Review: Black Mass (2015)

I’d put off watching Black Mass for a while, despite wanting to see Johnny Depp’s performance, only because gangster movies aren’t my usual go-to movie. I tend to get confused with who’s on what side, and who’s killing who - it’s a mess inside my head sometimes. Anyway, after enjoying Tom Hardy’s Legend, I thought it was about time I gave this a go, too.

Black Mass (2015) is the true story of James “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp), the brother of State Senator Billy Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch) and leader of the Irish Mob. It covers three periods (1975, 1981 and 1985) with flash-forwards to the present day, where various members of Whitey’s gang recount the stories of his rise and eventual fall.

For the first time ever, I watched The Godfather a few months ago, and whilst I thoroughly enjoyed it, I felt like I wasn’t quite switched on enough to understand everything that was going on. Since watched Legend, and now Black Mass, I realise that’s just the way gangster movies are. It also doesn’t help that I am completely ignorant to history and world affairs, and didn’t know anything about James Bulger until seeing this!

Despite that, I really did enjoy Black Mass. It was so nice to see Johnny Depp play a serious character without a full face of makeup and acting either drunk or high. There’s an amazing actor after all! It made me want to check out some more of Johnny Depp’s older work actually. It was also wonderful to see my Benedict Cumberbatch again, although I don’t think I listened to a single line of dialogue from him as I was too fascinated by his accent!

There are some great names in the cast list but my favourite character was without a doubt John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), the FBI Agent and close friend of James Bulger. I don’t even know what it was about him, but he had a real sense of power about him which turned to despair as the movie went on.

I haven’t seen enough movies similar to Black Mass to give an informed opinion, but one thing I will say is that it was brutal, without the need for glorified violence. It’s very heavy on character development and dialogue which might turn some viewers off, but it’s a fascinating story at the very least.

Review: How to Be Single (2016)

There’s something a little ironic about going to see How to Be Single when you’re getting married in 3 months time, accompanied by one of your bridesmaids who is getting married herself in 6 months time, and her other bridesmaid who also isn’t single. In our defence, we actually wanted to see Fifty Shades of Black, but found out the release date got pushed back, and well, we’d already seen Deadpool!  We had a similar situation where we just rocked up at the cinema and this was all that was on, I did want to see it though so it's not all bad!

How to Be Single (2016) is set in New York City and follows the lives of 6 singles living there, looking for love. Alice (Dakota Johnson) has never been single so tells her boyfriend she wants a break so she can find herself. Robin (Rebel Wilson) is single and loving it, so takes Alice under her wing to show her the ropes. Meg (Leslie Mann), Alice’s sister works too many hours as a nurse to be in a relationship, but wants to have a baby. Tom (Anders Holm) runs a bar and has tinkered with his apartment to make it the perfect bachelor’s pad. Lucy (Alison Brie) spends all her time online using the Wifi in Tom’s bar seeking her ideal partner. Finally, David (Damon Wayans Jr.) is a struggling single parent who finds it difficult opening up.

Phew, that was exhausting. I think I’ve nailed one of the problems with this movie. Too many main characters! The posters make it look like a movie about 4 single girls coming together to either help each other find love, or to simply support each other. Instead, the main story arc revolves around Alice, her sister Meg and her new friend Robin, none of whom ever actually meet Lucy in the movie, which just seemed odd. It’s like her character was just thrown in for the sake of it. On the plus side, with such a great cast, there’s bound to be a reason here for anyone to give the movie a chance!  I think they may have been going for a Love Actually/Valentines Day type thing, an ensemble cast where everyone is connected in weird ways!  However, they kind of missed the mark with forgetting to include Lucy in anything and then having characters thrown in for the hell of it....I'm talking about you Damon Wayans Jr!

This movie has been heavily marketed in the UK, and I can safely say that I’ve seen the ‘tit punch’ scene enough times to just not find it funny anymore (I laughed, a lot!). I loved the ‘dicksand’ joke but Rebel Wilson already explained it all on the Graham Norton show! Thankfully, there were still plenty of surprise funny moments, largely thanks to Rebel Wilson herself who is on top form here. Leslie Mann was also hilarious, and the scene with her talking to the baby early on was equally sweet and silly.  I thought (and I said this countless times throughout) that Wilson actually saved this movie, I'm not sure I could have say through it if i wasn't waiting for her next clanger, she was on top form.  Unfortunately, I can't say the same for anyone else or the film in general.

I think the main problem with How to Be Single is it doesn’t know what it wants to be. There weren’t enough funny moments for me to really rate it in my favourite comedies, but there were also lots of serious and heart warming moments that were wonderful, but just a bit out of place. One scene with Damon Wayans Jr. in particular had me sobbing quietly into my jumper sleeve!  The heartwarming stuff was painful to watch, completely random and I don't think added any value whatsoever, I'm feeling a bit ranty about this, can you tell?!

I’m still not 100% sure how I feel about it. The ending was good, I won’t spoil it but I started to worry it would end with everyone finding the loves of their lives, which would ruin the whole point, and it didn’t. I just think there are going to be more rom coms out this year that will be a lot better.

I think it was utterly predictable all the way through, somewhere around the half way mark they indicated that they weren't going to be predictable therefore letting the audience know they were going to do the exact opposite of what you initially expected.  predictable!! Thank god for Rebel Wilson is all I can say!

Not Another Fifty Shades of Grey Post

So, the whole world has an opinion on Fifty Shades at the moment. The internet is full to the brim of judgements, reviews, and flame wars, and who am I to not join in and throw in my two cents? Er, pennies. As much as I’d like to, and could, I’m not going to review the film. I’ve seen highly professional, informative and fun blogs filled with abusive comments aimed at bloggers who dared to enjoy the film, and yet the posters of these comments are the protesters campaigning the ‘Fifty Shades of Abuse’ agenda. Ironic? Maybe, but there’s a genuine fear inside me that’s stopping me from actually reviewing this seriously.

Not that this little hobby blog is established enough to attract such a wide audience, but to any of these protesters who may be reading? You’re actually the reason I went to the cinema last night to watch it. I read the books, I knew what the film would be about, but all the horrific things you guys came out with made me curious. And well, my curiosity got the better of me. Seriously, the PR team behind all of this deserves a medal, because they’ve done a fab job!

For the record, I enjoyed the film. It was a huge improvement on the book. Loved the soundtrack. Not a romantic masterpiece, but like I said, I read the books. It was also the most fun I’ve ever had at a cinema in terms of atmosphere and audience reactions. But this isn’t a review! That’s all I’ll say on that matter. What I really wanted to talk about is the origins of the phenomenon, and what it might mean for the future.

No, I don’t want to talk specifics about the Twilight-inspired fanfiction, I didn’t read that, but I do want to talk about fanfiction. I’ve been a part of the community for about 10 years now, it all started in secondary school when me and my friend (who will remain anonymous for my own safety, not hers) would spend our weekends co-writing a novel-length fanfiction and several shorter stories. We even created a little Yahoo Community group where we would share it with the world. Now, our stories weren’t well written at all, but we had a darn good time writing them!

I don’t write anymore, other than on this blog, but I still visit a rather wonderful site called Archive of our Own (AO3) on a weekly basis to catch up with some of my favourite fandoms. Thankfully, the majority of the writing there is far better than my own, although you can find the occasional stinker. What I love most about fanfiction is the complete removal of boundaries that are found in published books and films. These writers don’t do it for the money, they write because it’s something they love to do. I’ve read fanfiction based on film series’ that is so good I’ve actually forgotten what really happened in the films, and some based on games that I play that has completely blurred my recollection of what was ‘canon’.

The point I’m trying to make here is that Fifty Shades of Grey the film has made history by being the first film based on fanfiction (as far as I know) and at a time where the cinemas are full of sequels and comic book heroes, maybe, just maybe, we’ll get to see some of the fantastic work written by others get their own adaptations on the big screen.

Looking Forward to Seeing in the Cinema this Month...February 2015

Is it really nearly February already!! Oh my gosh, the year is getting away from me...again!!  Both me and Allie struggled to come up with our looking forward to this month, we think that everyone has released movies in December and January for awards season so February doesn't get a look in!

Luckily, I have been looking forward to seeing Jupiter Ascending and it got delayed to February, win!  If you read my 'White Christmas' post you will know that I only finally saw the trailer for this on Christmas Eve after reading about it loads in my movie magazines. Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is going to be film of the year by any stretch but it looks entertaining enough and a bit different to other action/sci-fi films.   If you're like me and you think you've watched the trailer but haven't - here it is...

Jupiter Ascending is out in UK cinemas on 6th February.

This is the first time I've ever had a problem picking a film for this little series we do. Well, not truly anyway. Normally I have 5 to pick from, and I don't even get round to seeing all of them! This month though, the only thing I really want to see is Jenna's film, Jupiter Ascending, and even then I'm not completely sold by it. There is a film coming out this month that I want to see though, but I won't be seeing it in the cinema. Therefore, I'm re-naming the title of this blog post for myself to:

'Sort of Looking Forward to Seeing out of Curiosity but Definitely not at the Cinema...February 2015'

Yes, I read the books, I'm a warm-blooded female, of course I did! I was one of those weirdos on the train trying to hide their kindle from everyone, making it more obvious than I needed to. I didn't care about the quality of writing, quite frankly, I co-run a 'just for fun' blog and so as an amateur writer myself, I'm hardly one to judge!

I can't quite believe the film is nearly here though. I honestly didn't think it would happen. Of course it's going to focus on the fluffy, romantic parts of the book, but really, I think anyone who's read it is at least curious as to how the film is going to pan out. I won't be there at the cinema though. It's going to be filled with old people and weird couples! I don't think I'll be able to go to the cinema for a while after either, not until they've dry cleaned all the seats (sorry).

Do I really need to look up the trailer for you all? I'm at work right now, it might be weird...oh, okay then, here you go.

Fifty Shades of Grey is released in UK cinemas on 13th February, 2015