Lights Music Camera Action

This film looks really sweet and the Nietzsche name-dropping seals the deal. According to Yahoo! it will be out here in September.

Posted by Jessica at 2:53 PM | | | Permalink

• If, like me, you've read and enjoyed the book Starter For Ten by David Nicholls about eccentric Kate Bush-loving university student Brian Jackson, you'll be interested to hear that a film version is on the way. James McAvoy plays Brian, a casting I'm a bit unsure about since he's much older than the character is meant to be, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and definitely go and see it at the cinema.

• The best bit about the 2005 movie Me And You And Everyone We Know were the cute kid scenes, and new US release The Motel, which has the same producers, seems to be a whole film of it. It was well received at this year's Sundance festival and has a cast of unknown mainly Asian-American characters. This is not a glamorous makeover of teenage life, it's simple and realistic and looks very sweet.

• Justin Timberlake's musical comeback seems to be going well, but he's probably not quite so proud of his film career which so far consists of recently reviewed embarrassment Longshot and the straight to video all star flop Edison. However, things are looking up as his upcoming release Alpha Dogs seems quite interesting and he has a small part in the 3rd Shrek movie which is an obvious huge success - perhaps he'll just have to stick to kids' films!
  

Posted by Jessica at 4:38 PM | | | Permalink

Click here to watch the trailer for the French-Canadian film C.R.A.Z.Y which will be out on DVD in the UK on 21st August. I've never seen a French-Canadian film before but this one looks like a lot of fun with great visual appeal from the colourful fashions of the retro time setting. I'm a big fan of these 'coming of age' movies and particularly those from other countries because it's interesting to see teenage culture from a different angle.

Posted by Jessica at 3:49 PM | | | Permalink

One thing I hate doing is seeing a film after I've read the book. It changes my perception of the book, sometimes ruining characters I once loved, and it's hard to enjoy the film without noticing bits that have been added or missed out. As good as any director might be, their version will never be exactly the same as what you imagined when you read the book. However, I love it when I see a good film and find out it's based on a book, because I can then read the book and find out more about the characters I already love from the film. Everything Is Illuminated is a great example of this, as I'd heard very positive things about the book but never got around to reading it, so I rented the film and within minutes I knew I'd be ordering the book!

I had been slightly hesitant to see the film as I knew it covered the subject of the Holocaust, and although I like films that are emotionally moving, I don't want anything too harrowing from my light entertainment. However, I thought Everything Is Illuminated got the balance just right, beginning with the most hilarious part of the film and my favourite, the introduction of the young Ukranian Alex, played by quirky singer and actor Eugene Hutz, who is super-cool in a way that only those for whom English is not their first language can be. As those who've read the book will know very well, he has his own idiolect which seems to have been created by replacing every other word with a synonym randomly plucked from a thesaurus.

The other main character is an American Jew called Jonathan (or 'Jonfen' as Alex endearingly renames him), played by world famous hobbit Elijah Wood. He and Alex are joined by Alex's grandfather and his 'seeing eye bitch', Sammy Davis Jnr Jnr, on a voyage to find a woman named Augustine from a photo Jonathan has of her and his deceased grandfather. There is much amusement along the way as they are surprised and intrigued by each other's cultures, for example Jonathan's vegetarianism seems unbelievable to the Ukranian characters and leaves him eating a single peeled potato for his dinner on their first evening together, more of which is eaten by the dog than any of the human characters!

Having an interest in Eastern European culture certainly increased my enjoyment of this film, but as the huge success of the book has shown, it is simply a great story with throughly lovable characters and since it only costs £7.99 on Play.com you've no excuse not to see it right away!

Posted by Jessica at 9:25 PM | | | Permalink

This is the follow up to the brilliant film L'auberges espagnole (or Pot Luck as it was known in the UK). It stars Audrey Tautou (Amelie), Kelly Reilly (Mrs Henderson Presents and Pride & Prejudice) and a lovely French man called Romain Duris. It looks fab from the trailer, I can't wait to see it.

Posted by Jessica at 7:46 PM | | | Permalink

A film starring Britney, *N Sync, O-Town and Justin Timberlake's mother? How could I resist! Longshot is quite famous for being the unsurprisingly failed attempt by Lou Pearlman to move into movies, and after reading the cast list on IMDB and finding a brand new copy for less than £3 on Amazon Used & New, I had to make a purchase. So, a few days later my copy of Longshot arrived, I set my DVD player to multi-region, printed off the cast list and pressed play.

The film begins with some of the worst acting I've ever seen by reality TV boyband O-Town. I'm not sure if this was on purpose or if they really cannot act (Erik has no excuse, his father being a 70s TV star), but it's equal parts amusing and frightening to watch. After some embarrassing joking around, the actual film finally begins. The main storyline focusses on two basketball playing (hence the title) brothers, who are played by unknown actors. It's a very bizarre story involving the older brother suddenly finding himself on a spying mission and at one point it seems that the younger brother has fallen in love with an 80 year old woman.

Cameos include Justin Timberake as a valet parker, Britney as an air hostess (perhaps the inspiration for the Toxic video) and Devin from LFO as a Chippendale stripper! And it's not just 90s popstars who make appearances, as everyone from The Rock to Art Garfunkel is involved somehow. At times the film is quite knowing, with in-jokes such as Justin mocking an *N Sync song and Lance saying the plane is "out of sync". I guess the idea was to create an American answer to Spice World and although they clearly weren't successful in the sense that hardly anyone has seen this film, it is no less worth seeing because it really is one of the most hilarious films I have seen in a long time, and if you were a fan of the acts who star in the film then you will certainly love it.

Posted by Jessica at 11:21 PM | | | Permalink

Welcome to Lights Music Camera Action! This is my new blog about films, named after the early brilliant Girls Aloud b-side. It will be a bit like Dirrrty Pop and Into The Groove but with film reviews, news and trailers instead of music. If you like it, please tell your friends and come back soon!

Posted by Jessica at 9:55 PM | | | Permalink