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Once in a great while, there is a romantic comedy that is deep, thought provoking, and touching. Just be aware that ‘This Means War’ is not one of those. If you are looking for action scenes, humor, and sexy British accents, however, this movie has your name written all over it.

THE GOOD: The opening scene of this movie is a great attention getter, with Chris Pine (FDR) and Tom Hardy (Tuck) playing CIA agents who smoothly waltz into a party that looks like it was hosted by Ashton Kutcher, flirt with a few women, and then begin shooting bad guys. We soon learn that they have awakened the wrath of Heinrich-German supervillan (played by Til Schweiger) and that becomes the secondary plot of the film. However, the main entertainment value lies in the fact that FDR and Tuck have both fallen for the same woman: Lauren (portrayed by the adorable Reese Witherspoon). Being the best buddies that they are, they agree to play by a set of gentlemanly rules and let Lauren decide which one of them she prefers…but we all know men are simply not that mature, and so it comes as absolutely no surprise that the two of them use every undercover tactic possible to sabotage the other’s plans to woo fair lady. It was genuinely funny and frankly, I don’t laugh easily. You have to earn it from me and they certainly did. Reese is her usual delightfully cute person, and you can certainly see why she has trouble deciding which of these two charmers to choose. Personally, when there are British accents involved, it’s a no brainer for me….always go with the British guy. Tom Hardy could be a dead ringer for the elephant man, and I would still swoon over that voice and listening to him pronounce the word “privacy”. PRIV-ah-cee. Sigh.

THE BAD: Although I am aware that this movie is not getting a lot of praise from reviewers in general, it seems to me that the fault lies in people’s assumptions that all movies should be Oscar worthy, life changing moments in time. No, this movie will not likely win any awards, and I won’t go so far as to say it changed my life. But it made me laugh, several times in the space of 90 minutes, and I was entertained, which is the whole point of going to the movies in the first place. Sometimes that’s perfectly good enough. Throw in some buttered popcorn and a diet coke and I’m happy. If I can point to anything in this film that was less than desirable, it would be the fact that, for being rated PG-13, the sex scenes seemed —highly charged. Speaking as a mother of two teenagers, with a third not far behind, I would SO not be okay with them watching a kitchen counter being utilized in that way—-call me a prude if you must, but it’s my review so I call it as I see it.

THE UGLY: Peppered throughout the movie, Lauren’s friend Trish (played by Chelsea Handler) is there to give all sorts of raunchy, unladylike advice. It’s basically a trainwreck, and adds one more dimension to the argument that this movie is definitely not for young teenagers. I read somewhere that they actually had to remove several of Trish’s lines just to keep the movie from being rated R. Her words of wisdom add nothing to the storyline except to give you theimpression that she is skanky. She did have one redeeming line consisting of “Don’t go for the better guy—go for the guy who makes YOU better.” If only all her lines had been that appealing.

This movie has a “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” feel to it-not surprising, since it’s from the same writer—so if you enjoyed that one, this will probably be a hit to you as well. Not quite as smart and fast paced, but then again, Brad Pitt doesn’t have a British accent, so it’s kind of a tie.

The Trophy Wife gives this movie 4 trophies.

‘This Means War’ has a running time of 97 minutes and is rated PG-13 for sexual content including references, some violence and action, and for language (F word used once).

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THE CASTING

The Hunger Games has a stellar cast to portray the brutality of Panem’s horrific, yearly tournaments of death. Coming hot from X-Men: First Class, Jennifer Lawrence will play Katniss – a perfect choice to portray her strength and defiance. Jennifer has been nominated for multiple awards for her role of Ree Dolly, in the independent drama film Winter’s Bone. She has said of her excitement of playing Katniss, and has started a six week training program to get into character. Author Suzanne Collins said the actress who played Katniss had to have “a certain maturity and power.” She continued saying that Lawrence was the “only one who truly captured the character I wrote in the book,” which is a massive reason to get excited that she is chosen to play the lead.

Liam Hemsworth will take the role of grizzled trainer Gale Hawthorne, helping him break into a leading role just like his brother Chris. He is getting pumped for the movie, and has been working out to make sure he can portray Gale.

Josh Hutcherson will play Peeta, an ally of Katniss during The Games. Josh may seem relativity unknown to some, but for anyone who has seen the film The Kids Are Alright will know what he is capable of. He is a rising actor to keep an eye on with the amount of excellent movies he’s set to star in. Finally there is an amazing supporting cast, including Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks. It’s hard not to be excited about these actors ready to bring The Hunger Games to life.

THE SOUNDTRACK

The official soundtrack, The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond is an impressive collection of artists. It includes Taylor Swift and her hit Safe & Sound, featuring The Civil Wars which reached number one on the iTunes charts in 12 hours. Maroon 5, Kid Cudi and The Secret Sisters will also feature when the soundtrack hits in March.

The score of the film is will equally be as impressive with James Newton Howard taking creative control. His name has been attached to some impressive titles including The Dark Knight, and all of director M. Night Shyamalan’s suspense thrillers.

THE CINEMATOGRAPHY

When it comes to the look and feel of the world, they have really nailed the setting and atmosphere for this film adaptation. There is certainly an authentic feel to the nation of Panem, as the film presents the sprawling Capitol and the massive, deadly arena of The Games. There is a keen eye to detail coming directly from the book, becoming incredible to see the pages come to life in front of your eyes. It’s even more exciting to think what will happen with future films and the environments we will get to see.

I am a big fan of The Hungers Games, check out the book online at The Hunger Games
The Hungers Games Book Online or The Hunger Games Series The Hunger Games Series

Bruce Sharp

Everybody has a favourite decade of the movie industry. From the silent movies of the 20′s, The deeply dark film noir classics of the 40′s or even the ‘brat pack’ high school teen films of the 1980′s. What is your favourite era? Here’s mine and the reasons behind it.

As a child growing up in the late 70s and early 80s I had a routine that every Sunday I would visit my great gran and gramp.Actually routine depicts this as some kind of chore but it’s what has created my passion for old movies. The Sunday would usually start with me arriving at my nans for around 10.30 in the morning whilst mygran was cooking the dinner. The Sunday lunch was nearly always regimentally served at noon and after this we would all settle down to watch the Sunday matinee film.

My great nan had a great memory for the stars of these old films, who was married to whom and reeling off other films the actor/actress had starred in (even into her late 70s ). These days planted the seeds that got me hooked on old movies, posters and the period of what I call the golden era of Hollywood, 1939-1948.

So here are four must-see films from this era, classics in all sense of the word. Citizen Kane (1941). Classed by many as the greatest motion picture ever made, Citizen Kane doesn’t disappoint. The plot is deceptively simple, a group of journalists try and discover the hidden meaning behind a publishing tycoons last word. In many ways Citizen Kane opened up a whole new way of shooting a movie, the director was 25 year old Orson Welles who also starred as tycoon Charles Foster Kane. What Welles achieved in his directorial debut is nothing short of astounding. Little things he did like put cameras in the floorboards to get different shots were simplistic but genial. A true cinema masterpiece.

Gaslight (1944). Many film critics put this film in the ‘Mystery drama’ category, I would also class this as a psychological drama. Skilfully directed by legendary director George Cukor, the film stars Ingrid Bergman who as a girl discovered her Aunts body murdered in her home. Fast forward ten years and she and her new husband move back into the house. Charles Boyer plays the husband, for those not familiar with Boyer he played mainly the good guy in movies, here he takes on a much different role and he’s chillingly effective, slowly convincing Bergman that she’s going insane to hide a dark secret. Bergman won a deserved Oscar for her role, portraying a woman who questions her own sanity.

Wuthering Heights (1939) Taken from Emily Brontes classic novel about doomed lovers Heathcliffe and Kathy, Wuthering Heights shows all of lifes traits, love, passion, jealousy, anger, sorrow. The film is cleverly narrated by a servant telling the story to a traveller who has stopped off at Wuthering Heights for the night. Heathcliffe is played by Sir Laurence Olivier, who as a 10 year old orphan is taken into a posh household where he meets Kathy(Merle Oberon). They grow up together on the moors and talk about a life together. Kathy is torn between her love for Heathcliffe and the high life but once her father dies her brother then takes charge of the household and banishes Heathcliffe to the stables where he is forced to do servants chores. He runs away and comes back and eloquent man hoping to take the arm of Kathy, only to find she is now involved with another man. Wuthering Heights is THE definitive doomed love story, beautiful shot and in places a dark film.

The Maltese Falcon (1941). Humphrey Bogart stars as private detective Sam Spade and after a lady by the name of Miss Wanderly walks into his office, his partner Miles Archer is soon killed. After investigating the case Spade soon realises that being connected to Miss Wanderly is a dangerous game as he discovers another dead man. Bogart is the definitive ‘cool’ image, the way he acts on screen, his mannerisms how can any man not want to be him? Backed up by a great supporting cast which includes Mary Astor and Peter Lorre, The Maltese Falcon is a brilliant film-noir, will keep you hooked until the very end and then you’ll want more.

If you haven’t seen any of these movies then go to your nearest store, hire or buy them, you will not be disappointed and you will discover how movies should be made and how those stars of yesteryear have that charisma, class and elegance that are sadly lacking in today’s offerings

Part II will include four more films that are must-see from this era.

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