Finding Dory

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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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Top 5: Lies Films Told Me About University

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Because of my obsessive indulgence in movies, I have found myself to be continually underwhelmed and disappointing at every stage of life. Starting high school, turning 16, first party, turning 18 and, the biggest disappointment of all: going to university.

Of course, American schools are totally different to the likes of New Zealand schools. But these movies certainly raised my expectations… Continue reading →

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What We Did on our Holiday

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Like my horse, it’s funny at the beginning, saggy in the middle and a bit crappy at the end.

This is a film – featuring the spectacular David Tennant (Dr. Who!!) and Rosamund Pike – about a family of five going on holiday to Scotland for the grandfather’s 75th birthday party.

Long story short, the parents are having a divorce but only the children know, and they are sworn to secrecy while visiting their sickly grandfather so as to keep his final years pleasant… Continue reading →

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Top 5: Films Based in the Sixties

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I love the 1960s… I feel like my huge amount of posts regarding this era may have given that away.

So! Here are my top five favourite films set in the 1960s… (Plus the films that didn’t quite make the top five) Continue reading →

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American Graffiti

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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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Her

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(Prepare to see a lot of screen grabs with quotes from this film around. The script is so poetic.)

Her is a sci-fi romance, drama hybrid that premiered at the 2013 New York Film Festival.

It’s set in the near future where rather than keeping one’s head down – staring at a phone screen – people now have an ear piece that respond to voice commands.

The operational system – or OS – that performs the requests now have personalities, and for all intense and purposes, are a personal assistant with feelings and emotions equal in complexity to humans.

This new update is something that the main character, melancholy and lonely Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), becomes immediately interested in… Continue reading →

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Deliver Us from Evil

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Was this supposed to be a black comedy?

I had been told Deliver Us from Evil was on par with The Conjuring. But I honestly can’t say this was the case. It was a suspenseful, supernatural thriller, but not something that would keep you up at night.

Apparently based on ‘true events’ of a New York cop Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) who encounters demonic forces, the mysterious cases quickly become bizarre and laughable… Continue reading →

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Frozen

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I’m not a huge fan of the cheese-covered conservative Disney films in general. I avoided watching Frozen until just last week, but I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

This was a modern story where the main characters are not searching for true love for once. In fact, it was based around friendship and family.

The trailer includes all of the cheese, targeting the younger audience with the shallow humour.

However, the humour in the movie is actually quite funny and target toward an older audience too. Continue reading →

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A Great Speech: Touchscreen

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I’ve been getting into ‘Poetry Slams’ which are basically poetry competitions but with the energy and intricacy of rap battles.

I posted one called Shrinking Women a while ago which was incredible.

Since then, I have found many others, with this one standing out called Touchscreen.

It’s about the lack of physical touch in our technology-drowned world, and our desire for our more primal and natural interaction to return.

This is incredibly well written and delivered… Continue reading →

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American Hustle

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I honestly didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was Jennifer Lawrence is in it. Which sold it for me.

Bright, bold, glossy and rawkus. American Hustle shows off the glamorous seventies in a gorgeous light.

In the same way The Boat that Rocked made the sixties nostalgic, American Hustle enhanced our recollection of the seventies.

I was utterly gob-smacked to discover… Continue reading →

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Movies About Time Travel

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I do love time travel. It can be matched up to any theme; romance, action, a light-hearted chick-flick, drama, thriller, comedy… It’s so versatile, yet remains so interesting. It is a theme that explores freedom, risk and responsibility.

But be careful! There are many of us who will be happy to point out the inconsistent, nitty-gritty details when making a story based around time travel.

These are just a few movies that are worth a look if you’re into time travel: Continue reading →

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Top 9: First Class Films About Travelling

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I know I need to stop going on about it! But The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a fantastically inspiring film. It really did make me want to travel. Coincidently, Iceland is my dream location anyway. So that was just the cherry on top.

This got me thinking what other films make you want to quit your day job and get lost in the wilderness… Continue reading →

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Jack the Giant Slayer

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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’m still alive! Reviews are coming…

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Hey guys!

So I am swamped with uni studies at the moment and I am afraid my conscience won’t allow me to watch movies as it makes me feel too guilty, when I know I should be writing 2000 word essays on pointless crap.

However! I thought I should write a post to remind you that I am still in existence – I bet you’re relieved – and tell you the list of films I am going to review in about a week’s time…

1. Jack and the Giant Slayer
2. Once
3. The Devil Wears Prada
4. The Cove
5. Express my anger on recent government decisions in NZ…

Please comment to this post if you wish to put something on the list :)

I have been using my twitter account @NZFilmFreak a little more often since getting an iPhone! Ah! Scandal. What a techno person I am; all up to date and shizz. So feel free to follow!

It’s great to have so many fans of my blog…

*crickets chirp*

…and I am pretty sure that people will begin to recognise me in the street and congratulate me on my talents of blogging and pay me to write about films in the near future… 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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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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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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