Funny People (2009)

A comedian faces off with the long kiss goodnight. Funny people is insightful, quirky, though its harrowing at times due to the subject matter. Its clever but not funny as people expect its more a perspective of the life behind the on stage persona of a comedian. I think this film is destined to be misunderstood as some people just wont get the pathos. It has funny moments but there’s lots of drama as well. I really enjoyed looking at the life of a comedian from behind the scenes and did you notice the all star cast? The talent pool drawn from in this was not wasted, its a great movie.

Death Proof

So the plot…  Stunt driver Mike has a bad habit of killing people in his car which he has ‘deathproofed’ (his side only – sorry ladies).

Who wouldn’t pay money to see Kurt Russell as a bad guy driving around looking for people to kill in a black American muscle car.  And who wouldn’t love seeing him cry like like a bitch when the tables are turned.

As always the stylings of Tarantino are written all over this flick with a clever soundtrack, fantastic stunts, replays of action shots and dynamic cinematography.  The technical style of filming was interesting, changing from grainy colour reminiscent of a drive in screen, to a black and white Art Nouveau feel, to bright, fully saturated colour.  The style changes can mean that it breaks your connection to the story and you have to settle and reconnect again, but this is something Tarantino does on purpose and it does seem to have a refreshing effect.  Like an interval in a play before it starts a new section.  The film is what fans expect, dialogue heavy, style conscious, graphically violent, brilliantly written and directed, with a killer cast.

A thoroughly enjoyable film.  One of my fave Tarantino films.  Zoe Bell shines as Tarantinos latest muse and as always the extras are well worth watching, a free lesson from a film great.  The story was refreshing and it was fun to watch Kurt Russell being bad!  The movie buff friend I saw it with, became ‘deathproof’ crazy!  Watching it another four times taking her total to five times in one week – a record even for her.  Be warned.

Scariest moments:
The Kurt Russell nachos scene – I’m not sure I’ll be able to eat nachos again.
The lap dance scene, with Butterfly and Kurt Russell, he looks soooo old.

Fun fact:  Tarantino originally wanted Mickey Rourke for the part of Mike but Rourke turned him down (he also turned him down for the part of Butch in Pulp Fiction which then went to Bruce Willis).

You Kill Me

In this offbeat black comedy Ben Kingsley plays Frank a hitman for the Polish mob with a drinking problem.  Frank’s drinking is affecting his work and he’s killing people badly and sometimes not at all.  The mob sends him to the West Coast to dry out where he meets Laurel (Tea Leoni) and that’s where things get really interesting.  This flick was surprising, refreshing and hilarious.