Tis That Gosh Darn Season... Yet Again.

Yes, with only two more sleeps until the 'big' day... I've only gone and made you all a top ten of my favourite Christmas list. 

I've always been on the fence about the whole commercialised time of year... on the one hand I hate the buying, the needless spending on gifts I'm always never too sure people will thoroughly enjoy. Being born in 1995 means the MTV generation couldn't give a toss about much in the way of religion or paying attention to anything for more than 10 seconds. So we all know a vague fraction of Christmas relates to Christianity, but we ignore this and carry on feasting on needless amounts of food...

I'll say this I don't mind getting fat, receiving presents and getting drunk early in the day though.

I like to bake at Christmas, I like to watch everything on TV... but staying in all day every day with a very ill mother and no car puts me to the edge of committing Christmas genocide. 

I need my car back, but I handed the ownership over to my dad for him to use for his work, and my insurance has been cancelled because which kind of student can afford car insurance? 

The rich kind,

which is not what I am.., evidently.

Things looked up a bit when I went to the pub last night and got very merry with my boyfriend.

So with me getting steadily more frantic in my search for things to do rather than drink my Christmas holidays away, I've made a list of my favourite seasonal things I'd rather waste my time on.

So here we go,

Unless you were under a rock around Christmas time as a child, The Muppet Christmas Carol was the one and only greatest adaptation of the tale... Michael Cane and sassy puppets constantly breaking the fourth wall? For me there's nothing more satisfying than the brand of humour you get with a frog and a pig falling in love time and time again.

Very Christmassy!

I have to say whilst watching it this year, Scrooge was quite right with being annoyed by his nephew in this version... literally man shut up about it all being so great, the Victorian Christmas was awful.

I wonder even if his nephew was a charitable man, I'm suspicious that he was accountable for child labour... most probably.

FRED! That was his name!

AND ANYWAY! Scrooge gave his employees Christmas day off in the end anyway... Bob was ungrateful, it was the Victorian ages afterall, you can't get life on a plate here!

And yeah, I'll own up to it... I'm on the side of The Grinch as well. The Whos were commercialised and selfish. He only wanted to give a present and maybe get a thank you for once... bullied probably because he had two mums and HE WAS JUST GREEN.

Minority little Grinch was treated unwell in school with a patronising teacher,& spoilt rich kids making fun of the colour of his skin and the fact that he was maturing faster than them.

Of course I'm on his side.

So with the ever delightful Jim Carey making a very good Grinch with his own special brand of humour, I've decided The Grinch was harshly judged. He had emotional problems from being treated like dirt all day every day in school... The Whos should really think about getting counsellors in, if their offspring are going to be such bigoted Christmas gems. So in fact they are the real enemies here. 

All they did was prepare for Christmas all the god damn year, not accounting for someone they oppressed because of his skin colour and maybe because he didn't conform and was a pessimist!

Thank god for Dr Suess, in all walks of life he managed to subtly reflect his characters with the horrors of real life problems. The Grinch shows how commercialised holidays take over communities, forgetting that maybe it's a time of the year for people to care for others.

A modern life Christmas Carol, but this Grinch has a health defect which makes him surly at the best of time, it took his act of stealing such a makeshift holiday for his heart to get magically better.

Yes I realise that it's a metaphor and a fictional world to boot, but I'm mostly glad that The Whos realised what selfish pieces of Who trash they had been, and took The Grinch back into their world. 

They still took over his cave at the end, messing it all up and getting in the way..

I bet they fed Max the dog fatty things as well... poisoning his only pet.

So here The Whos are the devil, I've decided

And on the next one, to note we have another mere mortal portrayed as the devil against Christmas, when really it was actually the 'good saint'!

Elf.

Yeah, there he is being all tall and bashfully ignorant of his surroundings. I digress, this is one of the funnier modern day Christmas films. Will Ferrel is a funny guy, he doesn't fully live up to my Jim Carey Grinch. But nevertheless, this film is one of the better ones. We have John Favreau directing, which is always nice. I am a fan of the film Swingers no less. 

However I feel that the character of Buddy is dangerous... he comes a long way on a journey which couldn't be that authentic. His real father finally takes this blabbering imbecile into his home for Christmas, while he is under much stress at work in an industry which is under threat.

James Caan didn't really want to, because of how Buddy stalks him and just generally acts a bit weird... all the time!

So when Buddy comes into the home of James Caan and his new family, what does he do? He destroys it with never-ending attention craving, and paper not being recycled but made into streamers... 

He even destroyed their TV stand to make a useless rocking horse. 

And used up all their pasta!

It's all too much. 

James Caan was in the right.

And for once we have Zooey Deschanel not being all 'quirky' and oh so unique all over the place.

So from what I gather from almost all late Christmas films, is that we are constantly provided the person or people who does/do not want to have much to do with Christmas. They either hate it or would rather avoid it completely for personal reasons. And I for one respect that, they manage to get up the courage to dodge the act of spending holidays with annoying family or having to get a present exactly right. They just want to use their holidays to the fullest, not bother with social conformities. 

Perhaps the system failed them when they were younger, perhaps they lost their loved one, or perhaps they just would rather not give too much of a damn about other people's expectations

Tim Allen in Christmas With The Kranks only wanted a holiday at the loss of his (very selfish) daughter, who buggered off to help others and then turns out she wants her Christmas back because she 'fell head over heals' for a guy she JUST MET!

Steve Christmas from Arthur Christmas just wanted to get on with his job and finally take over the enterprise, BUT NO! We had Arthur having to ruin Christmas more and more as the night went on, just for one little girl!

We had Martin Freeman in Nativity, he only wanted to avoid the numbing rush of Christmas and for people to just leave him alone. But again no, he had to have that annoying Mr Poppy get in his way and get him in major major trouble!

Scott Calvin... Tim Allen had a lot on his plate at this time of year. He wanted a nice normal Christmas with his (again) ungrateful, and frankly brainwashed child. He tried to make out that Santa was real for a very young child... and what happens, we get his new stepdad telling him that the big man isn't real!

Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn merely wanted to get away on their annual holiday, and if it meant that they had to lie... they had to.

But the weather ruined everything and they get lumbered visiting FOUR different homes.

My friends we have a predicament on our hands.

People want to get on with their lives and not get pulled into the commercialisation. Yet we have these modern day 'saints' ruining homes, injuring people and taking the cheer out of the festive time of year with their 'loving  and giving spirit'. 

Enough is enough.

However it doesn't stop me from watching it all.

Every

single

god

damn

year.

Merry Christmas, I guess...

Nightcrawler

It's Friday night and I've been home a week and am already getting a little fed up of being a broke student and having to again sponge off of my parents. So with no interest in spending the little money I still need to buy useless Christmas presents, and with my boyfriend having left for a night out with his friends, I have finally gotten round to watching Nightcrawler... and I'm not going to go into how I sourced it.

Basically I'm having a night in and have wound up watching a very popular contender (in my opinion) for the 'Best Actor Oscar.' I mean really, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a scumbag to the nines!

I have never paid more attention to a character's eyes than I did throughout this thriller, if I had enough energy or any motivation at all I would like to go back and count the little number of times he blinks. 

Sad.

I would like to state before I fully get into it, that I had very high hopes for this film. From the many times I ended up watching the trailer alone, I knew I needed to see this film whilst it was in cinemas... But low and behold, I didn't. No one ever wants to come and see the important films with me. So I thought that this film was going to be one of the best of 2014 if not the only good film of it.

However y'know... there was Gone Girl, Interstellar and countless others.

I want to start off with stating that the film jumps straight into everything it promises, there is some lagging I have to note. However not as much as you may feel there would usually be in a film like this. You are introduced to the film having a certain air of it being related to a comic book. The basic intro and ending shots alone state this, they are both just the same exact shot of the moon from the same angle and presumably from the same location. 

So what I take from this is that he goes out to set up another lot of stories such as the one he had just played out... the protagonist is a creature of sociopathic tendencies I feel. He turns a blind uncaring eye to the deaths and injuries he views first-hand throughout the movie, the mere man's power he obtains is from selling death... basically.

From this basis alone I enjoyed it, the idea that one profession can take over one person, shows that someone who is such dire need of a profession to make him feel important. Fluent creative ideas in my book.

Nightcrawler is a film which sits well with me as a storyline, I do enjoy films where we see the protagonist break emotionally. We do see this, it is also portrays the character as this wreck before anything fully starts, however  from this I didn't feel that we had a lot of an escalation of emotion. 

I'm unsure. The film was enjoyable, gripping and indeed thrilling to say the least. Several different scenes put me on the edge of my seat and an ending which surprised me did please me. In some ways though it could be argued that Jake Gyllenhaal did carry the film, maybe he made the role his own. I rarely hear people rave about it though, maybe it's me getting into a film too late (as per usual) or Interstellar taking over the world like Gravity did. 

I was pleased to see Gyllenhaal in a serious role yet again, the man belongs in roles like this and Donnie Darko. I am to this day unsure why people hate him and am too lazy to read into it if I'm honest. Maybe one I will try and educate myself. 

All I know at the moment is that he is indeed a very good actor, and this is indeed a good film. I just wish I saw it in the cinema in order to feel the full effect of it.

I'm in an odd position because as much as I liked the film, I feel that maybe I didn't like it as much as I thought I would or wanted to... So I feel undecided about the whole movie.

I think I built it up in my mind incredibly...

People need to stop me from doing this.

Oh yeah the protagonist is a actually a disgusting human being, he blackmails his employer into to sleeping with him... yeah.

Nightcrawler has a delicate character here and however does not really make him that charming.

I could see how it might have gone about doing it. 

In my opinion, yes do watch it... but do not build it up in your mind from the trailer.

Just learn from me!

Horrible Bosses 2

I've been back in my homeland of Bristol for a week today for the Christmas holidays, and I have to say that as much as it is great to be home and in the warmth... it has been a tad bit boring at times. This is most possibly due to the ever decreasing amount in my bank account, seriously it's gotten me down lately. 

But one of my best friends, Liv, came home Thursday for her Christmas holidays to finally start. And as much as I had little interest in going to the cinema, (purely due to my money woes) I was talked into finally viewing Horrible Bosses 2.  

It was a good idea at the end of the day, I had been left with nothing to do that night and I hadn't seen Liv for a good few weeks. We ended up having one fun long walk home. Also the film was somewhat... satisfying. 

I say this mainly due to the fact that myself and Liv are both quite large fans of the first movie. I remember seeing the first one in the cinema with my cousin years ago, nobody was in the cinema I recall. I also remember that I found it funny in the cinema... but it took me from watching it several times online to become obsessed with it. This leads to most memories of the my summer of 2014, where me and Liv would just end up quoting the entire movie for days on end (even the out takes). 

Anywho... Horrible Bosses 2 showed me some small promise of such satisfaction when I first watched the trailer. I think because I had gotten too weirdly comfortable with the first one, I may have had some distaste for people to add to the underrated comedy.

By this I mean that when you add the three characters together, you are basically watching Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis as they actually are. 

Which is what I want to be honest.

Charlie Day gets funnier throughout any movie or television show he stars in if you ask me, you're all dealing with someone who quickly became addicted to It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Watch it if you haven't, because the style of comedy is very unique and worth the half an hour of each episode.

Thank god for Netflix.

Horrible Bosses 2 lives up to the first film in some ways, these three men's acting styles fit well together and the moronic decisions are as ever flowing as it was in the first one. 

You get to see Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Spacey again, which is always a plus. However I have a problem, at the end there is a blatant rape joke made by Jennifer Aniston's character... and obviously this is indeed a stupid move. And you may think that I'm putting the mood down, but if you think that the notion of joking about rape is at all fun and games, then you are damaging lives of survivors and only contributing to rape culture. YES IT DOES EXIST.

Moving on,

I did enjoy the film, even if it did mean I had to be given money for the ticket alone from my dad... it's hard being a student I'll state it again. 

I have always enjoyed Jaimie Foxx's parts in films. Horrible Bosses show his character of 'Motherfucker Jones' in a larger light. So more screen time for him and this was pleasing for me. 

Of course there is always a sniff of a third film opening at the end of films like these and Horrible Bosses 2 provides you this in some ways. 

So there is hope for more antics from the three pure idiots who mean well and just need good job opportunities, and for this I am thankful. Although I felt that some of the film was lacking in some ways, I couldn't really put my finger on it. I suppose I was hoping for more of a bigger part from Christoph Waltz, as from his break out roles in both Tarantino films 

Maybe I was hoping for more of a bigger role with more personality. 

I did find at some points that the film lagged perhaps, however this could be because even though the laughs kept on coming, some of the jokes were not as funny as what I lived through within the first film.

I think that's enough for you all to be going on, I recommend you see it, however you may want to hold on until it's out on DVD. 

I'm thinking of everyone's money because I have none of it, I don't want anyone (student or not) to be with less than £50 in their bank account this near to Christmas like I am.

I sound like a charity appeal... 

The Imitation Game

Ah my first post.

My Friday night was delightful as my boyfriend, Joe, took me out on a date for a meal and then to the cinema. It had been a few weeks since I had gone to the cinema, despite the long list of films I really wanted to see. Being a student means low in funding, and makes me very woeful to even mention.

Anyway, The Imitation Game!

I couldn't shake the feeling that this was the number one film my dad wanted to see lately, that and A Most Wanted Man, which I have yet to see. I like the films my dad likes, he was the one who introduced me to many a good film, along with my older brother. 

The Imitation Game was as I expected very good. I may have had the best cinema experience due to the entire theatre being empty. We caught the 10;30 showing and were welcome to any seat in the house. 

However I may have not had the best attention span at the time, for I had Joe next to me talking about all the glimpses of math there would be a panning shot over. (I should point out here that my boyfriend is a first year in studying Chemistry and has just started a love affair with maths).

It wasn't that bad, but I find it hard sometimes trying to multi-task. Therefore apologies but a lot of the film was a blur. 

I can assure you though... it is quite sad.

I have to say I am quite a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch, like any other person who avidly awaits the new series of Sherlock, although please don't talk to me about shipping Sherlock and John. As usual, he took on a whole other character completely and accomplished it well. I think that Cumberbatch is one of the best British actors to fully emerge lately. I loved him in Starter For Ten and the last Star Trek, in which he took over both with his flawless acting. 

The Imitation Game was very insightful obviously. I am intrigued in war films, especially ones which attempt not to glorify any war ever. 

So with this I found that the ending was satisfactory, albeit upsetting just a smidge.

And when I get an ending which does not fully provide you with that all round happily ever after Hollywood dream finish, I am somewhat pleased. Well done Morten Tyldum.

The Imitation Game does this to a degree, although the information provided afterwards does install that stiff upper lip outlook of WW2 almost all British cinema has on the subject. I would have been more satisfied knowing just a little bit more about the horrors of being gay in that era.

I was also very pleased with Keira Knightley, I have enjoyed her films in the past, but The Imitation Game showed her acting potential in a new light. I've been use to seeing her pose a secondary character all the way, thanks Hollywood, thanks sexist media. (I suppose you could say her character was powerful in Pirates Of The Caribbean). But she made this character engaging and interesting, so this film did invest in the underdogs of helping WW2. We are given a gay man being tortured subtly and legally for his sexuality, defying the higher powers and essentially INVENTING COMPUTERS AND NOT BEING RECOGNISED FOR IT UNTIL YEARS AFTER!

We also have a woman in WW2 time not being portrayed as basically either a housewife or a factory worker. (Not that there is anything wrong with the women of this time having those roles). The Imitation Game shows a female beating a large room of men in the test which was meant to take 6 minutes at a maximum, but she did that with 2 minutes to spare.

When I look at the film this way, I don't know about you but I'm pretty much sold.

We need more wartime films about the untold stories of the terror of war across the globe,

  I want to hear about every other country beside England and America...

I hope more films will show us about the theories behind wars, the little people who maybe didn't fight on the battlefields,but did their part. And most importantly the faces behind all these 'faceless' wartime enemies. 

The Chinese me and Joe had beforehand was so nice and we had fortune cookies after...

Stay tuned to find out what I make of Horrible Bosses 2, I mean really do because I am a huge fan of the first one. Also keep close if you want to hear about me sneaking popcorn in because I don't play by the rules...