S Reignite

Watching films can be such a communal experience - whether thats attending a screening  with friends or passionately discussing a film and what it represents. This idea of community and the different way these bonds are created is what unites the films in this programme. Stan Lathan’s Statues Hardly Ever Smile(1971) documents the experience of students local to the Brooklyn museum learning more about history. They contort their bodies with ease and imagination to describe their favourite works in the museum and equally manoeuvre themselves away from the box of expectations that were created for them. The short documentary film now also being available in the same museum allows the works of art from history and the young Brooklyn natives to continue to uplift the community. These same joyful experiences occur across the pond as Jessie Blue depicts in the eponymous barbershop, Fresh Cutz(2018) . The buzzing North London salon offers its young patrons a place to learn from their elde...

  'Americans know entertainment but don't know pleasure' – Luca Spaghetti In the run up to the release of Ari Lennox’s second album age/sex/location , rapper and founder of record label Dreamville J.Cole, shared on Instagram a long message from the R&B singer, in which she describes the album as ‘my eat pray love journey’. Always trying to understand every reference that I come across and looking for a movie to watch, I sat down to watch the 2010 film to discover what the phrase truly means. Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts is based of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book of the same name. Unhappy in her marriage and questioning who she is and what she wants out of life Liz begins an international journey of self-discovery. Still from Eat Pray Love. Credit:NPR.org The Ryan Murphy written and directed drama film lethargically follows Liz as she travels across the world trying to define who she is outside of her romantic relationships. However while on this journey, Liz is...

'You can't turn the paparazzi on and off ' As always, the paparazzi choose not to see the impact of their intrusive tactics on those in the spotlight in HBO Max documentary The Princess. The Princess poster Credit: Yahoo News Prior to Diana Spencer being formally engaged to Prince Charles, the press was at her door questioning her closely about what marriage to the Prince of Wales would mean. Even then Diana knew not to tell the enquiring journalists much. 25 years after her unfortunate death there are an inordinate number of documentaries focused on the life and death of Princess of the Wales. Spoilt for choice and questioning the motivations behind every documentary, I choose the one I saw first, The Princess directed by Ed Perkins. Perkins film unsurprisingly has no interviews with people in or close to the royal family sharing their love for Lady Di, instead it is crafted from paparazzi footage (obtained at all costs) and public appearances by the royal family. The over...

                 ‘these people make me sick, but a law has been broken’ – Joe Miller. Last summer on the All Def Digital podcast SquADD Cast Versus , they debated which of the two juggernaut actors was better- Tom Hanks or Denzel Washington . After some conversation about their different styles of acting and whose catalogue would be better to take to a desert island, Denzel Washington won the debate by one. I’ve watched few films from the two Oscar award winners, so I haven’t made enough of a dent into their filmographies to seriously join the conversation or critique their final ruling. But why choose between the two when I can watch both. In Philadelphia , two once opposing lawyers, Andrew Beckett (Hanks), and Joe Miller (Washington), work together to argue the wrongful dismissal of Beckett from his law firm. The two lawyers meet briefly at the start of the film. They’re both underhanded lawyers, just on different sides of the cour...

  ‘Life was like a pop song, and we knew all the words.’ – Julie From late 2016 to early 2018, before he completely went off the rails, I was somewhat obsessed with Logan Paul’s vlogs. I watched every single one of his videos which broadcast his LA antics to millions of viewers daily. I watched him prank his younger more notorious brother Jake Paul, be pecked at by his parrot Maverick, smash a copious amount of plates and vlog his days on the set of Valley Girl,  the remake of the 1983 romcom , in which Logan stars as Mickey  Julie’s boyfriend and  the most popular boy in his high school. I wouldn’t have known this remake had existed if it wasn’t for Paul. The original Valley Girl isn’t a film I’ve ever heard talked about nor do I think it is one that is shown on British screens ever. I’m sure when he was first cast, his social media success and international appeal were selling points for the Sneak Preview Productions and the others involved, but it was this ...

                                                                'What a fine thing capital punishment is' – Fagin Before Rita Ora was flouting lockdown rules by having a birthday party and flying to Egypt, she was out filming Twist , with permission I assume.  The modern day adaption of novel Oliver Twist overuses camera tricks and roof jumping and brings nothing of value to Dickens’ classic. Oliver, called Twist by friends, has lived on the streets for a large part of his life. When trying to escape from his latest run in with the police, he meets fellow rascals Batesey and Dodge who invite him to join their criminal family. The age of Twist and his newfound friends is ambiguous. They look like twenty-year-olds and behave like teenagers. Along with “The Charmer”, Red, Batesey and Dodge are the oldest children in Fagin’...

  ‘Well I’m not trying to land him, I’m just using him for sex.’ – Vivian Pretty Woman is one of those films that I was vaguely aware off but know nothing about it other than it’s supposed to be good. And after watching it, I’ve concluded that good is an understatement when describing the film’s effortless cool charm. The 1990 romantic comedy film follows fledgling prostitute Vivian Ward as she spends time with businessman Edward Lewis and struggles to keep things professional. Julia Roberts took on this role in the beginning years of her acting career and, similarly to Vivian, was still finding her feet. Vivian still finding her feet in her promiscuous job made her the best person to spend the weekend with Edward as anyone else with more experience would probably think twice about his proposition. Vivian isn’t even confident about what her nightly rates should be having to ask her friend Kitty how much she should charge, let along if it's a good idea to spend the weekend wit...

                         ‘How you fuck a witch without a condom?’ – Marcus Burnett After 25 years of working together as detectives in Miami, Mike Lowrey feels as young as ever but his partner in crime Marcus Burnett is ready to retire. But with people out to kill Mike the duo work with special department, Advanced Miami Metro Operations (AMMO) to bring them down. The Bad Boys and their supporting cast needed time to warm up. The beginning lines weren’t delivered well nor was the acting convincing. Reggie sounded so nervous delivering his lines. I know Marcus and Mike intimidated you before Reggie but you should be over that by now. Although the two bad boys did snap out of it their crew in AMMO never fully developed. Vanessa Hudgens needed to be written more lines because Kelly continually shaking her head in response to Lowrey as gun shots rang around her wasn’t good enough for me. Rafe being a douche to Mike for no ...

  ‘Let’s disagree to agree because quotes are my thing.’ - Rodrigo I miss John Cena. I miss watching him in the ring or cutting promo and I don’t even watch the WWE religiously anymore. I’ll read one headline every once in a while, that makes we question that company that I used to love dearly, but I still want to see John in the ring. Right now, as many before him, Cena is trying to be a superstar on the silver screen.   His latest role is smoke jumper Superintendent Jake “Supe” Carson in Nickelodeon’s Playing with Fire. When putting out a cabin fire Carson rescues three siblings. But when a flood arrives and their parents can’t come pick them up, Jake and his fire team must navigate having three rowdy children in their depot. The trailer showcased Carson’s action hero team of smoke jumpers and although it didn't strike me as nothing new, it still seemed entertaining, and at times it was. Keegan – Michael Key from Key & Peele fame was the main proponent of comed...

  ‘Do you really want to teach middle school for the rest of your life?’ – Angela Corrigan While on a road trip young engaged couple Alex and Lisa encounter an evil entity that possess men and strips away their identities. Being a horror movie and just under two hours Becoming seemed like a good choice which is criteria I need to stop using because it hasn’t served me well the last few times. This time is no different as I painstakingly felt every minute past by in this lacklustre horror. When introduced to Alex and Lisa they are a playful and loving young couple, but they make questionable choices. One of these choices is choosing to stay the night with Alex’s distant Cousin Glen, who neither of them had met prior, a decision that would permanently impact their relationship. But with this bad decision came the only time the film had anything which resembled horror due to Glen’s cold and creepy demeanour. This is also when we are introduced to the spirit that will plague t...

  ‘Sometimes I can't believe you’re my daughter either' – Gabriela After changing school in the middle of the year Mia struggles to fit in while also dealing with her body changing.   When I read the tagline of a ‘normal teenage girl faces overwhelming body transformations’, this is definitely not what I expected. I assumed I’d be watching a coming of age about a teenager trying to fit in and potential falling in love. Instead Brühlmann uses the medium of teenage struggles to play with supernatural ideas. Watching Mia react to her body changing in ways, which at first seemed mundane, made me think Mia was going crazy. And after watching her shove her hand in a fish tank to catch and eat a goldfish, I feel this is a logical reaction. I don’t know what it is with European films and raw meat. The French film RAW (2016) has a much more concerning portrayal of its protagonist’s urge to eat uncooked meat, which I just couldn’t sit through. The role of raw meat in Blue My Mi...

‘No wonder you’re always so pleased with yourself‘-Harriet Wilson After Luce writes an essay that takes a disturbing turn, his adoptive parents and his teacher start to question who he really is. From the jump, Luce is the picture prefect student that you literally only see in movies, so I never trusted who he portrayed himself to be. But for everyone else his perfection is nothing to be questioned, because what’s better than an a child who you saved from a war torn country becoming the perfect son. But Ms Wilson’s revelation causes his mother to start to see him differently and wonder who her son truly is. Luce is so skilled at hiding who he is, that it’s difficult to trust anything he says and does. And that’s what makes him truly scary. Ms Wilson thinking that she, unlike everyone else, knows the real flawed Luce, still doesn’t stop her being fearful of him and his mind games. In return he invades her personal life and uses that against her, but Ms Wilson is no stranger to...

Unstoppable ‘Don't get sentimental on me, makes me think I'm gonna die’ – Frank When deciding what movie to watch I stumbled upon action movie Unstoppable (2010). I decided to watch it because I assumed it would be about a train that would run out of track, and intended to add the film to my growing list of movies that suggest Los Angeles needs to finished their motorways.   Not only is Unstoppable not set in LA but the problem is they have a vast lengths train tracks and not enough time to stop a runaway train carrying mass amounts of organic compound, Phenol.  So, newly acquainted veteran and rookie pair of train engineers, Frank Barnes and Will Colson (Denzel Washington and Chris Pine) take it upon themselves to stop it. My main thought throughout the film was ‘How could everyone be so stupid?’ How could Dewey, the train driver, be so stupid as to not put the independent brake on and create a potentially destructive situation? How could Oscar Galvin think it is a g...

                                                                                                   ‘Alright, I’m confused’ Captain The drab rainy atmosphere was perfect for the film. The constant rain becomes ironic because as much it is pouring rain Detective William Somerset and David Mills, (Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt respectively) are in a drought in terms of gathering evidence, having to resort to the illegal methods to keep up with the serial killer, John Doe.  Other bloggers  feel that writer Andrew Walker was able to encapsulate the sombre thoughts and feelings of people during the nineties.    Upon further thought I realised that the whole film is wet and rainy but at the end Doe manages to take the detective d...

  ‘You sayin’ this is medicinal use coke, is that what you sayin’?’ -    Orlando Experimental is the best way to describe the directorial debut of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, which injects every stylistic technique that you can imagine into this hour and a half sprint.                                                                                                                Chev Chelios is injected with a Chinese synthetic drug by his rival Ricky Verona, which will slow his heart and kill him. As he searches for a cure and his adversaries, Chev must keep his adrenaline high to stay alive. In want of an action movie, I thought anything starring Jason Statham would be safe bet. And although...