May 13, 2010
The Last Detail
I’ve now come to the end of my social media module meaning this is the end of my films reviews…for now! Over the past ten weeks I have reviewed a total of 6 films, some of which I’ve enjoyed more than others. I first started this blog back in March with the review of Alice in Wonderland in 3D, a slightly disappointing start to say the least. I then went on to review the films you chose including: Shutter Island which confused me, and Clash of the Titans which I found difficult to watch. However, there have been some good films, The Bounty Hunter and Dear John being my favourites. I also had the privilege of having Josh Halliday write a review of Green Zone, which went hand in hand with my review of Shutter Island, not in terms of writing standards of course!
Creating this blog has made me look at films in a completely different way, I’m not sure whether thats a good thing or not! I’ve really enjoyed writing this blog, and hope you have enjoyed reading it just as much. Thanks to everyone who has voted for the films I was to review each week and to the people who have commented on my posts.
May 1, 2010
The Last Song
Being a lover of The Notebook and now Dear John, this film had high standards to live up to. The story sees Ronnie Miller (Miley Cyrus) a moody teenager, who after her parents divorced went off the rails and has now been shipped along with her brother to move in with their dad for the summer. As far as teenagers go, Ronnie isn’t too bad apart from the odd slamming of the door, strop or vegetarian phase. As soon as Ronnie moves in with her dad she meets local boy Will (Liam Hensworth) and over the course of the summer they fall in love, however because this is a Nicholas Spark production, something has to go wrong, in this case her father whom she begins to friend again, unfortunately passes away with cancer.
Cyrus’s performance isn’t as good as I thought it would be and sometimes looks slightly uncomfortable and staged, I definitely think singing is what she should stick to! For me, actor Bobby Coleman, who plays Ronnie’s younger brother Jonah is the one who made the film. His sarcastic comments throughout, the emotion he expresses about his father and his superb acting completely pulled at my heart strings. Liam Hensworth also plays a great part, where he really gets to shows his more caring and heart felt personality. By the time the film came to an end there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and as always Nicholas Spark showed that love can conquer all, even the test of time.
April 26, 2010
The Final Countdown
This week’s vote will be the last chance you get to choose the film that I review, this is because this week I will write my final posts for this blog as part of my social media module.
So, for one final time the film’s which you can choose from are: The Last Song and Iron Man 2.
The Last Song goes hand in hand with the last film I reviewed- Dear John. Starring Miley Cyrus, the film is based on the best-selling book by author Nicholas Sparks. A moving film about family, secrets, first loves and last chances, sure to make you come away from the cinema feeling much better about yourself. The film tells the story of Steve Miller (Greg Kinnear), who after a messy divorce from ex-wife Kim (Kelly Preston), has made a new life for himself in a small beach town in Georgia. His teenage daughter Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) and her younger brother Jonah (Bobby Coleman) stayed with their mother in New York, but Steve has hopes for new beginnings when they come to spend summer with him. Steve tries to reconnect with his reluctant daughter through the only thing they have in common – their shared love of music. Meanwhile Ronnie finds romance with a handsome local boy named Will (Liam Hemsworth).
After the success of the first film, director Jon Favreau returns with the second part of the trilogy with Robert Downey Jr returning as the plated superhero. With the world now knowing billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is the armoured superhero named Iron Man, there is pressure from the government, the media and the public to share his technology, Stark is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind Iron Man’s armour for fear that the information will fall into the wrong hands. With Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, Starks forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces including armoured titan Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) and seductive adventurer The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).
The film with the most votes on Friday at 3pm will the be the last film that I review for this blog.
April 17, 2010
Dear John
Dear John is the most tear jerking film I’ve watched since the release of PS I Love you. From the beginning of the film, the atmosphere in the cinema was strangely different to when I’ve been to see other films, everyone was instantly quiet and it stayed that way throughout. The film matched this atmosphere by only playing music in certain parts of the film, allowing you to be completely in touch with the characters and their feelings.
The film tells the story of southern sweetheart Savannah who falls head over heels in love with solider on leave John. In the first half of the film the on-screen chemistry between the pair is very believable and when John is deported back to duty, I felt as though I was going through the pain Savannah was feeling. The only way for the pair to keep in touch is through the use of letters, and the film shows that there is still room for good old fashioned romance in this 21st century world.
As with all good romantic films, not too long in there was a rain scene where John and Savannah finally got the kiss the audience had all been waiting for. That one, passionate in the rain kiss that every girl dreams of. However, in the second half of the film I felt that the romance slightly fizzled out and the plot itself got slightly lost, maybe in the post.
The ending wasn’t of typical romantic films, your kind of left to make what you want of it, I’d like to think that the pair finally got together, but even so the film was definitely worth going to see.I would recommend this film to anybody who like me, loves a good old romantic film, or any of the books wrote by Nicholas Sparks. But I would warn you that if your going to go and see Dear John make sure you take a box of tissues with, just in case.
April 12, 2010
Make Your Mind Up Monday
There are 4 films released this week, Dear John and Cemetery Junction on Wednesday and The Ghost and Repo Men on Friday.
Dear John is the most publicised new release this week as it stars Mamma Mia actress Amanda Seyfried and is a romantic film from the writer of an all time favourite book of mine-The Notebook. Sure to make you cry this film tells the story of John, a young soldier played by Channing Tatum who is on home leave when he has a chance encounter with idealistic college student Savannah played by Amanda.
Over the course of 2 magical weeks the pair fall madly in love and when John is shipped overseas for his next tour of duty, Savannah writes asking him to tell her everything that happens to him so that in her eyes ‘they’ll be with each other all of the time.’ Over the next 7 years, the couple are separated by John’s increasingly dangerous deployments, and whilst they only meet sporadically they stay in touch through a stream of overseas love letters, however this writing eventually causes fateful consequences that take both by surprise.
Cemetery Junction is a comedy which goes back to the glam-rock era of 1970′s England and is wrote and stars Mr funny guy Ricky Gervais. The film tells the story of three working class friends from Reading as they make tough choices that will change their lives forever.
Freddie played by Christian Cooke and his two best friends Bruce (Tom Hughes) and Snork (Jack Doolan) spend their days joking, drinking, fighting and chasing girls but Freddie can’t help wondering if they’re wasting their lives. He yearns to leave their cosy-but-blinkered environment and see what the rest of the world has to offer but cool, charismatic Bruce and lovable loser Snork are happy with life the way it is. However, when Freddie gets a new job and bumps into his former school sweetheart Julie (Felicity Jones) the friends realise that there are decisions to be made which will inevitably change the future for them.
Sex and the City star Kim Cattral stars alongside Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan in this political thriller based on the bestseller by Robert Harris. The film tells the story of a successful British ghost-writer (Jude Law) who is given the opportunity of a lifetime when he is asked to write the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) after the first writer on the project dies in an unfortunate accident.
Soon after The Ghost accepts the assignment, a high-ranking British official accuses him of having illegally seized suspected terrorists and handing them over to the CIA for torture. The controversy over this alleged war crime brings reporters and protesters swarming to the Martha’s Vineyard mansion where Lang is staying with his wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) and his media-handler turned mistress Amelia (Kim Cattral). As The Ghost continues his work, he begins to uncover what seem to be clues placed by the previous writer. Did the dead man piece together a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA? And did he somehow hide this information in the manuscript he left behind. It now starts to look like his predecessor’s death might not have been an accident after all.
This futuristic action-thriller set in the future stars Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and looks into expensive technology which humans have been using to prolong their lives through the use of mechnical organs created by a company called The Union.
However when Remy, a top repo man suffers cardiac failure on the job, he wakes to find himself fitted with a replacement heart and a hefty debt. When he can’t make the payments, The Union sends its toughest enforcer, Remy’s former partner Jake (Forest Whitaker), to track him down. Now that the hunter has become the hunted, Remy joins Beth (Alice Braga), a fellow debtor who can teach him the skills he needs to survive.
The film with the most votes on Wednesday at 12:00pm will be the film that I review this week.
April 8, 2010
The Empire Awards
These awards aren’t as well known to you and I, but to the stars they’re just as important as any other awards ceremony. The Empire Awards have been going since 1995 and were created by Britain’s largest selling film magazine Empire. The awards are all voted for by the readers, and this year Whisky company Jameson sponsored the awards.
The awards were given to:
Aaron Johnson- Best Newcomer- Nowhere Boy
Star Trek- Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy
In The Loop- Best Comedy
Let The Right One In- Best Horror
Sherlock Holmes- Best Thriller
Christoph Waltz- Best Actor- Inglorious Basterds
Zoe Salanda- Best Actress- Avatar
Harry Brown- Best British Film
Avatar- Best Film
James Cameron- Best Director- Avatar
Andy Serkis- Inspiration Award
Jude Law- Empire Hero Award
Ray Winstone- Outstanding contribution
Ian McKellen- Empire Icon
April 2, 2010
3D Clash
This film is a remake of the 1981 classic greek myth Clash of the Titans and apart from the slight 3D effects and the fast moving actions that director Louis Leterrier has added not much has really changed.
The film follows the greek myth of Perseus,who was brought up as man, but is actually half God and tells the story of him as he fights to save his family and the city of Argos from the evil Zeus, encountering the familiar creatures Pegasus, the Kraken, Medusa and huge scorpions along the way.
The film is action packed and often too packed in some scenes. The action happens so quickly that you can’t actually see whats going on and this mixed with what seems to be the random adding of 3D effects doesn’t equal easy watching. The lack of continuous 3D effects in the film could possibly be to do with the fact that Leterrier had to settle with converting the film to 3D using View D software after shooting, instead of using the 3D cameras he wanted, which were already booked out by director James Cameron for the biggest grossing film to date- Avatar.
It’s hard not to compare this film to Avatar, not only in terms of the 3D effects but also in terms of cast members. Both films star Sam Worthington, who’s acting skills I don’t doubt however in this role he looks slightly uncomfortable and some could say cheesy once the 3D effects have been added.
It’s definitely a film those who enjoy greek myth will love, but for everyone else watching, like most film re makes, I’d say it’s best to stick to the original!
March 29, 2010
What Film Will I Watch?
Good Friday see’s the re-make of Clash Of The Titans released in 3D at cinemas as well as Remember Me- Robert Pattinson’s first film since his success in The Twilight Saga.
Clash Of The Titans is a re-make of the greek myth with explosive 3D effects and pulse racing action. The film stars Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson and Nicholas Hoult and tells the story of Perseus, who was born a God but raised as a man.
The film sees Perseus set out to save his family from the vengeful God of the underworld and accept his power as God and face his true destiny. Taking with him a band of brave warriors, Perseus and his men journey into deep forbidden worlds, where they battle against evil demons and mighty beasts.This film is a one to watch if you liked 300, The Last Legion and Avatar.
Remember Me starts Robert Pattinson, Pierce Brosnan, Emille de Ravin and Chris Cooper and is the story of a rebellious young man living in New York who has a strained relationship with his father after their family was separated by tragedy.
The film sees Tyler involved in a street brawl in which he ends up being arrested. But being arrested means he ends up meeting Ally, a tough cop’s daughter with whom he shares a class with at college. The pair fall madly in love with each other and Tyler begins to see a new meaning to life, however when old problems return the circumstances in which they were brought together end up pulling them apart. This film will be liked by people who were fans of The Twilight Saga, Two Lovers and 500 Days of Summer.
The film with the most votes on Friday at 9am will the be the film that I review this week.
March 18, 2010
The Bounty Hunter
So the film I’m reviewing this week is The Bounty Hunter starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. The film sees Milo (Butler) who works as a bounty hunter, (which the film is so obviously named after), getting the job of his life… to find his ex-wife (Aniston) and take her to jail for jumping bail. The film sees Nicole, a hard-nosed reporter, try to get away from Milo, however with the normal twists and turns of a romantic comedy in place, the pair end up on the run together: running not only from jail, but also from a debt collector and a corrupt police force.
The film is a typical romantic comedy and right from the beginning you know that the pair will realise they are meant to be together. The chemistry between them is great, and it’s easy to see why there have been so many relationship rumours off set. However throughout the film, I never felt like I was watching 2 characters, I always felt like I was watching Jen and Gerard.
I would recommend the film to anyone who wants something easy to watch, and Butler makes it just that bit better on the eye, but as story lines goes it’s not the best, and really it follows the pattern of every other romantic comedy out there.
March 15, 2010
Orange Wednesday
Wednesday sees the release of two films: I Love You Phillip Morris and The Bounty Hunter.
I Love You Phillip Morris:
This film is based on a book wrote by Houston Chronicle crime reporter Steve McVicker and stars Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann and Rodrigo Santoro.
Carrey plays Texas Policeman Steve Russel who is serving time in prison for fraud where he meets the love of his life… you guessed it, Phillip Morris (Ewan Mcgregor). The story follows Carrey as he makes the journey from small-town policeman to big-time criminal in a series of escapes and elaborate cons all in the name of love.
The Bounty Hunter:
The Bounty Hunter is a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Jason Sudeikis and Dorian Missick.
The film is about Miro Boyd (Gerard Butler) who is hired to track down his ex- wife Nicole ( Jennifer Aniston) who has been jumping bail. The film follows the couple as they play a game of cat and mouse with each other which ends up with them on the run for their lives. They realise that living together might have been hard, but staying alive together is even harder.
This week I will review a film on Wednesday night. This means that the film with the most votes by Wednesday at 17:00 will be the film I review this week.
