The Fault In Our Stars

I'm going to be honest guys, romance and teen drama is usually not my thing but this adaptation of the critically acclaimed John Green novel tends to hit home compared to your usual run of the mill love story.

The Fault In Our Stars is grim, tragic and oddly beautiful. The story follows the lives of two star crossed lovers who connect through a shared affliction that most of us will face in one way or another in our lives, Cancer. Shailene Woodley stars as Hazel Grace, a teenager coping with terminal thyroid cancer and as such has to carry around an oxygen tank with her everywhere. Hazel begins the movie as cynical and rightfully depressed that her mother and doctor assures her is a side effect of cancer, she eloquently retorts that depression isn't a side effect of cancer, it's a side effect of dying. One of the many incredibly memorable lines present that really is pushing me in the direction of reading the book, I'm consistently told to. She at one point also refers to herself as a grenade as a way to dissuade anyone from getting close to her. Her condition leaves her unable to do much adventurous but sit around and watch day time television and read her favourite book, 'An Imperial Affliction' a story written the elusive Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe).

Her antithesis however takes the form of self assured and wildly optimistic Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) a cancer survivor who's operation to remove his osteosarcoma has sadly cost him one of his legs, rather than dwelling on it however he puts his best foot forward (pun intended) and begins to bring Hazel Grace out of her shell and even smile from time to time. He's hard not to like and everyone could use somebody like him from time to time, one thing that doesn't hold up on the big screen though is his habit with cigarettes. I'm told in the novel it's quite clever but he keeps a pack of cigarettes and will have an unlit one in his mouth, his reasoning is having something dangerous close to him but not giving it the power to kill him, It's a metaphor apparently, on screen it comes off a little pretentious sadly.

There is great chemistry between all cast members here, this is a love story and even though it involves some of the usual tropes you'll see in every other movie it's very human treatment of cancer is one of the more moving moments in the film, Hazel Grace's relationship with her woefully conflicted mother really reminds you that in a family it isn't just the person with cancer that suffers, behind closed doors loved ones will drop the brave faces and fall apart, Laura Dern (remember the paleobotanist in Jurassic Park? She digs in the triceratops crap?) is one of the films greatest players, and even at the characters weakest moments displays a plethora of heart and emotion.

An incredibly poignant scene mid way through involving the Anne Frank House has Hazel struggling to make her way up the steep stairs to the haunting yet empowering words of Anne Frank herself is something I came away fondly remembering. Much to the protest of Augustus who tells her she doesn't have to do it, she perseveres dragging her oxygen tank with her, a physical manifestation of the weight she's been carrying for years, she makes it to the top and reminds the audience of the raw determination of the human spirit, I think if you see any scene from the movie then find this one.

Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Webber do well with the source material and some of the lines that you'd imagine would only work in print flow seamlessly with a little help from the actors, I'm often told that John Green really understands the young mind but I'm a little hesitant with the statement. I rather believe that he just has a knack for understanding the human spirit and in a story rife with foreboding messages and inevitable misery he reminds you to live the life you've got while you have it. So yeah ladies and gents, not your every day love story.

Probably one for the ladies gents but for the softer among you bring a tissue or two.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Review Numero Dos!

I'll be honest, there's probably going to be a few spoilers here. Ye be warned.

Quirky, eccentric and effortlessly charming, The Grand Budapest Hotel is another great stride in Wes Anderson's career, the simple tale of a larger than life concierge and his loyal bell boy will captivate and delight you.

The film begins in the fictional European republic of Zubrowska, where we meet our eloquent narrator simply known as "The Author" (represented at two points in his life by F. Murray Abraham and Jude law respectively)  he tells us of his trip to the hotel in the sixties and adds that the once illustrious building has fallen onto hard times as the result of war. We are shortly introduced to the aloof and mysterious proprietor who after a polite back and forth between himself and the author begins to speak about his life.

This hurtles us back to the thirties where Zero Moustafa (played by newcomer and breakout star Tony Revolori) begins his career as a bell boy, without spoiling too much Zero is our deadpan hero who strides loyally besides the larger than life concierge of the hotel, Gustave H (played by Ralph Fiennes who you can tell is having far too much fun with the part). He is a whimsical, romantic poetry reciting ponce with a penchant for women, notably rich elderly women with blonde hair. While not much is ever revealed about Gustave his camp country gentleman persona is often stripped away at moments of crisis to reveal the foul mouthed impatient bastard he really is, and makes him all the more likable. The Don Quixote and Sancho style duo are very much the heart of the piece.

 At this point the death of an old acquaintance, Gustave and his loyal lobby boy are thrust into a surreal little adventure involving a prison break, some bobsledding in the mountains and a hotel shootout over a priceless painting left for him in the will (and maybe a little more) much to the dismay of the spurned son, Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis (Adrien Brody playing a sociopath with Robert Smith hair) who wants back what's his and Gustave dead. Along the way you have all the usual Wes Anderson players alongside a smorgasbord of cameos each bringing their own unique flavour to the endearing picture.

The film is ripe with tonal changes in both colour and mood, the hotel itself is as grandiose and colourful as its owner and later changes to a darker tone when the keys are passed on to Zero. Full to the brim with heart and hilarity, there are so many small blink and you'll miss it gags you'll have to watch a few times to catch them all adding to its replay value and despite catching yourself grinning from ear to ear the narrative is so delicate and subtle when tragedy reaches our characters you find yourself genuinely caring, something I think is rare in a lot of films lately. 

My only issue? Needs more Bill Murray.

 I really should start reviewing worse films.
In conclusion The Grand Budapest Hotel is a fast paced romp with razor sharp wit and a style all of its own. It should be a surprise to no one when this becomes a cult classic that will be up there with Withnail and I.