Pushing Daisies

I give this: 6/10 Lee’s

Pushing Daisies is an American comedy-drama television series created by Bryan Fuller that aired on ABC from October 3, 2007 to June 13, 2009.

First episode: October 3, 2007
Final episode: December 17, 2008
Program creator: Bryan Fuller
Network: American Broadcasting Company
Writers: Bryan Fuller, Peter Ocko, Rina Mimoun, Scott Nimerfro
Starring
• Lee Pace
• Anna Friel
• Chi McBride
• Field Cate
• Ellen Greene
• Swoosie Kurtz
• Kristin Chenoweth 

The first one of its kind and most definitely a challenge. Pushing Daisies can be classified as “you either love it, or, you hate it”. I am proudly part of the former. This series captures so many elements of film making but in doing so it failed to capture the hearts of many. The plot is very simple, nothing to bend your brain or to even dedicate your live to solitude, no. this is to the heart and soul a story about love… or rather how does one define love. In the case of our romantic lead characters, Ned and Chuck it kind of takes the idea or concept of love to a whole new level of freaky.  Ned finds out early in the series that he has the gift of giving life, but this gift can only be given for 60 seconds after which someone or something of equal “life-weight” has to take its place…sort of to like balancing out. Ned found this out when his mother one sunny afternoon dropped dead and he touched her face and *wham* she was alive again, this had an unfortunate ending for the neighbour as he, after 60 seconds dropped dead – taking the dead place of Ned’ mother. He also found out that the first touch is life and the second, regardless of what had happened, meant an unforgettable and unforgiving death. Ned found this out when later that night his mother kissed him good night. 

Where’s the love in this, I hear you ask? Well, it just so turns out that Ned fell in love with a little girl called Chuck, he father was the one who died taking the place in balance of Ned’s Mother who he kept alive. She later gets in the middle of a golden monkey transit and gets murdered. With the help of Ned’s “business partner” Emerson Cod: PI” they set out to find the killers behind the mysterious murder of Charlotte Charles. Soon Ned finds out that Charlotte is in fact is first kiss and neighbour Chuck, touching her once she came back to life and looking into each other’s eyes they instantly fell in love. Not being able to let Chuck die, Ned risks keeping her alive, knowing never to be able to touch her again his love will be that strong for as long as they both shall live. And so they did, they made major adjustments like a thick clear Perspex sheet dividing the car into two, kissing through cling wrap and also wearing mittens to hold hands. Their love was just that strong. And it lasted, they lived happily ever after.

Now, looking at the elements of this series, Pushing Daisies, pushed the boundaries of “outside the box thinking” out the water. As much as the series didn’t do well, rating’s wise it basically got cancelled after the first season. This was a bummer though as the idea of loving someone unconditionally without ever being able to touch, kiss, hug or hold. The concept blew us away. And maybe it blew is right into nowhere just of the Land of Oz, right next to Glee’ville. Each episode kept you hoping, wondering and continuously questions the fates of each and every character. With a brilliant cast and perfect scripts/storylines the creators set out to change something, whether it was to break the creative barrier or even if it was just to say “hey look at us we’re different”. Every aspect of the series was thoughtfully decided upon, from the picture frame that isn’t just any normal picture frame, to the quirky- fast paced dialogue that ran the show by actor Kristin Chenoweth, the hilarious comedy actress that graced our screens in films such as Bewitched, Stranger than Fiction, as well as the hit TV show, Glee – Where, as in Pushing Daisies, it’s never weird to burst out in song and dance.  The show does have its negatives as well, for one being – I fear the only people who truly liked it was either in the film or TV industry having loads of old school film references and styles, making it very difficult for the normal viewer to really fully understand what they are watching, this homage of greatness lead to the cancellation of the show. Leaving all the fans disappointed, because, like I said – if you love it, you truly love it.

Technical aspects of the show makes this wonder emporium spectacular and perfect for the idea of fantasy, with bright colours, and heightened acting as well as the storylines, everything worked so well together, nothing ever felt out of place or forced, once you allowed yourself in resurrecting the dead and you forget about zombies, the collaboration of colour vs. contrast and theme vs. style you are captivated by this fantasy of perfection! The director made sure that every element of putting out a final show was perfect and worked perfectly together. The art department on this show must have had a field day making sure that everything looked quirky yet believable, taking form so many genres and infusing them into this collage of greatness cannot have been an easy task, yet they pull it off graciously. 

My final thoughts to this are: sometimes one should think twice before making a film let alone a series that will only appeal to a small demographic, especially if your demographic is only going to be your colleagues and fellow film followers.  Needless to say, I loved it, it gave me inspiration to write, paint, song write, but just to believe in love- and myself. The concept might be above the brow or even the heads of others, but to me, the idea worked well, and paid off well in the end.  It was just unfortunate that the payoff came when the creator’s friends didn’t call him to congratulate him on a job well done. BUT with that said, this is a master piece in it's own right and should not be forgotten, It's an inspiring Fairy Tale with hints of Forensics,  Super Naturalism, Comedy, Romance, Twists and Turns and lets not forget the Drama.

Life As We Know It

I give this: 7/10 Lee's

Life As We Know It is a 2010 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Greg Berlanti, starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. It was released on October 8, 2010, after sneak previews in 811 theaters on O

Director: Greg Berlanti
Running time: 115 minutes
Screenplay: Ian Deitchman, Kristin Rusk Robinson
Genres: Romantic comedy, Romance film, Comedy-drama, Drama film, Comedy film
ctober 2, 2010.


It is said that when life gives you lemons – you make lemonade. But what if life gives you a baby and a life you never planned? What then? This is the question that is asked to the two characters Eric (Josh Duhamel) and Holly (Katherine Heigl).  Have you ever been put into a situation where you know that from here on out, everything is going to be different, your whole life will never be as you planned.
 This hearty comedy-drama asks you that very question and I guess everyone has a different answer because we all have different situations, but still - the question is asked. The two lead characters meet for the first time as part of a hook up “scheme” by their best friends who are in love and who are planning a lifelong marriage together, but the two lead characters soon find out that they are the godparents and legal guardians to Sophie, the friends’ daughter who passes away in a car accident. The subject matter is handled so well by director Greg Berlani, who seems to have had every shot in every scene perfectly planned out and where nothing went wrong – even though they were working with a baby in every scene. Technically this film is flawed but what it lacks in technical it sure makes up elsewhere. The performances from all the actors are top class with a few kinks here or there you see past it all and continue focussing on what will happen next – from the annoying neighbours to the uninvited social worker who just rocks up unannounced for a spot visit just to see how everything is going and if the living environment is good for the orphaned baby. 

Katherine Heigl, who has now become one of the top grossing actors in Hollywood, portrays her role as the lost and found best friend / unexpected mother so well. But the one person who has little moments of brilliance is Transformers star Josh Duhamel – every now and then you want to hit him, but you soon realize that he is doing exactly what you would be doing given the situation they are in. The film has twists and turns from the first frame and you enjoy each and every one of those moments, never fearing that the characters won’t be able to make it… this in turn can also be seen as bad script writing, because you want them to fail and fail miserably, but then again, you do want them to succeed and that, they do!

This is a definite watch if you are experiencing major changes in your life – it gives you that sense of, “it can only get better from here”, and even if you just want to have a quiet night in, and you want to do nothing else, pop it in, relax and enjoy!

Identity Thief

10/10 Lee's

Identity Thief is a 2013 American crime comedy film, directed by Seth Gordon, written by Craig Mazin, and starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. The film is a buddy comedy/road film about a man who gets his identity stolen by a woman.

Director: Seth Gordon

Running time: 111 minutes

Production company: Relativity Media

Music: Christopher Lennertz

Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Bateman

Fun, Magical, Fantastic, Brilliant, Exciting and did I mention fun. I was exceptionally surprized at this film, something beautiful – and for the first time I was not anticipating the ending it had, yet it was going into that direction but then very quickly changed into something surprizing and beautiful.

We all know that a movie like this has the hearty ending we all want, but this one keeps you wondering all the time where the hearty ending will be. The plot to this brilliantly told story is simple, woman(Melissa McCarthy) steals man’s(Jason Bateman) identity and lives the highlife as she exhaust the funds of the person/s she gets her identity from, Bateman clearly isn’t her first victim. Easy?…or is it? Then again with a name like “Sandy Bigelow Patterson” it is actually that simple to steal someone’s identity.  With big hair, big dreams and a big personality McCarthy pulls off a magical performance which, at times, you feel you just want to hold her and tell her everything’s going to be all right. Bateman has to keep himself from actually feeling sorry for this poor lil-ol-lady who has stolen his identity and ruined his life. With wild-at-heart characters, the term “identity” is constantly made use of with each and every character you come across and helps to contribute to the story theme. McCarthy has this way of making us all feel like there are bigger fish to fry and that nothing is actually difficult to reach. 

The story to this film is technically well planned and brilliantly executed alongside all other aspects regarding the production – there’s a some-sort-of-a 80’s/ 90’s feel to the story telling of the film that makes it look and seem more original than anything out there at the moment (or rather for a while now – call it a breath of fresh film air). Top marks for pulling that off. The film takes you on a journey of discovery and learning.  Both characters grow from where they are to who they become, even though McCarthy has this throat-jab that never grows old – from the first time, straight through to the last jab that she uses to send off anyone that seems to be a threat.  Both McCarthy and Bateman’s characters grows as individuals by learning to let go and trusting in them selves and each other. In turn you to feel that you can also grow, even by never letting go of those little things you do that make you, you.  The comedy moments are played out, and played with so well and you have just enough time to compose yourself only to be in stitches moments later.

From a film makers point of view the cast and crew pulled off a film that could’ve easily gone wrong but director Seth Gordon perfectly placed all his chess pieces in such a way that made this film to be the sensation it is. Bateman being the actor he is, gives a diverse level of dimension to his character, yet somehow you expect it. But the show steal'er (no pun intended) is McCarthy who has grown so much over the years, always playing only small bit parts in major films and supporting characters in TV series’ she delivers a performance greater and more entertaining than anything she has ever done in the past. 

If you are looking for a great film that is not predictable yet a fun filled road trip adventure with twists-galore and characters ka-boom then this movie is definitely for you. 
Let me know what you think, but then you might see me watching this again.

The Best Exotic Merigold Hotel

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a 2012 British comedy-drama, about the elderly, the ones we leave be, who we all feel has lived life but in which this film it shows us we can live life to it's fullest even till the day we die. 

This Film gets: 9 Lee's

Director: John Madden 

Running time: 124 minutes

Screenplay: Ol Parker

Cast: Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Maggie Smith, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie

As quoted from the film by Sonny Kapoor(Dev Patel), the mad hotel owner/manager and hilarious sidekick to everyone, “In India, we have a saying; everything will be all right in the end. So if it is not all right, it is not yet the end.” And boy does this stick with you throughout the film and even afterwards, it resounds in your head to make you think about life, love, and the idea or ideal we have about happiness - true and honest happiness.

The film ventures into areas unexplored, or rather explored fully.  We follow a group of 7 lower- /middle- and upper class British elderly citizens who all need to- have to- or want to go to India. You see the splendour of a country we all fear to be a place where you will go and shall not return, well… depending on which area you are planning on going too.  This film pushes the limits and sets a new bar for dramatic comedies all round as the characters of 65+ fall in love - again, find the truth, have a change of heart, regain confidence and just plain doesn’t care what people think about them and what or why they are doing this.  I think I speak for everyone when I say that I would love to have this movie play out in my own life.  To experience all the thrills, drama and suspense life has thrown at us thus far, all over again on your last few days on earth. Brilliant, sign me up now!

With a cast as powerful and brilliant as this the movie has no choice but to overwhelm you with the lust for life. The director, John Madden, takes you out of your comfort zone and places you in the wondrous and spectacular setting of India which is vibrant with colours and culture, depicting the perfect placement for a story of this magnitude, everything about this film is absolutely perfect, the choice of cinematography the lighting, costume, location, design, scripting, everything is perfectly chosen to fit and mesh into each other like the seasons of a year flowing gradually from one to the next.  Of course the characters surprize you from time to time with what they say and you stop for a moment to think about it and then to ask yourself “would my grandmother/father say that?”, there is a beautiful bit where Madge(Celia Imrie) asks “You're not worried about the danger of having sex at your age?” and the response to this will forever be printed in my head and I will quote this till the day I die, Norman(Ronald Pickup) says “If she dies, she dies.” I have to buy the dvd just for that line. The script writing on this apart from all the research that was put in, is absolutely phenomenal, kudus to  Ol Parker who transforms this story from just another old age story into this adventure of finding peace.

When all is said and done I think that tackling a story like this must’ve been hard, some momentous task to find the perfect cast and crew to partake in a risk like this, I mean if you look at films these days its more guts and gore than anything else really and here comes this innocent story and blasts us away.  The making of this film I think if summed up in my last quote by Evelyn Greenslade(Judi Dench) “Definition of 'Dunk'; Means lowering the biscuit into the tea and letting it soak in there trying to calculate the exact moment before the biscuit dissolves, when you whip it up into your mouth and enjoy the blissful union of biscuits and tea combined. It's more relaxing than it sounds.”

 And this film is exactly why we love watching movies and that’s why they love making them.

Oz: The Great and Powerful

This film gets: 9 Lee's 

Oz the Great and Powerful is a 2013 American fantasy adventure film preceding the 1939 film The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. 

Director: Sam Raimi

Running time: 130 minutes

Adapted from: The Wizard of Oz, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Screenplay: Mitchell Kapner, David Lindsay-Abaire

OK, so all this morning I've been singing “You're off to see the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! Smizz…lizz…”oh” because, because, because….and so on and so forth” - I never can remember that song so well. Anyway, I was in my element, now I’ll have you know that the story of the Wizard of Oz has captured my imagination for years now and even with the newly resurrected and recreated books and musical by, Gregory Maguire, the story still has that spark, that sense of freedom – use your imagination to do and dream whatever you can, be whoever you want to be.

So, I have my cold drink in one hand, phone and smarties in the other. Now for those who know me, this combination means business. The movie starts – I haven’t touched anything, I didn't want to look down at any point to miss one single frame of this film, something strange then starts tickling my brain - but what is is…ooooooh, the movie is in an old original 4:3 aspect ratio and not in the usual full on wide screen that we are so used to nowadays. Not to worry. I know why they did this, soooo I get even more excited… I was like a little boy in a candy store! 

The movie starts with the “wizard”(James Franco) who is this two timing, scheming, conman that has selfish ideals and who doesn't really have a caring bone about anyone other than himself(did I just do that – I did).  Then the tornado happens, like in any Oz film we've now seen or heard of the only way to get to Oz is by tornado, and boy this sequence is done beautifully. At some point something great happens, there’s snow leaping over to the outsides of the now set 4:3 aspect ratio opening up this extended part of what you see in front of you. And BOOM!!! There is the wonderful land of Oz in full 16:9 wide screen in colour, the part of the movie we always want to see, the magical colour! And might I say that the outrageous use of colour and magnitude of the landscapes make this film spectacular. It is not absurdly pushed but you are constantly aware of the colours and vastness, the emerald city, the mountains in the far, the magical poppy fields, the smoke, the yellow brick road, everything is filled with this delight of colour and man is it pretty! I would go live in Oz now. 

The film too does not lack in any way.  The superimposition and use of blue screen technology pushes the envelope even further than ever before, magical characters created from scratch interacting as if they were actually there, and the CG rendering on everything with the lighting and camera angles really makes you believe that the little girl made out of china truly exists.  The story in itself is not one of the original 14 books that was written by L. Frank Baum but I can assure you that this is brilliantly done, with the same style and whimsical'ness combined with the dark evil the creators from Disney sure did one helluva job, and I can only imagine what kind of a job this must have been.  Obviously, and unfortunately  I was aware of some flaws too – the characters Evanora(Rachel Weisz) and Theadora(Milla Kunis) playing the sister duo does lack depth as there would be in two characters like this. For one they both speak in 2 different accents and at stages in the film it felt like Kunis was really trying to put on some sort of a British accent but failed miserably. Glinda played by Michelle “Marilyn Monroe” Williams has now officially joined the party of “wow-actors” she can hang up those Dawson’s Creek shoes and sing the happy song ”Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead…yada yada yada”. Michelle wow’s us with a character so soft and sweet yet so powerful and iconic it nearly felt like I know here like that, but then you realize that she is truly just a brilliant actor with an amazing future. James Franco as the wizard…hmm, now I did not for one second believe that he was the wizard, but then again neither did any of the other characters – which begs the question was he good or was he acting? But he wins me over in the end and as we all know good always overcomes evil. 

My thoughts on this film: it reminded me of some of my favorite past-times I had growing up. This movie isn't deep, dark or in any way major Transformer- or Alice in Wonderland’like. No, this film is exactly what you would want from one of the biggest grossing book franchises ever, the continuity from one(the wizard of Oz) to the next. If you want to watch a film with a story, heart, courage and imagination then this film is for you. And then, when you are done, go rent the original Wizard of Oz film to keep watching a story that has captured our imaginations for over a hundred years. 
I want to go watch it again!

Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty,

I give this film: 8 Lee's / 10
This films had a heavy cross to carry and it did it so well. I do think we are now allowed to mourn and move on. The technical and truly Oscar award winning "stuff" that was put into this movie were well timed and deserved all the awards it did.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Running time: 160 minutes
Screenplay: Mark Boal
Awards: Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, National Board of Review Award for Best Film, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Drama Film, National Board of Review Award for Best Actress, BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Editing,BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director, Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, National Board of Review Award for Best Director,New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Picture, Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay
Zero Dark Thirty is a 2012 American historical drama film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal.

Can I just kick off and say... YAWN! Great, so America caught the “baddest” of all bad guys ever. This topic has now come to the point of over publicizing something to death - there has been at least 4 films that I can think of off the top of my head(no Google used here) that has been tackling this issue. For Example: Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud, Twin Towers, Argo, This (Zero Dark Thirty) and who can forget Flight 93 of which 2 versions were made one for cinema and one for TV, am I getting my point across or what?
Let’s be honest, I'm not disregarding what happened in the history books i mean 9/11 will stay with all of us, as some may have had more personal connections to the tragedy of the century, than with others - but still. Personally I feel that this movie should have been waited with and made in many years to come, when people are in love with history again. Sure the movie did very well with regards to the amount of awards it won - let’s take a moment to review them.  For the most part this movie was technically done well, with an amazing director and screenplay the actress didn't have a choice but to be great.

Technically(regarding the technical aspects) this film was brilliant - the screenplay was factual and did justice to the people involved, the Director knew what she was getting herself into and she blew everyone out of the water, the Artistic aspects regarding the attention to detail and the depiction of style and fashion trends was researched very well even though some of this played off in the late 90s trends and finished in the current change over it was followed thought nicely keeping to the characters, the use of light and dark was so well done and at times I had goose bumps sitting there not knowing what I was looking at, the sound did lack at times where I couldn't figure out what the people were saying but the message came across. The soundtrack to this was chosen very wisely, and the cinematography started out and ended off brilliantly, and then the way in which the edit brought all these different elements together, I truly felt that I was part of this race against time to catch on what they now call the greatest manhunt ever.

But it lacked heart, I don't know if the director deliberately didn't want the audience to fully gauge in the film on an emotional level and if they decided to rather keep is at arm’s length and clinical, who knows. All I can say is that I did not feel the heart in the story there was just no way I would be able to connect to any of the characters - given that they did portray real life people who are still alive(some of them anyway). BUT if you look at other films that portray historical points, the actors truly became the icon - look at Helen Mirren in the Queen, now there is a film that I thoroughly enjoyed, I could feel that the Queen was actually concerned and yet she had to keep herself cold and clinical, what the Director did was tell a story about a lioness protecting her young, which in this case was her family and the people.

Looking back at this film I realize that we need to time travel back to the 70's and come back through to the 90s where films were made for pure entertainment, nowadays going to the cinema feels more like watching the news. 

Let’s just tell stories again, like in the old days.

Fellow Film Follower,

This is my first entry, a small introduction to who I am.  My name is Lean Luyt and I am excited to have started this blog - sharing my thoughts, Views and Professional opinions about films, old and new.

I work in the media industry and so my views are going to be as objective as possible.  I try to make a point of it to watch at least 1 or 2 movies per week, this will from now on be my inspiration to do some write ups about the films I see. For the last couple of years I have been working in Television with a passion for Film and TV, so every now and then I will also be reviewing television series'.

You will find that the manner I write in is not that of a journalist but more that of a passionate film goer and follower of the trends. I write as I say it in my head. I hope you will not want to stone me for being honest.

Please lets make this a fun and enjoyable experience,
Kindest Regards,

Lean