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I’m 100% sure I have reviewed Contagion before… But I can’t find it anywhere so I must have only thought about writing about it. Anyway.
Contagion is almost like an apocalyptic film that explores what may happen in the event of a major epidemic that threatens to wipe out much of the population, similar to that of the Spanish flu that killed about 1% of the word’s population at the time (50-100 million people during 1918)… Continue reading
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If you thought Dunkirk and The King’s Speech were epics, wait until you see Darkest Hour. It’s another perspective of the remarkable rescue of British soldiers from the shores of Dunkirk, this time, from inside British parliament… Continue reading
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I was more keen to see BFG if I’m honest, but mostly because I thought Finding Nemo was so good that ‘Finding Dory’ was just going to be a cash-in. But due to a particularly over-excited boyfriend, we ended up seeing Finding Dory. Sharing a small cinema with about 50 people – some of them peculiar, some of them creepy, and only a couple of them under the age of 13 – we unabashedly cracked open a couple of ciders and the movie began. And I was pleasantly surprised… Continue reading
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Based on a true story, Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) battles the ghosts of her past: heroin addiction, divorce, the death of her mother and the abandonment of her father. As a way to start fresh, she goes on a 1000-mile journey along the Pacific Crest Trail.
To be frank, the flashbacks made me feel really uncomfortable. But… I guess the world of heroin addicts shouldn’t exactly be attractive.
A classic ‘runaway movie’, although I’m not entirely sure if this is actually a sub-genre. Nevertheless, Wild fits into this category along with Into the Wild, Thelma and Louise, and to some extent: Eat Pray Love, Gone Girl and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty… Continue reading
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This movie nearly didn’t get made. Boy, am I glad it was. This is in my top five movies – at least!
American Graffiti is the colourful account of the final night of high school for a group of students who go out cruising, attend ‘the hop’ and hang at the drive-in dina.
It’s not only an incredibly entertaining film, it’s also the most accurate documentation of what the sixties were all about.
This movie makes me upset because it makes me mourn the spectacular sixties. As mentioned in Midnight in Paris, it’s “Golden Age Thinking” – the thought that I’d be happier in another time. And boy does American Graffiti do that; it hits me right in the feels… Continue reading
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A short film exploring the dark effects of grief.
We follow a teenage boy, Jonah (Slade Pearce), who has become obsessed with his neighbour. The neighbour (Jaclyn Ferber) is a widow whose husband died in the war. She is grieving and begins to take a liking to Jonah.
Certainly mature subject matter and probably not material I can really relate to.
However, on a technical level, Love Thy Neighbour is fantastically made. The lighting and set design reflects the characters very well…. Continue reading
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What an exciting cast! Bill Nighy, Stanley Tucci and Ewan McGregor! *drool*
I first saw the advert on the back of the bus, and quite frankly I thought it looked a little.. Lame.
I mean starting from Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, we have had remake after remake of these fairytales and fables; Beauty and Beast, The Wizard of Oz, Mirror, Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman… So to see Jack and the Beanstalk being remade was not a surprise, and I expected it to have similar disappointments with all of the other remakes.
Namely the fact that the violence has to be toned down so that it can be suitable for the younger audience. Despite the storyline being 100 times better if it went the full hog and making it an M.
I was right. But it didn’t stop the story being enjoyable.
I do think the writers… Continue reading
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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“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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So it’s pretty much a series of skits, all directed and written by different people. The story line was that a crazed writer blackmails a producer to get his movie made. The finished product is the movie that is in the cinemas now, Movie 43.
I mean, obviously this film was not going to be good, you could tell that from the trailer.
I can’t say I actually laughed at all in this movie… The funniest scene was the first short with Kate Winslet and Hugh Jackman but even so, I only giggled a little… Continue reading
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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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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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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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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
NZ Film Freak 