Showing posts with label Julianne Hough. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Julianne Hough. Show all posts

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Review of the Week: Safe Haven

0 comments Posted by Katina at 8:41 PM

Almost forgot to put this up! No classic review tonight, but I just want to say... I'm watching the last few minutes of The Lion King and it's boss.

The Dish was also a good movie, watched it last night before visiting the site outside Parkes today.

Safe Haven (M)

ANOTHER year, another Nicholas Sparks adaptation. So goes a viable affirmation; the latest story to present itself in cinemas is his eighth. Sparks has a good ratio - about one film to every two books, so he's not complaining. But those who are looking for romantic fare with a bit of difference might be.

Sparks' stories predominantly revolve around a fundamental of the romance genre; a central female character with a past (or present) she wants to keep to herself. She can't get close to a male though, because heaven forbid, she might fall deeply in love with them. Sleepy towns have that effect on these girls because there's not all that much else to do. Yes, it's romantic, often for its idyllic scenery (as seen here), but there's romance to be found in big cities just as well. The world we live in holds all different kinds of paradise.

For this story, the former comes to be the preference for Katie (Julianne Hough), on the run from Boston police and finding herself in Southport, North Carolina. On her decision to stay and start with a clean slate, she meets Alex (Josh Duhamel), that male she's not meant to get close to.

As we know, life happens. He's got kids Lexie (Mimi Kirkland) and Josh (Noah Lomax) but finds a spark (no pun intended) with Katie, the first since his wife died from cancer. There's some flirtatious banter here and there, and it takes a while, but they get there.

It's amazing what a small town can do for a person's complexion. Even the children are extremely tanned in this look at a potentially perfect romance. But even that can't stop the bad guy from his efforts to find her, officer Tierney (Aussie David Lyons) exhaustive in his efforts to find Katie.


Swede Lasse Hallstrom is not a stranger to romance, and particularly Nicholas Sparks. This is his second turn at adapting the authors' work after 2010's Dear John, and he continues the melodramatic trend that embodies this growing group of films. Sparks himself would have a bit to say on that, having started Nicholas Sparks Productions and finally taken one of the many producers' chairs.

For fans of this film group, it should serve as well as any other. But the film is fraught with similarities that show more of a desire to play it safe than a confidence in making something unique.
Perhaps that's the nature of these films, but recycled ideas don't stay fresh.

Hough tones it down after performance-heavy turns in Rock of Ages and the Footloose remake, but can't completely shake off the cutesy-pie American honey act. That describes the character of Katie though, a girl whose head is strong but still very fragile from her past.

For Leslie Bohem and Dana Stevens, a typical Sparks-friendly script is not inspired material.
Ultimately there's one twist too many as a poor effort tries to evoke emotion but instead produces quite the anti-climactic finale - something fast becoming a motif of the Sparks adaptations.

Rating: 2.5/5

*Published in the Daily Liberal (Dubbo), Western Advocate (Bathurst), Parkes Champion Post and Midstate Observer (Orange) from Saturday 16/2/2013

MISSED LAST WEEK'S REVIEWS? See what I thought of Lincoln and Network.

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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Review of the Week: Rock of Ages (plus Aliens)

0 comments Posted by Katina at 7:30 PM

Rock of Ages (M)
ADAM Shankman returns to the musical genre five years after his re-imagining of Hairspray, the choreographer bringing one of the world’s newer stage productions to the big screen. As with that last musical, no character is left in the dark, with an ensemble cast enough to fill an awards ceremony. And again in similarity, the exception for that comes from the lead characters; newcomers are given a chance in the spotlight.
Mexican-born Diego Boneta and Julianne Hough are young adults in 1987 that move to Los Angeles to try their hand at finding stardom, believing in their vocal talents and the glamorous hope and inspiration the City of Angels is meant to bring. Drew (Boneta) finds Sherrie (Hough), offers her a job at bar/club The Bourbon Room and they fall in love.
For such a clichéd beginning there is some lovely cinematography from Bojan Bazelli to capture the young romance, but the story moves on at an edgier pace when rock god Stacie Jaxx (Tom Cruise) enters the scene and inadvertently stuffs everyone around. He’s a drunken knob until Rolling Stone journalist Constance Sack (Malin Akerman) helps him see differently about this thing we call life.
The dramas of life and Hollywood are put through their paces but become tedious as the film progresses. The story is spread thin with so-so characters where actors that seem lost or misplaced, like Catherine Zeta-Jones as heavy metal protester Patricia Whitmore, or like Bourbon Room owner Dennis Dupree (Alec Baldwin) and his mate Lonny (Russell Brand), part of their own peculiar relationship development.



Boneta and Hough are an ideal Disney couple with their squeaky clean looks and voices to match but their enthusiasm not making up for their lack of unique spark. Cruise manages to show who’s still boss as he uses his natural swagger to exaggerated levels for Stacee Jaxx, mixing that with an interpretation of a mix of rock’s finest frontmen. He’s not a singer by any means, but does best in Wanted Dead Or Alive in one of the film’s more impressive scenes.
The songs, a mix of hits from bands such as Poison, Bon Jovi and Pat Benatar, are mashed up for a new generation, while the few original numbers reverse and try and capture the feel of the era. Def Leppard also gets a look-in, they who refused the stage production the use of their songs but agreed to the film version.
There’s not much done to make the songs different otherwise, so with such well-loved hits performed similar to the originals it’s an easy sing-along. The late 80s are revived like shoulder pads are still in, complete with an extreme overuse of wind machines.
That, and the uplifting nature of the story, is enough to make this a bearable watch, with good performances from Cruise, Akerman and Paul Giamatti as Stacee Jaxx’s schmuck manager Paul helping it along. This isn’t the film of ages but just passes for those wanting, in the words of Poison, nothin’ but a good time.
Rating: 3/5


*Published in the Daily Liberal (Dubbo), Western Advocate (Bathurst), Parkes Champion Post and Midstate Observer (Orange) from Saturday 16/6/2012


***

Aliens (1986)

Part of the Alien franchise which now includes the prequel Prometheus, this second instalment is widely viewed by critics and cinema fans as one of film’s greatest sequels. It’s a great feat for a film released seven years after its predecessor and helmed by a director with different vision to the first. That would continue for two subsequent films, but this is the one to make a significant impact.
It starts right where we left off from Alien (1979); Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), last survivor of the ship Nostromo, has been in hypersleep for 57 years and not six weeks as she was meant to be before a rescue. Rescued by The Company, she returns to work by consulting for a team travelling back to LV-426. To her horror, it has been colonised and faces her demons when reports of disappearances from the administration are founded and more bloodshed arises from the battle against the monsters.
James Cameron brings blockbuster to the franchise but manages to keep it real and continue Ripley’s journey with gusto. Her maternal instinct kicks in after rescuing civilian Newt (Carrie Henn), making her more determined to beat the aliens once and for all. She is a force to be reckoned with, stamping her ground as one of cinema’s greatest heroines.

There is a lot more action in this one too, benefiting the solid support cast. Bill Paxton is great fun as the coward of the team, hating on the aliens which are no less creepy. A mix of science-fiction and action with a dash of love makes this film one a great watch.
*Published in the Mailbox Shopper (Dubbo) from Wednesday 13/6/2012
MISSED LAST WEEK'S REVIEWS? See what I thought of Prometheus and A Room with a View.
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*I have two photos entered in the current Qatar Reflections competition. Please show your support for me by voting for either photo! Short backstory and links here.

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