Movie Valley
November 2008 Movie Reviews
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Flawless
Starring: Demi Moore, Michael Caine, Lambert Wilson, Joss Ackland
Directed By: Michael Radford
Run Time: 1 hr 48 mins

Flawless is set in the 60s at the London Diamond Corporation. Laura Quinn (played by Moore) is the only female manager at the company and she keeps getting passed up for promotion for less qualified men. Enter Mr. Hobbes (played by Caine), the night janitor. He concocts a way for Laura to stick it to Lon Di. All she has to do is get the code for the vault. Mr. Hobbes will steal enough diamonds to leave them both comfortable for life. London Diamond won't notice the measly thermos full of diamonds he plans to lift. They do, however, notice when the vault is completely wiped out. How did he do it? How could he, an elderly man with a bad limp, have managed to remove a ton (literally) of diamonds in just three hours?

I wanted to see this movie when it came out in the US in early summer. Never got around to it, though. When we toyed with seeing a movie in London, this was the only one playing at the time we were looking to see a movie. When we got back home, I would find out that this movie was out on DVD in the US. And we paid $20 EACH for tickets in London. I guess the experience of going to a movie in a foreign country was worth the price of two DVD purchases...

I digress. I wasn't nuts about the opening. It seemed a little forced. The opening montage lasts for about 5 minutes and it cuts to woman after woman after woman on the streets of London. It gets a bit tedious. There doesn't seem to be any reason but it just doesn't stop. Woman, woman, woman. I'm guessing they're trying to show you how far we've come... And then we see an old Demi Moore (70, perhaps 80 years old). She tells a reporter her life story, starting off by saying, "It's been 40 years since she was a free woman in London." This, of course, gives you the impression that she's been in jail for stealing the diamonds. She does confess to stealing a diamond, a rather large, 50 carat beauty that she pulls from her pocket. The opening disengages you from the movie because you then spent it wondering when she and Michael Caine will get caught.

One of the flaws of the movie is that neither main character had my sympathies - Laura or Mr. Hobbes. I really didn't care why Mr. Hobbes wanted to steal the diamonds. While we see that Laura gets passed up for promotion, it doesn't really appear to bother her. She's too stoic. I didn't feel for either of them. As a result, I really wasn't rooting for them to pull off their caper.

I did like that this is a British movie set in London, but that only was due to the fact that we were in London watching the movie. I kept wandering away from the movie in front of me to focus on the location of the movie. Do I know that street? It looks familiar. Have I been on it recently? Where is that?

I spent the movie wondering when the pair, or at least Laura, would get caught. I actually felt Laura's tension. I had to remind myself to breath. I could feel the suspense tensing up my shoulders. I kept wondering what taletell sign would be their downfall. What would led the cops to them? They do get caught, right? The opening told us so, so when it's going to happen? It was incredibly fun robbery scheme. Unfortunately, I didn't quite believe how it was pulled off. Mr. Hobbes could barely walk, let alone run, so if you think about what really happened, it highly implausible. They show you that he had a tough time running the 30 feet once.... Of course, I'm a sucker for a gotcha ending/explanation and this truly is a gotcha explanation (and ending, too, despite the fact that I wasn't nuts about the opening. In hindsight, it was a good opening with a satisfactory conclusion).

Although Jeff was fine with it, I absolutely hated that Laura had a British accent. They mention several times that she's an American. Um, so what's with the British accent? Other than that, it was a pretty good movie. It was incredibly suspenseful, had a lovely backdrop, the story was interesting (although I found Mr. Hobbes' motive a bit of a stretch), the acting was wonderful (despite the inexplicable British accent and the fact that Michael Caine is probably so used to acting - because he's been in every movie ever made - that he doesn't even have to put forth much effort to be decent). The ending sealed it for me. A good movie for a rainy day (particularly if that rainy day is in London). Maybe I just liked it because it takes place in London and we were in London watching it. Did I mention London? And I challenge anyone not to get a little overwhelmed when they show you all the pretty, pretty diamonds in the vault. So many sparklies! Such a beautiful room. You gotta love the movie just for that little view.

Bolt
Starring: John Travolta, Susie Essman, Miley Cyrus, Mark Walton
Directed By: Chris Williams, Byron Howard
Run Time: 1 hr 36 mins

Bolt is a super hero dog... or so he thinks. He's actually an actor but the director of his TV show is so determined to have Bolt believe he needs to protect Penny (his owner, voiced by Cyrus) that the director has never let Bolt know everything he's encountered is all fake. There are no retakes. There are no visible crew members or camera. Bolt thinks Penny is in danger all the time and he'll stop at nothing to protect her. Then, one day, Penny is kidnapped (well, her character on the TV show is kidnapped). Bolt doesn't know she really isn't kidnapped so he breaks out of his trailer to save Penny. He winds up in a package that ends up in New York. He must then get from New York back to Hollywood.

I saw this movie in 3D. You don't need to see it in 3D. There's really nothing that is benefited by 3D, other than looking cool in the glasses.

I'm just going to come right out and say it - I LOVED (that's loved) this movie. It was so incredibly sweet. I hope my animals love me half as much as Bolt loves Penny. Of course, none of them would travel 3000 miles to save me... some of them probably wouldn't even be able to find their way out of a wet paper bag, let alone navigate across the country, but I would like it if the intent was there. Well, maybe if I had food.

Disappointingly, this movie isn't nearly as funny as the previews would have you believe. I loved the previews. The hamster in the ball was hysterical. Unfortunately, the hamster grows thin pretty quickly. I do love the voice behind the hamster. Well, not really. The voice wasn't as cute in the movie as it was in the previews, but the concept is pretty cool. The "actor" who voices Rhino (the hamster) is actually an animator for the movie. He's done minor characters in other animated movies before. I read that the animators do the voices before the "real" actors are brought on board so that they can get the mouth movements right. I guess the director really liked what he did with the hamster.

I was not prepared for how sad this movie was. Before you get too turned off from this movie, let me just quantify that assessment by saying that there were just a few moments that were sad, but they really, really touched me. The backstory for Mittens (the cat Bolt captures to lead him back to Penny) really hit me. She can come join my band of misfits any day! The ending also made me cry, but because it was sweet. I was not expecting to cry as much as I did. I was, however, expecting to laugh more.

The animation and attention to details was absolutely amazing. Watch the pigeons. It's phenomenal how they captured their neck movements, bobbing and turning.

The story was so original. I loved the action movie tie-ins - Bolt jumping in slow-mo over the helicopter, even the angle we see it at. I'm sure there has to be a dozen action movies that have the same sort of scene in them.

I wasn't as impressed with the hamster voice during the actual movie as I was during the previews. I did love the hamster, though. Visually he was so endearing. Fluffy. Chubby. You could see his chub wiggle. Cute little hamster. The other voices were good. At first I thought John Travolta's voice would get too distracting as I was initially painfully aware that it was soon. That soon faded as he became more doglike, Bolt-like, if you will. To me, Miley Cyrus was a bit annoying but she's not in it as much. I did grow to like her. The cat was wonderful (I may be biased). The first set of pigeons were very much like the pigeons from Animaniacs. So much so that it made me wonder if that was intentional. The second set of pigeons (the surfer pigeons) were fabulous. I loved their dysfunctionalness.

I liked this movie so much more than I thought I would. I went to go see it for the hamster. Ended up not liking the hamster so much. Ended up liking the movie more. So heartwarming. Just a great, sweet, cute, awesome movie. I really loved it.

Quantum of Solace
Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric
Directed By: Marc Forster
Run Time: 1 hr 45 mins

Quantum of Solace is about revenge. The love of James Bond committed suicide (refused to let James save her) in the last movie and this act has left James angry and sad. He wants to find the person (or persons) responsible for the reason she killed herself and he'll stop at nothing until he has his revenge. In this version, he doesn't have a martini (shocker) nor does he say, "Bond, James Bond." There are no quirky gadgets (Q isn't in it at all). He does kill a few people.

I, like so many others, have eagerly anticipated the second James Bond installment since Daniel Craig tool the helm. When I heard that this one wasn't very good, I laughed off those reports because I figured even if the movie totally blew chunks, it would still have Daniel Craig in it and that would make it totally worth watching. I am still reeling from surprise. It wasn't good. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't far from it. I didn't even care to heighten my interest when Mr. Craig was on the screen. He just didn't light it up like he did last time. And the Bond girls, for the men, although beautiful, were so incredibly boring. And what was up with all the hype for Gemma Atherton? Not to give anything away, but she's only in it for 2 minutes!

In this installment, James Bond is very brooding. While this irked Jeff (you should have heard him every time a preview came on TV), it didn't bother me. If he had been anything but dark I would have been offended. The story picks up just hours after the death of his girlfriend. He's hurt, betrayed, and bent on revenge. That, apparently, is the plot in its entirety. There's not much more to the plot than that... Well, there's a confusing side plot involving the wonderful but totally underplayed Mathieu Amalric. There's a lot of hullabaloo involving Mr. Green's (played by Amalric) plot for world domination but it was a sideplot that really didn't garner enough interest. It was confusing and I just didn't care. Mr. Greene's evil group is such a secret organization that mi6 miraculously knows nothing about it - who they are, what they want to. That translates to the overtone of the movie. Who are they? What is their evil plan? I got that they were up to no good but that was the extent of my interest. A lot of the implausibility of the plot surrounded this subplot - the jet hopping, the meeting of the other members of this terror/world domination group. Since it was hard for us to figure out what Mr. Greene was really doing, are we to believe that these other people knew what they were getting into? I suppose if they were such a secret organization that even mi6 knew nothing of its existence, not having the other members know what they themselves were involved in is then plausible.

I didn't like some of the settings/scene setups. For example, was I the only one perplexed by the Italian horse race scene? Did anyone else think that someone was either going to be trampled by a horse during the James Bond chase scene or pop up from a drain hole in the middle of the race and get decapitated? The fact that the chase scene didn't involve the horse race at all was indicative of the movie - there's a lot going on for no reason. Jeff just thought they wanted to use an exotic location. I think that James Bond shouldn't be allowed into Italy because he every time he's there, he causes a lot of destruction (cue Casino Royale when he brings down an entire building in Venice).

An action movie should have good action scenes. When the action sucks, the film has problems... unless it can rely on its plot (see paragraphs above regarding how I felt about the plot). The action scenes seemed gratuitous - and not very actiony. You knew there was a chase going on but the details were too quick and choppy to make out. What just happened? How did he get there from where he was? Who was that? Do I care that he just died? Should I care? Seriously, who was that guy? The chase scene with the opera interspersed was horrendous. I had no idea what was going on - who was part of the chase and who was an opera singer. Is that the opera or did something happen in the chase? I know that this was partly the point - the opera mimicked the chase - but I found it too chaotic.

I felt that the movie was a waste because nothing really happens. I was not at all happy with the final scene. So... I sat for almost two hours for this? Wow. I didn't care all along. It was nice that James Bond finally caught up to me (cough, two hours later). If you're a James Bond fan, you probably do need to see this one (especially if you watched any of the Timothy Dalton versions or the 80s ones with Roger Moore). If you're not a James Bond fan, skip it. Too much of a mess to enjoy if you don't like your martinis shaken.

Sigh. Even though Mr. Bond hurt me with this crappy installment, I am still looking forward to the next one. Yes, that's right. Some people never learn. James and I have something in common, then.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley
Starring: Haley Bennett, Jake Weber, Chace Crawford, Shanna Collins, Shannon Marie Woodward, Nina Siemaszko
Directed By: Mickey Liddell
Run Time: 1 hr 26 mins

There are four movies playing that I want to see but two have been promised to Jeff, one to Joel. That left The Haunting of Molly Hartley, a horror movie. For a split second, I debated going to see The Changeling since I wager Angelina Jolie may be up for Best Actress nomination for some award in a few months. The previews for that movie turned me against it. Why would the police pretend the boy is her missing son? Why would she accept him back as her own? Argh. I'm sure the movie would answer those questions but like I said, the previews have annoyed me too much to see the movie. Ah, but the previews for The Haunting of Molly Hartley were downright creepy. They made me decide to go see it, because afterall, I love horror movies, especially the creepy ones. As luck would have it, I was alone in the movie theater. I got to watch a horror movie all by myself! I debated whether or not that would be a good thing... and then I saw the movie and realized that there was a reason no one else bothered to see it, too.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley is about something that's happening around and possibly to Molly Hartley. Her mother tried to kill her, stabbed her in the chest, because she was convinced her daughter was evil. Now that her mother is safely tucked away at a mental institution, Molly is free to start over at a new school. But she's having nosebleeds, blurred visions, hearing voices, and having creepy dreams. Why did her mother try to kill her? And what's with the voices? Molly thinks she's going crazy, just like her mother. Poor girl.

You know it's a bad sign when the only person watching the movie isn't watching the movie. I started noticing things around the theater - the lighting, the seats, the cobwebs under the seats... Pretty, pretty lights. So much more interesting than the movie. Needless to say, I was a bit bored. The Haunting of Molly Hartley is not scary. It doesn't even have a haunting. I'm not sure why it was given that title. Perhaps they thought it would draw more viewers than with a title like The Nosebleed of Molly Hartley or The Crap Filled Fest of Molly Hartley or We're Not Sure What's Up With Molly Hartley But Trust Us, It's Not Scary, Whatever It Is. I suppose that last one wouldn't have fit on the marquee.

I spent the first twenty or so minutes wondering what was wrong with Molly. I wondered when the scary stuff was going to start happening. And I kept wondering up until the very end. The film fell for the cliche scary piano soundtrack, soft and ominous but then growing increasingly louder and louder, building the anticipation of... nothing. There's one scene in the bathroom where Molly opens the medicine cabinet (and you think there might be something gross or scary inside when she opens it but it's just filled with aspirin bottles and Band-aids) but then the music crescendos as she closes the cabinet, swinging the mirror back to her face and you wonder, "What is she going to see in the mirror? Is something going be behind her? Leap out at her? Grab her?" Uh, nothing. Just a mirror of her face and nothing more. The only one true remotely scary moment of the movie is predictable - there's a struggle over the staircase bannister and wouldn't ya know it? Someone falls over to her death. Wow. Who didn't see that coming? Oh, and the body, even though she fell one story onto the dagger she was trying to stab Molly with, had enough strength to grab Molly's ankle with enough gusto that Molly fell down. Predictable. Cliche. Formulaic. Trite.

Wait. I have to backtrack and retract. That last paragraph starts with "I spent the first twenty or so minutes wondering what was wrong with Molly." That's not true because the first twenty minutes of the movie took a page from the script of The Strangers. Wait. Don't tell me you haven't committed that review to memory? Oh, come on! Sigh. Both movies start off with completely unrelated incidents that make you wonder for a lengthy portion of the movie, "So what was up with the beginning? When will that come into play?" They don't so stop giving the writers so much credit by actually thinking they could tie those crap fests up with some incredible bit of ingeniousness. I will admit that I didn't think too much about the beginning of this particular movie because I assumed pretty quickly that the beginning really had nothing to do with Molly Hartley. The beginning takes place in 1997 (oh, so far back). I then did the math and realized that since Molly is a teenager, the teenager in the beginning could not be her mother (only ten years had passed) nor were they sisters adopted into different families but plagued by the same terrible syndrome. The beginning scene focuses on a teenage girl walking through the woods wearing a skimpy dress, following a string that periodically has notes attached to it that say "Follow Me" and "Keep Going" and "Almost There." The string leads the girl to an incredibly creepy shack. The girl goes in there, walks around, and then her boyfriend jumps out from no where, giving her cause for a blood curdling shriek. He then gives her birthday present, a diamond necklace (but it's not her birthday for several days). Her father shows up on the scene, drags her out of the creepy shack, and then proceeds to drive like a crazy man over dirt roads through the woods, mumbling that he can't let his daughter turn 18. He then rear ends a mini van that just happens to be driving on this same desolate road. He crashes into a fence and then gets T-boned by a truck doing at least 60 mph. Huh. What are the odds there would be three cars on this dirt road to no where within seconds of each other? And how on earth could the truck be doing 60 on this road? And what girl in her right mind follows a string through the woods and then ventures into a shack by herself? Well, it WAS daylight so I guess it was okay. The opening scene prepared me for the movie - full of implausibility overlaying a crazy, stupid plot. "Can't let you turn 18. Can't let you turn 18." Wow. That's great writing.

I must say that I liked the ending. Well, that's not entirely true. The ending was anti-climatic and very stupid as we really didn't get to see the evil. I liked that it didn't end the way a lot of movies end. Good does not win out. And not only does evil win, the lesson of the movie is, "If you can't beat evil, just embrace it." Eh. I don't want to be evil... but I am. Okay. Nothing I can do about it now.

The acting was decent. I liked the girl who played Molly. I didn't like how the rest of the characters were cliche - stupid big hair jealous blond girlfriend, creepy looking Jesus freak outcast, tough girl with anger issues (well, I sort of liked her character but she's a fleeting character that just disappears when the movie gets going). This movie isn't scary. It shouldn't even be classified as a horror movie. Nothing happens. One creepy, unexplained figure flashes into Molly's view once; Molly has a few scary dreams. But it's not scary. It's not even tense. It's not smart. It's not good. So many implausibilities. I hesitate to call it the worst movie I've seen this year because this year isn't over and I'm sure some other movie will try to outdo this one. Totally skip this one (although, judging by the number of people in the theater, I'm sure you weren't even considering it).

I feel as though I should tell you the entire plot of this movie. I sat through it. I don't think you truly understand how horrible this movie really was unless I tell you what happened... or didn't happen. You might think I'm being mean or harsh or taken to hyperbole when I say "this sucked." Let me tell you about this movie. Spoiler: Molly's mother one day stabbed Molly in the chest with a pair of scissors. She did this because Molly was evil and she had to stop it. It turns out, Molly was born 5 weeks earlier than expected... on the bathroom floor of some restaurant. There was a lot of blood. She was stillborn. Enter some lady who tells Molly's parents that she can bring their daughter to life, if they agree to sell their daughter's soul to the devil. They agree. Miraculously, Molly is now alive. Apparently, Molly will become evil on her 18th birthday. Molly's mother comes to terms with this possibility and decides to end Molly's life in order to prevent her from being evil. Apparently there are lots of kids out there whose souls belong to the devils, pacts made just like this very one (which is why the girl in the beginning was killed by her father). The Jesus freak outcast's grandmother is a nurse at the psych ward Molly's mother is at. She believes Molly's mother's insane rant that her daughter is evil. She lets Molly's mother out of the facility so she can finish Molly off. The shrink at Molly's school is the woman Molly's parents made the pact with. Molly tries to kill herself a few seconds after midnight (when she's officially 18) by stabbing herself. She can't die. Molly then lets her father be locked up in a mental institution. Molly graduates from high school as valedictorian, with a wink to her boyfriend who is happy she's evil. She never does anything evil but she apparently has power. Nothing happens before she turns evil. Nothing happens after she turns evil. But she's evil. Trust us. Sigh. Yeah. Feel my pain.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Starring: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett-Smith, David Schwimmer, Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin
Directed By: Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath
Run Time: 1 hr 29 mins

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is about four zoo animals who were "freed" from a zoo in New York City only to have their voyage land them in Madagascar instead of Africa are now trying to escape from Madagascar back to the comfort of the NYC zoo. Sadly, their voyage home is interrupted when their plane crashes... in Africa. The quartet (and the stowaway penguins who piloted the plane) must attempt another escape back to NYC.

I never saw the first Madagascar. I meant to; it's on my Netflix queue. But when Jeff expressed interest in seeing the other two movies I wanted to see this week (Zack and Miri and Role Models), my plans to see Madagascar had to be moved up. Thankfully, you don't need to have watched the first in order to understand and enjoy the sequel. They gloss over the plot of the original to help catch you up (or refresh your memory... considering their intended audience is like, 4, and have no retention skills, right?).

The opening is both incredibly sweet and funny as well as scary and sad. I couldn't watch the hunters and I almost started crying at the baby lion floating down the river. But I absolutely loved the playfulness and happiness of the baby lion. The whole happy face/sad face thing was so cute. I giggle just thinking about that image. Playing with the butterfly and then poofing it back out. So charming. Loved the dances.

The rest of the movie had its moments. There were some sight gags and one-liners that I just hooted at. They totally slayed me. So funny! Sigh. Yes, I was the only one laughing (I was NOT the only adult sans child there). But then there were also a lot of moments that I probably was supposed to laugh at but I didn't. Most of those parts involved Alex (played by Stiller... and you all know how much I love his sense of humor). I hate to say this, but maybe he should have been allowed to let loose more. There were nuances of this but they were all cut short... or not fully hashed out. He could have been funnier. I did like that all the zebras were voiced by Chris Rock... they all look alike AND sound alike. That's funny.

The story was pretty original, and that I really like. The underlying tone - loving someone for who they are and not who they're supposed to be (or loving their differences and not trying to make them be like everyone else) - was definitely something that's been done before but the main storyline was new.

Two things I didn't like Nana (the old lady) and Mort. Well, that's not right. I liked Mort. I wasn't quite sure why no one else seemed to like him. He didn't seem any more annoying than Melman or Julien - and while they have annoying quirks, they're sweet and funny, too. Why didn't anyone see that about poor Mort? If there's one thing I didn't like about him, it was his resemblance to the squirrel in Ice Age.

I've read things that say the original Madagascar didn't have any message. I gotta think that it did - friends stick with each other. They made references to something that happened in the first movie that made me think they ended the movie discovering what friendship is all about. And in this one, they rediscover that.

Even without seeing the first one, I really appreciated and liked the sequel. It made me laugh (no, parts made me roar). It was sweet. It was fun. I never wondered, "When is this going to be over?" (which is a really good sign). It had a lot of heart. It was a great buddy picture (unlike that stinker Appaloosa). This would be a good one to watch over and over again because I'm sure I missed some subtle humor. And I want to see the stuff that did make me laugh again, too! Good, cute, funny movie.

RocknRolla
Starring: Mark Strong, Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Idris Elba
Directed By: Guy Ritchie
Run Time: 1 hr 57 mins

RocknRolla is about gangsters in London. Aren't all Guy Ritchie movies about this? Okay, seriously. Lenny Cole (played by Wilkinson) is the head of a particular gangster organization in London who is attempting to rip off a Russian real estate developer but before he can do that, the money the Russian is trying to deliver to Cole keeps getting stolen en route by thugs One Two (played by Butler) and his partner Mumbles (played by Elba), who are tipped off by the Russian's accountant (played by Newton) as to the route the money will be taking. Meanwhile, the Russian wants his lucky painting back, something he loaned to Cole, but unbeknownst to the Russian has been stolen. Even though Cole will be screwing over the Russian, he can't do it until he gets his money, and he certainly can't do it if the painting is missing. Cole enlists his right hand man Archie (played by Strong, who narrates the movie) to help him find it - and a rock 'n' roller named Johnny Quid, who is supposedly dead but really isn't.

Normally when I watch a Guy Ritchie movie I have to opt for the English subtitles. Yes, Ritchie movies are in English... but they're in British-English riddled with British slang and pop culture. Anyone who tells you English is English has never watched a Guy Ritchie movie. The dialog is fast and thick with accents. You think something should be funny but unless you know really what was said, it's hard to tell. This is probably the first movie of his that I've watched without the use or the need for subtitles. Of course, when I rent it and watch it at home, I will probably put the subtitles on just to make sure I understood everything.

This is probably one of Ritchie's better movies. Well, it's in league with Snatch and Lock, stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. I really liked it. It wasn't as funny as the other two but I did laugh. It's as fast-paced as his normal movies. And there's a twist, a "gotcha" which I thoroughly enjoyed... well, one of them anyway. I absolutely loved the ending, which actually told you there would be a RocknRolla 2 (but that's not really what I loved). If the movie had a downfall, it was lack of character development. I wanted more Archie. He narrates it and yet you really don't get to know him. Why was he so loyal to Cole? And I wanted him to be tougher than he was. He definitely had a reputation as tough as nails. Don't get me wrong, I liked his soft side. He seemed like a good guy. And I also wanted more on One Two and Mumbles. The opening wasn't as grabbing/powerful as it could have been. It took me awhile to get into the movie... but Archie's narration helped.

The acting was great. Mark Strong's Archie was fabulous. Thandie Newton's Stella was cold, calculating, but with a bit of warmth. I liked her, even though I'm not certain we were supposed to like her. The dancing scene was hysterical. Was she dancing like that to play up to One Two?

I did read something that poor Gerard Butler was sick (had a cold) while filming this movie. Madonna, who at the time of filming was married to the director, apparently gave him some sort of vitamin/supplement shot (in the tookus) that made him even sicker. There were a couple of scenes where I swear he was sniffling.

I liked this movie. It was clever, funny, and engaging. I didn't even realize two hours had gone by when it ended. I was so caught up in worrying if the "good" guys would get caught and if the painting would be found (and what would happen when it was found). One final question: Guy Ritchie normally casts Jason Statham in his movies (well, he's been in like three). In this one, there was a character named Handsome Bob. In The Italian Job Jason Statham plays a character named Handsome Rob. Was Statham supposed to be in Rocknrolla as this character, is it a coincidence, or is it an inside funny?