Last week I decided to sit down and list some things that I would like to start achieving through the blog and decided that I would like to write a top 5 list of recommends. I have chosen to start with girly films because sometimes there is nothing better than sitting down and watching a good film with your friends.
Screen Gal’s top five girly night in movies:
- Clueless
- Mean Girls
- The Craft
- The Wedding Singer
- Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
Clueless
This HAS to be one of the definitive films of the 90’s. Clueless will always hold a special place in my heart as it is a film which I know dearly and grew up watching. I can’t even remember when I first seen it but I remember getting it on VHS as a Christmas present (What is VHS I hear you say?) I always wanted to be Cher, with her fantastic wardrobe and her good looks.
Alicia Silverstone plays Cher, a fifteen year old Beverly Hills high schooler who along with her best friend Dionne endures teenage life and dealing with boys. Cher’s life takes a turn when a new girl Ti joins the school and both Cher and Di show her the ropes, who to go out with and how to act/dress if she wants to be popular. Cher lives with her dad and the maid, however her step brother Josh comes to visit and soon Cher is enjoying parties and the likes.
This film has a fantastic supporting cast with Donald Faison, Brecklin Meyer, Brittany Murphy and Paul Rudd. The acting is spot on throughout the film and I love entering their high school world. There are so many great scenes that stick out, however one is at a party in the valley where Ti gets knocked unconscious with a clog and Cher’s classmate ends up admitting his feelings for her while driving her home. I love Brecklin Meyer’s stoner character Travis, he is extremely well played and a character who I sympathise with throughout the whole film. Alicia Silverstone in her heyday was a stunning and beautiful young girl and I always enjoy watching her performance. This is one of my favourite films of all time and definitely a recommend.
Mean Girls
I am not usually a fan of chick flick films however I think if I were staying in with my girls this would definitely be top priority. This is one of my all time favourite ‘chick flick’ movies, I’ve seen it so many times I can quote line from line throughout the film. Certain aspects of it also remind me of being back at school and the relationships between the girls in my year.
The film follows Cady Heron, a fifteen year old girl who moves to America after spending her childhood in Africa with her zoologist parents. Cady has previously been homeschooled and so must enter a public high school for the first time. Trying to find her place amongst the social groups, she encounters a group of three girls known as ‘the plastics’ who are the school’s most fashionable clique. Cady falls for the leader of the plastic’s (Regina) ex-boyfriend and soon trouble follows as she vows to get revenge on Cady, leaving her to learn the rules about high school, friendships and girl world.
Lindsay Lohan is not an actress who I would choose to watch; nevertheless I think this is without a doubt her best performance. (My only other comparison is The Parent Trap and she was like, twelve?) One of my favourite scenes is where the girls dance along to ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ for the school’s winter talent show. It has so much humour packed into that scene and is the turning point for when the cracks start to show in the plastics relationships. My friend and I also have a running joke, where she quotes “Oh my god Karen, you can’t just ask people why they are white!?” this works so perfectly considering my own name is Karen. If only there were a character with the same name as her…This is definitely one to check out though!
The Craft
This is always a film that sticks in my mind when speaking to friends about films that used to scare them when they were younger. Personally I was never frightened of this film and really enjoyed some of the films most graphic and ‘scary’ scenes. Again, this was a film from my younger days and one which got me interested in Wicca and trying to cast spells.
Sarah is a seventeen year old girl who lost her mum when she was younger and is uprooted by her dad and step mum to live in LA, where she begins her final year of high school. Sarah is a stranger in the school until she makes friends with a group of three unusual girls; Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle. The girls frequently practice witchcraft and the occult. With the addition of Sarah to their group they discover that they can make their wishes come true and invoke dangerous spells on those around them and themselves.
The performance for me which stands out a mile above everyone else in this film is Fairuza Balk’s portrayal of Nancy. Her acting is phenomenal and is genuinely terrifying in this film, one scene is where she loses her mind over a boy that she likes and in one camera shot you can see her go mentally insane and ends up killing someone. I always feel so sympathetic with Sarah as things turn nasty between the girls and you really end up rooting for Sarah in the end. Some young people may find a few of the scenes a little frightening, however its probably considered nothing compared to the Saw franchise of the moment.
The Wedding Singer
The Wedding Singer is a film that never fails to make me smile. I love the chemistry between Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, always a winning combination! It my sister who introduced me to this film, I think she seen it in the cinema and we rented it from our local video store at the time. Even though I have it on DVD, whenever it is on TV I always find myself sitting down to watching it again.
The film takes place in 1985 and Robbie Hart is the ultimate wedding singer and people are flocking to hire him and his band for their wedding. Robbie is left at the altar at his own wedding and this disaster impacts on his own musical performance.
He is the entertainer who destroys other people’s weddings as he cannot stand to see couples in love. Waitressing at the weddings is a warm hearted girl Julia who turns Robbie’s life around and convinces him that he can still find love.
One of the main elements that I love about this film is the soundtrack, I love the music from the 80’s and the music that Adam Sandler’s character composes ‘Somebody Kill Me Please’ and ‘Growing Old with You’ are classics. As soon as you hear them you instantly remember this film! The acting is superb and has a fantastic supporting cast. Drew Barrymore is my favourite actress and I love her performance in this film. Stick this on as it will guarantee to have you smiling and singing along.
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
This is another fantastic 90’s film that will stick with me for years. Being a huge fan of Friends at the time, I was introduced to this film by a childhood friend of mines at a sleepover. This is a film that I used to love watching for the fashion and always wanted to design my own clothes. I also wanted to be Mira Sorvino as she has great fashion taste and is gorgeous.
Romy and Michele have been best friends since high school and are living the life out in LA. Romy is a cashier at a car firm and Michele is unemployed and looking for work. When an old classmate turns up and informs them about their ten year high school reunion, they come up with a plan to reinvent themselves to impress their old classmates. They dress up as businesswoman and on the way to the reunion concoct a story about how they invented post its. Upon meeting their old classmates they become tired of pretending to be someone they’re not and so enter the real Romy and Michele.
I love seeing these two characters being thrown back into their high school years and standing up to the ‘A’ group who tormented them throughout their teenage years. Both Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow are excellent actresses and are so convincing of their portrayal of Romy and Michele. Another stand out character is Heather, the weird girl who was in love with a boy who did not love her back played by Janeane Garofalo. Also Alan Cumming is in this film, and that is reason enough to watch it. He is a fantastic actor and although he does not have a big part in this film, to me he steals the show in the end scene.
So get the popcorn on, open up a bottle of wine and get watching!!
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