Showing posts with label Martin Freeman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martin Freeman. Show all posts

Thursday, August 1, 2013

The World's End

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike
Directed by Edgar Wright
Rating: B

The comedic duo Pegg and Frost continue their community themed films in this pub-crawl, apocalyptic fest. 

As in "Shaun of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz" and now "The World's End", the main characters end up in a village where it's "them" against the community. Be it elderly people, or as the villains are called in the newest movie "the network", the recurring theme is a utopian community. The town has finally rid the wrongdoers and almost everyone is peaceful. The wrong are put right and there are no worries, until Pegg and Frost come along.

"The World's End" is another buddy movie with Gary King (Pegg) and Andy Knightley (Frost) who start the film at odd ends but by the end have patched up their best friendship. Gary is facing his mid-life crisis in rehab when he realizes his life never got better after one legendary night. His solution? Call up the gang to finish the golden mile pub crawl in their hometown. It takes some convincing for his grown up friends with wives and successful jobs to join him when they all hold grudges against Gary.

After the first of twelve pubs, the gang runs into mayhem in the bathroom when they discover the townspeople aren't human. They bleed blue ink when Gary pops the head off of a robot (which they insist they are not). Using Gary's own logic, it would only make sense for the group to march on to the last pub, The World's End. They just have to make it to the end without tipping off the townspeople they know their secret.

The movie sticks to the same humor as in "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz", so past fans shouldn't be disappointed in the latest product of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. Lines are sprinkled with pop culture references like Legoland, and Starbucks. The film also makes a statement on franchising and updating the old with the new. Their old town has modern art, the pubs look more like family restaurants, and crime has gone down.

Overall, "The World's End" does not disappoint and for those looking for a good British comedy, this is the one to spend a movie ticket on.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Love Actually


Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Laura Linney, Martin Freeman, Keira Knightley
Directed by Richard Curtis
Rating: A

An ensemble movie with a huge cast, "Love Actually" tells the stories of different people's love stories during the Christmas holidays. Jamie Bennett (Firth) finds out the hard way that his girlfriend is cheating on him -with his brother- and he takes to France during the winter holidays to write. Daniel (Neeson) just lost his wife and has a young stepson who locks himself in his room all day. Daniel tries to connect with him, since they both lost someone very important in their lives. Hugh Grant plays the British Prime Minister (he doesn't have a proper name in this movie) and is distracted from his job by the one of the household staff, Natalie (Martine McCutcheon).

"Love Actually" is a great movie to watch for any occasion. It's a great Christmas movie to watch, perfect for Valentines Day, and to watch during the summer when you're craving a good British film. "Love Actually" isn't the average cheesy romance that we tend to see in the U.S. It has substance, humor, a great cast, and yes, romance. It's not just a "chick flick" because there are actually a good handful of guys who appreciate this movie too. So there! It's great for all audiences but it does have some rated "R" moments so anyone under sixteen might have to wait.

"Love Actually" doesn't bore you with one straight plot line. Instead you follow different characters (and it's not too confusing to remember who's who but you might have to watch it a second time). This is one of my favorite movies of all time (number two!) and you can never go wrong gathering some friends and watching this for a fun movie night.