May - December 2015 films

2015 was a busy year. I had a baby, bought a new car, spent 3 months in California... and didn't update this blog once between July and December. What I did do, however, was watch a number of movies. Maybe not during the summer, when we were in sunny California and there were sunny, outdoor things to do (and two children to look after 24/7). But when we got back in September I started taking the baby to baby cinema - and found time for myself occasionally to watch a movie or two on TV. However, I totally failed to write about any of them on this blog. So this is my attempt to make up for that...

Now, writing full reviews of movies I saw 4 months ago now seems a little excessive, so I'm going with a list format, and just a simple star rating:

October
Miss You Already - 3.5 stars
Hancock - 3 stars
The Intern - 4 stars
The Martian - 2.5 stars
Having You -3 stars
Warm Bodies -4 stars

November
Stoker - 2.5 stars
Brooklyn - 5 stars
Spectre - 3 stars
The Lady in the Van - 2 stars
The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay Part 1 - 4 stars
The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay Part 2 - 3 stars

December
The Good Dinosaur - 3 stars
The Bourne Legacy - 2 stars

All of this leads me on to the fact that it is also time (well, it was a month ago) to do my 2015 review. It's unlikely to be as in-depth as previous years, given how well my film blogging has gone this year, but I'll give it a go in the next post...

Compliance

Monday 25th March 2013

Director: Craig Zobel
Year: 2012
Stars: Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, Bill Camp

This was my second experience of baby cinema; this time, at the Watershed in Bristol. Once again, Joe was mostly lovely - playing quietly for the first half, and sleeping for the second half. Which he should be given some credit for as he was about to get the worst, stinkiest cold he had ever had.

Which also means he's due more credit than this movie. I can't deny that it's memorable, but it's also stifling (to be fair, it's meant to be), depressing and a very, very odd choice for a movie to show at a baby screening where all the mums want something to cheer them up a little (I would imagine anyway - I did)! Compliance is all about how we react to authority figures, doing whatever they tell us to just because they say they're authoritative. In this case, it's how a 19-year old female is treated when somebody claiming to be a detective rings up to say she's stolen from a customer. In case you can't guess, she's not treated well...

The idea is interesting, and even the story itself, whilst tough, is intriguing. But somehow the movie makes it all feel a bit too much like hard work. Maybe it is partly because I was there with a 7 month old baby, but I can't really think of a situation in which I would have enjoyed watching this.

 Rating: 2 out of 5

Robot and Frank

Monday 11th March 2013

Director: Jake Schreier
Year: 2013
Stars: Peter Saarsgaard, Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, Liv Tyler

This was my first experience of baby cinema. Previously I'd been a little sceptical, as how can you truly watch a film when you have a baby with you? Well, on this occasion at least I was proved wrong. My baby boy slept in his carseat for the first 40 mins, then slept on me for the next 20 mins. The last 20 mins or so he played with my top and some toys, but let me watch the end of the movie. The only thing distracting me was me watching him enjoy himself! Here's hoping my little one grows up to be as much of a film fan as I am...

Luckily, the film itself was also quite good. I hadn't heard of Robot and Frank until the day before we went to see it, but at the time I figured "what does it matter? I'm not going to get to watch most of it anyway". The movie is about a man who is beginning to go senile, and a robot his son hires for him to help him cook and clean. Frank (Langella), however, has other ideas. He used to be a burglar, and decides to get the robot to help him with some new jobs instead. Sweet, funny and touching, this is a film you may not have heard of, but is worth a watch. Who knew baby cinema was a way to discover enjoyable film gems you'd never heard of?!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5