Film Review: 500 Days of Summer (2009)

Directed by Marc Webb

 

"An offbeat romantic comedy about a woman who doesn't believe true love exists, and the young man who falls for her." - IMDB

 

For a task in one of my modules for university, I had to pick my all time favourite film and write an analysis on it. 500 Days of Summer isn't my all time favourite, but it's one of them! I thought I'd jazz up my analysis a bit and post it in a blog... Why not?

 

The film has a very interesting narrative and non-linear structure which makes it stand out and one of my favourites. There are lots of flashbacks and jumps in time but I like how the screen shows us the day number which it is in the film. Using this numbering system stops the film from becoming really confusing, although you do have to keep track of the number order.

 

You get put into Tom's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) mindset throughout the film a lot. The story is told from his perspective, although this appears as a narrator and makes the film feel more like a story or a fairy tale. We see a lot of montages used in the film which lets us into Tom's head and shows us scenes of what we expect a perfect relationship like theirs to be like - what we want.

I love the split screen scene in the film. Tom gets invited to Summer's (Zoeey Deschanel) party and half of the screen shows his expectations of what will happen at the party and the reality. It leaves us feeling disheartened for Tom but it's such a good scene!

The film's soundtrack is also amazing! I love Us by Regina Spektor. It's such a cute song and being the first song we hear, it sets the tone for the film. The soundtrack fits perfectly and every time I listen to a song from it, I have pictures in my head from the film. Although I do think that it's the kind of summery film that lends itself to the soundtrack. I hear song now and can imagine it being in the film. Stella Del Mattino by Einaudi being one!

I know a lot of people don't like Zooey Deschanel but I love her. I think I love her so much because of her performance in this film. Summer is a girl who doesn't believe in falling in love and she hides a lot of things and I think that Deschanel plays it really well. (Feel free to disagree and please don't send me death threats. I'm just expressing my opinion ;) )

 

So yeah. Just go watch 500 Days of Summer because it's an amazing feel good film. I usually watch it every time I feel ill and it cheers me up. I have no idea why since it's a bit depressing at times but whatever gets you kicks!

I'll probably do a review of this on Box Office on Friday at 3pm so feel free to listen in!

Life Update: I am Cinderella.

So I'm just incredibly excited at the minute and I needed to share it somewhere and there isn't enough with 140 characters on Twitter!

 

So this afternoon, myself and 4 friends (3 from my uni course, the other a flatmate of a course friend) finally found and signed for a house for September! We decided to live together not long before Christmas and started house hunting a few weeks back and after seeing some awful houses, we found a really nice one today in the Woodhouse area of Leeds.

I'm really really excited about moving out, and as daunting as it seems, I'm doing it with 4 of my friends and I know it's going to be one of the best and most memorable experiences of my life! Everyone says that the friends you make at uni are the friends you'll have for the rest of your life, and we're a bit of an odd bunch, but when have I ever been in with an average crowd? I love my housemates! (that could have changed within a year though!)

 

I feel like I've grown up so much since starting uni! I was thinking about this on my way to uni today on the bus: a year ago I was being taken to and picked up from 6th form and had my life controlled basically, but now I'm free to do whatever I please and left to be more independent so what else is there to do other than move out? It'll be the last transformation to becoming a young adult in the world! Kind of like Cinderella before she went to the ball!

 (Yes I'm comparing myself to Cinderella...)

 

Honestly though, at 6th form, I thought that I was really mature and independent and could look after myself, but university is such a life changing experience! I realise now that I was wrong and growing up has yet to come! I'm starting to be ridiculously cheesy now, but it really changes you so much! Maybe not so people can notice it, but I feel different in myself. I don't really know how to explain it! A year ago I knew I wasn't really ready to move out; the thought of it terrified me, but now I'm so excited! I'd move out next week if I could! I guess now I get the bus everyday on my own and have to look after myself really! It's just the little things like paying for yourself and like I said, getting the bus... It's weird how things that seem so small can make a big difference in your life.

 

I'm only at the start of my second semester of my first year at uni and I'm already having the best time of my life! If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen me tweet about uni and how I've found my people and place in life, and I really have! I've always felt like a bit of an outsider. I've always been a bit weirder than everybody else and just never felt like I fit in as much as I do at uni! I've met so many like minded people and I've gained so much more confidence in myself because of the experiences I've had (although it has made me a tad lazier...). I often felt like I was never appreciated and like no one ever wanted to listen to me but there's always someone with ears open for whatever it is!

 

Uni is an amazing experience and I do encourage people to go! I don't know what I want to do when I leave but I'm just enjoying my life and youth! Because when are you going to get to do it again?

 

 

I realise the title of this post is 'life update' and it's just turned into a rant about uni, but there's not much different going on in my life right now besides that! I bought a kindle yesterday? I've found my liking for reading on the bus so I figured it'd make life easier... I'm really happy right now! Not much besides that! I've had a roller coaster 2012 and 2013 is off to an amazing start! I'm definitely happier than I was a few months ago. I'm finally settled and life's looking up!

The most cheesiest thing I've ever written but I needed to get it out!

 

Ciao for now!

Review: Pitch Perfect (2012)

Director: Jason Moore

 

"Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school's all-girls singing group. Injecting some much needed energy into their repertoire, The Bellas take on their male rivals in a campus competition." - IMDB

 

Being the musical whizz that I am, I had to see this film! I used to be a big Glee fan and I love musicals so I was excited at watching this!

 

Let me start with the best thing about the film: The music! The music that is in the film (I'm talking about the singing from the groups in the film) was amazing! They sung current pop songs alongside songs from previous decades, such as Madonna. The arrangements of the songs were really good. I wouldn't go as far as saying they were phenomenal as I'm never that optimistic, but they were really enjoyable and I can't wait to get the soundtrack!

 

I think that the casting was done well. I wasn't cringing at anyone playing a part and wishing they'd have been played by someone else. The characters were entertaining and each role had a different character type to play. There were your standard 'nerds, jocks and popular' people but the whole film played up to a stereotypical American college story anyway.

This was also shown in the script. The film was really predictable in where the story was going and even without watching the film, I reckon you can guess what would happen. Having watch Glee for a good few seasons, any hope of surprise was gone! I think the writers of the film had definitely taken inspiration there. Thinking back about the plot, the story didn't really go anywhere, although I could be feeling this due to the predictability of it. I can't complain though, I still love these things!

 

All in all I did enjoy the film. It's definitely worth a watch if you've ever watched (and enjoyed) Glee, or if you're quite a musical, or musically interested, person. I wouldn't recommend it if you hate light hearted, teenage stories though!