The year 2016 will be known for a number of things – an inordinate amount of celebrity deaths and an equally inordinate amount of lackluster movies. Are these two correlated? I’m not convinced its’ not. Anyway, here is my list of movies I watched this year that was released in 2016. It’s not been a good one.
Plot: New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, and what Alice, Robin, Lucy, Meg, Tom and David all have in common is the need to learn how to be single in a world filled with ever-evolving definitions of love.
Rating: 6.5/10
This movie is this year’s most chick-flicky flick of all time. I have been so excited to head out with some girl friends and I finally did Wednesday.
How to be Single is exactly what we want it to be. It is hyper unrealistic mixed with handsome men, women struggling to get a grip on life and girls being friends forever.
Dakota Johnson is perhaps the most enjoyable, really because it is something where she isn’t being abused. I really do like her and her unique sense of fashion, which suits her to a tee.
Rebel Wilson is surely underused, but still greatly entertaining. I wish this girl could get her own movie, I truly do. Leslie Mann really worked well in her role too, and it was nice discovering that she can be really good to watch when she plays something different than a ditzy trophy wife. I don’t truly get the point of Allison Brie’s character, but she was also quite a bit of fun.
The male leads are all rather insignificant, underlying the point that the movie is not about men, but surviving on your own and enjoy some time where you don’t have to fully account for all your moves (yes, biased).
Did I enjoy it? Very much. Sorry, I’m not terribly eloquent tonight. I had fun and I was entertained, and it is a great film for what it is – a great movie to start a girl’s night with.
Hello everyone! Today is the 2nd of July, a.k.a. the EXACT MIDDLE OF THE YEAR. In exactly 183 days we will be partying in 2016. It also means that we only have another 183 days left where things can go totally wrong for us. Not bad, eh?!
To celebrate this joyous occasion, I have compiled a list of things that I’ve done in this year that seems noteworthy… or not. It at least proves the amount of time I spend on movies, books and series! Enjoy!!
2015 Movies watched so far:
The movie year didn’t start off so well for me. I mean, I watched Seventh Son. I gave it a 6/10, and I still think that is a very fair assessment. It is really not great and it could have been much more with the cast they had available.
The next was Best of Me, a movie adaption from Nicholas Sparks. It was unoriginal and cheesy, typical Sparks. I gave it a 6/10 as well, and counted my losses, and looked with hope to the next movie.
The next movie is still one of my favorites of the year, Ballade vir ‘n enkeling. It is a South-African film and I thought it would be okay at best. It was so well done. I was and am so proud of the quality they produced here and super chuffed that it is a local film, that I got to see it in cinema and that one of the lead actors, Armand Aucamp, was nice enough to read the post, comment on it and favorite it on Twitter #hellyeah #famousness. I gave it a well-deserved 8/10.
I went to see Disney’s latest live adaption, Cinderella, in cinema. It wasn’t close to the entertainment that Maleficent brought us last year. The story was exactly as it has been since Cinderella the animation was released a million years ago, the characters were perfectly cast (but was that even necessary?). I think that if Disney wants to keep on doing these and make them a success they need to make it unique or at least change perspectives of the film. I gave it a 6.5/10, because it was quite enchanting even though it wasn’t excellent.
I chose watching Kingsman: A Secret Service, instead of Fifty Shades in Cinema, and let me tell you, it was an excellent decision. The movie is
Avengers: Age of Ultron has easily been my most anticipated movie of 2015. I am a massive fan of the first Avengers, and think Marvel excelled there. This time around everything was bigger – the villain, the explosions, the fights, the character development. It worked really well although I don’t see the point of the love story. But anyway. It was good, and I rated it an 8/10
#cannotBeUnseen
Fifty Shades of Grey.LOLS. I know so many people who were really looking forward to this. I wasn’t, and even refused to go watch it in cinema because that would mean helping it edge closer to the billion dollar mark at the cinema (which it didn’t, and I’m very sure it is because I stood my ground!). It is bad. Like really, really bad. The source material is nothing to work from, because it is sex, sex and more sex and then more sex on top of that. You can’t put all that sexy time into a movie in the graphic detail the readers seems to have wanted into a film and show it to large audiences. The acting was awful – the best was Dakota Johnson, and she’s not any Meryl Streep if you know what I mean. The chemistry lacked, the lines were painfully cheesy and the sexy time wasn’t sexy. Just go read my review and see what I said haha. I gave it a 6/10, received some flak for it, but I stand firm – it wasn’t THAT bad and Johnson worked really hard at this.
Pitch Perfect 2 was my most apprehensive venture into cinema yet this year. I hated the first one (disclaimer: I need to watch it again because I was hanging when I saw the first one and it might not be that bad). The second one was really a lot of fun and had elements of girl power, and you all know I cheer madly when that happens. I love Fat Amy, she’s hilar, and I think the execution of the movie was really well done. I gave it an 8/10 again.
I just watched Jurassic World and thought it was great fun and a very good sequel. I don’t really know if I support more movies coming into this franchise, but after the massive box office hit I am sure they won’t let this in peace. Chris Pratt the adventurer is also a lovely thing to behold 😉
Books
I’ve read an astonishingly small amount of new books this year, instead rereading all my favorite ones. The best book I’ve read for the first time this year is definitely Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. I campaigned to everyone I knew to read that book and still do – it is such a cute book man.
I recently read the first four books in the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot. It is not such an amazing achievement though, as the books are never more than a 150 pages long each. They are really fun though, and excellent entertainment when your brain needs some easy fun.
The Liar by Nora Roberts proved to be a very nice read. The quality of her last couple of books hasn’t been excellent, so naturally I was relieved when this book had some entertainment value.
The Brightest Star in the Sky has been the oddest book I’ve ever read from Marian Keyes, and she is well known for her odd books. The book is way too long and often a bit drawn out, but I had a good time.
I am currently busy reading Atonement by Ian McEwan. I’ve been interested in this book after seeing the heart wrenching movie, and although I am only a few pages in I find that the book is really well written.
Further on I would like to get to The Woman who Stole my Life (Marian Keyes), Looking for Alaska (John Green), Indelible (Karin Slaughter) and Ruby Circle (Richelle Mead).
Series
The Dawn of Downton Abbey
Have you guessed I would talk about this series on here? Because I’ve reviewed Seasons 1, 2 and 3 already, and guess what? Season four is scheduled for scheduled for tomorrow 😀 :D. I blew through all the seasons of this. It is simply impossible to stop watching something so well done. It is very likely my favorite series of all time. Season three made me rather angry – some deaths were SO uncalled for. Season four was good but not up to the standards of the previous three and season five was as good as the first three. Have I mentioned that I can’t wait for the sixth season?
Game of Thrones
Meh. I hoped season five would be like the glorious first two seasons. But we can’t always have what we want, right? I reviewed the first four episodes and still need to get to the rest, but really, I am so disinterested in Westeros at the moment. The story is badly developed at the moment and I think they are incapable of dealing with the expanding territories at the moment.
Gilmore Girls
I spent a lot of time running through this series this year. It is the best throwback EVER. I still need to finish Season 7, but as we know it is not the best ever. There are increasing talks to get a movie out, but we will still see, won’t we?
I am currently busy with Pretty Little Liars Season 5. It is okay, but I think I’ve seen so many other series that are really good at this point that I am slightly bored with this right now. It makes for senseless viewing, which isn’t a bad thing at all. I would like to get into Vikings – I saw the first few minutes of the first episode and it hasn’t gripped me yet. Daredevil and Agent Carter are the two Marvel series I am looking forward at watching as well. YAY for Superheroes!!
You want hearts and flowers? That’s not something I know.
Plot: Literature student Anastasia Steele’s life changes forever when she meets handsome, yet tormented, billionaire Christian Grey.
Rating: 6/10
I honestly did not expect I would give this movie something higher than a 5. It was a movie doomed from the start: I honestly don’t think even J.K. Rowling would even be able to write a viable screenplay for this series. The books were written mostly for needy old women (and a surprising amount of young females got on board too). Whatever the reason, E.L. James’ books of an abusive relationship between two people went viral and inexplicably became the craze of 2013/2014. Regardless of the material, the atrocious writing was the most offensive. I was even more unimpressed when I heard about the film rights being sold, extremely uninterested about the casting and the drama surrounding Charlie Hunham leaving the cast (a wise decision on his behalf), and the subsequent choosing of Jamie Dornan.
Yet, for all this apathy I felt I still watched the movie. Let’s call it FOMO because I just wanted to see what the people were talking about.
The movie is really, really, really bad. Yet, it could actually have been worse. I could finish the movie, surprising because I stopped reading the books near to the end of the first novel – the bad writing was just too painful.
Let’s first discuss the things that actually worked in this movie:
The first half hour can be listed as the better quarter of the two hour long movie. It is still fairly bad, but it comes across as a developing love story between a powerful man and a naïve college graduate. No one can hate on it or claim it is the first time this avenue has been explored on screen. It is cheesy and badly directed and Jamie Dornan is stilted and uncharming, but up to that point the movie isn’t overly offensive.
Dakota Johnson did a good job with the material she had available. Her casting initially seemed like strings being pulled by an influential mommy and daddy, thus it came as the biggest surprise that she was the only thing that worked in here. Her performance stands out above the entire cast. She manages to inject humor into scenes I would not have thought possible by such a new actress. She is able to be charming and funny and save so many of the scenes were Dornan stands as a statue. I really liked the drunk dialing scene. Everyone is very insistent that this is the best scene in the movie and I agree completely. It was incredibly funny.
The set design is beautiful and Christian Grey’s apartment is really a beautiful and appropriate setting for an extremely rich man.
I love Anastasia’s Bug. I’ve always loved those cars.
The music score – there were some odd choices but overall it worked.
This might be seen as a negative for fans of the literature, but one of the things this movie got right was displaying that this relationship is ABUSIVE. Regardless of Christian Grey’s sexual preferences, he is abusive outside of the bedroom and borders on being a stalker. His jealousy and need to control Anastasia is terrifying, and that menacing aura is something Dornan actually conveyed.
The end of the movie where Anastasia walks out: This should be the END of their relationship, not another two books. This is where the story should end: Anastasia realizing that this man is dangerous and insane and needs to be avoided at all costs.
Okay, the list that didn’t work is quite long:
Jamie Dornan. Erm. I have never seen a more uncharismatic performance in my life. I do agree that Charlie Hunham wouldn’t have worked either, but Dornan was their alternative? His acting is stilted and cold. It is obvious that he doesn’t want to be there. It is very obvious in places that he is pained to be taking part. It is very obvious that he doesn’t like his costar. It’s obvious that his acting is atrocious.
The chemistry between Johnson and Dornan. It is non-existent. They do not come across as two people who would even look at each other in real life. I think if you plan to bring a movie with so much sex vibes to the big screen it is probably the most essential thing to find two people who look like they would bang each other. I felt sorry for Johnson because it looks like she genuinely hates it when he touches her.
The supporting cast is as bad as the main cast. The producers couldn’t even get that right. The casting for Kate was such a mistake. The woman can’t act, she looks way too old to be a student and there is no feeling of friendship to be detected between Kate and Anastasia. Every single parent was miscast, Jose was miscast, Dornan’s brother is the usually very delicious Luke Grimes and he came across as a fool even. Rita Ora as Mia? With all the excitement of her being cast they had her on screen all of five minutes.
The directing. WHAT is up with that? Sam Taylor-Johnson might just be the very worst thing to have happened to this film. The directing is unrefined and rushed. She makes it seem like a low budget project. The characters are stilted and I think with the proper directing that might have been rectified.
The introduction of Christian Grey’s lifestyle is really badly done.
The movie is just not sexy. For a movie based entirely on sexual exploration it lost the sexy factor along the way. The scenes seems so forced and glossed over. It isn’t classy, it isn’t natural and it isn’t even remotely sexy.
Things that can save this franchise:
Fire Jamie Dornan
Fire Sam Taylor-Smith
Keep Dakota Johnson
Rewrite the entire novel where Grey enters the psych ward for two years and exits a rehabilitated man.
Unless you have been living under a rock this past month, you must have noticed the explosion on the internet when Ben Affleck got cast as Batman. I was amused and alarmed at the outrage directed at him. Since then, Hollywood has gone to shambles.
The outrage might have stemmed from the fact that Daredevil was a horrifically bad film. I have always thought that bad productions are not only the actor’s fault, but also the producer and directors’. He also dated Jennifer Lopez, which meant he is still perceived as an idiot. Then he married Jennifer Garner, and now he is happy, and has these adorable babies. So guys, he saw the errors in his ways. He changed. He has had a phenomenal career both as producer and actor (did he not win an Academy Award for best actor in Argo?)
He is a great actor, and a kind man. My only concern with him playing Batman is that he might be too nice. But then, he is supposed to be this fantastic actor, and has shown depth in his roles.
Nonetheless, the day he became Batman served as a catalyst to Hollywood going crazy on our asses.
Second incident:
The VMAs
The producers of the VMAs are probably still feeling victorious, since nearly all the stars there managed to make fools of themselves, and ensured that everyone will now watch it next year. Taylor Swift openly dissed Harry Stiles in her accepting speech. I like Harry and Taylor in equal measure, meaning not at all, but girl, get some class. You just got an award, and all you can think about is your ex-boyfriend. Lovely priorities you have there.
Let us not forget to mention Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke’s rendition of Blurred Lines. The song’s music video had already caused major controversy, as naked girls in music videos are prone to do. Then Miley had to enter the picture and started twerking. My opinion? World’s largest publicity stunt by both parties. It was ridiculous, and the little love I still had for Miley went down the drain.
Third incident:
Fifty Shades of Grey casting
I have to mention that I only read the first book, and stopped because it is terribly written. So I am not planning to go watch the movie. I thought Christian Grey had blonde hair, and my sister thought he was a ginger. Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson were cast respectively as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. The world exploded.
I love Charlie Hunham. He is a great actor, especially in Sons Of Anarchy. But does he have the ability to be Christian? I don’t know – he has this intensely good-person vibe to him, and he is extremely charming. He certainly is good-looking enough. I have to mention that it seems the only reason Johnson was cast as Ana is because she has famous parents (she is the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson) – she is virtually non-existent in the acting world.
Let’s be honest – if you liked the books, you are watching the movie – no matter who acts as who. We will see how much of the book can be introduced into the movie, and keep the age restriction under 50.
Conclusion
It’s Holly-weird for a reason. People will be given jobs even if you don’t think they are the right choice. Little girls who grew up in the spotlight will act out and seek attention. Men will dance around with naked woman. The best you can do is hide from it all.
Or like me, say you are done with reading celebrity gossip and then still obsessively follow the drama.
Life of this city girl 