What I've been watching #9

I feel like this post has been boyband-centered (like we have a bit of a Beatles theme and then a One Direction movie), as well as a documentary on sugar - we're very versatile here on my blog.

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. Yes, I'm lowkey 1D af and I'm a little bit in love with Zayn and I really wanted to watch this for a while. My friend who's a big directioner brought it to a sleepover and forcibly got us to watch it, forcibly I tell you . . . Anyway, I really enjoyed this film. I think the 1D boys are quite funny and it was quite interesting to see how they were living on the road, plus you had their songs in it which are pretty catchy. Although, I have to be honest, if you don't at all like One Direction (even if it's only ironically like me . . . okay, maybe it's not ironic but . . .) you won't enjoy this at all. I think this film makes the boys seem a lot more down to earth and it's definitely meant to try and make you like them but I do think this film has a very specific target audience and if you don't fit it, you probably won't like it. I must say though, Zayn is one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen so even if you don't like One Direction, you get to stare at Zayn for an hour and a half - you can't go too wrong with that, can you?

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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What I've been watching #3

So I haven't been binge watching films so much now that I'm back at school and have actually had mock exams, but I have watched a few films since the last one of these posts I did so lemme update y'all. You can also follow me on Letterboxd to see what films I rewatch as well :-)

LIGHT OF DAY (1987)

★★★★ 1/2

Light of Day is the story of two siblings - Joe, played by Michael J. Fox, and Patti, played by Joan Jett. They're both in a rock band, and it's set in Ohio. Patti is an unmarried Mother and she's got a pretty stormy relationship with her Mum who's deeply religious and generally doesn't agree with anything she does. Patti lives separately from her parents and generally struggles to make ends meet but she's still sticking to the path of the rock lifestyle. Joe pulls away from this lifestyle to look after Patti's son, Benji, and it takes a family crisis to try and mend this dysfunctional family.

I loved this film. I knew I would at least get some enjoyment out of it because it's Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett, Michael J. Fox is one of my all time favourite actors, Joan Jett is generally badass and I love the Runaways, plus it's an 80s film and I generally get along pretty well with them. Unlike my other reviews of 80s films, I don't actually think this was all that cheesy. I really enjoyed the sibling relationship aspect because it's not something you massively see in films, and the actual storyline was quite original. I thought both Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett were convincing in their characters, and I just thought it was really really good.

BRIDE WARS (2009)

★★★★

Bride wars is the story of two best girls, Liv and Emma, who've been best friends since they were little and have been dreaming of the perfect wedding since then - they've both dreamt of the same wedding location which causes a problem when they have a clash in wedding dates, and as a result their friendship breaks down.

I have quite a few friends who really like this film and to be honest, even though I do quite like Anne Hathaway, this just didn't really appeal to me. It seemed like a very generic film, and don't get me wrong I love cheesy films but if there's not some sort of eye candy (usually of the Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, variety) my interest wavers, but I decided to give this a go because the full film was on YouTube, and I did actually quite like it. It was pretty funny and a bit cheesy in that it all works out in the end, but that's just my cynical side coming out and expecting everything to end terribly like in real life (or is it just me that happens to?) The story is actually quite different from anything I've watched before and it's a film I can imagine watching again and again for a bit of light entertainment.

BLADE RUNNER (1982)

★★★★ 1/2

It's 2019, humans have genetically engineered Replicants, which are like humans (but they're really artificial intelligence) designed for labour and entertainment purposes. They're illegal on earth, and they have to be hunted down and killed by blade runners. Our protagonist, Deckard, is a retired blade runner but he's forced to re-enter the force when four Replicants escape from an off-world colony to Earth.

I've wanted to watch this film for quite a while for several reasons: we study artificial intelligence in Philosophy and our teacher recommended it (plus artificial intelligence is such an interesting topic like it's genuinely fun to write an essay on artificial Turing), my brother and my Dad both liked it, and what can I say, I like 80s films and sci-fi. This was my brother's movie choice and we actually watched the Director's Cut which is quite different to the original from what I gather. I really enjoyed this, it didn't really have a dull moment in it, it was based around a very interesting topic, and the ending was good (in the words of River Song: spoilers!)

THE OMEN III (1981)

★★★★

In the third installment of The Omen, Damien is now an adult and he's appointed as United States Ambassador to Britain. However, the priests are out to kill him as he's kinda y'know the spawn of Satan. The film follows the attempts on his life, and a lot of spooky happenings occur as a result of Damien's powers.

This was chosen for my Mum's movie choice as she chose the first two as previous movie choices, I don't know whether it's just the better production value but I think this is better than the first two (or at least the second one, it definitely rivals the first). This one I found genuinely spooky whereas the other two just weren't scary (not that I get scared by films, but there were parts in this which made me jump). I thought this was a great end to the story, and even though I think watching the first two would be helpful if you wanted to watch this, I think it works as a standalone film and if you like more 'classic' horror then this will be right up your street.

INTO THE WOODS (2014)

★★★★

This is a film which combines Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Red Riding Hood. The story focuses on a baker and his wife, and they get a curse put on them resulting on them being childless. However, the witch who put the curse on them was once beautiful and will reverse the curse if they help her become beautiful again by finding some different ingredients - it just so happens that the ingredients they need are different items from each fairytale.

I quite enjoyed watching this, the songs were pretty decent and I enjoyed the characterisation. Plus, it was nice to see a darker twist on some of the fairytales to try and bring it closer to the original Brothers Grimm tales without it traumatising children. Also, James Corden is just great on so many levels.

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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