Good riddance, 2015!

The Beatles have a snowball fight2015 is finally over.

Anyone else feel like 2015 took a few years too long to come to an end?

Madonna I'm a material girl gif
I am now a material girl.

This time last year, I had just graduated from university to begin my career of job-hunting. I eventually landed a job in the industry I trained in – the media – which is an achievement in itself, really. I have learnt an awful lot about being a grown-up and earning a living.

However, it has meant I haven’t had much energy to do much else. Hence the pitiful turn-out for movie reviews this year.

During my ‘indoor’ time in 2015, I have discovered the TV show New Girl, featuring Zooey Deschanel, and the good-looking Jake Johnson. Writers don't read. We write. New Girl scene with Nick Miller

Weirdly, I have been able to relate to this fictional show – at least for the first two seasons before it slowly faded into the Hollywood abyss of flattering lighting and two-dimensional characters.

But I digress…

Despite a predominately average 2015, I have ended this year on an unexpected high note by spending December with exciting people, and getting out of my comfort zone.

Feeling 22 Taylor Swift gifNow 22, I am ready to continue in this adventurous fashion, by following my passion for writing and travel. I am ready to see things that can’t be found in an air-conditioned office, and tick off some things from my bucket list.

Although, I did actually tick one thing off my bucket list quite recently, for some reason I had written “ride a bus for free” some years ago. I can only assume this was inspired by the Alanis Morisette song ‘Ironic

It’s a free riiiiide, when you’ve already paid

It's for free tattoo scene in BridesmaidsBut, I really did get to ride a bus for free. The machine that takes your money broke, and the bus driver was all like, “WTF, OMG, YOLO” and let me on for free.

Into the Wild crying sceneDespite this obvious rush of achievement, I am actually planning to tick larger things off my bucket list this year. Keep an eye out on my blog for developments.

 

So here we go: Here are the few movies I have reviewed during the year of 2015.

2015 reviewed movies:

Gold, Jerry, Gold!
9.5/10
American Graffiti (re-reveiwed)

9/10
Whiplash
Wild

Hoochie Mama!
8.5/10
Arthur Christmas
A Few Good Men
The Town

8/10
Big Eyes
Inside Out
Godzilla (2014)
Gone Girl

7.5/10
Into the Wild

Giddy-Up!
6/10
What We Did on Our Holiday
Big Hero 6

Yada, Yada, Yada…
4/10
Hector and the Search for Happiness

Indie, short and other films:
Goldfish
Courting Chaos
My Lonely Me
In the Mood for Love
All in One Creativity Kit
The American Garage
James Herman Banning: Greatest Story Never Told

All the best for 2016!
Jodie

Spider Pig scene

My Lonely Me

My Lonely Me short film poster review

Written and directed by Joe Scott, who also wrote Tamla Rose.
Released: 2015
Production company: Ace Film

A slightly abstract musical about a young woman uncovering mysteries of her childhood.

Reiga (Sabrina Dickens) is a music student suffering from flashbacks and hallucinations, particularly of a little girl. As the movie goes on, it gets darker and even rather creepy.

The little girl is Reiga’s younger self, who helps her uncover family secrets and come to terms with the tragedies of her past that she has mentally blocked out.

A fantastically lit, well-made feature-length film. I thought Sabrina Dickens was a believable actress whom I enjoyed watching.

Although I’m not a fan of musicals – usually because they get mellow-dramatic rather quickly – I found that the songs not only fitted in very well with the tone of the movie, but actually carried the story further. Particularly because the protagonist was experiencing surreal delusions, so the realism wasn’t broken when the actress began singing.

Despite the occasional shot hinting at the film’s low budget, I think it was a creative and an incredibly brave storyline that was pulled off well.

I think the only way this film could have been improved, would be to play around with the lighting a little, or even using simple in-camera tricks to highlight the creepiness and uneasiness of the situations.

Despite that, I think it is a great film with great songs. But I am particularly impressed with the continuity and set lighting. Even though there wasn’t a huge amount of creativity within the set design, the crew certainly stuck to what they know and do best. Limitations are an important thing to recognise on a low budget, and these guys used it to their advantage.

Check out their Facebook page and website: www.mylonelyme.me.uk

Jodie’s rating: 8/10