Category Archives: Kimi’s Random Posts
30 Films of Christmas + Giveaway
I was thinking a few weeks ago about how much I love Christmas, and especially Christmas films, and I thought…Why not watch lots of Christmas films and review them on the blog?? I also thought wouldn’t it be great if all the girls here at SLOFL watched some of the Christmas films and discussed which ones we love and which ones we MUST watch at Christmas…
I put together a list of 30 films that I want to try to watch before midnight on New Years Eve…not an easy feat if you have a busy life, but I think it can be done.
The list is below…
A Christmas Carol (w/ Jim Carrey)
A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas
Babes In Toyland
Bad Santa
Christmas Carol: The Movie (w/ Kate Winslet)
Deck The Halls
Elf
Four Christmasses
Fred Clause
Gremlins
The Grinch (live action)
Holiday Inn
Home Alone 1 & 2
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon)
It’s A Wonderful Life
Jack Frost
Jingle All The Way
Love Actually
Meet Me In St Louis
Mickey’s Christmas Carol
Miracle On 34th Street (New)
Miracle On 34th Street (Old)
Muppet’s Christmas Carol
Nativity!
Nightmare Before Christmas
Santa Clause 1, 2 & 3 (Tim Allen)
Scrooged
The Holiday
The Polar Express
White Christmas
So, what do you think? Are there some of your favourites in there? Are there some you would like to have seen on the list? If you leave us a comment by Christmas eve we’ll pick a few of them to watch during the week running up to New Year’s Eve. Plus, with it being Christmas and all, we thought we’d play Santa so those that we do pick will receive some goodies from us (including something extra special for 2 of you). They will arrive a little late of course but hey, it’ll give you something to look forward to in January 
So, to sum up, all you have to do to enter is, leave us a comment and recommend a film that isn’t already on the list and leave us either your email address or Twitter name so we have a way of contacting the winner. As usual, if you’re under 16 please get permission from your parents.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Kimi. xx
Take That Progress Tour review by Kimi
Take That Progress Tour - June 12th 2011
Sunday June 12th, me and my cousin’s little girl Bethany made our way to the City of Manchester Stadium to see Take That on their Progress tour. I’d been so excited for this since Christmas, and I was really looking forward to seeing the original Take That back together with Robbie.
We tried to get there early to be able to get a lower tiered seat, because they were unreserved, but my cousin couldn’t pick me up until 20 to 5, when the doors opened at 5, so by the time I got my t-shirt and hoody, and got in the stadium the whole of the lower tier was full, completely
unexpected as some of my friends got there later and still got seats.
Anyway, we got in and I spotted that there was a space at the barrier on the left side of the front and I headed for that, and we stood there from ten past 5 until 7 o clock in the rain! It was awful, but there were loads of people round us with brollies so I got shielded a bit, at about ten to 7 I bit the bullet and stripped my wet coat and cardi off and threw on my t-shirt and hoody and….THE RAIN STOPPED!!!!
The Pet Shop Boys came on first and they were actually quite good, I didn’t know all the songs but I was bopping away and singing what I knew.
The security guard in front of us was quite fun, he was chatting away with us all for a while and then it all started!!!
At quarter past 8 some random bloke came out in to the middle of the stadium and put a countdown on the main screen and everyone started cheering and we did the ten second countdown and the 4 Take That guys came out (Howard, Mark, Jason and Gary)- I would have panicked if I didn’t know how the show was meant to go.
They sang Rule The World on the main stage then moved down to the middle stage to sing Greatest Day and then Mark dedicated a song called
Hold Up The Light to Alice Pyne (if you don’t know who she is, go here http://alicepyne.blogspot.com/) and I got a bit emotional when he dedicated it – it’s one of my fave songs – and I couldn’t get on twitter so txt a friend to tell my other friend about it..and then I started bouncing!! Haha That song was one of my faves at the last tour too. I love it!
Anyway, they then sang Patience, which was good, and then went off to get changed, up to this point they’d all just been dressed kinda normally in trousers and shirts, but that didn’t last long. When “Shine” started they all came back on stage and they had an Alice in Wonderland thing going on…Mark had this feathery jacket and headset on, Gary was on a big wobbly piano, I think Jason had a drum on his back and not sure about Howard, but there was a big caterpillar and dancing trees, and it was really cool…
TT4 then went off, and there was VT on the screen of the 5 guys, with Robbie in the middle dressed as a White Rabbit, and he was singing “Sgt Peppers” but with different lyrics. He sang “Robbie Williams And The Take That Baaaaaand” and then he jumped from the roof, on bungee wires and landed in the middle of the stage and the crowd went mental! I was jumping up and down, screaming, taking photos. I love him so much.
He sang Let Me Entertain You, with lots of fire and lots of strutting about, then sang a song he made up which had the lyrics: “I just took some coke and sha**ed a whore, that’s what super injunctions are for…” and one of the lines talked about Manchester girls p**sing in the street…lol
He then sang Come Undone, and did a bit of a mix of it with Take A Walk On The Wild Side.
Then he went out on a raised platform and sang above the crowd and let people touch him, and then sang Angels, which was amazing live, and went off.
Then Robbie was finished, it was then time for all 5 of the Take That guys to come out and sing til the end of the night.
While they were getting ready to come out as TT5, there were abseilers climbing all over the backdrop on the stage, I thought they were just all throwing themselves about, but apparently they were positioning themselves in to the “Progress” sign, which is the sign for evolution (small man, getting taller and bigger and then flying away) but I was too close to see this.
They started at the top of the stadium at the front, on little balconies singing The Flood, and halfway through I noticed Mark talking to someone at the top, and then one of the balcony doors opened and a wire came out (one of the bungee wires from earlier) but nothing happened, and all 5 guys had disappeared, and they were still singing. Mark came on the mic and said “don’t worry Manchester, we’re on our way”, and then the song finished and as the next song started they all came out from the side of the stage and carried on as normal. What I found out yesterday is that Mark, Jason, Gary and Howard were meant to be lowered on their balconies, from the top of the stage to the bottom, and Robbie was meant to be attached to the Bungee cords again and be lowered upside down, head first (like an upside down Superman) on to the stage, but obvs this didn’t happen.
They sang SOS and Underground Machine on the main stage, and then went out to the centre stage to sing Kidz. This looked really good, I couldn’t see it properly, as it was on the middle stage, but from what I saw it looked like a chess board with dancers dressed in black and white, 2 of TT were in black, 2 in white and Mark was in black and white. There was a little dance break in the middle aswell where Jason and Howard were
dancing against each other and Robbie was rapping to Rudebox, he was being very very rude aswell. Lots of swearing.
Part of the set was a robot which was behind the main stage, and started to come alive during different bits of the show. They sang Pretty Things while they were sat on the robots hands and had a ballerina on the stage with them.
Then they went back to the Olden days and did a medley of A Million Love Songs, Babe, Everything Changes and Back for Good, with Gary on Piano, Jason on Guitar and the others just singing.
One of my fave parts of the night was next, they sang Pray all the way through and even did the dance. I’ve seen TT4 3 times since 2006 and it was good, but it was even better with Robbie singing and dancing during the old songs. And Everything Changes is one of my fave Robbie based songs, it was great to see him dancing aswell though.
The Robot, Om, started to come to life a bit more now. It was half lay down, and TT were standing on it, as they sang Love Love, and they were dressed in black and LED lights all over them and the robot carried them out to the middle of the stage where they all stood together as a five piece and sang Never Forget, as the Robot moved from lying down to standing up. Again, I loved this song on the previous tours, but it was so much better with Robbie singing with them again.
They said goodnight then and went off but came back a few mins later for an encore. The encore songs were No Regrets (the
Robbie song, but the whole band sang it), Relight My Fire (this was quite good, but the staging wasn’t as elaborate as previous tours) and then they sang Eight Letters…this is a new song, from the Progress album, but it is such a good song, and talks about how they all fell apart a few years ago, but they are back now and love each other again.
Getting out of the stadium was crazy, my legs were aching like mad and it was so painful to walk, but I made myself go back and get another t-shirt. I wanted a grey vest saying “standing on the edge of forever…” but they were sold out so I ended up getting an equally cool t-shirt saying “Look Back Don’t Stare” – I love it and will be wearing it in Florida in Nov.
X Men: First Class film review by Kimi
X Men: First Class
Starring:
James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, and Jennifer Lawrence.
I was really excited to see this film, I’ve mentioned before that I’m a huge comic book film geek, and the X Men films are amongst my favourite films of all time.
The film is mainly based in the 60’s, around the Cuban Missile crisis, and I really enjoyed all the historical references in the film. When I saw the trailer I was slightly put off, and thought there was a danger of it becoming a bit like a history lesson, but I think the history and the mutant aspects of the film were merged really well, and, although the film was set in the 60’s, it felt very current, like it could have been set in present day.
I really liked the introduction and explanation of the new mutants – Havoc, Azazel, Riptide, Banshee, Angel, Darwin, Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw – aswell as the more well known mutants, Beast, Professor X, Magneto and Beast, and I think the explanation of everyone’s powers was great. 2 of my favourite scenes were the sequence with Havoc in the bunker and the scene with Banshee on top of the satellite dish.
I loved the 2 main cameo’s – I won’t spoil them, but they were fab – and I loved the reference to “Agent Stryker, and his son William” when Xavier is trying to convince the CIA that mutant powers exist.
One thing I also love about all the X Men films is the amount of “big name stars” that are in the films, such as James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Kevin Bacon in this one, and Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman, to name a few, in the other films. I like how lesser known, but still brilliant, actors are given a shot in these films too, like Daniel Cudmore in X2, Anna Paquin and Ellen Page in X1-3 and Lucas Till, Jennifer Lawrence and Edi Gathegi in XM:FC.
I had a lot of favourite moments in this film, the cameos, the training, and I don’t have many bad things to say about it, although I do have an issue with the way the film ended, the scene in the nuclear reactor grated on me a little bit because it seemed a bit out of character for one of the people involved, that’s all I can say without spoiling the whole film, but I think that if you see it you’ll know what I mean.
This is a fabulous film, that I would recommend to Film Geeks and non geeks alike, I went to the cinema with a full non-geek and she loved the film. Definitely see this at the cinema and don’t wait for the DVD before you see it.
Despite my issues with the end of the film, I give this 5 Stars.
“Thor” Movie Review – by Kimi
I’m a huge comic book film geek, and I’d been excited to see this film ever since
it was announced. I went to see this film on the same night as seeing Fast and
the Furious 5, and it started at about 11pm. I was hoping that the film would
be very exciting, and it’d keep me awake for the whole film, and it didn’t disappoint.
The casting of the characters was very well done. I adored Chris Hemsworth as Thor.
I think he was the perfect person to play Thor. He was very funny, his delivery
of some of the lines made me laugh out loud. Tom Hiddleston was brilliant as
the evil younger brother Loki. My fave scene of his was when he was actually
dressed in “normal clothes” on Earth. I audibly gasped in the cinema during
that scene, and my friend laughed at me.
Stellan Skarsgard, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings and Idris Elba were
all incredible too, and I love that Agent Coulson was back for this film.
What I really enjoyed about the film was the fact that it wasn’t overrun with
mythology. There were lots of mythological references obviously, but it didn’t feel
like a Norse History lesson. It was a very fun, interesting and hilarious film.
The action scenes were brilliantly shot, and I think Kenneth Branagh has just
been bumped up to my favourite director of all time.
In summary, this film is a must see for fans of comic books, and for non-comic
books fans too. Brilliant cast, hilarious dialogue, love story, and Thor takes
his top off - Bonus!
The Hunger Games Casting Round Up by Kimi
The Hunger Games movie casting round up.
By Kimi
By Kimi
I know there have been a lot of casting announcements for The Hunger Games movie, so I thought I would put together a little “who’s who” for anyone (like me) who’s getting a bit confused.
Taking the lead as arrow wielding Katniss Everdeen is the Winter Bone’s Oscar nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence. Representing District 12 alongside Katniss, as baker’s son Peeta Mellark, is Josh Hutcherson, who was last seen in The Kids Are Alright.
Katniss’ life long friend Gale Hawthorne is going to be portrayed by Liam Hemsworth, who featured in The Last Song alongside Miley Cyrus.
The Head Gamemaker of The Hunger Games, Seneca Crane, is going to be played by American Beauty’s Wes Ramsey, and he’ll be joined by Stanley Tucci, well known for his portrayal of Nigel in The Devil Wears Prada, as the interviewer Caesar Flickerman who speaks to all the Tributes before and after The Hunger Games. They’ll be joined by Toby Jones (the voice of Dobby in the Harry Potter films) who is playing the part of Arena Announcer Claudius Templesmith.
Taking care of Katniss and Peeta, and getting them prepared for the Arena, are Elizabeth Banks (40 Year Old Virgin, 30 Rock) as Effie Trinket, and Woody Harrelson (Cheers, Zombieland), who will be stepping in to the shoes of District 12’s only Hunger Games winner, Haymitch Abernathy.
Making sure Katniss and Peeta arrive in style, are Portia, played by Latarsha Rose, and (my favourite character) Cinna, who is being played by world renowned musician Lenny Kravitz.
All 11 districts have been “reaped” and you can find the list of actors and actresses who are playing each of the tributes, aswell as the rest of Cinna and Portia’s styling teams, below.
Cast
Katniss Everdeen Jennifer Lawrence
Gale Hawthorne Liam Hemsworth
Peeta Mellark Josh Hutcherson
Mrs Everdeen Paula Malcomson
Primrose Everdeen Willow Shields
Effie Trinket Elizabeth Banks
Haymitch Abernathy Woody Harrelson
Interviewer Caesar Flickerman Stanley Tucci
Game Maker Seneca Crane Wes Bentley
Announcer Claudius Templesmith Toby Jones
Stylists and Prep Teams
Cinna Lenny Kravitz
Portia Latarsha Rose
Octavia Brooke Bundy
Flavius Nelson Ascencio
Venia Kimiko Gelman
Avox Girl Amber Chaney
Tributes:
District 1 Girl – Glimmer Leven Rambin
District 1 Boy – Marvel Jack Quaid
District 2 Girl – Clove Isabelle Fuhrman
District 2 Boy – Cato Alexander Ludwig
District 3 Girl Kalia Prescott
District 3 Boy Ian Nelson
District 4 Girl Tara Macken
District 4 Boy Ethan Jamieson
District 5 Girl – Foxface Jacqueline Emerson
District 5 Boy Chris Marks
District 6 Girl Kara Petersen
District 6 Boy Ashton Moio
District 7 Girl Leigha Hancock
District 7 Boy Sam Ly
District 8 Girl Mackenzie Lintz
District 8 Boy Samuel Tan
District 9 Girl Annie Thurman
District 9 Boy Imanol Yepez-Frias
District 10 Girl Dakota Hood
District 10 Boy Jeremy Marinas
District 11 Girl – Rue Amandla Stenberg
District 11 Boy – Thresh Dayo Okeniyi
