Day 151: Lady and the Tramp

After her owners have a baby, Lady stands guard. But when Aunt Sarah comes to stay, she misinterprets Lady’s intentions and she’s kept away from the baby. Lady has made a new friend and he’s more about adventure and experiencing life away from humans. That doesn’t last too long though and he’s happy to have the family life with Lady.

I love dogs and I love films about dogs. This is just as cute as I remember it to be. Although I wish there had been some sort of spin-off that focused on Jock and Trusty and their obvious relationship. Pretty sure their spaghetti moment would be just as cute.

7/10

Day 150: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Two couples are having troubles in their lives and relationships. Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) leaves his wife of 40 years because he doesn’t want to accept that he’s old now. Their daughter, Sally (Naomi Watts), wants to start a family and open an art gallery but neither is happening and it puts a strain on her marriage.

It never really occurred to me before how difficult it must be to go through a divorce when you’re a pensioner. I always thought that so long as you had people around then you’d be alright, but obviously that’s just not even close to being correct. Just having people around doesn’t make anyone less lonely, the number of people you have in your life doesn’t have any bearing on the loneliness you feel. Intimacy can reduce loneliness (it can also increase it too, I know), and I don’t mean sexual intimacy, although that too. Even just the little things between you and a partner can reassure you that you’re not alone in this isolating place. And so losing the person closest to you would be hard on anyone but I think perhaps losing them when you’re older would be more difficult. When Alfie leaves her, Helena (Gemma Jones) tries to kill herself and seeks comfort in a fortune teller to try and get through. She spends a lot of her time bothering her daughter and drinking large quantities of alcohol but seems more content now that the fortune teller has told her positive things about her future. Alfie isn’t doing too well; he feels young at heart and after having sex with a young prostitute he proposes to her and lavishes a small fortune on her. She’s not interested in the things he is and she soon cheats on him with a man her own age. He realises that the something extra he wanted out of life was just a dream and he tries to reunite with Helena, but she has moved on. It all seemed rather difficult and I’m not convinced either of them were happy with the choices they made.

Sally has a crush on her new boss and she thinks he might like her too. Her husband, Roy (Josh Brolin), is a writer who is struggling to finish his new novel and he seems reluctant to start a family with her. She decides that what she needs to do is open up an art gallery since that has been her lifelong dream, and her mum has agreed to lend her the money necessary to do so. But she discovers that her boss doesn’t actually feel anything for her and is instead having an affair with her friend, and when she goes to her mum to ask about getting more than the initial amount of money, she is told that she can’t have any of the money. Sally and Roy divorce, her boss has stated he has no interest in her, and her dream of opening a gallery seems to be getting further away. It all gets too much and she takes it out on her mother, calling her an idiot for listening to this fortune teller. Despite being supportive of her mother’s apparent improvement due to the meetings with the fortune teller, hearing that she can’t have the money seems to be the last straw and she lets out all the vicious feelings she had been holding back. Everything she wanted in life has been ripped away all quite quickly and so she hits out at the easiest target.

Instead of working within the relationship to improve their lives and help each other, they choose to look for what they want away from their partners. I want to hope most people would try to make it work within their relationship but I don’t think that’s actually what happens. It seems that when people feel some sort of dissatisfaction in their lives, they hold those closest to them responsible. It’s almost like they see them as some sort of anchor that is weighing them down and stopping them from moving forward to new and better things. While I’ll agree that some people can be anchors, I don’t think that’s fair for everyone. People will always bring something to your life and especially those closest to you, who you share things with. To blame them for your dissatisfaction is to pick an easy target and it most likely won’t lead to anything good.

The film was alright but I wasn’t bowled over by it. I didn’t really believe any of the characters and so their relationships with each other just seemed forced. The story was interesting, I do like this kind of thing.

6/10

Day 149: Memoirs of a Geisha

A little girl is sold out of her small village to a woman who will raise her in the ways of a geisha. That was the initial plan but after many run-ins, it is decided that Chiyo (Ziyi Zhang) will work as a servant instead. Until the wonderful geisha Mameha (Michelle Yeoh) takes her under her wing and makes her into the most sought-after geisha.

Chiyo’s strength despite all the hardships and spitefulness she faces is quite impressive. She works hard for what she wants and even after she thinks she won’t get what it is she has worked so hard for, she still carries on. Finally though, her perseverance is rewarded and she gets to be with the Chairman (Ken Watanabe). That’s quite a touching scene itself and you can see that the Chairman and Chiyo had so both wanted to be with each other but couldn’t due to circumstance and loyalty.

The film itself is quite visually interesting. It did well in documenting the change from poor village girl to wonderful geisha with Chiyo. I liked that we got to see a lot of what went into the process as it gave some insight into how exact and unforgiving it all is.

7/10

Day 148: The Great Gatsby

Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) recounts the short time he spent with Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and how it affected his life.

I won’t go into specifics since the film itself is only recently out, so I’ll just make some general comments. The first half was both weird and boring at the same time, although I’m not sure how it managed that. I don’t know who keeps giving work to Tobey Maguire but they need to have their heads looked at. He is just so awful, it’s like he’s fresh out of acting school and thinks every line has to be said in this ridiculously dramatic way while his eyes look all serious and thoughtful. To be fair though, all the rest of the actors were good. All of Leonardo DiCaprio’s scenes were great, he never fails to impress me. Some of the shots were beautiful but I feel like the film relied too heavily on the beauty involved and didn’t spend enough time developing the story in a believable way.

6/10

Day 147: Dumbo

Dumbo has rather large ears for an elephant and he’s ostracised by the others in the circus. After his mother is taken away from him, a friendly mouse tries to help him.

He’s such a wee cutie, I don’t know how the others could be so rude to him. I’m sure I remember enjoying this film more as a child but it wasn’t all that this time around. And I’d forgotten how nightmarish the pink elephants are. How do children cope, I don’t know.

6/10

Day 146: Malèna

Malèna is so beautiful, all the men want to fuck her and the women want to skin her alive. Outside of their prying eyes, she gains an understanding observer in Renato. While he is still taken with her beauty, he also cares for her and doesn’t want her harmed by the people of the village.

The film is set in Italy during the war and as such, everyone is suspicious and perhaps more unforgiving than they would normally be. They gossip about Malèna and doubt her faithfulness to her husband while he fights in the army. The men all ogle her and try anything to get close to her. Although the men are ridiculous, it’s the women that surprised me. They’re so vicious and cruel to Malèna. The film was good but it all seemed a bit overly dramatic, although I think that was intended.

7/10

Day 145: How To Train Your Dragon

Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) just wants to be part of his Viking community but finds that he can’t kill dragons. That’s a big part of what makes up the community so it’s a bit of a problem. He catches a dragon known as ‘night fury’ and he names him Toothless and the two become friends. Hiccup helps him fly again and changes the way his community think about dragons.

I’m going to admit to something here, try not to laugh. I believe in dragons. I believe they existed and perhaps they do still and just haven’t been found yet. But it’s a good thing we don’t know where they are because you can just bet that humans would kill them or try and use them for some military purposes. In the film humans do try and kill them for years because they don’t understand them and are frightened. It takes almost complete annihilation of the Viking community before they change their minds about the dragons and stop attacking them.

I do really like this film. Toothless is such a wee cutie, how could you not love him?

8/10

Day 144: You Can't Take It With You

The snobs have to interact with the plebs and it’s all very difficult for them. But Papa Snob soon realises that maybe money and power isn’t everything and that he’s lost what makes him happy along the way.

I’m not entirely sure I believe the dramatic turnaround of A.P. Kirby (Edward Arnold) but perhaps Grandpa (Lionel Barrymore) is really just that persuasive. I enjoyed the film and all the characters. Probably wouldn’t watch it again but I still liked it.

7/10

Day 143: Meet Joe Black

Death wants a break from the loneliness of his work and so goes to Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) to be guided in the ways of the living. He experiences more than he intended when he fell in love with Bill’s daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) and he is reluctant to leave.

The mark of a good life must surely be having no regrets and when Bill is confronted with Death, he doesn’t try to change things in his life, he mostly continues on as before but is more open with his love for the people closest to him. And he doesn’t make a risky business decision because he wants the company to stay as he built it, so the people can remember him through it. I can’t imagine many of us will die with no regrets, I’m sure the majority of us will have something we wish we could’ve done differently. But knowing that, as most people must, doesn’t usually make people change their ways. We will watch a film such as this and think how wonderful it must be to live exactly as you wished to and maybe even entertain a notion or two about changing something in our lives that hasn’t been right. But that won’t last, it might only last so long as a blog post, let’s say. Then we’ll go back to doing things we don’t want to do even though we know we could live so much better.

If we accept that Death (as a sentient entity) does exist, it never really occurred to me how lonely it must be. Its sole purpose is to take people out of their lives and off into some form of afterlife and rarely is it welcomed. It makes sense that Joe (Brad Pitt) would be reluctant to leave because he’s in love and is loved in return, and he’s had many other interesting human experiences along the way. People can sometimes wish for the sense of isolation that Death has but to have never experienced any form of closeness to any other person seems quite heartbreaking. I’m not really sure what I’m getting at here, to be honest. Enjoy your time with people while you have it, and try not to wish it away.

The film itself is very well done, which is what you’d expect since it does last for over 3 hours. Anthony Hopkins was delightful, as usual. His portrayal of a man who has been so strong for all his life but is now faced with such pain and uncertainty is great. Brad Pitt is able to exhibit two very different personalities; one is intense and commanding, while the other is laidback and sweet. The story is very interesting and I’d recommend this film to anyone.

8/10

Day 142: Hedgehog in the Fog

While on his way to meet his bear cub friend, a hedgehog finds himself in a deep fog and is confronted with various things that frighten him.

The animation suits the story well. So often bad animation can detract from the actual story being told but this makes it better. The story itself is simple enough; a hedgehog is taking raspberry jam to his friend and they’re going to count the stars, but the mist he finds himself in makes the journey more terrifying and interesting than usual. He is being followed by a crazy owl and he gets attacked by a bat too. But it’s not all scary, he also sees a beautiful white horse through the fog. He seems rather bewitched by the horse, first wondering if she’ll be alright when she lies down in the fog and later, after finally joining his friend, he wonders how she is. For a trip that must be so routine, the fog brought out a side to the world he hadn’t come across before and as he sits with his friend, he appears to be reflecting on all that he’s seen.

8/10

Day 141: Girl With A Pearl Earring

A young maid comes to work in the Vermeer household and becomes the subject of one of his most famous paintings. Griet (Scarlett Johannson) helps Vermeer with his work and his wife is devastated with jealousy.

While I can usually appreciate a slow-paced film, this was a little too slow for me. I’m not sure the acting was strong enough to hold my interest for long periods of time, particularly when they are supposed to be communicating with a look. The relationship between Colin Firth and Scarlett Johannson wasn't believable, there seemed to be no chemistry there whatsoever. I realise the reserved nature of the characters would’ve been true to the time and situation and it’s not that I was expecting sudden declarations of love or anything but it did all seem rather plain and dull. Perhaps I needed to be in the right mood for this film, I’m sure if I was then I’d give it a higher rating and would’ve enjoyed it more.

5/10

Day 140: Up In The Air

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) spends the majority of his life on planes, flying all over America. When faced with the possibility of no longer being able to do that, he panics; it is all he knows and he loves it. But he comes to realise that maybe there is more to life than endless freedom.

I’ve always thought that it must be exciting to have the freedom to go anywhere without any responsibilities or restrictions, it always seemed like anything might be possible that way. But I’m not sure I believe that now, and the film does a good job of showing the change. People don’t want to be tied down in their lives and it’s natural to dream about being able to just take off and leave it all behind. But at the same time, people do want to be tied down. They want stability and someone to share a life with. Maybe it’s better to think of the stable aspects of your life as a base, or a starting point. And you can still be free and do the things you dream about, but you can always come back to the people who care for you and who allow you to be yourself.

8/10

Day 139: Volver

After the death of her husband, Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) is left picking up the pieces and it’s very difficult for her. But she is not alone, her mother returns, history is revealed and the women are stronger as a result.

I love the strong female focus of this film. They work together and help each other when it all seems so difficult. What mothers do for their children is also a strong focus. Raimunda takes responsibility for the death of her husband despite it being her daughter who killed him, and Irene (Carmen Maura) kills her husband upon learning that he abused Raimunda and got her pregnant. Pedro Almodóvar always makes such wonderful films. They’re simple and powerful. It feels like a story is being told rather than so many films that just seem to try and hold the audiences’ attention with fast-pacing and explosions.

9/10

Day 138: Black Narcissus

A gaggle of nuns set up a convent in the Himalayas but the atmosphere isn’t what they’re used to and it puts them quite out of sorts.

The story was interesting but the acting was just god awful. I found it difficult to pay attention to the film when the lines were delivered either robotically or hysterically. There seemed to be no middle ground. They could’ve done more with the storyline with Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron), I think. It would’ve been interesting to see more shots of her when she was alone, to see what she was like. Perhaps a remake should be on the cards.

5/10

Day 137: Hocus Pocus

The Sanderson sisters are about to be executed but before they are, Winifred (Bette Midler) says that when a virgin lights the black flame candle, the sisters shall return. Cut to 300 years later and a numpty virgin does just that. The witches return and are searching for children.

This film is always a favourite. No matter how many times I see it, it always makes me laugh. Perhaps the best bit is when they escape out of the kiln and Winifred is copying the language tape that lured them inside. Just tickles me every time. The special effects are a bit dated but I don’t think it detracts from the film at all.

I won’t be at home for the next wee while so the blogs will probably be very short. And I most likely won’t have any notes to put in the comments.

9/10

Day 136: What's Your Number?

Ally (Anna Faris) reads in a magazine that the average number of sexual partners women have  in their lifetime is 10.5 and that if your number is more than 20 then you’re less likely to get married. She is currently at number 19 and that same night she hits the 20 mark. Not wanting to go any higher, she decides to go back through her exes and see if she’ll end up with one of them. In order to track them down she enlists the help of her neighbour Colin (Chris Evans).

The synopsis on IMDb says, “A woman looks back at the past twenty men she's had relationships with in her life and wonders if one of them might be her one true love.” That would make you think that perhaps Ally had decided what was best for her and thought she’d find what she was looking for in a past relationship. But you would be wrong in thinking that. In the film she is essentially slut-shamed into not going any higher than 20 and she only decides to trawl through her exes because she doesn’t want to be a woman with a higher number than 20 because guys don’t like it. Which makes me want to explode. At one point she tells a guy that she’s had 20 partners and he actually says “yuck.” Her friends try to make her feel bad about it and one of them says that women who have sex with lots of different guys have low self-esteem. I’m not saying that’s not maybe true of some women but that’s not just universally true. Some women just like sex and they enjoy it with more than one partner. And it’s not “gross” and it doesn’t say anything about who the woman is herself. So, enoooough.

Once you ignore the ridiculous plot of the film, it’s alright. There are some funny bits and Colin was sweet. But seriously, people of the planet. It doesn’t matter if you have sex with lots of different people or if you don’t have sex at all. All that matters is that it’s what you want.

5/10

Day 135: Fast Girls

Shania (Lenora Crichlow) doesn’t have much going for her in life but she can run and she can run fast. She usually runs solo but after being asked to join the British relay team, she decides to go for it. It’s difficult working as a team when you’re supposed to work with your rival but all it takes is a little perspective and standing up for yourself and maybe you can do it after all.

I hate running. It is just such a boring thing to do, even just thinking about it bores me. I don’t really understand running unless you’re running away from something (zombies, obviously). But saying all that, this film does the running scenes (and my oh my, there are a lot) quite well. I wasn’t bored by them, or I don’t remember being bored by them, which is the same. The risks of being an athlete seem massive. One bad fall and that could be your entire career, that is just so much pressure. No wonder athletes are really serious about what they do. The actresses all seemed believable as athletes (although, really, how would I know?) and they played off each other well.

The film was alright, definitely much better than I was expecting. Probably wouldn’t watch it again but I did like it.

6/10

Day 134: Life of Pi

While travelling from India to Canada on a Japanese cargo ship, which is transporting animals from a zoo in Pondicherry and the Patel family who own them, there is a violent storm and the ship sinks. Fortunately, Pi (Suraj Sharma) is thrown into a lifeboat and is saved. Unfortunately, there’s a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger on board with him. The numbers soon dwindled and Pi is left alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean just trying to survive and to stay out of the way of the tiger.

So, I’m going to be really annoying and just say it: I prefer the book. I know it’s not really fair to compare books and films because they tell stories in different ways and with different degrees of interaction from the reader/viewer, but still. It could just be that I’ve read the book quite a lot and I really do love it, and so I’m finding it hard to separate my love for everything that happens in the book to what actually happens in the film. I’m not saying it strayed massively away from the book (there are only a couple of things I can think of that are missing or different) but it was a completely different experience. The book draws you into the panic and the devastation and the endless nothingness that Pi goes through during his time at sea, and so when he has brief moments of relief or happiness you really do feel it with him. This was definitely lacking in the film, I felt no real connection with Pi. That’s not a slight against Suraj Sharma, he was very good and I hope he’ll be in more things. There was just something missing for me.

The shots were beautiful and Suraj Sharma did a great job of keeping me interested in his character. It was a good film. All I’ll say is, read the book.

7/10

Day 133: The Thing

A spaceship has been discovered under the ice in Antarctica, and a body of whatever was on board has also been found. The team are excited at being the first people to discover aliens but it all goes to hell when the alien they thought was dead breaks free and attacks them.

The alien can imitate its victims, so it copies their cells and hides inside. That is pretty excellent, I’m sure we can all agree. This should have led to such a high level of suspicion and paranoia but they don’t really make use of it well. There is the one scene when they’re all scared about who could be a copy but that’s it, it’s just the one scene and then it’s back to fighting. I think what might’ve made the film more interesting would be if they made it less about the action and more about the actual terror that would’ve been felt in that situation.  And I have to agree with one of the commenters on the IMDb page, there were far too many shots of the alien. It might have been better if we heard more noises and saw shadows rather than actually see the alien itself because it takes away from the fear, I think.

I’ve not seen the original film so I’m not sure if this stands up well as a prequel, but I did enjoy it in itself. Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) was amazing and I think using her as the main character was definitely a good choice. According to the IMDb trivia page, she is supposed to have traits in common with Ripley from ‘Alien’ and I can see that. She’s strong and smart and just an all round badass, really.

6/10

Day 132: Crazy, Stupid, Love

After his wife cheats on him and says she wants a divorce, Cal (Steve Carell) spends his time moping in a bar until he is taken under the wing of big time womaniser Jacob (Ryan Gosling). He gets out of his slump and is reminded of what it’s like to make an effort with women, but he really just wants to be with his wife again.

I was expecting this to be dreadful and it was not that at all. Of course some parts were cheesy but on the whole, I liked it. It was interesting to me that Cal accepted that his wife cheated on him and that he still wanted to be with her. I didn’t like that he seemed to be taking all the blame on himself; just because he’s not really been exciting anymore doesn’t mean it should be alright that she cheats on him. He believes she is ‘the one’ and that he wants to be with her no matter what. Don’t really know if I’m a fan of the whole ‘the one’ thing. I just don’t see how it’s possible that there’s just one person out there for you. Especially if that person would then cheat on you.

I wanted to write more but, y’know, alcohol. So.

7/10

Day 131: The Human Centipede (First Sequence)

A surgeon who is known for his talents at separating Siamese twins has decided to put his skills towards creation. Through an exhausting surgical procedure he connects three tourists via their digestive systems.

I’m not sure why I decided to watch this film. If I was to guess I’d say it was partly due to my limitless curiosity, and partly due to my fondness for films that contain psychological torture. Perhaps, perhaps. I’m confused on a point, however. Some days after the surgery, the ‘end piece’ of his human centipede develops a serious infection around her mouth wound and dies. Now, surely that was obviously going to happen? I’m not a doctor or anything but, faeces + wounds = bad times. No? So he must’ve known that they wouldn’t survive for long in that situation, being a doctor and all. I don’t know.

While the film was obviously disgusting, it was nowhere near as gross as I thought it was going to be. The idea was interesting enough, what happens was clearly horrible on all counts. But, I mean, he could’ve connected them in a different way so that they’d not get infections. I suppose that would take away from the centipede aspect though. The acting was terrible and the writing was just rubbish. I was really only watching because I wanted to see what happened, rather than any investment in the story.

2/10

Day 130: The Skin I Live In

Plastic surgeon Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) is a genius in his field, and after his wife was horrifically burned in a car crash, he attempts to create skin that is impervious to damage. Do not read ahead, there are going to be so many spoilers and really, you just have to watch this beauty of a film.

The sequence in which we are presented with the story is perfect. We see Robert with his patient, Vera (Elena Anaya), and we are shown how strong her skin is now (he burns her and yet she doesn't feel it and her skin is undamaged). She is kept in a locked room and she only sees Robert, interaction with anyone else takes place over an intercom and her food is delivered by a dumb waiter. She has covered the wall in writing, marking the days of her stay like a prisoner. And that definitely seems to be what she is. When Robert comes to see her she says they should be together and it would seem like she has Stockholm Syndrome, but that is not necessarily true upon seeing the rest of the film. We are shown years before, he saved his wife despite her extensive injuries but when she saw a reflection of herself she jumped from a window and died in front of her young daughter, Norma (Blanca Suárez). She suffers psychological issues, presumably from this event, and is cared for in a psychiatric ward. Her doctor assumes that she is well enough to go outside and so she accompanies her father to a party. However, at the party she is raped and her psychological trauma worsens, leading her to kill herself in the same manner as her mother.

The man who raped her, Vicente (Jan Cornet), is kidnapped by Robert and kept in his basement for a long time. Robert comes to him, shaves his facial hair, drugs him and takes him to the operating theatre he has in his house where Vicente undergoes sex reassignment surgery and his name is changed to Vera. I am unsure of the correct pronouns to use here (I know I used female pronouns earlier but that's only because the facts of the story are obviously not clear from the beginning) but since ‘Vera’ did not choose to have the operation and seemed horrified at the changes, I will use male pronouns (if that’s wrong I am happy to change them). Breasts develop and his voice becomes more feminine, and with Robert’s skin project, he becomes ‘perfect’. The face, because his face was all remodelled, resembles that of Robert’s late wife and this seems to have quite the psychological hold over him. After his brother breaks in and rapes Vera, Robert kills him and becomes intimate with Vera, calling him ‘my love.’ He promises to stay with him and Robert promises not to keep him locked in a room anymore but when the opportunity comes, he kills Robert and returns to his mother.

At the beginning of the film, Robert is giving a lecture on facial reconstruction of burn victims and he says that our face identifies us, it is essentially who we are. It’s never clearer how much he believes this than when he looks at Vera and only sees his wife. He doesn’t see that Vera was the man who raped his daughter, it’s as if who Vera is doesn’t matter, it’s who he looks like that does. For a plastic surgeon to put so much emphasis on the external aspects of a person isn’t necessarily surprising but what is surprising is the importance of who this person actually is and that it has little impact on Robert. What he sees is someone who looks just like the woman he loved and that is all he sees. I think that’s fascinating. Do we really put so much importance on how people look? If, for instance, you woke up and your mother had a different face, would that impact on how you felt about her? What about your partner? Or your child?

When I was younger I experienced something similar to what is known as ‘The Capgras Delusion’. I say something similar because the experience was only really with my father and it only lasted when I was younger, it doesn’t happen now. People with the Capgras Delusion believe that someone close to them has been replaced by an imposter who looks exactly identical to the person they are meant to be. It is frightening and I’m thankful it only lasted for a little time. I only mention it because it seems relevant to the ideas thrown up by the film. The person I thought was an imposter looked just like my father and yet I felt that it wasn’t him. There wasn’t a connection between what he looked like and who he was. In the film, the connection between who Vera looked like and who Vera actually was was lost. And instead who Vera was became entwined with who he looked like. Faces are important to how we operate in our lives and this film explores the extremes of that importance.

What an amazing film. Antonio Banderas was wonderful in this character, he managed to give off the appearance of someone calm and composed while all the while he’s going through some serious psychological issues. The film was beautifully shot and each scene was subtle and powerful.

10/10

Day 129: Hoodwinked!

All is not well in the world of bakery. Someone has been stealing the recipes from each of the cake shops in the woods and the only one left belongs to Grandma Puckett. Her granddaughter, Red Riding Hood, decides that the only way to ensure nobody steals the recipes is if she takes them up the mountain to her Gran’s house. But the situation gets messy and the police are called in to investigate what really happened, meaning we get taken through four different stories.

It’s always interesting to see the experiences each person had that led them to the same point. I like when films and books do this, you never really get enough of the picture from just one person. The film is funny in places and I liked the crime angle but overall it’s nothing special. I’m not a fan of the animation itself, it seems really clunky and badly done. But I do realise it’s a children’s movie so the things I’d usually look for aren’t really going to be there.

6/10

Day 128: The Cabin in the Woods

A gang of uni kids head out to an isolated cabin to have a fun weekend but it all goes to buggery pretty quickly. The entire trip is being orchestrated by a company that sacrifice the blood of the dead to the old gods to stop them from returning to destroy humanity. Yeah, you read that right.

The way the people who worked for the company seemed to delight in the deaths of those being sacrificed, on the surface, seems chilling and completely unbelievable. But really, this is nothing new. People get used to the horrific deeds they have to do for their work and they find a way to make light of it or they go under. It makes sense that they acted like this and you can’t really hate them for it. Well, I couldn’t, anyway.

While Dana (Kristen Connolly) and Marty (Fran Kranz) hide out in the office they see a large red button labelled ‘PURGE’ which releases all of the evil creatures that the company use when making their sacrifices. Why was there a purge button? Clearly the most fundamental question. Why would there be a button that would release all of the nightmares that they had cooped up in the lifts? Plot hole? Or maybe it’s like why we have nuclear weapons; so that when it gets bad we can just say ‘fuck it’ and let loose all hell. Or at least have the possibility to threaten other countries with it.

Guuuuys, I loved it so much. I can’t even talk about it properly because I loved it so much. Sure, it had some flaws but who cares, I like flaws, they make things more special. It was just everything I needed it to be.

10/10

Day 127: Storage 24

A plane crashed over London and it was carrying some pretty extraterrestrial cargo. The alien escapes into a storage facility and terrorises a group of people who are stuck inside. The group is made up of a man who lives in one of the storage units because his ex-wife has taken all his money, a pretty boy who thinks he’s a wise guy, a woman who is up for killing anybody, a woman who left her boyfriend of 5 years after cheating on him with his best friend, the man she left, and the best friend. So, all in all, a pretty friendly bunch.

I’m trying to restrain myself from writing about cheating because I know I’m all preachy and act like I’m above everyone else but. Cheating on your boyfriend with his best friend? What a shitty thing to do. And you, guy, how could you do that to your best friend? Absolute dick. I don’t get people.

Anyway. The film was alright. I liked the storage facility setting, it gave it a very claustrophobic and labyrinth-like feel. The alien itself was good enough, crazy strength and agility are both good factors. The acting was alright, nothing special. I wouldn’t watch it again but I’d not try to convince anyone else not to watch it.

6/10

Day 126: A Royal Affair

Christian VII (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) is controlled by his Council and is left with practically no control, until he finds a friend in Johann Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen). As his personal physician and confidant, Johann has considerable influence over the King and he carefully directs him in ways that will better care for the people of Denmark. However, he falls in love with the Queen, Caroline Mathilde (Alicia Vikander), and this is eventually used against them to reinstate the old laws and remove any thoughts of looking after the people.

People are like sheep. Johann clearly did so much for them and they loved him but as soon as the nobles began spreading fear about the safety of the King, they were all against him. All he did was try to improve conditions for the people and take away power from the rich ones who didn’t care about those ‘lower’ than them. It’s always so easy to turn a crowd. People individually will usually question things but as a group they are absolutely useless and will follow the lead of the loudest and most insistent voice.

The story between Caroline and Johann was wonderful. They could talk to each other and share ideas that they both held about the future of Denmark. As the Queen she had little in the way of mental stimulation but along came Johann and his influence over the King allowed her to move away from the restrictions of her title and to have power over important matters, and to do what she thought was right. And the two were so clearly in love, the acting was just perfect. When they were dancing I was just so caught up in it, it really was a pleasure to watch.

Such a beautiful film. I think I’m actually a little bit in love with it, if I’m honest. I’ve never seen a Danish film before but if they’re anything like this one, I will have to watch more. The acting was wonderful, the dialogue was perfect, the costumes were beautiful, and it was paced brilliantly so that it allowed you to immerse yourself in the story. I can’t say enough good things about this film. I want to watch it again.

9/10

Day 125: Asylum

After her husband gets a job as a psychiatrist in a Psychiatric hospital, Stella (Natasha Richardson) finds herself drawn to one of the patients. Edgar (Marton Csokas) was hospitalised after he brutally murdered and decapitated his wife after she cheated on him, and he now spends his time fixing up Stella’s glasshouse and giving her many orgasms.

Now, I understand that she’s lacking passion in her life (her husband is a patronising bastard and I’m sure the only sex they have is perfunctory) and that this handsome stranger who just has sex with her right there out in the open is everything she's ever wanted when it comes to sex but can we just take a step back and look at what’s actually happening. You know he’s a patient, which means he is still undergoing treatment which means he is currently still not wholly well so engaging in any relationship with him is not going to be great for him or you. You also know why he’s a patient, you know that he gets incredibly jealous and that he killed his wife because of it. I’m not really sure why you’d think it a good idea to get involved with him at all, even if the sex is amazing. But alright, I’m willing to accept you fell passionately in love with him (of which I saw no evidence, acting-wise) and that the fact he’s not well doesn’t matter to you. What I’m not really sure of is what caused you to just watch as your son drowned. Were you just in such despair at being apart from Edgar that you didn’t really pay attention? Or did you not care? Did you resent your son because you wanted to be with him and with Edgar but you knew you couldn’t be with both at the same time? I just don’t know.

I’m not sure I’ve seen Natasha Richardson in anything other than The Parent Trap but she was good in this film. I didn’t really believe that she passionately loved Edgar but when she had to play dissatisfied and lonely she did it well. The film itself was a bit bland despite there being sex and death and suicide. It all just felt like it was plodding along and it wasn’t that interesting, but I was distracted so that probably had an effect.

6/10

Day 124: Robin Hood

Robin Hood steals from the rich to give to the poor and he’s mighty smug about it. Prince John has raised taxes to a crippling level and the people just can't afford to pay them, so the majority end up in jail. Prince John is only really interested in capturing Robin Hood, however, and he sets a few traps that fail miserably.

Rather than steal the occasional bundle of gold perhaps Robin Hood could’ve done something about Prince John directly, that way all the folk of Nottingham wouldn’t end up starved and in jail. Just a thought. I’m sure I used to like this film but today I just thought it was boring.

5/10

Day 123: LOL

After her boyfriend cheats on her, Lola (Miley Cyrus) realises her best friend, Kyle (Douglas Booth), likes her and she likes him too. But there’s trouble in paradise; she thinks he cheats on her and rather than have a conversation about it, they stop talking and she de-friends him on Facebook. Dramarama. Her mum reads her diary and realises her daughter has had sex (oh heavens no, the horror) and they have to try and mend their relationship.

What we have here is a clear problem in communication. You guys remember how into communication I am, right? And it’s not just about sex (although that is very important and you should be discussing things with your sexual partners, for reals), you need to communicate with the people closest to you in your life or problems will arise. Rather than shut your mum out of your life when before you had been so close, for instance, perhaps let her in on what’s happening with you. And rather than read your daughter’s diary (holy betrayal, batman) you could maybe try and talk to her in a non-judgemental way so she feels like she can share things with you. Pretty sure I’m going to be the best mum, no doubt.

The film wasn’t absolutely horrendous, despite what I was expecting. I mean, it wasn’t good at all but I was expecting much worse. It was so ridiculously teenager-y and that is a bit too much to want to pay attention to for long periods of time. But I had alcohol so I got through.

4/10

Day 122: A Fantastic Fear of Everything

While researching Victorian murderers for his new novel, Jack (Simon Pegg) becomes paranoid and spends his time obsessing about his eventual death at the hands of a murderer. After finally managing to make it outside in preparation for a meeting, everything goes a bit tits-up and his fears almost become a reality.

Yaaaawn. This film was really boring but I’m not sure why. I mean, after I read about murderers for a bit I end up getting all paranoid in much the same way. Although I’ve yet to start carrying a knife around with me and superglue my window shut. I think I was expecting it to be more interesting and that he would actually develop serious psychological problems rather than just be a bit paranoid for a while and then get better really quickly. I like my mental health issues to last a while, thank you.

4/10

Day 121: Dawn of the Dead

Zombies! People are infected by something that kills them and then… (wait for it)… brings them back. And they are angry, and bitey, and really fast. A group of strangers take refuge in a mall and try to wait out the madness that is outside.

I don’t really want to call the angry-dead people ‘zombies’ because I’m not convinced that is what they are. To me, zombies should be slow. I’m not against fast infected things but I don’t really like to call them zombies. But for ease, I’ll just stick with it. And I’m confused about the infection itself. When Ana (Sarah Polley) is checking on the bitten woman she says that she feels cold. Usually in these films the person burns up after they’ve been bitten because their body is trying to fight off the infection but obviously the infection is too strong and they die anyway. So how was she cold? Was it meant to be that this infection was just so fast that the body didn’t even have a chance to fight it? I’d like to know what the significance of that was.

When CJ (Michael Kelly) didn’t want to let the people in the truck into the mall, I thought he had the right idea. That’s how I’d handle it if I was in that situation. You can’t just be letting people in when you don’t know if they’re infected or what they’re like. A lot of people in these kinds of scenarios act in just the most awful ways and it’s not safe to include them when you really don’t know them. I guess what I’m saying is, don’t come knocking if there’s a zombie apocalypse because I won’t help you. It is what it is.

I’ve not seen the original film so I can’t compare them. I did like this; the acting was good, the zombie deaths were excellent, and there were explosions. Always a fan of explosions.

7/10