Movies out today: Pony up for high school sluts and alien invaders
Comedy, drama, sci-fi and an inspirational true life sports story - local cinemagoers are really spoiled for choice in terms of genre variety this weekend.
Easy A: My pick of the new releases is this high school comedy in which a nobody (Emma Stone) embraces her new notoriety as a slut after pretending to bed - and boost the reputations - of the school's biggest social outcasts. As rumours of her promiscuity spread, Olive even goes so far as to don a red A in reference to the classic adultery-themed novel, A Scarlet Letter, that her class is studying. Of course, Olive soon learns that bad reputations are very difficult to shake once you have them, and they can ruin your chances at true love.
I've been waiting since September to watch Easy A, which for the record also stars Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell and Stanley Tucci. As I've already mentioned I loves me a good high school-set comedy that combines smarts and humour - to satisfy teens and adults alike. Easy A is 87% Fresh on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Emma Stone - in a star making comic performance - evidently carries the movie, which falters a bit in its second half, but still draws positive comparisons to the likes of Clueless, Ten Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls and all the great John Hughes 80's efforts.
Skyline: The first "alien invasion" movie out the starting gates in 2011. Well, in South Africa anyway, seeing as Skyline opened in the US back in November. In the film a couple travel to Los Angeles for a friend's birthday, only to be caught up in an extra-terrestrial attack in which spacecraft suck up thousands of people in their blue beams - for brain harvesting purposes.
Skyline is from the Brothers Strause, special effects gurus and directors responsible for dozens of high profile ads, music videos as well as Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Alas, as cool as it may look, Skyline hasn't been well received by critics. It's 15% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, where it's been called derivative, boring and a contender for Worst Movie of the Year. Ow! Still, if you're in the market for impressive-looking, B-grade, should-have-gone-straight-to-DVD schlock, Skyline may be for you.
Hereafter: Matt Damon reteams with director Clint Eastwood after Invictus for this somber supernatural drama about death and the afterlife. Damon is an unwilling blue-collar psychic who can communicate with the dead in one of 3 interlocking tales. Cécile de France is a French journalist who just survives the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and becomes obsessed with her near-death experience.
At 48% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, Hereafter is certainly not the most acclaimed of Clint Eastwood's recent directorial efforts. The film seems to have completely split reviewers, some of whom are calling it beautiful, thought provoking and utterly watchable while others have dismissed it as tedious, emotionally detached and a pointless self indulgence.
Secretariat: In the true story of Seabiscuit, oh, uh, Secretariat, Diane Lane is a well-to-housewife who takes over her father's stables in the 1970s, and with the help of a seasoned trainer (John Malkovich) enters the male dominated world of racing with a headstrong thoroughbred called Secretariat.
This feel-good Disney movie is 62% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It's apparently ideal for families looking for some wholesome, inspiring and very traditional entertainment. Then again, the film has plenty of detractors who are calling it schmaltzy, dull and far removed from the reality of life in the tumultuous, rebellious 70s.
Easy A: My pick of the new releases is this high school comedy in which a nobody (Emma Stone) embraces her new notoriety as a slut after pretending to bed - and boost the reputations - of the school's biggest social outcasts. As rumours of her promiscuity spread, Olive even goes so far as to don a red A in reference to the classic adultery-themed novel, A Scarlet Letter, that her class is studying. Of course, Olive soon learns that bad reputations are very difficult to shake once you have them, and they can ruin your chances at true love.
I've been waiting since September to watch Easy A, which for the record also stars Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell and Stanley Tucci. As I've already mentioned I loves me a good high school-set comedy that combines smarts and humour - to satisfy teens and adults alike. Easy A is 87% Fresh on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Emma Stone - in a star making comic performance - evidently carries the movie, which falters a bit in its second half, but still draws positive comparisons to the likes of Clueless, Ten Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls and all the great John Hughes 80's efforts.
Skyline: The first "alien invasion" movie out the starting gates in 2011. Well, in South Africa anyway, seeing as Skyline opened in the US back in November. In the film a couple travel to Los Angeles for a friend's birthday, only to be caught up in an extra-terrestrial attack in which spacecraft suck up thousands of people in their blue beams - for brain harvesting purposes.
Skyline is from the Brothers Strause, special effects gurus and directors responsible for dozens of high profile ads, music videos as well as Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Alas, as cool as it may look, Skyline hasn't been well received by critics. It's 15% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, where it's been called derivative, boring and a contender for Worst Movie of the Year. Ow! Still, if you're in the market for impressive-looking, B-grade, should-have-gone-straight-to-DVD schlock, Skyline may be for you.
Hereafter: Matt Damon reteams with director Clint Eastwood after Invictus for this somber supernatural drama about death and the afterlife. Damon is an unwilling blue-collar psychic who can communicate with the dead in one of 3 interlocking tales. Cécile de France is a French journalist who just survives the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and becomes obsessed with her near-death experience.
At 48% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, Hereafter is certainly not the most acclaimed of Clint Eastwood's recent directorial efforts. The film seems to have completely split reviewers, some of whom are calling it beautiful, thought provoking and utterly watchable while others have dismissed it as tedious, emotionally detached and a pointless self indulgence.
Secretariat: In the true story of Seabiscuit, oh, uh, Secretariat, Diane Lane is a well-to-housewife who takes over her father's stables in the 1970s, and with the help of a seasoned trainer (John Malkovich) enters the male dominated world of racing with a headstrong thoroughbred called Secretariat.
This feel-good Disney movie is 62% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It's apparently ideal for families looking for some wholesome, inspiring and very traditional entertainment. Then again, the film has plenty of detractors who are calling it schmaltzy, dull and far removed from the reality of life in the tumultuous, rebellious 70s.
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