Begin Again // Film Review

I recently went to see Begin Again at the cinema with my family so I thought I'd give it a little review here on my blog!

Written and directed by John Carney, the film stars Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo alongside James Corden, and Adam Levine from Maroon 5 (swoon).

The storyline follows Gretta (Knightley) - a singer-songwriter from England who's come to Manhattan with her then-boyfriend, Dave (played by the ever-hunky Adam Levine), who's songs were made famous in a film. Typically he turns out to be a knob and they go their separate ways. Meanwhile, Mark Ruffalo's character, Dan, gets fired from his job as a hot shot music - after having already split from his wife and turned to alcoholism.

So Gretta is sleeping on Steve's couch - a busker, played by James Corden, who Gretta met at university and so happens to be in the city at the same time - and Dan is living in a gross apartment, neglecting both his work and his teenage daughter. Amazingly the pair bump into each other at an open-mic night, and Dan sees something special in Gretta and her music.

After a strange series of events, Dan and Gretta become great friends and record an amazing outdoor album - using random musicians and the acoustics of random places across the city. Everything turns out well in the end: Coming Up Roses is one of the songs on Gretta's album, and that's definitely what happens.

So that's the plot, ish, without spoilers I hope. The film is a unique and beautiful story - yes it features some clichés but they're worked so well into the plot that to me it didn't matter. The characters complement each other wonderfully and the film is just so full of joy.

What really made is special for me, though, was the soundtrack. It's full of original songs sung by Gretta and some by ex-boyf Dave; and honestly they're beautiful. I've downloaded them all.

Begin Again is well worth a trip to the cinema: beautiful people and beautiful songs working within a beautiful story line. JUST BEAUTIFUL OKAY.

Tammy / Film Review

Melissa McCarthy is fast becoming one of my favourite actresses; Bridesmaids and The Heat are already two films that I adore, so when the boyfriend and I decided to go to the cinema, I knew that her new film, Tammy, was what I wanted to see.

Not only does Melissa McCarthy star in the film, she also co-wrote and co-produced it. Girl power. It's one of those films which is so easy to watch, and there are so many little jokes along the way. Melissa McCarthy plays the protagonist, Tammy, who gets fired/cheated on (spoiler alert) in the same day, so takes off on a road trip with her alcoholic grandmother. There's obvious tension between the two of them, but throughout the movie they sort themselves out - with some hilarious disasters ensuing.

It's the sort of film that I think anyone can enjoy; while Bridesmaids was obviously more of a typical 'chick-flick', Tammy appeals to a lot people through the different characters portrayed in the film. There's a lot of strong language, so it's suitably rated at a 15. It really shows of McCarthy's talents as both an actress and a writer, which is something I think can be difficult.

I'd definitely recommend Tammy if you want a nice easy-going film full of belly-laughs.

The Fault In Our Stars / TFIOS Film Review

OH MY GOD. Having read The Fault In Our Stars earlier this year (a little late to the party, but it took me ages to build up the courage to open the book and allow my emotions to be shattered), I was in two minds about going to see the movie. Part of me thought there was absolutely no way they could do it justice, and part of me was worried it might be even better than the book, I guess.

I was wrong on both parts. The film was amazing - true to the story most of the time, incorporating my favourite quotes from the book, having the characters played by such brilliant actors etc etc. But it wasn't quite as good as the book; it almost was, but they were both so good in such different ways.

I will try my best not to include spoilers in this review but like SORRY IF I DO I'M JUST EXCITED.

The story of TFIOS follows two teenagers, one of whom is in remission from cancer and one of whom has been given a terminal diagnosis - Hazel and Augustus. As somebody who has lived through the loss of a family member to cancer and also lived through various other relatives and friends suffering from the disease, I was grateful to see that they portrayed the illness with both dignity and truth. However, due to how true it was it brought back a lot of memories and I literally got through a whole packet of tissues. Anyway, these two teenagers meet at a support group and quickly fall in love blah blah typical love story with a twist - but played so delicately and so beautifully by two actors who are clearly so comfortable with each other (the pair played Tris and Caleb in Divergent earlier this year), that it was a pleasure to watch their romance unfold.

Throughout the film we see how cancer takes over Hazel's life, and while some people have criticised both the book and the movie for not giving us the chance to see past Hazel's illness and see who she really is, I firmly believe that the way in which her character is portrayed is entirely accurate. I completely connected with her, and I've never been that ill - it's about having empathy. Shailene Woodley acted with such grace and in my opinion did allow us to see past Hazel's cancer: her laughter, the sparkle in her eyes and the passion in her voice when talking about her favourite book, An Imperial Affliction.

Events unfold that take our two protagonists to Amsterdam to meet the author of Hazel's aforementioned favourite book. *desperately tries not to include spoilers* And anyway, there they are in Amsterdam and I wish I could say they had a fantastic time and there was a completely happy ending but that's not real life and I think that's one of the joys of TFIOS. It's real; yeah maybe some bits of it are "far fetched" but crazy things do happen sometimes, and the way this craziness is blended with reality in both the book and the film are what makes it so special.

My favourite character (in the film) is Hazel's mother; having personally known teenage friends who are suffering from cancer I can safely say that Laura Dern plays the part so well. All the actors play their individual characters so well, but manage to gel with each other perfectly.

Sorry this is such a long review and probably not a very typical one, nor is it probably any good but I don't want to include spoilers and I don't want to sounds like I'm just obsessed (I am). But yeaaaahhhh thanks for reading hope you enjoyed it okay bye.