"A philosopher once asked....

Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?"

Do you recognise the quote? Its from one my of my ultimate favourite films, Stardust :)
I just love this film, and I am sorry to announce that this post will contain no sarcastic mocking or rants, as I'm sure you've all come accustomed to, but will be instead one long gush about how much I love this film and how it quite possibly could be THE perfect film!!



For those who have yet to see this film, (watch it now you fool!!!) it is the beautiful story of a young boy named Tristan, who ventures in to a strange and secret land, to find a fallen star, in order to win the heart of Victoria (who, played by Sienna Miller, is the only bad thing about the film!!) and along way encounters witches, pirates and goats turned into inn-keepers. I am being purposely refusing to give too much of the plot away as I really do not want to spoil it for anybody.

The film is based upon a book by Neil Gaiman (which I want for christmas Mum!!!!) and I am so curious to read it, not being familiar with his work(something which I plan to rectify soon!!)
I must admit however, this film is the most beautiful film, truly faultless, and much of this I beleieve is due to superb acting and stunning scenery etc, that I am skeptical it can all have been captured on paper. I feel that this could possibly be a rare case when the film IS better than the book. Though, I am reserving my judgement until I have read the book, and having never heard a bad word against Neil Gaiman's work, I suspect I am proberly incorrect.

I mentioned superb acting, but I am not sure superb really expresses how magnificent the acting really is. Michelle Phiffer especially, as the evil witch Lamia was fantastic. She has always been a great actress, but one I feel who has improved dramatically with age and I would argue this is her best performance yet.



Charlie Cox, who plays the male lead Tristan was also a perfect casting choice. He is lovable, clumsy and sweet and such a likeable character. Though to be fair all the characters in this film are (except Sienna Miller's!)

I read that the original choice was Orlando Bloom, and I am so thankful they changed their minds, as I feel the dynamic of the film would have been completely different. Whilst this film stars some of the biggest name in acting, such as Michelle Phiffer and Robert DeNiro, I do not think they are actors who particuraly demand attention for being in a film, instead really upon thier skill as actors. Orlando Bloom however, I feel does the opposite, and whilst I am not saying he can not act, if he had starred in the film, you can be sure it would have been known only for him, and in my opinon, would have lost a lot of its appeal!!! (So I did have a mini rant :D)

Claire Danes was another interesting but perfect choice, as she is not an actress who is well known I feel and certainly does not come to mind as leading actress material! however I am so glad it is her was eventually picked (after the role was turned down by several more famous actresses) as not only did it mean the film had to rely on good acting and storyline instead of famous names, but also because I don't think there is an actress who could play a star as well as she can.

That is another thing I love about this film, you can not possibly think or imagine of another actor who could play the any part in this better than who was cast, as the casting was perfect. Even Sienna Miller was cast perfectly, as the character we are not meant to like, a spoilt, self-absorbed brat!!


Have I mentioned that I love this film??
It is one which I can watch endlessly, yet never tire of! It never fails to make me both laugh and cry (the ending is so beautiful and ridiculously happy) so has become my "Cheer up" film, one I watch after a crappy day! At the risk of sounding cheesy, it is the perfect film to lose yourself in!!
I also unashamedly LOVE the soundtrack, Rule the world, by Take That.

So for those who are looking for a film to watch, I recommend Stardust, and then defy anybody telling me they didn't love it! Five K's really does not seem adequete for this film, so instead I'm giving it seven!!! This film is undeservedly overlooked I feel and is fast becoming a contender for being my absolute favourite fim, and it doesn't even have Kiefer Sutherland in it :P

Night Night Xxxxxxxx

What........No John cusack???

Thats right people, not only am I back, but I have finally left my John Cusack phase behind! I apologise for neglecting my film reviewing duties, but my beloved laptop, "Toppy" was broken for a while, and I was unable to watch any films in bed :( However, my amazing uncle managed to fix him for me, and I am back with a great film to review for you!!

Tonights review is "Repo Men", a 2010 film starring Jude Law and Forest Whitakar. The film is set fifteen years in the future, where it is possible to buy new organs on credit. If you fail to pay the extortionate interest rates, then the repo men will reposess the organs, be it a heart or an eye. They do offer you the option of having an ambulance on stand-by, which was most considerate of them I thought.

Law and Whitakar play two repo men, with different outlooks on their jobs. Whitikar loves his job, revels in killing the late payers and will take any opportunity to max out his commission (different organs repossesed have different commission rates.) Law on the other hand is looking for a way out of the repossesion business, but occassionally gets lost in the thrill of killing. However, for his family, he decides to take a job selling instead. Unfortunately, his last job does not go as planned, and he ends up with a new heart, on credit. Suddenly he is now a customer, and when he has trouble paying, finds himself running from his former friends.

I was surprised at how much I liked Jude Law, as he is not an actor I usually think can actually even act, but after his performance in Sherlock Holmes I was willing to give him another chance, and he played the role perfectly. I was also surprised at the casting, as on paper, it appears they got the two main characters played by the wrong actors, but when watching the film, I appreciated the risk taken in this film when it came to the casting, as I feel it potentially could have gone horribly wrong, but it didn't and each actor was magnificent in their role. Forest Whitaker showed yet again how versitile he is, playing a character I believe to be different from any of his other roles.

The film did have a clever twist (though I did work it out) as it fit nicely in the film and wasn't cliche or cheesy.

I don't have any complaints about this film, (except for the actress who played Jude Law's wife, as she can not act!!!!) I genuinely enjoyed it. It starred one of my favourite actors, Liev Schreiber, who I feel is often undeservedly over looked in favour of more profilic actors, but as the cold, money making boss, he lightened the tone of the film by offering light comic relief, which worked really well.

So in my opinion, this film was very good, much better than Repo, the Genetic Opera, the film in which it is based upon. It is well worth a watch and I reward 5 stars. It is not one of my favourite fims, and nor do I believe it to be really really amazing, but it was a great plot fantastically acted.

John Cusackalious

I can't escape my John Cusack phase and I can't escape him!!! And after the latest film I watched starring him, I really don't want too.

A friend and I watched 1408 the other night and compared to the previous John Cusack film I watched, this one was a massive improvement!!
This film is really awesome and contains another actor whose films and acting ability I greatly admire and enjoy, Samuel L. Jackson (I really like his voice!)

This film centers around Cusacks trip to the Dolphin Hotel, where he plans to stay in the notorious room, 1408, where all of its previous guests have committed suicide. Cusack is a novelist, writing books on the 10 most haunted... and is a massive cynic, so much so that he laughs in the face of Samuel L. Jackson when he tries to warn him off staying in the room, believing it to be only a story made up to attract guests.

once in the room, a whole manner of creepy and bizarre things start to happen, and from this moment on, Cusack is essentially the only actor who appears in the film and he does an amzing job of carrying the film. He plays the smug/cynical/know-it-all perfectly, but as I feel this is most likely quite similar to his real personality, it is his ability to convey fear and terror and show how it mainfested in such a realistic and (in my case) a heart-wrenching way which really deserves praise.

This film keeps you guessing until the end and it is neither predictable nor a let-down. It does not have the usual happy ending (not that this one is horrifically sad) which I normally demand from films I enjoy this much, but the end it has is perfect and the only one which the film COULD have, no others would have fit.

The film does try to send you off in several conclusions, you wonder whether he is sleeping, unconsious or merely mad, but none of these are case!!

This film also manages to keep the cliches to a minimum! He does have an estranged ex-wife and dead daughter, but for once, I feel this was essential to the plot.

John Cusack is really outstanding in this film, possibly his best acting from what I have seen. This is also a slightly different film from the roles which he normally takes and unlike in 2012, the gamble paid off.

I give this film a 5 out of 5, as I really don't have a bad word to say about it and I massively impressed, as it is one of a very few number of films which has succeeded in making me jump.

If you have not seen this film, I really recommend you watch it!!

I will just give a quick mention to another film I watched this week, The Mighty Ducks are the Champions. I adore this film! It is cheesey, tacky, kinda crap, predictable but perfect :D


Emillio Estevez (an 80's favourite of mine) is a ruthless lawyer who is made to coach an Ice-hockey team as part of his community service. He used to play when he was younger, but one mistake ended his promising career. You can guess the entire plot now, he hates it at first, but then loves it, they are crap at first but then the underdogs win!! But it is just the perfect feel-good film. However, Joshua jackson is in it when he was very young and it is a bit scary, as he has the exact same face then as he does now!!!

I cant rate this film, as it is both awful and brilliant!! It is a classic and a guilty pleasure of mine!!!

Now I am going to watch Sherlock Holmes for tomorrows entry!! Night night mumma!! xx

Fragile = massive yawn

Just watched a film called Fragile which was recommended by a friend. Normally, I would be angry someone wasted my time with a film as rubbish as this, but seeing as she introduced it to me as "crap", I can blame only myself. And she was correct, it is crap!!

Fragile is about an American doctor (Calista Flockhart) who comes to the Isle of Wright as the new night nurse at a childrens hospital which is about to be closed down. I already hated the film, as I can't stand Calista Flockhart (and not just 'cos she married Harrison Ford and looks like a lollipop!!) as I do not rate her as an actress and she always plays the same type of character, all softly spoken and annoying!!!

But anyway, I digress. Some of the children have mysteriously being injured and one orphan speaks of seeing a ghost named charlotte. (of course she is an orphan, she clearly wouldn't be able to see a ghost if she had parents!!!!!) Then there really is about an hour and a half of nothing until we find out that the ghost isn't a child, as we all though (gasp!!!) but actually the childs nurse, who kept fracturing the childs bones to keep her in the hospital. When this didn't work, she killed the child and put on her leg and arm braces (she had brittle bone disease) and threw herself down the lift shaft!!! She then fractures the bones of children who are trying to leave, as she jus can't continue without children!!!!!

So of course the typical show down ensues, and it is to appalling to comment on!!
But basically Calista Flockhart pretty much saves the day, but unfortunately the orphan girl dies :(
Calista Flockhart nearly dies, but is saved by a KISS from the orphan's spirit!!!

It was a really stupid film!!!!!!
And I don't know why it was called fragile!!
But I did not enjoy it, it was nothing original and was not even in the slightest bit scary nor creepy, basically just a massive fail!!

I reward this film 0 K's

Kia xxxxxxxxx

2012 = a MAJOR disappointment!!

I'm soooo annoyed! I was really excited to watch 2012, expecting the normal big-budget action type film such as War of the World, Iron man, Transformers etc, all of which I enjoy hugely, but instead what I got was 158 minutes (yes, itt really was that long!!!) of utter drivel!!!

It was awful!!!



It was just STUPID!!!!

I don't expect this type of film to be ground-breaking in terms of storyline, in fact, I quite enjoy trying to work out the plot of the film from the trailers, and I more often than not succeed in doing so, but this one was awful. It was as though they just took all the elements which made other action films good and lumped them all together, threw in John Cusack and produced 2012! There was nothing original at all.

The main character in this film, Jackson Curtis is divorced from his wife and has a bad relationship with his children, especially his son. Sound familiar? It should, as they clearly borrowed heavily from War of the Worlds. This plot device worked well in War of the Worlds, as it set up sevaral confrontations and situations later in the film, which they were evidently hoping would work aswell in 2012, but it didn't.

I hated the actors which played John Cusack's ex wife and her new boyfriend. Him because he was really annoying and her because she was just dumb and spent most of the film relying on other people to look after her children, who I also take issue with. Also, when her supermarket was just torn apart by the Earth's crust moving, she called john Cusack and made him bring the children home (they were on a camping trip). She wanted her children in the place which had just been destroyed, the place she had nearly died!!! John Cusack was just a dumb, he took them back!!

There were just so many things wrong with this film! Woody Harrelson's character was just dreadful. He played the guy who seems a crazy conspirist by turns out to have been correct all along!!! But it was a really bad version of this character!!

It was just so unrealistic aswell!! I know the whole premise of the film IS unrealistic, but aside from that, its just so unrealistic!!! For example, John Cusack very quickly works out was happening!!! Doubtful! Then he manages to persuade someone to rent him their plane, by giving them his watch!!!! Even more doubtful!!! Then when he dies, his ex-wifes new boyfriend helpfully knows how to fly planes! hmmm, doubful!! And, its a completely different type of plane to that which he can pilot, but somehow he manages it!!!!! He is even able to co-pilot a giant plane later on in the film!!!!!! I refuse to believe this is possible!!!!! John Cusack is even able to run so fast, he can actually catch up with a plane on the runway!!! Now, whilst I believe John Cusack is very healthy, I doubt he can run as fast as that, I refuse to believe anyone can, because they can't!!!



They had the obligatory dumb blonde, who risks her life TWICE for her stupid dog!!! Nobody would do this in real life!!! It was all just ridiculous, everything managed to work out for them! Even when they were abondened in the new north pole, now in China, they manage to get picked up a Buddhist monk, who was on his way to the Arks being built to take a select few to safety! This monk just happened to have a brother who was working on the Arks, who just happened to know a way to stow them away!!!! Come on!!! If this was really possible, why would he be the only one to think of it?? And of course, at the end, there is the moment when you think John Cusack is dead and everyone is really sad, but he miraculously isn't and everyone is really happy! It was terrible!!

The CGI is also a bit crazy in this film, they seem to spend alot more time trying to make that amazing than worrying about the acting or the plot!

I also hate the children. They were everything I hate in children in films, cute, bratty, stupid (but ultimately brave) they scream, cry and generally just annoy me!!!

There is so much more wrong with this film, that I would need several blogs to tell you it all in! And I'm disappointed, as I hate it when an actor you really like is in such a bad film, you like to think they have a bit more taste.
I really did waste 158n minutes of my life!!

I give this film, out of a possible 5Ks, a well deserving 0K's.

Don't watch it, seriously, even tidying is more entertaining!!!

John Cusack stalking!!

This is my third attempt at blogging, my other two previous attempts being side-lined for a while, though I'm hoping the start of this one will result in the revival of the original blog!!

This blog will be dedicated solely to reviews of films which I watch, and since I tend to watch a film each night, I'm hoping I will not run out things to say!!

I love films, I really do! And I'm quite easy-going when it comes to watching films, I'm able to enjoy most genres, though I do particuraly favour cheesey eighties teen movies!! In fact, I have made my mission to try to watch all eighties movies, and despite having got off to a brilliant start, I still have a loooong way to go! So if anybody reading this has any suggestions (and not just for eighties films) I'd be most happy to hear.

This past week I've watched four films;

• The Sure Thing
• Better off Dead
• One Crazy Summer
• The Class

They all have something in common, other than all from the early eighties, can you guess?
They all have John Cusack in them!!



He is one of my absolute favourite actors (despite my mum hating him) and I am currently going through a 'John Cusack phase'. I find that a great way to discover new films, by 'film-stalking' an actor I rather love!!




'The Sure Thing' was most enjoyable, it was a typical and predicatable story of a boy travelling to California to sleep with a girl. He travels to California with a nerdy girl who is travelling to California to see her boyfriend, but along the way they have to hitch hike, pretend to be pregnant, get attacked by 'lonely' truck drivers, all whilst, of course, hating each other. Whilst the ending was terribly predictable (I won't ruin it for those who have yet to see it) it was still sweet and a very fitting ending. I really enjoyed this film, for me it was just the perfect eighties teen comedy and John Cusack really shone in his first film lead.Watch out for the amazing cameo by Tim Robbins.



Better off Dead was also a film I thought was terrific, despite once more being an old and predictable story (though maybe it wasn't in the early eighties!) This film see's John Cusack being dumped by the girlfriend he has been obbsessed with, for the smug and rather ugly (in my opinion) ski captain. John Cusack then spends rather a lot of time failing at committing suicide (despite sounding morbid, it is all very humourous) until he meets Monique, a French exchange student, who seemingly can not speak a word of English, staying with the family across the street. The mother of this family (nicknamed the 'Dorks') seems sure Monique will end up with her loser of a son, with extremely questionable fashion sense (be sure to check out his trousers). This film was really amusing, causing me to laugh out loud several times and again had a sweet ending (I really really love happy endings) which had the ugly ski captain getting what he deserves.



I didn't really enjoy the third film 'One Crazy Summer', for a start it has Demi Moore in it and I really am not a fan of hers! A large portion of the film is also in animation which I didn't like. This film is about an aspiring cartoonist who goes to Nantucket for the summer with a friend to find inspiration to draw a cartoon which will gain him a sponsorship to art college. Still reading?? Its gets worse. On the way the save Demi Moore from a motorbike gang (by throwing the money she had purposely hidden from them, at them. If I was Demi Moore, I would be most enraged by this, but she just says thank you!!!!) they meet two twins, who clearly have some mental health issues and are supposed to be amusing, but really just mmade me cringe everytime they opened their mouths!!! A girl with an ill dog who doesn't talk, but seeks revenge on everyone who is mean about the dog!!! And a strange family who want to take Demi Moore's family house, but she doesn't want that to happen, not because its her house and she wants to live, noooo, but because she has lodgers and she doesn't want them to be homeless because she is soooo thoughtful like that. So there is of course the typical plot where it seems all hope is gone but suddenly (and most unbelievably in this film) they come up triumphant! It really was a stupid film!!!!



The fourth film, 'Class' which I watched last night, was brilliant. It was John Cusack's and Andrew McCarthy's first film, and they were excellent in it. It also stars Rob Lowe (another favourite o fmine, as is McCarthy.) McCarthy plays a boy who has won a scholarship to a very posh college, where he is room mates with Rob Lowe. Their friendship gets off to an interstingly mean start, each pulling horrific tricks on the other, but they soon become best friends. However, McCarthy has no luck with women (there is always one in these films) who gets sent to Chicago by Rob Lowe to find a female to sleep with. So he does, though unfortunately it turns out to be Rob Lowe's mum. This film is extremely good, like an updated version of 'The Graduate' but watchable, which 'The Graduate' wasn't. You can also see why he fancied the mum in this film, which again, in 'The Graduate' you couldn't.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now, and continuing the John Cusack theme, I'm going to watch 2012 :D
Night Night xxxx