Easy A

This film is just…WOW (for a romcom)! Normally, I wouldn’t say this about such a massive Hollywood film, but honestly it was amazing. Emma Stone plays a rumour mill slut, Penn Badgley plays her crush, and Aly Michalka is her best friend. And all I know about where it is set is that it was in the sunny part of U.S.A.

So Stone’s character, Olive, doesn’t want to spend her weekend with her best friends hippy parents, so instead she makes up a lie of having a date with a college boy, and when talking about her date on Monday she tells a small lie, which is overheard by the strict religious girl in school, and so the rumours begin. Then she goes on to help her gay friend make a point of not being gay, so that he can get through high school in peace. This backfires on her as he tells a friend about how she helped him out, and eventually the whole school believes that she is getting paid for sexual favours. She is a nice girl though, so if a guy asks her for a favour because he can’t actually get laid, then she’ll help him out. She eventually begins making a point of the fact that she is the school slut and starts going to school in nothing more than underwear, basically. Then you think that the story is going to turn, because she actually gets asked on a date. So, she goes along and she pays but when they get to the car he tries to give her a gift voucher and then tries to make out with her, she pushes him away but he keeps on trying it. When he does eventually leave her alone, she is left in tears. From this point the film gets better, as she makes an attempt to redeem herself, but watch it and find out for yourself what happens.

I love the fact that throughout the film she keeps flicking back to the webcast, I think that it is an interesting way of breaking up the film and almost gives it book-like chapters. Also, the way that the editor showed the travelling of rumours was beaut. The way that the film was edited brought something a little bit different to the screen (for a blockbuster) and I appreciated the change.

Definitely a film to watch, especially if you liked She’s Out of My League, because it is that kind of honesty and comedy that is in this film too. Definitely worth a watch if you like romantic comedies of a slightly abnormal nature.

Jatt and Juliet

This is a Punjabi film, based in Canada. It is a romantic comedy, starring two fairly low key actors, Diljit Dosanjh and Neeru Bajwa. It is an absolutely hilarious film, and I think it was a breath of fresh air.

You first meet Fateh’s poor character, and then you go on to meet Pooja’s slightly well off character. You realise who they are and then when you see them bump into each other you begin to see how their ‘relationship’ will go. When you see the old lady telling Pooja that a young lad has already taken the apartment, you know that it is going to be him, but eventually she moves in too, and trouble ensues. The main cause of the trouble is them actually becoming friends and Pooja then attempting to get him the Canadian citizenship that he literally dreams of, but this only ends in shit when the girl that he is attempting to woo ends up having an African citizenship, so he drops her and gets into trouble with the landlady and gets them both kicked out. Then they are back to hating each other, he getting shelter at the Gurdwara and she is staying with a friend for a while. Then they work in enemy restaurants, eventually they end up being friends again, but you can see that a romance is blooming. But we forget one thing by this point, she is engaged back home.

The film was pretty well made, and especially seeing as it was made by a relatively unknown director. It was really funny, but I’m not sure if the humour was the general kind, or related, in particular, to the Indian culture.

Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed it and was pissing myself laughing at a lot of it, not gonna lie though, a bit of the humour was lost on me, because I’m not fresh off of the boat, but still worth a watch. Obviously you’ll have to like reading subtitles or understand Punjabi though.

The Help

The Help is one of the best films that I have seen in a long time. It is a political/family drama. It has Emma Stone in the lead role of Eugenia Phelan (Skeeter). It is set in Mississippi, which means nothing to me but mud pie. It also stars Viola Davis and Bryce Dallas Howard.

You meet the Aibileen and Skeeter. They seem to be getting along just fine. But then there is a flashback and you see who Aibileen works for. She is the narrator throughout the film, and it gives an insight into her life. You are taken through a series of situations that the maids have had to go through, you see the things that they had to face on a daily basis and it does make you think. You see Minny getting fired for using the toilet during a thunderstorm. And then you see everything get better for Skeeter and her book. And what I think is the saddest part of this whole film; this is when we find out what really happened to Constantine (Skeeter’s maid).

The film was so well made, and well written and well directed and everything. I don’t quite understand why I find this film so amazing, but I do. The film has a cohesive aspect to it, as it doesn’t start at the beginning of the whole story, but starts at the start of the actual stories in the book, which I think was quite a smart idea. Tate Taylor has definitely outdone himself, and I think that this is one of his better films. Of course a lot of the respect goes to Kathryn Stockett who wrote the novel of the same name.

I really enjoyed this film; it was a film about one of the darker times in history (that isn’t meant to be a racist pun). The film is all about a very serious issue, but it still keeps it quite light hearted and funny. The slave trade isn’t the only hard issue that it is about though; it is about domestic abuse and illness during pregnancy too, which are both issues that affect a lot of people. Definitely worth a watch.

Films

If there are any films that you want reviewing, or just think that I should watch, then just comment on any of the posts, it would be much appreciated.

Blue Valentine

Blue Valentine is an offbeat romantic drama with Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams taking the lead roles. It is set in both the present day, where you can witness their suffering marriage, and also at the beginning of their relationship, where you can see how in love they are.

The film starts with you seeing the present day family, and the roles that they play within the family. So you see that Dean (Gosling) is the fun parent and Cindy (Williams) is the stern parent. The next major part is when the film flicks back in Dean’s life. You see him working and the kind of person that he used to be. When we flick back in Cindy’s life we see that her family was broken and she doted on her grandmother, who is basically the reason that she meets Dean, it is sweet and kind of makes your heart melt. We see their marriage falling apart though; she no longer loves him, and definitely wants no physical connection with him, although she is completely faithful. All the while, he still loves her but picks arguments for no reason and makes her feel like shit. Then we realise that Frankie isn’t even his daughter…

The film is very offbeat and this is probably the reason that I like it so much. It was really well written and depicts a real life situation. Whether you like this type of film or not, it makes you think about the issues it looks at (for lack of a better word). After watching this I realised that I had no faith in marriage and that having a family means that your life is over. This is basically because once you have a spouse and/or a child, your life ends because you have to make money (doing something that you like or not) to make ends meet so that they can have a good life.

This film basically has a moral; don’t have a family, because it will ruin you. I really enjoyed this film. It is genuine and not a piece of shit, run-of-the-mill romantic drama. Whether you like romance or not, this is a film to watch.

The Five-Year Engagement

Yet another romantic comedy, set in the US of A but not quite as boring as the others. It was funny as fuck and gave a few turns that you didn’t expect, as well as a few that you did. With Jason Segel having a major part in the movie as a writer and a star of the film, it was bound to be funny. Also starring the quintessentially British Emily Blunt, it was clear that the film was going to be funny and girly, and strangely enough they made a really cute couple.

They get engaged, of course, that is what the film is based on. It is a super romantic proposal that made all of the girls look at their other halves with a look that just said “I want that”. You see them starting to plan the wedding and then their need to make it awesome when Emily’s sister gets knocked up and has a quickie, but super cute, wedding. Now, here is the ‘drop’ of the film. Emily gets a job and Jason leaves his super awesome chef job to go with her and he ends up working in a sandwich shop. You can see from this alone that the resentment is going to start, but the point is he keeps at it, to make her happy. Then her contract is extended and loads of shit goes down. Then they break-up, and that’s that.

The film was really well written and super funny, but I think that there wasn’t enough buzz about the film. I really did enjoy it though, it was funny and romantic and normal, you saw the way couples actually are, the arguing and the resentment and hatred that can develop. And you also see that sometimes, just sometimes, a baby will make him stay.

So yes, a good film, and another reason that I probably enjoyed it was that the cinema was empty, I did go to see it on the opening day and so I expected a load of people, but nope. The cinema was pretty dead, I put this down to the fact that it wasn’t a Wednesday, and so there wasn’t the Orange Wednesday offer which is the thing that draws in the students.

IT’S A HILARIOUS FILM. So go and watch it, especially if you liked films like The Break-Up, or if you’re a fan of messed up but adorable romances. GO! NOW! BYE!

Love and Other Drugs

This is a romantic film starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. Set in 1990’s Pittsburgh, it is a sweet, yet hard hitting film about the way illness can change a person and the relationships in their life.

We meet Jamie. He is clearly the player type, because he’s fucking his boss’ girlfriend. Then he gets caught, loses his job and changes his life path and decides to become a pharmaceutical rep. So you see him beginning his course, and then you see that he fucked his teacher, although he does still come across as being quite smart. And so he begins repping for Pfizer. He was given a shit drug though and you can see that he is struggling with giving out the samples. And when he finally get the proper chance to influence the doctor, he meets Maggie who is a 26 year-old with Parkinson’s. They start seeing each other in a ‘just physical’ kind of way and things heat up. Then she tells him about the drug that helps you get a hard on, he looks into it and begins repping that. Things are going well, he’s loaded. But she ends it with him. Watch the film to see what happens.

I genuinely really enjoyed this film. The story was immense, mainly because she was ill and it gave a kind of edge that romantic films don’t really have nowadays.

I am gonna say to everyone to watch this film. It is pretty good and pulls at your heart strings a bit. The film also kind of teaches you various things about different illnesses and ways of treating them.