Tag Archives: usa

Trailer: Paper Heart

I mentioned in my previous post that I love films which are made by and about the same person, particularly when that person is charming and talented, like Scott Prendergast or Miranda July. Charlyne Yi is another example, and I can’t wait to see her film, Paper Heart, which blurs the line between fiction and reality as a fictionalised account of her real relationship with ace young actor Michael Cera. I loved Michael in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and from what I’ve seen of Charlyne, I think I’ll love her too. They’re such an adorable couple. I haven’t watched a trailer as many times as this since The Science of Sleep, and that turned out to be an all-time favourite of mine, so I have a very good feeling about Paper Heart and hope it will get a UK release not too long after it’s out in America in August.

Trailer: The Ten

Adam Brody and Paul Rudd in one film? I’m there!

Trailer: Broken English

This looks like a really nice film, but it’s not helping with my extreme desire to meet a beautiful French boy to fall in love with. “I hope you find a penis!” made me LOL quite literally, but really there is no lovelier sound than a French man speaking English.

Trailer: Rocket Science

This looks good! A sweet American indie film about a geeky teenager who gets into the school debating team. Sounds a lot like Thumbsucker but I liked that film so I’m sure I’ll like this one too.

Review: Empire Records

At this rate I’m going to run out of superlatives by the end of the week, because I’ve just discovered yet another favourite film. I can’t believe this film has existed for the last 12 years and no-one thought to make me watch it, when it is so clearly one of the best films of the 90s. I’m not sure anything can oust Clueless as my fave 90s comedy, but it’s definitely up with The Brady Bunch Movie.

I loved all of the characters in this film, especially Lucas, AJ, Eddie, Mark and Gina. Lucas was like Pacey from Dawson’s Creek with a little of Seth from The OC’s humour, so I wonder if either of those characters were inspired by him. AJ was adorably sweet and looked like Kavana did in the 90s, which was a good look (at the time!). Eddie and Mark reminded me extremely of some lovely friends of mine, and Eddie also made me want to watch White Oleander again because Patrick Fugit’s character looks just like him. Gina is played by Renée Zellweger, and while I’m ambivalent about Renée as an adult actress, as a teenage character (although she was actually 26 in 1995) she was exceedingly ace.

Not very much happens in this film – in fact, it’s all set within one day, but it’s the strength of characters and humour which make it brilliant. Personally I prefer films like this, because although a fast-moving, exciting film can be thoroughly enjoyable, I find that a film with great characters and a general good vibe will stick with me and be fun to watch again and again. If a film is just about the plot’s twists and turns, then once you’ve seen it once or twice it’s too predictable and holds no interest. A film like this will never run out, and I am off to buy my copy right away. If you haven’t seen it I suggest you do the same, or just search for it on YouTube because the whole movie is there!

Review: Dreamgirls

My expectations for this film weren’t high as my sister had termed it “rubbish”, but it turns out her taste is even worse than I feared, because this film is excellent! It’s quite long, but needed to be if they were to include all the main songs from the original musical and still have a decent plot. Being a big fan of Motown music, I loved the songs and also enjoyed spotting all of the references to Motown stars such as Diana Ross and the Jackson 5. The characters and plot were good too, unlike many musicals where these aspects aren’t important, and I can understand now why the musical did so well.

I hated Jennifer Hudson on American Idol, finding her truly unlikeable as a person, but she somehow makes a very engaging character of Effie White and her vocals certainly outshine Beyoncé, although that may just be because we’re used to Beyoncé already – I’ve seen her sing live and you could not say her voice was anything but brilliant. The first half of the film is very much from Effie’s perspective but Deena (Beyoncé’s character) takes the lead both in the group and the film in the second half, which was the second act in the stage musical.

This has got me in the musical mood now and I’m off to add all the ones I haven’t seen to my online rental list. Any recommendations would be great. There haven’t been many musical films out in the 2000s that I haven’t loved (The Phantom of the Opera is the only one I can think of that I saw and disliked), so I’ve compiled a top 10 of my favourites:

  1. Moulin Rouge
  2. High School Musical
  3. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
  4. Dreamgirls
  5. Get Over It
  6. Camp
  7. Happiness of the Katakuris
  8. Save The Last Dance
  9. Chicago
  10. Bride & Prejudice

Narrowly missing the list were Honey and 8 Femmes, among others. Tomorrow I’m off to see Hairspray so I look forward to seeing how it will rank.

Trailer: Evening

This film is written by the author of The Hours and A Home At The End Of The World, both brilliant books and films. This seems similar to The Hours and shares some of its stars, plus Hugh Dancy, although I’m not convinced by his American accent.