I can't drive; I'm a goose!

Cinderella (2015)

7.7/10 on IMDb
85% on Rotten Tomatoes
Based on the classic story of a young daughter-turned-servant slaving away at the demands of her evil stepmother and two stepsisters, Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella reimagines this classic fairytale in a magical way.

I'll be honest, I was keen to watch Cinderella but I wasn't expecting it to be super great or anything (after all, it's a Disney film). But I was legitimately so surprised; everything in this film was amazing.

Firstly, let's look at the storyline. Whilst being a classic, Cinderella is known for being a very superficial take on love. It is the ultimate love-at-first-sight story where two people meet for the first time, dance a few times, and fall in love. The prince chases after Cinderella with nothing but a left-behind glass slipper (because he can't remember what she looks like?) even though a number of women could have the same shoe size as her, and marries her the day after. Okay, it's got a pretty shallow morale to it. But this story does an amazing job at adapting the storyline. Not only does it send across greater messages like having courage, being kind to others, and being confident with who you are, but it also handles the mice situation very well (let's be honest, we love Gus Gus but we don't actually want to see a real life fat rat wearing a t-shirt; that's pretty disturbing) and sort of reasons out why the slippers only fit Cinderella. So no longer is it the superficial love story. Instead, it builds up a plausible relationship between Cinderella and her prince, and it also has a great background story to Cinderella's life.

Secondly, the acting was pretty great. Lily James as Cinderella was quite good; she's in Downton Abbey, but I don't watch it so I really did not know what to expect, but I was pleasantly satisfied with her acting. Richard Madden was also pretty good in this; his teeth are perfectly perfect and his eyes are mesmerisingly blue. Helena Bonham Carter was also fantastic as the fairy godmother. I loved the transformation scenes, and the humour that she delivers in them. But the real star is Cate Blanchett (of course). She's always amazing but she's pretty much the star of this film. Her outrageous movements and maniacal laugh are spot on as the evil step mother.

But most impressive of all were the costumes. From the trailer, I already loved the costuming of the evil stepmother, but seeing everything on the big screen was simply amazing. Even Cinderella's dress, which looked only decent in the trailers and posters, was so beautiful here. My favourite scene was the first dance scene, where her dress shimmered so beautifully whenever she spun around.

The other costumes were great too, and pretty much every costume was spot on (except that laughable scene where the evil stepsisters think their dresses are amazing).

IMDb even says: If you pay attention during the ballroom dance scene, you will notice many of the dresses are designed on the dresses of various Disney princesses. You can spot Belle, Tiana, Aurora, Snow White, Mulan and Ariel.

I didn't spot that, but it just gives me another reason to rewatch it.

On a final note, Kenneth Branagh's directing was pretty great; it really paid homage to the classic fairytale movies we all know and love.

In summation, I reckon that if you are into Disney, or if you wanted to watch this but were tossing up between watching it in the cinemas or at home, I would say this NEEDS to be seen in the cinemas! If anything, just for the costuming.

If you're not that into the idea of Cinderella, I still would recommend trying it out; it's stands great just as a film itself, and it pleasantly surprises you.

A few side notes:

Did Richard Madden just do the biggest shout out to his brother-from-another-mother Jon Snow actor, Kit Harrington?

Black and fat Xaro Xhoan Daxos redeems himself here

I almost had a heart attack imagining Cinderella's dress going up in flames as she walked by all those torches

From IMDb, apparently 1 hour and 30 minutes in, the dancing scene was entirely improvised. I don't know which dancing scene they're talking about (perhaps Cinderella in the kitchen), and I doubt it was the first dance, but if anyone knows please tell me! It's killing me trying to think of which scene they're talking about!


Frozen Fever (2015)

7.4/10 IMDb
No Tomatometer score yet on Rotten Tomatoes
Just quickly, I'll discuss Frozen Fever. Yes, that's right. Frozen Fever. A mini sequel to Frozen.

It's the short animation that plays ahead of Cinderella, so I might as well give a short review on it.

I was not a big fan of Frozen anyway, but this wasn't that great for me. I also do not really like the idea of them riding the "Frozen" fever out so much that they're even titling their short sequel "Frozen Fever".

The premise is that Elsa is trying to throw the perfect birthday party for Anna, since she feels bad for being the reason Anna's always had bad birthdays, but she starts getting a cold (or fever), and every time she sneezes, these mini snowmen appear and start to wreak havoc at the party.

There's an original song that's sung to help move the narrative along, mainly by Elsa, but it just wasn't that great. Just because you had a hit with "Let It Go" doesn't mean that the next song you get Idina Menzel to sing would be great.

So in the end, it's alright and it's entertaining but I think they were trying too hard with it and to be honest, Disney just needs to... let it go...

(Bad and unoriginal joke sorry (not sorry))

(Also lol'd at the ladies next to us who asked us whether it was the right cinemas for Cinderella, since they got confused when Frozen Fever started playing)


Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)

6.3/10 on IMDb
50% on Rotten Tomatoes
Our good friend Ben Stiller is back again as Larry Daley, the security guard at the American Museum of Natural History. The issue this time is that something is causing the deterioration of the tablet's magical powers, threatening the museum's exhibitions' abilities to remain awake and fully functioning. As a result, Larry and the gang need to take a trip to the British Museum to save the museum's fate.

Let's be honest, I can't believe there's a third installment to this franchise (I'm still cringing at Amy Adams' portrayal of Amelia Earhart). Nonetheless, it was still entertaining. It's still got a lot of the same jokes (I say that like it's a bad thing, but the running joke on Jed and Octavius' smallness never fails to make me laugh), but at least the British Museum gives the film a chance in bringing a few more fresh things in. Rebel Wilson was also a good addition; she's hilarious in everything and I love her humour. Ricky Gervais is also pretty funny in this, as always (by the way, have you seen his Optus ad for Netflix? It's hilarious).

The running gag on the new caveman was quite overdone, but to the point where it actually started being a bit funny (once you realise that it is, after all, Night at the Museum THREE, and you should just let it slide since you knew what you were getting yourself into).

So overall, it's good entertainment for when you're bored.

(I will say though, that it was quite sad to see Robin Williams in his last film here. Rest in peace.)


The Sapphires (2012)

7.0/10 on IMDb
91% on Rotten Tomatoes
Loosely based on a true story, The Sapphires focuses on an all-indigenous girl group singing to inspire the troops in Vietnam during the war.

I watched it a while back so I can't really remember much of it, but it was actually pretty decent.

The indigenous actors were pretty good, and Jessica Mauboy was also surprisingly pretty great in this.

The humour is quite funny, and the good ole Aussie accent helps carry this along.

The storyline is decent; it not only takes you through the journey of this girl group and the emotional turmoils that the war brings on them, but it also touches on racism in Australia.

I think they changed a lot from the original story of the girl group, but it was still quite interesting, and overall an enjoyable watch if you like hearing people sing and if you're bored.

Manners Maketh Man

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

8.2/10 on IMDb
74% on Rotten Tomatoes
I remember that when I first watched the trailer for this, I thought it was going to be really stupid, like some sort of Johnny English copycat, where the humour would be over the top, the characters would rely on exaggerated slapstick movements and facial expressions, and the spy aspects would be disappointing.

Fortunately, as it got closer and closer to Kingsman's release, there was more hype, more praise and, more importantly for me, more interviews with the cast to persuade me to watch it.

And yet, you don't even really need this hype, or much knowledge about the film, to enjoy it. Walking in, I didn't really know what was going to happen except that it's like a comical James Bond, with more adult humour, with Colin Firth training up this young teenager to be a spy. That's pretty much all I can say to sum up the film. Sure, there's Samuel L. Jackson, who plays an atypical villain with a lisp and who doesn't like seeing blood, and there's some sort of a plot going on, but you're too distracted by how comical and how great this film looks.

Honestly, you don't need to be concentrating that hard to enjoy this film, especially on the big screen. The humour was definitely not over the top; it was clever, it was entertaining, and it was expressed even as simply as seeing Colin Firth, of all people, being a badass. However, the humour is definitely NOT for kids, which I mistakenly assumed it to be, so I was pleasantly surprised at how the humour was aimed at older people.

In the end, I would say that this is a must-see, especially in theatres.

A few side notes:

Is it just me or does Samuel L. Jackson look EXACTLY the same as how he normally does? If it weren't for his lisp, it would just seem too much like real life Samuel L. Jackson

The main character's name is Eggsy. Isn't that really weird? That threw me off quite a bit as I just sat there thinking, "What sort of a parent goes through the struggles of labour to name their offspring 'Eggsy'?"

Well played, Maccas, well played

That church scene, done all in one take (I think), was amazing


The Spectacular Now (2013)

7.2/10 on IMDb
93% on Rotten Tomatoes
This film looks at the lives of two young adults that live on completely opposite sides of the social spectrum. On one hand, you have Sutter, a cocky, alcoholic, party lover, and on the other hand you have Aimee, an innocent girl who doesn't swear, doesn't drink and doesn't do much except go under-appreciated after helping her mum out all the time. The two meet and then begin an unlikely relationship where each is able to learn from, and grow because of, the other person.

I had only seen the trailer for this once well before I watched the film, but I had heard quite a lot of positive reviews on this film.

At first, the film seems to be like a typical romantic drama, where troubled boy meets innocent girl, then troubled boy does something stupid, innocent girl breaks up with troubled boy, then troubled boy changes himself, and the two live happily ever after.

But it wasn't this at all. Halfway through the film, you start to realise that this isn't your typical love story. And because of that, the first part is a bit slow, but the film gets much better as it continues.

Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller were great in this film, which was really weird since their characters in Divergent are complete enemies. Nonetheless, they have great chemistry here.

What I loved about this was that it showed how both characters were able to help the other person grow. Sutter was able to help Aimee discover her assertiveness and independence, while Aimee was able to keep Sutter grounded.

There are also a few unexpected turns this movie takes, allowing you to see the full extent of the characters' growths (or lack thereof).

I especially loved the part towards the end where Sutter's boss asks of him to promise something, and yet Sutter, knowing fully well what he is and isn't capable of, replies, "You know I can't promise you that". It's such a heavy moment where you realise this troubled boy is not troubled enough to lie about his problems, and yet he is too troubled to do anything to change it.

Overall, I think this movie is quite enjoyable. It's a bit slow at the beginning though, and if you're not really into romantic stories I'm not too sure how you'd react to this.


G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

5.2/10 on IMDb
28% on Rotten Tomatoes
Now for something completely different.

You know when I first saw G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (the first one) in the cinemas, I thought it was pretty cool, but then when rewatching it just recently, I realised how terribly cringe-worthy the dialogue was. It was just trying so hard to be really funny, but then it was just overdoing it.

The same happened with this film.

The plot was okay, and it's an alright film to watch if you're bored and just want something to do to pass the time. It's got The Rock in it and it's not a terrible film, but it's not something that you'd remember much of in the end.

However, whenever they weren't talking was a plus, so the action sequences made it worthwhile to sit through the terrible dialogue. The mountain scene was an interesting fighting sequence that my parents loved especially.

All in all, this movie counts as one of those ones to only watch when you're really bored.

While there is life, there is hope.

Sorry I haven't blogged in ages! Thank goodness I haven't been watching many films this past month so I can catch up on my movie reviews!

The Theory of Everything (2014)

7.8/10 on IMDb
79% on Rotten Tomatoes
The Theory of Everything follows the life of Stephen Hawking, including his relationship with Jane Hawking and the progression of the ALS disease on his body.

Can I just say that I love Eddie Redmayne, and have loved him ever since Les Mis. But his performance in this film is just phenomenal. He is such a great actor, and I was really excited for him winning the academy award for Best Actor for this performance.

In fact it was so good that Stephen Hawking apparently "said there were certain points when he thought he was watching himself."

The crazy thing was that in an interview, Eddie Redmayne actually said that because they filmed it out of chronological order, he had to chart out a timeline of the progression of ALS so that he could accurately portray him. I just find that so amazing. He actually did such a great performance with the way he spoke, the way he moved and even his facial expressions; they were so spot on.

Felicity Jones was also great in this. Man, she's so pretty. I could look at her face all day.

Professor Lupin was also in it, and he looks and sounds like he just came straight out of Harry Potter to do this film. Legit it appears he has almost no versatility.

As to the actual content of the film, it follows Stephen's life pretty accurately, as Hawking himself even said this film was "broadly true". He actually watched the film when it was only just finished, then agreed to lend the rights to his voice for the film to use.

In fact here's a good site on what's true/not true. Yes, you can tell it's important to me after my last blog post.

As a result, it was actually quite an emotional film. I was crying so much throughout the film. Just seeing the difficulties he had with his disease, as well as the toll it took on Jane's life was too much for me. And while the ending wasn't a sad one (he's still alive), it was really emotional.

The only thing that bothered some people is the fact that this film doesn't focus on the science part too much. They have a bit of basic dumbed down physics for us, but it doesn't really focus on his scientific achievements as much as it does on his relationship with Jane. I wasn't disappointed because I didn't expect it to do so, but some people were expecting it.

So in the end, I think this film is great, and I would recommend it if you think you are interested. But if you want a movie with a lot of scientific discoveries and epiphanies, this is not your film.


American Sniper (2014)

7.4/10 on IMDb
72% on Rotten Tomatoes
Based on the true story of Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in the U.S. military history, this movie focuses on his marriage with Taya Kyle, and the struggles he has in balancing this with his deployment to Iraq following the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

I wouldn't say I was super keen for this movie, but I was definitely interested after that first trailer that I saw.

Unfortunately, the movie was quite a disappointment for me.

Firstly, it was extremely difficult to understand what everyone was saying, and thus it was hard to follow on with the conversation, especially when it came to major plot points or tactics during the military scenes.

Secondly, the film is quite repetitive. After meeting his soon-to-be wife, the film becomes a cycle of Chris going to the army, being a legend of a sniper, coming back and having problems adjusting to his home and family, then going back to the army, to reinforce his legendary sniper status, to coming back home, have more problems, and so on. Because of that, it dragged on for quite a bit and I felt it was really boring, so I almost fell asleep. Of course some scenes were good, but I think they could have done a better job with the plot and giving us a bit more during the military scenes, as they weren't too engaging.

That being said, Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller were pretty great here. You could see how much Bradley committed to his role, but, once again, he committed too strongly to that accent and so I had no idea what he was saying. Sienna was also much better here than when she was in GI Joe, but I still cannot recognise her. She looks completely different each time I see her. In GI Joe when she was brunette she looked like a different person to when she was blonde. And here some scenes she even looks different to the previous scene, and as a brunette she looks completely different to her blonde self in Foxcatcher.

Anyway, before I wrap this up I'm just going to talk about the ending for a bit.

~SPOILERS!~

I don't like how they just stated that he died at the shooting range by the guy he was trying to help. It kind of sucked that they glossed over the fact that his friend, Chad Littlefield, died too. I really felt sorry for Chad's family, as they just neglected him. Can you imagine knowing the other guy that died and then watching this movie, only to NOT have him being mentioned here? I feel like that was really disrespectful.

Also, since no one knows what exactly triggered the murderer to kill them too, I found it super creepy when I read this article about how Chris and Chad were exchanging text messages about how weird the murderer was.

Anyway, overall, I wouldn't really recommend this film.


How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

8.0/10 on IMDb
92% on Rotten Tomatoes
Okay I completely forgot I needed to review this, but here goes (and here's a disclaimer: this is going to be very short).

Honestly, I can't really remember much but it's obviously a sequel to the first How to Train Your Dragon. We see Hiccup here, taller, older, and more handsome (but I still like young Hiccup better), and we see the island of Berk teeming with pet dragons.

I've forgotten most of the plot, but we have a glimpse into what Hiccup's mother was like before she was swept away from Berk by a dragon when Hiccup was only a mere baby. We also get to look at some amazing new dragons unseen in the first film.

I don't think this can compare to the first How to Train Your Dragon at all. It was my favourite and I watched it like 5 times in just two or three weeks.

However, in saying that, I loved the additional dragons, I loved that end battle in trying to overcome the Alpha dragon, and overcoming the hypnotic thing that occurs with Toothless.

It was still a good film, and if you loved How to Train Your Dragon there's no reason not to see this.