Sunday, 3 January 2016
Week 50: Stars Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens
Director:
J.J. Abrams
Writers: J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan & Michael
Arndt
Seen: 20th of December
Venue:
IMC
Snacks:
Pistachio
Mood:
Once again this year, nostalgic
In times of crisis
society often looks to the past for comfort – or so say people who are a lot
smarter than me, however from my own observations recently that saying seems to
ring true. Many times throughout the year I left the cinema feeling nostalgic. Mad Max Fury Road and Jurassic World were two I can remember,
but the most nostalgic I felt was this week’s film Stars Wars: The Force Awakens.
This is seventh of
the Star Wars franchise but the first for Disney who paid the handsome sum of 4
billion dollars for the rights (they expect to make 3 billion on the first
film). With such an investment comes massive risk but interestingly the suits at
Disney took the bold step of actually letting the director make the film he
wanted to make. JJ Abrams said in an interview that he had the final cut, a rarity
in big budget contemporary Hollywood cinema.
Star Wars: The
Force Awakens is an exciting film that ticks all the boxes, action, adventure, nostalgia
and the plot does pack a punch. With such buzz around this it will be
interesting to see if the next edition will keep the momentum going. For now
though this is a film for all ages with something for everyone, but especially
for my generation.
Week 49: The Night Before
Director: Jonathan Levine
Writers: Jonathan Levine (screenplay) Kyle Hunter (screenplay) Ariel Shaffir (screenplay)
Evan Goldberg (screenplay) Jonathan Levine (story)
Seen: 20th December 2015
Snacks: Pistachios
Mood: Christmassy
Well look we had to go and see a Christmas film considering the festive season is upon us and before the end of year round up it seemed appropriate to see the (mostly) reliable Seth Rogan/Joseph Gordon Levitt/Evan Goldberg comedic cluster (is a group of comedians known as a ‘cluster’?)
The film follows Ethan (Joseph Gordon Levitt) who lost his parents tragically one Christmas Eve. Every Christmas Eve since the tragedy he and his gang of trusty buds Isaac (Seth Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) go out of their way to have a fun filled night (cue various drug/booze/pop culture references). This year life has (inevitably) moved forwards and the buddies decide that this will be their last Christmas Eve of insane partying…….and so begins the search for the biggest party of the yuletide, the inimitable ‘Nutcracka Ball’
The search provides many laughs along the way and watch out for a lot of celebrity cameos.
‘The Night Before’ is also helped along by the fact that there is undeniable chemistry between the Rogen/Gordon Levitt and Mackie and where it works (in my humble opinion) is that the laughs are fairly constant even the obligatory ‘cheesey’ moments are still pretty funny.
So if you haven’t had enough of Christmas yet and can manage to extract your face from the fridge I suggest you head to the cinema to see this…..or you could just leave your face in the fridge and wait to catch it next Christmas…..THE CHOICE IS YOURS!
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