Bridesmaids (2011).

Dir: Paul Feig.

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne.

I know I am very late to the party when it comes to the buzz surrounding last year's Bridesmaids, but with the recent nominations hubbub bringing this film back to the forefront of many movie websites, I decided to take the plunge and give this film a shot. I thought that as a fan of contemporary Saturday Night Live, and Wiig in particular, this film would be a safe bet for me; nothing mind-blowing, but funny enough to keep me entertained for the two hour running time.

I'll admit that the trailer for this film put me off - I didn't want to see a film that seemingly was about a woman-child throwing a jealous hissy-fit about her so-called 'beloved' best friend's wedding , while being surrounded by caricatures of 'real women' (yes, I'm talking about Melissa McCarthy's boisterous and outspoken Megan, but I'll get back to that).

Bridesmaids follows Annie Walker (Kristen Wiig), who after the collapse of her independently financed bakery , is struggling with her life. She is living with two unpleasant British people (one being Little Britain's Matt Lucas, the other being as close to an impersonation of Vicky Pollard you can get without polyester), she begrudgingly works at a jewellers, she sleeps with a man who doesn't care about her, and she is - as is the plight of practically all women in these Hollywood comedies - single. Annie annoyingly drags herself through her life as if it were perpetually ruined beyond repair, and the breaking point comes when her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), announces that she will be getting married. Cue Annie's mental breakdown; her duty as maid of honour pushes her to jealously compete with Lillian's new friend, Helen (Rose Byrne). Helen is a beautiful, successful, and graceful lady whose mere attendance in Lillian's bridal party turns Annie into a stampeding, green eyed, indignant toddler - her idiotic behaviour even sees her demoted from her maid of honour stature later in the film. Annie's tantrum hits a peak at Lillian's bridal shower after Helen presents Lillian with two tickets to Paris - Annie self-indulgently smashes her way through Lillian's lavish party with the ferocity and finesse of a rabid badger. It's just too much.

Sadly, this idea I formed following the trailer was exactly how the film was for me. I found Annie horrifically unlikeable throughout the course of the movie. I hate how her dislike for her job and for Helen can be down to Annie's jealousy and longing for a wedding - at the jewellers, Annie begins to attack a newly-engaged couple, saying that love doesn't last and how trust cannot exist in a relationship. After Annie is demoted as maid of honour, she similarly attacks a teenager who wants to buy her best friend a necklace which reads 'Best Friends Forever' - her jealously and personal problems come spilling out of her yet again, it doesn't seem to stop!

However, leaving Annie aside for a while, I have very mixed feelings about Melissa McCarthy's Megan - a character clearly intended for some form of comic relief. Megan is shown as very different to the other characters in the film; she doesn't wear make-up, her hair is almost always scraped back, and she is a big lady. She is unapologetically unfeminine, and I love that the film; I love that there is a character in there who reflects a different 'type' of womanhood. I also love that her aggression outright; Megan openly states when she is unhappy about something, rather than descending into lunacy akin to the Annie and Helen situation. What I don't love about it is that her character traits are shown as different and weird - Bridesmaids has portrayed her up as a character of ridicule, rather than choosing to display her as a perfectly normal individual, and this saddens me.

I am fully aware of how harsh I am being on this film, but let me tell you why. If you cast your mind back to last year when Bridesmaids was released, you might recall that the film was praised as a triumph for female comedies, and other similar praises. Personally, I just don't see what is funny about portraying characters as jealous and immature creatures, no matter what gender these characters are - there is just nothing funny, new or interesting about this for me. Some of these praises even involved the words 'feminism', stating that Bridesmaids was even a 'feminist comedy', and again, where did these praises come from? Nearly all the women displayed in Bridesmaids seem slyly competitive, wedding-crazed lunatics - and again, is this a new, ground-breaking way to display women? Not in my opinion. However, I cannot champion enough how it is genuinely a good thing that we are seeing women being immature and childish - I cannot even bear to think of how many contemporary comedies have men acting in the exact same way. While I did not like the film, I do like how it is turned the tables on this trend for adult-childishness in Hollywood comedies.

So, here we are - the bottom line. Is Bridesmaids truly a ground-breaking women's comedy? I honestly do not think so. On another note, do comedies really need to be segregated into women's comedy and men's comedy? Can things not just be funny and we'll leave it at that? Perhaps my qualms with Bridesmaids as a whole can be put down to the gender specific marketing and my personal dislike of selfish, childish protagonists... But perhaps Bridesmaids is - dare I say it? - overrated.

Article: Pixar Top Five

Toy Story (1995).

The Toy Story trilogy details the adventures of a gang of toys as they watch Andy, their owner, grow up. These films are notorious for making the audience experience a range of emotions regardless of the age of the viewer – you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a grown man cry at the exploits of a cowboy and a space-man; and believe me, you’ll be crying too.

A Bug’s Life (1998).

A Bug’s Life is a unique story one of the smallest creatures, Flik the ant, taking a huge adventure to save his village. This film goes to show that it doesn’t take a great scale to create a cinematic gem.

Monsters Inc. (2001).

Kids have always feared what lurks in the shadows at night, and this fact is what makes Monsters Inc. work. Pixar manage to spin groundbreaking stories from organically simple ideas, and this film is no exception.

The Incredibles (2004).

If you’re a superhero nerd, like me, you’ll appreciate The Incredibles for the comic book references; however, if you have a life, this film is an amusing adventure which exposes that family life can be both heaven and hell, even for the super human.

WALL-E (2008).

This is arguably the most underrated of the Pixar films, as well as being the least accessible for kids. WALL-E takes place in the future, where Earth has become a floating trash heap; it comments on how consumerism and laziness will eventually destroy the planet. The sparse use of dialogue may disengage kids, but it is a great film for older audiences.

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Directed by: Lee Unkrich

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, John Ratzenberger.

The third (and hopefully final) film of the Toy Story series sees everyone’s favourite Pixar characters, Woody and Buzz, coming to terms with the fact that their owner, Andy, no longer needs them. Andy, now all grown up and heading to college, boxes up his toys with the intention of storing them in the attic, but they are mistakenly sent to a day-care centre. Here, Woody tries to convince the gang that Andy still needs them, and sets upon a mission to get everyone home before Andy leaves.

The eleven year gap between this film and Toy Story 2 left audiences wondering whether a third film could live up to the success of its predecessors, but it does. To put it simply, this film is perfect; there are a few old characters that have ‘gone missing’ in the time between the films, and the new characters introduced in this film keep the plot interesting.

With the original Toy Story released fifteen years ago, Toy Story 3 was made with older audiences in mind; fans of the original would be around twenty years old now. This film, like all Pixar films, offers something for all ages; kids will love the adventure while the adults will appreciate the humour and the more serious subtexts of abandonment and notions of ‘retirement’.

The graphics are amazing, and the fact that the DVD does not seem to have a 3D option is a crime – I am generally not a fan of 3D movies, but since this film was made with 3D in mind, it really worked in its favour.

Red (2010)

Directed by Robert Schwentke.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren.

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is a former black ops agent who has settled into the monotony of retired life; he eats a healthy breakfast, undergoes his gruelling workout, and breaks the silence of this repetition by talking on the phone to Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) - a customer service worker who he has a crush on. One day, Frank’s routine is disrupted by a barrage of mysterious agents who try and fail to kill him. After saving Sarah from the same attack, Frank re-assembles his former colleagues to find out who sent the agents and why they want him dead.

I cannot promise that you’ll find all the answers to these questions, or that the plot won’t be overshadowed by severely over-stylized action scenes which are common of contemporary action films. What I can promise is that Red does everything it says on the tin; Bruce Willis glares at everything that moves, Morgan Freeman is the epitome of cool, and John Malkovich is... well, John Malkovich. Things explode, cars crash, and punches are thrown by the bucket load – what more can you want?

As evidenced in The Expendables, an ensemble cast of heavy-hitters can mean that some actors get underused - luckily, this isn’t the case in Red. All cast-members are used to their full capacity, although it would be nice (albeit slightly unrealistic) to see Morgan Freeman in a few action scenes rather than have him take the back seat. Also, having such a big cast list means that the dialogue risks getting lost in a sea of “hey, it’s that guy!” or “what have I seen her in before?”

In short, Red isn’t the neatest action film out at the minute, nor is it the best, but it is worth a look-see if you are a fan of the genre.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Directed by Edgar Wright.

Edgar Wright is one of Britain’s best loved contemporary film-makers, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is Wright’s first foray into American blockbuster territory. Wright is best known for the cult TV show Spaced, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Wright, Pegg and Frost later found success both on home turf and overseas with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Here, Wright is stepping out without his beloved leading actors, and it definitely pays off.

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a socially awkward, twenty two year old guy who falls in love with the too-cool-for-school Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead); when they begin to date, Scott finds he has to fight Ramona’s ‘seven evil exes’ in order to win her over.

Following a long line of comic book adaptations, Scott Pilgrim offers something unique and refreshing to a genre which is steadily declining in quality. The film implements graphics in 8bit style to make the film look and feel like an old video game; Wright seems to know that any use of 8bit graphics (and the crafty Mario reference) pulls on the heartstrings of most cult fans under the age of thirty five. Using this style in the wonderfully choreographed fight scenes makes these scenes feel like you’re playing a video game.

The film is also genuinely entertaining, which is rare in contemporary comedies. Scott Pilgrim emphasises the comedic elements in the day to day without rehashing old jokes that movie fans have seen time and time again. Taking note of the lacklustre opening weekend box office takings in the US (it still look over $10 million, mind) may signal that Wright’s comedy style is best suited to the British.

So okay, Cera is playing the same role he plays in every film, and yes – the graphics may be distracting, but it really does not matter in the big picture of Scott Pilgrim. Taking nods at comic book art styles and paying homage to vintage video games wins over the film’s main audience – cult loving, Nintendo raised comic book nerds.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Directed by Jon Favreau

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle.

Taking place roughly six months after billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) outs himself as the film’s namesake Iron Man, this film sees Tony struggling with a number of issues; fame, health, the US Government. The Government wish to own the Iron Man suit so they can replicate the design for army use; when Tony refuses this, they employ his rival in the weapons business, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), who is jealous of Tony’s successes. Justin teams up with Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) who is after Tony’s blood due to unresolved issues between their fathers. Meanwhile, Tony’s arc-reactor powered heart (which he needs to survive) is also giving him blood poisoning. Also, the fame of being a hero is taking a toll on Tony’s state of mind, driving him to drink. Can Tony sort himself out in time to save his company, his budding relationship with his secretary Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and even save himself?

As you can see, there is plenty going on in Iron Man 2, but luckily, it doesn’t succumb to the superhero sequel curse of being over-crowded (like Spiderman 2 or X-Men 2) . The action is incredibly well paced, and the plot manages to be packed without leaving you confused. The film is not a typical superhero movie either, as the emphasis is mostly placed in the reality of Tony’s fractured ego, rather than the fantastical fight scenes.

The gem of the film lies with the acting; Mickey Rourke is amazing as the Russian son out for revenge. The film also utilises fan-favourite character War Machine (Don Cheadle) in the plot, which brings the action and excitement of the final ‘boss fight’ to another level.

To sum it up, Iron Man 2 doesn’t disappoint – how can you go wrong with a film about an ego in a super-suit, anyways?

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Directed by Guy Ritchie.

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams and Mark Strong.

In this incarnation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective novels, Lord Blackwood - murderer, occultist and general bad egg - has risen from the grave and is attempting to gain control of England; it’s up to famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusty companion, Dr. John Watson, to uncover the mystery and save the day. Can Holmes’ brilliant mind make order out of chaos in time?

Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes on paper should not work. First off, Holmes, a quintessentially British character, is played by an American; however, Robert Downey Jr. is not a stranger to playing treasured Brits, his turn as Charlie Chaplin achieved an Academy Award nomination in 1993. Watson is played by Jude Law, and even though many film lovers may have reservations about Law’s ability to carry off such a role, it is surprising to see that he manages this perfectly. Also, Guy Ritchie’s filmography does not lend itself to 18^th Century murder mysteries at all. On paper, this film is a huge gamble.

Luckily, the gambles pay off in this case; the film is an enjoyable adventure with healthy spells of fisticuffs to punctuate the twists of the plot. At some points, the plot itself plays second fiddle to the ups and downs of Holmes and Watson’s bromance, but for the most part it doesn’t seem to matter. The most interesting aspect to the film is the friendship between the two protagonists, and seeing how they will deal with Watson’s departure from Baker Street to settle down with his fiancée. The film is surprisingly long for a family friendly adventure, but the writing is fast paced and witty enough to garner interests for the duration of the film.

Due to the success of this film, the sequel is being fast tracked into production with the promise that Holmes’ arch nemesis, Professor Moriarty, will be appearing in it. Hopefully the cast and crew can recreate some of the wit and banter which made this film so pleasing.