Review: The Choice (2016)

If you hadn't noticed already, I am a complete sucker for a weepie, more specifically Nicholas Sparks weepies.  Therefore when I found out the release date for The Choice, I made sure I had some time in the diary to get to the cinema and see it.  Albeit on my own, there aren't many people  I would out through the suffering of one of these movies, I've only done it to Allie once and it turned out to be my least favourite, sorry Allie! I genuinely kind of enjoyed that one to be fair...but that was pre-blog when I liked everything! Anyway, I digress, I took a daytime trip to the cinema on my own, took deep breaths through the sniggers and whispers of the only other people in the cinema for being on my own and settled in for my latest fix.....

The Choice follows Travis (Benjamin Walker) is in for a shock when he meets Gabby (Teresa Palmer) who seems to be the first girl to actually keep him interested, problem is she is settled with her doctor boyfriend, Ryan (Tom Welling).  Travis spends his time trying to get her attention and her heart.

The biggest issue that I have with these films is that I know they are rubbish and yet I love them anyway.  Even my least favourite (Safe Haven) I have watched countless times, they are my ultimate guilty pleasure.  This was one of them, I knew it was a bit rubbish and completely predictable but I do like the guarantee of a good cry.  I was a bit disappointed with the choice of leads, I really liked Benjamin Walker but Teresa Palmer was tough to like. Unfortunately, her lack of personality makes it hard to swallow that Travis is head over heels for her but he does bring a edge of likeability to the role, in fact you actually like him more than you should for the first half of the film.

On the surface, I did enjoy it and I would (and have) watch it again but when I start thinking about it from a review/critical perspective, there is a lot wrong with it.  The score  have given is solely based on my enjoyment of it in the moment (which is theory all scores should be!) rather than a critical perspective.

Looking Forward to Seeing in the Cinema this Month: March 2016

Oh, hello March! You're going to be a fun month for movies. How am I even meant to pick just one movie for this post, when there are currently five that I'm really looking forward to? The sad part is that I normally catch about three movies a month at the cinema, so I'm not even going to get to see all of these before their DVD release. 

If you're curious, the five movies floating around my mind right now are 10 Cloverfield Lane, High-Rise, Batman Vs Superman, Zootopia and Hail, Caesar! I need to pick one though, and to be honest there's one I've been looking forward to for months now, ever since I saw the teaser trailer last year, so let's go with that.

Hail, Caesar! is the latest Coen Brothers movie, with a star-studded cast too long to even list in this little post. I actually know very little about it, as I'm trying this year to not watch too many trailers and so other than the original teaser trailer and the hilarious "Would that it were so simple" trailer, that's kind of all I know. It's definitely enough to excite me though! 

Hail, Caesar! is released in UK cinemas on 4th March 2016.

So, all these big movies coming out in March, Allie has even listed them to make it easy for me and here I go and get all excited about the next Nicholas Sparks adaptation.  I'm not even sorry really, they are my guilty pleasure, I love the books and I always look forward to the movie that will inevitably follow. Jenna no!!!

The film will be utterly predictable (mostly because I have read the book) but I will still love it.  The trailer doesn't give much away and I can't remember the book  so I'm excited to remember what its about!

The Choice is released in UK Cinemas on 4th March 2016.

Review: The Longest Ride (2015)

Anyone who knows me (and I think you guys know me pretty well by now!) knows that I have a soft spot for Nicholas Sparks movies, I know they are all predictable and samey but I can't help but enjoy setting one up on the DVD player on a Sunday night with a blanket and a cup of tea.  With that in mind, I couldn't wait to watch The Longest Ride.  I thought I had read the book but turns out I hadn't (just shows how samey they all are, I can't determine one from the other!)

Weirdly enough I think we both ended up watching this on the same Sunday night, but separately and without even mentioning it to each other? We've got some weird film-connection going on right now! I don't even know why I watched The Longest Ride, I wasn't thrilled with the last Nicholas Sparks film I saw but I needed something easy to unwind with I think.

Sophia (Britt Robertson) and Luke (Scott Eastwood) find a wrecked car on the side of the road and save the elderly driver, Ira (Alan Alda) and his box of letters.  While he's recovering, Sophia reads him letters that his wrote to his late wife over the years and flashes back to their lives together.  Meanwhile, Sophia and Luke try to work out where they fit into each others worlds so they can be together.

 

This is your typical heart breaker, I sobbed for most of the last half and hour and didn't stop until the film ended, which is nothing knew for me with these films.   I really like Britt Robertson after watching Life Unexpected and The Dome, so I'm really glad she could hold her own as the lead female in a feature length film.  Scott Eastwood was a little bit disappointing however, although lovely to look at, he lacked the emotion and passion that Jack Huston brought to a young Ira in his flashbacks. (He was pretty though!)  The reasons behind him risking his life to bull ride also didn't sit quite right with me, I was expecting some big revelation as to why, that never came.

For me, Ira and Ruth's story was far more interesting and emotional than Luke and Sophia's. Whether it was down to the acting or the script I really don't know, but I was captivated by the flashbacks and that's what made me sob in the end.

Ultimately, I think I expected typical Nicholas Sparks and I got something a little bit different.  Great for the franchise, maybe a little but disappointing for me.  I like the tried and tested formula so this knocked me out of my comfort zone more than I expected.  After all that moaning though, I did enjoy it, I was never bored and the crossing back and forth into flashbacks kept the pace up.

If you don't like Nicholas Sparks movies, maybe this one is a shift from the formula enough to change your mind. It definitely got me on board!

10 Things I Love About The Notebook

This is one of my all time favourite films (and I think I might have mentioned The Goonies too much already) so I decided to blog about the 10 top things I LOVE about The Notebook.

1.  Chemistry
The chemistry between Ryan Gosling's Noah and Rachel McAdam's Allie was amazing, they work so well together.  As much as I love both of these actors, I've not seen them have the same chemistry with anyone else in other film (except maybe with Bianca in Lars and the Real Girl?!).  You really believe they are in love (they actually started dating in real life not long after this film was released)

2. Nicholas Sparks
I love Nicholas Sparks and his writing, I have read all his books to date and I am always excited to see a new one coming out or a film adaptation in the works.  His books have a fantasy element about them, I just get lost in the story and usually finish his books within a day or two.  In my personal opinion, this is the best adaptation of one of his books and by far the closest any of the films have come to being what my imagination decided it would be when I read the book.

3. Soundtrack
I love the soundtrack to this film, especially Billie Holiday's I'll be seeing you that becomes Noah and Allie's song.  The soundtrack provides the perfect background for this story from the slow romantic main title score by Aaron Zigman to the upbeat jazz number that backs Allie and Noah's love montage - I love it all!!

4. The heartbreak *SPOILER ALERT*
No matter how many times I watch this film, my heart breaks every time.  Alzheimer's is a horrific disease that traumatises both the patient and their loved ones.  To realise that the children and grandchildren are Allie's but she has no idea has me an emotional wreck everytime.  She is learning about her life as if it's someone else's and Noah does nothing but try to help her remember that it's her.  Assume fetal position. Try not to cry. Cry a lot!

5. Allie's mother's confession
This was the moment in the film where you were supposed to realise that Allie's mother wasn't a bad person she just did what she thought was right.  However, when I saw this scene I fist pumped the air and shouted 'Ah-ha' at the tele.  Feeling very smug that the Mother may have made the wrong decision and that Allie was right all along.  Not sure that's how Sparks wanted it to be viewed but that was my version AND I still don't like Allie's Mother (before you say anything Allie I don't mean your mother!! How rude! She happens to love you!)

6. Sam Shepherd
Who doesn't love Sam Shepherd, he is truly awesome and brings a real charm to this role.  I wanted more of him and that is one place this film didn't deliver for me.

7. Allie's charm
This is a combination of the character written by Sparks and Rachel McAdams who brings her to life.  She is everything I expected from the book including selfish and hot headed which I love about the character, she's not some whingey romantic she gets angry and she does hurt people.  This makes her more real than the other female leads in Nicholas Sparks movies. 

8. The Quotes

9. The follow-up *SPOILER ALERT*

If you read the books you will know what i'm talking about, if you don't wait a few years and i'm sure the film adaptation of The Wedding will be on the horizon.  This is the story of Wilson and his wife Jane who have to admit that the romance is gone from their marriage.  In desperation, Wilson turns to his Father-in-Law for advice, who just happens to be Noah Calhoun.  The Notebook book actually has a different ending to the film, in that Allie passes away and Noah is left alone. In this book, he genuinely believes that Allie's soul is in a swan that swims on the lake, which is romantic in itself but also heart breaking (again!).  Anyway, this book touches on the history of The Notebook while Noah tries to help Wilson become the romantic husband that he wants to be.

10.  Ryan Gosling

No words needed: