500 days of summer (2009, Marc Webb)

Shamefully, I only got round to watching this film last night. And I loved it.

It explores the idea of love and romance, although it's not your typical romantic movie. For a start, there's no happy ending. In fact, it left me feeling quite bereft, as all my ideas about life were pretty much destroyed in a two hour period. Also, for once, the guy is the good guy, and the girl is a complete cow, a subversion you don't often see in romantic films. The introduction of the character of Summer, though, portrays her as inspirational, happy-go-lucky, the sort of person that most people wish they were.

To be honest, I was left not knowing what to feel. In some ways, it's a feel good film, but in other ways, it's quite dark. The chronological leaps mean that you know the outcome before you watch the majority of the story, meaning that you are not free to truly enjoy scenes that you otherwise would have done.

And if, like me, you were naive enough to think that this film is about a couple of years of lovely weather, think again.

Just go with it (Dugan, 2011)

So it's been a shamefully long time since I wrote any film reviews (or indeed watched any films). It's been the same old story of university getting in the way of life.

I have, however, had my review of "Just go with it" published on The Young Creatives site

http://theyoungcreatives.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/review-just-go-with-it/


Got a 5 week long Easter holiday coming up, so hopefully there will be plenty of time for watching and reviewing more films then.

Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh, 2007)

A small budget joint venture between Channel 4 and the UK Film Council, it focuses on a small part of the life of Poppy, a London school teacher. Beginning with the theft of her bike, we are immediately introduced to an ever-cheery, uplifting spirit with a refreshingly upbeat view of life. Most people would be angry or upset at the theft; her main worry at that moment is that she never got to say goodbye to her beloved bike, a quirk that resembles the character of Phoebe Buffay from ‘Friends’.  As she begins to take driving lessons, we are taken with her on a stop-start journey through the streets of North London, as her impenetrable happiness allows the bitter world view of her driving instructor to bounce off her, her relentless energy for trampolining and flamenco dancing combined with her colourful dress sense presents her as the sort of person that most people wish they could be. A film that can be enjoyed on several levels, and is perfect for a mood lift and a bit of a giggle.

Little Manhattan (2005, Mark Levin)

At first glance, the plot of this film seems like a typical ‘rom com’-childhood friends cross paths again a few years on, boy falls for girl, boy doesn’t know if girl feels the same, boy runs after girl- I won’t spoil the end for you, but you get the picture. However there are some twists on the traditional that differentiate this from your average happily-ever-after chick flick.

It is narrated in first person by the male protagonist, introducing a refreshing change from the usual female angst of “he loves me, he loved me not” that recurs in this genre, which opens it up to a wider audience than the usual female teenage audience of similar films.

Even more original is the fact that the protagonists are aged just 10 and 11. With Gabe, an average boy growing up in modern day Manhattan and living through the bitterness of his parents impending divorce, we are taken through the painfully bittersweet journey of first love, as Rosemary races up his estimations from third prettiest girl in his class to the most important thing in his world. Audiences male and female, young and old, will be able to identify with his tongue tied, clumsy and cringe-inducing behaviour around the girl he loves as he battles through his confusion of the ‘iron wall’ psyche which seperates boys from girls in the playground.

Overall, a heartwarming story, and although amusing in places, some audiences may feel that the potential to evoke more laughter from the audience in strategic places was not entirely fulfilled.

Die hard ‘rom com’ fans will love it...for other audiences it may be a little too sickly sweet to swallow.

Toy Story 3 (2010, Lee Unkrich)

Where better to start a film blog than with the most recent film I have seen....Toy Story 3. Although I admit that this is not branching out and watching films that I wouldn’t have watched before, I still feel it deserves a special mention, as one of the most awaited films of the summer


The first two Toy Story films are, in true Disney Pixar fashion, brilliant for audiences of all ages, possibly even more so for viewers of my age who have grown up alongside Andy, and are now reaching the same stage of leaving home for college/ university. I work in a toy shop which sells some of the toys from the films; slinky dog, chatter telephone and Mr and Mrs Potato Head, and it often irritates me when children aged 5 or 6 come in with the parents and point out the toys as characters from Toy Story 3-the majority of the characters have been in the films since the first one, released 15 years ago, but such is the appeal of the characters that children young and old take to them. Everyone can recognise the characters, either as part of themselves, or as someone they know; Woody the leader, the cynical Mr Potato Head, the nagging Mrs Potato Head, slow but faithful Bullseye.

The film is brilliant. At one point (if you’ve seen it you will know the part I mean) I genuinely believed that Disney Pixar were going to give up their tradition, if you will, of happy endings and actually allow a tragedy to befall the characters, destroying the belief system of all viewers who can relax whilst watching Disney films, safe in the knowledge that they will have a happy ending. Nonetheless, in this particular case, disaster was averted, and in spite of a rather drawn out (and somewhat tear jerking) ending, the film was thoroughly enjoyable and exceeded expectations. I only hope that Disney Pixar do not try to draw it out any further by opening another chapter in the lives of the toys. Let a good thing lie!