I'm Stephanie and i love films, here i will post spoiler-free reviews!

Thursday 26 September 2013

PRISONERS


I was really excited to see Prisoners. The trailer sold it to me, the cast sold it to me, the comparisons to Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs sold it to me -on paper it really is a sure winner.

Prisoners tells the story of Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman). After his six-year-old daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police detective (Jake  Gyllenhaal) appears to be pursuing the wrong leads. How far will a desperate father go to save his child?

The film gets off to a strong start; a cozy, homely, family-orientated opening of the girl and her friend's families spending Thanksgiving together - an environment that instantly connects the viewer to nostalgic festive memories of their own (whether Thanksgiving or Christmas!) and makes the families relatable and accessible. Just an average Thanksgiving with an average family and it is this averageness that makes the girls disappearance all the more poignant as it instills the concept that it could happen to you.
An average family

It gets to the action right away: the girls are taken and the main suspect is identified very early on in the film, which is an interesting albeit welcome technique as it means that the main story begins without any fuss or fluff leading up to it. With the audience finding out information at the same speed as Jackman's Keller, the entire cinema were on the edge of their seat with their heart in their mouth within thirty minutes of the film's beginning.

However, at a needless two and a half hours long, the initial excitement gradually starts to fade as the film goes from a fast-paced, high-tension, emotion-driven thriller to a story so saturated with 'twists' and curveballs that you eventually just get a bit bored of it all. Arguably attempting (and failing) a Christopher Nolan-esque shock-fest, director Denis Villeneuve dedicates far too much time attempting to shock the audience with plot-twists galore and in doing so the film starts to drag and the actual reveal at the end of the film is underwhelming  and feels a bit rushed. As a viewer, you feel a bit cheated that you have dedicated two and a half hours to this film only for the revelation to lack depth and detail; alongside half a dozen other curveballs that had been thrown in without being given a full explanation. Don't get me wrong - you know the basics of what has happened; you know the skeleton of each turn of events and every character that we are introduced to but that is all we get - the bare minimum amount of detail with absolutely none of the fleshing out that makes other such films so great.

I personally found the big reveal a bit silly and any detail that was given was only the repetition of hints and tips that had been scattered throughout the film and I had actually picked up on, so nothing new for the viewer to learn. I feel that I desperately wanted more to be added to the reveal in order for the film to reclaim some credibility - it felt lazy and half-assed and I feel that it was only included in order to shock the audience, not to give maximum impact.

The brilliant cast ultimately carry the film with Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal both giving powerful, believable performances as two totally different characters in roles that I haven't really seen them take on before. The true star of the show though is without a doubt Paul Dano. The mute from Little Miss
Paul Dano has definitely grown up!
Sunshine has well and truly grown up with a performance that was so raw and so disturbing that I actually felt my blood boiling with rage. As the main suspect in the case, Alex, Dano was unrecognizable and the fact that I hated his character with an unsympathetic passion is only a testament to what a convincing performance he gave.

Although Prisoners was much longer than necessary (and to it's detriment), it did maintain my interest. Admittedly by the end of the film I was much less involved than I was in the first hour and a half but the interest was still there; I would not have been able to leave the cinema without learning of the story, no matter how disappointing the story turned out to be, and the strong performances are what made it so watchable whilst the narrative was lagging. I also really enjoyed the final scene, it was an ending that I didn't see coming and although I feel that the ultimate outcome is obvious to the viewer it is always good for a film to end with a collective gasp that fills the cinema as Villeneuve clearly couldn't resist throwing in one final surprise.

To conclude, the film-makers should have known better than to make Prisoners so long; it is common fact that if a film exceeds a certain amount of time it is near-impossible to maintain the same level of quality throughout. Some sections of the film are brilliant with so much attention to detail but others are underwhelming and overlooked and should probably have ended up on the cutting room floor. The film's reveal is trying to be much more intelligent than it is and feels like a bit of a desperate cop-out in order to shock the audience, but the final scene made up for this in a way. Many elements of the actual narrative are highly controversial and can spark many interesting debates; it is interesting and at times shocking but it simply does not come close to the likes of Silence of the Lambs,Se7en, or any other thriller classic that you may have heard it be compared to.

As a relatively exciting watch I give Prisoners ★★★★☆  but if Villeneuve left his Nolan aspirations at home and followed a more personal style rather than trying to make the film into something that it is not, it would have been miles better.

Prisoners is in cinemas nationwide from tomorrow:  Friday 27th September!

Stay tuned for more reviews and follow me on twitter if you like!

Love,






Friday 20 September 2013

BLUE JASMINE



Blue Jasmine is a film that I had only heard good things about. Not only were the critics raving but even the usual internet trolls appeared to have put away their claws for this one as a whisper of 'Oscars' seemed to encase it. I'm an advocate for 'slice of life' movies and for me, films don't have to have a 'point' in order to entertain me - a snippet or an insight into a person or a family's life is usually a sure win, so although when I watched the trailer I didn't really 'get' what it was going to be about, I was still excited for it.

However, this isn't just a 'slice of life' - director Woody Allen has a point that he is trying to make and that is one thing: The rich are corrupt and lonely and losers, it is the seeming underdogs who are really winning at life. A very poignant and heartfelt message, sure, but an hour and a half of Cate Blanchett trying to sound like Samantha Jones as she teeters on the edge of a mental breakdown was not what I needed to see in order to learn this.

Jasmine (Blanchett)  is a New York City socialite. Troubled and in denial following her divorce from elite business man Hal (Alec Baldwin) she moves in with her dippy, free-spirit sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) in San Francisco and tries to rebuild her life.

The performances are strong, the pace is slow, the story of her marriage unravels in a series of samey flashbacks that became uninteresting and predictable before long. Cate Blanchett gives an undeniably powerful performance, but in doing so she creates a character so intense that she becomes borderline nauseating and you can practically hear Blanchett's mind screaming 'Oscar' as she overacts her way through the film as a character reminiscent of neurotic, drama queen Vanessa Gold in BBC soap opera EastEnders.

Whilst the majority of the supporting cast were good, I took a particular liking to Ginger, some characters were so stereotypical and simple they became parodies of themselves which had the audience laughing at times where I don't think Woody Allen intended them to be.

I'm always a fan of an open ended film and this may have been one of the best moments for me, however it isn't as poignant or powerful as I was lead to believe it would be by critics and viewers alike. In fact, it was pretty plain. For an hour and a half long film, it really dragged and in all honesty perhaps one of the reasons I welcomed an open ending was because if it were more conclusive I would have had to sit through longer.

Blue Jasmine is an average film, the characters lacked depth which made it difficult for the audience to connect with in any way, and although films don't have to have a point, this one really was in the same place at the end as it was when it started out. I found myself becoming impatient and bored and Blanchett's performance became more and more over-the-top and irritating as time went on. The narrative is pretentious and similarly to Silver Linings Playbook (a film that I truly detest), it's concept makes people think that it is much more poignant and exciting and interesting and entertaining and revolutionary than it is. Almost like a taboo where any film that toys with the idea of mental health gets immediate critical acclaim despite the quality of the story, and this is a habit that I hope is quashed sooner rather than later.

All in all, Blue Jasmine was vaguely enjoyable to begin with but lacked excitement and, to be honest, entertainment. For these reasons it gets ★★☆☆☆



Blue Jasmine is in cinemas nationwide from 27th September!

Stay tuned for more reviews and follow me on twitter if you like!

Love,




Monday 16 September 2013

THE CALL



I have been putting off writing this review because I am still so disappointed. It's a complicated one to write because for the first hour of the film I was on the edge of my seat, emotionally invested and even had tears in my eyes at one point. It was an amazing, incredible film and I was so surprised by it's quality as, in my opinion, the trailer really doesn't do the best job at selling it.

However, the last half an hour or so absolutely destroyed these feelings. It completely ruined the film in an ending and development that made no sense in the context of the wider narrative. When I left the cinema I was genuinely upset by a great film with so much potential that was ruined in a bizarre turn of events. I would have preferred for the entire film to be absolutely rubbish rather than have something that is so good and holds so much potential be spoiled in this way.

The Call tells the story of Jordan (Halle Berry), a 911 operator who is plagued with guilt after failing to save a girl who phones the line for help. Six months later Jordan answers another life-altering call from Casey (Abigail Breslin), who is calling from the trunk of her kidnapper's car. Unable to track the phone, Jordan must stay on the line to Casey  in a race against time.

One of the most surprising aspects of the first hour of The Call for me (and what makes the final showdown all the more dissatisfying), was just how realistic and authentic it all seemed. All of the inexplicable questions i.e. Why does she have her cell phone on her, what about kicking out the taillights etc. were cleverly acknowledged providing the audience with a satisfying story-arc that allows you to get emotional involved without feeling cheated by unrelatable characters. All of it seems to make perfect sense and flawlessly slot together, giving you a terrifying yet fascinating insight into what it really might be like to be a 911 operator.

Abigail Breslin gives a powerful performance
Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin both give incredibly strong and heartfelt performances throughout; Breslin captures the true terror and desperation of Casey whereas Berry gives an at times heartbreaking performance as Jordan - you can sense her helplessness and feel the utter dismay as she tries to come up with new ways to keep Casey's hope alive whilst she herself is losing faith.

Although I have seen criticism in other reviews, the minor characters also provide a sense of realism to me. The other drivers who notice something suspicious about the kidnapper's car react in ways that I personally may not react, but understandably none the less. Some placid, some busybodies - either way they might make things worse but at the end of the day some people are honestly like that and although at first I was in disbelief, as their character's developed so did my understanding.

The kidnapper's backstory is one of the film's downfalls
This first hour really did have me covering my eyes with fear, on the edge of my seat with tension - my heart was pounding throughout as I was absolutely hooked and engrossed in this story that was being played out in front of me. If it had carried on this way I would have come out of the cinema a very satisfied but emotionally exhausted customer and gone on to recommend it to anybody who would listen with a full five stars. However, inexplicably the film seems to almost switch genres completely - going from a relatively realistic representation to absolute nonsense. Character's personality traits completely change as the film takes on an almost revenge-horror element rather than the thriller that it has already comfortably established itself as... All realism and reason goes out of the window as drugged up, beaten characters have an unreasonable amount of physical strength, director Brad Anderson attempts an unnecessary and random homage to Tarantino with one particularly desperate and cringe-inducing scene whilst adding a needless, awkward backstory to the film's villain that Anderson then doesn't even bother to go into detail with.

Why can't a psychotic kidnapper just be a psychotic kidnapper? In reality, there are plenty of twisted people who abduct and torture people for no reason other than their sick pleasure. Why Anderson felt the need to add a ridiculous, half-assed reasoning behind the kidnapper's motives without fully exploring it with the audience is baffling and doesn't make any sense when he already had such a strong film in the making. I was so scared by the film at the beginning because of how gritty and realistic it was - this anonymous kidnapper could be any Tom, Dick or Harry walking down the street and that was the prospect that made it so terrifying. Adding a nonsensical backstory to the kidnapper completely dehumanized him and any fear that I felt thinking 'this could happen to me' was completely eliminated as the story became more and more far-fetched.

The ending is disappointing and borderline laughable
However, if the villain's backstory was all that was wrong with the ending then I probably could have dealt with it a lot better, maybe knocked it down to four stars but relatively enjoyed it none the less. The very final straw for me came with the very final scene. A scene that makes no sense; logically, realistically or professionally in a  film that had so far done all of the above. As I said, the film just seems to switch genres. From a fast-paced, exciting thriller to an implausible load of nonsense that you just can't bring yourself to believe nor accept. The characters you see in the last twenty minutes are not the same characters that you have emotionally attached to in the prior hour and ten. The film that you are watching in the last twenty minutes is not the same film; the script is not the same script... None of it makes any sense.

And why Brad Anderson felt the need to throw away a film that had so much potential, such a strong cast and such an incredibly emotional narrative is beyond me. He could have had a cinematic masterpiece on his hands, instead it is nothing more than a disappointing flop.

Despite this, the first hour has really stuck with me and I can't deny how much I loved it. So for that reason, I have to award The Call with ★★★☆☆

 ...but it really did leave me the most disappointed out of any film that I have seen this year. 

The Call is in cinemas nationwide from 20th September!

Stay tuned for more reviews and follow me on twitter if you like!

Love,