Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)

UPDATED with Jenna's review: Tina Fey is my spirit animal. I absolutely love her. Currently, I’m binge watching 30 Rock like there’s no tomorrow, knowing the end is in sight and not wanting it all to be over whilst saying to myself ‘just one more episode’. So I knew as soon as Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) came out, I was going to have to see it asap. I’d just come back off honeymoon and knew I needed something funny to pick me up, so this was perfect.  I am not such a Tina Fey fan, I don't dislike her at all (loved her in Sisters) but I don't actively watch things because she is in it, I can find her irritating so I have to limit my intake.

The movie is based on memoir of real-life reporter Kim Barker, titled ‘The Taliban Shuffle’, recounting her experiences with reporting on the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kim, played by Tina Fey, had no experience in this field what-so-ever, but being unmarried without children was enough.

Maybe I should have worked this out on my own, but from the trailer I was expecting a bit of a parody, something to keep me laughing throughout. Don’t get me wrong, some moments are absolutely hilarious, for example, when Kim first arrived in Afghanistan a lady shouts abuse at her for not having her hair covered, and Kim’s local guide and translator Fahim (Christopher Abbott) tells her she is simply welcoming her to the country. Then there’s a moment where Kim describes the local women as ‘walking Ikea bags’ or something like that, which had me in tears!  Yeah I completely suprised by this, I was expected and full on 'Tina Fey' comedy and got nothing of the sort.  It had funny moments as Allie said but nothing that would make it a comedy, it is much more of a drama.  Luckily, as a drama it was very good so I didn't feel entirely cheated by the trailer.

Mostly though, the movie is a drama that hit me harder than I thought it would. I don’t watch a lot of war movies anyway, but the ones I have seen have focussed on the action, and the soldiers fighting these wars. They’re exciting, and fuelled with adrenaline. This is much different from that. Maybe it’s because I was seeing the war through the eyes of someone inexperienced to it all, someone who reacts the way I imagine I might have done.  It terrified me, I kept imagining what I would have done if I was in Kim's shoes and I just got all sweaty and anxious.  It really does show a whole new side to the war in Afghanistan!

There’s a great cast here. I’ve already mentioned Fahim, whose politeness when translating gets a lot of laughs, but I liked Tanya (Margot Robbie) more than I thought I would too. She’s a reporter too, and has been out there longer than Kim, but shows her the ropes and explains concepts such as ‘being an American 4 makes you a 10 out here’, making Tanya herself a 15. Obviously. General Hollanek’s (Billy Bob Thornton) bluntness caught me off guard several times. And then we have Martin Freeman as Iain, doing a brilliant Scottish accent, although the last time I saw him he was trying an American one in Civil War which was awful, so maybe my radar is off-balance. Honestly, it’s worth watching just to hear Martin Freeman drop the ‘c-bomb’ so frequently!  Not sure I was as impressed with Freeman's Scottish accent but maybe I'm still reeling from Captain America: Civil War. but yes the C-bomb ultimately made his character for me - you know I love a good swear!!

I’m realising now that I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I did. It was definitely mis-marketed, and the tone shifts quite sharply every now and again which throws you off balance, but it’s a war movie that I’m recommending left, right and centre, and I don’t think that’s happened before. Give it a try!

I can't even explain how I felt about this film, one minute I was laughing, the next I was hugging a cushion, thankful that I was in the safety of my little house.  That being said, I was completely hooked!!

Dream Vacation Blogathon (Allie's Version)

Summer is here and I can’t help feeling a little glum. I’m not going on a vacation this year, although to be fair it’s because I’m saving for my wedding next year which is much more exciting. However, Katy at Girl Meets Cinema has saved the day with her Dream Vacation Blogathon!

The idea is simple enough, we get to pick 3 characters to bring with us on our vacation, and we can go wherever we want. I’d say the sky is our limit, but it really isn’t. Please check out Katy’s original post here, she explains it much better than I ever could.

I’m not one for a ‘relax and do nothing’ holiday. I don’t do sitting quietly by the pool with a book, I’m much happier exploring local towns and beaches, so this holiday is going to be one big adventure. What use is an adventure like this without a seasoned adventurer such as Mr. Bilbo Baggins? We’ll be travelling to some weird and wonderful places on this vacation, and so I’m bringing Katniss along for protection. Plus, I’m hoping she can give me some fashion advice and teach me to braid my hair. For some fun during this trip, who better to bring than the God of Mischief himself, Loki! He’ll probably cause the trouble that Katniss will have to help us get out of.

To start us off, we’ll don our warmest gear and set sail for Arendelle, the home of Queen Elsa and Princess Anna from Disney’s Frozen. I’ll sing cheesy songs with Anna, and yes, I most certainly want to build a snowman! Katniss and Elsa with have some sort of braid-off, I’m sure. Bilbo heard that Arendelle throws a fantastic feast, so he’ll be happy, and Loki and Olaf will no doubt be creating some kind of snow-related disaster. That’ll be the signal that it’s time to leave.

After purchasing some souvenirs from Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post, Loki will show us the way to Asgard. I’ve been fascinated with Asgard ever since I watched the Thor movie for the first time, and would love nothing more than to take a stroll down the rainbow bridge, accompanied by Thor himself, for safety of course, you know, in case I swoon and fall. In the evening, Katniss and I will swap our furs for fine silk, and get ready to party into the wee hours of the morning.

Putting these fantasy worlds behind us, Heimdall will provide us with safe passage to Manhattan, New York. There are too many movies to name filmed in this action packed city, but I had Begin Again in my mind when planning this vacation. Who doesn't want to bump into Adam Levine whilst on vacation? I’ve been to Manhattan once before and will hopefully go back again next year. I’d love to spend a whole day just walking through Central Park in the summer. That is, if Loki doesn’t try to take over the world while we’re there. There’s always one, eh?

Using the powers of Twitter, we’ll track down which city in the US Carl Casper’s food truck from Chef is at the moment, and take a road trip for some tasty food. Have you noticed that food seems to be a prominent feature in this vacation? Oops. It’s for Bilbo I swear, not me! If you’ve never watched Chef before by the way you really should, unless you hate food, and well then I’m afraid we really can’t be friends.

For the final leg of our journey, and with Loki’s rebellious streak rubbing off on me, we’re going to break the blogathon rules and head to the beaches of Miami, home of Dexter Morgan, the star of the TV Show, Dexter. Living in the UK, we get to see very little sun, and living right in the Midlands as I do means I hardly ever get to visit a beach. After the journey we’ve had, I’m sure we would all appreciate some sunbathing and cocktails.

Finally, I want to thank Katy for hosting this blogathon and giving me the chance to create my dream vacation! I can’t wait to read everyone else’s posts, too.

Review: The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Me and Allie were texting each other this morning and I mentioned whether we had posted our review of The Hobbit.  Much to both of our surprise and shock, we hadn't even written it.  Our excuse is that we both saw it not long before Christmas and then the excitement of Christmas and presents took over.  We were both pretty amazed that we missed it though as we both loved it.  Lucky there is two of us to remind each other....

To think you reviewed The Fault in Our Stars twice before reviewing this once...shocking, I tell you, shocking! Technically, I wrote this one before the second Fault in our Stars review but was waiting on your verdict before I could publish ;-)

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the third installment of The Hobbit trilogy and it picks up where the second one left off with Smaug heading to Laketown and causing destruction, until Bard steps up and saves the day (swoon!!).  This however, leave the mountain unprotected and soon word spreads that the gold is up for grabs, bringing five armies together for the ultimate battle.

Did we really need Bard as the title image for this?! Could we not have had my lovely elven king instead? Or Bilbo himself!? Sigh... Nope, I started it, I chose the title image...but you can have the second one....

Yay! Thanks :)

I think this was my favourite of all the Middle Earth films not just The Hobbit trilogy, I was engrossed throughout (unlike the second instalment where I fell as well until the giant spider scene) and I understood the story.  I still don't understand most of the LOTR story, making it quite hard to enjoy sometimes.  I did find the Smaug scenes at the beginning a little bit odd, they felt like they should have been at the end of the last one, however I think that would have made the second one the longest film ever and this one a bit short (in Middle Earth movie terms) so I guess that's why it was done.

After reading the book from being far too impatient to wait for the third installment, we really didn't need three parts. As much as I enjoyed The Battle of Five Armies, it was almost literally a giant battle scene made 100 times more dramatic than in the book. Which I do understand as the book is for children, but unnecessary regardless.

I still feel a bit sad that we will never know what happens to the characters between this movie and the LOTR movies, particularly Tauriel.  As soon as I got out of the cinema, I googled her to see why she wasn't with Legolas in the next lot of movies and it turns out she wasn't in it because she was made up.  She was never in the books, therefore was never considered in the LOTR's movies and was specifically made up for The Hobbit Trilogy.

Yeah, again, another reason why three parts just weren't needed. Every story needs a romance arc I guess? It was a nice touch though and I did really love Tauriel.

The ensemble cast were brilliant as always, a particular highlight for me being Richard Armitage his portrayal of Thorin as he begins to lose his mind is played out incredibly. 

There were a few character entries, that I think may have had more relevance in the book, Saruman for example in the short scene with Galadriel and Gandalf appeared unfitting to the rest of the film and a little redundant.  Maybe there is more explanation to this in the book? Any readers want to enlighten me?

Now I'll probably make myself sound like an idiot, and a much smarter fan will call me out on this as I've only read the Hobbit, but from what I heard the scenes with Saruman and Elrond and the others were put in to forge some kind of bridge between the end of the Hobbit films and the start of the Lord of the Rings ones. Thanks! (Not just a pretty face you know)

But yes! I loved the cast as much as I did in the other films. Richard Armitage was particularly brilliant as the good guy you wanted to shout at for being an ass!

Anyway, back to the review.  A great finale enough action to keep you entertained but not so much that can no longer tell who is fighting who and I actually understood the story which is a bonus... Now I need to do a marathon of all 6 films over a weekend, see if I can understand LOTR any better!!

WHYY can we not give half scores?! I don't want to open that can of worms but this is one of those scenarios I was on about before we even started this blog! It's a 7.5 from me...7 seems too harsh but I gave The Desolation of Smaug an 8 and I preferred that one to this... We are not getting into the half score debate again, you got 'out of 10' in stead of 5 so schtum! ;-) I'm trying to work out what 7.5 would work out to be if we used that system...3.77777/5?

Thursday Movie Picks #8: Movies Set Locally

The creative Wanderer at Wandering through the Shelves has been running a blogging series for a while now called Thursday Movie Picks which, funnily enough, takes place every Thursday. I've been meaning for weeks now to take part but this week is finally my time. Today's theme is Movies Set Locally.

Now, I live in a little town a few miles away from Birmingham in the UK, so as you can imagine, there aren't many blockbuster movies set down the road from my house. Not that I've watched at least! However, I'm going to stay as local as I can for my 3 choices.

Nativity! (2009) starring the wonderful Martin Freeman rapidly became one of my favourite Christmas movies. Even the sequel, starring David Tennant was great. Even better, Nativity! was filmed and set in Coventry, which genuinely is in my local area, just the other side of Birmingham.

Much more recently, Locke (2013) was released, starring Tom Hardy. It's a brilliant film which entails Ivan Locke driving home from his construction job in Birmingham, and I've actually reviewed it here. Funnily enough, the première took place a 5 minute walk from my place of work, and I'm still kicking myself now for not just turning up.

I realise I'm pushing it now, but the Harry Potter movies were set in the UK, and some of the sets in particular aren't that far from where I live. About 9 years ago I visited Oxford (just over an hour on the train) to see the great hall at Christ Church College, and the library and infirmary at Bodleian Library.

Hopefully this won't be my first and last contribution to this fantastic series, and I look forward to taking part in the upcoming themes. Thanks to Wanderer for hosting!

Review: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

It's rare that I get to do the whole 'Oh my god what do you mean you've never seen *insert amazing film here*' thing. It's normally done to me. I can't even remember what I was referencing to my other half when I mentioned The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but he said he'd never seen it! In truth, my Dad forced me to watch it at the same time as I watched the Monty Python films with him, and I probably haven't seen it since. I bought the DVD a few days ago though, and last night, we watched it.

Have you got your towel? Okay, let's do this...

Poor Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is having a bad day. The council is trying to knock down his house to create a by-pass, even though his is the only house for miles around. Just to make things worse, his home planet is destroyed, but he is rescued by his friend, who he never knew was actually an alien. Still with me? Arthur's friend Ford (Mos Def) is a researcher, and he's putting together a new edition of  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Honestly, I think this is a bit of a marmite film. You either get it, and think it's hilarious, or you just don't, and how can you like a film that you just don't understand? I for one love it. It's the perfect mixture of silliness, irony, and great storytelling. A little bit of slapstick, anyone? I probably would love this film if I hadn't fallen asleep, twice, trying to watch it!!  I promise I will give it another go soon, maybe on a plane ride this weekend and then I can add more to this but until then, enjoy Allies review...

The story does move at a bit of a crazy pace, and if you enjoy the film I recommended that you read the books, as a lot has been crammed in to a short space of time. The cast is just perfect in my opinion, although I read a post on the IMDB boards where people were discussing who they would have cast, or who they would cast now. I think that would make a great future post!

I think I may have to create a '10 Things I Love About...' post for this, because I could ramble for hours at this rate!

Getting back on track, the visual effects are great for the age of this film. If you watch it for the first time now, you probably won't be impressed, but 9 years ago they were great. If you liked Monty Python, give this a go, and if you've got a book-shaped hole in your life at the moment, then you should definitely give the books a go. For now though, so long and thanks for all the fish!



 

I haven't seen any of the Monty Python films, is that bad?! Oops! That's terrible! Forget Flick Chicks movie nights, we need Flick Chicks movie marathons!

Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

Each Christmas, our family make a visit to the Giant Screen in Birmingham to watch a film together. It started with The Polar Express back in 2004, and has been a tradition ever since. In 2012 I groaned when it was decided that we would see The Hobbit. I sat through the first Lord of the Rings film with a grudge one Boxing Day years ago and thought it was just too long.  Personally, I enjoyed the Lord of the Rings films, this is not to suggest that I understood them.  I still don't know most of the names and who they relate to.  If I talk about a character in LOTR, unless it's Frodo or Legolas, I have to use the Actors name or I have no hope!! So I didn't hold out much hope for understanding the Hobbit films...but I did!!

Who knew that in December last year I would be pracically bouncing up the steps to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug?

I really enjoyed the first Hobbit film. It should have been obvious, I love my fantasy stories and still have World of Warcraft urges every now and again, and I have made a promise to myself to watch the Lord of the Rings films because I know I should love them.  See above.

Seeing a film at the cinema with family or friends is an experience I love, but throw in some festivities too and I'm in my element. The Hobbit will now always make me feel Christmassy and we'll be seeing The War of Five Armies this year too.

The second film continues the dwarves journey with Bilbo and Gandalf to take back the lost city of Erebor, which is currently occupied by the deadly dragon Smaug. Admittedly, I thought this film started pretty slow until it got to the spider scene in the forest. From there on the pacing was perfect and I didn't notice the time at all, but the first half hour dragged a bit. Funnily enough, the first time I saw this at the cinema, I fell asleep in the first 5 minutes until that scene and then I was wide awake for the whole film!!

Most importantly, The Hobbit tells the story of an adventure on a truly epic scale, with interesting characters throughout. What I wasn't expecting were some truly brilliant laugh out loud scenes. This one being my absolute favourite:

 

Boy though, they really do make you wait for the reveal of Smaug! By far the best part of the whole film. I know, I know, you don't have to remind me who voices him! Do you know he also did the motion capture?

 



 

Terrifying right?!

So my favourite part, the return of Legolas (Orlando Bloom), I have been having withdrawals since the LOTR trilogy finished.  And I wasn't disappointed:

 

And this is the reason why I loved him in the first place, this is my favourite scene from all the LOTR films, he is just so badass!!

 

So, there I am sooo excited about seeing Legolas in all his amazingness again and this bloke turns up on screen and it's a whole new level of swoon...

Sorry, back to the actual film and less about the (beautiful) cast! It's fair to say, I still get confused quite easily with these types of films, I never quite know who is on whose side and what the end game is but that never takes away from the enjoyment.  I will give it to Allie (and her mild obsession with Benedict Cumberbatch) Smaug was amazing, the graphics, the movements and the voice combined made for a truly epic visual delight.  Many of the characters aren't used enough, most of the dwarves aren't brought the forefront and therefore are overlooked where they could be key assets to the dark comedy that runs through The Hobbit films.  The biggest fault with this film, is not in the filming, it's the fact that there is no beginning and there certainly isn't an end.  Fans who haven't read the book will get a shock when it ends and be itching for more...

Anyway, I really enjoyed the second installment of the series and I'm super excited to see the third and last part this Christmas.

Thoroughly enjoyable, easier to understand that LOTR, maybe though because my Dad read the book to me as a child.  Limited character development and wasted dwarves don't stop me from wanting to see this one again.

 





Currently Watching...Fargo (Allie)

For weeks I followed the hyper surrounding this new TV Show, and to be honest, Martin Freeman was a big selling point for me. I think he's an amazing actor. There was another pull too, it's based on a 1996 film of the same name, which just so happens to be on the IMDB Top 250 List. You can see where this is going, can't you?

 

You can see our review of the original Fargo film here. Despite my misgivings, I was still really looking forward to seeing the TV Show. I was wondering to myself whether the plot would follow the film closely or not, because I could picture William H. Macy's character as Martin Freeman clearly.

 

I think I found myself pleased that the TV Show, at least so far, doesn't follow the film's plot. It's got that 'Fargo feel' without a doubt though. I'm only two episodes in so far so I can't really give a justified opinion, but I'm really enjoying it so far, it's different to anything else I'm currently watching.

 

Billy Bob Thornton is an actor that I really don't know well at all, but he plays the psychotic character Lorne Malvo really well. I love all the dark humour that ties in with his character.

 

What I really can't get over is Martin Freeman's accent. If you've seen the film you'll be familiar with the 'yah?' that gets said at least once every minute or so, but I was so taken aback by Martin's accent that I literally stopped listening to anything that he said. I'm not saying it was a bad accent! In fact it's amazing! But it's so different to his usual voice that if you close your eyes, you wouldn't even guess it was him.  I heard his accent on the advert and it scared the bejeezus out of me, I'm not sure I can watch it now!!

 

Here's a trailer if you haven't seen or heard of the show yet:

 

 

In conclusion then, it's too early to judge but I'm loving this show so far.

 

My conclusion, think I'll give it a miss for now, but will keep it on the list.

 

EDIT: Since first drafting this post, I've watched another 2 episodes so I'm 4 in now. SPOILER ALERT - I'm super happy that the TV Show now has a link with the 90's Film, and even happier that I knew the reference! I'm loving this show more and more with each episode!