Sunday, 30 August 2015

Wild at Heart (1990): ***



Lula (Laura Dern) is completely in love with her boyfriend Sailor (Nicolas Cage). Lula’s mother Marietta (Diane Ladd) wants Sailor dead after he turned down her advances. The first hit she put out on him failed as Sailor killed the would-be hitman, landing him in jail for two years. After Sailor served his sentence, Lula and Sailor decide to run away from Lula’s controlling mother to California. Distressed and fearing that Sailor knows too much about her past, Marietta asks her boyfriend Johnnie (Harry Dean Stanton) to track the pair down and her past lover Marcellus Santos (J.E. Freeman) to arrange Sailor’s death. During their getaway, Lula and Sailor encounter many strange figures during their drive down the dusty, yellow highway. 

Friday, 21 August 2015

Inside Out (2015): *****



Inside Out is set inside the mind of eleven year old Riley (Kaitlyn Dias where the five emotions, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader), reside in the Headquarters. They can see everything Riley sees, their reactions influence Riley’s reactions and vice versa, and literally colour Riley’s memories, represented in this world as marble-like orbs. Joy is determined to keep Riley as happy as possible, whilst Anger, Disgust and Fear keep her harming herself. However, they don’t know what Sadness’s purpose is and endeavour to keep her from creating sad memories. After a disruptive event in Riley’s life, her most important core memories – which make up her personality – are sucked away into the memory world, along with Joy and Sadness. Joy and Sadness must return the core memories to Headquarters, to stop Riley from becoming a shell of the happy girl she is.

Wednesday, 19 August 2015

Evolution (2001): **



A meteor crash-lands in Glen Canyon, Arizona, creating an underground cavern. Two college professors, Dr. Ira Kane (David Duchovny) and Professor Harry Block (Orlando Jones), are tipped off about the meteor’s existence by Wayne Grey (Sean William Scott), a local resident who witnessed the landing whilst practising for his firefighter exam. Ira and Harry quickly realise that there are alien organisms in the cavern, which are rapidly evolving at an exponential rate. Soon the U.S. Army is involved, led by General Woodman (Ted Levine), and they seal off the site to research and contain the alien lifeforms. However, a series of incidents in Glen Canyon suggests that the aliens are becoming more complex and dangerous. With the help of Dr. Allison Reed (Julianne Moore), Ira and Harry must find a way to stop the aliens from taking over Arizona and the rest of America. 

Saturday, 15 August 2015

Clerks (1994): **



At the Quick Stop store in New Jersey, Dante (Brian O’Halloran) is opening up the shop to cover for another employee, until the boss arrives. Dante is kept busy dealing with the strange and often idiotic customers who patronize the shop. Across the road, Dante’s best mate Randal (Jeff Anderson) is supposed to be running the video rental store, but he spends the majority of his time antagonising Dante’s customers. During the course of the day, Dante agonises over the fact that his ex-girlfriend Caitlin (Lisa Spoonhauer) is going to be engaged, despite the fact that his current girlfriend Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) is completely devoted to him. As the day draws out, Dante seems to be completely inundated with bad luck and the hellish customers. 

Sunday, 9 August 2015

The Double (2013): ****



Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg) barely exists to his co-workers and his boss Mr Papadopoulos (Wallace Shawn), despite working at the company for over seven years. Simon is constantly apologetic and seems cowered by everyone around him. Whilst Simon harbours a crush on his colleague Hannah (Mia Wasikowska), all his small attempts to start a relationship are thwarted by his own meekness and lack of presence. One day, Mr Papadopoulos introduces a new employee, James Simon, to everyone and to Simon’s horror, James looks exactly like him. However, whilst they both look identical, James is the confident and charming version of Simon. As James gains admiration and a good reputation from his co-workers, Simon seems to be in danger of fading away.

Monday, 3 August 2015

The Muppets (2011): ****



Gary (Jason Segel) and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) are heading out of Smalltown to L.A. for their 10th anniversary. Tagging along is Gary’s felt brother Walter (Peter Linz), a massive fan of The Muppet Show, who is excited to finally see The Muppet Studios in L.A. Whilst visiting the deserted studios, Walter overhears oil baron Tex Richman’s (Chris Cooper) plans to destroy the Muppet Theater and build an oil drill in its place. Walter, Gary and Mary find and warn Kermit the Frog (Steve Whitmire) about Richman’s evil scheme. Walter convinces Kermit to gather the Muppets back together for one last performance to raise the money to buy the theatre.