Iron Man 3

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Holy crapolah. This movie… Guys… Just..

Wow.

This is a huge step away from the typical and clichéd superhero movies. This one was very funny with a switch up of roles among the characters. Like, it is an action-comedy with an underlying deep and meaningful storyline.

Throughout the movie, Tony Stark kept having anxiety attacks. Although I think it could have been more effective and emotional by having flashbacks, it was still pretty intense.

The story was pretty decent, although I have to say that the villain, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) was… Continue reading →

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower

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Okay, it was NOTHING like I thought it would be like.

This is not a happy-go-lucky, up beat and freeing movie like the trailer makes it out to be. In fact, it has a lot of very serious themes, making this high school drama rather dark, and not at all light hearted.

Despite the totally unexpected storyline, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a very emotional journey – you laugh just as hard as you cry in some parts. So it evens out into a humbling story.

The main character, Charlie (Logan Lerman) and both of his friends Sam (Emma Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller), each go through massive emotional roller coasters. Huge changes to their lives that are developed incredibly well. Feelings and emotions are messy, unexplainable and complicated, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower accurately represent them this way… Continue reading →

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Morning Glory

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I love this movie. This is my happy movie.

Rachel McAdams plays Becky Fuller, a workaholic who is made redundant. She eventually gets hired by a breakfast show that’s going down the pan. The story follows her struggles to rebuild herself, and the show.

There are some fantastic lines! Harrison Ford is so dry with his delivery. It’s so perfect!… Continue reading →

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Lydia – Fur Patrol

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I had no idea this rock band was from New Zealand (Wellington)! So crazy.

I love this song. I remember hearing a lot growing up and recently stumbled across it again. A song about letting go of somebody who has moved on to somebody else.

Am I surprised to see you here with Lydia,
She’s oh so nice and easier to love than I Continue reading →

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Dead Poets Society

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Imagine Good Will Hunting + Scent of a Woman… and with a touch of The Ron Clark Story. That pretty much gives you Dead Poet’s Society.

It is a great story about breaking the mould. Not being what your father wants you to be, not giving into the black and white versions of education, but finding the creativity in it and allowing your imagination to run riot.

Robin Williams plays John Keating who is an English teacher with unorthodox teaching methods in a private all boys school. The tradition and formality… Continue reading →

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Walk the Line

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I thoroughly enjoyed this biopic about one of the best country rock n roll singers of the sixties, Johnny Cash.

Joaquin Phoenix did an incredible job of becoming Johnny Cash. His natural intensity was perfect for the really heavy and dark life of Johnny Cash. I didn’t know much about Johnny Cash until I impulsively bought this movie. I had a few of his songs and enjoyed them, but assumed that he was just a country singer for geriatrics.

It turns out that Johnny Cash’s life and the people he rubbed shoulders with is incredible. The stories he has are inspiring. I am not sticking up for everything that Johnny Cash did, but I have to say that it was so unfortunate… Continue reading →

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L’accordéoniste – Edith Piaf

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La Fille de Joie Est Triste (L’accordéoniste)
“The Accordionist” (1940)

This is a beautiful song written and performed by Edith Piaf (Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien – Inception and Tu es Partout – Saving Private Ryan). The chorus gives me chills.

It is about a prostitute who is married to an accordionist who will be going to war soon and will not return to her alive.

Her man will never come back.
Goodbye to beautiful dreams.
Her life is done for.

I interpret her story as though she has to forget her emotions while she’s working, but as soon as she leaves and watches her husband play the Java, she becomes overwhelmed with emotion… Continue reading →

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Water For Elephants

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I bought this DVD as a bit of a whim. After stumbling across the trailer on YouTube I thought that the look of the whole film resembled the circus scenes in Big Fish.

It is the story of the dark side of the circus during the early 1930s, with a forbidden love story between Jacob (Robert Pattinson) and Marlena (Reece Witherspoon) intertwined. Jacob runs away with the circus and poses as a certified vet to continue travelling with them, but discovers that there’s much more to performing that the magic the audience sees.

On the way, he experiences the control and under handed acts that go on in order to keep the circus from failing during the depression. Staff would go missing in the night if the boss and husband of Marlena, August (Christoph Waltz), was unable to pay… Continue reading →

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Burlesque

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So, Burlesque is pretty much a lighter, chick flick version of Moulin Rouge. It is an upbeat, modern story with back to back songs that make you want to get up and dance.

Christina Aguilera is a singer who I admire for her talent, yet if I am honest, I do not enjoy her music.

She does an amazing job during the scenes where she is performing on stage. However, for the most part her acting is much to be desired. Her squeaky voice gets a little on nerves considering she has such a deep, powerful singing voice.

The same goes for Cher, her acting was average… But so was her auto-tuned voice. I’m not convinced that she should really be classed as “a legend”. I swear… Continue reading →

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Midnight In Paris

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When I first watched this film I was disappointed because in my mind I had hyped up the plot line of Gil (Owen Wilson) travelling through different time eras of Paris. The artistic, fashionable, sophisticated and elaborate times of the 1920s, as well as the ceremonious, coming of age times of the 1890s.

The plot is about the Golden Age. That is, longing to live in a time before your own. For example, mine is the early 1960s. Better music and fashion with the huge liberal movement against war and for free will. However, Midnight In Paris attempts to… Continue reading →

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My Favourite Character: Maggie Jacobs

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The ditsy character in the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant TV series, Extras, is Maggie Jacobs (Ashley Jensen).

I like her because she is so innocent and naive. It makes a huge change for one of the leading characters to be so honest and unaffected by mainstream beliefs. She is fresh-faced and relatable, similar to Bridget Jones but much more average. I guess because she’s… Continue reading →

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Easy A

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This is quite a different version to the typical high school chick flick that drowns the market. Easy A is about how rumours can make or break your reputation, as well as who your friends really are. But also how you can take insults and use them to your advantage.

It has a pretty funny script with some catchy insults from the witty and very sarcastic Olive (Emma Stone). Her best come backs are usually toward the “Jesus Freak”, Marianne (Amanda Bynes), who was responsible for spreading the original rumour about Olive losing her virginity… Continue reading →

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Megamind

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This animation is one of the most enjoyable ones I have seen. The best animations are ones where they are enjoyable for more than one age group, which Megamind certainly is! Great for the younger audience as well as for teenagers and adults.

It’s about a blue alien named Megamind (Will Ferrell) who grew up on Earth causing destruction and trouble, and his arch nemesis Metro Man (Brad Pitt) who is the city’s ‘super hero’. It’s a classic good guy/bad guy relationship which becomes a game to Megamind, until he finally defeats Metro Man and realises that the success he had always strived for was not as rewarding as he had thought… Continue reading →

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Sour Times – Portishead

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I found this album in my mum’s CD collection and gave it a listen.
Heavy much! As soon as this song begins you suddenly feel in a daze… Perhaps that’s not an overly positive reaction, but that’s how strong this song is, it’s very influential on your emotions. Really puts you on edge, for sure.

In fact most of Portishead’s songs are, (particularly on their album Dummy (1994) anyway), the drone of the instruments mixed with the drowned vocals is original and gives you chills. If you need to chillax or need to have a good cry, give this song a listen.

I just read that the Portishead genre is referred to as “trip hop”. Never heard of that term before. Also, watching the music video, the lead singer looks like Jodie Foster… What do you reckon?

Love it! Continue reading →

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My Favourite Scene: Saving Private Ryan

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I had first heard of Edith Piaf when I saw Inception (Non, je ne regrette rien). She is a famous French singer from the twenties through to the sixties, and I adore her music.

Since learning about her songs, this scene in Saving Private Ryan jumped out at me. It is a bonding scene between the soldiers that begins with a conversation about Piaf’s song, like most of my other favourite scenes, it’s a slower paced and one of the quieter moments of the movie.

I just really enjoy one of the more sensitive soldiers translating the song to the others.

Please excuse the quality… Continue reading →

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My Favourite Scene: Yes Man

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Yes Man (2008): Talking down a man from jumping

On a comedic turn, this scene jumps out from the otherwise somewhat average comedy as Jim Carrey’s character, Carl, talks down a reluctant suicidal jumper via sing-song. A song called, rather appropriately, “Jumper” by Third Eye Blind (jump to the start of the song at 1.17 in you’d like). Continue reading →

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My Favourite Scene: Little Miss Sunshine

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“Life is just one big beauty contest after another”
Just a fascinating moment of reflection by a character who is longing to become a pilot despite being colour blind, and a writer who attempted suicide… Continue reading →

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My Favourite Scene: Up in the Air

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“I stereotype, it’s quicker”
A story about the lives of people who have been made redundant during an economic crisis, told by the man who is hired to fire them on behalf of their bosses. A very comedic look by Ryan (George Clooney) regarding people in airports…

And:

“Everybody needs a co-pilot”
A heavier scene about the point of life, with quite an insightful answer by Ryan… Continue reading →

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The Breakfast Club

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Probably the best high school based film. Openly addressing and mocking their stereotypes and the pressures each one of them are under by their associated peers.

It is a very well made film because it is entirely based in one place during one day, with a tiny cast. We are sitting in on a Saturday detention with five completely contrasting students who soon find out what they hate and what they love about each other and themselves. Very human, very emotionally rooted.

The Characters… Continue reading →

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My Favourite Scene: Made In Dagenham

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Made In Dagenham (2010): The beauty of doing something unexpected of you
Okay, I can’t believe it took me so long to write about this movie! This is based in the sixties (which obviously gives it an instant thumbs up from me) about women getting equal rights in the workplace. These are two of many clips that I could have chosen that really inspires me in this film… Continue reading →

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My Favourite Scene: The Boat That Rocked

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The Boat That Rocked (2009): The meaning of life = Rock n Roll!

You know that feeling of just wanting to get up and dance? A song where you just can’t sit still listening to? This is a scene about that feeling.

This is actually a deleted scene from the incredible film, The Boat That Rocked which shows the deeper meaning of the effects of music. Rock and roll just makes sense to people. Continue reading →

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The Blair Witch Project

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I literally did not sleep last night.

I remember seeing snippets of this film when I was about 11, but I had not remembered how effective the horror aspect of it was! It is the best horror/psychological thriller I have seen in a very long time.

Three film makers go missing in the woods while covering the legend of the Blair Witch that supposedly haunted the area. The film makers were never found again, but their footage was, which makes up this film.

Pretty simple plot line with amateur filming which is very convincing! The idea of this horror is that the less you see the more your imagination runs a riot. You never actually see any witch or any sort of witch craft or… Continue reading →

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My Favourite Scene: Stranger Than Fiction

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Stranger Than Fiction (2006): You miscreant!

I love Ana Pascal’s (Maggie Gyllenhaal) vocabulary and anarchist values expressed rather articulately. This entire movie was filled with many scenes that are fantastically written and performed fantastically. But I have to say, this first encounter with Ana was uplifting and inspiring. A character I certainly adore, and this scene is her best one.
Continue reading →

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Cemetery Junction

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Based in the early seventies, this film follows the lives of three boys in their early twenties whose lives consist of “boozing”, partying and “getting birds”. However, after one of the boys, Freddie (Christian Cook), meets an old friend, Julie (Felicity Jones) who is bursting to leave town and travel the world, he decides that he wants more in life too.

They both realise that they are both being held back by conservative parents and living in the regimented town of Cemetery Junction… Continue reading →

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Karma Police – Radiohead

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This song and music video are ah-may-zing! The drone of a life that has you on the “Karma payroll” leading you to lose sight of what is good in the world. It is easy to shut off and become a zombie in life when things never seem to go right for no reason of your own, perhaps causing you to snap.

For a minute there, I lost myself

The music video is pretty straight forward. Chasing down an seemingly average man for the apparent wrongs that he needs to be punished for by Karma. It is clear… Continue reading →

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