Evie's 'Good Film Hunting'

Christopher Nolan’s  Interstellar . Now, this is a film I’ve been dying to see for donkey’s years, especially after I learnt who Mr Nolan was by watching  Inception , not knowing he was the same director of the  Dark Knight  films, which, as a fan of superheroes growing up, were a favourite. My only excuse for not seeing  Interstellar  was the quality of the viewing experience I wanted; it’s three hours long, set in space, and infamously has a near-perfect auditory experience. So, when I was home at Christmas with my cousin, who is only a fan of actually good films, and they heard I hadn’t seen it, it was the perfect timing to pop it on the quality TV at my parents’ house at 11:30 pm. Interstellar  follows engineer, pilot, and farmer Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, in a dystopian future where Earth is practically uninhabitable, with dust everywhere and food resources depleting rapidly. Classic space plot: he, along with a team of astronauts incl...

Every Christmas Eve, my family sits down after doing our new Christmas pyjamas tradition and we watch the 1989 slapstick comedy  National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation . We’ve done this for six, maybe seven years now. So when Christmas Eve 2022 rolled around, down we sat to our family favourite. But this year was slightly different, as I now pretend I have extremely insightful and interesting things to say about films on this silly wee blog. Unlike my other blog entries, this isn’t a first-watch review, but just like my introductory entry, I had to write about my favourite Christmas film. Based on humorous stories written by  The Breakfast Club ’s director and ‘80s legend John Hughes,  National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation  is part of a franchise following the Griswold family, starring SNL’s Chevy Chase. The films often show the Griswolds trying to pull off the perfect family experience, whether it’s a road trip to a theme park in the first 1983 instalment, or Christm...

 Now, now, 'Avatar: The Way of Water' was 3 hours and 12 minutes long—don’t worry, this review won’t be that long. It kind of felt like I not only had to go see the much-anticipated 'Avatar' sequel but that I’d also have to write about it. You could argue that, due to its huge budget, the hype, and its box office success, it was the biggest film of 2022. I can’t really say I have a film blog if I don’t write about it. First, let me set the scene for all the opinions I’m about to dump below—when 'Avatar' came out, I was eight. Sooo, no, I didn’t see it back in 2009. I can’t actually remember when I saw it for the first time, but it was definitely in the cinema. My memories of liking it are vague, and I definitely only saw it once. Like most people at the time, it was mostly a visual experience. The first film literally embodied the ‘Pandora Effect’—something I recommend reading up on if you’re not familiar with it. Going into 'Avatar: The Way of Water',...

This review is long overdue, but so was me seeing Mark Mylod's  The Menu . I’d wanted to see it for a while, mainly because it was described as a dark, comedic thriller centered around food. Really not sure why I wouldn’t want to see it. When I did finally watch it, I went in blind—no trailer, no plot details, just the cast list, some gorgeous stills, and that dynamic film poster. The Menu  follows Erin, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, and Tyler, played by Nicholas Hoult, along with other lucky guests, as they travel to a remote island to experience the finest cuisine from renowned chef Julian Slowik, portrayed by Ralph Fiennes. It opens with Erin and Tyler waiting on a dock for their boat to the restaurant. From the first glance between the dining guests, you know the film is going to offer a fun mix of characters and, potentially, intertwining backstories. Once the first meal is served, the structured style of the film kicks off, with each course introduced by a witty (and often ...

  Another spontaneous trip to the cinema led me to choosing my next new film watch, TommyWirkola's 'Violent Night' starring David Harbour as the one and only Santa Claus. This was an untraditional Christmas film with the addition of several bloody deaths and swear words thought, yet I do believe I am now old enough to cope. The general plot of the film involved Santa stuck in a rich family hostage by armed mercenaries, who all of which have christmassy code names like Gingerbread, Santa is left to save the day.  When I first saw this film advertised I thought the choice of David Harbour as this some what grumpy, murderous Santa was that he could play this role very well; he has already nailed the initial miserable uninterested but loveable character in 'Stranger Things's Jim Hopper. He certainly did fit the untraditional duplication of Father Christmas. As the film opens in Bristol, England, we see Santa sat drinking heavily at the bar slurring to the barmaid and fe...

I caved and got myself an Odeon Limitless pass, which lets you watch as many films as you want with the membership. There are so many films out at the moment I’m excited to see, and the first on my list was Luca Guadagnino’s  Bones and All , starring the one and only skinny white boy of the late 2010s, Timothée Chalamet. Before I dive into my thoughts, I want to point out that all I knew going in was that Chalamet and Taylor Russell’s characters fall in love, and there’s some cannibalism. I hadn’t seen the trailer, didn’t know the rating, and had no idea who the cannibals even were—just a few pretty stills from the film that looked all romantic. Honestly, that was the best way to experience it. Go in blind and take it all in... much like they did in the film. The first thing I can say is that I haven’t watched a film that made me feel so much so intensely in a long time. The content combined the most disturbing acts with the rawest (no pun intended) romantic journey between two los...