It’s probably a bit obvious that I am writing this list because I am hung-over thanks an awesome Summer Ball last night.
So I'm sat here, at my laptop, still in my PJ's at 7pm, waiting for my pizza to arrive thinking 'what should I crack on or find online to help me in this vegetated state?'... These are my top choices.
1. The Hangover (2009), the obvious choice, for obvious reasons-no matter how hung-over you are, there is no way you could ever be THAT BAD. Plus it doesn't hurt to watch Bradley Cooper walking around looking all rugged and dirty (I have a bit of a soft spot for him).
2. Miss Congeniality (2000) When there's not much going on in the old hat-rack there's nothing better to watch than an old favourite, with great actors, easy laughs and a happy ending. Not to mention a few kick-ass moments.
3. Finding Nemo (2003) Another classic favourite, this awesome animated feature offers something similar to Miss Congeniality (a touching story, jokes, lovable characters) but with fish, not women in sparkly outfits.
4. Zombieland (2009)/ 5. Shaun of the Dead (2004) These two are very different from each other, but are also one of the same (the new genre of zom-com). These are brilliant films to watch when hung-over, not only because comedy is the best medicine, but also because I literally feel like a zombie (it's just good to know I don't actually look like one).
6. The Dark Knight (2008) Because it's awesome. And I love it.
7. Hot Fuzz (2007) Another Simon Pegg-Nick Frost combination. These two are like hangover doctors with their insane montages and ridiculous jokes. I've seen this film so much I practically know all of the words- that makes for easy viewing and excessive laughing.
8. Taking Woodstock (2009) It's totally laid-back and chilled-out mannnn.....
9. Transformers (2007) No matter how many times I've seen this film, it doesn't stop being any less awesome. It's just a shame about the sequel...
10. Thor (2011)/ Star Trek (2009)/ I am Number 4 (2010). These are very personal choices, chosen not only because I really love them (well 'love' is possibly a tad strong for the latter), but mostly because I'm very partial to very hunky attractive male actors...
So, you may have guessed that the majority of these films, if not all of them are in my personal DVD collection and you would be right.
PLEASE feel free to add you own personal hangover favourites, I would love to read them, especially with Summer around the corner ;-) Happy Viewing film geeks!
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Friday, 20 May 2011
THOR review, by Chloe
Just over a thousand years ago, Thor’s dad Odin (a very regal, very cool Anthony Hopkins), king of Asgard, led his army to victory in an epic battle with the Frost Giants. Today, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is about to succeed Odin as king of Asgard when – rudely, in the middle of his ‘coronation’ - some wily Frost Giants slip through the palace’s defenses to steal some badass weaponry. Luckily, they’re taken care of by a huge, fire-breathing bodyguard, but Thor is angry. He goes and picks a fight with the Frost Giants, nearly getting himself and his warrior friends killed. As punishment for his supreme arrogance and recklessness, Odin banishes Thor to Earth. He is stripped of all his power and the ability to handle his famous, insanely heavy hammer, Mjolnir, until he is truly worthy of it. Of course, in the meantime, he meets Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), a physicist whose interest was piqued when she saw a huge guy fall out of a foreign constellation of stars into the New Mexico desert.
Being a girl and everything, I do tend to appreciate the emotional and aesthetic parts of film and television. That’s not to say I don’t occasionally love a good explosion, or some epic smashing up of stuff. But when Lost was on, for example, I only ever watched to see who Kate would end up with, or whose lives would cross paths in the next flashback. I cared very little about the actual mystery of the island. Mostly because the island was never going to take off its shirt.
This is so not Thor’s problem. In fact, I think we need to question the sexuality of its director, Kenneth Branagh. The almost-gratuitous shirtlessness of Hemsworth’s Thor during his banishment to Earth is presented on an enormous, often slow-motion, widescreen platter.
Ahem. But you don’t care about that! All of the movie looks awesome; of course, it would have to, in a movie where the view from one’s dining room window is the Milky Way and exploding stars and galaxies. However, towards the end, the ‘epicness’ of the Bifrost (the heavenly highway from Asgard to Earth) started to jar and kind of clash with the familiar, Earthly plains of New Mexico. While a strength of the movie is its ability to merge both worlds believably, my disbelief lost a bit of its suspension when I tried to picture both ‘realms’ existing in the same universe. One really cool thing Branagh does is use the framing style of Thor’s source material, comic books. One awesome zoom in on Natalie Portman’s face looked particularly graphic and comic-nerdy, all tilted and focused on her wide eyes.
But for me, Thor mostly succeeds where few ‘superhero movies’ do. It has actual wit and actual heart, in a way that kind of reminded me of Iron Man – just as Jon Favreau took the time to make Tony and Pepper’s relationship funny and cute and smart and real, so does Kenneth Branagh with Thor and Jane.
Weirdly, the most refreshing, pleasing thing about the characters in Thor, particularly the humans, is the tiny little ‘real’ exchanges they have. Jane is nervous around Thor, more for his supernatural attractiveness than his size and apparent insanity; she gets to know him, makes fun of his way of speaking – “This realm?” – and Jane’s research assistant, Darcy, takes a picture of Thor for facebook. I’m enjoying how all the (soon-to-be) Avengers movies seem to have the same playful tone, presumably so they all mesh together for what everyone hopes will be a super awesome ‘finale’ movie, scheduled for next year.
Could the sense of recent superhero movies feeling almost ‘personal’ and intimate – at least on a character level – be the result of previously indie actors/directors getting involved in huge, mainstream movies? I think so. I mean, can you imagine Michael Bay taking the time out from transforming cars and explosions and Megan Fox’s boobs for a nice, quiet spot of character development? I don’t know, maybe in Transformers XVIII. Maybe these personal touches and between-the-lines moments aren’t important in this genre, but they’re my favourite part of it, and Thor is made an even better film because of them.
And just because...
How excited am I for The Avengers? ... A little.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS review, by Frankie.
Director: Francis Lawrence
Writer: Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Sara Gruen (novel).
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz.
When the film began it reminded me a lot of Titanic: the film framed by an older character, telling an epic story about his past and his first love. Whilst the film is in no respects on such a grand scale as Titanic, it was still outstanding.
As I hadn’t read the book I didn’t know what to expect and I am not a hard-core ‘R-Pats’ fan like most young women (or any woman, in fact) but I adore Reese Witherspoon’s work and I have to say they really did make a beautiful pair. The film had this magical quality about it, which is important in the representation of the Circus-the centre point for the story. The story line and character arcs were simple, but they were greeted with this immense spectacle which was an absolute joy to watch, and I have to say it was so good to see Pattinson smiling for once!
Most people will look at this film as a classic romantic comedy, but if I was I definitely wouldn’t see it but I am so glad I went to see it because I honestly though it was an outstanding film. Guys shouldn’t be put off by the love story, but there is fighting, comedy, lust, brutality…lion, tigers and bears. (Some children may be put off by the violence and the mistreating of animals, which is probably why the film is a 12a, so a warning to parents with younger children).
This film is a must see, and I think it deserves to be added to that special collection of epic love stories, to join others like of The Titanic, The Notebook, or Moulin Rouge. It’s a classic in the making.
4*s
Writer: Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Sara Gruen (novel).
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz.
When the film began it reminded me a lot of Titanic: the film framed by an older character, telling an epic story about his past and his first love. Whilst the film is in no respects on such a grand scale as Titanic, it was still outstanding.
As I hadn’t read the book I didn’t know what to expect and I am not a hard-core ‘R-Pats’ fan like most young women (or any woman, in fact) but I adore Reese Witherspoon’s work and I have to say they really did make a beautiful pair. The film had this magical quality about it, which is important in the representation of the Circus-the centre point for the story. The story line and character arcs were simple, but they were greeted with this immense spectacle which was an absolute joy to watch, and I have to say it was so good to see Pattinson smiling for once!
Most people will look at this film as a classic romantic comedy, but if I was I definitely wouldn’t see it but I am so glad I went to see it because I honestly though it was an outstanding film. Guys shouldn’t be put off by the love story, but there is fighting, comedy, lust, brutality…lion, tigers and bears. (Some children may be put off by the violence and the mistreating of animals, which is probably why the film is a 12a, so a warning to parents with younger children).
This film is a must see, and I think it deserves to be added to that special collection of epic love stories, to join others like of The Titanic, The Notebook, or Moulin Rouge. It’s a classic in the making.
4*s
SOURCE CODE review, By Frankie Parry.
Director: Duncan Jones
Writer: Ben Ripley
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga.
*Sigh* Jake Gyllenhaal, how I count the days ‘til I can see you do your thing in another outstanding film… and Boy Howdy, you did not disappoint.
When you think ‘Source Code’ you might suddenly think ‘Matrix’, but do not let this generate any expectations. This film is unlike any science-fiction I have seen before (though I should warn you my knowledge of Sci-Fi films is extremely small…). I am not a huge fan of science-fiction at any rate, with a grand total of ONE sci-fi film in my DVD collection (congratulations JJ Abrahams with your Star Trek), but Gyllenhaal and the excitable article in Empire a few months ago really swayed it for me.
I loved it. The story was intriguing and all the actors had fierce chemistry, particularly the dashing male lead and his co-star, Michelle Monaghan. The story had just the right amount of action, thrill and romance and the overall idea, whilst sounding rather complicated, was easy to follow and understand. What I loved the most about the film was Jones’ ability to make even the most graphic or threatening parts of the film seem fragile and beautiful, the most poignant being a slow motion on a shot of Gyllenhall and Monaghan about to kiss whilst also being engulfed in flames.
However, I was left with the usual “hang on…what the fuck?” kind of thoughts after the end of the film, with that problem about alternative universes and…you know, time and stuff… and I was left thinking and thinking, but hey, I have a habit of asking too many questions.
4 *s
Writer: Ben Ripley
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga.
*Sigh* Jake Gyllenhaal, how I count the days ‘til I can see you do your thing in another outstanding film… and Boy Howdy, you did not disappoint.
When you think ‘Source Code’ you might suddenly think ‘Matrix’, but do not let this generate any expectations. This film is unlike any science-fiction I have seen before (though I should warn you my knowledge of Sci-Fi films is extremely small…). I am not a huge fan of science-fiction at any rate, with a grand total of ONE sci-fi film in my DVD collection (congratulations JJ Abrahams with your Star Trek), but Gyllenhaal and the excitable article in Empire a few months ago really swayed it for me.
I loved it. The story was intriguing and all the actors had fierce chemistry, particularly the dashing male lead and his co-star, Michelle Monaghan. The story had just the right amount of action, thrill and romance and the overall idea, whilst sounding rather complicated, was easy to follow and understand. What I loved the most about the film was Jones’ ability to make even the most graphic or threatening parts of the film seem fragile and beautiful, the most poignant being a slow motion on a shot of Gyllenhall and Monaghan about to kiss whilst also being engulfed in flames.
However, I was left with the usual “hang on…what the fuck?” kind of thoughts after the end of the film, with that problem about alternative universes and…you know, time and stuff… and I was left thinking and thinking, but hey, I have a habit of asking too many questions.
4 *s
LIMITLESS Film review, by Frankie.
Director: Neil Burger
Writer: Leslie Dixon (screenplay), Alan Glynn (novel)
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Anna Friel.
Bradley Cooper has really made a name for himself in recent years through popular film such as The Hangover and The A Team, but here he is a lone-wolf who finds himself in a bit of a pickle when his ex-brother-in-law hands him a drug which allows him to “access 100% of your brain”.
I was really looking forward to watching this film, and to be honest I was also looking forward to staring at Bradley Cooper for two hours, but for me this film was missing something.
At the beginning of the film, Eddie Morra (Cooper), lives the high life in designer suits, surrounded by beautiful girls in beautiful countries with shed loads of cash- a dream for anyone. But things start to turn sour as we are made aware of the ‘Clear Pill’s’ side-effect, and I have to say this I where I feel the film started to lose its edge. The plot became very serious and was emphasised by the use of effect such as change in motion, colour or the repetition of sequences. Whilst I understood why the effects were used and thought it gave the film a unique quality I can’t help but think it felt messy at times and became a little too repetitive. It would have been enjoyable to see Cooper living-it-up a bit more and making the most of his new found talents.
Limitless definitely isn’t a film for all the family, but the story line is fresh and new and I think applicable in modern life- the way people treat medicine and abuse drugs without thinking of the consequences is a common problem anywhere in the world. Although saying this, does this make Cooper’s character just a glorified druggie?
Writer: Leslie Dixon (screenplay), Alan Glynn (novel)
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Anna Friel.
Bradley Cooper has really made a name for himself in recent years through popular film such as The Hangover and The A Team, but here he is a lone-wolf who finds himself in a bit of a pickle when his ex-brother-in-law hands him a drug which allows him to “access 100% of your brain”.
I was really looking forward to watching this film, and to be honest I was also looking forward to staring at Bradley Cooper for two hours, but for me this film was missing something.
At the beginning of the film, Eddie Morra (Cooper), lives the high life in designer suits, surrounded by beautiful girls in beautiful countries with shed loads of cash- a dream for anyone. But things start to turn sour as we are made aware of the ‘Clear Pill’s’ side-effect, and I have to say this I where I feel the film started to lose its edge. The plot became very serious and was emphasised by the use of effect such as change in motion, colour or the repetition of sequences. Whilst I understood why the effects were used and thought it gave the film a unique quality I can’t help but think it felt messy at times and became a little too repetitive. It would have been enjoyable to see Cooper living-it-up a bit more and making the most of his new found talents.
Limitless definitely isn’t a film for all the family, but the story line is fresh and new and I think applicable in modern life- the way people treat medicine and abuse drugs without thinking of the consequences is a common problem anywhere in the world. Although saying this, does this make Cooper’s character just a glorified druggie?
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