The Ultimate Breakdown Of Sarah's Favourite Chick-Flicks.

So, when you dear audience members decided to delve into my blog and get very confused by it all, you signed a contract with the devil. Which states that you must read what I write about films, and thereafter think "well that was a bit too long for a review" or indeed "Sarah is awesome, everything is cool when you're part of a team, etc, etc."

Well anyway, strap yourselves in for a rollercoaster and a half. Here we have my:

 'Ultimate Breakdown of Sarah's Favourite Chick-Flicks.'

*Cue heavenly music*

So let's begin:

Clueless

Mean Girls

Easy A

She's The Man

John Tucker Must Die

Wild Child

Sydney White

St Trinians

The House Bunny

10 Things I Hate About You

Miss Congeniality

The To Do List

13 Going 30

It's A Boy Girl Thing

Confessions Of A Shopaholic 

Pitch Perfect

Legally Blonde

Freaky Friday

The Princess Diaries

Bachelorette

Yeah...
These are some of my favourite films within the Chick-Flick genre. I went through an odd phase of pretending that I didn't in fact like Romantic Comedies, even though I actually did.
#Hardcore
I dunno, maybe it was just to impress the guys when I went through that horrible misogynistic phase of "I'm not like the other girls!"
But anyway, yes I do indeed like to watch a Chick-Flick, every now and then I take a lot of enjoyment in a film made for girls... unfortunately most are predominantly created by men. But yet they do it successfully as well, so maybe I'm talking dirt. Although, let's just say that there are the many Rom-Coms out there which are made to prey on our hard earned money, then give nothing back.... 50 Shades of Misogyny!
It's a hard subject. Are Chick-Flicks created just for the money? I mean yes, but is there any form of art put into any Chick-Flick ever? And is a Rom-Com always regarded as a Chick-Flick? Can there be a Rom-Com targeted for a large male audience?

Will I answer all these questions in one post?
Probably not...

So the 'Ultimate Breakdown' I promised, will only consist of a few of my particular favourite Chick-Flicks. I know I have a lot of time on my hands, but there is more Daredevil on Netflix for me to catch up with and yet even more uni work for me to ignore.

So, the first in our instalment shall be Clueless.



Now Clueless is a iconic film... mostly due to the disaster which Iggy Azalea.
The less said about that, the better.
But anyway, Clueless director - Amy Heckerling of the Look Who's Talking fame, uses the 90s to her advantage. The reason why I love this film is that it shows a stuck up, but well meaning protagonist - Cher, go through a series of changes and come out 'not so stuck up' at the end of it. She embarks on doing good deeds, such as ensuring that her two teachers fall in love with each other - in order to bump up her grades. Cher talks her new classmate into a uptown makeover - both physically and emotionally. And you're all like, but why does she bother? And the main thing is that she really is just a happy soul. A little thick, but that's why it's a Comedy... and also maybe why it's called Clueless...
Bravo Sarah.
But all in all, yes this is a very good film... Perhaps some racist stereotypes if you will however. A cult film in its own rights truly due to the tremendous fashion and 90s Beverly Hills rich girl aesthetic.
(Tumblr gone wild).

FYI: It's also based on the Jane Austen novel - Emma. That's why the slightly F-ed up ending kinda. Yet it's still a happy one.

Pitch Perfect



Pitch Perfect somewhat came out of nowhere with a Chick-Flick which combined comedy, female solidarity and also... some more racist stereotypes. God dammit Chick-Flicks. Is nothing safe!?
Anywho, Pitch Perfect is pretty funny. Simple one liners, a happy ending and now with a sequel out as well as a third instalment in the running. It's becoming a vast franchise already, and it's good. It's a good film. When you've got most of Hollywood having to make films about anything and everything - for example: roller-skating, football, bowling, tennis, ping-pong, swimming, ice skating, undiscovered princesses as well as princes, weddings, theatre, gymnastics, rock bands, barber shops, journalism, restaurants, boxing and cars... This film adds to the long line of subject Hollywood films which are mostly incorporated into Chick-Flick and Rom-Coms. Think about it, woman meets man in restaurant job/wedding preparations/auditions, they both hate each other for some trivial reason, then end up falling deeply in love after they have a montaged summer together.
Aw.
As I was saying, Pitch Perfect depicts the journey of an acapella group, which is now apparently a cool thing within the highschool community. But it is very funny, and uses a multicultural group of women to put across the point that they rule and won't let music nor men come between them...
How cringe-ball.

Mean Girls



The Holy Grail, if you will.
Here it is folks.
The one that got us all interested.
Mean Girls
*More heavenly music*
I think this could have been the film which first brought attention to how bullying goes on in highschools within the newer generation. Or indeed how it did occur within the generation I grew up in. Yes there are still very mean girls about, but the more it happens lately, society likes to think the bullying concept of school is ending. But, yeah, nah, it's not.
So, Mean Girls is the peak of how good a Chick-Flick can get with regarding the teen film, with maybe an exception for Easy A. (Which I didn't have enough time to add to this, sorry).
With this you've got your new kid in school who is tearing it all up because she's good looking but not popular... until o m g, the popular girls take her under their wing.
If you're gonna watch this for one thing, and one thing alone, it's gonna be Damien and Janis.
Oh yeah and also Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Tim Meadows.
As well as the Janitor from Scrubs.
Full star cast if you ask me.
Mean Girls is more risky with all the sub-par sex references which seemed over the top when you were watching it at 13. It's a big thing within the Chick-Flick world, it provides you with what teens really were/are like... either Art Freaks or Plastic or somewhere in between.
....
Don't look at me.

Confessions Of A Shopaholic



A small finisher here with a film which not everyone talks about. Well not as much as the others on this list. However, I like this one. It's got everything you expect from a Chick-Flick - love, comedy and a low part before the big triumphant ending.
Rebecca Bloomwood is a raging shopaholic. Isla Fisher here is delightful as always. She plays a girl with a problem and like all addicts - freezes a credit card in a block of ice and puts it to the back of the freezer, even though she's trying to get her life back on track. With all her crumbling debt, her life spirals out of control when she loses her cushy job at a magazine company when it suddenly folds. Rebecca suddenly writes a magnificent piece (whilst drunk, as you do) in which it informs people of the ways they are ripped off in day to day life. She sends it to the wrong magazine company and ends up with yet another cushy job with a lower graded magazine.
I mean really, for a girl in the worst debt imaginable she does get a few good breaks in this film.
She falls for her boss.
What
a
surprise.
And with some complications along the way, Rebecca gets a lot of help from her parents - Joan Cusack (hero) and John Goodman (also hero), her boss being Hugh Dancy - Hannibal, and her best friend Krysten Ritter.  Rebecca saves the day and gets the guy.
Oh sorry I just ruined a little bit for you.
But what were you expecting from another Chick-Flick.
Really?
Anyway, it's a good film.
Believe me.

SO, that concludes my second compilation post. I have an ill feeling that these will appear a lot more on this blog from time to time, due to me spending my money on y'know... food.
Perhaps you'll be treated to a sum up of the new Avengers film.
Maybe.
Maybe don't bet on it for just a moment.

The Duff

So, let's just say to start off that I was very hesitant of this film.

Basically we have an all round new take on the genre of teen film. In The Duff, our protagonist isn't popular but is known by her peers... perhaps maybe for negative reasons - e.g. her two best friends being somewhat semi-popular. Yeah, to look at its trailer, you would say that this take on the whole underdog teen flick is up to a more developed level. It seems more up-to-date, and with a less icky romantic storyline tied in with y'know 'always taking the queen bee bitch down a peg or two!'
The main thing I was hesitant about, was purely whether or not the outlining message may have come across as taking down other girls in order for our protagonist to feel better. Y'know the all out 'Girl War'.
However, no.
Thankfully we get no revenge, just a nice main character feeling sorry for her enemy.

This was hard to pay attention to due to the quality of what I could salvage from the internet. Please if you have children, young ones... for the love of god do not bring them to the cinema. Why would anyone in their right mind bring a child younger than 15-16 to a film like this. Have some respect for the faithful few who film from a painful distance. The swearing is a little too high in years for small ears.

The DUFF stands for Designated Ugly Fat Friend (fyi). So in the film fitting to the subject it surrounds, dungaree wearing, dark eyed, horror/zombie film loving protagonist - Bianca, played by Mae Whitman, is unfortunately informed that she is in fact a Duff.
What I first thought from this was that the term of Duff would only be directed towards females in this film, however you will be pleasantly surprised when Bianca names male peers as Duffs occasionally.
Heads up thought, Bianca is neither fat or ugly. So technically within any group of friends, apparently if you're not being erotically dreamed about by greasy haired teenage boys with a permanent boner, you've gotta turn out to be a Duff. The Duff shows how incredibly degrading the male characters are towards Bianca, however the girls do get their fair share of kicking her when she's down.

So, we've got a teen comedy which puts the main character (a young white girl) into turmoil attempting to 'un-Duff ' herself. Which seems to be a move most people (including myself) would at least make a stab at. She enlists the help of her childhood friend and next door neighbour - Wesley (Robbie Amell). He, being star footbal payer, all round hunk with the ladies and the on again off again boyfriend of arch enemy, agrees to help Bianca in exchange for aid with his falling Chemistry grade. We've all been there, am I right friends?
... Well unless you're my boyfriend, Chemistry magician he is indeed.

This brings to mind that are you regarded a Duff if you defend your friend away from the kind of people you know they don't want to waste their time on? I mean, are you considered instantly an ugly person for saving your friend the time, strength, effort or indeed confidence to tell some degenerate where to stick it... well, to the petty people of this movie... yes.

The idea of a Duff is supported by both boys and girls in this storyline. We are introduced to the enemy, and I will hand it to the writer that this character is the ultimate exaggeration of your typical highschool 'mean girl'. The enemy comes in disguise as the character - Madison played by Bella Thorne. The concept of Cyber-Bullying comes into play around the middle of the film, when Madison gets a hold of generally embarrassing footage of Bianca fooling around trying to make Wesley laugh. The clip gets edited for comic effect and therefore goes viral around the school. There was an air of this being a really really hurtful part of the film, as we could see how badly it got to Bianca and I was afraid for a minute that we may have ended up in Disney Channel specially made film area. 

But fear not, it goes back up tot he funny chart with the help of Ken Jeong (The Hangover/Community) in his very very very very small role. I do like Ken Jeong by the way. It seems that he's been in enough films, good and bad, for no one to take a leap at criticising his acting. Ken Jeong plays a teacher in The Duff, and let me tell you that he is certainly just placed there for comic relief. 

Again, many comedic aspects flow from Romany Malco (The 40 Year Old Virgin) when playing the Principle. Throughout the film it's great to see both Malco and Jeong acting side by side within most scenes which only feature the pair of them. 

In the middle of this film I thought back to my earlier fears before watching it of - "Am I a Duff?" *Insert plenty of worried faces for dramatic tension*
But, here's the thing with this film... by the end of it, you're not happy nor sad to be regarded as a Duff. You're simply taught not to care what people think of you. Which I found to be a rather nice final message to its audience, especially at the age range of the girls and boys who will go to see this. I knew there would be a positive vibe at the end, I mean its a chickflick. There's no reason for a sad ending within a teen Comedy/Romance.
As a footnote, there really does need to have more films aimed at young teenagers, both male and female with this sort of message. Film is only one of the many forms of art/media which can really help form a better image for what younger generations need to be concerned about. And that image is solely being happy with themselves.

Funny point when Bianca is looking through her old photos and finds a Halloween past costume - "Why was I Bosley, there were three angels" When watching I related to this hard, as I had war flashbacks to my younger self being insistent of having to dress up as a king... not a queen. What was wrong with being a queen little Sarah?!? 

Anyway whenever I'm watching Allison Janney (who does a good job of playing Bianca's mother), I hardly feel the need to complain, because if you're familiar with the films and television shows she appears in.... hell the earth's a better place all round. Watch out within The Duff for a really nice reference to the five stages of depression using The Simpsons. However, I feel that she isn't shown enough. I think that is my only thing wrong with this film overall, and that's just because I am a selfish Janney fanatic who just appreciates her work.

...Keep a look out for all the god damn product placement people!

A very important subject, which is discussed in and out of many Film Studies lectures around the planet. (Disclaimer - not actually that important, just a great way of wasting the fifteen minutes at the end of each lecture).
*More war flashbacks begin a reel in my head*

Well, to end I will state this, if you are going to watch The Duff at least watch it in the cinema, or wait until it is on DVD. It seems a nice film for anyone to see really. Very educational to closed-minded people. 

If you're looking for something to laugh at when you're desperate to have a Friday night in, then this is ideal to just stick on and relax.

...God I sound like a middle aged mum preparing her tween's first sleepover.
Oh the blog posts I've read in past on that subject...
Where is my mind....

It Follows.

To start off... basically I was scared to my core at certain parts. Yes, It Follows made way for a couple of sleepless nights, which I may have just shaken off a few weeks ago... No judging please.

Soundtrack = amazing.
Literally, it is pretty much a homage to Halloween and it just kept getting better and better. Although it was used in the conventional system for jump frights alone, It Follows took this and ran with it. I don't know if I can describe it very well, but this film took the concept of music within a horror film and made it its own. It was more than just a tactic of scaring you when combined with the imagery... it was just very enjoyable to listen to between scary sequences.

So you would think that I liked this film... and I did. Yet, with modern horror films I have a tendency to give them quite a wide berth, due to me being a scaredy cat on occasion. You're looking at someone who spends her time watching outdated and old horror films which have been or already are on the road to Hollywood makeovers. E.g. The Evil Dead.

It Follows enters the life of Jay Height. The protagonist's latest date ends with her and said date having sex in his car. This ends badly due to the sexual act having passed on a supernatural being which peruses Jay from then on. It Follows rides with Jay as her life is suddenly under threat from something or someone only she can see.
So if Jay stops to tackle her stalkers who take on different people, from strangers to her loved ones, it will kills her.
Essentially we've discovered the world of a more Indie horror film with this one. I'm unsure of the paths taken to attain the Indie genre spin on a horror film, but somehow director David Robert Mitchell achieves it. It Follows mainly uses the somewhat grungy Generation X looking suburban America as the setting, focussing on the main characters being a young cast with typical care-free attitudes. With a relatively unrecognisable cast to start, It Follows promises to certainly take a direction which happens rarely with mainstream horror films.
If you're up for watching It Follows, I suggest you wear a jumper or coat or cardigan... something to bite into or cover your eyes with, while you wait for the one most single unpredictable jump scares which will actually chill you to your bone. I'm not being over dramatic... this scare concerns I think the third or fourth being to follow Jay. Okay, you'll just know it when you see it.

If you're a Film student like me and sometimes like to interpret a film such as this one; during some research into It Follows you'll come across what all the critics and theorists think. So as a heads up there's an oddly rounded theory, where it's believed that the 'thing' which follows its victims is a parable for sexually transmitted diseases... Well it's always open to suggestions, but this to me seems a  desperate grab for something which seems to be the most reasonable.
After you've taken some time to study Experimental Film, It Follows seemed to be less desirable to be questioned.
Just let it be, it's a dream based film which doesn't need to give you an explanation full stop.
Literally do not try and think into the ending, it's a nicer yet still somewhat disturbing finale which does leave you with no explanation of what exactly the 'thing' is... or indeed whether or not it does ever leave our character(s) alone.

I would state here and now that if you are looking for something which resembles the works of  John Hughes, Todd Solondz and Stephen King, then definitely take a trip to watch It Follows in the cinema.
Trust me it's worth the money if you're in the mood for a scare.
I'm telling you to spend money on seeing it and I'm a broke student.

It Follows will absolutely be making it to my best films of 2015 list. 

Whiplash

I ended up not being able to watch Whiplash in the cinema like I wanted to (a heck of a lot of months ago). When you're a student, you sometimes have to put off trips to the cinema just for the sake of money. But also, I missed out on the chance to see it when it was Oscar hype season and indeed this is a very late review for you all... yet again. (Whoops).

Sometimes kids, you've got to go it alone and take that dreaded trip to the cinema by yourself.

Very good. A very good film. And I'm not just saying this because of the music, even though it is used so well. The storyline is superb, and the acting is incredibly diverse between Miles Tenner and J.K. Simmons. Also yes Simmons really did deserve Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, hands down!

Surprisingly it was not as upsetting as I thought it could have been, judging by the trailer... but maybe that was because of all the great up tempo jazz and swing. You'd expect the music to be amazing in this... and it is and that's that. Whiplash keeps you on your toes throughout. Plus at one certain point, if you're anything like me, you will jump and then think "You had a sinking feeling that would happen, but you jumped anyway because this film did it right. Okay? OK..."

This review seems to be going nowhere... *sighs for eternity*

One thing I loved about this film was that even with the occasional mention to big names, my favourite being Buddy Rich, (if you don't know of him, he is single handedly one of the greatest drummers of all time). Damien Chazelle ensured that there was no reoccurring references to big jazz stars. So by this I mean, he could have made the film a glorified homage to great singers and musicians... Frank Sinatra comes to mind here. Basically when watching Whiplash, you're not forced to watch a moaning white boy complain about how his career aspirations are to be the next Sammy Davis Jr.

What you will endure when watching Whiplash is J.K Simmons doing a stellar job of breaking the protagonist's metaphorical balls. It's indeed an eye opener to what could go on behind the doors of prestigious music colleges in America. The best part about this film is watching an underdog rise above his surroundings powered by hope, to only be shot down again and again in a somewhat amusing fashion... because sometimes life really is like that for the underdogs all the time.

With a slightly smaller cast than what could have been, the focus is truly upon Miles Teller trying not to cry or have a mental breakdown constantly, and J.K Simmons making sure Miles will eventually break. When I mention the somewhat humorous aspect, I'm referring to the ending where the teacher well and truly pushes his then past pupil under the bus. You'll know what I mean when you see it, and by this I don't mean it concerns an actual bus.

However, the underlining message remains that this protagonist - Andrew, was subject to torment, bullying and abuse from his Jazz teacher - Fletcher. Even though I confess that Whiplash has its amusing traits... the long in the short of it is that this film does make you somewhat uncomfortable for the long haul. However I promise you that this is a very intriguing film. 

In conclusion, I would just say that you should at least watch it illegally now that I've provided you with a very very delayed review. The bottom line is that Whiplash is an entertaining piece of art, with a darker message of just how far artists can push their students. I suggest you see this film before you hit up YouTube for its soundtrack and end your minimal interest in this film.
I apologise for what may seem a rather unstable and thrown together piece of writing. My time has been spent unwisely lately since Kimmy Schmidt came out on Netflix... yes I am ashamed of myself, but do I regret it?
NAH SON.