After a month off, I hope to try and keep the reviews coming now, and will endeavour to catch up on ...
After a month off, I hope to try and keep the reviews coming now, and will endeavour to catch up on reading as many reviews as I missed. Reads always returned :)
Member since:31.01.2009
Reviews:66
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I have had a bit of a habit recently. It has involved watching pretty much every film that features Kristen Stewart, all starting from watching Twilight. So, from “In Land of Women”, “Into the Wild”, “The Messengers”, “The Cake Eaters” and others. Some of those, have been really good films, that, under normal circumstances, I probably would never have seen.
One of the ones that I most looked forward to viewing, was “Adventureland”, a film released in April this year, the DVD being due out on 25th August. It was actually filmed in 2007, since Kristen was approached for Twilight whilst filming it, so took a while to vent out into the public.
The Plot
It’s the summer 1987, and James Brennan has just graduated from University, and looking forward to a tour of Europe with his friends, before going to New York to do his Post-Grad degree in Journalism. The only problem he encounters, is that his Dad gets demoted at work, and hence, his parents cannot afford
to support him, both for his holiday and university. So, he has no other choice than to get a Summer Job.
Ringing around a few places, he quickly realises that he only has one option, to work with his groin-punching friend in the local Theme Park, Adventureland. He enquires into a job, and gets hired immediately, working on the Games booths.
The film follows James in his job, and his developing affection towards Em.
Actors, Actresses, and Acting
The starring roles go to Kirsten Stewart (Em), and Jesse Eisenberg (James), along with a few other quite well known actors, such as Ryan Reynolds as Connell. All actors perform naturally, and, Kristen gave probably one of the best performances I have seen. She often seems to act the same in a lot of films, kind of awkwardly (which, has worked since she has had awkward person roles), but here she seems really natural, and seems to be enjoying the role greatly.
Eisenberg and the rest of the cast also give a good performance, although, I can’t say any of them are outstanding. It isn’t really a film where one performance can outshine another, it isn’t for example, some sort of epic film.
Soundtrack
The film features a great soundtrack, which is, due to the films time setting, all 80’s music, but not this shit kind. With artists such as The Cure, Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground the soundtrack really carries the film. Before watching the film, I had never really listened to much by Velvet Underground, but there were a couple of there songs which I really liked and have been listening to on YouTube – any film introducing me to new music always gets some credit in my opinion.
General Opinion
The first thing I thought was odd, was that it was filmed in 2007, but took 2 years before it was released. I don’t know if they have done that with many films, I thought normally it’s a pretty quick chain of shoot, produce, release. I was also surprised, that I didn’t hear of it, until I was on Wikipedia, so it wasn’t very well advertised at all. I don’t think I have even seen the DVD advertised.
It is categorised as a comedy-drama, similar to ‘Superbad’ and such films, so I had expected something somewhat funny. However, it isn’t quite that funny. I mean, there are a few different things that made me chuckle, but I think the film laid more to drama side of things. The storyline, however, was really good, the writer created a rather interesting series of love triangles, amongst the different characters, and the carrying of this story was performed brilliantly, with the natural acting of all involved.
The one thing I really didn’t get was one of the characters, called Frigo. His signature move was punching James in the nuts, possibly, the idea of this was to be a comedy element, in the ole slapstick style. But it just didn’t make sense, and was frankly stupid, and distracting.
However, if you forget it is supposed to be a comedy, then it is a good film. It is interesting, and well written, well performed and has some good funny moments. The budding relationship between James and Em is firmly written and holds attention. I would definitely recommend the film on that basis.
Pictures of Adventureland
The Cast
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Gareth Carrivick - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Kathryn Drysdale, Sheridan Smith, Natalie Casey, Will Mellor, Ralf Little
I watched "In the land of women" the other day (just because I was sick and needed entertainment) and it was ok. Kristen Stewart is cool, but "Twilight" is definitely beneath her, can you tell I'm not a fan? Anyway I've wanted to see this film ever since I saw the trailer so I'll definitely try to see it now. maybe even for the soundtrack alone. Great review! :)
Advantages: Good story, fairly funny, set in the 1980s Disadvantages: Not as funny as I thought it would be, due to drugs every character seemed to have no personality
frankiefromings13 23.09.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Adventureland
Advantages: Good story, fairly funny, set in the 1980s Disadvantages: Not as funny as I thought it would be, due to drugs every character seemed to have no personality
frankiefromings13 23.09.2009 ·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Adventureland
Aug 18th, 2009
very helpful by (100%):
