Shanghai (2010)

Tagline: In a world filled with secrets, solving a mystery can be murder.
Cusack plays: Secret agent/journalist Paul Soames

I'm back! Over a year since my last review I have returned to the Cusack Challenge as there are new films to be watched. And even though I've been away its good to know some things never change - Cusack will be there playing a writer, in a suit, standing in the rain. Starting to wonder if these things are contractual...

Shanghai sees Cusack's Paul Soames travelling to Shanghai ("the Paris of the Orient") in the months before Pearl Harbour, initially planning to meet up with a friend/fellow naval intelligence agent, but upon hearing of the friend's murder starts digging into who did it and why. Working undercover as a journalist (his editor being the Earl of Grantham from Downton Abbey!) he falls in with local crime lord (Chow Yun-Fat) and his wife (Gong Li). Tensions rise both personally and politically...

This film seems to be aiming for a detective/crime/noir from the 40s or 50s vibe, down to the Cusack voiceover - "Connor was a lot of things, but he wasn't a fool". It's partially successful - I wasn't sure where the plot was going - problem being I didn't really care all that much either. Things only get really entertaining in the last 20 or so minutes when the action is ramped up and the guns , explosions and scenes in the rain kick in.

Would I recommend you see it? Nope, not really...

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Tagline: Kick Some Past
Cusack Plays: Adam, recently dumped 40-something

So I made it. 50+ Cusack films, done and dusted. And pretty much exactly within a year. Woop.

A fun note to finish on with a time travelling hot tub comedy. 3 friends, plus Cusack's nephew, depressed with their lives in 2010 go on a holiday to re-live the fun ski-trips of their youth. A drunken night where they all pile into the hot tub, a Russian energy drink spilled on the controls, and they're back in 1986.

I was pretty excited when I learned of the existence of this film, and regularly checked for updated trailers. The moment I saw Craig Robinson say "Must be some kind of hot tub time machine" and stare into the camera, I was sold. The 1980s is ripe for mocking and the laugh ratio is pretty high, and although there is some room for improvement I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. If there is a straight guy/everyman it's probably Cusack (what a surprise) and the characters played by Craig Robinson and Rob Corddy get most of the laughs. It manages to be quite crude, and yet rather feelgood come the end.

Hot Tub Time Machine has high re-watch factor in my opinion - perhaps it will be coming along on my ski holiday next month...






Still to come....reflections on the Challenge...