My Synopsis: Anna, a New York city girl who is very accustomed to her privileged life with her boyfriend Jeremy decides to take things into her own hands, After many years of earnestly awaiting a marriage proposal to no prevail she decides to pursue a family and Celtic tradition by proposing to her boyfriend on February 29 in Dublin where he is currently at a conference. On her way to Dublin she meets a charming young innkeeper in a local town. Her venture to Dublin takes an untimely detour and she is left evaluating her original plans. Director: Anand Tucker Producer(s): Gary Barber, Chris Bender, Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Jake Weiner Writer: Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan Cast: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scot, John Lithgow Genre: Romantic Comedy
MY PORTRAYAL OF THE MOVIE: Anna Brady (Amy Adams) is a stager who resides in Boston and is desperate to make her mark as a top shelf stagist along side her high-powered cardiologist boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott). They have been dating for four years and share many common goals and dreams, one goal being to purchase the most fabulous condo in the best building in Boston and Anna's dream is to be married. Anna was at the tailors getting her dress made for their upcoming anniversary dinner when one of her friends rushes in to tell her she just saw Jeremy coming out of an elite jewellary store holding a shopping bag. You can imagine her excitement after hearing that news, thinking that the proposal will finally happen, she even practices her 'will you marry me' face with her friend. Well after a lovely, romantic, delicious anniversary dinner and a gorgeous pair of diamond earrings later, Jeremy had to hurry off to his Cardiology Convention in Dublin. Anna was left at the restaurant disheartened. Anna sat in her apartment reflecting on the event the night before when she recalls a recent conversation with Jack, her dad (John Lithgow), about a old family and also a very well known Celtic tradition where a woman can propose to a man in a leap year on February 29. With this in mind she takes a leap of faith and decides to fly to Dublin to propose to Jeremy. An awfully turbulent flight has caused her flight to be detoured to Cardiff, Wales, a small town miles away from Dublin. In her desperate attempt to get to Dublin before the February 29 she hires a tugboat to take her across despite the severe storms, of course this boat can not handle the choppy seas and the skipper had to make yet another detour to drop her off at another small town called Dingle also in Wales and also many miles away from where she needs to be. Anna who is now drenched and exhausted but still tries to remain optimistic walks to the nearest building she can see which so happens to be a rundown local pub/inn where she meets a tall, egotistic, and slightly uncouth man named Declan (Matthew Goode). Anna is desperate to get out of this town and requires a taxi service. It just so happens that Declan is the owner of the pub and also the local taxidriver. Anna and Declan come to a monetary compromise in the end after much debate and off they go, in a banged up old red Renault. A series of misadventures occur whilst on their way to Dublin, stolen luggage, a fight to get the luggage back, a few compromising nights stay with very religious owners of a Bed and Breakfast, an inadvertent invite to a wedding and more. They eventually arrive by bus in Dublin, where Anna is reunited with Jeremy. They share a very momentous event which in effort will change Anna's world entirely. Anna and Jeremy have finished up in Dublin and head back to their fancy new apartment to celebrate. During the party Anna regrettably finds out a disturbing truth to Jeremy's intentions and a disheartened Anna pulls the fire alarm in the apartment in a bid to end the party and as the guests evacuate Anna herself decides to evacuate out of the relationship.
After the whole incident with Jeremy, Anna decides to follow her heart back to Dingle. Suffice it to say this story ends in a proposal of a more favourable outcome. MY REVIEW: I felt this movie was extremely cliche. Nothing really grabbed me in this movie except the scenery. I suppose there were some parts in the movie that were mediocre funny to watch but I think in all there was just too many mishaps for Amy Adams character, and quite frankly I was getting fed up of her being portrayed as yet another ditsy leading lady. Matthew Goodes' terrible Irish accent overshadowed his charming good looks on this occasion. The small and pointless role of John Lithgow in the movie was well pointless, more like a filler than adding any substance to the movie. It wasn't a terrible movie it was an average movie, nothing to get excited about but something you can have in the background while ironing the clothes. Regards, S
My Synopsis: This is a coming of age movie of two young youths. Living
in the projects is never an easy life. Mister who is just 13 years old has a
huge reality check when his mother is arrested. Mister is forced to take
charge, he must now look after himself and his 9 year old friend Pete, a
runaway who come to Misters mum for aide after his own mum abandoned him.
Mister and Pete go through the entire summer learning to survive on their own
and trying to avoid protective services.
Director:
George Tillman Jr
Producer(s): George Tillman, Jr. Jana Edelbaum, Rachel Cohen,
Robert Teitel
Writer: Michael
Starrbury
Stars: Skylan Brooks, Ethan Dizon, Anthony Mackie, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje,
Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Jeffrey Wright
Genre: Drama
MY PORTRAYAL OF THE MOVIE:
13 year old Misters’ (Skylan
Brooks) last day at school before the summer holidays begin, he finds out he
has failed English and unfortunately will be repeating the eighth grade upon
his return from his summer break. He skates home to his Brooklyn Park Projects apartment
to find yet another depressing situation at home. No food in the cupboard, the
place is filthy and the little money they do have seems to in the veins of his
junkie prostitute mother (Jennifer Hudson). He also finds out that he now has
Pete (Ethan Dizon)
his mothers’ junkie friends’ son, who is now staying with them indefinitely.
In
the next few days Mister is skating home when he sees the police pull up, they
are raiding his building. You see everyone fleeing in all directions like they
are already guilty. Mister rushes upstairs to find his mum on the couch somewhat
passed out with a used needle on the table. Next thing he knows the police are
knocking at their door, him and Pete run and hide to avoid being caught
themselves, they arrest his mum and she is taken away. Mister is confronted
with the thought that his mother has possibly been taken off to jail, and he
now has someone else he is accountable for. He does the best thing he can for
now – try to survive, while waiting for his mother to return and avoid child
protective services in the meantime. When the days turn into weeks and there is
still no sign of his mother returning it becomes apparent that their need to
exist and survive by any means necessary is important. They become vigilant,
self-reliant, and thrifty, though the lack of food, electricity and money is
taking its toll on them.
Mister
feels the weight of his and Pete journey but through their adversities they
become closer. A few long weeks have gone past and they have managed to survive
though they are looking rather scrawny and malnourishedto say the
least, they have also successfully dodged the authorities who have made some
untimely attempts to visit the unit on several occasions.
They attempt
to make the most of their unfortunate situation by engaging in homemade games
and play acting kept them entertained for a while but the every growing sounds
of their empty bellies quickly brought them back to their reality. At one point
their desperation lead them to breaking into Misters neighbours apartment to salvage
whatever food, money, or credit cards they can find to help lessen their burden
just for a few more weeks.
Misters’
journey leads him to some good, bad and untrustworthy characters. Though they
make him stronger and more determined and teach him some life lessons, they do
challenge him and there are a few confronting scenes in the movie. In the end it’s
these untrustworthy characters that alternately lead Mister and Pete to the
authorities, Pete been too weak to run from them due to a nasty fever is the
first to be caught. It isn’t too long until Mister is met with a rather ill-timed
fate when the local business owner (who has had it in for Mister since day one)
turns on him and attempts to strangle him in broad daylight, fortunately the
policeman how has been knocking on Misters door for the past few weeks happen
to come to his aide. Turns out he saves him from the crazy shop owner but sequentially
takes him to juvenile detention. The very place he has been trying to avoid all summer!
This
place reunites him with Pete, who is ecstatic to see him and boasts about how
wonderful it has been, clean clothes, good food, shelter, and well it’s a small
price to pay for the bruising on his face. Mister quickly realizes even with
all the ‘perks’ Juvenile Detention comes with its own set of fighting to
survive rules.
A few
more weeks go past and Mister and Pete are now accustomed to life in Juvie when
suddenly his mother comes back into his life. She has cleaned up her act so it
appears, looking nothing like the spirit her former self.
It’s
a humbling ending and in some ways a new beginning for the both of them.
MY REVIEW:
There is an attention-grabbing list of supporting
characters in this movie, Jennifer Hudson, Jordin
Sparks, Anthony Mackie, Jeffrey Wright but the two main leads I feel really took
this movie by the balls so to speak. Skylan Brooks who played Mister and Ethan
Dizon as Pete truly did an outstanding job, they certainly did a great job at capturing
your attention throughout the movie and you truly feel your heart break at
certain points in the movie. This movie leaves you wondering how much of this story
is possibly true in that world, do the authorities fall short or even turn a
blind eye to the goings-on in the projects.
This movie certainly depicts the scary reality for some
children who are born into that social economy of life. As a mother this movie
does unquestionably pull at my heartstrings, however it also shows me the
strength and courage children who are faced with adversities in life and can
truly accomplish great things regardless of their limitations. It’s a great
movie! and definitely a must watch, with cringe worthy scenes and all.
My Synopsis: From the very beginning this young girl Noni
(Gugu Mbatha-Raw) has been primed by her overbearing mother (Minnie Driver) for
stardom. The pressures of her success as she grows too become a successful young
artist comes at a cost when she attempts to take her own life. Luckily for her,
Kaz (Nate Parker) her bodyguard/police officer assigned to her at the time
comes to her rescue. There is an instant connection between Kaz and Noni,
however there is protest from concerned parties around them, fearing their
romance will come in the way of both their individual successes. Ultimately,
Kaz's devotion to Noni gives her the strength to find her inner voice and
become the artist she has always meant to be. Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Producer(s): Stephanie Allain, Reggic Rock
Bythewood, Ryan Kavanaugh
Writer: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Stars: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Minnie
Driver, Nate Parker, Danny Glover, Machine Gun Kelly
Genre: Romantic drama MY PORTRAYAL OF THE
MOVIE:
The first scene you see mother (Minnie
Driver) and young daughter Noni (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) rush into a closing
hairdressers in desperate need of a haircut. Noni is singing in the contest the
next day and mother is desperate for her daughters’ hair to be done.
The next morning with her new
hairdo she steps out on stage and sings Blackbird by Nina Simone. Noni sings
this so well and at the end she comes second place! But her mother is furious
with the outcome asks Noni to destroy yet another runners up trophy. Do you
want to be a runner up or a winner?! She says.
The next scene takes you forward many years. You see a very young woman dancing
quite provocatively on screen, thrusting her body and performing for the
camera. This turns out to be Noni and Kid Culprits (Machine Gun Kelly) music video which is played in the
background of the Billboard Awards. After winning her first major music award
she walks outside and is greeted by screaming fan. She has a big fancy apartment that she goes
back too to unwind after all her shows, when she arrives at her room she requests
the bodyguard/police officer (Nate Parker) at the door not to allow anyone else
in after her. Her mother as always persuades the bodyguard to let her in, only
to find her daughter in a compromising situation on the edge of the balcony. The
bodyguard rushes to her aide after hearing her mothers’ scream. As Noni decides
to throw herself of the balcony of her Beverly Hills Apartment hours after
she wins her Billboard award, the bodyguard grabs her from falling, holds her
up over the balcony, they lock eyes for a moment and he says something to her that
gives her comfort and reassurance to live.
A press conference following Nonis' mere brush with death has sparked suicidal
attempts which are quickly dismissed. However her mother or rather her
‘momager’ is fed up of her behaviour and promises her record label that the
upcoming BET awards will shake off all the negative vibes and bring Noni to
supernova status in the R&B world.
After Kazs’ heroic act, his father (Danny Glover) who is a police captain suggests
he takes advantage of the situation to boost Kazs’ political campaign. Kaz on the other hand has an overwhelming
sense of protection for Noni and makes his way to see her. Kaz and Noni get a
change to have a moment alone and she decides to ditch her appointments with
her mother to escape for the night with Kaz. The next morning Noni shows up at
Kaz house asks him to chaperon her on her promotional obligations. She's goes
through the meet and greets, charity visits, photos shoots, all the while Kaz
standing in the background and her mother instructing her from the side lines
whilst still on her phone texting away. The next few scenes go from Noni surprising
Kaz with a private flight to the BET awards, a red carpet arrival, to backstage
where Noni gets ready to go on stage to perform her latest hit with Kid
Culprit. This performance becomes quite dramatic as the rapper practically
sexually assaults her on stage during the performance. Kaz comes to her aide
once again and protects her. Her mother of course is utterly guttered by the
outburst and thinks that Noni has ruined her reputation once again and more so
with the record label. After that incident Kaz decides
Noni need to be taken away from all this just for a while, so they pack their
bags and drive, they head to a beautiful and secluded bungalow in Mexico. Noni reveals her true self while she is there.
She takes of the trademark purple extensions, the makeup and the music industry
persona. She enjoys walking through the streets of Mexico where no one recognizes
her. She goes to a local karaoke bar and enjoys the local talent, and finds the
strength to get up on stage herself and once again perform her life song,
Blackbirds by Nina Simone to which she performed with some much conviction and
rawness it was very emotional to watch.
From this
though spills a media frenzy and
before she know it the paparazzi and her ‘momager’ are knocking at her door in Mexico.Minnie
Drivers character is probably the closest portrayal to a villain in this movie,
however her heart wrenching talk about how tough it was to be a white girl
raising a black baby in the public housing system in the end makes you see why
she did what she did for Noni.
Turns out her media exposure was
the best thing for Noni, she can finally have her say, continue to move forward
with her mother the way she has always wanted, unfortunately though she leaves
Kaz behind in Mexico. So back to their own lives. Kaz is
back in the politic scene using the younger voters appeal. Noni and her momager
are back at the record label negotiating her rights. Noni wants her own songs
on the album so her mother throws a curve ball at management and gets what they
want.
With everything seemingly going
their way, Nonis’ mother admitted that her whole curve ball was not to get Noni
her rights but as a payback to the former manager. This sparked a massive and
intense argument between them. It’s the first time Noni takes charge of her
life and unfortunately fires the person in her life that has brought her to
where she is now.
Presumably weeks pass and Noni
steps out on her own, she confronts the rumours, and embracing her true self
for the first time in a long time in an on-air interview. She travels back home
to perform at an open air concert where for she gets to finally perform her own
song, declares her love for Kaz and all the while in a bittersweet ending her
mother now no longer part of her success sits at her home listening to her daughter
sing freely via speaker on her phone.
MY REVIEW:
This movie had great potential, it
had all the elements to keep us interested, from self-image to suicide, music
industry antics and politics, even a throw of a mixed-race relationship, and a
journey of self-discovery. There were elements of the movie that were
interesting and intense, and you can see where they were trying to go with it,
however it just took too long to get there, it was quite slow at the beginning
and I almost lost interest. Although as the movie progressed it certainly drew
me in and it became quite in-depth as the movie continued.
I thought Minnie Driver and Nate Parker performed their roles extremely well. I enjoyed seeing the transformation and rawness in Gugu Mbatha-Raws' character unfold towards the end of the movie, I feel she embodied the character of Noni brilliantly.
The meaning behind the song 'Blackbird' by Nina Simone was what I believe the
true reflection of the movie was about. A girl wants to show her true self but
lacks the confidence she needed to allow herself to find her voice and be free
to fly. Towards the end of the movie you can really see the connection and
begin to understand the underlining message. My significant other thought it
was quite a deep movie, maybe he was just distracted by Gugu Mbatha-Raw
strutting her stuff in the earlier scenes. In the end I thought it made for
good viewing. It’s definitely a movie to watch and decide for yourself.
My
Synopsis:
Lane is an aspiring fashion journalist who is slowly losing her optimistic view
on finding her ‘magic man’. She gets offered an opportunity to write a story
for her favourite magazine Cosmopolitan a piece on finding love in the
corporate world. Posing as a corporate assistant, she takes on this challenge.
As Lane goes through motions of working in the corporate world and dating
almost man in the office she dumps a dashing young man on a girls night out who
seems to almost tick every criteria on her magic man list, however he is
outside of the corporate world, so she comes to a cross road, does she chose a
career with a magazine company whom she’s always dreamed about writing for or
does she choose her ‘magic man’?!
Director: Gil
Junger Producer(s): Hilary Duff, Richard
Fischoff Writer: Michael Horowitz, and Daniella
Brodsky (Based on the novel, Diary of a Working Girl)
Stars:
Hilary Duff, Jaime Pressly, Matt Dallas, Chris Carmack, Michael
McMillian, Billy Slaughter, Edrick Browne, Kevin Kirkpatrick, Cedric Burton,
Grant Case, Gil Junger
Genre: Romantic, Comedy
MY
PORTRAYAL OF THE MOVIE:
Lane Daniels (Hilary Duff) is a young fashion
journalist from New York City, fashion blogs and college newspaper mostly but
her dream is to write for her favourite magazine Cosmopolitan. In the pursuit
for her dream job she is also in pursuit of her magic man, no man so far on her
checklist has come close. Her best friend Joanne who is a fashion photographer
has hopelessly tried and failed on several occasions to find her a perfect suit
also but no one fits the bill.
Joanne has managed to get Lane a meeting with
Kate White (Jaime Pressly) a fashion editor at Cosmopolitan Magazine. Lane dressed
for fashion success heads to the building where her future career may or may
not come to provision, she is overwhelmed that she is there, and is eager to
meet Kate White. Kate is a strong assertive woman editor from Cosmopolitan
Magazine, who means business. The initial pitch for Lane unfortunately wasn’t a
success, however as Lane walks out of the interview disheartened and adding a
slide remark about going back and cuddling up to her imaginary boyfriend it
seems to hit a nerve with Kate she openly concurs with Lane about the man checklist
which seems to be demising with every date they go on. So there’s a story in
this! Going into the business world to find love, Kate suggests if Lane wants
to write for Cosmopolitan she goes undercover in the corporate world downtown
to date and find love. Lane assignment is to date all those eligible men in
suits and write a story about how to find love.
So her mission begins. She sets off to her first
corporate interview, with a completely embellished resume, she blunders her way
through the interview and testing process and manages to land a position as administration
assistance in Corporate Strategic Planning for Thomas Fulworth, a major
investment firm to which she knows nothing about. Her first day on the job and
her first impression as she steps out of the elevator into her new job is “Oh my
god so many men in suits and I get my pick”, as she walks down the corridor she
feels like a kid in a candy store. So far her introduction into the corporate
world isn’t too bad. John (Kevin Kilpatrick) a jovial type of man who’s her initiation
committee and business associate welcomes her to the team and re-introduces her
to Tom Rinehart (Michael McMillian) the managing director and also her new
boss. Tom is young, sharp but very much a rigid and systematic type of man, who
likes structure and hand signal as a way of communicating. He gives Lane her
job description and leaves her to sort herself out on her new desk.
It doesn’t take long before the men in the
office notice the young attractive fashion ester in their department and offers
come pouring in to take her out for drinks. Lane goes on several dates, lunch
date, dinner dates, exhausting her diary with potential magic men dates, though
none so far have come close. After several more dates, she has managed to find
one slight contender, Seth (Matt Dallas) who she first met in the photocopier
room on her first day, she thinks there’s potential in him and considering
perusing him for the story.Lane and
Joanne go on a girls night out which turns into something more when she bumps
into Liam (Chris Carmack), a handsome, witty, British accent, world traveller,
who Lane is instantly smitten with. She
agrees to go on a date with Liam and also with Seth on the same night as it
turns out her diary is just so full. It was a juggling act, but she managed to
get through it and realises Seth in the end just isn’t Liam. Liam certainly seems
to be shaping up to be that magic man Lane has been searching for. There’s just
one slight problem he’s not a man from the corporate world and this may pose an
issue with Kate long term.
Tom her boss has come to realise that Lanes’ extraordinary
resume wasn’t at all factual, in fact it was a big bunch of lies and as
disappointing as he was, Tom gives her another chance to get back to work and end
the dishonesty. When Lane goes to report to her other boss Kate at Cosmopolitan,
Kate isn’t too impressed either, her directive is to stop dating Liam and stick
to Seth. Lane takes Kates directive but manipulates the article just a little
to fit the requirements, she decides to use Seth name and Liam persona to write
her article. That way she can still keep dating Liam secretly and all the while
the story will read like she’s been dating Seth.
With this new forward thinking Lane decides to
make the most of her time in her position in the corporate world, she takes up
more responsibility, working longer hours, and resulting in really enjoy her
job that the firm. Lane feels part of a team and is happy to go the extra mile.
Her love life with Liam is coming along just great, her article is also on
track and everything seems to be going her way. Until one day Tom finds copies
of her article for Cosmo on the work printer. He confronts her about this and
feels quite deceived, appearing slightly jealous as the article is about some
intimate moments with Seth (which we all know is actually Liam) and on top of
that Tom is disappointed that after giving Lane the opportunity to handle the
‘visuals’ for the upcoming campaign she had betrayed him once again. After this
unfolds Lane feels the jig is up and leave her job in the corporate world.
While out that night with Joanne commiserating her
failed corporate career and regretting her deceitful ways she sees Liam waiting
on the table at the restaurant her and Joanne are at, and is very confused.
Liam said he was in England. She confronts him about this and much to her
dismay, his accent along with everything else about him is one big scam. He was
no ‘magic man’, just a con artist, just another man making up stories trying to
get into a girl pants. She is heartbroken and disappointed.
Much to Lanes surprise the next morning, She
receives a phone call from Tom wondering where she is, where are the ‘visuals
‘and is desperate for her to get into the office. Lane hops right to it and get
those visual to Tom as soon as possible, all the while slightly confused as to
why he has called her back considering she thought he was fired. In any event
the meeting was a success, although the boss feels the team needs some
structural changes due to financial uncertainties. In a last attempt to save
her team Lane suggests Tom pitches the ‘going green’ idea which the boss seems
to like the idea of and suggests the team works on this pitch together. There
is a huge sigh of relief amongst the team and all thanks go to Tom.
After that turn of events Lane and Tom decide to
part ways, the corporate world may not be so much for her. She also realises her
‘magic man’ isn’t about finding true love in the perfect man but it’s about
finding and loving the imperfections in that someone that makes that person the
special one. Lane feels disappointed that her article doesn’t feel like it fits
the bill. She’s been so exhausted by the whole process the article doesn’t even
seem like it’s her truth. Subsequently
she decided to write it the way she feels it should be heard and sends it to
Kate. With her fingers crossed.
Kate calls her in the next day to discuss the
article. Lane thinks for certain she is fired and the article is a complete
bust up. To Lane surprise Kate loves her article and has decided to make it the
cover story for Cosmopolitan. Kate has always wanted her to write her truth,
but she just needed Lane to discover that for herself, with that said Kate also
leans in to suggest Lane take a look at Tom, throughout this whole experiment
Tom has been that one imperfect man, also the only one Lane was truly herself
with, and with everything she did to mislead him Tom still had a soft spot to
take her back and push her to succeed. Lane realises how foolish she has been,
Tom was that ‘magic man’ all along in all his imperfections he was her perfection.
With that realisation she rushes to her old work. Interrupts the board meeting
Tom is overseeing and tell him she loves him and to that he says it right back.
So in the end Lane and Tom become a couple. Lane
writes a follow up story for Cosmopolitan and helps Tom from time to time with
his presentations. All is happy and ends well with this movie.
My Synopsis: An alcoholic, wheelchair
bound once successful writer named Monte (played by Morgan Freeman) who has
written many western novels in the past has come to some sort of writers block
and in the hope of bringing back his creativity and flare he agrees to
housesits for his nephew Henrys’ (Kenan Thompson) friend Dog Dave at a lakeside
cabin for the summer in the charming Belle Isle. There he meets his neighbour a
single mother with three girls. This family inadvertently shows him a different
perspective to living, loving and in due course helps him find his inspiration
again, thus forming a great friendship with the family.
Director: Rob Reiner
Producer(s): Salli Newman, David Valdes,
Rob Reiner, Alan Greisman, Lori McCreary
Writer: Rob Reiner, Guy Thomas, Andrew Scheinman
Stars: Morgan Freeman, Virginia
Madsen, Emma Fuhrmann, Madeline Carroll, Fred Willard, Kenan Thompson,
Nicolette Pierini, CJ Wilson, Ash Christian, Debargo Sanyal, Jessica Hecht,
Christopher McCann, Kevin Pollak, Robert Boyd Holbrook, Lucas Caleb Rooney,
Kevin Pollack
Genre: Drama, Comedy
MY PORTRAYAL OF THE MOVIE:
Morgan Freeman
plays a cowboy hat wearing writer, Monte Wildhorn, who is in the midst of a writer’s
block.Montes’ nephew has a friend, Dog
Dave, who has a house and dog in Belle Isle that needs looking after for the
summer. Monte is an ornery old man who comes into house and dog sitting
half-heartedly. His nephew, Henry, thinks Belle Isle would be the perfect place
to inspire Monte to write again. Monte thinks it would be the perfect place to
drink the summer away despite his faithful old typewriter accompanying him,
from which many of his best stories were born. Monte still insists that the
trusty sour mash whiskey will be his only companion. Throughout the movie we are
also made aware of a persistent editor named Joe Viola (Kevin Pollak) whom
Monte is successfully avoiding. His solitary attitude stems firstly from meeting
with an unfortunate car accident involving a drunk driver which left him wheelchair
bound and his wifes’ untimely death only a few years back. His lack of
enthusiasm when he first arrives to Belle Isle dissolves very quickly when he
meets Mrs O’Neill (Virginia Madsen) the beautiful single mother and her lovely
girls, Willow (Madeline Carroll), Finnegan (aka Finn played Emma Fuhrmann) and
Flora (Nicolette Pierini). Willow, the oldest girl, is noticeably affected by
her parents’ relationship breakdown and tends to have a very unfavourable attitude
towards her mother and has a huge confidence that her father will come get them
soon and take them back to their New York lifestyle. She has the most stand
offish persona of the three sisters but this slowly dissolves as the movie
progresses.
Montes first of
many encounters is with the dog of the house, Ringo. He decides to name him Spot
because Ringo isn’t a fitting name for a dog. Though it is a one way
conversation between these two, the little chats Monte has with Spot throughout
the movie is quite delightful. Carl (Ash Christian), the bunny hopping special
needs boy from down the road, quietly brings out the fatherly side to Monte. This
is highlighted superbly by Montes’ first interaction with Carl, an interaction
that endears Morgan Freeman’s character to you even more. Then we have the fearless,
persistent and clever Finn who loves to write but isn’t quite sure what
imagination is all about, she asks Monty to help her find where stories comes
from, and to be somewhat of a mentor, and she insists on paying him to teach her.
Monte accepts this offer to his terms and conditions of course, consequently Finns
and Montes ‘professional’ relationship grows in leaps and bounds from this
moment.
As Monte settles
into his new residence for the summer a dinner invitation is extended to him by
Mrs O’Neil to which he accepts. That evening was full of great conversations,
and musical expression. You’re not quite sure if it was that night at dinner
when Mrs O’Neill played a classical piece of music on her piano or it was that little something that was mentioned at
the dinner table by the youngest member of the O’Neil family, nonetheless, whatever
it was it certainly did re- ignite something in Monte. From that night came a very
special gift for Flora on her birthday in the coming weeks. The gift not only
left an impression on Flora but also her mum.
The relationship
that forms between Mrs O’Neill and Monte from that night at dinner purely shows
as platonic in the main story but is very different in their imagination. Mrs
O’Neill alluring nature inspires Monte to imagine, creative write and produce
some fine pieces of work which entertains the likes of Flora but the undertones
within his writing shows Mrs O’Neill another side to Montes message.
In the next scene
you see Monte typing away on his old but faithful typewriter enjoying a moment
of clarity, its night time and he is enjoying the soft classical music coming
across from Mrs O’Neill house, until Joe decided to make a surprise appearance on
Montes doorstep. The visit didn’t bother Monte so much because he knew sooner
or later Joe would catch up to him. But it wasn’t until Joe mentioned he
brought along someone, someone that could potentially help alleviate Montes’ financially
situation that actually put the thought in the back of his mind. The visitor wanted
to acquire the rights to one of his famous western novels. The rights would
allow Montes novel to become a big budget movie and potentially make Monte a
rich man. Monte though, is happy with
his situation and for the moment declines the initial offer. With that said and
their quick exit Monte goes back to listening to Mrs O’Neill playing the piano
and enjoying the rest of his night.
In the following
scenes you see Mrs O’Neill walking to Montes house in the early morning asking
him a favour, to look after the girls for the day while she is in the city
finalising some paperwork. Monte is hesitant but accepts the challenge. There
are some great moments that take place between the girls and Monte, from supervising
their swim at the lake, his chat with Finn, the girls teaching Monte how to use
a mobile phone, and at the end of the day all three ending up staying the night
at Monte place.
In the final weeks leading
up to Montes departure from Belly Isle he realises the things he was so
depended on before aren’t so much of a dependence now. As he says his goodbye to
all his favourites, Carl the young side-sick, Spot his faithful companion and
Mrs O’Neill and her daughters he feels the loss of leaving all of Belle Isle
behind.
Over the next few
months as life moves forward the house that Monte stayed in for the summer remains
vacant. Mrs O’Neill and Monte exchange a few text messages and emails, the
girls become a lot closer to their mum and the pumpkins Willow and her mum
planted months back are getting bigger for Halloween. The final message sent to
Mrs O’Neill from Monte is a great end to the movie even though it was a little
predicable, it still doesn’t take away from the story and the story’s ending.
MY REVIEW:
Morgan Freemans’ character seems to have just the right thing to say at the right time, from his conversation with his dog Spot to his conversations with Mrs O’Neill. His voice is so smooth and pitch perfect, it so great to listen too. My partner says ‘he can read to me anytime’ (slight worry I must say) but I will admit he does have some truth to that. You will understand what I mean when you watch this movie. He plays his characters brilliantly, only Mr Freeman can take a character that is so reclusive and make him into such a wonderful and lovable man.
I thought all the characters were great in this movie. Virginia Madsen who played Mrs O’Neill played the nurturing, caring and understated attractive single mother really well. Emma Fuhrmann quirkiness in the movie was delightful, she had great facial expressions and it was just really charming to see her and Morgan Freeman characters interact with one another.
It’s a light hearted movie, nothing dramatic nothing too over the top. I really enjoyed this movie!! I hope you enjoy it too.
My
Synopsis:
After some ‘creative’ differences between the owner of the restaurant and the
Head Chef. The Head Chef (Carl Casper) decides to take things into his own
hands. Stepping outside the boundaries of his well-known and well secured job
at the prestigious LA restaurant and embarking on his own business venture with
his best mate, his ex-wife and his son in toe. Upon doing so he sparks up his
passion for cooking, as well as his elation for life and love.
Director: John Favreau
Producer(s): Jon Favreau, Karen
Gilchrist, Sergei Bespalov
Writer: Jon Favreau
Stars: Jon Favreau, Sofia Vergara,
John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, Oliver Platt, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin
Hoffman, Robert Downey, Jr., Emjay Anthony
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Adventure
MY PORTRAYAL OF THE MOVIE:
The
movie starts with Cuban music playing in the background and Carl (Jon Favreau) the
head chef of a top LA restaurant is in his kitchen working with passion, intensity
and creativity to develop an exciting new menu for tonight special guest, a
well renowned food critic and blogger Ramsey Michel (Oliver Pratt). The night does
not go as planned due to differences between Riva (Dustin Hoffman) the restaurant
owner and Carl, as Riva insists on servicing the tried and tested menu rather
than go with the new Carl designed menu.It seems that due to this choice, Carl receives an unfavourable review.
The review is then retweeted and this sparks an online twitter war between Carl
and Ramsey Michel. Carl challenges Ramsey to another review. This time Carl is
adamant on serving his own menu, in comes Riva (who plays the villain in the
movie) and pulls the rug from underneath him again. His stubborn bossy behaviour
pushes Carl too far and he throws in the towel. From that moment the story
started to develop.
As
he sits at home considering his next direction, his ex-wife, Inez (Sofia
Vegara) suggests he accompanies her and their son Percy (Emjay Anthony) to
Miami. After some consideration he decides to go to Miami which brings back
many fond memories. He finds himself with a beaten up old food truck organised
by Inezs’ ex-husband Marvin (Robert Downey Jr).It is here the journey starts, a journey that looks like a mission to
create a successful food truck business but turns out to be much much more. Carl
and his son’s relationship is shown to be one of friends more than father and son,
but as Carl and his son Percy work together to get the truck up and running
there are noticeable changes that appear. A car pulls up and out comes Carls ex
–assistant and good mate Martin (John Leguizamo) who decides to also join them
on their new journey. There is some great comradery between all three boys as
they make their way from Miami back to LA via New Orleans and Austin Texas. The
pursuit to start his own venture pays off and pays of well. Carls food truck
turns out to be a huge hit partly due to Percy, his witty son who decides to
document his dads’ new business venture and promote it via social media while
on their trip together.From this simple
food truck idea stems the surprising twist, which ties the movies beginning and
end together.
MY REVIEW:
This movies undertone is about food bringing people together, an expression of love, life, creativity and following your dreams. Social Media was one of the focal points in this movie, oddly bringing Carl, his son and ex-wife Inez closer together. Jon Favreau as Carl Carter plays the role of the head Chef perfectly; he showed a real thirst for perfection, invention and creativity. I really enjoyed seeing his passion for food spilling onto the plates of the very many dishes he cooked throughout the movie (even the cheese sandwich scene, which is what I have since cooked up for my sons). The main drama that sparked his departure from the restaurant at the time was executed so well. I really enjoyed watching the relationships in this movie transform into substantial ones. Inez and Carls relationship had been mainly about Percy, however as the movie unfolds you can see the friendship and the spark flaring up again. Being a mum I particularly favoured the relationship that built between Carl and his son Percy, this relationship I would say was mediocre at first mainly from Carl, however this gradually developed into something fruitful throughout the movie. The step up Carl took from being just a man who had a child to actually recognising his fatherly role was a great thing to watch. Carl started to see snippets of himself in his son, and also started to realise the potential and the passion his son has.
This movie had a good balance of comedy and drama, mixed with fabulous music and fun. There are some really good characters in the movie which really make the movie likeable and appealing to a broader audience. The under use of Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr characters in this movie was a great way to draw people in but not over shadow the other actors and their characters. John Favreaus’ idea behind this movie was not to make a big budget movie but to make a back to basics movie.
