The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Film Review by Imogene

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Directed: Stephan Chbosky

Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma, Watson, Paul Rudd, Johnny Simmons, Ezra Miller, Dylan McDermott, Kate Walsh, Nina Dobrev

Genre: Drama, Romance

Stars: 5/5

(Contains Spoilers)

I have to say for this actual film, I was never particularly bothered about seeing it upon its release, but after hearing it’s “film of the year” for 2012 and was highly rated by many sites and reviews – I decided to add it to my LoveFilm list. When it came through the post I was eager to watch it, to simply understand the hype for it. I have to say I was not at all disappointed. From the moment it started, till it finished, I was hooked!

The film starts with showing us Charlie (Logan Lerman) at a desk in his room on the eve of attending high school. He’s writing a letter to an unknown pen pal sharing his worries for the days and term ahead. Feeling like he’s not going to make friends, he just attends lessons and keeps his head down for the best part. He befriends his teacher Mr. Anderson (Paul Rudd) who picks up on his great abilities on English Language and starts giving him added assignments.

Charlie attends a school football game alone one evening and sits near the flamboyant Patrick (Ezra Miller). As they start to enjoy the game Sam (Emma Watson) joins with them and at that moment Charlie is hit by Sam’s beauty. He becomes acquainted to the pair and heads home in high spirits, only to arrive home to witness his sister Candance being attacked by her boyfriend. Charlie is nerved by this as his Aunt got abused by her partners before she died so he goes to help her only for her to swear him to secrecy from their parents.

At a homecoming party Charlie is stood alone around the edge of the hall, seeing his sister with her boyfriend he goes joins Patrick and Sam. After the homecoming he goes with them to a house party, there he meets Mary Elizabeth, Alice and Bob. He also gets to meet Sam’s boyfriend Craig and is instantly jealous. Bob encourages Charlie to eat a pot brownie (which he had no idea was one) and as he gets high all the party members are amused by the stuff he says. Sam saves his from total embarrassment as he says he want a strawberry milkshake and takes him to the kitchen where he compliments her on her eyes and then tells her about the death of his best friend. He then leaves the kitchen to go upstairs to the toilet and accidentally walks in on Patrick with Brad (Johnny Simmons) kissing. Patrick is panicked as Brad doesn’t want their relationship to get out (as his father doesn’t approve) and makes him promise he’ll never repeat what he saw. He agrees not to say anything. Sam meanwhile is left shocked and goes speaks to Patrick saying she doesn’t think he has any friends – they both welcome him with open arms into the group.

 

(Sam through the Tunnel)

Whilst they both drive Charlie home, an unknown song comes up on the radio and tells Patrick to drive through the tunnel, where she gets in the back of the pick up truck and waves her arms around. Charlie again is completely stunned by her natural beauty.

Sam doesn’t do too well in tests so in the coming months up to Christmas, Charlie says he would help her revise. At Christmas all the friends participate in a “Secret Santa” gift exchange. On the last night of the exchange Sam takes Charlie up to her room to show him, her gift – A typewriter. Charlie is wowed by this present. They start talking about first kisses and she shared that her first kiss was by her father’s boss who molested her in her younger years. He tells Sam that he’s never kissed anyone before and she says she want his first kiss to be by someone who loves him and the pair end up kissing.

On Charlie’s birthday he has flashbacks of his Aunt Helen who died in a car accident that same night after getting him a present. At a new years party he takes a LSD and has many flashbacks of the things that happened surrounding Aunt Helen's death and their relationship together, he gets found passed out by the police.

After being dismissed he attended a party with the gang and had Mary Elizabeth as a partner to the dance, they end up going back to her house and making out – she then announces he’s her boyfriend now. Charlie doesn’t really like her like that and ends up going along with it because he doesn’t know how to break up with M-E without hurting her feelings, but has no interest in her neediness. Whilst at a party with the gang they play truth or dare, Patrick on Charlies turn dares him to kiss the prettiest girl in the room, and everyone assumes he’d go for Mary Elizabeth but he jumps out at Sam. The pair is angry with what he did and Patrick tells him to give it time before approaching the group again.

 

(Charlie kisses Sam in the Dare)

Being back to being alone again, Charlie starts to isolate himself and the memories of Aunt Helen worsen. After meeting with Bob, Charlie finds out that Brads father found out about Brad and Patrick's relationship. He tries to talk to Patrick only for him to tell him to leave him alone for the moment. Brad is seen with a massive bruise on his face and tells people a wrong tale as to why he got the mark. Patrick walks by Brads table at lunch and he calls him a faggot – then the pair end up fighting on the cafeteria floor. Charlie intervenes and tells them to back off his friends.

Patrick is heartbroken that he and Brad had to end their relationship and ends up getting closer to Charlie. After they've been spending a lot of time together Patrick one night tries to kiss Charlie. With no reaction Patrick bursts into tears and apologises. Sam ends her relationship with Craig as she finds out he cheated on her 3 times.

Sam gets through to Graduation and is off to Penn State. After her leaving party, Charlie helps Sam pack her items up. Wondering why he never asked her out as she’s liked him, and talked of Craig and the relationship there she asked why does she always fall for people that aren’t good for her and Charlie replies “We accept the love we think we deserve”, after some more confessions the pair end up kissing and is stopped when she rubs the inner thigh, but resumes after he mentioned that it wasn’t anything that made him stop.

The next day he watches Sam leave for college and is feeling upset. Going home he receives more flashbacks of his repressed memories of Aunt Helen who used to abuse him as a young boy and ends up calling Cadence saying it was his fault she’s dead. Getting the police to the house so that Charlie couldn’t harm himself, before he could they got to him and he blacked out.

We then see him in a hospital confused as to why he’s there. The Doctor tells his parents of the damage that his Aunt did and that the reasons for his breakdowns were because of repressed memories. On being discharged Sam and Patrick meet with Charlie and go to a restaurant. On leaving Sam says she found out the name of the song that was playing when they first went through the tunnel together. Charlie gets in the back of the truck this time and screams on his way out of the tunnel.

I adored this film and like I said at the start I was hooked from the moment I turned it on to the moment the credits rolled. I’m glad it was a long film as I don’t think I would’ve been satisfied with it only being an hour long. The plot had plenty of room to develop and it did develop in an even pace which was perfect for this genre. There were no moments that I felt it was rushed – I got everything I wanted from the storyline.

I really liked Charlie’s character and loved the way he was portrayed as shy and nervous, it brought real depth to the film and the character. It also was lovely to see him grow more confident throughout the film. It was his story and it was well documented – I want to read the book now.

The whole crew was fantastic, it was especially nice to see not all well recognised cast members as it allowed there to be interest in how the character shall be played. I have to say it’s now one of my favourite films and shall enjoy watching once again someday!

I have given it a 5/5 because I felt it was very mysterious and gripping film, it was very interesting all round, there was never a moment where I felt like I was loosing interest or wondering what was going on – fabulous film!

Hope Springs: A Film Review by Imogene

Hope Springs

Directed: David Frankel

Starring: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carrell, Jean Smart, Mimi Rogers

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Stars: 4.7/5

I really wanted to see this film as soon as it appeared in cinema but I never ended up going –  this happens too much! But I was awfully excited when it came through my letterbox. I couldn’t wait to see it, especially as Meryl Streep is in the cast, and after reading that it’s very good, I wanted to form my own opinion.

The film starts by showing us the lives of a middle age couple. They love and care for one another, but have forgotten how to show these feelings to each other. Sleeping in separate beds and living virtually individual lives, it shows that they barely speak, let alone show any affection, or share any intimacy together.

Kay (Meryl Streep) decides one day that she’s had enough of living in that way and goes to find some help to bring back the spark. She arrives at a bookstore and finds a book that she finds  has some helpful tips, it’s written by Dr. Feld (Steve Carrell). Kay tells Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) that she’s done with the past and wants them both to attend marriage counselling to get their marriage back to where it should be.

At first Arnold is reluctant to go as he doesn’t see why they need to go; as far as he sees it they’ve been perfectly fine for the last 31 years. Kay books a week intensive course for them to attend with Dr. Feld in a remote town in Maine, Great Hope Springs. Arnold isn’t best pleased as he has no mobile reception, and simply finds faults in everything that’s surrounding them. Kay tries to stay upbeat and positive, trying to encourage him to see things for what they really are.

They attend daily sessions at the centre with Dr. Feld, where he would try and get them to talk about how they felt, their sexual experiences and ultimately show them why they fell in love with each other. The sessions are extremely intense as Arnold finds it hard to talk to Kay and Dr. Feld about their intimate details. He is very defensive about his life and their relationship together.

(The Counselling Sessions)

Dr. Feld asked and put up very blunt questions so that they couldn’t deny or talk their way out of answering them and this angered Arnold as he didn’t understand why she felt the need to bring him to such sessions. Kay feels very upset and heartbroken at the lack of Arnolds willingness to change anything and goes running off, feeling as if everything is over for good. She goes to a pub and starts talking to the barmaid, who shows her that she’s not the only person not to be having sex with their partner. Arnold goes to a museum alone, instead.

Getting back together in their motel room they both try and be closer together as Dr Feld gave them a task of holding one another. They spend the night in the same bed, the first time in years and as Kay wakes from her sleep she finds Arnold has his arm around her. They tell Dr Feld of this amazing breakthrough and both feeling more encouraged that things are getting better; Dr Feld urges that they try bigger gestures.

Feeling confident that things are only going to get better both Arnold and Kay try and do more spontaneous things together to make attempts of being able to get intimate. Many of them fail and they don’t get very far on their mission. Dr. Feld tries telling Arnold of how hurt Kay is and that if he doesn’t wish to loose her forever he best take some initiative and arrange something pretty special to get things on the right track. He books a meal at a grand hotel and Kay is very impressed, they talk and laugh together throughout the meal, something that they’ve been wishing on for a long time! Attempting again to try and make love, it ends horribly and are both left leaving upset and confused.

(The meal at the Hotel)

After ending their sessions with Dr. Feld he says that they should continue their counselling back at home. Getting back home, their usual habits of living separately start again. Kay realises that there’s no change and gets ready to pack her bag so that she can cat-sit her friends’ cat, whilst she gets ready to move on permanently.

Both Arnold and Kay lay awake and are restless on that night. Arnold makes the move as he gets out of bed, gets his dressing gown on and sits with Kay on her bed. They both fall into each others arms and make sweet, passionate love to one another. The next morning its clear that everything is much different and that they’re naturally happy to be in one another’s company.

As the credits roll we see a homemade video of Kay and Arnold having an intimate ceremony with their children and grandchild and Dr. Feld is present. They exchange all the things that they promise they will do from now on.

(Back home after things are better) 

I really enjoyed this film so much. I was also pleased that it was as good as the trailer looked. I had perhaps expected there to be more humorous parts, (probably because Steve Carrell was in it?) but despite that it was rather well done. Watching this film there were many cringe parts where you sighed in desperation, because it was so obvious they wanted one another badly. The one thing that stood out for me was that it wasn’t the typical plot of a film of this genre. There was so much hope and disaster that at times you didn’t know what would be best for the characters. Many people who watched this film will see some part of their relationship in Arnolds and Kays. It was a film that we all learnt a couple of tips to bring to our own and it showed that it’s hard work to stay together in a marriage. But it showed that as long as it’s what the couple wants, it’s workable and that things can work, there’s a sign of hope no matter what stage of the relationship.

I’ve never seen Tommy Lee Jones play a part like this before, to be honest I’ve only really known him in the Men and Black films but I loved how stubborn his character Arnold was. I loved how he was so blind to the faults of what’s happened, but it’s only because he hid behind his wall of not wanting to accept things weren’t the same. But he pulled through and went a step further in trying to make things right. The whole film as a whole was thoughtful, and provided some smiles and ‘aww’s throughout. A mature look at an everyday issue.

I gave this film a 4.7 because I really loved watching the film and the way it was filmed showed that there is many up and downs – but it gave hope and was very well done in all ways. There wasn’t many faults apart from I had hoped there would be more funny sections.

Another Deaf Experience: By Eleanor

My friend and I went to Odeon Cinema in Norwich just a few days ago to watch the new Hangover III. We arrived with plenty of time as we wanted to get some food before watching the film. I suggested that we buy the tickets before eating, saves time and there wasn’t much of a queue this early.

 We went up to the young man to purchase the tickets. Unfortunately he was completely unaware of deaf awareness!

 I asked him for two tickets for the subtitled performance of The Hangover III. He looked at his computer for a few seconds until I said ‘I think it’s the quarter to 7 one’. He looked up and then looked again at his computer and said ‘Do you mean the quarter past 7 showing?’ I said, ‘We want the subtitled one, if that’s the one then yes’. He said ‘Ohh, you want the captioned one sorry’ and looked at a piece of paper to check what time it was on. He then said ‘Ah yes 6.45 sorry.’ I handed over my CEA card and he tried to ask me a question, it was really hard to understand him, his lips barely moved and youthful hair growth spurts on his face (or what you might call a beard) made it hard work. He must have noticed me squinting my eyes as if to concentrate so he tried to ask my friend the question as well. I could tell by her face she felt the same as me, so I said ‘Sorry she’s deaf she can’t hear you’. He apologised (constantly, and politely) and did try to repeat it again but I just said all the answers to questions I thought he might be asking for example ‘I don’t mind where we sit, just the two tickets please’. Whether I gave the right answer or whether he gave up, I’m not quite sure! He then said £9 (NOTE: £9 for a single ticket!!) which I repeated to my friend. She handed over the money and he finally gave us the tickets (whilst apologising once again).

Perhaps he didn’t hear me either at the beginning. Perhaps I wasn’t very clear. Maybe just the three of us are all shy, withdrawn people who don’t normally like to ask to repeat things.
 It made me feel better in a way, to know that I shouldn’t feel stupid in situations like that. It is difficult when you’re trying to ask for something but you’re too scared of the responses. I’ve often got my hearing friends to pay for things for me, or order my drinks/food etc because I’m just too scared that I’ll be asked a question that I can’t hear. But why should that stop me? Why should I be ‘babysat’ (even though I’m the oldest of my friends!) because of communication breakdown, not even that, just fear of communication breakdown?

My friend and I then went to Wetherspoon’s to eat. I went up to the bar to order our food (I know, check me out!) which seemed easy enough, in pubs it is almost expected that you might not be able to hear so well and it’s actually rather normal to say ‘WHHAAAT?’
 The food came to the table and the waiter said ‘Two Chicken Melts?’ My friend said ‘Oh that was quick’ (Although I heard it as a ‘No thanks’ so I’m 50% sure the waiter heard the same thing). He said ‘Oh’ and walked away with our food. My friend was mortified, I said not to worry, it’s just food!!

 I got the attention of another waitress and explained the situation and she said ‘oh OK I’ll go grab it for you’ and brought our food out.

All it takes is a little communication, explanation and understanding. I guess you just have to be brave enough to put yourself out there… or I’d still be sat in Wetherspoons starving by now!!

Contagion: A Film Review by Imogene

Contagion

Directed: Steven Soderberg

Starring: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Ehle, Elliot Gould

Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Stars: 4.8/5

(Spoilers!)

I remember when this film was first released, I was desperate to see it in the cinema, and however I never did. It somehow got lost in my mind over the years between all the new releases probably.
I noticed how many big names that were in the film from first reading about it – and from most of my experience of films, that’s usually when it’s a pretty decent film to watch!

I couldn’t wait to start this film as I knew I’d enjoy it, and I knew that I would end up doing a review on it. It’s completely my type of movie, I like suspense and the wondering of what happens and I find that I can easily put myself in others shoes so with this film, I felt comfortable. It captured my attention from the first words spoken, not because I’ve been desperate to see it, but because it was so interesting! There was always something happening and so much information gathering to be done! There simply wasn’t time to be bored, well, for me that is.

The film starts with a woman named Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) who has been away on a business trip (also had sex with her Ex) comes home feeling ill with a mysterious illness which she thinks is the flu. She passed the illness onto her son when she hugged him, after returning home and he then catches the illness too. Beth dies after a seizure in front of her husband and son. Whilst her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) is at the hospital with her, trying to come to terms with her sudden death, their son dies that same afternoon. The doctors are baffled with this mysterious illness.

We then see a variety of people fall down with the same symptoms and also die. Beth’s Ex also falls down with the same illness, which also results in his death. The doctors offer Mitch the chance to have his wife examined through an autopsy to see if they could explain the sudden death – We see the doctors being shocked through the examination whilst looking at her brain, ordering a team member to contact “everyone”.

They take Mitch into quarantine due to worry that he may have the disease and could possibly pass it onto others. We find out that he is somehow immune to the virus.

The film is very good at this point as I got drawn into the symptoms of the illness and I wanted to know more. The film does have a touch of the “Fringe” and “CSI” feel to it, and personally is a massive fan of both tv shows. I also wanted to know the seriousness of the illness, how many people would be affected and if they’d be able to stop it.

Through the most part of the film we saw many doctors try and determined what the disease was. The biggest part was trying to determine the source of the outbreak, and how to defeat it by finding a cure.

It all felt very realistic and how you’d imagine the Health services would deal with this type of situation. It was consistent all through the film which was great for keeping you interested, it was the perfect pace.

Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) was brought in to determine how deadly the disease is going to be on the population and by every means find an antidote, by Dr. Ellis Cheever. (Laurence Fishburne) She gives a briefing of her knowledge; that the disease was contagious through touch and that they need to work out the rate of people that are carriers and the numbers of who can potentially get infected. The numbers keep rising through the film.

Allan (Jude Law) a blogger journalist comes in contact with the story and has his own conspiracies about the disease and lets everyone knows about them. He believes the government is keeping hold of the cure to make a profit out of the tragedy.

In the background there is doctors working on the cure and testing on live cultures to see if they can make a vaccine. Dr. Sussman (Elliot Gould) makes a stable version of the cultures, which means they can start doing trials for the vaccine. The government says that it could be months before the vaccine could be ready. They call the disease MEV-1.

Meanwhile there are doctors working on the source of the outbreak and find footing of the whereabouts of Beth. We see her in a casino with various people playing at a table. She blows on someone’s chip for luck. We start to understand how the disease spread from Beth throughout the casino and they link to the handful of people that died in the beginning of the film. We see Allan infected with the disease, as he blogs live from his computer and see that he is taking medication called “Forsyitha” and tells the audience that if he is still alive in the morning then, the medication works.

Dr. Erin falls ill with the disease and contacts Dr. Cheever that she has it. He feels responsible for Erin falling ill as he sent her to find out about it, he then proceeds to call his wife and tell her to come to where he is. Aubrey (Cheevers’ Wife) leaves the county and goes shopping for supplies, to be contacted by a friend asking why she’s late for dinner – only to tell the true reason behind her sudden departure.

Allens’ blog becomes a sensation and everyone is desperate to get hold of the medication. We see the world turn into a frenzy and start looting and rioting, the streets become empty. Everyday lives have stopped as people are scared and stay inside, hiding from the disease.

The animal trials are under going but nothing has succeeded, until monkey #57 is successful. There is finally a cure and is currently being produced and is announced that it shall be ready in roughly 90 days. The death toll is currently at a 26 million figure.

It was a relief when they found a cure as we see that the world is in a panic, and just knowing that it could happen to us at any point. The film was done really well and made you think about the important things in life, knowing that people get ill and die every day, obviously the scale was much bigger, but that’s what makes it such a gripping film. It had the "end of the world" feeling.

Allen tells his viewers not to take the medication and someone tells him out to the police and gets arrested. It gets found out that he never had the virus and made it up to get noticed. He has persuaded all his followers against taking the vaccine which could save their lives. He was going to be charged with fraud only to get released on bail, due to the response of his viewers.

Dr. Cheevers get told there's going to be a investigation into the leaking of a message from inside the offices. He told his wife what really happened, and her friend leaked it out, which started the panic.
Meanwhile, as there isn’t enough of the cure made up to heal everyone, there is a lottery of dates where the people in which the birthdays have fallen on the ball, can have the vaccination.
From that moment on, we see everything slowly go back to normal. The death rates have slowed down (obviously people died of other things than the disease) and the world gets back to the state where it once was. Allen continues blogging about his conspiracies on the government, which we know have no ground after his lie on the medication and having the illness in the first place.

We then find out the source of the disease which happens to be Beths' company does a construction where some trees are getting cut down, which makes bats fly from their home, the infected bat bites a banana, flies over to a farmers hut where he drops a piece of the banana skin, which a pig eats, the pig gets killed and taken to the restaurant at the casino where the chef touches the pig with bare hands. He then has the disease on his hands and poses in a picture with Beth, then transferring the disease onto her.

I really enjoyed the loop up at the end, it made it clear where it started and it made sense for us. It did make me wonder where the bat got the disease from though. There’s always a place. I loved everything about this film, the pace, storyline and characters, but mainly the tension that was felt during the film. It was very well played by all the actors and actresses, they made us think and connect to them.

It’s a film I’d definitely watch again, and I think also with the ending, you’d see more about it and understand maybe the language in which they spoke “professionally” as doctors to one another. It was a fantastic film and has become one of my favourites! I highly recommend it!

Driving with the RAC by Eleanor

So, just had pretty much everyones nightmare happen. My car breaking down whilst at least an hour drive from home.
 Left Norwich last night, usual time, heading towards home. About 5 minutes into it and my dashboard lights turned off (meaning I couldn't see my mph, temp, petrol gauge etc) and completely panicked thinking the front lights had turned off too. Luckily after testing I could see they were still on (this is about 9pm in darkness on a dual carriageway!). However people behind me kept flashing me indicating something was wrong and I suspected my rear lights had turned themselves off too. A woman pulled up besides me at traffic lights and she looked at my front lights and looked extremely confused, giving me more suspicion that my rear lights weren't on.
 I pulled over at the first opportunity, a layby in the middle of the A47 dual carriageway. My suspicions were right and I wondered if I could get away with driving home with no lights on (pretty stupid thought, and probably would have upset quite a few people after they'd gone into the back of my car  not being able to see it!!).

 After considering all options, I did what anyone would do and called my mum. Mum was a tad busy so the next port of call was my grandad who I knew I wasn't that far from (about 15 minute drive away). He said the only thing he could do was come and find me and call the RAC. It is the hardest thing in the world to explain to someone where you are, when you don't know yourself! We must have spent about 10 minutes trying to work out where I was (I knew, but trying to explain it sounded different to where I actually was!).  I am not a very confident person on the phones but I can just about call my mum, and I am getting used to talking to my grandad - he is slightly hard of hearing too  (I suspect but not diagnosed so don't go telling him I said that!!) so we talk quite loudly and clearly to each other!! It was an instant relief to know that my grandad was coming, just to have some company on a busy A47, parked up behind some big scary lorries (which I suspect weren't empty..) in a broken car.

 When my grandad came (about 15-20 minutes later) and after having had all the possible lights on (front lights and hazard lights) just so he could see me I felt so much more comfortable and supported. I wasn't worried about anything, nor annoyed, nor frustrated... I didn't feel anything other than comfort and happiness that someone would do this for me :).
 After explaining to him that I didn't feel comfortable calling the RAC (thinking they only had a number to call rather than text) he did it, and thank gawd he did. Listening to him trying to explain where I was, the road names, the places... I'd still be stuck there now if it was down to me! They said they would be a maximum of 2 hours - they have to tell you the longest possible time they will be but hopefully before then.

 40 minutes later and the RAC man arrived!! We explained to him that I was hard of hearing. He was a mumbler, just my luck, but I had an awesome grandad that stepped in :) Turned out to be a blown fuse and after about 30 minutes of fiddling and trying a new bulb, taping wire etc he was done!
 I think it was difficult for the RAC man to know how to deal with me - he tried to talk to me a few times but I didn't really respond (out of not knowing what he was saying) and he'd turn to grandad to repeat it. It was really difficult, in the dark not being able to lipread what he was talking about and being too tired to keep explaining that I couldnt hear. Maybe it was a bit of laziness on my part but you hope after being told once you make the effort to remember/demonstrate understanding.

 I googled the RAC just now and it turns out they do have a mobile number to text, this would be extremely interesting for the future to use if I were ever stranded somewhere with no grandad nearby to help out. I must admit I didn't know about the text number and I'd never considered breaking down and needing their help. I've gone about 3 years without breaking down (minus one or two setbacks but family were around to help in those cases). Hopefully *touch wood* it will be another 3 years at least before another one...

 I am so grateful and blessed to have such an amazing grandad and I'm so relieved to get home. I love you grandad xxxxxx