Since I have just realised that it has been 28 days since I have last blogged (blame it on the festive season) I thought I would wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR and I hope that the New Year brings about all sorts of goodness for you lovely people...
Director: Pablo Berger
Starring: Maribel Verdu, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Angela Molina, Inma Cuesta, Josef Maria Pou, Emilio Gavria, Macarena Garcia, Sofia Oria, Ramon Barea, Pere Ponce
(Sorry, some of the actors don't have English Wiki pages :/)
Given that this film is a silent Spanish film, I was a little dubious
about watching it (having experienced French cinema, I thought that Spanish
films would follow suit) but given that my friends love this film I thought I would
see is Spanish cinema is better or worse than French…
It’s getting to that time of year
again when we have to do the dreaded Christmas shop. Usually (unless you’re
lucky) you have to go to a packed shopping centre and battle every Tom, Dick
and Harry who have also decided to do their Christmas shopping that day as well
(looks like everybody had the same idea about starting early that year). So here are my tips on how to make the whole
process a little less grim:
It’s that time of year again when distant, long forgotten members of your
family decide to re-enter your lives for one night, and one night only. You get
dragged to the party in your best outfit (can’t let the distant cousins see you
in some shabby jeans now can we?) and forced to spend what seems like a year
having painful memories inflicted upon you by people you are sure you’ve never
met!
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Sam Claflin, Natalie Dormer
Book: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Okay, so I’m going to admit to this; I haven’t seen ‘Catching Fire’, but I have read the books so I didn’t feel too out of whack when I went to see this film. I understood what had happened and didn’t feel like I had missed a large chunk of the storyline by not seeing the previous movie.
Director: John Madden
Starring: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Dev Patel, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith
Based Upon: These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach
I remember this film being out in the cinema and, unfortunately, I didn’t
get to see it… but let me say, this film was totally worth the wait!
Recently, I’ve been trying out a method where I do things I wouldn’t normally
do or feel that I can’t do for whatever reason. Instead of saying no to
opportunities that have come my way, I have started saying yes, and even taking
risks in the process! In doing so I’ve found a burst of confidence I didn’t know
I had, I have started to stop doubting myself and diving head first into new
experiences and whatever life throws at me; whether that be dance shows,
blogging opportunities or simply trying out a new hairstyle.
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto
So, as you all know I’m trying to branch out from the type of films I normally
watch (romance, comedies etc) and, after mentioning watching Alien VS Predator to my friend, she
suggested that I watch Alien to complete my introduction to sci-fi.
As Ned Stark would say “Brace yourselves, winter is coming” and he would
be right. The weather has taken a sudden turn and is now quite cold, so here’s
what you need to survive winter:
As you know, Halloween in nearly upon us, so I thought I would give you a
list of my top 5 family Halloween movies for you to enjoy:
Director: Rob Marshall
Starring: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, Queen Latifah, Christine Baranski
In the bustling hive of 1920’s Chicago, Roxie Hart is accused of murder and set to face trial, but the question is, will she come out of it alive?
Okay, so I’m
going to be trying something different (don’t worry, I’ll still be doing my
regular film and book reviews) but I just thought, since a new school year has
just begun, I would give you a student survival guide to stationery… let me
know what you think:
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Maria de Medeiros, Ving Rhames, Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken, Bruce Willis
*Before I start this post can I warn all prospective viewers that there are some scenes of an upsetting and disturbing nature so caution is advised when viewing.*
So my friends have been bugging me to watch this film for a
while now, but it being an 18, and me being a wuss I had to psyche myself up to
watch it; and now I’m really confused…
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Alison Lohman, Robert Guillaume, Marion Cotillard, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito, Matthew McGrory
I was sceptical about watching this film, directed by Tim Burton I felt that the plot would be too confusing and strange for my liking. I WAS SO WRONG! This film had me captivated from the first moment it appeared on my screen. It was neither complex nor simple; it was the perfect blend of far-strung tales and honest truth.
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Alison Lohman, Robert Guillaume, Marion Cotillard, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito, Matthew McGrory
I was sceptical about watching this film, directed by Tim Burton I felt that the plot would be too confusing and strange for my liking. I WAS SO WRONG! This film had me captivated from the first moment it appeared on my screen. It was neither complex nor simple; it was the perfect blend of far-strung tales and honest truth.
Director: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro
Being hooked on Marvel from the first time I watched Iron Man, I simply couldn’t resist going to see this film. Especially when I found out it had a talking raccoon and a giant talking tree, the deal was sealed!
Starring: Jack Black, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jason Alexander, Joe Viterelli, Tony Robbins,
Love is in the eye of the beholder. That’s the essence for this movie, and let me say, it was right up my street. Jack Black played his role of Hal beautifully, adding humour and sensitivity to a film that could easily have become a joke. This, combined with clever camera angles and witty dialogue left the film easy to follow yet interesting at the same time, by using the time-old trick of making two characters think they are conversing about the same thing, but in reality they are talking about opposite topics.
I have wanted to watch this film for the longest of times, and given the recent sad passing of Robin Williams, there was no time like the present and can I say WOW! I have laughed, cried and cringed with the characters from the boys school, this film literally took me on an emotional rollercoaster so much so that I have a nice tear-pool at the bottom of my glasses! :)
Bunheads – Sophie Flack
So I’ve been dancing since I was four, and from the age of five I decided I wanted to be a ballerina (until I learnt how much work it would take so I settled for Princess instead) and when I saw this book on the shelf in WH Smith, it literally screamed “READ ME!” so I bought it. Let me tell you BIG MISTAKE! The tagline of the book was ‘How do you choose between your first love and your first solo?’ so I thought, “I love dance, and I love romance novels, this book seems PERFECT for me!” I was soooo wrong. This book literally contains page after page of menial ballet rehearsal time, description of the ballet dances which (unless you’ve practised ballet before) you won’t understand and not one but TWO crappy ‘love’ interests.
I’ve just finished reading this
book and I have to say, I’m experiencing a warm tingling feeling because it’s
JUST TOO DAMN CUTE! Sorry for that random outburst of emotion! But this book
was so good that I literally had to force myself to go to bed instead of
staying up all night to read it.
Director: Gary Ross
I read about this film on a website and the description given was a little bit strange; but being horrendously bored and sort of intrigued, I proceeded to watch it anyway and let me say I LOVED IT! Reese Witherspoon (who is the typical blonde teenager) and her bro, Tobey Maguire (The typical nerd) get sucked into a 1950’s TV programme called Pleasantville, and as the name suggests, everything is perfect. Or so it seems. As soon as the siblings arrive, things begin to change, things aren’t as perfect as they once were and suddenly this previously black and white world (both literally and metaphorically) begins to change into colour.
Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher
This book is different to the things I normally read, for starters it’s about a girl who commits suicide and leaves behind seven tapes naming and shaming the people who led to her death. Deep I know! So I was intrigued because I hadn’t read a book quite like it, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. At the beginning of the book, the reasons are shallow and childish but as I progressed reading the book I found that the first reasons acted as a snowball for the reasons at the end of the book. The scenarios gradually got worse to the point where you, as a reader, understand Hannah’s reasons for killing herself.
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone. Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Chris Zylka
Okay, so basically, not being able to remember the first Spider-Man series featuring Tobey Mcguire (I was 5 or 6 when the first film came out and I liked princesses WAY too much to watch a man wearing spandex fight crime) I found this film rather interesting.