Valentine’s Day?

If you’re after something easy to watch, something hopelessly clichéd and something that contains an unnerving amount of famous faces, than this is your film. Containing at least 16 household names, including everyone from Ashton Kutcher to Taylor Swift, there’s no getting away from the fact it has a pretty decent line up. The only real problem with so many characters and individual plotlines is the difficulty in connecting and identifying with them, therefore stopping yourself from becoming emotionally involved with the film.

It’s not dissimilar to ‘He’s just not that into you’ or ‘Love Actually’, however Love Actually works on so many more levels, mainly because it’s a festive favourite (and Valentine’s Day isn’t a real holiday) and has a predominantly British cast.

This is the film you’ll watch once, and then forget about, because you wouldn’t watch a Christmas film in July, so why watch a Valentine’s film in October? The chances are that by next year you’ll have forgotten this film exists, apart from when you’re bored on Wikipedia checking out people’s filmographies.

All in all? It’s a film for the girls, looking for something to use their Orange Wednesday’s on, that will keep them entertained for 125 minutes and leave them feeling perfectly content upon leaving the cinema.

The classic of 2009

What qualifies a film to be regarded as our favourite film of a year? Is it how much we enjoyed it? How clever we found the storyline and screenshots? Or how much we feel we learnt from it? Because this film, to me, has everything.

The strapline says it all: “This is not a love story, this is a story about love.” A film that focuses on romance with such a brutally honest and realistic angle is hard to find; as many writers instead try to please the audience with fantasy fairytale endings. There are films referred to as “feel good” that give you a temporary lift upon leaving the cinema, and then there are films that grab your attention in a different way, the ones that when the credits are rolling, you’re left thinking. Although the latter will not necessarily put a smile on your face, I would still choose them nearly every time because I actually believe that films, such as 500 days of summer, have the ability to alter the way we think about things.

This film works for many reasons. Firstly; the characters are not portrayed by Hollywood celebrities, although Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are hardly nobodies, which means the film instantly exceeds any expectations previously set. Secondly; the film has a clever set up; flicking between different stages in the relationship and effectively using split screens to provoke emotion and thought. Thirdly; the soundtrack, gentle humour and simple composition adds to the story, without intercepting it. Finally, the reason this film has become an instant favourite of mine, is because despite its painstakingly complicated take on love, making me feel like questioning everything I’ve ever wanted to believe in, it somehow manages to make me want to watch it again and again.

Harry Brown, not just one for the boys.

Agreeing to watch Harry Brown with my brothers, I thought I’d probably want to leave about ten minutes in, or I’d take a nap through it, or at the very least i would get horribly confused and bored by all the shooting, stabbing and fighting. I’m the first to admit I’m not usually jumping with excitement at the prospect of a crime thriller, well, unless it’s anything like CSI, which is a whole other kettle of fish.

This film makes an impact. It’s shocking in all the places you least expect and yet concentrates on fundamental current issues. Unlike many similarly themed films, it doesn’t drag on and doesn’t contain as many unnecessary scenes as it does necessary ones. Michael Caine is an absolute hero, both for his acting and the character he plays, and you can’t help but fall in love with him in a sort of proud grandchild type of way. The rest of the acting isn’t bad either, and even includes Cook from Skins (Jack O’connell) doing what he knows best; playing a turbulent and violent teenager.

Without spoiling the story; the film focuses on the ever-growing youth crime culture and is set on a council housing estate in Elephant and Castle, South London. It explores the intimidation and dangers faced by the residents, as the lead character (Caine) attempts to take the law into his own hands, in the hope of curbing crime and bringing justice.

Even the ending is good, with its drastic twists, deaths and clever mixture of fast paced fights and silent moments that make you hold your breath. Then when you finally get to sit back and take it all in, you’re consoled with “End Credits” by Chase & Status. Which, let’s be honest, is an absolute beaut of a song.

The Lovely Bones – The film.

I read the book by Alice Sebold a few summers ago, and found it instantly difficult to put down. Unlike most books i’d read before then (Harry Potter, anything by Jacqueline Wilson or those that i was forced to read for my English GCSE) it really took you on a completely different journey.

Director Peter Jackson said, upon buying the film rights that the reader has: “An experiance when you read the book that is unlike any other. I don’t want the tone or the mood to be different or lost in the film.”

I for one really hope the film lives up to the hype and portrays my visions of the book accurately, otherwise i’ll be left feeling severly let down by the director who famously made both the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong what they are today. Luckily the trailer looks good, so here’s hoping!

Up In The Air, Oscar worthy?

The trailer for this film suggests that it’s going to be your standard George Clooney setup; not too heavy, simple storyline, average acting but none the less a pretty decent film you could probably watch more than once. I agree with all these things, the film came close to living up to my expectations, but it certainly isn’t any better than any of the other “dramadies” that have come out within the last year such as “It’s Complicated” or “The Invention of Lying”. So when the Telegraph published an article listing it along with “Avatar” as one of the tipped winners of the Oscars; i was confused as to whether we’d even been watching the same film. To me, the film had no emotional value, no jokes that actually made me laugh out loud, no special effects, nor even any of these arty scenes that film buffs seem to love so much. So why does everyone love it so much? My mum told me i wasn’t old enough to understand it properly, because it’s all about settling down and connecting with someone, patronising much?

In my view it’s definitely a film for the over thirties, purely based on the fact that men can relate to the main character’s non existent desire to settle down and women, despite not all of them admitting it, are quite clearly still all in love with good old George.