Paul (2011)

Running Time: 104 Minutes
Directed By: Greg Mottola

Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen (voice), Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, Joe Lo Truglio

Screenplay: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg

UK Release Date: 14th February 2011

Quick Plot: Graeme and Clive are two middle aged nerds who travel across US after attending the San Diego Comic Con. Then, meeting an Alien called Paul, they team up to help him get back to his home planet while being hunted down by the government who want to capture Paul.

Review: 4 stars again? I know.

But anyone who knows me knows I love Pegg, Frost and Wright. But this creation that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost wrote is directed by Greg Mottola not Edgar. Yet, this film is still pure Frost and Pegg (see what I did there? Mixed it up a bit..) Ok..so I've been excited for Paul for a long time now, I watched all the behind the scenes videos on youtube and since then I've pretty much been hooked on the idea. The film is a brilliant comedy and I think anyone will laugh at this. BUT and it's a big but, I think it works better with people if you are a 'nerd' or just have a real love for Science Fiction (like Simon and Nick do). The references in the films are just wonderful and I love it when films have references like that because I feel as if it connects to you. Like in the TV sitcom Spaced, whenever there is a Sci-Fi reference, I feel like I'm a part of it because I understand it. I'm not going to mention the references because it could give a lot away, but let's just say, I now feel very differently about how Spielberg created ET, why we assume Aliens look like this and what abilities Aliens have.

In the 'What Is Paul?' youtube videos I watched, I grew fonder of Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig and especially Joe Lo Truglio. Hader and Wiig of course known best from SNL and other comedies (Hader being in most of Mottola's films.) All three were hilarious in Paul, each character being well written, especially Kristen's, Ruth. Yes it's a comedy, but Ruth had a development in the film because of her facing something that got in the way of her beliefs, forcing her to drop everything she believes in.
I think both Graeme and Clive could be two of my favourite ever Pegg and Frost roles - but not before Tim and Mike in Spaced- still, they are both much different to Hot Fuzz and Shaun Of The Dead. I am now forever going to ship together Simon Pegg and Kristen Wiig (this is not a good sign) and Paul is possibly my favourite ever film alien.
All in all, a great, funny, brilliant film and I recommend to everyone!
Again, biased- I love Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

But, I do have to agree with a lot of reviews and say Edgar Wright's directory was missed. Though the film would have had a completely different outcome, but in the words of Nick Frost 'Edgar had his chance and he blew it' to make the awesome and brilliant Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
But Greg Mottola did brilliantly, as always and yes...like I said a great film. :D

Woah everyone! Look how close I was to Simon Pegg!

Paul- Teaser

Here are two of my favourite behind the scenes videos that I think everyone should check out.

Paul-Games

Paul- Games 2

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The Fighter (2011)

Running Time: 116 Minutes
Directed By: David O Russell

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo 

Screenplay: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson

UK Release Date: 2nd February 2011

Quick Plot: The true story of Micky Ward, a fighter who became a boxing champion in 1980s. Coping with a crack addict brother, overwhelming mother and 9 lazy sisters, Micky has to make a decision about how to get to where he wants to be- the top.

Review: I've come to realise why so far all the films I've reviewed have either 4 or 5 stars. They're all nominated for at least one Oscar if not more (Apart from Never Let Me Go but that was just amazing). So I'm not even going to try and cover up the fact that this film is special. Fighting films aren't something I have a particular interest in but I have seen a fair few. My favourite of which being Raging Bull, but now The Fighter could possibly be my new favourite fighting film. I only realised the incredible story of Micky Ward was based on a true story when it appeared on the screen.

I don't want this review to be long, but I've just got to mention what I loved about this film and that is quite simply Christian Bale and Amy Adams. I've always liked Christian Bale, even when he threw a tantrum on the set of Terminator Salvation- I've always liked him from a young age. I think his ways of acting are tremendous and the amount of time he spends on developing his characters always show. It's obvious he had to loose a lot of weight for this role but to Bale this is not a new regime. Some scenes were heartbreaking, but not in the usual way of automatically making you feel sorry and sad for the characters. You wanted him to get better and you wanted Micky to win the fights because you felt like you knew an awful lot about his family. Dicky (Bale) is your typical crack head (not that I know many crack heads), but everything about him was the perfect performance and he does certainly have a good chance of winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
I like Adams a lot, (especially in Enchanted but we won't go into that) I will have to research it in a minute, but I think she might have had to bulk up a bit for this role. Anyway, I've never seen her play a role like Charlene and I would like it very much if she wins Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars next Sunday too. (But next to Helena Bonham Carter we can't be that sure now can we?)

Would it be totally inappropriate to comment on how extremely gorgeous and attracted I was to Mark Walhberg as Micky Ward? Yes? Ok then, I won't mention it. But Walhberg is fantastic as Micky and even though not nominated for any awards, still does a terrific job.

I've already gone on longer than I hoped but I found
The Fighter brilliant and so enjoyable, but if you dislike blood and don't like Fighting films, you won't enjoy this. Though some could say it's more than your typical Fighting film, it still has the bases of one, so if you simply don't like the look from the trailer you would not enjoy this film.

The real Dicky (left) and Micky.

The Fighter 60 second trailer.

Now I'm feeling extremely happy with the fact I've seen 7 of the 10 Best Picture films for this years Academy Awards and will hopefully see one of the last three in the half term (if not all!)
I don't know why I'm mentioning that but I am.

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BAFTAs 2011

So it's here.
Each year I watch the BAFTAs but this year I think I'm the most excited. Ever since the age of about 7, my interest in films gets bigger and greater each year. This year, I've seen at least 75% of the nominees and that's quite a lot seeing as 50% of them were not released here until only a few months ago. For me it's an achievement, I feel like I have more of an opinion in the matter.

Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter

Right now it's 7:13pm and I've accidentally seen a winner.

I'm going to now, save this as a draft, write up my opinion on the winners and everything throughout the evening when I'm watching the show at 9pm on BBC1 and probably post it tomorrow.

It's now Monday.
First off I apologise to everyone who's friends with me on facebook for my obsessive status updates last night I was just overwhelmed.
Everything about the award season is so glamorous and is one of the best times of year for me.

Click here for the full set of winners

Right now everyone knows everything and who won and that let me give my opinion.

Well, The King's Speech was a bit greedy wasn't it?
Obviously I'm joking because they deserved everything because the film is incredible. But I do think 127 Hours deserved at least one award.

Jesse Eisenberg image from @empireonline

'King Colin' as he will forever be known as now, won Best Leading Actor and Helena Bonham Carter 'Queen Helena' won Best Supporting Actress but the one I was most happy about was Natalie Porman winning Best Leading Actress for Black Swan. Like I said in my Black Swan review, I adore Natalie Portman, she's one of my role models and has been for years and years and her performance as Nina Sayers will forever be one she will have to keep having to try and beat. I loved the speech Darren Aronofsky did on her behalf because of the line '..because she said I'm to blame for her not being here because I came the closest to knocking her up without actually knocking her up by introducing her to her fiance and she is very pregnant so she can't fly..'
The Social Network won 3 along with Inception which I'm happy for but the one thing I have to admit I'm upset about is the Orange Rising Star award :(

Gemma Arterton looking stunning

I will now reveal who I voted for (even though it was highly obvious) Andrew Garfield. I felt bad against Gemma Arterton like I betrayed her- though she will never know. I'm not going to say Tom Hardy didn't deserve the award because she obviously did, he's a great Actor, although he has been around for a long time already. I wanted Andrew to win it so much because he deserves it but also I would have seen him on the stage!
But then my luck improved as David Fincher won Best Director to which he sadly could not collect as he is busy filming The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo right now, so to my surprise Tilda Swinton asked if Andrew and Jesse Eisenberg would accept it for me. At that moment in time, to be completely truthful I died a little bit inside because when them two are together my heart melts. I will speak more about this moment further down.


Over the moon for Toy Story 3 winning Best Animation. Sad that Inception or 127 Hours did not win Best Original Music, but I will let this go because everything else was fair and deserved.

Jonathan Ross image from @empireonline

When Stephen Fry gave Harry Potter the contribution to cinema award and there was the lovely montage about everything Harry Potter. When Mr Fry was talking about the film and the camera cut to a picture of Emma Watson I was nearly in tears because it hit me that this year the series is over.
I loved loved loved loved Jonathan Ross hosting again! I've missed him all over BBC and his jokes were so funny. Especially at the start when he mentioned Sex and the City 2 and The Expendables and everyone in the audience laughed because you could see where his joke was going.
Another funny and embarrassing moment was when Rosamund Pike alongside Dominic Copper, nearly announced the winner of Best Screenplay without naming the nominations and letting the film play!




Instead of writing more and more boring points, here's my top 5 best things about the whole evening.

1. Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg accepting the Best Director award for David Fincher
2. On the red carpet Edith Bowman interviewing Emma Stone and asking what it has been like filming Spiderman for her and Andrew Garfield to both be up for Rising Star nominations and Emma replied: 'He's actually been trying to kill me on set. When I go in my trailer everything keeps falling on me'
3. Kieran Culkin sitting next to Emma Stone with Andrew, Shannon and Jesse. Now my hunch is bigger that Kieran and Emma are dating.
4. Harry Potter winning a contribution to cinema.
5. Helena Bonham Carters speech.

Videos
Andrew and Jesse on the stage. Just love them both.

Andrew: I'll go first

Jesse: Well I'll go second then

And Jesse is so nervous bless him he's shaking.

And when Andrew walks off and Jesse looks so lost and cute and just sdfjsdfjgjhsfjksdjs

 

Queen Helena's amazing speech! Such a funny, inspirational lady.

 

Darren Aronofsky accepting Natalie Portman's award.

 

I think I've gone on enough about the BAFTAs now and I need to get back to my Valentine's Day plans (LOL)

Oh yeah by the way..

 

 As he's one of my favourite people ever he deserved a picture.

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Tangled (2011)

Running Time: 100 Minutes
Directed By: Byron Howard, Nathan Greno

Starring: (voice)Zachary Levi, Mandy Moore, Donna Murphy, Ron Perlman

Screenplay: Dan Fogelman
UK Release Date: 28th January 2011

Quick Plot: We all know the story of Rapunzel right? If not, then google it and learn it! A beautiful Princess with extremely long ,golden hair lives in a tall tower waiting to be rescued by her Prince charming and set foot out into the real world which she has been locked away from. Obviously, with this being Disney they have their own, lovely twist with their film.

Review: I am in dyer need of seeing a bad film now because giving this 5 stars looks bad! But I had to. I'm a sucker for anything Disney and I have wanted to see this film for ages so I had high hopes but it was even better! I had already listened to the soundtrack by Alan Menken who wrote a lot of the previous Disney Soundtracks too if I'm correct. This is also Disney's 50th ever Classic film, which gives me shivers just thinking about it. Being the 50th, it had a lot to live up to all the others and I think it did because it's perfect. I use the word beautiful a lot but this is what the film is. It's just stunning, the characters are original Disney, with the humour and the true love story that is with any Disney film. The animal characters I think were the best; a chameleon called Pascal and the horse, Maximus, both were so funny and good sidekicks. In the words of Claudia Winkleman on Film 2011 last week, the mother is 'so evil' it's just right on target. She's scary, vile and marvelous and her songs are fantastic and probably the best villain song ever in a Disney film. The song I See The Light has been nominated for lots of awards and I'm in love with it, with Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore's vocals it's so pretty. The character Flynn Ryder is brilliant, so big headed, ignorant at first and selfish, but always with a good heart and the perfect strong, bold, 'knight in shining' armour if you must. Don't let me go on about Rapunzel and Flynn because I'll be here all day explaining how their romantic storyline is so brilliant and beautiful and just...

Again I hate giving away plot lines and to be very honest, most of the story's twists I did not see coming but it was very much energetic and I loved so much hearing children laugh at it. I love seeing children films most of all because of hearing children giggle, 'aw' and gasp at them.
There is no other way to describe it, but it's the perfect 50th Disney Classic, the perfect 10th Disney Princess film and just the overall perfect film.
If you don't like Disney, then you would not like this, but anyone who likes Disney films, classic stories or children's animation films, you will love this. Fun for everyone and I can't wait to add it to my collection of Disney DVDs.

Tangled Official Trailer 1

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Never Let Me Go (2011)

Running Time: 103 Minutes
Directed By: Mark Romanek

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley

Screenplay: Alex Garland, (Kazuo Ishiguro book)

UK Release Date: 11th February 2011


Quick Plot: Growing up as children, Kathy, Tommy and Ruth attended Hailsham appearing as normal children. When they learn the truth about their existence, the three best friends leave Hailsham to lead their lifes but they have to find themselves first.

Review: Nearly everyone who knows me by now knows about my obsession with this. I heard about the film back in August/September time when my Andrew Garfield admiration started and I heard this film was based on a novel so I asked for it for Christmas and was over the moon when my Mum got me it. The book is written by Kazuo Ishiguro, released in 2005 and has won lots of awards as well as being put in the top 100 novels from 1923-2005. I read the book and instantly fell in love with each character and the whole of Hailsham. Without giving too much away I loved each character in different ways. For example I loved Kathy because half of me wanted to be her and half of me already is. With Ruth I felt the same as her because I too hate the feeling of being left alone and I felt sorry for her in lots of places. And Tommy, I love Tommy. There's no way to describe it, I'm probably just biased because I fancy Andrew Garfield a little too much but the character in the book too is so adorable and cute, and the stuff he says and just- he's such a powerful character.
I've realised my reviews are not good at all and I need to stop talking about myself.
Right.
So, I think a film director takes on a tough challenge when they adapts a book and I personally think this was a hard one to undertake. It helped with he actors who were the best part of it in my eyes. Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley have been friends for a few years now, so they had chemistry but had to go against that for their roles. Carey Mulligan is a recent favourite of mine and I think she's an exceptional actress though we haven't seen the best of her yet- but the time will come. Kathy H is a beautiful character and I really thought she captured everything so perfectly and elegantly. I have to speak about Andrew Garfield because he was marvellous. Tommy is a funny character but the film is not humorous so to get the right balance must have been hard but it works. There's a scene in the trailer where he screams and even though I had produced a few tears before that bit broke my heart. The scene is so powerful and takes over everything in your body. I thought people in the screen would laugh at him screaming but I heard some people gasping and sighing because they felt for Tommy.

Garfield, Mulligan and Knightley at the BFI

I had unfortunately seen lots of spoilers online (because I searched for them..) but still the film surprised me because it was not how I imagined it. It was beautiful -still how I hoped it would be, but in different ways. The three chapters had big gaps but that worked better than having them small because the film was very quick but also, their lives somehow..flashed by.
I think I'm just talking rubbish now, I can't explain what it did to me. It just makes me so happy to see films like this because they leave a mark in your heart because of the characters. They really were my favourite part of it and I so hope more people see this film. I know there's more good films out at the moment but I think people should give this film a chance. It's something completely different and new. Like reviewers have been saying, it's a drama, romantic, sci fi film really and it just works so so well.

So yes, overall it's beautiful. So beautiful and I loved it so so much. The actors deserve so much credit because they played the characters who I loved before, very well. Romanek and Garland did a great job too.

 

Never Let Me Go- Trailer

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X-Men: First Class first official trailer!

Yesterday morning I saw online that the new X-Men film teaser trailer would be released early this morning (UK time) but unfortunately, I had to sleep for school (and trust me, I need my sleep in the mornings).

But I woke up to find the trailer online and watched it first thing this morning.

I don't THINK this post contains any spoilers, but in case it does I don't like ruining films for people. So if you do really not want to know anything about the film, don't read this.

A few of my thoughts on the trailer to say the least is just that it's beautiful. Well at least it looks beautiful for now. It sounds silly, but you can tell it's a Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman production, it has a Kick Assy (now that's a funny word) feel about it and I'm glad Vaughn has made it into something of his own.

A lot of people have said how they are unhappy with the choice of cast because James McAvoy doesn't look like a young Patrick Stewart or that the films should have had Bryan Singer direct this film as X-Men and X2 were both brilliant. But I'm against all them negative comments. I'm a big Vaughn fan, I love Kick Ass and Stardust which are both written by Jane Goldman too, so this film for me is high up in must sees for 2011. 

But I have always been a X-Men fan for many years now anyway, for them being my favourite Marvel comic books.

Back to the trailer I can't get over the soundtrack behind it. Once the trailers gets to 40seconds, my body got goosebumps then the trailer got going. I think the subtitles and all the clips included are fantastic and it looks like lots of action which I'm excited for. I like how you can already see Erik and Charles relationship as friends because they really do care about each other and I think it's going to be a great 'bromance' if you will. Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult as Mystique X Beast is so cute and I'm totally 'shipping' it. Never knew about this storyline in it, but I must say I'm excited for I'm a sucker for anything romantic in the slightest. And today I also learnt that Lawrence and Hoult are in fact dating now after they filmed this which I'm also a huge sucker for on/off screen relationships.

I don't want to break down the trailer too much because I'll end up getting sick of it. But I guess it's pretty obvious I'm excited for this film.

It's UK release date for the moment is June 3rd. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if this changed.

I hope the full length trailer is released in good time and I will no doubt post about it soon.

The trailer is posted below.

   

 

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Super Bowl TV spots!

Last night was the Superbowl (championship game of the National Football League in America if people didn't know) which is probably one of the most famous times of the year where getting your TV spot or advertisement onto TV costs the most- but you are guaranteed a lot of hype and talk from it.
As you can all guess this is when all the 'Summer Blockbuster' films. If you want to see the whole list of TV Spots shown through the Super Bowl click here but for now I'm just going to post the ones that I thought were good and was excited for. (You can call me selfish cause I am right now.)

1. Captain America: First Avenger -squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

2. Thor


3. Cowboys and Aliens
 

4. The Adjustment Bureau -squeeeee
 

5. Transformers 'Dark of The Moon' 

6. Super 8 



7. Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides (extended edition)

8. Rango
 


9. Rio



Well, I should really round it up to 10 so for that here is probably the best TV Advertisement from last night:


10. The Force (Darth Vader) - Volkswagen 2011 Super Bowl Commercial Ad

So there we have it. My top TV Spots from Super Bowl.

If anyone is unlucky enough to be reading this post (thank you by the way) I hope you've watched them all if not I hope you've at least watch some because these are going to be, I hope anyway, the best films of the Summer and I am very excited...(another squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)

Just a few of my thoughts of the TV Spots:
- I think that in that 30 seconds we saw, Transformers 3 just looks like the exact same as the first two transformers minus Megan Fox? And trust me, I'm still heartbroken we're not going to be seeing Megan Fox in this film. But the music featured in this spot gave me goosebumps which I really don't think it should be doing yet because again I'll give my hopes up for it. I think I'm going to have to download this piece of music asap..
- Captain America looks fantastic. Looks more action than I imagined which makes it even more perfect.
- The Super 8 TV spot didn't scare me this time! Unlike with the teaser trailer I got extremely scared with the whole Alien thing.
- The Adjustment Bureau just looks beautiful. I've been excited for this film for too long now and I guess it doesn't look 'brilliant' or 'fantastic' like the others but I still think it's going to be something else.

Anyway, that's me out.

Hope you enjoy the TV spots if you haven't yet seen them! I also hope you're all as excited as I am for this Summer and films! :D

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