The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist(Daniel Craig(DIWF)) has just lost a well-publicized court battle having been accused of publishing false information about a wealthy business man in his left wing newspaper: Millennium, (hence the Millennium saga name). The story is set in a modern, frozen Sweden, where we are supposed to believe that everyone has either a fluxuating, questionable or non-existent Swedish accent. This is a slick, gory, gritty political thriller, riddled with social innuendoes and questioning about the treatment and representation of women. This remake, the Swedish original and the Stieg Larsson novels (originally entitled ‘men who hate women’) are by all means in my opinion wonderfully 21^st century feminist films. 

Mikael and later Lisbeth(Mara Rooney), a troubled but gifted goth computer hacker, are enlisted by a retired wealthy industrialist tycoon to solve the unsolved mystery of the murder of his beautiful granddaughter 40 years ago. He suspects the murderer is one of the members of his cold and unpleasant family, who currently occupy an island in northern Sweden. As Mikael and Lisbeth begin to piece together the sinister and deeply unpleasant pieces of this unsolved jigsaw, they find themselves dangerously involved in what seems to be more than just one girl’s disappearance.   

As cliché as it sounds I think this is one of those defining tales of our era and I defiantly recommend this and the Swedish Original. 

The Craft

The craft is a dark, supernatural teen drama. Sound familiar? Well unless you've been living in a secure transmission/Signal or media of kind proof compound for the last 5 years, you will know that in the years since The Craft was released in 1996 the whole vampire/supernatural genre has been over done, and over done some more thanks to the likes of (need I say) Twilight.

This perhaps tainted my enjoyment of to what 90s viewers would have been more fresh and original viewing.

On the plus side, unlike twilight the female leads are interesting and dynamic. The film centres around troubled Sarah, who moves to LA and falls in with a group of girls who practise witchcraft. Despite warnings, things begin to fall apart when they start to use their power for revenge. Unfortunately I found the plot basic and lacking dept, and didn't seem to flow as well towards the end as in the beginning. Despite this it tackled delicate issues such as racism, rape and domestic violence intelligently and in a way that enriched the plot. Overall the film was enjoyable, far more thoughtful than its modern successors and worth a watch.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2

In the days leading up to the day I went to see breaking dawn part 2 I found myself increasingly excited in anticipation of the conclusion of one of my favourite franchises , and then within 30 minutes of entering the cinema increasing perplexed at what the 13 year old version of myself had found so enthralling about this saga. I had considered the films a cinematic masterpiece. At the same time it was still enjoyable and worth my £3.75(orange Wednesdays). I wouldn’t say it was a letdown; just a realisation that Twilight isn’t actually literary gold-it spawned 50 shades of grey for god’s sake!

Despite this, it was actually rather amusing. My personal highlight was the ridiculously unconvincing, and downright creepy, CGI baby. Apart from Kirsten Steward’s still moody teenager like acting some of the acting was actually quite decent, well maybe for the wrong reasons. Michael Sheen, who I still can’t stop thinking of as the Leeds United manger in ‘The damned United’, portrayed the head Volturi in a hilariously camp fashion, which quite undermined the serious mood of the film. The multicultural vampire gathering was also quite spectacular; some sort of most stereotypical accents in one film record must have been broken. The lets rip everyone’s heads off seen was also great, although as usual Bella did next to nothing but stand there looking distressed.

All in all, it was alright. What I still find so alluring about twilight, even with its seriousness undermined, is that it’s never dull. Over the top, but never dull.   

Eva.