5 Reasons Why They Really Shouldn’t Make a Buffy Movie

We have, up to know, restrained ourselves by way of Buffy posts for fear of saturating this blog, but we've finally decided to let the cat out the bag: we love this show! Anyway, a few months ago, they announced a new Buffy movie, without the original cast and without Joss Whedon. We're pretty sure everyone knows this is a travesty, but here's our reasoning:

1.     No Joss. 
This is the obvious number one point, and almost all the main cast members have said something about this. Clearly this man made Buffy and as Buffy fans we should all bow down to him. The point is, he’s not having anything to do with it, so it’s not even proper Buffy. It won’t be as clever or full of the hilarious pop culture references we all know and love. 

2.     The cast. 
Let’s face it, you can’t replace Sarah Michelle Gellar, she still is Buffy. But the rest of the cast too! We can’t see anyone else playing Giles, Willow, Xander, Spike, Anya or Angel. Or anyone else. I mean, I’m watching a film now and it’s got Tom Lenk in it and even though he looks older, I still see him as Andrew. You can’t just replace amazing people with lesser mortals.

3.     There are 7 seasons. 
So where do they start? It’s obviously not going to be added to the end of season 7 because that’s already been done in the comic books, and they’d use the same cast, but the TV series covers from her beginnings. So when is it going to be?! Are they going to try and redo, say, season 1 in a film, or will it be like the daptation of Series of Unfortunate events where they tried to unsuccessfully roll about 4 books into 1 film. You can’t do that much in 120 minutes. We’ve seen all we need to see!

4.     It will be like 'copying' Twilight.  Only it's quite clearly not.
So everyone loves vampires at the moment, so why saturate the market with something that is already going to be rubbish?! Sorry but it’s true, it’s going to be the weakest of the vampire films/tv shows out there at the moment, because it’s not so serious. Buffy’s always been pretty light hearted, at times, almost a comedy and the new stuff is so serious it hurts. All the kids who love Twilight and have never seen Buffy just won’t like it. They should just repeat it from the beginning to the end on TV. 

5.     Spike, Riley or Angel? 
Who’s going to be the love interest? If they put either Spike or Angel, it’s going to divide people, for obvious reasons; I don’t know anyone who likes both! Surely one film is too short for her to have two love interests. This also brings me back to my second point… who the hell will play them? I can’t really see Zac Efron (or any other young American heart throb) bleaching his hair and donning a cockney accent!

Films That Really Matter To Us: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

For more info on my 'films that really matter to us' posts, see this post.

Where do I start with this film?! My mum introduced me to the genius of John Hughes' 80s teen movies when I was about 10 and I have been in love ever since. It made me want to skip school for just one day and have the most amazing day of my life. In hindsight, my mum shouldn't have shown it to me at such an impressionable age, but she's always kept my film taste cool before its time and for that I can only thank her! I could have written about The Breakfast Club (another one of my mum's favourites), Pretty in Pink (yes, my mum was responsible for me seeing this one too. In fact, she made me watch it the night before my year 11 prom) or even Weird Science at a push, but there's just something magical about Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Again, this is one of those films that is constantly parodied, and once you've seen it, you start seeing homages to it EVERYWHERE.  

Skins' main character, Tony, narrated a trailer saying "A wise man once said, life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it… and that would be a shame." The wise man was, of course, Ferris Bueller. I loved this because it pretty much summed up the way Skins was going to work - so long as you knew where it had come from. For God's sake, someone on the bloody X Factor sang Twist and Shout while incorporating the Ferris Bueller dance!

Matthew Broderick plays Ferris Bueller, a clever, cocky high school senior who just wants to take the day off from school to enjoy himself. In order to properly enjoy his day, he must convince his best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck) to steal his Dad's Ferrari, and trick the his school into letting his girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara).

However, this becomes incredibly difficult when the headteacher, Ed Rooney (played by the marvellous Jeffrey Jones) and Ferris' annoying sister, Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) decide to foil his plan to simply have a relaxing day off. If you have ever seen Home Alone, you'll know how slightly unbelievable John Hughes' scripts are, but yet you accept everything! This is exactly the same with Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Everything that happens to him, be it catching the stray ball at a baseball game, somehow ending up in the same restaurant as his unsuspecting dad, or stealing a Ferrari from his best friend's parents is all totally believable, and what more it could happen to me if I skip school. 


Ferris Bueller's Day Off has had a lasting impact on pop culture and not without its reasons. It's oddly moving, funny, clever and still says something to schoolchildren today. But don't ever show this film to a 10 year old!

Thoughts About Harry Potter (no film spoilers)

So I really feel that I should write something about Harry Potter now it’s all over. Having written this, I know I haven’t included anything about the films, but they will never mean the same to me as the books. I love them dearly, and have decided to write this now because having seen the 7^th film, I realise that it is the books more than anything else that draw the strongest emotions from me. (Oh, the video games are amazing too!)

I’m not going to bore you with how much of a Harry Potter fan I am – anyone who knew the 11 year old who rolled up to the first day of secondary school can vouch for me, but let’s just say, off the top of my head, if you’re looking to buy some dragon’s liver in Diagon Alley, I know it’s 17 Sickles. OK, so yes, I was a bit of a weird child, I probably still am.

I’m not alone in saying Harry Potter changed my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think as I’ve got older, rereading all of the books proves what a wonderful writing style J. K. R. uses. The books are not written ‘for children’, as such – there is wonderful language and metaphors, seldom seen in other children’s books. I don’t claim to be a English lit expert, but J. K. R’s use of the language is fantastic, and I’m pretty sure there’s more than a few children who have a wider vocabulary (I’m not talking about words like ‘Muggle’!) thanks to reading Harry Potter. I love J. K. R’s writing style because she never talks down to her readership – she assumes they are all capable, and the books are much better for it!

I was lucky enough to be born on 8^th July, which will be remembered by some as the date that Prisoner of Azkaban was released in 1999, as well as Goblet of Fire in 2000. Those days were amazing, and somehow, my parents managed to get copies of the book to where we were living in Norway. What stars! Once we’d moved back to the UK, I went to the remaining midnight openings, which were almost more magical than the books themselves! Book number seven, the Deathly Hallows was released the same year that I finished school, so by that point, I had literally grown up with Harry.

Reading all of those books for the first time is something I will always remember, or rather, finishing them is – that longing for it to last just a few more pages, yet a desire to see how it will all turn out, and finally, the realisation that the next book might not come out for a couple years yet! The emptiness on finishing the 7^th instalment, in the early hours of 21^st July 2007 was mind numbing. I’d never experienced anything like it before. The feeling of satisfaction that you know how it ends is combined with the horror that there’s never going to be anything ‘new’ – fair enough, the films were yet to be released, but I knew the storyline.

J. K. Rowling has made me escape to a world I could never hope to dream up, laugh and cry like a baby and she deserves this lowly blogger’s thanks.

Films That Really Matter To Us: Annie Hall

For more info on 'films that really matter to us' posts, check this post out.

*If you have not been fortunate enough to read my rant on why no one seems to give a damn about Woody Allen any more, now would probably be a good time to read it.*

I love Woody Allen. I mean everyone 'of a certain age' knows he's a genius, right, and OK, his personal life is dubious at best, but I really love his films. He always starts his films the same way, with the same titles at the beginning, and they'll normally be full of witty, quotable lines. Annie Hall is no exception. I'm not going to stand up and say it's his best film, because there's a hell of a lot of Woody Allen films I haven't seen yet - but it's certainly one of my favourites out of the ones I have seen.

Dianne Keaton is just too cool as Annie - a kind of crazy, air-headed woman, with a ridiculous fashion sense. Apparently Woody Allen liked her fashion sense in real-life so much that most of the clothes she wore were her own.

Woody Allen plays his stock character - a neurotic, intelligent, yet nerdy man. In this case, he's Alvy Singer, a comedian who, like Woody Allen, despises L.A. and all that it stands for. He falls in love with Annie Hall who has promising prospects as a singer and who ends up relocating to L.A.

Of course, there are mishaps and tender moments in their relationship, but ultimately, it's just hilarious from start to finish.

Personal highlights include the lobster scene, the spider in the bathroom scene and finally, one of the funniest things I have ever seen: the cocaine scene.

Lastly, if you have not seen Annie Hall, here's some reasons why you really should:

• It will enhance your viewing of other films and TV shows. I can think of many films and tv shows that parody, pay tribute to and just plain rip off, Annie Hall. For example, if you've seen the Green Wing house party episode from series 1, you will laugh even harder. Human Traffic (1999) draws heavily from it.
• It's 134 on the IMDB.com top 250 films. And let's face it, it's most film geek's secret ambition to watch all of those films!
• It won Best Picture at both the Oscars AND the BAFTAS in 1977. 
• It's been preserved by the United States National Film Registry as a film that is culturally significant.
• Total Film reckon it's the 44th funniest film EVER. That's pretty darn funny!
• The American Film Institute recognised it in about 6 or 7 or their '100 Years...' films.

Just go out and watch Annie Hall, you can probably pick it up for a fiver from HMV.

Films That Really Matter To Us: 28 Days Later

For more info on "films that really matter to us" posts, check this post out.

Of all the Danny Boyle films to pick, I pick the one about the zombies. Why the hell do I think this film has some sort of significance!? It's bloody amazing that's why!

First of all, I'm going to get one thing straight with you. I hate scary films. I mean I get scared watching Disney's Snow White or Ice Age 2, so I'm hardly going to sit down and watch a terrifying zombie film. But because it was directed by Danny Boyle, I was drawn in. 28 Days Later is not terrifying. In fact, it's a bit tense and jumpy, but no more tense than, say, Girl, Interrupted (well that bit at the end with Angelina Jolie going a bit crazy spooked me, anyway). It's pretty gory, but we're not talking sawing your own leg off or blowing up a shark in the middle of the sea. To be honest, this film is pretty tame apart from about 15 minutes into the film and the last half hour.

Mind: blown.

28 Days Later is just a really great example of what the British film industry can do. If you don't watch the whole film, just watch from when Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in the hospital to just as he enters the church. I don't care how many times I watch that film, I'm still amazed that they managed to shut of parts of central London to shoot the deserted post-apocalyptic scenes. It then becomes a zombie film for a bit, but it's got believable characters and the inevitable 'child in peril' character.

To me, it's one of those films that you expect to watch once and never want to see again, but it's such a mind blowing film that I can't actually think of anything else to write! Plus, it's got a killer soundtrack!

Films That Really Matter To Us: 24 Hour Party People

For more info on "films that really matter to us" posts, check this post out.

OK this isn’t one of those must see films unless you know who Tony Wilson, Joy Division, Happy Mondays and Factory Records are. 24 Hour Party People takes its title from the song of the same name and it’s a biography of Tony Wilson’s heyday years.

24 Hour Party People is presented in a really cool way – it’s not exactly a dramatisation, but it’s not a documentary either. If you are aware of who the real Tony Wilson was, you’ll appreciate Steve Coogan’s portrayal of him. It’s played as a documentary with moments when Coogan talks directly to the audience, but there are also some really effective film moments too. Ian Curtis’ suicide is one example of this.

Control - too narrow minded?

What I love about 24 Hour Party People is that it doesn’t just focus on the doomed career of Ian Curtis. So many tv shows and now a film – Control (2007) – have documented his tragically short life, ending with suicide at just 23. However, what these films, books and shows fail to address is the fact that Joy Division was not the end for the Manchester music scene, nor Tony Wilson and Factory Records. In fact, it wasn’t even the end for Joy Division themselves, who regrouped to form the very successful band, New Order. 24 Hour Party People goes way beyond this – it goes right up until the final night of the legendary Haçienda club in 1997.

Starting with the influential Sex Pistols gig in Manchester in 1976, 24 Hour Party People shows the crazy life that Tony Wilson led and includes all the bands we’ve heard of, and some of the ones we haven’t. It’s everything I could possibly want in a film – it’s about music: how it’s made, who is influences, how it changes over time and the cultures it creates. The film makes the music the centrepiece in Tony Wilson’s story, he lived it and breathed it and this is effectively conveyed.

Steve Coogan is amazing as Tony Wilson!

24 Hour Party People has the balls to exaggerate, but they normally tell you when this is (“I definitely don’t remember this happening”, says the real Howard Devoto as he is shown sleeping with Tony Wilson’s wife), but as Tony Wilson says, “when you have to choose between the truth and the legend, print the legend!"

I can’t really put into words how amazingly chaotic this film is, yet it makes perfect sense given that it’s about a record label that was so badly run that it hardly made any money and sold records that lost them money just because they looked nice (see Blue Monday – New Order). If you’re interested in music or pop culture, this film is a must see!

Films That Really Matter To Us: Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2

For more info on "films that really matter to us" posts, check this post out.

For obvious reasons, I’ve listed both these films together. Apparently they were originally meant to be one film but it would have been too long – that’s why the full credits are at the end of the second one rather than the first. Anyway, I am by no means a connoisseur of Tarrantino films, I really enjoyed Pulp Fiction, but for me, it’s all about Kill Bill. A powerful female, amazing fight scenes, diverse cultures and of course, a bit of a freaky love story is essentially what this film is about to me.

I could wax lyrical about how cool Uma Thurman is in Kill Bill. In fact, I think I will! I mean, imagine how cool she was in Pulp Fiction and then times it by a thousand and you’re not even close! OK I know a cocaine addict overdosing on heroin is not someone I should be looking up to… neither, for that matter is a incredibly violent woman who goes on the rampage, killing people for revenge but seriously, she’s really cool. I guess I just like films where a girl is kicking ass for once. I think that’s it, yeah, I just liked the fact that you had an intelligent, strong female character participating in cold blooded revenge against the people who tried to assassinate her – including her ex. I think she’s pretty justified, don’t you?

The Crazy 88 are no match for The Bride's samurai sword

When I first watched Kill Bill, one of the things I thought might put me off is the amount of graphic violence in the films. There is a lot of violence in the Kill Bill films, as you would expect – it’s a Tarrantino film, anything less than a bit of gore is unacceptable! But the fight scenes are just so cool. Take the bit near the end of the first film when ‘The Bride’ (you don’t find out her name until the second film) fights the Crazy 88 and it’s just a bloodbath, but there’s some awesome use of colour/black and white switches, and some pretty nifty stunt work too. Te first film is very violent and there is little dialogue – it mainly focuses on The Bride’s quest to kill O-Ren Ishii, one of the assassins who put her in a coma, with a bit of a quest to get the best samurai sword ever made along the way.

By the time the first film ends and she still hasn’t killed Bill, you immediately want to watch the second one. It is not disappointing. Poor old Uma still has 3 people left to kill – Buddy, Elle and, of course, Bill. The second film is not set in Japan (as most of the first one is), but is almost a western. The contrast in the 2 films is really good: O-Ren Ishii, boss of the Japanese underworld compared with Buddy who lives in a trailer somewhere in Texas. While it doesn’t have as much fighting as the first film, there is very cool fight scene between The Bride and Elle in Buddy’s trailer. However, my favourite part of the film is the flashback sequence to The Bride’s training with Pai Mei, a mysterious Chinese martial arts master. He provides some light comic relief before effortlessly demonstrating his skills to The Bride who becomes eager to learn from him.

Volume 2 has a lot more dialogue and explains the entire back story so the audience’s questions about what happened to make Bill want to kill The Bride so much and what happened to her baby. By the end of the film it’s taken you on an emotional journey that’s actually pretty intense.

I don’t think it’s really spoiling it to tell you that she does kill Bill, I’ll leave all the details out, but if you haven’t seen the two Kill Bill films, what have you been doing with your life?!