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