Against the Crowd Blogathon 2016

We’ve been following Dell on Movies and taken part in a few of his brilliant blogathons for a couple of years now, and I was so happy to see in our Blogger feed that he was hosting his Against the Crowd blogathon again, this year in partnership with KG’s Movie Rants! We somehow missed last year’s edition so there was no way I was going to let that happen again. Especially so soon after watching a ‘must watch classic’ that I actually kind of hated, and have been too scared to review…

As always, a blogathon comes with a set of rules, and here they are in Dell’s own words:

1. Pick one movie that "everyone" loves (the more iconic, the better). That movie must have a score of at least 75% on rottentomatoes.com. Tell us why you hate it.

2. Pick one movie that "everyone" hates (the more notorious, the better). That movie must have a score of less than 35% on rottentomatoes.com. Tell us why you love it.

3. Include the tomato meter scores of both movies.

4. Use one of the banners in this post, or feel free to create your own.

5. Comment on this post, or on KG's Movie Rants with the two movies you intend on writing on.

6. Publish your post on any day from Monday August 22 through Friday August 26, 2016.

Even better, check out Dell’s original post here to find out more and to check out the other banners.

Let’s kick this off!

The Departed (2006)

Everyone loves The Departed, right? It’s ranked #42 on IMDB’s Top 250, and it features some of the biggest names in the movie industry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson to name just a few. There’s a cop who’s undercover as a gang member, and a gang member undercover as a cop, there’s backstabbing, deceit, lies, etc. I lost track of who was actually working for who very quickly, and boy was it a long movie!

Spoiler alert right now for the very few who haven’t seen this...was it really worth anything in the end anyway? I spent the last 20 minutes or so with my jaw on the floor because it was just such a ‘WTF’ moment. In fact, let me tell you a funny story. On the way home from our honeymoon, my husband and I couldn’t get seats next to each other on one of the flights, so we caught up at JFK once we landed. I asked him what movies he’d watched and he said he watched The Departed. ‘Ugh!’ I cried out in the middle of Departure Gate 18. ‘I hated that movie. Everyone just died in the end anyway!’. That’s the moment my husband told me he’d ‘started’ to watch the movie. He still had half an hour left. Sorry, love. He has since seen the ending, and explained (at length) the importance of it all. I smiled and nodded the whole time to make up for spoiling the ending like a jerk.

Taxi Driver (1976)
This is also listed on IMDB's Top 250 and a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes so it must be good right?  Every person I have spoken to who has seen this film has loved it and I just don't get it. I don't hate it by any stretch, I just didn't particularly enjoy it.  I think there is a chance that I am missing something that everyone else is getting because I don't understand why everyone loves it.

I have gone into depth in a full review on the blog previously so I won't ramble on too much about the ins and outs of this one but I felt like it took a long time to get into the real heart of the story and honestly in the last few scenes I actually started to enjoy it.  It just took too long to get to that point.  Maybe i'll watch it again at some point and give it another chance, who knows!

Chappie (2015)

So I went digging through the Rotten Tomatoes website for this one. There are plenty of terrible movies that I kind of liked, but not enough to defend publicly. Once I started scrolling through the ‘rotten’ movies, I was heartbroken to spot Chappie on the list! 

The plot is a little crazy, sure, and I know a lot of people hated on Ninja and Yolandi (I still don’t know who they are) but Chappie alone made me love his movie. I always have a soft spot for the underdog, and so Chappie was loveable from the very start as the cursed robot forever coming back damaged from every mission. Then he was given artificial intelligence, he gets excited about rubber chickens, and going for rides in the car. I’d like my own Chappie please, with the orange antennae and reject sticker and everything.

It didn’t have the political agenda that District 9 had, but I thought the lessons about how impressionable Chappie was in his ‘infancy’ were well thought out, and I’ll carry on defending this movie for as long as I’m a blogger!

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
I was not on the bandwagon with this one, I wasn't thrilled when they announced Ben Affleck as Batman and so I gave up on being excited.  I put it to the back of my mind, hardly watched any of the trailers and managed to completely miss it in the cinemas.  Therefore, I missed a lot of the negativity surrounding the film, I refuse to read reviews before making my own choices so all the negative reviews just went over my head.  

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to watch it, so armed with a glass of wine and an endless supply of junk food, I prepared myself to be disappointed....and then I wasn't.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't the greatest film in the world but I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.  I like all the actors that were in it and it provided a fix for my latest Jesse Eisenberg obsession (thanks Now you see me 2!!).  I do have a full review to write up for this so I won't go into too much detail but I thought the story was clever pitching Batman against Superman (even if it was only for a short time) and the introduction of Wonder Woman. Considering I am more Marvel than DC, I really was surprised that I enjoyed it but I think my lack of expectations made it that much better.

Decades Blogathon: The Fountain (2006)

Originally posted on Three Rows Back and Digital Shortbread as part of the 2016 Decades Blogathon. To see the original announcement post, click here. To see this post in it's original form as part of the Blogathon, click here.

I was a spectator for last year’s Decades Blogathon, so I am absolutely delighted to make the cut to take part this year! As someone with a worryingly long ‘must watch’ list, this was the perfect chance to tick off a movie that I’ve been putting off for a while. The Fountain has been on my list for a while now, I can’t remember exactly what first brought my attention to it, but I was fascinated by the mixed opinions on it. Simply look at the chart on Letterboxd here to see what I mean. There aren’t many ratings charts that look like that.

The Fountain (2006) is an incredibly artistic and complex movie, but in it’s most simplest form, it is the story of a scientist named Tommy (Hugh Jackman), desperately trying to find a cancer cure for his dying wife, Izzi (Rachel Weisz).

It is, of course, much more than that. There are actually 3 separate stories here, all woven intricately within each other. For the first half of the movie, it’s incredibly easy to get confused with the stories, and the timeline itself. There are so many perplexing details that the movie focuses on, that it’s hard to switch off and simply enjoy the story for what it is. Rest assured, all those questions you build up get answered in a drip feed as the time goes by.

In fact, it’s incredibly rewarding to see such tiny details explained such a long time afterwards. It’s really one of those rare movies where nothing is shown or said without a purpose, and I like that. My one piece of advice actually would be to stick with this if you find it getting a bit too much. If it wasn’t for the fact I was watching this for the Decades Blogathon, I can’t confidently say I would have watched the whole thing.

What lies beneath these intricate tales is one of the most heartbreaking yet beautiful love stories I’ve ever seen. It’s a real testament to both Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz for their amazing acting skills and natural chemistry together. Izzi’s battle with cancer is all too familiar any Tommy’s refusal to accept the reality in front of him was so difficult to watch. The name of the movie comes from the book that Izzi has been writing as she documents her journey, and the scene in which she asks Tommy to complete final chapter for her, because he ‘knows how it ends’ is a very memorable one. 

My only real complaint is that the spiritual elements of the movie just get too complicated for me to understand.  Second viewing might aid this, as I literally went in blind, whereas knowing even just the blurb on IMDB would have probably helped me greatly. That said, anyone who is naturally interested in spirituality will have an amazing experience with this. It’s so well done, and considering the fact that it’s 10 years old now, it hasn’t aged at all. If it weren’t for the famous faces in the lead roles, this could easily be mistaken for a current release.

With a runtime of a little over an hour and a half, this movie whizzes by, and the ending comes all too soon. That said, I think if this was any longer some might give up before the end, when all their questions are finally answered. I highly recommend The Fountain, but I accept that it isn’t one for everyday viewing.

Review: The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

I’ve had a real hankering for feel-good movies recently whilst I’ve been feeling a bit down in the dumps, so when I spotted The Pursuit of Happyness in our draft list I tracked it down without giving it another thought. I remembered that Will Smith was in it, and I assumed with a title like that, it was bound to make me feel fuzzy inside. Perhaps I was expecting something more like Hector and the Search for Happiness…

The Pursuit of Happyness is based on the real life story of Chris Gardner (Will Smith) who invested heavily in a large supply of Bone Density Scanning machines. Unfortunately he’s had great difficulty in selling them, as they are only marginally better than existing equipment, at double the price. As Chris and his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) spiral into debt, tensions rise and Linda leaves, although Chris demands that their son Christopher (Jaden Smith) stays with him.

This is one of those films where just when you think things couldn’t get any worse, they do. Then they get even worse than that. It might just be the most depressing film I’ve ever seen. The scene in the subway bathroom broke my heart into a million pieces, and it’s without a doubt the best performance I’ve ever seen from Will Smith.  I cried the first time I saw that scene, it was just so heartbreaking.  I was just screaming at the screen for life to give him a break and let him succeed.  The fact that its based on a true story, just made it so much more emotional and it stuck with me for months after I first watched it.  I did however do some googling and Chris Gardner is extremely successful now as a motivational speaker!

Despite the gloom, it did make me laugh several times. If you’ve seen it, do you remember the scene in the elevator at the Stockbroker’s after Chris takes the intern exam? He tells a colleague how much he struggled with the essay question on the back of the exam, and the intern panics and runs back to the exam room. I still can’t work out if Chris was teasing and the essay never existed! I assumed it did exist, it just proved that Chris was so far ahead of everyone else he did it all and still finished early....

One thing I wanted to know was why 'happyness' was spelled the way it was. I thought the answer was simply because of the graffiti on the wall that featured quite heavily throughout the film, but there's a much deeper explanation to do with an essay written in 1776 that I just can't wrap my head around right now!  I assumed it was because of the graffiti as well, I might have to have a look into this further....

The Pursuit of Happyness is one of those rare films that I loved, but would never want to watch again. Maybe if I was in the right kind of mood, but I don’t think I would call this a ‘feel-good film’. That’s not a criticism by any means!  I watched this for the second time a few weeks ago, the first time I watched it was when it was released, it took me that long to forget how heartbreaking it was.  Once I started it again, I quickly remembered why I didn't watch it again!!

Thursday Movie Picks: Teachers

Hellooo. Allie here, remember me? I kind of disappeared for a long time. I’m back now, I promise! Whilst I’m still kicking myself into gear I thought now would be a great time to jump back on the Thursday Movie Picks wagon, what with it being Thursday and all that.

Thursday Movie Picks is hosted by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves. Each week brings a new theme, and each week we all pick 3 movies that fit the theme. This week is Teachers, which is very fitting as all the kids are heading back to school. Is summer really over already?

My first pick is a movie I haven’t seen in years, but I’ve seen it so many times I remember it clearly. Plus, any time I hear the song ‘On My Way’ I start thinking about pancakes. Anyway, there are a number of teachers in Matilda, but the one on my mind is Head Teacher Mrs Trunchbull. She was the worst! I think we all saw our own Head Teachers that way though. The scene with her and Bruce Bogtrotter will forever be etched in my mind, and chocolate fudge cake never tasted the same after I watched Matilda.

Moving on to something a little more obscure, my second pick is Starter for 10. It’s so conventionally British it’s almost cringey, but it was an entertaining watch. James McAvoy joins his University’s University Challenge team, schooled by the leader, Benedict Cumberbatch, who takes on a teacher’s role for his team. Only he’s a bit of a jerk, and gets a well deserved fist in the face. Even I laughed at that part!

I realise I’ve picked 2 terrible teachers so far, so for my third choice, let me pick my favourite movie teacher of all time, Professor Lupin, played by David Thewlis. Okay, so Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban isn’t a movie about a teacher, but it’s filled with teachers! Professor Lupin in my opinion is/was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and his bond with Harry was one of my favourite things about the whole film.

Thursday Movie Picks: Road Trip Movies

It's Thursday, and that can mean only one thing, it's time for Thursday Movie Picks! This is an amazing series 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. They can be the best of, the worst of, or hidden gems.

Man, it’s been too long since I’ve last taken part in Wanderer’s Thursday Movie Picks. I couldn’t miss this week though. It’s Road Trip Movies, and despite never going on a road trip myself (I don’t think 3hrs to Cornwall counts) I love road trip movies. That makes this week a hard one, but only because I can only pick 3 movies! Here goes…

I’ve got to start with my favourite. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) is weirdly one of my childhood movies, mainly because it’s all my family would watch on a Sunday when we all got together. Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) takes his family on a road trip across America to Wally World, and just about anything that could go wrong, does. They’re doing a remake this year which I’m equal parts dead excited and horribly worried about.

I had to check I hadn’t picked this before, but it seems we just like to talk about Little Miss Sunshine (2006) a lot on this blog. One of my favourite Drama/Comedies, this movie focuses on a truly messed up family as they take a road trip so that their daughter can take part in a beauty pageant. Olive’s (Abigail Breslin) dance routine at the end is a major highlight and Steve Carell gets to play a serious role, which he nailed.

Another movie I like to talk about! Chef (2014) is one of my favourite movies of 2014, another Drama/Comedy following a working road trip that Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) takes with his son in their food truck after he loses his job at a restaurant. The plot doesn’t sound like much but it’s one of the most heartwarming movies I’ve ever seen. It has tasty food too, what more could you ask for? Don’t watch on an empty stomach!

Honourable mentions go out this week to Zombieland (which I did choose before), We’re the Millers and Paul, which very nearly made my list.

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies Based on a Graphic Novel/Comic (Non-Superhero)

This week’s theme has really got me thinking. 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. This week is movies based on a graphic novel or comic book. Easy, right? Think again. They can't be superhero-related!

300 (2006) is the story of King Leonidas and his 300 men, fighting the Persians at Thermopylae many, many years ago. It’s also a series of comic books from back in 1998, written by Frank Miller! I can’t quite believe the movie is 9 years old now, I remember seeing it at the cinemas with my College buddies like it was only yesterday. Does that make me sound old? The sequel was okay, but 300 is a movie everyone should experience at least once!

R.I.P.D. (2013) is a quirky tale of a recently deceased cop who joins the Rest In Peace Department, and tries to find the man who murdered him. The movie is based on a Dark Horse comic by the same name. Sadly, the movie sort of bombed at the box office. I thought it was okay, my opinion is obviously biased but I understood people’s problems with it. Problem is, it’s a very little known comic in the first place and easily comparable to Men in Black.

Snowpiercer (2013) is a crazy story set in the future after a climate-change experiment went terribly wrong, and the planet’s only survivors are living on a train with a strict and harsh class system. The movie is based on a French graphic novel called Le Transperceneige, first published in 1982, although an English translation was released last year. Snowpiercer is a confusing yet brilliant movie, and I would urge anyone to give it a go if they haven’t already.

Review: Starter for 10 (2006)

UPDATED

Sunday nights are just perfect for Netflix, they really are. I think I should make it a weekly thing, 8pm, glass on wine, kittens on my lap, and Netflix. I had no idea what I wanted to watch, but I was tired and didn't want anything that would make me think. So I had a flick through the Romantic Comedies section and chose Starter for 10.

I have finally go around to getting Netflix and therefore watching this (only 6 months after the original post but hey ho!).  This was the first thing I headed for on Netflix (after I realised that Gilmore Girls was only on the US version boo hoo!!) as I knew Allie had already done her bit so I could add to it :-)

I'm going to try and actually review this film. I promise you, I'm going to try. But I spent the whole film in shock because I knew every single actor and actress from something else I'd seen. I knew nothing about this film when I started to play it. I knew James McAvoy was in it, his face was the poster! I'm rambling already, so let me try and get to my point.

This is an awesome little British film about a student called Brian, starting his first year at Bristol University. As a child he loved quizzes and would play along whilst watching University Challenge on the TV, and so he tries out for the team at his university...whose team captain just happens to be Benedict Cumberbatch. I think I dropped a biscuit and threw a kitten across the room at that moment! Back on track Allie...back on track...but first!

I really enjoyed this film. It wasn't anything original, and I may have enjoyed spotting the cast more than anything else, but it was enjoyable none the less and it ended how I hoped it would. Being a British film as well I hold it close to my heart. Especially the New Years scene because I don't know anyone who actually knows the words to Auld Lang Syne! I even had to Google 'New Years song' just to find out how to spell that.

This film was entertaining and typically British, my Dad watched University Challenge religiously when I was little so there was a bit of nostalgia thrown in there as well.  James McAvoy was great as always and proved why he has done so well since.  He delivered the comedy with perfect timing and the head-butting scene literally made my spit my tea across the room! 

I did find the story overall quite predictable, but there was odd lines and actions that I just didn't see coming (see head-butting comment above) and the 'meet the parents' scene in the kitchen so I was engaged throughout.  I can't say I liked either of the leading ladies, I have never been a fan of Alice Eve since seeing her 'act' in Star Trek Into Darkness and I actually found Rebecca Hall's character quite irritating.

If you'll forgive my rambles, I have a little trivia for you. Benedict went on after this film to star with 3 other actors/actresses in this film. Sherlock with Mark Gatiss, Parade's End with Rebecca Hall, and Star Trek Into Darkness with Alice Eve!

Don't rush out to see this but if, like me, you have a Sunday evening free, give this a try because it's worth a watch!

That is what I did and I was pleasantly surprised, held my attention (moreso that University Challenge ever did) and loved seeing Cumberbatch and McAvoy before the 'big time' but the ladies let it down for me.





Review: The Prestige (2006)

You're all aware that Jenna & I are making our way through IMDB's Top 250 list, which The Prestige is on. I've also been recommended the film multiple times after watching The Usual Suspects. I tried to get the family to watch it with me but the youngest won the vote and so I had to watch this with the cats the other night instead!  I hadn't seen this film for years (and fortunately couldn't remember what happened) so poor Allie has had to sit with this review in drafts for ages until I could find the time to watch it again.

The Prestige opens with its ending, as we see Hugh Jackman's character Robert Angier die after a magic trick has gone tragically wrong. We then see Christian Bale's character Alfred Borden face a trial for his murder. Makes sense, right? I thought so too. Oh, how I was wrong. The rest of the film steps back in time as we see the story unfold whilst Robert and Alfred read each other's journals. At this point we aren't even sure how they obtained these, but that gets explained later on.  Easy peasy...No point lying this is probably the third time I've watched this film and having forgotten the plot I was completely and utterly confused from 20 minutes in onwards!!

Once I realised that we had simply gone back in time a little, my confusion vanished (ta-da!) and the rest of the film was much more enjoyable. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale did a fantastic jobs at playing these two leads and the feud between them felt real.  I was lucky, as the film went on I remembered bits from watching it before and luckily I remembered the ending pretty sharpish because my Dad stumbled home (pretty drunk) and promptly announced "oh is this the one with *Insert spoiler here*" "Yes Dad, thanks for that!" Nice one haha!

I won't discuss the story in too much detail here because the film is a fantastic experience to watch for the first time, spoiler free. What was a shame for me was that I already knew that there was a huge twist, and so whilst I enjoyed the story immensely, I was also shouting across the room to my other half with my guesses for the twist. Admittedly, I worked it out, only right before the end though and even then I didn't work every detail out.  I can't remember if I worked this out the first time I watched it, I doubt I did, I think The Usual Suspects might have been a fluke!

The final 10 minutes were fantastic, and I would give a lot to view them again with a fresh pair of eyes. I couldn't believe how many subtle hints that I'd completely missed, just dotted throughout the rest of the film. 

This is a great film, the actors have so much chemistry and I even liked Scarlet Johannsen (I think she might actually be growing on me, yes I am shocked too!).  The good thing about watching this film again, is as Allie mentioned, you spot so much more, you notice things that are said and done that you wouldn't bother even thinking twice about the first time round.  Another factor for me was even when you know what is going to happen your loyalty for the characters shifts and changes throughout the whole film, one minute you love him and hate her, the next you like her but hate him, you are kept on your toes the whole time.

Firstly, I'd like to re-iterate how brilliant I thought The Prestige was. I would honestly recommend it to anyone, and I'm so gutted that I didn't see it when it first came out. You may not have praised it so highly then as it swiftly followed Batman Begins, which was such a high accolade for Nolan, could have made this one seem a little slow in comparison.  Secondly, I want to congratulate myself for reviewing this film without once referring to Batman, Alfred and Wolverine. You don't know how hard that was for me! (Oops!)

Amazing film, I cannot recommend it highly enough.  It is slow moving at times but keeps your interest throughout and the tension between the lead characters is so high you can't help but want to see how it turns out.

I can't fault this film, I love Nolan's work and this is some of his best.  Only makes me more eager to see Interstellar.