THAT'LL BE THE DAY (1973)
★★★
This film is set in the late 50s and centres around the character Jim, who's a bit bored with his mundane life so he decides to leave home and work a few low-level jobs at a seaside amusement park, but in this job he discovers a world of cheap sex and minor crime. When this world comes to an end, he returns home but then the local music scene starts to explode, and Jim has to decide whether he wants to pursue this exciting world of rock 'n' roll or take on a world of adult responsibility.
This was my Mum's movie choice and she said she thought the sequel was better, this film is somewhat of an introduction to the sequel. I thought it was enjoyable, I do think the 50s was a pretty rad time for music (y'know being a Beatles fan and they were heavily inspired by a lot of 50s music at least in the beginning of their career) so I quite liked that being somewhat of a backdrop. I have to admit, the main reason I enjoyed this film was being Ringo Starr was in it, I think had he not been in it I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it quite so much but I found myself squealing a bit every time Ringo was on screen. Basically, this film's okay but I don't feel like a great deal happened? It definitely feels like the set up of a film, so I might wait until I watch the sequel to decide whether this is worth watching, but if you're a fan of Ringo Starr like me, you might enjoy him in this - he has a quiff and a rather snazzy outfit in it.
ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (2013)
★★★★
This film is a behind-the-scenes sort of documentary sort-of-dealio about One Direction and their 'Take Me Home' tour, and it basically documents their life on the road.
Okay, spare me the judgement here.
BIRTH OF THE BEATLES (1979)
★★★★
This film is a biopic about the beginnings of The Beatles which goes back to when The Beatles went to Hamburg and it ends when they go on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. It's the only Beatles biopic to be made about The Beatles when John Lennon was still alive.
I feel like any biopic about The Beatles is going to get a good rating from me purely because I'm so interested in The Beatles (y'know if you couldn't tell already) so this may be a little biased. I really liked this film, I liked the period of time it covered because I feel like all the other Beatles biopics I've watched (I've not watched all of them, mind you) cover life after The Beatles got famous, or how The Beatles got started before they went to Hamburg, but this one heavily covered their life in Hamburg. It also covered Pete Best's period in the band, which I liked because you never really see it however (and I wonder if there's a slight bias because Pete Best worked on the film) I feel like it made Pete Best's departure overly dramatic and they made Pete Best to be a drummer with godlike talent, I don't know if that's just me but I just feel it was a little OTT. That being said, I think this was made to cater to an American audience which may explain why it was a little dramatic. I also liked how this film focused on Stuart Sutcliffe's time in the band because I feel he's often overlooked as well because he left and then died before the band became famous, but being the Beatlemaniac I am I want to know about everything to do with The Beatles even prior to the fame. The only thing that bugged me about the film is that I didn't actually think the people playing The Beatles beared much physical likeness to the real thing, this is only a minor deal and I think they nailed the accent, but I'm just being picky. Basically, this is a pretty good biopic and one I think any Beatles fan would enjoy. I also think it's interesting just because it was filmed before John died, so it doesn't portray him as some sort of saint like a lot of biopics do.
AN INSPECTOR CALLS (2015)
★★★★
This film is focused on the rich Birling family and how their night is disrupted when an Inspector comes to visit and starts to question them in regards to a young girl's suicide, and this leads them to question their responsibility in other people's lives.
I love the play An Inspector Calls, I did it for English GCSE and I've watched a couple of film adaptations, and my younger brother is actually studying it for his GCSEs now (but he couldn't be bothered to watch the film with me and my parents so we recorded it for him) so it was pretty cool to revisit it once more. I loved the cast for this, just because they were literally how I imagined the characters to be when I read the play (and that's something that's bugged me in the other adaptations I watched) and I thought David Thewlis played Inspector Goole really well. This film was a lot more dramatic than the other adaptations I've watched and even in the play I didn't think it was that dramatic, and there was a lot that was added on because in the play you are really meant to use your imagination, however I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. By itself, this was a great film. I think if you hadn't read the play, you would definitely enjoy this film. I think the themes in the film are really great like it's essentially about responsibility, duty, and helping each other out - coincidentally (or rather not so coincidentally) the play was written around the time the welfare state was created in the UK. I think the film was a pretty close adaptation of the play, however I would say if you're studying this play for your exam don't base your essays on this adaptation, there are a lot of lines and scenes that have been added in and dramatized that aren't in the actual play. If you can find it, I would watch the 1982 version because this one was pretty much word for word the play - I actually watched this before the exam rather than re-reading the play (whoops, sorry I'm hardly a role model) and I came out with an A. However, this film as a standalone piece is really good, it's basically pro left-wing so if you're already a leftie, you won't learn anything new but if you are right wing, this film may change your mind.
THAT SUGAR FILM (2014)
★★★★
This documentary follows Damon Gameau's quest to find out the effects of a high sugar diet on a healthy body, by consuming foods and drinks that are generally thought of as healthy such as juice or certain cereals.
This documentary is basically Supersize Me but with sugar. My half-sister sat us down to watch this because she's doing Nutrition in University and she's quite interested in food, but she also said this documentary has changed her and she hasn't had refined sugar in 2 months. I felt like the information in this documentary wasn't really anything new, it was basically saying that it's the quality of the food you eat rather than calories that affect your health and your weight and it also shows how much sugar is actually in the food we eat, that was a bit shocking - the average person has about 40 teaspoons of refined sugar a day, that's shocking right? I have to be honest, I don't really eat a hell of a lot of refined sugar anymore since going vegan so I feel like this was a bit lost on me but it has made me want to steer away from refined sugar, but not from my orange juice, I've got a special place for my OJ no matter how much sugar is in it. Basically, this was interesting and a well made, funny documentary but I didn't feel like there were many shocking revelations in this documentary.
What films have you watched recently?
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