Live by Night ... And the return of a bad blogger.

Hello and welcome to another blog entry to add to the million already littering the internet, expressing a fickle thing that everyone has (especially when it comes to the US government!): an opinion. This entry will document the feelings and emotions I had when watching the new film directed and staring Ben Affleck (who is the bomb in Phantoms!), along with his other  Hollywood Pal (maybe?) turned director Leonardo DiCaprio. 

Image from cinemablend.com and rights of Warner Bro's

Live by Night is a movie set back in the early 20's where flapper culture was thriving and gangsters were poppin' glocks all over the place.... We see a [very handsome] Joe Coughlin (Affleck) fall in love with an Irish immigrant turned lady mobster Emma Gould (Sienna Miller), who loves a little bit of love triangle related qurrels, and sneaking behind the big Irish mobs boss' back to have a little weekend canoodle with Joe. This true love obviously crashes down, like all Movie love triangles that involve a big bad person, when Albert White (Robert Glenister) catches onto what is happening and literally gives a swift, but accurate kick to Joe's unmentionables (a scene that made me half laugh (I know, I'm a sadist) and cringe due to the, I think, unjustified reaction of audible intense intakes of breath from the male cinema go-ers around me.) 

Of course Joe goes to jail, and is released over time, and seeks revenge. Typical mob flick right? Wrong... Sort of. Live by Night then goes on to become a capsule for a range of differing themes that I simply (although looking back on it, stupidly...) didn't see coming. Themes of racism, gender and mixed race relationships come into play, which all of you who know me in real life know I am a sucker for. We see scenes of the KKK and how lovely, heart throb (okay, Jessiefer, be calm, we all know you like Affleck!) Joe 'takes care of them' along side taking over a large part of the south of the US with his imports and exports of prohibited liquid from Cuba. Joe then goes on to fall in love with the beautiful Graciela ( Zoe Saldana) whom recovers the parts of his heart lost when Emma was taken away by Albert. 

From IGN.com.

The film, without giving away much else, is very interesting, and I really do recommend you all go and see it, It has a varied mix of action, romance and race themes which I think will keep all types of film go-ers happy and entertained throughout the majority of the flick. I loved the twists and turns, the (I believe) very accurate history of the time periods expressed (1920's - 1950's) was also very interesting to see, and the cherry on the top? The film just easthetically looks amazing! Live by Night is, to me, a little understated gem of unexpected film narrative, which although may not be on the top of your 'I need to see these films, especially now all the good ones have come out!' list, but is very much well worth the viewing. 

Please check it out and maybe leave your own thoughts on it down below, I'd love to hear from somebody else (I'm very lonely...... hgahahaha... no, really) and please do not forget to fall in love with Ben Affleck a little more .

Until next time,
Jessiefer. 

PS, here is a close up of the man himself.... Wit Woo

Etonline.com

Fresh Out the Kitchen: Gone Girl

This is a post that was written out as soon as I got home from the Cinema after watching Gone Girl, for this reason my thoughts may be a little scattered and also a little muddled due to me not fully digesting my thoughts and analysis of the film. None the less, you should still get a good.... decent.... okay... read out of it.

Gone Girl, directed by the talented Mr Fincher, who also directed the awe inspiring Fight Club (which was pretty much already a god sent novel), Se7en, The Social Network and many more beautifully cinematic pictures, is, simply put, a tale of two people and their changes after wedlock.

'Ohhh one of those flicks, eh? Better leave it to the missus...' I hear some of you cry. 'Hell no, brotha' I reply. If you get past the succulent, fleshy story, the juicy twists and turns of narrative and action, it is about marriage and how much that one action between two people who love each other can change the two people who said I do. However, I wouldn't say in particular that it is a love story at all, at least, not one like what we all usually think of when we hear the word love or marriage.

It is about the struggle of a flame burning low, the resentment that you feel towards another people that is stupidly perplexing because of the bewildering passion you once had for them, and most of all it's a look at the dumbfounding unraveling of the deep emotional and mental chaos/bliss that goes on inside ones brain due to, or over another person.

I cannot find a way of summarising the plot in a way that you will understand the outter levels of the film, and make you ravenous to devour the flesh that Gone Girl literally hands you on a plate, because, simply put, my brain doesn't function like that (Damn you art school! Damn you Freud!). But I will say this, if you love a plot twist (ohmigawd, Jessie you dun did a spoiler!), your subconscious subtexts to films, to be utterly distraught over how a person could possibly fathom an action and then suddenly laughing at a sick joke the next, then you NEED to see Gone Girl. It is like an unknown sibling of Fight Club, who is now willing and able to finally expose itself to a shocked but not entirely surprised family....

On another note, the cinematics of Gone Girl, like all of Fincher's pictures, are stunningly magnificent. The story never gets boring, which is a big, golden star for a 2hr 20 film in my book, the action is literally beautiful, and had made me truly realise that I really bleedin' like Ben Affleck as an actor.

So all in all, if you are a fan of Fincher, love films that well and truly baffle your mind with twists and turns that you never see coming, that has witty black humor and a frightingly believeable story, then Gone Girl is for you. P.s maybe reading the novel will be interesting too, I know that's what I will be doing next.

Until next time,
Jessiefer.