Maleficent (2014) : a mini review.

It's Disney Wednesday again, hurray! The movie of the moment, Maleficent, has been released with mixed reviews. It's proven to be a box office hit; overtaking X-Men for the number one spot in the UK a couple of weekends back.  The critics however, haven't been so kind.

As for little ol' me, I enjoyed it. It's a Disney movie, full of Disney magic and the Disney fan in me was pleased. However, the more critical side of me was left with an overwhelming feeling of "is that it?"

The highlight of the film was Angelina Jolie: she plays Maleficent with the perfect, devastating beauty and evil that I would expect from her. She lifted Maleficent from the animated movie into live action effortlessly. I enjoyed seeing the tale of Sleeping Beauty from her point of view; we were able to understand her motives a little better and the lead up to the curse itself. The scene where she realises she has lost her wings is heartbreakingly sad, Jolie acted beautifully. I also liked seeing the development of her relationship with Diaval the raven/man, he acted as the conscious to Maleficent's evil schemes. 

Aurora herself is played by one of my favourite young actresses, Elle Fanning. Aurora is likeable enough but slightly annoying (was that just me?), Fanning plays the role as the usual wide eyed affability of a Disney princess and the character is given a little more depth than in the animated version. She holds up well against Angelina Jolie's scene stealing performance. 

As for the whole matter of True Love's Kiss, I like the route that newer films and TV shows (Once Upon A Time, Frozen) have taken towards this very important fairy tale tradition. The newer "twist" presents a much more realistic view of true love; it comes from a deeper bond than just the initial attraction of the fairy tale favourite, love at first sight. Some people have argued that it has been overdone recently, but I'm all for shaking up the somewhat antiquated views of real, true love. 

My main problem with this film is that it wasn't sure what it wanted to be. At times, it was dark, but then this darkness wasn't consistent and wimped out of what could have been some disturbing scenes. Sleeping Beauty is a dark story and I would have liked to have seen a return to that in this live action interpretation. 

As I suspected, the film was visually beautiful. Some amazing, sweeping shots of the Fair creatures Moores and impressive, shadowy portraits of Maleficent with her wings in all their glory. However, like with Oz, at times it just wasn't satisfying enough, wasn't dark enough, wasn't impressive enough. 

Have you seen Maleficent? What did you think? 

The Fault In Our Stars (2014) : a mini review.

Graphic source

Finally, after what seems like forever waiting, the adaptation of John Green's hugely successful novel The Fault In Our Stars hits the silver screen. And was it worth the wait? I think it was.

I am a huge fan of book-film adaptations; I choose to see them as two separate entities instead of picking up on every slight difference between the book and the film. I love books and I love films, so that seems like the best way to approach it. For me, the film was just as enjoyable as the book. 

From the outset, you know the film is going to be extremely sad - of course, it's a story of two teenagers with incurable cancer, you know it won't necessarily have a traditional happy ending with the two main protagonists riding off into the sunset. However, that doesn't mean that The Fault In Our Stars doesn't have some beautifully uplifting and touching moments and I think here is where the movie has it's strong point (along with it's amazing cast). 

I think what is amazing about John Green's writing is that he doesn't sugarcoat things and that is more or less reflected in the film. We see the awful effects of cancer both on the sufferer and also the family and friends - some of the most difficult scenes to watch were those with Hazel's parents (portrayed excellently by Laura Dern and Sam Trammel) and seeing them battle between giving Hazel everything she wants and keeping her as well as she can be. 

It seems that Shailene Woodley can do no wrong at the moment and she is well cast as Hazel. She is a likeable and charming lead, and once again, has effortless natural chemistry with Ansel Elgort who plays Gus and is also her co star in the Divergent series. Gus is really brought to life by Elgort; he plays the handsome rebel-like male lead during the upbeat scenes and pulls at your heart strings during the more tragic ones. 

Perhaps one of the only down points is that at times the script is a little bit clichéd and although the lines may be identical to the book, sometimes it doesn't translate as well to the big screen. It's all beautiful and romantic and live for the day, for me, the romantic lines are a little saccharine. Perhaps that is just my cold heart of stone though! 

I think the teen audience will be more than pleased with this adaptation. Gus is dreamily enough brought to life from the page and Hazel's quips and views on life provide a lot of food for thought for teens. It is a sad story but the romance behind it is enough to satisfy the demanding audience and in my opinion, remains loyal enough to the book (although omitting plenty of scenes and popular quotes). Enjoyable in the why-do-we-do-this-to-ourselves way...Don't forget the tissues! 

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The Spectacular Now (2013) : a mini-review

Since starting my blog, I have realised that I get through a lot of books and films that I really want to talk about or share. I've decided that every Sunday I'm going to post a mini-review (I say mini because I don't class myself as a film or book expert at all!), instead of having the posts sit in drafts because I never get round to posting them! 

The Spectacular Now first appeared on my radar when it was featured on a list of books that were being adapted for the big screen; I diligently worked my way through the list and when I finished the book, I knew I just had to see the film. It took a while but I finally sat down and watched it last week.

The story centres around Sutter (Miles Teller), a high school student who is unknowingly dealing with his own issues when he meets a "nice" girl, charmingly portrayed by Shailene Woodley. Their meeting changes both lives. We see live-in-the-moment Sutter change his philosophy on life, from a party loving  high school student to a sad teenager, who is disappointed by his father that he doted upon. 

The interaction between Teller and Woodley is so natural and true that you forget it's actually a movie at times. Teller is charasmatic, charming, painfully sad and damaged, a likeable character whose flaws highlight the problems and issues of an insecure and hurt teenager. Woodley is the perfect, intelligent girl-next-door who is swept away in love with one of the popular boys. We see the damaging effect of Sutter stumbling drunk from one party to his job, simultaneously proving to be a bad influence on Aimee as well boosting her confidence. 

The Spectacular Now is a coming of age film, in a similar vein to The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. We follow our protagonists ignoring their problems, facing up to the them, and dealing (or not dealing) with the consequences of their realisations. On the surface, The Spectacular Now is an uplifting, pleasant film but when you delve deeper, you unravel a complex, heart warming but heart wrenching storyline that makes you question if stuff really does turn out alright in the end. The emotion and honesty is refreshing for a film aimed at teenagers; the themes of loneliness, insecurity, and simply growing up are not sugarcoated. Sometimes life is tough, we don't always find the answers we want and sometimes we make mistakes and unknowingly hurt or damage other people. 

If you like films with witty dialogue, a great cast, and storyline that deserves to be reflected upon after the movie has ended, give The Spectacular Now a go. The book is pretty awesome too! 

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5 films I'm looking forward to

Summer is always a fun time for film releases; we are able to get swept away by the big blockbusters and often entertaining films. I'm looking forward to this period, it seems to me that the summer time is a great way to let your hair down after the intense Oscar and awards period. 

So here we have five of the films that I am most looking forward to seeing over the summer. 

1. X-Men: Days of Future Past (GB release date 22nd May) 

I have a confession to make.... I simply love Marvel movies and seeing the superheroes on the big screen.  I have religiously seen Thor 2, to Captain America, and the second Spider-Man reboot over the past few months and I am anxiously awaiting the next installment to the X-Men saga. I'm so excited to see Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, James McAvoy,  Michael Fassbender, Hugh Jackman and of course, my favourite, Jennifer Lawrence in the same film. It will be interesting to see how the film plays out the two different time periods in the X-Men universe, and since I really rated First Class, I have high hopes for this one. 

2. Maleficent (28th May)

There is a lot of hype surrounding Disney's summer offering. Angelina Jolie seems perfectly cast as Maleficent, the villain in Sleeping Beauty, the perfect balance of haunting beautiful and evil. Lana del Rey's cover of 'Once Upon A Dream' is the ideal accompaniment to this presumed stomper of a film. Let's hope the film itself lives up to the build up, and we don't have another aesthetically beautiful but poor substance movie like Oz. 

3. Belle (13th June)

The film 'Belle' has been receiving a lot of positive press recently, and is a British drama revolving round the illegimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy officer. The film deals with the horrors of slavery, which is deservedly so and perhaps very late, at the forefront of our consciouses. The film has been receiving film festival recognition and critics have been sounding praise for the leading actress, Gugu Mbatha-Raw. I'm looking forward to this historical drama. 

4. The Fault In Our Stars (19th June) 

I loved John Green's book on which this film was based, a tragically sad but beautiful love story. Every time a new trailer has been released for this movie, the internet has almost had a meltdown as we are all preparing ourselves, tissues in hand, for a hell of a tearjerker. Featuring one of Hollywood's current darlings and my favourite actresses, Shailene Woodley, TFIOS has been targeting the young adult audience but I'm sure it'll tug at the heart strings of audiences of all ages. 

5. Sex Tape (5th September)

It wouldn't be the summer without a gross out movie! Honestly, I just want to see this movie because Jason Segal is one of my favourite funny men. I'm expecting a slightly inappropriate, probably offensive, silly film, with Cameron Diaz playing her usual role and Segal simply enjoying himself in his typical comic setting. It probably won't win any awards but will provide us all with a good 90 minutes of entertainment and laughs. 

What are you looking forward to seeing?

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