About a Boy (2002)

Directed by: Chris and Paul Weitz (they both got their start with American Pie which was good (at the time) but I would probably say In Good Company is Paul’s best movie)

Written by: The Brothers Weitz and Peter Hedges earned a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination for their adaptation of Nick Hornby’s book of the same title.

Starring: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, Natalia Tena and Victoria Smurfit.

What it’s about: a man comfortable in his life of nothing meets a young boy and discovers there may be more to life than just existing

B-Movie Alternate Title: The Dead Duck Day

Movie Mash Up: I have no idea, and I am going to eliminate this category as a Regular part of the review.  If I can think up something, I’ll use it, though.

What I liked: Hugh Grant is, well I believe this is probably the best performance of his career.  The writing is great, and though I love Hornby’s novel, it is very set in its time.  Adapting such an era-specific novel into a film and making it near-timeless is a stunning achievement.  Besides Grant, the rest of the supporting cast are quite decent.  Love the score/soundtrack by Badly Drawn Boy.  I wouldn’t say it is a traditional Christmas movie, but there are elements to it that apply to the season.

What I disliked: Well, it’s not so much that I disliked anything as that I have altered my “full marks” review from years ago to a more reasonable rating.  I am not sure if it just didn’t age well or if I’m more easily distracted or if I’ve seen it so many times that it has little impact on me anymore, but it isn’t a full 5 anymore.  Still though, very good movie.

Would I recommend it to anyone?: Hard to say.  It does deal with some sensitive subject matter, but in my opinion, it is subject matter that everyone should be open to dealing with because you have no idea how much the people around you might be hurting.  It isn’t a laugh riot or anything, but it is a genuine movie, and I can’t believe that it is 10 years old now.

Rating: 4 / 5

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009)

There’s not a lot for me to love in Cirque du Freak: The Unnecessarily Long Title.  It’s got some great actors in it (everyone that I tagged) that are for the most part decent in their performances.  The lead actor, hold on, I have to look up this up.  Ah, Chris Massoglia.  Who?  No idea.  The entire movie, I wanted to punch him in his Ashton Kutcher-looking face.  And that’s the protagonist of the film.  Hated him, terrible choice.  It’s like when you put Jamie Foxx in a movie, whereas it sucks out any potential desire I might have had to see it.  Which is really unfortunate because I avoided seeing The Kingdom for years just because of Foxx starring in it.

This movie was directed by one of the Weitz brothers, Paul.  Now one of my favourite movies of all time is About A Boy which was directed by the brothers Weitz, and I suggest that Paul go back to directing with his brother again.  Maybe it was just that there was so much in this movie, it was like they were trying to satisfy every one  of the fans of the book it was based upon.  The only reason I know that it was based off a book (a trilogy no less!) is because of the Wiki.  Never heard of it before.  Recommendation to avoid!

1.5 / 5