The One About Notting Hill.

Yesterday afternoon was my first time watching Notting Hill (1999). I always used to walk past it in my mother's DVD collection and I've been meaning to watch it but I never got around to it. But I figured since I'm now on my 6 week holidays, I thought I would watch it for a bit of fun. I enjoy watching Hugh Grant and I absolutely love most of what Julia Roberts did in the 90's so I believed it would be rather good.

Directed by: Roger Michell
Written by: Richard Curtis

This film centers around Hugh Grant's character; William Thacker. He is an ordinary man who works in a travel bookstore. One day, Anna Scott (Roberts), the biggest film superstar in the world, visits his store and it "changes his life". This film is a love story between William and Anna, and it is a very bumpy love story indeed. These two kids just can't work it out most of the film. This is mainly due to their very different backgrounds. But their on-off relationship is real. This is somewhat of a delightful British romantic comedy. The setting is beautiful, the characters are great and it is hilarious in some parts.

Hugh Grant is very believable as William Thacker and Julia Roberts makes a fine Anna Scott. I really loved their characters because are very charming and just generally likable. Other mentionable characters are William's flatmate; Spike and William's sister; Honey. Apart from William and Anna, Spike and Honey are my favourite characters.
Spike is simply brilliant. He absolutely cracked me up in all of his scenes. My favourite Spike moment is when he asks William his advice on what to wear for his date and all the shirts he picks out have a crude or stupid slogan on them. For example:

Isn't he brilliant?! :)

William's sister, Honey, is so adorable! When Anna visits William's family's house, she becomes so starstruck and follows Anna into the bathroom and forgets to step out and continuously apologises to Anna for it. Also she says this,

"Oh God, this is one of those key moments in life, when it's possible you can be really, genuinely cool - and I'm failing 100%. I absolutely and totally and utterly adore you and I think you're the most beautiful woman in the world and more importantly I genuinely believe and have believed for some time now that we can be best friends. What do YOU think?"

My favourite moment of the entire film is when William goes to visit Anna in the hotel she's staying at while there is many writers waiting in line to interview her about her latest film. Anna is keeping their relationship a secret so William has to say that he's from a magazine. When asked, he looks around for any inspiration for a name he can find. He notices a "Horse and Hound" magazine on the coffee table and says he's from that particular magazine. They let him through. Because there is always somebody else in the room, William is required to ask questions about her film and because he's from "Horse and Hound", William asks questions related to horses such as:

• "I enjoyed the movie very much. I was just wondering, did you ever consider having more horses in it?

• [about Anna's new film project] "Any horses in that one? Or hounds for that matter; our readers are intrigued by both species."
  
  And finally, my personal favourite;

• ''Thank you. You are Horse and Hound's favorite actress. You and Black Beauty. Tied.''

And, of course, there is the part where Anna and William go to the cinemas and William forgets his glasses. He then has to wear his prescription goggles instead:

Hilarious :)

Overall, this film was funny & enjoyable but went a little too long. It is warm and delightful but I would be in no such rush to see it again any time soon, maybe just the Horse and Hound parts.

I give it 2.5 out of 4 stars. I give it this rating because 2 is too low, and 3 just seemed too much.

Watch the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNBXHp2qbRo

Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 124 mins.

Taysha. x

The One With the Pulp Fiction rave.

Last night was my second viewing of Pulp Fiction (1994). This film is one of the most brilliant films I have ever seen! A film by Quentin Tarantino, of course.
I have been waiting since I was about 4 years old to see this film. This is because I thought my mother was featured on the poster (mainly because of her hair) therefore, of course, I wanted to see it. A few years later I discovered that it wasn't my mother and that it was none other than Uma Thurman. But I was never allowed to see it because it was rated R. Twelve years later, I was able to watch this film and it was definitely worth that long wait!
For starters, just check out the fantastic poster:

Written & Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

This film features an all-star cast including; (well, check the poster above) :)
The film follows the lives of two mob hit men (John Travolta & Samuel L. Jackson), a gangster's wife (Uma Thurman), a boxer (Bruce Willis) and two diner bandits (Tim Roth & Amanda Plummer). The fascinating thing about this film is that all these situations are tied into one and are all connected.

Travolta and Jackson are absolutely electric as the two mob hit men. They are equally freaking cool and hilarious. Both the "Quarter Pounder/Royale with Cheese" discussion and the foot massage debate are golden! Tarantino did an outstanding job with the script, as usual :) I thoroughly enjoyed all of their scenes :)

Now, at the Oscars there was a lot of debate whether Jackson should have won the Oscar for best supporting actor instead of Martin Landau who won it for his performance in Ed Wood (1994). I really can't take sides regarding this matter because I absolutely loved Landau's performance as Bela Lugosi and Ed Wood is my favourite film of all time but, I think Jackson was absolutely electric, so I'm choosing to be Switzerland in this debate.

Uma Thurman is amazing and so gorgeous as Mia Wallace. I really wish she was in the film more than she was, I really missed her when she wasn't onscreen. I totally agree with nearly everything she said, especially how there is nothing wrong with comfortable silences and I would have really liked to see that pilot of Fox Force Five. It sounded interesting :)

And, of course, there is the famous dance scene with Vincent (Travolta) and Mia at the diner. That scene is like magic! The moves are fantastic. I sometimes do them when I'm dancing :)

The One Where There Is Paranormal Activity.

I'm so sorry that I have not posted any new blogs since July. This is because I have had a tonne of school work to complete and I have obtained some very pleasing results, so it was worth it. But I have not stopped watching plenty of films! :) Since I have just begun my Christmas holidays, you will be hearing a lot more from me. I will post blogs as frequently as I can :)

Okay, let's start up this bad boy again :) ...

I watched 'Paranormal Activity' (2007) last night at the cinemas.

Directed by: Oren Peli
Screenplay by: Oren Peli

I'm not usually the one to jump at the chance to see a horror film on the big screen because I scare very easily and on the big screen it seems louder & larger! But there was something about this film that made me want to check it out. So many people told me things like "Oh, paranormal activity? Good luck! It's scary as hell!". This made me anxious. It turned out to be pretty great.

The film follows a young couple (Katie and Micah) that live together.

They have been experiencing problems with the paranormal and unexplainable during their time living there; especially Katie, who has been experiencing paranormal activity since she was a child. They try everything to figure out what it is that is haunting them, e.g; they purchase a camera to film themselves while they sleep to pick up anything lurking around, they "borrow" a Ouija board and they place powder on the floor to try and pick up some kind of footsteps.

There is some humour in this film which I found refreshing. Micah seems to many as a typical asshole-boyfriend but then we see he genuinely cares for Katie and is willing to do anything for her to feel safe. The humourous scenes really calmed my nerves and I appreciated that. Despite other people saying that the writing was weak, I whole-heartedly disagree. I thought it was fitting and well written.

Many people are saying that this is a rip-off of The Blair Witch project, but I have never seen that film, so I have no opinion on that matter. Considering that the actors are all unknowns, the acting & effects are well done. Everything is completely believable and seems genuine. The acting is especially good for unknowns because I believed them and I felt so sorry for them.

First time director and writer, Oren Peli deserves kudos for making a good skin-crawling film. There are plans for a sequel and I really hope it falls through. The sequel will probably not do as well as the original because this tends to happen for most sequels that have been made. I would like to be proven wrong but I doubt it in this case.

Actors Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston, and writer/director Oren Peli :

For a film that was only made for $11, 000; it's spectacular! If I didn't know better, I would believe this film was based on true events. I won't spoil the end, but it's scary! It's shocking! Other moviegoers that saw this film had this reaction and so would you! Check it out:

I enjoyed it but there were some dull-ish scenes that seemed a little repetitive which made me really wanting to see the frightening scenes again.
I give it 3 out of 4 stars.

Check out the trailer for the film here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074

Rating: R
Runtime: 86 mins. 99 min (extended version)

Taysha. x

The One Where Mars Attacks!

ACK ACK ACK ACK! I watched Mars Attacks! (1996) for the first time on Thursday night. It was one of the few Tim Burton films I had not seen. This is simply because it took forever to find this film in stores. Nevertheless, it was definitely worth the wait, I absolutely loved it. Just check out the awesome cover for starters(!):

Directed by: Tim Burton
Screen Story & Screenplay by: Jonathan Gems

It features an all-star cast with Jack Nicholson as the American President, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Tom Jones playing himself, Natalie Portman, Slyvia Sidney AND Lisa Marie as the Martian Girl.

It is a hilarious, SCI-FI type film and it all starts when the American President and Jerry Ross discover that Martian UFOs are above Planet Earth and should land any time. The Americans believe that when they arrive, they will come in peace and we will all live together in harmony, "as one Solar System". But, when they eventually do arrive on Earth, everybody discovers that the Martians actually wish to attack Earth! I really loved the concept of this film, it was so unique and unusual. Classic Burton, which I personally, adore :)

The Martians in this film were especially freaky. Despite what I read about the effects being cheesy on purpose, I think they're great. The Martians look just as any other person would actually picture Martians to look like. Check them out:

Everybody in this film was perfectly cast. Everybody suited their characters so well. Jack Nicholson and Pierce Brosnan were great in their roles.

Jack Nicholson as President of the USA: (he also played a man situated in Las Vegas who is eager to open a casino):

Pierce Brosnan as Professor Donald Kessler:

I really loved Sarah Jessica Parker as Nathalie Lake and Michael J. Fox as Jason Stone. Here they are having breakfast, both preparing for their day; (I don't care what people say, Parker looks beautiful in this film) :)

I saved the best character for last, of course. The character I am talking about is the Martian Girl! :) Even before I saw this movie, I knew I would love her. Her and Nathalie Lake are my favourite characters. The Martian Girl is a wonderfully sexy, alluring character who is really one of the scary-looking Martians in disguise. She is hot!

And of course, I must mention the dog in the film, Poppy. In real life, Poppy belonged to the film's director, Tim Burton and his girlfriend at the time, Lisa Marie. Poppy is so adorable :) In the film, Poppy was Nathalie's dog, she took it everywhere.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The ending is hilarious, so weird, yet so appropriate. I would agree that it is definitely re-watchable. An amazing musical score by Danny Elfman, as usual. :) Also, a great role for Tom Jones. Hearing him sing 'It's not unusual' was awesome.
I give it 3.5 out of 4 stars. And if you're wondering why I rate the films I watch out of 4, it is because this is how Leonard Maltin reviews the movies he watches in his movie guides, and I am a big fan of this rating system, always have been :).

If you're interested in watching this movie, check out the trailer, you won't be sorry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYHeZCEFwhI

Rating: Pg-13
Runtime: 106 mins

Taysha. x

The One With the Pretty In Pink talk.

My name is Taysha and this is my first post. It is the middle of a rainy, long weekend here in Sydney, Australia. During this long weekend I have been watching a couple of 1980's films. On Friday night I watched, Pretty In Pink (1986):

Directed by: Howard Deutch
Written by: John Hughes

It was my second time watching it in two days. I can't get enough of it because it is such a great film. John Hughes written, of course. For those of you who have not seen it, Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald) is quite a misfit who is from the 'wrong side of the tracks' and lives with her father (Harry Dean Stanton). She is in love with Blane McDonnagh (Andrew McCarthy), a "richie", who possesses mutual feelings. Duckie (Jon Cryer), Andie's extremely devoted best friend, does not like this one bit because he is in love with her as well. Duckie and Blane's friends share the same view of Andie and Blane's new relationship = they hate it. Andie and Blane continue their relationship regardless.

Duckie, by far, is my favourite character:

He is so adorable and like an ultimate best friend in my opinion. In the photo below, he is doing his Otis Redding impression: (lip singing and dancing to) "Try a Little Tenderness." Andie didn't look very impressed by it but I definitely was! He was great.

I was not entirely happy with the ending but that does not get in the way of me absolutely loving this film. John Hughes wrote the ending that I would have liked but the studio made him change it, I think. Hughes then wrote Some Kind Of Wonderful (1987) which has a similiar love-triangle story in retaliation featuring the ending that he actually wanted.

Other characters in this film worth mentioning are Iona (Annie Potts), Andie's mentor who she works with at a record store called Trax and Steff (James Spader), Blane's fellow "richie", asshole friend:

Iona (top), Steff (below).

I absolutely love the music and fashion in this movie also. The title song "Pretty In Pink" by the Psychedelic Furs, especially, is really awesome. And I would wear anything and everything that Duckie wears in this film if I was a guy. Definitely. No matter what decade it is. Oh, speaking of the fashion in this film, I must mention the famous pink prom dress. There has been a lot of debate about the dress that Andie goes to the prom in. Some think it's really ugly and some people think it's genius. I'm one of those people who thinks it is genius. And Duckie looked so handsome in the prom scene. When he said, "I want you to know, despite my appearance at this function, I remain now, and will always be, a duck-man," I literally cried and said, "Awww" aloud :) Check out how awesome her dress is and how handsome Duckie looks:

Overall, it is a great film. The cast is perfect and many aspects of this film definitely rang true. Check out the trailer at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcSMDqXT52s

I give it 3 out of 4 stars. I might have rated it higher if they stuck to Hughes' original ending.
As the breathtakingly beautiful Duckie once said; "I'm off like a dirty shirt"...

Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 96 mins

Taysha. x