Pancakes for everyone!

I recently revisited Despicable Me, re-screened on tv to promote its sequel's imminent release and it got me thinking about another of Steve Carel's roles. It's a similar job description, suffered by many before him including, most famously, Mr Bennet, a title affectionately referred to as Abu El Banat by Jed Bartlett and a role executed supremely by my own excellent paternal role model... it is Father of Daughters.

This is a really offbeat comedy about the dysfunction only family creates with moments that ring true and either delight or sting as a result. It has a terrific cast (as does almost everything I recommend to you!) with nuanced performances and a family you both wish you were a part of and are dreadfully grateful you aren't!

Check out...

Dan in Real Life

Plot: Taking time out from a weekend away with his extended family, widower and daggy father of three daughters, Dan meets the perfect woman. But there's a surprise waiting for him at home that complicates things.

Cast: Steve Carell (Crazy Stupid Love), Juliet Binoche (Chocolat) Dianne Wiest (The Birdcage), Alison Pill (The Newsroom), John Mahoney (Frasier), Emily Blunt (Wild Target)

Director: Peter Hedges (About A Boy)

Watch the trailer

http://youtu.be/8SqaWEBSd4g

Like this. See:

* What's Eating Gilbert Grape

* Definitely, Maybe

* As Good As It Gets

Keep it in the family

With the infiltration of S&M lingo into mainstream media, everyone seems to have a safe word these days. As for me, post Fight Club I strive to find my cave in which to 'slide'. 

I often find having a scene which always makes me smile can lift even the most dampened spirit. A pivotal scene in this became my happy place this year. 

I wasn't too sure what to expect from a movie that starts with a wife asking for a divorce and then follows the broken man that results from this event but if there's a guy I want to see pull through it, it's Carell. Maybe it's because I never watched The Office and missed his forays into Wil Ferrell film territory, but I find his more dramatic performances have the bruises of stark reality.

Julianne Moore and Emma Stone are also big favourites of mine, especially when given opportunity to flex their respective comedic talents.

And, like DiCaprio, Gosling had previously proven himself as vastly more than the heartthrob people later labelled him. 

Check out...

Crazy Stupid Love

Plot: While navigating the dating scene following his separation from his childhood sweetheart wife, Cal meets ladies man Jacob who coaches him through the rediscovery of his manhood, which will ultimately improve them both.

Cast: Steve Carell (Dan In Real Life), Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine, The Notebook), Julianne Moore (The Kids Are Allright, A Single Man), Emma Stone (Easy A), Marisa Tomei (Only You), Kevin Bacon (The Following)

Watch the trailer 

Like this? See

• Dan In Real Life
• Happythankyoumoreplease

Shattered

In the tradition of the best of John Grisham this movie surprised me. It is very well acted by two stellar leading men and the plot twists but not in an overly predictable manner. Check out 

FRACTURE

A lawyer keen to fast track his career is waylaid by a cunning criminal who has committed the perfect murder.

Dir: Gregory Hoblit (Untraceable, Primal Fear)

Cast: Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs), Ryan Gosling (The Place Beyond the Pines, Drive), Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day), Embeth Davitz (Bicentennial Man), Billy Burke (Twilight)

Watch the trailer

Like This? See

• Murder by Numbers
• The Lincoln Lawyer

Austen it up

I'm in a bit of a funk this week and, having watched a bit of Elementary and The Following so having Jonny Lee Miller & James Purefoy in my mind, found myself craving a bit of Austen. 

While most people are more familiar with adaptations of Austen's other work (P&P, S&S, Emma) I still enjoy a bit of Mansfield Park. My favourite adaptation came out after the hugely popular BBC Colin Firth version of P&P and the Oscar winning S&S by which time movie goers were a tad over Austened. But check out this cast... 

Frances O'Connor (A.I.)

Jonny Lee Miller (Elementary)

Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey)

James Purefoy (The Following)

Alessandro Nivola (Junebug)

Embeth Davidz (Fracture)

Lindsay Duncan (Under the Tuscan Sun)

Sophia Myles (Tristan & Isolde)

I do love when an Australian is cast as the lead in a very English production! And it's about to be rereleased on DVD next week. Check it out.

Mansfield Park

Watch the trailer

PS Interestingly Jonny Lee Miller has appeared in two Austen adaptations, this one and as Knightley in 2009's Emma.

Italy on a budget

My handsome hubby delighted me with this week's movie on DVD. It's a real favourite of mine due to its charming story of self discovery, regardless of romanticism. Based on the memoirs of Frances Mayes.

I highly recommend...

UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN

Dir: Audrey Wells

Cast: Diane Lane (Unfaithful), Sandra Oh (Sideways), Lindsay Duncan (Lost in Austen)

Plot: While on vacation in Italy, a recently divorced writer buys a villa on a whim in the hope it might start a change in her life for the better (imdb).

Watch the trailer 

Nun too bad

So it's been quite awhile since my last post. My apologies, that's what happens when you love your job, buy a house then have a baby.

But we are back in business with a new look and to celebrate, I'll keep it short and sweet. This is the best film I've seen of late, recommended over and over again to me I finally saw it and wow! I never really got the hoopla about Jeremy Renner. He was great in The Hurt Locker and I always liked him in SWAT but with his aggressive performance in The Town, I'm on the bandwagon!
Affleck really made his mark behind the camera with Gone Baby Gone, a gritty twist on whodunit. The Town is dark, humanistic and you won't guess where it's going... Plus lovely throwbacks to Point Break ;)

THE TOWN

Dir: Ben Affleck

Cast: Ben Affleck (Argo), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Rebecca Hall (The Prestige), Jon Hamm (Mad Men)

Plot: Falling for the victim of his last heist and with a determined FBI agent closing in, bank robber Doug attempts to avoid that one last job that could end it all.

Watch the trailer

Like this?  See

• Heat
• Layer Cake
• Point Break

Maximum security space

Remember when action films had the thinnest of plots, basically just a premise, but they were incredibly fun?! They starred some geezer hired for physique over acting chops? Villians were vile and even a bit mental? And the hero took smart arsery to a whole new level?

Now picture a film with all this but a truly talented actor at the helm. This is Lockout. The trailer had me in the first comeback! And a pretty rip snorting cast too.

I highly recommend a romp with...

LOCKOUT

Dir: James Mather & Stephen St Leger

Cast: Guy Pearce (Prometheus, LA Confidential), Maggie Grace (Taken)

Plot: A man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S. is offered his freedom if he can rescue the President's daughter from an outer space prison taken over by violent inmates.

Watch the trailer 

Like this? See\

• The Last Boy Scout
• Die Hard
• True Lies