Fave Five: Talk of the Cinema

I watch a lot, but a lot, of movies. Sometimes through the exercise of pure boredom I find myself within the realms of great love stories and on journeys to far of lands I know very little about. Never the less, I love movies, be they hard core action, drama, romcoms, musicals or whatever else, a good storyline combined with great acting and directing always manages to elate me to the point of wanting to leap to my feet and offer grand applause.
It would be hard to try and list all the movies in the world that hold a place in my heart so I have decided to list just five and tell you why I love them as much as I do.

5.            For Coloured girls
This is an obvious one, I suppose. For someone who appreciates poetry, I had a field day watching this movie and since first watching it, I have gone on to watch it several more times. I think for most women in existing in the world today, there were certain elements, plots and characters we found easy to identify with, what with the narrative’s broad storyline. My personal favourite characters where Nyla, played by Tessa Thompson and Juanitta played by Lorreta Divine, I found bits of my struggles engrained within their stories and I imagine that is what the movie intended to do, speak boldly of the plights of everyday 21^st century women.
The poetry was sensational, thought-provoking, emotive and sometimes even humorous. I count my favourites as the movie’s opening poem “For Coloured Girls”, this piece was a grand amalgamation of thoughts and feelings, aiding the feeling of unison amongst women. Other peoms I liked were; Nyla’s abortion poem, My Stuff, Macy Gray’s poem, and the dialogue between Thandie Newton’s character Tangie and her mother Alice played by Whoopie Goldberg.

 

4.            Chicago
I’m a sucker for a good musical and this, with its basic storyline and effortless acting takes the cake as one of the greatest musical films I have ever had the pleasure of watching. Like for Coloured Girls, Chicago is also a film adapted from a book. Starring Reene Zellweger, Queen Latifah, Taye Diggs and Lucy Lui to name but a few members of the star studded cast, the movie tells very whimsically the story of a young married woman  who is sent to jail for killing her lover. We have this knowledge in the back of our minds the whole time, but the music and theatrics take over and leave you wishing you also sat in County Cook Jail.
Songs such as “All That Jazz” and “Cell Block Tango” have since become classics seeing people that have never ever seen the movie or the Broadway production jazz-handsings and kicking their feet wildly in the air at the sounds of these tunes.

3.            The Gladiator
Ask anyone who truly knows me and they will tell you that this is my all-time favourite movie. Awesome in all its glory, the lead, Russel Crowe can do absolutely no wrong in his portrayal of General Maximus Decimus Meridius.
Set in 180AD this jam packed story tells accounts the adventures of a man out for revenge, I know what you are now thinking and no, this is not like any other out-for-blood movie you may have seen recently and the list of accolades held by this production are evidence of that. The movie won awards aplenty, raging from best picture and best actor at the Academy Awards, best film and best cinematography at the BAFTAS and a whole lot more.
If for some unknown bespoke reason you make up the sum of the five people who have not seen this film, I beg, do yourself the favour and ensure you see it soon. It will not disappoint, I promise

 

 

2.            On The Road
A fairly new film directed by Walter Salles who previously directed other great films such as Paris, je t'aime and Dark Water. Salles once again brings joy to film enthusiasts with this tale of boundless friendship between Sal Paradise a young writer whose life is irreparably changed when he meets and befriends Dean Moriarty and his new 16-year-old wife Marylou.
This film was received fairly poorly with critics dubbing it a well-made but otherwise empty film, criticising the story line and the emphasis place on the actual cinematography over the story and yes, to some extent I do agree, this film is a visual pleasure from beginning to end with long detailed and beautiful shots selling the both the American countryside and reckless urban lifestyle of the 1940’s. My disagreement come in that I saw the plot for what it was, the story of friendship, granted it isn’t a Good Will Hunting or The Words but, it doesn’t suck as badly as movies like 300 and the American Pie series.
I am yet to read the book from which the film was adapted but, based on the movie I will most def be doing that.  

 

1.            Les Misarables
I’ve seen a lot of good movies recently and never did I think this one would be included in my favourites.
When the movie began, I thought to myself that there was no way on earth I would finish it, most of the movie is sung and I thought that would most certainly work to the detriment of the plot, boy was I wrong. Once I got into it there was no convincing me that this was not an amazingly fantastic film. The film’s cast is large and boasts big names such as Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman , Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen and Amanda Seyfried to name but a few.
Les Misarables literally translates to the miserable one or the poor ones and that is precisely the subject matter contained within this film. Anne Hathaway convincingly the role of Fantine a mother and factory worker turned prostitute. This is, although small, by far her greatest role to date and I even love the pixie haircut that came as a result.
After watching this film, I was left feeling that the struggles we endure in life are not in vain and that all things are possible through what may seem like a tumultuous amount of hard persistence. My favourite scene in the movie is close to the last scene where Hugh Jackman’s character is ushered into heaven by Fantine and the “revolutionary students” as I have chosen to call them.
If you watch one thing in the near future, make it this