Fabulous Filmic Fashion and more: SPRING BREAKERS

FABULOUS FILMIC FASHION is back with a bang, providing you with the hottest summer wear from the coolest flick of this year so far. And probably a lot bit of non-fashion related raving. Spring Break Forever, Bitches.

Harmony Korine's layered, colourful and inspiring portrayal of the annual American celebration of hedonism entitled 'Spring Break' is by far my favorite movie of the year so far. Since his latest movie is the first I've seen and on the way to become my favorite of 2013, I can't help but notice how similar these circumstances are to my introduction to Wes Anderson through Moonrise Kingdom last year. If you remember, it was one of those instant favorites that soon led to an obsession, making me watch every single one of Anderson's movies (even though they're not that many).

Much like Moonrise Kingdom, Spring Breakers is a very stylish movie with visuals that are almost painfully beautiful, the bright colours burning their way through your retina into your heart. A small and interesting difference between the two movies may be that while there's one incontestably heavenly creature in Moonrise Kingdom and the rest are rather quirky beauties, in Spring Breakers each of the four main characters is an incontestably heavenly creature (look-wise anyways) and Alien is a rather quirky... beauty.

Obstruction 1/5: A Positive Review of a Movie I Dislike

Bored by the unchallenging everyday (or for me rather every week) task of blog writing, Nostra from myfilmviews.com has created his perhaps most ambitious blogathon yet. Over the span of 5 months, the 5 Obstructions Blogathon is going to challenge film bloggers by presenting them with a different obstruction each month - hence the title. If you face the obstruction and succeed, you'll move on to the next round, otherwise you will be punished, simple as that.

Obstruction #1: Write a positive review of a movie you don't like OR write a negative review of a movie you like.

To me, the latter one was too easy. Ripping a movie - anything - apart, is much easier than praising something or explaining things that you like about it. So I'm going with the former possibility and I'm writing about one of the (luckily) few movies that I've seen in the past few months that I've disliked a lot. Here goes my positive review of 'HowFarObsessionsWithActorsWillMakeYouGo' aka Afterschool, the 2008 directorial debut of Antonio Campos.

Mixtape Movies: Coming of Nostalgia

The awesomest of all awesome blogathon-creators, Andy from Fandango Groovers, once again saves me from thinking up ways to fit a lot of movies I want to write about into one post. His latest creation is the Mixtape Movies blogathon, where we can assemble 6 movies that have something in common - a theme - and write about that. One of the 6 movies is a wildcard, a movie that stands out from the rest in some way or another.

This blogathon just came out of nowhere into my blogroll and truly saved my day of blogging. I just don't find the time to write about all of the awesome things I'm watching and the moment, and find it incredibly difficult to fit them all into one post that's not just a series of mini-reviews. So here we have the perfect solution for my misery. I guess I'm sort of cheating in a way anyhow, since 5 of these movies are connected in a  very obvious way, but who cares - let's get started. Oh, and since my poor sister, who's in the hospital at the moment, borrowed my laptop, you're not going to get any photoshop in this post.

Mette's Movie Mixtape:

Coming of Nostalgia

My list is inspired by my several viewing of the ingenious 2010 teen-rom-com Easy A, a glorious weekend of watching (almost) all the movies mentioned in it and my chronic suffering from the Peter-Pan-Syndrome.

Always a Good Time for Classic Good vs. Evil: Percy Jackson on Screen and Page

Don't be fooled by the teenage boy on the poster/ cover - this is more than a series for middle school youngsters. Or Greek mythology scholars.

Rick Riordan:
Percy Jackson & the Olympians
(The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian)

The Lightning Thief (2010) by Chris Columbus
Sea of Monsters (2013) by Thor Freudenthal

I always dread the moment I start reading a new series of books or start watching a new tv show. It's different to read single books or watch a single movie every other night. The thing about series - on screen and page - is their addictiveness. Human beings are fragile, we're emotional animals and easy to trap that way. We can get addicted to all sorts of things, mainly referred to as drugs, such as stimulating herbs and chemicals, sports, all the stuff that is put into micro-wave pizza. And yes, we can also get addicted to the arts of reading books and watching movies. With the breakthrough of internet platforms, especially tumblr, these addictions might have increased, but perhaps they've just become more visible. Staying up all night to finish reading The Hunger Games or watching season 2 of Game of Thrones has never been cooler. Geeks, ahem: we, are everywhere.

[1] The Upcoming Adult Presents: 18 Favourite School Movies

Editor's note: In 18 days from now - which means on the 9th of March - the creator of Lime Reviews and Strawberry Confessions, Mette, will become an adult. Technically, that is. Having spent exactly 18 years on this planet then, she will be allowed to do a lot of things she wasn't allowed to do before (and of course didn't), but she will also have a lot more duties.

This is why Mette decided to celebrate the last 18 days of her childhood (ahem) with a little blogathon-thingy in which she will present 18 lists consisting of 18 entries. Most of these list are of a very childish or at least teenager-ish nature, so beware if you're looking for some serious Yoda wisdom. Mette is not going to restrain her most immature thoughts and opinions in the following two and a half weeks. 

So go on and read her first list - if you're ready. And now, Mette has the word.

3 Questions about LIFE OF PI

Enviable viewers in Paris

Many people have been looking forward to Life of Pi in 2012, and there were several reasons for them to do so. It's the filmatization of a famous novel that was called "unfilmable" (as was the case with A Clockwork Orange and many others), it marked the return of one of the most acclaimed contemporary film-makers, Ang Lee, whose last success of Brokeback Mountain happened 7 years ago (although I did like Taking Woodstock). And, not to forget, it seemed to fit into one of the most popular genres of the time - that philosophic, "deep" one - while promising to revive a technology-gimmick that has been discussed much lately. 

My primary reason to be excited about Life of Pi was none of these though; it was the Indian factor. Indian background, Indian actors and, as I hoped, Indian soul. All of this despite the fact that Irrfan Khan was again typecast - he's a magnificent actor (although he's offered much more challenging roles in India than in Hollywood), but I'd also like to see someone else for a change. 

Anyhow; I can't say I was disappointed by Life of Pi. After all, what I was hoping for was what I got. Still, I've been asking myself some questions after having watched the film, and this is where I'd like to try and answer them as well as I can.

My Top 10 Coming of Age Films

„Coming of Age“ by Johnathan Frank

When it comes to coming of age in real life - and it is something everyone must experience at least once in their lives - we often search for help in the world of art. Songs, albums, films and paintings, there are many possibilities to deal with and express this strange phenomena that is sometimes described as a feeling, sometimes as a phase in life. 

Coming of age is painful and joyful at the same time, it is a sweet despair, to say it with this great expression I just recently heard in the picture My Week with Marilyn, although in the film it was supposed to describe first love. But isn't first love and coming of age very much related?

To celebrate my 18th summer, I today give you my Top 10 Coming of Age Films - a compilation of films that deal with growing up and learning about life. The ranking has nothing to do with my favourite films of all time, it's more about the value they have to me as coming of age films. 

So sit back, listen to the music, and enjoy.