Tag Archive: emma stone


Gangster Squad

Filed under: Cinema by thefriedgold — Leave a comment
January 23, 2013

Gangster Squad (2013)

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone

gangster-squad-poster

 

 

LA is being overrun by an ex-boxer turned mafia gang leader Mickey Cohen and making the city, the people and the authorities his own. A squad of cops are recruited to take the city back before it is lost forever by doing whatever is necessary.

 

The film isn’t entirely serious and is sort of just a massive shoot ‘em up between the good guys and the bad guys. The story isn’t that memorable and there isn’t really that much care from the audience for any of the characters. However that said the film is good fun and a bit cartoony in places. There is a lot of killing in the film with some pretty gruesome scenes, especially the opening scene taking place behind the Hollywoodland sign.

emma stone-jessica rabbit

Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen is pretty terrifying at times and definitely not someone you would want to mess with. Ryan Gosling is too cool for school in this, as he is in most things and the lovely Emma Stone is stunning as the love interest and has the hint of the Jessica Rabbit about her.

 

 

 

 

 

Recommend

Ryan Gosling will entertain the ladies and Emma Stone will thrill the guys. The film was a good start to the year and had some fun parts but ultimately wasn’t a stand out hit. A fun watch but no real need to see it at the cinema.

TheFriedGold rating – 6/10 – Less Gangster Squad more Shooting Squad

 

 

Film Fact

The film was supposed to be released last year, 2012, but was sent back to production to reshoot some scenes and to cut out a scene involving a cinema being shot up.

 

 

 

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My Top Films of 2012 review

Filed under: Film News by thefriedgold — Leave a comment
January 9, 2013

Everyone does a review of the best films of the year that has just ended and I am not going to be the exception.

I probably went to the cinema more times in 2012 than I had in any previous years. There were some very good films out and also some very bad ones. I try to see as many as possible as I like to get a nice range of different genres.

I have thought long and hard about narrowing the films down to a top 5 of 2012 which means I have had to cut some good films out including Moonrise Kingdom, The Amazing Spiderman and, probably the closest to making my top 5, Argo.

So here is goes (note: this is not in any order) with the first 3 probably being very obvious and the last 2 being a little bit out there.

 

 

 

The Dark Knight Risesthe-dark-knight-rises-fire

What a perfect way to end the Dark Knight Trilogy. On 1st viewing I did think there were too many long 1 on 1 talking scenes and not enough action however on a second viewing I realised that they weren’t really that long and they really added to the closing of the story. Anything with Joseph Gordon Levitt in is great in my eyes and Tom Hardy is slowly turning into one of my favourite actors. The added little Easter eggs in the film are great for the fans of Batman. This has been added to my Bluray collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Avengers Assemblemarvel_avengers_assemble_uk_poster

This was the film that has been wanted and has been built up to for a number of years by all the previous Marvel films. Seeing all the top Marvel characters (minus Spiderman and the X-men) join forces to take on some big bad just couldn’t stop that huge smile across my face. Robert Downey Jr. is the stand out performer as the playboy billionaire Tony Stark/Ironman although Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk was probably the best take on the character in recent years. The action set pieces in the film were huge with the heroes not only taking on the bad guys but also taking on each other. Most memorable part of the film has to be Hulk punching Thor, classic.

 

 

 

 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journeyhobbit-poster

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is an absolute favourite of mine and when news first broke that The Hobbit was going to be made the excitement started building and then we find out that it is turning into another trilogy, yes. The only downside is that we have to wait until 2015 for the final part. The film may have been similar to The Fellowship of the Ring following same plot points but it didn’t stop the film being any less enjoyable. The beginning of the film was a nice way to tie it in with LOTR and the whole Gollum/Bilbo scene was very funny. Having been to New Zealand and some of the LOTR locations I always feel happy when I see the country again and brings back lots of memories. I loved the film and cannot wait for the other 2 parts to come out.

 

 

 

 

The Cabin in the Woodscabin-in-the-woods-poster-hi-res

 

A film that was made in 2009 and due to studio differences took until 2012 to be released however it was well worth the wait. This was not your straight forward teen/slasher movie. Yes it had the typical characters that you would expect in these types of films and introduced them in the obvious and I’ve seen this all before. However the comedy and Sci-fi elements that were thrown in were brilliant and not fully expected. A film to watch over and over and now belongs in my Bluray collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Killer Joekiller-joe-poster

This was my stand out film of the year and was so beautiful and disgusting that it was fantastic. McConaughey stepped away from his usual rom-com character and played what can be described as a cool prick dirty cop. This film might be too much for some people and you will probably never look at fried chicken in the same way ever again. If you haven’t seen this I highly recommend it but just be warned.

 

 

 

 

emma-stone-gwen-staceyTo finish off here are a couple of side awards;

Considering Joss Whedon had a hand in 2 of these films makes him my Director/Writer of the year.

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey in The Amazing Spiderman was my hottie of the year.

Least enjoyable/Worst Film of the year was both Taken 2 and Total Recall as I couldn’t decide between the two which I enjoyed least.

 

 

So what do you think of my Top 5 films of 2012?

What about my side awards? What was the least enjoyable film you saw?

 

 

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The Amazing Spider-Man

Filed under: Cinema by thefriedgold — 2 Comments
July 8, 2012

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Directed by Marc Webb

Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans

 

Peter Parker is a school boy living with the grief of his parent deaths while at the same time trying to have a normal life. When he finds a clue to his parents work he follows the trail which leads him to Oscorp. One room he stumbles upon contains some radioactive spiders which leads to one biting him and gaining spider like abilities. On the opposite side to Peter is Dr. Curt Connors, a man who worked with Peters father, and is trying to work out how to regrow the arm he has lost by using cross species genetics. Things don’t go according to plan leading Peter having to use his new abilities to stop Dr.Connors.

Yes this film is a remake of sort of the Spider-Man of 2002 but told in a slightly different way. Andrew Garfield starring as Peter Parker/Spider-Man was fantastic. He had the lanky, geeky aspect of Peter Parker along with the cockiness of Spider-Man down to a tee and what you would expect, not the short and smarmy look of Toby McGuire. Probably the biggest change between the films is the love interest. We have no Mary Jane in this, instead we have Gwen Stacey, who did make an appearance in Spider-Man 3, but this time is played by Emma Stone. She is quite simple stunning in the film wearing short skirts and knee high boots throughout. Also a mention must go to Rhys Ifans who portrays Dr.Curt Connors as a great mentor slash nemesis for Peter.

 

Recommend

Fans of the other Spider-Man films will love this. Yes it’s only been 10 years and some people think that it is a bit soon to start all over again but once you have seen this you will agree that making this was a great idea and that it will hopefully lead to some great sequels. And who knows, if the studios can come up with some sort of truce perhaps one day we will see Spidey joining the rest of the Avengers on the big screen. Go see this film, you will love it.

TheFriedGold rating – 3.5/5 – Got my Spidey sense tingling!

Film Fact

The original plan was for the Oscorp building in the film to be in the Sky line in the final battle in Avengers Assemble. This did not take place but shows that someone is trying to work on getting these guys all together.

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Crazy, Stupid, Love

Filed under: DVD/Bluray by thefriedgold — Leave a comment
May 8, 2012

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone

 

 

 

What should be a romantic meal out and a nice time to get out of house turns into a life changing moment as a wife asks her husband for a divorce. Steve Carell plays the husband here, who for the first time in his life is single and in an unusual position. In comes Ryan Gosling, a professional bachelor who shows him how he should be living life from his clothes to the way he speaks.

The film plays out by looking at everyone’s relationships and the issues they are having. However the film is not a straight forward lovey-dovey romantic film. It throws in bits of comedy here and there which you expect from a film starring Steve Carell. For the girls watching the film (and my man-crush I have developed – Drive ) Ryan Gosling is the eye candy and the line as said by Emma Stone’s character in the film ” fuck! Seriously? It’s like you’re Photoshopped!” describes him in just a few words. Emma Stone is there for the guys watching this film looking as lovely as ever.

Ryan Gosling plays his usual character of cool and mysterious. He might do this for most of his characters but they have all worked, he plays the guy women want and the guy men want to be.

This film probably didn’t have the amount of comedic input that I expected it to have and did focus heavily on the relationships going on in the film. But as an enjoyable take on the mixed up lives of a family I did enjoy it. I would say it’s worth a watch but don’t expect lots of laughs.

 

Film Fact

On the side of the moving truck, the brand is called “U Can Do It”. This is an apparent nod to The Waterboy and several other movies where Rob Schneider plays a townie who yells it to the hero in the movie.

 

 

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