Easy A

Every so often, a clever, witty teen film comes along that manages to rise above the drivel and make a star of it's leading lady. In the 80s there were the John Hughes movies like Breakfast Club that put Molly Ringwald on the map, in 1988 Winona Ryder made it big in the black comedy Heathers, and in 1995 Alicia Silverstone went from starring in Aerosmith videos to being Clueless. In the late 90s the teen films were dominated by the Jennifer Love Hewitts and Sarah Michelle Gellars. They were either teenage slasher films or sex comedies like American Pie, and then in the 00s...well perhaps I grew up, and those teen films no longer interested me. Sure, there was Mean Girls, but I classify a good teen flick as having a female protaganist you like, and well, even though this was before her tanorexic, skinny, bleached, lip plumped, general downward spiral phase, Lindsay Lohan still irritated the hell out of me.

Fast forward to 2010, and Emma Stone, who had supporting roles in Superbad and Zombieland, finally gets a meaty role playing Olive in Easy A. Essentially this film has a tried and tested formula; loosely base it on a classic novel, modernise and run with it. Clueless was based on Jane Austen's Emma, 10 Things I Hate About You was Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, and Cruel Intentions was an update of Choderlos de Laclos' Dangerous Liaisons. Easy A takes The Scarlett Letter as it's inspiration, or rather as Olive's inspiration as her status in school suddenly sky rockets. Essentially, she pretends to sleep with people to make their social status in school improve, to the eventual cost of her own.

I liked the film. It will never surpass Heathers or Clueless in my favourites lists, but then they have the edge of being watched repeatedly in my childhood (to the point where I practically know the scripts by heart). Olive makes a likeable heroine; she's smart, fiesty and funny - producing the kind of wit (especially during interactions with her parents) that is reminiscent of Juno. Of course her likability factor is considerably boosted by the fact that her friends and frenemies are utterly annoying, stereotypical high school brats (I couldn't look at Amanda Bynes' chipmunked, lip-glossed face without imagining it floating off like a helium balloon).

Three and a half stars out of five

Love and Other Drugs

I wanted to like this film, I really did. To me, it looked to be a sexy rom-com with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. That should have made the alarm bells ring; rom-com - I usually hate them. Ok, so there might be the odd few I consider guilty pleasures, but generally they're not my cup of tea. This film appealed though, because it had Jake Gyllenhaal and sex. I'm not going to lie.

The thing is, I'm not sure this film is what it says on the tin. Sexy? Er...actually not. The sex scenes seemed awkward and seriously lacking in chemistry. The whole time I just thinking; 'Oh look, they're at it again, Jake and Anne pretending to have sexy time!'

Their characters were not likeable, and at times came across as over-acted. No, I'm not an expert in the fields of acting or cinema, but this is the internet, so I can say what I want and try and make it sound like I know what I'm talking about. Maybe.

Hathaway is all nicey nicey and eyes and teeth. A bit like Julia Roberts - only Hathaway is happy to get naked. Her hair is all wavy and curly, which, true to the rules of cinema, particularly rom-coms, means her character is kooky and independent. Gyllenhaal is playing the stereotypical jerk who is actually quite nice (slutty men have hearts too!).

I spent most of this film wondering when it was going to end, or what I could eat to satisfy the rumbling in my tummy. I didn't care about the characters, and I didn't care if they stayed together and that it all ended happily ever after - the main reason being that whenever a 'tender' moment happened between Maggie and Jamie (oh, yes, they are the characters' names. I couldn't be bothered to give a synopsis in case I fell asleep) a woman would start humming in the background. It's as if the film maker's got this woman to sing, or hum, so that every time she did, the audience were reminded to care.

I'm not sure what this film was. It wasn't sexy, it wasn't a comedy, and it definitely wasn't romantic. It was just kind of...meh. Underwhelming. Maybe my expectations in movies are heightened after watching a spate of award-winning films; Black Swan, The King's Speech, Winter's Bone, Blue Valentine, and er...Superman 2. Or maybe this film just wasn't for me.

Two Stars out of 5. One for Gyllenhaal and one for his bum.

Write!

Jem VS Le Tigre - Deceptacon

This is bloody brilliant.

The ghost of a saber tooth tiger - Jardin du luxembourg

This is an acoustic version of Jardin du Luxembourg for French television. The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger are Sean Lennon and his model girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl.

Oh Land - Lean (Live with String Quartet)

Let's Start Over

It's been well over a year since I last blogged here. In this time I started another blog but now I've decided I prefer this one (fickle, moi?). So my blog updates here are going to be more frequent from now on, and this is going to be my only blog.

I'll adding writing tips, poetry, film/book/music reviews, as well as posted beautiful/funny pics and links to websites and videos I like.