Peppermint Friday Review #47: Pride

Back again, but this is to make up for missing last week so aren't you lucky two Peppermint Friday Reviews in one day wow! We're gonna be talking about another monumental event to happen in Great Britain and that's Gay Pride well not the proper event in London its the accepting and the beginning of the LGBT community well I think anyway, they're still a few people who don't accept it. 

The story takes place 1984 during the Miners Strike, and a group of Gay and Lesbians who work in a book shop called Gay's The Word decide to raise money for the miners, a campaign called LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners). Mark Ashton played by Ben Schnetzer who has idea for raising money for the miners and initially everyone is against the idea, because everyone including miners hates them. They get help from a very small tight knit Welsh Village called Onllwyn, and some in the village were very opposed to the idea of Gay and Lesbians around them.

Everyone in the group has such strong personalities, it wonderful you've got Steph who is the only lesbian of the founding members of the group, she is just brilliant very hard skinned and can come across as cold, but I think its because she's northern. Ben Schnetzer who plays Mark Ashton was just brilliant, I didn't realise he was American until now and he just excels at this part and nails the accent, Mark was Northern Irish. There was a fictional character called Joe 'Bromley' played by George Mackay who was coming to terms with his sexuality and being apart of the LGBT world, I loved it because it was kinda like an audience perspective and we were on his journey aswell. 

In Onllwyn the people who welcome LGSM are brilliant like Sian James who was just outstanding towards to the group and made a real difference afterwards. Heffina Headon who was played by Imelda Staunton who was again as always she is just sensational and that alone is a good enough reason to watch a film. I loved how in the 80s people were still so prejuiced but also some were really really open minded and accepting about the whole thing. Like some of the elderly were so wonderful and brilliant towards them and just treated them and spoke to them like normal people which they are. The dialogue of the film and the way it was written, it was just perfect and the way a political biopic should be. 

It was just so fluid and tide everything together, the way Mark cared so much about his group and the fundraising, being gay and proud of it he just did it with such passion and fire. Its something so brilliant to watch and its funny because now in 2017 noone in the UK at least really cares if you're gay well there are some people who just don't get it, but from the 1980s and now its a different world but its also the same you've got people still fighting for rights and people are political back then and now even more so. The costumes of the film and the colour, the settings from London to the quaint Welsh Village is brilliant and I love that diversity and seeing the difference but not at the same time. 

This film is just brilliant its film whether you're into Politics or not, believe me its only since last year I got into Politics, so for me its still very new. Also whether you are part of the LGBT Community or not its still a fascinating film with great characters and story, with amazing elements to it. It's also around the same time of people finding out about Aids and the whole you're gonna die as soon as you touch a gay person and what have you. Its a wonderful film and everyone should watch this and enjoy it, its still on BBC IPlayer if you wanna watch it. 

Peppermint Friday Review #41: Life Is Beautiful

Life Is Beautiful is an interesting one, as it a World War II concentration Romantic Comedy. I know those two things should not be in the sentence and it sounds like it shouldn't work but it does. 

Its directed by Robert Benigni who also stars in it as Guido the main character, the story is based on Rubino Romeo Salmoni true life I say based but I'm pretty sure its not word for word. The story is about Guido who is a funny charismatic man, who falls inlove with Dora (played by Nicoletta Braschi) at the beginning she is engaged to a man who's horrible and big-headed. Soon she doesn't love him anymore and falls in love with Guido and they get married and have a son called Giouse. World War II breaks out all of them are sent to a concentration camp, Dora is separated from her husband and son, but Guido trys to pull stunts and pranks to get messages sent to Dora. Guido tells Giouse that this whole thing is a game and they have to reach 1000 points, Guido puts himself at risk to save Dora and Giouse. 

I love Roberto Benigni already, he is just a genius and so funny I'd describe him as the Italian version of Kenneth Branagh where he directs his own stuff and gives himself a main role. I can understand with this film if it offended some people or before it was released people were humming and ahing on whether it was the right choice to make. Simply because the concentration camps and World War II are very sensitive subjects to some people, and to portray it like a joke I can completely understand. But with this story its simply a story of a father who wants to protect his son, and wants his son to not hate anyone because if he told Giouse what was actually going on and its not a game, it would change Giouse's outlook on life/people and his dad. 

One of my favorite moments of the film was the scene in which Guido was translating what the German Soldier was saying was the funniest thing ever, as Guido was trying to ease the tension and make his son laugh, because whatever happens he wants his son to remember to keep smiling no matter what, which is a very positive thing to enforce. Giouse was wonderful to watch, I googled the actor to find out if he's still doing acting but I think the acting career stopped from when he was a child, which is a shame. Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi were fantastic to watch with such beautiful chemistry not a surprise really as they are both married. 

Another moment I love and shows Guido dedication towards taking care of his son. When Guido wants him to get mixed with the German kids as they are treated much better than when he's at the concentration camp but tells him to say nothing. There's bit where Guido is serving the Germans and the kids and Giouse says 'Grazie' and its a shock as they'll find out he's not German but a Jew, but Guido quickly tries to resolve to situation by teaching the kids Italian. 

                                                                   
This film is a wonderful story, of a man who wants the best for his son and wife its a sad but happy ending as he set out to do the thing he intended to in the first place, which is family at first. I loved how different this film is compared to other films about concentration camps and World War II as it was more about family and love than the history of it itself. You should definitely give this film a watch as its so wonderful, and shows life is beautiful yup I had to throw that in there. I'll see you all later and have great day/weekend wherever you are.

Review: Pearl Harbor

So I've been watching alot of films that people have told me to ages ago, but I never got round to it. This film is one of them, plus it has Kate Beckinsale in and she's an actress that doesn't get talked about enough, well from what I think anyway. Its also a Period Drama set in the 1940s and who doesn't love that? What the film is about is a love triangle between childhood best friends Rafe, Danny, and Nurse Evelyn played by Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale, all during the run up and battle and aftermath of Pearl Harbor.

That's basically it, in terms of the story line purpose of it all, its just a love story during the war. The reviews of this film I saw, and the ratings it got on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB was just ridiculous basically its an either average film or crap film. But don't take that as gospel truth because its a matter of opinion at the end of the day. I do agree its not the best film I've ever seen, I mean I love the costumes but thats a given and the battle action scenes of Pearl Harbor, but again with the budget they had and it was apparently a bigger budget that actual Pearl Harbor itself. I mean that could be hear'say but the money was showing on the screen definitely. 

In terms of characters and storyboard wise, I hated it. I love the actors in this film, I think they're brilliant and have no doubt can act, as I've seen them in better roles and better films. I hated Kate Beckinsale's character Evelyn she was just so wet and she had a really crap personality. I couldn't relate to her and usually I will try to find anything in a character that I can relate to, even a Villian or the Hero but with her I just couldn't. I found her bland and with a love story I don't know about you guys but I wanna fall in love with one of the couples, but I didn't like her at all. The only positive thing I can say about her is first of all its not Kate Beckinsale's fault its the writers, and she looked beautiful in the film her costumes to her hair and makeup, but that's being a model not an actor and in her defence, she's an actor she turned up did the job very well and got paid then went home.

I didn't get Danny and Rafe, they again were extremely bland and irritating brilliantly acted but I hated the script it felt very robotic and it became a little too slick. Some minor characters were just awful, Jennifer Garner played a part of a nurse in this and I didn't like at all, she was this stereotypical awkward nerd and I didn't get what kinda part she played, was it supposed to be comical? Because I didn't find it funny at all. There were some characters that died and not to sound horrible, but I didn't care I didn't like them at all. They all seemed very generic, boring, bland just really crap uninteresting characters. It's gonna sound abit weird but I'm actually glad that I've found a film that I don't like because I always try to find the positive side to films with this I did, but the majority of which I care about films which is the story line and characters both of which this film just lacked in. 

You could tell that this film was trying to be the Titanic of its time, it being a Period Drama and a Romance with a big budget its obvious what it was trying to be. I don't hate that but I just felt with it being Pearl Harbor they could've had more substance to it like they could have given Evelyn more of a backbone and made Danny and Rafe less pushovers. One thing was all three characters were on the same level in terms of strength and blandness. I loved the action scenes but they had to spend money on them because history nerds would throw a hissy fit and a riot would happen saying that 'Its not accurate!' now that does annoy me because of course its not going to be 100% accurate to the event its a film! its done in a filmmakers mind and put out there in a story. If you want accuracy of an event or a person then watch a documentary about it or read a book. Although there was inaccuracy in this film, but I mean again that's gonna happen, just like with book to film adaptations. 

I feel like this film showed me that just because a film has a big budget doesn't mean its automatically gonna be an amazing film. Because with the big action scenes, and the amazing costumes and extras and all that, if the story isn't good and the characters aren't relatable then no matter how big the budget it means nothing if the plot is crap, then its a crap film. Because in my opinion a great film is a brilliantly written story line and fantastic characters, nothing to do with budgets or genres thats how I feel about it anyway. The technicality of the film with the shots and camera technique was brilliant. I love the flip between the panoramic shot to it being from a soldier's perspective or an injured person's perspective. I would've preferred abit more consistency with the shots and camera technique. 

Also and this is gonna make me sound like an old lady but the film was way too long that what it should be, its 3 Hours long and that's quite long in terms of film I think the only film I know that's that long is Lord Of The Rings, but that's based of a book that's huge. I know that this film is based of the Pearl Harbor and is very important in history but I don't think it should take that long. As I've seen War films and they're not that long and have way more added on to them than this film. Overall I liked some aspects of this film, but not the reasons as to why I love films like story line and characters. 

Peppermint Friday Review #29: Anastasia

This was a film I needed to do of as its amazing and so beautiful, it just so happens to be one of my favourites.

This isn't a Disney film firstly not that, that's not a big deal or anything, just need to know as many people assume its Disney, its got Disney Animators but its not the company its made by Don Bluth and 20th Century Fox. Anyway the story is the true story of the lost Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, after her family were fallen and she escaped and was lost. There's a girl called Anya who looks like Anastasia, acts like her, talks like her and she doesn't remember her life from the age of 8 years old, just like the Grand Duchess theres no memory of what happened to her after she was 8 years old. Anya meets Vlad and Dimitri who is a con-man and a former servant to the Tsar, who is convinced Anya is Anastasia. Anya wants to go to Paris, funnily enough that's where Anastasia Grandmother is. So that's where they go, but Rasputin a former servant is greedy and selfish and wants it all for himself. 

What can I say about this film? Other than its brilliant and beautiful all the costumes yes I know its an animation but just adore the costumes so much, and when I was a kid I needed to wear them and now I need to wear them. The animation and artwork of the film is so beautiful and it just looks gorgeous from the scenes in St Petersburg to the scenes in Paris, the difference between the places are just incredible with the humble working class people in St Petersburg during the song A Rumor in St Petersburg which by the way is an amazing song. The decor of the town and the costumes are just wonderful, it just feels real you can really tell where they drew there inspiration from. In Paris the colours the vibrancy of the city is so electric I love that dynamic of the film. 

The music in the film is beautiful, I love Once Upon A December, Learn To Do It, In My Dreams, and Quartet At The Ballet all of the songs are just beautiful and fit so well with the film. I think with musicals a song should be included if there's a realisation of something and with this it does it extremely well. Rumor has it that there going to adapt this film into a Stage Musical which would be just amazing and I can't wait as its an amazing story thats based of History and with beautiful songs and costumes it would just be so unique to have. 

I love the opposites that the film has, its the opposite lifestyles from St Petersburg and Paris, and its got the opposite side of Anya/Anastasia, from her beginning to not knowing who she was to knowing who she was and proud of it, but still remaining true to herself but looking and acting a little more groomed and like a lady. Which does happen to many nerds and people, I say that as she is very relatable to anyone who is going through an identity crisis, not only just that, its relatable to those who are going through a change of some sort and you can interpret that in anyway you want! 

The cast is Meg Ryan as Anastasia, John Cusack as Dimitri, Christopher Lloyd as Rasputin, and Bernadette Peters as Sophie, Anastasia's first cousin and Angela Lansbury as Anastasia's Grandmother, and also Hank Azaria as Bartok, Rasputin's servant. Its so brilliantly casted with the comic relief of it and the tone of each character is brilliant and makes the characters so lifelike. I love Bernadette Peters and Angela Lansbury in this as they are both Stage Actresses and they know about Animation and Musicals, and plus it kinda puts a stamp on the film of being very established. 

                                                             
Regardless of the accuracy behind the history of the story, you should see it as its got gorgeous animation, beautiful costumes and amazing songs it all just works. It sent shivers down my spine when I was a kid and it still does now. I will see you all later and have a good day/weekend.