Not often do I go to the movies during the week, but this time I ventured out on a Monday night to take in a viewing of
Easy Virtue. When the dashing John (Ben Barnes) marries American race car driver Larita (Jessica Biel) and whisks her off to England to meet his family, not everyone is pleased with his bride of choice. (Despite Biel)
Easy Virtue is a very funny and charming period piece. There's plenty of that sly Brit wit to go around and I was very fond of a lot of the characters. Colin Firth, as John's father, is depressingly entertaining and I loved Kris Marshall as their butler Furber. I wish there was more of him. Kirstin Scott Thomas was delightfully cold and even Ben Barnes had some good moments. The only element that struck me as odd was that the film made a point of saying how much younger John was than Larita, but Ben Barnes and Jessica Biel are the same age. Why even bring it up? But overall,
Easy Virtue was an entertaining picture.
Got in to see an advance screening of
Year One last night. Jack Black and Michael Cera are cavemen type guys who leave their tribe to see the world and experience life. As far as plot goes, this one's paper thin. I guess you could say it's about Zed (Black) and Oh (Cera) saving their unrequited loves from slavery, but even that storyline comes and goes.
Year One doesn't feel very conducive, instead it often seems like just a collection of scenes loosely tied together. Black and Cera also don't seem to be playing characters. Black is doing what he does in every movie, the same tired personality performance we get continuously from Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, and Cera also seems to be playing the same sensitive nerd we've already seen in
Juno and
Superbad. The movie does, however, have quite a few funny moments and fun supporting roles from Oliver Platt and a blink-and-you'll-miss-him Bill Hader.
If you're looking for action, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is definitely your ticket. If, however, you're looking for an actual plot or anything resembling reality, you may have to find a different ticket. Transformers is fun enough and has some funny moments, but you can only watch two nearly indestructible entities try to destroy each other for so long.
Having read the book, I think My Sister's Keeper is a very difficult story to translate to film. That being said, I'm not surprised that it was not done well. Putting aside the altered ending and the absence of a main character, there was additionally just too much missing from the film. The details, the struggles, the memories - all of the little things that made the book compelling - were omitted from the film. It left me with an empty feeling. A lot could have been incorporated into the film if so much time had not been wasted with unnecessarily long, heavy handed, maudlin scenes. All of the actors gave fine performances, but I just wish they had more/better material to work with.
