Review: Frank (2014)

I was given a rare opportunity over the weekend recently. My husband said he wanted to watch a movie with me and order take-out, and I could pick any movie I wanted. Normally I can only coerce him with an Action/Crime/Thriller, but I was given free reign. Straight away I brought up my watch list and picked a movie I’d been wanting to see for a while, Frank (2014). Pizza was ordered, the movie was set up, and my husband asked me what the movie was about. Erm. I explained it to him in the terms that came to my head straight away. It went something like this:

So, Magneto wears a giant head on his head and calls himself Frank. He makes weird music with a band whose name I can’t pronounce. They need a new band member so General Hux joins them but he’s kind of terrible.

Safe to say, if it weren’t for the fact that the movie was already set up, I was going to have to put Taken on just to make up for this. Thankfully, all it took was Domhnall Gleeson tweeting about an epic cheese and ham toastie to bring my fiance back round again. Man, I could kill for a cheese and ham toastie right now… #nomnomnomnom.

The movie follows the band as they record their new album, and eventually find fame online thanks to Jon (Gleeson) tweeting updates, filming progress and uploading it to YouTube. They eventually get invited to play at SXSW, a huge creative event which excited me as I’ve actually been there! That excitement died a little when I realised they didn’t actually film at the festival, but it was still a cool moment.

It’s the band’s arrival at SXSW where the movie takes a sharp turn and we learn more about Frank (Michael Fassbender) and his struggle with mental illness. The second half is much darker, but it was quite a jarring turn around.

Frank is one of those movies where I’ve had to take a few days to even put my thoughts down in writing. It is, without a doubt, one of the weirdest movies I’ve ever seen, but I really enjoyed the dark humour aspect of it all. Frank’s ‘Most Likeable Song Ever’ and Jon’s moment with Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal) in the hot tub were some of the funniest movie moments ever, and I doubt I’ll forget about them. Actually, any moment where Frank voiced his facial expression was equally hilarious!

I appreciated the ending, and noticed that it almost ended the way it began with a certain scene that I’d have normally missed, but I don’t know how satisfied I am with the closing scene. It made me a little sad. That was short lived though, as the song ‘I Love You All’ was beautiful, and I’m playing it right now whilst I type this.

On reflection, I think I was mad at Frank for making me feel some feelings I wasn’t comfortable with, but now I’ve pondered it for a while, I can appreciate it for what it is. A quirky yet beautiful movie.

Mini Reviews: Tammy (2014), Cold in July (2014) & Secretary (2002)

I loved Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids and The Heat, so I felt like I owed it to her to watch Tammy. It’s your typical ‘something bad has happened so let’s go on a roadtrip’ kind of movie, which always makes me smile. There’s quite a few films like this out there, and I have to wonder, does this sort of thing happen in real life? I don’t think it is in the UK! It would cost us far too much in fuel to drive 600 miles on a limb.

Anyway, I’m rambling. Tammy started off okay, a few funny moments but nothing laugh out loud. My favourite moments were whenever Tammy knocked something over in a grump, which happened often. Sadly, it just went downhill and I stopped paying attention for the last 20 minutes.

I was missing Michael C Hall after getting used to watching him every night with my dinner for 4 months, catching up on Dexter. Cold in July seemed like the best way to get my fix. Honestly, I just couldn’t get out of my head that his character wasn’t actually Dexter. I think I ruined it a little for myself with that.

The film itself started really well and was full of suspense, starting with an intruder in the main character’s home, resulting in a murder. Unfortunately, from that point on it got terribly predictable, and the last half an hour didn’t make much sense. It was okay though, but that’s why it’s in my mini-review post, because it was ‘just ok’ and that’s all I really have to say.

I’m a woman, so of course I know what 50 Shades of Grey is. I’m also a blogger, so I’ve learnt that inspiration for 50 Shades also came from the 2002 film Secretary. It then became my duty to find out just how similar the two are. I’m not decided on whether I’ll see 50 Shades in the cinema yet (Jenna maybe we’ll have to go together?!) but at least I could watch Secretary in the comfort of my own home, and alone as I’d sent my other half out for a play date!

The emotional themes and issues were too close to home for me and I feel a little uncomfortable to really discuss those themes in a full review. Nonetheless, it was nice to see more of Maggie Gyllenhaal who I thought was fantastic in the film, especially as I’ve only ever seen her in minor roles.