Movie Monday: The Descendants

Golden Globe Best Picture Drama winner The Descendants is released January 27th, in the UK.  I saw the trailer yesterday for the first time and was immediately moved by it.  If this movie hasn't caught your eye yet, then check it out below.  I can imagine it may very well be adorning your "must watch" list too.

Movie Monday: The Romantics

I'm a sucker for emotionally real films that usually reside on the Woody Allen-esque side of cinema. Occasionally there's the odd film replaying on Sky Movies that fits this bill, usually with a fairly good cast and more often than not one that has fallen into obscurity before it's even been released. This weekend I discovered The Romantics.

The cast was brimming with famous faces, Candice Bergen, Josh Duhamel, Elijah Wood, Anna Paquin, Diana Agron, that dude that played Seth in the OC (let's face it he's adorable but if I placed his real name here I'm pretty sure you'd have "who the hell?" faces on, this way we're all on the same page) and Katie Holmes, whom also produced it. Despite it's celebrity friends I have never heard of this movie, I'm pretty sure it's one of those "straight to DVD job-ees" and as my sister, who took her film AS level today, kept on emphasising in some random, revision, research attempt, it's only ever made $106,000 to date.

I'm really selling this for you aren't I?!

The synopsis on Sky Movies is as follows:

"A group of old friends attend a wedding, reigniting a love triangle between bride Anna Paquin, groom Josh Duhamel and writer Katie Holmes."

This was enough to seduce me on Saturday night to record a later showing for the following day.

Upon viewing, it was everything I expected it to be, dark, emotionally tortured and disappointingly honest, aka it didn't stick to the Hollywood ideals of love, romance and happy endings. For the most part it was awkward too. The relationships weren't the only honest facets of the film, there was a particularly cringeworthy scene at a rehearsal dinner when everyones drink fuelled speeches are horrifically tense and generally defy social acceptability. Refreshingly nobody looked particularly glamorous or visually beautiful either, another trait of these "say it how it is" movies that I happen to like.

Spoiler Alert!

The ending was one of those unresolved cliffhanger types, take from it what you will. Or maybe it really did just have no ending. I'm still on the fence with this.

Tune In...

If you like Hannah and her Sisters, Closer, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, hand held camera movies that give it that "you're really there" vibe and emotional disappointment.

Tune out...

If you despise all the things above which most people I know do.

This film really only caters to a specific type. Personally I enjoyed it, enough to watch it again and to own on DVD. My recommendation would be to cosy up to this stark look at romance and friendships on a rainy Saturday afternoon, with a blanket, hot tea, sticky cinnamon buns and a "love sucks" attitude.

The Romantics is showing on Sky Movies until they stop playing it.

*Image taken from www.movies.sky.com

You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies

My current guilty pleasure is YouTubing The Social Network trailer due for release in October for both the UK and US.  The Screenplay has been adapted from Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires (which I am making my number 1 priority to get a hold of and read) based on the creation of Facebook by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and all the controversy it received at the time, including accusations that the idea was stolen from fellow classmates.  The movie set for release later this year is enticing me for several reasons...

1.  I remember the hype of Facebook back in 2005 when I was on an exchange program to MA, USA.  You had to have a US college address to even sign up to the site and no one in Britain had ever heard of such a thing, nor did they understand the overwhelming capacity for it to take over your life and ultimately lead you to procrastinate from doing pretty much anything.  It was a huge part of my college experience in the US and therefore is very evocative of an amazing time for me, a memory that the current Facebook just can't manifest. 

2. Justin Timberlake is starring in it.

3.  The trailer.  There are a few knocking about on YouTube but I would be lying if I didn't say that it is this one (see below) that I watch over and over and probably one of the main reasons I am so hyped up for this movie.  The trailer is edited together in rather a dramatic form, of course but it is the music used that has really caught my attention and builds the intensity.  Scala and Kolacny Brothers have covered Radioheads Creep (not that I'm aware of what the original sounds like) and it is such a haunting track, one that I desperately need to download , if anything just to stop me from watching the trailer over and over.

Inception: The Review

Entering the Odeon West End resembled Airport Security somewhat, as we prepared for the crew screening of Inception last Wednesday 7th July. Clear plastic sandwich bags were distributed to package away all phones and any electrical devices, including Ipods. There were bag checks and metal detector devices galore! Never had I seen such strict security measures at a screening, especially one with industry professionals that actually worked on the set. Nor did I understand it, until the Writer and Director, Chris Nolan, made his speech announcing Inception as “the most anticipated movie of 2010.” Boasting much? I had been blissfully unaware, upon my invitation, that this movie was such a big deal. Throughout his speech the prestige began to grow, upon discovery that the World Premiere wasn’t even until the following evening. Of course I had been privy to the fact that it should be a good view due to my friend’s insider knowledge from her work on set last summer in both Paris and Morocco. The trailer had even enticed my Mother who detests attending the cinema but nothing quite prepared me for the 2 hours and 28 minutes that were to follow.

As an audience member you are thrown into the story head first and are left with little time to piece the information together or pause for thought, so whatever you do, don’t see this after a hard days work or as I did, with a migraine. This is no cheap thrill. The storyline follows a gang, headed up by Leonardo DiCaprio, steal information from people’s dreams with their next big “job” being to do the exact opposite and plant an idea instead. This proves, as you may be able to imagine far more difficult and much more intricate as they strive to plant the concept in its simplest form. As you follow the cast on their dream, within a dream, within a dream scenario and all the problems they encounter along the way, you begin to want this to work as much as they do. The intricacy lends itself to more than just a detailed story board though with the special effects being crucial to both the architecture of the dreamer’s dreams and to delivering a superb visual experience for us, as the spectator.

On face value Inception is a heist movie. The film stretches much further than this genre though, with complex emotional relationships and the underlying story of DiCaprio’s struggle with his sub conscious. On the red carpet last week co star Joseph Gordon-Levitt exclaimed he felt you could enjoy the movie as just a heist film, or you could enjoy it on all the levels it has to offer. I disagree. I think it would be impossible to differentiate the action from the desperation and internal troubles of DiCaprio’s character and his unfinished business with his wife, played by Marion Cotillard. By doing so it would be, just a heist film, with a slightly interesting twist but not worthy of the anticipation and praise it so rightly deserves.


The film boasts a strong cast including Michael Caine but it is only DiCaprio and Cotillard that are given the opportunity to push themselves dramatically, delivering their characters with sensitivity and depth. This could be considered as one of Nolan’s only downfalls as it seems to leave the rest of the cast, all superb actors in their own right, as 2D throw away characters. Other than this it is difficult to criticise Nolan’s work although Toby Young gave it a go recently stating the piece as “self indulgent”. Perhaps the green eyed monster is rearing its ugly head here, as through migraine and all I left the cinema buzzing and with the overwhelming need to see it all over again. Okay Chris, boast away.



Inception is released Today in the USA and UK.