October 2012
2 posts
6 tags
Review: "Skateland"
There comes a time where all of us have to grow up, become independent adults and get some direction in our lives. But, it does not happen in that exact order for all of us…
“Skateland” takes place during the 80’s and tells the story of the young Ritchie Wheeler (Shiloh Fernandez), a skating rink manager. Not the ideal job to have for the rest of your life, really, as ice-skating is beginning to...
6 tags
Review: "Whatever Works"
Some films start off so tedious that you simply cannot bear to watch it any longer. Only thing worse can be to put the most unlikable, annoying character as the lead, telling his incredibly irritating life story directly to you, the moviegoer.
Now imagine watching this story, bearing this enormously unpleasant man and even to his surprise, stay until the credits start rolling.
Yet, “Whatever...
September 2012
2 posts
7 tags
Review: "Deadgirl"
No matter how tempting, it is never the smartest of ideas to skip school.
But skipping class to go explore an abandoned hospital is just foolish.
That is exactly what JT (Noah Segan) and Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) did when they wandered around, skipping class. “Deadgirl” is not your typical horror movie with a killer, the hero and the hot girl. This movie is much more a high school anti-hero...
11 tags
Review: "To Rome with Love"
Finding a proper intro to a review for a Woody Allen film is impossible.
Not only does the eccentric director simply jump straight into his stories by showcasing its beautiful scenery (in this case, ancient Roma), but he also introduces his characters by capturing the imagination of his audience.
The events that happen in-between, however, are shocking, entertaining, thought-provoking and...
August 2012
1 post
12 tags
Review: "The Dark Knight Rises"
This is not Bruce Wayne’s story. Neither should one expect to see Christian Bale back as the heroic orphan billionaire/Caped Crusader as we did in the terrific “The Dark Knight”, facing off against the brilliant Heath Ledger’s The Joker.
“The Dark Knight Rises” is rather about the legacy of Batman.
The film also makes this quite clear from the start. The epic conclusion to one of the most...
July 2012
6 posts
“I take it 10 minutes at a time and do the best I can. That’s all I can do....”
– Jeremy Renner
9 tags
Review: "Magic Mike"
It is one thing to make a movie about male strippers, which most people would probably laugh off and make jokes about, but another story when you advertise and market it as such.
“Magic Mike” may seem innocent, funny and playful, however this is not just another soft comedy, which mockingly takes a closer look at a risky job. No, this movie much rather has a darker, deeper and serious tone, with...
11 tags
Review: "Friends with Kids"
Oh, the type of plots filmmakers come up with these days - as if the stories are not becoming more and more repetitive, the concepts are getting beyond nonsensical and less believable.
“Friends with Kids” tells the story of three couples who are best of friends. Well, two couples and two friends rather. Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) have been best friends for as long as they...
7 tags
Review: "Trespass"
There are two types of thrillers: the kind where you know from the get-go who the real baddy of the movie is (think the “Scream” movies), and then there’s the more clever thrillers where there is some surprising twists and turns, and everything is not as it seems…
But then we get a thriller like “Trespass”. Here we have an unhappily married couple, Kyle (Nicolas Cage) and Sarah (Nicole Kidman),...
9 tags
Review: "The Dictator"
Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, Idi Amin and… Admiral General Aladeen? Whereas the aforementioned all oppressed their nations with an iron fist for many years, Aladeen lovingly oppresses his Republic of Wadiya.
Yes, the very Aladeen who spilled Kim Jong Il’s “ashes” on Ryan Seacrest at the 84th Academy Awards red carpet.
Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) is “The Dictator” of the fictional Wadiya, a...
“I’ve been acting for eight years now, and I feel I’m just starting to understand...”
– Channing Tatum
June 2012
7 posts
7 tags
Review: "The Lucky One"
It is the kind of plotline you can write in your sleep: boy comes from a tough place that left him emotionally scarred; boy meets girl and it is love at first sight; girl is stubborn and suspicious of boy; they fall in love; girl has an abusive ex who makes life impossible for the two lovebirds, but everything works out fine in the end.
It is “The Lucky One” plot in a nutshell. No need to spend...
6 tags
Review: "22 Bullets"
French title: “L’immortel” Making a fresh start is not easy. Even less so if you spent your entire life as a feared and merciless mobster.
In the French thriller “22 Bullets”, Charly Matteï (Jean Reno) finds this out the hard way: Matteï used to be a cold and dreaded mobster from Marseille, ruthlessly killing those who deceived him.
But, one day Matteï had enough of his...
“That’s the key to survival as an actor. You can never take yourself too...”
– Dominic Cooper
8 tags
Review: "Red Riding Hood"
“Beware of the big bad wolf and do not talk to strangers,” our mothers used to tell us just before bedtime when we were very much naive five year olds.
The story of the young little red riding hood, on her way to bring food to her grandmother, used to be innocent and purely to warn youngsters of the “big bad wolves” in our real world.
This is not the case with “Red Riding Hood” - and it is not...
11 tags
Review: "What to Expect When You're Expecting"
Pregnancy is not for sissies. For the woman, it is nine months of your life where you have to make sure you get your bundle of joy out safely. For the men, it’s nerves, stress and patience.
In the enjoyable and touching “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”, the film tackles the fears and ecstasy of being expecting parents. There are five expecting couples in this story: fitness guru...
9 tags
Review: "Snow White and the Huntsman"
The fantastical, dark and twisted fairytale world of Snow White comes alive in this imaginative big screen retelling. But the film is not entirely what is normally expected of this fair-skinned beauty with her caring dwarf friends.
“Snow White and the Huntsman” tells the classical story of the young princess, Snow White (Kristen Stewart), who is locked away for years by the Evil Queen (Charlize...
“I find it very hard to accept the best of anything. I don’t see how one can...”
– Tom Hardy
May 2012
2 posts
7 tags
Review: "Worried About The Boy"
Long before Lady Gaga, the now infamous meat-wearing pop star with pointy horns sticking out of her cheekbones and shoulders, an eccentric resurrection of glam rock evolved and peaked during 1980’s London.
British artists and bands entered a new era where they reinvented themselves with androgynous clothing and covered their faces with heavy eyeliner and lipstick. One of the pioneers of the New...
6 tags
Review: "Young Adult"
We are all guilty of it. Behind closed doors, we pick up the remote and put on “Keeping up with the Kardashians” or any of the cheap E! Entertainment reality TV shows to forget about our own realities.
We indulge ourselves in the lives of others, like watching Kim and her sisters’ every move or how former Playboy bunny Kendra Wilkinson cries about not being pretty anymore now that she’s with...
April 2012
9 posts
12 tags
Review: "The Avengers"
The mighty god of thunder, the world’s strongest soldier, a billionaire playboy, an angry green beast and two sharpshooters - as terrifying as each may sound in their own right, together they mean business.
“The Avengers” lives up to its high expectations where earth’s greatest superheroes unite against an alien invasion. When Thor’s adopted brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), plans an attack on...
7 tags
Review: "Mirror Mirror"
With a very classical looking Snow White, Evil Queen and the Prince, one would expect a retelling of the original Brothers Grimm story with “Mirror Mirror”.
But there is some turn of events in this fairytale world. Julia Roberts stars as the Evil Queen, who reluctantly had to raise the young Snow White (Lily Collins) after Snow’s father, the King, disappeared mysteriously. The Queen drove the...
7 tags
Review: "Tower Heist"
You have just been scammed out of your pension money. What desperate measures are you willing to resort to in order to get your life back on track?
Perhaps stealing $20 million from the penthouse of the man who robbed you of your pension would be a bit too extreme for some. Not if you are Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), a building manager at a luxurious apartment in New York. Kovacs’ life suddenly...
7 tags
Analysis: The Real Hunger Games
“The Hunger Games” is more than just a teen phenomenon and box office hit. It is a sci-fi world waiting to become our reality.
Although the film is set in the future, possibly the near future even, it has many modern-day moral issues hiding just beneath its action-packed and suspenseful plotline. The cinematography and camera style clearly reflect the broken, ruthless world of Panem, where the...
“Maybe I’d eat a banana in the background that would take focus away from other...”
– James Franco
9 tags
Review: "21 Jump Street"
Getting high on a mysterious new cookie drug has never been this exhilarating.
“21 Jump Street”, the big-screen remake of the 80’s TV show that kick-started Johnny Depp’s acting career, takes Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, and places them as two complete opposites in this surprisingly entertaining comedy. Tatum stars as Jenko, the popular jock who underachieves at high school, while Hill is a...
7 tags
Review: "127 Hours"
It is that recurring nightmare where you feel trapped, alone and desperate, shouting at the top of your lungs, screaming for help and hoping someone might hear your cries - and only hearing your own echoes.
In the biopic “127 Hours”, this nightmare becomes the reality of the adventurous Aron Ralston who gets his arm stuck underneath a boulder whilst rock climbing in a deserted canyon in Utah....
“I was a film fanatic and cinephile before I was an actor. I love just being a...”
– Tom Hiddleston
7 tags
Welcome to Film Take!
Film, movie, motion picture, the big screen, the silver screen, cinema or flick - whatever you prefer to call the art of moving images, visual effects and storytelling - this is my passion and the reason behind my blog.
I’ve had a fascination and obsession with the film world for as long as I can remember. My love for movies started with my first trip to the theater: “The Lion King”, aged 4. I...
