Review: Star Trek Beyond (2016)

My husband (awww!!) and I made right fools of ourselves at the cinema. It’s not very often that we see a movie in 3D, but we thought we’d make an exception for Star Trek Beyond. It looked stunning in the trailers, after all. We scoffed some dinner after work, I grabbed our 3D glasses out of the cupboard, and we raced off to the cinema (to catch a few Pokemon before the trailers of course). Mistake number 1. I’d stuffed our 3D glasses into my handbag. My very lovely Loungefly Stormtrooper handbag. Mistake number 2. My husband was wearing his favourite Darth Vader shirt. Mistake number 3. Those 3D glasses? They’re special edition Star Wars ones. I swear, the staff didn’t know whether we were being trolls or just plain stupid. Haha!! Star Wars junkies turning up to see Star Trek...why don't I know this story! We didn't look very cool taking those glasses to see Suicide Squad either...

Anyway, Star Trek Beyond is the third installment of the rebooted franchise, and in this movie we find the Enterprise’s crew 3 years into their 5 year mission. Captain James Kirk (Chris Pine) is questioning his commitment, and Spock (Zachary Quinto) is also considering leaving for personal reasons. The two agree to talk just before a distress call comes in, which turns out to be a trap.

Oh boy. That alien attack on the Enterprise inside the nebula was absolutely stunning. It honestly felt like the finale to the movie rather than the introduction. That was the moment I was glad to have shelled out for 3D. That scene was my favourite from the whole movie, actually. You know how it goes in these flicks, the heroes are facing certain doom but you just know they’ll make it out okay in the end. I was honestly fearing for everyone’s lives at that point, it was so well written, acted and shot. The sight of the Enterprise hurtling through space to crash was so sad.  I loved this scene and it did feel like the end of the movie, I am glad however that I didn't watch it in 3D...my god...I thought  I was going to spew countless times.  The spinning, oh god the spinning - I felt actual nausea....urgh!  Had i seen it in 3D I would not have gotten through it without being reintroduced to my earlier Nandos! You went to Nandos without me?! I'm hurt.

Speaking of sad, there I was clutching my pack of tissues ready for Chekov’s (Anton Yelchin) scenes, when I forgot all about Leonard Nemoy! There were a few touching tributes to him, both in the movie itself and the credits. I wasn’t expecting Chekov to have such a big role in this movie, which was bittersweet in a way. As much as I wanted to see him, I couldn’t help but feel a bit gutted. I don’t know if it was done deliberately (I don’t know how if it was) but there’s a bit right at the end when a toast is made to ‘friends no longer with us’ and I swear the camera was focused on Chekov. Sob… It actually did and I think it was done on purpose, that what I read anyway, it was on the internet so it must be true...right?!

I was fully prepared to be all emotional, I shed a few tears at both the tributes to Leonard Nemoy and Anton Yelchin but I waited for the credits and that got me!  I was blubbing like a baby, oh man!  My Dad was seriously embarrassed to be seen with me!

Cool action and touching tributes aside, I didn’t enjoy Star Trek Beyond as much as I hoped I would. It was a solid movie, but I loved the other 2 so much it would take nothing short of perfection for me to gush about this installment. It was just lacking something, and I’m not sure what. I didn’t understand the lead villain Krall (Idris Elba) very well for a start. It’s only in the final action sequence that you learn who he really is, and at that point I’d kind of stopped caring. That sounds harsher than I mean it to, actually. He was no Khan, let’s face it!  You were never going to like any bad guy as much as Khan, you are a biased source!!  I actually liked Krall as a bad guy and loved the story behind his bad-guy-ness!! My biggest issue is that I hadn't done much research into the cast beforehand and spent most of the film trying to work out who the bloody actor was! 

When I found out Justin Lin was taking over the director role and after I saw the trailer, I was genuinely concerned that it would be all action and fire power and no story.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The story was great and there was just the right amount of action, I loved the hints of comedy that we have come to love from this franchise.  

The Spock and Bones (Karl Urban) team up was a great choice, I could listen to the two of them bicker at each other for ages, but they were the only ones providing the laughs this time. That said, I really enjoyed the new character, Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) and her appreciation for loud music. A solid movie all round, but just not quite as good as I was hoping. The 3D was definitely worth it!

This didn't quite match up to the first two but it was entertaining enough to stop me fidgeting and there was a good mix of comedy, action and sentimentality.

Sunshine Blogger Award - Thank You!

Flick Chicks is something that Jenna and I work on for a bit of fun in our spare time, so knowing that there are people out there in the world reading our rambles honestly makes us so happy. For the record, we’d probably still ramble even if no one was reading, but that’s just our nature! That said, to find out in one week we had been nominated not once, but twice for the Sunshine Blogger Award, that was pretty darn amazing.  I am always amazed when we get nominated for things like this because I forget that people other than us actually read what we write!

Our huge thanks goes to Caz at Let’s Go To The Movies and Drew at Drew’s Movie Reviews! Go and check their blogs out if you aren’t following them already.

To accept our award, we simply have to:

Post the award on your blog (Done!)

Thank the person who nominated you (Done!)

Answer the 11 questions they set you

Pick another 11 bloggers (and let them know they are nominated!)

Set them 11 questions

Right, as we’ve been nominated twice, it’s only right that we tackle both sets of questions. We’ll start with Caz’s and then move on to Drew’s.

What is your favourite comic book film?

There are so many now that’s a hard one...but I’ll go with Thor (2011).
Ohhh mine would have to be Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Which actor do you watch in anything and everything?

Too many to list! Adam Driver, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds to name just a few... ha! just a few of Allies obsessions! 
Tom Hanks for me oh and Taron Egerton

Netflix or Amazon Video?

Netflix but that’s only because I’ve never had Amazon Video.
Ditto!

What is your favourite song (can be of all time or of the moment)?

Right now it’s Heathens by Twenty One Pilots, from the Suicide Squad soundtrack.
I'm not sure I have a favourite song of all time but my favourite song of the moment is Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons

Do you like going to the Theatre?

I’ve only ever been once in my life, I went to see Finding Neverland in New York as part of my honeymoon, but I loved every second of it.
Not really, I have tried and tried but I just don't see the appeal - the cinema is much better!

How often do you go to the cinema?

I try to go once a week, but it normally ends up being 2-3 times a month instead.
About twice a week, depends on whats on though

Batman or Superman?

Batman!
Superman

What was the last TV series you watched from start to finish?

30 Rock! I loved it. Before that it was Parks & Recreation, which I loved even more.
Fresh Meat and Gilmore Girls (again!)

Do you think Twitter actually gets you many hits on your blog?

It does! Not a lot, but then we’re only a small blog anyway.
I have no idea, Allie is the tech queen of our dream team, she knows where all out hits come from - I barely know what day it is most of the time.

What do you love about blogging?

I love being able to share my movie-related thoughts with others who share that passion. I also love discovering lesser-known movies that I’d have never found otherwise.
The rambling and the ranting - I wish I had more time to do it though

What do you hate about blogging?

Honestly, nothing. It’s hard sometimes to find the time to blog, but I’ve never seen it as a chore.
I struggle to fit it in with work, I want to do it more it just always seems to be the last thing on my list - and then I get annoyed that I haven't spent more time on it!

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Who is your favorite actor?

I go through phases, but my all time favourite actor is Jake Gyllenhaal.
Tom Hanks

Who is your favorite actress?

Emma Stone, always!
Oooh I don't know - Meryl Streep would be waay up there and my guilty pleasure would have to be Goldie Hawn!!

Do you prefer to have a physical DVD/Blu-Ray disk or a digital copy?

I love how effortless digital copies are, but for a movie I really love, I have to have the hard copy.
My DVD collection has recently stopped growing, that needs to change - I love having them all in order

Do you prefer special editions or are you content with just having a copy of the film?

I’ll only buy the DVD/Blu-Ray of a movie I really love so I like to have all those bonus features to watch.
I'm quite happy with just the film but I do love deleted scenes and outtakes after a great movie.

What is your favorite place you have traveled?

New York City. I don’t think I’d want to live there, but I’ve been twice now and I’d love to go back again. That said, I fell in love with the chilled vibe of San Diego, but I was only there for 2 days.
San Francisco - I left my heart there (sorry!!) 

What is your favorite place to travel to in your town?

I don’t live anywhere exciting (just outside of Birmingham, UK) but we have some lovely countryside around that I like visiting.
The cinema - I don't like outdoorsy things!

If a genie could grant you one wish, what would it be?

3 more wishes? I’m kidding...I wish I could re-live my wedding day and honeymoon from earlier this year over again, it was the best time of my life. You old romantic! 
I want money! (Money can't buy happiness but its more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes than on a bike!)

If you could have any super power, what would it be?

Mind reading. Since I was little I’d watch other people around me and wonder what they were thinking at that time. 
Time travel, there is so much I would do differently if I had the chance.

What made you decide to start blogging?

Jenna and I talked movies all the time when we worked together, sending mini-reviews of sorts by email. Once we both got new jobs, that was how we kept in touch, and it was kind of a mutual idea we both had one night over a Chinese takeaway. And the rest is history! I had already started  a sort of lifestyle blog of sorts but when Flick Chicks came along, that got kicked to the curb!

What are you proud of most about your blog?

I’m proud that it’s been nearly 2 and a half years and we’re still going strong. Not that I expected us to fail or anything, but I’m not great at keeping habits.
I am proud that it's still going but mostly of Allie for keeping it going.  Half way through our blogging careers I got a new job and house that have sort of taken over my life - if it hadn't been for Allie this blog would not exist now.

What have you learned from being a blogger?

That it’s okay to hate a movie that ‘everyone’ loves, and vice versa. Most of the time, you’re not the only one that feels that way!
Make the time for the things you enjoy doing - now I just need to do as I say not as I do!

Right, time to nominate some other bloggers! This is tough, but we’re going to go with the newest blogs that we’ve been following lately. They are:

Carly Hearts Movies - https://carlyheartsmovies.com/

Cinema Axis - https://cinemaaxis.com 

emmakwall (explains it all) - https://emmakwall.com/ 

Mettel Ray - https://mettelray.wordpress.com/

Oh So Geeky - http://www.ohsogeeky.com/

She Likes Movies - http://shelikesmovies.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Sinekdoks - https://sinekdoks.com 

The Sporadic Chronicles of a Beginner Blogger - https://zuts.wordpress.com 

What About Movies? - https://whataboutmovies.com 

That’s not 11 I know, but I don’t want to pick anyone for the sake of it! So, fellow bloggers, if you’re up to it, here are 11 questions for you:

Settle an ongoing Flick Chicks debate for us. Which Ryan is best, Reynolds or Gosling?

Who do you think Rey’s Parents are? (We’re talking Star Wars here)

What was the first movie you saw in the cinema?

What’s your ultimate guilty pleasure movie?

What’s your go-to cinema snack?

What’s your best piece of advice for new bloggers?

Is there a movie out there that you hate with a passion, and why?

If you could create a sequel for any movie that currently doesn’t have one, which one would it be?

What other hobbies do you have, aside from movies and blogging?

If a movie was made about your life, who would you cast to play you?

What’s been your favourite movie of the year so far?

Feel free to answer the questions in a comment below if you don’t fancy creating a whole post for it. Also, if anyone else wants to take a shot at our questions, we’d love to hear your answers!

Review: Circle (2015)

I’m back with another Grampy suggestion special! I’ve had to take them with a pinch of salt lately after one fateful movie night where he shunned Everest in favour of The Last Witch Hunter...but I couldn’t resist the sound of this latest suggestion.

Circle (2015) is a small, low budget movie which opens with 50 strangers awakening to find themselves all stood on circles, forming a large circle, in an even larger circular room. Notice the theme? Every 1-2 minutes, someone in the circle is executed by an electrical surge from the centre of the room. It seemingly chooses its victims at random, but the group soon realise that they have the power to choose who is sent to their death, by voting in secret.

From there, the movie descends into chaos as leaders attempt to emerge to decide who in the group should die first. Within the group are people from all ages, races, religions, classes, professions, and it doesn’t take long before personal prejudices come into play. Attempts to not vote at all fail, attempts to all vote one person to the left or right fail, and so the group are forced to make terrible decisions. It really does make you wonder what you would do in that situation yourself. Honestly, as much as I’d like to think I’d be a brave soul who would keep a level head, I would probably hop off my circle and end it all on my own terms! That’s a bit dark when I think about it, ha.

This movie is definitely not for everyone, I accept that. As I said, it’s a small budget kind of movie. There are no faces here I recognised from other movies, and the entirety of the movie takes place within the circular room. It’s very narrative-driven, which admittedly is something I would normally struggle with, but I was so drawn into the conversation, wondering who was going to go next, who was going to survive at the end, how this group of people got here in the first place, and what on earth would happen when just one person was left. Circle is a short movie anyway with a runtime of 87 minutes, but the time flew by much quicker.

It’s not a perfect movie by any means. You have to question how level headed some of the characters actually are. They freak out to begin with, but stay quite calm for the rest of the time. It definitely needed a few characters having a panic attack or simply sat in their circle sobbing relentlessly to feel slightly more real. The reveal of who/what is behind the whole situation also felt a bit short, and didn’t have much of a ‘wow’ factor. I can forgive that though, because the whole focus of the movie is the characters, and how they make these decisions. 

If I could describe it in simpler terms, I’d say that Circle is like 12 Angry Men on crack. The movie 12 Angry Men that is, not 12 actual men who are angry and...you get what I mean. Sorry to compare it to such a legendary movie, but that’s honestly the first thing that came into my head. All I can say is, if Circle sounds like something you think you’d enjoy, give it a try! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Review: Hungry Hearts (2014)

The Adam Driver obsession is strong, guys, I can’t help it. I’ve got months to go before Girls starts up again (for its last season as well!), and I don’t even want to do the maths on how many days/weeks/months are left till Star Wars Episode VIII. I’ve been on the hunt for Adam Driver movies, and Hungry Hearts has been sat there for a while. I read Brittani’s review ages ago, and I should have probably listened to her...but I just couldn’t help myself.

Jude (Adam Driver) and Mina (Alba Rohrwacher) meet by chance one night in New York city and fall in love. When Mina announces she’s being transferred with her work place Jude refuses to pull out whilst the two are intimate, leading to Mine getting pregnant. After strange, repetitive dreams Mina becomes obsessed with cleanliness and purity, and will only feed their baby oils and mashed vegetables, leaving him looking like 2 months old when he is in fact 7 months and not gaining any weight.

Before I start ranting, I need to start with just how perfect the opening to this movie was. It sums up everything I love about indie movies. Jude and Mina find themselves locked in the bathroom of a Chinese restaurant, Mina being a diner there and Jude unfortunately there because an illness-related emergency required him to run into the nearest place with a toilet. The whole scene is over 5 minutes long, all done in one take and just watching them chuckle at the situation whilst Mina holds her nose just felt so natural to me.

Sadly, the rest of the movie doesn’t carry on that way. I mean, you know a movie is messed up when you’re actually feeling sorry for the guy who forced himself on his girlfriend, right?! It’s actually a really interesting premise for a movie, but Jude’s actions at that point are unforgivable, I wish they’d cut that part out. I can’t believe it took Jude 7 whole months before he snuck their baby out to see a doctor, especially as he had a fever for over 2 weeks at that point. In fact, at this point in the movie I was just so angry at the situation and the world I wanted to crawl into my TV, smack Mina myself and shake Jude till he saw sense!

Then of course Jude’s Mum gets involved, and that’s when I saw some hope. I was so sad at this point, Jude was sneaking his child out to the church just to feed him bits of ham. Arghh! Maybe I’m being naive, maybe the laws are different in the US, but I’m pretty sure if I rang the Child Protection Services and said ‘Help, my partner won’t feed our child and he’s starving’ I’d have several staff members practically kicking my door down to help. What kind of messed up system exists where a parent is forced to kidnap their own child?!

The saving grace here is Adam Driver, and no, I’m not being biased (promise), he actually won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for this. Sadly, he’s the saving grace of most movies he’s been in. I really hope Star Wars brings him some better roles in the future. I feel bad for ranting now, because in all technical aspects Hungry Hearts is actually a really good movie, but it just made me so mad at the world!

I’ll leave the ending a surprise for anyone who actually wants to tackle watching this movie for themselves. It definitely wins an award with me as one of the most shocking endings to a movie!

Review: Suicide Squad (2016)

I have been looking forward to seeing this for so long, maybe too long.  However the combination of super hyped up excited for an age and the rumours of bad reviews put me on some sort of middle ground in terms of expectations.  I wasn't expecting the best film ever but I was still excited for what it was going to be.

Doesn't it just feel like we've building up to this movie for years now?! I don't know how I managed it but I watched the first trailer and stayed away from the rest, I didn't want to watch the entire movie after about a million trailers and 'TV spots' were released.

Does everyone already know the back story to Suicide Squad, who can have possibly not heard about it in the thousands of trailers floating around.  Anyway, short version is Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assigns group of criminals to do the tasks that the Government cant be seen to be involved with.  With that shes pulls together Deadshot (Will Smith), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Boomerang (Jay Courtney), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) lead by Rick Flag (Joel Kinneman) to take down their latest enemy.  Funnily enough, that being someone they released into the world as part of their programme (but that's none of my business!)

The intro to the Squad was probably my favourite part, I liked how each character had their own theme song of sorts, and the graphic overlays were cool, especially in 3D. I'll stick up a spoiler alert now, but I did find it funny that the only Squad member to not have an introduction got killed off within seconds. Um. Way to make it obvious and not shocking in any way at all.

I do have issues with this so lets get them out of the way first, it was a little bit flat.  I was expecting something (a bad guy or plot line) to really peak my interest and it never happened, it never quite reached its peak in terms of story.  Also, does anyone understand why they all became friends, initially I got the idea that they came together to try to escape, then they bonded over having to save Waller or they would all die.  Why didn't Deadshot kill Harley Quin? Why did Boomerang come back after he had the chance to walk away? Why do they care when they are supposedly cold bloodied killers?!

That is all my rants for today, because with all it's faults I still loved it.  I actually liked the fact that they had all bonded and become friends (even if it didn't make sense).  I really liked all the characters particularly Harley Quinn, I cannot wait to see her in her own movie.  She absolutely stole every scene she was in even with Jared Leto's Joker on the loose. The story had its faults but it was entertaining, I didn't fidget at all and forgot all about my ice cream and let it melt :( RIP ice cream...

It was entertaining, but it was bloody exhausting at the same time. Why we had such little time introducing these characters and their backstories just to fill the rest with what felt like the longest finale ever is beyond me. Margot Robbie and Will Smith were amazing, sadly Jared Leto didn't have nearly enough screen time for me to have a proper opinion, and I honestly couldn't give a rats ass about the other characters. Captain Boomerang only gift was his never-ending coat pockets, Killer Croc was 'gangsta' and Diablo was just too busy feeling sorry for himself. Oh and who's side was the katana-wielding girl on?!They were pointless to the story! No, story is the wrong word here, because that was all over the place.

Shouldn't Suicide Squad have been all about trying to get these 'bad guys' to work together? They just fell into line and chummed up within an instant. Sorry for drawing comparisons but the Avengers had a harder time working together than these guys. Also, they're meant to be the worst of the worst, but Deadshot is an absolute sweetheart.

I loved the back stories for each of them as well, which is usually the bit I dislike but as I didn't know these characters as well as some others it was interesting to see where they had come from.  Plus with there being so many, they were short and sweet not half the bloody film showing one person being bitten by a bloody spider! (I thought you liked Spiderman! Sad face.) I did the first time I saw the origin story and then they just kept them coming!!

It was fun to watch, it was better than Batman V Superman, and it wasn't anywhere near as terrible as I had feared it would be, but dang it Warner Bros, you were given enough time to get this right! A popcorn flick at best, sadly.

All in all, I really did enjoy it despite its faults which is all that matters really.  Now I have written my review I can finally read some of these 'terrible' reviews, I have heard so much about!! You er, don't need to look far I'm afraid. I think we're the nice guys :)