22 January 2016

The Intern (2015; Nancy Meyers)

What did I expect from the director of Something's Gotta Give and It's Complicated, films I started watching with the Better Half before I ran screaming and retching from the den after ten minutes of running time?

Yeah, it was mawkish and lead-footed, and I paused the player at the ten, then fifteen minute marks, not quite in agony or nausea, but still ready to throw in the towel.

But leads Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway have a nice chemistry that make this film watchable. Sure De Niro continues to cruise through his golden years — hey, he's allowed to — while Hathaway does a decent fist of a start-up entrepreneur struggling with the pulls of motherhood and wifehood.

I'm glad I unpaused the player both times. But it was a close run thing.

03 January 2016

Star Wars VII (2015; JJ Abrams / Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt)

Star Wars The Force Awakens Theatrical Poster.jpg
"Star Wars The Force Awakens Theatrical Poster" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

First and only thoughts upon leaving the screening of this long-awaited instalment:
  • it's a shameless, shameless remake of Star Wars IV;
  • after twenty minutes of ads and trailers, I’m like, “Fuck you, Cinema Theatre Experience: I’ll fuckin’ wait”;
  • upon hearing it's likely the first of another Star Wars trilogy, the Better Half said, “I love you but I'm not watching any more of this rubbish”;
  • to the Canadian salesman who responded to a lukewarm review by wishing reviewer Andrew O’Hehir dead: fucking drop dead yourself, you motherfucking loser;
  • I goddamned guarantee you that the final of this trilogy will be motherfuckin’ split into two parts.