29 films done and dusted, what have I learnt?

When I started the challenge I had a feeling that the film part of the challenge would be the first part that I would complete, and I was right.

                      None of the films I watched were as great as Shawshank Redemption

I’ve seen documentaries, epics, historical, comedy, cult, romance, films that had a lot of hype and films that were so bad they were good. Some were forgettable; others I wondered how they got made in the first place, a few were disappointing and didn’t live up to hype and others I wanted to see again as soon as they finished.

Particular highlights for me include Love, Rosie and even though romantic comedies are no longer my go to film, I think because it was based on one of my favourite books I was pleased with how it turned out.

The Imitation Game was surprisingly gripping as was Headhunters. 21 Years was motivating and I was impressed with how Birdman was made. Indecent Proposal was another surprise and I really liked it. And although I’m not a fan of period pieces, I liked Gone with the Wind and Suite Francaise.

So what lessons have I learnt from the films? Joan Rivers and Richard Linklater taught me to not stop working. The Judge, Delivery Man and The Descendants told me that family loyalty is important. Birdman and The Second Exotic Marigold Hotel showed that it’s never too late to have success. Perhaps the best lesson and quote from all the films I watched comes from The Imitation Game; ‘Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.’

There really hasn’t been a pattern in the films that I’ve watched, and as a result I’ve been looking at my dvd collection and wonder which films I should chuck out as some I haven’t seen in years. So in the future my film collection may look a little different. Thanks to everyone who watched the films with me as part of the challenge. 

New Film #29: Headhunters

For my final film I decided to ask my friends for help and they suggested a film that I should watch. I put all the options in the hat and Headhunters was the winner.

It was suggested by Elliott who is an old uni friend of mine. He’s also a massive film fan and I’ve got a 1001 films to see before you die book and he had seen the most films in that book.

                                     Elliott and I 3 years ago

Headhunters is a Norwegian film about a headhunter who basically wants to steal a really valuable painting, but with any thriller, obstacles get in the way. I think it was the first foreign film that I had seen and I was really impressed .I only recognised one of the actors as he was in The Other Women which came out last year. Headhunters kept me gripped, was fast paced but there were a couple of gross out moments. I won’t tell you these, because I recommend you see the film, but it’s a case of seeing is believing. It was a great film to end the film part of the 29 challenge.

New Films #28: Did the hype help or hinder?

I’m a big fan of Jake Gyllenhaal and let’s cut straight to the chase, when I was on holiday a few years ago in New York I met him! He was in an off Broadway play and I waited by stage door to meet him. He was very nice and patient while I found someone to take a picture of us.

I’ve seen a large majority of his films; Jarhead, Brokeback Mountain, Love and Other Drugs, Source Code to name a few. But I hadn’t seen the film that brought him fame first, Donnie Darko. Quite a few people told me it was going to be dark and twisted, so I braced myself for that. However while watching it, although there were weird things, it wasn’t any weirder than I’d seen in other ‘weird’ films.

I really wanted to be raving about the film, but I finished watching it and it didn’t really have a big impact on me. I think I found episodes of a kids show called Round the Twist more dark and twisted!

New films #26-27: Historical pieces

First things first I’m not a big fan of historical pieces. I haven’t watched Downton Abbey, and even though Jeremy Piven (who I think is great) is in Mr Selfridge, period pieces I find quite boring or so I thought.

As I said in my blog a while back, I thought I would watch a few classic films to see if they are better than the new. To kick things off I started with the epic, and some might say the best Gone With The Wind. It’s a jaw dropping 4 hours in length, so I watched it over a few evenings. It was a well-made film, rich in story and was a film where the score really did narrate what was going on. Scarlett O’Hara was annoying at times, even when she was older in the film. And with Rhett O’Hara you never fully got who he was, but he was quite witty at times.

The second film I’ve seen recently is Suite Francaise. It’s not a classic film as it’s only just come out in the cinema, but it is set around the Second World War in France. I thought I wouldn’t find it compelling but it was the opposite and each character was developed, with their own battles to face in the film. It was well acted, beautifully shot and watch out for a nearly unrecognisable Margot Robbie of Wolf of Wall Street and Neighbours fame.

New Film #25: Redemption

Cast your mind back a week and I watched a film called Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater. I was less than impressed. But he did make the Before Sunset trilogy, so it was time to give him another chance.

On Thursday Rachel and I watched a documentary about Linklater called 21 Years: Richard Linklater and it was great. It had lots of interviews with different stars of his films: Matthew McConaughey, Jack Black and Zac Efron to name a few.

The documentary went through Linklater’s entire back catalogue and what’s really interesting is how you can pinpoint his style of film. He’s done every sort of film including; period, comedy, kids, drama and romance.

What you learn from this documentary is he’s really passionate about film and Austin, Texas where he lives. He’s put a lot of work in to getting films made there, and is very involved with the Austin Film Festival, and when an airport closed there he helped get a film studio made in the airport hangers which were now redundant.

It was a great documentary and I left feeling inspired to get up and make something myself. Two of the guys contributing said that Linklater goes and makes films and leaves you thinking; well if he can do it with barely any money, there’s no excuse why I can’t.

Time to start thinking what I can make. 

New film #23 and #24: How do some films get made?

On Friday night my friend Rachel and I watched Richard Linklater’s first film. He’s the director of the Before trilogy and recently Boyhood which are all great films. We wanted to see where his career began and so we watched his first film Slacker. Rachel’s view on it was she was half enthralled and half bored. I thought it was the most pointless, bizarre film ever made. How it even got on the screen is beyond me. For anyone interested, it’s about a day in Austin, Texas and the people in it. Some people are normal; others are oddballs and others you see for a fleeting moment.

Speaking of bad films, I continued that theme on Saturday night when I watched The Room with my friend Coops and his girlfriend Fran. Now this is a film that every knows that it’s bad. It’s so bad, it’s actually good. Coops had wanted me to see it for a while, because they show this film which is a cult classic at the Prince Charles Cinema, where seeing it there is like watching a pantomime.

                    Coops and Fran doing their best impersonation of Johnny in The Room.

The film is about a guy called Johnny and his fiancée Lisa is sleeping with his best friend Mark. The dialogue is clunky and terrible, making the performances wooden. Because it’s so bad and you know that before you watch it, turns out to be quite funny. We all had a good time watching it, and I wouldn't mind seeing it at the Prince Charles Cinema.

New Film #22 and New book #6: Can the book play on film?

I’ve got back into reading mode again, and managed to read Silver Linings Play Book in a week! It was the type I fiction where it gets straight to the action. The characters were in depth, and although Pat’s character ruined quite a few American classics for me, you got see some real emotion from a male character which makes a change. I read the book before I saw the film as it’s easier that way.

The film was a solid film, but there were a few main differences from the book, and I think that’s because of the casting. For example Robert De Niro’s character of Pat’s dad is fleshed out, and has more interaction with Pat. In the book though it isn’t until about halfway through that he makes an effort with his son. The motives of Tiffany in the book are slightly different as well. She doesn’t meet Pat’s family until much later on in the book. Again I think it’s because of the casting of Jennifer Lawrence and the director seeing that the role could be Oscar winning that he gives her more scenes with Pat’s family. The one where she reels off American football stats is particularly impressive.

The book to film adaptation is pretty good, there hasn’t been anything that has been missed out, rather the character dynamics just changing slightly.

New Films #19-21: 50 shades of an exotic hotel in the future

I’ve been to the cinema 3 times in the past few weeks; the first was with my friend Hannah on the last Orange Wednesday. Hannah doesn’t watch films that are certificate 15 or above, and the only film that was a 12 or below was one called Project Almanac, so we saw that. I barely knew anything about, but its always good to see films you barely know about once in a while. The film was about a group of teenagers who make a time machine. It was okay, but I felt by the end that it was a film where nothing really happened. But the end credits song was amazing and immediately downloaded.

I then went to see 50 shades of grey with my guy, and what was interesting was we were against the norm. For audiences of the film, it’s usually the woman whose read the book and the men haven’t. My guy has read the book and I haven’t, I went along to see what all the hype was about. It was an okay film and very overhyped. All I could think throughout the film was how nice Anastasia’s jackets were throughout the film; she really did have good fashion sense!

The final film I saw was The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and I saw this with my family one Saturday night. It was a good film to escape with, and it had some funny lines from Maggie Smith. And any film with Bill Nighy and Judi Dench is always going to be good.

New film #16-18: New doesn’t always mean the best

I recently watched 3 films that were on my tivo; In Time, American Reunion and This Means War. They were okay, but were all lacking something. I thought the concept of In Time was a good idea, but the depth wasn’t there, the characters weren’t developed enough and overall it was flat. American Reunion, although funny I wouldn’t be able to tell you any of the jokes a week later.

                                       My face of not being impressed by the new films.

This Means War was the best out of the three, the plot was far fetched and Tom Hardy was a bit of a drip, but it was fun and different.

So over the past few weeks I’ve watched new films and so for the next few films in the challenge I’m going to watch some old films. I did this a few years ago, watch an old film, and then a new one, and 9 times out of 10 I preferred the old. Let’s see if this is the case this time round.

New Film #15: Critics try to spoil the big day

Over the weekend I saw the film Wedding Ringer. It’s a comedy with Kevin Hart who many people might not know, but if you’ve seen the most recent lip sync off on Jimmy Fallon, you’ll recognise him. It also starred a guy called Josh Gad, and the name isn't a familiar one, but his voice is as he is Olaf the snowman in Frozen!

I went to see it with my guy, and Jen and Mark who are in this picture below. The picture was taken during the 8 long months I worked as a Wedding Coordinator. I have many stories of the weddings I organised, and the cupcakes were from a wedding that had a cupcake wedding cake. Only the wedding party barely ate them, and I was left with 60 odd cupcakes! So I went on a cupcake blitz of all my friends in the local area. My sister even made me a cupcake tiara for the occasion.

Anyway back to the film. I was chatting to a cashier at Natwest before seeing it and she had heard on radio 5 that the critics thought it was awful. Okay it’s not going to win any Oscars, but it was very entertaining. Not as funny as another comedy wedding film I love which is Bridesmaids, and the Wedding Ringer wasn’t far behind.

New Film #14: Is it a bird, is it a plane?

On Wednesday a group of us went to the cinema to see Birdman. Birdman is a film starring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Stone. It’s about Riggan who is an actor who played a superhero over twenty years ago. He is now putting on a broadway play and the film is about that and what goes through his mind.

The film has been getting lots of award nominations and the acting is great. What’s the selling point of the film the concept of how the director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu tried to film it as if it was one long shot. So the camera was always following the action. It reminded me of the different acting and staging techniques I studied in A Level Drama. And also in West Wing when they are doing the walking and talking and there would be these great duologue's played out.

If you go and see the film, tell me how it ends, I’m still not sure what happened!

And why the picture of me and my dad and sister? Well I couldn't find a picture of a birdman, and us wearing ponchos we’re vaguely look like we've got wings!

New Films #8-#13: Catching up on my Tivo

Following on from Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium which I watched over Christmas time, I've been watching a few more films that I recorded. All have no connection to each other and are completely random.

I started with The Descendants which has George Clooney in it and is about his wife being in a coma and discovering that his wife had been having an affair. I like George Clooney, his voice is amazing and when I can’t get to sleep, his Desert Island Discs sends me to sleep straight away, not because he is boring, because of his smooth voice. But when it comes to his films, apart from Oceans 11 and Gravity, I just don’t seem to think they are very good. And I'm afraid The Descendants was another that wasn't very good.

This is me midway through watching a double bill of the films I watched, it’s tiring work.

Some films are over hyped and Magic Mike falls into that category. It was okay and Matthew McConaughey’s way of saying; alright, alright, alright did come from the film, so I am grateful for that.

While films can be over hyped, others can take you completely by surprise and Indecent Proposal did. I didn't know what to expect, but I actually thought it was an interesting plot trying to answer the question of can money buy happiness and was well acted.

Over the Christmas holidays I went to the cinema twice, the first was to see Life of Pi. The film was beautifully shot, but I was distracted by Rafe Spall’s American accent in it. Stay British Rafe, stay British! And I also saw The Theory of Everything, which definitely lived up to the hype. How Eddie Redmayne did the physicality of Stephen Hawking is beyond me.  

New film #7 and Cooking #4: Whimsical turkey

Today was a typical day that happens in the Christmas holidays (although I'm still at work till Christmas Eve.) I watched a random film that was highlighted during the traditional highlighting the Christmas Radio times and I cooked a turkey (well the crown of a turkey!)

The film I watched was Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium which starred; Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman and Jason Bateman. Hoffman played Mr Magorium who was 243 years old and owned a toy shop, who wanted to give the shop to Molly Mahoney who worked in the shop alongside him. It was whimsical film, and one that was only 90 minutes which is rare these days. Most films are at least 2 hours long.

This is a picture of the little boy in the film, he was an average kid character in the film, until they showed his hat collection and then I was in admiration of him from then on in.

Later in the afternoon I had a few school friends over for a bring and share Christmas lunch. I thought one of the others would take charge of cooking the turkey, but as I was host, it came down to me, which I was a bit daunted about. But following the instructions on the packaging, and using my trusty meat thermometer which looked pretty lethal, I think the turkey was a success. I've asked my friends to text me tomorrow just to tell me they haven’t got food poisoning!

New film #6: Seeing my old workplace

From the end of last year to the beginning of this year I worked at the Royal College of Surgeons. Quite often there were film and TV crews outside as filming took place either in the college or in Greys Inn Field which was the park opposite. Sherlock had filmed there, the new Night at the Museum film and The Imitation Game filmed there as well. For the latter I walked past the trailers and learn that if there was well known actors, their names wouldn't be on the trailers, instead it would be their character names.

So last night I went to see The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. It was about Alan Turing who with a team cracked the enigma code during the 2^nd world war. Their efforts shortened the war by two years and saved 14 million lives. Even though he could have been a hero for this, the efforts were kept secret for around 50 years.

The film ends sadly, so don’t want to give too much away in case you want to see it. It’s a gripping film, and even though its 2 hours long it didn't flag at all. Benedict Cumberbatch is amazing and surprisingly funny at times.

I did get to see a glimpse of the Royal College of Surgeons, in one of the scenes where the war was getting worse, but like most locations its blink and you miss it as they all merge into one.

New film #5: Can one of my favourite books turn into my favourite film?

Cecelia Ahern is a very popular author, and most people recognise the name because of her debut novel P.S. I Love You. However my favourite book of hers, and one of my favourite fiction books, is her second title Where Rainbows End. I'm a fan of When Harry Met Sally; those long friendships turning into relationships, and for quite a while years ago I thought that sort of thing would happen to me.

The book, and the film is about Alex and Rosie, who go from childhood friends, to teenage years and coping with adult life; tricky marriages, kids, loss and career. What differs with the film is while the book spans from childhood to their fifties, the film spans over 12 years. It’s quite a difference, but the film covers all the major events in the book. Like most chick flicks, there could have been a bit more depth that there was in the book. The book achieves this by conversations Alex and Rosie have with their siblings, but the film just shows their siblings to be minor characters with the main purpose being to annoy the main characters growing up, rather than being confidantes for them. 

The highlight of the film for me was Alex played by Sam Claflin. I'm becoming a big fan of Sam Clafin. Me and my flatmate Charlotte who I went to see Love, Rosie with call him Claffers and we've even got a picture of him on our fridge! He had the right balance of humour and sensitivity, and isn't exactly hit with the ugly stick so it was a very easy film to watch.

Book to film adaptations are always tricky, and I think Love, Rosie pulls it off. If you've read the book, you just have to ignore the fact they've muddled some of the character names around! Which films do you think have been adapted from a book well?

New film #3: Teaching life lessons

Tuesdays with Morrie is a great memoir given to me by my best friend Alice. We both loved the book, and it made us a bit emotional as well. Months ago I stumbled across the film listed on my tivo, and we both thought that the film was worth a watch. So tonight we finally watched it.

The book and film is about Mitch Albom who reconnects with his college professor Morrie Schwartz, in the last few months of his life. They hadn’t seen each other in a long time, but it was if no time had passed in their relationship. The film explores both their lives and Morrie teaches Mitch life lessons that can’t be taught in a class room.

It was a great adaptation of the book, and had me weeping around the 1 hour mark. Alice on the other hand needed a box of tissues for half the film! It makes you realise how important your teachers past and present are. I graduated in 2008, and ever since once or twice a year I email my shorthand teacher to tell her all that’s been happening to me and my course mates. This film reminded me it’s time to contact her again. Have you kept in contact with any of your old teachers?

New film #2: The random journey to the end of the world

For my 2^nd new film to watch, I watched with my friend Kayleigh; Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. We usually watch Rom-Coms, so it was a change of style for us.

The film starred Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley and was about the world ending in 21 days due to an asteroid called Matilda hitting earth. Rash decisions are made at the start of the film, when Carrell’s wife leaves him and many quit their jobs, and Knightley misses the last flight home to see her family.

What followed is a calmer journey to the end of the world, albeit with random characters along the way. The film was quirky, and in some ways confusing as to what the film was aiming to do, but I guess if the world was really going to end then you thought trail would be quite random! Keira Knightley and Steve Carrell, although you wouldn't think it work well as a pairing. And there were great cameos from Connie Britton and Martin Sheen as well. We are learnt that there are quite a few British named places in America, who knew there's a Somerset over the pond?! It certainly got me thinking which friends I would like with me if the world was going to end. Who would you like by your side?

New film #2 and New food #3: Judgement popcorn

In the final part of celebrating my birthday twice, I went to see The Judge; starring Robert Downey Jr and Robert Duvall. It’s a film about a city lawyer (Downey Jr) going back to his home town to represent his dad (Duvall) who is the town judge and suspected of murder. It was nearly 2 and half hours long, but the film didn't drag at all. The film also explored family relationships and how they can sometimes be complex. There were good solid performances from all the cast, so I wouldn't be surprised if it comes up at award season. One thing though that my friend Jen said, the first 10 minutes or so, although shot well did feel like a car advert!

To go with the film I tried Worcester sauce and Sun Dried Tomato popcorn. If you like a bit of heat in your popcorn, then it’s for you. And eat throughout the film, if you eat this popcorn all at once then you mouth maybe on fire!

New film #1 and New food #2: A sweet river

My friend Jen said that I should celebrate my birthday like the queen and celebrate twice. So she came round for an afternoon with some surprises. The first being that she cooked a great chilli for me, and then she got me orange and spiced tea and the Joan Rivers A Piece of Work documentary.

Thanks to working at an old people’s home part time for five years, I am an expert tea maker, but I’m not really a hot drink fan. With the 29 challenge it’s all about trying new things, so I gave it a try. The orange and spiced tea smelt of Christmas and tasted very fragrant. Not sure it was for me, but I am open to trying other flavoured teas.

I first heard about Joan Rivers A Piece of Work soon after her passing, as on the Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy recommended watching it. Jen and I are both big E! channel fans, so we’d seen plenty of Fashion Police which Joan hosted. The documentary was a real eye opener as it chronicled a year where work was very up and down for Joan. She was a real hard worker, in her apartment she had a filing cabinet full of jokes, worked from 7am-11pm, in high heels and at the age of 75. And more surprisingly she married her husband after knowing him for 4 days, yes 4 days! It was also humbling to see that even though she was a celebrity, Joan was human when it came to criticism and the fear of it and how it still got to her sometimes.

So if you can give Joan Rivers A Piece of Work a watch, she was one of a kind.