One For The Money

Based on the best selling novel by Janet Evanovich, the first in the Stephanie Plum series has finally, after much anticipation made it's way onto the big screens with it's début One For The Money.

After being laid off from her managerial job in the lingerie department at Macy's, Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) is strapped for cash and the bills are piling. Lucky enough to live in the family orientated neighbourhood of "The Burg" in south Trenton New Jersey Stephanie is soon working for cousin Vinnie, a bail bondsman. She can hardly resist going on the hunt for high school flame and bad boy Joseph Morelli (Jason O'Mara), and the £50,000 she'd get if she catch him is just an added bonus. With the help of luck, charm and a covert mentor named Ranger (Daniel Sunjata), Stephanie Plum manages to play G.I Jane with minimal cuts and bruises along the way.

There couldn't be a more subjective movie for me to review, as the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich happens to be my favourite series of books. Here it goes. 

The movie I thought, though having a very substantial plot, lacked a lot of depth and meaning especially in character detailing. Plum's narration as a form of introduction to new characters seemed to mask their actual personalities so it just felt like everyone was playing their roles according to the omniscient direction of the narrator. Heigls New Jersey accent came and went when it pleased her and I felt as though she was putting little effort into filling the shoes of Stephanie Plum, as if dying her hair would be enough to get her into the characters mind set.

Other than that the cast choice was apt, the storyline was clear and the male leads of O'Mara and Sunjata provided enough jokes and eye candy to get us from the beginning to the end of the movie. 

To be honest that extra half a unicorn is out of the respect I have for the novel itself.

Chronicle

This teen sci-fi super power based movie tells the tale of just that. What happens when a few teens get science fiction super powers and more importantly the effects it has on each of them individually.

Andrew (Dane DeHaan) is the misunderstood individual that we all feel sorry for and just want to jump in and help whenever we see him get unfairly treated by family members and peers. Hiding behind a camera is just a new reason for the tormenting to continue but it's also the reason that he ends up gaining a seemingly closer relationship with, cousin Matt (Alex Russell) and Mr. popular Steve (Michael B. Jordan) when they ask him to document a strange hole they've found in the woods.

The camera becomes the latest musketeer after the incident in the woods when the three boys decided to use it to chronicle everything that happens to them. As they learn to strengthen their powers, use it to solve problems, gain acceptance and have fun they find that for them, the sky really is the limit.

But we all know the first line of the Superhero Bible; With great power comes great responsibility, flip a few pages and you also know that power is controlled by emotion. So when someone is destroying everything and everyone around him whose responsibility is it to put an end to the mayhem.

Whilst watching the movie I wasn't sure If I was enjoying it or not. Not something you want to have at the back of your mind while your're trying to live a movie with the characters on screen. The camera viewpoint, switching from handheld to steady cam, and breaking all the rules was genius but annoying. I personally couldn't sympathise with the main character and his problems. Also I felt that the girl used as the object of Matts desire was cliché, their history was under developed, unfinished and unnecessary. Regardless of the above the film was fun to watch and the start of the main event took me by pleasant surprise.

The Descendants

George Clooney shows us once and for all that just because you live in paradise, it doesn't mean that your life is a bed of freshly picked roses. In fact living in paradise just provides a more picturesque background setting for all the misery that life may throw at you.

Following a boating accident that leaves his wife Elizabeth comatose in hospital, Matt King (Clooney) becomes head parent to troublesome girls Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alex (Shailene Woodley). His wifes accident sparks a journey around the Hawaiian islands as Matt goes on a mission with his daughters in tow to inform, friends, family and enemies alike of the situation and possible outcomes, and to hopefully form a relationship with the two people in his family he seems to have drifted from.

Each family member deal with the accident differently, 10 year old Scottie being at a naive age is certain that everything will turn out just fine and goes about being her regular slightly abnormal self. 17 year old Alex, already having behavioural problems doesn't take the situation lightly. She copes by insisting upon having the  constant presence of friend Sid to help keep her grounded, much to her fathers annoyance.

As well as the shock of his wife's fatality and finding out information about the woman he thought he knew,  Matt also has to deal with the burden of being the head of his extended family. The pressure rises to sell the 250,000 acres of their inherited land to the right company, but will Matt he let his personal problems influence a decision that will benefit everyone around him.

Not more to say as this film was incredibly lovable and took you on a trip to a beautiful Island, it was a wonderfully felt drama with choice comedy moments and characters that provided the audience with some light relief to the other wise serious plot.