Kelly's Filmy Things #6

"The Round Up Blog of 2010"

We've all eaten our mince pies, we've all celebrated the new year, so I thought maybe now's the time to reflect upon an emotional roller-coaster of a year for The Film Obsession and me. 

Starting off in January (Because that's the most chronological order you can do when writing about a year), I celebrated my 20th birthday, had gone into the 2nd term of my first year at Sussex University, and was trying to make the blog a little bigger. 

From then until April I was reviewing films and started my obsession with Twitter, to which I have now made some excellent friends. That one little social networking device can bring wonderful things, as I am about to explain...

By the time May came round, I thought it might be an idea to start a YouTube page giving my thoughts and opinions on films of the moment. Although it was (and still is) cringingly horrible to watch myself back, the videos produced a lot of views with just under 10,000 watches. I've paused for now, but 2011 has come along bringing with it a sparkly new video camera, so look out for more of those! In this month as well, I had finished my first year of Film Studies and got a job at HMV in Brighton, Churchill Square!

As I carried on vlogging and blogging, the views on this website started to rise a little which meant I had some sort of following. Then the lovely Phil and Kat came along (on Twitter) asking for writers to contribute to Blogomatic3000. I applied and after a trial week of successful posts, they let me write my words on their website! July was when the posts started to fly in... This was the month that I posted the trailer analysis for Paranormal Activity 2, which is now the most viewed blog on my website with over 30,000 views. Ridiculous, right? I still find it hard to imagine people who I've never met reading my work. It's a lovely, silly feeling, that is. 

August was really special. Blogomatic3000 sent me to my first press screening, which was Scott Pilgrim - One of now, my top 10 films. I was sent screeners of Kandahar Break, Love Life and Night Before The Wedding to review by American film companies, and met my good old buddy Monty who I would be nowhere without at press events. And then September came round which caused even more of stir as I exclusively interviewed David Whitney (the director of Kandahar Break) and went to the launch party of StreetDance 3D! Plus, getting into the London Film Museum to meet the team behind Blogomatic3000 was great fun! We geeked out probably as much as we could over film. 

October came and I started back to University, now in my scary, everything counts, 2nd year. But this was the ultimate month for the blog. I hit 10,000 views which was incredible and I only went and got a press pass for The London Film Festival, to which me of all people, was allowed to sit in the same room with the likes of Keira Knightly and Hilary Swank - Now THAT is absolutely bloody amazing. Another amazing thing is I met some lovely people at the festival including Hemanth. His laugh is like Buble's voice to my ears. And I met (finally) the brilliant HeyUGuys team who are literally the nicest people ever. 

After this immense month I actually did have to start doing proper work for a proper degree, so the posts die down a little towards the end of the year. One last junket I did get to attend was the Paranormal Activity 2 event, in which a hotel was paid for, a screening at Paramount Studios was taken place, and a Paranormal reading of ghosts and spirits in the London Tombs occurred. I've literally never, EVER, been so terrified in my life. Without the help of Jo, I think I would of actually passed out, but she kept me grounded... Until we ran from the room, and when I say ran, I believe neither of our feet touched the floor at one point we moved so fast. 

How immense is that? Me, a girl from Crawley who moved to Brighton to study film is hanging around with top journalists? It's just crazy. I'm not showing off in this blog, I'm giving a sense of my appreciation and love for what I do. It's overwhelming the amount of privileges I've been giving and can only hope that 2011 brings with it even more heart stopping excitement (Because when I was gazing into Andrew Garfield's eyes at the Never Let Me Go conference, my heart did stop). 

Happy 2011 everyone!

Conviction *** - London Film Festival Review

For Blogomatic3000

Stars: Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell,

Minnie Driver, Juliette Lewis

Director: Tony Goldwyn

Wow, Hollywood galore. When you think of films from this place you imagine big stars, a thrilling storyline, a cathartic ending and an emotive tale. This has it all and more; it's packed with cliché after cliché which at points becomes almost humorous. We're taken through ups and down that throw emotions at you left, right and centre. But strangely enough, this is actually quite an enjoyable film. You just need to let yourself give into the conventions of Conviction.

All the characters in this film are based on real people, because this is a film about a real case that started in 1983. Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) and Kenny Waters (Sam Rockwell) are the closest a brother and sister can be through their childhood of deviant behaviour to when they have children and get married. After the arrest of Kenny for the accusation of murdering a young woman, the dynamics of their relationship don't get hindered, but gain much more value as Betty Anne does anything to prove her brother is innocent. The story tells of how she puts herself through law school, whilst being a mother and working I might add, to represent her older brother in court right until the very end.

It's entertaining in terms of the emotion that's central to this drama. The highs and lows are placed in a perfect amount which keeps you wondering what's going to be the next action in their life. And the flow of the story is steady throughout the film which makes it an easy watch. There are just a few things that hold you back from completely falling in love with this representation of a true story.

The exaggeration of love means that after a while the affection becomes funny. You start noticing that this film really pushes family connections and the bond this brother and sister have for each other. When you watch it, not only are you trying to follow the story of a courageous woman, but you're also picking out the single lines which just become a bit ridiculous. It's just a typical example of how a Hollywood film spells things out to the audience. Obviously, from the storyline alone you gain a sense of companionship between the two, but to have every single scene thrown in your face with love and affection means you're kind of distanced. You start noticing the narration and realise it's not actually that great...

Another thing which isn't necessarily bad is that the supporting actors often shine over Swank and Rockwell. There's no doubt about it that these two really put a lot of effort in their roles to gain as much reality out of the true life characters as possible. But when we look at Minnie Driver (Abra Rice) and Juliette Lewis (Roseanna Perry) in particular, they're much more natural and likeable. Maybe because they're added features to the story to give a little bit of humour and the everyday character, but I found I enjoyed watching their roles as it was an escape from the quite dramatic tale being told from the rest of the film.

Going back to Rockwell and Swank, their acting is very... in character. I know that seems a ridiculous statement, but they adopted these roles with a real sense of passion. They both spent a lot of time with the real family and picked up on traits to create this emotive performance. The chemistry between the two is exceedingly good too. It's just a shame that the script was so dyer to work with.

That being said, I did find myself wondering whether there would be a huge twist - Whether he had killed the girl, whether she was going to actually finish Law School etc. So, the story keeps you engaged throughout and has a very satisfying ending which is obvious for a mainstream film. This makes it a perfect watch on DVD, but not so much on the big screen. It's all very typical and by the end predictable. And the fact that there weren't that many turns in the narrative almost made it less satisfying for me. You just want something with a little more of a kick, but all in all it's a pretty standard watch that's pleasurable enough.

How could you accuse this man of a murder?