Throwback Thursday: An Education

I really shouldn't start a feature, because as seen in the past, I've been terrible at keeping them up, but I've had this one milling over in my head quite a bit over the past few months. Anyway, the simple premise of "Throwback Thursday" is not to share cute photos of myself frolicking in fields with horses when I was five and putting them on Instagram with the dubious #tbt. Instead, it is to kinda...look back on films that aren't all that talked about any more. But mostly, films that I once loved upon release (or if I delve into classic films, probably the films that had a huge influence on me a child) and how I feel about them now that I've had some distance and am re-evaluating them. Or it could just be random movies I just watched that aren't in IMDb's top 250 or every best of list of all time.

Whatever, it's mostly just films that were not made in the past couple of years. Even though half of you are probably saying that now the Oscars are over, films like Philomena are irrelevant. Because that's generally how awards season works. But that's another post.

Anyway, the subject of this week's throwback is Lone Scherfig's An Education, which, after three years (and I used to watch this all the time), I finally gave another watch. Mainly because every time I used to watch this film, I wanted to bury my head in books and study, and last night, I needed some motivation to jam my dome full of knowledge about Indian independence.

Reviews Round Up, Part 2: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Unthinkable, Made in Dagenham

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Around a year ago, I watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which is probably one of the most brutally disturbing films I've ever seen. That movie was gold. Then I saw The Girl who Played with Fire, which was okay, but it was such a huge step down from the first one. And then I saw The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, which many dismissed as the worst film of the series. I, however, actually enjoyed this movie a bit more than the second. I don't know how, seeing as there isn't a lot going on in this one, but I just found it a lot easier to watch. I guess the series just ran a bit dry after the first one. The first one was so great because of the chemistry between Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace, and the combination of their characters. But the second two barely even feature them together at all. The ending to this one was kinda annoying, though, because they meet at the very end, and just have this strange "I guess I'll see you around" kind of moment before the film just ends. Like, I wasn't expecting them to jump around hugging each other before riding off into the sunset on their ponies, but it was a bit of a downer. I did like how this movie was pretty minimalistic, though. And I love how Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist are so consistently great in the series. Especially Rapace. Rooney Mara has some very big leather boots to fill.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

Unthinkable

Okay, I hadn't heard of Unthinkable until it popped up on the DVD shelves. Then I saw it made IMDb's Top 25 of 2010 list, as voted by users. So I thought "Hmmm, it might actually be good." After two months of seeing it's awful trailer on the TV at work, and wondering how Michael Sheen would do playing a terrorist, I gave it a shot. And let me just say: YOU NEED TO SEE THIS MOVIE. I wouldn't describe it as an earth shattering masterpiece, but this was a really good movie. Basically, Michael Sheen plays a terrorist (Yusuf) who has placed three nuclear bombs in three US cities, and it's only a matter of time before they go off. The FBI catch him, and take him to an unknown place for interrogation, which is lead by Samuel L. Jackson, who likes to torture people to get the truth. So he happily chops off Yusuf's fingers and electrocutes him until he gets the answers. Now, I don't like torture movies, because I find this pointless, but this one if quite interesting. It's set up like a stage play, which scores a few points with me, and it also has so many great ideas about ethics and justice. Michael Sheen is virtually unrecognisable, he's that great, and Carrie-Anne Moss makes an appearance too! It's also a really short, snappy, to the point movie, which I really liked. As I said, it's by no means a masterpiece, and the end is a piece of crap, but I demand you see it. Demand.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

Made in Dagenham

I love British movies. In fact, I'm having a huge British phase at the moment (damn you, royal wedding). Made in Dagenham is quite a good little British movies, but I can only imagine women enjoying this movie. Because woman rule all the time in this movie. What did you expect? It's a movie about how women came to get equal pay as men. It was actually interesting finding out about how all that happened. Some brave women fought very hard for our right, almost forgetting their families in the mean time. While the movie is really just a fluffy tale with a few cliches (even though it's a true story) and bored me at points, I have to comment on how incredibly well acted it is. Sally Hawkins leads the show and she is nothing short of brilliant. She is just such a lovable figure. Geraldine James, Jaime Winstone and Andrea Riseborough are all great supporting performers as well. Many people have commented on how brilliant Miranda Richardson is in this movie. I have to agree, she was so ferocious and alive I couldn't help but wonder what she was having in her porridge in the morning. However, I'm a huge fan of Rosamund Pike and I thought she was just brilliant in this film. Her character wasn't one that was absolutely vital to the story, but she made her scenes worthwhile. She has this moment which I absolutely love: "I'm Lisa Burnett, I'm 31 years old and I have a first class honours degree from one of the finest universities in the world, and my husband treats me like I'm a fool." This line just spoke to me on so many different levels.

What I hoped for:

What I got: