What’s the best thing about starting university?
We’ve decided to have a little poll to find out what you’re most excited about. If we missed anything off our poll, please feel free to leave a comment!
THE HANGOVER
“You mind putting on some pants? I feel weird having to ask you twice.”
It has become so rare in this century, to find a genuinely decent and funny comedy. In the crowd of Scary Movie type comedies, Todd Phillips’ fresh and hilarious The Hangover stands out as a clear winner for modern comedy.
The plot is simple: four friends travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party and wake up the next morning with no memory of what happened the previous night, this plus the fact that they don’t know where the groom is makes for a rollercoaster ride of hilarity as the remaining three friends try to find him in time for his wedding the next day.
In short, The Hangover is just genuinely funny. It may actually be the funniest movie I’ve had the pleasure of watching in a long time, so much so that it has become one of my favourite movies. Galifianakis, the “child with a beard”, effectively makes this movie the brilliantly hilarious trip that it is. His unashamedly idiotic behaviour provides much of the hilarity and it seems as if the movie would be pretty empty without him. But all three leading men have brilliant chemistry together and it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing a different role in this movie.
The Hangover is sure to become a cult classic and I don’t see it ever getting old. I also really never thought I’d be feeling sorry for Heather Graham’s character at the end. So far I’ve seen this five times and I’ll probably watch it a hundred times more. A definite must buy!
MO:RE RATING
★★★★★
This review was brought to you by Ryan one of our Storthes Hall Park residents and film review extraordinaire. You can check out his page here.
Smoking @ The Pavilions. Please Read!
GINGER SNAPS (CERT 18, 2001)
In all honesty, Ginger Snaps has to be one of the most underrated horror movies in existence. Ginger Snaps uses the transformation into a werewolf as a metaphor for puberty. When Brigitte’s sister Ginger gets attacked by a mysterious creature and starts to change into a werewolf, but all the adults around them think she is just experiencing puberty.
It has all the makings of an independent movie, the lack of CGI helps with that. But it’s the absence of the flashy computer trickery that makes it so different to other horror movies from the past 10 years. It has more charm than other recent offerings from the horror genre, even in spite of the hundreds of obscenities uttered throughout the course of the film.
The make-up and prosthetics are extremely well done when considering the budget. The werewolf at the beginning is very convincing and the small changes to Ginger’s face and body never look overly done or fake. In fact, Ginger looks a little scary and menacing in some later scenes.
Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle are both brilliant in their own ways as the sisters. Isabelle in particular shines as the titular character Ginger who’s personality changes incredibly rapidly and throughout. The two play sisters so convincingly that it’s a wonder why the two haven’t scored more starring roles since the movie’s release.
Although I’m yet to see the two sequels I’m pretty adamant that this would be hard to top. Congratulations to the makers on producing a decent, interesting horror movie.
Rating: ★★★★
This review was brought to you by Ryan one of our Storthes Hall Park residents and film review extraordinaire. You can check out his page here.
DIGS Student Accommodation.
Pavilions Summer Storage.
Casino Night @ Mezz Bar: Tuesday 20th April!
DIGS STUDENT*** This is Debbie’s Place.
Food Glorious Food Challenge #1
Challenged: Steve from the office
The challenge: To make “Spicy chicken stir fry with chilli and basil”
Cost per person: £3.90
Time to prepare: 10 minutes
Time to cook: 35 minutes
Overall rating (out of 5): 4
The recipe
Ingredients:
- 3 chicken breasts chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
2 tbsp Thai green curry pasts - 1-2 red chillies chopped
15-20 cherry tomatoes - Basil
2 tbsp brown sugar - (Coconut milk to taste)
Method:
- Splash some olive oil into a frying pan (or if you have one a wok is best) then add the curry paste
- When the pan is hot add the chicken and brown
- Add the brown sugar, fish sauce, chillies and basil. Cook until the tomatoes are unrecognisable as tomatoes
- You can add as much coconut milk to reduce the heat.
Tip: when waiting for the tomatoes to cook feel free to add some more basil and/ or sugar depending on your liking.
Serve with rice and naan bread or poppadoms and a pickle tray
The verdict
Steve found the benefits of this recipe to be:
- Really easy to cook
- A bargain at £3.90 per person- he still has some of the ingredients left over so next time would be even cheaper to cook
- Really tasty and a healthy option (good for those training for the marathon!)
WARNING!!! Steve didn’t read the recipe correctly (!!!) and so used 2 jars of Thai green curry paste- and said the only problem with the dish was that it was too hot…
However, even if you follow the recipe properly (!) this dish can be quite spicy- we recommend for 2 people to use half a red chilli and change according to the number of people you are cooking for.
Tip: add the chilli gradually- keep tasting and add more if you want.
For more recipe idea’s check out our first blog post: Food Glorious Food.
KILL BILL: VOL 1
Quentin Tarantino does what he does best in Kill Bill: Vol. 1, his fourth film. The movie sees The Bride (Uma Thurman) who decides to escape her life as a killer. She fled to Texas, met a young man, and on the day of their wedding was gunned down. Four years later she wakes from a coma and discovers her baby is gone. She decides to get revenge on the people who were responsible for her death.
It’s pretty mind blowing and gruesome stuff, but that’s what Tarantino is known for. The blood is so gratuitous but that’s what makes it brilliant. As with Tarantino’s other films, he mixes dark humour with peril and mixes it amazingly well. None of it is pointless and none of it takes anything away from the story. It just flows seamlessly.
Uma Thurman is superb in the role of ‘The Bride’; the vicious woman seeking revenge on Bill. You can really feel her rage and determination as she ticks off the people on her ‘death list’. Lucy Liu also does a fine job of portraying O-Ren Ishii; one of the five people who played a part in almost ending her life.
The lengthy sword fight scene will keep you wanting more and the cliffhanger will ensure you will want to watch Kill Bill: Vol 2. Brilliant.
Rating: ★★★★ | Trailer | Official Website
This review was brought to you by Ryan one of our Storthes Hall Park residents and film review extraordinaire. You can check out his page here.
DIGS Student Accommodation.