Review: Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Happy Independence Day, folks! There have been jokes made here in the UK about there being a huge rise in popularity for Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) after we voted to leave the EU. I don’t really know how to feel about contributing to that one...as both Jenna and I watched it at the cinema last week! So, if another sequel gets green-lit because of demand, I sincerely apologise. I’m not even sure if I’m apologising on behalf of Flick Chicks or the whole of the UK itself… both!

It’s been 20 years since the events that occurred in 1996, some people (including Former President Whitmore) are having odd dream visions about a circle, the lights have suddenly switched on in a crashed alien ship, and oddly, the Death Star/Pac Man is approaching the moon, where Liam Hemsworth and co have just avoided a mechanical disaster in a heroic scene not dissimilar to Captain America holding down a helicopter with his bare hands. Yeah, stupid and shit! Government are tougher this time, and order an attack on this intruding, spherical ship, which proves successful.

At this point, I’m calling a spoiler alert. There’s no way that we can try and seriously review this movie...all we can try and do is make sense of what actually happened.

I rewatched the original Independence Day the night before seeing this, and I genuinely didn’t remember it being so cheesy, and SO LONG. Although in the movie’s defense, I realise now I watched the extended cut. Still, it was good fun, and I mean, Will Smith punches an alien in the face, so there’s that.  This is one of my top films ever, I really do love it so I went into this one hopeful but realistic that it was not going to live up to the original.  I literally could not have been more right if I tried....

What I remember next is marvelling at just how far technology seems to have advanced in just 20 years. Flying vehicles was one thing, and okay, maybe we got the technology plans from the alien ships in the 90’s, but wait a second. Did Liam Hemsworth just fly that ship-with-arms from the Moon to Earth to pick up Jeff Goldblum, and then take him back to the Moon in about 20 minutes? I’m no astronaut but doesn’t it take a couple of days at least for a one way trip? This whole film was one day...ONE DAY!!!  I looked at Allie completely flabbergasted when the sun was setting at the end of the LONGEST DAY IN HUMAN HISTORY!!!  Bearing in mind, the countless trips to the moon, Africa and what I thought was Bolivia but turned out to the salt flats in Nevada!!  The freaking moon people!

I have to mention this because it has been driving me bonkers, when the film started there was a female voice over describing what the world was like 20 years on from the 1996 attacks.  I thought some of things she said were really odd, such as 'we can now travel really fast....' It seems that entire voice-over was  justification for all the random shit they were about to play out in their movie - 'Hey, we have alien technology so we can live on the moon now!'  AND how did we afford all this stuff, how can we suddenly afford to live on the moon, is it a shared cost now that all the countries are friends and there is no war.  Is the money allocated for defense against other countries now going towards defense against aliens?!  

So, most of the original cast is back (which I gotta admit, is pretty darn cool) apart from Will Smith, because of the salary he demanded. I guess the team took it to heart and decided to kill Earth’s best pilot in a test flight...which is kind of a lame way to go. Instead we get Jessie T. Usher, playing his Son, giving us the ultimate bro combo. Or not. Because Hemsworth tried to kill him. Not cool. Also not cool? Getting punched in the face in the middle of a cafeteria whilst your buddy steals your Moon Milk.  Moon Milk, fecking Moon Milk - that actually happened?!  This was my turn to laugh until I cried which in turn became just plain crying!

I'm still annoyed that they didn't use the original actors to play Dillon and Patty when they scraped the barrel for Vivica A. Fox for a 2 minutes cameo.  I remember watching the original Independence day and really buying into the characters, willing them to survive and even crying when they didn't.  At countless points in this one, I was willing them to be killed so I didn't have to listen to anymore awful one-liners.

After this I kind of just zoned out and had a bit of fun noticing all of the iconic scenes from the original which were basically copied for the sake of nostalgia. Morale boosting speech? Check. Alien choke slam into a foggy window? Check. The President deciding ‘f this’ and getting into a jet to save the day? Check. And then Liam Hemsworth punched an alien in the face and I lost it. I didn’t even see what happened next, I was crying.

Why did they try to recreate iconic scenes from the first one and recreate them badly.  One of the most remembered scenes from the original was the blue light shining down on the White House and kaboom!  In this one they decided to turn the whole of London upside down, they went bigger but not better!

Then of course we have the final scene, Earth’s last ditch attempt at saving itself from extinction, which of course fails, because inside that Queen ship is an alien the size of a skyscraper, inside another alien body, with it’s own shield. Oh snap. Fear not, the boys are here to save the day, whilst the two Levinson’s are navigating a school bus full of kids around the alien's legs and HOLD UP. Was that a Jurassic Park reference with the side mirror right there?!  This was the best scene of the whole film.

You’ve at least got to give the movie points for the visuals though, because they were pretty amazing. I’d like to know what this would have been like in IMAX, but I’m not sure I’ll ever want to see it again. It’s amazing how a movie like this can actually be quite boring in places. It falls just too far on the bad side to be classed as a ‘so bad it’s good’ movie for me, which is a shame. My only regret is that Jenna and I saw this at the cinema, so had to mock it in whispers rather than just screaming at the TV and inadvertently throwing Chinese food around the living room.

This really was a 'from the makers of Sharknado' situation where we just wanted to whinge and moan about the whole thing to try and make it enjoyable.  For me it was a collection of poor and cheesy one-liners put together to create something horrific!  I read something in another review which rang so true, this film is like a collection of scenes from action movie trailers put together.  The only thing I liked about this was Jeff Goldblum.

Review: The Dressmaker (2015)

Every now and again, a movie comes along that takes me by surprise so much, that I just can’t stop talking about it to anyone who will listen, whether willingly or not. Throughout 2016 I’m trying to move out of my movie comfort zone, and watch movies that I would normally not even give a second thought. The Dressmaker just happened to be one of those. From the poster, it looked like a quiet, fashion-orientated drama, but I’d read some reviews that really sang it’s praises, and so, thinking there must be more to it, I gave it a shot. I’ll admit, Liam Hemsworth starring in it might have helped, too.

So, the plot in it’s most basic form is that Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet) is returning to her tiny hometown in Australia after being sent away as a child. After a stay in Paris among others, she is now a highly skilled dressmaker, and using these skills, she transforms the women in the town and seeks revenge on those who wronged her.

It’s so much more than that though! The Dressmaker is literally a drama, a romance, a black comedy, and a murder mystery all in one. That’s right, a murder mystery! You see, Tilly apparently murdered a boy when she was a young girl, that’s why she got sent away, but she doesn’t remember what happened. Some of my favourite moments in the movie are her scenes with Teddy (Liam Hemsworth), who helps her to remember what happened.  They were the best bits,  and not just because of Liam Hemsworth!

There are so many different elements to this film it was hard to keep up, one minute its a romance then its a thriller and a mystery.  It took some pretty dark turns throughout which kept me on my toes.  Following the Oscars this year, I am trying to look at more elements of a movie than just the plot and cast and one thing I have to mention on this one is the costume design, the contrast between the outfits they are wearing to start with and the ones that Tilly creates is amazing, as well as Sergeant Farrat's transformation from straight laced cop to matador!!

So, if that’s not enough for you, let me try this one on you. A cross-dressing Elrond. Seriously, Hugo Weaving’s character is absolutely brilliant in this, and he steals every scene he’s in. I think his first line was when Tilly steps out of her vehicle upon arriving home, and he says in shock and awe ‘Is that...Gucci?’. Just brilliant! Love that guy.  Wasn't he just the best, they could have revolved the whole movie around him and I would have loved every second.  Watching him dancing around draped in pink fabric was the highlight for me.

About half way through, there’s an amazing revelation about the murder which was so intense, and it was probably my favourite scene in the entire movie. Then it all twists in a completely unexpected way! I had no idea what was coming, I had to literally pause and rewind the movie to make sure what I’d just witnessed actually happened. I don’t want to say any more than that in case I put ideas in your mind, but my mouth was hanging open at that point.

Of course, it’s not without fault, but I only really have two gripes. One being that the twist came just a little too early, as by the time I recovered from it all, there was still a big chunk of movie left. I’d have liked it to have ended whilst I was still feeling that shock. The other one feels mean to say, but Tilly is meant to be the same age as a lot of the other characters, and Kate Winslet was just too old for that to be believable. Gosh, it sounds even worse now that I’m typing it, but it’s true! I’m sorry Kate, I really, really love you.  I didn't notice that at all, I feel like I need to go back and check again!  Maybe I have my 'I Love you Kate' blinders on!

Anyway, I had such a blast watching this, and I’ll carry on recommending it to people. Don’t let that movie poster give you preconceptions like it gave me.  I had no idea what to expect, I had seen the trailer and the poster and I still couldn't put my finger on what type of film it was but I bloody loved it!

Did it remind anyone else a little of The Grand Budapest Hotel, the way it was filmed?

Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

It’s finally here, the final instalment of The Hunger Games, it’s a bittersweet moment leaving me both excited and apprehensive.  I’ve been so excited about seeing Katniss, Peeta and Gale back on the big screen but this means that it is the end, what if it isn’t as good as the others (or only just as good as Mockingjay Part 1) what kind of sobbing mess would I be then?!  A gaping Hunger Games shaped hole in my life and no way to fix it (other than read the books again!).

Following on from the Mockingjay Part 1 (funnily enough), Peeta has been trained to hate Katniss, Katniss is the face of a revolution, Gale is a soldier and Primrose is a nurse.  Along with some firm favourites, Finnick Odair (Sam Clafin), Cressida (Natalie Dormer) and Pollux (Elden Henson), Katniss leads the team into the capitol and to President Snow’s mansion.  The route is fraught with ‘pods’ which release various terrifying booby traps from explosions to oil slicks. 

This is basically another Hunger Games, as noted by Finnick “Welcome to the 76^th Hunger Games” but set in the streets of the capitol instead of an arena.  All that was missing from that line was a 'looking into the camera breaking the fourth wall' moment. That would have been perfect! The gamemakers have made it near impossible for anyone to get to the mansion without being killed or maimed in the process.  

I will admit that the third was my least favourite book, there was a lot of talking and it seemed so much less action packed that the previous two.  However, what happened with the film it seems, is that all the boring stuff was jammed into the first film (my least favourite of the movies) and all the action and emotional gumph is in this one, making it ten times more awesome than I imagined.  Maybe it’s because I’ve see the first and second one a hundred times and this one is completely new but I think it might be my favourite of them all.  I spent much of the time tensed up while Katniss and co try to break free of another cruel booby trap and Josh Hutcherson was brilliant to watch as he fought the demons in his own head and tried to decide what was real and what was planted in his mind. After 4 years I'd thought I would have grown tired of being Team Peeta, but I loved all of his scenes!

I'd forgotten actually how much dialogue was in this part of the book. That's the main thing that frustrated me with this movie, the pacing was all over the place. It went from 5 minutes of solid dialogue to crazy action, back to chatter again. It was a bit stop start! I actually really liked that, it kept me on my toes - plus for me, the dialogue is what made the films so close to the books.

I think they really captured the reason behind Katniss’s choices, maybe more so than the books.  I don’t want to reveal any spoilers but her decision at the end of the book baffled me a little bit as it wasn’t what I expected but in the film it felt like the perfect ending.  I also didn’t find myself as emotional watching the film as I had in the book, I was sobbing like a small child when I read the third one but managed to scrape by this one without a single tear or sniffle.

One thing I'd forgotten from the books was how dark some of those scenes were! I won't mention because of spoilers, but with everything happening in the world right now one scene in particular was quite harrowing to watch.

I stand by my thought that Mockingjay didn't need to be split into two parts. If the dull, unnecessary moments from both parts were taken out and made into one movie, it could have been amazing, but my favourite from the series is still Catching Fire. 

I almost wanted this to be my least favourite of the films so I wouldn’t be sad that it was over but it has turned out to be my favourite, now I’m gutted all over again that it’s finished!  Back to the books I go…..

Looking Forward to Seeing in the Cinema this Month...November 2015

So when I came to do this post I went to search for all the films in the month and by mistake searched for October, because there is no way its nearly November....is there?! Where has the year gone....

There is only one film I'm looking forward to seeing this month and that is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2.  Admittedly, the third is not my favourite book and the third film wasn't my favourite of the films but I'm so excited to see how they play this final out.  I don't think I need to say anymore, I'll just leave you with this:

Oh and the trailer of course:

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 will be released in UK cinemas on 19th November 2015

I am so stuck this month! Despite not making it to the cinema nearly as much as I would like to, there are two films this month I am desperate to see! They're both so very different, and that's why I can't pick. I need to pick though, I need to pick...eeney, meeney, miney, mo. Okay, I'm really looking forward to seeing Burnt! (but also The Lady in the Van!)

It's no secret that I love food (I mean, who doesn't?) so when I first saw Chef (2014) I instantly fell in love, and also wanted to eat the contents of my kitchen. That said, there are similarities between the two films, as they both feature down-on-their-luck chefs. Only, Burnt looks much more serious and dangerous, and I like that. How weird, I saw the trailer for this (and you know I too love food) and thought it looked terrible, I can't find anything to like about it.  I may let you watch it and give me an update ;-) Booooo!

Did I mention food? The wedding diet is going great, by the way. Anyway, here's the trailer if you haven't seen it yet:

Burnt will be released in UK cinemas on 6th November 2015.

Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

This was my most anticipated film of the year and for November, see here for further information on that.  So, after looking forward to this film for 12 months, was it worth it...

The Hunger Games; Mockingjay Part 1 returns to not long after where we left off in Catching Fire, Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) has been captured by the Capitol, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is holed up in District 13 under the watchful eye of President Coin (Julianne Moore) and Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman).  Katniss is recruited at the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion and thrust into the limelight to rally the troops.

I loved these books, the last was my least favourite but was also the most dark and grown up of the three so I had high hopes for the movie.  What it definitely did was keep to the dark tone of the book, it was much bleaker than the first two and the death and destruction seen by Katniss is a lot more jarring and heartbreaking in this one.  They do a really good job of making you feel as though you are seeing these horrific scenes through your own eyes, I got a bit teary when Katniss goes to visit District 12 by herself and seeing the sights that I had toned down in my head when reading the books.

Jennifer Lawrence and the rest of the cast were brilliant as they have been in the previous two movies.  The make up work on Josh Hutcherson was great, but what I couldn't get my head around was if they have all these make up techniques in the Capitol why did they let Peeta go on camera looking gaunt and sick.  Logically, Peeta could have stayed looking his healthy self until Katniss sees him when he is brought back and then realised that he was being forced, after realising how damaged and gaunt he is.  It's a minor gripe but it bothered me!  Effie Trinket played by Elizabeth Banks brought some much needed humour to the proceedings, Banks did an amazing job of portraying someone who has been raised with everything handed to her having to fight with the 'lower classes' to save people she has actually grown to care about.  Her lack of understanding of why she has this bond with these people is brilliant and provides a bit of light-heartedness in a very dark movie.

There didn't seem to be much need for splitting the final book, this one felt quite dragged out and like it could have easily been half the length it actually was.  This has reinforced for me that they have only split the films for the finance side of it not because it would make better movies.  Bit disappointed but it does mean I get to look forward to another instalment next year :-)  I don't know if anyone else thought this, but when I read the Mockingjay book, everything that happened up to the end of this movie felt like an introduction to the real story, the attack on the Capitol.  In that respect, this movie just felt like an opening to the 'real' story in the next movie.

The only part of this movie that REALLY bothered me was Jennifer Lawrence's terrible wig, it was quite obviously not her hair and looked awful to the point that I probably missed a few key points obsessing about it.  (This is what happened to me with Footloose when I got obsessed with the leading ladies wide shoulders and missed most of the film because it was annoying me that much!!)

Fans will love it, even if they do find it a bit long for the story it's telling and it makes you itch for the next instalment but all in all really good adaptation of the book, kept to the story well and didn't shy away from the dark and sometimes uncomfortable.

Would have been 8 if it wasn't for that damn wig!!!

Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

I watched this film at the cinema when it was released but I recently saw it on a list of films on a flight to Qatar so I went for it again...

 

I had completely forgotten how much I love this film, I actually think I loved it more than the first one (which is impressive for a sequel), its tougher, scarier, grittier and more heartbreaking than the original.  I loved that the first half was not in an arena but showing Katniss, Peeta and Gale coping after the first Hunger Games and how they respond to being sent back in again.

 

The arena is much more brutal and horrific than the first with blood rain, deadly smoke and evil baboons.  There were more characters to get your teeth into and many hints to the 3rd book (3rd and 4th films) that only readers of the book will understand (makes be feel abit smug when watching it to be honest!).  

 

I'm totally one of those annoying people who sit there with a smug face, reminding everyone who will listen that I've read the book! I was pleased at how well they kept to the book in Catching Fire, they just played around a bit with the timeline and missed out one of my favourite moments which pained me.

 

There's a scene in the book at the party which in the book happened after the names had been picked for the Quarter Quell, where Katniss is dancing with Plutarch (I think) and he whispers in her ear, 'It begins at 12'. This was the major clue for the Quarter Quell arena and would have been an awesome inclusion in the film.

 

I loved the build on the characters from the first film, such as Cinna and President Snow but the additional characters added this time round really gave it more edge. Jena Malone's, Johanna Mason was amazing - ideally at the beginning you are supposed to hate the character but I loved her and the impact she had on Katniss.  She seemed to be the only character that could get a rise out of her, which gave Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss more depth.   

 

Jennifer Lawrence as always was amazing and stole every scene she was in.  She made the character more tough this time round but also showed more vulnerability than has been  previously touched on.  The scene where Katniss isn't allowed to say bye to her family and the scene when she's hit by the Jabberjays in the arena were heartbreaking to watch and admittedly I cried a little on the plane. 

 

Catching Fire was brilliant and I'll definitely be watching it again just before the third film comes out. I'm a bit nervous about the third book being split into two films though, and I hope it allows them to do justice to the book, and not to just make as much money as they can.

I would without a doubt recommend this to anyone, preferably after reading the books and watching the first film but definitely a must.  Everything was bigger and better, from the arena to Effie Trinket's hair and eyelashes.