4 Films that changed my life

I would like to think every film I watch changes my life positively in some way, but sometimes that is just being too optimistic. Narrowing this list down to 4 films was incredibly hard but without any further ado, here are some films that changed my life:

Life In A Day

This film comes first on the list just because it was so memorable for me, and I have watched it recently. Thousands of people all over the world film one day - the 24th July 2010. After hours and hours of brilliant editing and sound mixing (the music is beautiful and never feels intrusive) we get to see the world on this particular day and it is amazing to see different people from different corners of the world, the richest and the poorest, all doing so much on this planet in only one day. It really makes you realise what you've got, how lucky you are (as someone who lives a comfortable life in a moderately rich country) and how vast our planet Earth is and what it has to offer. This film is just completely incredible and really gets my sense of adventure going.

Halloween (films 1-8)

The other half of Rollie fashioning his idols 'look'. Which is which?

This franchise makes a very unlikely appearance on the list. It's not here for the quality of the film-making or script-writing, and certainly not here for Jamie-Lee Curtis' performance (bless her). Instead it earns its place in my top five because it marks the 'Rollie friendship' most perfectly and wholly. The films are so bad they are laughable and Micheal Myers has grown to become both mine and Ollie's favourite character. Each Myers flick gets worse than the last, but we still love it and we don't care how often we hear an awful teenage actors scream or see Michael rise from the dead. I don't urge anyone to watch the later Halloween films, the first is okay and the second slightly better, but it's all downhill from there. Long live Michael Myres.

Shutter Island

This was for a long time my absolute favourite film, and I believe it is what started my passion for the subject of psychology which I am now going onto study at university. The film makes you believe you are figuring out exactly what is going on; you are sat there thinking you are like Sherlock Holmes for the most part because you've 'got it all sussed', but then it swiftly pulls the rug from under your feet near the end and you are left dazzled in amazement. Leo DiCaprio plays the role of US Marshal Teddy brilliantly. He is sent into a mental asylum to search for missing inmate Rachel who is presumed to be hiding nearby; the asylum sits on an island and the only way off is through the docks which are controlled by armed guards. Rachel is much more difficult to find than first expected and we start to question if she even lost at all.This is a brilliant psychological thriller and well worth its hype.

The eighth day

 

I first saw this french film as a child with my dad and I regard it as my first proper grown up film (as well as Alien which I watched at the age of 9 and which scarred me for life). It is a beautiful tale of a recent divorcee's new friendship with a young man who has downs syndrome. Normally the two would never even meet, but their paths were set to cross and what grew between them was a friendship so loving and pure. This is definitely a tearjerker but also a feel good film and one which I have always remembered.

By Rosie.

How I Live Now - Review

How I Live Now, the film adaption from the novel with the same name, was the type of film we both thought we would either really love or really dislike as a 'try too hard' indie film. I can happily say it wasn't the latter. Set in what looked like the near future (the year is never disclosed), this film observes young American Daisy on her refuge with her cousins in the south of the UK, during what seemed to be a world wide crisis/war. The film jumped into the action straight away, but i think there was definitely time at the beginning to show how the country had become this war zone; nothing was ever mentioned on why these terrorists had come to the UK, who were killing everyone they came in contact with, bombing cities, and polluting the countries water supply. At times the film was very frightening and suspenseful, which I think it really needed to be to have some real strength and purpose. The love story between Daisy and her cousin (or step cousin or something which wasn't made clear) Eddie was very strange but very empowering. After getting split up during the bombing of their home, the film mainly follows Daisy and her younger cousin on her quest to get back home to Eddie. They encounter piles of bodies, extreme thirst and hunger, and the fearsome terrorists in the middle of the woods. The character of Daisy herself was at first very annoying - the typical american teenage brat, but her character grew during the harsh realities she had to face, and so grew our love and our will for her to get home to her family again.

This film acts as a frightening glimpse into what could easily be the countries future, and is really worth a watch.

UPDATES -
We recently saw the incredible Dallas Buyers Club which will be getting a review soon by either myself or Ollie. We also had a day of films last weekend which will feature in a post.
The amount of films being watched has been a little lacking since February what with Ollie's birthday last month and both of us visiting Universities or doing something amazing at weekends. We also spent a Friday night at a very exciting village quiz in which we came 9th!!
27 films later is very slowly getting completed, especially by Ollie who has hardly watched any (!), but we will be finishing it SOON.
We are also regularly going to our towns brill film club, where we have seen so far 'Like father, Like Son' - a brilliant Japanese drama, and also 'Blancanieves' - a Spanish silent film loosely based on the story of Snow White.

BY ROSIE