Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

Predicted Rating: 1 Star

Directed by: Adam McKay (The Campaign). Starring: Will Ferrell (Old School), Steve Carell (The Office), and Paul Rudd (Role Models)

After the events of the first film, legendary news anchor Ron Burgandy (Ferrell) is hosting the weekend news cast with his wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). They find out that the weekday reader is retiring so Ron assumes that he is getting the job, however, only his wife gets the gig. Ron then goes into a deep spiral of depression but is saved when he finds out a new 24-hour news channel. NEWS TEAM ASSEMBLE!

As you can see from my predicted rating, I expected this movie to be terrible. One reason for this is because the reason why the first film was so good was because it never tried. The jokes flowed smoothly, it never took itself seriously and became one of the most quotable movies ever. Anchorman could quite possibly be the most popular cult film ever. I feared for part 2 because I thought it would try too hard not to try hard. This makes the film feel like it is full of itself. A good example of of this is How I Met Your Mother, it realised it was popular and now struts around like it is the king of the roost. I think Anchorman 2 does the exact opposite of this. The jokes follow the same tone as in the first one but it doesn't feel like it is saying look, we made these jokes before, how good are we, which is the opposite of HIMYM, which has told the same 5 jokes for 197 episodes. Anchorman 2 continues the non stop fun because it again essentially has no story. It doesn't try to thrust on you a ridiculous story but just tells the joke and plays out more like a Saturday Night Live sketch.

Another reason why I thought this film would be awful was because really, has there been a good comedy sequel? I am going to sound like Jigsaw here but let's play a game, name a good comedy sequel... *crickets chirping. The only one I could think of was Home Alone 2 and even that is stretching it. There have been many classic comedies such as Ghostbusters, Men In Black and the Hangover that have absolutely terrible sequels. I think Anchorman 2 bucks this trend because it is thoroughly entertaining and a downright hoot.

A round of applause everyone for Kristen Wiig because she managed to move a few spots up on my favourite actresses list *woooo yeah. Well it is hard to move down from dead last but hey it is a step in the right direction. She has now leapfrogged Kat Dennings, Kathryn Heigl and Meryl Streep. I am in no way forgiving her for Bridesmaids but she was actually pretty funny in this film as the love interest of Steve Carell's Brick Tambland. I was actually thinking after the film, I wish there was more Kristen Wiig in this film, words I thought were impossible for me to say. Brick is really the glue in this film. He delivers the one liners at the optimum time and brings in by far the most laughs. As a result, it is only fitting that he gets a love interest and what better love interest that one who is essentially the female version of himself. Wiig Plays this role perfectly, maybe she is a decent actor, she just needs to be given a decent character.

Overall: In no way a good film but it is thoroughly entertaining, which is what you want in a mindless comedy. 4 Stars

Carrie

Carrie (2013)

Predicted Rating: 3.5 Stars

Directed by: Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don't Cry). Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass), Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights) and Judy Greer (Arrested Development)

A new adaption to the 1974 Stephen King novel and a re-make of the 1976 Brian De Palma film, Carrie tells the story of of teenage outcast Carrie White (Moretz). She has been raised by her radical christian mother, Margaret (Moore), who has sheltered her from any social interaction. After Carrie is teased by her fellow class mates after she gets her first period and does not know what it was, she discovers she has telekinetic powers. To punish the girls for their bullying of Carrie, Miss Desjardin (Greer) subjects them to a physical training session and anyone who does not complete it does not get to go to senior prom. Feeling sorry for her role in the attack, Sue Snell offers her spot in the prom so her boyfriend, Tommy Ross, can take Carrie to the prom.

I think the jury is still out on shot for shot remakes. Some can have their merits, whilst some, such as the abomination that is the Anne Heche/Vince Vaughn Psycho remake, can be down right awful. I was not expecting Carrie to be a shot for shot remake but in the end it wasn't half bad. However, the remake still needs to include something that distinguished it from the original. In Carrie it was the use of technology. This worked for 21 Jump Street but it was not as effective in Carrie. Granted the filming of the tampon attack and the subsequent online posting was a clever addition but far too often the use of technology would get shoved in your face with many shots of "look here is a mobile phone." In the end this is an admirable shot for shot remake because it would be difficult to differentiate from the original without essentially taking a huge dump on the book but you can't help reminisce about the 1976 version whilst watching the 2013 version.

I was a tad disappointed about some of the stuff that was left out of the remake. Most of the iconic moments such as the tampon scene and the bucket of pigs blood was included but a couple of important scenes where missing. One is not a scene but more of a technique, which is the use of split screen when Carrie destroys the prom. I can see how this may look lame by today's standard but I will have to admit it looked pretty cool in the original. The other thing was the ending. The original features one of the most iconic and shocking endings ever when Carrie's hand comes out to the grave grabbing the sole survivor of the attack, Sue Snell. I again understand that it was not included because you would see it coming, however I argue that many people would not expect it and I think it should have been added.

As this is a character driven story, the film relies heavily on the performances of the actors to truly make this a great film. The performance from Julianne Moore as Margaret White is nothing short of sensational. She seemed genuinely emotionally scarred and the addition of her self harm was chilling. Chloe Grace Moretz was good as Carrie but she often seemed to confident as she talked diminishing some of the vulnerability that Carrie is supposed to display. It is difficult to top the performance of Sissy Spacek, as she is almost perfect for the role and Chloe Grace Moretz is just a tad too attractive, but Moretz does do the best she can. Again Judy Greer as Miss Desjardin was great but not quite perfect. She is too "bubbly" for the role and she is also a tad too old. Despite some of the downfalls, all of the performances where fairly good and make the film what it is.

Overall: A decent shot for shot remake with some great performance but it does not live up to the expectations set by the original. 3 Stars