Funny Face

I couldn't help myself. Those that have been following this blog from the very start will know that I have a weakness for musicals, especially old ones with Fred Astaire. Having discovered a love for Audrey Hepburn in breakfast at Tiffany's to defeat my intolerance of her in my fair lady, funny face has come to reunite my love of dancing and Fred Astaire musicals with the love of Audrey Hepburn films.

I could spend forever going on about those two but instead my interest was stolen by the supporting women who is in charge of the fashion and she has a fabulous voice that is really strong. All the light has been shed on the duo of Astaire and Hepburn but it was the older woman that stole the show. Holding her own against Fred Astaire in a trio is one huge task but not only does she do it but she also manages to vocally dominate and displace Hepburn in their trio's. For singers out there reading this they will appreciate just how hard it is to match a male voice blow for blow in a vocal duet unless they are opera singers but here we have found one woman who is more than capable!

Nothing needs to be said about the choreography as even the sequences made to look bad actually require more skill than most people gain from their street dance lessons or even ballroom dancing lessons until you make it towards the big stages and dancing school.

The settings in Paris are absolutely beautiful. Churches and nature with the right lighting work wonders for the soul, making the audience calm and very relaxed.

There's a day for watching this film and it comes in August, on a sunny day, about 20 degrees with a bottle of red wine (my birthday).

There's a hilarious song sung by a young woman about how she stabbed her lover cos she hated him and then she decided that she loved him and now she is confused. I know that just reading it you could be thinking 'what has she been taking when she wrote this on the blog' but when you watch it you will understand why... I hope.

Watching this film has made me very happy.

I loved it all, including the book store scene and the marvelous line about finding somewhere boring and insane... A bookshop in Greenwich.

On Stranger Tides

I've been avoiding this film since it came out because i was of the opinion that they really couldn't make a decent fourth film given where they had left the third film. I wasn't sure about Penelope Cruz when it was released and so i avoided it just in case it was going to ruin my opinion of the films forever.

So you can deduce from this that the film wasn't as bad as i was expecting it to be. Somehow they managed to keep the good characters from the first three and just get rid of the rubbish characters in Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan.
The introduction of the religious bloke was a little bit hit and miss and really they could have done without him cos he was a bit of a waste of breath, space and money. The rubbish between him and a mermaid just made me want to laugh.

Now on to the real talk!

There's nothing to say about Sparrow that hasn't been said. Johnny Depp is Jack Sparrow- there is no other and there are not enough words to describe his performance in this role.
Same again for Geoffrey Rush, although i really did love the addition of the wooden leg and the change in his character from pirate to honorable man of the law.

It was great to see the ridiculous fight scenes and means of escape that only Jack Sparrow can pull off back in the films as this is something that has been lacking in my life. Location was once again excellent and a change of scenery was long awaited.

Not bad but nothing beats the first film!

12 years a slave

I've finally found that i don't like and it's 12 years a slave. I don't like the topic at all.
I know that there are loads of people that will complain about me saying it because it is part of our history but there have been a few of these films recently and my mind can't take any more of that nature. I'm not saying that the film isn't good- it's really good but i just don't want to ever watch it again.
I don't have a violent nature and i just don't understand why some people are violent and think that they are better than others- they aren't. For me watching this film was one of the hardest things that i have had to do in a while.

I don't want to take anything away from the film- both Benedict Cumberbatch (who keeps popping up) and Tom Cruise are in this film but Tom Cruise needs a gigantic slap in the face (or a seriously hard punch in the face) as I cannot write about his character politely.
Benedict Cumberbatch has a more pleasant character about him and delivers in every way that he manages.

It seems to be a popular theme at the moment but the film is filmed with cuts to flashbacks or forward depending on how you see it. I don't mind people doing that but it does make it hard to follow if you get distracted for a moment as you can't quite work out what is going on and if it is a flashback or not. It did confuse me momentarily when i was trying to multi task at the start of the film.

I know that i haven't mentioned the main guy in this film and i do have to say that he was fantastic but i have nothing to compare him too at the moment so it's a fantastic way to make a name for yourself and he needs to make more films so that we can the entirety of his talents.

The Fifth Estate

I saw the adverts for this film and because it had Benedict Cumberbatch in it I decided that i had to watch it without even knowing what it was about.

This film is about Wiki Leaks and the controversy it caused by releasing documents revealing cover ups and other harmful information.
Cumberbatch plays Julian Assange, the founder of Wikki Leaks. He is of course fantastic although i'm not always convinced by his Australian accent.
I feel strangely lacking in things to say about the film even though for once it was one of the few films that i actually watched in its entirety instead of listening to most of it.
I kinda feel like i should mention David Thewlis as he has a strong role in this film and his performance is first class- even if it is only a supporting role. We all know that he can act because we have seen Dragonheart and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. I kinda had felt like he had damaged his career by being in Harry Potter but this film was released in 2013 so i think that it is safe to say that it hasn't and that he still has a more than decent career ahead of him.
Back to Mr Cumberbatch. Smaug was a lovely and pleasant change from the familiar role of Sherlock Holmes that I have become accustomed to seeing him in. The tone of his voice (when not Australian) can be magnificent but it doesn't have the same effect with the accent. Lets not take anything away from him, his performance is fabulous, egotistical but very necessary of his character.
I loved it!

Taken 2

As the advert says first they came for his daughter and then they came for him.

I ever so slightly felt that this wasn't quite as good as the first film but only slightly. I loved Taken and I love Liam Neeson in films so they can't really go wrong.
This film has more character development to it and less pure action for the sake of it. It is lovely to see Jean Grey returning to the movies as Lenore Mills and this time she is the one that gets taken after a long and rather complex struggle.
I don't need to say that Liam Neeson was fantastic as he always is but i just want to re-iterate how stupid you would be to take a member of his family because his acting as Bryan Mills is not only fast but furious as well. More in this film than the previous one there is a real sense of love and devotion, less anger and more a sense of doing what needs to be done. SPOILER ALERT There is a classic moment when he offers his opponent a gun only for the opponent to discover that he has removed the bullet and then Mills kills the other man. That moment shows understanding and compassion which was in some way missing from the previous film but is always essential for the great characters.
I wouldn't say that this film was ever going to be one of my favorites but the Taken series will always have a place in my film collection as they are films that i will undoubtedly watch again and will appreciate Liam Neeson in for years to come.