Day 59: The Hunt For Red October

Russians have made a fancy new submarine (Red October) that can go pretty much undetected in the water, which would be pretty devastating for any enemies they may have. Like America, let’s say. In order to make sure the submarine cannot be used to fight the Americans, Marko Ramius (Sean Connery), and some select crew members have decided to defect and take the submarine with them. The Russians are furious and attempt to find the Red October to stop any defection. And because the mission had to be kept completely secret, the Americans think the Red October is planning to attack them. It’s all close to potential war, but along comes Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) to save the day. He convinces the powers that be that Captain Ramius intends to defect and that they should help him to safely reach America.

All of that sounds like trouble enough but then they discover they have a saboteur aboard, which leads to just the saddest death (Sam Neill, my baby). Despite it being totally obvious who the saboteur was immediately it was still pretty exciting. Being on board a submarine seems so hectic, not entirely sure how they manage to hear or understand each other when all the sirens are going and orders are being shouted from all sides. But it also seems just so much fun!

Again, I didn’t think I was going to like this film (two hours of politics and an all male crew? Aaah) but it turns out it was super exciting. Apparently I’m a big kid and submarines are awesome. Never seen a submarine explode before but it was brilliant! Wasn’t too heavy on the politics either, which was nice. And Alec Baldwin’s a babe so I guess that made up for the lack of women. And Dr. Grant is in it! What more could you want on a submarine but a dinosaur expert and all round badass?

Listening to Sean Connery makes me want to talk with more of a Scottish accent. I’ve typed this whole blog out in his voice and it amused me no end.

8/10

Day 58: To Kill A Mockingbird

While attempting to defend a wrongfully accused man, Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), is faced with ignorance and violence from the Useless White Men™ of the town. He abides by a strong moral code and will not stand by and let Tom Robinson (Brock Peters) be imprisoned for something he did not do. Of course, this takes place in the ‘30s so there’s no chance of them winning the case but he tries to fight for what is right.

I might have accidentally fallen in love with Gregory Peck. His voice is so pleasing, I can't even talk about it. And his character is just the best father, reading to Scout and teaching both of the children to be kind and considerate. And he’s a great man, staying true to what he believes in despite the hassle he gets for it. Can somebody invent a time machine, I would like to go back and marry Gregory Peck, thank you.

Can’t seem to find much to write about, probably because I’m so distracted by Gregory Peck. Such a babe.

8/10

Day 57: Lawrence of Arabia

During World War I, we’re shown the fighting taking place in the Middle East, a lot of which is spearheaded by Lawrence (Peter O’Toole). He commands the respect of many tribes and leads them in various battles against the Turkish people.

I did not like this film, I’m going to just say that up front. The whole way through (almost four hours, by the way, I’ll never get that time back) I was whinging and checking the clock to see how long it had left to go and trying to stop myself from clawing my eyes out.

Literally the only good thing about the whole damn film was Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif). He was such a great character. Handsome, intelligent, loyal, total badass. He respected Lawrence but he could see how he was affected by it all and it really hurt him because he cared so much for him. His entrance was great too, coming out of the heatwave like that. Good shot. Wait, maybe he wasn’t the only good thing. There were some nice shots, I can’t deny that. The desert is an interesting place but unless David Attenborough is narrating it, I can’t say I want to stare at it for four hours.

Not my kind of film at all. I don’t like soldiers, I don’t care what army or what war they’re in. And I don’t like a main character with an insane white saviour complex. It’s far too long with some completely unnecessary shots that take an absolute bloody age. I understand that it’s an epic and all that noise but it was dull. Just so completely dull.

2/10

Day 56: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

After a party for professors and their wives, a young couple stop by George (Richard Burton) and Martha’s (Elizabeth Taylor) house to continue the party and get to know each other. Nick (George Segal) and Honey (Sandy Dennis) are new to the area and are attempting to make good first impressions but it’s difficult when the couple whose house you are at are verbally tearing each other apart at every moment. The four get more drunk and more cruel as the evening progresses until they are all utterly spent and the night ends.

Now I know I’m wrong since I’ve seen the whole film now but at the start I liked their bickering, I thought it was cute. Obviously there is bickering and then there’s what George and Martha were doing which was to ruin and humiliate each other in all the ways they could think of. It’s all a game to them though, it’s how they communicate with each other, and it seems to be the only way they know how. We only saw one night but they’ve clearly been married a long time and this must be how it always is for them, and it just seems exhausting. What made it all clear though was when Martha was talking to Nick, telling him that George is the only man who has ever made her happy, which surprises him since they are so brutal to each other. I’m going to just quote her because I found it fascinating:

“George, who is out somewhere there in the dark. Who is good to me. Whom I revile. Who can keep learning the games we play as quickly as I can change them. Who can make me happy and I do not wish to be happy. Yes, I do wish to be happy. George and Martha. Sad, sad, sad. Whom I will not forgive for having coming to rest. For having seen me and having said: Yes, this will do. Who has made the hideous, the hurting, the insulting mistake of loving me. And must be punished for it. George and Martha. Sad, sad, sad.”

Reading that doesn’t do it justice, you have to really watch and listen to her say it. It's like when Woody Allen is comparing his relationships to that old saying about not wanting to be in a club that would have him as a member; you don't trust the relationship because why would this other person love you? She doesn’t feel like she deserves his love, and she resents him for making her feel that way so she is cruel to him. Just impossibly cruel to him constantly. But then he is cruel to her, too. She mentions their son and that is a forbidden topic for him, and so he decides to bring her world down around her and announce that he is dead. But, as we soon discover, the son is not dead because he never existed to begin with. They couldn’t have children together so they created a fiction, a perfect son, and they both lived with this fiction, but when she talked about him to these new people she ruined it and so George had to kill him, to destroy the fiction. And now they have to live with what’s left, just the two of them.

The acting was phenomenal. Richard Burton has perhaps just the absolute best timing, he had me laughing so much at some points, and he had my blood running cold at others. So wonderful. And Honey, she was so drunk and just fantastic with it. When George tries to strangle Martha and she’s in the background shouting “Violence! Violence!”, it really just made the scene. Or when she’s dancing and Nick is trying to stop her and she’s just repeating that she dances like the wind, and she’s flying about the place. I love that the majority of the film took place in the house, it definitely seemed better to have them cooped up together like that. It felt like I was in there too, as the uncomfortable and riveted observer.

Bloody hell, what a film. I feel like I’m in shock, like it’s just hit me in such a way that I was not ready for. Excellent.

9/10

Day 55: The Godfather

The head of one of the major Mafia families in New York, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), is shot after he refuses to help another of the families sell drugs. His sons attempt to deal with this and there’s quite a lot of murdering. Eventually, Michael (Al Pacino), steps up and restores a sense of balance, becoming the new Don Corleone.

The change in Michael’s character was brilliant. He starts off as this sweet guy who doesn’t want to get involved in his family’s business but as people come to rely on him he ends up being a total badass and sets everything right. I didn’t like how he was just replacing the women in his life though; first he’s with Kay (Diane Keaton) then he has to go away so he shacks up with Apollonia (Simonetta Stefanelli), then she dies and he goes back to Kay again. Women aren’t interchangeable, I don’t like the idea of just dropping one and picking up another. Kay isn’t even a good choice for what you’d need in a wife when you’re head of a mafia family, she asks way too many questions. And then he had to lie to her at the end, I just can’t see it going well. I can't believe I'm saying Diane Keaton isn't a good choice for a wife, my brain must be broken.

When Carlo (Gianni Russo) was beating Connie (Talia Shire), I was so angry I can’t even describe it properly. I’m not even sure I understand how he thought he would get away with hitting her. She is the daughter of Vito Corleone, are you just out of your idiot mind? My notes just basically consist of lots of swearing and rage for any scene that he is in. I’m glad Sonny (James Caan) beat him but he should’ve murdered him, I was just hollering at the screen for him to kill him during that fight scene. Then when Michael was letting him be part of the family, I was confused for a while but then I realised what was going to happen and I literally could not wait. So glad they strangled him, shooting would’ve been too quick. I’m the least violent person but I just can’t handle it when people think it’s acceptable to hit their spouses.

I was dreading watching this film (a gangster film that’s 3 hours long? Aah) but it turns out that I actually loved it. So brilliant, I never once checked to see how long was left because I wasn’t sure I even wanted it to end. The feeling of family running through each relationship was lovely, and the suspicion of almost everyone kept everything nice and tense. Loved it.

9/10

Day 54: Infernal Affairs

In order to ensure they have access to the necessary information, the police force have sent an undercover cop in to the Triads and the Triads have sent an undercover gang member into the police force. Yan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) is the undercover cop who just wants to have a normal life. Lau (Andy Lau) is the undercover gang member who wants to give up his gang past and just be a police officer. Their existence threatens to ruin everything and they are tasked by their bosses to uncover the other.

Yan just looked so troubled for the whole film. Obviously he would be, he’s a good guy who is having to do bad things. It’s so sad to watch though. And when the superintendent dies, he looks devastated. The music was absolutely perfect in that scene, definitely helped the tears along. I’m not really sure if he was meant to be going to the psychiatrist for help for something but it seemed to me like that was the only place he felt safe and comfortable enough to get some sleep. I wish we’d seen more of his time with the psychiatrist, although I did like that he told her he dreams about her. I kind of knew he was going to die but I was still upset when it happened (my notes: NOOOO YAAAAN WHHHY). It would’ve been great if he had finally been able to get his life back and no longer be made to do bad things.

Such a great film. I felt so tense pretty much from beginning to end wondering what was going to happen. Shame about the bagpipes at the end, seems like I can’t escape those bloody things.

8/10

Day 53: Road To Perdition

Mike Sullivan (Tom Hanks) has worked for John Rooney (Paul Newman) for a long time, and their relationship is like that of a father and son. Unfortunately, Rooney’s actual son, Connor (Daniel Craig), has had to grow up with this and he is jealous of the relationship they have. He gets to act on this jealousy when Michael (Tyler Hoechlin) witnesses Mike and Connor killing people. Connor takes it upon himself to murder Michael to stop him from talking but he messes it up, meaning Mike and Michael have to go on the run while they work out what to do.

The love that Mike and his wife, Annie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), had for their children was just brilliant to watch. When Connor goes to the Sullivan home to kill Michael, he ends up finding Annie and her other son but thinking this is Michael he goes to shoot him. Annie doesn’t even hesitate, she puts her whole body in front of her son to shield him from the bullets. It was such a wonderful moment, she didn’t care for herself at all, she only cared about protecting him. Then at the end of the film when Michael has to shoot Maguire (Jude Law), even though Mike is dying he knows he can’t let Michael become a murderer and so shoots him for him. He wants so much for Michael not to become who he was and so his last act is to protect him. And it worked, Michael never touched a gun again. I’m sure Mike would’ve been proud.

I really wasn’t expecting to like this film but it surprised me and I just enjoyed it so much. The love parents have for their children is something that always gets me and it is always a joy to watch.

8/10

Day 52: Fight Club

The Narrator (Edward Norton) is a good worker bee who has bought into the notion that what he owns is the most important part of who he is, it even makes him who he is. But when all that comes crashing down around him he makes a friend in Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). He is anti-narrator in every way and thrives in chaos. They start a club where men can come together and beat each other up and in this way all the men are released from the monotony and hopelessness of their lives. The actions of the club eventually extend well beyond the occasional fight and the Narrator tries to put a stop to it all.

There isn’t really a good way to talk about this film without totally giving away what’s happening and while I know the film is over 10 years old, I don't want to ruin this one for anybody. I do like that Tyler was trying to get the men to see what is actually important in life and not to focus on all the crap we’re taught to want from a young age. Apparently what everyone wants is total chaos and no responsibility. Yeah, I can get behind that. He asks them if they were going to die today, what would they wish they had done. I honestly can’t think of what I really want to do. But I feel like I should have some idea at least. I’ll need to find that.

“The condom is the glass slipper of our generation. You slip one on when you meet a stranger. You dance all night. Then you throw it away.”

8/10

Day 51: Inception

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team are employed by very rich people to spend their time in the dreams of others in order to steal valuable secrets. Their newest employer, Saito (Ken Watanabe), is a little different. He wants them to go into the mind of a business competitor and plant an idea. That is so difficult and in order to do so the team risk ending up spending the rest of their lives in limbo. Cobb’s projection of his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard), threatens to destroy their mission at every step and it puts the whole team in constant danger.

To be able to see into someone’s mind, to be able to walk through their memories and their experiences and their thoughts, just seems like such a beautiful thing. It’s not about being nosy but more because people rarely tell you exactly what they’re thinking, or if they do, they filter it so it’s better for you to listen to. The ideal for me would just be unadulterated honesty at all times. Truly knowing someone seems close to an impossibility because the distance between who they are and who they project themselves to be is massive. In order to know someone, they have to close the gap. That is it for me, I don’t know a lot of things about me or anyone for that matter but I know that: I want to close the gap.

You know, I thought it would be amazing to be able to dream so well that you could actually have a whole life with someone. Or maybe not even a whole life, but to imagine someone so clearly that it’s almost as if they are there with you. But it clearly would never even touch on how wonderful it would be to actually have it in reality. Like is said in the film, you can never imagine a person completely. People are so complex and their every thought and action is influenced by a myriad of different and sometimes contradictory forces. How could you ever hope to dream of that person in their entirety? Sure, you could make an adequate copy and maybe you’d be happy enough. But it would never be them, not really. Imagination is powerful but it can’t be everything.

In the hotel room, Mal accuses Ariadne (Ellen Page) of not understanding what is going on because she has never felt what it’s like to be a lover, “to be half of a whole”. For me, I don’t believe anyone you are with should be seen as your other half. I think you should be complete yourself so that anyone who is with you gets to share in who you are, not make you who you are. If they leave, does that make you incomplete again? It’s all so fragile, I just refuse to believe that it should be the right way of things. You are not defined by the people in your life, you are defined by you. By being the truest version of yourself. I just can’t believe that people are incomplete and it’s only through being with someone else that they can be whole. That seems so sad.

It must just be the hardest thing when someone you love kills themselves. Especially when they do it right in front of you. Mal completely believes that this world is not her reality and she needs to die in order to get back to where she and Cobb built their lives together. And Cobb put the idea in her head without meaning for it to cause this much destruction and so he feels guilty forever after. He keeps going back into his dreams in order to be with her but he can never get past his guilt, and he does know that she isn’t real and it breaks his heart that he can’t go back and fix what he did. But he does get to return to his home and his children. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a dream or not because he gets to finally be with them again and that’s what he has wanted for so long. This is his reality now.

Leonardo DiCaprio is such a brilliant actor. His eyes just slay me in every film, they are so believable. When I was watching the film, I was utterly convinced he was Dom Cobb and that he loved Mal with a passion I can’t even imagine. You just get lost in his portrayal of his characters and it’s lovely to be a part of.

I always forget how much I love this film. It’s just so beautiful. I love when the café and the street are exploding around Cobb and Ariadne, it’s such a great scene. The whole film is just lovely to watch.

9/10

Day 50: Charlie's Angels

Lucy Liu and two other women are secret crime-fighting badasses working for Charlie, a man none of them have met but who they trust and care for. After helping to find a kidnapped computer genius and help him get his software back, it turns out the genius had created the whole drama in order to find Charlie and kill him. But Lucy Liu and the other two work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.

I needed an easy film today and this definitely fit the bill. I don’t have much to say on it. It’s enjoyable, the fighting is all very exciting, the women work well together. To be honest, after Lucy Liu did her whole hair flipping thing at the start of the film I was pretty much distracted for the rest of it. Lucy Liu is marvellous, what else is there to say.

6/10

Day 49: The Field

Happy birthday, Simon! I’m sure there is no greater present than the knowledge that I watched your pick on this day.

Bull McCabe (Richard Harris) has spent his life caring for a field and he wants to keep it in the family to pass on to his son, Tadgh (Sean Bean). However, the owner wants to sell and she’s not particularly keen on Bull owning it so she sets the minimum price at £100 (which she thinks he will never be able to get together) and waits for it to pass on to someone else. That someone else wouldn’t exist normally because nobody in that little village would dare go against Bull but along comes an American with no consideration for village folk and their love of land and he tries to buy it out from under him. Bull and that field cannot be separated so he takes drastic measures to ensure it stays with him.

At the start of the film you see father and son working hard and enjoying themselves as much as you can when you’re working in a field. There is little in the way of talking for quite a while so I had to content myself with the fact that we’ve got Dumbledore, Boromir, and the homeless pigeon lady from Home Alone 2 all present. I can’t even explain how or why I was so excited to see the homeless pigeon lady but it might have had something to do with it being the only thing happening in the film for a long time. But then someone shouts just the best line, in such a way that it could only be shouted sincerely by crazy village folk: “THEY MURDERED YOUR FATHER’S DONKEEEY.” The best.

Despite the fact I could only understand every other sentence (I’m not good with Irish, or old people who mumble all the time), it was watchable. Richard Harris was brilliant, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him as anyone other than Dumbledore but he is a great actor. Sean Bean, your acting is so weird in this film I can’t even explain it, and you die again! I’ve never seen a film where you survive the whole way through. This is such an old man film. I don’t mean that as a criticism but it is just dripping with it. It was ok, I liked Bull’s gradual mental decline but I’m not too interested in old people fighting for a field. I know it was about family and all that but killing people for what is essentially just a field just doesn’t compute with my brain.

6/10

Day 48: Singin' In The Rain

It’s the 1920s and talking pictures are coming into fashion. Stars of the silent films, Don (Gene Kelly) and Lina (Jean Hagen), have to move with the times but Lina has a hilariously bad voice and their acting in silent films isn’t coming across so well now. The only solution? Make it a musical! That’s pretty much the solution to everything.

We need to have a talk because I do not understand. Why, in older films, do people kiss so strangely? It’s not just me, right? You can all see it too? It’s like they just press their faces against each other and… that’s it. Or sometimes there’s some dramatic swivelling. I can’t describe it well but it just looks so awkward. Kissing doesn’t look like that, I don’t understand why they would do that. It’s not so bad when Don and Kathy (Debbie Reynolds) kiss but the rest of the time it’s just so bad. And, while I’ve got you here, a lot of the dresses are just so shapeless. It’s like they are wearing frilly sacks. Fashion of the time, I guess, but how did anyone ever think they looked good? Granted I don’t know a heck of a lot about dresses but surely a bit of shape is key, no? Another thing I don’t understand.

Don jumps from a tram and lands in Kathy’s car. They bicker and she tells him he’s not a real actor and he just seems to be half in love with her already. It didn’t even seem odd that he was instantly taken with her and then he doesn’t get to see her for a while but he can’t stop thinking about her. Eventually they get to spend time together and he convinces her to sing Lina’s lines for her. And because I mention it with every other film, I can’t start missing it out now: the way he’s looking at her when she’s singing is just the best. He looks absolutely smitten, I was so happy just watching him watch her.

For some reason I was convinced I wasn’t going to like this film but it turns out I absolutely loved it. Everybody is so cheeky and sweet. What I wouldn’t give to be able to dance and sing, let me tell you.

8/10

Day 47: All About My Mother

Mother and son, Manuela (Cecilia Roth) and Esteban (Eloy Azorín), have quite a close relationship. Manuela raised him alone, and for his 17^th birthday they go to see ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, which is how she met Esteban’s father. He is excited about getting the autograph of one of the actresses but when he chases her he is hit by a car and dies, leaving Manuela heartbroken. She goes off in search of Esteban’s father, Lola (Toni Cantó), and in her search she develops great friendships and has a chance with another son.

To start with I was a tad uncomfortable with the relationship between Mother and son. It  just seemed a little off to me. She gave him a photo of her when she was younger and he was stroking it. Which made sense after watching the rest of the film (he was stroking the side because she had ripped his Father out of the photo) but I wasn’t to know that at the time. And he’s always staring at her in a strange way. I obviously read too much into it because nothing happened with that potential storyline. Not important!

Manuela and Rosa (Penélope Cruz) seem to become instant friends. I’m not really sure how it happened quite so fast but I loved it all the same. Manuela helps Rosa with her difficult pregnancy and Rosa helps Manuela with her grief as she has something to focus on besides her absent son. My favourite scene might be the one where Manuela, Rosa, Agrado (Antonia San Juan) and Huma (Marisa Paredes) are drinking and joking together. It’s as if they can all forget about their own separate problems for a little while and can just enjoy being with each other (dingdingding, this is definitely my favourite thing, pretty sure I mention it in every blog).

Manuela seems so strong despite her grief and the difficulty she must’ve had raising Esteban alone. She is there for Rosa when her Mother cannot be, she helps Huma through her difficult relationship, and she helps Agrado find work outside of prostitution. Although Manuela is clearly a champ, I think Agrado is my favourite (if I’m forced to choose). The first we see of her is when she’s being beaten up but she rallies and is happy to see her friend again. She is so honest and funny and I just love that.

“You are more authentic the more you resemble what you’ve dreamed of being.”

8/10

Day 46: The Deer Hunter

Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steven (John Savage) leave behind their happy lives in Pennsylvania to become soldiers in the Vietnam war. Much like every film about soldiers, the men are wounded psychologically as well as physically and trying to get back to normal life is proving difficult.

Almost the entire first hour of this film is Steven’s wedding. It’s just far too long. Yeah they’re all happy and having a great time, I understand we need to see that but no way did it have to last that long. It was such an enthusiastic wedding reception, I was exhausted just watching the damn thing. Eventually it’s over and they’re off to war. The three of them are taken prisoner and forced to play Russian Roulette by their captors. Those scenes were well acted and you could definitely feeling the tension alongside them. Finally, Michael (total hero throughout), hatches a plan and they manage to escape. All three end up going their separate ways and we follow Michael as he returns home. He doesn’t feel comfortable though and remembers his promise to Nick, that he wouldn’t leave him, and so returns to Saigon to get him. But Nick is too far gone mentally and he can’t even remember Michael anymore. He’s playing Russian Roulette voluntarily this time and he dies playing. Right in front of his best friend. Michael’s face is just heartbreaking.

Before they head off, Linda (Meryl Streep), is with Nick but you can see she clearly likes Michael. And Michael is insanely obvious about his liking of her and he almost kisses her during the wedding but you can see him hesitate and quickly stop himself. When he comes back from the war he doesn’t want to see anyone but her. She’s so happy to see him and just bursts into tears and grabs onto him. In every scene with the two of them, Michael can’t keep his eyes off her and when she looks at him it’s like they understand what the other is thinking. Their relationship is difficult though because she was with Nick and Michael was his best friend. I’m sure it must work though, I mean, she kisses his war scar. If that’s not just such an intimate thing. Must be love.

The film made me feel so claustrophobic and I never feel like that. There were so many people all climbing on top of each other all the time and it was like every scene was so loud, it was rarely ever just quiet. It made me so uncomfortable the entire way through but that was probably the intention. I wasn’t sure I was going to like this film because I’m really not interested in soldiers at all but I ended up surprising myself by how much I did like it.

8/10 

Day 45: Love Me If You Dare

Right, so, I know I asked for suggestions for lovey films to watch today and then asked for one to be picked from the suggestions but I’m going to ignore that and go with the one I wanted to watch anyway. Notting Hill is too nicey nice for the mood I’m in, I need destructive and overwhelming, thankyouverymuch. I’m also very drunk but I’m typing like a CHAMP.

A little boy and a little girl fall instantly in love. Julien (Guillaume Canet) and Sophie (Marion Cotillard) dare each other in ever more extravagant ways with the reward always being the carousel box that Julien’s dying mother gave him. They do love each other but they can’t trust each other, which makes it impossible for them to be happy. Realising they cannot survive with this distrust but knowing that they cannot exist without the other, they drown together in cement.

He is always happy to see her but he won’t let her share in the sadness of his life. She’s jealous of Julien flirting with some girl in her class and it affects her so much she can’t even complete her exam properly. He admits to having sex with this girl and so she tells him she had sex with the gym coach. Both are trying to get to each other and it’s working well. Everyone knows how destructive they are for each other and they try to split them up. Julien’s Dad offers Sophie money to stay away from him but she won’t accept. She just wants Julien to love her but she can’t believe that he would love her outside the game. “Tell me you love me. Tell me because, if I tell you first, I’m afraid you’ll think it’s a game.” They decide not to see each other for a year and you can see she wants him to be honest with her about how he feels but he just can’t do it. He does chase after the bus shouting that he loves her, but if you can’t say it when she’s there then does it even count?

When they eventually start talking again, he tricks her into thinking he’s asking her to marry him. He’s trying to hurt her on purpose and he succeeds, she looks absolutely heartbroken. I always think loving someone should mean you don’t hurt them at all but love is different for everyone and people interact with each other in different ways so maybe hurting each other is one way of showing it, for some people. Anyway, she shows up to his wedding to remind him of the dare he accepted as a child (that he would say no at his wedding) and makes his now-wife upset. He almost lets Sophie get hit by a train. Their relationship is so destructive and dangerous.

They decide not to see each other for 10 years. Both get married in that time, and Julien has children. But all he’s thinking about is Sophie at all times. She seems absolutely impossible, like loving her would be just the most difficult thing. But clearly worth it since Julien cannot get her out of his head. Eventually she contacts him and while his wife wants him not to go off, he can’t help but go when Sophie calls for him. He pretends that he has ended up badly hurt after a car wreck and she is devastated. But she realises he is playing a game at the same time he realises he shouldn’t have done it. They reunite and realise that they cannot live without the other and that if they were to go on living then it would be impossible to distinguish game from reality, so they decide to kill themselves.

For some reason I think this is love. So unhealthy and ultimately the most destructive. But I love it.

9/10

Day 44: The Color Purple

The only happiness Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) had in her life was her sister, Nettie (Akosua Busia). The man she knew as her father raped her repeatedly and when she gave birth to two children, he took them away. She’s then married off to Albert (Danny Glover) as second prize when he can’t marry Nettie and he beats her constantly, and makes her look after his rotten children. He keeps Nettie away from her and she ends up feeling like she has nothing in her whole life. Until Shug Avery (Margaret Avery) comes along and helps her see she is worth something after all.

It’s always difficult to separate the book from the film, especially when you’ve read the book quite recently. But I was comparing it constantly, even though I tried not to. Shug is just not what I was expecting. I can’t even remember exactly how she was described in the book but I’m sure she was meant to be a total knockout. Celie looked so happy when Shug is singing about her, I just couldn’t bear it. It’s probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for her and it’s just a lovely moment. And she is always so shy, trying to hide her smile, but she has the best time with Shug. I loved that the camera panned over to the windchimes when they went to have sex. Nice touch.

Eventually Shug gives her the confidence she needs to stand up to Albert and move away. She has a house, her own shop, and she is sure of herself. I’m so glad the film didn’t stay true to the book here because in the book Shug leaves her to go off with a man for a while. I mean, she comes back but it still breaks Celie’s heart when she does it. Thankfully it didn’t happen in the film so my wee heart didn’t fall to pieces like it did when I read it.

The film is great but I think I just preferred the pacing of the book.

8/10

Books Books Books

Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett

Another Discworld novel. I can’t actually get enough of them, they are so easy to read while still being worth it. Everyone is so courageous and loyal even when they don’t think it of themselves. Maybe we are all stronger than we think we are when it’s needed.

“It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”

8/10

~

Too Loud A Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal

Describing this book seems to take away from how wonderful it is to actually read. Hantá spends his days compacting confiscated books for recycling and he does it alone, with the occasional mouse to keep him company. His work is slow because he continually tries to save books from the jaws of the press. He takes them home with him and keeps them safe until eventually the books invade every area of his living space, with the potential to bury him. He learns and lives through the books he saves and is better for it.

9/10

~

The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

When you are alive you can’t be sure if you’re making the right decisions or how what you do affects other people. But when you die, it will be explained to you. I really take issue with that, it seems to me you should try to understand your life while you’re living it and not have it all dealt with afterwards. The main character, Eddie, spends his whole life as a maintenance worker at an amusement park. He thinks he has done nothing with the time that was given to him and he regrets not getting out and doing something more. But in heaven, it’s explained to him that what he did affected so many lives that eventually he makes peace with how he spent his time.

While I did cry at various points in the book and especially when Eddie got to be with the woman he loves in heaven again, that’s probably more because I will cry at the drop of a hat more than anything else. A lot of the time the wording was cheesy and it felt like it was trying too hard to be profound. It’s so easy to write about the afterlife in an unconvincing way. I’m not sure if that’s because I don’t believe in an afterlife but I still like to read/hear about what people think it’s going to involve. The book was alright but I just wasn’t as bowled over by it as I thought I was going to be.

6/10

Day 43: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Idolising Jesse James (Brad Pitt) from a young age, Robert Ford (Casey Affleck), wants to get in his gang in order to live out the fantasies he’s had all his life. But everybody treats him like he’s not worth being around (he’s not) and Jesse doesn’t give him the kind of attention he hoped he would get. Feeling crushed and disappointed, he agrees to help the police in their capture of Jesse in the hopes that it’ll make something of him and he’ll eventually get the recognition he feels he deserves. He ends up killing him and still nobody wants to know him. Boo-freaking-hoo.

Robert annoyed me through the entire film. Grinning and fidgeting and scoffing for no reason. How can he expect anyone to like him or even care about him being around when he’s such a pain in the ass? I’d have shot him right off the bat, I couldn’t stop thinking that the whole way through. He is so completely disrespectful of everybody all the time. Scoffing during the Governor’s speech and then just scoffing right in his face? I don’t even know why he was doing that. You’re no badass and you’re nothing special, what are you doing? Ugh, I just wanted him dead from the minute he was on the screen ‘til the minute he was shot down.

I liked the scene when Jesse was shot. You can hear his daughter running through a poem just outside, you can feel the tension in the room, and it’s like everyone has accepted that this is going to happen. Even Jesse seems to have accepted it, or maybe he didn’t think Robert would have it in him when it really came down to it. Either way, he lays aside his weapons and turns his back on him. And then when his wife finds him dead, she just looks so disbelieving and completely devastated. I love when people can act grief really well. Not that I’ve actually felt grief myself, nobody I’ve cared about has ever passed, so I don’t know how it looks but how she reacted is how I picture it.

For some reason Zooey Deschanel is just thrown into the film for like 5 minutes at the end. And as a burlesque dancer? Really? She’s all skin and bones and dead behind the eyes, couldn’t have got anybody else for that role? Someone believable? Odd choice.

The film has confused me. It dragged on far too long and I did keep saying aloud, “Just. Bloody. End.” but I also feel like I enjoyed it, too. The story was interesting enough and the relationships were all fraught, so that part was good. I don’t think I’d watch it again though.

7/10 

Day 42: 10 Things I Hate About You

Heath Ledger is such a babe. I just need to get that out there. I find his face enchanting and I just want to kiss it anytime he’s on screen. Anyway, moving on.

Feisty teenager, Kat (Julia Stiles), just wants to get through high school with the minimum amount of contact with the assholes that seem to populate the place. Her sister, Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), wants to be able to date but their father is rather protective and so she can’t date until Kat does. And because this is a ‘90s film, it inevitably ends up meaning that a boy is paid to date the girl. And he then falls in love with her.

I know the heart wants what it wants and it doesn’t need to explain or justify itself but I cannot understand why Cameron likes Bianca. She forgets his name immediately upon him telling her it and she shows no interest in him whatsoever. Obviously she ends up liking him and they’re cute together but I just don’t get why he was so focused on her to begin with when she barely even looked at him. I always wish in films the person would just go “right, s/he isn’t interested, I’ll move on.” But that might be too sensible. And it's not as if people are that good at doing it in real life, so maybe it's too unrealistic to expect it to happen in a film.

Beautiful angel Patrick (Heath Ledger) is paid to date Kat but you can see right away she intrigues him and that he likes being around her. When he tries to pretend he’s casually bumping into her at the concert and he watches her dancing, the way he’s smiling is a clear indication it’s more than just about the money for him. I just love the scene when they’re in the pedalo and he’s saying how he gets her attitude and that he can see she thinks if she disappoints people straight off then she doesn’t have to live up to their expectations. And then he says she messed up because she never disappointed him. Ugh, he is so smooth. I would be smitten. Hell, I am smitten and it’s just fiction.

“Don’t let anyone ever make you feel like you don’t deserve what you want.”

8/10

Day 41: Jurassic Park

You know how sometimes you just need to watch something with dinosaurs? And by ‘sometimes’ I mean, ‘all the time’? To the friend that picked this film, I thank you for giving me an excuse to watch this beauty.

Rich man who puts the least amount of thought into anything (unless it’s making sure he spares no expense!), John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), brings dinosaurs back from extinction and sets up a wee park for people to come along and see them. Who better to test the highly dangerous and completely unready park on but your own grandchildren? As is expected, it all goes from bad to worse for the people. For the dinosaurs they’re probably happier out of their cages. Swings and roundabouts, I guess?

Alan (Sam Neill) and Ellie (Laura Dern) are the cutest. We first see them as they are digging up a raptor skeleton and Alan puts the fear into a kid who dared to compare the raptor to a turkey. I like how she knows what he's like and that he was going to go off on a dramatic story and that he just doesn’t like children. That obviously doesn’t last though because he becomes a total hero throughout the film, constantly protecting and looking after Tim and Lex. He gets Lex to trust him despite her being terrified, he shields Tim when the car falls on them, and he looks after them while they’re sleeping in the tree. To quote my notes, “Alan, you’re my hero.” And you can see the effect it has on Ellie when they’re in the helicopter at the end and she’s looking at him with the kids. Children might be on the cards after all! Except it’s not because I’ve seen the sequels and it makes me sad. Ellie and Alan are for life in my heart. I mean, they way he looks at her when she says “Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.” is the best. He looks smitten, I just love that look.

While I love the idea of dinosaurs existing again, it would just be mental. Why breed carnivores? You’re just asking for trouble. If I was Hammond here I’d have just ended up with a park full of Triceratops (favourite dinosaur) and Brachiosaurus. How amazing would that be! I’ve always loved Triceratops the most after seeing this film. You only see one and she’s sick but god, I just loved her right away. They are brilliant. And they remind me of rhino, which are my favourite animals, so I guess I couldn’t help but love them. It would be totally safe to have an island of those, definitely.

Absolutely love the film.

9/10

Day 40: Hairspray

Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) wants to be a dancer on The Corny Collins Show more than anything but has a little difficulty as she is discriminated against because of her size. However, after realising that’s not the most important thing and that there is a serious race divide, she decides to take on the lack of integration within the show.

I really don’t like Tracy. First of all, she is a morning person. I don’t get you people, how can you just wake up and be all bouncy and ready to face the day? Ugh. That’s as good as you’re gonna feel all day, you can’t start off like that or it’ll all just go downhill. Another thing, the focus seems to be on her far too much. I know she’s trying to help and all but surely the focus should be on Maybelle (Queen Latifah) or Seaweed (Elijah Kelley)? And she completely ruins their march by hitting a police officer and then running away, leaving everybody else to get arrested. It just seems that there were a whole host of characters who could’ve had more focus.

The main one being Maybelle, obviously. Queen Latifah is such a babe in everything, I love her so much. My notes for whenever she was on screen are all very similar (“QUEEN LATIFAAAH. BE IN MORE THINGS.”) I think I’d much prefer the film to just be The Queen Latifah Show. It doesn’t even have to be about anything, she can just sing and be brilliant. Anyway, I’ve got sidetracked. Her song ‘Big, Blonde and Beautiful’ is my favourite. She seems like the only normal character while all the rest of them are overacting like crazy. Babe.

Link (Zac Efron) bothers me in this film and I’m never sure why. He’s so useless though, so that could be it. In one scene he went from telling Tracy that knowing her would be an adventure to telling her that the adventure would be too big for him. Quickest cop out ever, well done, Sir. And he’s usually so attractive but in this film he looks the strangest. It must be the ridiculous hair he’s got going on. And the fact he keeps winking all the time. Nobody should wink seriously, it is only to be done for laughs. Only men with hairy chests and gold medallions get to wink like that.

Despite all my problems with the film, I still like it. The songs are catchy and Queen Latifah is in it, what’s not to like?

7/10

Day 39: Terminator 2

This is my Dad’s pick for favourite film. It’s not actually his favourite though, that would be Titanic. But he didn’t want to be known for that so he picked an action one instead. Oops, secret’s out.

Sent back from the future to protect whiny bastard John Connor, the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger – I didn’t even look that up, I just knew how to spell it. I’m good.) kills a lot of people and causes a lot of explosions.

John asks the Terminator if he’s scared of dying. I’ve always wondered about why people are scared of dying. What is there to be scared of? It’s always interested me. How will I die? What would it feel like? What would be my very last thought? That’s a puzzling one. I hope I think of something profound or comforting, at least. But I guess you can’t know until it happens. Are people who kill themselves less scared than those who die naturally, I wonder? Or maybe they’re just as scared but what’s haunting them is much worse than anything they think might happen when they die.

Time travel is interesting to me, too. In films there always ends up being paradoxes. In this, for example, they destroy all the work and the chips and both Terminators and yet, both of them still exist to be sent back. I’ve not seen any of the Terminator films after this one so I don’t know if they explain it there so maybe they do. I’ve always said I’d go forwards if I could travel in time but obviously that’s a lie. I would do what everybody else would and I’d go back to that time of the one major regret and I’d change it. But then if you change something so pivotal in your life, it completely changes who you are, I think. I’d not be me. Which, I think we’ll all agree, would be nice. Hopefully time travel happens during my lifetime.

Don’t really have too much to say about the film itself. Lots of explosions and cheesy dialogue. Linda Hamilton is a bit of a badass. It’s an alright film but I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it.

6/10

Day 38: Gladiator

There’s a new Emperor in town and he’s a bit of a useless bastard. Unloved by his father and his sister, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), seeks this absent love from the people of Rome. But Maximus (Russell Crowe), his father’s favourite and choice for successor, puts a dent in this plan as he has returned to seek vengeance for the brutal murder of his wife and child ordered by Commodus. I’m sure we all know how this goes.

Everyone Maximus loves is murdered. The Emperor who believed in him, his wife and son who waited for him, Cicero who tried to help him, and those who fought to help him escape. It just seems that by being close to people it leaves you open to so much tragedy. Anything could happen to the people that you care about and that is terrifying. I think I’ll stick with not letting anyone get close. Better to keep everyone at a distance.

“I have felt alone all my life… except with you.”

7/10

Day 37: Adam

Adam (Hugh Dancy) is trying to get used to his disrupted routine now that his father has died. Beth (Rose Byrne) is a new tenant in his building and they take a liking to each other. Talking to people is difficult for Adam because he has Asperger’s but being with her helps him.

When they first meet, she seems really nervous and just keeps talking. He responds awkwardly and she takes it to mean that she’s done something wrong rather than it being a difficulty he has with social interaction. She invites him out with her and her friends but he is so nervous about it and eventually doesn’t go. You can see he really wanted to so in order to make it up to her, he sets up a projection of space in his apartment to share it with her. There are actually a lot of cute moments like this: he takes her to see the raccoons in the park late at night then the next day leaves her coffee outside her door because he knows she’ll be tired for work, he tries to clean her windows (dressed up like an astronaut!) so she can see the stars, she gets him a book on how to find work for someone with Asperger’s and you can see he’s really touched. And they finally kiss! They are just the loveliest.

He gets fired and has to find another job but going through an interview seems like an impossible challenge for him. So she helps him even though her family is going through a difficult time and it’s exactly what he needs. Sadly though he finds out she lied to him and takes it very badly, reacting so angrily that it scares her. Eventually the problems with her family come to a head and her father is going to prison so she goes to stay with him before he leaves. But Adam has to see her again and so goes miles out of his comfort zone and travels by himself all the way to her. He tells her he got a job and it’s in California and he wants her to come with him. But she doesn’t think he could love her, not in a way that is recognisable to her, so she doesn’t go with him. He almost doesn’t go because he thinks he needs her to be there but he eventually understands that what he needs is to go, even if she isn’t with him. And so he does. A year later we can see he has come along well and she sends him a copy of a children’s book she has written that is named after him.

Then a song I love comes over the credits ('Can't Go Back Now' by The Weepies): 

“I can’t really say why everybody wishes they were somewhere else

But in the end the only steps that matter are the ones you take all by yourself”

Couldn’t fit better with the film.

8/10 

Day 36: I Am Legend

After the supposed cure for cancer goes rogue and ends up killing over 5 billion people and makes almost all of the rest into mutant ‘darkseekers’, Dr Robert Neville (Will Smith) spends his days trying to reverse it.

The main thing with this film for me is the relationship he has with his dog, Sam. Given to him by his daughter minutes before she dies, he takes care of her and she becomes his only friend in the world. You can see how much he loves her when she runs into the darkened building and he’s absolutely terrified but he knows he can’t just leave her. So he follows her inside despite it going against his survival instincts. There is nothing worse than when she dies after protecting him later in the film.  He would have definitely died had Sam not taken on those dogs herself. When he has to put her down it is the absolute worst thing. He loses his only friend. Crying again just writing it so I’m going to move on.

After he loses Sam and he goes into the music shop to talk to the mannequin you can see how much it has affected him. He looks so lost and just wants the mannequin to answer him. “Please say hello to me.” Will Smith is a wonderful actor, I always forget that. He makes the scene heartbreaking when it could’ve so easily been strange.

I always think I’d quite like to be the only person in the world. You wouldn’t have to do anything or go anywhere or talk to people you don’t want to talk to. You can just do what you want when you want. Of course, I wouldn’t want there to be any of those darkseeker things around because I’m scared of the dark enough as it is, I don’t need them to be there too. It just seems like it would be so peaceful.

“Light up the darkness.”

8/10

Day 35: As Good As It Gets

Grumpy bastard Melvin (Jack Nicholson) has his perfectly ordered life thrown up in the air when he helps out his neighbour and falls in love with the only waitress in the world who will talk to him. He has OCD and he seems to be affected by it quite severely but he has built his life around it and can function (to a degree).

He can’t stand anyone touching him but he doesn’t mind when Carol (Helen Hunt) does, he doesn’t even go to say anything whereas he was shouting in the street for people to not touch him moments earlier. The first of the many ways in which she is the exception to all the rules he has for himself. It’s a shame he is such a bastard to her or it would be sweet. He finds it difficult to talk to people and so always ends up saying something insulting without apparently realising what he’s doing.

Despite being absolutely rubbish at talking to people, he is really generous. Carol’s son is sick and she can’t afford to take him to a good doctor so he pays for a big fancy one to come and take care of him, giving Carol back her life. She’s naturally reluctant to accept it because his motivations don’t always come across as totally pure but in the end her son is getting the help he needs so it’s not even a question. Melvin also looks after Simon (Greg Kinnear), even though they used to fight all the time. He is homophobic throughout towards Simon but I genuinely don’t think he means any of it. And by the end of it he says to Simon that if he was into that sort of thing then he’d be the luckiest guy in the world to be with him.

The main thing of the film is that she calms him to the point where he doesn’t even notice that he didn’t lock the door X amount of times or that he’s standing on cracks in the road. He says that he has been putting off taking medication that will help him but that he’s started now because she makes him want to be a better man. It’s a sweet thing for him to say but then he just consistently ruins it by being so rude to her. She tells him that she can’t be around him because he makes her feel bad about herself. I really do like that she says that because it’s selfish of him to take and not to be kind in return. Never spend time with people who make you feel bad about yourself, you always deserve more than that.

I like that you can see him get better as the film goes on ‘til eventually he doesn’t seem all that bad. He’s trying at least. While I don’t think he should be putting all his changes on Carol, she is helping him. It’s probably better for him to do it for himself than for her but we wouldn’t have a film then, would we? People are always doing things for other people rather than just doing them for themselves. I can’t tell whether I think that’s good or bad.

8/10

Another 3 Books

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

You know a book is going to be gruelling when the main character is raped on the first page. The whole way through you are just praying that Celie finally gets some happiness. I was reading at work and when I got to the lines, “My heart broke. Shug love somebody else.” I just started crying right there. She’s finally doing what she wants to be doing, she’s sure her sister is coming back to her and she has someone she loves and who loves her… but then it’s taken away from her again. All is not lost though, it starts to come back again. And if you read it, don’t be reading in public because crying on the bus is only acceptable if you’re doing it silently, not happy-sobbing like some people…

10/10

~

The Trick Is To Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway

This doesn’t try to sweeten depression in any way, it is honest and relentless. Joy, the main character, is trying to survive the days now that the man she loves has died but she is not doing well. All she can manage is to exist from day to day and even that is a struggle.

“No matter how often I think I can't stand it anymore, I always do. There is no alternative. I don't fall, I don't foam at the mouth, faint, collapse or die. It's the same for all of us. You can't get out of the inside of your own head. Something keeps you going. Something always does.” 

9/10

~

The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon

An interesting glimpse into Japan in the 11^th century, it is basically a diary of an important woman at that time. I liked that they all mainly communicate through poems. But I did find the book hard to get through; Sei Shonagon is just not a likeable person and I found it difficult to want to read what she was writing when she was just so awful to people ‘below’ her. There are some beautiful lines though, definitely worth a read.

6/10

Day 34: A Knight's Tale

Born a peasant, William (Heath Ledger), takes a chance at changing his future and sets out to become a knight. While achieving his dream he meets Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon) and the two quickly fall in love. He competes in various jousting tournaments and becomes the man he wanted to be.

I love how hopeful this film is. His father sends him off to work for a knight in the hopes he can have a better life, he hopes that Jocelyn will return his love for him, he hopes to be a great knight. So much fulfilled hoping. How sickeningly unrealistic! Just kidding. He wants to change his future for himself and you end up believing him when he says, “A man can change his stars.”

But where there is happiness, there is a petty little man. Count Adhemar decides for himself that he shall be married to Jocelyn and so clearly hates William because she loves him. Jocelyn is definitely not interested in Adhemar and makes it obvious at every step but that doesn’t seem to put him off in any way. I understand he doesn’t see her as a person in her own right and is more concerned with showing off his power and ability to take what he wants but come on, man. Why do people consistently go after those who show no interest? I think you should only go for someone who clearly wants you as much as you want them. If you don’t, you’re selling yourself short and you should never do that. Always go for the one who sees the brightness in you. Don’t settle for any less.

It was so easy to show how good you were back then. Being a brave knight raised you in the minds of others and you were given the time of day by people who might otherwise ignore you completely. I wonder if there are as many instances in life now where we can show ourselves to be brave. And even then, what is brave to one person might not be for another. Is bravery saving orphans from burning buildings? Is it the person who pushes someone out the way of an oncoming car? Or is it “… the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’” (Mary Anne Radmacher)?

Oh, and to keep up the pattern of talking about looks, I love how she smiles when she thinks of him. Smiling like that is probably a sure sign of love.

It seems I can only blog when I repeatedly listen to Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Woodpile’. Nothing else works. Some insider knowledge for you there.

8/10

Day 33: Benny and Joon

I forgot to say yesterday but for the whole of February I am watching the favourite films of 28 people that I asked/begged. I’m not watching them in any particular order (except for one birthday special) so it’s just a whatever-mood-I’m-in kind of thing.

So, we’re off to a bad start. I hate The Proclaimers and their stupid 500 miles. I hate it so much. But I didn’t let it affect my viewing (despite a loud “UGH” as soon as it started). Sadly it also ended on the song (my notes: “Fuck me it ends on it too”) but whatever, that was the only bad point of the entire film so I can look past it.

Benny (Aidan Quinn) has spent years forsaking his own life in order to look after his sister, Joon (Mary Stuart Masterston), who is mentally ill. She’s creative, likes her routine and doesn’t like stressful situations. Unfortunately she also doesn’t get along too well with the housekeepers and Benny finds himself in a difficult situation; should he try to find another housekeeper or should he put Joon in a group home? Luckily the decision isn’t up to him. They soon find their lives completely changed by the arrival of loveable eccentric Sam (Johnny Depp).

I’m usually not a fan of Johnny Depp but I loved this character right off the bat. As soon as I saw him in the tree I was immediately smitten. My favourite part about his character is that he sees past the mentally ill label and treats Joon like a person, quite unlike her brother. He sadly seems to be fixated on the fact she’s ‘sick’ rather than anything else. And, of course, Sam scales a building for her. I mean, how could I not love him? Their relationship is sweet and lovely and exactly what she seems to need. Too often those with mental health issues are reduced to a label and people forget that they want just as much as anybody else.

Really loved the film despite having not too much to say about it.

9/10

Day 32: Bridesmaids

Annie (Kristen Wiig) is having a rough time of it; her business went under, her boyfriend left her when that happened, her fuck-buddy is an asshole, and she is living with odd strangers. But her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is getting married and she’s trying to keep it together so she can be there for her. Not helped by Helen (Rose Byrne), Lillian’s new friend, who tries to take over everything and upstage Annie at every opportunity. The film follows Annie hitting bottom and it causing problems for her friendship with Lillian.

Judging from my description there you’d think this was a sad film but it manages to remain funny throughout. Probably the funniest moment being when they are dress shopping. I remember seeing the film in the cinema and everyone was just laughing so loud, it was great. The line delivery of all the cast is perfect, couldn’t have got a better cast for it.

Helen makes me sad. She’s clearly very lonely despite being popular. Her husband isn’t interested in her, her step-kids hate her, she finds it difficult to make friends. She’s so desperate for a best friend that she sabotages the relationship between Annie and Lillian. And while that’s obviously wrong, it’s difficult to hate her for it when it’s so clear she’s lonely. Saying that though, she did put a real butterfly in the invitation. Who actually does that? A psychopath, that’s who.

Actually all of the bridesmaids are interesting. Megan (Melissa McCarthy) is my favourite though. She’s so unapologetic for who she is and she’s clearly got it all worked out. I love when she goes ‘round to see Annie and she tells her what she needs to hear to get her back on track. “You’re your problem, Annie. And you’re also your solution.” Nothing is going to fix itself unless you take charge and fix it for yourself.

Since it’s a film including weddings, I guess it’s only right if I talk about how I’d like my wedding to be. Not that I spend a lot of time thinking about it, marriage seems like an odd concept to me. But sometimes when you’re daydreaming you get to thinking about things. I’ve always pictured it taking place at night, outside. There’s snow falling but it’s not too cold. And there are candles and fairy lights everywhere, and maybe a fire in the background. Not too many people, either. Big weddings just lose the intimacy that I think it should have. And there would be the minimum amount of stress. Why do people stress themselves out so much about one day? Focus your stress on the fact you’re going to have to stay interested in one person for the rest of your life. That is so much more stressful.

8/10