Salmon Fishing in the Yemen: Blu Ray Review

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Entertainment


Based on a book by Paul Torday, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen stars Ewan McGregor as Dr Fred Jones, a scientist who works for the British fisheries. With a crumbling marriage and a tedious job thanks to civil service bureaucracy, Dr Jones is a cynic who's seen it all and can't be convinced of anything new.

Enter into his life, Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt) a consultant who works for a corporation employed by a sheik named Muhammed (Waked). Chetwode-Talbot has just recently started seeing a soldier and has been tasked by the sheik to research the possibility of a project to bring salmon to the Yemen so that he can hold a fishing competition. (See, I told you it was all in the title).

Gradually, despite Dr Jones' reservations, the pair begin work on the project while fielding other crises in their lives - he a marriage about to fail and she the fact her soldier boy is missing in action...Factor in the UK's Prime minister's Press Secretary (a wickedly tart Scott Thomas) who's after a good news story...

Salmon Fishing in The Yemen is quite a sweet film which has a gentle disarming charm and some truly funny moments.

McGregor is brilliant as the cardiganed slightly Aspergers' doctor - given the lion's share of some funny lines and a dialled down performance gives the whole thing a very realistic feel. Likewise, Blunt is the perfect foil for this slightly uptight doctor - and gives her Harriet Chetwode-Talbot a likeability and humanity which stretches beyond the story. The two have a nice easy chemistry and work well together as their friendship and inevitable relationship/ courtship begins to grow.

Narratively, the story is predictably what you'd expect and I have to admit to feeling once the romance angle came into play, complete with some shoehorned scenes of marital discord and a returning soldier, I could feel the directorial and story cliches being rolled out and checked off a list. Throw in some shots of a salmon swimming against the rest of the run and you're really veering into formulaic territory.

Which is a real shame because all in all, thanks in part to Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt's performance, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a refreshingly breezy little charmer of a feel good film which is funny, realistic and human - and can bring joy to even the most cynical of hearts.

Extras: Making of piece

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Brand new Taken 2 Trailer

Brand new Taken 2 trailer sees Liam Neeson threatening you...

Something a little direct for a Thursday perhaps...

The brand new Taken 2 Trailer just released sees Liam Neeson taking a somewhat direct approach to the marketing of his film.




I quite like how Neeson's embraced this side of the character and is playing up to it, given it's the strongest marketing tool for the film.

Taken hits New Zealand cinemas October 11th.

My advice, you'd best show - or he'll hunt you down.

Dredd 3D Comic reveals Ma-Ma origins

Dredd 3D Comic reveals Ma-Ma origins

Something for everyone excited by Karl Urban's upcoming film Dredd 3D here.

Lionsgate's released a prelude comic detailing the origins of Ma-Ma, played in the upcoming Dredd 3D movie by Lena Headey.

It first appeared on the Scribd website - so head on there for the extra content they've provided.

But here's the basic comic below for fans of Judge Dredd and for those who're awaiting the NZ release of Dredd 3D on October 4th...

First trailer for Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters

First trailer for Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters

Hot off the press this morning is the first trailer for Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters.

The film starring Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner is due to hit NZ cinemas in January 2013.

Take a look at the new trailer for Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters:

Haywire: DVD Review

Haywire: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Entertainment

Action thriller from Steven Soderbergh, with a strong female lead.

MMA's Gina Carano plays Mallory, a Black Ops who's betrayed while on a mission in Dublin. When she's double crossed, the freelancer tries to work out why and who's behind it before it's too late.

This is not your average frenetically paced action thriller - it's a taut piece, strung together by a good story telling pace and some very real feeling fight scenes. It's also blessed with an impressive cast - from the likes of Ewan McGregor as Mallory's handler, to Michael Fassbender's fellow agent, it's a cast which oozes class.

Carano's impressive in the lead - even if she does occasionally have a few acting wobbles.

Soderbergh's pulled together a credible spy piece which has a different pace to the usual blockbuster and one which is ever so slightly indie as well. If it doesn't quite hit the full mark, it's mainly because the story's not quite original enough to match the director's intentions.

Extras: The men of Haywire.

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Goon: DVD Review

Goon: DVD Review

Rating: R16
Released by Roadshow Home Entertainment

How much do you like to watch sports films where the protagonists bash the bits out of each other?

Because depending on that answer, hangs your decision on whether you'll love this or not.

Seann William Scott, in an unusually dialled down performance, plays Doug Glatt, a bouncer who's a bit of an embarrassment to his family. So, when he gets a job in the ice hockey leagues, he's destined to become a rising star. That is if he can keep his temper in check.

Packed with profanity and violence, Goon is a real mish mash of a film and to be honest, you have to be in a certain type of mood to watch it. While William Scott is actually not bad in this, there's very little to do except watch the fights and follow what little story there is.

Ultimately, Goon will appeal to those who want a boys' night in and revel in the bloody beatings.

Rating:

Hysteria: Movie Review

Hysteria: Movie Review

Cast: Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rupert Everett, Felicity Jones, Jonathan Pryce
Director: Tanya Wexler

Based on true events, and with a title card that adds the word "Really" after that, Hysteria could be said to be of a familiar theme to the Tony nominated play In the Next Room (or as it's also known, The Vibrator Play).

Set in 1880s Victorian England, Dr Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy) is a young doctor whose revolutionary ideas on germs treatment and how to treat traditional illnesses sit at odds with those of his contemporary colleagues (whom he believes are stuck in the middle ages thanks to their medieval approaches of using leeches and tablets to cure all ills).

Fired from his latest job, Granville ends up working for Dr Dalrymple (Jonathan Pryce) at his swanky upmarket clinic. Dalrymple is not a doctor who deals in exact science, preferring instead to help women over their hysteria by offering them a "manual cure" for their ailment.

The trouble is that Granville's so good at this massage, the clinic begins to be swamped by demand - and Granville's forced to deal with cramps as well as the potential end of his career.

Throw into that mix, Dalrymple's offering of his demure porcelain daughter, Emily (Felicity Jones) and the business if he manages to do well.

Soon, Granville's facing all manner of frustrations of his own....perhaps, his benefactor Edward St. John-Smythe (Rupert Everett) who dabbles in electronics may hold the solution...

Hysteria is a light-hearted, knockabout kind of comedy, which is unlikely to offend the prudish despite the subject matter.

A lot of the humour from this charming piece comes at the expense of British prudishness and through its script rather than its actors, a cheeky wink to the audience rather than outright smut and innuendo. In fact, the film doesn't take itself too seriously at all - and neither as the audience should you.

Everett and Dancy are a fun pair; with Dancy getting the lion's share of the best moments, suffering from RSI after offering "assistance" to the hysterical ladies and just wanting to do the best for them. There's perhaps a slight niggle that Maggie Gyllenhaal's character Charlotte, an initially crusading woman who simply wants to improve things for all and bring equality, has to rely on Granville to save her at the end (thus negating her independence) but Hysteria is more the kind of film which doesn't demand too much deep analysis. Sheridan Smith brings a cheeky cockiness to Molly the Lolly, a lady of the night who first succumbs to the boys' electronic charms - all in all, the ensemble cast work hysterically well together for an ever-so slightly over the top premise and story.

Hysteria is, as the women of the film will attest to, a pleasurable experience with good vibrations and a pleasant buzz. It doesn't take itself too seriously and you shouldn't too - it's a portrait of repressed Victorian Britain freed and one where stiff upper lips are reduced to a quiver of tingling excitement.

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