MOODY MOVIES

Being left in a room with nothing but your girlfriend's DVD collection can do weird things to you. This 'battle-of-the-sexes' rom-com is certainly not my typical night's viewing, however, much like the curiosity that teenage girl magazines evoked in me during my puberty I couldn't resist taking a peek. Actually, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days was far better than I was expecting and at the end of a long day, I did find myself in the right frame of mind to giggling along with the easy, unchallenging humour.

As far as the story goes it is pretty familiar stuff with two supposedly ambitious and calculating young professionals courting each other in the name of a bet, only to realise by the end that in fact they have fallen in love for real. Okay so the film is rather superficial and lacks any real emotional pull (the tissues were left untouched on the bedside table) but in Matthew McConaughey and especially Kate Hudson it does feature two likeable leads. Indeed, Kate Hudson in particular impressed me by her comedic assurance (no doubt picked up from parents Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn) and her disarmingly natural on screen presence. For those who haven't yet seen it I would strongly recommend watching Hudson's engaging performance in effective chiller The Skeleton Key.

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Saturday, 3 March 2007

THE DARK *½

Germany/UK: John Fawcett, 2005

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Friday, 2 March 2007

(*) SHALLOW HAL ***

USA/Germany: Bobby and Peter Farrelly, 2001

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Wednesday, 28 February 2007

24 - SEASON 1

USA: Various Directors, 2001-2002 (Created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran)

Having encouraged my girlfriend to sit through various films she had yet to see such as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Star Wars and the works of Woody Allen and Pixar. It is now my turn to sit down and catch-up with a show I have let pass me by until now. 24 is one of her favourite shows and in order to watch the most recent season I have agreed to go back and watch all the seasons aired so far. Wish me luck!

The first season was actually incredibly entertaining. I like Kiefer Sutherland as an actor and having missed most contemporary mainstream US TV drama I found the show's Hollywood inflected script, aesthetic gloss and high production values rather seductive. I also find the central premise of the show an engaging one but felt the linger the season went on the more frequently a dull or stupid episode would come along. However, I did find the season finale engaging and liked the characters enough to wade through some of the overblown acting and issues with plot credibility.

Score: 8/10

IMDB reference