Chance (Benson, 2002) - Review

Chance is an independent film directed, written and produced by Amber Benson (best known for her role as Tara Maclay in Buffy the Vampire Slayer). This film has a weird yet sweet plot and the same goes for the story of it's creation. As an independent film Benson funded this film by herself with help from her family and friends but after a while the money wasn't enough. This lead to Benson calling upon her fans to help fund her new project and they came through because in 2002 Chance was released. This film was never picked up for distribution by a big distribution company like many other independent films so Benson distributed it herself.

The film itself has a non-linear timeline so if you struggle with movies that do this (an example of this could be memento, an extreme example but one none the less) you may struggle with the beginning half hour of this film. Don't let this put you off though because once you get past the possible confusion you get to the real story of Chance. Chance (Amber Benson) is a twenty-something year old who has Simon (James Marsters) living on her couch. It is revealed later that Simon is Chance's best friend, although it is clear to the audience her realisation of it makes her character seem more realistic. Chance, herself is a strong individual that gets scared by a drug addicted girl overdosing on her bed. Both Simon and Chance are mortified by this incident and find comfort in each other but this as you can imagine doesn't go very well and the two have a fight. From this point the audience get conflict, realisation and a relate-able viewing of life as the movie develops. (I'm going to stop before I spoil it)

From the first five minutes of watching this film you can tell it is independent. The use of Benson's camera shots, the picture quality, and the overall content of the film tells you this. But also, it is the reality of the film that makes it clear this is not a blockbuster, it is very real and easily related to which makes the ending even better. This film was captivating, intriguing and very funny, I just could not stop watching it for even a second. Benson really surpassed my expectations of this film. Plus for all the Buffy fans out there: costume, sets and actors all appear throughout the film (so keep your eyes peeled). 

Recommendation: Over 15, because of the content and language but otherwise most people would enjoy this film, especially if you like the conventions of independent film and spotting things from other productions. 

Link to the Chance website: http://www.chancemovie.com

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004) - Review

I'm not too sure about how much of this is going to actual words but here we go. My first TBW of the month has been watched and oh my god is this film just amazing. 

Even though this may not sell it very well, I'm not going to write anything about the plot because it is best to go blind into this. I didn't research anything about the plot and my mind was just completely blown to smithereens. I just can't imagine it being the same if I had looked it up. Anyway moving on, the story more than anything else is just a spectacular tale that makes you laugh, cry and everything in between. 

In addition to this the performances of everyone, with particular emphasis on the two stars: Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, were amazing. Which just made the shocking elements of the plot have even more of an impact on the audience.

I have fallen in love with this movie. With just one watch I was sure that this film is going to be one of my favorite movies of all time for a long time. Absolutely unmissable, five stars all round. Nothing is gone a miss, pure perfection.

I'm going to stop before I start rambling, thank you for reading. I hope this entices you to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) because it is just amazing!

50/50 (Jonathan Levine, 2011) Review

The first film review of the 'new route'. So it isn't one of my TBW for this month but I watched it anyway. What are you going to do? 

So, first of all. The plot follows a twenty-something year old Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who has a paranoid personality and a rather boring life. We are introduced to two other characters, his best friend (Seth Rogen) and Adam's girlfriend (). It is very clear the relationships Adam has with both of these people. It is soon revealed that Adam has a rare strand of cancer and that he has a 50% chance of surviving through it. I'll stop here because I don't want to reveal any more of the plot because it sometimes takes unexpected turns in some places.

My overall opinion of this film is that is was really rather good (am I selling it very well?). For a film centered around a cancer victim it has a very comedic sense, although it does have its sad moments it is mostly quite a weirdly uplifting and humorous film. 

Moving on to the performance, Gordon-Levitt is rather good as per usual. His performance as a cautious cancer patient that doesn't really want to accept want is happening to him is a believable and humorous portrayal most definitely but is also one that is thought provoking and heart wrenching. Along with Gordon-Levitt, the rest of the cast are all exceptional assets to the film, especially the struggling best friend played by Seth Rogen who you, as an audience member, don't really like until around a half hour to the end. 

Overall, I completely recommend this film to any one who is a fan of cancer movies, Joseph Gordon-Levitt or just film in general. Levine does an amazing job, along with the cast. Just a fabulous movie

HappyThankyouMorePlease (2010, Radnor)

I'm not going to blab the story to you but I am going to say that you should watch it, watch it before 'Liberal Arts'. This film is Josh Radnor's directorial debut where he tells the story of a freelance writer called Sam (played by himself) in his search for work and love, where he only finds one. Don't let the English marketing poster scare all of you away because although it does not seem so, this is not just another Rom-Com, I mean it is but the ending is unexpected and the story, theme, all the other aspects apart from the romantic interest are not like any other Rom-Com in my opinion. Radnor goes beyond the genre to deliver a heartfelt tale about how love is not always where you expect it to be, or with whom you want it to be with. (I'm not making the whole it's not another Rom-Com thing very convincing am I?) OK, watch the film and you will love it, I promise.

I also want to say that 'Liberal Arts' is good but not as good as this film. Both directed by Josh Radnor but 'HappyThankyouMorePlease' just has something that 'Liberal Arts' doesn't although I have to say that I fell in love with both the first time I watched them. They both also have Josh Radnor in the leading role so if you have a crush on Ted Moseby (How I Met Your Mother, also played by Radnor) then definitely watch them, or even if you just want to hear Ted Moseby swear.

 Both films are available on DVD worldwide on Amazon.

Much Ado About Nothing (2012, Whedon)

My two favorite things Joss Whedon and William Shakespeare have come together and formed the 2012 masterpiece film 'Much Ado About Nothing'. Filmed in the week Joss Whedon had off from the Avengers with a majority of his many actor friends (including Nathan Fillion) fitting the filming around their already busy schedules.
Whedon used the original script written by William Shakespeare and filmed the movie in his own house over the course of a week and a few weekends (or so it says in the commentary). It is in black and white because of the colors in Whedon's house but he made it work to his advantage because it just gives the film a more vintage touch to it.
I love this movie and recommend it to anyone that likes Shakespeare and wants a modern yet still traditional telling of his stories. Or any person that loves Joss Whedon's work and the actors that regularly appear in that work *cough* Nathan Fillion *cough*.
Something to watch out for is Sean Maher stealing a cupcake. Which was a totally on the spot action that Sean Maher decided to do in the moment. That is the best thing about this movie, it is an on the spot movie. So much of it is the actors and actresses natural reactions and what they think will make the scene better.
Overall, I would say that this film isn't for everyone but it isn't for a specific audience either. Anyone has the ability to like this movie, but you do have to except the film for what it is. It isn't the avengers, or Firefly, or Buffy or like anything else Whedon has done. If you like Shakespeare you will like the movie purely because it is the original script and everything just enhances it, if you like the actors that Joss Whedon uses you will like it for their performance and if you like movies you'll like it purely because it is so well made that it is mind blowing to think that it took them all a week to film it.

Sunday Film Reviews will hopefully turn out to be a regular thing from now on. I watch enough movies for this to happen, so I hope you look forward to it as much as I look forward to writing them.

The Lego Movie (2014, Lord & Miller)

So, I went to see 'The Lego Movie' on Friday and oh my days I cannot say enough about how amazing this movie is.

It is a good film for pretty much anyone. It's good for children because well, it's Lego. It's good for Lego people because once again it is Lego. It's good for film people because of how it shows different genre's and makes fun of them by pushing what the genre's do to the extreme. It's good for everyone because seriously who didn't play with Lego?
One thing is the actual story of the film itself. I was scared that because it is so focused on including the different Lego sets that the story might slip in some places but my worry was unjustified because that story never slipped. In addition to this the story wasn't too much of a kids story that has been done a million times (OK, I'll level with you the ending was a bit cheesy but not enough to be annoying). But overall the story isn't one just for kids, it's one that I think anyone could relate to.
The last thing I'm going to say is what absolute geniuses these guys where. I mean I'm pretty sure that the only Lego set they didn't include was Indiana Jones but that is totally made up for by including the Star Wars cameo. Anthony Daniels, the original C-3PO, does the voice of Lego C-3PO in the cameo which I kind of had a fan-girl moment over. Although, I will say the one trick they missed was not having Ryan Reynolds as the voice of Green Lantern because all they did was make fun of Green Lantern and that is what everyone does to the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern film anyhow. (I do realize that they may have asked Ryan Reynolds and he rejected it for that exact reason)
Overall, I find it hard to have anything bad to say about this film. It is basically the perfect film for practically anyone. Just put down the laptop, turn off the computer and go to the cinema. Just watch 'The Lego Movie', you won't regret it. Promise.

Firefly and everything else by Joss Whedon

So it's been a while since I wrote a blog post and that is probably because of two reasons:
reason number 1- I have way too much coursework (which I should probably be doing now)
reason number 2- I have a new obsession...Firefly

I'm not saying that my new fad/obsession is a bad thing but it is taking up alot of time, I mean needing to re-watch Firefly, which shouldn't of been cancelled (curse you Fox), just takes up alot of time, as you could imagine. I'm not saying I wasn't cynical about how much I would actually enjoy it but around 3 episodes into the series I was hooked and now I'm so glad that my boyfriend made me watch it (even if I did want to watch it anyway). So after I told one of my friends how much I liked Firefly and Serenity (thank the lord Universal Studios picked that up) he clued me in to a few more Joss Whedon shows, movies, and even mini web-series. Once you like one Joss Whedon thing you like all of them, trust me on this.
As you can guess Firefly is my favorite as it has made me realize that Nathan Fillion exists and that I want to be a space cowgirl when I grow up (it could happen). But that does not mean that I do not absolutely love every other Joss Whedon thing from Buffy to Dr Horrible's sing along blog, they are all amazing and everyone reading this should go and watch them all now and join in with the Joss Whedon fad.

you can find the Dr Horrible Web mini-series here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of9kHpCv1ts

Thanks for reading, I will hopefully be uploading my blogs more frequently again as my coursework is finishing soon and I will also be doing monthly Film reviews on old or new films that I've watched during the month (you can probably guess the movie for December. HINT: it's directed by Joss Whedon)