The Croods

The Croods (2013)
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds
Director: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders
DREAMWORKS

 

 

Ahhh..........school holiday madness. It's always hard to know what to spend those hard earned dollars on during the school holiday period where the kids have you climbing the walls dying to get outside and do something! My 8 year old daughter decided a few months ago that we would be seeing this little gem, The Croods.

Who are The Croods? Well, let's introduce you to the modern version of the Flinstones without all the funky gadgets.

Grug (Nicholas Cage)  - Grug is the father figure of our cave dwelling family unit. Strong and very protective of his family, Grug prefers to shut his family in the cave to protect them from the dangerous world outside. But he doesn't count on his head strong and somewhat pubescent daughter Eep.

 

Eep (Emma Stone) - Eep is the typical teenager, bored with the world around her and dying to find out what's on the other side. She hates being cooped up on the cave and dreams of living her life in the light.


Guy (Ryan Reynolds) - Guy is the young man that changes the lives of the Croods for ever. He's smart, good looking, self sufficient and inventive, and he's been alone for a long time, apart from his adorable companion, Belt.

The rest of the family is made up of Ugga, Gran, Thunk and Sandy, the typical family unit, just trying to stay alive.

This movie was funny, colourful, a little sad and really entertaining. I loved how colourful the landscapes were and how adorable the creatures were, even the ones that were trying to eat them on  a regular basis! I saw a lot of "How to Train your Dragon" in this, which isn't surprising considering it's from the same people that made it. Some of the animals reminded me of Toothless and their facial expressions were very similar, but hey, it worked for that movie, it's bound to work for another.

 

Judging by the laughs in the cinema, and not just the kids either, this will be a hit. Well worth taking the kids to see, big kids included.




Warm Bodies

 

Warm Bodies (2013)
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich
Director: Jonathan Levine

 

 

I have a wonderful friend that I have known since I was about 3 years old, who works for Icon Film in Sydney. A few months ago, he leant me a book by a guy called Isaac Marion called Warm Bodies. He told me they had made a film out of it and that he thought it was something that I would really enjoy. I finished the book in four days.

The book was fantastic. I literally had trouble putting it down. It was funny, engaging, romantic, a bit gruesome and over-all, attention grabbing.

The movie is no different.

R, (Nicholas Hoult) is a zombie with a conscience. His inner monologue is his constant companion and while he has the same diet as all the other zombies, R is somehow different. R wanders around the abandoned airport day in, day out. He often stops and looks at the other zombies that inhabit the airport and imagines what they were before the apocalypse hit. He remembers very little about his own life, but is pretty sure his name started with an R.

R has a best friend, M, who he spends some of his time with, having strange, grunting conversations that only a zombie can understand. On occasion, they go out in packs looking for food. On one particular scouting expedition, they come across a pack of humans looking for medical supplies, and the smorgasbord ensues. But there is one human that R just can't seem to digest............Julie (Teresa Palmer). Julie is different and R decides to save her.

Taking her back to the airport is risky, but he decides it's safer to keep her there than to let her stay where she was, and he needs to find out more about her. Why does this human make him feel different?  During Julies short stay at the airport, she comes to realise that R isn't like all the other zombies. R collects vinyl LP's and is more interested in protecting her than making he into a meal, and while this fascinates her, she still needs to go home.

When the boneys find out about Julie, (the boneys are what zombies become when they lose all humanity), R and Julie make a run for it, back towards the city where Julie lives.

Soon, other zombies begin to change, they all begin to 'think' and 'talk', and they know that it's R and Julie that have made this possible, so they follow them to the city to help.

Nicholas Hoult is fantastic in this movie. They could not have picked a better actor to play the conflicted zombie, and this will do BIG things for his career. Sadly, I think it means that he will get a legion of screaming teenage girls whose lives have become empty since the departure of Rob Pattinson and the Twilight franchise. I really hope they do not try and fill their meaningless, self absorbed lives with rants about how 'hot' Nicholas Hoult is etc etc. It would really just spoil it for me.

Teresa Palmer was also fantastic as Julie and her and Nicholas have very convincing on-screen chemistry.

The supporting cast is funny and well worth watching. The gore is almost non-existent and most of it is left up to your own imagination. The boneys are probably the scariest thing about this movie, but I would even let my 8 year old daughter see it.

While it wasn't exactly like the book, different ending a couple of smaller unimportant storylines have been cut, I still really enjoyed it and will be seeing it again.

 

Trouble with the Curve

Trouble with the Curve (2012)
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman
Director: Robert Lorenz

 

 

If Clint Eastwood is attached to something these days, you can pretty much be guaranteed of two things. One, it's going to be good and two, you'll cry. Whether he is behind the camera as well as in front of it, or in this case, just in front , a Clint Eastwood movie is always an experience you won't regret. 

 

The trailer for this was great, very engaging and really set the story. For those of you who see the trailer and think it's a sports movie, yes, it's a movie with baseball in it, but it's not a movie about baseball. It is the story of a father and daughter whose strained relationship comes to breaking point.

Mickey, (Amy Adams), is a successful lawyer whose life consists of work, work and work. She barely has time for a steady relationship let alone a relationship with her father who left her when her mother died at the age of 6.

Gus, (Clint Eastwood), is a successful baseball scout who has a knack for picking some of the best players the sport has ever seen, but age is catching up with him. Gus realises that he is starting to go blind, but being stubborn, he refuses to believe it will affect his job and takes on a scouting job in North Carolina.

 

Mickey is forced to realise that her father needs help and even though it's a bad time for her with her firm pushing to make her a partner, she takes the road trip and meets up with her father to try and convince him that he needs help.

Along the way we meet Johnny, (Justin Timberlake), a washed up baseball player that has now become a scout for the Red Sox. Johnny's career only came about due to Gus picking him for the Braves many years ago, but he is forced to give it up when his arm is injured.

Together, Mickey and Gus check out the Braves newest target, Bo Gentry, a hot headed, cocky player who supposedly has the best batting skills anyone has ever seen. Gus thinks the only way to know if a player is good or not is to watch them in action. But back in the office, younger and less experienced Phillip (Matthew Lillard), believes you can pick a player by looking at his stats on a computer, making Gus an antique and due to be put out to pasture.

Some of the most powerful scenes in the movie are the simplest, which is why I loved this so much.

Amy Adams was fantastic as Clint Eastwoods equally stubborn daughter and they worked very well together. Even Timberlake keeps proving he can not only sing, but he can act as well.

This was a brilliant movie, and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone, whether you're a baseball fan or not.