Review: Ghostbusters (2016)

Oh boy. I don’t think I’ve been this nervous about writing a review since, well ever actually. Let’s start a few months ago, when the first bits of news came out that Ghostbusters was getting an all-female remake. I’ve never seen any of the original movies (gasp!) and even as a woman myself couldn’t see the need for an all-female team, and the trailers that eventually came out had me feeling pretty ‘meh’ about the whole thing. We’ve had a fair number of reboots over the last few years, and the lucky few have had mediocre reviews.  I am still horrified that you haven't seen the original Ghostbusters!!

Of course, a few days before the release, IMDB and Letterboxd users rated the movie as low as possible, before they could even have a chance to watch the movie, which honestly winds me up more than is rational. I try not to judge a book by it’s cover, but I use sites like those to get a rough idea, and on the UK release day Ghostbusters had an abysmal score of 3.7 on IMDB. With a rare Monday night free and cheaper tickets at my local cinema, I thought ‘screw it’ and went to see it on the opening night.  Now I had seen the opposite, I hadn't looked as early as Allie so the annoying pre-reviewers had been overpowered by an array of positive reviews.  This unfortunately led to countless people coming out of the woodwork to state that Sony clearly had brought their reviews!! argh - why are people so annoying?!

Out of the Ghostbuster ladies, I’m only really familiar with two of them, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, who were brilliant together in Bridesmaids (2011), so I had a little hope. I know Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones are from Saturday Night Live, but we don’t get that show here in the UK, although something clicked half way through the movie when I recognised Leslie Jones as the technician who shouted at Kylo Ren in the Undercover Boss sketch, which led to me laughing out loud during a non-funny part of the movie.

Um, I gotta say as well, it certainly is something spectacular when Chris Hemsworth isn’t the hottest blonde in the room. Where has Kate McKinnon been my whole life? I had such a lady boner crush on her the whole time. She’s aloof, gorgeous, and fierce, and everything I want to be!  You may have to fight me for her, she was amazing!!

Anyway, I’m going off topic now. I think what I’m really trying to do is stall, because what I need to say is I really, really enjoyed watching Ghostbusters. Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen the original, maybe it’s because I was expecting something even worse than Independence Day: Resurgence, but it doesn’t matter because I had a blast. The jokes were funny, the special effects were hella-cool, and those ladies kicked ass. 

I have to disagree with Allie, it can't be because she hasn't seen the original because I have seen, and loved the original Ghostbusters and I still loved this.  It was a film of it's own, it wasn't a carbon copy of the originals but had enough easter eggs to keep me happy!  I feel like Allie needs to go and watch the originals and then watch the new one again and it will be like a whole new movie for her!

Chris Hemsworth playing a goofy receptionist was an absolute stroke of genius. He got guaranteed laughs every time he was on screen, but nothing was funnier than his interview for the job. I really don’t want to ruin the joke but I’m laughing just thinking about it. I wish I could get away with being as bad at my job as he is, though. Admittedly, I’ve pretended there’s a really bad line on the phone and hung up when someone on the other end is making absolutely no sense.   This was the first gag I mentioned to Allie when I had seen the film and spent Saturday evening (a bit tipsy) repeating it over and over while laughing hysterically.  I wish I could tell the joke because at this point this whole paragraph is a bit vague!

Look, I’m off topic again! I don’t know what else to say other than I hope people at least give this a chance. I’ll give the original Ghostbusters movies a watch at some point so I have some kind of comparison, and maybe that’ll change my mind, I definitely saw Jurassic World in a different light after finally watching Jurassic Park. And if you hate the cast, hate the new effects, maybe it’s worth watching for some pretty awesome cameos? I didn’t get them all of course, but I could make a pretty good guess when one showed up by everyone else’s reactions. Wait, what am I even talking about? Forget those guys, the best cameo (which isn’t even a cameo, it’s a small role) is DOPINDER. Dopinder, guys!!  This is where Allie lost me, the cameos throughout the whole film made me squeal and whack my Dad in the arm, I didn't even realise that Dopinder was Dopinder until Allie told me afterwards!!

I have to repeat that I loved this entirely as a movie of it's own.  The action was great and the comedy was really. At one point I laughed so much that I had tears in my eyes and missed about 3 other gags that followed.  Chris Hemsworth and Kate McKinnon were by far the highlights, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't utilise Melissa McCarthy's comedy genius more but she can't always be the centre of attention! Honestly I'm glad for that, she's driving me crazy lately and I was worried she'd be as annoying in this as she was in The Boss. She makes such a great supporting cast member, it's when she's the lead that it all goes wrong for me.

Oh, and stay till the end of the credits! Not just for the dancing, I promise, there’s actually a proper scene right at the end.

Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

I like to think that I’ll give any movie a shot if someone recommends it to me, but there are two specific movies that I have zero interest in watching. Period Dramas and Zombie Horrors. I’m trying this year though to be more open minded, and with the arrival of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I got the chance to put a tick in both boxes. Plus, the lovely Ruth at FlixChatter is crushing hard on Sam Riley right now, and I feel like I owe it to her to check him out!

Now, I’ve never watched or read the original Pride and Prejudice so forgive me if I manage to completely butcher the plot or make a fool of myself in any other way, but the plot of this movie goes something like this. In an alternative 19th century England, Elizabeth (Lily James) and her sisters are desperately trying to avoid being pushed into marriages whilst also learning how to protect themselves from the zombies that plague the Earth. Along the way, Elizabeth meets Mr Darcy (Sam Riley) who is investigating a possible outbreak.

What struck me first of all was how funny this movie was! I’m not saying I was expecting a straight-faced horror or anything, and I can’t even think of a specific moment to mention, but it was multiple subtle moments in expressions and timing that had me laughing throughout. Plus Matt Smith’s character Parson Collins who was just hilarious every time he was on the screen.

The main reason I can’t get on with period dramas is that the female characters tend to rub me up the wrong way. I don’t know how zombies solved this problem for me but they did! The 5 sisters in this movie are brilliant, they can hold their own ground, stand up for themselves and ultimately - kick ass! The scene where they all got ready for the dance, holstering their knives under their skirts was just great. This brings me on to the rest of the cast. When I first saw the trailer I didn’t recognise many faces, but now, I seem to know everybody! It's always fun trying to remember just where you saw that face.

I think what let me down was my own knowledge of the genre to be honest. I’m sure there were many nods to the original Pride and Prejudice and they would have flown straight over my head. In fact, I might just have to watch it now to find out, but I’m not going to be able to take it seriously anymore!

Now, I can’t finish this review without telling Ruth what I thought of her beloved Sam Riley. Whilst he’s not going to knock Oscar Isaac off the top of my obsession throne, he was rather yummy I must admit! And Ruth I have to know, is his voice always that husky? I could listen to the man talk all day!

Anyway, as someone who dislikes horror and period drama, I had so much with this movie. In fact, I dare say I’m going to be rewatching it soon. 

Edit: I’ve just realised that the movie’s tagline is ‘Bloody Lovely’ and I’ve been laughing for about 10 minutes straight.

Review: The Imitation Game (2014)

It’s taken me weeks to get around to writing up a review for The Imitation Game. In my defense, it’s Benedict Cumberbatch’s fault. I’m mad with him. First he gets engaged, then he’s going to be a father, and then I find out that although a date for the Sherlocked convention has finally been announced, it’ll cost at least £600 to stand a proper chance of meeting him. Pff! That picture of him though after the BAFTAs, giving his suit jacket to his fiancee to keep her warm? Swoon. Okay, all is forgiven. I can’t stay mad with that face.

The Imitation Game is the real life story of how Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) cracked the German enigma code during World War II with a team of fellow mathematicians. After paying virtually no attention in History class during school, I was particularly interested in watching this, and if you’ll excuse me making jokes in poor taste, you could say I walked into the cinema spoiler free.

After watching the trailers (multiple times) I was a little worried that Benedict would come across too ‘Sherlock-y’ and that he was at risk of being typecast, but that worry dissolved fairly quickly. Turing and Sherlock are two very different characters when you get a proper glimpse at them both. You tend to laugh at Sherlock, as he is completely oblivious to the world around him at times, whereas the rare funny moments that Turing has gets you laughing with him. His witty banter with his superiors was absolutely hilarious!

Another surprise for me was Keira Knightley. I love her unconditionally, but I understand the gripes of others about her always playing the same role and how she can come across. I thought she was delightful in this, and full of character. She bounces off Benedict really well and I’d love to see them both star together sometime in the near future.

I didn’t think a war drama could or would ever grip me the way The Imitation Game did. I was fully immersed during the first half and enjoyed the character developments, and then found myself on the edge of my seat during the second half. Perhaps not surprisingly, I was ugly sobbing at the very end, and I walked out of the screen in a thoughtful and heartbroken daze. It’s disgusting in a way, that this is part of my country’s history, the way that Alan Turing was treated.

All in all, I was blown away by The Imitation Game and enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. I hope it gets some Oscar wins later this month, because it really deserves some.