10 Films To Look Forward To In 2014

After all the great films 2013 brought us it is time to take a peek into the future to see what big-screen beauties the next 12 months have in store. Here are the 10 films that I am most looking forward to:

1. The Railway Man
Release Date: January 10th

You have probably already seen this film being heavily advertised as it just misses the 2013 releases boat. It is unlikely there will be a dry eye in the house as this true story of a World War 2 Victim who sets out to find the people responsible for his torture is played out on the big screen. With Colin Firth as the star you just know that The Railway Man will ooze sophisticated talent with emotional performances.

2. 12 Years a Slave
Release Date: January 10th
January 2014 just looks doomed to be an upsetting month film-wise with another highly anticipated true life story, which is already expected to clean up at the Oscars in March. Following the likes of Django Unchained, 12 Years a Slave is the first film to explore slavery in America from the slave's point of view, promising a sensitive and unforgettable story of the fight many African-Americans faced for both survival and freedom during this period.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street
Release Date: January 17th
Leonardo Dicaprio is back on the big screen in the form of this three-hour reunion between himself and Martin Scorsese. Another true-life story, The Wolf of Wall Street is set to be the big one of 2014, an entertaining (We've all seen the clip of Dicaprio's questionable dancing!) tale of crime and corruption that has had buzz around it for over a year already. Three hours is a long time to keep an audience entertained, but if any duo could get away with it it's Leo & Scorsese.

4. The Book Thief
Release Date: February 26th
An adaptation of Markus Zusak's bestselling book of the same name, The Book Thief tells the heart-wrenching story of Liesel, a young girl living with a foster family during Nazi Germany. This film has everything you could ask for and the faultless cast and beautiful narrative is sure to make The Book Thief the dark horse of 2014. Trust me when I say that this is not one you will want to miss!

5. A Long Way Down
Release Date: March 7th
Nick Hornby, author of Hugh Grant classic About A Boy, is having another of his brilliant books adapted for the big screen. A Long Way Down follows Hornby's typical themes of wit, heart and honesty in the story of four suicidal people who form a surrogate family after meeting on New Years Eve. The relatively humble cast of mostly unknowns is irrelevant and I have faith that this film will end up in the same league as About A Boy in no time.

6. The Inbetweeners Movie 2
Release Date: August 2014
Find me one person who isn't excited for the Jay, Will, Neil and Simon reunion ! Having first made their name in the popular Channel 4 TV series, The Inbetweeners were the focus of a surprisingly successful feature film back in 2011. The plot of the second film is still under wraps, all we know is that some of it is set in Australia... No matter what, i'm sure it will be hilarious!

7. Noah
This is no doubt going to be the biggest epic of 2014. Russell Crowe and Emma Watson lead the star-studded cast in the belated interpretation of the Biblical character Noah (as in Noah's ark). No matter what, this is sure to be at the very least visually stunning but as Russell Crowe's first major role since Javert in Les Mis, we can all look forward to the fact that at least he won't be singing!

8. Maleficent
I'll admit that I was much more excited for Disney's rendition  of Sleeping Beauty from the villain's perspective before I saw the full trailer released a few weeks back. Angelina Jolie is as hauntingly beautiful as I had imagined in the role of the evil Maleficent but it was Elle Fanning's absolutely atrocious attempt at an English accent that took my excitement levels down a few notches. I am sure it will still be an incredible watch but if somebody's accent is so bad that it can be annoying in a minute-long trailer, what chance does a 135 minute film have? Either way, I'm excited to give it a go!

9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Release Date: 21st November
Uh-oh, will the third installment of The Hunger Games trilogy be a total misrepresentation  à la film number one? Or a total work of genius as seen in film number two? Well, with original director Gary Ross completely out of the picture for Mockingjay my bets (and hopes) are on the latter! Inconspicuously split into two parts, Mockingjay is the final book of the trilogy and I can't really see how splitting the story into two films will work. Following in the footsteps of  the Harry Potter and Twilight series, and no doubt in order to make some extra dolla from the relatively short franchise, this two-part finale will be the make or break of the film. Can they really drag it out without adding a lot of irrelevant fluff to the story? We will have to wait and see.

10. Madame Bovary
The 21st century film adaptation of Gustav Flaubert's most famous book has been the bane of my film-life. Originally billed for 2013 release I quickly read the book to prepare myself, release has now been moved to 2014 but other than the one production still released (above) there has been little news on how it is going. Mia Wasikowska stars as Emma, the beautiful and unfaithful wife of a small-town doctor, but it is the supporting roles that have me most excited. One of my favourite actors, Ezra Miller, is set to make a long-awaited return to film as Leon Dupuis and lovable Paul Giamatti is on board as Monsieur Homais. The question is by no means whether or not Madame Bovary will be a great film, the cast and narrative alone already tells me yes, it is more a question of when will it ever be released?? So keep your fingers crossed for 2014 and yes, I know that it will be worth the wait!

And there we have it, my top 10 films for 2014 which only prove what a great year 2014 is already shaping up to be! And on top of the above, I am sure we will find many other hidden gems along the way.

Stay tuned for reviews on these films and then some and follow me on twitter if you fancy it :)

Love,

My 10 (and a half) Best Films of 2013

As 2013 comes to an end it is time to reflect on the greatest films we have been treated to over the last year!

So, in no particular order, here are my 10 (and a half) favourite UK releases of 2013!

1. Les Miserables
It's hard to believe that it has been less than a year since Hugh Jackman pranced across the big screen singing about how he stole a loaf of bread. One of the first big films of the year, the movie adaptation of the world's best-loved musical did not disappoint; Russell Crowe's dodgy vocals aside, the talented all-star cast definitely made this film an instant classic!

2. Wreck-It Ralph
Despicable What? Monster's Universi-Who? 2013 was all about one animated hero, and he came in the form of Ralph - the misunderstood video game villain who dreamed of being a hero. Voiced by Mr. Cellophane himself, John C. Reilly, and with Sarah Silverman bringing the laughs as cutesie glitch Vanellope, Wreck-It Ralph was the perfect combination of humour, narrative and heart - putting the sequels to established classics Despicable Me and Monsters University to shame.

3. The Great Gatsby
A debatable choice as it is no secret that this adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic book received largely mixed reviews. However, Baz Luhrmann, Leonardo Dicaprio and Carey Mulligan are three of my favourite people in the industry. Throw in an incredible soundtrack, all of the beautiful 1920s fashion and of course those parties and there is very little that can go wrong in my mind!

4. Behind The Candelabra 
Around the time of this movie's release you couldn't walk for two seconds through the London underground without seeing yet another poster advertising the outrageous, sordid and unbelievable true story of history's greatest entertainer: Liberace. A vastly entertaining watch with perhaps the best performance of Michael Douglas' career to date; it is a huge shame that Hollywood refused to back this film stateside, meaning that it will inevitably be snubbed by the Oscars, because Douglas is truly deserving of, at the very least, a Best Actor nomination!

5. This Is The End
No doubt one of the stupidest movie releases of the year but what can I say, I just loved it. This Is The End exceeded my expectations and then some in providing laugh-a-minute comedy with a brilliantly, self-aware cast. There is absolutely no doubt that this is the funniest film of 2013!

6. The Conjuring
The first horror film in my 22 years of life that actually scared me, so for that reason (and because I don't want to be haunted for not including it on my list) it deserves a mention. Very creepy.

7. Captain Phillips

Yet another true life story with yet another Oscar-worthy performance, this time in the form of Tom Hanks as Captain Phillips. Arguably the most tense film of 2013 as I was on the edge of my seat throughout - nobody does it quite like Mr. Hanks...

8. Saving Mr. Banks

...Which can be proven by his second inclusion on the list, this time alongside the brilliant Emma Thompson in the emotionally-charged, fascinating and entertaining tale of how Mary Poppins came to be. Although tainted with a few little white lies incorporated to make Walt Disney look good, this was an enchanting film that had me on an emotional rollarcoaster of tears and laughter throughout. Plus, I just really love the movie poster.

9. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Due for release on Boxing Day, this is just the feel-good, heartwarming film that we need to round off 2013. Although by no means an instant classic or a cinematic masterpiece, TSLOWM is laugh-out-loud funny whilst harbouring an interesting and thought-provoking message. The beautiful cinematography and great performances make the somewhat predictive narrative forgivable, this will be the perfect movie to remedy those post-Christmas blues!

10. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

A long overdue arrival to The Hunger Games fandom led to a late addition to my top films of 2013. Having finally read the books and been left unspeakably disappointed by the first Hunger Games film, I caught one of the last screenings of Catching Fire earlier this week. It more than makes up for the monstrosity that is the first film as it truly captures the tone of the books in this heart-wrenching and epic power-struggle between the people of the Districts and the evil President Snow. One of the most loyal film adaptations I have ever seen, every significant moment of the book is pin-pointed and presented to perfection. Catching Fire has everything that makes a great film -heartbreaking emotion (One word: RUE!), high-tension action sequences, beautiful cinematography, great characters and stellar performances. I only hope that Mockingjay follows in this film's footsteps and we can all just pretend the first one never happened.



1/2. The Call
Not worthy of the full glory that other films received but I can't make this post without a special mention to the first half of The Call. A film whose second half would make my 'Worst Films of 2013' list as it ruined a brilliant, fast-paced, intense and emotional hour of genius with perhaps one of the stupidest and most unforgivable endings in cinematic history. It has been months since I watched the film and I am still upset that such incredible potential was let down in this way; had the rest of the film been as good as the first half, The Call would have been in my top films list for sure. Instead, it is definitely number one for disappointment of the year!

Well, there's my round up of the best 10 and a half films of 2013!! Keep an eye on my blog for my next article with the ones to watch for 2014!!

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

Love,

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY

Billed as this generation’s Forrest Gump, Ben Stiller stars in and directs The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Walter Mitty (Stiller) is an unremarkable man who frequently finds himself day dreaming about a life much more exciting than the one he is living. When he gets a new boss (Adam Scott) and his job is threatened, Mitty is spurned into taking action in the real world – leading to adventures more extraordinary and invigorating than he could have ever dreamed of.

Walter Mitty is a likeable enough character, the film opens with him meekly attempting to send a ‘wink’ to his love-interest and colleague’s (Kristen Wiig) e-harmony account before realizing that his profile, void of any interesting or exciting stories about his life, is too empty to classify. We then follow him to his place of work, Life Magazine, where he is ridiculed and belittled by the hotshot, new boss before resigning to his desk to develop the photo that will make up the front cover of the final edition of the magazine only to find that it is missing.

Walter Mitty 'in the zone'

All in all, it is hard not to feel for the guy. Seemingly so resigned to his unremarkable life that he frequently zones out into vivid daydreams where he is the confident hero that saves the World instead of humdrum Walter Mitty.

These daydreams were a concern at first – initially they are entertaining and provide a real insight into Mitty’s character, but they became more and more frequent as the film went on and started to get tiresome and disrupt the flow of the film. However, once Mitty’s real-life adventure begins after about half an hour or so, the daydreams cease almost entirely making the film a lot smoother and allowing you to relax into the story.

Mitty’s search for the missing photograph takes him on a whirlwind adventure around the world – as far-fetched as they come he is soon climbing mountains, escaping erupting volcanoes and even survives a shark attack. However, all of this is done in the midst of visually beautiful scenery, creatively utilized in unique and clever ways to give that film a little something extra, and subtle but great comedic moments that make the 2-hour run time pass with ease.

Walter Mitty’s growing confidence as the film progresses makes for a really fulfilling watch as Ben Stiller effortlessly leads the film. His relationship with Cheryl (Wiig) develops in a sweet and endearing way but the love story is in no way the focal point of the film. It is more a journey of Mitty’s personal development and self-discovery as he goes from having nothing interesting to say about himself to having more stories than he could ever need to verify an online dating account!

He ends up having some incredible adventures!

The film is incredibly feel-good with humorous undertones and an undeniably heartwarming conclusion that will have you leave the cinema with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

However, at times it was quite predictable, the whereabouts of the missing photo was almost overwhelmingly obvious for example, and although it was an enjoyable and upbeat film it definitely isn’t even in the same league as the likes of Forrest Gump and Life of Pi or any other inspirational classic you may have heard it be compared to.

Despite not being as strong as the comparisons, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty  is undeniably enjoyable and heartwarming. If you are willing to suspend your disbelief ever so slightly then you will be in for a real treat this festive season!

★★★★☆

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (PG) is out nationwide from Boxing Day!

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

Love,

ANCHORMAN 2

First of all I should admit that I am really not an Anchorman fan. I just find the entire film stupid nonsense  - and not the funny kind. For me, the success of Anchorman is one of the many great wonders of the movie world, way up there with the likes of how has Leonardo DiCaprio not won an Oscar yet and why did everyone go so crazy for Silver Linings Playbook? In short, me reviewing Anchorman 2 is like getting a heavy metal fan to review a Justin Bieber album - I am not the film's target audience so I probably can't speak for the majority, nevertheless, here is what I made of it.

Anchorman 2 follows in the same vein as the original. We re-join the character of Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) in the 1980s, he and his now-wife Veronica (Christina Applegate) are a successful news team partnership and they have a young son together. However, following Veronica’s promotion the couple split up and Ron is approached by GNN to anchor part of a revolutionary 24 hour news channel with the help of his old friends from San Diego Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), and Champ Kind (David Koechner).

The gags are just as stupid as they are in the original Anchorman

In comparison to the first film, the storyline is much stronger; it is fresh with much more depth and the narrative has many different layers –Ron’s relationship with his estranged wife, the desperate bid to get ratings on GNN, and competition with other news anchors alongside a romantic subplot for everybody’s favourite dunce, Brick, are all prominent themes throughout. 

However, some of the characters feel a bit stale and aren't included as much as they should have been. Similarly to The Hangover franchise's Alan-centric third film, Anchorman 2 has seen who the favourite characters are and rely heavily on them to bring the laughs to the point of exhaustion. Brick and Ron were the two favourites from the original film and as a result it seems as though director Adam McKay couldn’t be bothered with Rudd and Koechner’s characters, meaning that much of the time Brick is massively overexposed and they are awkward spare parts on the sidelines - much to the film’s detriment.

Brick and Ron are great sources of comedy, if you like that kind of thing, but Brian Fantana was especially brilliant for comedic timing and together with Champ Kind they delivered a more understated level of humour which is sorely missed in the sequel. When Anchorman 2 started the laughs from the audience were coming thick and fast but after 90 minutes of Brick being simple-minded and Ron being casually sexist and racist the laughs massively faltered and it was easy to see that the audience were getting restless without Brian and Champ being utilised to balance the humour out.

A rare moment of comedy

A refreshing lift to the stagnating characters and perhaps one of the film's saving graces comes from the star-studded list of cameo appearances. Alongside the endless stream of gags and chaos, casual prejudice and tasteless jokes familiar faces from Kanye West to Jim Carrey are cropping up – almost turning the film into a game of ‘spot the celebrity’. It seems as though everybody wanted a brief slice of the action, and with the original film’s unwavering popularity, who could blame them for wanting their face in the sequel?

All in all, the Anchorman humour is most definitely not for everyone. However, as somebody who found the original almost painful to watch this sequel is a vast improvement. There are a few universal moments of brilliance, such as the four men smoking crack live on air, but there are also painfully awkward moments that are gratuitous and fall flat, see Ron Burgundy's meal with his black girlfriend's family where he tries to 'speak black' and insults the entire African-American community. 

If you aren't a fan of the original then avoid this one at all costs as there really isn't much for you here.  The humour is just as silly and patronising and at an extra 30 minutes longer than the original it starts to drag and the characters become overbearing. At the end of the day the Anchorman franchise will never be the making of a cinematic masterpiece,  but it knows its audience and panders to their tastes - no matter what the critics may think, fans will love it and that is all that really matters!

★★☆☆☆

Anchorman 2 is released nationwide on the 18th of December 2013!

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

Love,