Review: Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

For me, 2015 was the year that I managed to ignore a horrendous of amazing movies, which I obviously regretted when I finally got round to watching them months later. Since that realisation, I’ve been making a better attempt at watching the movies I’ve been recommended. I mean, they’re recommended for a reason, Allie, get your head in the game! I can’t for the life of me remember why, but I know I read about Inside Llewyn Davis a while ago, and with 2 cast members of The Force Awakens in it, I couldn’t pass on it any longer.

Inside Llewyn Davis follows the life of a folk singer named, oddly enough, Llewyn Davis, played by Oscar Isaac, as he struggles with his life both personally and professionally. His week starts off badly when he lets himself out of a friends apartment, and ends up locking their cat outside, along with himself. Have you ever tried to carry a cat around anywhere? I struggle to carry mine from room to room, so Llewyn gets a seal of approval from me for managing to carry this cat from one side of New York to the other without losing it. Well, kind of.

It wasn’t until halfway through the movie that I truly appreciated it for what it was, a journey, and at that moment my brain did a thing and I realised that it was directed by the Coen brothers! I’m such a big fan of Fargo and The Big Lebowski, and although Inside Llewyn Davis is much more toned down than these, the feeling is still there. I’m now on a major Coen hype, and if anyone could recommend another movie of theirs, I would really appreciate it.

Another thing I loved was the music. i’m not a folk/jazz fan at all, couldn’t be much further from it, but the night that I watched this I couldn’t sleep because I had the only two lines of ‘Hang me, oh hang me’ that I could remember playing on loop in my head. I had to actually find it on YouTube and play it just so my mind could rest. in fact, let me find it for you now.

What fascinated me the most was after watching the movie, I read more into it, about the cat named Ulysses and the fact that actually, Llewyn is this cat, on that adventure. It’s taken me 2 weeks to actually finish this post, because it’s played on my mind ever since, and if you follow us on Twitter you’ll see, each day that passed I loved it a little more and more.

If you haven’t watched Inside Llewyn Davis yet, I strongly recommend that you do, and if this post isn’t enough to sell it to you, let me try you with this. you get to watch Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren and Justin Timberlake sing a song about outer space. it doesn’t get much better than that, folks.

Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

I was so late to the Cloverfield party, I arrived after the footage was found. In fact, I only really arrived on the same day that the teaser trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane landed and took the internet by storm. That night, I tracked down the 2008 original and watched it there and then, without even reading a synopsis. It wasn’t a perfect movie by far, but watching it completely new to the story was rewarding, and so I decided I would do the same with 10 Cloverfield Lane. That said, if you haven’t seen it yet, I strongly encourage you to close this page. I’m not going to talk spoilers of course, but I do think this is one that’s better the less you know.   I would have watched this as I really enjoyed Cloverfield but Allie listed 'horror' in the tags for the review, so for that reason...nope!

So, it’s unclear where 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) fits in timewise with the original movie, although multiple cases have been made online. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that this could easily be a stand alone movie, entirely unrelated to the 2008 movie. It starts with our main character Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), leaving in her car hastily, arguing with her boyfriend on the phone. She’s involved in a car accident, and wakes up chained to the wall in a bunker belonging to Howard (John Goodman). After a day or two Michelle also meets Emmett (John Gallagher Jr), suffering with a broken arm.

What 10 Cloverfield Lane does best is make you feel uncomfortable straight from the get go. It’s pacing is incredibly slow, and the first half is perhaps too slow, but it gives you plenty of time to look at the facts and try to work out what’s actually going on here. The real question is, can Howard be trusted? Sure, he saved Michelle after her car crash, but she’s literally chained to the wall. Howard says they have to stay in the bunker for at least a year, maybe two, because the air outside will kill them, but how does he know?

Every few minutes a new clue is unveiled, and you change your mind, and just when you start to think ‘okay, but where is this going?’ Something game changing happens and you’re left guessing all over again. The suspense is unbearable at times, and my poor Mum who was in the cinema with me at the time was terrified (she’s worse with scary movies than I am, which is saying something!). Nope!

The performances by the 3 main actors were brilliant and really made this movie great, but a whole heap of praise has to go to John Goodman here. He’s been a supporting character in everything I’ve seen him in, and I still don’t have the right words to explain how good he was in this. Is there any hope of his performance being memorable still by the time awards season rolls round again? I sure hope so!

This next part is going to push the spoiler boundary, so take care. I just really want to talk about the ending with someone. What’s Houston all about do you think? Are we getting a third Cloverfield movie at some point? Was the footage that forms the original movie found by the team of survivors/fighters based in Houston? I need all the answers!  Does this film actually have anything to do with Cloverfield?!

Review: The Big Lebowski (1998)

To celebrate Flick Chicks receiving 10,000 page views, we wanted to do something fun and a little different to celebrate, so we asked you all to suggest a film (or a few!) for us to watch at our next movie night. Thanks to everyone who made some suggestions, there were more than a fair few that we hadn’t seen before! We chose one at random, which turned out to be The Big Lebowski, suggested by John at Hitchcock’s World. Thanks John! I have been meaning to watch this for a long time so I'm glad it got picked :-)

How can anyone really explain the plot to The Big Lebowski? It’s a crazy film! Here’s my best attempt. ‘The Dude’ Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) lives a simple life, and is part of a bowling team with his friends Walter (John Goodman) and Donnie (Steve Buscemi). One dreadful day, three guys break into his apartment demanding money owed to them. It’s a case of mistaken identity, but in their anger one of them urinates on The Dude’s rug. Walter convinces The Dude to go to The Big Lebowski to demand compensation.  Nailed it!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of friends quite like it before. In fact, group isn’t the right word because any time Donnie tries to say anything, he is told quite rudely to shut up., meaning most of the film concentrates on The Dude and Walter, who lands The Dude in an amazing amount of trouble, but is faithfully loyal at least. I really enjoyed John Goodman in this, I think it’s the type of role he is born to play. Another favourite of mine is Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character, the bumbling assistant, who had a brilliant flair of humour.

I actually have to admit, I found John Goodman's character a little irritating, I kind of got tot he point where I thought, why would anyone be friends with this douchebag!  However, this does show his great acting skills because usually I love him.   I did feel better knowing the point of this meme:

The Big Lebowski is without a doubt one of the craziest films I’ve watched. I like to think that the perfect film is realistic with a touch of fantasy, and although this sits well outside that spectrum, it’s still brilliant, and I think that’s what makes it stand out so well. From throwing a bag of dirty underwear from the window of a moving car for a group of kidnappers to surreal dreams that make you feel high, there are very little ‘normal’ moments!  I have to agree, this film is insane and completely loses the plot at some points, but it remains entertaining all the way through, so even though the plot line is completely shot you're still interested.

This is one of those films (essentially a Coen Brothers film) where you have no idea what's coming next, you cannot predict this film with any certainty, nor would you want to.   The story is not that interesting to be fair but the characters more than make up for it with sharp dialogue and quirky drug induced fantasies.

There are a few people I know that haven’t seen this yet, but no one I’ve mentioned the film to has responded with ‘what?’. It’s just one of those films that everyone knows, I think because there’s nothing else out there like it. Other than Dude Where’s My Car perhaps which I’m getting the strong feeling is actually a spoof of The Big Lebowski. How I didn’t pick up on this before is beyond me!  I couldn't believe how much of this film was taken to Dude, Where's my car?  I kind of wish I had seen them in the right order now.  The moment when they walked out of the bowling alley and said 'Dude where's my car' me and Allie just looked at each other and burst out laughing.  Nice to know we are getting to the point where we have seen enough films to spot references and nods to other films :-)

I watched The Big Lebowski for the first time about 4 years ago, when I was forced by my now fiance, telling me it was the best film in the world. It’s his all-time favourite and I can see why. I’m really glad to have had an excuse to see it again and I urge anyone who hasn’t already seen it to give it a try!

I've never been a huge Coen Brothers fan (more because I have never liked the look of their films than from critical perspective) but I think I am coming round since this and Fargo, so I may have to keep on watching.  Just shows, you can't judge a DVD by it's cover ;-)