Girl Week: The Leading Ladies of 2016

For the second year running, king of blogathons Dell at Dell on Movies is dedicating this week to movies with female protagonists. It’s Girl Week! From 21st - 27th November he’s aiming to post every single day, so be sure to bookmark his blog if you aren’t already to check his posts out. Dell has been kind enough to ask us all to contribute to this special week, so I thought I’d put together a list of my favourite leading ladies of movies released this year, so far at least!

It was actually quite shocking looking through my film journal for the year and seeing just how few of those movies have a woman in the leading role. Nonetheless, there are a few, and plenty others I haven’t actually seen yet, so let’s kick this off shall we?

Amy Adams (Nocturnal Animals, Arrival)

I didn’t think I would love an Amy Adams character any more than Mary in The Muppets. That probably sounds sarcastic, but I love that movie so much. So no, I didn’t think she could top that for me, and then November came along and brought not one, but two movies with Amy Adams as the lead, and she plays completely different roles in each. Susan in Nocturnal Animals is cold, and cruel, whereas Louise in Arrival is warm and kind, someone we can look up to. November 2016 shall forever be remembered as Amy Adams month in my eyes.

Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn & Kristen Bell (Bad Moms)

Too many times it’s been said that women can’t be funny. When the trailer for Bad Moms came out though I felt apprehensive. After the deeply disappointing How to be Single, this looked like the typical comedy where the only funny moments are in the trailer. Yet I think Bad Moms surprised a lot of people in the end. It’s funny from start to finish, with several scenes that had me holding my stomach to stop it from aching. Not only does this movie have an all-female leading cast, it has some great supporting actresses too!

Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

We can always count on the ever wonderful Meryl Streep to put on a good performance. Whilst Florence Foster Jenkins won’t make my Top 10 Movies of 2016 list, it’s still absolutely worth a watch just to see Meryl Streep do what she does best. It’s guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, and I still can’t comprehend just how difficult it must be to deliberately sing badly when you actually have an amazing amount of talent in that area.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane)

Until this year I’ve only seen Mary Elizabeth Winstead in smaller roles, and it wasn’t until after watching 10 Cloverfield Lane that I recognised her at all. She really holds her own as the leading character in this thriller. After being rescued/kidnapped and locked in a bunker, Mary plays a fighter trying to discover the truth, rather than a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued. It looks like she’s landed a big role in Season 3 of Fargo next year too, so I’m looking forward to that!

Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon & Leslie Jones (Ghostbusters)

Maybe it’s because I’d never seen the original (I have now) but I felt indifferent about the announcement of a remake of Ghostbusters. There was a lot of noise about an all-female cast and a lot of upset hardcore Ghostbusters fans, and then a rush to score the movie as low as possible days before it was even released. I loved it, for the record, and I watched the extended version with my family over the weekend and still loved it. Point proven, women are funny as hell!

Ellen Page & Allison Janney (Tallulah)

Tallulah is a movie that makes me so grateful for this blogging community, because I don’t think I would have even heard of it otherwise. I’d read glowing reviews and sometimes that’s all I need to go out (or stay in actually, this was on Netflix) and watch a movie straight away. Ellen Page might be the lead in this heartbreaking story about motherhood, but her co-star Allison Janney gives a performance just as strong.

So there you have it, my favourite leading ladies of the year so far. I’m sure if I re-visited this list at the end of year I’ll be adding at least Felicity Jones to it! Don’t forget to check out Dell’s blog to see his Girl Week posts.

Review: Arrival (2016)

Oh boy. I know this year has been a bit of a stinker for blockbusters, but overall I personally think it’s been a fantastic year, and now a new movie has rocked up threatening to become my favourite of the whole year. November, you are awesome. This also means that I’ve been to the cinema two weeks in a row, which is honestly the first time that’s happened all year. Two Amy Adams movies in a row, too!

Arrival is directed by Denis Villeneuve, the master behind Sicario, Prisoners, Enemy and Incendies. He’s currently working on Blade Runner 2049. This man is fantastic, I can’t emphasise that enough. I haven’t watched a movie of his yet that hasn’t wowed me, and Arrival is no exception. The UK has been marketing the hell out of this flick, in fact last time I was at the cinema, during the trailers we were shown 2 different Arrival trailers in a row. It was starting to get on my nerves a tad, but only because I didn’t want to know so much before going in.

First and foremost, this isn’t a Sci-Fi in the typical sense. It’s an alien invasion, for sure, but if you’re expecting Independence Day then this isn’t the movie for you. The world is most definitely at risk here, but there’s no room-shaking action sequences or alien punching of any kind. Our main character is Louise (Amy Adams), an expert linguist recruited to work with scientist Ian (Jeremy Renner) to learn from the aliens what their purpose on Earth is. Twelve pods have descended in seemingly random locations around the world, and they don’t seem intent to blow us into smithereens. 

I never excelled in science, and I can’t speak a second language, so I was grateful for the fact that I could easily understand what was happening during the movie, and actually found myself completely in awe of the linguistic work that Louise was doing. It’s fascinating stuff! How she went about teaching the aliens (heptapods, if you’ll excuse my most likely bad spelling) simple vocabulary, to lead up to actually asking a question was something that seemed impossible at first, but when broken down into stages, actually made a lot of sense.

Louise herself is a captivating character. We are drawn to her instantly and warm to her within the first few scenes when we’re shown a tragic moment in her life. She feels so real, and relatable. I’m pretty sure if we were sent up into a pod to talk with an alien we would freak out as much as she did, rather than staying cool and calm, with our hair and make-up perfectly in tact. But I’m getting off topic now.

I’m almost trying not to talk about the movie to be honest, because I want to be really careful about what I say. The less you know, the better, because the final 20 minutes of Arrival was one of my favourite movie experiences ever. That feeling in your mind of everything clicking into place is just amazing. 

Safe to say, my husband fully forgave me for scaring the crap out of him last week when we saw Nocturnal Animals, and he’s even gone so far as to say this might be his favourite movie of all time! It’s definitely threatening to become my favourite of the year.

Review: Nocturnal Animals (2016)

I don’t remember ever going into the cinema as blind as I did last week for Nocturnal Animals. I’d heard a lot of buzz surrounding the name, I’d watched the trailer (once) which didn’t give much away at all, and I knew Jake Gyllenhaal was in it. That was enough for me, and I somehow convinced my husband to come along too. I don’t know how I did it, but I have a feeling it may have been something to do with the ever beautiful Amy Adams.

Before I go into an actual review, I have to share a funny moment with you. Tuesday and Wednesday showings have a silly amount of adverts before the movie, because of the wildly popular ‘Meerkat Movies’ 2-4-1 deal. This poor couple in front of us were already there when we arrived, sat through the whole slog of ads, the 5 trailers (although we were shown the Arrival trailer twice in a row, odd) and when the BBFC ratings screen came on with ‘Nocturnal Animals’ emblazoned on the left hand side, they realised they were in the wrong screen. I hope they didn’t miss too much of Doctor Strange, because that opening scene was awesome.

Anyway! Nocturnal Animals is a dark movie split into two narratives. First we have Susan (Amy Adams), an art gallery owner living a seemingly-perfect life in her mansion of a house adorned with staff, and a husband who sadly, is hardly ever at home. One morning she receives a parcel from her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), a manuscript for a book he’s written that he wants her thoughts on. The book turns out to be dedicated to Susan, but is a dark and twisted story, which haunts her.

Whenever Susan starts reading the book, we get to see it played out, by Jake Gyllenhaal himself and his book-wife (Isla Fisher). Their story isn’t for the feint-hearted, it’s a cruel and violent tale. Some scenes are particularly difficult to watch, and I get the feeling they were deliberately made as long as possible to make the audience uncomfortable. If that is the case, it definitely worked on me. I kept thinking to myself ‘Oh that won’t actually happen though, they wouldn’t show us that’ and then they did! I’m getting the shivers just thinking about it.

So, whilst we see Edward’s story played out in snippets, we also go back to Susan often to learn more about her, and more importantly, what happened all those years ago between her and Edward. There’s a theme of revenge here for sure, and we know that Susan left him, but not why, or under what circumstances. It’s really well edited in these sections, the way something happens in the book that then takes us back to real life, and editing isn’t something that I normally take notice of.

Of course, I won’t give anything away, but I love an ambiguous ending. One that’s satisfying enough when taken at face value, but when you start to analyse every little detail, you begin to come up with different theories about certain elements. 

I really loved this movie, but I will NOT forgive that jump scare. You can witness it for yourself, I’m not going to warn you, but it scared the crap out of the entire screen. Then I had to watch the next ten minutes from the corner of my eye in case something else happens. My poor nervous wreck of a husband now labels Nocturnal Animals as ‘that piece of sh*t movie that scared me’. He liked it of course, but he’s a bigger scaredy cat than me!

So yes, big seal of approval from me. Just...skip the opening credits if you can...trust me.

Looking Forward to Seeing at the Cinema: November 2016

As always, I'm writing this post a little earlier than 1st November, so it's absolutely terrifying for me to be thinking about movies coming out in November when I haven't even started my Christmas shopping yet! For the record, by the time you're reading this, I'll have already had the annual 'Christmas Planning Meeting' with the Husband, probably over breakfast at one of our favourite American Diners. Spoiler alert for any friends and family reading this: you're all getting movies!

Enough of that though. This post is a little different this month, because there are a ridiculous amount of movies coming out that I want to see. It saddens me knowing that I won't make it to the cinema for them all, but hey, at least I'll look forward to seeing them on DVD next year. No, this month, there is a movie out every single week that I want to see!

I don't know much about Nocturnal Animals, I've tried to shy away as much as possible, because honestly, with Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal as leads in a Thriller/Drama, that's all I need to get me excited. It looks dark, gritty, and I think there are going to be a few twists and turns as the story unfolds.

Nocturnal Animals will be released in UK cinemas on 4th November 2016.

Amy Adams is killing it this year! Just 1 week later she's starring in a Drama/Mystery/Sci-Fi alongside Jeremy Renner called Arrival. Again, I've tried not to dig to much into the plot of this one, but it's the Director that's really selling it to me. Dennis Villeneuve has directed some of my favourite movies, Sicario, Enemy, Prisoners and Incendies to name a few. This guy is hella talented, and I can't wait to see Arrival.

Arrival will be released in UK cinemas on 10th November 2016.

If you know me at all, you'll know how much I love Harry Potter. I started reading the books when I was just a kid, I attended midnight openings for the last 3 in the series, and if I really don't know what to watch, I'll stick on a Harry Potter movie. It's obvious that I'm looking forward to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Is the news about it being a 5 movie series true? I actually hope not, I'd rather have movies that explore other areas of the wizarding world, but I'll see them nonetheless.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them will be released in UK cinemas on 18th November 2016.

Shameless choice alert! It's been nearly a whole year since my Adam Driver obsession started (blame Benedict Cumberbatch for going quiet for so long) and so I'm desperate to see him in something new. He's been the only shining star in too many terrible movies, so I'm not sure where to set my expectations for Paterson. I also don't know how to convince the husband to see this with me. Perhaps Jenna will be free...she saw Midnight Special with me...

Paterson will be released in UK cinemas on 25th November 2016.

Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

UPDATED POST with Jenna's Review: At this point in time, I could take or leave the whole superhero thing. There’s just too many shows and movies out there to keep track of. That said, the movie fan in me will never say no, so I’ll still be watching them all, even though I won’t have a clue what’s going on in some. However, the sheer number of trailers and TV spots for Batman v Superman infuriated me beyond reason. I watched the first trailer, which gave me more than enough, and by the time Wonder Woman and Aquaman were announced, I gave up.  Gutted!  I have been that busy the lsat few months that I completely missed this, I really wanted the IMAX experience as well.  I will add to this when I finally get around to watching the DVD! 

AND here I am having purchased the DVD and FINALLY watching it!

I steered clear of everything after that point, and so now I’m not sure what’s a spoiler and what isn’t anymore. I won’t mention the ending of course, now even I am that dense, but if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you might want to move along.  Now, here is where I fell down, I was desperate to see Suicide Squad when it was released, I didn't think anything of it...that is until the first 3 minutes of the film was a MASSIVE spoiler for B vs S...waaaaaaaah!!  Soooo I knew how it was going to end, before I even started it!

It’s taken me a few days to even work out what my feelings are towards Batman v Superman, but before I read too many other reviews, I think it best to get my feelings down before I change my mind about things. I want to be clear in the fact that I enjoyed watching this. It was entertaining, and I didn’t feel like it was as long as it was. However, it was a mess. The plot was all over the place. And so rather than try to write a well formed review, I’m just going to splurge my feelings all over this post.  I am struggling to form coherent thoughts about this but one thing I can say is that I DID enjoy it, even after hearing all the terrible reviews and people moaning - I still liked it!

So, in the style of the movie this post is about, here are my feelings about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), in the order that it lands at the front of my mind:

How many times do we need to be reminded that Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered in front of him as a child? Was there seriously anyone who watched this who really didn’t know how they died?

Let’s talk Batman himself. I’m not passionate enough about the comics to rank the multiple forms Batman has taken over the years, but I really liked Ben Affleck’s version. He’s got that grumpy charisma that I pictured. I still can’t shake the image of that batsuit looking like Lego Batman, though.

Seriously. Cannot. Unsee.

Superman, on the other hand, was the mopiest hero I’ve ever seen. Guy had a permanent ‘I can smell a fart’ face the entire time. Yes, okay, that bathtub scene was pretty hot, but then my practical side kicked in and started stressing about all the water on the floor. You’re so irresponsible, Clark Kent!

Jesse Eisenberg! He plays douchebag so well that I kind of assume him to be like that in real life. Was he really playing Lex Luthor though? He’d make a perfect Riddler, I think. Anyway, I appreciated all of his scenes, bringing the humour to an otherwise dark movie.  As one of my many obessesions, I thought Jesse Eisenberg was great, perfect combo of dark and twisty and comedy.

Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, and...the other one. Cyborg? Was there any point in them being here other than to promote their own movies? If not, couldn’t they just go Deadpool, break the fourth wall and have a sandwich board with their respective release dates on? On the subject of Wonder Woman, her score was awesome, but it felt so out of place with the rest of the soundtrack that it stood out for all the wrong reasons.  I had issues with this myself, one thing I really did dislike about this was that it didn't appear be a movie in its own right, rather a very looooong trailer for Justice League and all the individual movies that will go along with it.  I'm pretty sure I felt the same about the second Avengers movie which felt like a set up for Captain America: Civil War!!

The action scenes were really well done, and the main reason I enjoyed the movie itself. I’ve been spoiled lately with the fight scenes in Daredevil and there was one Batman scene in particular here that really stood out. It was one of those where you want to say ‘oooh, I really felt that!’

Am I remembering this wrong or was Lois Lane a total badass in Man of Steel? Her only purpose in this was to be saved. Oh, and to throw that weapon into a pool of water for no reason, only to have to fetch it again. And be saved. Doh. Man up, woman!  She didn't add much value to this one, did she?!  I do love Amy Adams though so I can't complain too much.

I have to say the action scenes were great, they weren't so fast that you couldn't see what was going on but enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat.  I liked the story, even if it was a bit confused at times but I did find myself annoyed at Batman going after Superman all the time, just get over it.  Why not just sit down and have a chat with him?! he seems like a reasonable guy "Listen Superman, people are scared of you because you are an alien and could kill everyone with a blast of your eyes - any chance you could take a sabbatical until everyone calms down?" Clark "Sure no problem, see you in a year or two, i'll be in Bali". Admittedly, it would have been a much shorter film but much more realistic!!

Did this scene remind anyone else of The Green Inferno?

Aaand that about sums it up! If you’re still reading this ramble, I both apologise and applaud you at the same time. Regular posting to resume shortly!

Liked the film, if I didn't think about it too much.  As I have just found out from the ranty rant rant above, if I overthink it I start to pick holes and enjoy it less!

Review: Her (2013)

I think I owe this movie a public apology. Her’s release was pre-blog for me, at a time when I was ignorant towards anything attached to the Academy Awards. Naive me thought Oscar winners were nothing more than boring, serious movies loved by boffin-critics. Now of course I know much better! How bad is it that I watched this and completely forgot about it?!

Her was another recommendation from my Grampy, and before he told me a little about the plot I actually knew nothing about it. I could picture the poster as clear as day, and I don’t know what my mind had assumed it was about, but it wasn’t this!

In the near distant future, when we no longer have to read our own emails or write our loved ones letters, lonely Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is struggling to deal with his recent divorce. When he sees an advert for a new operating system, OS1, he buys it and installs it immediately. This new OS has an exceptional AI and the voice Theodore speaks to calls herself Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). As Samantha learns more about Theodore and indeed herself, the two fall in love, but encounter difficulties when trying to define what their relationship actually is.

Even knowing that this is a work of fiction, it’s still quite harrowing to think that this is where technology is leading us. Actual human contact is becoming less and less necessary, and it’s not difficult to imagine a world whereby we walk alone, but talk constantly to our devices in our pockets.  

Despite knowing the name, Her is the first movie I’ve seen with Joaquin Phoenix (gasp!). I’m not actress myself of course but I can only imagine how hard it must be to act out a script when most of the conversations you have are with a device in your ear. That said, I thought he was amazing, and I’d love to see more of his work. Can anyone recommend me anything? Gladiator? Walk the Line? Signs? The Village?  To name but a few ;-)

The supporting cast were just as delightful, from the instantly recognisable and lovable Chris Pratt to the nearly completely unrecognisable Amy Adams. Honestly, I did a double and triple take before I realised it was her. She is absolutely beautiful!

I thought the cast, particularly Johannson and Phoenix, were amazing playing the key parts of their roles in near isolation and yet they express their emotions perfectly!

Her was such an emotional rollercoaster for me. It was at times heartwarming and yet heartbreaking. It was also hilarious in parts, especially if your reaction to anything sexual is to giggle and look away, like I do. My fiance looked a bit panicked during some scenes as at the time I was watching, he had an active headset on his PS4, and had to explain to his friends what they were hearing through the mic. I was banished upstairs after that!

I found this film so bizarre to watch, its completely advanced of our technology, in a world where relationships with AI's is relatively normal.  However, it felt like a normal love story, Scarlett Johannson did such an amazing job using only her voice that you could actually understand how they could be in love.  It's scary to see how this scenario can seem so normal and yet the world its set in seem so obscure.  The technology is more advanced than our world but the fashions and people seem to have drifted back to the 80's.

I made myself laugh last night when I thought hey, could Her be the sequel to Lucy? What an awesome fan theory!!

Mini Reviews: Dear John (2010), Enchanted (2007) & The Interview (2014)

Rom-coms used to be all I would watch, but since starting this blog and widening my horizon, it’s left a whole ton of films like Dear John sat around just waiting to be watched. I get the TV all to myself on Tuesday nights whilst the other half is away, so I got to tick Dear John off my list not too long ago. It stars Channing Tatum as John, a US Army soldier, who meets Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) whilst on summer leave.

It’s exactly what you’d expect, and it’s fairly predictable, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, and I can’t speak for the rest of my fellow ladies out there, but I’ll happily watch Channing Tatum shirtless on the beach any day! Not a film I feel the need to re-watch any time soon, but enjoyable nonetheless.

I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of comments I received on the Thursday Movie Picks: Fairy Tale Adaptations post I did which featured Enchanted. It felt like I was the only one in the world who had never seen it! Needless to say, I made sure I watched it very soon after. If you’ve been hiding under a rock like me for the last 8 years, Enchanted is a real-life, Disney musical about the princess Giselle (Amy Adams) who gets sent to real-world New York city.

It was just the right kind of cheesy, with songs that are catchy and easy to recall (as my 20 year old brother can prove!) and it was so full of charm from beginning to end that I just couldn’t stop smiling. The CGI work is a little off, but that can be forgiven. Glad to say that I’ve finally watched it!

Why do I keep doing this to myself?! I can’t stand James Franco, I really, really just can’t bear him, and yet I just can’t help myself and keep giving him chances. I guess I’m still trying to find another This Is The End. I’m not sure how much of the ‘The Interview has been banned/Oh no it hasn’t’ scandal I believe, but it was enough to get me to watch it one weekend. So, in this, Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen) run a celebrity chat show, and are tasked with interviewing North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Un. Um, and kill him.

Honestly? I thought James Franco was alright in this. He surprised me. However, the film itself fell flat. The first half was decent, just the right kind of silly, but it wasn’t the un-believable factor that killed it for me. It just wasn’t very interesting! I got bored halfway through and caught up with Twitter instead. Sorry!

Review: Man of Steel (2013)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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