Back To The Future

Back To The Future (1985) (I don't like having the title right under the actual title, as it looks a bit weird. Oh well, I can't think of any alternative.)
Dir: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd

I think this may be a momentous occasion in LCA history. See why at the end of the review.

This film was lent to me by my lovely friend Livvie, who said I would like it. I had been meaning to see it, but in one of those "oh yeah, that looks kinda good, maybe I'll rent it one day when I remember and can be bothered" kind of ways. Anyway, I'm glad she lent it to me because 1) it meant I didn't have to remember/be bothered to rent it, and 2) because it gave me something to watch while babysitting last night.

Back To The Future is about a teenager called Marty McFly (is that where the band McFly got their name from? Because that would be kinda cool.) who has a friend ('Doc') who is a mad scientist type, very eccentric and very funny, who invents a car that can travel through time. Marty, while trying to get away from Libyan terrorists, accidentally travels back to 1955, when his parents were his age. He (also accidentally) stops them from meeting, therefore endangering his whole existence. Can Marty make his parents fall in love, and also find a way to send him back to the future?

God, I love 80s family movies. I can't actually think of any other examples, but never mind. I love them anyway. Although I must say, the haircuts and clothes were REALLY bad back then. Perms and leggings... urgh. Anyway, I loved this movie. Even though I'm not a sci-fi type of gal, I love movies about time travel. I just have a kind of fascination with it. So I really enjoyed this. Michael J. Fox is nice and sweet and fresh-faced as Marty, and is really rather funny. Christopher LLoyd is wonderful as Doc, he's absolutely perfect. Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover (hehe! Thin Man from Charlie's Angels!) are very good as the parents.

There's not much I can say about this. I loved the whole story with all it's little twists and jokes, and it's all nice and happy without being preachy or too morally aware. Anyway, if you haven't seen it, see it. I think it's possibly one of the best family movies ever. Now I've just got to watch the sequels...

A+
(Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen! LCA's very first A+!!!)

Talliestar

Dr Emmett Brown: If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious shit.

Swimfan

Swimfan (2002)
Dir: John Polson
Starring: Jesse Bradford, Erika Christiansen, Shiri Appleby

Swimfan is the story of a teenager called Ben Cronin, a former bad boy who turned his life around and is now a star swimmer with excellent prospects, with good friends and a lovely, supportive girlfriend. However, when a new girl, Madison Belle, arrives in town and the two have one night stand, his life begins to go downhill as Madison becomes obsessive, creepy and downright psychotic. (I didn't just get that from IMDb, I made it up, believe it or not...)

I really liked this film. I really did. It's kind of like your normal high school movie, but it's a thriller, not a comedy. It's not scary, but it's exciting. The character of Madison is... well, evil. I hate her. Beware! Ben is a very nice guy, and even though he has sex with her (in a swimming pool, no less! Not to give anything away...) you still like him and hope for the best with him. That's the annoying thing about a movie like this. With a comedy, you know everything's going to turn out happy at the end, but with something like this you can't be sure. I was quite worried in case something happened to Ben or his girlfriend Amy.

Ben and Amy are really cute together and you really want them to stay with each other. Well I did anyway. Amy is played by Shiri Appleby, who I had never heard of but I've found out she was one of the lead in that teen drama thing Roswell. Anyone ever see that?

The cinematography is really interesting and the whole movie has a kind of bluish tint to it, which gives it a very distinct feel. The music is good, kind of creepy, as it should be.

Basically it is a really enjoyable teen thriller. It's nothing that incredible or original but I'd recommend it. There are some very good performances and an interesting plot (but beware of Madison! She is EVIL!!!), so I suggest you go and rent it. Go on... go on...

A-

Talliestar xxx

Ben: Scouts are coming next week.
Mr Tillman: Girl scouts?
Ben: No, swimming scouts, from Stanford

(Yeah, I know it's a crappy quote but it's not a comedy, OK? There aren't many witty lines.)

Elizabethtown

(I'm getting so annoyed with Blogger. Not only can I not put pictures up, but now the font sizes are being weird, that's why there's no sign-off or quote. I'll try and fix it soon. Anyway, the poster for this movie is my favourite in the world, in fact I had it up in my room months before I had even seen the movie, so have a look at it here: http://www.uip.nl/Pictures/eliza/posterhuge.jpg.)

Elizabethtown (2006)
Dir: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon

Elizabethtown's basic plot sounds an awful lot like the Garden State plot. Emotionally blank man hears news of the death of his father so goes to his family's hometown for the memorial service and is reunited with various friends and family members who haven't seen him for years. In doing this he meets a girl totally unlike him with a zest for life, who changes his life, and they get together. That is the plot for both movies. Also, both titles are the names of the places they go back to (well, Garden State is just a nickname, but whatever). And while there are definite similarities between the films, they are also very different.

Elizabethtown is the fine state of Kentucky, and is a real town, as anyone who looked it up on a map will know (just me then? OK).

The movie begins with Drew Baylor, a extremely attractive young man who works for a shoe company, having to face the fiasco he has created. He had designed a special shoe, meant to revolutionize footwear, but it was a complete disaster and the company lost something like 975 millions dollars. Whoops. Anyway, he is obviously very upset about this and plans suicide (and a rather inventive way of doing it, too) but is interrupted by his sister (played by the wonderful Judy Greer) calling him, telling him their father died. So he goes to the place his father was when he died (visiting his family in Elizabethtown) to bring the body back. During the flight down to Kentucky, he meets Claire Colburn, an air hostess. I won't tell you anymore partly becasue it will spoil it for you and partly becasue I can't be bothered.

This film is weird. It is. Partly in a Garden State kind of way, partly in a Junebug kind of way, and partly in it's own crazy way. I watched it for the second time with my dad, who kept saying it was the weirdest film he'd ever seen. And that's saying something, considering he is a really arthouse-y indie film kind of guy. It's not the story that's strange, it's the screenplay. There are such random things in it!

The movie is a mix of really odd bits and really sweet, nice bits. Sometimes both at once. There are parts I absolutely adore and other parts that I could really do without. Which means I have a really mixed opinion on it.

As for the two leads, as gorgeous as Orlando Bloom is, he's not actually that great an actor. And while I admire him for doing the American accent in this, there are times when you can tell he's putting it on. You can see throguh it. He narrates the film and this is not a good idea. I do not like his voiceovers at all. His voice is fine usually, but with the accent it's not. In contrast, Kirsten Dunst (who also has to do an accent in it but not as drastic a change. Her character has a kind of Southern twang) is very good. I mean, there is a reason she is one of Hollywood's leading actresses (apart from her looks). So really, their coupling is a bit off-balance as she is a much stronger actor than he is. Lookswise they go together really well, but not actingwise.

Susan Sarandon (playing the widowed mother) is excellent, as always. I don't think Susan Sarandon could be bad if she tried. Also, Judy Greer is great as Drew's sister. She has such a brilliant sense of comedic timing and delivery, I just love her.

I just can't decide about this film. I really can't. I absolutely love the end section, with the map. That is just inspired. I adore it. I want to do that for somebody one day! You have to see the film to see what I mean. I also love the phone conversation, and Drew and Claire's first meeting. They are the high points in the movie.

Go and rent this movie, because I want to know other people's opinions on it. But if you do see it, make sure you watch it till the end. Don't give up on it, OK? The end bit is by far the best.

A-