Thursday 31 July 2014

Trivia Round-Up: July

This months Trivia update.  These seem to be some of the most popular posts on our blog and I have to say I really enjoy writing them, sometimes trivia is the best part of the film.  I watched The Sixth Sense the other day and I couldn't stop noticing the colour red after our post last month!

movie-film-trivia

In this film, David Cross plays Allen Ginsberg's father, Louis. In I'm Not There. (2007), David Cross played Allen Ginsberg himself.

During the early scenes at the Kent house a double tanker truck drives by bearing the brand name 'Lexcorp' the company owned by Supermans arch nemesis Lex Luthor.  Also, when Kal-El and Zod fly out into space near the end they both hit a satellite marked 'Wayne Enterprises' the company owned by Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman.  Here is one I spotted myself, when Kal-El and Zod are fighting on the building site, Superman crashes into a sign that states number of days since last accident, he knocks the first digit off leaving it as 0 days since last accident.

All the actors underwent hypnosis as part of their preparation for the film. James McAvoy claimed that his hypnotism session was successful and left him unable to move his hand during the duration of the session.

Shailene Woodley wrote impassioned letters to author John Green and director Josh Boone. "If I'm passionate about something, I'll do everything I can to try to be a part of it," Woodley asserts. Although Green didn't initially picture Woodley for the part, he "was blown away" when she read for him. "We were all crying. It was actually sort of bad," he laughs. "But it was hers from that moment on." (IMDB, 2014)

The film was released in the USA on June 6th, 2014 which was the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion during WWII. The film is based around an attack on Normandy Beach.

The guy Mullins Melissa McCarthy makes out with in the bar scene is McCarthy's real-life husband Ben Falcone.

In reality, among the ash-covered bodies buried by the volcano, archaeologists did find a couple actually embracing together (although not in the position depicted in the movie), and they are now known as "The Lovers of Pompei". Moreover, the corpse of a very large man, probably from North Africa, was really found in Pompeii's arena.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Gobber is the first openly homosexual character in a DreamWorks Animation film. This is evidenced when he says the reason he never married was because of the arguing. He then adds, "Well, this and another reason." Writer-director Dean DeBlois told E! News, "When we were recording Craig Ferguson, I had written the line, 'This is why I never got married,' and he, as he often does, added it as an ad lib and he said, 'Yup, Gobber is coming out of the closet.'"
I didn't pick up on this at all - did anyone else?

As part of their training, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña spent five months doing 12-hour ride-alongs with on-duty LAPD officers. During Gyllenhaal's first ride-along, he witnessed a murder.
I found another really interesting bit of trivia about the name of the film, but it's a massive spoiler so look it up once you've seen the film!

As this film was shot in December, the crew had to ask locals not to put up their Christmas lights.  As a thank you, DreamWorks paid the city staff overtime to light the city up once shooting had finished.

Wednesday 30 July 2014

Memory Box Movies - Review: Evolution (2001)

Here is my first review from Memory Box Movies.


I remember the first time I saw this film, it was with my friend Claire who begrudgingly came with me to see a sci-fi film and she was not happy about it. However, what we got was an American Pie style comedy wrapped around a sci-fi premise and that was brilliant!!


The film follows Ira (David Duchovney) and Harry (Orlando Jones) who while attempting to study a geological site stumble across alien life forms, which evolve at an extremely rapid rate.  Obviously no one believes them and chaos ensues.  Dragging Allison (Julianne Moore) and Wayne (Sean William-Scott) into the mix leaves us with a dysfunctional group of misfits trying to save the world!

I was so chuffed when I saw that Jenna had reviewed this. I'd never seen it before but I remember a family holiday years ago, everyone was talking about it and I wasn't allowed to see it. I'd actually forgotten all about it until now!

 
I didn't expect to enjoy this film as much as I did, some of the comedy one-liners had me in fits of laughter and I wasn't even disappointed with the fact that Sean William-Scott plays the only character he seems to know how to play. The story is unique and different from sci-fi films at the time, it has a real old school B-Movie feel about it which only adds to its charm.

Ira and Harry's double act is brilliant, I would not have put them together but they have a real chemistry.  Ira's dry humour coupled with Harry's more obvious humour is a great combination.  Julianne Moore doesn't appear to have much use in the film other than a minor love interest storyline but this doesn't ruin it for me, I would happily watch this film over and over again and still find the toilet humour funny. 


I didn't really get on with Evolution if I'm honest. I think if I had seen it when it first came out, it would have been a different story. In fact, I'd love to find someone who has never seen Dude Where's My Car, get them to watch it now and see what they think, because I bet they'll hate it.

I don't want to hate on Evolution because it wasn't a bad film, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. If I could, I would go back in time and see it years ago when it was a little more relevant.
 
This is a must see for anyone who enjoys Monster B-Movies and American Pie (odd combination I know but you have to see it to believe it). Give it a go, you might like it!

 




Monday 28 July 2014

Memory Box Movies


This is my plan, I found a tin full of cinema tickets from when I was in Secondary School (best not to ask when that was but it's fair to say it was a while back!) so I am going to pull 10 tickets out of this tin and review the films.  They may be films I have seen dozens of times since then or they may be films that I have not even thought about since (so I might have to watch them again).  Hopefully Allie will have seen some of them too and will be able to put her reviews on as well.

I don't know how successful this is going to be because for the life of me I can't remember a single film I saw at the cinema in Secondary School other than Titanic but here goes....

These are the films that were chosen....

Get Over It

Minority Report

Van Wilder: Party Liaison

Ali G In Da House

Boat Trip

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Bridget Jones' Diary

Zoolander

Evolution

Austin Powers 

I don't want to post 10 reviews all at once, that seems silly so I will review these over the next few months (as I might need to re-watch a few) and update this post with the links as and when I do.

Sunday 27 July 2014

Attack of the Sequels! Blogathon

A fellow blogger, Rhys at Feeling Fuzzier is hosting a blogathon over the next couple of weeks all about sequels - ones that haven't happened and that we think should. I've been really thinking hard about this one!

 
Here are the rules, taken from the original post:


1. Pick up to 5 films that you enjoyed, but never got a follow-up film. You can include films that are already sequels (e.g. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army). Doesn't matter how ridiculous it may sound.

2. Talk about why you'd like to see a sequel to those movies, and where said sequels would take the story.

3. Please include the blogathon banner (above) somewhere in your post. 

4. The deadline is August 7th - but I'm sure I'll go easy on any late submissions ;)
 
And so, whilst Jenna is still on holiday, here are my choices, in no particular order...
 
green-lantern-movie
#1 - Green Lantern (2011)
It seems I'm doomed to forever talk about Green Lantern. I'm really sorry Rhys, I know you picked this too, but this is literally the first film that came to my head when I saw your announcement. For all of it's flaws, you only have to look through the Green Lantern comics to understand that a far more awesome story could be told in a sequel. I'd love to see a sequel, or even a re-make that tells the story of the Sinestro Corps.
 

zombieland-movie
#2 - Zombieland (2009)
I think a 'sort-of' sequel might have been made for Zombieland in the form of a terrible TV Show, but I would love to see a real sequel. I don't know whether I'd like it to pick up from where the first ended at the theme park, or perhaps follow a different set of survivors. All I know is it would be epic.
 
chronicle-movie-dane-dehaan
#3 - Chronicle (2012)
I had to watch Chronicle twice before I really appreciated it, but it's a really clever concept and Dane DeHaan did a fantastic job I thought. Chronicle didn't really have a fully closed ending, and so I think there's a sequel in there somewhere, about what Andrew does when he gets to the monastery. Does he learn to control his powers, or do they get the best of him again?
 
ferris-buellers-day-off
#4 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
 
Only recently did I watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but it reminded me in some ways of Office Space, and then I thought, how cool would a sequel be of a grown up Ferris deciding to take a day off work? Throw in a couple of cameos of the original cast? Why hasn't this been done yet?!
 
lemony-snicket-a-series-of-unfortunate-events
#5 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
I actually don't know what happened here. I read every book in the Series of Unfortunate Events when I was younger and loved them. Then they made a film out of the first book, and I loved it. So what happened to the others? So okay, there's a few dark themes in here, but it had so much potential, and Jim Carrey was just born for the role Count Olaf.

Saturday 26 July 2014

Review: End of Watch (2012)

I'm not the cop film type to be honest, although I have been known to watch the occasional car chase on some obscure channel late at night when I haven't been able to sleep. End of Watch kept cropping up in some conversations however, and as I'm not type of chick to say no to a film, I thought why not!


End of Watch is what I guess to be your average cop film, but with a twist. It's all shot documentary style by Brian Taylor (Gyllenhaal). It follows the daily lives of Brian and his work partner Mike (Peña) who are also best friends in real life. They end up getting in way over their heads with the local dangerous gangs after a lucky drugs bust.

I think The Day After Tomorrow was the first Jake Gyllenhaal film I saw, and that sparked off my first of what turned out to be many mild actor obsessions. Mild? I went straight onto the interwebs and purchased Donnie Darko, Bubble Boy and The Good Girl, on VHS if I remember right! As you can guess, no one needed to sell this film to me, and Jake in police uniform? Hi.



Exactly. Without my immediate bias, I really loved this film and it's completely changed my view on cop films, so if anyone has any suggestions of similar films, I'd be happy to hear them!
The bromance made this film what it is, and even though it's a drama/thriller, I laughed during End of Watch more from banter alone than some comedies in total. Gyllenhaal and Peña are an awesome duo! Just a short example below...
The camera work was really effective too, but there were a few continuity issues that made some scenes really quite confusing. However the ending made me forget any issues I may have had; it was so well done and I didn't see it coming at all!  Now I know there is a twist I want to watch it!! Honestly you need to! I was a bit 'meh' before watching it but I loved it!
If you love cop films anyway, then you should have already seen this. If you're not, give it a go, like I did! It won't be wasted time I promise you.



Thursday 24 July 2014

Review: How to Train Your Dragon 2

Can sequels ever be better than the original??

How to Train your Dragon 2 has proved they can, what an experience...



I was lucky enough to see this on Fathers Day, when they put it on as a special before it came out properly and as my Dad is the world biggest HTTYD fan, how could I not take him.
 
I on the other hand missed the previews which felt like a year ago, and ended up watching it when Planet of the Apes sold out.

The sequel picks up five years after the events of the first film on the Island of Berk.  Every Viking now has their own dragon which are now used for dragon race competitions (Quidditch apparently?!).  Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) however, prefers to investigate new lands and find new worlds with his trusty sidekick, Toothless.  On their latest adventure, Hiccup and Toothless stumble across a gang of Dragon hunters led by Eret (Kit Harrington) who are gathering dragons for the mysterious Drago (Djimon Hounsou).  So now it's up to Hiccup and his barrage of hapless friends (and their dragons) to keep their friends and their home safe.

 
What a film! This just goes above and beyond the first one, for starters ageing the characters (which is a rarity in animation) which gives Hiccup a bit more confidence and bravery while still maintaining his geeky lovable charm.  The visuals are amazing, the dragon flying scenes in 3D had you holding onto your chair.  The detail is impeccable as with the original, I particularly like an early part in the film where Hiccup and Astrid are talking and in the background there is a whole other story happening with their dragons, plus the grass and their hair are all blowing in the wind and each leaf on the tree I moving in it's own way.  It's one of those film where you will spot something new every time you watch it.
 
Honestly, the first half of HTTYD2 really got on my nerves. How much dialogue does a film need? The reveal of Hiccup's mum was ruined for me because it was just there in the very first trailer. Why?! Honestly Dreamworks, you could have given us a trailer where nothing at all happens, just Toothless being a derp, and you would still have the same audience.
 
During the reunion scenes, there was so much repeated dialogue that I actually stopped listening all together and had much more fun watching Toothless in the background, playing chase with another dragon. Hiccup's mum had done a whole speech and I didn't listen to a word.

 
The story is great (usually a downfall of sequels) and there is a twist which keeps it interesting.  There are also some quite adult topics addressed which steps it up again from the original. 

The supporting characters that I loved in the first one are given more opportunity to develop in this outing. However, all credit has to go to Toothless, as the star of the show.  The expressions, reactions and all around lovableness has proved successful once again, he steals every scene that he is in (even when he isn't the main focus, see above) and the bond between him and Hiccup is still as epic as it was in the first one.

 
Enough ranting from me though, because the second half of the film was absolutely fantastic. It was like a switch went off and the film burst into life. The action was better, the 3D was actually utilised, and we lost the boring dialogue. I really want to point out though that this isn't suitable for young children. Two scenes in particular come to mind, one really quite scary, and another absolutely heartbreaking. One small child begged to leave because he was so distraught.

If you liked/loved the first film, make sure you see this, don't be put off by the fact that it is a sequel as I think for sure that it is better than the first!
 
Taken as a whole, I think the first was the best, but I would watch this again and again for the second half alone (and maybe Toothless because he's such a cutie)





Wednesday 23 July 2014

Feeling Proud: Versatile Blogger Award

I think all Bloggers can relate to this one, but I love it when my phone pings to alert me to a new comment on one of our blog posts. Don't get me wrong, I would quite happily sit and write blog posts with no readers whatsoever, but to know that a) someone is reading our post and b) someone takes the time to leave us a comment, just fills me with happiness.

 
You can imagine my excitement then when my phone pings and tells me that Andrew over at 1001 Movies I (Apparently) Must See Before I Die has nominated us for a Versatile Blogger Award! Happy days indeed.

I must also add that whilst I've been taking far too long to write this post, Wendell at Dell on Movies has also nominated us! I'm really feeling the love guys! Thank you so much!

I like to think that we're versatile here at Flick Chicks. Sure, we write movie reviews, that's our bread and butter. But we also love making lists, taking part in (and hosting) Blogathons, and we also have little spin off series' like my Thursday's Thought and Jenna's (coming very soon) Memory Box Movies. So I think we deserve it, and I'd like to thank Andrew once again for nominating us!

Of course, a set of rules comes with the award, which are:

1. Thank your nominator and provide a link to their blog. Done!

2. Make your own fifteen nominations and tell them they've been nominated.

I think I'm going to struggle with fifteen as Flick Chicks is still fairly new, and a few blogs I would have chosen have already recieved the award. Nonetheless, here are my nominations, and apologies if you've already been nominated:

A Fistful of Films
A Space Blogyssey
And So it Begins...
Big Screen Small Words
Cinema Parrot Disco
Cinematic Corner
Feeling Fuzzier - A Film Blog
Film Grimoire
Girl Meets Cinema
Rambling Film

3. Offer up seven interesting facts about yourself.

In Jenna's absence, here's seven (questionably) interesting facts about me:

1 - The very first film I ever saw at the cinema was The Lion King. I was that kid who shouted out 'Mommy, is he dead?' and then sobbed my heart out.

2 - I go on holiday with my family every Easter to Looe in Cornwall, and we have our picture taken in the same spot every time. We've been going now since I was about 8! Here's our photo from this year (a lot rainer than last year!)


3 - I don't have any tattoos but I've wanted one for ages. I've finally decided that I was the last sentence from the last Harry Potter book tattooed on my wrist, 'all was well'. I just need to book it now!

4 - Last year me and my boyfriend went on holiday to New York for 4 days to celebrate 5 years of being together. He proposed at the top of the Rockefeller Centre!


5 - I've been into games for as long as I remember, and even in my twenties, I still love to play the Pokemon games. I'm seriously excited for the new releases later this year.

6 - I have two little kittens called Sherlock and Loki. They totally live up to their names. Sherlock has explored nooks and crannies in the house I didn't even know existed, and he can be a bit of a d*ck at times, whilst Loki is the trouble maker and just loves to push my plants onto the kitchen floor.


7 - Films and gaming aren't my only hobbies. I also love to draw, although I haven't for a long time now. I love to draw comic book characters mainly.

Tuesday 22 July 2014

Review: Pompeii (2014)

I try and stay away from critic reviews before I go and see a film because I like to judge things myself. However, every now and again my curiosity gets the better of me and I sneak a look. I got put off Pompeii because of bad reviews, but my brother really wanted to see it, and as a Flick Chick, I feel as though it's my duty to never say no to a film!  I hadn't read any reviews but I knew it had had a bad hit from the critics so I wasn't expecting too much, maybe my low expectations meant I enjoyed it more.


For those who know and enjoy history, forgive me but I knew nothing about the city of Pompeii for Mount Vesuvius before this. Pompeii tells the story of Milo, whose family and tribe are slain by Romans when he was a child. He is taken as a slave, and becomes a gladiator at Pompeii. There, he falls in love but disaster strikes when the volcano erupts.
This started a little slow, and the first few gladiator scenes just reminded me too much of the TV Show Spartacus, and well, nothing will live up to that and so I got a little distracted. However, I don't remember what point changed things for me but I thought the second half was fantastic. I really wish I'd seen this in 3D because the volcano section would have been brilliant.
 
Sure it's pretty cheesy in places and there wasn't much character or love interest development, but I couldn't think of any scenes that could be cut to help that, nor do I think the film should have been longer. It actually reminded me of Titanic to a certain degree, though I may have put some readers off completely with that comment!
 
I spent the entire film racking my brain for where I knew Cassia from, as soon as I opened IMDB to find out it came to me, she was in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which I didn't actually like her much in so I'm glad I didn't figure it out during the film as it may have clouded by judgement.

Here's a snippet of one of the coolest action scenes...
 



The action scenes were awesome, I found myself enjoying the fight scenes in the arena more than the volcano scenes.  The scenes during the eruption were a bit too chaotic and made it difficult to identify what was actually happening.

Kit Harington and the rest of the cast did an amazing job, and I was pleased in myself that I could watch Kit running around as a gladiator without picturing all those black furs, nor was I waiting for someone to tell him that he knows nothing! Sorry, Game of Thrones fan here...

Kit Harrington was the highlight, that man in beautiful (I think I might say this too often on this blog!) and I loved  Atticus, although I'm not sure how believable it is that when you are a gladiator you gain allies.  I would guess it's more of an everyman for himself type of situation but I also don't think anyone can outrun a volcano for 20 minutes on a horse!!  As Allie said, the character development was pretty limited but that didn't make it any less enjoyable for me, I was gripped from beginning to end. You should definitely watch the TV Show, Spartacus. It's more of a brother-hood than a friendship.

My verdict is to give this film a chance, because you may find yourself pleasantly surprised like me.

I think this is officially a guilty pleasure for me, I really enjoyed it and as you will know by now I always enjoy a good love story. 


Monday 21 July 2014

Review: The Heat (2013)

This review has been sat in our draft list for ages, waiting for me to start it.  I don't know why I haven't finished it before now because it's such an easy film to write about. 


The Heat focuses on Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) a hard ass cop from Boston who chases down bad guys with watermelons and spends 10 minutes looking for her 'bosses teeny tiny girl balls' in his office and Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) a uptight FBI agent who no one likes and is solely focused on gaining a promotion.  They are paired together to find the elusive Mr Larkin, a major drug-lord.

Honestly I didn't even need to see a trailer for this, once I knew it was Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, I knew it would be comedy gold. I wondered if it might be a little too close to Miss Congeniality, but it wasn't at all.

I can't rate this film highly enough, I found it and still find it hilarious.  I howl with laughter throughout the entire bar scene (about half way through for those who haven't seen it) but my favourite bit by far is the DVD extras.  There is a full 20 minute scene of Mullins and Ashburn with the tape on their faces, taking shots and making jokes, I think I preferred this to the whole film! 

Oh, I could just watch those extras over and over again! I love that this isn't just a comedy for chicks either, every guy I've spoken to who has seen this loved it.

Plus there are extra scenes where they have tried different ways to do a scenes, particularly funny is the one where Ashburn smashed the beer glass in her hand.



I think I need a dedicated Sandra Bullock post soon, because I honestly haven't seen anything of hers that I haven't loved. She's just pure comedy gold, but does serious roles so well too.  I guess you haven't seen All about Stevie yet then?!

This is pretty predictable but I don't care, I know exactly what will happen and I will still watch it repeatedly.  I was less impressed with Sandra Bullock in this film, she has done much better comedy performances (Two weeks notice being my favourite) but Melissa McCarthy shines, as she always does and she steals every scene she's in.

I can't fault this film and I am bound to get some sort of abuse for this rating but I don't care.....

To anyone who hates on this film:





Sunday 20 July 2014

Six Degrees of Separation Blogathon

Nostra over at My Filmviews has kicked off a really interesting Blogathon called the Six Degrees of Separation. The idea is that the Blogger before you links two actors/actresses/directors to each other in six steps, and then passes it on to someone else.

John at Hitchcock's World successfully linked Lindsay Lohan to Sidney Poitier, and has passed it to me to link Sidney Poitier to Groucho Marx. This is going to difficult as I really don't know Groucho Marx well at all, but let's give this a go!



Okay, okay, this was a tough one but I think I just about did it. Here we go...

1 - Sidney Poitier starred in Shoot to Kill (1988) alongside Tom Berenger.

shoot-to-kill-sidney-poitier-tom-berenger

2 - Tom Berenger was in Breaking Point (2009), and so was Armand Assante.

breaking-point-tom-berenger-armand-assante

3 - Armand Assante had an epic argument in Judge Dredd (1995) with Sylvester Stallone.

judge-dredd-sylvester-stallone-armand-assante


4 - Sylvester Stallone was the star of Oscar (1991), which also featured Don Ameche.

oscar-1991-sylvester-stallone-don-ameche


5 - Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda were the leads in the musical Greenwich Village (1944).

greenwich-village-don-ameche-carmen-miranda

6 - Finally, Carmen Miranda featured in Copacabana (1947), and the lead actor just happened to be the one and only Groucho Marx.

copacabana-carmen-miranda-groucho-marx

Phew! I can't believe I actually did it! That was a real challenge, I actually found it easier to work backwards so there's a hint for anyone still trying to complete their challenge.

As per the rules, I now need to nominate another blogger and pass on a challenge to them, starting with my ending point. So, Brittani at Rambling Film, I choose you! Your challenge is to link Groucho Marx to Leonardo DiCaprio. Good luck!

Saturday 19 July 2014

10 Things I Love About The Notebook

This is one of my all time favourite films (and I think I might have mentioned The Goonies too much already) so I decided to blog about the 10 top things I LOVE about The Notebook.



1.  Chemistry
The chemistry between Ryan Gosling's Noah and Rachel McAdam's Allie was amazing, they work so well together.  As much as I love both of these actors, I've not seen them have the same chemistry with anyone else in other film (except maybe with Bianca in Lars and the Real Girl?!).  You really believe they are in love (they actually started dating in real life not long after this film was released)

2. Nicholas Sparks
I love Nicholas Sparks and his writing, I have read all his books to date and I am always excited to see a new one coming out or a film adaptation in the works.  His books have a fantasy element about them, I just get lost in the story and usually finish his books within a day or two.  In my personal opinion, this is the best adaptation of one of his books and by far the closest any of the films have come to being what my imagination decided it would be when I read the book.

3. Soundtrack
I love the soundtrack to this film, especially Billie Holiday's I'll be seeing you that becomes Noah and Allie's song.  The soundtrack provides the perfect background for this story from the slow romantic main title score by Aaron Zigman to the upbeat jazz number that backs Allie and Noah's love montage - I love it all!!

4. The heartbreak *SPOILER ALERT*
No matter how many times I watch this film, my heart breaks every time.  Alzheimer's is a horrific disease that traumatises both the patient and their loved ones.  To realise that the children and grandchildren are Allie's but she has no idea has me an emotional wreck everytime.  She is learning about her life as if it's someone else's and Noah does nothing but try to help her remember that it's her.  Assume fetal position. Try not to cry. Cry a lot!

5. Allie's mother's confession
This was the moment in the film where you were supposed to realise that Allie's mother wasn't a bad person she just did what she thought was right.  However, when I saw this scene I fist pumped the air and shouted 'Ah-ha' at the tele.  Feeling very smug that the Mother may have made the wrong decision and that Allie was right all along.  Not sure that's how Sparks wanted it to be viewed but that was my version AND I still don't like Allie's Mother (before you say anything Allie I don't mean your mother!! How rude! She happens to love you!)

6. Sam Shepherd
Who doesn't love Sam Shepherd, he is truly awesome and brings a real charm to this role.  I wanted more of him and that is one place this film didn't deliver for me.

7. Allie's charm
This is a combination of the character written by Sparks and Rachel McAdams who brings her to life.  She is everything I expected from the book including selfish and hot headed which I love about the character, she's not some whingey romantic she gets angry and she does hurt people.  This makes her more real than the other female leads in Nicholas Sparks movies. 

8. The Quotes



9. The follow-up *SPOILER ALERT*

If you read the books you will know what i'm talking about, if you don't wait a few years and i'm sure the film adaptation of The Wedding will be on the horizon.  This is the story of Wilson and his wife Jane who have to admit that the romance is gone from their marriage.  In desperation, Wilson turns to his Father-in-Law for advice, who just happens to be Noah Calhoun.  The Notebook book actually has a different ending to the film, in that Allie passes away and Noah is left alone. In this book, he genuinely believes that Allie's soul is in a swan that swims on the lake, which is romantic in itself but also heart breaking (again!).  Anyway, this book touches on the history of The Notebook while Noah tries to help Wilson become the romantic husband that he wants to be.


10.  Ryan Gosling
No words needed:

Friday 18 July 2014

All by Myself

Happy Friday everyone! Just a quick one from me today. Jenna's gone on holiday to the States for 3 weeks and has left me all by myself! Yep, I'm feeling just like Joey right now.

joey-friends-all-by-myself

Not to worry though, because we've got posts scheduled for the time while she's away so the posts won't slow down from us. You've always got my rambles to read too, they just don't ever end!

What's everyone's movie plans this weekend? I watched Snowpiercer last night after hearing about all the hype, and I'm really hoping to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 sometime next week.

Thursday 17 July 2014

Review: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

I didn't really want to see this film, I've gone right off Tom Cruise since the debacle that was Jack Reacher so I just didn't want to be disappointed again!  Luckily, I didn't judge a book by it's lead actor and went anyway and I'm glad I did...


William Cage (Tom Cruise) is a scared officer, unwilling to go anywhere near the front line until he is thrown in the deep end by General Brigham.  Once in the action, he gets caught in a time loop that wakes him up at the same point whenever he dies.  He then meets Rita (Emily Blunt) who knows what's happening to him and promises him to train him up.  The rest of the film is them working as a team to save the world from an alien invasion, the same day at a time!

I haven't seen this yet, but I will, begrudgingly. A friend at work made a joke about Tom Cruise's film roles, basically saying that he plays the exact same character in everything that he's in. I shouldn't judge him for that, because for me, Liam Neeson could play the same role in every film and it would take a while for me to get bored of that. But still!


Whenever I watch a movie that involves time loops or time travel I have to fight the urge to analyse it to death, looking got plot holes and paradoxes that can't be explained away.  A two hour discussion with my dad about Paycheck with Ben Affleck ruined that film for me, even though I quite enjoyed it initially, I can't watch it now.  Looper is another one that I have analysed to death and never want to watch again because the one major plot hole has ruined it for me.  So I tried to watch this with an open mind and not think about the time loop aspect and just enjoy the film.  That is exactly what I did, I really enjoyed this, it had a twist on your classic alien fighting film in that the bloke is the weak scared one and the woman is badass (which I loved!).  If you had told me last year that Emily Blunt was going to play a badass alien fighter, I would have laughed in your face, but she absolutely nailed it.


There were some great comedy elements throughout and it touched on a complicated romance between the guy who's learning all about the girl and the girl who has only ever known the guy for a day but didn't focus too much on it.  The action sequences were great and not so rushed that you can't see what's happening (a failure of all Transformers movies in my opinion) and they managed to not make it at all repetitive considering the film is a constant repeat of the same day.  When they had to go through the same scenes again they used comedy to make it different from the first time around which I loved.

I promise I'll watch this, once the DVD is out probably, and give it a chance. I know I'll enjoy it once I see it!

Definitely worth seeing, even if you are like me and have lost faith in Tom Cruise, this might just bring you back.



Tuesday 15 July 2014

Review: The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

I'm not normally into romance films. I need a nice side of comedy to keep me entertained. However, The Fault in Our Stars is a book I've been meaning to read for ages due to the hype, and when I realised it was being released as a film, I knew I needed to see it. Sadly, none of my friends would be up for it, but I managed to tag along with Jenna and her friend Lou last Sunday.

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As the poster states, The Fault in Our Stars is based on a novel by John Green. It tells the tragic love story between Hazel Grace (Shailene Woodley) and Gus (Ansel Elgort), who met at a cancer support group.

I still hadn't read the book, and I had never seen the leading actors in anything before either so I went into the cinema completely open minded, and I was really impressed. The story dealt with such a sensitive and upsetting issue without getting over dramatic, and I was pleasantly surprised to find many moments of comic relief to lighten the mood. I was kept gripped from beginning to end, and although in my mind I thought I knew how it would end, I was wrong. I think I benefitted greatly from not having read the book yet.  I however read the book before hand (in 3 hours on a flight) and I was completely engrossed, I couldn't have put it down even if I wanted to. (Lucky this was the flight I mentioned in our NSFP post and I had a small child sat next to me so I was limited on film choices anyway!).  Having read the book I was so excited about the film and I have to say as adaptations go they have done a really good job.  Much of it played out exactly as I imagined in my head which is rare from book to screen.

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Hazel Grace and Gus were inspiring characters to watch, and although I was a little cold towards Gus at first, I very quickly warmed to him due to his confidence and charm. Another highlight for me was the little effects when text messages were sent, it was a creative addition and I thought it really tied in well with the teenage theme. Some of the lines were a little cheesy of course, but my understanding is that they're direct quotes from the book.  Yes there were lots of direct quotes from the book which I noticed and I thought they (although a little cheesy) a great way to ensure the film was true to the book.

These are my kind of films, I loved My Sisters Keeper and I sob like a child every time but I love getting so engrossed in a film that you actually cry, not shed a little tear here and there but actually cry (including snot, load sobs and many many tears).  Maybe it's a kind of release (as I have a habit of not crying at anything in real life!) or maybe I just like to torture myself with weepy films when I know i'm going to end up a blubbering mess - who knows!!

This was a heart-breaking but beautiful film to watch, and I encourage anyone who has any doubts to give this a try. I'm also looking forward to seeing more of Shailene Woodley, as she was fantastic in this.

Great film, really close to the book which I loved.  Thanks to both sides of the coin being present in our review whether you have read the book or not we would recommend you see it.