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Directed by: Marc Webb. Starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, Zooey Deschanel
Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't.
This is what happens when you take the quintessential rom-com and flip it 180.
There are no sappy broken hearted girls, nor are there sure-of-themselves male characters who are the object of the broken-hearted girl's dreams.
What we have instead is a sort of role-reversal. One where the boy falls for a girl who doesn't believe in fate, love or other seemingly corny analogies that are repeated over and over in films of this type.
We start off with the narrator, a distinct voice which guides us through the film. Helpful when you take into account the non-linear storyline where we jump forward and back in time.
Enter the boy - Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt). Fawning over, and broken hearted because of the girl - Summer (Zooey Deschanel).
Tom believes in true love, soul mates and fate, whereas Summer, an independent woman who almost scoffs at the thought of love and romance being the thing of fairy-tales.
Knowing how unrealistic it sounds, Tom blames modern culture such as movies, music and television for warping his ideas of what love should look like.
500 Days Of Summer takes us through Tom and Summer's relationship from beginning, middle to the end. Again it doesn't stick to the conventional linear structure as we jump back and forth through points of their relationship, bouncing from the good to the bad, the awkward to the fun and then repeating. Sticking to many similar formula's from the same genre we have the familiarity of knowing what to expect. Someone looking for love, someone for companionship. Best friends who attempt to help out only to give us a laugh along the way. The voice of reason from a younger sibling. The spilt screen moments. The drunken moments (In this case karaoke).
It reminds me a little of 'Get Over It', only a little less comedic and a bit more romanticised. If you have seen 'Get Over It' you are more than likely going to recall the opening scene with the dancing in the street.
500 Days Of Summer is no different with it's memorable moments, such as when Tom, breaks out into a dance number. Credit should be given to director Marc Webb for bringing a new breath of life into "Just another funny relationship flick". Using his music video background, with help from writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Webber, they give the film some life and some pizazz.
Overall it's a quaint little film that flips the general rom-com on it's head and brings us the story from the guys point of view. And while it may not be the usual choice, or may not become one of the more popular releases, it is a film that many can relate to and one that keeps its humour even during the bad times. And as it tells us from the get go. This is not a love story. It is a story about love.
Jennifers Body
Director: Karyn Kusama. Starring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried.
Jennifer's Body. Diablo Cody's first produced screenplay since the Oscar-winning script for Juno, is a delightfully light horror-comedy.
Think of it as one of those classic corny 80's cheese-fests that is enough to have you chuckling at times but still has you a little creeped out.
Deliciously gory and a tad gruesome, Jennifer's Body tells the story of quiet teenager Needy (Amanda Seyfried), who is best friends with Jennifer (Megan Fox) the hottest girl in their high school.
After convincing Needy to go to see an obscure rock band Jennifer returns slightly different from when she left. Soon enough the small town they live in succumbs to a string of savage murders of male students at the school, which inevitably convinces Needy that something has happened to her best friend.
The actual murders themselves leave much to the imagination, the first one setting you up only to disguise what is actually occurring until after the fact, by the time the second hits, there is a visual however it is a shadow that we see. This takes the edge from the horror side of the film, making it slightly lighter viewing, and more stomach-able considering what we're dealing with here is something that Hannibal Lecter would ultimately find enjoyable.
The film itself begins from Needy's point of view, however as we slowly edge into it the first person narrative is taken away and we watch from the general consumers view point of the third party or the outsider looking in, before slowly filtering back out into the first person narrative again.
I think one of the best quote's I've stumbled upon that encapsulates this film is this one:
And it's true, while the obvious is noted (the year in which it was made) the script and the story itself again would not be lost in the 1980's. It seems like a modern day 'Gremlins' or 'Critters' one of those types of funny yet creepy classics that you can not get enough of.
Jennifer's Body as a film is being released amidst other similar titles however it should stand out of it's own accord. Filled with a dialogue that is quirky and full of clever lines as well as a play on stereotypes - we all can relate to that local rock band who are not going to stop until they are the next big thing you're never short of some amusement between the dark parts of the film. It is definitely a play on the 'man-eater' literally, as Jennifer flaunts her sexual power at every given turn, with her best friend Needy looking on in a little bit of confusion.
All in all, it's a light hearted approach in time for Halloween, not quite creepy enough for a horror, not quite funny enough for a comedy. And while there is quite a lot of blood, there feels like there should be more. The ending holds a nice twist, which I doubt many saw coming.