2011: A Look Back

This time last year, I decided to set up a little blog. A place for me to jot down what I thought of books and films I'd been enjoying. One year on, and the site is far more successful than I could have imagined and has turned into a place not just for my ramblings, but for everyone to share their opinions and debate to their heart's content! So as 2011 draws to a close, here are my favourite things from this past year.

What have your book and film highlights been in 2011? As always, comment away! Enjoy xxx

FILMS
2011 has been an impressive year at the cinema with massive hits from comic books to classics and brilliantly original screenplays. But it all started out with The King's Speech and Black Swan back in January - two completely different films that were both staggeringly good to watch. Later in the year, there were some more arty, occasionally darker films to marvel at rather than enjoy. The violence in Tyrannosaur - Paddy Considine's directorial debut - was intense but entirely overshadowed by the phenomenal performance given by Olivia Colman. Tilda Swinton also gave a quietly torturing performance in the bloodstained We Need to Talk About Kevin.

ADAPTATIONS
We Need to Talk About Kevin was one of the biggest adaptations of the year - but not the only one. There was also One Day, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Help and the final Harry Potter instalment - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two. While The Help and We Need to Talk About Kevin did brilliant jobs with their original source text, it was the final Harry Potter that stood out and for all the wrong reasons. The team behind the final film opted for 3D spectacle over plot and lost all the fitting ends to the beloved characters. It was a sorry end to an incredible series.

BOOKS
While 2011 was the year I managed to read The Help and We Need to Talk About Kevin - two incredible books - the book of the year has to be Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton. It held its own, even given the high standards set by Lupton's staggeringly brilliant debut Sister back in 2010. It was a lot to live up to but Lupton managed to prove just how talented she is with her second book. I look forward to book number three...
Though released a few years ago, 2011 was also the year I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, a brilliant piece of young adult fiction set in a dystopian future. The book has been made into a film for release in 2012 and I am hugely excited to see it on the big screen.
A piece of quality non-fiction came out in 2011 in Dani's Story by Bernie and Diane Lierow. It is heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once and looks at the struggle the Lierows had in adopting Dani, a young girl who had been removed from her family home due to severe negligence.

INTERVIEWS
In the last year, I have had the great pleasure of chatting to some brilliant people in the world of film and book, but the highlights have to be getting to pose my questions to two brilliant authors - Rosamund Lupton and John Grisham. Getting to hear Real Steel director Shawn Levy and star of Fright Night David Tennant talk about their films at Empire Big Screen Weekend was also brilliant fun.

FUN
Sometimes, films and books get overlooked because they are silly and not to be taken seriously - though this does not make them bad. For pure unadulterated enjoyment, highlights have to include the Hugh Jackman robot film Real Steel and hilarious romp My Sweet Saga by Brett Sills. Marvel film Thor was also suprisingly entertaining and saw newcomer Chris Hemsworth pull off arrogant, funny and charming with apparent ease. Kristen Wiig also proved her worth by starring in and writing the massive hit Bridesmaids which mixed gross-out comedy, humour, touching sentimentality and heartbreaking sadness with class. But the clear winner by a mile was the JJ Abrams/Steven Spielberg summer hit Super 8, which had me hooked from start to finish. It was an adrenaline fuelled ride with incredible young stars, amazing effects and a dark and twisted storyline to match.

Kick-Ass (says it all!)

There are brilliant films made in every genre. Of the graphic novel variety, they are often met with disapproval by the general public for excessive use of violence ... or innacuracy by the comic book fans who hate for their beloved comic books to be altered for the big screen (and rightly so!) Then along came Kick-Ass. Many viewers were outraged that the film's young star uses severe expletives as easily as most girls her age would ask for more ice cream with dinner, but the filmmakers insisted it was to keep the film more accurate. If she swears in the comic (or is it graphic novel?!) then she should swear on the big screen. In the words of the great Mr Big, to that I say abso-fuckin-lutely!!!

So many films nowadays panda to the 12A rating so they can reach a wider audience by removing half the plot (Time Travellers Wife removed some horrific parts of the book and turned it all shmaltzy for the film, completely losing what made the book so unique and brilliant!) Other films manage to include just enough sex, violence and swearing to scrape past with a 12A. Then there is the world of the 15 certificate which Kick-Ass has. To compare, this film has the same rating as Black Swan. While Kick-Ass has a whole array of graphic novel violence and a few uses of pretty severe swearing, Black Swan had stabbing yourself in the face with a nail file and a pretty graphic lesbian sex scene.  So take your pick.

The plot revolves around a young guy who decides to be a superhero in the form of Kick-Ass. His work defending a guy from some street thugs becomes an overnight youtube phenomenon and catches the attention of far more experienced superheroes Big Daddy (played by Nic Cage!) and Hit-Girl, a father daughter superhero combo who are introduced to us just as daddy lovingly shoots his little girl (played by Let Me In star Chloe Moretz) so she can feel what it's like while wearing a bullet proof vest. Awwww shucks. Meeting these two means our unlikely hero gets caught up in far more than he could have ever imagined.

The violence in this holds up but is far less dark than its graphic friends Sin City and 300 mainly because of the use of humour. What makes it an all round KICK-ASS film is its ability to combine so much so well. It manages to be violent and funny, terrifying and adorable all at once.  The relationships are real and heartfelt, some more awkward and angsty than others and the humour is perfectly timed. But when the action sequences start, the skill and weaponry used is mind-blowing! Mixed in with a fantastic soundtrack, it's all round greatness.

There are rumours of a second film being written so can't wait for that!

This film is certainly not for the faint hearted but if you don't mind the violence and the dropping of the C-bomb by a pre-teen in a purple wig then this film is stylish, clever, funny and endearing.

Highly recommended!

4.5 FOBLES out of 5 :)

Enjoy!

LE xx

The Black Swan

In case you have been living on Mars for the last few weeks, this is a fairly straight-forward plot. Natalie Portman plays Nina, the very talented ballerina on the cusp of becoming the prima ballerina - if only she could loosen up enough to play both the black and white swan in the company's production of Swan Lake, as the role is typically played by the same person.

It might seem straight-forward on the surface but this plot is anything but. You will by now have heard all the Oscar talk and let me just say it is deserved. Natalie Portman, who can do no wrong - let's be honest, has never been this good. She is jaw-droppingly good in this and her gradual descent into the land of crazy is gripping and intoxicating.

But (yes there is a but) what the people failed to warn us poor innocent viewers is that this film is grotesque! I am not easily shocked but had to look away on a number of occasions as graphically violent and vulgar scenes unravelled before my eyes. It still makes me shiver thinking of her pulling at the skin she has cut by her finger. Certainly not for the faint-hearted. Or perhaps if you are faint-hearted and really want to see it then take someone who has seen it already and they can warn you when to look away.

Let me just say that despite its moments of grotesque, this film is the best film I have seen in YEARS yes years! I was gripped from start to finish, compelled by whether what I was seeing on screen was really happening or was simply in Nina's head. By the end, I was past caring either way - it was just that good to watch. Much like Nina, I was left hungry and thirsty for more. It certainly stayed with me long after I left the cinema *I currently have the Swan Lake score playing on Spotify!*. Oh and the ballet sequences are spectacular too!

What made The King's Speech so brilliant was it's phenomenal cast and personable characters. The whole film was very real and character based. In total contrast, what makes this film so brilliant is it's descent into the imagined, the sinister, the theatrical and the very very dark mind of Nina.

Helping her along her journey into darkness is the fantastic Mila Kunis (more widely known as the voice of Meg in Family Guy!) who is funny and brilliant in her own right. She easily captures the black swan role from the outset, being as good as Nina but more relaxed, more cool, less clinically perfect. Nina finds herself both drawn to her new rival and angered by her as she sees her as her threat and how their relationship develops is simply incredible on both parts.

So brace yourselves but definitely go and see it - go and see it right now and then go home and put on the soundtrack and then perhaps go and see a ballet - they're not appreciated nearly as much as they should be.

LE xx

P.S Little footnote to the boys - if you get 'dragged' along to this by lady friends, reluctantly agree because that's just how nice you are - there's a nice little treat for you in there, trust me :)


Rating: 5 out of 5 FOBLES