Side Effects, Trance, Jack the Giant Slayer

Well I’ve seen 3 brilliant films over the last couple of weeks.  Again, there are so many films coming out at the moment that I hope by writing this blog, it will help you sort the wheat from the chaff when you’re only looking to maybe watch one a week.

So here goes:

Side Effects **** (4 Stars)

I LOVED this film and it was very near to getting 5 stars – in fact, I’m going to give it a 4.5 instead of a 4 because it really does deserve more.  So what’s it about?  Well, it’s about a once successful New York couple who are struggling to readjust to life after his recent release from prison (he was put away for insider dealing).  She is plagued with clinical depression and following a car crash, is referred to a psychiatrist (Jude Law) who offers her the latest prescription drugs with the aim of alleviating her anxiety.  However, the more she takes the drugs, the more the lines become blurred between reality and fantasy, with really nasty consequences.

There are loads of twists and turns in this film that I really didn’t see coming (Trance is like that too)  It’s quite a riveting watch actually and the fact that Channing Tatum plays the lead role didn’t hurt ... he’s very easy on the eyes don’t you know!  Catherine Zeta-Jones is in it too, although I’m not so sure about her recently.  She seems to have ages really quickly, despite all the work she’s had done ... I guess that would happen if you were married to someone so much other than you ... you’d become old before your time.  She looks decidedly middle aged (and there’s no need for that!).

If you can, go and see it.  It’s definitely one of my favourite films of this year (although it is a bit dark – certainly don’t go expecting laughs!).  Here’s the trailer...

Trance ***** (5 Stars)

I saw this today and I was really looking forward to it.  It’s the new film by Danny Boyle (I love his films) and it absolutely did not disappoint.  It stars James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel (he’s French and  played the lead role in Black Swan - love that film) who actually got more and more attractive as the film went on and Rosario Dawson (I’ve got to be honest, I can’t think what I’ve seen her in before, but she was brilliant in this).

So, what’s the story, morning glory?  A Fine Art Auctioneer suffers a blow to the head during a heist to still a Goya painting worth £25m.  When he wakes up, he discovers that he has no memory of what happened, the painting has disappeared and even the gangsters don't know where it is.  They (as you can imagine) are really p*ssed that all their hard work and planning and gone for nothing and try to torture the whereabouts of the painting from him.  However, when he still can’t remember, they send him to a hypnotherapist in order to see if she can gain access to his subconscious and discover what happened to the painting.

As a qualified hypnotherapist, I really found this film interesting, although you don’t need to know anything about hypnosis to enjoy it.  It had so many twists and turns that you just (or at least I) didn’t see coming, that it kept me hooked from beginning to end.  Be warned though, it’s really rather violet and they aren’t shy in showing the torture scenes and there are lots of guns and bloody shootings involved.  There’s also an awful lot of full frontal nudity from Ms Dawson too (no male full frontals though ... there rarely are I find!). 

In case you haven’t seen the trailer (although you’d have to have been living in a hole not to have caught Mr Boyle promoting it on some show or other over the past few weeks) here’s it is...

And finally...

Jack the Giant Slayer ***** (5 Stars)

Another 5 star film!  I loved this, it was extremely entertaining and quite the opposite end of the spectrum compared with Trance ... it was good, all round family entertainment.  It’s an adaptation of that old classic, Jack and the Beanstalk and stars Nicholas Hoult (him from About a Boy), who I have to admit is a little wooden in this, Ewan McGregor (who is wonderful) Stanley Tucci (who plays the king’s daughter’s traitorous suitor perfectly) and Ian McShane (whom I totally love) who plays the King with all the panache you’d expect from him.

It’s a good old fashioned romp with a fabulous story, brilliant cinematography and CGI ... this film had everything.  The best bit had to be the giants lead by Bill Nighy (his voice is instantly recognisable); they were brilliantly funny and actually really believable, they absolutely made the film.  I’m not going to go into the story, because if you don’t know the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, then you’ve more stuff to worry about than my description.  Anyway, here’s the trailer... Go see it, you’ll love it!

Right lovelies, that’s me for another day.  Until next time, be fabulous.

Lots of love

Jx