By now you should know that I absolutely love cinema. Previously I’ve told you that I’ve studied Dramaturgy, some might say I majored in it, in High School. My father welcomed me to the world of cinema at a very early age, and as a result I’d say I’ve seen most known films. Continue reading “Predicting The Academy Awards 2014”
I remember when I first watched the trailer for this movie. I felt that it had potential, and I was really excited to see the writers of the original The Hangover-movie tackle something focused more on the younger audience. My focus group, I guess. Unfortunately, this movie did absolutely nothing for me. 21 & Over stars Miles Teller, Skylar Astin & Justin Chon as three best friends, on Jeff Chang’s 21st birthday, played by Justin Chon. Initially, I thought this movie might work well – I did somewhat like Teller and Astin as old friends, but their association with Chon’s Chang did not seem real enough.
It didn’t help that the friendship roles perfectly dealt in The Hangover, had been mixed together into these three guys. Skylar Astin’s character was a mixture of Justin Bartha’s Doug and Ed Helms’ Stu. Teller felt like an odd mixture of Bradley Cooper’s Phil and the Stifler-character from the original American Pie-movies. The drunk actions of Jeff Chang made him seem like a mixture of Ken Jeong’s Mr Chow and Zach Galifianakis’ Alan. With that being said, Jeff Chang did seem like a fine character when Justin Chon didn’t try to act drunk. I really like Sarah Wright, who played Nicole, and Francois Chau, who played Dr Chang, and I would’ve liked to see them in more scenes.
Overall, I felt that this movie tried to be like The Hangover too much, and 4 good acting performances were not enough to make me care for the overall plot. I really wanted to like this movie, sadly I did not.
Final Grade: 5.5 out of 10.0. Mediocre movie, too convenient ending.
– I’m Jeffrey Rex
Academy Award-nominated movies tend to arrive in Denmark very late, sadly. Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club, which was nominated for six Oscars, didn’t open in Denmark until February of 2014. Nevertheless, when I finally got the chance to see the film at a so-called ‘early showing,’ I was very excited and had high expectations for the film. Thankfully, the film did live up to my expectations, but I was surprised by how clueless some of my fellow theatergoers were. Continue reading “REVIEW: Dallas Buyers Club (2013)”
The first I’m Jeffrey Rex Awards features 17 categories.
In the next few days, perhaps even hours, if you are lucky, I will be posting a blogpost regarding my personal picks for various ‘Awards’ for 2013. The I’m Jeffrey Rex Award Show will feature the following categories – do note that I have listed at least 2 nominees for each category:
*Do note that when dealing with movies, games and songs I nominate out of the pieces I have seen, played or listened to.
I will announce the winners in the next few days,
– I’m Jeffrey Rex
The following is the 3rd and final edition of my review of Man of Steel, a Zack Snyder film.
In a way, this film, and the experience of writing this review, has been somewhat of a difficult experience for me. If you look around the blog you’ll probably notice that I’ve been very critical of my original review of the film. The fact of the matter was that I was perhaps too hyped up for the film when I first experienced it, and my review ended up going ‘too easy’ on what was, to some extent, a problematic film.
The second edition of the review was a little bit more fair, but I didn’t love how it turned out. So, in anticipation for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), which serves as the sequel to this film, I decided to revisit the film, and review Man of Steel one last time. Continue reading “REVIEW: Man of Steel (2013)”
Every now and again a movie comes along, that will shake you to your core. The kind of movie that will make you think for days. A movie that will leave a lasting impression. There is a popular Danish proverb that goes something like this: “you will hear the truth from drunk people and children,” and Thomas Vinterberg’s latest film definitely challenges that common saying. The Danish director of films such as 1998’s The Celebration has tackled a challenging subject-matter head-on with his latest film, The Hunt. The Hunt is that type of movie. It is an infuriating and heart-wrenching masterpiece, but I also think that this astounding conversation-starter is one of the best Danish films ever made. This is, undoubtedly, a must-watch movie. Continue reading “Review: The Hunt (2013)”
Directed by: Michael Dowse
Written by: Jay Baruchel & Evan Goldberg
Based on a book by Doug Smith & Adam Frattasio
Here is a movie you might not have heard of if you’re like me. The fact is that the first time I ever heard of this movie was when I found it On Demand on the Scandinavian Viaplay-site. However, I do believe the target audience has heard of it. Here is a story of how a simple bouncer becomes a minor-league Hocker Enforcer. Seann William Scott stars as Doug Glatt in a movie that is able to satisfy every audience, or at least that’s what I believe. It’s manly enough for those Hockey fans with a healthy interest in movies, and yet I think it might work with women too. Doug isn’t smart, Doug doesn’t have the life that his family wants – and he’s not really good at Hockey, an understatement perhaps. But he’s good at fighting, and that really is the set-up for this movie, which also stars Eugene Levy, Liev Schreiber, Allison Pill & Jay Baruchel.
Definitely not a bad cast, and it does work to some extent. But, at certain points in this movie, clichés take over. We have our Russian pair of strange, and at times weird, hockey players – that really do some nasty things; we have the stereotypical Captain, who’s old, going through a divorce – and who’s drinking a lot. The Captain is paired with another cliché; a young hockey player who copies the Captain at length; a true sidekick to the Captain.
The movie finds its heart when revolving around two of Doug’s relationships, his relationship with the former Hockey Talent Xavier LaFlamme & especially his relationship with Eva, played by Allison Pill. The latter relationship is what I believe will help the female audience like this movie, not because she’s a sweet sensitive girl, because she isn’t; but because she is her own type, not stereotypical – and interesting to watch go through various stages of this movie.
Let’s talk about the casting choices, some I agree with and some I… Really don’t, for personal reasons. First off, I didn’t expect S. W. Scott to play this sort of character – I expected him to be more… “Stifler”, sorry Seann. But that’s not necessarily bad if you ask me. He is able to do something more than just his typical performance. He isn’t just “Stifler” from American Pie or “Travis” from Welcome to the Jungle. And don’t expect a Mr. Woodcock-like performance either. This is different, and some might argue it’s better. I like what S. W. Scott does, and I’m satisfied with him as Doug Glatt.
This takes us to the rest of the cast. I like Allison Pill, I really do, so I have no problem with her performance. I do, however, have a problem with Liev Schreiber, Eugene Levy and Jay Baruchel. Don’t get me wrong, these are good actors, but Liev just doesn’t work for me in this movie – and I’d have preferred someone else to play Ross Rhea. Baruchel’s character is annoying if you ask me, not funny, just annoying – it might not be Baruchel’s problem, it might be just a badly written character. Then we have Eugene Levy, and sorry Levy but I just don’t see you as Doug’s father – and that is 100% only because you played Jim’s father in American Pie. Sorry, Eugene, but it didn’t feel natural to me because of that – but that’s my problem.
Final Grade: 7.5 out of 10. Enjoyable feel-good-movie.
– I’m Jeffrey Rex.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 