Through the Opera Glasses - 33 - Law Abiding Citizen

Just went to see Law Abiding Citizen tonight with my cousin and fellow Gerard Butler admirer Julianne MacLean.













Bruce McGill, Leslie Bibb and Jamie Foxx play a team of lawyers who prosecute the murderer of Clyde Shelton's wife and daughter.











Clyde (Gerard Butler) is distraught when he learns the case will not go to trial - and that a deal has been struck, letting one of the attackers off with only a few years in prison.












He does not go quietly into a grieving future. A decade later, Clyde returns to address the the injustices he has suffered.













He holds Nick (Jamie Foxx) personally responsible, but the entire justice system will feel Clyde's wrath as his devious revenge gets underway.













Detective Dunnigan (Colm Meaney) and Nick attempt to stop Clyde from continuing with his hit list, but Clyde has been planning this for quite some time. Not even the prison walls can contain his calculated fury.












As I mentioned in a previous post over at Popculturedivas, when it comes to Gerry, I'm completely incapable of remaining objective when it comes to reviewing his work. If he's in it, I'm there, baby.

Especially if he's in chains, on his knees and on the edge of sanity.

Of course, Gerry wielding brutal force, intimidating opponents and gazing out with his Scorpio intensity is never discouraged.

More objectively, IMDB users give Law Abiding Citizen a 7.6/10 rating.



Michelle Johnson says I know what you mean by watching whatever Gerard is in as he's a really good actor and it doesn't hurt that he's easy on the eyes.

Annette Gallant says I didn't know you liked Gerard Butler! (LOL kidding!)

Through the Opera Glasses - 24 - The Ugly Truth

As some of you may know by now, when it comes to Gerard Butler, I react to him on a cellular level.


This may skew my reaction to a film like The Ugly Truth, which is getting stinkeroo reviews from critics - and enthusiastic endorsement from filmgoers.





















Katherine Heigl plays Abby, a successful TV producer but unsuccessful dater.

She inherits Mike (Gerard Butler,) a low-rent shock jock who tells The Ugly Truth on his call-in show. The truth as he sees it regarding the battle of the sexes, that is.













Abby's boss wants the ratings Mike is guaranteed to pull in.












Abby wants to date her new neighbor, hunky doctor Colin (Eric Winter) without destroying her chances before they even begin.










Mike offers to coach her past her own dismal track record if she'll give his show a chance.













Here's the thing. Even though we follow Abby more than we follow Mike, the film is really presented from Mike's male point of view. This is a how-to-find-true-love romantic comedy told through a jaded man's focus - an outlook that is raunchy, obnoxious and unrepentent.

What I find really strange is the derision handed out to The Ugly Truth by critics, when I laughed throughout the movie - and so did everyone in the theatre.

So here's a battle of the critics versus the filmgoers.










Peter Travers from Rolling Stone gives it half a star out of four stars.

"Katherine Heigl once complained that Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, in which she starred, was way too guy-centric and made the women humorless shrews. Heigl owes Apatow an apology. The Ugly Truth, Heigl's new romcom, is the real sexist swill."










Internet Movie Data Base user michelem3 says, "I saw this movie at a preview event last Friday night and it was hilarious. The sold out cinema was laughing hysterically throughout the movie. Butler has great comedic timing complimenting his tough guy persona. If you are expecting to see a typical romantic comedy you will be surprised, because this R rated film is geared toward the men in the audience as well as the ladies. Grab your significant other and be prepared to laugh and enjoy the movie together."










Jason Anderson for The Toronto Star gives it one and a half stars out of four.

"These reluctant co-workers declare a truce when a hunky surgeon moves into Abby's apartment complex and she solicits Mike's advice on how to land him. Imagine what follows as George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion except with a potty-mouthed Henry Higgins instructing Eliza Doolittle on how to dress more like a stripper."










From IMDB user LadyMacbeth75:

"I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. My husband was happy to watch a romantic comedy from the male perspective as well as the female for a change. The typical fairy tale elements seem to go by the wayside here and we're left with a harsher but very funny battle-of-the-sexes comedy for the times in which we now live."










Manohla Dargis from the New York Times writes:

"That tap-tap-tapping sound you hear is another nail being driven into the coffin of the romantic comedy. Which leads to The Ugly Truth, a cynical, clumsy, aptly titled attempt to cross the female-oriented romantic comedy with the male-oriented gross-out comedy that is interesting on several levels, none having to do with cinema."












IMDB user tomjanjess says:

"I have not laughed so much over a movie as I did watching The Ugly Truth. This film was hysterical. It is a must see movie for both men and women. The scene in the restaurant just about sent me into a fit. I could not stop laughing. The baseball scene was just as funny. Guys would relate to a lot of the scenes in this movie. I cannot understand how the critics rate a movie poorly when the audience was roaring with laughter from beginning to end."












Liam Lacey from the Globe and Mail gives it one star out of four:

"If Doris Day and Rock Hudson had made jokes about vibrating panties and fellatio at the ballpark, just think how much funnier their romantic comedies would have been. That appears to have been the brainwave behind The Ugly Truth. The script was written by three women. They try desperately to copy Judd Apatow's recipe for romantic raunch but succeed only in reversing his snigger-to-flinch ratio."













IMDB user tabuno says:

"This romantic comedy had two gut wrenching belly laugh scenes, along with a more in-your-face sexist look at the differences between men and women which in some ways could be closer to the truth than more 'enlightened' people may want to admit. It is understandable why most critics didn't have much positive to say, but these politically-incorrect sexist comments have at their core some resonance in how men and women actually feel and think. This is a movie that says what many of us want to say, but are afraid to admit, but also enlightens the mass audience with some actual relationship truths by the end of the movie. Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler do have their own chemistry and there is a hidden playfulness that comes out that for some critics might seem childishly crude, but in many respects is so real."

As for myself...well...I could watch Gerry on the dance floor for hours but had to settle for a mere few minutes...sigh...


CLICK HERE to watch the set-up scene from The Ugly Truth

Ms Snarky Pants says That looks really cute! Katherine Heigel is one of my favorites.

Shelley Munro says It sounds like my kind of movie. I never agree with the critics anyway.

Anne MacFarlane says Saw it. Laughed but the vulgarity...Actually, I still feel a little "eeew" when I think of it.

Through the Opera Glasses - 6 - Australia Releases on DVD Tuesday

Brad and I watched Baz Luhrmann's Australia on Sunday. My husband works at Blockbuster and brings home the new releases a week early. A big perk for us!


Both of us loved Australia. Baz Lurhmann is a favorite director of ours, even though he's only done four films so far: Strictly Ballroom (1992), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Australia (2008.)





David Gulpilil as King George













Young Brandon Walters is the film's heart as Nullah, a half-aboriginal, half-white boy trying to keep one step ahead of authorities trying to ship him off to the Mission School. He lives on the cattle station known as Faraway Downs.













Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) travels from England to Australia to sell her late husband's property. When she arrives Down Under, she discovers the neighboring cattleman, King Carney plans to absorb her station into his own. King Carney is played by one of my absolute favorite Australian actors, Bryan Brown.













The film is gorgeously shot by Mandy Walker. Look at this movie-star entrance into the film for Hugh Jackman.













Nicole Kidman gets to show some grit during a cattle drive, where Lady Ashley comes face to face with the lengths King Carney will go to maintain his cattle monopoly.

















But Australia really shines when The Drover strides onscreen. Hugh Jackman's rugged cattleman activates every feminine cell in a woman's body.


















I really enjoyed the magical realism of the boy's storyline, whose affinity for the land and its secrets is woven strongly throughout the film.


And the romance - did I mention the romance?



























How about the chaos of Japanese attacks on Australia in this WWII setting? Isn't it hard enough to realize how one feels about a love interest? Bombing raids out of nowhere really throw a wrench into the works.











Another favorite Australian actor, David Wenham plays an ambitious man who works for King Carney.

Here's the trailer for Australia. Enjoy!

Charmed by Enchanted

My mom and I went to see Kevin Lima's Enchanted this afternoon. It was the perfect thing for me. A sweet, tongue-in-cheek romance, Enchanted plays around with both fairy tale and Disney animated musical conventions. Rather like Shrek.










Starring Amy Adams as an animated princess about to marry the prince of her dreams, the film switches gears into the hardcore reality of New York City. Our heroine must make her way through this confusing new world. Luckily the force of her plucky belief in the best of life has a way of rubbing off on even the most jaded big city dweller.



One of these New Yorkers is a single father played by Patrick Dempsey. He ends up regretting his decision to bring the confused young woman out of the rain and into his apartment. The self-styled 'princess' sweeps him along and before he knows what's happening, he's falling in love with this odd result of his Good Samaritan moment.



Dempsey discovers his new roommate has been telling the truth when her royal intended shows up. James Marsden has a lot of fun with this puffy-shirt role!


Evil step-mom and queen Susan Sarandon grabs onto her villainous role with both hands. Pursuing her nephew's bride-to-be for purposes of elimination rather than family bonding, she puts both of the princess's beaux through their paces as the romantic triangle tries to sort itself out.


Amy Adams is really amazing. Making an animated personality work in live action is quite a feat. I'm also a big fan of James Marsden and got a big kick out of his joyous aren't-I-too-fabulous? prince. It was left to Patrick Dempsey to anchor the film in reality and he provides the perfect bridge between the 2D and 3D worlds.