How I Live Now!!!!

How I Live Now.

One thing that was close to happening in the UK in the early 1960's was the Cuban Missile crisis where the UK was at panic stations and under threat from all out nuclear war. With the United States finally agreeing to a un-heard kept quiet arrangement with Cuba the threat of Nuclear War was to be stopped dead in its tracks. 

This is where the premise of How I Live Now comes in. A young girl Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) is flown from her home in the United States to spend a summer in the UK with her cousins Edward (George MacKay), Isaac (Tom Holland) and Piper (Harley Bird). As the three are left to fend for themselves in the countryside while Daisy's Aunt Penn (Anna Chancellor) travels back and forth to London as she works for the government the four get along well. Daisy soon starts to become attracted to Edward as he shows her that she doesn't need to be so uptight and nerurotic all the time, finally giving in the two soon become a couple and enjoy each others company. 

As a bomb goes off in London the whole of the UK is now into lockdown, with a US consulate arriving to give Daisy a flight back to the US she has to decide what to do. Staying with her cousins they are soon rounded up by the Army and are sent to different locations within the UK. Edward shouts to Daisy to travel back to the house if they have the chance as he will meet them there and they can be together again as a family. Situations change for the girls and for the boys, being attacked and nearly held hostage, staring death in the face and learning to love what you have in life now they go through alot of motions. 

For a film that has the underlying theme of a Nuclear bomb going off in the UK it shows how the government would have reacted to this and how to protect their own residents. It is of course a typical boy meets girl, get seperated, vow to find each other, bad things happen, find each other and live happily ever after type of film which I didn't expect. Ronan as Daisy is the main impressive force in the film and you see her character change and learn to be a better person over the course of the quite short film. The on screen love story between Ronan and MacKay could be seen as happening for real on screen as the two outside of the film are now dating. 

For a film about a Nuclear threat I found it too bland and not enough information was given out, who attacked the UK, what happened to change the situation in the end, what was the resolve and what happened to the mother/aunty. Obviously it wasn't to go into too much detail as it would baffle and confuse a much younger generation in which this film is mainly aimed at. A nice film that lacks that information based history that I wanted to get from the film but praise to Ronan again showing she is a strong actor and on the verge of great things. 

7/10.

Byzantium!!!!

Byzantium.

A second vampire film from director Neil Jordan and a return to ways of how a vampire film should be done, dark, sexy and filled FULL of the good red stuff, blood. Yes Byzantium is directed by the man who brought us the classic vampire film 'Interview with the Vampire'. Deciding this time to use the story/play of Moira Buffini it sees the story of a centuries old mother and daughter in modern day life struggling to stay alive.

The film starts out with audio dialogue of the daughter Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) telling her story and how she arrived at the place that she currently lives. Cutting to a lap dancing club you see the mother Clara (Gemma Arterton) giving a client a lap dance in order to make some money. As a man arrives in the club holding a picture of Clara she's soon being chased by him on the streets as she runs for her life, caught she leads him to her home where she beheads him with some cheese cutter wire.

Setting fire to the flat to destroy the body the mother and daughter leave and end up in a small sea side town where Clara meets a crying grieving client Noel (Daniel Mays). Finding out he has inherited a hotel 'Byzantium' from his deceased mother Clara befriends him and moves herself and her daughter into the hotel.

Soon enough a wandering Eleanor becomes friends with an old gentleman who invites her to his home and explains how he has read her story of her life. He accepts death and allows Eleanor to drain his blood and end his life for him, using her growing nail she slits his wrist and drains his blood. As she wanders into a hotel to play a piece by Mozart on a piano she gains an admirer in a young waiter Frank (Caleb Landry Jones) who follows her and tries to become friends. Deciding to join a college course she finally gets the chance to write about her life story and tells Frank her and her mothers secret which draws in some rather unwanted attention from her tutors. 

As the police find the burnt out flat and the old age pensioners blood drained body the mother and daughter are soon being tracked down by two men, Darvell (Sam Riley) and Savella (Uri Gavriel). Both men look and act mysterious and want to track down the mother and daughter as soon as possible.

As the relationship between the mother and daughter becomes strained and the relationship between Eleanor and Frank becomes stronger what will happen to the two bonds. Will Eleanor and Clara finally escape the sights of Darvell and Savella and how did the both of them become vampires.

The movie is interesting and brings in some different origins and ways in which vampires act and live in the real world during daylight. With the use of a growing finger nail to slice peoples wrists or necks to suck the blood out of victims is unique and a little twist on the usual fanged nocturnal vampire. The way in which they become vampires is like more of an old ritual in which they voluntarily take part in and is impressive with blood flowing waterfalls and packs of black birds swirling in the sky. 

Saoirse Ronan portrays Eleanor really well and plays the innocent young victim daughter with plenty of emotion, Gemma Arterton portrays the young mother who would do anything for her daughter well and shows how much she loves her daughter. I liked the addition of some UK tv actors like Daniel Mays and Tom Hollander as it gave it a more home UK style film and also the fact it's partly filmed in the UK as well. 

Overall it's the type of film for the people who complained about Twilight not being a vampire film, they would love this film. It's dark with plenty of blood and a brooding underlying storyline of love and loss and new relationships. There are no special effects or anything it's a straight up low budget style film that really hits every point of a vampire film. For any Twilight haters go or Twilight lovers go and watch this film and see how a proper blood filled vampire film is done.

8.5/10.

The Host!!!!

The Host.

After the hype and success of the Twilight series of films taken from the books by Stephanie Meyer her other book 'The Host' has been picked up and given the same hollywood treatment. This time round the book and film itself is set in the distant future where the Earth itself has been taken over by an alien life form. The alien life form then takes over and possess the main majority of the Earth and make them into "hosts".

The film begins with the main character Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) is running away from a group of silver suited people. As she runs through the corridors she eventually jumps through a window and falls to her death, led out on a metal slab she is sprayed with some healing spray and a new host is inserted into the back of her neck. Soon enough she wakes up, her eyes turn grey and she is alive again but this time being controlled by a new host (Wanderer).

Wanderer's job is to extract information about the location of the last remaining humans on Earth who have not yet been captured and taken over by an alien host. As Wanderer goes on through life she soon enough starts hearing Melanie's voice telling her not to do certain things and she is trying to fight back with everything that she does or says. As an incident takes place and she's stranded in the desert she lets Melanie take over and lead her to a safe place, finally meeting up with the other humans she is taken in by them. 

Re-united with her uncle, aunty and younger brother Melanie struggles to show them that she is still inside her own body and the alien host is just an outside shell. As the film progresses on and the whole story of Melanie, her brother, her love of her life Jake Howe (Max Irons) and of the other humans is told you learn about how they survive. The struggle for her family and loved ones to truly understand that she is still inside her body is also shown on screen. 

Of course their has to be a bad guy in the film which is Seeker (Diane Kruger) who goes to almost any length to catch and capture the free humans. As she gets closer and closer too them will it all end happy?, will Melanie ever get her own body back, will they all survive and not get caught and what will happen to Wanderer (Wanda)?

The film overall is a great teenage film as it is targeted towards the same demographic as the Twilight films, it's a simple sci-fi storyline that isn't too complicated. Their are other threads of story that I have missed out like how Wanderer falls in love with someone else but Melanie inside her dissagrees with it and stops her everytime they get close. The story of how to safely take out a alien host from a body is also touched upon and also the fate of Melanie's younger brother. 

The storyline is ok, at the start it has action and shows some good action sequences that get you hooked then in the middle it becomes linnear and slows right down, soon enough picking up with action sequences it then finishes. If more time was taken for the middle it would be a much better film but it has to be said it's interesting enough for people. 

Saoirse Ronan plays Melanie and Wanda really well and is able to portray two people who are in control of just one body. Her native irish accent doesn't even seep out and she passes off an american accent very well. Her fellow actors are at times a little bit wooden and seem to have only a certain ammount of facial expressions kind of like Kristen Stewart but they do a good job in the end. 

Overall a great teenage film that would be thoroughly enjoyed by a twihard fan or for someone who enjoys a simple, basic sci-fi film that you can watch, leave for a few days and watch again and not forget a thing. 

7/10.