On Monday 29th January 2018, I saw Darkest Hour at the Vue Cinema with my Mum and sister. The Darkest Hour is about the period of time in May 1940 when Britain needed a new Prime minister to guide our country through World War II. That Prime minister being Winston Churchill. The film shows the audience the struggle Churchill went through to be accepted as a 'victory' Prime minister and how his stubbornness and care for British people managed to get 300,000 men home from Dunkirk safely and through 6 years of war. I don't know if this is because I am English or if I just love our culture and feel good movies, but I absolutely LOVE British films. We have some incredible actors and that makes me feel incredibly proud. Gary Oldman was no exception, he was absolutely incredible as Winston Churchill, from the makeup to the stutter and articulate voice he was simply perfect. After the recent Academy Award nominations for Darkest Hour I expected a showstopper and it exceeded my expectations entirely. British films win in mise-en-scene as the film was perfectly shot with costumes and sets that fit the 1940's era and how London would have looked at the time. Along with how aesthetically pleasing the film is the historical aspects and learning about what Winston Churchill had to do to please the public and parliament and save soldiers in Dunkirk and still with a positive attitude was very inspiring. In the time of complete and utter fear he stayed humorous and confident that we'd win the war with resilience when others were willing to give up. I personally loved the scene when Churchill visited the public in the Underground when he wasn't supposed to, although he may have not done that specifically it was interesting to learn that he would often wonder off and ask the public how they want to respond to the war and that's why he was so well respected and got us through the war. Along with it being very serious with the situation at Dunkirk and Calais (which was interesting to see after watching Dunkirk in the summer) it was also funny and showed that Churchill didn't really care and was his own individual self. The film brought some comedy to it, some of it was quite obviously funny but as the film is a Drama and is supposed to be serious there weren’t too many moments of humour. The other audience members didn’t really laugh but there were some quite funny parts where Churchill wouldn’t take situations all too seriously and parts where he’d just walk around naked. Overall, I really thoroughly enjoyed the film and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to see a (hopefully, most likely) Academy Award winning performance as Churchill. It’s very light hearted and not too intense to watch. Definitely watch the film if you can while it’s out in the cinema, you’ll get a different experience then watching it at home.

The Greatest Showman, by Michael Gracey is truly a wonderful and aesthetically pleasing film. I watched the film with my sister and Mum on Monday 8th January. After hearing great things about the film and of course the Golden Globe win for “This is Me” made me very excited to watch the film. As soon as the film started I was hooked, it made me shiver with how beautifully crafted the beginning was. All the colours, twirling, flying and singing was chaotically perfect. The music was beautiful throughout. However, I didn’t think Hugh Jackman (who played the ambitious showman and entrepreneur, P.T. Barnum) was too impressive, for me his voice didn’t fit the songs. Zac Efron played the playwright and future partner to Barnum, Phillip Carlyle. He did a very good performance, not my favourite of his characters but still very good. I grew up watching High School Musical and Hairspray on repeat, so seeing that Zac Efron is in his fifth musical was very exciting. His song “Rewrite the Stars” with Zendaya (who played an acrobat, trapeze artist of the name Anne Wheeler) not only sounded beautiful the scene was beautiful too, the trapeze tricks along with the lighting made the scene very romantic and the song was stuck in my head all day afterwards! “This Is Me” and “Never Enough” were my favourite songs in the film. Two very powerful songs by two very powerful actresses. The songs were moving and almost brought me to tears in the Cinema while watching the film. The film being a partly real story set in 1800’s New York, made it even more appealing as you had Victorian style costuming with a modern style Circus, their Costume Designer, Ellen Mirojnick did a fantastic job. Hugh Jackman’s acting as the caught up, somewhat spoilt showman was fantastic, Michelle Williams who played his wife was a great partner for Jackman and you were really rooting for him, his family and their story. Despite the twist in the story, he was a great protagonist to follow and even though some of his actions were questionable you couldn’t help but understand what he was doing and why he was doing it. Overall the film was a very aesthetically pleasing film, it had a great storyline with a great narrative arc. It also had some fantastic songs that were performed by some great actors. I would definitely recommend you watching the film if you love a Moulin Rouge themed musical that is filled with lots of music, dancing and an equally great story.

I saw Paddington 2 on Monday 20th November with my Mum and sister at the Vue Cinema and I have to say it was truly marvellous. The film features a snappy, classic narrative arc, a lovable Special FX bear (that looks scarily real may I add!) and some of the finest and well-loved British actors of this generation, what’s not to love?! I couldn’t help but laugh out loud most of the way through, along with the rest of the audience and at some points was moved to tears by Paddington’s innocence and total trust in others. I can imagine this film being a box office hit in America, with features of top British landmarks like Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and a very unrealistic, over the top British prison, I can imagine they loved the film. The films plot and story is perfect for people who love a warm hearted, funny, typical British family comedy, like me. I have to say I was quite impressed with Hugh Grant’s performance as the once loved famous actor, now turned bitter wannabe West End Actor Phoenix Buchanan. The first time you see him on screen you see a somewhat typical antagonist, a villain wanting the same thing the protagonist wants. However, throughout the film you begin to see a funny and a very over dramatic actor that you can’t help but love. From seeing him in your typical British Rom-Coms like Bridget Jones, Love Actually and Notting Hill, it’s nice to see another, funnier side of his acting and to hear his fantastic accents! Overall, it’s a fantastic film that I would recommend to anyone who’s wanting to sit back, relax and watch a fun, entertaining, truly British film. Everybody who was in the cinema went out with a big smile on their face, a true testament to a good film.