Pick of the Month: GIRLS - TV Series

 
Comedy/Drama
Rated – M
Duration – 5 Seasons
Release – 2012-2016
Creator –Lena Dunham
Cast –Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver, Alex Karpovsky

Mr Knight and I are taking it in turns to share with you a “Pick of the Month”. Mr Knight previously did Jurassic World and for my first one I have chosen the TV Series Girls. I warn you, there may be a couple of spoilers.

I have so many opinions on this show that I don’t know where to start. I was very reluctant to watch it, as I heard it was like Sex & the City, but for women in their 20’s. I’m immediately sceptical when someone tries to compare something to one of my favourite TV Series, but with that aside, I thought I would give it a go.

Girls introduces us to four very different female friends, living in New York. The funny and quirky one, pretty one, nerdy one, and the hippy one. This is a very brief desciption of theIr personalities, there is of course more layers, but I just want to give you the idea. The show gives us an insight into their lives from love, friendship, careers and family. From my summary, you probably wouldn’t expect it, but this show actually goes against every cliché you would imagine. So much so, that it made me feel uncomfortable that nothing was ever in their favour or going how I expected. I found this quite depressing.

In the first episode we see Hannah; who is played by the writer/creator Lena Dunham seeking attention from her sort of boyfriend Adam (Adam Shakler). I initially thought, “There is no way this guy will be a central character. What a loser!” SPOILER ALERT. He is the central boyfriend character throughout the entire season! This was when I realised, every single character was unlikeable. Including the story line.

Another thing which annoyed me was that I didn’t understand why Hannah needed to be naked in every single episode. I understand many women found this empowering as she’s not the typical image of a ‘perfect’ body (not a size 6). But I didn’t find this empowering at all. I really didn’t need to see her topless every single episode. This is only one example of something that made me cringe.

These girls live their lives around drama and I found this tedious to watch. While one major thing happened each season, I didn’t feel like anything happened in an episode – does that make sense? The stupid thing is, I continued to watch it. Actually, I binged on it, by watching the whole series in about a month. This doesn’t mean I didn’t complain the entire time.

While everything that Hannah (and all of them) did annoyed me, by the end of Season 4, I liked her. And Adam, and Jessa. Well… I at least want to see what happens to them. Which is why I continued watching and I’m looking forward to Season 5. I think I’m just used to seeing polished characters, who have highs and lows. I feel Girls has raw characters with lows and lows… It is definitely not Sex & the City (how dare you even suggest that!) but I think it is worth watching. You will know from the first episode if you want to watch more. You may not like it. But you will want to watch more.

Movie Review: Black Mass

Crime/Biography/Drama
Rated – MA15+
Duration - 122mins
Release – October 2015
Director – Scott Cooper
Cast – Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon

This is a solo review as unfortunately Mrs Knight has been too sick to go see the film. I have instructed her to have warm lemon drinks and drizzle honey down her throat.

Mr Knight

I was super enthused for this one based wholly on the previews and memories of Johnny Depps’s best work such as Donnie Brasco, Blow and the Pirates franchise. In saying that however, Depp has also been part of some absolute Hollywood lemons including but not limited to The Tourist, Mortdecai, Into the Woods, Transcendence and box office super failure The Lone Ranger.

The scary thing about all those movies, besides The Tourist which was released in 2010, all the rest were released from 2013, being predominately all of Depp’s latest work which may suggest he has lost his “mojo”. But with all that bad surely he was due for a good one… Right?

Black Mass is set in South Boston, starting out in the 70s and finishing up in the early 90s. This flick based on true events, follows infamous crime figure of that time, Jimmy “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp) head of the Irish blooded Winter Hill gang, who in the beginning were small time.

Jimmy Bulger was responsible for filling the Southey streets with drugs, illegal gambling and a reputation for ruthless bloodshed. Known throughout Southie, Jimmy also had political connections with his brother and senator Billy Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Whitey was in the beginnings of a turf war with the Italian mafia when an old childhood friend reaches out to make him an offer he intends to take full advantage of. Enter FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) an up and comer who needs a leg up in the job and with internal pressure to stop the Italian Mob murders stacking up with no leads, Connelly contacts Bulger. Edgerton plays a slick, no worries and relax, agent who plays it cool in all aspects and slowly his arrangement with Bulger becomes more and more criminal and the walls slowly start to close in around Connolly.

Before long Connolly’s bosses start to see the agreement between the FBI and Bulger for what it is. A free pass for Bulger to commit crime, becoming the new crime lord of South Boston, whilst the FBI bring down Bulger’s criminal competition.

Depp is a presence in this film. A combination of his blonde balding combed back hair, his single yellow front tooth and those eerie bright blue eyes all added together with a mile long stare and creepy laugh, give him a genuine scariness associate with mass murderers. Which in actual fact, Jimmy Bulger is.

Brutal could be a way to describe his methods of punishment. In the 70s there were no CCTV cameras and witnesses to his crimes would rather jump off a cliff then testify against this monster, which meant Bulger and his gang could shoot people with long arms in broad daylight in a busy street and walk away with no concerns of the authorities.

Black Mass didn’t knock my socks off, but it did entertain and that was what I really wanted. The movie reminded me a touch of a 70s-80s version of The Departed, just not as polished. For a little bit of crime history I recommend this one. Like all movies based on true events I enjoyed the photos of the real players which featured in the credits. Grab your popcorn, put your feet up and enjoy.

Movie Review: The Martian

Adventure/Drama/Sci-Fi

Rated – M

Duration –141mins

Release – October 2015

Director – Ridley Scott

Cast –Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor , Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Kristen Wiig

Mr Knight

All I have to say with The Martian is this... Well played NASA. I suspect the news of water being found on Mars being released at the same time as this space adventure is no coincidence. A great media stunt with the team work of director Ridley Scott and NASA.

When Interstellar was released in 2014, many people went into the cinema expecting a Starship Troopers-esq, alien killing fest and instead they got an intense space exploration/adventure. The Martian in this respect is quite similar.

Matt Damon leads an all-star cast in this space flick, as botanist astronaut, Mark Watney. Watney is part of a six person team, led by Jessica Chastain's Commander Melissa Lewis, of the Ares 3 mission, conducting tests and exploration on Mars. As in all adventures disaster strikes as a devastating dust storm strikes the Ares 3 base with debris striking Watney as the team plan to disembark and abort their mission, sending him into darkness with communication lost.

With Watney presumed dead and the lives of the remaining astronauts at risk, Commander Lewis makes the painstaking decision to leave Watney behind and escape Mars for Earth.

Watney proved to be more resilient than the team thought and hours later wakes half buried in the red planets soil. The next two and half hours of this movie unfolds into a story of a true willingness not to give up and like many of the sayings go, when you fall off the horse, dust yourself off and get back on.

Watney is presented with many challenges such as injury, growing food on a planet with no water or atmosphere, and all importantly making contact with NASA to get back home. With each challenge Watney takes it on with great intelligence and to my delight, humour.

The movie is filled with clever wit and wise cracks by Watney as he records his experience on the Ares 3 video logs. I personally enjoyed the stark contrasts between Matt Damon’s two recent astronaut characters, starting with his selfish, almost evil, Dr. Mann in Interstellar, to his funny, nice guy scientist Mark Watney. It was a Matt Damon Yin and Yang!

Damon is excellent but he isn't the only shining light in this one. Chastain again delivers that strong female role that she always does so well. Jeff Daniel's plays the dry, all business, boss of NASA perfectly with some similarities to his character in the TV series The Newsroom. Chiwetel Ejiofor is great as the Ares 3 team leader, Vincent Kapoor. Mix in other stars such as Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kate Mara and Kristen Wiig and you find the whole movie flows with first class acting.

I was engaged throughout the entirety of this one and strongly recommend it to all with an interest in adventure, space, Bear Grylls, Macgyver-like survival, Interstellar, and the human spirit not to give up. When the screen faded to black and the credits rolled, people actually clapped at the end! That’s when you know it was a good one! 

Mrs Knight

While I’ve heard people complain that space adventure films seem to be the flavour of the month (or year) this didn’t bother me as Gravity and Interstellar were great films in my opinion. The Martian was no exception. In fact, I enjoyed this more than the others. It was its own film with a fantastic cast. It kept me glued, and had me on the edge of my seat with suspense one minute and laughing the next.

The Martian was much more than a space action epic. It had heart and humanity. During a mission on Mars, Astronaut and one of the best botanists in the world, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead and left behind by his team, after being hit during an intense dust storm.

However, Watney survived and needs to figure out how to not only send a message to NASA, but ration and create food to stay alive until they can return. The film goes through the different phases of survival and shows us the different struggles he needs to work through.

On the other side, we see NASA and the team working out public relations strategies, hosting press conferences and figuring out how to get Mark Watney back to Earth. I enjoyed the contrast of seeing high stress panic from the suits on Earth in one scene to the calm nature from the man who is literally fighting for his life on Mars.

The film kept me engaged by Watney’s cleverness, wit and willingness to make the best from a seemingly impossible (and might I add, incredibly shite) situation. Matt Damon’s performance was perfect. I believed every word and can’t fault it. The whole cast was superb. With the exception of Kristen Wiig who played the Public Relations Director. Sorry to say, but she should stick to comedy.

I have said this before – I gauge movies on how many times I look at my phone. I only looked once and that’s because it lit up with a notification. It was still a long film, but I felt it finished when it should. There was very much one problem after the next and it didn’t drag. I liked how clever it was and that it had a bit of everything; humour, action, adventure and more.

I can’t recommend enough. A near perfect film in my opinion. I LOVED it! 

Movie review: The Intern

Comedy
Rated – M – some coarse language/sexual references
Duration – 121mins
Release – August 2015
Director – Nancy Meyers
Cast – Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo

Mr Knight
 
This was a Mrs Knight selection and when I looked at this one, I thought it had all the ingredients to be a feel good comedy. And it did have them, but it was poorly done.
 
The Intern is the story of widowed and retired Ben Whittaker (De Niro) who since his wife's passing, has literally done everything one can do to stay busy, until he stumbles one day on a flyer for senior citizens looking to take on an internship.

Enter Jules Ostin (Hathaway), a startup business owner, who became an overnight success with her online shopping website and went from having a handful of employees at the beginning to 220 just eighteen months later, one of those being intern Ben.
 
Jules is a micromanager who forgets what she had done that morning, running around the office like a chook with her head cut off and feeling the struggles of a business woman with a poor relationship with her mother and a stay at home husband who she is losing her connection with.
 
The movie tangles with many issues in society people are faced with today like elderly employees in today's technological age, successful women in business, stay at home dads and other treats like it, but The Intern fails to deliver anything with any real depth!
 
The direction was poor with an overuse of cheesy music and bright lighting to give a fun feel to it. All the conversations with characters were rushed. For example, one scene Ben is at his desk, supposedly sick, and multiple characters approach him and immediately say "Gee Ben, you look sick!" despite them not seeing or speaking to him prior to that statement. It felt like director and writer Nancy Meyers didn't take the time to develop characters, conversations and the actual script. It was super painful.
 
De Niro carried the movie, despite his character being boring. I was hoping for a Morgan Freeman/Jack Nicholson type senior citizen from the heart warming movie The Bucket List. Instead however, Ben was an always cheery, never upset, never quite funny, never insulted, always happy to please, plain old, boring character.
 
Hathaway's Jules was also poorly written. First annoying thing. She rides a bicycle in the office despite it being difficult and slower than walking to be "quirky". Second thing. She was also nice, helpful and caring, HOWEVER all the characters including her own say she is difficult to work with. She was the furtherest from it! It is a small thing.. but it bothered me. Third thing. Every time characters went to bed every light was on in the room! They aren't three years old. Again, small thing, but it bothered me.
 
Every time this movie felt like it would give something, it fell short. The humour was weak, coupled with weak characters, making it very hard to feel any emotion for these people. Despite a strong cast this movie will be long forgotten and is better suited to daytime TV.
 
My advice.. go see something else.

 
Mrs Knight 
Hmm.. Where do I begin? So last night we went to see The Intern. Naturally this was my choice. While I knew this wasn't going to be an Oscar winning film, I did think it would be a feel good comedy. Unfortunately it missed the mark in so many ways and left me feeling disappointed. To the point where today I had already forgotten I'd seen it.. or blocked it out of my memory. Either way, it wasn't memorable!
 
The film tells the story of a 70-year-old widower Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) who discovers that retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be. An opportunity arises for him to become a senior intern at an online fashion empire, founded and run by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway).
 
Although I really wanted to love it, the film sadly missed the mark in so many ways. I found the characters and story line to be weak, with no real depth. The whole thing felt rushed and the relationships weren't given enough time to develop.
 
I wanted to like Robert De Niro's character so much and I didn't dislike him, but he lacked charisma. He was just a nice guy. Just because you're a chalkie (an oldie) it doesn't mean you can't have a personality. On the other hand, Hathaway's character, Jules Ostin had personality overload. To the point where what she was saying wasn't matching her actions. Everyone spoke of her as this hard ass woman who was terrible to work for, but she was beyond delightful to all staff and very helpful.
 
However, it wasn't all bad. To sum it up, it's a modern day comedy, which is very time appropriate and refreshing. There were some strong overall themes of feminism and the modern day family including a stay at home dad. It also showed the challenges of older people in the work force and the generational differences that come with it including technology, fashion and overall communication. I definitely didn't mind these elements. Any form of medium trying to change social themes and stereotypes is ok by me.
 
As I take my reviewer cap off, I did have the ability to enjoy the film for all that it was. I wanted to sit back, relax and tune out. I had a busy week at work and didn't want to use my brain. Mission accomplished. Also, it is worth mentioning that I did also enjoy the fashion.
While Mr Knight does tend to carry on, I can't deny that much of what he was saying, I agreed with. The film had a lot of potential but was filled with too many flaws. Plus, all the 'funny' bits were on the advertisements. There were a couple of smile moments, but no LOLs from us.

Go in expecting nothing, and I'm certain you will be entertained. Just don't expect much more.