What I've been watching #2

I didn't mean to come out with another one of these posts as soon as it is, but I've watched quite a few films as I've been off school and they've been a bit of a treat for me at the end of the day when I'm revising, but in future I doubt there'll be two of these posts in the space of 5 days! As you'll be able to tell, I've been having a bit of an 80s/John Cusack moment although I've loved 80s films for quite a long time so it's not that out of the ordinary,  but I've just been watching a lot of them recently so here's one for the oldies who are reading.

Also, if you want to keep up to date with what films I'm watching (including rewatches because I'm not including them in these posts) then feel free to follow me on Letterboxd!

SAY ANYTHING (1989)

★★★★

Say Anything is a film about a kid called Lloyd who, to the surprise of everyone around him, starts dating this girl called Diane who is basically perfect in regards to looks and grades, and she actually likes him back. Problems start to occur when Diane's possessive father doesn't approve and pressures her to break up with him.

I quite liked this film, although I think that's because I've managed to develop an intense crush on John Cusack. It's a bit cheesy but enjoyable nonetheless, and worth a watch if you enjoy light hearted rom-coms, plus the iconic John Cusack standing outside holding up a stereo scene is in this film so if you just want to get that reference then it's worth a watch. (I personally think watching John Cusack's face for an hour and a half is more than enough reason to watch a film, but y'know each to their own)

TEEN WOLF (1985)

★★★★

Teen Wolf is a film about a teenager called Scott who learns that being a werewolf runs in his family, and it affects him and his Father. Initially he's a little bit alarmed by this, (I mean, you would be wouldn't you?) he ends up taking advantage of this to become popular. He becomes the school basketball star and gains the interest of Pamela, a popular girl who he has a crush on. However, after a while he starts to feel he's becoming a novelty and not being liked for who he really is.

This film may not be epic but I quite enjoyed it. Maybe it's because it's a cheesy 80s film and I quite like them, maybe it's because Michael J. Fox is in it and I think he's brilliant (seriously, after watching Back to the Future for the first time I had a bit of an obsession with him). It was enjoyable and a bit of fun, but not really one that'll change your life unless you're going through a lycanthropic experience.

LOLITA (1997)

★★★★

Lolita is an adaptation of a book by Vladimir Nabokov about a man called Humbert Humbert who, whilst in the US to teach, looks for a room in a house to rent. He goes to Charlotte Haze's house and decides to rent it only after seeing her 14 year old daughter, Dolores, who he has an immediate attraction to as a result of past trauma in his life where his teenage sweetheart died. To stay around Dolores, he married Charlotte. As you'd expect, problems arise for Humbert as he's more attracted to Dolores than Charlotte.

I know you're probably ridiculously creeped out by that synopsis, but I do find stories like this pretty interesting. I loved the book which I actually read a few years ago, and I liked the 1962 film but I've wanted to watch this adaptation for ages because for a lot of people this is the definitive version. It's definitely a lot more risque than the 1962 version, let's say Stanley Kubrick left a lot to the imagination whereas in this one it's all very clear cut and you know exactly what's going on. I'm not sure whether I preferred that or not, obviously it makes you feel a lot more uncomfortable, but I think that's good as to avoid romanticisation of this abusive relationship (seriously, the amount of people who romanticise Lolita shocks me). I think it was very fast moving and was fairly true to the book, although both the 1962 and this version miss out the details of Humbert's first wife and his experiences in Paris. I think the part of Dolores was better cast in this because she does actually look the right age for the part whereas in the 1962 version she didn't look young enough to play the part which means you don't really see how sick the relationship is (well as much, if you're unable to see that a relationship between a young girl and her stepfather is wrong then y'know you're probably a bit beyond help). However, I think I did prefer Peter Sellers as Humbert Humbert rather than Jeremy Irons. I'm not sure what it is, but Jeremy Irons still did a fairly good job. I'd recommend this if you're quite interested in psychology and abusive relationships, but if you're not then you'll probably just be a bit (or a lot) creeped out by this.

BETTER OFF DEAD (1985)

★★★★ 1/2

Better Off Dead is the story of a teenage boy called Lane Meyer who has a strange family (oh my God the food his Mum makes was utterly ridiculous) and he's kind of obsessed with his girlfriend, Beth. When Beth breaks up with Lane and starts dating the popular kid in school (the ski jock.. yeah that's a thing) , he overreacts just a tad and tries to kill himself multiple times. However, Lane then becomes friends with the French exchange student Monique, and to try and earn some kind of redemption, Lane challenges Beth's new beau on the ski slopes.

I know that synopsis makes this film sound utterly terrible, but I actually found it hilarious. It's a very family friendly film, and I found myself laughing an immense amount. I may be a little biased as John Cusack is in it and he looks gorgeous, but this film had the Cusack comedic charm and was generally just a very funny family film. It's very cheesy, but still very funny, and it's one I'd definitely watch again.

DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG (2008)

★★★★★

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is the story of an aspiring super-villain who has a video blog, and has been attempting to make it into the Evil League of Evil. However, his plans are always foiled by the egotistical Captain Hammer. When Dr. Horrible develops a crush on a girl called Penny, who falls for Captain Hammer, Dr. Horrible's life is thrown a little bit off the rails.

My friend really loves this film, although I'm not even sure if it counts as a film because it's under an hour, but it's on Letterboxd so I'm counting it as a film. I can't even express how good it was. It was really funny - I mean it had Neil Patrick Harris in it, how wrong can you go? The songs were really good, and it didn't have a single moment of dullness. Without spoiling anything, the ending will leave you hanging on for more (luckily, there's a sequel coming out soon)

What films would you recommend?

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What I've been watching #1

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but I am a pretty big film enthusiast, like as in it's one of the things I pride myself on (hence why I'm one of the few people in the world with a Letterboxd account), so I thought I would start a new series here on 'fashion, beauty and an existential crisis' whereby I tell you the films I have watched recently (not including rewatches, because otherwise we'd probably see the Back to the Future trilogy an excessive number of times). 

Just another fun fact, every Saturday for about the past 9 years (give or take a few Saturdays if we've been busy or whatever), me and my family have watched a film together. We alternate in whose choice it is, but this means I watch quite a lot of films from all genres and eras so there could be an odd mix here!

WEIRD SCIENCE (1985)

★★★ 1/2

So Weird Science is about a couple of unpopular, pubescent boys (one of which is Anthony Michael Hall who plays the adorable Brian from The Breakfast Club) who try and create the perfect woman on the computer and she comes to life, then she tries to make them cool and take down the school bullies, but obviously they have to keep her a secret as well because that's how all of these type of films work out.

I'm a massive fan of the Brat Pack films and strangely I hadn't seen this one, it's in the DVD collection with The Breakfast Club and I've seen The Breakfast Club countless times knowing I had Weird Science with it but I never bothered to watch it before, because frankly it looked crap. After watching it, I can conclude that it is crap. However, it's a nice kind of crap, the kind of 80s crap that's so crappy you can laugh at it, which is why I gave it a 3.5/5 rating. It's light hearted and a bit of fun, worth a watch if you like cheesy 80s movies.

ALMOST FAMOUS (2000)

★★★★ 1/2

Almost Famous is the semi-autobiographical story of Cameron Crowe, although his character is called William who's only a teenager, and he's pretty interested in music despite his Mother's opposition to the whole sex, drugs and rock'n'roll scene. It's set in the 70s, and long story short he ends up being asked to do an article for Rolling Stone interviewing a band called Stillwater. He becomes pretty close to a girl called Penny Lane (not her actual name) who isn't a roadie, but a 'band aid' (basically a roadie), and the movie essentially focuses around his new relationship with this girl and his desperation to get this interview with this temperamental band.

I've wanted to watch this for a while because it's one of my close friend's favourite films, plus it came in the box set with The Runaways in it so it's been available for me to watch for a while. I chose this as my movie choice last week although my brother didn't feel well enough to partake, my parents seemed to like it though. It's a funny coming-of-age story and the soundtrack is pretty rad, again it's pretty light hearted and just pretty darn enjoyable.

MISSISSIPPI MASALA (1991)

★★★★

Mississippi Masala is the story of a girl called Mina who comes from an Indian family, and her family is moved out of Uganda by a dictator and they end up living in Mississippi. Mina falls in love with a guy called Demetrius who is black, so his family and Mina's family aren't happy with the interracial relationship going on. This causes a feud between both families and the community around them, and the film basically focuses around this idea of interracial relationships.

This film was suggested to me by a friend because we had a long chat about general racism in the world (sort of inevitable with me, you've got to be ready to talk about this if you want to invest time in me) and she said I had to watch this because it's a good commentary on racism and prejudice between cultures, and I'd completely agree. It was a different perspective to the usual black and white interracial relationships because it was an Indian and black interracial relationship. It was generally really good and I think well worth a watch, it wasn't complicated and plus Denzel Washington is a bit of eye candy so it's a good all rounder.

COALITION (2015)

★★★★

Coalition is a TV movie depicting the May 2010 General Election in Britain and the leadup to the Con-Dem coalition. It's mostly done in Nick Clegg's perspective showing how great Nick was doing in all the debates and everything before the election and then the disappointment at the lack of Lib-Dem support come election time, and then the choice for Nick Clegg as to whether to side with the Tories or the Labour party. 

You may think as an avid Labour supporter that this would be an incredibly depressing film to watch. You'd be right. I had to live through this and I remember, even as a 13 year old, how depressing it was at the time*. However, the adverts for this looked really good so I thought I'd give it a go. The whole film has you feeling sorry for Nick Clegg. Seriously, when it ended I spent a good 20 minutes thinking about how bad Nick Clegg must feel on a daily basis, then I snapped out of it and realised that it was his fault for siding with the Tories. Y'know, siding with the Tories was never gonna be a good move. It was a pretty anti-Tory production but it wasn't particularly pro-Labour, in fact Gordon Brown was barely in it. It was well made and enjoyable, but I think unless you're interested in politics and prepared for an hour and a half of feeling sorry for Nick Clegg, this won't be for you.

GROSSE POINTE BLANK (1997)

★★★★★

Grosse Pointe Blank is the story of a hitman called Martin who fails an assignment so he decides to go back to his home town for his 10 year school reunion. He decides to go meet up with a girl called Debi who was an old girlfriend who he actually stood up at the Prom so as you can imagine she was a little reluctant to get close to him again. Whilst in town, a rival hit man starts to hound him, and Martin's secretary sets a hit up for him but he starts to reconsider his life as a hitman. 

This was my Dad's movie choice yesterday and I loved it. I don't know whether I just enjoy John Cusack.. Okay, I know for a fact I love John Cusack. He's hilarious and he's pretty attractive, don't deny it you know it's true.. maybe not in Being John Malkovich though (which is also great). This film was really funny, plus Dan Akyroyd played the rival hitman and he's also pretty good comic relief. The soundtrack to this was the bomb.com too, had The Violent Femmes, Pixies, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Specials, and many more - seriously great, great stuff. I just love John Cusack, I'm waiting for the day where I watch a film with him in that I don't like because he's just brilliant.

What films have you watched recently?

*I've been a Labour supporter ever since I can remember. Indoctrinated by my parents? Perhaps, but I'm glad I was indoctrinated with Left-Wing politics as opposed to Right-Wing politics.

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