Reel Insight #71 - Ewan McGregor

We're back with an actor of the week with the lovely Scot, Ewan McGregor. First Jess discusses Larry Crowne and I ramble on about Wild Target. And then Jess rolls the conversation into a segment about DVD/Blu-Ray special features while I bitch a lot about the new "Ultraviolet Digital" copies of films that I've recently encountered. There may have been significant drinking during recording...

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Ewan McGregor Films Watched for Reel Insight

327. Miss Potter: The tale of beloved children's author Beatrix Potter (Renee Zellweger), from publishing her first book to finding her first love (Ewan McGregor) and eventually gaining her independence from her overbearing mother. The film is simply pleasant, but ultimately forgettable. For all the oppression and tragedy in Potter's life, the tone of the film feels too cheery. The use of animation for her "friends" felt a bit too random. Either the film needed to make a statement with more animated rabbits or have none at all.

328. The Island: In the future, people live in a special facility after a contamination of the outside world. The facility holds a recurring lottery that allows people to go to The Island, the last place above ground not contaminated, but one curious resident (McGregor) comes to find out The Island is not the tropical paradise they've been led to believe. A pretty decent Michael Bay film, this is a lot like a blockbuster version of Never Let Me Go, so there's a fascinating story to it. The action sequences do run too long and the ending is bland, but it's far more enjoyable than many other Bay films.

329. Down with Love: A feminist novelist (Renee Zellweger) unnerves men around the world with her newest book that promotes a sex-not-love attitude for women, but one super masculine journalist (McGregor) is determined to prove she wants love too. I'm not terribly familiar with the romantic comedies of the '60s but I'm guessing that's what the film was trying to parody, but with a much more risque tone. There are some clever moments of dialogue, but otherwise I was insanely bored and fearful that any minute they would all burst into a cheesy song-and-dance routine.

330. I Love You Phillip Morris: Based on real events, Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) becomes a con man to finance his elaborate gay lifestyle, but once he lands in prison he meets Phillip Morris (McGregor) with whom he becomes obsessed, causing him further legal trouble down the road. Carrey is extremely over-the-top, borderline-offensive here and Russell is plain creepy in his pursuit of the sweet and (mostly) innocent Morris, so they're relationship was odd to watch, like sex predator/underage child creepy. However, Carrey was at his best, comedy-wise, during his major conning moments and McGregor gives an excellent performance as the sweet, shy Morris. If anything, the film needed more Leslie Mann as Russell's ex-wife. Their post-divorce dynamic was fantastic.

331. Cassandra's Dream: Two brothers, one with a gambling problem (Colin Farrell) and one with a get rich quick scheme and high maintenance girlfriend (McGregor), run into money troubles and feel their only way out is to kill someone for their shady rich uncle (Tom Wilkinson), but their decision ultimately tears them apart. I didn't expect much out of this Woody Allen drama, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. It is rather forgettable though and it left me with a feeling that perhaps McGregor and Farrell would've been better cast had they switched roles.

332. Trainspotting: The tale of how misfit Renton and his band of hooligans cope with heroin addiction and the trouble it causes. I don't get all the love. I like Danny Boyle's style here, the soundtrack was great and the acting was good, but the characters were loathsome and the story was just too repetitive: do heroin, kick habit, do heroin, kick habit. Lather, rinse, repeat. And the ending really didn't feel like it fit with the rest of the story. I'm sure it's just another one of those films that hype screwed up for me.

333. Deception: A shy accountant (McGregor) becomes mixed up in a "sex club" thanks to his new friend (Hugh Jackman), but things go bad when one of his "contacts" (Michelle Williams) goes missing from their hotel room. Pretty formulaic and dull, with zero character development, which is sad considering the leads. At least they didn't delve into the "split personality" storyline, at which they first hinted. Nonetheless, forgettable.