HANNA.

Yet another one of my most anticipated of the year I can check off from my list. But this time I got to go in with high expectations considering it has been getting pretty good reviews all around. But will mine add to it? Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) was raised in the woods by her father Erik (Eric Bana) to become a skilled assassin. Her mission? To take out a woman named Marissa Weigler (Cate Blanchett) before meeting back up with her father. Unfortunately, things aren't that simple.

I really wanted to love this movie. I really wanted to. I just... well, let's start with the positives. The cinematography and overall visual style is pretty excellent, but I wouldn't expect any different from the director of Atonement--another flawed film, but it looked quite nice. Also, the story was a fascinating concept, and I don't just mean the girl assassin trained in the woods bit. The reasoning behind everything is rather excellent, and--without spoiling anything--I'll just say it tries to ground something more fantastic into reality, and it does it pretty well.

Then there's the acting. Saoirse Ronan totally rocks it as Hanna. She's one of those actresses where, even if the rest of the film turns out to be rubbish, she's always a great watch. And while I don't think this movie was rubbish, she was certainly the best part of it. Eric Bana isn't in the movie too much after the beginning--he shows up here and there and comes back in with more purpose near the end--but he's good with what he does. And of course Cate Blanchett pulls off an amazing Tilda Swinton in this movie, though I'm not sure if that was the purpose. And the hitman guy bugged me for some reason--I think it was the actor, who probably could have been played better by Peter Stormare.

The first problem, however, is that the characters outside of Hanna are unexplored and dull. The most interesting characters after Hanna are actually the most normal--the family that Hanna joins up with after a while. There are hints that there could be trouble in paradise, but those are never really explored. And there's some fun comic relief involved. But Bana and Blanchett are just kinda... there.

So what we're given is nearly 2 hours focusing on the world through the eyes of this girl. That could be done really well... if the movie could make up its mind what it wants to do. Half the time it's trying to be an action thriller. The other half of the time, it wants to be this kinda-drama about a girl raised away from society who has to become more acquainted with the modern world and its peoples. Unfortunately, the two don't mesh well together. At times, the movie tries to force the thriller aspect by playing suspenseful music where there doesn't need to be. For the drama scenes, it'll start having her reactions to things... but then just drop it and won't explore further. So yeah, a big problem I found was that it was trying to be two different films and couldn't find a way to merge them better. Also, the fairy tale symbolism stuff could have been tightened up a bit.

Because of all of this, there were quite a few parts where the film seemed to drag. I was actually bored at times. Luckily, when it actually did these things right, it did them very well. The action sequences are a lot of fun and are well choreographed. The more dramedy-type things, when actually followed through with, were very good. So it just seemed to me that the script maybe needed another draft or two to fix a few things.

On the whole, I was entertained, but I thought it could have been better. It tried to do too many things, but there wasn't enough story or enough interesting situations to allow its run-time, leaving most of the film up to being carried by its characters--which, outside Hanna, weren't really strong enough to do so. Thankfully the production value was excellent. The movie was great to look at. The script had some really good moments. This movie had a lot of potential, and sometimes that potential comes through. But overall... it was just kinda dull.


Stop Saying OK! OK.

(P.S. I was actually gonna give it one higher originally. But by the time I got to the end of writing this review, I just felt so 'blah' about it. Maybe on a repeat viewing on DVD my opinion might go up a little. Hopefully. I still, at this point, really want to like this movie more. I could probably bump it up for its cinematic eye alone, but... I won't.)

FUNNY PEOPLE.

I went in to Funny People with low-to-mid expectations, only really going because it was Judd Apatow (and actually Apatow, not just him producing). The trailers did nothing for me but make me feel depressed. They didn't make me laugh at all. But then I hear all these reviews from people saying the movie is hilarious, and I'm taken aback. But still, I go in with low-to-mid expectations, and my expectations were met. Nothing more. Nothing less.

George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a famous actor/comedian who suddenly gains the knowledge that he's dying of a rare blood disease. Ira (Seth Rogen) is a wannabe comic who lives with his friends Leo (Jonah Hill) and Mark (Jason Schwartzman), another up-and-comer who is somewhat famous due to starring in a crappy sitcom. George is a loner and a loser who still pines for his almost-wife, Laura (Leslie Mann), who is married to an Australian businessman, Clarke (Eric Bana). Ira just has a major crush on a fellow comedian, Daisy (Aubrey Plaza), but Mark is only giving him 10 days to make him move or he's making his own. But after an awkward stand-up session, George notices Ira and ends up hiring him on as his assistant to write his jokes and do chores and whatnot for him. And... well, there really isn't much of a plot. It's just these people interacting with each other and how they deal with George's sickness.

And for a movie with not a hell-of-a-lot happening, it really has no reason to be 2 and a half hours long. The movie tries to do too many things, I think, and one idea seems to be pushed to the side for another idea, only then Apatow realizes he should probably wrap up that previous idea, so he has to come back to that.

Is the movie funny? Sometimes. There were no real big belly laughs. It was only a chuckle every now and then, some longer than others, but not much more than that. And after a promising opening, it takes quite a while to get even to that point. But I know what you're saying, "this isn't supposed to be a comedy. It's supposed to be a look into the serious side of comics." Because, really, funny people always have the most depressing lives, it seems. And the movie shows that. Similarly, earlier this year we had Adventureland, another movie marketed as a comedy when it wasn't really. The difference? I think Adventureland worked better as a dramedy and didn't seem to try nearly as hard as Funny People.

I think the best thing about the movie was its cameos. The best scene in the whole movie, ironically, was the one with a non-comedian: Eminem (okay, so Ray Romano was in the scene, too, which led to the best line in the movie). I also loved Bo Burnham, as small of a role as he had. They should have given him more to do. That kid's hilarious (watch either his YouTube stuff or his Comedy Central stand-up).

As for the main cast, they actually acted their respective parts incredibly well. Honestly, everybody did a great acting job. But everybody was a freaking a-hole. In fact, the only characters I full-out liked (besides Seth Rogen's sympathetic everyman) were the two characters who were supposed to be the a-holes of the movie: Jason Schwartzman and Eric Bana. I think those two had the best roles in the movie, particularly Schwartzman. Oh, and I think I have a new celeb crush on Aubrey Plaza. She looked amazing in this movie... and she acted well, too, of course. But seriously, besides a couple characters, everybody is near hatable, including Sandler's George, who is the worst of the bunch on the hate-o-meter. I don't think I once felt sympathy for his character, and the ending seemed a bit forced in trying to get you to like him before the credits rolled.

All-in-all, I might enjoy it more after another watch, though it might be a while before that happens. It is a good movie. I liked it. But my biggest fault with Apatow's Knocked Up was that it was way too serious (and probably, if it weren't for Ken Jeong at the end, I don't think I would have liked it too much). Not to mention that movie was also filled with unlikable characters. Apatow did the opposite of what I would have liked. He amped up the drama and the unlikable characters and decreased the funny to the point where the movie mostly feels unbalanced. At least the a-holes in 40-Year-Old-Virgin were charming and funny, mostly due to the wit of the film. The only other thing I can say about this film is that, surprisingly, the cinematography/camera work was really good. It was really different than the other two films. It was more experimental and cinematic, I think. Anyway, my score is probably surprising due to my negative comments, but I honestly did enjoy the film for what it was.

I Am McLovin!

STAR TREK.

This will probably be the shortest movie review for a movie in theater I've ever done. To start off, I am not nor have I ever been a fan of Star Trek. Not for any negative reasons... I just never got into any of the shows or movies. I knew a few things about it, of course, but not a hell of a whole lot.

That being said, this movie was flippin' brilliant. The action was great. The music was epic. The visuals were stunning (no pun intended). The acting was as expected. Karl Urban had the best character in the movie (and according to my mother, who was a Trek fan via her father, he was dead-on with the original). The movie was exciting, suspenseful, and hilarious. I might even go see it again (this time in Digital), and I'm definitely going to get it on DVD. I can only account for fans through the opinions of my mother, but I would wager that this is a movie for fans and non-fans alike. Unless you're an uber-purist... then I've heard you might not like it a whole lot. But otherwise, you definitely need to see this.

If you want any criticisms against this, I'd give it three: First, they actually managed to give Anton Yelchin and even more questionable voice (I wouldn't say annoying, though, because he wasn't). Second, Simon Pegg doesn't come in until nearly the end (and I love me some Simon Pegg). And finally, there's a bit at the very end where....

SPOILER


Somehow Nemoy Spock is suddenly at their base when they had left him on the ice planet... doing exactly what he had previously and specifically told Kirk not to do. I know there's the whole speech about it, but still... it seemed counter-productive.


END SPOILER

But otherwise, it has become one of my favorite sci-fi films. I know this is a lousy review of nearly endless praise, but I'm not sure what else I could possibly say about the film.


Royale With Cheese