Movie of the Week: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1

Another double movie week! Of course, I was there at our local Cineworld after work on Thursday evening to see one of the first screenings of the latest installment of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.

Now, I’ve been a fan of the books for the past few years. I loved the first book, was ambivalent about the second book, and quite disliked the third book. I found the concept so original and fast paced in the first two books, and the third book quite slow and dry with little plot. With this in mind, I wasn’t pleased to hear that the film makers had decided to split the final book into 2 films. It’s really a thinly veiled attempt by the studio to squeeze as much money out of the franchise.

The film is actually relatively faithful to the books, so as mentioned, the plot was quite thin I’m afraid. The film picks up straight after the end of the 2nd film – Katniss has survived 2 Hunger Games, and is now living with a group of rebels who are plotting to overthrow The Capitol. The rebellion asks Katniss to become their ‘Mockingjay’, or a symbol of the rebellion to be used in propaganda films aimed to inspire and unite the rest of the districts to rebel against the Capitol. Katniss is her slightly socially awkward and is reluctant to participate; I think maybe she’s Panem’s version of a hipster?

Anyways, there are lots of emotional moments as Katniss sees the aftermath of the Capitol’s bombings which inspires her to agree to be the Mockingjay, if the rebels rescue her partner Peeta Mellark, who had been held captive by the Capitol after their 2nd Hunger Games. As another young-adult novel adaptation with a similar target audience as Twilight, these films are much stronger in terms of plot, acting, writing, cinemetography, costuming, etc (sorry, it’s a very long list!). However, I felt a similar attitude behind the film as I did in the latter Twilight films. Maybe, the pressure both sets of film makers were under to churn out yet another addition to a greatly hyped cash cow?

Either way, I felt that the film was greatly dragged out, squeezing and over-analysing every moment, every meaningful glance between Katniss and anyone she’s with (Gale, Peeta, President Snow, Haymitch, her sister, again, the list is very long!). Perhaps I’m being naive, but I would have much preferred 1 condensed film that really represents the action and politics behind the third book, rather than dragging out the story from every aspect.

What I will say is I have an absolute girl crush on Jennifer Lawrence…I mean, who can deny that this chick is pretty cool!?

    

I give this film 7/10 for a well made film for the young-adult genre, but frustratingly dragged out for the sake of profits.

Love and light

jessiecookies xx

P.S. I’ve thought of a new little addition to each of these blogs, it will be an update on the sweet treat for the film, that I’m going to call Treat in My Movie Seat. I’m a creature of habit, so I imagine this bit may start to get slightly repetitive, but this Treat in My Movie Seat was a bit off piece: TOFFEE POPPETS! 🙂

Movie of the Week: The Imitation Game

Hope you’ve all had a great week! I’ve really been ticking off the films on my must-see list lately!

This past Monday, I saw The Imitation Game featuring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. After reading some pretty phenomenal reviews, I went in with quite high expectations, and I must say, I wasn’t disappointed.

The premise of the film, is surrounding the life of Alan Turing, the man now credited with cracking the Nazi Enigma Code during World War II. Turing (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) is a socially awkward, prodigal mathematician, spouting similar academic insults to his colleagues as Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory…spot the difference:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The film is so beautifully written and acted, with exquisite cinematography and costumes, you feel swept back into the tension of WWII and anxiously root for Turing to crack the code.

Furthermore, when Turing is recruiting new team members, he finds the savior to his project named Joan (played by Keira Knightley) who constantly faces the misogynistic male military leadership of the time. Now, if you’ve read my review of Say When (aka Laggies), you may know that I’m not a huge fan of Keira. However, her role is to play a stiff, posh, English woman, which is actually the ideal role for the naturally stiff English beauty. I am always a fan of a strong female leader, so bravo to the infamous Joan Clarke, and to the writers who purposefully emphasize her importance in Turing’s work, rather than sidelining her as merely a ‘love interest’.

I was so uplifted by the story, ultimately showing that hard work results in success. However, the last 10 minutes of the film show Turing in his latter years of life, and a sense of pride for Mr Turing suddenly transitions into a sense of shame and embarrassment of the British government’s historical legislative homophobia to a man who dedicated his life and work to said government. It is a moving indictment into the importance of equality and acceptance of all citizens that becomes more and more apparent in our lives everyday.

I give this film a 9/10, for beautiful casting, costuming, and an outstanding lead performance by Mr Cumberbatch.

Love and light

jessiecookies xx

Movie of the Week: Say When/Laggies

2 posts, I’m back on track baby! 🙂

So, last week, my film of the week was the latest Keira Knightley film ‘Say When‘, also known as ‘Laggies‘ in the US.

To be perfectly honest, the studio marketing execs have really dropped the ball on this one, as I hadn’t even heard of this film and I’m a bit of a film buff! Anyway, we were looking for a quick and easy film for a Monday evening this week, and Say When ticked all the boxes.

Where should I begin? Maybe the plot? Well, Keira Knightley plays a late 20’s girl, still friends with her clique from high school and close to settling down with her high school sweetheart. With her old school friends all settling down, marrying, opening businesses/getting grown up jobs, Keira is a bit lost and directionless as a sign flipper for her father’s accountancy business.

She bumps into Chloe Grace Moretz’s character outside a store, and is asked to buy the loitering teens some beer. She later develops a friendship with Chloe, which then leads to Keira falling in love with Chloe’s father, played by Sam Rockwell.

So, the positives:

1. it’s a relatively short film at 99 minutes
2. uhm, Keira can really rock the sexy messy bedhead look?
3. …

Now, here’s the truth about this film:

The filmmakers were clearly attempting for an Indie, Juno-esque type film, that is slightly sarcastic, real, and quirky. Unfortunately, the film was so badly written which gave the experienced actors little to go from, the film lacked any humour or charm and the end result just came across as slightly desperate for trying too hard to be something it fundamentally isn’t. More importantly, Keira just isn’t believable in this role – she’s too cold and distant (with a terrible American accent) that means she’s unable to bring any charm to the film.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but I’m afraid it really wasn’t the best effort for any of the talented cast involved.

I give the film 3/10, for a beautiful cast, but a charmless production.

Love and light

jessiecookies xx

Movie of the Week: Interstellar

So, it’s been a couple of months since I’ve last blogged. I’ve been on 2 holidays, worked hundreds of hours of overtime, traveled up and down the UK, and most importantly, seen tons of new films!

I saw the latest Christopher Nolan big budget film Interstellar yesterday afternoon, and boy was it a doozie. What can I say to review this film that isn’t an epic spoiler alert?

Well, essentially, the premise of the film is that Earth and humankind is on the brink of collapse due to an unknown factor: is it global warming, changes in gravitational pull, mass alien invasion, who knows? Matthew McConaughey is recruited to pilot a trip through outer space to seek answers to fix the impending apocalypse, and of course chaos and illogical plot twists ensue.

Sometimes the film seems to be (at times, almost slightly patronizing) a reflection on human over-indulgence, psychology,  global warming, family dynamics, and even questions the theory of the space time continuum. My main issue with the film is that it’s trying to be so many things, it doesn’t actually successfully achieve any one of them. Almost like a jack of all trades, master of none. Overall, I left with the sense of an epic mind-fuck, not entirely sure what had happened, how it had happened, why it had happened, and what the hell kind of hallucinogen the screenwriters were on when this concept was developed.

One thing I can say, is that the special effects are phenomenal, and Matthew McConaughey has a beautiful tan throughout.

I give this film a 5/10, mostly for a weak story line, only redeemed by the cinematography.

Love and Light

jessiecookies xx