The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

You don't need a recap from me about this Human/Vampire/Werewolf phenomenon, no matter if your a lover or a hater you know the deal when it comes to this romantic comedy teen fiction drama. I know they say that the first year of marriage is hard, but even I had to feel a little sorry for Edwella.

Lets go back first, as we're all cordially invited to the wedding of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullun (Robert Pattinson), and a wedding can't be a wedding without a few opposing parties. Enter Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) and his puppy dog crush, who probably didn't think twice about the laminated invitation he threw into the rain in rage as he proceeded to rip off his shirt....and wolf out. Cause you know, they don't make him take it off for no reason. Bella's dad Charlie (Billy Burke) though I always felt he had something against Edward, apart from the whole protective father thing, looked like he just couldn't quite figure out those last two numbers in a game of sudoku.

Bella, though known as the clumsy out of place uncomfortable in my own body kind of gal, adapted quickly, and though we saw that she felt a little awkward in her gown and her after dress. It worked really well and lead in perfectly for when things got a little raunchy when it came to the eagerly anticipated sex scene. If she had just jumped from that awkward teen to that ready for anything porn star then it wouldn't have set right. The happiness didn't last long, as soon enough Edward had on his signature Not quite looking you in the eyes, something smells really bad, I'm trying not to jizz look which is a shame because I think he's a better actor character when he smiles, or at least tries on another emotion for more than a fifth of the movie.

Things got a little jumpy as we skipped between Jacob and his problems with the wolf pack, and general authority. Though I have to admit this was most likely my favourite scene of the movie. Charlie and his new female friend, which I thought was nice but at the same time it made you just shake you head in confusion as if you were so wrapped up with everything else you didn't see it coming. Finally with Bella and her anorexia, which really wasn't anorexia, but the change in her appearance was convincing but almost too dramatic.

I enjoyed the little set-ups that book readers would have picked up i.e.; The chess scene, and also felt the movie most definitely had its subtle comedic moments, whether it be words or actions which I felt was an important balance with the desolate storyline. Though I was originally opposed to the movie being in two parts, essentially thinking that they we're copying the Harry Potter franchise and trying to make as much money as possible. Which I still have no doubt about - I think the pace of the movie worked really well as usually Stephanie Meyer takes an age to get to the point of  the story, and that this first half will be nicely juxtaposed with the upcoming drama.
I guess you'll just have to wait a year for my breaking down part 2 of the twilight saga.

Immortals

As an all round lover of all things Greek Mythology and having anticipated this movies coming out for roughly about four months, (Round about the time I started The Tudors) I was giddy and hyped up on my way to the cinema. Its just a shame I didn't leave in the same way.

Theseus (Henry Cavill) is a young man with a kind heart who lives with his mother in a small village, where they are treated as lepers because of the circumstances of his birth. The only close friend of theirs, and mentor to Theseus is an elderly man, referred to by Theseus as Old Man (John Hurt). Old Man has been preening him from a young age to be a good fighter and a better person, but this ageless man has an untold secret. 

The movies antagonist is King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) who after begging for help from the Gods to save his family to no avail -surprise surprise- takes it into his own hands to find a way to destroy the Gods themselves. Releasing the dreaded Titans. Naturally their whereabouts is no secret, but he does need a special weapon to release them, the Epirus Bow created by the God of War himself. In order to find it he also needs the help of Oracle Priestess Phaedra (Freida Pinto).

The lives of our villain and hero get tangled when the things get personal and the King slays the only person Theseus holds close. You'd think that after the tragedy that was inflicted on him he would try and prevent everyone from going through the same thing but then I suppose this would be a very different kind of movie.

Like every great unexpected leader, as things get climactic and the soldiers are on the verge of whimping out Theseus gives a kicking speech. The speech received a gratifying manly rhythmic response, and this I think is what I would choose as my favourite scene as I literally got chills listening to it. 

There were some classic fighting moments that followed that made me wish it would have taken up a larger chunk of the movie as I felt there were moments spent walking and talking that could have been better spent fighting for their lives. Its Greek Mythology times, that's all anyone should ever be doing. The costumes I loved, especially those of the Gods, and the general effects and colour pallet worked really well for the film.

Sadly overall I was disappointed with this movie. The characters themselves here fantastic both in terms of acting and stylistically, the concept was mildly agreeable but lacked real depth and the anticipation of a great scene was a lot more satisfying that the main event. Perhaps if all the trailers and clips hadn't shown so many fighting sequences then I wouldn't have been so sorely disappointed with the middle two quarters of the film.

I also saw the movie in 3D (my very first 3D movie) and wish I had saved the extra £3 for a Happy Meal but the ending did make for a very good lead up to a sequel, which looked a whole lot better than the original, though I'm going to try not to Immortalise it in my head quite yet.

The Ides Of March

My second Showroom Watch is a subject and genre that I don't usually dabble in, but when your lead roles are cast by two such extraordinary people how could I resist? This political drama thriller stars George Clooney and Ryan Gosling, and this smooth scripting will leave you voting Democratic.

Junior campaign manager Gosling plays Stephen Meyer the puppeteer behind the success of Democratic presidential candidate Mike Morris (Clooney). As with every drama we need a love interest for our protagonist, in this case her name is Molly (Evan Rachel Wood). Sadly this is also a political drama so their relationship doesn't remain a bed of roses for long. A slip up on Molly's part leaves the whole campaign at risk with Stephen taking it upon himself to make sure they all have jobs in the morning.
As if Stephen doesn't have enough on his plate, campaign competitor Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) is trying to play Stephens boss, Senior Campaign Manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) off against him. Paul is all about loyalty, but one mans version of loyalty is another mans version of betrayal.

As things suddenly go pear shaped for a man that's only doing his job, it doesn't take him long to opt to use information that could potentially ruin the whole electoral campaign for his own benefit. Though he initially starts out trying to right a wrong, his good nature slowly chips away as he realises where his new position of power could take him.

Though this movie is wrapped around politics, politicians and their philosophies there's enough to make it classed under "Political Drama" but it's not over bearing in the sense that you get lost in the jargon.
The movie I felt was the right length and got all of its points across yet, at the same time to me it ended to abruptly, leaving you with the feeling that there was more to come, but not in a sequel.

In Time

One can never get enough of Justin Timberlake and this new futuristic sci-fi drama movie was a chance to view him in a new light. He did wonders with his role and gave a realistic portrayal of an interesting concept of life in a world where time is money and time is power.

Already the idea of substituting the power that money has on our lives into the power that time literally has on our lives had me engrossed. After a tragic incident and being fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time our protagonist Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) finds himself with a lot of time on his hands. Though sadly a lot of people think that the amount of time he now holds has been wrongfully entrusted as both Minutemen and Time Keeper alike are out to find him for one reason or another. Will, has other plans in mind.

I thoroughly enjoyed having Cillian Murphy play the role of the time keeper, though I would have liked to either have a lot more background knowledge of him or nothing at all, as the snippit they gave us felt underdeveloped and borderline unnecessary.
The character of Sylvia Weis, our second "protangonist" was far to archetypal. Her hair style was bizarre, her personality was boring and her background was bland. As well as this I don't believe having Amanda Seyfried portray her helped in anyway.

Despite all the criticism I really enjoyed the film though I'm wondering if it was due more to the brilliant concept of it than because of the acting and slightly questionable storyline. The ending was left wide open, but I was left wondering how much they could actually do with these characters whose goals seemed to have already been achieved, I guess only time will tell.