Insidious (scary horror movie)

I don't usually watch horror movies, and haven't for years but I was coerced by some friends, and so we spent an evening watching Insidious.

This movie stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne (two of Hollywood's new up and coming beautiful people) as the parents in a family that move into a new house. Once they move in, strange things start to happen..... I know what you're thinking, that sounds like a pretty standard, boring horror movie plot, and that's what we thought before we watched it.

For a bit, stuff goes *bump* and people run about screaming. There's also a lot of scary, tension building music and tons of those 'don't go through that scary looking door/up those stairs/ladder/leave the house/leave the baby in there you total idiot. Once the story kicks off though (and to be fair, it takes a while; the film seems to keep its options open about which direction to go in for the first half of the film), it actually very much surpasses the boring bio.

This film is scary as well. Ok, I am a total wimp and spent most of the scary bits hidden behind a pillow, but I got the general gist, and if I was accidentally watching and something scary happened there was plenty of screaming. The scares are based on building up tensions and suddenly showing something (most of the time), resulting in me feeling like I'd run a marathon or something once we had finished watching it. It's my favourite kind of scary though, keeping you interested and freaked out throughout the film, but not too traumatised afterwards.

Scary lady woman thing from the film :O

The storyline helped with this too. It did start off a bit weak as I said, but once it got started, it leaves you guessing and working things out until, dropping gentle hints until the 'big reveal'. After the 'big reveal', it all got a bit odd and unrealistic, but nonetheless was still entertaining, possibly for less scary reasons now though. The effects/costumes/looks of some of the evil folk are a little bit dubious as well once you get close up, but that just gave us something to giggle at and take a break from being freaked out.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this film if you like scary stuff, or even if you just fancy something different. It is enjoyable on its own without being classified as scary, and manages to hold together a fairly decent plot line throughout, but still has plenty of scary bits to keep you on your toes!

Arrested Development

I seem to have become slightly addicted to this blogging lark already, hence the amount of posts I have written already! But oh well, this time I am rambling about Arrested Development.

Arrested Development aired between 2003 and 2006 and ran for three seasons (though for some reason the last season was cut down to 13 episodes). I know it's old, but I was recently introduced to this show by my good friend Joe who has so much American comedy on his computer that it needs its own hard drive! Jason Bateman stars in the series (there's a picture below, for some reason whenever I say Jason Bateman to people, no-one knows who he is despite me thinking he is really famous... Maybe I just happen to watch a lot of movies that he is in!), along with Michael Cera (guy from Juno, Scott Pilgrim, some others I can't remember..) and a lot of other really good people who aren't really that well known as far as I can tell.

I know it is far from current but Arrested Development is a pretty recent discovery for me and it is one of the best comedies that I have ever seen. It takes a while to get going, with the first season starting slowly while the relationships between the characters are put into place. It is definitely worth perservering through the warm up episodes because as the second season kicks off, it all comes together. I don't know if it because the actors have got to know their characters and one another, or whether the audience need some time to get to know the family, but the second season feels much more together and is much funnier than the previous one.

The comedy in Arrested Development takes many forms. There is obvious stuff and obvious jokes as well as subtle jokes that run underneath the main dialogue and sometimes take a while to pick out (is it just me or are those the most satisfying though? Whenever I 'get' a hidden joke, I always feel really proud of myself). Some jokes refer back to earlier moments in the show and some run pretty consistently throughout, so it really is a series to watch from the beginning if you want to get the most out of it. There are some brilliant characters including a lawyer played by Henry Winkler (the Fonz from Happy Days) and a guy called Bob Loblaw (whose name sounds like Bla Bla Bla... lots of jokes about that..). The other great thing is that there is never any seriousness to this show. I hate it when you turn on a comedy wanting to be cheered up and then it hits you with a serious theme or message or something. Not with Arrested Development. It is all about the laughs and sometimes self depricating characters. I can't describe how good I think this show is, watch it and you will see!

Chicken dance montage: this is a running joke through the whole show and makes some of funniest moments.

The great thing about this show, in my opinion, is the mix of story line and comedy. There are moments when you just have to watch the next episode to find out what is going on, while at the same time there is loads of funny stuff slipped in. The story gets really interesting in the third seasons, and the season finale answers all the questions and ties up all the loose ends that have come up throughout the show., with lots of *gasp* moments. Unfortunately the ending does feel a little rushed, which is probably due to the show being cancelled and having to fit everything in to the last couple of episodes. It is still a brilliant show finale though.

The best thing about Arrested Development? It's coming back! It has been confirmed that there will be a mini-series of about 10 episodes to proceed an Arrested Development film, both are said to coming out in the next couple of years. So I guess it is kind of current.....

Soaps

And now for something not quite so Christmassy and festive... Soaps. Actually, when I say 'soaps', I really just mean one 'soap', Emmerdale (wow, now I've written it too much and the word soap has totally lost all meaning..). I used to watch them all, Corrie, Eastenders, Neighbours etc., but I had to give up my soap addiction when I went to uni in favour of actually having a life. I'm back into Emmerdale again at the fault of my mother, who has recently become addicted to it, despite it previously being my least favourite in this genre, but it seems to be quite good entertainment at the moment, so I'm sticking with it for now!

The current shocker is that village 'ard man Cain Dingle has been done in with a blunt object. Of course, as always in soap-land, there were weeks of tensions leading up to this moment, leaving us with a whodunnit worthy of a murder mystery series, or at least a game of Cluedo. So we have the possible attempted murderers all walking around looking shifty; Charity, Jai, Moira, John, Amy and probably half of the rest of the village as well. I can't decide who I think is the culprit, and I'm hoping they won't drag it out as long as they did 'who shot Phil Mitchell' in Eastenders back in the day.

I've decided who I definitely don't think it is, and that's John. Speaking of John though, is it just me or is it looking like he is more and more stoned each day? I don't think the guy who plays him deserves an Oscar any time soon, unless moody, wooden, out of it and slightly constipated was the look he was going for with this character.

But anyway, bashing the acting skills of people in soaps is always easy, so let's move on from that and back to the 'gripping' story line. It would all be so much easier to follow if it wasn't for the fact that most of the characters are at least a little bit interbred. Seriously, what is going on with the Dingles? Somehow, Chas is Cain's sister despite them seemingly not having the same parents; Cain and Charity are cousins but also have a daughter together; Zak and Lisa have a child that is basically the same age as Cain's grandaughter and now Cain has another daughter than is younger than his grandaughter... And then Marlon is thrown in as a cousin as well, along with people like Sam and god knows who else. I'm sure if I had watched Emmerdale loyally for all of my 20 years it would be a bit clearer to me, but as I've been watching for approximately two weeks, it's gone a bit over my head really.

The other mystery worth talking about in the village is why so many people agree to get into bed with Cain. Maybe it's the 'ard man vibe but out of all the unrealistic things that go down in Emmerdale, I find this one the hardest to believe. Mind you, Moira had to put up with John the constipated broom, so I'm not surprised she fled into the arms of someone with a bit more personality and a bit less 'urgggggh'.

Jamie's Christmas with Bells On

So let's kick off with something seasonal and festive, Jamie Oliver's latest Christmas cook show. It was shown for the first time last night (14th December) on Channel 4 and features loads of recipes to make on Christmas Eve, so you get ahead and are ready for Christmas the next day!

Trailer for Jamie's Christmas with Bells On

I love all cookery shows like this, especially the Christmas themed ones. I wasn't even feeling particularly festive when I put it on, but within 5 minutes I was excitedly looking up recipes and planning to make them for Christmas. There are some great recipes in this show too; my favourite is Griddle Pan Waffles and Epic Hot Chocolate, literally mouth-watering and they look so easy! Some of the recipes were a bit beyond me though and seemed like they needed rather a lot of preparation which, unless you are actually Jamie Oliver and could do it in the recommended time of a morning, would take about 3 days (ok, an exaggeration, but you know what I mean).

Nom nom nom

As well as all the yummy looking food, there was the typical Jamie Oliver banter with his Italian mentor Gennaro, Jamie's family getting involved and just general Jamie Oliver being a bit of an idiot in a funny, lovable sort of way. I wanted to find clips of some of the funny moments to put in, but it seems no-one has uploaded any so you'll just have to watch the show if you want to see them! To sum up, there's a nice shot of Jamie getting into his 'Christmas groove' whilst blending up some stuffing, as well as Gennaro dressed up as a giant Christmas turkey complete with a little turkey dance and Jamie playing practical jokes on him. Jamie's mum, wife and (I assume) daughters all make appearances too to add to the family feel of this Christmas special.

The only criticism I have of this programme is the awkwardness that is felt when certain people are 'helping out' on camera. For example, when Jamie's wife Jools comes in with their baby daughter to help out, she doesn't seem very comfortable or happy, and she certainly doesn't match her husband's cheery and jokey personality. To be fair though, she's only on for about two minutes, so I wouldn't let it spoil what I would call a brilliant, entertaining and yummy Christmas special!

This programme has it all as far as I'm concerned. There are great, helpful recipes, Christmas jumpers galore, comedy moments and a generally lovely festive feeling surrounding the whole show!

First TV Chatterings

I've attempted to blog several times before and usually I write a couple of eager posts and then get fed up, leaving a trail of half-hearted attempts across the internet (at this point, who's to say it won't happen again with this blog? Hopefully not...) So, I've decided if I really want to keep myself, let alone anyone else, interested I need to write about something I enjoy doing and am interested in, and sad as it may sound, TV and films tick this box rather nicely! 

I'm aiming not to really review programmes, but more to comment on them really. It will probably seem like I'm pretty one-sided; there really aren't going to be many heavily negative comments, cos who watches a TV shows that they think is rubbish for more than about 15 minutes before flicking over to a Friends re-run or the Simpsons or something? There will be some current stuff, but as a university student who relies on iPlayer, 4od and the like, as well as re-runs and new discoveries of old American comedies, there may be a few blasts from the past too!