Down With Love

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Down With Love is an interesting experiment on modernising some 60's classic Doris Day/Rock Hudson films. It should have worked maybe at least on a stylistic level but somehow it doesn't. They got everything right but it just doesn't work for some reason.

Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies is the second novel I chose to read in my Kindle bunch. This one had a lot of hype among chick lit circles and I liked it. The story is about three women who became close friends when their children started at the same kindergarten and their lives and secrets.

Spoilers.

Each have different problems with one being the most serious. Not only her husband beats her but also one of her twin sons turns out to imitate his dad at school bullying other kids.

One of them had a disastrous one night stand with an asshole who was mean to her and she actually got pregnant and her child is the one accused of bullying (we do not know whether this is true or not)

Our third protagonist is the one most likable, she has a healthy marriage, two kids and one older girl from an earlier marriage. Her problem is that her teenage girl seems to be spending more time in her ex husband's house with his new wife than with her. The girl seemed to forget that her dad actually abandoned her when she was a baby.

There are other characters, other mothers, their husbands, hunky café owners that can cook etc.

All in all it was entertaining.

Austenland

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Spoilers!
Austenland seemed interesting on the flight. Despite not hating Keri Russel and absolutely LOVING Jane Austen I feel distant to Austen spin offs. I liked Becoming Jane but that's about Austen's life not a sequel to one of her novels, or not a mystery version of one of her novels, or not a sci fi time travel film series so on and so forth. Well since I was on the flight I decided to check this one out and I'm happy that I did.

This one is about an Austen obsessed woman who is in love with Mr. Darcy (who in her right mind isn't?) and doesn't get along really with men in real life due to their lack of not being even remotely like Mr. Darcy and not really understanding/supporting her obsession. So she uses her life time savings on a theme park/fantasy holiday in Austenland where the customers are given roles and costumes and literally live in an environment very similar to the ones in Austen novels. Our heroine Jane has two fellow guests one a rich American who obviously wanted to try something new rather than being a true fan and another one whose guest status was only familiar to me towards the end of the film. The manager of the whole operation hired actors to play certain characters similar to the ones in Austen novels but Jane gets close with an extra whose job is to be the driver, stable worker etc . Despite the fact that she is attracted to Darcy actor she falls for the stable boy and hooks up with him. Imagine her surprise when she finds out that this holiday affair was not only included in her holiday package but that all her moves and reactions were predicted.

It is of course a happy ending and all in all I liked the film and its look at Austen obsession but not enough to want to read the novel it is adapted from. 

A Cry In The Night

A Cry In The Night turned out to be the first novel I have read on my Kindle. I purchased a few novels right at the time when I got it and gave this one the first go since I like Mary Higgins Clark novels and her formula. It is just the type of novel to read at the airport or at the bus (going to home after a long flight). My favorite MHC novel is Loves Music, Loves to Dance since it is the first novel I read of hers and then I think I have read 99% of her bibliography. I was happy at the end of the novel (as usual). It is like going to a place where you will not get lost (for better or worse). 

Rust and Bone

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Rust and Bone is a film I had heard of but never thought to seek out. And there it was on Dvdigi so I gave it a try and I liked it. Marion Cotillard is great as usual (and looks so good) and Mathias Shoenaerts (who incidentally is also in The Drop) was good too. It is a story of people with real problems. And one of those which looks surreal on paper but is surprisingly believable on screen.

Alain is our male lead who takes his son (he is maybe 6-7 years) out of a small country in Europe to South France since his ex (and son's mother) uses him in drug trafficking. He meets his sister who lets them live in her house plus she helps him to find a job as a bouncer first then later as a security guard. He meets Stephanie who is a killer whale trainer at the Sea World in town, at the bar when she is mixed at a fight. He even takes her home where she lives with her boyfriend. He gives her his number casually and doesn't really expect her to call. And she does call after she lost half of her both legs at a killer whale accident. They first start to hang out and later become sex buddies (here sadly I think the sex scene was cut). Meanwhile Alain, a kickboxer fights at underground fights for money (although they are called underground fights, they are fought in open gardens of prive houses I guess).  Stephanie gets prosthetics and when Alain acts like an asshole she calls him out for this behaviour (she doesn't shy away or anything, she knows that they became more than sex buddies along the way and she doesn't care if she loses him or not because she will not take any shit whether in complete or half legs - kudos Stephanie!). The story continues and this film turned out to be good and just because the actors are good. A well told story. 

The Drop

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The Drop is one I chose not because of the cast (although I like almost everyone in it) but because it is written by Denise Lehane. It turned out to be just the type of film I liked. Tom Hardy is excellent (making the accent too) and paired well with Noomi Rapace. All in all good one.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road was so hyped by everyone that I actually went out of the house to a theatre 1 hour away since the one close to where I leave was dubbed. It turned out to be the right decision though since I loved the film. It is non stop action with a great female character acted by one of my favorites Charlise Theron (yet another actor I was distant to but loved post Monster). She is so good in this and there is Tom Hardy and I love Tom Hardy, a good actor who knows when to amp it up and when to tune it down. Post apocalypse is not really one of my fave plot devices but this one almost sold me to it. The cars, the stunts, the explosions everything was top notch.