The Reel Life of Real Life

Written and directed by Nancy Meyers, Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Iris (Kate Winslet) are polar opposites, living at opposite sides of the world, but who meet on the internet and bond immediately over their equal bad luck with romance. As a solution, they decide to spontaneously exchange homes for two weeks. They soon adjust to their initial culture shock and soon a new romance blossoms for each. For Amanda, it comes in the form of a British book editor played by Jude Law, and for Iris, a happy-go-lucky music composer played by Jack Black. Decisions regarding these new relationships must be made before the two weeks are up. While in America, Iris also befriends a retired screenplay writer named Arthur (Eli Wallach). The whole film is around 2 hours, but it never feels like that watching it. I love this movie. I don’t normally like rom-coms, the ending is totally predictable, and because of this, logically, it’s probably exactly the kind of plotline that should irritate me abun...

Thirty-something Annie is asked to be her friend Lillian’s Maid of Honour. In over head, but determined to do her best, she joins a group of hugely diverse women in their bid to make their friend’s wedding one to remember. And that they do. That they do. I’ve been meaning to watch this one for a while to see what the fuss was about, but having watched it; I really don’t see what all the hype was for. When I was finished watching it, I felt like saying ‘ Ok, I don’t know what to do with this ...’ My honest opinion? I thought it was stupid...but so stupid that it was funny... I have to admit there were moments I just had to laugh because they were so ludicrous. I wasn’t too gone on the dialogue. The film as a whole is very crude...but I think we’re well warned of this before sitting down to it. Perhaps the fact that it’s not really my genre, and the fact I didn’t really like the main character probably didn’t help boost my fondness towards the film. Actually, the only char...

Lauren (Shelley Long) and Sandy (Bette Midler) are complete opposites, who end up in the same acting class, and who hate each other from the moment they clap eyes, even more so when they discover they happen to be in love with the same guy. Following his mysterious disappearance they refuse to believe he’s dead and set about looking for him to find which one of them he really loved, and most importantly, to get revenge. It’s apparently been called “The first female buddy action comedy”, and interestingly, was the Walt Disney Company’s first comedy aimed at adult audiences. The whole concept of this movie is, well, outrageous. There are some very funny moments, particularly in regards to the huge clash between the two main characters. Bette Midler’s performance is what stood out most for me. She is a brilliant actress. Her facial expressions and general mannerisms throughout the film are quite priceless. I like Shelley Long’s performance too. I did feel like some aspects o...

Ah, this is a brilliant movie. It’s a shame how everyone seems to know the end though. It was spoiled for me after I watched “50 First Dates”, but even in knowing the big twist, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s definitely without a doubt one of the better horror/thriller movies. Definitely one of my favourites. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a successful child psychiatrist, who throughout the film takes on the task of helping a frightened little boy (Haley Joel Osment) who appears to be plagued with the ability to see ghosts. Their relationship grows, and Malcolm begins to realise some home truths about the ghosts’ little visits. The construction of the plot is something I like very much. You can watch it again and again and still find something you never noticed the first time round. The writers and editors had their little rules for example, if you look closely, if one of the ghosts is mad or getting angry then it’s cold; you see the temperature dropping in Cole’s ...

The first horror films are apparently very surreal and disturbing, and in ways owe their visual appearance to expressionist painters, as well as spirit photography and gothic literature of the 1860s. They relied on the folklore and legends around Europe. Spirit photography was using double exposures (which is the repeated exposure of a photographic plate or film to light, often producing ghost images ) or superimpositions ( the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to the overall image effect, as well as sometimes to conceal something ) to depict ghosts within a frame of film. Such an idea became popular from the 1860s onwards. During this time, audiences enjoyed seeing ghosts captured in still photography or magic lantern shows. The magic lantern used a curved-in mirror in back of a light source to direct as much of the light as possible through a small rectangular sheet of glass. On this was the painted or photographic ima...

Jennifer Aniston plays Sarah Huttinger, a woman who learns that her family was the inspiration for the book and film “The Graduate”, and wonders if she is the offspring of this well talked about event. Engaged to Jeff Daly, played by Mark Ruffalo, they return to Sarah’s home for her sister’s wedding, but Sarah, herself, is quietly uncertain about her engagement. Feeling as if she doesn’t belong amidst her family, she sets out to find the man at the heart of the rumour, Beau Burroughs, played by Kevin Costner. Kathy Bates also makes an appearance as Aunt Mitsy, and Shirley MacLaine is also very good. I just watched this the other day. I’m not really one for rom-coms, they’re not really my genre, but I think I enjoyed this. The idea is so outrageous it’s funny all by itself. I mean, for yourself, your mother and your grandmother to somehow have a fling with the same man, is just...who comes up with this kind of thing? There are moments when you sort of sit back with an ‘oh my ...

I think this is my favourite horror film I’ve seen. It ticks all the boxes. The plot is decent, there are some good twists, and the frights and tension are perfect. Married couple Laura and Carlos move into a new home that was once the orphanage in which Laura grew up, hoping to reopen it for handicapped children. However, their adopted son Simón vanishes without a trace. Months pass during which Laura increasingly hears and feels the presence of other children around the house, and calls in a parapsychologist to investigate... To be fair, I suppose, it is quite a sad story but the plot is decently constructed, leaving hints and trails to be followed so subtly that by the end the audiences are left feeling very satisfied. I love that details mentioned in the beginning come into play again in a big way later on. The frights are so good that even having seen the film, given the right volume, I still jump for them! The fact that it’s in subtitles doesn’t take from it at all...

In a nutshell: Robert DeNiro plays David Callaway, a widower attempting to get his life together in the wake of his wife’s suicide. At the same time his daughter, Emily Callaway (played by Dakota Fanning), finds solace – at first – in an imaginary friend named Charlie. I can’t help feeling like this movie, while very good, is in some ways riddled in clichés. Under the risk of being insensitive, it’s almost always the mother who dies or is dead, while the whole father-trying-to-reconnect-with-his-child-who’s-for-all-intents-and-purposes-having-none-of-it comes in. Then there’s the feature of the sentimental music box, the overly friendly neighbours who bring baskets of food upon arrival, the inclusion of fishing as a pastime, the overly enthusiastic “friend” who also loves dolls but who Emily has no desire to be friends with, and finally there’s this friend’s aunt who unconsciously attempts to take the place of her mother and who Emily isn’t impressed with. I think also i...

The older Disney Movies were so much better. The animation was so distinct from any other, and I think it’s nearly lost that originality now in the newer ones. New artists, I suppose! I think actually this one was one of my favourites when I was younger. I still enjoy it now, I have to say! The story of Alice In Wonderland actually originated as an 1865 novel titled “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland” written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. Three years before the novel was produced, he and the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed in a boat up a river with the three young daughters of Henry Liddell. During the trip, Dodgson told the girls a story about a bored girl named Alice who went looking for an adventure. The girls loved it and asked that he write it down, and thus after another boat trip and more elaborating on the tale, Alice In Wonderland was born. Since this book was produced, over the years there have been many storie...

The most exciting motion picture news of 1937 was when Walt Disney completed and produced his first full length feature production in Technicolour. An entirely new form of storytelling, it was the most daring adventure in screen entertainment since the first motion picture. Its credits titles were the longest in cinema history and audiences realised for the first time the tremendous amount of manpower required for the its production. It is only in the recent months that I actually watched this original Snow White film. I have always loved Disney movies, having enjoyed many of them when I was younger, but somehow I never got around to seeing this particular one. Of course I knew the story, and had read books of it when I was younger, but had never actually seen this one. I can’t say I care too much for the actual story. If I’m being honest, I think it’s downright sexist. For one thing, Grumpy quite blatantly passes various sexist remarks towards women, and none of them are ...