Mini Film Reviews #2 - A Simple Favour, Sweeney Todd & More

It feels like ages ago since I shared my first post in a new series of mini film reviews so I thought it was about time for another. During this time of year we have so many movie nights so we've been watching all sorts, let me know if you've seen any of these too. Ignore that one of them is a Christmas film, I planned on putting this up much earlier in the month!

Rock Of Ages - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A musical I'd been meaning to listen to for a while and the film seemed like the perfect thing to start with. With the songs of Journey, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and more, it tells the story of two aspiring singers, Sherrie played by Julianne Hough and Drew played by Diego Boneta. Whilst chasing their dreams, a misunderstanding involving rock god Stacee Jaxx played by Tom Cruise threatens to tear them apart. First of all, I absolutely loved the music, just classic hits one after the other and secondly the cast is so strong, aswell as the people already mentioned it also stars Russell Brand, Alec Baldwin, Mary J Blige, Malin Akerman and also Catherine Zeta Jones who is basically a queen of musicals. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and I've already re-watched it a few times.

Sweeney Todd - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Why did I not watch this sooner?! Of course I'd heard of Sweeney Todd before and it had been a film on my to watch list for a while but it wasn't until the end of last year I finally thought to put it on. I absolutely loved it though! I'm such a fan of musicals anyway as I'm sure you know by now so I loved it for the songs but overall I think everything about it is brilliant. Just in case you don't know what it's about, it stars Johnny Depp as Sweeny Todd who returns after 15 years to London after being falsely convicted of a crime he didn't commit. He vows revenge, applying his razor to unlucky customers and shuttling the bodies down to Mrs Lovett who uses them in her pie shop. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are fantastic together and the whole film was just one of the best I've watched recently.

Nativity Dude Where's My Donkey? - ⭐⭐⭐

The first two Nativity films are a go to watch of mine at Christmas but it wasn't until last December I finally got round to seeing the third, Dude Where's My Donkey? You know from the title it's going to be silly but that's what the Nativity films are, something for the whole family to enjoy. Unfortunately I think this film went a little too far with that. The plot seemed a little all over the place, the songs weren't as good and generally I wouldn't say it was quite as funny as the previous films. It was still a nice watch and I'm probably not the main target audience so I'm sure kids would still love it but I don't think I'd rush to see it again. That being said I'd like to see the 4th film that's currently in the cinemas just to see how it works without Marc Wootton playing Mr Poppy. The first with Martin Freeman is definitely still my fave, such a lovely film.

A Simple Favour - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had been desperate to watch this for ages! We didn't get around to seeing this at the cinema but I'd heard such good things about it so I was really intrigued to see if it would live up to all of it's hype. Anna Kendrick plays Stephanie, a mummy vlogger who wants to uncover the truth behind her best friend Emily's (Blake Lively) sudden disappearance from their small town. I ended up really enjoying this and I think all of the praise it's been getting has been so deserved. It has a great story and the cast are brilliant, it was great to see Henry Golding from Crazy Rich Asians in this too who I mentioned in my last mini film review post. I did find it a little confusing at times not knowing who was playing who at the end and what Emily's real plan had been but maybe that's just me. I'd love to watch it again.

The Festival - ⭐⭐⭐

I think you can tell from the trailer alone this is a bit of a silly, Inbetweeners style movie but I just felt like putting something on to have in the background one weekend recently and so I chose this. Joe Thomas who is known for playing Simon in The Inbetweeners, is Nick, a young man who thinks his life is basically over after his girlfriend dumps him at graduation. His best friend has a solution though, three days at a giant music festival. Whilst some bits are a bit gross and cringey, it was what I expected it to be - a silly British comedy. I wouldn't be in a rush to watch it again but it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it might be. Nick's character is basically Simon though, there was no difference at all between them!

Have you watched any of these films too? Would love to know what you thought if so!

Follow Me - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest & Bloglovin!