This week saw the temporary (curse those holidays) move of Sunday Night Film Club to a Wednesday. Not necessarily the best of ideas - there's only so many films you can fit in after work and CW and I found ourselves creating a double bill that made absolutely no sense. The only thing these two films had in common was that they were both new to my collection.
First up we had...
Film: This Means War (2012)
Director: McG
Starring: Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Reese Witherspoon
Running Time: 1 hour, 37 minutes
Rating: 7/10
A film that was picked for two reasons;
1) CW's love for this man...
2) My belief that Captain Kirk is one of the top 5 most handsome men on cinema screens, ever.
(So, really, only one reason. We are two slightly shallow ladies who like to watch pretty boys act).
The premise of the film is simple enough - two undercover CIA agents (and best friends) meet and fall for the same girl and it all gets a little competitive. In typical McG style, there's a lot of action going on as they use their professional skills to watch, and at times sabotage, each other.
This is light hearted, action, rom-com, fluff. It's harmless, it's watchable, it's enjoyable. It's never going to win any awards but it will keep you entertained for 97 minutes - which is all anyone really wants in a film, right? Plus, Chelsea Handler pops up more than once, and she's pretty awesome.
There is, however, one minor flaw with This Means War - Tom Hardy really struggles to pick an accent. He swings from frightfully British to Cockney geezer and back again in the course of one sentence. It can be a little distracting.
After enjoying the acting talents on display in This Means War, and the best parts of two bottles of wine, CW and I decide that we'd had enough of the light hearted action and we were in the perfect position to watch something that required all our attention, a little bit of thinking and, at times, a strong stomach for sexual abuse. The perfect follow up to This Means War had to be...
Film: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Director: David Fincher
Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård and Robin Wright
Running Time: 2 hours 38 minutes
Rating: 8/10
I went into this as blind as possible. I haven't read the book, I haven't seen the original Swedish film, I didn't know all that much about the plot. I think this might have been a slight advantage, as I had no other reference points to compare the film to (although this still doesn't mean I understand people that enjoyed The Time Traveller's Wife)
The basic premise of the film is a journalist (Daniel Craig) is investigating the 40 year old disappearance of a young lady on behalf of her Uncle (Christopher Plummer). He's assisted along the way by a computer hacker (Rooney Mara) who is also dealing with some emotional issues from her past.
The film deals with some pretty heavy subject matter - including a couple of rape scenes that aren't the easiest things to watch. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo isn't a film that you can dip in and out of, as with most thrillers (and David Fincher films) all your attention is required and some of the less relevant plot points and mentions might come in handy as the film progresses.
I don't know if enjoyed is the right word to use here, but I didn't dislike watching this film. The acting was solid, the plot made sense and all in all this is a really great thriller.
I think I know what books I'll be picking up for next week's holiday.
Challenge day: 3
Challenge time: 5 hours 56 minutes
Film count: 3
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