Review: The Nice Guys (2016)

Have you ever seen a movie trailer for the first time and get the feeling that you know it’s going to be brilliant? Like, no fear of disappointment or anything because you know you’re going to love it? That’s what happened to me and my husband in January this year. We were at the cinema to see Spotlight, and after having a bit of a movie/blog hiatus over Christmas all of the trailers were a surprise to me. Cue a 70’s looking Ryan Gosling wrapping fabric around his knuckles, punching through a window, and then gripping his wrist, bleeding everywhere, followed by Russell Crowe accepting $30 to beat up a little girl’s friend, and I was practically dancing in my seat.

Of course, like every other movie I’ve been looking forward to this year, it got released in the cinemas during my wedding/honeymoon weeks, which meant I missed it. 

There was a game I used to play on the Xbox 360 called L.A. Noire, it’s possibly still one of my favourites games of all time. You play as an LAPD Officer called Phelps, trailing Los Angeles for clues and interviewing witnesses to solve cases. That’s just what The Nice Guys is like, only it’s side-splittingly hilarious at the same time. In The Nice Guys, Holland March (Ryan Gosling) has been hired by a worried mother whose daughter, a porn star by the name of Misty Mountains, has been missing for days. She was last sighted 2 days ago by her mother herself. The only issue here? Misty died in a car accident 4 days ago…

Holland’s search puts him in the line of fire of Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), who has been paid to stop Holland from nosing around. And so our pair meet, which as you can probably tell from the movie poster, ends badly (and painfully) for Holland. If I had any doubts about the chemistry these guys might share on screen, they were fizzled out by their performance at the Oscars earlier this year. They bounce off each other so well! 

I’ve been so used to watching Ryan Gosling play a tough guy (Drive, The Place Beyond The Pines, Only God Forgives) that this completely threw me off balance. I’m really not joking when I say he screams like a girl, and it didn’t matter how many times it happened, I laughed till I cried. He’s just a bit of a doofus, but a very good detective at the same time, which means when he does slip up and does something stupid, it comes without warning. His character Holland also has a young teenage daughter, Holly (Angourie Rice) who is constantly trying to help. Characters like Holly normally get in the way and get annoying, but in some cases, she actually saves the day, and she’s a delight to watch. 

It was just so much fun to watch, and I’ll be watching it again and again over the years, I’m sure. If there were only one movie this year that deserves a sequel, it’s this, because I could watch Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe work together solving cases for hours on end. In fact, I don’t even know why I’m scoring this a 9/10, I can’t think of a fault to pick at, but I hate giving out full marks!

Looking Forward to Seeing in the Cinema: June 2016

Ok - before we get into this whole looking forward malarkey,  I have a confession to make! Prior to last months post, Allie text me to ask me if X-Men was going to be my looking forward film, obviously I said yes so she kindly went with Warcraft!!  However, it turns out I have the memory of a sieve, because when it came to writing my post, I did a whole blurb on Captain America!! Even when I looked up the release date and found it was April not May, I still didn't realise what I had done.  It took the post going up for Allie to read it and text me saying, why the heck did you write about Captain America instead of X-Men!!!  Because i'm a numpty, that's why!  So in short, we both potentially wanted to pick X-Men and yet we didn't actually write about it! Can I use it for this one?!

Also, I have to note that we wrote this post well before it was published, so when you guys finally read this Miss Hawkins will be Mrs Adkins - all kinds of happy for my bestest and her beau.  Love you lots <3

Hello, summer! Is it just me or does it feel like it should be blockbuster season already? This year they seem to have been spread out throughout the year...which I'm fine with, because I normally only catch about 50% of the big releases in summer anyway! This month is a tricky one to pick, but I think I've made up my mind.

I saw the trailer for The Nice Guys right before seeing Spotlight in early January, and it completely took me by surprise. It looks hilarious! From what I can tell, it's set in the 1970's and follows Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe investigating the death of a porn star.

Ryan Gosling has been away from the big screen far too long for my liking, but his chemistry with Russell Crowe on Oscars night has really got me excited for The Nice Guys! I think it's a case of it either being a huge hit or a real disaster, with the only funny moments being shown in the trailer, but that's always the risk with comedy. I've got my fingers crossed! There was a gun through a window in the trailer which made me laugh hysterically! (it doesn't take much!).  Has anyone else seen the trailer for this which is Ryan and Russell in therapy in real life before the film's release, that really made me laugh.

The Nice Guys will be released in UK cinemas on 3rd June, 2016.

Oh my god, how long have I been waiting for this film, ever since I read the book way back when and then I reignited my love for JoJo Moyes this Spring reading the the sequel.  Now it's finally here.....

Based on the book by JoJo Moyes, Me before you is about Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke) who takes a job looking after quadriplegic, William Traynor who having lead an adventurous lifestyle before his accident s struggling to come to terms with his new life.

I love Emillia Clarke and I love Sam Claflin so what is not to love....

Me before you will be released in UK cinemas on 3rd June, 2016.

Review: Man of Steel (2013)

I saw this film initially at the cinema and recently it's been on Sky Movies near on daily so I managed to catch up on it again and again and again!! It wasn't so bad though because I did really enjoy this, much to the surprise of many of my film fan friends who were disappointed after all the waiting!!

Who wouldn't love a film with that face...and that body in it!!  That would have been enough for me, it could have been 2 hours of Henry Cavill just staring at the camera and I would have given it 10/10.  I'm kidding, sort of! Mmm I'll second that! I was actually sort of gutted when him and Kaley Cuoco split up, they were so cute together! Man of Steel covers the history of how Kal-El became Clark Kent and then became Superman all while saving Earth from the likes of General Zod and his Kryptonian pals.

It is fair to say that I am overall a Marvel girl, I prefer the Marvel films (I'm not a huge comic book reader so I can't comment on that) but I prefer the humour and comedic timing in the Marvel films to the darker more serious DC films such as this and the Batman trilogy.  That doesn't mean I don't enjoy these and this one had its fair share of dry humour throughout, this being my favourite:

See, now I feel sort of awkward commenting on this. Comics wise, I'm a DC fan completely, no doubt. Film wise, I tend to steer towards Marvel for the humour  (what I actually want to say is Thor) Ta-da!!! (couldn't resist!). I saw Man of Steel at the cinema and enjoyed it, but it just didn't have wow factor for me, and it sort of dragged a bit. My other half wouldn't stop raving though so it's totally personal from my side.

Although the film was particularly long, it felt rushed to me.  I am a huge fan of Smallville which took 10 seasons and 10 years to show how Clark Kent became Superman, what this film showed in 30 minutes.  I understand not as much detail can be put into a film and that there is no way it wouldn't feel rushed, so I think Smallville may have somewhat ruined any Superman films for me that covers the time prior to becoming Superman!

Actually that makes a lot of sense! I only started watching Smallville just before the JLA was introduced, and I would rather watch a few episodes of Smallville than Man of Steel.

Aside from that though, I really enjoyed the film, particularly Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, who I thought should have had much more screen time and Michael Shannon as General Zod.  Cavil was a significant improvement on what I consider the boring version offered by Brendan Routh but Amy Adams lacked the tough sarcasm and general know-it-all nature of Lois Lane that I love.

I could say I would watch this again and again but I already have! Definitely recommend it to any comic book movie fans but maybe not to Smallville fans!!

Review: Cinderella Man (2005)

I downloaded this film onto my iPad to watch if I was bored in the airport on the way to some other far flung place and thank god I did as I ended up on an 11 hour journey to get home (which should have taken 4 hours) so I had plenty of time to watch everything I had downloaded.

This film is the true story of James J Braddock a boxer during the Great Depression in 1930's America who loses everything.  Him and his family struggle after he gets ditched from boxing and they have to fight to survive and provide for their children.  Years later, Braddock gets the opportunity to box again and the rest they say is history...

I didn't think I was going to enjoy this film, the cover looked depressing as did the description, but it just goes to show you can't judge a book by it's cover.  This film was amazing, loved every minute of it and I was completely gripped from beginning to end.  I spent 20 minutes of the film sobbing, on a train in Germany no less so maybe it wasn't SFT after all. I have to be honest, I've never even heard of this film, and when I saw the title Cinderella Man in the draft section of our blog, I actually thought it was going to be a cheesy Disney film! I now realise I was thinking of A Cinderella Story...sorry.

The film seemed quite slow but that didn't take away from the story at all.  Russell Crowe was brilliant at the down ad out boxer trying desperately to avoid having to send his children away and the fact that it's based on a true story makes it that much more poignant.  Your heart breaks where their heart breaks and you feel the pure joy whenever something happens to him and his wife, played by Renee Zellweger (who possible wears too much make up for someone with starving kids in the height of the depression!).  Giamatti is perfect in the role of Braddocks trainer, Joe Gould who looks on with the perfect amount of sadness when it all goes wrong and himself gives everything up in his belief of Braddock.

A definite must-see even if you don't think it's for you, give it a try anyway, you might be surprised. I'm going to take you up on that one!