Wild Target (2009)

It's kind of surprising how many movies there are about hitmen. There are a couple of John Cusack films, the Jean Renot/Natalie Portman film, at leat half a dozen Jason Statham films, a pair of Tom Berenger films and these are just the ones that I can think of off the top of my head. A subset of these are comedies and ones that I find quite funny. Perhaps it's the juxtaposition of the absurdity with the fatality. There are certain spy films that utilize a comedic aspect - the super spy who is living the secret life and goes to extremes to keep those around him or her thinking that they are just an average person, usually going about it in a comedic manner. The comedic hitman films mirror this style of spy film. This film follows along similar lines, though Victor (Bill Nighy) is trying terribly hard to hide what he does, yet he doesn't just tell Rose (Emily Blunt) or Tony (Rupert Grint) what it is that he really does, letting them think he's a private detective which he tells Rose in one of the worst lies ever made funnier than you would think when she just buys it lock, stock and barrel.
I really like Bill Nighy's work, so would have tracked this film down just for that, but was intrigued by Rupert Grint. I recently saw The Perks of Being a Wallflower with Emma Watson and was delighted to see that she could be someone else other than Hermione Grainger. I am happy to report that Rupert Grint did a marvelous job and was quite funny. I am glad he has been able to find something other than Ron Weasely. Though I didn't know how old this was until I watched it, so I guess this was filmed when Grint was on break from the Harry Potter films. I guess I'll have to find something with Daniel Radcliffe now and complete the trifecta.
Not that I need another reason to recommend this film to anyone, past the good acting and madcap antics (that's right, I said antics), but the music is great. If I had watched this film even a year ago, I would have been unfamiliar with about half the songs, but somehow I stumbled upon an Irish Rock-a-billy performer named Imelda May that has three songs featured in the film including one over the closing credits. The lyrics and the feel of the songs are oddly suited for the scenes they're used with, which is I guess the sign of a good musical director, since I know the songs were not written for the film but for an earlier album she had released.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Martin Freeman in his brilliant (there's a joke there in the film) portrayal of Dixon the bad guy who is pursuing our little mismatched gang. It reminds me that he is capable of far more than serious adventure or sleuthing and takes me back to his days on the Office and in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I do believe also had Bill Nighy. His character is reminiscent of Dan Akroyd's in Grosse Point Blanke. He was very funny to watch.

Wild Target on IMDb

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)

This film has a great cast - Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson - just to name the most famous. You would expect that anything these folks acted in would be great. And if you expected that for this film, you would not be disappointed.
Most of the film takes place in India. Wow. It's so beautiful and terrifying at the same time. There are so many people, all the time. But the people are  a beautiful people.
I wish I had something profound to say about this movie. I don't. And the movie doesn't have anything profound to say either. It has a simple message and shows both examples of how it works and how it doesn't work. And that is why it works. This is a very well done simple movie that depends on great acting from great actors.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at IMDb

Total Recall (2012)

I hate it when I can't remember if I'm with Kate Beckinsale or if I'm with Jessica Biel. Kate'll be all like, "we're such a happy little married couple" and then there'll be a knock on the door and it's Jessica and she's all like, "you ain't married to that bitch!" And then you have to go and fight some androids. I hate those days.
I was just reading a little about this film in preparation for viewing iit. I read, what I thought was a credible source, an article stating that they didn't try and base this as much on the Schwarzenegger movie as they did off of the CBC series, "Total Recall 2099". I think perhaps someone was pulling my leg. There are homages to the original film throughout. Yet, it does have much the same aesthetic as the television show and does take place on Earth after a war like the series. And yes, I am the only United States citizen who watched the Canadian sci-fi mystery procedural. Because it was there, okay? Because there is not enough good sci-fi programming available and you end up watching what you can get. And to be honest, the show wasn't that bad.
This actually followed the major story points of the first movie pretty closely for the first 75% of the film. The last quarter is still roughly inline, minus that whole 'we're on Mars' bit and the aliens, and making the inhospitable livable again. I kind of thought they might go that route in this, like at the end it turns out that devices have been built to clean the air of the "No Zone".
Most everything about this movie I was able to buy, except the whole bit about the Fall. I sincerely doubt that the most feasible way to get from Sydney to London will ever be through the Earth's core in a giant elevator. And they totally fucked up the whole gravity bit at the core. There would be no one to two minute zero g experience. It made for some cool cinematics, and offered a reason for our star to seem to be all but captured, when really the very Earth itself if pulling for him. Sorry. I can't help myself with the puns here.
The people I know who have seen this film and the original all lament, groan even, that they were remaking this movie. I did to at first, but for a different reason. The person I talked with today said that the Schwarzenegger flick was so great, that you couldn't compete with Farrell. Whereas, I didn't want a remake because I thought the original was so bad. It's an Arnold Schwarzenegger film for christ's sake! Throw in a few future doodads, a hooker with 3 boobs and set it on Mars and everyone is talking like it's the best envisioning of a Dick story since Blade Runner and maybe even better than that. Really? That older movie was action packed, but poorly acted. The Guvanator has never been known for his great great acting ability. Never. Now I do buy the nostalgia angle. I myself have fond memories of this movie because of who I saw it with and that evening. But I saw it as part of a double feature with the other film being Jean-Claude Van Damme's "Universal Soldier" and I thought that film was the stronger of the two. I am fond of lot's of things that are not great, but are special none-the-less. That is the only reason I can think of why people are so fond of the original.
This movie has some great actors. I've already mentioned Beckinsale and Biel and of course it stars Colin Farrell, who may from all reports be a prick, but he can still act and quite decently. We also get to see Bryan Cranston, as a genuine, mother fucking, action star. He kicks some ass and looks good doing it. He had a pretty big year last year, with both this film and Argo coming out. Yay Brian. In my opinion, not enough good things can happen for this man. Oh, and there's some guy, an older British bloke, who does a fairly decent, as always, job - Mr. Bill Nighy. Rounding out the major players is Bokeem Woodbine, whom the last time I saw him was playing a police officer partnered with a vampire played by Adrian Paul (of Highlander the television series fame) and the lover of another vampire played by Bai Ling. He could only have come up from that and still been on my radar, so nice to see that he hasn't just disappeared.
The special effects and visual effects were the reason I wanted to watch this film, as I fully expected it to be total crap. The FX did not let me down, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I liked the film, because even though the story was just as ludicrous as the first film's, it was executed very well by a more than pasable cast.
The one thing that bothered me about this story, okay maybe main would be a better word than one, is present in both films. At the beginning when Quaid/Hauser is first going into Recall, the whole shit-storm happens just after he's been injected. Okay, confessional time, I haven't read the Philip K. Dick story in so long, that it is feasible to me that I never read it at all. But, if I were writing the story, I would run them as the movies did, and that right at the very end, after the credits have already started rolling go back in and show it all to be a recall session, and you could go with either successful or perhaps more appropriately a failure in which he can't wake up from the session. I've always felt that's the way Dick did it, or would have done it. Ugh, I am so lame for not knowing what he did, but I will fix that. You will have to take my word for it that I have.
For the record, nothing happens during the credits, other than the statement, and I quote, "Based on the motion picture "Total Recall"" which comes right before they list the Second Unit and Visual Effects credits. At the top of the credits we get, "Inspired by the short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick". I think that pretty much puts to rest what this film was actually based on.

Total Recall on IMDb

Wrath of the Titans (2012)

Ladies and gentlemen! Gods and weird six-armed demon dudes! I present to you the fight of the year! And it's not what you think. You know after the first interaction between Perseus (Sam Worthington) and Zeus (Liam Neeson) how this movie is going to play out, and  being that it's rather starved for attention, it doesn't want to let you down. The real fight is between the storyline and Greek myth. And I don't mean to ruin this for you, but Greek myth does not win.
On one end of the Greek myth-as-movie spectrum you have Troy, which has all the names right and no godly stuff at all. On the second end of the spectrum you have Clash of the Titans (the new one) getting some of the names right and some of the deeds right and lots of godly super power stuff and on the the third end of the spectrum, you have the Percy Jackson books and movie which don't try to get it right because they are interpreting for a new generation and it has lots of godly stuff and demi-godly stuff. This movie, Wrath of the Titans falls equidistant between Clash and Jackson and three-quarters of the way away from Troy.
What the movie got right: Perseus is the son of Zeus. Zeus, Hades and Poseiden are brothers. Ares is the son of Zeus. Kronos is the father of Zeus, Hades and Poseiden.
What the movie got half-way right: Perseus and Andromeda - Perseus doesn't hook up with some chick to be his baby mama and then hook up with Andi years later, he's supposed to be with her from the start. Perseus and Pegasus - Pegasus assisted Perseus in his adventure with Medusa, but not any other adventures.
What the movie got wrong: Everything else. How can Perseus be the grandfather of Heracles if Zeus dies before Perseus has any kids with Andromeda? How is it that the Titans have power and the demi-gods have power, but the gods lose their power? How can Perseus have killed Ares before Ares makes his appearance in Troy? How is it that I'm even concerned about how this movie compares to Greek myth? The answer is sequels, baby! I am officially casting my vote for the movie to be called "Remember the Titans" so that people are always thinking they are about to watch a movie about football. Or, they can call it, 'Episode 6: The Return of the Demi'
It's time for me to get over my geeky worries and realize that no one is watching this film to see and accurate portrayal of the Greek myths involving Perseus. And they're not watching it to see Sam Worthington, because if they are it's just too sad for me to bear. If they're smart, they're watching this movie to see Liam Neeson, Ralph Feinnes, Rosamund Pike or Bill Nighy. If they had cast Clive Owen as Perseus, this could have been a brilliantly well-acted movie, and if they had different writers who were actually interested in Greek myth instead of making money, this movie could have been brilliant across the board.

Wrath of the Titans at IMDb