underworld gang The Wild Bunch (Gerard Butler, Idris Elba and Tom Hardy) all want in on the big bucks too.
NB: I was lucky enough to catch a screening of this indie movie back in early June, and was so taken with it that I posted the preview for you back then. The movie's coming out this Friday, so here's a reminder / rundown of what I thought of it!
First things first:
The Wackness is dope.
If you're looking for a likable summer film that has a comfortingly predictable plot but a load of music and dance sequences, then you can't go far wrong with Make It Happen.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Lauryn, a girl from a small town with a big dream; to leave her bookkeeping role at her late parents' garage and enroll at the Chicago School of Music and Dance. After she fails her audition — because she isn't in touch enough with her emotions — she gets lucky by meeting Dana, who gets her a back-office job in burlesque club Ruby's.
First things first, Baby Mama ain't rocket science. And why should it be? It's a likeable, smile-inducing comedy with a couple of super-talented ladies at the helm: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
If you haven't already booked your tickets for this week's UK opening of
The Dark Knight then I urge you to do so, because I'm going to add my voice to the chorus shouting that this film is something special. Just so you know my stance on these movies, I didn't think that Batman Begins was anything more than a competent film, and – though the trailers for this one were fantastic – with the running time at over two and a half hours I was worried it would be patchy. It wasn't.
With well-known ABBA songs, an idyllic Greek location and more stars than you can shake a stick at,
Mamma Mia! is bound to be the feel-good hit film of the summer.
Based on the hugely successful stage production, this musical movie stars Meryl Streep as ex-pat Donna, a single mum with a run-down hotel on a beautiful Greek island. Her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is marrying Sky (the gorgeous, and often topless, Dominic Cooper) and the bride-to-be wants her father at the wedding.
