O Danny Boyle

Director - Danny Boyle

"I'm not really the guy to make [huge movies]. I like making a slightly smaller movie and trying to make it look like 100 million dollars."
I Love this quote. I don't know why. It kind of inspires me to go out and make a 'blairwitch' style film (but hopefully a lot better) and become massive and successful - she says with great ease. Another Quote of his I loved from 'The Jonathan Ross show' (23/03/13) was this;
"As a film maker you've got to arrive at the secrets a mili-second before the audience... If they arrive before you you'll fail." 
This is what makes him such a brilliant director; and it's True!! Think about the amount of times you've watched a film and thought 'oh I bet this or that happens'. I use this to explain why I really don't like a lot of generic chick flicks. They'll get the guy in the end. How is it entertaining when you know what's going to happen. It hardly takes a genius. It's no inception. (But saying this, I love Bridget Jones.. a lot. Mainly because it's hilarious though).
If you're British and you're reading this thinking 'damn I know this guy, but where from?!'. Well, he has directed numerous great, low-budget, yet successful films, such as Slumdog Millionairre, Trainspotting, 28 days Later, 127 hours and most recently Trance with James McAvoy (Yum.)
But you'll definitely have seen him on and off the Television this past year; he directed the hugely successful - yet kind of confusing for people who don't know British History - Olympic Opening Ceremony. I LOVED it. I watched it on holiday in Austria and it made me feel so patriotic and me and my family started screaming the national anthem (we're not a massively patriotic family, but we are strange and wanted the Austrian neighbours to hear). Thinking about it, the Olympic ceremony is kind of contradictory to his statement above as it probably cost more than 100 million dollars!!
Anyway, this was a random blog, but I love Danny Boyle's work and I'm going to watch more of his films!!
Let me Know if you want me to blog more about Actors and Directors as well as films!
What was your favourite part of the Opening Ceremony? (I'm a bit behind schedule).

R.I.P Richard Griffiths

Richard Griffiths 1947-2013

Rest In Peace Richard Griffiths. He was and still is one of Britain's best talents, performing on both stage and screen. I know he'll be missed  and greatly remembered as he was unique. There will be many a casting director who will say "Richard Griffiths would be perfect for that part" and be stuck! There is simply no one like him. Whenever I watched him in a film or on TV he would be the star presence of the screen. He had the talent of making you feel as though you knew him when you didn't, you were friends with him when you weren't, and like you could call him up for a chat as if you had known him all your life.
For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm a pretty huge Harry Potter fan, so yes, for me and many other people Uncle Vernon has passed - hence the twitter trend #RaiseyourwandforRichardGriffiths
However, I have not missed out on his acting talent in such films as The History Boys, Sleepy Hollow, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Ballet Shoes and of course, Withnail & I. All of which are on my long list of amazing films. (I'm not lying - I really do have one!) Annoyingly, I was only Two when Pie in the Sky ended.
I'm sure he was a pleasure to work with, as actor and co-star on stage and screen, Daniel Radcliffe said "any room he walked into was made twice as funny and twice as clever...I'm Proud to say I knew him" I wish I could say the same.
I noticed on Twitter today a couple of people tweeting along the lines of "R.I.P Richard Griffiths. I must watch some of his stuff now!" I'm glad his work is being all the more appreciated, however I wish it was so before he passed. Its a shame it has taken the worst to happen for some people to watch his craft.
He was always destined to go down in acting history and he definitely will. No One will forget you Richard, I'll make sure of it. x

80's Classic

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

I love 80's classics. 'Ferris Bueller...' is just awesome. I can't think of a better way to describe it! Somehow John Hughes has managed to write and direct a film that, if you think about it, is completely unrealistic - who would really be allowed to bash out Beatles tunes on a float without getting
arrested after the first 'shake it up baby now' - yet it still seems realistic to me. Maybe it's because we've all skived off once or twice; it's a rite of passage! It's ironic that he's skipping school yet knows all this computer stuff! He doesn't even need schools with those skills.
On paper this film sounds like another stereotypical film about teenage deviancy portrayed in a comic light, however Matthew Broderick's cocky and annoying, but loveable portrayal of Ferris makes it such a great watch. Only problem is, I can't not watch Jennifer Grey in this film and think 'Nobody puts Baby in the corner'-maybe its the pink jacket. Nevertheless she's an incredible actress and I love the little cameo from Charlie Sheen!
This film makes me feel so immature; laughing at the coughing fit he plays on the keyboard, the chorus of black people doing some utterly bizarre dance moves to Twist and Shout - I have a lot of growing up to do. ( Did you know Matthew Broderick is the voice of Simba?!)
I just want to watch this film again...right now! Let's face it, its what we wish we could do on our days off!
Favourite Quotes: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
"This guy in my biology class, said that if Ferris dies, he's giving his eyes to Stevie Wonder."

How do I Define History...Boys?

The History Boys (2006)

Set in 1980s Britain, a group of eight extremely talented boys are taught by two eccentric teachers on the way into Oxford and Cambridge to read History.
I made the stupid mistake of watching this film whilst in themiddle of an essay for school, meaning I wasn't focussing much on the film itself which I regret. When the boys went to their interviews was when I put my essay aside and focussed on the ending, realising 'actually I should've watched the whole of this'.
Nicholas Hytner has directed one of those films which you have to focus on to truly appreciate, and which you then go away forcing all your family to watch it with you again. (This is what I'll be doing!) However, we can not ignore the INGENIOUS writing which is that of British gold, Alan Bennett. Previous to this I had only ever seen and read Talking Heads for my English Literature A-Level.I found the monologues quite funny, but not nearly as funny as this relatable classic.
Sometimes it's hard to bring Plays off the stage and in front of a camera, but this adaptation seems, at first glance, pretty flawless; "A triumphant crossover from stage to screen"(Phillip French) - plus its funny to see James Corden and Dominic Cooper in their youth.
Without meaning to sound like a joke, the best part was the ending. Firstly the twist involving Hector (Richard Griffiths) was unforeseeable as I thought the film had ended the scene before. But the best part was the revealing of the boys adult lives. It was such a simple and non-over the top way of showcasing their adulthood - like something of an a-level drama play - yet it worked so well!
Again the cast list was pretty damn awesome!! Definite must see.
Favourite Quote: "How do I define history? It's just one f***in' thing after another."

Like Or Dislike - 'Like Crazy'

Like Crazy (2011)

Like Crazy is a film about first love and long distances, which  quite deservingly won best picture at the Sundance Film Festival. I'm not quite sure I agree with New York Magazine that it's "The most infectious love story in decades" (I'd give that title to Titanic- guilty pleasure), but it's not terrible. However, I can't help but think that its moderate success is solely because of the  on screen connection between Anton Yelchin and Felicity
Jones, and not the story line, which if you strip to the bone is pretty boring.
O.K, so I admit that the only reason I bought the film was because Jennifer Lawrence was in it and she's incredible, but given that she was only in approximately 30 minutes of the film, I didn't find my self waiting for her to come on screen again, which must be a good thing!
I normally find I like films which aren't terribly dramatic, and what's great about this film is that it is hard to decipher between the beginning (introducing the characters and the plot), the middle (in a generic chick flick, this is where something will go wrong - " oh no, he cheated on me -my world is over!!") and the end (everything ends up fine and dandy). This is because the plot (which there isn't much of ) is very happy-sad-happy-sad.
Overall I'm not in a massive hurry to see it again, but one thing I'll say is that the acting credits are surprisingly good for an, as-of-yet, not very well known directer, Drake Doremus. For instance: Alex Kingston, Jennifer Lawrence, Oliver Muirhead, Felicity Jones and Antony Yelchin.
It was a good film don't get me wrong, but I found it hard to feel emotion for the characters, and when it ended I just went and got on without pointlessly watching the credits and thinking about whether we loved or hated it (we all do it!) I can't say I've ever been in love, so maybe that is why I am unable to connect to it and I can't appreciate the desired effect it should have had, but to me the film just seemed a bit Oscar hungry.
It was just good.
Favourite Quote: "Because it's the halves that halve you in half. I didn't know, don't know, about the in-between bits; the gory bits of you, and the gory bits of me."

Favourites

Stand By Me (1986)

I thought it best to start my blog with my favourite film of all time - Stand By Me.

I found out about this film through listening to the song Stand By Me by Ben.E.King off of one of my parents albums. At the age of 14 I sat down at my computer ready to watch what I thought would be a pretty decent film, given the directing talent of Rob Reiner and the legendary acting of River Phoenix. One and a half hours later I was lost for words. And no it is not a deeply sad ending, in fact I think it's bitter sweet, but the ending is not important in this film, it's the content of it. The WHOLE film is
moving, right from the first scene where Gordie (Wil Wheaton) begins to reminisce, through to the bitter sweet goodbye of teenage friendships.

What really made me love it was that it was unique and as of yet I haven't seen a single film that lives up to its simplicity and incredibility. The plot isn't life affecting to anyone and the world wont end if they don't make it back from the train tracks, but that's what's so great about it! It will make you want to live in 1950s suburban America, stock up on cherry flavoured pez and really question what animal Goofy actually is.It's sentimentality works because of the unsentimental moments and honest portrayals of what boys of that age really think. It captures perfectly the adolescent quartet when they are young enough to be afraid, yet old enough to experience personal pressures bought to bear on all of them by the adult world and on top of this it's still hilarious.
I must have seen this film more times than my parents' age put together and it made me think twice about Kieffer Sutherland; Ace is scary as heck!!
Before watching Stand By Me I didn't watch many films before my time, but it quickly made me branch out and watch LOADS of classsics. I don't know what I was watching before...
It's an utterly timeless film that will forever be the best.

Favourite Quotes: "If I could only have one food for the rest of my life? That's easy-Pez. Cherry-flavored Pez. No question about it."
"Do you think I'm weird?"   "Definitely." "No man, seriously. Am I weird?" "Yeah, but so what? Everybody's weird."
"Alright, alright, Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?"
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"