CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2016: TOP PICKS

How I wish I could go to Cannes Film Festival, last week when the festival was in full swing I was so envious of the attendees at the glamorous event. Although I envy anyone getting sun right now, someone seriously needs to tell the North East England weather that it’s May. Anyway back to the festival. Between fashion, supermodels and charity galas there are some exciting previews of upcoming film releases. While we mere mortals will have to wait for cinema releases, I took a look at the films shown at Cannes this year and picked out two that sparked my interest. You can see the full official selection here.  

Image Source: imdb.com

The Nice Guys

In this neo-noir mystery come buddy-cop-comedy, Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling star as a pair of mismatched private eyes who are investigating the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970’s LA. The Nice Guys is directed by ‘Iron Man 3’ director (and writer of 'Lethal Weapon'), Shane Black. The real pull of this mystery/comedy/crime film is the outlandish plot, quirky tone and 70’s setting. It will be released in the UK on the 3^rd of June.

Watch the trailer here.

Image Source: imdb.com

Loving 

Loving appeared in the official selection and was nominated for the prestigious Palm d’Or (the highest accolade awarded at Cannes). It is a true story about Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple in 1958 Virginia who were sentenced to prison for getting married. It stars Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, directed by Jeff Nichols.

Watch a clip here. 

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RECENT WATCH: X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

Image Source: comingsoon.net

As the first ever mutant re-emerges to extinguish modern civilisation, the X-Men must unite to defeat him and his followers.

The plot of this film takes place ten years after the events of Days of Future Past, at first such a large gap in the timeline surprised me but it worked really well. There was just the right amount of references back without letting past events get in the way of the present. This film is very ambitious and attempts to both establish beloved X-Men characters and ‘check-in’ with key players. The film manages to pull this off very smoothly; I specifically enjoyed the parts Jean Grey and Scott Summers aka ‘Cyclops’ played. Cyclops, a character I never paid much attention to in previous films, really got a chance to shine with a developed personality and layered character. The younger takes on ‘Storm’, ‘Nightcrawler’ and ‘Angel’ were also great. A problem often encountered by X-Men films is how to fit in so many powers within a story. The plot of this film manages to really make use of the powers of characters and the wide ranges of characters are naturally incorporated throughout. Again, Quicksilver was an absolute highlight of this film. Completely topping that show stealing sequence from ‘Days of Future Past’ and becoming a key player in the mutant team, dishing out comic relief and emotional investment in equal measure.

Image Source: chss.gmu.edu

The final third of this movie is probably the most action heavy of any previous X-Men film. The epic scale action is so well choreographed and thanks to the continued focus on character and emotion, is constantly interesting. However X-Men Apocalypse is not a perfect film, because of the scale and number of characters, old and new, the plot requires a long set up that left the first third feeling very long. But don’t tune out or judge Apocalypse prematurely because the set up completely pays off by the end and the plot comes together in a satisfying conclusion.

Image Source: comicbookmovie.com

Besides slight nit-picking with set up my only other problem with this X-Men was ‘Apocalypse’ himself. This mutant is thousands of years old, worshipped as a god and long believed to be the most powerful. It’s always interesting to see a villain that is a real test for the titular heroes but more than anything ‘Apocalypse’ needed development before, as an audience member, I really cared about his motives. It’s at this point that I can’t help but look at past villains for comparison. The greatest antagonist in the X-Men universe is ‘Magneto’. It’s the crucial mix of villainy and reasoning that makes an entertaining villain. While the look, sound and power of Apocalypse was menacing, I could never get on board with his character or understand his motives.

Image Source: comicbookmovie.com

X-Men: Apocalypse is another excellent X-Men instalment by Bryan Singer. Somehow it manages to feel fresh in a franchise of already six films. The faithful re-imaginings of much loved characters work in a plot that may take some lengthy set up but the pay-off is worth the wait. I’m looking forward to watching it again. 

MY SECOND YEAR AS A PR & MEDIA STUDENT

Another year of university over, time is going way too fast. On May 6^th I submitted my final assignment of my second year of my PR and Media course. As I’m taking a placement year, I won’t be in formal university until autumn of 2017. I guess it’s time to dip my toe in to the grown up world but first let’s look back at my second year.

There’s a lot of talk about how much harder second year is than the first. It tends to go along the lines of ‘it’s all downhill from here’ or ‘it’s not a jump, it’s a bloody leap of faith’… I was prepared for a tougher year but for me it was in things happening alongside my degree where I felt the pinch. In terms of work and assignments I didn’t feel too differently about the difficulty. While I only needed 40% to pass my first year I was never the person who was happy to scrape by on the minimum so working so hard on assignments this year wasn’t such a shock. The fun doesn’t end with first year either; I’d say the common ability of a student to balance eight hour library stints and nights out only improves…

I’m talked about it so much but a source of stress throughout my second year was searching for placements. As much as placement searching was tough it was the perfect opportunity to work on employability and really focus on how to sell myself to employers. I am in no position to give advice on finding placements but something I will say is to take advantage of university careers advisers and events. I met with the department’s careers adviser a few times to finely tune my CV and Cover Letter and now I’m more confident when sending it to organisations. Things I’ve worked on through my second year have also made me so much prouder of my CV, I actually feel like I have gained experience that you so desperately need for PR and Media industries. And opportunities come from unexpected places. For example, my friend and I made a promo video and improved the social media profiles of a singing group after we were approached on the street by the group’s leader while recording vox pops. This led us to begin setting up our own production company.

Something that is equal parts scary and exciting from this year is how much I now lean towards the Media side of my degree. My course isn’t a joint honours, it’s a Public Relations course with some media modules that provide knowledge that would aid PR practices. This year I was allowed to choose some modules and the two that I chose were media focussed. I now consider myself much more of a Media student with PR rather than a PR student with Media. I have absolutely loved studying TV news and working with cameras and editing, something I once avoided (I really don’t why). I still enjoy PR and will get practical experience in it very soon but across my two years I have enjoyed media modules more and achieved higher grades.

When I handed in my finished my second year I felt very nostalgic, I’ve had another good year at university. Not to say that the year was all smooth sailing; living in a student house presented many challenges (*resists urge to rant about wheelie bins and messy housemates*), building employability has a way of both building and destroying confidence and I was poorly a lot. That aside, this year still managed to be pretty great.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE OPINIONATED: MY STRUGGLES WITH WRITING REVIEWS

Reviews or my ‘Recent Watch’ posts are posts that I often struggle to write. From the beginning I knew I wanted to review films on this little space and have so far posted nine full film reviews. I’ll admit that the good old saying about practice making perfect does seem to be true, I feel more confident posting my honest thoughts and the writing process isn’t as tough as it once was, but there are three specific thoughts that go through my head when I talk about a recent watch.

What do I actually think?

There are good films, bad films and some that are just plain ‘meh’. Unfortunately you can’t write a review of just ‘it was meh’. It is easier to write a review when you know exactly whether you liked it or not, it’s those that fall in the middle that are tough. Picking apart what you liked and what you didn’t about a film you’ve seen once has its challenges and opinions have to be justified.

How do I write that?

So I know what I think, now how do I write that? How do I get my clearly get my opinion across and be entertaining? My process of writing blog posts, and specifically reviews, includes a lot of scribbling in various notebooks. I open a page and word-vomit everything I want to cover and as I write I use it as a check list. I aim to strike a balance between writing with personality but professionally. I don’t want reviews to sound like a sterile media essay.

Does it matter?

Probably the biggest struggle I have is when I begin to wonder whether anyone actually cares about what I think. There are countless reviewers of everything on and off the internet, does my opinion really matter? I combat this by reminding myself how much I enjoy creating content for my blog and that I care what goes on it. The beauty of the internet is that there’s room for everyone, here is a home for creativity and opinion.

MY ANTICIPATED FILM RELEASES: MAY 2016

Image Source: imdb.com

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

UK Release Date: 13/05/16

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is based on the true story of Kim Barker (Baker in the film), a journalist who reported on the war in Afghanistan for three years. It stars Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman and Billy-Bob Thornton. A story about a journalist’s time reporting in a war zone isn’t the most obvious sell as a comedy. But, if I’m going to get excited about a comedy, Tina Fey as lead is a big help. My hopes for this fish-out-of-water story are that it will strike a balance between humour and heart. Luckily, the trailers so far have kept my hopes high.

Watch the trailer here.

Image Source: imdb.com

X-Men: Apocalypse

UK Release Date: 18/05.16

The X-Men are my favourite characters in the Marvel Universe. From the slightly dated ‘X-Men’ from 2000 to ‘Days of Future Past’ in 2014, quite simply, I just love X-Men films. X-Men: Apocalypse sets to up the ante of previous instalments, new cast members and new imaginings of beloved characters mixing with the usual players to face-off against a colossal scale villain. It’s a film I’ve been anticipating for a long time and can’t wait to see. 

Watch the trailer here.

Honourable Mentions: Bad Neighbours 2 and I Saw The Light

What has caught your eye this month?

THIS PAST MONTH: APRIL 2016

I’ve been racking my brains to think of what I did in April for about ten minutes now. If I’m honest it'a a bit of a blur of the university library, deadlines and squeezing in as much fun before the academic year ends. April was a busy month, lecture and seminars may have finished for another year but the work was only just beginning as I became no stranger to ten hour stints in the library. I write this now with free time aplenty, well until I start my work placements (more on this next month), I’ve handed in all of my assignments for almost a year and a half I will not be at university which is kind of scary.

At the beginning of April I worked on my project for a module on TV news. The task was to put together a short news package on a story from the South Yorkshire region. I chose to film and interview a dog owner who had won an obedience title at Crufts, also delivering a piece to camera while holding the award winning pooch. Note to self: you’re already shaky in front of the camera, a small dog licking your face while you try and say a line does not help.  Co-star aside, I’m very proud of the finished TV package and I’m happy for any opportunity to build on my camera and editing skills.

April definitely wasn’t all work and no play. The wonderful thing about the impending placement year and not knowing when I’ll see friends again is the splendid excuse it provides for fitting in nights out between essay writing. You’ve got to take advantage of the time you have and all that. In the middle of the month I also spent a day in London. My friend Lucy had a job interview so I tagged along for some whistle-stop sight-seeing once the interview was over. Travelling there and back in the same day may have meant that we only had six hours in the capital but we managed to pack in Oxford Street, Carnaby Street, Westminster, Buckingham Palace and Covent Garden.

To make up for the terrible blogging month that was April I am attempting to post every day this week, so look out for new posts daily!

I hope you’re having a great May!