“Normal? The world is an infinitely better place precisely because you weren’t”

The Imitation Game.

So i’ve FINALLY seen it!

I actually saw it on November 10th but wanted to wait until my second viewing (the friday of the same week) before i made a proper attempt at saying anything here.

I am going to make an extremely conscious effort to limit myself because i will waffle for the rest of my life about this if given the chance.

This film..is absolutely stunning. Gorgeous, heartbreaking, funny, inspirational…as is the man the story is about. I’ve been following this film for a while and one of the best decisions i have ever made was to go and find out more about Alan Turing. He is a truly TRULY brilliant, genius, lovely and heroic man (why use one adjective where 12 will do eh). I think the most important thing this film does is finally brings his story to an audience and Turing is finally starting to get some of the recognition he truly deserves. I honestly get emotional just thinking about him, if they ever invent time travel he’ll be my first stop.

One issue…okay this isn’t even an issue…certainly not with the film..it’s my issue…as i say i delved quite deeply into the story of Alan Turing before i saw this film and i’ve yet to decide if that was an advantage or a disadvantage. I will admit upon my first viewing of the film, a lot of my concentration was on seeing what parts of the story they actually put in the film and what changes were made. I think of course there was going to be some artistic license and some simplifications of the story, and i think when they do that they do it really well.

I had the odd niggles in the back of my mind going “oh i wish they’d told more of the story there..there’s so much more to that” but if they did that where i wanted them to the film would be ten hours long. Also with a few adjustments and changes (completely understandable for dramatic effect) sometimes i thought “oh…oh that’s not quite right..i feel like i have to tell people that’s not completely accurate” but you know what that’s me being INCREDIBLY picky.

That’s why i waited until my second viewing to do this. Once i’d come to terms with what was in it, i could sit and just enjoy it fully and goodness do i enjoy this film. It is absolutely remarkable and if there isn’t a large amount of recognition at the Oscars then nothing is right with the world!

In following the promotion of this film i can see every member of the cast and crew are so passionate about Alan Turing’s story and seem to have fallen in love with him just as everyone does when they hear about him. They wanted to do it right, do it well and wanted to get the story out there.

Benedict Cumberbatch, well..he’s just stunning isn’t he? Absolutely melts away into his characters and Turing is no exception. It is Alan you’re watching, not Benedict. And on a personal note as a big fan of Benedict’s I would just like to say how lucky we are that a man with such immense talent, such passion and care for the story he is telling and such a wide reach of admiration and influence, is at the forefront of this film. He knows the importance of this man and his story and goes to every length to make sure his life and achievements have been recognised (seriously, have you heard him talk about Alan? goes on for days it’s brilliant).

The whole cast is brilliant! Seriously fantastic! But i have to mention Keira Knightley because (i can’t believe i’m about to say this) she really surprised me. Don’t get me wrong i absolutely adore her as a person i have such a girl crush on her and i want to be best friends with her asap please and i admit now i’ve not seen everything she’s in so this is mainly a hugely ignorant comment but i have been known to think she was rather….same-y in things. I mean..hardly her fault..i suppose a lot of her characters can be seen as quite similar (again..by someone as ignorant as myself) but i must admit i did wonder if her Joan Clarke (another person to look up by the way..she is AWESOME! Girl power!) would slot into the sort of “same-y” image i had built up in my head. It really didn’t. She was magnificent. And the more i see her in the promotion the more i love her and i think i’ll make myself go back and watch her other work again.

One more thing! Alex Lawther who plays young Alan Turing, watch out for this kid because he is fantastic! He’s such a lovely lad and it’s so sweet hearing him talk about the film. What mainly stuck with me was how well he not only portrayed young Alan, but portrayed a young version of Benedict’s Alan. He seriously is brilliant.

Anyway…that was apparently me limiting myself so i do apologise for the waffle.

Also if you see the film…bring tissues…seriously i was a complete sobbing mess by the end of it…both viewings.

Oh! And buy the soundtrack. I actually have it on right now. Alexandre Desplat knocks it out of the park once again! It is seriously..beyond beautiful.

“I don’t wanna survive…i wanna live”

12 Years A Slave

TRAILER – For those who for some reason haven’t heard of this

***Spoilers likely but i won’t be going into much detail***

So, you’ve probably at least heard of this film. It seems to be a front runner for a lot of big awards and i don’t think i’ve seen a bad word against it. Directed by Steve McQueen and with an absolutely fantastic cast…I saw this film yesterday.

Well…gosh. It’s quite hard to talk about this film as i would normally because it feels utterly wrong to use phrases like “well that bit was really good” or “i really enjoyed that bit” because that really wouldn’t sit well.

The film is a good film! It really is…if you re-evaluate the term “good” in your head to fit the situation. It’s not nice and entertaining i wouldn’t say you sit through it and enjoy it…but i can certainly appreciate that as a film it is fantastic. It’s certainly a heavy watch…as you would expect with this subject, it’s a brutal and honest account and at between 2 and 2 and a half hours there really isn’t much relief from the mood. I mean…as scenarios you can think of for the end of this film goes…we probably get the best one. But i certainly found myself thinking, “well..that’s a…happy? ending…but i can’t appreciate it at all”.

There were points where i physically had to turn away and it had me crying by the end.

I’ve not really painted a nice picture of this film have i? haha! It is..as you expect, a horrific subject and difficult to watch…but you should..it is an experience!

As i mentioned earlier..what a cast! Really really brilliant all round!

Chiwetel Ejiofor…WOW! He plays Solomon Northup who’s story we follow and he is in pretty much every scene i think, but boy he certainly carries this film and carries it brilliantly! I think this film will do wonderful things for him. He’s been in quite a few films/tv shows if you check out his IMDB page ….but i must admit the only thing i’d really known him for was “that guy who Keira Knightley gets married to in Love Actually but no one pays that much attention to him because that other guy’s in love with her” haha!!

Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o especially (who it seems is very new to the acting scene! I hope she gets a lot of work in the future she is truly fantastic!) are amazing.

One thing i will touch on is the fact it is based on a true story. Personally, i tend to struggle to truly see the reality of huge terrible events..whether they be part of history or even now. I have small moments of realisation when the horror truly hits me but i’ve noticed this as i’ve learnt more about myself growing up i find it hard to hold onto that. The film draws to a conclusion by bringing up some small facts about Solomon’s future…how he took those responsible for his treatment to trial..even his kidnappers. Cases which he lost. These facts appearing at the end was something that really drilled it home for me. It’s almost easier to disassociate yourself from the reality of these things when you’re watching a film but you suddenly think “wow..what i just witnessed actually happened” and that’s quite a thought.

I’ll wrap it up by mentioning the score for the film. I’m going to have to look into it more but i saw in the credits it was by Hans Zimmer. No wonder it was beautiful. The music was a part of the film i really noticed and thought i will have to listen to separately…even despite everything else that was going on!

So, as i say….see the film! You should! It’s a marvelous piece! It really does stay with you..i’ve thought about it a lot today!

And I see fire, inside the mountain…

So! In the anxious wait for Howard Shore’s soundtrack to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug…we have a small treat to tide us over!

I was super excited to hear what we’d get for the credits song this time around because they’re always so brilliant! It has some mighty big shoes to fill though, after Song of the Lonely Mountain for An Unexpected Journey and of course those throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy!

So!

I See Fire – Ed Sheeran

The video for the song can be found over at PETER JACKSON’S FACEBOOK PAGE along with the story of how they came to choose him to do the song. It’s actually a really lovely read, i wasn’t at all surprised to hear that Peter’s daughter Katie had been a big part in introducing them to his music so that’s lovely! Plus knowing that Ed was shown the film and then pretty much had the song done and dusted in a day really gives a really nice background to it!

I admit, i saw Ed Sheeran announce he’d done the song the day before i heard it…so as you can imagine there was a certain amount of uncertainty. I’m a big believer in not pre-judging things like this, plus we’ve had great things in the past – in Jackson we trust!

Having listened to it a number of times since yesterday…as a credits song it’s really growing on me!

Me original thoughts were “i really like it as a song..as a credits song i’m going to have to give it a few more listens” and hey, i may not be in the majority of Middle Earth fans here but i’m really liking it! I’ve seen nobody being overly negative, some seem to feel like the tone of the song doesn’t really fit a Middle Earth film, which i completely understand…but in fairness we’ve not seen the film yet! I think once we see the film and this pops up at the end, people may feel different..we’ll see!

And last year when i first heard SONG OF THE LONELY MOUNTAIN – BY NEIL FINN it took me a bit of getting used to but now i love it! Plus it’s ripe with memories of the first time i saw An Unexpected Journey. I’m loving the songs having a character point of view, Neil Finn’s song seemed to be from the dwarves, talking about the quest in general..off to get their home back etc. I see Fire seems to be from Thorin’s view. I’m mostly assuming this because of the lyrics and the use of a Thorin quote which Richard Artmitage mentioned in the Fan Event on Monday night, plus it can be heard in the NEW TRAILER FOR THE FILM which we also saw on Monday.

I shall leave you with the credits songs of the LOTR trilogy! (If you have the extended DVDs of Return of the King ..or it might be on youtube..be sure to check out the story of Cameron Duncan – the inspiration behind into the west. It’s a sad story but he was a lovely young man)

The Fellowship of the Ring: May It Be – Enya

The Two Towers: Gollum’s Song – Emiliana Torrini

The Return of the King: Into The West – Annie Lennox

Also! A little extra for you!

Use Well The Days – Annie Lennox

I believe this was an original thought for the credits of Return of the King but they went with Into The West!

“Where’s the light coming from?” … “Same place as the music”

The title is a conversation between Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings) and Andrew Lesnie (part of the crew..i think he’s director of photography or something similar but feel free to correct me my memory fails me!), during the cast commentary of Return of the King. It’s during the scene in Cirith Ungol where Sean was questioning the light source in the building….beautiful answer Andrew!

But back to the topic at hand! Today is the 67th birthday of the one and only…

HOWARD SHORE!

 

Source

All the awards indeed! I’m sure somewhere along the line in your movie watching careers you’ve heard a soundtrack composed by Howard Shore!

Here is his IMDB PAGE to see a list of them and lots of other goodies! There’s always more than i think he’s done. Things like Silence of the Lambs, Mrs Doubtfire, Eclipse (Twilight Saga) and of course Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies (among many many more!)

I’m sure i’ll mostly waffle about his work in Middle Earth here because i could go on for days…but i have seen the Twilight Saga (chuffed that he did the soundtrack for Eclipse as i spend most of the film turning to my friend discussing which bits of the soundtrack sounded familiar…there’s a scene where a heap of newborn vampires are walking out of some water…definitely reminded me of the scene in Shelob’s cave!!) and also I remember watching ‘Hugo’ (lovely film that..loved it!)…and half way through going “who does the music for this? It sounds like Howard Shore!” looked it up…it sure is!

That’s typical of me, couldn’t tell you who sings half the songs in the chart nowadays but recognise certain composers much easier!!

Honestly, this man…if i ever come face to face with him i think i might hug him forever and that’ll be him trapped for good. I think he’s bloody brilliant, I’ve seen a couple of videos of him being interviewed when composing Lord of the Rings, you see him really getting involved in the set up of the film and always going back to the books for inspiration, which i think certainly contributes to how perfectly he captures the feel and essence of the films and Middle Earth themselves.

He did get a cameo! (Sorry i couldn’t find a better picture right now) but in the extended edition of Return of the King, during Legolas and Gimli’s drinking game back in Edoras..he’s having a good ol’ laugh with the guys and you see him for a split second!

I’d say up there with Peter Jackson coming back to direct the Hobbit trilogy, i was completely chuffed to pieces that Howard Shore was coming back to do the music. The soundtrack is such an underrated part of a film..and when you think about it, it almost completes the film itself, there is 100% no way Lord of the Rings would be the same without the impact from the score!

An example for you here from Return of the King

THE LIGHTING OF THE BEACONS

This is one of my favourite, and most powerful scenes of the film. Breathtaking. Howard Shore completely owns this scene and man, i’m glad he got that Oscar!

As i was saying, thrilled he came back fro the Hobbit trilogy. He would have the most knowledge of the LOTR score (obviously) and we hear his recurring themes and how he molds and changes them throughout the films but adapts them to the scene or situation. In the first Hobbit film for example, we hear lots of themes again like themes from The Shire, Rivendell, Lothlorien..but there’s new features added and things on a slightly different level, to remind us we’re still in Middle Earth, but it’s not Lord of the Rings. Being (probably overly so) familiar with the LOTR soundtrack, i remember buying the score for An Unexpected Journey before the film came out and wow, did it really start things off for me.

I’m so beyond excited for the soundtrack to Desolation of Smaug, a lot of new themes on the horizon! Of course where i’ll always miss themes from Lord of the Rings such as Gondor, Rohan (especially!) and others, this film opens us up to Laketown, Mirkwood, Beorn’s House and Beorn himself, and more of Erebor and Smaug which we’ve heard hints too in the soundtrack of the first film!

I’ll leave you with a couple of my favourite tracks from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit!

The Battle of Pelennor Fields

The Bridge of Khazad Dum

The Mouth of Sauron (You wont regret this one…from the Mouth of Sauron scene right up to “But i can carry you!” gorgeous!)

Concerning Hobbits

Elanor (I completely sob all the way through this….”The End”)

The Adventure Begins

My Dear Frodo

A Good Omen

Dreaming of Bag End (UGH…i love this..i LOVE it)

Okay..maybe more than i couple..i’ll stop now before you get the entire soundtrack!

Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?!

Pirates of the Caribbean!

The other night a couple of my friends and i decided to marathon the first 3 Pirates films! (We know there’s a forth but…it didn’t hold as many memories for us and it’s just not as good…) We used to watch them ALL the time, one friend who joined me is a very big Johnny Depp fan, i myself have been slightly in love with Orlando Bloom for the past 10 years (and counting…i love him) so between us we found many excuses to watch it!

I admit we spent a lot of our time going “this first one came out 10 YEARS AGO?!” and swooning over various memories we had of our time together watching them! But gosh..they really are such good films aren’t they!

I remember seeing At World’s End in the cinema with everyone, it was so long there was an INTERVAL!

I know there are some people who will say they should have finished after the first film, and alright i do see where they are coming from, i think the second film clearly runs into the third film and although i even admit myself that the third film at some points just seems to go a bit mad…i just love them! You have to admit even if you’re not a fan of the 2nd and 3rd film they have some brilliant moments and some brilliant characters! Bill Nighy as Davy Jones for example! You can’t fault him! And Johnny Depp well….you can’t really fault him in anything can you..he’s always completely brilliant in everything! (as you can see my Johnny Depp fan friend had an influence on me…mostly lending me film after film of his. I recommend all of them.) Oh! And can’t forget Geoffrey Rush! He’s awesome!

Also, if you’ve not seen the bloopers for the 3 films…head to YouTube they’re hilarious!

Some of our biggest memories watching the films was the soundtrack! Especially some tracks from At World’s End. Thanks to the wonderful Hans Zimmer of course! Here’s some of the particular favourites! I think even if you’ve never seen the films before in your life you can appreciate these gorgeous tracks!

One Day

Parlay

I Don’t Think Now’s The Best Time

Up Is Down

I heard rumours they were making a 5th Pirates is that true?! Hmm..i guess we’ll see!

“Drink up me hearties yo ho!”