SATC

And so the countdown begins to the new Sex and The City Movie! Not too long to wait now and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s extremely excited. From watching the trailer (see link) – quite a few times I must admit - it looks as though the lovely Aiden will be back on the screen! Frankly this is the best news in SATC since his and Carrie’s relationship flopped for the second time back in Season 4. Most people (including me at one point) thought that Carrie made a mistake in marrying Big over Aiden, but in my opinion – as harsh as it sounds – Carrie just doesn’t deserve the beaut that is Aiden. Big and Carrie belong together and they complete each other. As you can see I’m not the biggest Carrie fan! Everyone has a favourite and mine is definitely Charlotte. She’s effortlessly gorgeous, totally selfless and a real optimist.
So get yourself down to the cinema on May 28th to see what the big apple has in store for the girls. There’s sure to be shopping, laughing, dancing and lots and lots of Cosmopolitan-drinking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vPSR1RlXX8

Lost?

So the season finale of Lost is fast approaching and frankly I cannot wait. Last night, a friend of mine and I were discussing the epic programme and were amazed to realize that we have been completely lost in Lost for a total of 6 years! that is quite long enough I think. during the first few series I even contemplated the writers getting together everyday and fusing random and crazy ideas together to make bizarre episodes that show no continuity at all, just to laugh at us viewers trying to work it out. Since Oceanic Flight 815 crashed onto an unknown tropical island however long ago in 'Lost-time' we've seen it all. We've seen the island disappear into the ocean and re-emerge in another time, we've seen polar bears, black smoke (which we now think is a person?!) and we've seen people mysteriosuly return to the island. There's been so many unanswered questions I couldn't count them and it's so frustrating. but thats what makes the program so fascinating. I remain glued to the screen for 45 minutes, concentrating so hard in case I miss something, some subtle link or answer to a previous episode. You really have to be on the ball. When it's all over I'm definately going to have to get the whole box set, take a few days off and watch the episodes back-to-back, to hopefully make sense of it all. I just really hope that by the finale episode they tell us what has been going on all this time and don't leave it hanging. I have my own ideas about what the island is and why the people are there and i really dont mind if by the end I'm proved wrong - I just want to know!

'I wish I had her shoes'

Why do we always want what we don’t have? We’re never completely happy. We don’t like our hair, our bodies, our clothes or our jobs. The green eyed monster sat on our shoulder is constantly saying ‘I wish I had her shoes' or even, ‘Damn, I wish I’d ordered that main course’. Whatever it may be, we always want what somebody else has. A few months ago I came across the term ‘Triangular Desire’ coined by French historian and literary critic Rene Girard. He says that our desires are not in fact ‘ours’. Our desires our ‘mimetic’ – we mimic other people’s desires because we are jealous of that person; what that person has; or what that person has achieved. Your friend wants something and the only reason you want it too is because she does. We imitate to succeed, but the effects are short-lived and before you know it you’ll find another desire to mimic. Next time you want something – ask yourself is it really me who wants it?

Sad but true..

The fact is you can never truly understand another person. It sounds harsh but it’s true. You can be a friend or family member for years and years and you can listen to their highs and lows but you can never see things from their point of view. They can explain it to you yes, but can words really explain the complexities of a human being? It’s the same with novels. But with novels you are often twice or even thrice removed from the truth. The author creates the mind-set of the narrator and the narrator translates the mind-set of the characters. Subconsciously, the author will always have an opinion on the narrators and characters they are producing and this cannot be removed.
So can we ever really see somebody else? We can see them but only through our own tinted lenses; it is not clear and creates a distorted perspective. And to understand a person from the inside, from their point of view is to access the inaccessible. We should just accept that the only person we can truly understand is ourselves, and even that can be a challenge.

The Lovely Bones: the story of a life and everything that came after...

Peter Jackson’s (Lord of the Rings) direction makes this film a nail-biting experience to remember. The film is an adaptation of the original novel by Alice Sebold and follows Suzie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl who has been brutally murdered. Suzie’s doting father tirelessly attempts to piece together the muddled facts to uncover the unsolved mystery of his daughter’s disappearance. Meanwhile, in a world in between heaven and earth, Suzie is hurt and angered at her life being so cruelly taken from her and consequently holds on to her past. We are left hanging to the very end to find out whether the murderer is found and whether Suzie faces her past and moves ‘into the light’. Credit should be given to Stanley Tucci who plays the murderer – his performance is chilling and if I saw him (the actor) on the street, I would struggle not to run the other way screaming. From beginning to end I was on the edge of my seat, desperately trying not to jump up and shout at the characters to ‘get out!’. The scenes jump from horror to paradise; paradise to horror – the paradise greatly appreciated. So, in my opinion, an excellent film - but not an easy watch.

Wonderful Wonderland

Wonderful direction - yes but wonderful story - no – this is the general consensus I’ve read and heard regarding Alice in Wonderland. Being a Tim Burton fan, I can’t fault the film. I thought it was fun, entertaining, unique and captivating. But can you have a good story and direction in the same film? Of course you can. The problem is; what constitutes as a wonderful storyline is only wonderful for some people. With Tim Burton it is one of those Marmite situations – you either love him or hate him. If you love him, the story of the film does not matter.

A Single Man: Review

Director: Tom Ford
Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult
Certificate: 12A
One would question whether it is Colin Firth’s BAFTA winning performance or Tom Ford’s impressive direction which makes this a must-see film. I would answer – both. A Single Man follows single man, George Falconer (Colin Firth) through a single day of his life in Southern California, 1962. George’s male partner Jim (Matthew Goode), of sixteen years has died in a tragic car accident just eight months before and Jim’s homophobic family have refused George the right to attend his funeral. Within twenty-four hours we follow George attending the University as a Professor of English and arranging plans for the evening with a previous lover and close friend Charley (Julianne Moore). In these everyday acts however he is secretly saying goodbye to his friends and colleagues as he plans his suicide, to escape from this world where he is deeply alone and misunderstood and where ‘death is the only future’. At a moment of enlightenment George meets Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), a student of the university, who is intrigued by his professor’s mysterious character. Kenny realizes George’s plans to commit suicide and George, jolted into realizing his purpose in life, demolishes his suicide plans; yet with tragic irony he suffers a heart attack just as the film comes to an end.
Ford makes this a directional debut to remember. The direction, like Ford’s angular, clean cut and truly unique fashion, is a masterpiece. We are drawn into George’s world; a fabulous but unnerving place to be. Our senses are heightened as we are made aware of the beauty to be found everywhere; in people or places; sounds or sights and more importantly in the good or the bad. We come to understand, through a moving scene with Hoult, that we can never understand another person entirely because we see them through our own slanted perspective. Ford’s portrayal of George, although highly sexualised, is sensitive and moving. We feel George’s pain and strangely we long for his peaceful release in death.
If there is a moral to the plot at all, it would be to be yourself (rather cliché), even if that means being part of a minority group. Anxiety concerning singularity is unnecessary as it is the majority group you threaten who holds the fear.

'Life is a luminous halo...'

‘Life is not a series of gig-lamps symmetrically arranged. Life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope’ - one of my favourite quotes of English literature. Yes, Virginia Woolf is hard to follow, jumping in and out of her character’s consciousness, but her ideas on theory are easy to understand. Life is effervescent, unpredictable and most importantly subjective. To live is to love and to laugh. To live is to bicker and to cry. Life is a luminous halo...