Review: Ethel & Ernest

So this is the first post of 2017! yay, hope everyone has had a great Christmas and New Year! This week I'm gonna be talking about Animation Films as I don't think I have yet. I watched this film and I need to tell about because its so good it should win an Oscar. 

Its based of a graphic novel by Raymond Briggs its the true story of the author parents Ethel & Ernest. Its about them getting together, what they faced during The Depression, World War II and bringing up there son.

I already adore Raymond Briggs I practically grew up watching The Snowman every year. Automatically I love it, let me tell you it is so beautiful and genuine, everyone needs to see it regardless. The couple are so brilliant and real, I'm pretty sure there is a couple just like Ethel & Ernest in your area. The fact that they talk about pretty important things but the dialogue is done in such a natural way. For instance Ethel is very conservative, old fashioned and abit of a worry wort, housewife and mother, whereas Ernest is very working class, jolly, Cockney milkman. But there relationship works, I mean in the words of Paula Abdul 'Opposites Attract'

The artwork and animation is beautifully done, as always with Raymond Briggs. The voice cast is again brilliant, Jim Broadbent as Ernest, Brenda Blethyn as Ethel are both a dream team as they are both fantastic and bring the characters to life. There are some heart aching moments of the film, such as sending Raymond into the country during World War II, and Ethel learning she won't have grandchildren. Likewise as there are some funny and cheerful moments, like VE Day is wonderful to watch and just all the bickering of Ethel & Ernest makes me smile. 

The dialogue is very chatty, and natural which I love as it doesn't feel forced in any way. Because in relationships when you're comfortable with each other you can talk about just about anything, like Politics What I like about the animation and artwork of the film is, that The Snowman was released over 20 years ago with the same artwork incorporated in. The artwork was not changed in any way, because of CGI or anything like that, it was still very in keeping with the whole Briggs work.

                                                               
Anyway this film was brilliant to watch, and I highly recommend you watch it I left the link to buy it but you can watch this on BBC IPlayer for free before it runs out.

Peppermint Friday Review #12: Clueless

Bit of a leap from Superheroes but I felt like watching this and I wanted to talk about it. As its a Cult Classic and we all know how much I love Cult Classics.

I'm sure everyone knows this film, so I don't need to tell you about the plot too much. Its directed and written by Amy Heckerling who actually wrote Clueless because in High School she was completely opposite to Cher (Alicia Silverstone) and wanted to portray a privileged girl in a private school. The character of Cher is based off the title character in Jane Austen's Emma, and its about Cher and her way of talking through different situations of her life. She has one best friend at the start of the film, Dionne who is like Cher, but not a clone she unlike Cher has a boyfriend. Cher doesn't really like High School boys, and is still a virgin but doesn't feel the rush of wanting to lose it, like many Teen films the main character is a virgin and wants to lose it.                                                                          

Particularly with her grades, and when a new girl Tai comes to school Cher takes full advantage of giving her a makeover and essentially giving her a guide to school, and just being a human being, not that she wasn't a human before, anyway Cher lives with her father who is very rich and a litigator, and like Cher has a way of talking his way out of things, Josh who is her ex-stepbrother during a college break Josh is living with Cher. I love Cher as she goes on a journey with this film, as Josh keeps telling her that she doing does things for herself, and its accurate because like I've said before teenagers are selfish. But she isn't devious for she does things bad, she's just very clever and doesn't exactly make it obvious, she can talk for England (or in this case America😋). 

The costume in this film is amazing everyone is totally unique in how they present themselves of the characters. I want Cher's wardrobe as its so beautiful in every scene, the film is 90s all over and I love it. The film was made in the early-mid 90s and back then the fashion was very Kurt Cobain, it was all grunge and grey and baggy jeans, then this film came out with its colours and beiges, and pastels. So this film in the fashion world was very influential, and ground breaking.

 I also love the minor characters in the film, like the teachers Mr Hall played by Wallace Shawn, and Ms Geist played by Twink Caplan. They are just fantastic mainly because they're played by two brillaint actors, but also what the film did with them was not brush them aside like background characters or just there, but made them really interesting. Another favourite of mine is Travis at the beginning he is just the typical stoner, then as the film goes on he has a real talent for skateboarding, and is shown as a genuine guy and perfect for Tai.

Tai is another person I love as she very genuine at the beginning but again she is a teenager and is selfish, but she comes through and totally flawed. There's not one character in this film that I go 'urgh' or should I appropriately say 'urgh as if!😀' as I feel there all flawed in every way possible. One thing that I loved was when Cher was doing her driving test and she had alot of things on her mind, but she completley failed it, and there was no way of getting out of it, and for it kinda felt like 'oh I talk my way in school and around my father, but not in the real world' as driving is a real world thing, I might be looking into this as too deep. Anyway, the film for me is so amazing and its one of those films you watch if you wanna feel nostalgic but feel new and fresh all at the same time.