The Funhouse

The Funhouse
Tobe Hooper // 1981 // 96 mins

ABCs of Death 2

ABCs of Death 2
Various Directors // 2014 // 125 mins

(22) Willow Creek

Willow Creek
Bobcat Goldthwait // 2013 // 80 mins

Mr. Jones

Mr. Jones
Karl Mueller // 2014 // 84 mins

Big Eyes and a Streetcar

- On Tuesday something magical happened. The Young Vic's production of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Gillian Anderson and Ben Foster, got streamed live to cinema's all over the country as part of the National Theatre Live programme.
- As soon as I heard about the production I wanted to go and see it, but it sold out nearly instantly. I was randomly checking cinema listings on Saturday night when I saw it was screening at my local cinema, my excitement got broadcast all over Twitter and Tumblr.
- The show was absolutely incredible and Gillian Anderson was perfection as Blanche. Her's is quite possibly the best stage performance I've ever seen, she was simply mesmerising. The woman can currently do no wrong for me and I'm so, so happy that I happened to see the listing for this play on that saturday night.

- The trailer for Tim Burton's new film Big Eyes appeared on my Tumblr dash last night. Dare I say that the old Burton we all once loved has returned? It certainly seems so.
- Over the past few years I, like many of you I'm sure, have approached anything touched by Burton with hesitation. If this film turns out to be as good as it looks I really hope it's a success and pushes him back in the direction of his earlier work.
- To be honest I'm just happy to see him working with actors other than Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter finally. Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz are fantastic replacements for Burton's regulars.

- I haven't spoken at all about The Hunger Games: Mockingjay on here, but with the newest trailer appearing I figured I should probably discuss a few thoughts I have on it.
- The trailers haven't really got me very excited. Catching Fire was a huge step up from the first film and raised my expectations for the franchise, but these trailers aren't really keeping up those expectations.
- What I have really enjoyed is the films posters. I've seen a lot of people whining on Tumblr that Katniss recieved basically no facetime on the posters until recently. They're moaning about how she is the face of the franchise but hasn't been used at all.
- Can we just take a moment to appreciate what a brilliant marketing move that is. Obviously it's based around the knowledge that the franchise will now do brilliantly without relying on Lawrence's face, but it has also given them the chance to bring attention to the huge cast, many of whom are a much bigger draw for me than Lawrence ever could be, and then build anticipation for her eventual reveal.
- The first wave of more 'artsy' posters were all fantastic, and I was impressed with the two waves that followed. Funnily enough the latest posters that actually feature Katniss are the weakest, but we all know that will have no effect at all on people going to see it.

- Gone Girl is having advanced screenings at my local cinema from the September 30th. I'm not sure if I'll definitely be going but hopefully I can as this wait is killing me now that I no longer have the novel to keep me going.
- The trailer for A Most Violent Year looks interesting. I hadn't heard anything about it until now but Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac is a winning combination for me.

As always, you can find my Tumblr here and my Pinterest here.

(88) Very Good Girls

I've given in to the fact that I probably won't find the time to finish up every review for the films I watched during the June 100 earlier this year. Instead I'm just going to go ahead and publish the reviews that I did finish over the next few weeks. If a film I review is from the 100, I'll put the number it placed in the title of the post. Very Good Girls was the 88th film I watched for the challenge.

Very Good Girls
Naomi Foner // 2013 // 91 mins

Hooked on Amazing Amy

It's been too long since I last did a weekly round-up post. I have been putting together reviews and other posts, I've just been struggling with some kind of restless writers bock where I can't spend too long on the same topic. It's extremely frustrating and I'm trying my best to get stuff finished to a decent quality.

- On Monday I bought Gone Girl on a whim after seeing so much hype surrounding the adaptation recently. I got hooked and binged on the novel, finishing it this morning. I absolutely loved it, such a fantastic book.
- It took me a little bit to warm to the ending, but once I did I realised how perfect of an ending it is. I can understand peoples frustrations with the out come but there really wasn't any other way it could have ended.
- I'm really excited to see what David Fincher has done with the story, he's a perfect match for the novel. I was actually under the impression that the film didn't come out until the very end of the year, but when I checked IMDb today I found out that it's less than a month.
- The casting is all pretty perfect and I'm so happy that Rosamund Pike will finally be getting the attention she deserves. She is a perfect, perfect Amy and probably the most exciting element of the film for me.
- It's the first time in a good while that I've read the book before seeing the film and I'm enjoying how excited it has gotten me for the film.

- While I haven't been churning out reviews as quickly as I'd like to, I have been putting together loads of photosets that I post on my Tumblr, so here is where I shamelessly advertise those: you can find them all here.

- With Joan Rivers we lost yet another icon last week. I was such a huge fan of the woman and her comedy. The reaction from many online was pretty disgusting. I don't want to dwell on it too much, but I have to say that I don't really understand how people can so nonchalantly celebrate the death of another human being. Yes, her humour and opinions were controversial but she was hardly the monster she has been painted as by many.

- So I finally saw Guardians of the Galaxy this week! It was great and did not dissappoint. I was worried that all the hype would have a negative effect but I was enjoyed every minute of it. And that soundtrack!!
- I actually got a 40% off voucher for all cinema tickets that I can use as often as I like until the 16th of October, so prepare for reviews of actual new releases soon, once I shake this writers block.

As ever, you can find my Tumblr here and my Pinterest here.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller // 2014 // 102 mins

The Fault in Our Stars

In January of 2012 a novel was released that took it's young-adult audience by storm. Written by John Green, the book focused on the tragic romance between two teenagers suffering from cancer, and less than a month after its release the rights to an adaptation were being optioned and the process of bringing the story from the page to the screen was already beginning.

The Fault in Our Stars
Josh Boone // 2014 // 126 mins

What I Watched in August '14

20 films in total.

8 of these films were re-watches.

Godzilla

In 1954 a creature stomped its way into Japanese cinemas that would become the most iconic movie monster to grace the silver screen. A franchise made up of 27 sequels and an American recut of the original later and Godzilla had undoubtedly earned it's place at the top of cinema's food chain; the king of the monsters. 1998 saw the first attempt at a US remake of the now classic film, a product that has gained notoriety as being one of the worst blockbusters of our generation and tainting an icon's cinematic legacy. Just under sixteen years later, and just in time for the original's 60th anniversary. Gareth Edwards has brought us a revitalised Godzilla film that not only honours it's original, it earns it's own spot beside it in the pantheon of great monster movies.

Godzilla
Gareth Edwards // 2014 // 123 mins

Chef

Chef
John Favreau // 2014 // 114 mins

The Conjuring

The Conjuring
James Wan // 2013 // 112 mins

Losing Icons and Other Updates

- So this was a pretty awful week, two legends of cinema have passed. Both of these wonderful actors had such an impact on my cinematic education, with Robin Williams dominating my childhood and Lauren Bacall being a later discovery once I began studying film.
- It's always upsetting when somebody whose career has given us so much dies, but I can at least take a small amount of comfort in knowing that I still have so many great films and performances to watch from both of these people. Although the reason's are tragic I will enjoy working my way through their respective filmography's and filling in the gaps.


-You've probably noticed that I've changed up the design of the blog a little bit recently. I will eventually finish this process, but I'm happy with how it's looking so far, I was getting tired of restricting myself to a single colour scheme for all of my posts so now I will be making each review look a bit more individual and colourful.

- The Babadook got another fantastic trailer. I'm really looking forward to this film, it looks incredibly dark and well made. Everything I've heard about it has been extremely positive so I'm hoping that it doesn't disappoint.
- I still haven't managed to go and see Guardians of the Galaxy, and I'm desperately avoiding spoilers on Tumblr as everyone on there seems to have seen it now. Hopefully I'll get a chance sometime next week to go, a new iMAX cinema has actually just opened near me this week so I might even treat myself.
- In other Chris Pratt related news, I'm going to start watching Parks and Recreation again soon after putting it on hold a while ago. I stumbled upon this blooper last week and actually hurt myself laughing at it, Aubrey Plaza is hilarious and Chris Pratt giggling at her is adorable.

- How adorable is Dane DeHaan in this gifset?! This boy will be the end of me.

                                
                               

- Me and my Mum have been rewatching Ally McBeal recently. The last time I saw this show I was barely a teenager and going back to it I can now see how incredibly unsuitable it was for me at that age. I knew the show was pretty sexually charged but damn!
- I also need to get watching season 2 of Bates Motel, there a spoilers galore on Tumblr from that show.

- In non-Film/TV related news, Square Enix have announced that the new Tomb Raider game, Rise of the Tomb Raider will be an X-Box One exclusive. What a dick move! I've grown up playing Tomb Raider on Playstation and have played every game I could get from a very young age. The new game was one of the reasons I was going to be buying a PS4 and now I basically won't ever get to play it.
- X-Box One sales have been paling in comparison to those of the PS4 and so it's very clearly a blackmail technique to get people to buy an X-Box. I hope nobody falls for this as they really deserve the game to sell poorly after treating their customers this way. If they though the sales for last years game were lacklustre I can't wait to see how they find the sales for this next game after cutting out two thirds of their customers.

As ever, you can find my Tumblr here and my Pinterest here.

Liberal Arts

Liberal Arts
Josh Radnor // 2012 // 97 mins

Divergent

Divergent
Neil Burger // 2014 // 139 mins

Life After Beth

Life After Beth
Jeff Baena // 2014 // 91 mins

What I Watched in July '14

17 films in total.

5 of these films were re-watches.

Masks and Headlines

So I haven't posted for a little while because I've not actually been watching many films recently. I've mainly been working and binging on Teen Wolf. For some reason I decided to watch all three seasons of the show over two weeks and instead of the slew of other 'better' TV I currently have on my watchlist. I started watching it mainly for the hot guys, but it's actually kind of great and I really enjoy al lot of the characters and storylines. But onto more movie-related news.

- The first glimpse of Into the Woods finally arrived. I like the trailer itself and how they're still keeping so much of it under wraps, but I can't say I think it looks as good as I hoped. I also would have liked to hear a bit more of the actual songs, which I love.
- The fleeting glimpse of Johnny Depp as the Wolf has me the most worried. I'm so tired of his eccentric schtick, and I really hope he doesn't half-ass this performance like he has been for the last few years. He also looks completely CGI'd which I don't like the idea of.

- The Mad Max: Fury Road trailer is is gorgeous! This film really wasn't on my radar at all but it looks to be a beautiful film at the very least. Hopefully it's also good because theres some great talent involved.
- The trailer for Fifty Shades of Grey confirmed that the film was not a mass hallucination and is indeed happening. While I have zero interest in the film outside of Jamie Dornan potentially being naked for the majority of a film, the trailer is well made. I love the version of Crazy in Love that plays over it. I just can't get used to beardless Jamie, or the idea of this film actually being real.
- Birdman looks fantastic, Mockingjay Part 1 looks ok, Horns looks promising.

- I'm still working my way through finishing my reviews for every film I watched during the June 100, I just had a bit of writers block while doing them in order so I'm now doing whichever review I feel like at a time and will post them as and when each set of five is finished.
- I rewatched Under the Skin and loved it just as much. I'm writing my review for it but as it was part of the June 100 it might be a while before it does get posted.

-The SDCC feed all over Tumblr was such a tease, but it was great to see stuff as it was happening as I'm used to just reading recaps once it's over.
- I just want Age of Ultron to arrive now, waiting isn't fair. While there are so many films coming out soon that I want to see AoU just sounds like it's going to be sooo good.


You can find my Tumblr here and my Pinterest here.

A Long Way Down

A Long Way Down

Pascal Chaumeil // 2014 // 96 mins

The Quiet Ones

The Quiet Ones
John Pogue // 2014 // 98 mins

Oculus

Oculus

Mike Flanagan // 2014 // 104 mins

Against the Crowd Blogathon

So there's been a really great Blogathon happening over at Dell on Movies. I only found out about it a few days ago but I've just managed to put together my entry in time to meet today's deadline. 

It's quite possible that this post could make any of you reading this seriously question my taste in film.

The rules are pretty straight-forward:

1. Pick one movie that "everyone" loves (the more iconic, the better). That movie must have a score of at least 80% on rottentomatoes.com. Tell us why you hate it.
2. Pick one movie that "everyone" hates (the more notorious, the better). That movie must have a score of less than 30% on rottentomatoes.com. Tell us why you love it.
3. Include the tomato meter scores of both movies.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson // 2014 // 100 mins

The Place Beyond the Pines

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The Place Beyond the Pines
Derek Cianfrance // 2013 // 140 mins

The June 100: Films 16-20

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Maleficent

Maleficent
Robert Stromberg // 2014 // 97 mins