Funny People

I'm not a huge fan of comedies, it's just not my genre and I tend to stay away from it, sometimes missing good films, like for example Funny People. (thank you, DVR)

I'm not a big fan/follower of Adam Sandler, some of the things I've seen are funny, some are not.

In Funny People, I really liked him.

He plays the part of a superstar comedian, George Simmons, who finds out he's dying of cancer and doesn't know who to turn to, since he lives alone and miserable, going through life like a ghost.

Seth Rogen comes to the rescue as his assistant and only friend, he's trying to break in as a stand up comedian. Someone like George could help him out.

I liked some of Judd Apatow films (Pineapple Express and partially Knocked Up), but not all of them so I was prepared to be entertained by some sort of comedy, with a clever/funny/smart tone but definitely not something so engrossing and engaging.

The film is incredibly serious.

There are laughters of course, thanks to the brilliant cast that includes Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman as Seth Rogen's room mates, but overall the tone is very sober.

Eric Bana is the one playing the comedian here, his Australian accent was just hilarious and it was impossible not to laugh at everything he was saying.

Anyway, pretty much in the middle of the film, a super tall Swedish doctor (lookalike of the blond bad guy from Die Hard) gives George Simmons the good news: he's not dying.

What? He knows that the few people that gathered around him because they thought he was dying, are going to go away now, leaving him alone once again. He's almost sorry to hear that he's not going to die just yet.

So he sets on a mission to get back together with the only woman who loved him, who has now 2 kids and is married with Eric Bana.

I liked the desperation of the character, trying to get a hold of the flame and passion and love he shared with this woman in the past. Once he gets it, or he gets closer to get it back, he freaks out and loses it.

He's so miserable and self absorbed he can't even enjoy a tear-jerking performance of "Memory" by one of the kids at some school recital. That scene is the key to understand where the character is going in the entire second part of the film, up to the end.

If you haven't seen it, set your DVR or rent the DVD, you will be shocked by how good it is.

I was.

Some images from Ocean Beach

Taken with the iPhone camera, surprisingly good.

The Next Three Days

The pacing was probably the best thing of this thriller.

An ordinary man (played by Russell Crowe, another great performance--sorry I can't be objective about him) founds himself pushed to his limits and beyond when his wife (Elizabeth Banks) is arrested for murder and is sentenced to spend 20 years in jail.

I'm not familiar with the original French movie that inspired Paul Haggis to write The Next Three Days, so I can't make any comparison.

One thing that confused me in the middle of the plot and the action is the character played by Lennie James. He's Lieutenant Nabulsi and he seems to be a psychic, when he immediately puts the pieces of the puzzle together and knows exactly what Russell is going to do and how.

We're talking about Sherlock Holmes on speed, without Watson's help.

The most confusing thing for me was that his character was not introduced at all in the first part of the movie.

There's a couple of detectives already on the case, they are the ones that entered the house and arrested Elizabeth Banks.

One of them also noticed Russell outside the prison, throwing up and naturally you'd think they will be the ones going after Russell and Elizabeth once they get on the run, but no.

Why?

Out of the blue, here comes Lennie James. Another detective in the mix.

Overall I enjoyed the film, the cast is great and I like Paul Haggis's writing and style. I know some people hated Crash, some loved In the Valley of Elah and almost everybody loved Casino Royale, as for me I just like the guy.

One of the twist I liked is the location of the birthday party.

Russell believes it's going to be at Olivia Wilde's house ("13" from House) and when he goes there with his wife to run away and escape the road blocks and the police... BANG!

No one is at the house, if I remember correctly they all went to the Zoo. The image of the Aquarium with Russell running out of time looking for his son is really beautiful.

At the end, we finally see what really happened the night of the murder Elizabeth is accused of, (can't ruin the film for you now) not completely a surprise but I think it would have worked much better if the detective putting together the pieces of the murder mystery was also the same one running after them.

I honestly have no idea what function the extra detective character plays in the movie.