Review: Bridget Jones's Baby (2016)

I have been absent from the blogging world for a while due to some family issues but luckily for me I have the best blogging buddy who completely takes the lead and looks after the whole thing – without complaining once!!  My blogging buddy is better than yours….. Aww :)

So, here I am back ready to write up the masses of films that I have seen while I’ve been away and do you think I can remember a single one – nope!  So instead I will be reviewing the latest film I saw just a few days ago, because that’s about as far back as I can remember!!

Bridget Jones is back, and this time she’s having a baby!!  Bridget (Renee Zellwegger) has spent the last 10 years on and off with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and is now in a definite off position as he is married to someone else.  Until one week of ‘living life to the full’ leave Bridget pregnant with no clue who the Dad is, Mark Darcy or the McDreamy Jack (Patrick Dempsey).

I didn't know how excited I was about this movie until the day came along and I was planning an outing with a few friends. I got so pumped, but then I started to worry. Teenage me would say Bridget Jones's Diary was one of her favourite movies ever, but this was pre-blog when I didn't watch much, and didn't know what made a good or bad movie. What if the original was actually awful, and this latest installment would be too?

In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I questioned whether I'd even seen The Edge of Reason. After reading the plot on Wikipedia I realised that yes, I had, but I'd pushed it out of my memory completely. Those little workers in my long term memory tossed it out along with Bing Bong!

I never have high hopes for a sequel and I wasn’t even that bothered by the first two Bridget Jones movies but my heavily pregnant best mate desperately wanted to see this before she dropped so I went.  I’m so glad I did, I laughed constantly and cried on more than one occasion.  The scene with the hospital rotating doors and the countertop, well I had to look away because I nearly wet myself!!  The story was great, I was expecting to be very judgmental of Bridget for getting herself in the situation but I couldn’t, she just worked it so well. 

This is a movie I'll have to re-visit when it's out on DVD, because I had such an amazing cinema experience. The screen was fully sold out, and we all laughed, 'oooh'd' and 'ahh'd' with each other throughout, it was incredible. For the revolving door scene, we all laughed so hard we missed the next five minutes of movie!

The highlight of the show however, was Emma Thompson.  She stole every scene she was in with witty one liners and feigned horror at Bridget’s little ‘situation’ – she absolutely nailed it.  I had forgotten how much I loved Thompson, she is now well and truly back on my radar – more Emma please top movie boss people!!!

Sometimes, all you want from a movie is an escape from reality, and that's what Bridget Jones's Baby was all about. Of course the story is over exaggerated, it's campy, and no, I highly doubt Mark Darcy would really throw his phone out the window and carry Bridget all the way to the hospital, this is London, there are cabs everywhere, but would a taxi scene have been as funny? I didn't think so.

Minus Hugh Grant (kind of), the entire original cast came back, which gave me so many nostalgic feelings, and it wouldn't have worked without them. The addition of Emma Thompson was a brilliant move, she was funny in the trailer but in the movie itself she really shined. This might just be a rare instance where a sequel is just as good (if not better) than the original!

Highly recommend even if you don’t think you want to see it, go and see it anyway!!

Review: Brooklyn (2015)

The countdown to the Oscars is on and so is the annual tradition (not technically a tradition yet as its only the second year for me) of racing to watch all of the big hitters before the big day.  Brooklyn was one I was looking forward to anyway so it was a good one to kick off with.

Year two for me, too! I think the tradition for me is more of an 'UGH I don't even want to watch half of these movies Jenna why are you making me'!

Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) is young girl growing up in Enniscorthy, Ireland who feels like her life is going no where.  Her sister, Rose (Fiona Glascott) sorts her a job and place to live in Brooklyn, New York.  After suffering with homesickness she finally starts to feel at home and in love when tragedy brings her back to Ireland.  The prospect of another life and love makes Eilis question where her heart lies.

I've only seen Saoirse Ronan in a handful of movies and I only really liked her in The Grand Budapest Hotel (I knew she looked familiar!) so I was a little bit concerned that I might not like her in the lead but really wanted to watch the film.  I couldn't have been more wrong, she was incredible and absolutely stole the show, I don't think this would have been the same with any other actress.   Throw in Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent and Domnhall Gleeson (Is it me or is he in absolutely everything at the minute?! He is, and I'm LOVING it) and what's not to love?

Safe to say I couldn't convince the fiance to watch this one with me ("but it has General Hux in, it's practically Star Wars!") so I watched this alone. I'm not one for romance movies without a hefty dollop of comedy thrown in, but I was weirdly kind of hooked within the first 10 minutes.

I was completely taken with the film, I didn't move once, no fidgets, no toilet visits, not even a sip of drink - I had chronic dry mouth by the time it was over but it was worth it.  For me it was like a grown up version of the teen romances films I loved as a teenager, I grinned when she fell for loveable Tony (Emory Cohen) and wanted to shout at her when she considered a different life with Jim (Domhnall Gleeson). Tony's little brother was one of the cutest movie kids ever! Just no filter on what comes out his mouth. Love it.

I felt like the worst person in the world for wanting Eilis to stay with Jim. He was such a sweetheart though! Domhnall Gleeson just owned 2015. Like, this time last year he was just a Weasley brother to me, and not even one of my favourites, and now he's just BAM. In every movie I've watched last year. Or at least it felt that way.

It was really clever how they made subtle changes to Eilis's wardrobe, hair and make up throughout the film to show how she grows and changes as a person.  When she heads back to Ireland, you can see the distinct differences between the way she dresses and holds herself and the way her friends do, and how she used to be.  It's just another reminder of how good Ronan is in this role.

I thought that, too! She starts off so quiet and sheepish at the start of the movie, and the changes in her are so subtle. It wasn't until the final scene that you can really compare just how much she's grown.

Ronan is utterly engaging throughout, no need to be a hopeless romantic you'll love it anyway.