Friday, March 21, 2008

Hard Candy (2005)


Strangers shouldn't talk to little girls.


Ellen Page, best known for her work in "Juno" (2007), acts as a 14 year old girl who meets a much older photographer (Patrick Wilson) on the internet. Suspecting him to be a pedophile, she invites herself to his house, in an attempt to expose him.

Hard Candy (internet slang for an underage girl) is an intense psychological thriller, exceeding in both storyline and cinematography: a rare occasion where both acting and film making compliment each other in a low budget (so low, the producer had once planned on filming in his own house) independent film. The low budget also shows itself with only 9 minutes of music in the entire film, with ambient noises the majority of the soundtrack.

Hard Candy is a fast-paced, thought provoking, and completely exceeded all expectation. I would recommend it to anybody in need of a good psychological thriller, or even just a damned good movie, for that's exactly what Hard Candy is.




***
Edit:

Just in case you get disappointed, thinking this was Madonna's new album:

Screw you, screw her, screw that, this movie deserves more, the name deserves more!

Eurgh. Freaking Madonna...

***

Thursday, March 20, 2008

No Reservations (2007)


Whoever told me that No Reservations was a chick flick was definitely wrong. I normally don't watch chick flicks unless they have Jessica Alba or tremendously talented actresses like Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada. I initially wanted to watch No Reservations because for some reason, I thought that Sandra Bullock (who is awesome) was in the movie except she wasn't. Anyways, apart from all this I gave the movie a shot. Initially, it did seem like a chick flick but then the movie turned into a drama dealing with death and family at the same time with dedication and happiness.
The movie takes you through a roller coaster of emotions starting of funny but then going to sad, and back to happy and so on. Catherine Zeta Jones did a good job on playing Kate, a top head chef at a classy restaurant praised for her quails, but woman of high maintenance restricting herself with a lot of rules. Abigail who plays Zoe, has delivered an excellent performance as Kate's orphaned niece .
Though the movie mainly centers around those two, Nick (Aaron) also plays a supporting role in the movie as an executive chef. Aaron, who was amazing in Thank You For Smoking, let me down because he seemed liked one of those actors who don't do many movies but yet they shine in each on they do.
All in all, the movie wasn't bad at all, and ended up enjoying but this movie is a movie which you need to have a certain mood to watch it otherwise it may just seem plainly mediocre. Hence, I give this movie a 3.7 / 5





No Reservations (2007)

Rating: PG
Cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, Abigail Breslin, Patricia Clarkson, Jenny Wade
Director: Scott Hicks

Genre: Drama/Romance
Screenplay : Carol Fuchs, Sandra Nettelbeck

My rating: 3.7/5 (if you have nothing better to watch, then go for No Reservations)