Ahhh, I know, I know.  This isn’t horror.  Well, technically it isn’t.  Perhaps in someone’s book it is…  But, alas I had promised a certain someone I would write one chick flick review.  So I thought it only made sense to write about the only chick flick I’ve really watched recently, which just so happens to be ‘This Means War’.  And ok, I’ll admit it… my gigantic crush on Tom Hardy may have influenced this movie choice.  But that’s irrelevant… sort of.

The movie is centered on Reese Witherspoon’s character Lauren, a likeable thirty-something who is down on her luck when it comes to men.  Enter her somewhat-loony friend Trish (Chelsea Handler, who is on fire as usual), who posts an ‘interesting’ profile on a dating website in hopes to get Lauren back in the game.  Cue my green-with-envy face when Lauren clicks on the profile of secret CIA agent and super sweetheart Tuck (Tom Hardy), with whom she goes out on a drink date.  Unbeknownst to Lauren, Tuck’s best friend and co-worker, the extremely slick FDR (Chris Pine), is at a nearby video store waiting in the wings to rescue Tuck should the date turn sour.  Of course Lauren was bound to run into FDR – and that is where the love-hate relationship begins.  Lauren agrees to go on a date with FDR (mostly to shut him up), while at the same time intending on seeing Tuck.  Little do the guys know (until revealing their new girlfriends to each other at work) they are dating the same girl.  They agree to keep dating her, without her knowledge of them being friends, and pretty much let the best man win.  Of course, with the super spy resources they have at their fingertips, it isn’t quite the subtle battle one would imagine.

This was such a funny and enjoyable movie.  I love both Hardy and Pine and their characters ticked all the boxes for me.  Handler was fantastic as potty-mouthed Trish; I am fairly certain she was playing herself.  Throughout the whole movie you are constantly wondering who Lauren will eventually choose – Tuck?  FDR?  Neither?  And of course you want both of them to be picked!  But although I was a little dissatisfied with the end result, I felt cheery and entertained when we walked out of the cinema. 

Let me just say though:  Paintball will never be the same.

Ever since the concepts/trailers/images were released on the internet, I was secretly obsessed with ‘Chronicle’.  I do like a good superhero movie, particularly when they have cool abilities like telekinesis and telepathy – no Wolverine, retractable claws aren’t exactly what I mean.

If you’ve seen the trailers for ‘Chronicle’, you’ll know that it follows a group of teenage boys who inherit telekinetic abilities from an unknown force (a force which isn’t really described in great depth in the actual film).  What makes this film a cut above the rest is that it is a found-footage film (think ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Cloverfield’, ‘Paranormal Activity’ and just about any other movie filmed with a hand-held camera that makes your tummy jubbly).  Generally I’m not so much for found-footage films; excluding ‘Cloverfield’, I find them kind of annoying and pretentious… yeah, they suck.  But the amazing thing about ‘Chronicle’ was that it didn’t suck!

To give you a rough rundown of the film, the main character is Andrew, a stereotypical social outcast with no real friends apart from his cousin Matt, who doesn’t really care for Andrew all that much.  Andrew insists on filming all aspects of his life, much to the annoyance of those around him.  It is during a party where Matt’s friend (and Mr. Popular) Steve encourages Andrew to join him and Matt in a cave somewhere in a forest where they have found the strange force that eventually gives them their powers.  The rest of the film follows the boys learning to use their powers and filming their progress as they go.  With his newfound friendships, Andrew becomes a well-liked part of society… until his mentality slowly begins to unravel.

You know the drill, I don’t like to give too much away.  I found the film so interesting and it really sucked me in for its short 84-minute running time.  The thing that really got me was the effects.  I just could not get over how realistic everything seemed when the boys were toying with their powers!  It seemed so lifelike that I could honestly see this happening!  Now that’s messed up…

Give ‘Chronicle’ a fair go.  It’s one of the few movies I’ve really enjoyed lately and hey, it’s original, which is a lot to say for films these days.  Definitely sets the bar high for 2012 films.