No Strings Attached Movie Review ..

Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) are life-long friends who almost ruin everything by having sex one morning. In order to protect their friendship, they make a pact to keep their relationship strictly “no strings attached.” “No strings” means no jealousy, no expectations, no fighting, no flowers, and no baby voices. It means they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, in whatever public place they want, as long as they don’t fall in love. The questions become, Can you have sex without love getting in the way? And can their friendship survive the constant test they are putting it through.

No Strings Attached is a film that has a lot of baggage when it came to the big screen. Its two lead actors couldn’t be further apart as far as acting ability goes: Natalie Portman fresh off her Oscar win for Black Swan and Ashton Kutcher who has yet to prove anything outside of That 70’s Show. The film’s director, Ivan Reitman, on the other hand is a solid director, however perhaps far too unknown, who has directed such films as Ghostbusters (1984), Stripes (1981), Dave (1993), I love You Man (2009), and many more great films over the past thirty years.

But on top of all that, the film is also a romantic comedy, a genre that has produced perhaps some of the worst flops in Hollywood cinema because they are a dime a dozen. With knowing all of this, I found myself being hopelessly cautious when going to check this film out because it has enough elements, at least on paper, that it could be a great flick, but it could just as easily be the exact opposite. In the end, what we get out of No Strings Attached is actually a pretty decent movie, and probably the first Ashton Kutcher film that will make you leave the theater with a smile on your face.

What’s great to see in romantic comedies is great chemistry between it’s, more often than now, beautiful lead characters. With the acting ability of Natalie Portman, her acting skills often come across as smug in romantic comedies, but in No Strings Attached, she creates a sharp leading lady that is perhaps a bit too neurotic for such a light romantic comedy. On the other hand, Ashton Kutcher seems to be in his element in the film and makes for a relaxed romantic comedy in a way that seem like the acting is effortless even though it is not.

When paired together, there is fantastic chemistry that makes their relationship appear more realistic seeing how both of their characters come from different walks of life: Natalie Portman’s character is a hard-working medical intern while Ashton Kutcher is an aspiring TV scriptwriter. There’s also a delightful array of supporting characters, including the wonderful Kevin Kline as Kutcher’s reprobate father (former sitcom star still cashing in on his trademark catchphrase), Greta Gerwig (Greenberg, The House of the Devil ) as Portman’s skeptical work colleague, plus Jake Johnson and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges magnificently playing Kutcher’s bantering best mates.

No Strings Attaches is one film that I never thought I would ever go see in my lifetime, but I am quite happy that I did. When I think of romantic comedies, I think of the same old story line being told ad nauseam with a different array of mediocre funny characters in different locations, but No Strings Attached is different. This is a film that is funny, sharp, and quite witty, but it also offers a nice array of dynamic characters that live and grow as the film progresses.

This may be partly due to the acting talents of Natalie Portman, but it seems like even Ashton Kutcher stepped up his game a little bit to meet Portman half way. But it also helps a lot to have a talented director working off of a great script, written by Elizabeth Meriwether, to aid in making a better than average romantic comedy about something that is always on our minds: Sex. For some of you keeners out there, you may find some resemblances to the classic romantic comedy When Harry met Sally (1989), which was perhaps one of the best films of the genre, because it shares a lot of the same themes that No Strings Attached has running through it.

While I may have snubbed this film prior to watching it, something I like to do for some reason, I can’t help but to recommend it because it is a pretty great romantic comedy considering some of the carp that has been regurgitated by Hollywood over the past twenty years.

No Strings Attached Movie Trailer

The Butterfly Effect Movie Review …

Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) suffered black outs as a child, but as he reaches college and re-reads some of the old journals he used to keep he finds himself transported back to the past memories that he thought that he blacked out from. Like many people, Evan has been subconsciously deleting memories from his own mind in order to forget times that were emotionally scarring for him, and when he relives these experiences he comes to realize that he doesn’t have to sit idly by and watch these terrible things happen. However, any avid movie goer knows that you should never change the past and Evan is forced to suffer the consequences of changing his future as well.

The Butterfly Effect deals with alternate universes, which is a complicated concept to begin with, let alone to thrust on your audience. However, the film deals surprisingly well with this, without becoming too clever or overcomplicating the storyline. Every choice that Evan makes seems to change his future for the worse, suggesting that his own misfortune works in mysterious ways to make the lives of other people better. The butterfly effect is when a small change affects the world around you in ways that you can’t imagine, and the film combines this theory with some psychology to make an interesting storyline that really makes you think.

I was actually surprised at how much I liked The Butterfly Effect, for which I probably had low expectations because of Ashton Kutcher’s history of playing goofball characters in unsubtle comedies and hearing few good things about it. Admittedly, Ashton Kutcher’s performance in this doesn’t quite rival Robert De Niro’s in Taxi Driver, but this is one of his few serious film roles and he carries it off well. Amy Smart is his on-off girlfriend Kayleigh who plays a number of alternate variations of her character with intensity and emotion. The Butterfly Effect is underrated and often criticized, but it’s one of few films that explore the human psyche and what ‘could have been’ without the director getting carried away with their own musings.

The Butterfly Effect is one of those annoying films that have alternate endings; four in fact. So if you’re inevitably on YouTube as soon as the movie credits begin, you get to see how the movie could have played out. I find this slightly irritating, because I don’t have the self control not to look them up, but I would prefer it if the film makers would just pick an ending and stick to it. You don’t find novelists writing a story and then selling five separate pamphlets with the book so that you can choose how it ends.

It seems as if they haven’t committed themselves to any ending, like they’re worrying too much about what the audience will think instead of putting faith in the strength of their film. Ironically, whether or not you like this film will probably depend on which ending you see, because while one completes a perfect story, several of the others just delve into uninspired cliché.

I would recommend The Butterfly Effect to almost anyone, despite the poor reviews it’s had in the past, often because people were sitting down to watch it expecting something else from Ashton Kutcher. It’s actually an example of a story and a concept that could have been much more than it was, but something about the combination of ingredients for this film robbed it of being truly intellectual. However, The Butterfly Effect is thought provoking and surprisingly well acted.

Apparently Ashton Kutcher not only did a lot of background reading on psychology for his part, but also finally got The Butterfly Effect green lit for production by signing on to play Evan after the script was knocking around in the corridors of Hollywood for years. It’s not one of the best movies of all time, but it’s certainly not the worst, and definitely better than anything else Ashton Kutcher has put his name to before or since. So settle down in front of the TV, reach for the popcorn, and make sure you have a PC nearby to watch the alternate endings if you’re not satisfied by the end.

The Butterfly Effect Movie Trailer

Killers Movie Review …

The old adage tells us that we should ‘love thy neighbour’ well in Killers that changes to ‘kill thy neighbour!’ The rather delectable Ashton Kutcher stars as Spencer Aimes, a charming softly spoken guy who looks as though he wouldn’t and couldn’t harm a fly; Spencer leads a double life though as an assassin. Katherine Heigl stars in Killers as Jen Kornfeldt who’s fresh out of a relationship and in an effort to fix her broken heart has gone on vacation to Nice with her parents, dad (Tom Selleck) is overprotective and speaks his mind whilst mum likes a drink or 2 or 3 this role is superbly acted in Killers by the hysterical Catherine O’Hara.

Jen and Spencer first meet in an elevator in Killers when Jen is instantly drawn and attracted to Spencer, well come on ladies who wouldn’t be? This is Ashton Kutcher after all. They arrange to have dinner that night, now in Killers we are introduced to Spencer’s other life as he’s seen planting a bomb on the bottom of a helicopter.

During their date Jen is trying to be someone she isn’t simply to impress Spencer but eventually comes clean and confesses that she’s not at all spontaneous and lives a normal life. Katherine Heigl acts to perfection in Killers and puts in a believable performance as Jen, her and Ashley Kutcher work well together. After their dinner date they head back to Spencer’s room where he literally cuts her out of her dress with a knife that he just happens to be carrying, now don’t get too excited folks the dress comes off because Jen can’t breathe in it!

Killers then shows Spencer telling Jen everything about his life as an assassin but she’s actually passed out therefore not hearing a word of his big confession. He decides there and then that she is the woman for him as she’s steady and trustworthy. Spencer tells Holbrook, played by Martin Mull in Killers, who is his boss that he has decided to quit the assassin game and lead a regular life.

Holbrook retorts that quitting is definitely not an option and will not be happening but Spencer remains defiant and quits. We then see the happy couple 3 years later in Killers in their blissfully settled life together in the suburbs. They both have good jobs, friends and good neighbours. Jen becomes suspicious that the magic has gone from their marriage and starts to read signs from Spencer which she misinterprets as brushing her off.

Jen leaves for a business trip but at the last minute decides to turn around and head back home where she finds Spencer and a supposed good friend trying to kill one another, this is the good thing about Killers it has surprising twists and turns. The people Spencer and Jen think they know well they don’t actually know at all, after witnessing the scene Spencer tells Jen everything, who’s a little shocked to say the least.

It turns out that there’s a nice little $20 million bounty sitting on top of Spencer’s head in Killers and literally every assassin in the country wants to be the one to claim the money for Spencer’s death. There are assassins coming out of the woodwork everywhere all of a sudden it seems that all of the couple’s friends can perform martial arts, use knives and fire guns and they thought they liked them! Tom Selleck is his normal charming self in Killers and acts the role of Jen’s father brilliantly but for me one of the best stars in Killers is Catherine O’Hara, she is outstanding and her actions as a woman who obviously loves to drink are hilarious to watch. Both Jen’s parents love her dearly and only want the best for her.

Killers shows its audience how quickly your best friend can become your worst enemy and how alone you can feel when you can’t trust anyone, as a couple Jen and Spencer are determined to ride out the storm and face ‘his’ enemies side by side. Do they stay together? Does Spencer stay breathing? Killers is a fun movie with plenty of action and beautiful people, it also contains its fair share of humour and of course romance, slightly slow paced at times but once the action scenes kick in with assassins everywhere Killers is an enjoyable enough experience. Catch the trailer below.

Killers Movie Trailer

In the meantime Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey) makes sure he’s covering the day from his concubine, so that he can spend some quality time with the official wife. Of course, as any gentleman would do, he does prepare some flower arrangements for them both. Bad karma makes him chose Reed’s flower shop for this and Reed is best friend with his lover.

Love is there for old guys too. Senior couple Edgar and Estelle (Shirley MacLaine) are celebrating many years together and do this with good perfume, flowers and a night out.

Young Edison, although still a kid, has got a serious crush on some girl and decides it’s the best moment to let her know about his true feelings. So he’s employing Reed too with a very important mission: take some flowers to the “woman” he loves.

In an airplane Captain Kate Hazeltine (Julia Roberts) counts the hours till she can be again with that someone special in her life. She’s an officer and she’d been away for the past 11 months.

Liz (Anne Hathaway) storms out of her boy-friend’s apartment since she’s almost late at work and, as soon as she’s on the street she answers the phone and starts a very disturbing sexual conversation with some guy with a Russian name. We later find out she’s been solving her financial issues by being a ‘sex call’ phone girl.

The only “normal” people who are not crazy with the event are Kara Monahan (Jessica Biel), who’s actually organizing a “I hate Valentine’s Day Party”, sportsman Sean Jackson (Eric Dane), Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx), a TV sports presenter who’s getting the task of covering the event and Paula Thomas (Queen Latifah).

And then it all goes wrong.

Proposals are rejected, old infidelities are confessed, new infidelities are found, preparations for the perfect sex get to a dead end, flowers are not being delivered on time etc. People break up for moronic reasons, the soon life shows them in love there’s more than bubbly champagne and flowers. And of course, because it’s a comedy in the end, everything sorta comes into place. The movie does offer some twists too, so you cannot really predict everything.

If you look at the cast, maybe you’re gonna have some high expectations, in the end there are some strong names in it. From this point of view the movie might under-deliver. On the other hand this is a comedy and no one claimed it should be more than that. There are enough funny situations to justify some good laughs too.

So, if you’re in for some cute pleasant story, with some good actors and some funny scenes too, you can make the “effort” to watch it. For two hours of entertainment, it surely does the job.