My thoughts: Coraline is incredibly well made! You can just tell there was so much effort in the animation and in every little detail, and the result is a film which is captivating, cute, visually stimulating but also beautifully dark and gripping. It was a long time since a film of this type had involved me so much, and the reason is that the characters are amazing, funny but also a little disturbing, and until the end you just can't quite understand what it is that is wrong. The film has great images, a wonderful atmosphere, an original plot and fantastic characters, and is definitely very unique in its genre :)

( more here! )

 

 

My thoughts: This film was truly unique, and definitely one of the best 'good mood' movies I've seen this year! The acting was fantastic, and I have to say that Audrey Tautou couldn't have portrayed this woman any better. She just inspires class anytime she breathes, and she's such a fantastic personality that the whole film stands on her. I loved finding out about Coco Chanel's life, and I have to say it really wasn't what I had expected to be watching. She was a very interesting person, a strong woman who never accepted no as an answer but who also had to compromise and make a series of choices that imposed her boundaries in order to find her freedom in the end. I absolutely loved the ending, which made me go out of the cinema with a smile and every intention of finding out everything I could about Coco Chanel.

The film was happy at times, sad at others, very funny but also extremely inspirational.

( More here! )

 

 

My thoughts: Since I've seen all three series in the last four months or so, I thought I'd write a review of the whole show so far, as it had been ages since a show had interested me so much! I love Brothers & Sisters because the story flows very naturally, characters are many and all interesting, and I like the way I really cared for every single one of them after only having seen a few episodes!

What I like about this show so much is that nothing is ever either right or wrong, but there are different sides to it. In the same way, there's not good characters and bad characters, but I have to say, I really do like everyone in the show. That's because, even if someone acts in a way that has negative consequences of other people, they always show you the reasons for this behaviour, and it's easy to understand them and to relate to both sides most times. An example of this is Holly: she's meant to be the 'evil' woman who takes over the family business, but I've often seen her as a very independent person who really cares about her family and ultimately tries to make decisions that will make everyone happy in the end. Her past is also very interesting, I've often wondered what she had been like :) Rebecca is also like that, she has her flaws but she's sort of in the middle between the two families, and I like that about her.

My favourite characters will have to be Nora (Sally Field is an amazing actress, she really makes you care so much for her character), Scotty, Justin and Kitty. Kitty is the one I've loved since the very first episode, and she's probably a little bit of what I would like to be at some point: opinionated, passionate, wanting more from my life and not letting people getting in the middle of all this. I like that she's such a strong character with a great personality but can also be very fragile at moments. I also love Kevin, the senator, Julia, Sarah, Saul... All of them are interesting in their own way. 

 

My thoughts: I loved it. I thought what made it great and interesting was that it was different from the book. Some scenes have been changed, some (many, actually) have been excluded, and I can understand why. It's a very dense book, and it would have made such a long film if they had left everything in it. Of course, there are a few scenes that I would have loved to have seen acted out on screen, and I would have rather had the ending a little bit different, but on the whole I thought it was very well done.

Rachel McAdams was perfect in her role and I loved her entrance, which was absolutely adorable. You see that woman acting and it makes you want to smile, you just can't help it. I cried a few times as well, not so much at the end but more around the middle of the film... But it's so hard to write a review of this film without writing about specific scenes, so I'm going to put the rest of the entry in a cut, as it will contain spoilers... So don't read if you don't want to know anything!

( From now on, Spoilers! )

But on the whole, I really liked it and it really made me think. It really wasn't an easy film to make and I think they managed to do a great job with it! Even the fact that there are such mixed opinions of it proves it :)

 

My thoughts: It's very different to find a film of this kind which is actually original and interesting and not predictable at all. This film really made it, and the fact that it was a true story added to it even more. It's a long film but it always keeps you interested. I loved the soundtrack, the characters (Well, Johnny Depp owned his character completely) and the accents. It's not characters that are made to be liked, but they all add up to the final picture of it, and this film actually lives you with something. It's violent, funny at times, moving at others, and doesn't have only one central theme. It leaves you sort of unsatisfyed at the end, but at the same time it's the perfect ending, and the audience is aware of it.

Quotes:

John Dillinger: I like baseball, movies, good clothes, whiskey, fast cars... and you. What else you need to know?

John Dillinger: [from trailer] There is absolutely nothing I want to do in Indiana.

Melvin Purvis: What keeps you awake nights, Mr. Dillinger?
John Dillinger: Coffee.

John Dillinger: We don't work with people we don't know. And you don't work when your desperate. Walter Dietrich. Remember that?
John 'Red' Hamilton: Walter forgot. When your desperate, that's when you got no choice.
 

 

 

My thoughts: When I first came out of the cinema, I found myself wondering whether the director had actually read the book or not. There were bits where I was so disappointed, as they added scenes (like the burning of the Weasleys' house), they modified important moments (like the ending, which is supposed to be much darker!) and gave less relevance to some characters (like the whole story of Snape and of the Half-Blood Prince, and all the memories of Tom Riddle! And even Draco wasn't given that much importance somehow!) and too much to others (I mean... Ginny? I don't think they made her look that great in this film, and some things are too cheesy and not supposed to happen until the next book/film! Even the whole Ron/Hermione scene at the hospital is a bit too much...)... 

But then I also started thinking back about the film as a whole, disconnected from the books, and I have to say, apart from all that, i also found some bits I really liked. I love Bellatrix, Helena Bonham Carter is amazing! Also, Ron is at the centre of this film, and he owns it! He's such a great actor that the first half of the movie is all about him, and in some bits I couldn't help laughing out loud! It was the funniest out of all movies! Snape was also great, I love his voice and his pauses, he's such a good character and Alan Rickman is brilliant as always! I really liked Dumbledore in this film too, and the fact that they added a few scenes with Luna! She's great as well! :)

So yes, I wasn't expecting it to be like that, and it was a mixture between a comedy and a horror film, with changes of genre in between, but... I have decided to take it as something which is apart from the books, and if I think this way, I did like it a lot :)