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The Bounty Hunter starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston

Posted on May 11, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Bounty Hunter starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston. Image from: http://temptu.files.wordpress.com

Milo Boyd (Gerard Butler) is well…a loser. An ex cop who got out of the force, he is now working as a bounty hunter. His job is to catch people who jump bail. He is mocked by cops and he does have a gambling debt. However his next assignment puts a huge smile on his face: He has to catch his ex-wife Nicole.

Nicole (Jennifer Aniston) is a successful journalist who is cursing the day she married Milo. She loves her job and she is after a huge story. One lead causes her to miss her trial and now Milo is after her.

If only that were simple…The bad guy has caught Nicole’s snitch and he is now after her. Then there are the debt collectors who are after Milo. And there is the struggle between Milo and Nicole- who might not just hate each other as they claim…

When I first the movie was being made, I couldn’t wait to see it. After all, I don’t mind Jennifer Aniston being in movies (it is a Friends thing) and I am a huge fan of Gerard Butler. Then the movie came out and people were so quick and ruthless in bashing the movie that I was half-scared that it would be a disaster. But hey , it is always best to see the movie and judge it yourself and I have to say I genuinely enjoyed it. Honestly, It has its downs:

– It has its mediocre moments and its fair share of clichés.

– Oh, it also has a character that’s supposed to be funny but all he did was irritate me. This character is called Stewart (Jason Sudeikis). Stewart is Nicole’s colleague and he is such a big loser that Milo seems like the ultimate catch in his worst moment, including the time he is wearing the world’s ugliest shirt and short pair! Normally ,I love Jason. He is my favorite cast member at Saturday Night Live. You might like to check out youtube for the 300 spoof- where Gerard Butler makes fun of his character King Leonidas and Jason plays his right arm. Hilarious. But Stewart is just unnecessary.

– The music dominates some of the scenes too much. It is not that the songs are bad but the scenes are funny on their own but the music seemed determined that it wanted to steal the scenes from Butler. That was weird.

– Sometimes you do want the movie to make up its mind on whether it wants to be a romcom or an action comedy or whatever.

That being said, it definitely has its ups:

– Gerard Butler. It is so much fun watching him as a loser than slowly building his charm and gain his confidence back. He doesn’t mind making an ass out of himself and he sure doesn’t seem to mind if he doesn’t look the least bit good-looking. But obviously he does. He is an actor and he wants to play different characters. Sure, you saw the sweet loser Milo character before but it is still different to Gerard’s other characters. Plus, Milo is fun to watch. Most of the time.

– Some viewer reviews claimed that Jennifer is so bad in this that she should completely stop making movies. Oh, give me a break! There is nothing about her character that requires anything more than Jennifer gives to the role. Who do they suggest played Nicole? Meryl Streep? It is a simple role. Jennifer was OK.

– It has some really funny scenes: The golf course chasing scene, Jennifer’s hijacking a bicycle cab or Gerard’s method of rescuing Jennifer from the thugs… Don’t worry, it has more. I just don’t want to spoil it for you.

– Have you seen the movie Bird on a Wire? It’s made in 1990 and it features Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn in the leading roles. It is not rated high on IMDB (a mere 5.4) but it is one of the most entertaining movies I have seen and one of my favorite movies from Gibson. It is also a mixture of action/comedy/romance and follows the story of ex-lovers. Even the storyline is quite different, as they try to save their lives and sort things out, they also realize they are not over each other. Watching The Bounty Hunter, I realized it is in the tradition of Bird on a Wire and I love that movie. Yeah, Bird on a Wire is a tad more original and a little funnier but it doesn’t change the fact that The Bounty Hunter is also all about mindless entertainment, out there to show you a good time. And it does. And that’s what matters.

It is currently 5.1 on IMDB. It has its 5 moments and it has its 7. I’ll give it a 6.

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The Bachelor starring Chris O’Donnell and Renée Zellweger

Posted on May 8, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Bachelor starring Chris O' Donnell Renée Zellweger. Made in 1999. Brace yourselves for something very romantic and very funny. Image from filmamerica.com

The opening credits start in wide open land with lots of horses running wild. Our narrator/lead character

Jimmy Shannon (Chris O’Donnell) starts his story by telling us that every man (in America) is Mustang (the horse, not the car) at heart. He is too. He is also a happy bachelor who loves dating a variety of women without having to think about getting married. One day he meets Anne (Renée Zellweger) and even though he is still not even dreaming about marriage, he is happy just being with that one women. After a year of bliss, his luck starts to change. All his friends have been getting married inevitably Anne uses the ever-dreaded word “future”. He is the only single guy left in his circle. He decides to do the inevitable and screws up big time. But then something even more dreadful happens- his grandfather dies and leaves him a $100 million. What’s dreadful about it? Jimmy needs to be married in a certain time frame, be married for at least 10 years and have 10 children. What the ****? “Poor” Jimmy proposes to Anne again, screwing up more time. Anne leaves town to visit her folks and Jimmy has no choice but visiting all his exes one by one, a highly diverse list of women who include a feminist, an over-bearing one, a cop, one who is all business, a stockbroker, an opera singer…

So Jimmy spends a lot of time proposing to one wrong woman after another and failing to be engaged, until his friend comes with a “brilliant” idea that’s very entertaining for us the audience and a total nightmare for Jimmy….

The Bachelor is a typical romantic comedy but I am saying it with love and affection. I really do like this movie. I love the idea, the actors, the scenes and the dialogue. Sure, as a modern woman I resent the idea of all men being portrayed as commitment-phobic and women crazy about marriage. I resent the idea that all women see marriage as bliss but men as a nightmare. It might be true for a lot of cases but hey times are changing a little. But who cares? The casting is perfect. If any other guy was giving you all the talk about Mustangs, a girl might be pissed. But hey, it is Chris O’ Donnell. One of the cutest and prettiest actors to date, he lights up the screen and even in his desperate moments, he doesn’t annoy you. He makes you laugh. Put an average guy in there and you would say “Oh, screw you, who would want to marry you, anyway?”. This is a romantic comedy meaning it is (unfortunately) targeted mostly at women and I am being honest.

Brooke Shields and Mariah Carey make very fun appearances. Even though I don’t like Mariah Carey at all, she was the perfect choice as the over-the-top opera singer.

It is a fun romcom with all the regular amount of cheesiness. But the funny bits are really funny and the romantic part is romantic. So if you like the genre, suspend your cynicism for the duration of the film and have fun.

Other Chris O’Donnell Posts

The Three Musketeers starring Chris O’Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland Charlie Sheen

NCIS Los Angeles starring Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J.

Mad Love starring Drew Barrymore and Chris O’Donnell

All Posts on Renée Zellweger

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4 Good Movies with Awesome Soundtracks: Shoot ‘em up, Jerry Maguire, Reality Bites and Vanilla Sky

Chuck

Posted on May 1, 2010 Written by ripitup

Chuck starring Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski. Image from: http://www.22dakika.org

Chuck is in its 3^rd season and my feelings for the show have not changed. I like half of it, and I can rarely stand the other half. I like the whole secret agents, gears, spies storyline. The nerdy friends and bosses of Chuck? Not so much.

Well, let me introduce the show a little bit.

Chuck (Zachary Levi) is a smart, nice, cute and a little nerdy guy who works at an electronics store. His best friend is the really geeky and socially disgraceful Morgan. Two other guys who are supposed to form the rest of the “gang” are even worse than Morgan (Joshua Gomez) but one of them thinks he is super cool. Well, Chuck could have done much better for himself, had he not been kicked out of Stanford. Now he lives with his older doctor sister Ellie (Sarah Lancester) and her “awesome” doctor boyfriend Devon (Ryan McPartlin). His stable and not so interesting life changes when an old friend college friend sends him something. Because of that thing he really wasn’t supposed to see, his mind is filled with confidential CIA intel. Two CIA agents are assigned to his case: John Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski). So Chuck becomes-albeit unwillingly) an important asset for his country and these two agents. A true pro, poker-faced John is impatient and unwilling to “hang around” with Chuck. But Sarah and Chuck develop feeling for each other. The covers? Chuck keeps his day job, John Casey starts “working” at the same store as Chuck and Sarah poses as Chuck’s girlfriend.

The concept is really fun. An ordinary guy tries to keep his secret identity secret from his sister and best friends, tries to keep his feelings in check for Sarah, tries not to panic during real operations and tries to get rid of the shock. The action and the comedy coming from Chuck being a total anti-hero is really fun. The other supposedly funny elements such as his co-workers and their relationships end up being boring or annoying or both. Too much time is spent there. So what could have easily become the show to look forward to, becomes an alternative pastime activity if there is nothing else to watch.

It has really good episodes, but most lose its charm due to the elements I counted.Other than that, casting is pretty ok. I previously watched Zachary Levi on the tv show Less Than Perfect. He played a pretentious snob really well and it is quite enjoyable to watch him as this genuinely nice guy. Adam Baldwin is perfect at his role, Yvonne Strahovski is really gorgeous and she really fits her part. “Awesome” Devon is a hunky yet dull character and handled well by Ryan McPartlin. In fact, it is handled too well. I can’t help but think if he is that square in real life. If Chuck gets cancelled, I won’t celebrate but I won’t really miss it either. I hope they give it a make-over with the Morgan storyline.

Chuck starring Sarah Lancester, Adam Baldwin, Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski and Joshua Gomez — Chuck Cast, from left: Sarah Lancester, Adam Baldwin, Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski and Joshua Gomez. Image from: http://www.dizidizi.net

Chuck, Sarah Lancester and Ryan McPartlin — Sarah Lancester and Ryan McPartlin at a Chuck event.

That’s all I need to say for Chuck. If you want to check out the other TV shows I covered on the blog, here’s the list.

The Back-up Plan starring Jennifer Lopez and Alex O’Loughlin

Posted on April 25, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Back-up Plan starring Jennifer Lopez and Alex O'Loughlin. The idea might have been fresher 10 years ago. Image from: http://tengossip.com/

Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has wanted to get married and have kids but since she hasn’t been able to meet the right guy (not even come close), she decides to get pregnant through the sperm bank. She gets the “operation” and right on that day, she meets a handsome young guy called Stan (Alex O’Loughlin). Stan is fun, honest and interesting. And he doesn’t have a clue what Zoe has done. Zoe decides to hang around with him. After all he can’t be The One, right? But as it turns out, he is and he is not all that pleased when he finds out. But despite the “challenge”, he really is crazy about Zoe and wants to try to make it work. Just as Stan tries to get his head around the idea, he finds out that Zoe’ll be having twins. After that, it is all romantic and domestic chaos. Combined with Stan’s freaking out and Zoe’s trust issues, their relationship hits more than a few bumps on the road.

OK. So you really don’t need me to tell you that they will end up together and will live happily ever after.

After all, it is a typical romantic comedy. The problem is, it is mostly too typical. Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of the genre. But when the story feels too formulated and too familiar, you should get worried.

Obviously, you can’t change certain things about the genre. Two people have to fall in love with each other at some point. This should be the case, otherwise there won’t be a story in this category. But there should be limits on how many clichés you are going to use.

Is it as bad as some people make it to be?

Frankly, I don’t think you will be bored to death. While I totally suggest boys to stay away from the movie at all costs, girls (especially Moonlight fans) will at least have Alex O’Loughlin to look at. But, even if you are just a tad sarcastic, you may get bored. I am not saying there aren’t any scenes that I didn’t like. There are some pretty funny scenes. But if you thought it was bad in the beginning, there is no point in keeping it up. Because I thought it was OK until Stan found out about the baby issues.

5/10 from me. As I said, it is not that bad. But it is too mediocre to be anything special. Or maybe it is because I don’t want kids at all and therefore thought the whole idea was just not believable. You decide.

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