Mphotostory- A summary of 2014

After reading my friend's summary of 2014, I thought I would partake in my own, so thanks for the idea Matilda!

Did you do anything in 2014 that you had not done before?
I took the Eurostar with my friends and visited Paris for four wonderful days. I took a ferry to Ireland for the first time. I saw Katy Perry and Beyonce live. And started higher education at university.

Did you keep 2013's resolutions?
I can't even recall what these were.

Special date you will always remember? 
21st- 24th July- My days in Paris 

What countries did you visit?
Ireland, and France.

Anything you lacked in 2014?
Become involved in new opportunities and become more independent. Generally experience life.

Best thing that happened?
I saw three of the biggest artists live, including Lady Gaga who I had seen for a fourth time. I visited some major landmarks in Paris which was absolutely amazing.

What did you spend the most money on?
 Two Gaga concerts and money for holidays.

Have you been sick or injured?
Had a nasty case of heart burn but that's about it apart from colds. 

Is there anything you wish you had spent more time on?
Probably time with my friends and making new memories with my uni friends.

What programme has been the best?
This is very hard because I'm a huge TV fanatic, the one I appreciate in terms of writing was How to get away with murder, but there have been countless others I have thoroughly enjoyed, like the return of Sherlock for one. 

Best book?
Probably the fault in our stars.

Musical discovery?
Walk the moon, an american band with amazing upbeat songs great for listening to in the summer.

Best movies of 2014?
Guardians of the galaxy, The Lego Movie, Cuban Fury, Divergent, Maleficent, TFIOS, How to train your dragon 2, Captain America- The winter soldier, The amazing spiderman 2, Robocop.

New Friends?
Yes! New University friends.

Best month?
July/August

Best theatre show?
Les Miserables.

New Pets?
Yes a puppy called Leo.

How to get away with murder

Going to have a go at writing my reactions whilst watching it. Here we go:

• Flipping a coin to decide whether or not to bury a body, oh no. Commence dramatic shots of the coin flipping and aghast faces looking up at it as it spins, clearly you would have time to do this haha. Oh making us wait for the result by taking us 3 months earlier, I approve, will be needing some background information. 
• Oooh looking up at the college in awe must be a newbie, he looks excited, point proven.
• Lovely shots following the professor into the classroom, focal shots or items that gives clues to her character, we hear her before we see her, she must be impressionable.
• Oh my she is styled like Martha Jones from Doctor who, 
• These students have obviously done there homework, I too like Wes would be sitting there dumbfounded, and I have a feeling the teacher is going to pick on him next.
• Oh what do you know, I called it.
• She's stalking up the lecture stairs towards him, hide!
• Ohh she bites
• Lol, do law students take a field trip to the witnesses house in the case study regularly?
• The murder weapon oh, nice colour contrasts between past and presents to symbolise the significance of the trophy.
• Brain block I know the feeling (9:40)
• Claw marks on the wall ew creepy
• Now we go back to the past, the body is being rolled up in a carpet bless
• I want to know who is in the carpet!
• Lol ram raiding the body into the wall, poor guy or girl!
• Police man shows, I get the feeling they wont get caught anyway. (12:00)
• I hope the police aren't this thick in real life
• All eyes on you Mr Gibbins (14.34)
• The lecturer telling them to bury the evidence, but in this case this will be in the minds of those in the future when they literally have to bury the evidence.
• Nice thinking Miss Pratt
• WHY WOULD YOU WALK INTO YOUR PROFESSORS HOUSE LIKE THAT...... HOW AWKWARD.
• Singing along to Christmas songs whilst a body is in the back seat, casual .
• Nice to see a casual gay character, blending in, nothing out there.
• These students are at the right place at the right time haha
• Professor is cheating tut tut
• This smiley face plastic bag is getting attention, maybe someone will find it late on.
• Emotional manipulation, she knows what she's doing.
• Or was it hmm.
• That looks like a bite mark on the headboard, paired with the claw marks, don't turn this in to a vampire werewolf thing.
• Oh he's the one who was doing 'things' with her. (35.22)
• Wes is like wtf is she doing?
• I really like Annalise, such a strong character. 
• AH THEY SHOWED THE FACE, OOH I WONDER WHY HIM?!

Transcendence 2014 Review

                                                                                                         

                                                                     Poster- Boring, pixelated technique makes it look tacky along with the text across the actors face. I think they could of been a little more innovative rather than slapping some words across the main characters face. The tag line, just makes you think "And what?" What about it, its left you waiting for something else to let you know what the film is trying to say.

 

Johnny Depp interview-

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHM7DZo3s5o

Transcendence Trailer-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9q8yuaJ_88 

 

I found Johnny not as enjoyable to watch in this film compared to his others. You can see a trend that he likes to play a lot of characters who consider themselves outcasts, but in this film his character is seen to be quite popular in his field and only disliked by a small extremist group. I think what i missed especially was the depth and vulnerability he has portrayed previously in his past characters, this character was mostly very clinical and straightforward (as you would be if you were a computer granted), and it just made me feel unconnected to his character. I can’t blame it all on Johnny though, the script only allowed sparse moments of emotion towards his love interest Evelyn played by Rebecca Hall. I would have like to see some torment woven through the script, if conscious thought was meant to feature in this character maybe we should of seen some more struggle, was it right to commit fraud, was it right to create super humans. What bothered me was how easily Evelyn went along with everything. Yes, Will I will take these millions of pounds and build thousands of solar panels in this deserted town, which by the way still looked the same when she promised a resident a makeover. Yes Will, I will not bat an eyelid with all these reformed humans.

 

I think they could of made a bigger deal about the extremist group. In terms of from my point of view I would have liked to of seen some dialogue between Kate Mara’s character Bree and Dr Will Caster. They were fighting for a cause and in the end it was just weak. Another thing I was thinking when watching this film was why aren’t the media making such a big deal out of this, the media is one for sensationalism and what better story to have than a man who can suddenly lift tonnes of metal in the air. Or how no one made a big deal about PINN, the computer getting stolen, or how someone was just allowed to take what they want from a seemingly secure environment. I like how they have tried to explore the power of technology and its ever increasing advances, but I found myself whispering swear words in the cinema at some of the ridiculous notions, although I wont give away what, some of the concepts just made me sit back and say, "What?!".

 

The one thing I appreciated the most in this film was the cinematography. The locations were stunning and the metaphorical symbolism of the conscious mind was great. The fragility of Earth was also captured very well and the typography on screen was clever connecting the ‘human’ Dr Will in its encased computer.

 

Overall, I can see what they’ve tried to do, explore the powers of technology, touch on whether its right or wrong to advance in such a strong way, to question life and death, is it right to keep someone alive after they have died, in my mind no, that's just taking things too far. I thought the plot was following a Romeo and Juliet style romance, girl is trying to be taken away from boy, boy wants to be with her, conflict followed by a subdued ‘dramatic’, death scene at the end. And maybe more conflict needed to be added to the plot, since they stated themselves in the summary for this film, ‘For his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) and best friend Max Waters (Paul Bettany), both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can...but if they should,’ which did not happen as much as it should.

2/5 stars

                                                                               (Why the long face?)