The boy next door (2015)

This is one of the most unsatisfying films I have seen in a long time. Usually my judgement of what films looks watch-able is right, the film that comes close to this is Transcendence which I saw last year, but I didn't choose to see this, my mother did, probably because Jennifer Lopez was in it, ah the sweet sell of celebrity endorsement. Jennifer, plays mother Claire, who generically is on a break from her husband after he cheated on her. Coincidently, Claire gets a new neighbour, nineteen year old Noah who seems genuinely caring at first. Claire is a school teacher, and after a brief romantic encounter with Noah, he forges an email from her to the principal asking to enrol him in her class. Son Kevin obviously becomes good friends with Noah thus playing into Noah's manipulative plans.

Things I liked:

Ryan Guzman (Noah) actually played the role of a stalker very well, his pure rage and convincing anger and posture was great, however unfortunately the plot let him down, not his fault though.

Some nice camera shots and settings. Especially the scene where Noah kidnaps a character in her own home, the camera focuses on him and excruciatingly  slowly, it tracks backwards until we are shown who he is talking to, the character in focus tied up in a chair. 

Things I disliked:

Weak characters: Apart from Noah, the rest of the characters were not developed enough for my liking, it was rushed.

Weak story-lines: It relied too heavily on cliché and generic thriller moments, oh I'm just going to sneak into your house while your on your way home, oh the tempo goes up, oh its a race against time, oh build up again, oh I just turned around and shockingly it wasn't you, but moments later when the tempo dies down, you appear again... thrilling.

Absolutely shocking ending: I was actually taken a back, the ending was appalling, and sorry spoiler alert Noah is killed at the end, but then it finishes, literally he dies, they go off in an ambulance and it bloody ends, its not only unsatisfying, it's so lazy, and I feel quite cheated after paying to see a movie which doesn't offer anything at the end, I have paid an extortionate fee to see some generic thriller moments, with a cliché ending, only to find out there's nothing more to it.  

The deaths in the film were not tied up, oh just kill a character and leave her there, this is what I mean about laziness, you get no feedback from Claire's family about what Noah did, what happened after the event, what happened to the principal, what happened to Noah's granddad he was looking after, what happened to the evidence in Noah's creepy stalker basement? No question from the police, or the school.

Although I like Jenny, and I have seen her in a few of her films, I didn't like the character. Yes at the right moment she played the terrified woman great, she was shocked at the right times and was acceptable, but other times it was a bit bland, I think she was trying to hard but just came off as generic, I wanted to see more emotive projections, but I suppose she can't wholly be blamed for the terrible script. Her character's son too, he over played it too with the 'tantrums' and if you were so close to your mother, wouldn't you be more clued up. He wasn't consistent with the hating his dad either, but hey, crap script.

The connection between Noah and Claire was confusing, first she's peaking through the blinds looking at him, then sleeping with him and then he's full on stalking her straight away, it just doesn't set well, it's not believable. 

Overall, I am very disappointed, not wonder it scored a 4.3 on IMDB, I would give it a 4 out of 10 too.

Big Hero 6

This film was just so adorable, Baymax and Hiro's relationship was so sweet, its always the case where the human starts out weary when confronted with a robot who just wants to please your medical needs, but it doesn't last long which I liked, because Baymax is just what Hiro needed in the mist of his grief. Can I just say, you don't see many supportive sibling characters like Tadashi and Hiro, it was a very encouraging and loving relationship. His death wasn't portrayed great, it was a bit cliched and wasn't too impacting, but I'm glad they followed Hiro through his stages of grief, because that's what connects  with an audience. I also liked how it wasn't revealed straight away that his aunt looked after him, I had just assumed it was his mother, but it was a nice reveal to see that it wasn't the typically family set up, and she was supporting and loving as any mother would look like. 

The villains were pretty weak, I suppose the moralistic side of the film was meant to out weigh any real danger, it was about friendship and support, which was what I took from it. I just think overall it was a great film which displayed relevant messages and comforting entertainment, of course the whole 'I'm going to quickly design something amazing in two minutes' is not realistic, but its an animated kids film, it has to be extra cool and fun, pair that with likeable characters and relationships it all worked out in the end.

Go and see this film if you like the following:

1. Cute and adorable characters like Baymax.
2. Adorably unaware characters like Baymax.
3. A giant marshmallow robot like Baymax.
4. Cool interesting female characters who are not in romantic relationships.
5. Super hero fun.
6.  Funny banter with the protagonist and robot.
7. Cute supportive brotherly relationship.

I really enjoyed watching it, great for escapism, even if I am in my late teens. 
8/10 and remember- Balalalala 

How to train your dragon 2

The awaited sequel (to me anyway) of How to train your dragon arrived and it did not disappoint. I know this animation is more inclined to target children, but its too cute not to appeal to older teens such as myself. The return of Toothless and Hiccup was really nice to see, along with the return of all the old characters that had a chance to develop their story lines.

What I liked?

Um Toothless- How could you not like a dragon, who has retractable teeth, who acts like a mega cat and puppy combined, a dragon with an adorable grin, I mean props to the animators/ artists who came up with him in the first place, genius idea to snag kids (and older teenagers, and adults and oaps) to seeing the sequel.

Astrid- Confident character who has been given some nice comedic lines to make her a very likeable character.

Ruffnut- Very funny. Voiced by Kristen Wiig a great match.

Stoick and Valka - So adorable! Their chemistry was so nice and when they sang and danced with each other after 20 years apart, its like they never left each other. And the look on Hiccup's face, seeing his mum and dad reunite was cute.

Stoick- The protective dad who plays and active role in saving his son, shows how brave he is and promotes a positive outlook into what a perfect family relationship is.

Valka's secret dragon community- BECAUSE WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO GO THERE?

The idea of working- Working towards a cause, being proud of a cause and saving a cause, when you find what your'e meant to 'be' and what may be your purpose, or something you feel strongly about, this film portrays Hiccup's determinism as a positive message to adults and kids alike, I certainly appreciate his vocation, I WISH I COULD RIDE AROUND AND SAVE DRAGONS!

Strength in community- Nice to see community bonding, fighting together for a common cause, having fun, looks like somewhere I would want to stay plus... DRAGONS....

The 'banter' between the dragons- Each dragon was treated like a character, different characteristics, different looks, different behaviours etc, funny interactions.

Disability- Something that comes with the first film too. Hiccup has adapted, he has used his lack of leg and turned it into something positive, he and his dragons have lost something, but they do something about it, they don't dwell they look ahead, and its nice to teach kids that a tragedy like this isn't the end, they can move on and be brave like Toothless and Hiccup.

What I didn't like-

Bit cheesy- YES I KNOW ITS A CHILDREN'S FILM SORRY

Astrid- Is used to show the hero the light at the end of the tunnel, to encourage and help him along, and someone to kiss at the end, they could have built her up as something more.

Valka- Considering this place wasn't far away, it's a bit strange that they would not have bumped into each other before, it's been 20 years...

Typical plot- Set-up, conflict, resolution, which is ok, but I suppose I'm just waiting myself for a film to come along and change it up.

With an 8.5 rating on IMDb, and a 9/10 from me, I would say if you liked the first one, your going to like the next one.

The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault In Our Stars

Film Review

I LOVED IT!

Look, even though I watch John Green's vlogs on his Youtube channel vlogbrothers which he produces with his brother Hank, doesn't mean I'm going to be bias about this movie. When I first read the book my ending thought was, wow this is sad, obviously, but I also though damn John Green writes women well. I could feel what Hazel was feeling, even though I didn't have a terminal illness, I still felt the weight that was on her and Gus' shoulders and I felt for them. I think the film presented what was written perfectly.

What I liked:

The soundtracks fit the film perfectly.

The actors, when I first saw who was cast I thought, hmm yes I could get used to putting these names to these faces. Ansel fits Gus and Shailene fits Hazel.

Using ACTUAL QUOTES!! I exclaimed to my friends that the first dialogue in the film matched the ones written in the book and I adore when that happens, its so satisfying to be able to recognize something presented through another medium.

The acting. Can I please explain how good these actors were. Its like they inhaled the book and spurted out these mirror images. The heartbreak, the pain, the smiles, the flirtation, the everything, eugh it was just so good.

The humour, good humour was needed to balance out the pain in this film and I think they achieved this well.

The acceptance- The acceptance of disability, the acceptance of personal problems, feelings and emotions, I particularly liked the seen where Isaac was encouraged to smash up Gus' trophies to deal with his emotions, Gus did not care, he said go ahead even passed them to him himself. It just encouraged them to let it out and deal with them.

It made me cry- Twice. And just read the book so I wont have to tell you why.

FEMALE LEAD!!!! WITH A DISABILITY, FEMALE LEAD WITH A DISABILTY, A FILM ABOUT DISABILITY AND ILLNESS, WITH A FEMALE LEAD.

The romance- It was just so good, like the cutest thing ever, not this rom com crap you get repeated every month of the year, it was real, it was young and it felt natural. CHEMISTRY!!!

Things I did not like.

To be honest there is very little.

-John Green's cameo was not shown, maybe that was cut for people in the UK, I don't really know, but I saw it on Tumblr so I can get over it.

-The parents were a little cheesy, but that's sort of ok I suppose.

-The mothers reaction to the car getting pelted with eggs, she could of at least shouted at them.

-Van Houten's assistant to me, I pictured her differently and a bit older, not a big deal though.

-I can't think of more sorry.

 Such a beautiful film, nice typography on screen, lovely camera shots, perfect presentation of Amsterdam, brilliant screenplay, great actors.

9.5/10

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582846/ - Film details

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuVjGbncgQE - Film Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers - Vlogbrothers channel