The Princess And The Frog (2009)

The Princess and the Frog is an animated musical romantic comedy Disney film. The film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. It is based on The Frog Prince, originally a tale written by The Grimm Brothers.

The film is set in 1912 New Orleans and begins to show a Seamstress in a palace reading “The Frog Prince” to her daughter Tiana and her friend, the young princess Charlotte La Bouff. Charlotte finds the story romantic whereas Tiana does not. Tiana’s dreams include opening a restaurant that will be run by her and her father. By 1926, Tiana is grown up and is working two jobs to earn money to get herself her own place to open up her father’s dream restaurant in his memory, as he has sadly passed away.  At the same time as Tiana saves up, in another part of the area, Prince Naveen and his assistant Lawrence have come to New Orleans to sort out his financial situation as he has been cut off by his parents, the King and Queen of Maldonia, until he marries another princess. While he is in New Orleans, he runs into a deceiving voodoo witch doctor going by the name Dr. Facilier. Facilier over heard before hand that the Prince would be coming to town and he manipulates them into believing that they can get what they want if they trust him. Facilier turns Naveen into a frog and puts a charm on Lawrence which makes him look like Naveen. Facilier has got Lawrence wrapped around his finger and he hopes that if Lawrence marries Charlotte La Bouff, he can gain their fortune by killing Charlotte’s dad and sharing the fortune with one another. This however does not go to plan and Naveen ends up running anyway despite being needed for Lawrence to stay looking like him by requiring his blood. Naveen runs into Tiana whilst she is dressed up (looking like a princess) and thinks that she is a true princess and asks to kiss her. She gives in to kissing him but because she is not a princess, she too turns into a frog. The two of the are chased to the Bayou, where they make new friends such as the trumpet playing alligator Lewis and a Cajun Firefly Raymond who is madly in love with the Evening Star whom he calls Evangeline. The two new friends direct Naveen and Tiana to the voodoo witch Mama Odie who teaches them on how to turn back to becoming human. Along the way, Naveen and Tiana fall in love. When they reach Mama Odie, she informs them that Naveen must kiss a true princess and they all desperately try to get back to find Charlotte who is the princess of the Mardi Gras Parade until Midnight. However, in pursuit of finding Miss La Bouff, Naveen wants to tell Tiana that he loves her and he doesn’t mind staying in this form to be with her. Before he can tell her he is captured by Facilier’s demons to be taken to Lawrence to sustain his false appearance as the Prince. I shan’t spoil the ending because I think it is so much better to watch the film and find out for yourself.

I really like this film and it has to be one of my favourite films. I love the romance in it and the fact that the Prince, an uptight, lazy snobby young man has met a dedicated, hardworking young woman who is grateful for everything she has. These two types of people meeting and falling in love is what I really love in romance films and I love the different characters as well like Lewis, Mama Odie and Raymond. The film is really funny, especially Mama Odie, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a relaxing romance movie.

 

Jennifer’s Body

As I was thinking to watch, I decided to get some ideas and I came across this film. Now I’m not going to lie, I did click on this film because it had my name in the title, but the synopsis of the film was also quite intriguing as well and so I decided to watch it. The supernatural horror was made in 2009 and was directed by Karyn Kusama. The film stars Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons and Adam Brody.

The film starts with a narrative opening of the present day Anita “Needy” Lesnicki (Seyfried) and where she has come with her life. We see that she is an inmate in a prison and that she has received the nickname Kicker, as she s known to act aggressively and to kick people across rooms. We then she her being put into a small confined cell and she begins her story by telling us how it all started; in High School with her best friend Jennifer Check, who is a popular cheerleader compared to the dorky needy. The two arrange to go to a local bar to listen to an indie band called Low Shoulder. However during their set, a fire breaks out and in shock, Jennifer goes off with the band despite Needy telling her not to. Later that evening, Jen turns up at Needy’s house covered in blood. The next day at school, Jen proceeds to acting normal around Needy. Whilst the whole school is mourning the loos of the students who died in the fire, Jen seduces the captain of the football team and ends up killing him in the woods. A month after the killing, everything has calmed down, until Jen starts to look very pale. She then starts to kill more boys in order to stay healthy and fresh in her condition. Needy begins to act very suspiciously and figures out what Jen is. She goes home only to find Jen in her bed and is then told of what happened during the night of the fire when Low Shoulder took Jen away. Turns out, they were trying to sacrifice her and they needed to sacrifice a virgin. They believed she was a virgin and carried on with the ceremony, despite the fact she was lying and so this turned the curse around and caused it to unleash a demon within her which needs to drink blood to sustain it’s form inside a human. Then, the end of the film is on Prom Night and Needy tells her boyfriend to beware of Jen as she thinks that Prom will be a blood fest for Jen. Needy and Chip, her boyfriend, break up over this issue and Jen ends up manipulating Chip, when she bumps into him before Prom starts, into kissing her and forgetting about Needy not knowing that all Jennifer wants it to kill him for his blood. In a large fight in an abandoned swimming pool, Needy finds Jen and gets bitten by her, and tries to save Chip, but he dies. Jen goes home and Needy gets her revenge and kills her by ripping off a necklace that was keeping the demon in her. Needy is then taken to an asylum and then because she was bitten by a demon, she has possessed some of the qualities of a demon and breaks out of the jail using her supernatural powers.

I did enjoy this film but I don’t think it was a horror because it wasn’t very scary, it was just supernatural if anything. I liked the plot of the story and I liked the actresses in it as well. I would recommend this film to anyone who likes the supernatural genre.

The Other Woman

The Other Woman, is a film that was released in 2014 and was directed by Nick Cassavetes. The film stars Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

New York Lawyer, Carly Whitten (Cameron Diaz) is a beautiful young woman who has always had trouble in staying in just one relationship. When she eventually falls madly in love with Mark King (Nikolaj) she begins to chase him when he acts suspiciously distant. When she goes to surprise him at his house, she meets his devoted housewife Kate (Leslie Mann). Kate begins to wonder as to why Carly visited and she finds out what her husband has been doing behind her back and they come together to make plans out of anger to get back at Mark. Then, in another act of suspicion when Mark says he is going to Miami on a “business trip” the two women follow him and discover a third “mistress” Amber (Kate Upton). The three join forces and get their revenge on Mark and eventually, through Carly’s expertise they find out that he has been stealing money from companies and he has made his wife look like the criminal through the manipulation of getting her to sign his papers. Mark ends up broke, Carly ends up dating Kate’s brother, Kate ends up taking Mark’s job as the CEO of many major companies making millions of dollars and Amber ends up marrying Carly’s dad.

I really like this film because all of the people cast did a really good job in acting their role. Most of the main characters are very well known and so you have an idea of how good the film will be if you like these particular actors/actresses. I think the story line of the film is really good and it’s a lot different to see a movie about women coming together after being cheated on rather than ganging up on each other. It’s a really funny movie and it’s got quite a bit of romance in it and so I would recommend it to anyone who likes these genres.

Lucy (2014)

On Christmas Day, I decided not to watch a Christmas film, but to watch the film Lucy, which was directed by Luc Besson. The film stars Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Amr Waked and Choi min-sik.

The film is about a 25 year old student named Lucy who is in studying in Taiwan. She gets into a short term relationship with a man, not realising that he is in a troublesome situation and ends up dragging her into it out of fear. She ends up being told that she must deliver a mysterious suitcase to someone, not knowing what she is in for. The male character gets killed and Lucy is dragged upstairs in the hotel where she has been asked to deliver the suitcase. She is kidnapped by a gang on foreign drug dealers and use her as a subject for their test. When it comes to revealing what is in the suitcase, it turns out to be four clear plastic packets filled with strange blue crystals. We see a subject being brought out to see what effect the crystals have and ends up getting shot by someone out of annoyance. We then see that there are three new subjects that have been brought out, four including Lucy. They are drugged and operated on and are then told that each of the subjects have one of the plastic packets inside their body. They have a new passport and are sent back to their home.

Between these scenes of seeing what is happening with Lucy, the viewers are diverted to scenes of Morgan Freeman, who plays Professor Norman, who is an author and is giving a lecture about his work to students in what seems to be a university hall. He is explaining about how humans can only access 10% of their brain, and he compares the limit of our knowledge with 10% access to our cerebral areas to a dolphin’s, which can use 20% of their brain capacity. Dolphins can therefore use a sonar system which allows them to detect vibrations and hear things from far away. Humans can only access up to 10% and therefore if we could access more than this, we would begin to develop skills and abilities such as telepathy and telekinesis.

We then go back to Lucy, who is slowly get affected by the drug, as the packet is broken inside of her and she starts to experience the effects of the drug which allows her to use 20% of her brain. She then goes to a hospital to get it removed and then tells the doctors that the drug is CPH4, which is usually only produced in small quantities during pregnancy because it ensures that the baby’s bones grow well and can function when it grows more. She then learns that without more of the drug she will not live for as long as she could. So she takes the other three packets from the three subjects. She gains help from a police officer and also contacts Professor Norman on his studies and knowledge about accessing more than 20% of the brain. As she takes more of the drug, she has access to more of the cerebral capacity and is almost reaching 100%. As she gets closer to the end she begins to change into a black substance and disappears into a space continuum to when life first started. She begins to learn of how the world started and everything about it. As she reaches 100%, the only thing that is left of her are her clothes and the black substance, which is like a computer of knowledge. The computer is then morphed into a memory card that Professor Norman takes away to learn about the world. The film ends with Lucy saying that “life was given to us a billion years ago. Now you know what to do with it.”

I really liked this film because not only was it informative about science and knowledge and the world around us, there was also action and a bit of romance as well. The film was made really well and I thought that the actors were chosen really well, especially Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone because it’s interesting and it keeps the viewer engaged in it.

Hannibal Rising

Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a famous yet monstrous character, was first introduced in 1981 in the novels written by Thomas Harris. In total, Harris wrote four novels that are based on the callous character;

1. Red Dragon, 1981, is about Lecter being a forensic psychiatrist who is also a cannibalistic serial killer.
2. The Silence of the Lambs, 1988,  features Lecter as one of the main antagonists of the film and part of the plot follows through to the third novel. 
3. Hannibal, 1999, is when we see Lecter become the protagonist of the novel and his role as the antihero is backed up by the fourth film.
4. Hannibal Rising, 2006, is based on Hannibal’s childhood and his journey to becoming the monster he is. The film shows his gruesome and sadistic character and it establishes the background of the killer he is. 

These four novels were all produced as films. In 1986, Red Dragon was released. In 1991, Orion Pictures released The Silence of the Lambs. In 2001 Hannibal was released and in 2007, Hannibal Rising was screened.  However, in 2012 Hannibal was also made into a TV series, adapted from Red Dragon. 

Hannibal Lecter is a very popular and well known character and the films/series and books are watched and read by many people around the world. Despite the fact he is a brutal murderer who also eats people, we are intrigued by his vicious nature and I think that’s why a lot of people like these films. The horror and surreal story of this character brings the audience in to find out more about him and what made him what he is and why he kills/eats people.

Recently, I watched Hannibal Rising. Even thought I have heard about Hannibal Lecter from other people, I have never watched a film about him until now. So, as I was on BBC iPlayer looking for films to watch, I stumbled across this film and I decided I would give it a go and watch it. It’s safe to say that I don’t regret clicking the play button. The film was incredibly made and as a Media student, I can tell you that this was a well produced film and in terms of camera work, sound design, editing and mise en scene, the directors and camera men etc did an astonishing job on all four areas in making the film the best as it could be. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and it is by far the best I have seen for a while. The plot of the story drew me into the film and I wanted to know more and more about Hannibal as I was watching it. The locations in the film were extremely well set up and I was impressed by the editing of flashbacks (if you have seen it you will know what I mean, if not then I highly recommend you watch it). My favourite thing about the film was the actor who played Hannibal, Gaspard Ulliel. Although he may be a truly lovely person in real life, he was the perfect actor Hannibal because he was able to get into character really well and he gave that sadistic smile that was so terrifying to the audience and it made it all the more scary and all the more real.

Hannibal Rising, as I have already mentioned, is the back story as to why Hannibal Lecter is the way he is. The film focuses on his childhood and what traumatic experiences he had that made him into a beast. At the beginning of the film, it is set in Lithuania in 1944 and Hannibal and his family are evacuating out of their home, but his parents are soon killed by a missile fire from a German bomber to a Soviet tank just outside their hiding house in the forest. Shortly after, Hannibal and his younger sister Mischa are captured by a group of Nazi Collaborators. However, the Nazi’s are so desperate for food, that they kill and eat Mischa in front of her brother’s eyes. Unable to speak, he runs away int the forest, where he is found and taken in by an Orphanage. His ability to speak is retaught by his uncle and his wife, Lady Murasaki. The film goes on to show Lecter in the Orphanage and then going to live with his aunt, after his uncle passes away, and studying Medicine at a very young age. Despite being content with his life, Hannibal still suffers from nightmares of the night his sister died, and is filled with rage and plans to avenge his sister’s death. In the process of taking his revenge, he abandons his relationship with Murasaki and seemingly loses all traces of his humanity.

To anyone who likes to watch horrible and gruesome films with a bit, well a lot, of murder and crime, this is definitely the film for you. I was so impressed with this film and I would honestly like to recommend this to a lot of people to watch. Even if you don’t like films that contain graphic/gory imagery, you can still watch this film but just look away at “scary” bits.

Scream Queens

Now, I know a lot of people have blogged about this, but this series is too good NOT to blog about.

The series is an American comedy/horror and was created by  Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. There are many familiar faces that play characters, such as Emma Roberts, Ariana Grande, Nick Jonas, Skyler Samuels and Lea Michele. So far, there is only one season and there will be 9 episodes in the first season, however only 6 have been shown on TV so far.

The series begins with a flashback to when the sorority first started. There are some graphic images of blood, but it isn’t bad enough to make someone look away from the screen or to make them scream. The flashback is a key part of the story because it is the events from the flashback that cause the mayhem later on in the film. Later on, we see the modern day ‘Kappa Kappa Tau’ sorority at Wallace University which is now led by Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts). The sorority is threatened by Dean Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis); leading to events that follow up from the 20-year old murder mystery (the flashback at the beginning), with the reemergence of the Red Devil serial killer, who begins targeting the sorority members. The girls try to stay away from the Red Devil, but as the episodes go along, they begin to find out more clues about the Devil and find out that there is not only one, but multiple Devils. Chanel, the leader of the house, is an uptight, snobby spoilt teen and she likes things to be in order. When Dean Munsch tells her that she will allow ANYONE to be a member, she refuses to allow this to happen, but when the Devil comes into the plot, she realises that she can use them as bait to keep her safe. The girls in the house are all very different and they have different ideas of how to be safe. The series contains some graphic images and A LOT of stereotypical humour that is mostly acknowledged by teenagers, which makes it all the more funny to me.

I really like this series because despite the fact it isn’t something you would get “addicted to”, it’s a really light watch and it’s entertaining if there is not much to do and I just want some light comedy/horror. A lot of teenage girls are watching this at the moment, and I don’t blame them, because it appeals to them as it mainly focuses of a girl sorority and it establishes the toughness of participating in a sorority. I wouldn’t recommend this series to adults, but definitely to teenagers.

How To Train Your Dragon 2

The first How To Train Your Dragon is such a good family film and I love it because it is fantasy based, funny and establishes relationships with humans and animals. I had been wanting to watch the second film for a while now and I finally got round to watching it.
This sequel is set five years after the first and it continues to show the friendships and close bonds between the vikings and the dragons. To think, five years ago they were enemies and now they are competing in Dragon Races as companions. The second film introduces many new faces and characters and there is a major character that is introduced that we don’t see in the first film. Hiccup and Toothless go on many adventures and at one point are even separated, but they’re close bond doesn’t part them, even when Toothless does something so unforgivable whilst being controlled.
I really like this film because it can be watched by any ages and it is a truly amazing film to watch if you just want a light comedy for the day/night.

Pan

“To live would be an awfully big adventure”

Peter Pan is one of my favourite childhood films. Recently, a prequel has been released and it’s all about Peter Pan, the Lost Boy, the boy who never grew up and the boy who loved an adventure. I really loved Peter Pan because it was such a happy film and it always filled me with hope and sense of adventure. Before seeing the film, I thought it would be terrible, because I didn’t think that Warner Bros could create a film that lived up to the standard of the original Peter Pan.

Pan is a film set during the time of World War Two, and we see a baby being left at a Boy’s Only Orphanage by his mother and the only memory he has of her is his necklace in the shape of pipes. 12 years later, Peter grows up in this orphanage but he sees that more and more children are going missing. Is this because they are being sold? Are they being fostered? No. They are being stolen by PIRATES, yes PIRATES. The pirates of Neverland. Eventually, Pan is kidnapped himself and he experiences Neverland in the flesh. However, if you have seen the 2003 Peter Pan starring Jeremy Sumpter, you will know that Neverland is a land full of happiness and dreams. Not in this film. The land before Captain Hook belongs to Blackbeard; an evil, merciless, “immortal” being who stays young by taking in Pixie Dust. There is a prophecy that tells us that a young boy, born of human and fairy descent who can fly, will come to avenge the death of his parents and kill Blackbeard for what he did to his mother. Blackbeard wants to kill Pan, but Pan goes to the other side of Neverland with his new “friend” James Hook (Captain Hook) where the Native Tribes are. The Tribes find out that Pan may be the boy in the Prophecy and to prove this he must fly. He does not know though how to fly, he just happened to fly one time. Tensions begin to rise between the Tribes people and Blackbeard’s people. Whilst Pan tries to find his mother who he still believes to be alive in the Fairy Kingdom, Blackbeard is also there for the pixie dust. Does Pan defeat Blackbeard or does Blackbeard triumph? Go watch the film and find out because it is totally worth it.

As well as being action packed and full of fantasy and adventure, the film is incredibly funny. The songs that were sung by Blackbeard’s crew and the miners were songs such as Hey Ho by The Ramones and their main song, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. At the end of the film, James Hook and Peter tell each other that they should be “friends forever” and they question what could possibly go wrong between them. If you’ve seen Peter Pan, 2003, you will know that EVERYTHING goes wrong and this statement in Pan is very ironic. The film was so much better than I expected and it was well worth it.

End Of Watch

The film End Of Watch is a crime drama film that was directed by David Ayer. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, who playes Bran Taylor and Michael Peña, Mike Zavala, who both play two Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers. Most of the film is filmed as a hand held shot, because Brian Taylor (Gyllenhaal), is shooting a documentary about his crime work for his part time drama class he takes. For the majority of the scenes, it is either handheld or a point of view shot and this adds to intensity and difficulty of being a police officer.

The two police officers are seen to be doing their normal work in day to day life and they tackle a variety of cases such as trafficking, theft, drugs and murder. They focus particularly on their own area and there is tension between the Mexican gangs and the black gangs. They later on discover a secret that makes them the target of the biggest drug deal. Throughout their patrols, they find more and more out about the drug deal and they have an idea of where the people are living, where they go on a daily basis and what weapons they are hiding. They continuously receive calls about fires, disturbances and even shootings. They go to investigate them all and when they do, they become closer and closer to finding out what is happening in the drug deal and who is involved. By moving closer to the answer, they also move closer to risking their lives. At the end of the film, they are so close to finding out what is happening and who is involved, but they get set up to go somewhere and they are actually being played with so the real people who are involved can shoot them and get rid of the information they know about the drug cartel. They run out of the building unharmed, but they are stopped by the Mexican gang behind the drug deal and Brian Taylor gets shot. In attempt to saving his friend, Zavala stays with his and comforts him by putting pressure on the wound. However, because help comes, the guilty Mexican gang come up behind him and shoot him dead. Help then comes and the Mexican gang is found guilty but are shot for using armed weapons against the police and so the investigation is closed.

The film was relatively short, but it got to the point of the plot and I really liked that about it. It showed us the life of these police officers as well as allowing us to discover the horrors of the reality of the world. The film tackled a lot of difficult topics and it’s quite graphic. I think that Gyllenhall and Peña played their characters exceptionally well and they really convinced me that they had a close relationship and when Zavala passed away, it was really emotional. The film is funny, touching and establishes the difficulty of being part of such a big community of police officers.I would recommend this film to anyone for people who like a good crime drama.

The Martian

This weekend, I went to watch the Martian with a couple of my friends. I had heard a lot about the film from friends who had already seen it, and I had seen adverts about it on TV. When I was invited to go see it, I immediately said yes because I was eager to see if it was a good film.

The Martian is about a group of astronauts, the Hermes crew, who go to Mars on a mission to the Ares 3 Mars box and research the geology of Mars. As they are doing their research, they are told that there is a storm coming, but it’s more extravagant than they expected and so they must get back to their ship. In attempt of getting back to the ship in the blistering wind, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is hit by a nearby antenna and knocked out. Commander Lewis (Jessica Chastain) takes it upon herself to look for Watney, but the ship is slowly being knocked over by the wind and she has no time to find him. To get her back to the ship, the crew tell her that Watney is dead as they have lost contact with him, and to leave immediately before they have no way of getting back to earth. With no choice, they leave.

However, all is not over yet, because Mark Watney is still actually alive! No surprise there. He has been struck by the antenna  pole and so this caused the destruction of his communications device. But, you may ask, how can one person stranded on a planet all by themselves live with a limited food and water supply? Well, this is where Mark Watney’s talent comes into action. As well as being an amazing scientist, Watney is also a Botanist. Using his botany skills, he plants a whole new supply of potatoes using mars dirt and his own faeces. He also makes his own water to keep the potatoes in the right condition. He manages to increase his food supply to last more than a year/two years  and he keeps up with this plan.

More than a year and a half passes and he doesn’t even have contact with NASA on Earth. But one day, he finds a way to communicate with Earth and there are many action plans put into place to send food supplies to Mars.

The Hermes team don’t know that Mark is still alive, and they are only one months trip away from being home on earth with their family. When they are told that they have a chance of saving their fellow astronaut, they realise that this trip will add 500 ish days to their journey. Which means more than a year and a half until they see their family again and they’ve been away for so long already.

I won’t spoil any more of the film, but it is a very good film. I thought it was a bit boring at times because it was just taking in information about the situation, but the film definitely got better as it went along. I really liked the dialogue of the film. The characters in the film are good friends and the actors/actresses play their roles so well that they are so convincing that they are friends. The way they speak and the tone they say things in are very real and it made me feel as if the film was real. Mark Watney was also a very positive and funny character and even though he was stranded on a planet, he made the most of it and even called himself a “Pirate”. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack of the film. There were songs such as I Will Survive, Starman, Hot Stuff and Waterloo. I especially liked Waterloo because it was played in a scene where it was quite tense and it contradicted it a lot, but it was played because it was one of Commander Lewis’ favourite songs and so it established their friendship and it was very touching. The film was very good and it was as good as I expected it to be.