just my luck, i had a blind date
two movie reviews today, one old and one new: Just My Luck/Blind Dating.
incidentally, both movies have Chris Pine as the leading man. i wasn't a fan before the two movies, nor have i heard of the name either.
first on the chopping block is just my luck, starred in by none other than party girl Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine. i found it while channel surfing the hbo network. i actually wanted to see this in the theater, but i never got around to seeing it. and i'm sort of glad and at the same time regret not seeing it in the theater. bittersweet.
critics hated it, it is lindsay's lowest grossing movie to date. and i'm going to run to her defense, after all, i do have some affinity for the lovely little girl who starred in The Parent Trap. to say that the movie was bad because of her is not fair. true, she may have amplified its "baddity" but she just amplified what's bad, she did not create it. since she is the star of the movie, her role could make or break the production. in this case, her character was the weakest link. poor judgement calls by the director, producers, and the casting editor.
the first and main reason why a lot of people have problems with this movie is lindsay portraying her character. d-uh. the problem with that is seeing her in this movie confounds people as to who the character really is? i mean, she looks like a teenager, high-school type of gal in the movie. and you expect people to believe she's already working in a bustling public relations firm and is a high-powered, castrated, manhattan bitch?! come on now. her image is party-girl! she's young, she's not someone whom you'd put in that character. what were you thinking?? you'd probably have done better to cast Julia Stiles instead. and for that alone, i do not blame lindsay. she acted her age, her image, the image the studio bought, and that, obviously resulted into a hodge-podge plot and script, clearly trying to adapt to party girl's image and at the same time trying to keep the plot.
chris pine however, was better at his role. though admittedly, he is also a bit too young for the character. in fact, the whole cast is like that. but he showed that he can act, and he is good at that. in fact, he does get into his character so much that it feels like what you see on-screen is what the really is in real life.
but the absolute jewel of the movie was Samaire Armstrong. i just loved her in this movie. loved her, loved her, loved her! ok, i like girls who lets everything hang loose(nothing malicious guys[read: no offense, but there's pretty much nothing to let loose with her]), carefree but serious types. living for the moment but thinks about the future. and she's just so that! right, back to her acting. she was the one with the most personality in the whole movie, that's why she's the jewel, and that's why i absolutely loved her.
plot wise, it could have been a lot better if they played up the conflict a whole lot more rather than "cheese"-ifying the whole deal. the one i'm talking about is the part where she want to kiss him but can't. a lot of fairy-tales use that formula liberally, so why they didn't do so here is a big misstep for me.
all in all, i'd give it 2.5 stars out of 5. watch it! ...as long as you don't have to pay for it.
the next movie to take centerstage is Blind Dating.
this is a movie where you have the right cast, but its got a not good storyline. the script was wonderful, full of wit, though admittedly most lines aren't original and have been used here and there. i was laughing at pretty much every other scene.
but seriously, how many jokes could you crack around a blind guy? at some point you realize that this is more comedy than romance. that means that there's more joke-cracking than actual plot. that sucks.
what's really off here is the pacing of the movie. at times it gets slow, even repetitive. sometimes its just right. its ridiculous. heck, for the most part you can't figure out where the story is meant to go. there's no clear and defined line as to what the conflict or resolution is. and because of this, some characters were more developed than others. some were only developed much later into the film when they should have been built-up at the beginning. the result is a film which doesn't stick with you when you walk out the theater.
but still, i loved it. there's only one lead role, which was filled-in amazingly by the guy i keep mentioning in the previous lines, and an wonderful collection of supporting roles, each a colorful and vibrant character. they are all just so lovable, so built-up(those who were at least), so natural. that's kind of what's nice with the movie. though i really wish it had a better storyline, one which doesn't zigzag around.
watch this movie, i think chris pine will be here for a long time and his next movies are to watch out for. i give this a 4 out of 5. go watch it! nice feel good movie.
incidentally, both movies have Chris Pine as the leading man. i wasn't a fan before the two movies, nor have i heard of the name either.
first on the chopping block is just my luck, starred in by none other than party girl Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine. i found it while channel surfing the hbo network. i actually wanted to see this in the theater, but i never got around to seeing it. and i'm sort of glad and at the same time regret not seeing it in the theater. bittersweet.critics hated it, it is lindsay's lowest grossing movie to date. and i'm going to run to her defense, after all, i do have some affinity for the lovely little girl who starred in The Parent Trap. to say that the movie was bad because of her is not fair. true, she may have amplified its "baddity" but she just amplified what's bad, she did not create it. since she is the star of the movie, her role could make or break the production. in this case, her character was the weakest link. poor judgement calls by the director, producers, and the casting editor.
the first and main reason why a lot of people have problems with this movie is lindsay portraying her character. d-uh. the problem with that is seeing her in this movie confounds people as to who the character really is? i mean, she looks like a teenager, high-school type of gal in the movie. and you expect people to believe she's already working in a bustling public relations firm and is a high-powered, castrated, manhattan bitch?! come on now. her image is party-girl! she's young, she's not someone whom you'd put in that character. what were you thinking?? you'd probably have done better to cast Julia Stiles instead. and for that alone, i do not blame lindsay. she acted her age, her image, the image the studio bought, and that, obviously resulted into a hodge-podge plot and script, clearly trying to adapt to party girl's image and at the same time trying to keep the plot.
chris pine however, was better at his role. though admittedly, he is also a bit too young for the character. in fact, the whole cast is like that. but he showed that he can act, and he is good at that. in fact, he does get into his character so much that it feels like what you see on-screen is what the really is in real life.
but the absolute jewel of the movie was Samaire Armstrong. i just loved her in this movie. loved her, loved her, loved her! ok, i like girls who lets everything hang loose(nothing malicious guys[read: no offense, but there's pretty much nothing to let loose with her]), carefree but serious types. living for the moment but thinks about the future. and she's just so that! right, back to her acting. she was the one with the most personality in the whole movie, that's why she's the jewel, and that's why i absolutely loved her.
she's the one in the middle
plot wise, it could have been a lot better if they played up the conflict a whole lot more rather than "cheese"-ifying the whole deal. the one i'm talking about is the part where she want to kiss him but can't. a lot of fairy-tales use that formula liberally, so why they didn't do so here is a big misstep for me.
all in all, i'd give it 2.5 stars out of 5. watch it! ...as long as you don't have to pay for it.
the next movie to take centerstage is Blind Dating.
this is a movie where you have the right cast, but its got a not good storyline. the script was wonderful, full of wit, though admittedly most lines aren't original and have been used here and there. i was laughing at pretty much every other scene.
but seriously, how many jokes could you crack around a blind guy? at some point you realize that this is more comedy than romance. that means that there's more joke-cracking than actual plot. that sucks.what's really off here is the pacing of the movie. at times it gets slow, even repetitive. sometimes its just right. its ridiculous. heck, for the most part you can't figure out where the story is meant to go. there's no clear and defined line as to what the conflict or resolution is. and because of this, some characters were more developed than others. some were only developed much later into the film when they should have been built-up at the beginning. the result is a film which doesn't stick with you when you walk out the theater.
but still, i loved it. there's only one lead role, which was filled-in amazingly by the guy i keep mentioning in the previous lines, and an wonderful collection of supporting roles, each a colorful and vibrant character. they are all just so lovable, so built-up(those who were at least), so natural. that's kind of what's nice with the movie. though i really wish it had a better storyline, one which doesn't zigzag around.
watch this movie, i think chris pine will be here for a long time and his next movies are to watch out for. i give this a 4 out of 5. go watch it! nice feel good movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment