Review: The Darkest Hour (2011)

I'm really no good with scary films. Gore doesn't bother me so much, if something is gross I'll just look away, but what absolutely kills me is suspense. So when it comes to this kind of genre, alien invasion films are totally my thing. Although, it's very rare that I actually enjoy one. In 2011 you got the trailer for The Darkest Hour no matter what film you saw at the cinema, and it did actually look pretty good. We never got round to seeing it though and it's just been one of those films at the bottom of the list. Until last weekend...

From what I remember, the trailer told you enough to spark your interest but not enough to spoil the story line for you. Aliens have invaded in Russia, and they're attacking through the power supplies. Oh, and they're virtually invisible; terrifying, right? Enough to make you nervous watching it, I watched this film with a pillow permanently raised over my face waiting for an invisible alien to drag off one of the cast!

Let me just be straight up and honest with you. This film was really, really bad. Watchable though, because you can have a lot of fun shouting at the cast as they make stupid decisions. They may be the only people who survived this awful alien attack, and so in their minds the first thing they have to do is find their way to the American Embassy. Why?! To get there, they decide to walk through a main road as wide as a UK motorway, rather than underground. Why?! There was a rather fantastic plot hole that I won't ruin for you that was hilarious! I actually really enjoyed this film, it wasn't amazingly written or logical in some places (from what I can remember) but I remember really enjoying it.  I am very intrigued by this plot hole, do tell....

Okay, okay, I don't think it's much of a spoiler to be honest. There's this moment where the group gets thrown into the river. All but one re-surface and swim the short distance back to that submarine, but one of them somehow ended up a mile away inside a bus?!

Oh, it's such a shame because there aren't many films that I don't like. Honestly I'm really very easily amused. The only film in the history of ever that I've turned off half way through is Superhero Movie, and the last film I disliked as much as this was Knowing, a whole 6 years ago.  I have to agree, The Knowing was horrendous, possible one of the worst films I have ever seen and one of film history's worst endings EVER!! If you've never heard of The Darkest Hour or can't remember it, here's the trailer.

Don't get me wrong though, I didn't hate this movie. In fact, I thought the idea behind it was sheer brilliance, and I'm hoping that maybe someday, someone will do something similar, but better.

Trivia So Far

If you know me and Allie at all, you will know that we are a bit obsessed with movie trivia.  We love nothing more on a Flick Chicks movie night to load up IMDB.com and run through the trivia of the film we've just watched.  It occurred to me that we haven't been including trivia in out reviews so here are the best trivia bits from the films we have reviewed so far:

Pitch Perfect (2012)
Apparently, Rebel Wilson would improvise her line and go off on 20 minutes having the cast and crew in stitches.

Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
Ricky Gervais and Danny Trejo, who starred in this movie, ironically had cameos in The Muppets (2011) which were eventually cut.

The Goonies (1985)
Richard Donner appears in the film as one of the cops on a quad bike at the end of the film

The House Bunny (2008)
It is Anna Faris naked in the film, she doesn't use a body double.  She worked out for 6 weeks before shooting began and the reactions from the students are real.

Need for Speed (2014)
According to director Scott Waugh, the cast all took stunt driving lessons. In the scene where Toby returns to Little Pete's crashed car, Aaron Paul repeatedly skidded 15' short of his mark because he was afraid of hitting the director, who was filming the shot. Waugh told Paul to TRY to hit him.

Juno (2007)
Jennifer Garner took a significent paycut and a percentage point agreement for this film thinking it would be a small, low budget indie film.  Juno did so well at the box office, this was Garners biggest paycheck yet.

Starter for 10 (2006)
Following this film, Benedict Cumberbatch went on to star with three co-stars in other projects. Rebecca Hall in Parade's End, Alice Eve in Star Trek into Darkness, and Mark Gatiss in Sherlock.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2014)
The editing of the film is weird on purpose, whenever Jordan is seen to be taking drugs the scenes that follow have continuity error and don't appear to flow correctly.  The sober scenes flow perfectly fine.  I wanted to mention that the real Jordan Belfort is in the end of the film, he introduces himself played by Leonardo DiCaprio but I think the best trivia from this film is this because it makes me want to watch the film again to check (always a sign of good trivia!). 

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
Due to the fact that there are no squirrels in New Zealand, all squirrel shots were either prerecorded or digitally added in.

The Usual Suspects (1995)
*Spoiler Alert* The writer of the film is seen at the very end of the film as Chazz is looking for Verbal Kint, he is visibly seen laughing and winking at the camera, a gesture meant for the audience who got tricked.
This was the best bit of trivia we found for this film, unfortunately, after watching the scene over and over again neither me nor Allie can spot it!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
In many scenes Scarlett Johanssen's character Natasha Romanoff wears an arrow on a necklace in a homage to Hawkeye who in the comics is her on/off lover.

Adore (2013)
The original novel that this film is based on, The Grandmothers by Doris Lessing is said to be based on a true incident.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 (2014)
The dog that Gwen walks while Peter spies on her from a rooftop, actually belongs to Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. They adopted him in 2013.
I'm sorry, there was tons of cool technical trivia, but this was just too darn cute!

The Truman Show (1998)
People on the set were forbidden from uttering phrases from Jim Carrey's past "silly" movies.

Fargo (1996)
William H. Macy begged the directors for the role of Jerry Lundegaard. He did two readings for the part, and became convinced he was the best man for the role. When the Coens didn't get back to him, he flew to New York (where they were starting production) and said, "I'm very, very worried that you are going to screw up this movie by giving this role to somebody else. It's my role, and I'll shoot your dogs if you don't give it to me." He was joking, of course.

Locke (2014)
The movie had an unconventional shooting schedule. Tom Hardy filmed his part in 6 days, shooting the movie twice per night as it was filmed in a single take. The other actors were in a hotel room, speaking on the phone with Hardy, who was on location.

Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
In order to help Ryan Gosling stay in character, the Real Girl doll was treated like an actual person, she had her own dressing room and was only present for scenes she was in!

The Bodyguard (1992)
The proposal for this film was rejected 67 times and was originally considered for Diana Ross and Steve McQueen and Diana Ross and Ryan O'Neal, the second pairing falling through because of 'irreconcilable differences'

Divergent (2014)
A scene from the book in which Edward is stabbed with a butter knife in the eye by Peter, was filmed but cut due to it being too violent for the film which would've received a higher rating with the scene included.

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (2013)
At the beginning of the movie, Peter Jackson repeats his cameo as carrot eating bystander in Bree. He previously had a similar cameo in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

Woman in Black (2012)
The music boxes and mechanical toys in the nursery scenes were not created for the movie, but were genuine antique toys from the period, loaned to the production by a collector. Urgh, just reading that gives me the creeps.

Turbo (2013)
An IndyCar was parked inside the Dreamworks studio during production to provide artists immediate access to the race cars featured in the film.

Godzilla (2014)
The sound designers used a 12-foot high, 18-foot wide speaker array to blast Godzilla's roar at 100,000 watts to get a good idea of his vocal power and strength.

Office Space (1999)
Milton's stapler used in the film was designed by the props department who wanted a bright enough colour to show on screen.  After the release Swingline had numerous requests for red staplers (which they had stopped making) and in response began manufacturing the red ones again.

Zombieland (2009)
I can't believe this was available online the whole time, I found it on IMDB...
Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) has 32 rules for surviving Zombieland, ten of which are identified in the motion picture. As the rules are punctuated, and in the order in which they appear in the movie, they are, "Rule #1. Cardio"; "Rule #2. Double tap"; "Rule #3. Beware of bathrooms"; "Rule #4. Seatbelts"; "Rule #7. Travel light"; "Rule #31. Check the back seat"; "Rule #18. Limber up"; "Rule #22. When in doubt, know your way out"; "Rule #32. Enjoy the little things"; and "Rule #17. Don't be a hero" (later corrected to "Be a hero"). An eleventh rule of surviving Zombieland is identified in a deleted scene. As punctuated in the deleted scene, the rule is "Rule #2. Ziploc bags". In voice-over, Columbus explains, "You've got enough problems. Moisture shouldn't be one of them."

Book Adaptation Predictions

Following the success of Nicholas Sparks, Stephanie Meyer, Suzanne Collins and more recently Veronica Roth in turning books into hugely successful films I predict that a lot more book adaptations will be popping up in the coming years.  As a big lover of books (as well as films) I thought I would predict what would be some of the next adaptations to hit the big screen.  I have just written this post off the top of my head, no googling etc.  So now I want to find out if any of my predictions are in the pipeline.  I have done a bit of research and I have noted in italic is what I have found out.

Before I go to sleep - SJ Watson

If I'm honest I have already seen in a film magazine that this book in going to be made into a film, however when I read it about 2 years ago, I thought at the time that it would make a good film and I was sure someone would pick it up.  In my defence, I didn't have a blog 2 years ago to note my predictions, so you are just going to have to take my word for it.  Before I go to sleep is the story of Christine, who wakes up every morning with no memory of her life, she writes in a diary that she hides from her husband to try to remember her life from her own mind instead of being told.  However, she soon discovered that her past is more horrific than she could have imagined.  As already mentioned this is already in production and is due to be released in the UK in September starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong.  Review to follow. 1 for 1




The Matched Series (Matched/Crossed/Reached) - Allie Condie

I read this series about 6 months ago after a recommendation from my cousin.  They are really good stories (and stay interesting through all three books) and I think they would make great films, following hot on the heels of Divergent and The Hunger Games showing a future in which decisions are taken out of the hands of young people.  Matched follows Cassia in a future where all aspects of teenagers (and adults) lives are chosen for them, including who they should marry, where they should work and how many children they should have.  When Cassia realises there is someone better suited out there than her match, she begins to question all the decision society is making for her.  Ok, so Disney have brought the movie rights to this trilogy and it is marked as 'in development' so watch this space. 2 out of 2.

Me before you - Jojo Moyes

Another recommendation from a friend this time.  After spending months reading the likes of Hunger Games, Divergent and Matched, I really wanted to read a book that was not about a horrible futuristic society or a love triangle or the heroic female character, so I thought I would give this a go.  I loved this book, it was so different from everything I had recently read but it was brilliantly written and you could very much identify with the lead character, much more so than in the recent dystopian society based novels.  The story follows Lou, who in fairness has no real drive to change her life or do anything different and Will who lived a life of chaos and excitement with no two days being the same.  Their lives are thrown together and neither of them expect how much they will effect each other.  MGM have secured the rights to this and is currently 'in development' - three for three go me!!!

I don't know whether Jojo Moyes has been approached about movie rights for her books or if she's the next PL Travers and refusing to allow them the rights, however I can see her books heading to Hollywood very soon.  I'm following up with Last Letter from your Lover another of Moyes books which, my guess if she makes one into a movie, the rest will soon follow.  Watch this space! No news on this yet, but my guess is that if Me Before You is a success, the Jojo Moyes will end up on the Nicholas Sparks route :-) Darn 3/4


The Maze Runner - James Dashner

I have this book and it is itching to be read but I just haven't quite got round to it.  However, based on the success of Hunger Games and Divergent, my guess is this will be making an appearance on the big screen before long.  It's about a young boy who wakes up with 60 other young boys with no recollection of their previous lives, they are surrounded by a deadly maze with seemingly no means of escape.

I actually can't wait to read this and I have recently got into a habit of deciding who I think should play characters as I read them in the book so I will update on my predictions at a later stage.
It seems I need to get reading, this has been made and is due out on October 2014 - 4/5 so far!!



Bared to you (Crossfire series) - Sylvia Day
I haven't personally read this series and I don't plan to read them.  I wasn't a huge fan of the Fifty Shades books but I finished them because once I've started I have to know how they end.  However, if the Fifty Shades films are as successful as they are hoping, then I'm sure this will be the next up to be given the Hollywood make over.  Lionsgate have acquired the rights to this novel so this will be on the move soon. 5/6

The Delirium Trilogy - Lauren Oliver (Delirium/Pandemonium/Requiem)

Another in the Hunger Games/Divergent category.  I actually thought this would make it to the big screen before Divergent, but alas I was wrong.  I have read all of these books, which focus on Lena who develops what society calls 'amor deliria nervosa' which is actually 'love' - she falls in love in a society where it is considered a disease.  This has the love story which contributed to the success of The Hunger Games and the Twilight series but also has quite a unique plotline.  This, for a change, is set in an alternate present as opposed to a vision of the future.  The only downside for me was the third book, Requiem, which lost my interest a little, I found myself only reading it to find out how it ends, but still it think they would make very good films and they would probably liven up the third book to keep interest (and also split it in two if history is to repeat itself).  From what I can tell this is going to be made into a series, not a movie with Emma Roberts in the lead role.  I am quite excited about this as you know I enjoy a good series so i'll be keeping an eye on this to find out when it starts.

So I got 5.5 right out of 7 guesses, not to bad! 

Review: Zombieland (2009)

I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to scary films, I can't watch one on my own. The gore and psychological torment doesn't bother me so much, but it's those jumpy bits that have me running scared! Zombieland was on my Emma Stone list though so I was going to have to face this, and well, it is a comedy mainly, so I manned up.

I watched this for the first time with Jenna last year, and I convinced my other half to watch it with me again just before we went to Cornwall for a short break the other day. I actually forgot how jumpy the first five minutes are! I had already seen this and I told Allie it wasn't jumpy at all, forgetting completely about all the jumps in the first few scenes - oops!!

So this film follows four characters who are some of the only survivors on earth, Columbus (Eisenberg) is trying to get to his family in Ohio, Wichita and Little Rock (Stone and Breslin) are trying to reach an amusement park they have heard is free of zombies, and Tallahassee (Harrelson), well, he's just on a search for Twinkies. Who wouldn't be on a search for Twinkies mmmm!! You could say they sort of join forces on their missions.

*SPOILER ALERT* My favourite parts of this movie are all the little details like the text of the rules that pop up occasionally, and the zombie kill of the week. It's little details like those that really make you remember a film. Not to say that was all I liked, the film was hillarious! I probably would have appreciated the Bill Murray scenes more if I really knew who he was... WHAT???  You don't know who Bill Murray is??  Groundhog Day?? Ghostbusters?? COME ON!!!  Anyway, moving on, I love the text popping up on screen, I think it made this movie - I still would like to see the full list of the rules if I'm honest!  I think Rule Number 1 was my favourite because it kept popping up 'Cardio'

 

I loved Woody Harrelson's character in this, specifically “in the ass-kicking business – and business is gooooood!” and I could complete relate to his love for Twinkies!! The contrast between him and scaredy cat Columbus makes for brilliant viewing and good fast paced banter between the two.  This is one film that I didn't particularly like Emma Stone's character, although the further through the film I got the more I got to like her!

 

 

Seriously though this film is great, I also heard that it was based a little on the game Left 4 Dead 2 which makes me happy as I freaking love that game. Never heard of this... Okay, Flick Chicks needs a games night at some point. Left 4 Dead is amazing and I'm terrible at it which makes it even better.

 

In case you need to be reminded of some of the rules for staying alive, here you go...you can thank me later.

A great film to watch with friends or family with a couple of drinks and a take-out!  Brilliant film, laugh out loud funny and delightfully clever.  Can happily watch this over and over again and never get bored!
 

 

Looking Forward to Seeing at the Cinema this Month...June 2014

I still haven't seen my 'Looking Forward to Seeing at the cinema' for May yet, although I am seeing it tonight so that's not too bad.  I am super excited for X-Men: Days of Future Past, review will be posted soon.  But enough about May and onto June... What am I looking forward to this month... How to Train your Dragon 2...

The original of this was amazing, not just the story which was completely original and well written but the visuals, everytime I watch this film I find something new, individual hair strands blowing in the wind, single blades of grass.  It is a truly epic visual as well as characters that you love and even the ones you hate you love.  So how can I not look forward to the second part, an older, stronger and cooler Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) with metal parts instead of a leg after the action in the first part.  Dragons are now a normal part of life on Berk, but they will stumble across a new batch of wild dragons and must work together to keep the peace.

I can't decide however if I will see this in 3D, I am not a fan, particularly not with live action movies (I never watch live action movies in 3D, I think it spoils it more than adds to it!) but rarely I will watch an animated film in 3D if I think it will be worth it.  If there are flying scenes are anything like the first movies then my guess is it will be worth it...

How to Train your Dragon 2 will be released on 27th June 2014.

Ohh you totally got in before me this month! This is probably one of my most anticipated films of the year, let alone month! But, in the spirit of chosing a film each, I'm also super excited for 22 Jump Street.

 

I don't think I saw the previous film, 21 Jump Street, at the cinema. In fact, I'm pretty sure I just picked up the DVD in a sale around Christmas last year. I love Channing Tatum more and more every time I see him, and although I'm a bit weary of Jonah Hill, I thought he was really funny in 21 Jump Street.

It's the perfect Orange Wednesday film and I have no doubt that the screens will be rammed when it comes out. Sequels, in many cases, aren't as good as their predecessors but I hope that won't be the case this time, as I laugh out loud every time I watch the trailer and it definitely hasn't got old yet. Look out for my review soon!

Here's the trailer if you're a hermit and haven't seen it yet:

22 Jump Street will be released on 6th June 2014.