August movie reviews - Guardians of The Galaxy and The Inbetweeners 2

Guardians of the Galaxy

Wowzers, this film was SO good!  I had heard good things about it, but on the basis of the trailer I wasn't overly convinced that this was going to be anything special, but I couldn't have been more wrong! As it happens the trailer actually contained a lot of footage and voiceover that wasn't in the final cut of the film at all!

I love comic book movies, but I've never actually read a comic, so this team of superheroes was completely new to me. When I see something as good as this though it really makes me want to start reading them!

The main thing that I loved about this film was the sound track. Throughout we are treated to a selection of songs from the 70s. We learn early on that these songs are all on a mix tape which Quill's mother gave to him before her death, and his subsequent abduction by aliens. The choice of songs, in my opinion, is absolutely perfect and really sets a unique tone for this as a Marvel movie. Some of my favourites are Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede, Escape (The Pina Colada song) by Rupert Holmes, and O-O-H Child by The Five Stairsteps.

A lot of time and effort went into picking the songs. Apparently James Gunn (director and writer) originally compiled a list of 500 songs, and eventually narrowed it down to the 12 we hear in the movie. Time well spent I think!

A film that I think it would be fair to compare it to is Fifth element.  Stylistically it is similar in the use of bright colours, its based in a similar futuristic scenario, and it's got a great sense of humour. If you liked Fifth Element I'm certain you will like this, but to be honest I can't imagine many people not liking it!

I must also mention how excited I was to see Ophelia Lovibond playing the collectors assistant Carina! I actually went to university with Ophelia, so it is great to see her doing so well! My friends and I had noticed her in the post-credits scene of Thor-The Dark World, but we assumed it was a hint to the next Avengers film, so it was rather a surprise to see her pop up in this!

All of the characters are super likeable, its very tricky for me to pick a favourite. Chris's favourite was Drax the Destroyer, who is a super buff blue dude who takes EVERYTHING literally! Many funny jokes ensue!  My mate Jess's favourite is Groot, a tree-like being who only has a very limited vocabulary, and can only say 'I am Groot' in varying tones of voice, yet has the most winning personality. Star Lord/Peter Quill is the main protagonist, and again, he is so likeable from the start. A bit of a cheeky chappy, but also pretty hard-core. He has been likened with Marty Mcfly and Indiana Jones.  There is also Rocket Raccoon, voiced by Bradley Cooper, who did a great job, and again, another fantastic character.  Finally Gamora played by Zoe Saldana, probably my least favourite of the heroes, but still, she's pretty cool.

Definitely my favourite film of the year so far! Just go and see it while its still at the cinema!

The Inbetweeners 2

While this film was funny in places, I don't think it compared to the original. I couldn't quite put my finger on what was missing about it, why was it not as good as the first?  That was until I spoke to one of my friends (a guy) who had noticed that there were no decent female characters in it!  And he was totally right! There are only 2 female characters, one a bunny boiler and the other, shall we say is 'rather loose'. Not exactly the best female characters for us ladies to relate to!  In the first film there were 4 girls who seem to be fairly decent people at least, and you are kind of rooting for the relationships to work out. No such luck in this one.

Still, it was nice to see the characters in a new situation. To be honest though, I don't think it really needs to be seen at the cinema. Its one for watching on the TV on a rainy sunday evening if you ask me.

Next month I'll be talking about Sin City and any other films we end up seeing. Suggestions welcome!

Laura xXx

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July Movie Reviews - Maleficent, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes & Hercules

Chris and I go to the cinema nearly every week.  You might think that is excessive, but do you want to know a secret? We go for free! Every week we each get a free cinema ticket with our life insurance. Yep, I know that sounds crazy, but apparently this insurance company must think that the cinema is healthy for us! (They obviously don't know how much ice cream we eat!).

If you are interested we have our life insurance through PruHealth, and are part of Vitality Plus.

Anyway, I LOVE films, and I'm sure a lot of you do to, so I thought I'd start reviewing the films we go to see each month, to give you a heads up whether its worth going to see them or not.  Of course, these are just my opinions, you may feel very differently, so please take my reviews with a pinch of salt, and let me know what you think!

Maleficent 

I have to say, I was a little disappointed with this film.  First off, I love Sharlto Copley, his performances in District 9 and Elysium were frikkin awesome and I thought he was super funny in the A-team too, but he just doesn't belong in a Disney film in my opinion. Sorry Disney, I want him to stay put in my weird, edgy, sci-fi, pre/post apocalyptic scenarios please.  

Secondly, there were several plot holes that just left me screaming 'WHY?'! It may just be that the film was trying to stick to the original story, but I'm sure they could have made some of the decisions of the characters a little more believable by explaining them! For example, when Maleficent curses the princess, King Stefan inexplicably entrusts his baby daughter to the three faries. In the film Sleeping Beauty, everyone knows these are good faries, so it makes sense. But in this version, everyone in the kingdom fears anything that lives in the enchanted forest, which is where the faries are from, and only moments before the curse is cast the faries are not really trusted by the king! Considering this, it seems a very strange thing for him to do! 

And spoiler alert!... I'm not sure that the moral of the story was a very good one.  Essentially it dispels the myth of the old 'love at first sight' as we used to see in Disney movies like The Little Mermaid. Disney seem to be trying to correct their past wrongs regarding this recently, as  I seem to remember we learn a similar lesson in Frozen. So basically, the kiss from the prince doesn't work to wake Aurora up like it does in Sleeping Beauty. Great! They only met for like 2 minutes, so that would have been ridiculous if it had. Buuuut, the lesson we learn instead is that apparently Maleficent's kiss IS true love, and DOES wakes the princess up.  Erm,  is it really a good lesson to teach a child, that the stranger you have been spending time with, without your 'aunts' knowledge, is the only person that truly loves you? I think not. Stranger danger people, stranger danger!  It seems that some things have gone awry as the makers have tried to combine the original story, with this new slant that Maleficent is essentially good. I think they really could have done better. 

Another thing I found incredibly distracting was Angelina's cheek bones. They were just so pointy! I found myself wondering if they were make-up, prosthetics or CGI, rather than concentrating on the story at hand.  Having said that the costumes were fantastic, and I can't really fault Angelina Jolie's performance. I'd happily watch this again on the TV in a few years time, but I probably wouldn't be very pleased had I spent money seeing it at the cinema. Definitely one for TV in my opinion.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

I really enjoyed this film, I love the whole premise behind the franchise, and I came away pretty satisfied after watching this. The only thing that I felt could have been better was the development of the human characters, who were a little lacklustre.  I know it's not necessarily the sign of a good film, but I do like to see famous actors make an appearance, and the only big name in this was Gary Oldman, whose character was a bit of a non event to be honest. I really liked James Franco's performance in 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes', and was hoping for a similarly likeable protagonist in this sequel. However, it was the Apes that were the real event of this film, and so I guess it makes sense that the humans weren't the main focus. 

The Apes certainly made up for anything that was missing with the human characters, and, as always, Andy Serkis does an AMAZING job of bringing Caesar to life! There are some really emotional and touching moments, which, had the graphics not been great, would have just fallen flat. But as it is, Caesar is such a likeable and believable character, you just want him to succeed. The film is wonderfully terrifying, depicting a post-apocalyptic world 

It really is unbelievable how far technology has come in recent years.  If you thought the CGI in the last film was good, you will be in awe with this one! Definitely see it at the cinema if you can.

Hercules

I wasn't overly excited about seeing this one. I felt that the trailer was pretty dull so I didn't have high expectations for this film at all, but in actual fact, I was pleasantly surprised. The trailer didn't do it justice.  The Rock's performance was great, the story was pretty good, and there was a twist at the end, which made it more than the usual Greek Mythology film we have seen the likes of in the past. Remember Wrath of The Titans (Bleurgh!) I enjoyed Ian McShane's character, and including John Hurt never 'hurts'. (Sorry, that was terrible) It was good, and worth a watch, but probably be one that was almost as enjoyable watching it on DVD.

Did you see any of these films at the cinema? What did you think?

Laura

xXx

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