Megamind (2010)

At Least It's Funny - 3/5

So I saw this film just now called Megamind which you'll remember as being Will Ferrell's latest animated film. The story followed  the journey of Megamind, a blue, round-headed supervillain in his battles against Metro Man. He then goes on to control Metro City, get bored of all his power, create a nemesis for himself who turns evil and consequently causes Megamind to save the city and get the girl. Hmmmmm. It's all a bit predictable and it feels as if it has been done before even though movies of this type normally focus on the 'good guy'. Despite the way this film tried to break the stereotypical comedy/animation superhero movie (Monsters Vs Aliens, The Incredibles) by focusing on the other side, by the end it became exactly like all these other previous films.

That's what this film was. I must say it started off quite good. The comedy was flowing and it managed to feel fresh within the genre. By about half way through with the creation of Titan, played by Jonah Hill, the storyline began to lose my interest and by the end we all knew what was happening. And just for the record, Jonah should should never ever ever at any point in a film play a superhero. His voice is totally inappropriate for this type of role and no matter how many times he has done it before, he should stick to the usual geeky and hilarious characters we are used to seeing him in.

Despite the poor casting of Hill, I think Will Ferrell was a good pick to play Megamind. He manages to bring such comedic value just with the inclusion of his voice and the lack of a decent plot-line didn't seem as important when his character was making you laugh. At least they got that bit right. Tina Fey should have been given a more comedy-based role too. What's the point of casting her in a boring part that could have been played by anyone? If you get someone funny on board, use them. Brad Pitt was well cast as Metro Man. His voice brings an air of arrogance that you usually don't get from him from his on-screen performances. Aside from the casting, the animation was pretty awesome. DreamWorks and the animation team behind it certainly did a good job of that.

This film was by no means amazing and, speaking as a fan of Monsters Vs Aliens, this film just couldn't stand up to movies similar to it. Apparently a sequel is on the way so I think I'll be missing that one.Saying that the film was funny and not every film has that to boast.

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Date Night (2010)

Carell's Best Film - 4/5

So I saw this film yesterday called 'Date Night' with the ever wonderful Steve Carell. I've got to say, I think this is my favourite Carell film to date. When you think about it, Carell has really not been on the big scene for very long. The first thing I saw him in was 'Anchorman' and that was only in 2003. For the amount of time he has been around it is amazing at just how successful he has become. The reason why I say 'Date Night' is his best film yet is that it differs somewhat from everything else he has done. 'Evan Almighty' was exactly like 'Bruce Almighty' which didn't differ enormously from 'The 40 Year Old Virgin'. In fact the only two films other than this one that I found him memorable in were 'Dan In Real Life' and 'Little Miss Sunshine' again because these were films unlike what we had seen from him before. Although Carell brings his normal brand of outlandish comedy to us again in 'Date Night', he manages to do so with much more emotion and a more genuine feel to his performance.

The stand out for me in this one was Tina Fey's role as Carell's wife Claire. I never knew she was so funny! Her quirkiness and alternative style to comedy fitted this film so well. We normally see Carell with wife that a man of his personality would never get but here we get a perfect match in which they were both able to bounce off each other and come up with some very funny stuff.

Possibly the funniest moment of the film was a nice double act scene with James Franco and Mila Kunis. Kunis has made a very quick leap to stardom recently having only been involved in blockbuster films since 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' in 2008. Franco has made an almost equally rapid journey to success and in this scene we can clearly see why. The two work so well with each other and even though it was just a fleeting moment of hilarity it was my favourite scene of the film.

This film brought to the table real life emotional events mixed with hilarity and absurdity and left me with a smile on my face. I would recommend this to anyone.

The Invention of Lying (2009)

Just for the tearjerker moment - 3.5/5

So I saw this film a while back called 'The Invention of Lying'. After previously entering a Ricky Gervais film with skepticism at how well he could actually act and then being nicely surprised by the performance ('Ghost Town' (2008)), Imade sure not to begin this film in the same frame of mind. However, I probably should have. Where 'Ghost Town' excelled, 'The Invention of Lying' fell down.
Ok, so you're gonna write a film about a world where everybody can only tell the truth. Fine. But why does this mean that people sporadically spurt out anything contained in their head? Just becuase people can only tell the truth, it doesn't mean they say whatever is up top. That's just stupid. And that was what struck me at the start of the film. At first I was like, 'yeah this is funny, but where is it going?'. It turned out that it was going nowehere fast. The orginal sense of hilarity that you get through people blurting out whatever they think, mainly at Ricky Gervais' expense, is soon replaced by a feeling that the writers stuck to the title of the film and had no way of diverting themselves from convincing us that in this world, nobody can lie. We get it! Stop shoving it down our throats. However it was nice to see how Jennifer Garner's character began to break free of the constrictions of a society with very little opinion. Also I automatically dislike Rob Lowe after the way his character, Gervais' more talented colleague, spoke to poor Ricky.
So the film wasn't great, but Gervais' acting skills; at times they stunned me. The scene where his mother is on her death bed, I have literally never been so moved by an actors tears as I was at that point. How does he do it? Of course this movie contains Gervais' off-hand style of comedy which is present in just about everything he does, but what struck me most was how he seemed to have grown an emotional style of acting. He held the film together, it needed him.
Would I recommend it? Hmmmm yeah, but I'd say you should watch 'Ghost Town' first.