This Is England '88 (2011)

I saw This is England (2006) when it came out at the cinema, it was really good and then I forgot about it, when This is England '86 came on the telly and was all about Woody and Lol's wedding and breakup and her murdering her rapist father, well, I thought it was excellent, the best thing I'd sen on tv for years and years. Why didn't I write about it on the blog? Maybe then I would have remembered how much I'd enjoyed it and I wouldn't have somehow managed to miss this one! '88 was on last Christmas and is a sort of nativity story, it wasn't as gripping as the last series but I really enjoyed it. It was just about how Lol and Woody were both so sad without each other. I like stuff like that, I like depressing romances.

Midnight in Paris (2011)

YES. A Woody Allen film made just for him like his good ones were, but without him, and with a charasmatic and handsome leading man, but still playing the Woody Allen part and it working.
Brillianly nerdy and indulgent and intellectual but at the same time not really, and above all affectionate, romantic and beautiful but not sexy and never trying to be. Just lovely.
What I loved most about Midnight in Paris was that the present day bits could have been any time really in the past forty years. There was nothing topically specific, rich republicans have always been like that and always will be. It wasn't ever about a time really, just a place. Predictable ending, but what a nice film. And the opening sequence of just views of Paris was great too.

The Artist (2012)

I was one of the people who saw the Artist without first seeing the spoiler-laden trailer.
I thought it was wonderful and a brilliant experience.
Everyone should see it at the cinema.

Les Emotifs Anonymes (2010)

Romantics Anonymous.
The ending falls flat but the other 80 minutes are super lovely and great.
I really REALLY liked this film.
If you are or have been in your past a socially awkward person unable to tell someone how you feel about them, as I am or have been or am, you should like it.
Also, if you like scenes of great sexual tension played by actors so normal looking but playing characters who are so endearing you find them both extremely attractive, you should like it.
He owns a chocolate factory that it going bust and she is a talented chocolatier hired under the misaprehension that she is a saleswoman. He can't touch anyone and has never been on a date and she is overwhelmed and brought to tears if anyone even asks her a question. When they kiss it is so hot.
I think the reason why it is so hot is that they are both 40+ and normal looking. There is nothing more bland than seeing Kristin and R-Patz make out, Isabelle Carré and Benoît Poelvoorde on the other hand was one of the best movie smooches I've ever seen on the big screen.
I look forward to buying the dvd.

Jane Eyre (2011)

I had doubts about yet another Jane Eyre, especially as I love love LOVE the 2006 BBC version. But the trailer, though it looked practically the same as the BBC one, or maybe because it looked the same, made me want to watch it.

I wondered would it be exactly the same, would they deliver all the lines and shoot it the same. They didn't. It is so worth seeing! It's great!

The only bit that I found very similar was the school bit with Jane's pal dying, but I suppose you can't do that much different.

I loved how they mixed it up a bit, put all the boring St John bits at the beginning, that's the bastard about the series, episode three is SO boring because it's just St John talking. Ugh! So that was great, breaking those chapters up with Jane's childhood and then ploughing into the sexy story!

The sexual tension was so well done! Bloody loved it! Got me all riled up. Jane seemed hardly to say anything through the whole film which really worked and she looked like a munter (I thought much more than Ruth Wilson's duckface) and Rochester was an angry shouty bastard but he was serious and it made me realise how camp Toby Stephens is! They cut a load of it though (not much of Mrs Rochester freaking Jane out and Grace Pool wasn't even in it), there was far too much Judi Dench and I can't stand her, it was a serious story but they some how managed to give Judi Dench loads of jokes- It's like they wrote more lines for her.

The ice queen was far too cute played by lovely Imogen Poots and the little French girl was too sweet as well, she is AWESOME in the 2006 version, she grates on you as much as she does on Rochester, love it! Anyway, thumbs up, well done to everyone doing Yorkshire accents too.

That Thing You Do (1996)

Tom Hanks directs a boy who looks sort of like how he used to. Like Robert Redford directing Brad Pitt, except Brad Pitt is really good and where is this boy now? Colin Hanks on the other hand, who I noticed had an non-speaking role as Liv Tyler's escort and screen time of two seconds, has done some ok comedy films and was in series two of Mad Men, he's probably more likely to be his father's protégé, but still, do we really need a new Tom Hanks?

I saw this film when it came out and now I've rewatched it 15 years later, it was nothing special. But you know, I do like that song. I downloaded that song about five years ago after hearing it used over a montage in an episode of Third Rock from the Sun (Dick, Mary and Strudwick bunk off school and go go-carting etc. Those episodes with Strudwick were the best!!)

They play the song fully about six times during the film.

Imagine how awful the film would have been if the song had been shit! The song makes the film. It's an ok film, apart from the last three seconds, which is the hotel porter grinning knowingly at the camera. What the fuck!?

Nine minutes in. Absolutely brilliant.

The English Patient (1996)

The English Patient is my sister's favourite film, she carries this picture of Ralph Fiennes and Kirsten Scott-Thomas dancing together in her wallet. My favourite film is The Elephant Man, I do not carry a picture of John Merrick.

I think what Anna likes about The English Patient is the passion between the lovers, it's pretty intense! I think she likes how real and horrifically painful their love seems to be- and it helps that they're both gorgeous! The film is gorgeous, it looks beautiful and it sounds beautiful, it has a really good musical score. It's a tragic romance and that's what Anna likes to write about.

So what do I like to write about? Isolation and loneliness, horrible nasty bastards and drunks. I love The Elephant Man, it has the real life tragedy yeah, I like tragedy too but more importantly it has over the top theatrical performances, which I adore, it has a good musical score and it looks like a black and white illustration. I watched Anna's favourite film with her last night but no one ever wants to watch The Elephant Man with me.

Green Card (1990)

A question: Andie MacDowell or Bebe Neuwirth? Personally I'd go Bebe every time; her voice, her skin, her hair, those eyes, argh! She's gorgeous. I watched that episode of Cheers a couple of weeks ago where she and Frasier go on the psychology chat show and practically have sex with their eyes, it was the HOTTEST thing I'd ever seen! Unfortunately Bebe wears a stupid hat in Green Card so I'd probably go for Andie, who instead wears a variety of stupid hats.

Green Card was one of my favourite films when I was younger, it's what I thought romance was, and I guess I still do because I saw it again yesterday for the first time in years and I thought it was lovely! It's got a gentle silliness and it's full of sexual tension, what more do you need?

Who is the Andie MacDowell of nowadays? We don't have one. It's a shame, she is mostly shite and annoying but she's in four great films and she's perfect in those films as the stuck-up, beautiful woman. Green Card, Groundhog Day, Four Weddings and yes, I'm going to say it, Michael -I liked it!

Inception (2010)

Best film I've seen for AGES!

Looked amazing, brilliant intelligent script, wonderful ensemble! No shortage of eye-candy either, god I love Tom Hardy.

I want to OWN it!

The Bounty Hunter (2010)

The options were a French film, the Leo film or this. Anna and I had just spent a week in Italy seeing amazing architecture and works of art and ice cream, we had saturday to kill and we were tired, so instead of seeing a film we actually fancied seeing we settled on this obvious drivel.

And what drivel!

You know a film is badly written when at the end the main characters explain the last two hours to the audience through typical Harry Potter conversations: "So you see, it wasn't Snape after all! It was Voldemort all along!" Yeah, that happened at the end of this film, but in much more detail, as if the audinece actually cared what the FUCK was happening by then! Total rubbish.

Anyway, Anna and I both came out of the cinema talking about the same thing, how gorgeous Jennifer Aniston is. There was a time towards the end of Friends when she was so horrifically thin that she made us feel sick, well those days are over, she is 41 and she is lovely, her legs, her arms and her face are perfect.

The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)

I can't resist it... Whenever it's on I must watch.

And though Oscar Wilde had some pretty iffy ideas about what idiots women are I still find his best loved play warm and witty when played by this wonderful group of actors. There was never any point in making that 2002 version with creepy Colin Firth and crawly Rupert Everett. Ah, perfection, Redgrave and Denison! Such charming charmers! -and I challenge you to deny that Denison is not Richard E. Grant's real father. They look, act and sound exactly alike!

I also love the insanely colourful technicolour! The costumes and everything, it's so bright! Fits the mad script perfectly.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Another one of Dad's 1 quid rentals, and one I wasn't really keen on seeing, I think Richard Herring described it as a series of swears that he couldn't even watch in one sitting (I think it was three in all) so I wasn't really bothered, but as it is Father's Day we, the daughters, sat and watched it with Papa.

And it wasn't that bad, the special effects weren't total crap, they were ok, it was only really at the beginning for the baby and a split second towards the end; Brad's face all photoshopped to fuck.

It was a long film and every ten minutes or so we'd argue over how old everyone was supposed to be which was fun until Brad stayed forty for about ten years and Cate Blanchett seemed to be getting younger...

The best bits of the film on a visual level were of course when Brad looked young and fabulous à la Jimmy Dean on his bike, but story-wise we all agreed that when Jared Harris' character died it started to drag.

Nine (2009) Trailer- film won't appear until November

la la la laa, la la laaa la, la la la la la la la laaaaa!!!

Chicago is not one of my favourite musicals and the film isn't helped with the casting of Rene Zellwegger and Richard Gere, two actors I'm not fond of, but I think the film itself is an extremely good musical film. The director knows what he's doing, there are no bits where you think 'oh god, a song...' The songs all gel perfectly well into the story thanks to the stage set-up throughout. The same director, Rob Marshall, is doing Nine and I am so pleased!! Because Nine is a really good musical! Great story, characters and songs, but I think it- like all stage musicals- would have to be tackled carefully on film, I don't think I have to worry.

The casting looks fabulous; Daniel Day Lewis as Guido just better be able to sing (wonder why Antonio Banderas didn't get to recreate his stage version... Surely he can still pass for forty?) Marion Cotillard as the missus, Penelope Cruz as the mistress, Nicole Kidman as the actress, Kate Hudson as the American journalist, Sophia Loren as the mother, Black Eyed Peas singer as the prostitute (that's her singing over the trailer- bloody good!! A million miles better than the '93 London Cast Recording I have!!) and Judi Dench.

I don't know why I didn't know this was happening, films are always a surprise to me now, I stopped buying Empire three years ago after a five year loyalty to save money, no doubt that money now goes on something else and to top it off I'm ignorant of important film-news!! Anyway I cannot wait to see this film, it looks great fun. I especially look forward to Marion Cotillard (La Môme Piaf!) she's very lovely. I will update 25th November!!

The Moon and the Stars (2007)

So this film was never released over here, in fact it hasn't even been released on dvd, so god knows how I finally got to see a copy of it! Well, I know, it's thanks to one of my pals over at the Jonathan Pryce Fanclub. But I've no idea where she got it!! Anyway, here's the point; I didn't actually think it was that bad!
I actually liked it (a bit) I just always feel so pissed off that Jonathan Pryce wasn't offered these film roles earlier in his career. I'm betting that the main reason this film wasn't released was that the industry said "No one's going to go and see a film where 59-year old Jonathan Pryce is your romantic lead- wig or no wig!" Obviously I'd see a film where Jonathan's the romantic lead, it's what I pray for everytime his imdb is updated! Maybe that's the secret reason I was not that into the film- one makeout scene, one!? Then cut to a fantastic looking breakfast. Gah! This isn't what I, the audience of Jonathan Pryce romantic films, paid for!!
Enough about Jonno, for now, let me tell you what I liked about the actual film. The story is it's May 1939, A gay, Jewish film producer is making a film version of Tosca in fascist Italy starring Germany's most beautiful actress and England's recovering alcholoic/heroin addict leading man. It's predictable, the war is going cause trouble for these people and of course the German bird isn't a Nazi she's actually really nice and will learn to love the heroin addict with the wig. Yeah, it wasn't really the story I was into, though I enjoyed the stalker, I'm sure I've seen him in something else... But it was the style in which it was shot I liked. I liked the whole look of it, and when it worked the old-styley shots looked fantastic- lots of mirrors with people's faces in them, and Powell and Pressburger style sound; her scream melding with the train whistle after he left.
The Bogart and Bacall thing they were trying for didn't work, and I'll tell you why, and I really don't think it had anything to do with J.P.- it was her, Sorry Catherine McCormack, I don't know if it was all the plastered on makeup that was off-putting, but I found her quite ugly and harsh, was this supposed to be contrast to soft and smiling Jonathan Pryce? It is possible to be striking and cute you know! (I know)
Oh yeah, and how many times can you say the name of the film in the film without it getting tedious? Just stop saying 'The moon and the stars'!!!! Jeez!
Back to Jonathan, a subject I can talk about but recently have had little to talk about (Cast him! Cast him!) His little rant on set was quite amusing, not really Christian Bale... "Tch! how obnoxious that British chap is, did you hear him? I think he might have actually said 'bugger' gasp!" Lots of overacting of course, but he's an actor playing an actor playing a campy villain- in the 30s! It was great!
Complaints: Not enough dancing- Jonathan is so fluid when he dances it's creepily mesmerizing! They hardly showed any of that at all.
Opposite of Complaints (it's late! I've been up since 6!): Great shots of Jonathan looking tall and handsome- that was one of the better wigs I've seen on him- Nothing like standing next to a short, fat, ugly person to make you look fabulous!!
Puzzles: How did Jonathan Pryce spend one night in prison and come out the next morning with his cream suit completely spotless?

PS You've all voted for the wrong Uptown Boys, you idiots! God, I know I'm going to be worse than Susie and those brown mugs about this but, come on!! Did any of you actually watch that music video?! It's Wilby!!! eff sake!

Pillow Talk (1959)

I hate Doris Day. I'm sure she is lovely and everything, but something about her is just so ugly that I positively refused to watch Pillow Talk even though I knew it must be good. Again, it was one of those days last week when I was just too tired to argue.

It was great, of course it was, Tony Randall is brilliantly slimy, he should be in every scene! And I thought Rock Hudson was brilliant too- though again, too ugly. Sorry People, I just can't watch films where the leads repulse me, I know how Anna felt when she was forced to watch that film where formerly lovely handsome Clark Gable is old old OLD... I expect this was one of the first formulaic Day/Hudson films and maybe they go down from here, I'll never know (I don't intend to see her withered orange button face ever again) but the jokes are excellent. Hudson accidentally walking into the gynacologist and asking to see the doctor was a particualrly good running gag and finished the film of predictably but nicely. You will probably need someone to explain to you want a 'party line' is, otherwise you will not know what the hell is going on as it's the premiss of the whole film. Apparently people used to share telephone numbers even if they lived nowhere near each other, already it sounds like a rom-com setup.

If you don't think Doris Day and Rock Hudson are ugly as sin you will love this film! If you think they are just grit your teeth and enjoy the fact that there aren't that many close ups.

Shopgirl (2005)

I have a feeling the reviews of films I hated will be better than the reviews of films I actually enjoyed. Tonight Suzie and I watched Shopgirl, which I've actually wanted to see since it came out and is one of the few films Suzie owns (along with The Other Boleyn Girl and Blades of Glory), I wanted to see it but I think it went straight to video over here. I seem to recall Novocaine went that way too. I saw that film when the video came out though, and I have to say I was mightily disturbed.

I'm a Steve Martin fan, I own every single one of his films up to and including Bowfinger, God, that film is brilliant. Ok, I saw a couple of awful recent-ish ones too, like Cheaper By the Dozen- shudder... we all know Steve should just stop and let us remember the good times. But I wanted to see Shopgirl because it's clearly not along the Bringing Down the House lines, and I hoped it wouldn't be along the same lines as Novocaine either. It wasn't along the same lines, I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was very funny- in the right places, and very well written, yes, the sexy scenes are all wrong, but only because it's Steve Martin (ie your dream-dad), at least he's learnt to tone them down and show nothing but the lovely girly unlike in Novocaine- another shudder.

Steve's written the film's two male characters the way he was as a young man and the way I guess he is now, pity that people still want him to play the goofy idiot- and more pity that he continues to do so.

Le Goût des Autres (2000)

I don't have much to say about it but I thought I'd start with the last film I saw.
I think my mum bought this one at Christmas and we finally got around to watching it on thursday after a hard day of bookbinding, pasting and cutting, etc. Usually we don't watch foreign films after a day of concentration (eyestrain and subtitles? I don't think so.) I think I was just so tired that I couldn't be bothered to protest!
First I'll set your minds at ease: French actress Anne Alvaro is NOT Rebecca Hall's mother despite looking EXACTLY like her. I am a tad disappointed by this, I was hoping Peter Hall had met her on a theatre tour of France, sigh, how romantic!
So the film is about a boring but well-meaning businessman discovering culture late in life. Picture your crass dad, who walks around art galleries laughing, suddenly finding he appreciates a piece of art. Maybe that's just my dad but I have a feeling it's most.
It's a comedy, but not slapstic (the French still make them! See Les Visiteurs and Le Dîner de Cons - both most excellent but often cringeworthy!!), maybe it's not politically correct to laugh at someone's misfortunes, that's why it's a French film not Hollywood, it all ends well for our lead so why not laugh at him on the way? "I don't want to live in a candy shop!!" was the subtitled quote I enjoyed the most, an awful wife is always a nice addition in a French film, for God sake, you want him to leave her to pine over the woman he's fallen in love-at-first-sight with! Off the top of my head I can't think of an American film where you wouldn't give a damn about the wife who's being abandoned!! Such good minor characters! The Chauffeur's life were the absolute best parts of the film for me.
It was a typical and simple wonderful French film about nothing in particular, the French could make a film about walking in the street and it would be fabulous (they probably have!). The first French film I saw at the cinema was a confusing tragedy, the title escapes me as I was only there to hang out with a bunch of cool new friends- who I remember fondly as a bunch of stoners. I do however remember it ending and us all shouting "The Piano!!!" and being thrilled that it ended with a shot of a piano on the back of a truck driving past the body of the dead lead. I think every so often in the film the director cut to an unconnected sub-plot of a little street boy who was a marvelous musician...So when the piano finally arrived after the boring film ended we were all so amazed and pleased that the two stories finally crossed over. The reason I'm writing about this piano incident is that the final scene of Le Goût des Autres is so ingenious, so brilliant that you forget that the film wasn't maybe your cup of tea and you just smile at how clever and ironic it is.