BILLY AND ME

I know that Giovanna Fletcher's debut novel Billy and Me is most definitely not a film, so it may look a little out of place on my otherwise film-orientated blog but let's just ignore that. The book is about a normal girl, Sophie May and her relationship with Hollywood heart-throb Billy Buskin so that's enough of a connection to make it film-relevant... Right?

Anyways, when i received an advanced copy of Billy and Me in the post i literally squealed with excitement. The worst part of my daily life is the near three hours i spend on trains, tubes and buses each day as i commute to my job in Camden so new and exciting reading material is always a sure way to make those commutes a little less boring and i just knew that this book in particular would be something special.

I am not usually a chick-lit kind of gal, my all time favourite book is The Perks of Being a Wallflower (of which i have 5 copies of, including one sent to me by the phenomenal Stephen Chbosky with a beautiful message to me inside... And of course i have the DVD... And it's soundtrack... Plus a tote bag. Okay and maybe a notebook.. Shhh, we're getting off topic!) and although i love those rom-com films i never really felt the urge to divulge in romantic novels, Billy and Me definitely popped my chick-lit cherry and i'm sure the question on everybody's lips is was it good for you?

To which my response is: Yes. And a smiley face :)

Giovanna has this incredible ability to connect the reader to the story in ways i did not think possible. I felt like Sophie was my friend; having read the book on my way home, each time i walked through my front door i felt the urge to tell my mum about what my friend Sophie has been up to and you wouldn't believe what Billy did and did you see Billy and Sophie at the BAFTAs??? But then i would have to harshly remind myself of the fact that these people aren't actually real and are most certainly not my friends.

The plot itself is heartfelt and as a reader you feel a true emotional involvement. It isn't just a typical light and fluffy love story with perfect characters and happy ever afters. Each character has their flaws and this makes them so much more human and thus so much more relatable. I love realism in books and films, i love seeing characters respond to things in a way that i can understand and relate to. One of my biggest pet peeves when gorging on a work of fiction is when something so implausible happens that you are quickly swept back into reality and lose all ability to get lost in that particular fictional world ever again. Sophie and Billy and all the other wonderful (and not so wonderful) characters that we meet are real, and that makes you, as a reader, instantly connect with them. The story line itself isn't just mushy conventions; there's some real heartache and pain hidden beneath the surface and i will warn you from now that Chapter 23 in particular is very emotional and highly charged so maybe have some tissues at the ready for that one; the last thing i want is for you all to be blubbing on the tube during rush hour like i was (Cheers for that, Gi!) 

Read with caution!

Of course it's not all realistic doom and gloom because at the end of the day that isn't what we sign up for when reading romantic novels, is it? The ongoing essence of Billy and Me is ultimately heartwarming and feel-good. As a reader you can live vicariously through Sophie May as she fulfills every hot-blooded woman's dream of dating a sexy, rich and famous Hollywood actor. Even if it might not be all it is cracked up to be. I may have shed a few tears when reading and although some were sad tears, there were definitely some happy tears thrown into the mix, as well as a few laughs and a constant, beaming smile and thirst to read on.

Billy and Me is one of those painstakingly annoying and conflicting books that you want to read as much as possible because you can't find out fast enough what is going to happen next, but at the same time you want to read really, really slowly so that you can savour every lasting moment and put off the unwelcome but inevitable fact that it will actually have to end at some point. I don't think i could have dragged out reading those last few pages for any longer if i tried. I was reading and then re-reading paragraphs as i felt the lessening amount of pages i had left to read and when i did finally read the last word on the last page i felt that really heavy, lost emotion that you always feel when you come to the end of a great piece of fiction - whether it is a book or a film or a play, you know that it was good when that post-fiction hangover comes along!

Once you read Giovanna Fletcher's Billy and Me i think that it will become clear to all that Giovanna is 'not just' Tom from McFly's wife, 'not just' Mario from TOWIE's sister, 'not just' the pretty lady singing on YouTube with a beautifully vintage voice... She is Giovanna Fletcher; an incredibly talented author who is carving her own path as she prepares to take the literary world by storm.

One day Eddie, one day.

Billy and Me is a brilliant debut from a brilliant author, it entertained me, it emotionally drained me (cheeky rhyme - nice!), it kept me busy on the otherwise boring commutes and distracted me from the vast amount of nose-picking business men i normally see on a daily basis... And, most importantly, it gave me a little insight of what to expect when Eddie Redmayne finally realises his undying love for me and asks me to be his wife!

...Well... I can dream, right???

All in all I award Billy and Me: ★★★★★




Due for release on the 23rd May, you can pre-order your own copy here

Stay tuned for more reviews and follow me on twitter if you fancy it :)

Love,

Author Giovanna Fletcher, Emma Willis and Me

PAN'S LABYRINTH

 

I'm not too keen on fantasy films. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia... Nopes, just don't like them. I love fairies and goblins and magic and wonder to look at but as far as the narrative goes the only fantasy film i love, and i mean love, is my childhood favourite Peter Pan.

I hate the Disney version of the story but from Peter Pan the book, to Hook, Finding Neverland and the 2003 live action adaptation that had pre-teen girls everywhere falling in love with Jeremy Sumpter, that fantastical story held me captivated throughout childhood and even to this day every time i open the book or put on one of the films i get swept back to my childhood, where evil pirates, mischevious fairies and beautiful mermaids ruled my imagination.

Peter Pan (2003)

  I did enjoy fantasy films when i was younger but as i grew up i found this genre particularly unappealing and aside from Peter Pan and other nostalgic films from my childhood, i've found that fantasy films just aren't able to maintain my interest and i've generally avoided them.

Pan's Labyrinth was different though. I've mentioned my love of Guillermo Del Toro previously and it is this love and this faith i have in him as a director that finally convinced me to give this film a chance. I knew it was very highly regarded and i also knew that Del Toro dabbles in the darker side of fantasy, making his very own, unique fantasy-horror hybrid that i found appealing. The beautiful aesthetics of a fantasy film combined with the darkness of a horror mixed in with the emotive narrative's that Del Toro is also reknowned for made me think i would actually be in for a cinematic treat.

I am pleased to say that i was right.

Pan's Labyrinth is set in fascist Spain during 1944 and Ofelia, an 11-year-old girl played by the wonderful Ivana Baquero, is sent with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather - the evil captain of the Spanish army. One night Ofelia meets a fairy who takes her to a secret labyrinth where she meets a faun who tells her that she is really the princess of the fantastical underworld but to prove herself and to gain entrance to this World she must complete three tasks before the next full moon.

Although the main concept of the film is fantasy and the beautiful aesthetics throughout really reinforce that, i feel the reality side of things; the brutality of the Spanish cival war and the cold blooded nature of Ofelia's stepfather, are a perfect juxtaposition that makes the fantasy all the more magical. It isn't a film that follows true fantasy conventions; the fairies aren't pretty, floaty Tinkerbell's and the Faun looks more like a villain than a saviour and i could never quite tell if he was actually nice or really just a calculating chancer who was using Ofelia to complete tasks for his own gain. The tasks that Ofelia is given are gruesome and in some instances terrifying and in addition to this there are quite a few scenes of graphic violence that had me grimacing.

The real world was scary and violent and traumatic but the fantasy world wasn't much better, something that most definitely sets Pan's Labyrinth apart from other such films. And, just as i suspected, there was your fair share of heartache as Del Toro stuck to his usual style of creating a strong emotional bond between the protagonists and the audience before putting his protagonist through a heartbreaking trauma. As well as scares and grimaces there were plenty of opportunities for tears too.

I enjoyed this film because fantasy wasn't it's focus; it wasn't the be all and end all of the film  and the main essence actually ran a lot deeper than great CGI and make-up. It is a heart-warming, heart-breaking, bittersweet story of a young girl living through the true horror of war. There was also an air of mystery surrounding the film - i couldn't guess what the next task would be, what would happen next or even if the faun was good or bad. I could never tell what was around the corner and that is a rare feat in film nowadays and i think that is why it managed to captivate me in such a way; the film doesn't patronize the audience and i like that.

There was one aspect of the film that did lose me a little bit and up until this point i was thinking 'Wow this is amazing' and following this particular scene the thought process got downgraded to a simple 'Wow, this is pretty good'. As i am not giving away spoilers on this blog, i will say for those who have seen it that the temptation during the second task and Ofelia's reaction to it did make me lose a bit of the love that i had for her as a character. It just seemed too unnecessary and i know originally Ofelia was going to be an 8-year-old girl and maybe in that sense it would have been more understandable but as the film stands, with Ofelia as 11, it just seemed like unjustified stupidity on her part.

Other than that, Pan's Labyrinth is a great film and i do recommend you watch it. Guillermo Del Toro is fast becoming one of my favourite directors.

All in all Pan's Labyrinth loses a star for the second task, so i award it: ★★★★☆

Stay tuned for more things film and follow me on Twitter if you fancy it :) 

Love,

My Favourite Thing About Summer:

                                                                CAR BOOT SALES! :)


I got all of these incredible DVDs (and the book) for £11!!!!! Bringing my DVD collection tantalizingly close to an even 300 (5 more to go).

Controversial but i didn't love Inception when i saw it in the cinema, which was massively disappointing as Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Leonardo Dicaprio are two of my favourite actors and i have loved every single film of theirs; you'd have thought the combination of two fave actors in the same film would have been heavenly but something about it just didn't really work.

I think the biggest factor as to why i didn't like it is because i think it is painstakingly obvious that the dradel was going to fall over at the end - in the dreams it didn't even wobble.

I wasn't a fan of The Prestige either for similar reasons - it was made out that 'the twist' was some huge, shocking reveal but i had kind of assumed what turned out to be the twist to be what was happening as fact about an hour earlier in the film. Also i like magic and this was more sci-fi...

I don't know, they are both films that tried too hard to be clever and i think it's actually kind of patronizing to the audience as both so called 'twists' or 'cliffhangers' were glaringly obvious. To me anyways.

I bought Inception as i had been meaning to give it another chance because i really do want to like it and for £1 i couldn't really go wrong, i bought The Prestige for my sister because she loves the film for some reason.

Anyways this is all stuff for another blog post, all i wanted to say is that car boot sales are awesome.

Stay tuned for more things film and follow me on Twitter if you fancy it :)

Love,

ARGO

 

Over this awards season i have really grown to love Ben Affleck and his scraggly beard. Sure, before i had always kind of liked the guy - after all we do have him and Matt Damon to thank for one of the greatest film's of all time: Good Will Hunting - and he seemed decent enough as a person but not many of his films really struck me as anything special so i never had a real passion for him. However, seeing his reaction to winning the prestigious Best Director BAFTA combined with his beautiful wife Jennifer Garner's reaction as she practically burst with pride as her hubby took to the stage with his acceptance speech...It made it hard not to fall in love with them as a couple and want him to succeed even more so that we could be treated to some more adorable displays of pride and affection. 

Jennifer Garner after husband Ben Affleck is announced as the Best Director winner

So when the Oscar's came around i had everything crossed that Ben Affleck and Argo would win big and was probably almost as proud as Jen was when Argo was announced as 2013's Best Picture.

(Oh, to be clear as a sidenote i hadn't actually seen Argo by this point, this is a minor factor.)

I've never really held the Oscar's decisions in high regard. After the monstrosity of 1999 where Shakespeare in Love beat Life is Beautiful to the Best Picture Oscar whilst American History X wasn't even nominated... I kind of just gave up on the award nonsense then. I already knew that the 2013 Oscar's weren't doing much better than 1999 with awarding the most deserving nominee after Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook over the absolutely incredible, out of this World performance from six-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild. I get angry about this particular injustice every day and with such examples i ironically didn't have heightened expectations of Argo, despite it's Oscar win.

I finally got round to watching Argo last week and even though i wasn't expecting anything terrific i was still slightly disappointed. Ben's scraggly beard had let me down and i really wasn't prepared for that! Don't get me wrong, the most frustrating thing about Argo is that it isn't bad... It just isn't... good. As the true life story of how America rescued a group of hostages from Iran by pretending they are filming a Hollywood movie, Argo,... I kind of expected a bit more action? As i said in my last post, i am not the kind of person who needs big explosions and drama to enjoy a film but not a lot really seemed to happen in Argo. A basic plot summary would be:

1. The hostages are captured
2. The CIA wonder how they can free them
3. Ben Affleck suggests the fake movie
4. They get to work on the fake movie
5. Ben Affleck goes to Iran 
6. Ben Affleck frees the hostages
7. A bit of drama at the airport
8. The hostages arrive home and are safe

I don't know about you but i just expected a little more action inbetween points 5 and 6, it all seemed way too easy. The scenes towards the end of the film where they are in the airport trying to get through security without being identified as the hostages were great, i will hand Affleck that. They were really high tension, even if they weren't high drama and the tension is more than satisfactory for a film of this stance but twenty minutes of tension from a two hour film is most definitely not satisfactory for the film as a whole and nowhere near enough to carry the rest of the boring film.

I know this was based on a true story and for all i know maybe they did get the hostages that easily, with that little drama or confrontation. But since when has Hollywood been wary of dramatizing and exaggerating true stories?! Argo has already faced criticism from Canada and Iran for it's distortion of the truth so it isn't as though they were desperate to maintain complete accuracy... There just could have been something more.

It was well directed though. The story was boring but the direction can't be faulted i guess.

I award Argo  ★★★☆☆  because, as i said, it wasn't bad. It just wasn't good.

Stay tuned for more things film and follow me on Twitter if you fancy it :)

Love,

LITTLE CHILDREN

My favourite kind of film tends to be those 'slice of life' films. I know in my last post i said that i love horror films but trust me, if i love horror films i am pretty much married to 'slice of life'. You know the ones - a little two hour snippet of what appears to be the completely plausible, normal, everyday lives and the darkness that consequently lies behind those perfect suburban doors. Think Revolutionary Road or Closer or Magnolia or Lost in Translation (Which, ironically, i hate). My all time favourite 'slice of life' film is Another Happy Day, which is also one of my all time favourite films and stars one of the greatest young actors of this generation (Ezra Miller).

Little Children is exactly one of those kind of films, it's an insight into the four seemingly normal lives of your average, every day people; a married man and a married woman, a disgraced police officer and a man who has recently been released from prison after exposing himself to a minor. Four lives that are interconnected in ways that will become clear and four lives that are actually a lot more sinister once you scratch the surface.

Now let me get something clear - this isn't a very dramatic film. Not too much happens and compared to a film like American Beauty it might just fall a bit flat but the concept behind it is very relatable and fascinating to watch; but as these kinds of films are my favourite there is a chance that i am being a little biased. But what does happen to a perfect neighbourhood when, well, a paedophile is back on the streets? What does happen when you fall for somebody who isn't your spouse? How do you deal with the gossip surrounding your affair? It is a simple film but it is so beautifully acted and beautifully composed that i think the simpleness of the narrative  adds to the overall essence rather than have any kind of negative impact.

I have to warn you that i you are the kind of person that needs action, explosions, guns and shouting to make it through a film then it may not be for you but if you prefer exploring the complexities of life and relationships then sit back and enjoy, you are in for a treat!

Also bare in mind that as this is a Kate Winslet film there is, needless to say, a lot of nudity. Alongside some pretty graphic sex scenes so maybe don't watch this one with the 'rents.

All in all, i award Little Children ★★★☆☆

Stay tuned for more things film and follow me on Twitter if you fancy it :) 

Love,

MAMA

Okay, before I start can i just get this out of my system: Am i the only person who's inner fourteen-year-old is unleashed at the sight of the word 'Mama'?! Literally, i can't read the word without hearing this gem in my head:

Right, now that is out of the way let's get back to the topic at hand!

One thing you should know about me is that i love a good horror film - i love to jump and be scared and then hide under the covers at bedtime because i don't want the scary monster to get me. However, these days finding a good horror film is pretty much impossible. They are a rare breed and this is because a good horror film has to be more than just scary. There needs to be the right amount of scares, quality acting and, most importantly, have a really great plot.

Y'know, a plot?! One of those coherent things that drive films? Something that has a clear beginning, middle and an end? No massive, gaping plot holes? No amazing twists but with no explanation? Okay, good - you guys know what that is and that already puts you one step above most horror film makers! Just last year i saw the film 'The Pact' in the cinema, which was pretty good - it was kind of creepy and the story was sort of making sense as well as scaring me but then it committed that great horror film offence of an amazing plot twist making the audience gasp but then...... The credits rolled. Seriously, they had this amazing turn of events that ended so suddenly there was pretty much no explanation, no detail given, nothing! It was very disappointing to say the least and it made all the positives of the film - like the fact it made me jump and was scary in places - just disappear. Horror film scares are nothing without a plot!

Needless to say, i am quite cautious when choosing to invest time in a horror film because i know it will probably end up being disappointing. However, when i saw Guillermo Del Toro had a new film, 'Mama', coming out i was super, super excited! I have seen a few of his other films and i know that if there is one thing that i can trust Del Toro with, it is providing the audience with a good, coherent narrative. I was quick to Orange Wednesday'd it and was scared before the film had even started - apprehensive of the terror that would soon be engrossing me and the fact that i was seeing it late at night, meaning that i would be going straight home to bed in the dark afterwards, made it all the more terrifying.

I am so happy to report that the film is captivating from beginning to end. For those who don't know, 'Mama' is the story of two young girls that have been found living feral in the woods five years after they disappeared. They go to live with their Uncle and his girlfriend but are constantly talking to and about 'mama' and ~weird things~ start to happen. Typical to Del Toro's usual style the audience is a lot more emotionally involved with the characters than your usual horror movie. Within ten minutes i was close to tears at the sight of the two young sister huddling together for warmth having been abandoned in the forest and although i didn't cry at the end i know plenty of people who did shed a few tears!

Also executive producer of films like 'Pans Labyrinth', Del Toro is definitely more inclined to go down the more fantastical horror route than traditional, sinister horror. The ending of 'Mama' has been compared by many to something straight out of a Tim Burton movie and there are lots of fantasy elements throughout the film that make me think 'horror' isn't the most accurate genre-label for it. Mama herself is very fantastical looking, she is definitely not your typical horror villain and i have to be completely honest and say that i found her appearance somewhat laughable. Her face was just so big and her hair was so far receeded that she resembled a potato and the sounds that she was making sounded more like a cow moo-ing than anything terrifying. However.... THIS IS NOT A BAD THING!!!!

I was so worried when i went in that i'll be seeing her face in the shadows when i went to bed that night, so her face not being scary at all was definitely something that worked in my favour at least! And, most importantly, just because the villain herself wasn't scary to look at it doesn't mean there aren't any scares in the film! From things lurking in the shadow and the traditional aspect of things suddenly jumping out at you... I was hiding behind my coat for a little bit of it i have to admit.

The storyline was exactly what I had expected from Del Toro – an emotive and well-explained back story that leaves no real questions unanswered; there were downsides though. There was an incredibly obvious deleted scene which disorientated the story arc a little bit and I cant for the life of me work out why it was deleted, the time scale was also a bit messed up – it would be light outside one second then pitch black the next and we would then be shown the exterior of the house in complete darkness but once inside the house you could see daylight shining in through the windows. These are more goofs than plot holes though but they seem like pretty major goofs to have been missed.

One thing that definitely CAN NOT be ignored though is the absolutely outstanding performances from the two young actresses who play such an incredibly central role in the film. Like most, I am always a bit wary of films that are focused on a child playing a main role because, whether we like it or not, a lot of children can not act. One major film from last year, whose title I wont say because I don’t want to be slagging of a kid, was utterly ruined for me because of the distractingly bad performance from the child actor. These girls were extraordinary and their performances aided the emotional connection that I had with the film rather than hinder it, as has happened in the past. Congrats to them!

All in all I did thoroughly enjoy 'Mama' and although it had a few flaws and the CGI wasn’t up to scratch it had a decent storyline and was a captivating watch. I don’t feel it fits comfortably within the horror genre but rather flits somewhere between the horror/ fantasy hybrid that Del Toro is creating. It is definitely more horror and scarier than his previous film, The Orphanage (which is also amazing and you should check it out) but it has a heavier focus on emotion and character development than most horror films. And to those who are wary of watching it because you don’t want to have nightmares and aren't a fan of horror films i'd say… give it a go. You will probably jump a few times but there is so much more to the film than horror so i don't think it will do any lasting damage :)

I award 'Mama': ★★★★☆
Stay tuned for more things film!

Love,