Wonder Woman Thoughts

Hello! So this isn't so much a movie review, it's more of a ramble about what I thought about the film but I hope you like it anyway.

It's been over 50 years but finally, we have a female superhero movie ... and it's good!! I'm so so glad they didn't mess it up. It's not perfect as a film I'll say that much but the importance of Wonder Woman essentially overrules any pedantic thoughts I had.

Gal Gadot is the perfect Wonder Woman; she's good at the humour, she's good at the drama, she's good at the fighting and while I don't want to reduce her to her physical attributes but my god she might be the most stunning woman I've ever seen. It was so good to have a female hero at the forefront of a movie without her playing second fiddle to a dude. As she grew up solely around women she had no reason to ever think her gender would be a hindrance to her. When you finally see her in the costume, my internal monologue was essentially just AAAAAAAH.

Chris Pine as Steve also deserves a little shoutout. I adore Chris Pine anyway but he was played Steve extremely well, never taking away the spotlight from Wonder Woman herself. I wish they'd gone a little bit more into some of the other male characters backgrounds like Charlie and the Chief as they were basically just kind of there and they did seem like interesting characters, but who knows they may make a return!

I will admit the film itself is maybe a little slow at times and some things are left unexplained (Marvel are not very good at treating their female characters well but their films are better executed than DC sorry not sorry) but I think the fact a big studio is finally taking steps towards using their brilliant female characters is a wonderful thing.... so if we could just have a Black Widow movie soon that would be great thank u marvel.

Sorry it's short - I've got exams and I've been procrastinating enough as it is!
Laura

30 Day Movie Challenge....in one post because I'm lazy

I mean I have nothing else to say than the title really. I saw my lovely friend Holly doing this on twitter and I thought I wanna do that but all in one go because knowing me I'd completely forget I was doing it. Sorry the last few posts have just been talking about my interests but hey I'm good at talking about my own interests. Also sorry if any of these repeat...

1. Your favourite movie
 I have far too many but the Harry Potter movies in general.
2.  The last movie you watched 
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
3. Your favourite action/adventure movie 
Kingsman: The Secret Service
4.  Your favourite horror movie
The only horror movie I've ever willing watched and enjoyed was Suburban Gothic
5. Your favourite drama movie 
A tie between the Imitation Game and Hidden Figures
6. Your favourite comedy movie 
Hot Fuzz
7. A movie that makes you happy
Mary Poppins
8. A movie that makes you sad
Marley and Me
9. A movie you practically know the whole script of
Any Harry Potter movie
10. Your favourite director
Tim Burton
11. Your favourite movie from your childhood
Cinderella
12. Your favourite animated movie
SO MANY... but Big Hero 6 and Zootopia are excellent
13. A movie you used to love but now hate
Honestly not sure there are any ....
14.  Your favourite quote from any movie
Okay I think a lot of my favourite movie quotes are also from books too so I'm omitting them. So I think one that is purely from a movie is probably "My philosophy is worrying means you suffer twice" from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Despite the fact I am the biggest worrier alive, it is a good philosophy to have. 
15. The first movie you saw in the cinema
Finding Nemo
16. The last movie you saw in the cinema
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
17. The best movie you saw in the last year
Hidden Figures
18. A movie that disappointed you the most
The Fault in Our Stars
19. Your favourite actor
Eddie Redmayne
20. Your favourite actress
Emma Thompson
21. The most overrated movie
La La Land.... sorry about it. I liked it but it perhaps didn't need all of the hype it got.
22. The most underrated movie
What If
23. Your favourite character from any movie
Technically a literary character but Hermione Granger
24. Favourite documentary
No idea if I even have one
25. A movie no-one would expect you to love
Unstoppable
26. A movie that is a guilty pleasure
Shrek tbh
27. Favourite classic movie
The Sound of Music
28. Movie with the best soundtrack
Pirates of the Caribbean
29. A movie that changed your opinion about something
The Theory of Everything - it didn't necessarily change my opinion on anything but it definitely made me feel like I'd watched something that had an effect on me.
30. Your least favourite movie
I don't know because I've probably never watched it

Film Review: The Imitation Game

This week, I saw 'The Imitation Game' starring Benedict Cumberbatch and directed by Morten Tyldum; The film tells the true story of Alan Turing, a man who deserves far more credit than he gets I personally think. Long story short, WW2 would have been about three years longer if it weren't for him and his code-breaking team working secretly on a machine that would crack 'Enigma', the encryption machine the Germans used throughout the war. Anyone could pick up these messages sent but no-one knew what they meant without cracking the code that changed every day at midnight.

While the film follows the story of the machine Turing built to crack the code, it also gives a great insight into his life. He was secretive, quiet man, extremely clever, bullied at school and sadly due to the treatment of the British government and society at the time, forced to hide the fact he was gay. Ever since I first read about Turing a few years ago, I thought he was fascinating and the film (or Cumberbatch) portrays him excellently, how he deserves to be remembered. It can't really be classed as a spoiler as it's a true story that we know the ending of but; Turing died a criminal, suicide by cyanide because he had been forced to take hormonal therapy to "cure his homosexuality" by the police service. It was only in 2013, that the Queen gave Turing a royal pardon and was remembered for the astonishing work he did during the war that was kept a secret for fifty years. But I digress. (Seriously do some research into the man, he's amazing)

Back to the film. The way they told the story was gripping, there were parts that made you happy, sad, angry, essentially all of the emotions. Every actor was perfect in their portrayal of their character. I will always sing Benedict Cumberbatch's praises but he really is outstanding in this film, very different to anything we have seen him in before but still fantastic. Keira Knightley plays Joan Clarke, the only woman on the Enigma team, extremely intelligent but made to work elsewhere on the project very secretly as she was not allowed to work with the men. She fitted the role perfectly and portrayed her with class, just as she should have been. Other actors involved include Matthew Goode, Mark Strong and Charles Dance who also played their roles incredibly.

In terms of setting, cinematography etc, I could find no fault in the direction, costumes, lighting etc. The whole film just worked together really well to tell an important story that people certainly do not know enough about. The only problem I had was that in the middle, it wavers slightly and I would have thought some people would lose interest in what was going on.

Overall, this film was amazing and I highly recommend you go see it, particularly if you are interested in History!
10/10

Laura x