Beautiful Creatures

When newcomer Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) arrives in the small town of Gatlin, she quickly captures the attention of Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich), who only wants to escape what he views as a boring and dead-end town. He quickly gets more than he bargained for, as Lena possesses strange powers that have long kept her at a distance from others in her life. Lena and Ethan are drawn together, but their budding romance is threatened by the dangers posed by Lena's being a Caster and her family's Dark powers, for upon her sixteenth birthday Lena must undergo the Claiming, a process that will decide her fate forever: Light or Dark. Also starring Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Viola Davis and Emmy Rossum. Okay, so lets pretend Twilight never existed, just for a second because for some ridiculous reason people are comparing it to the wonderfully gothic Beautiful creatures. Not only can the actors actually do their job and act but the relationship is an innocent and frightening one that actually is light hearted and can make fun of itself unlike the awkward relationship that is Bella and Edwards. Don't get me wrong I went all fan girl for Twilight just like the rest of the world but when I came up for air from the misty vampire craze I saw that it wasn't actually as good as I wanted it to be and now when I look back at it the realtionship between its star crossed lovers actually makes me cringe. So, moving on to the film at hand. I'm a big fan of the books, they're beautifully done and so well written that I've recommended them to everyone I know and a few I don't. The unbelievable cast were everything I wanted them to be and now I can't imagine anyone else playing these characters, Thompsons portrayal of Mrs Lincoln/Sarrafine was amazing while Mrs. Lincoln was an awful God-fearing Southern disaster that most women would like to bitch slap, Sarrafine was deliciously evil and despite this one of my favourite characters for how she embraced it. Emmy Rossum is without a doubt one of my favourite actresses and how she played Ridley Duchannes can only be described as perfection, I've always loved Ridley because she knows who she is and isn't ashamed, kind of like Sarrafine in that way. Rossum makes Ridley more human than seen in the book and I think by doing this she creates a character that the audience can understand and lets be honest, a beautiful girl with powers riding around town in a red convertible is someone we're gonna like or at least enjoy. Overall, the acting was amazing, however what let this film down was the script and the editing - which a lot of YA adaptions are suffering from at the moment- everything is extremely rushed trying to cram in as much as possible, which is a shame because the world of Beautiful Creatures is one that is perfect for screen. To wrap this up, great acting from all but this film was magically disappointing, 2 1/2 stars.

Warm Bodies

The film focuses on the development of the relationship between Julie (Teresa Palmer), a young woman, and "R" (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie, and how their eventual romance developed throughout. The film is rare for its human characteristics in zombie characters. It is also unusual in such stories because it is told from the point of view of a zombie. Also starring Dave Franco, John Malkovich and Rob Corddry. I read the book of this last year and absolutely adored it, it was funny and quirky, smart and fresh and the characters are well developed and likable. I can say the exact same thing for the film and I might even go as far to say that the film was better. When I heard Warm Bodies was being made into a movie I was excited and itching to see it but I still believed that it was not going to beat the book because they never do. However I was so happy when I came out of the cinema knowing that for once the film industry knows what they're doing with an adaption! I loved Hoult and Palmer as the two leads, they had great chemistry considering this is a zombie-human romance. When hearing the plot for Warm Bodies, I think everyone assumes that its ridiculous and to be honest, it is, but in the best kind of way. The world created is horrificly realistic and you don't have a hard time believing that the zombie apocolypse is a possibility but despite the brain eating, slowly decomposing zombies in this, at its core Warm Bodies is a romance that is truly funny. Men and women will both enjoy this, its oddly romantic, dryly funny and provides just enough scares. 5 out of 5.

Mama

A man takes his two daughters Lily and Victoria (who are aged 1 and 3 respectively) away from home, planning to kill them and then commit suicide, before he can do that however he is dragged away by an unknown entity and the two girls are left by themselves. 5 years pass and they are found by two men hired by the girls' uncle to find them. Lily and Victoria are placed in the custody of their uncle Lucas and his girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain). While in the house they're constantly showing animal-like behaviour which worries Annabel and there constant referal to 'Mama' is even more disturbing. A ghost story that- unlike many others that involve children- presents itself with real heart and genuine intrigue. I was really excited to see this film when I heard that Guillermo Del Toro and Jessica Chastain were involved and I was far from dissapointed. 'Mama' actually had me covering my eyes at parts because I was so scared, which I hardly ever do with horror films. I liked the ghost in this, she's a distorted version of her former self with elongated arms, legs, fingers and neck and a seriously bad attitude. If you had told me the ending before going to see it I wouldn't have believed you, I would think "no way they'd do that" and I'd be wrong, it was so shocking and weird and sad and slightly corpse bride-esque that I left the theatre with my mouth open in complete amazement at the ending, it really was a twist and with most horror films you can predict the ending before the film even starts so it was a nice surprise. Jessica Chastain as usual is brilliant and her character Annabel is extremely impressive, she starts off a bit cold towards the girls but she gradually starts to warm to them and by the end she's so determined to save them that she's willing to risk her own life, it was quite a sight! The only thing I would have liked more of, is the back story of Mama, they showed the important details but just delving a bit more into how she came to be this malevolent spirit would have made this film better- for me anyway, I think an extra 10 minutes dedicated to that would have opened the film up a bit more. Taken as a whole 'Mama' was thoroughly enjoyable, one of the better ghost stories in the last 5 years and one I'll definitely be buying on DVD.

Movie's #114-117- Underworld quadrilogy

Underworld follows Selene (Kate Beckinsale), a vampire who's been alive for 600 years. Lycans (werewolves) and Vampires have been in a war for almost 1000 years, so when the Lycans show a lot of interest in human Michael (Scott Speedman), Selene must get to him first to find out why. After Michael is bitten by a Lycan, Selene must decide whether to do her duty and kill him or go against her clan and save him. This isn't everyone's cup of tea, with critics calling it overacted and lacking in character development, but I have no idea what they're talking about as far as acting's concerned, Beckinsale is sexy and sleek and proves her ability to beat the boys up with ease and charm. I've always loved Kate Beckinsale and she's perfect for this role, giving a more human and honest performance that without it, Selene would be an unlikable lead. The Lycans weren't very believable but the story is so good you can easily forgive this, however werewolves aren't real and if they did exist how can we say "no, this is what they look like." I really liked the relationship between the two leads, I thought they had that awkward nervousness when around each other making it believable. I do agree about the character development, I think you could have seen more of a back story for both Michael and Selene and the film does feel a bit half-done, like they thought "we'll figure out the rest in the sequel." This film proves to be a hit with the audience but it also proves that sometimes critics don't know what the hell they're talking about. I really enjoyed this gothic tale of war and revenge. Underworld: Evolution picks up right where the first left off but to be honest maybe they should have left it alone and done a generic unoriginal rom-com because chances are that would have been more enjoyable. Selene and Michael are in trouble again - with both Vampires and Lycans - and must try to uncover the secret about Michaels bloodline and the horrors that come with it. So I still love Beckinsale and she does give a good performance but with a script that seems to lack just about everything even she couldn't save it. I like the fact that we saw Selene's past and she's connected to things a lot more than the audience was originally led to believe and I like the darker tone Evolution took on with the introduction of Marcus and his brother William - the original Vampire and Lycan - but apart from that I was extremely dissapointed with this one, don't get me wrong I'll still watch after seeing the first one but that's only because of the questions it answers. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is a prequel to the first two and focuses on Lucian (the head of the Lycan clan from the first film) and Sonja (the vampire daughter of the powerful Viktor). It shows the events that lead to the war between the species. So again I liked that more things were explained in this one, how the war began and what happened between Viktor and Lucian. I also enjoyed the return of Michael Sheen who plays Lucian but the departure of Kate Beckinsale makes this third installment not as good as the first. Still a nice addition to the franchise with more depth to the script with an emotional core.

Underworld: Awakening sees Selene captured by humans, twelve years later the vampire species is nearly extinct and Selene is freed and must lead the battle against humans. I liked the introduction of humans into the series because we've hardly ever seen them apart from when they're being eaten and I like that they were the main threat as opposed to Lycans. However (again), this really lacked in its story and build up. I liked the new characters but I wanted more, its like the writers were trying to piss people off by not delivering a decent enough script. The film's only about an hour twenty and another 40 minutes of worthwhile scenes to polish the seriously rough edges that is Awakening might just have saved this film from being Razzie worthy. The ending was stupid and surprise surprise, opened up a whole page of questions, The only thing I loved about this film were the fight sequences and how easily Beckinsale makes them look. So if they make another one I WILL go see it just to see if they could screw up this franchise anymore or maybe just maybe, redeem it.

Movie #113- The Smurfs

The film tells the story of the Smurfs as they get lost in New York, and try to find a way to get back home before the evil wizard Gargamel catches them to try and steal their magic. So when I heard they were making a film of the smurfs, my reaction was "Seriously? What there are no talented writers left to come up with original screenplays? We're now making films about little blue people first introduced in the 50's, seriously?" Despite my little outburst I really enjoyed this film, in fact it's become one of my 'sick films' you know the ones you watch when you're ill to try and cheer you up? It does just that, it cheers me up and it really is the perfect family film. I thought it was funny, I thought the story was good and I liked the animation. I didn't like the fact that Neil Patrick Harris was in it, for some reason he didn't act very well, it was a wooden performance and the chemistry between him and Jayma Mays was beyond awkward and just a little embarrassing. Don't get me wrong I love Harris in How I met your mother, he's funny and charming but also he never has flat chemistry with ANYONE, so I don't know what went wrong, however the focus of the film is the smurfs whom I loved so as a whole I enjoyed it immensely and really pleased I bought it on DVD.

Movie's #110-112- Ice Age trilogy

Set during the Ice Age, a sabertooth tiger (Diego), a sloth (Sid), and a wooly mammoth (Manny) find a lost human infant, and they try to return him to his tribe. For anyone who's seen these movies or at least one they know that the main reason for them being hilarious is Sid the sloth, probably my favourite animated character, he's lovable and ridiculous and a complete mess but he really does care for his friends making a pretty good role model for kids. Can an animated Sloth be a role model? I don't know but if the answers yes then it'd be Sid. Ice age is so well written and developed it'll make you laugh for the entirety of it. Ice age 2 sees the world slowly melting and the only thing stopping the valley from being destroyed is the glaciers which have formed a dam, which will soon break and flood everything. A lone vulture warns the animals about a boat that can save them if they make it to the end of the valley within three days time, and all soon set out to find it. Along the journey Manny, Diego and Sid meet Ellie, a female mammoth who believes she is an opossum, with the encouragement of Diego and Sid Manny tries to woo Ellie but first he must convince her that she's a mammoth. I actually like this one a little bit more than the first one probably due to the introduction of Ellie and her brothers Crash and Eddie, which provides a lot of laughs. Also in this one Sid is captured by a tribe of mini sloths which is a very funny scene. Ice Age 3 has Sid being taken by a female Tyrannosaurus after he steals her eggs, leading Manny, Diego, a pregnant Ellie and Crash and Eddie to rescue him in a tropical lost world inhabited by dinosaurs beneath the ice. I really liked the idea of this one but the story just didn't deliver, I think it was because for most of the film Sid is separated from everyone else, so he doesn't have as many of his famous one-liners. Probably my least favourite in the series.

Movie #109- Life as we know it

Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Messer (Josh Duhamel) were set up on a blind date by their friends Alison and Peter which ends up going horribly wrong and results in them both hating each other. As the years go by, Peter and Alison get married, and have a baby girl named Sophie, and select Holly and Messer as godparents of her, but they still don't get along and only put up with each other for their god daughter's sake. Not long after Sophie's 1st birthday Peter and Alison die in a car crash and in their wills name Holly and Messer Sophie's joint guardians, so they now must put their differences aside because not only will they be living together but also raising a little girl. This film isn't anything special and not exactly memorable but it's cute enough to buy on sale or rent for the night. I love both Heigl and Duhamel and I love them together, I thought their chemistry was great not only with each other but also the little girl. While I say this film isn't high on many people's favourites list, it does provide a few laughs and its your typical chick flick, so it is enjoyable. It may be predictable so much so that the audience could write it but the bickering tense relationship between the two leads is enough to see this film.