the town

2015 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.

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.

Now 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

But, 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.

Despite 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

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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

The Town film poster Director: Ben Affleck
Writers: Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan. Screenplay: Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard
Released: 2010
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Titus Welliver, Pete Postlethwaite and Chris Cooper
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Not to be confused with The Village…

I think this movie has everything in it – a compelling love story, fantastic action scenes and Ben Affleck *swoon*. You also can’t go wrong with a rough Boston accent either!

A story about a town in Boston named Charlestown. Where, for some, bank robbery is a way of life and treated as an art handed down through the generations.

The Town film - robbery scene In the first robbery of the film, a masked Doug (Ben Affleck) is calming Claire (Rebecca Hall) who is franticly opening the safe, while the rest of the robbers intimidate the hostages.

A few days after the robbery, Doug ‘bumps into’ the woman to see how much she knows about the robbers and what she’s told the police. Which, I thought was a super cool part of the film. By getting close with one of the few witnesses Doug had the inside scoop of how far off the police were.

Anyway, she basically falls in love with Doug – who, little does she know, was responsible for one of the most traumatic experiences of her life.

The Town movie - nun costume scene I like movies where you’re on the side of the ‘badies’. Kind of like in Gone Girl where I found myself rooting for the mad killer. It was the same as in this film – I was backing the robbers the whole time. but what The Town did differently was that they went a step further and villainised the ‘goodies’ – the police.

It’s a thorough insight into a vastly different culture. The robbers are brutal, tough, but incredibly loyal toward each other.

Doug: I need you to do something with me. I can’t tell you why, you can’t ask me about it after and we’re gonna hurt people.”
Jem: Whose car we gonna take?

God, but bloody Affleck. Being the main character, director and one of the writers, OF COURSE he had to write himself a saucy love scene. Boys, eh!

Lovable, exciting – yet violent – characters, a believable love story with fantastic action sequences between uplifting scenes. A cool twist to the average cold, stale bank robbing film. I like how, although it is scary and violent and intense, it’s still personable and emotional.

Jodie’s rating: 8.5/10

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Good riddance, 2015!