Tuesday 31 March 2015

Trivia Round-Up: March 2015


Jupiter Ascending (2015)
On the date for the wide release of this movie, February 6, 2015, Jupiter will be at its opposition. Meaning, it will be at its closest point to Earth, as well as have its face fully illuminated by the Sun.

Limitless (2011)
The fictional drug featured in the movie shares many similarities in its effects to those of medications prescribed to individuals with severe ADHD. Almost immediate onset, increased cognitive clarity, improved productivity, and greater ability to focus are among the effects typically reported.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008)
The film makes several references to the Coen Brothers' film The Big Lebowski (1998). Sydney accidentally calls Mrs. Kowalski "Mrs. Lebowski". Also, Maddox is identified by drinking White Russians, the drink of choice for The Dude, played by Jeff Bridges in "The Big Lebowski". Also, Simon Pegg called Jeff Bridges 'dude' at one point, and Jeff Bridges claimed, "I'm not 'the Dude'.".

Hercules (2014)
Dwayne Johnson revealed that his beard in the movie was made of yak testicle hair.

The Hundred Foot Journey (2014)
The two restaurants facing each other were digitally created: the house which was presented as Maison Mumbai actually faced a large field. They paved a 75 m stretch of road and a building facade on the opposite side with a blue screen on the top.

Brothers (2009)
Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal play the brothers in this film. Maguire nearly had to decline the lead role in Spider-Man 2 (2004) due to back injuries, and Gyllenhaal was the top choice to replace him.

Taken 3 (2014)
Reportedly, Liam Neeson stipulated to the movie's producers that he would only do this third installment if "nobody gets taken".
Well, thank goodness for that!

Delivery Man (2013)
Remake of the 2011 Quebec film, Starbuck, where a slacker character, played by Patrick Hulard, discovers years later his donation fathered 500 children. This movie is also written and directed by Ken Scott.

Wild (2014)
The real Cheryl Strayed makes a cameo in the film as the woman who drops off the main character at the beginning of the film and wishes her good luck.

This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
In the source novel by Jonathan Tropper, the main character, Judd, recalls a time in his childhood when he saw his mother exercising in front one of Jane Fonda's workout videos and told her that she was prettier than Jane Fonda. In this movie version, Judd's mother is played by Jane Fonda.

Pulp Fiction (1994)
Something bad happens every time Vincent (John Travolta) goes to the bathroom (always with a "pulp fiction" book to read), which, upon his exiting, involves him (ie Mia overdosing, Pumpkin and Honey Bunny robbing the restaurant, Butch picking up the gun).
There are pages and pages of trivia for this film, but this in particular made me laugh out loud!

Enemy (2013)
The cast signed a confidentiality agreement that doesn't allow them to speak and/or explain to the press the meaning of spiders in the movie.

Let's Be Cops (2014)
Luke Greenfield got the idea of the film when a costume designer brought him an authentic LAPD uniform to wear for Halloween, which resulted him gaining high confidence.

Into the Storm (2014)
Reference to the classic movie Twister (1996), a statue of a cow is blown off a building and across the screen.
Didn't spot this in the movie but it kind of made me laugh!

Sunday 29 March 2015

Review: Into the Storm (2014)

I watched this film on a plane with pretty severe turbulence.  Tip: Don't watch this film on a plane with sever turbulence!!  It was like a 4D experience...
I had actually completely forgotten about this film until I saw it in the options on my flight, so I thought I would give it a go, I was a huge fan of Twister so it's got to be similar to that...right?




Into the Storm follows Gary (Richard Armitage) - who I have just realised was Thorin in The Hobbit, he looks soooo different!! Madness! - on a quest to rescue his son, a team of storm chasers and various townspeople during a barrage of tornadoes hitting the town of Silverton.


The film isn't actually that memorable, I remember being on the edge of my seat during parts and holding onto the arm rests but can't remember why.  This I think is where Twister takes the edge, it has much more memorable scenes that have gained somewhat cult status since it's release (the flying cow scene).  This film however, I don't really remember any specific scenes, although I did find it relatively entertaining throughout.




To be fair, you could sense the limited budget from the outset, it had a bit of a Sharknado feel to it but without being awesomely ridiculous, therefore neither clever or funny.  I was hoping for an improvement on Twister in regards to CGI but to me, there was no improvement in fact I think Twister's effects are still better.



I didn't feel much for any of the characters, Armitage and potential love interest Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies) share no chemistry whatsoever.  None of the characters are particularly likeable or relatable leaving you with a dull sense of 'meh' when one nearly dies or actually does die, instead of the twinge of sadness that you should get.



Love the idea and was reasonable entertained throughout but the lack of character chemistry meant I had limited investment in the outcome of the film.

Friday 27 March 2015

Review: Let's Be Cops (2014)

So, here's a funny story. I had been looking forward to Let's Be Cops for ages, and I wrote my review pretty much straight away, and then Jenna destroyed it. Well, what I mean is that her laptop somehow duplicated our Premium Rush review and deleted my Let's Be Cops one. Sadface! That was ages ago now, but I was just in Letterboxd when I realised I had copied and pasted my review in there! So, resurrected from the dead, here's my review!

Note to Jenna's laptop: Please be kind, I really want to publish this! Sorry!!

On a plus note, since all that happened I have managed to see the film so I can comment :-)

Let's Be Cops is a fake buddy cop movie about two friends, Ryan (Jake Johnson) and Justin (Damon Wayans Jr) who have never found their true calling in Los Angeles. They decide to move back to their home town, but first they go to a costume party as cops. It turns out that they pass for the real deal, and so the two friends pretend to be real cops, which lands them in trouble with a local crime gang.



I worried that all the funny moments would be in the trailer leaving nothing else, but I was wrong. There were plenty of moments where I laughed out loud, mainly due to the chemistry between the two main characters. I read that most of the dialogue was improvised, which worked really well. The film itself introduced a new character who I don't remember being in the trailer, Pupa, played by Planet's Funniest Animals host, Keegan-Michael Key. Pupa was hilarious. He was the highlight of the film for me!



The only thing that let the film down for me was that there was virtually nothing new brought to the table. There's the basic plot of two guys pretending to be cops, but then everything else is just a mash-up of other films I've seen. The plot was almost the same as The Heat for a start, Pupa reminded me a lot of Jamie Foxx's character in Horrible Bosses, and there was an End of Watch vibe to it all too. I can forgive it though, because it's still really funny.  

I think they were aiming for the success of The Heat but the male version but lets not kid about, this is not The Heat, this isn't even in the same area code as The Heat!  Yes it's funny but it for me it wasn't hilarious and its not at all memorable, I can run off 20 brilliant one-liners from The Heat but I am struggling to remember a single funny part from this!

I thought the soundtrack was brilliant too, once I find out what the name of that dub-step song is, it'll be playing in my little girly car as I drive to the supermarket on a Sunday morning! Hard as nails, me.


All in all, Let's Be Cops wasn't as good as I hoped it would be, but it was still a funny film and I wasn't disappointed. Bring on Horrible Bosses 2! <--- obviously this was written a while ago!! haha!








Wednesday 25 March 2015

Currently Watching: 30 Rock

My fiance and I have been burning through a lot of TV dramas at dinner time in recent months, so we’ve been on the hunt for something a little lighter. The IT Crowd took us two weeks, we loved it that much. Oops. Community took us a little longer, but we thoroughly enjoyed that too. The new season has just started as well, huzzah!


30-rock-tv-show

He suggested 30 Rock, and my response was something along the lines of ‘Ugh, that really old show with the Trinity Killer in?! No thanks!’. Which earned me an odd look. I then find out that 3rd Rock from the Sun and 30 Rock are two very different shows, and that 30 Rock was modern, and set in the Rockefeller Center of all places, where we got engaged. Double oops!

I’d like to think that there’s someone out there like me who thought the same, but I highly doubt that. Moving swiftly on…

30 Rock is a sitcom revolving around Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), her boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) and the rest of her colleagues at NBC Studios. It took me about 5 episodes to really get into it, the first few episodes were pretty slow and uneventful, but it really ramped up out of nowhere and now I’m completely in love with it.

There isn’t a single weak character in this show, everyone has their moment to shine, but I find Liz Lemon such an amazingly relatable character. Never have I shouted ‘that’s me!’ so much whilst watching TV. Just a few examples:




We’d been trying to steam through as many episodes as we could while our Amazon Prime account was still active, but the other day we found the entire box set at HMV for £20, so snatched it and ran to the till.


shut-up-and-take-my-money

Has anyone else watched 30 Rock? Does it stay just as good throughout? We’ve just started Season 3!

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Doing it Wrong: My Experience at Birmingham's Comic Con

If you’ll excuse this brief interruption of film reviews, I want to tell you about my experience of Birmingham’s Comic-Con last weekend, where I had an incredible amount of fun at the same time as wanting to pass out or throw up.

It’s nothing on the scale of San Diego or anything else my American friends pull off, but I love our little convention, it’s the only time I can wear a geeky tee and squeal over Pokemon plushies without looking like an escaped mental patient. I’ve been going every year for about 4 years now, and it’s the best chance to bag some pretty cool merchandise that otherwise I’d have to buy online and import from the US. There’s a lady that makes great cupcakes too.


This year I brought a friend with me who’s a pro at these conventions. She’s a huge Supernatural fan and has been to almost all the official conventions, met the whole cast multiple times, etc, etc. I’ve never met anyone famous (that I know of!) and the thought of meeting a beloved star fills me with nausea. 

Well, one of the guests this year was Tom Mison (Who?! I hear you all cry). He’s the star of the current TV Series Sleepy Hollow, he’s delightful, and I’m a little bit in love with him. My friend convinced me to buy a photo shoot pass for him, and told me everything would be fine. 

Roll on last Saturday and we had a great time. The whole show had been taken over by Funko Pop figures, and I scored an absolute bargain on these three little exclusive cuties, thanks to the kind people at the stall not realising their true value. 


My friend had a photoshoot with Chris Gorham from Covert Affairs and Laurie Holden from The Walking Dead around lunchtime, so I waited in the queue with her for a while feeling positively sick, even though it wasn’t my photoshoot. I vaguely hear her mention Tom Mison’s name in a question and turn around to see him walk past, and I freaked. Seriously, I thought I was an actual grown up and I couldn’t cope!

Turns out the photoshoots ran over and whilst I was lingering around waiting, a tiny crowd of about 5 people gathered by the curtains. A staff member wandered over and asked if they were waiting for Tom, which they were, so I grabbed my bags and ran over to join them, in the nick of time, as 10 minutes later the queue snaked back right across the hall! I found myself stood very close to a guy who did not concern himself with personal hygiene, and right in front of a lady with a screaming baby. Awesome.

I hadn’t had time for lunch and at the point my friend and fiance found me, I was feeling faint, shaky and sick to my stomach, I must have looked an absolute mess! They made me practice my smile, and no sooner than the queue started moving I was alone again. In the photo shoot area. In front of Tom Mison. Without the ability to speak. I managed a ‘hello, how are you’, and even a ‘very good thanks’ when he asked me the same before wrapping my arm around him for the photo. He was an absolute sweetheart and did look a little concerned at one point. After the flash, I thanked him profusely before walking straight into a staff member, and then headed to the nearest burger van. Here’s the evidence! Please excuse the psycho killer smile I’m wearing.

Sunday 22 March 2015

Review: Enemy (2013)

One of the things I personally have really enjoyed about getting into the movie blogging community is the discovery of films I would have never come across before. The last film I saw thanks to this was Snowpiercer, which I loved, and another film I saw a lot of reviews come in for was Enemy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. How did one of his films pass my radar? I love this guy.

The film itself is about Adam (Gyllenhaal), a quiet lecturer. One day, a colleague of his recommends him a film, and on a whim, Adam rents it from his local film rental store. When he watches it that night, he is shocked to see an actor that looks exactly like him. He then becomes hell-bent on tracking this man down to meet him, which causes confusion for himself and all he meets.


Within the first 5 minutes of Enemy, I knew this was a very creative film. I actually wondered for a moment whether I had put the right film on, especially as I’d already looked up the synopsis. There’s a lot of metaphors, and spiders! There’s definitely a sense of things not being as they seem throughout the whole film, which leaves you questioning everything. One thing I loved was that everything in the film has a purpose, there isn't a spoken line that has no meaning.

Jake Gyllenhaal was fantastic in this, playing two characters with distinct personalities, from Anthony who is confident and cocky, and Adam who is quite the introvert. I think it’s the type of role he was born to play to be honest, he does it so well. 


The ending to Enemy will stay in my mind forever. I wasn’t expecting to jump out of my skin, and I didn’t sleep well at all that night! I tweeted about it straight away and I think it was Rhys at Feeling Fuzzier who shared the same feelings as I did. After getting over the shock though, my next thought was ‘what?!’. It was the first time since Inception that I had to spend the next hour on the web looking into an explanation of what had just happened. After reading up on it though, I was amazed. It’s just that clever.


I want to give Enemy a hugely high score just for the sheer complexity and Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting, but the only thing that let the film down for me were the huge periods of time where virtually nothing happened. My need to work out what was going on kept me watching, but some parts were sadly plain boring.



Friday 20 March 2015

Blind Spot: Pulp Fiction (1994)

This month marks the first time Jenna and I have been able to watch our Blind Spot film together, huzzah! Chinese food ordered, cups of tea made, fire on, the perfect Flick Chicks film night. Pulp Fiction was one of Jenna’s choices, one that I’d completely forgotten about because I had actually seen parts of it before, but couldn’t remember anything other than that couple robbing the diner!

Pulp Fiction is the telling of four connected violent, hilarious, and downright crazy stories following the lives of two mobsters, a boxer, a gangster’s wife and a thieving couple. It boasts one of the most amazing casts I’ve seen, John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth and Uma Thurman just to name a few.


Bear with me here, but man did this film drag! We paused at one point for a drink break thinking that we were near the end, but we were just about an hour in. Not quite even half way at that point. Thing is, all the scenes we had heard about had already happened, so we couldn’t work out what was even going to happen next. Kettle boiled, we were introduced to the Gimp. Oh! Traumatised is not a strong enough word!!

In fact, when the film actually finished, I was feeling pretty ‘meh’ about the whole thing. Sure, I laughed my socks off at many points, and couldn’t fault anything other than how darn confusing the whole thing was, but I couldn’t work out if I enjoyed it or not. It made Fargo seem simple!  Now although I found it really complicated I actually really enjoyed it - I am still running through the scenes now trying to put them into chronological order, i don't think i'll ever manage it.


On the drive home though, and indeed while I was trying to get to sleep, I couldn’t stop thinking about the film, and the more I thought about it, the more I appreciated it for what it was, and then I felt guilty! Did anyone else find this?

I can't really place much commentary on the storyline because i'm still trying to work out what happened, what I do know is that I really enjoyed it and I won't forget it in a hurry. Samuel L Jackson was amazing, I think he has taken a little part of this character and injected it into every character he has played since.  It's typical Quentin Tarantino, bloody confusing but so entertaining that you get over it.

There are so many jokes and memes that make sense to me now. Every time someone mentions the game, Guess Who I put on my best Samuel L Jackson impression to ask ‘Does he look like a b*tch?’ without even realising it’s a reference to Pulp Fiction. There was an episode of Community all about that suitcase that I need to re-watch now, and I’ll never let anyone order an expensive milkshake quietly.  Don't forget the Direct Line advert (for our UK readers) and The Wolf - who knew!!

Don't really know why BUT I loved it...I think I may need to watch it again though to get my head around the storyline!







Thursday 19 March 2015

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies Adapted from a Young Adult Novel


I’ve so got this guys. If you’re not familiar with the Thursday Movie Picks, it’s an amazing thing hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Each week brings a new theme, and all you need to do is pick 3 movies that fit the bill to discuss. I now carry a little printout with the upcoming themes so I can make a note every time I get a brainwave, which isn’t often.

This week it’s Movies Adapted from a Young Adult Novel. I’ve read many, although not all when I was actually a young adult! Let’s start with the obvious…


Okay, so this might just be the most un-inspired choice ever. But the Harry Potter books were my whole childhood, and just when I thought I had finished growing up with the books, I got to carry on growing up with the movies. I was just a kid when I saw the first movie in the cinema, and I went on dates to see the last 2, with a guy who I’m getting married to next year!


It was only recently that I learnt Freaky Friday was based on a book, and I know this isn’t the original, but it’s the version I’ve seen! Admittedly, I’ve never read the book, but I think I can get the gist of it. Perhaps Freaky Friday isn’t the best movie in the world, but the idea of it has sparked many a spin-off, including one of my guilty pleasures, The Change-Up.


This may be pushing it a little, Bridge to Terabithia is actually based on a children’s book, but the nature of the story is quite dark and I certainly wouldn’t want to read it to a young child. The movie itself split opinions in my household, I thought it was a masterpiece but my mother and brother declared it dull and depressing. Each to their own I guess!

I thought I would throw my two pennies (cents if your not in the UK) in here, i hope you don't mind Allie :-) Personally my three would have to be:

The Hunger Games (2012 - )
I LOVED these books, like couldn't put them down loved them. I've read them all twice and will happily read them again when the mood strikes. I was worried when I heard they were making the movies but for once I was not disappointed. Jennifer Lawrence is brilliant and the film comes really close to the book less a few creative differences, I can't wait for the next instalment!

The Fault in our Stars (2014)
This book was utterly engrossing, I read the whole thing in a few hours (and cried publicly in an airport!!), the movie really did it justice. I cried....a lot but again it was really close to the book (apart from a few niggly parts but nothing too dramatic). I haven't been able to bring myself to watch or read this again because I know whats going to happen I start crying at the beginning!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Probably the first film with Emma Watson in where I didn't think 'oooh look Hermione Granger' - I haven't read the book (in fact I didn't even know there was a book until I did a bit of research for this) but I may do now I know it exists. I have to admit this movie is not overly memorable, I can't actually remember the storyline but I do remember really enjoying it and recommending it to people to watch so it must have been good.

Wednesday 18 March 2015

Review: This is Where I Leave You (2014)

This movie is where I got the idea from Flick Chicks latest Blogathon, which the round up post of which will be posted soon.  Here is the link if you want to check out what it's all about http://www.flick-chicks.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/dysfunctional-families-cast-thon.html


When their Father dies, four adult siblings are forced to come back to the childhood home and live under the same room for a week.  Judd (Jason Bateman) has split from his wife but has failed to tell his family, Wendy (Tina Fey) has to deal with seeing the love of her life again, Phillip (Adam Driver) arrives with his new (rich) girlfriend in tow and Paul (Corey Stoll) is dealing with his and his wife Annie's (Kathryn Hahn) delays in getting pregnant. Throw in their over-sharing Mother (Jane Fonda) for good measure and watch the chaos ensue.

I wouldn't say this film is terrible but I wouldn't say its great either.  It's thoroughly predictable (and I haven't read the book) and no matter how good the cast was the dialogue could not be saved.  I did enjoy watching it though, I wasn't bored by any means and it's certainly not the casts worst work (Admission and Bad Words spring to mind!) but it just didn't have enough to keep me laughing or keep me crying.  I'm tempted to read the book now, because it must surely be better than the film (they normally are!). The cast did an alright job, but it was a bit too silly for me. Every single character had too much crazy going on, it was hard to keep up at times!

Bateman's dry humour fits perfectly with the dramedy (as i have just been informed Drama/Comedies have been shortened to these days!), but he is the same character he pretty much always is, there's not depth to his character, he is just reading the lines off the page and then off home for tea!  I didn't buy his relationship with Penny (Rose Byrne) for one minute, they just didn't fit right for me. I'm a huge Jason Bateman fan but he didn't wow me in this. 


The rest of the cast seem to lack chemistry with each other or aren't a real character at all, Wendy's husband seems to have no connection with anyone in the family including Wendy and fortunately leaves pretty rapidly (obviously leaving Wendy open to reignite an old flame).  As much as I love Conne Britton (huge Nashville fan), she appeared to only be written in to showcase how screwed up Phillip is, which could have been done without her.  A lot of wasted talent here.

I read on IMDB that originally, Adam Shankman was going to direct this, and when he was, the main cast was Zac Efron, Malin Akerman, Leslie Mann, Jason Sudeikis and Goldie Hawn, alongside Jason Bateman. This would have been far better! Totally better!!

Overall, not great but not a disaster.  Happily watched it once but won't be watching it again.  If you want to watch s film about a messed up family and it's messed up issues, watch August: Osage County instead.






Monday 16 March 2015

Review: Wild (2014)

Another day another Oscar nominated movie, although this one for Best Actress which is didn't win but hey ho had to give it a go anyway, I'm a huge Reese Witherspoon fan so what could it hurt. It was pretty neat to be able to watch this on the day of the Oscars, it really got me in the mood!

 
Wild is an adaptation of the true story of Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) who after spending years in drunken stupors and the midsts of what can only be described as a sex addiction after the death of her Mother (Laura Dern), decides to walk 1,100 miles over the Pacific Crest Trail.  Bearing the literal scars from her trek and the emotional scars of her past she makes the extensive journey and provides flashbacks to her life before her drastic turn around.
 
 
As a visitor to the great state of California in recent months, it was great to see these amazing sights again and certainly made me want to go back and do some of the Pacific Crest Trail (maybe not the 1,000 that Cheryl did!!).  It's actually a great movie to watch for more than just the views, Reese Witherspoon does an amazing job of keeping you interested when she has nothing to say.  It reminded me a little of 127 hours where I was worried there would be nothing to watch except this one guys face.

It's quite amazing when I reflect back on Wild, because if you take the film in it's most basic form, you're watching a woman take a long walk alone for just under 2 hours. Yet, I was hooked from start to finish and didn't feel bored once, or even close to it.

 
hort cameos throughout the film break up the jaunt (even though you still feel exhausted just watching her trek...) and almost provide comfort for you as a viewer.  I felt tense throughout the whole film worrying that she was going to injure herself, get lost or get attacked so once she was at a trading post or with a nice couple (once you realise the husband wasn't an evil rapist) I felt a huge sense of relief.  That is until she went off on her own again!! There were definitely moments when I wanted to shout 'Noo!' at some of Cheryl's choices, and it made me realise just how untrusting we can be, as I always expected the worst to happen.

 
Definitely worth a watch for yourself, even if it's not your type of film you might just enjoy it.

Wild isn't my usual type of film, but it was an enjoyable experience and I would happily watch it again, or something similar.






Saturday 14 March 2015

Mini Reviews: Brothers (2009), Taken 3 (2014) & Delivery Man (2013)


I watched Brothers as part of my crusade to watch every Jake Gyllenhaal film out there. Brothers is actually a remake of a Danish film of almost the same name, back in 2004. It’s a powerful drama that begins with Capt. Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) being presumed dead in Afghanistan. The main focus of the story is how his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) cope with his disappearance. 

Although slow paced at times, I was glued to the screen the whole time and was fascinated by the events on screen. It’s some of the best acting I’ve ever seen from Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire. The ending in particular stuck with me all night, and as much as I could praise this film, it’s not one you would happily re-watch on a Saturday afternoon. One thing I’ll say is that if you fancy watching this, don’t watch a trailer! It gives away the whole film.






This is what I dream of every time I hear the doorbell ring...
My ultimate guilty pleasure, Liam Neeson. To be honest, even I can say now that the guy really needs to play a different character soon. Although admittedly, I’ll still go and watch whatever film he’s in! Taken 3 is...exactly what you expect. Although, no ones been taken this time. Unless you want to be poetic and say Bryan’s ex-wife’s life was taken away. Boo. Now Bryan is on the run trying to find her killers.

Taken 3 wasn’t as bad as I was gearing myself up for, but it certainly wasn’t a masterpiece either. Still, it was miles better than Taken 2. There was a twist I guessed a mere milisecond before it happened, but most people probably would have guessed it ages before. This really needs to be the end of it though now, I won’t support any more Taken films. I just get too much stick. Oh, who am I kidding…







I can’t believe Delivery Man was out two years ago. Wow! I was a huge Vince Vaughn fan a few years ago and I try to make an effort to watch his comedies when they come out. Delivery Man tells the story of David (Vince Vaughn), who discovers that after his many fertility clinic donations he is the father of over 500 children, and now a large quantity of them are trying to oppose the anonymity rules.

Although this isn’t my favourite of his films, I did enjoy Delivery Man. It’s a silly premise, but fairly unique (to me at least!) but I can’t help but think it would have worked better as a drama?! One with dark humour of course. It just felt like the jokes weren’t funny enough, but there were some touching moments and I had a little cry at the end. Worth a watch for sure, but don’t rush!


Thursday 12 March 2015

Thursday Movie Picks: Live Action Fairy Tale Adaptions

This week’s theme is right up my street. I love fairy tales! Or so I thought. Once I got my notebook out and thought about all the live action fairy tale movies I’d seen, I realised I’d seen, um, 2. Well, if I stretched the definition of fairy tale a bit too much, then maybe it could be more, but seriously, how have I only seen 2?! And so, in the ritual of picking 3 movies to discuss, I’ve come up a little short.


I won’t give up that easily though. Instead, I’ve chosen 3 live action fairy tale adaptations that I really want to see soon, so you can expect to see reviews of these on the blog sometime in the near future.

stardust-fairy-tale-movies

Stardust (2007) is based on a tale by Neil Gaiman of the same name. I only know of Neil Gaiman through his work with The Sandman at DC Comics, but that alone makes me interested in Stardust. I guess the real question is, should I read the book first or watch the movie?

enchanted-fairy-tale-movies

Enchanted (2007) is something I need to watch very soon. From what I gather, it’s sort of like a Disney movie making fun of itself? All I really know is my 20 year old brother who’s a complete lads lad loves this movie, and he and my Mum are often found singing duets from it, and well, how can it be bad?

into-the-woods-fairy-tale-movies

As soon as Into the Woods comes out on DVD here in the UK, it’ll be straight on that night. I simply ran out of time this January to watch it in the cinema. With Chris Pine as a complete over the top Disney prince, this movie really can’t go wrong for me. Of course, I love the rest of the cast too!