Thursday 18 August 2011

Happiness is knowing who you really are, what you really want to do and being committed to doing it

A little late in posting about the weekend movie treats, so here’s the scoop – 3 stories of the rollercoaster of life, its ups and downs en route to finding your self , your place in the world and attempting to make it a better one.

 

Valkyerie
This was a wooden performance from Cruise – why doesn’t he take more risks and refine the talent shown in Magnolia and Eyes Wide Shut? The supporting “best of British” actors are the better ones here  – look for  the always good Bill Nighy as the procrastinating General Olbricht and equally so Tom Wilkinson as General Fromm;  add to that Kevin McNally, Eddie Izzard, Tom Hollander, Terence Stamp, Kenneth Brannagh as the key players in the plot to assassinate Hitler and you have a movie worth a watch
  ashramblings verdict: run of the mill thriller (3*)
The House Bunny
Being dependent upon borrowing movies from other volunteers one ends up watching things one never would have otherwise watched . Sometimes these can be delightful new discoveries, but often they are not.  This was one of the nots! A silly romp around a US university sorority house – never did get this concept, and probably never will. A complete waste of space movie
  ashramblings verdict:  leave it in the wastebin (0*)
 The Pursuit of Happyness
The misspelling  of Happiness comes from the day care where Chris leaves son Christopher in the hands of a Chinese nanny as he rushes back and forth across SF struggling to make a living from selling portable bone density scanners to hospitals. A chance encounter leads him to the world of stock brokers and so down to his last few dollars he undertakes a competitive unpaid 6 months internship. As his luck drains anyway father and son, loose their car, home, bank account and finally end up in a church run overnight rest stop for the homeless. With humour deftly added via scenes where the final scanners are stolen by the cities hippies and down and outs and recovered, repaired and  resold by Chris as he struggles to keep body and soul, father and son together, and financially solvent. The film portrays a good role model for black american youth. I actually enjoyed Will Smith’s performance through which one truly feels the emotional rollercoaster of Chris’s life fuelled by a fierce determination to maintain his relationship with his son and to succeed in order to do that. Naturally the film has a Hollywood ending but then it is based on the true story of  Christopher Gardner who eventually set up Gardner Rich & Co
  ashramblings verdict: (3*) adequately told inspirational story

No comments:

Post a Comment