Beauty and the Beast review

I was so excited to see this film with my housemate last night and can honestly say that I absolutely loved it from start to finish.

Prior to seeing this movie I hadn’t been a huge fan of Disney’s live action remakes – I found them too dark and many, a somewhat drab attempt to target older audiences. I was therefore hoping that the new Beauty and the Beast would be a real life version of the cartoon (which everyone loves) – and luckily, that’s exactly what I got!

The plot is virtually the same as the original with just a few alterations which definitely kept things interesting. One was the back story about Belle’s mother (who we find out died from the Plague), and the similar devastation the Beast suffered as a child when his own mother past away. This twist was particularly good as it created a natural link between the pair which actually gave a certain of authenticity to their relationship.

Producers also cleverly tweaked some of the characters to make things a little more witty and refreshing – I rather enjoyed how Gaston’s gawky sidekick Le Fou was now camp. My favourite change however was used to develop the character of the Beast. He was massively humanised in this film, accurately portraying him as a man sentenced to life as a hideous creature, rather than an animal with human tendencies. It made him genuinely funny, intelligent, and as Belle of course discovers, loveable.

As many fans of the original Disney picture will agree, the songs are integral to the film’s success and likeability. Emma Thompson  maintains the authentic East-End tone required for the classic that is, Tale as Old as Time, whilst Ewan McGregor wonderfully brings to life the kind-hearted wit of Lumiere in his big number, Be Our Guest (which has always been a personal favourite) and was, as I had hoped, executed stunningly. In the cartoon we see chandeliers, show-lights, tea cups and saucers dancing and singing to this brilliant song, but it now it was so much more than that. It became a mutli-coloured Parisian display of dance, celebration and splendour, with if not more impact than the original cartoon had created.

All in all I loved this film. The costumes were brilliant, the songs were even more powerful and theatricalised than ever, and every aspect was as heartbreakingly lovely as I remember it from when I was a child.

Rating: 10/10

The Essex Serpent – book review

In Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent we enter the intimacies of Cora Seagrave who, upon the death of her brutish, un-loving husband, indulges her hobby of fossil hunting by moving to Aldwinter, a village on the banks of the Blackwater estuary in Essex. It is here where she first hears of the villagers’ belief that a mythical serpent has returned to terrorise them after centuries of dormancy, despite the fact no-one can actually claim to have seen it.  On her quest to get to the bottom of the mystery, she befriends the local vicar, Will Ransome, and his family.

The novel moves between the Essex countryside and a society stuck in the past, and London, a city where developments are moving too quickly for society to keep up. The most interesting ‘London’ character is ‘the Imp’ Luke Garratt, a brilliant and innovative surgeon, whose contemporaries are disgusted by his attempts to perform ever increasingly intricate operations. Luke pushes the out-dated boundaries which force him to battle his superiors whose stethoscopes are firmly stuck in the past. His character provides a fairly gripping side-story in his quest at medical advancement, and even though I didn’t particularly like him as a character (his desperation for Cora was a little pathetic), he represents the kind of forward thinking and bravery we all could do with.

The exploration of late Victorian life and the character’s reaction to the massive social developments, such as Darwinism and the effects of the industrial revolution, is certainly interesting. Our protagonist Cora’s character is modern and refreshing in a society that represses any feminine expression that breaks with the norm, which Cora does in her love of the sciences. However, when it comes to it, we don’t witness Cora actually doing any real work. Sure, she roams about the countryside in men’s clothes getting muddy, but she fails to even begin looking for the truth about the serpent as she was so keen to do at the beginning of the story. Perry seems more concerned about developing Cora’s relationship with Will and the other male characters than with the sciences. As a result, the promisingly unconventional female lead ends up defined by her relationship with a man, a disappointing cliché I thought Perry was going to steer clear of at the beginning. The
relationship that develops between Cora and Will initially appears to be one that will defy Victorian convention, one built on mutual respect, but again, this fails with the couple’s drawn-out and inevitable seduction.

It’s a clever story, well written and packed full of double-entendres (I mean, it’s a ‘snake’ that’s terrorising the village…) which can be fairly amusing without meaning to be, but nothing much actually happens. The anticipation that the serpent would at least materialise and produce some sort of action is never fulfilled, despite a few ‘sightings’ and as a result the story is a bit dull.

Overall rating: 5/10

La La Land – two conflicting film reviews

So we went to see La La Land at the weekend in great expectation and excitement (and lots of popcorn and chocolate). Below are our individual takes on the film (we will never agree on movies!), let us know what you thought and help settle the debate!  

Faye

La La Land is a good film, with a good cast and a good story, but it was just that; good. For me it was not as outstanding as the critics and award nominations had led me to believe. A musical should be full of energy and spectacle that makes you want to jump up off your squishy cinema seat and dance in the aisle along with the characters on screen. But while watching La La Land I had no such desire, which was just disappointing. I loved Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s chemistry, but they just weren’t strong enough singers and dancers to blow me away. The one exception to this is when Emma sings Audition (The Fools Who Dream) and despite it being just her face in shot, it was so moving I thought I was watching a mini movie. The other songs are catchy enough and the dance routines are full spectacle, if a little awkward in places, and are sufficiently well performed to keep you entertained. What I did love about the film were the colourful costumes and beautiful scenery which manages to maintain the films modernity while complementing the nostalgic element of the musical.

Don’t get me wrong, La La Land is a feel good film and definitely worth a watch, but for me it isn’t a film that ranks among the greats, and I am a little surprised by its domination of the awards.  

Overall rating: 6.5/10

Michaela

As soon as this film began its characters burst into song – the energy and sense of fun was, as it should be in a musical, the perfect way to kick things off. Although I wish there had been a wider range of toe-tapping hair-brush microphone moments throughout the film, those that did feature had me hooked and humming all the way home.

Whilst ‘Audition’ was the perfect way to showcase Stone’s singing talents, others including, ‘A Lovely Night’, were reminiscent of the old school Hollywood films where the likes of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire would turn a silly scenario into the most awe-inspiring dance routine. Tap-dancing and skipping through the street, Gosling and Stone’s ‘getting to know you moment’ is transformed into something truly magical.

Director Damien Chazelle’s attempt at recapturing the classic style of musical theatre and transforming it into something modern and fun is what I loved most about this film. As such, we get a 21st century world with up-to-date jokes, but with the same kind of movie- magic romance which has made the black and white classics so well loved by audiences today. Whilst this film is not an attempt to completely modernise the musical genre, it successfully manages to indulge the classic themes and styles to create something both relatable and inspiring.

One thing I can’t decide is whether I loved the ending or not – but one thing is for sure, it’s been on my mind ever since. Set ‘five years later’, we hope for Mia and Seb to be happily married, both successful and famous in their chosen fields. Although the latter is correct, their seemingly perfect relationship has clearly suffered. Unknowingly walking into Seb’s jazz club, Mia and Seb now (figuratively) reinact their entire relationship with everything that went wrong, made right. Whatever you make of the ending, it without doubt makes for a wonderful conclusion and an altogether feel good film which I can’t wait to see again.

Definitely the best film I’ve seen at the cinema for a long time:

Overall rating: 9/10

No. 3 – Alien

Ahead of the latest instalment, Alien: Covenant, I decided it was high time I watched the original Ridley Scott 1979 horror classic, Alien.

Set in Space (‘Where no-one can hear you scream’), the Nostromo and its crew are heading home, that is, until they are forced to investigate the source of a strange SOS signal. Anxiously venturing onto dangerous territory, they come across the body of an alien and what looks like a giant incubator full of eggs. After examining one of the eggs more closely, Officer Kane comes face to face (literally) with one of the beasts inside, and becomes the vessel through which this terrifying metal-toothed monster hatches. Now there’s an alien aboard the Nostromo and the crew must quickly destroy it, before it destroys them…

A brilliant and simple plot which uses the oh-so-popular ‘cat-and-mouse chase’ formula to its advantage,  Alien successfully creates and maintains both anticipation and suspense from start to finish. Inducing feelings of genuine horror by focusing on its human characters and their fear allows us to empathize with and experience the nightmare for ourselves. The alien is throughout, an alien figure to us, as it should be.

The special effects are also kept to a minimum and the alien itself is absolutely terrifying. With row upon row of razor sharp teeth and a body that towers over grown men, Scott successfully creates the most brilliant concoction of machine and beast. In creating a sci-fi horror, not only is the film ahead of its time, but aptly, so is its antagonist.

In terms of characters, Ripley* (Sigourney Weaver) plays the classic female heroine who, as always, miraculously manages to survive and in this instance, save her cat at the same time – but I did find her character a little bit flat. Whilst the film’s ending was so brilliantly captivating (Ripley detonates the ship before escaping via a separate vessel), whether she seemed truly terrified at 1) the thought of an alien chasing her and 2) destroying the ship and getting on board the shuttle all in under ten minutes, is debatable. Saying that, she does have a very practical attitude to everything from the start, so as an ultimate test of survival then fair enough, she got reasonably sweaty and upset  I guess.

This kind of leads me on to my main criticism (don’t hate me).  With such a brilliant concept, I  wish that Scott had made more of  the idea of, ‘being alone in space’ – after all, this is the ultimate fear; being totally isolated in the dark. Scott enriches the horror of this nightmare by adding a man-killing alien into the mix, but perhaps needed to do more with this i.e. hearing the sound of the creature lurking above them, or playing with the idea of being hunted down in the dark,would have given the film that slight edge. It does do this at one stage when Captain Dallas enters one of the ventilation shafts and the alien is identified only via a detector – this was a brilliant way of using the monster without a overly theatricalising it, but I just felt there needed to be more of this kind of thing.  Basically, I wanted it to be more like the Disney World ride, ‘Alien Encounter’.  

But of course, I’m not Ridley Scott and I am in not in the position to give any directorial advice on an award winning blockbuster. A bit like The Breakfast Club, I have to take into account the time period in which this film was made, and for 1979 it fully matches up to its horror classic counterparts.

 

Overall rating: 7/10

• I’m basing my analysis on this film not its sequels –  I am aware there are sequels in which she most probably gets more interesting.

Taboo – review

Taboo is a gritty new period drama starring Tom Hardy as our anti-hero James Delaney. A man believed to be dead, having been aboard a ship that sank off the coast of Africa, but surprises everyone who knew him when he returns for his father’s funeral. Having been in Africa for 10 years, he discovers life hasn’t waited for him. His half-sister/girlfriend (that’s a whole weird thing) has married a man who seems so revolting even a dog couldn’t love him, he has inherited his father’s shipping company which is (unsurprisingly) burdened by heavy debts and he finds himself owner of a mysterious piece of land The East India Shipping Company will do anything to possess. As James goes moodily about exerting his authority and resuming the life he left 10 years ago, we discover he has been irrevocably changed by the events of the past decade.

This storyline may seem rather familiar; a long-lost son returns home upon the death of his father after being presumed dead for many years. Yeah, Poldark. But if this first episode is anything to go by, Taboo is a whole lot darker, and weirder. Set in the early 19^th century, this drama doesn’t skip over the unpleasant details of life back then, it is full of the dark and dirty reality of what London would have been like. An excellent setting, costume design and strong performances from the cast combine to create something a little bit different.

Special mention of course goes to Tom Hardy, who is brilliant as the gorgeously brooding Delaney (as he should be, he has played about 100 versions of him in previous productions). He has the rare ability to say 1000 words with just a look and I genuinely believed he was totally unstable and ready to blow at any moment. A scene where Delaney imagines one of the drowned slaves from the African shipwreck is trying to kill him was particularly chilling, and I’m looking forward to seeing where this storyline goes. Having said this, I feel there is a danger it could go too far into the supernatural, which would be disappointing for a drama so promisingly realistic.

As I often find with pilot episodes, the first chapter of Taboo is a bit of a slow burner. As mentioned, the setting of the scene is done very well, but I look forward to a little more action to support the subtle dialogue.

 

Film No.2 – The Breakfast Club

The “definitive 80s teen movie” (Empire), The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985) is set during the dreaded Saturday morning detention, where five students make the most unusual and unexpected friendship when they discover that they all have one thing in common – the time-old teenage fear of imperfection.

Representing each high school stereotype, the punished pupils consist of Claire, ‘the Princess’, Andrew, ‘the Athlete’, Brian, ‘the Brain’, Allison, ‘the Basket Case’, and John, ‘the Criminal’.

Miserably, they each take their place in the library for a day of total boredom, writing an essay on, Who they think they are. Ironically, the time the kids are given to explore this idea, offers its own indirect, and somewhat enlightening answer to a question which had seemingly aggressive and patronising connotations.

The confinements of the film’s setting gives each member of the group the chance to reveal their darkest secrets, and also, their true selves. From the manner in which they conceal and eat their lunch to the way they react to John’s stupid bully-boy behaviour, the absence of any real ‘action’ allows for conversation to play the main part in forming a genuine analysis and deconstruction of the group and the characters they’ve been forced to play.

The film therefore perpetuates a very interesting and heartfelt message about identity – as each kid explains how they ended up in detention that day, they reveal a side to them which no one expected. Perhaps the biggest revelation is Brian’s, whose loveable innocence is a mask hiding his true unhappiness. The other members of the club have never had the chance to get to know him through identifying him ‘a member of the physics club’, and it is only now when he admits that he’d been found with a gun in his locker, that we begin to understand that even thought seemingly ‘perfect’, everyone has there own inner torment. As each member of the club reveals a new truth they crush the expectations of their stereotype, including Allison, whose actually only in detention because she, quite simply, had nothing else to do that day.

A tale which explores the true meaning of teenage angst and the irony of feeling so isolated in a world where so many others feel the same way is what makes The Breakfast Club such a wonderful, two- dimensional teen movie. My only criticism is that it did lack that typical comedic aspect which often makes these films so hilariously relatable. Then again its themes didn’t require the same sort of laughs, and its emotional engagement made the whole thing (even though made in the 80s) so much more innovative and interesting, that I hope more of today’s successors are inspired by it.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

The End of the World Running Club – book review

The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker opens with Edgar, our protagonist, hungover from the previous night’s drinking session and, for a reason he can’t quite remember, a very bad feeling. Ed is a reluctant husband and father of two who feels that life is just a depressing series of disappointing events and quite honestly wouldn’t mind if the world ended there and then. So when thousands of meteorites smash into the Earth, destroying almost everything and everyone, Edgar must face the reality of his secret hope.

Sheltering in the local army barracks in Edinburgh after the barrage of asteroids has stopped, Edgar still seems pretty depressed with his lot despite the dramatic change he secretly wanted. But one day he is out with a small group on a recon mission and misses the rescue helicopters. When he makes it back to the barracks with his rag-tag crew, he discovers his family have been taken hundreds of miles away to Cornwall where there are boats waiting to take them to South Africa, which avoided the worst of the devastation.

With just weeks until the boats set sail, very few working cars, even less fuel and impassable roads, the only way Edgar and crew can make it in time is if they run the more than 500 miles to the south coast. Having spent the majority of his adult life overweight and lazy, Edgar must now face the toughest test of his life.  

Ed is incredibly frustrating and saw his ‘before’ life as one giant struggle when he was living what many would deem a great existence. He has an understanding wife, two children, his own home in a nice neighbourhood and had a steady job, yet he feels totally unsatisfied and miserable. Even after they are rescued from the cellar and live on the military base, he is still avoiding any responsibility and continues in the same miserableness as before. It is only when his family are taken away, and the threat of never seeing them again becomes all too real does he realise what he had and now he is desperate to find it. I feel he will never be satisfied with what he has which is infuriating.

No doubt Walker develops and explores Ed’s character very well, but it is at the expense of almost forgetting about the other characters who are running alongside him. With the possible exception of the larger than life Bryce, we never really get to know them. (Although it has just occurred to me this could be another extension of the rather self-involved Edgar, since he is narrating.)

The beginning of this story starts off brilliantly. The slow realisation and subsequent panic at trying to prepare for the imminent strikes is full of suspense and, despite knowing that Edgar and family survive the bombardment, I couldn’t read fast enough. However, this initial excitement wore off the further I got into the story. I feel it would have benefitted from being slightly shorter. (There’s nothing worse than that friend who goes on and on about how much they run!)

List of films to watch in 2017 – No. 1 Guardians of the Galaxy

So we’ve decided to do something a little different with our film side of the blog this year.

I (Michaela) will be taking it upon myself to watch as many of what I (and everyone else) deems to be the classic/top/best films ever made, before offering my opinion and review of each.

I have decided to do this, purely because for many years now I’ve realised that as sad as it is, I’m the type of person who likes to watch things that I know are going to be good, or I have already seen. Of course if this was the case all the time, I’d never see anything new, but sometimes I just find it hard to commit to something out of fear of being disappointed. This has however meant I have missed out on a great deal of films which I really should have seen by now, and some which are probably fantastic – such films I’m actually worried about having to admit I haven’t seen…

But anyway, take this to be my kind of New Years Resolution thing, and let’s get started with film No.1!

The first on the list (and in no particular order), is Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn, 2014). Now I know this may not necessarily be regarded as a classic, but I had heard good things about this film from a number of people, so I decided it would be worth a watch. I would however like to add that, how accurate-a-review I can offer is debateable because this is probably the first time I’ve properly acknowledged a Marvel film since, like, Toby Maguire in Spider-Man – they’re just not really my thing. So before I comment on how I found the juxtaposition of witty adult humour set against a serious adventure fantasy film so odd, I’m guessing this is just the way Marvel do things?

If they are all like this then fair enough, maybe I need to watch more Marvel to fully appreciate it. I however found it a little perplexing, and wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to take any of it seriously. There were moments of hilarity, scenes which explored deep human emotions, and then other segments of the film which were fuelled with Star Wars esque action scenes. I guess my point is that in being a fantasy film, I expected it to indulge itself in this world and its creatures. Although I liked that it kind of took the piss out of itself, making its characters seemingly aware of the fact that they were a bunch of adults painted different colours, the high intensity action played out in a comedic way made what seemed to be an attempt at being inventive and innovative, just a bit weird for me.

My favourite aspect of the film however was of course the soundtrack. Again, I’d been told how good the music in this film was, and its clear why. Modern, funky, pop music and totally not the kind of synthetic keyboard-tone orchestral vibe you’d expect from a fantasy film. Instead, you get to hear the likes of the Jackson Five, Blue Swede, and David Bowie. I don’t recall there being such music in the 2002 Spider-Man…

Overall this was a good film, but I don’t feel pushed to give it any higher praise. Yes the cinematography and visuals were stunning, but as a story? Maybe the simplicity of it was part of the satire of the whole thing, I don’t know, I just got a bit bored if I’m honest – I actually found one battle scene so long I got up to make toast. So much action and so many costumes left little room for the interesting and funny characters to really shine. Rocket the Racoon was a personal favourite, a feisty and hilarious ‘Guardian’ who had some brilliant one-liners, but that was kind of it. I’m hoping they make more of this guy in the sequel? Let’s hope so…

Overall rating: 6.5/10

What did you think of Guardians of the Galaxy?

 

 

Rogue One – A Star Wars Story: Movie Review

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Our reluctant heroine Jyn’s father Galen, was recruited to build the Empire’s infamous Death Star when Jyn was just a young girl. However, while appearing to be all but lost to the dark side, Galen sends a defected Empire pilot to help the Rebels in their quest to overthrow the Empire.

Happily, his message is intercepted by a now grown up Jyn, who has found herself rescued from prison by the Rebellion and is being escorted by Cassian the rebel pilot and his sidekick K2-SO, who provides the much needed comic relief that we have come to love from the Star Wars robots. Together, they must convince the Rebellions leaders of the authenticity of Galen’s message but fail in getting the support. Undeterred by the negative reaction, Jyn and co. ‘borrow’ a ship to fly to Scarif anyway to steal the plans to the infamous Death Star.

The film hits the ground running from the word go and rarely slows down enough for you to catch your breath. The story is entertaining and suspenseful (I audibly gasped more than once) and the familiar shots of pilots complete with orange jumpsuit and visor, more Stormtroopers that can’t shot straight than ever before, and even a cameo from our most loved robot duo, all set against a truly stunning and diverse backdrop, combine to create a film full of what makes Star Wars so great.

However, this film is not perfect. For me I felt many of the characters were a disappointment. While Felicity is superb as our feisty and self-reliant hero Jyn, her partner Cassian is pretty bland and unconvincing. As is the defector pilot Bodhi, whose story simply seems forgotten about and incomplete. The ending (warning: half a spoiler) would have been much more moving if I had cared about the characters more. I’m usually a weeping mess at the first whiff of death but while yes, I felt a small lump in my throat at the end, I remained dry eyed.

While Rogue One may have been made by Disney, it is not a ‘Disney’ film. It is darker that I expected, and there is certainly no white knight to ride in and save the day (as much as I was hoping for one!). I hate myself for thinking this (as I’m sure will many of my friends), but I enjoyed it more than Harry Potter’s recent prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, perhaps because I am not a fanatic about Star Wars and therefore had no real expectations, while I am a fully-fledged Potter Head so my hopes were sky high.

Rogue One, despite having some weak characters, it is captivating enough to make it a great film, not to mention it answers some glaring plot holes that has plagued Star Wars fans for decades!

Top T.V series of the year goes to…

As it’s almost the end of the year, we have decided to offer out awards (an honorary blog post) to our Top TV Series, Favourite Book, and Best Film of 2016, and our first award for Top Television Series goes to none other than the amazing BBC One drama, The Missing.

Having watched series one back in 2014, Faye and I were both eager for the next instalment, in what can only be described as one of the most interesting, thrilling and emotional dramas to have landed on mainstream TV for a long time.

Whilst series one focused on the disappearance of 5-year old Oliver in France, series two looked into the abduction of school girls Alice Webster and Sophie Jeroux. Now with two children in need of rescuing and with more than one party involved, this chilling drama really did set itself an almighty challenge.

After her family endure a decade of grief waiting for their daughter’s return, Alice suddenly stumbles back onto the scene. Whilst we’re glad to see her, her return so early on in the series immediately suggested that all was not as it seemed – her hostility towards her family and complete lack of emotion indicating that she was in fact an imposter.

Whilst every line is absolutely crucial to figuring  out who is who and who did what, it’s without a doubt the writer’s use of time that helps us piece the story together. Linking the past with the present via flashbacks before quickly reverting back to the modern day makes us feel like the real detectives – alongside Jean Baptiste of course who is just brilliant and a recurring character carried over from series one.

Exploring a theme which is so heartbreakingly disturbing, The Missing examines abduction by looking at the point of view of both the abducted, and those longing for their loved ones to return. As we try to manage our fear for Baptiste’s health, our concern for Alice’s now wayward little brother, and our sympathy for her parents, The Missing proves emotionally real, and theatrically brilliant.