Cooking With Elvis Review

Cast: Jill Victoria Bewick 
         Stuart Riley Jones         Mam Tracy Whitwell         Dad/Elvis Joe Caffrey

Cooking with Elvis is a 15 year old play about a dysfunctional mother and daughter who are coming to terms with their father/husband’s accident which has made him paralysed. The play is written by Lee Hall also wrote the famous Billy Elliott. The daughter (Victoria Bewick) cannot stop eating and cooking after her father’s accident and her mother has become a raging man-eating alcoholic to deal with her stress.  The final character, Stewart, plays the mother’s lover who moves in and causes havoc throughout the two hour long play!

The performance is described as a “dark comedy” but i wasn't expecting it to be as dark as it actually was. It is full with jokes about the disabled, cannibalism and statutory rape! All things that in a normal day-to-day basis would definitely not be funny, but somehow it works in Cooking With Elvis; the play somehow takes away the seriousness of these issues by adding light-hearted comedy to it and amazingly the audience forgets the actual content and thoroughly laughs out loud. Amazing. I can imagine this would not be to everybody’s taste, especially for people with personal issues with the content, but for the majority this wouldn't be a problem and in no way does it pick or make fun off anybody.

Elvis fans eat your heart out! Joe Caffrey who plays the disabled Elvis impersonator performs an array of Elvis Presley songs throughout accompanied by the cast’s dancing. Not being an Elvis fan, I found myself enjoying the performances a lot so I can imagine someone who is a hardcore Elvis fan would be over the moon.

All in all, a marvellous play with full on entertainment and I’d just like to praise Live Theatre on their Cooking With Elvis programmes which are set out like a menu and actually include a seafood gumbo recipe – very interesting. Cooking with Elvis has a devilishly dark ending and I would recommend this for everyone! Except children, for obvious reasons.

Prisoners Review

Prisoners Review 

Prisoners is a gritty suspenseful crime drama directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Aaron Guzikowski. Hugh Jackman plays a doting father whose child gets abducted outside their neighbourhood along with a family friend; whilst Jack Gyllenhaal plays Detective Loki, lead of the investigation into the disappearance of the girls.

The overall style of the film is very grim, with low key lighting throughout and no use of bright colours, which obviously adds to the depressing element of the film. Watching the trailer for this film, I thought I was going to be watching an emotional drama, but the film was actually much darker and deep than I thought.

Prisoners is a fairly long film with a running time of 153, and usually I prefer a much shorter film, but I found this film to have not one boring moment and it was very tense. Villeneuve keeps the audience hooked by introducing numerous suspects and toys with minds; it’s always good for a film to have audience members guessing the plot right till the end of the film. I thought the plot twist was genuinely good and I was quite surprised at the ending as I hadn’t anticipated the twist. This film definitely is one for those who like suspenseful films that keep them on the edges of their seats.

In terms of faults on this film, it isn’t a lot; but I don’t know about anyone else who has viewed this film but I found it difficult at times to hear the dialogue of some of the characters which could make it difficult for audiences to grasp the plot in detail. Also, although the plot is very well thought out in terms of opening sequence and the cliff-hanging end; there are some parts of the film that I felt were just there to fill time as I felt that some things that happened in the film weren't necessarily followed up which left me thinking why certain things had happened.

Gyllenhaal’s character is very likeable and mysterious – the film doesn't give any of his background, so audiences are left questioning his motives. Jackman’s character on the other hand wasn't likeable at all, I found myself getting really agitated at some of the things he did in the film and considering he’s supposed to be a protagonist, he is not very relatable.

Overall I think a fantastic film with good cinematography, style and acting. It’s definitely not for the faint hearted but it is for those who like a bit of drama and suspense but wanting to be left fulfilled yet still questioning the film.

The World's End.

The World's End hit cinema's July 19th.

So last night I went to my local Odeon to see The World's End, the new and final instalment to the Cornetto Trilogy directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

I have to say I was very excited to watch this film as I am a huge fan of Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, as both have been a large hit with critics. With a Rotton Tomatoes rating of 90% at the time, I was raring to go with my Tango Ice Blast and Crunchie.

The film is basically about five friends coming back together to relive their childhood to do a pub marathon, in which they failed to complete when they had finished school. They come back to their Hometown and realise in the fourth pub that Newton Haven isn't the same... not going to spoil it for you!

I thought the first half of the movie was extremely funny with extremely British humour. Nick Frost and Simon Pegg yet again have a loveable on-screen relationship. I liked the references to the other films in the trilogy - it's not complete without Simon Pegg jumping over a fence and failing, a quick shot montage and of course, a cornetto!

In each pub, something happens that relates slightly to the title of the pub - one of which is called Two Headed Dog and The World's End - I'll let you do the guessing. The first three quarters of the film shares the same light heartedness that Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz does, however I found the last quarter of the film to be a tad serious and not actually that funny...

I don't know why, but I came back from the cinema slightly disappointed that the film wasn't actually as good as the first two - yet I still enjoyed. I felt that the storyline could perhaps be more explained and developed. Other than that me and my boyfriend definitely enjoyed it and if there is a special box set containing all three films - I will be buying it. X