Screen 11 was showing Hannah Montana- The Movie- here is what our Critics thought.

SCREEN 11 - Hannah Montana – The Movie

Screen 11

U

Release Date: 1 May 2009

Running time: 102 mins

Director: Peter Chelsom

Starring: Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment, Mitchel Musso, Lucas Till, Billy Ray Cyrus

The Movie Ratings

 Review by: Me

It’s a kid’s \ teeny bop girl’s movie — You know I almost felt like stopping there.

The movie spins off from the popular kids TV show by the same title and the only confusing part is the part that you shouldn’t be confused about – So I got my girls to explain this to me – so here I go.

Miley Ray Cyrus (real name Destiny Hope Cyrus) is not pretending to be Hannah Montana! Miley Stewart is.!

The fact that Cyrus plays here was a casting decision and the name of the character was actually changed to Miley Stewart as Cyrus had put a lot of herself into the character (well, so say Disney) – so hope we are all clear with that.

Miley Cyrus plays Miley Stewart a fictional character from a fictional town in Tennessee (Crowley Corners) who is living a double life as Hannah Montana, and I aint even gonna go there with it being her father who plays her father argghhh.  Luckily that’s were (keep it in the family) seems to end.

There is not much you can say about this movie that’s good – it is purely a cash cow for Disney; adding to the Hannah Montana estate – and to give them a small ounce of credit the character “Vita – Miley’s agent” (played by Vanessa Williams) is portrayed as the typical cash grabbing, opportunity finding not in the news is bad news agent type.

The rest of the movie is all set around how Miley’s father, agent, family and best friend (Lilly also from the series) help keep the secret of who Hannah Montana really is – with a dash of “let’s help save the home town from corporate company” change to make Grandma happy.

The movie is fun – if you have an IQ that can’t spell IQ – its one for the kids – the fans and the brain dead.

I liked it…!

Score from me 2.5

Review by: Wookie

 The Hannah Montana movie is an extension of the popular kids TV series. Miley Cyrus plays herself basically although her character’s name is Miley Stewart. She is a self obsessed teenage girl who lives a dramatic double life as teeny bopper Hannah Montana the biggest teenage sensation around. The reason she lives the double life is so that Miley can have the best of both world’s i.e. a normal tween girl by day getting on with a so called normal life, and a megastar sensation by night when she dons the blonde wig to become Hannah Montana (How no-one can tell the difference is beyond me – it must be the Clark Kent / Superman technique – but then this is a kids movie and I am probably reading to much into it.) Anyway, I digress.

     The plot of the movie is that Miley has been taken away from the bright lights of LA in order to go to her Grandmothers birthday party in the backwaters of Tennessee where she has to adjust from being a bit of a diva to being a country girl again.

    As far as plots go this is pretty thin and very predictable, but as I said below it is a kids movie and predictability is to be expected. However there are plenty of Hannah Montana songs to keep the kids singing along. And I have to say that the acting from the main characters is pretty good, But then they are playing themselves with only slight name changes (Miley’s dad Billy Ray Sirus plays Miley’s dad Robby Ray Stewart). Miley does have a great singing voice though (She obviously takes after her dad) and the musical parts of this this movie are where the film comes to life.

      If I was a 13 year old girl this movie would probably rate very highly, however I’m not and even though I tried to see it from a girlie point of view, I still cant bring myself to rate this any higher than a 2 as it just did not enthral me enough.

I rate this movie 2 stars

   Would the wookie recommend this movie -  ONLY IF YOU ARE A TWEEN GIRL

Review by: Axis

The Axis Angle

Hannah Montana is a movie about a young girl from Tennessee who leads a double life.

Growing up she was a local singer called Miley Stewart but in order to take advantage of her talent but still maintain a normal life she invents the alter ego Hannah Montana.

Hannah Is Blonde (courtesy of a wig) and is from California. She is the hottest teen singer in the world with a manager at loggerheads with her father.

On her tail is a sleazy English reporter determined to find out any dirt he can about Hannah and obviously finding out she has a double life from a small farming community would be ideal. Only her friend, her dad & her gran know of her double life. She gets tricked into going back to Tennessee by her dad to attend her gran’s birthday as he thinks she is losing touch with who she is.

There’s love interest for Miley from local boy Travis who knew her from young.

The crux is that her community is under threat and Miley agrees to get Hannah Montana to sing a benefit gig for money that will save the community. Cue much wig swapping between her and her alter ego.

The role of Myley/Hannah is played by Miley Cyrus and the dad is played by her real life dad multi Grammy award winning Billy Ray Cyrus. Naturally Miley sings the songs herself (as she has a successful recording career herself).

To be honest it isn’t my cup of tea and a lot of it is totally predictable but there were some funny moments (the shoe store fight with supermodel Tyra Banks is really funny).

I’d rate it 2.5/5.

Låt den rätte komma in ”Let the Right One In”

Screen 17

Running time: 114 mins

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Starring: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson

The Movie Ratings

 Review by: Me

After hearing the others rave about “Let the right one in” I thought to myself – OK so I missed screen 12 let’s make time to see it – got there and it was on in Screen 17 – go figure: Anyway armed with the ambition to sit through yet another Subtitled movie with my unsure although willing financee by my side (EASY – willing to watch the movie) we got our tickets and made our way to the screen.

The first thing that struck me was – just how busy the hall was – this is a movie which has been out for a couple of weeks – is in Swedish – and is about (well as far as I knew) a young vampire – why is it so busy, and even 20 minutes into the movie why are there still people coming in (I hate that – but that’s for another day)

I wasn’t long on finding out why.!

I found right from the beginning of this movie I was gripped by the cinematography (OK spell check please) but in all seriousness – the dark snow filled landscapes of the Stockholm suburb gave the film and the viewer an eerie sense of loneliness.

You are introduced to Oskar a 12 year old boy almost feminine in his appearance, with his thick blonde hair soft white skin and quiet approach; Oskar is a young lad who comes across as lonely – isolated and looking for a direction in life.  Living with his divorced mother in what looks like a rundown local authority estate – Oskar’s main escape is to read about death and take cuttings from the newspaper for his scrap collection; Until one night in the front play yard he meets Eli and the relationship builds from here.

Eli who had just moved into the estate – during the night – lives with, what we assume is her father, however you quickly question this relationship, as you hear the tone in which Eli speaks to him and the feelings \ emotions that are expressed by both.  Eli’s father appears to have 2 main functions in life, to provide shelter and food for Eli and we are not talking about 3 square meals here – Eli requires blood to survive – yeah yeah OK you’ve guessed she is a Vampire – the movie makes no secret of this – although the portrayal is very unique and you can’t at time help feel sorry for her and almost begin to understand her needs.       

This movie is in no way trying to cash in on the recent teen Vampire flop Twilight far from it.  What distinguishes this movie from something like Twilight, and might make it more attractive to adults than teens, is that it doesn’t remotely look or feel like you’re watching a teen romance -  (though it isolates the loneliness, yearning and compassion of youth better than any film I’ve seen for a very long time) and you feel at one with both Eli and Oskar.

There are a few turn away moments however there is no real graphical violence or gore in this movie as sconces are shot from an angle showing you enough – but not too much.

The sound design, too, is superb. The dribble of blood down plastic funnels, Oskar breathing , snow falling on winter trees:, the Morse Code taps he makes on a wall that divides his bedroom from Eli’s, all are captured with a delicate and enjoyable precision.  You’ll be able to hear: your heart beating, and heart breaking during this movie.

Like most great movies for me – this one kind of came out of the blue and may even have past me by if it had not been for the 18 – 1 involvement – a true joy to watch and a film that you could easily watch again.

Very enjoyable.
From Me: 4 stars

Screen 12 was showing  Låt den rätte komma in “Let the Right One in”- here is what our Critics thought.

SCREEN 12 - Låt den rätte komma in ”Let the Right One In”

Screen 12

Running time: 114 mins

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Starring: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson

The Movie Ratings

 Review by: Me

 Done seperately here

 Review by: Axis

The Axis Angle

Let the right one in is a Swedish film with English subtitles. Unfortunately it is a film that I feel the less said about the better because it spoils it.

The film concerns the burgeoning friendship then relationship between two children both 12 years old – Oskar & Eli.

The film is set in the early 80′s, Oskar lives with his mum in a suburb of Stockholm, he is bullied in school. He notices a young girl arrive with her father during the night and move in next door to him, at first he hears raised voices but then he meets her at night in the apartment playground.

Their friendship starts of tentatively enough and he is surprised she does not feel the cold as he does (mid winter in Stockholm so lots of snow). The very first night we realise Eli is a vampire as her father (her helper) goes out and subdues a local in the woods to drain of blood for her. Unfortunately he is disturbed by 2 girls walking their dog and leaves the container of blood at the scene. This forces Eli to go out and kill for herself and leave him to dispose of the corpse.

 DO NOT think this is another 30 days of night as the overall theme of the film is the innocence of friendship between 2 children. Remember the time we were friends with the opposite sex with no hidden agenda?  (i.e. we fancy them) well this is the overriding theme of this movie.

 Over the next few weeks Eli & Oskar’s relationship grows and they even sleep over with one another until eventually Oskar realises what she is.

 The question is will his (dare I say it love) for her overcome his feeling of guilt of what she needs to do to survive.

 This really is a very touching tale and I cannot stress enough there isn’t so much of the vampire bit and very little in the way of scary moments. The “horror” moments are sufficiently well set up in advance and very brief, the gory parts are not dwelled upon. The 2 leads are fantastic, there isn’t a lot of dialogue between them as they have an understanding and a simple joy of each other’s company.

 Unfortunately I have read that Hollywood intends to RUIN this movie as well.

 Who is cast in such a delicate role dealing with a movie that is about innocence I hear you ask? – none other than Jessica Alba of Sin City fame (Nancy Callaghan) consistently voted one of the sexiest women in the world, in a film that deals with childhood innocence.

 I predict EVERYTHING that made this movie great for me will be RUINED by the remake in much the same way as Steve Martin RUINED the Pink Panther.

 Do yourself a favour please, see this movie now and don’t bother with the remake due out next year.

 The best movie of 2009 so far for me.

 Rating – 4.5/5.

 Review by: Wookie

    Set in 1982 in the town of Blackeberg (a suburb of Stockholm) the film shows the night time arrival of a mysterious little girl called Eli (Lina Leandersson) who moves in next door to Oskar (Kare Hedebrant).

    Oskar has no friends and is being bullied at school. When Oskar meets the mysterious girl on the jungle Jim in the courtyard of his estate he strikes up a friendship with her, (even though she initially tells him that they cannot be friends).

   Eli has a darker side though as she is actually a vampire and has to kill people in order to survive.
She tells Oskar that when the bullies come to him, he needs to hit back and hit them harder than they hit. As the movie progresses so does their friendship and there is a certain innocence about the whole thing, Oskar see’s Eli as his girlfriend & Eli has feelings for Oskar.

   Oskar finds Eli quite strange at times and after a while he asks her if she is a vampire and if she kills people, But how will the answer change their relationship? Will he be able to accept her as a killer, or will she have to flee from town.

    This movie asks us questions about morality & innocence. Obviously its not acceptable to kill other human beings, however you cant help but feel a bit sorry for Eli. Its not that she wants to kill, but she has to in order to survive herself. There is also the innocence of a child within her character as she has been 12 for many years and as such has never really properly grown up. This complicated character was acted perfectly by Leandersson as she really got the tone of the piece spot on, Hadebrant’s Oskar character was also superbly acted as the awkward child of a broken marriage. His subtle glances and soft caring moments played perfectly to give the character a rich depth without having to say a lot.

I rate this 4 stars

Review by: dmk

What can be said about this film?  Hmmm. 

Interesting, that’s about the first thing that I can say.

I like Vampire films (you know it’s a film about vampires, right?), I like the Vampire lore, I grew up on Hammers classics – Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee – big Buffy fan…  You are getting the picture, right?  So an odd film about Vampires, even if it was a foreign language flick, was always going to get my attention.  This one in particular came to critical acclaim in it’s country of origin (Sweden, don’t ya know), following on from the novel which was also a bestseller at home and subsequently on the international market (I believe an American remake of the film will follow very soon).

But is it any good?

Going back to my earlier comment – Interesting.  Why?  Because this film deals with more than just a Vampire story.  First up, it deals with the human element of Vampirism, dealing with the difficulties involved in being a Vampire, and the difficulties involved in relating to a Vampire.

But strangely, the main focus of the film is not the Vampire – it’s a young boy growing up in difficult times, the son of divorced parents and the subject of much tormenting from the local bullies.

Not a happy film then.  Indeed, it is a very bleak, and at times depressing account. 

That being said, it ‘sucks’ you in from the very start.  The low budget certainly adds to the atmosphere, instead of using special effects the camera is put to good use on location shots, utilising the snow and wintry nights to create a dark and claustrophobic environment from which there appears to be no escape.  The actors too, although inexperienced, give a very realistic account of themselves.

You feel for Oskar, the young boy.  He is shy, quiet, has no friends, and is clearly resigned to whatever fate sends his way - he plods along taking whatever is thrown at him.  And yet on his own, he rebels and lashes out.  He wants to strike back at the bullies, but also the world, in the same way he has been struck - with violence.  He carries a knife, and it does seem like it would take too much persuasion for him to use it.

And then he meets Eli.  The Vampire child.  They become friends of a sort, and it is clear that they both see a lot of themselves in the other.  Eli is also an outsider, has no friends, and – presumably – is hunted across the land.

Eli is an enigma.  You are never sure what or who ‘she’ is.  This is deliberate on the part of the director and writer, and again draws you into the story – you want to find out more, you want all the answers.  One main question being – is Eli real, or just a manifestation of Oskar’s inner self, doing what he wants to do, acting as he wants to act (that’s a question you will have to answer for yourself, and I want to avoid talking about Fight Club…).

Eli’s ‘dad’ – again, we do not know who he is, or what the relationship actually is between them (but I suspect it is not at all wholesome) – takes care of food and shelter.  By shelter, I mean a place to stay, and by food I mean he goes out, kills people, and drains their blood.  In this last role, he proves more inept than successful, so it appears that he has either not been doing it for very long, or has grown so weary that he no longer cares.

So what is the film about?  It’s actually a ‘coming-of-age love story’ involving two 12 year-olds (technically).  From that respect, it really is a beautiful film.  It invokes real emotion and feeling for the characters, and also from the characters.  It leaves a haunting and lasting impression that I think will affect anyone, and I think it’s a film that will stay with you.  It’s not a film that you enjoy, it’s a film that you endure, and it makes you all the stronger for it – and that is also the reason that you will make a connection with the film, and actually feel for the characters.

But is it any good?

Definitely.

4 Stars

Screen 13 was showing State of Play- here is what our Critics thought.

SCREEN 13 - State of Play

Screen 13

12a

Release Date: 22/04/09

Running time: 127 mins

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Starring: Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn

The Movie Ratings

 Review by: Me

I am sure you are aware that this is a remake of the critically acclaimed BBC series of the same name, which now sees the story take place in Washington as opposed to London. The film begins with a bag snatcher being shot dead in an alley and the following morning a research assistant for a congressman “falls under a metro train” or was she pushed?  Is there a connection in some way?

Cal McCaffery (Crowe) is reporting on the death of the bag snatcher when his college buddy, Congressman Stephen Collins (Affleck), breaks down in tears in front of cameras, raising questions to the nature of Collins’ relationship with his assistant.  McCaffery looks to protect the reputation of his friend and get to the truth whilst facing pressure from his editor (Helen Mirren) to provide a sex angle on the story that will sell the newspaper.

McCaffery is portrayed as a seasoned journalist (a dying breed if you like) who strikes up a unwilling partnership with one of the papers bloggers  Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) who is one of those who’s eager to delve deeper into the story of Collins’ relationship with his assistant “Cal doesn’t like that”. McCaffery later takes Frye under his wing showing her his old school methods of journalism that sets the pair on the trail to the truth uncovering a conspiracy that goes to the heart of government.

I wasn’t completely blown away about the cast in the movie; although Crowe, does excel in his portrayal of McCaffery. The weakest of all the links, is Affleck as Congressman Stephen Collins – it’s not just Affleck’s performance is particularly poor. It’s just that it’s a struggle to imagine Collins and McCaffery being at college at the same time.

There were a few parts of this movie I thought that “this just doesn’t fit” Jeff Daniels (think he has lost his edge – never really excelled since Dumb and Dumber “In My Opinion”, I also though this of him in Traitor) and I’m sure everyone will recognise Brennan Brown (yes, Mr Orange ads himself). I found his presence distracting and was half-expecting him to mention a certain brand of mobile network – Oops I’ve already mentioned them – Oh Well.

All this said the story does progress at such a pace and there’s never really a dull moment and I found I was slightly appeased and not too bored. One minor fault around this is that there seems to be a frantic attempt to tie up loose ends in the final 20 minutes, so the ending seems a little rushed and the whole plot almost seems to be changed. This also doesn’t help the overall quality of the movie; though I would recommend this thriller it may not be what you expect from the hype this movie seems to have received.

The score from Me: 3

Review by: Wookie

State of play is a political thriller shown from the point of view of top journalist Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) who is close friends with congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck).

   When Collins mistress is mangled by a train, suicide is the initial thought, But was it murder, and if so who by?

   The film runs along a formulaic course with lots of twists and turns in an effort to try to confuse the audience. This works to a certain extent but the story seems to waver and the main part of the story regarding the conspiracy theory behind a company called Pointcorp never really comes to anything as the story now centres on congressman Collins. The film also seems to support the notion that journalists are better at solving crimes than the police are and several times Crowes character breaks the rules in order to gain an advantage, The only reason he seems to get away with it is that he seems to be friends with everyone.

     I have never really been a fan of Russell Crowe’s acting (With the exception of Gladiator & Romper Stomper) However in this movie his acting was the best of a bad bunch in a cast that included Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Helen Mirren as well as a supporting cast of Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, & Jeff Daniels.

    As conspiracy movies about crooked corporations and politicians go this one didn’t really make the grade and I cant help thinking that this movie could have Ben a lot better if more time had been taken to develop things like pointcorp and the congressman’s relationships with his wife, and his mistress. Unfortunately at the end of the movie we are left thinking, “Is that it!”

Rating     2 stars

  Would the wookie recommend this movie?      THE WOOKIE WOULDN’T

And has done an exclusive Review you all you reading iWatched.

Special Sreening  - Iron Maiden – Flight 666

Special Screening

Release Date: 21/04/09

Running time: N\A

Special Screening Shown at: Xscape Odeon

The Movie Ratings

 Review by: Wookie

This is a must for all Maiden fans and will probably be of great interest to the general public. Flight 666 is a rockumentary about Iron Maiden’s “Somewhere back on tour” world tour from last year.

  The premise was simple. Iron maiden released their first album imaginatively called “Iron Maiden” in 1980 and their heyday was the mid 80′s when they released such classic albums as “The number of the beast”, “Piece of mind”, “Powerslave”, & “Somewhere in time”.  Now 28 years on they have noticed that their fan base has gotten younger and that a large percentage of their audience have never seen a lot of the songs from this golden era played live. Que a new world tour with the band only playing songs from this period.

  There was another thing bothering the band. Due to certain restrictions while touring i.e. charter flight problems, moving a crew of 78 people plus tonnes of equipment plus the band themselves to countries that don’t usually get big bands touring through, etc

  After reviewing this the band decided that to do a tour of this magnitude (5 continents, 21 cities, 23 concerts, 50,000 miles, in 6 weeks) they had to do it all themselves, thus flight 666 was created.

   Basically the band bought their own Boing 737 plane and converted it so the equipment for the shows can be stored in the back and there are still enough seats for the band and the 78 strong crew. Lead singer Bruce Dickinson, who is a fully qualified chartered pilot himself, took on the role of Pilot and the cabin crew all wore Maiden T-shirts. This cut out the problem of getting chartered flights for everyone in some of the more difficult locations It also meant that they could take time between gigs to enjoy the places they visit.

  The film gave a great insight into a band that despite 28 years of fame are still totally down to earth and still seem humble and to a point quite shy on camera. It also showed the impact that a huge metal band like maiden has when they visit a country like Bolivia or Costa Rica, who are not used to getting touring bands coming through. Perhaps the most poignant moment in the movie is that of a fan clutching a drumstick thrown by Niko McBrain at the end of the concert. He is in tears that the show has ended but its also tears of joy as he has managed to see a concert by his heroes. (He probably thought that they would never come to play a show there).

   The documentary mixes the highs and the lows of the tour and shows that even when the band are not feeling 100% they still go out and give it 110% and there is plenty of live concert footage to get you rocking in the aisles.

  I give this movie 5 stars.

Would the wookie recommend it:  THE WOOKIE DEFINITELY WOULD

Screen 14 was showing Haunting In Connecticut – here is what our Critics thought.

SCREEN 14 - Haunting In Connecticut

Screen 14

Release Date: 27/03/09

Running time: 103 mins

Director: Peter Cornwell

Starring: Amanda Crew, Virginia Madsen, Kyle Gallner, Elias Koteas, Martin Donovan

The Movie Ratings

 Review by: Me

“Based on a true story” – I always like to approach a movie with this tag line with a touch of scepticism and a very open mind.

Virginia Madsen and Martin Donovan play “the Campbells” struggling parents whose son Matt (Kyle Gallner) is undergoing cancer treatment in the late 80′s. They have rent a place near the hospital which is on the market for peanuts. “Well, it does have a bit of a history,” mumbled the owner when asked – yea nice dodge.

Turns out the house was a former funeral home which really pushes the history horror options – séances, black art necromancy, stashes of cadavers, you name it. Seemed like every five minutes we’re treated to a charred phantom in a mirror, emerging shadows on the wall even tin full of human eyelids.

The movie’s heebie-jeebie sound design errs on the side of shameless – if you stayed in a house with this much noise and didn’t notice it get the hearing check done although at points it worked very well, but there’s a strong emotional core here, and a pretty good script which introduces a sick Reverend (Elias Koteas) handy who has some knowledge in dealing with excorising spirits and demons. He helps Matt understand about the shadows in the valley of death, and introduces the link to cancer sufferers being as close to the dead as they are to the living – for me that kinda worked.

It does go slightly O.T.T when after everything that has just happened – happens (you will see what I mean) - the parents leave the kids alone in the house to go to the hospital (eh..! why not take them) – and you also wonder why they don’t just move out, but haunted-house movies would be nothing without the odd lashing of scepticism.

This is the best that I have seen in a while.

Score from Me:  3 ½

Review by: Axis

The Axis Angle

The Haunting In Connecticut is based on actual supernatural events in the late 80′s in a house.

It’s important to note it isn’t a factual account of the events more a “something similar to this happened”

It stars Virginia Madsen (Dune, Highlander 2, Candyman)

The film starts with a family moving into a period style mansion. They soon learn the house used to be a funeral parlour but there were some atrocities committed in the past. The previous owner was a mortician but conducted séances with his assistant Jonah who was a clairvoyant (which is handy as he is in a funeral parlour). However he also served as a messenger, providing a gateway between the 2 worlds. Now Jonah returns to unleash horror on the innocent and unsuspecting family. At first only the oldest son who is dying from cancer can see the dead boy but soon the rest of the family start to experience strange happenings. With the help of a priest also suffering cancer they seek to unravel what happened in the past and find a way to free the family from the haunting.

This movie did honestly scare me in bits. I don’t really like scary movies but this one was different. Yes, they used cheap scares and noises, but after a few decades of scary movies, new tricks become rare.

The only difference becomes the execution of said noises and tricks and it is here that this movie excels. Only reason I didn’t give the movie a 5 was because they had some stupid stuff happening (like taking a shower in a haunted house minutes after experiencing the most traumatic haunting) instead of taking Eddie Murphy’s advise on a haunted house and “get the fvck out!!!”. Decent cast & script. The story wasn’t as predictable as you’d think

In essence think the Amityville Horror (house where bad things happened) meets Poltergeist (a bridge between 2 worlds) & the Others, although the way the story is told is unique.

Axis rating (on the get me hell out of here scale!!) 4/5

Not bad

Me

Screen 15 was showing 17 Again- here is what our Critics thought.

12A

SCREEN 15 - 17 Again

Screen 15

Release Date: 10/04/09

Running time: 102 mins

Director: Burr Steers

Starring: Zac Efron, Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon

The Movie Ratings

 Review by: Me

Ahhh to be 17 again – just about the time life really begins – but do I regret the decisions I made – just as our main character (Mike O’Donnell played by “Matthew Perry\ Zac Efron”) appears to? Well that is the ultimate question – although I very much doubt I would go back and change anything.

You know the story line — and if you don’t here is a brief synopsis:

Boy meets girl, boy has chance of big break or the girl, boy becomes man, man has regrets – man meets a magic janitor – man becomes boy again – let the fun begin…

A decent adaptation of a classic movie scenario – I feel Mikes character probably struck a chord with me, as I was 17 in 1989 and the meat that surrounds this story isn’t one all to dissimilar to mine… but enough of this lets talk more about the movie..

I have always thought that playing a character being someone else (as Efron does in this movie) must be a challenging role for an actor. Now don’t get me wrong I am not Zac fan and I am not saying his acting was superb – however I bought into it.

Now he’s 17 again Mike finally relises that what really wants out of life is what he had all along – but how can he get back to the life and love that he has all but lost?

Not too bad a movie, although some of the more experienced viewers may just see it in another light – as this movie is definitely aimed to a younger audience.  With Efron’s dancing and basketball skills on display – and the humour definitely focused on the younger generation (as my own two girls told had told me – “they thought this movie was funny” – aaaaawwwww) – all of this coupled with the average age of the viewers at the late showing probably lucky to reach 22 – you can see what I am saying.

Having said all this I still liked it – it may have been were my head was at that time or it may have just been not a bad movie, who knows.

Although I had fun – sensible head on now

The rating from Me – 3.5 strars

Review by: Axis

17 again is a teen movie and follows the same formula as Big, Vice Versa & the other movie in which the girl & mum switch places.

The main character is Mike O’Donnell both as a 34 year old (played by Matthew Perry of Friends) and a 17 year old (played by Zac Efron of High School Musical)

The supporting cast includes Mike’s lifelong friend Ned Gold (Thomas Lennon) his estranged wife Scarlett (Leslie O’Donnell) and his 2 kids Alex & Maggie (Michelle Trachtenburg of EuroTrip)

It’s 1989 and Mike is the star player on his high school basketball team, he is madly in love with Scarlett and is best friends with the school dork/geek ned. There is a scout in the stands for Georgia state one of the NCAA division 1 colleges (the top tier of Uni athletics & sports). His coach informs his if he “plays half the game he is capable of you’ll be playing college basketball next year”. He notices his girlfriend on the side and goes to speak to him, she informs him she is pregnant. He leaves the game and tells her he wants to be with her.

17 years later and she is filing for divorce as he has constantly complained about the life he never had.

He meets a janitor at his old high school (while picking up his kids) and cue transformation back to a 17 year old.

He turns to the only person he can – his lifelong friend and comic book geek Ned. Ned is a multi millionaire having invented computing anti piracy software.

Cue him going on a quest to live the life he should have left but things aren’t going well. He enrols in the same school using Ned as his father.

His daughter is dating the school bully Stan and his son is the new Ned (picked on and abused by Stan).

He strikes up a friendship with Alex and tries to get him on the team, meanwhile building relationships with his own wife and trying to stop his daughter from wasting his life.

There is a side interest where ned loves the School principal the hot Miss Masterton and also follows his hilarious & increasingly expensive efforts to date her.

I won’t spoil the film but there should be enough for you to go and see it.

Zac Efron plays a good part but to be honest the show is stolen by Ned and his efforts to date the school principal.

A good enjoyable movie, better than I thought but by no means a classic you’ll watch again & again.

The Axis Angle – 3.5

Review by: Wookie

Screen 16 was showing Tera Mira Ki Rishta  – here is what our Critics thought.

SCREEN 16 - Tera Mira Ki Rishta

Screen 16

 Release Date: 10/04/09

Run Time: well over 3hrs

Director: Navaniat Singh

Starring: Archana Puran Singh, Anupam Kher, Jimmy Shergil, Kulraj Randhawa, Raj Babbar, Ghuggi

The Movie Ratings

 Review by: Me

For those who do not know – Punjabi I am not – however on this 18 – 1 journey we had the unexpected pleasure (well not totally – think we knew there was a high possablity of it happening) of finding ourselves a Bollywood Love Story for “Screen 16″ Tera Mira Ki Rishta. Hence Axis and I getting all authentic and having a Curry before our movie.

For me the movie did seem to move along at a reasonable pace (by that I suppose I am saying I didn’t get bored) which is fairly decent considering as well as watching the movie I was reading subtitles (A man – multi-tasking).  Another pleasing element with the movie is that I also had no problem following the plot and the developing story-line even when it did go off on a tangent for no reason.

The film itself was based around what can happen when love comes up against tradition and honour; also it shows how far you may have to go for the one you love. (Although I am reliably informed most Punjab films like to have this theme within them – oh well no matter) 

A rich infusion of contrast, colour, song and dance although let down by some fairly shoddy acting, and it also felt like some characters where completely pointless (as well as others who should have been background characters having glances at the camera and smiling) I put it down to comedy value and got on with my reading) The film had a couple of LOL moments and featured characters that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Glaswegian comedy sit-com.

the movie did feature one unexpected surprise – An Intermission – been a while since I have had one of those – just added to the occasion I suppose.

This all said, I still somewhat enjoyed the movie and the journey of the two main characters “Meet – yes Meet” & “Rajjo”; their onscreen chemistry came across well and their interactions complimented each others.
Not the best of Bollywood that I could have seen at the cinema I’m sure – however not the worst

Not to bad however:

From Me gets only    2½/ 5

Review by: Wookie

Tera Mira Ki Rishta is a Punjabi Love story (Luckily with English subtitles) which centres on the relationship between Rojjo (a young Punjabi girl who lives in a small village) & Meet (a rich kid whose parents emigrated to Canada).

   The movie starts of slowly as we find out that Rojjo’s best friend Hermann is getting married in 10 days. Hermann invites Rojjo to spend the 10 days before the wedding with her in order to get everything ready.

  We then meet meet. He and his parents have been invited to the wedding (he is Hermann’s cousin) however as Meets dad cant make the trip, Meet has to go with his mum.

    It is at the wedding that Meet first sets eyes on Rojjo and its love at first site, although they both try to deny it to themselves. However there is a spanner in the works.

    Honey’s dad is a friend of Meets family and as such wants to arrange a marriage between Meet & Honey, However when Honey finds out that Meet has no interest in her and sees that he likes Rojjo she sets about to try to destroy there relationship by telling Meet’s mum that Rojjo is looking for a rich guy to emigrate with. This leads to the films dramatical moment where Meets mum accuses Rojjo and her dad Sarji of trying to manipulate meet into marrying Rojjo so she can become rich This concludes the first part of this 3 hour movie.

    After the intermission we find out that Meet is willing to stay behind and become a crop farmer and change his identity (he becomes Preet) in able to win back the love of his life and to get Rojjo’s dad’s blessing. But this is not as easy as it sounds as Sarji is not willing to forgive Meet.

   In my opinion the film was too long at around 3 hours. But the film did have good heart. The main characters played their parts well however there were some who totally overacted i.e. the villain of the piece Shangaira. And there were some characters that were introduced and then forgot about. i.e. The cousin (who’s name I cant remember) that demanded respect from everyone when they arrived for the wedding. He was never seen again. Also Baloo (the wedding planner) and his relationship with one time girlfriend Pirri. (It sets up the character plot, they get the documents they need for her divorce, She is never seen again). Honey is also never seen again after Meet says he will marry her if she stays in his run down farm. All in all this made the film quite disjointed.

Movie Rating 2 stars

Would the wookie recommend it?     THE WOOKIE WOULDN’T

Review by: Axis 

Tera Mira Ki Rishta is a Bollywood film and the first full film i have seen of this genre.

The film follows the story of a young woman Rajjo getting ready for her best friends wedding. As you can expect these are big family affairs and over comes the Auntie from Canada with her son Meet. The Canadian based family are wealthy and it isn’t long before Meet and Rajjo fall for each other.

True love never runs smooth (and this is the central theme of the film) and while building their fellings for one another schemers behind the scens plot against the couple and try to force Meet’s mother to insist that he date their daughter instead. Meanwhile they insult the father of Rajjo a local respected farmer and this causes him to take his daughter away before they can trully be together.

Meet decides to stay in India and become a farmer (like his dad in Canda) to prove to Rajjo that he loves her and will give up his life abroad for her.

Meanwhile the local villan who for years has been ripping off the farmers of the area decides to hatch a plan to expose Meet & Rajjo to her father and thus embaress him beyond repair.

I won’t spoil the ending but it as as you’d expect.

There’s a riot of colour and good chemistry between the 2 leads, as is a feature of many Bollywood movies there are several songs that express the characters inner feelings. There are a couple of comedic moments in what is a Love story.

All in all it’s not a bad movie but it is really long (more than 2.5 hours not counting the intermission!!!) it could have done with being cut down by 30 minutes or so because 90 minutes in when it should have been building to a climax you sensed it was still a long way away.

The Axis Angle: 2.5 out of 5

GRAN TORINO

Movie Review

 Release date: 27/02/09

Running time: 116 mins

Director: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley, Clint Eastwood

The Movie Ratings

 Review by: dmk

I was told gran torino was a film about an old guy who is racist, nasty, and mean – the antagonist of the piece, but by the end you come to like him, and everyone is rooting for him.

I saw the trailer for it, and thought it was like a remake of Death Wish. I wasn’t looking forward to it…

In the end, it was neither of these things, and Clint Eastwood demonstrated yet again his versatility, and also his ability to make really good films – I think he may get more recognition as a director now than he ever did as an actor.

I will try not to give anything away plot-wise, but there may be spoilers, so please beware.

Clint plays a grizzled war veteran. His wife has just died, and he has no emotional connection with his sons or their families. Effectively this leaves him alone in the neighbourhood he has clearly lived in forever and in which he has become the last of his kind. Everyone else has long moved out, the neighbourhood turned over to immigrants that Clint doesn’t know and doesnt want to know. He is content to see out his remaining days wallowing in his own misery and guilt, keeping himself to himself, minding his own business.

This is where the first misconception is discovered – he is not a racist. He simply does not want to mix with his neighbours.

It is true that there is a lot of race-related dialogue, and most of what he says is very un-pc, but the words and phrases he uses are mainly throwbacks to his upbringing, and in fact show a real understanding and connection with the many different cultures in the film. For the most part the characters are very comfortable with their social and cultural differences, and are not scared to acknowledge them. Yes, its a pc nightmare, but it’s so relaxed and easy that no one gets offended, and it actually brings them closer. This is a vision of how life could be and how life should be.

Be recognizing the differences, by not being afraid to offend, and by not hiding behind politically correct labels, the characters get a clearer and more honest view of each other. They are not afraid to ask questions, and they learn about each other very quickly. It’s a level of openness that the world is losing.

Clint gets too involved too quickly. He knows he is doing it, and he clearly does not want to, but he clearly can’t help it. Misconception two – grizzled, gnarly, mean, and abusive as he may appear (as he actually is), he is actually a nice guy, and very well respected – as you learn from the strong bonds he has with his long standing friends.

So he gets involved with his Hmong neighbours, and manages to prevent a few violent exchanges between gang members. It escalates, as we knew it would. That is basically the plot, but it isn’t the film.

The film is about a man offered a second chance and a young boy in need of guidance. The boy gets a guide in Clint, and Clint gets to connect with the boy in the way that he wishes he could have with his sons.

Its a drama then, not an action flick. It’s a well acted piece (from mainly newcomers), well scripted with snappy dialogue laced with humour and realism.

Not my idea of a film, really, yet I was hooked from the start. It’s not going to be everyones taste, but I recommend everyone to at least give it a chance.

An unexpected delight, I give it 5 stars.