Review: The Road Within (2014)

Random weeknight in with my friend Shola nothing on TV to watch, so we put this film on and was pleasantly surprised.

The Road Within starts with Vincent (Robert Sheehan) struggling to contain his tics due to his Tourette's Syndrome at his Mother's funeral.  His father (Robert Patrick) embarrassed by his sons illness, sends him to an experimental medical facility where he meets Alex (Dev Patel), an OCD sufferer and germ-o-phobe and Marie (Zoe Kravitz) an anorexic who has already been on deaths door once before.  Within a day of being in the facility, Marie steals the facility director's (Kyra Sedgwick) car and they end up on a road trip.

This was not what I expected, I thought it would either be a full comedy, making light of mental illness or a drama where it was all emotional and heart-breaking but in fact it was some where in the middle.  It had the perfect mix of comedy and drama and both me and Shola found ourselves cheering at the screen one minute and crying the next. 

The three main actors are by far the main reason for loving this film, I absolutely loved Robert Sheehan as Nathan in the British series Misfits (note his Irish accent sneaking through every now and then) and I have been waiting to see him in another role he could get his teeth into and for me this was it.  His portrayal of a Tourette's sufferer was really amazing but his comedic edge stopped it from being uncomfortable to watch.  Dev Patel is amazing in every role I see him in and this was no exception, he brought a real charm to his character.

I really could watch this again and again and probably will and I cant wait to see Robert Sheehan in more films as soon as possible and checking out his IMDB profile, I won't have long to wait!

Review: Bridge to Terabithia

Last week I posted a message on the IMDB boards, asking for some recommendations. I asked about films that had a huge plot twist, after watching The Usual Suspects. Now I know, asking for that is kind of a spoiler in itself, but I was curious! I had several replies with the usual Sixth Sense, Fight Club, etc, but one post stood out to me in particular. They suggested Bridge to Terabithia, which I'd heard of, a Disney film! That alone was enough to make me dig this film out.

Although curious, I was a little apprehensive too. I love Disney films, don't get me wrong, but at 24 years of age I worried I was too old to appreciate this. Oh, how wrong I was!

Do you recognise that baby face by the way? It's Peeta from The Hunger Games! I couldn't get over just how young he looked, this film isn't even really that old! It even has Zooey Deschanel in it, but I got really confused because she is basically Jess Day in it...

Anyway, the film is about two children Jess and Leslie, who have a really tough time at school, and in Jess' case, at home too. They find some land just a rope swing over the river away, and turn it into their own imaginary, magical land. Each creature they imagine is based on someone in their lives, which is an interesting and often comical idea.

I won't ruin the twist for you, but I didn't see it coming at all, and I was looking for it to, and it really hit me hard. This is a Disney film, folks! I almost turned it off just so that I could imagine it never happened...

I really loved this film and I knew my Mum and littlest Brother had seen it, so I asked them what they thought about it. They had a completely different opinion to me and thought it was boring and depressing! So this film isn't for everyone, I now know. But if you have a spare hour and a half, and you feel a little curious too, just give it a try.