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 

The imitation game

I thought I needed to see this movie before it started going out of the cinema, so that is what I did. I love historical films, true stories and biographical films and the story of Alan Turing was an extraordinary one to say the least, even if one of my favourite actors was not playing Turing, I still would have gone to see it. 

This film was so beautiful and heartbreaking, I appreciated it greatly. Alan Turing was a great man, it pains me to think of what he went through in his personal life regarding his sexuality, and I just wonder now if someone were to travel back in time and give him an ounce of reassurance that the world now is a lot more accepting and loving in comparison. Would that have changed his death? I believe not, from what I gathered from his personality he was a very vulnerable man, the fact that in a time where he would not live until, to see acceptance would still solidify how unhappy he was with his life. The despicable act of administrating hormonal treatment to cure someone's sexuality is absurd, and its so sad to think of all the people who went through it, because its not fictional. 

This film has made me appreciate Turing and the work he and his team achieved. I had heard of the word 'enigma' before but not in the sense it was portrayed in the film, but the literary sense, an enigma code being a plot device, meaning something puzzling/mysterious. Breaking the enigma code looked astonishing though, even if it was a bit too complicated for me to understand fully, but I got the gist of it. 

Moments I enjoyed:

• The relationship between Turing and Joan was sweet, a true friendship, an accepting one as well. I'm glad they didn't try and produce a romantic relationship between them, not even a kiss which was nice to see. Although at times her straightforward acceptance of him was mismatched with the realities of what was happening back then, but I'm glad she was very supportive of him, and seemed to understand how his brain worked. 
• Joan- Was a lovely character, funny, defiant and smart, I'm glad we had that seen at the initiation where she comes in late, it truly breaks down sexism in the workplace for a moment, a moment where brains truly are more important. 
• Alex Lawther- (Young Alan Turing) deserves some sort of award, I found his performances so moving, he perfected the look of vulnerability and strength, you could see young Alan's shields that he built up, and why they were there, you could truly feel his emotions and coupled with Benedict's own mannerisms of Turing, this coupled display really shone through.
• Benedict really is a flawless actor, no matter what high profile role he is in, e.g. Sherlock, he always produces a completely outstanding performance making you believe he is not anything other than the role he is currently playing. Everything from the body language, the pure real emotion and determination was perfect, I am so in love with his performance in this film, it is exceptional and if  he doesn't receive at least one award for this film, I will be very angry. He's a talented rarity.
• That they didn't show his death, that's not how he should be remembered and it had more of an impact in the film like that.

Moments which I did not like:

• I felt something was off with the colouring, it seemed a little too vibrant for this particular era, maybe its just me, but it felt slightly modern in a way for some reason.
• John the soviet spy- Didn't like his character for obvious reasons.The police officers- Might be a bit biased since they were homophobic.

Overall I truly did enjoy this film piece, it highlighted an extraordinary historic hero and gave me more of an insight into the life of Alan Turing thanks to some amazing performances.
10/10.

Into the woods

I watched this movie yesterday night on release day and wow was it worth the price of my cinema ticket and more. Fairytale movies and adaptations have always been a key area of interest, ever since I divulged into studying them for my dissertation at school. I've always liked the re-occurring nature of such stories, and it intrigues me to know that hundreds of years on these stories still are adapted and retold through many mediums, not just films,most notably the 'Land of Stories' books by Chris Colfer, a notable example. A downside of the fairy tales are there stereotypical nature, reoccurring character types and 'happy ever after ending', and some adaptations have been so awful and not worth anyone's time, but this film, by far is not one of them, its extraordinary. 

Combining these classic tales within the musical genre was amazing. I am a sucker for musicals, those like Les Miserables, Mamma Mia and basically anything similar so this film was right up my street.

The music was so great, all of the cast could sing amazingly, especially since I didn't realise some of them could. There was a perfect balance of themes, love, longing, despair, comical, mystery intertwined within the lyrics. The prologue was great, I loved how throughout the film its seemliness, crossing over with the different character arcs, and how the music combined the storyline into one ongoing one. 'Hello little girl' performed by Depp and Crawford was creepy with Depp continuously drawling 'hellooooo little girl'. 'Agony' performed by Pine and Magnussen was jokes, it had the whole cinema chuckling because it was just so egotistical and cheesy.  Blunt and Corden performing 'It takes two' was so cute, their chemistry within the film was so great, they were forgiving and in to in love to be mad at each other for more than a minute, wonderful pairing, and cute song. Meryl Streep... yesssssssssss, 'Stay with me' and all her amazing powerful and emotional songs were magical, I just love her voice, so powerful and soft. Kendrick was fabulous too, perfect role for her, 'one the steps of the palace' was great to showcase her high pitch. Blunt's last few songs especially 'moments in the woods' was epic, reminded me a lot of Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables. The scene of blame, 'Your fault' was a great analogy of what had happened in the story so far, it was a fast and jam packed analysis of who was to blame for the giant coming down. 'No one is alone' was also truly beautiful. I also liked the 'children will listen' notion. 'The last midnight' aswell, yesss Meryl (sorry). Congratulations Stephen Sondheim on an array of fantastic scores, give him an Oscar. 

As I said I loved how the stories intertwined with each other and how the music flowed and stopped suddenly, and how the camera shots only revealed a snippet of a certain scene, especially the baker's wife's death, only the hand in the shot, and the audience can just infer she is going to die, coupled with the music slowing. The actors all had great chemistry and played their roles well.The younger actors were great and I recognised Huttlestone who played Jack from Les Mis. And I liked how they subverted the fact that these characters did not get their desired and planned happy ending, the typical ending, Prince charming and Cinderella, etc, but they created a new one. And I liked how we didn't see how their lives panned out, it was left open for our interpretation, and just panned out into the woods.

10/10

Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.

I have loved the previous two films, so going into watching the third I had high expectations. I've always loved films like this, it's just something to sit and watch if you want a laugh. Ben Stiller was great, I loved with this film how you just accepted the lines from the actors mouths even if they were roll your eyes and bad at times, but that's what these films are a comical outlook into a crazy event you would never expect to happen to you ever. And I love museums and history so that's a plus. Besides the fact I wouldn't know how to react if the dinosaurs in my museum came to life, but Larry should be used to it by now.

• I'm sorry but trying to say that the coming alive of these artefacts are 'special effects' and having an audience, from New York believe you, please. 
• Not too fond of Larry's son Nick, has this reckless attitude which is boring.
• Not really into Ricky Gervais's character to be honest, its a little to fake and it comes across that they are trying to hard with the humour with him, yes he's a comedian but its too fabricated for my liking. 
• Love Jedediah and Octavius as characters, little cute bromance. 
• I actually didn't realise 'Laaa' was played by Ben Stiller, but hey a great and funny character, its something about these helpless historical artefacts who have no knowledge of our time that is endearing.  
• Rebel Wilson's character just felt like it was a cameo by Rebel, it didn't really make a lot of sense and the accent was terrible.
• Was strange seeing Robin Williams on screen for the final time, great character and actor nonetheless.
• I liked the throwback to the first movie where Larry was playing fetch with the dinosaur. 
• I'd love to watch the behind the scenes and see the actors acting in front of basically nothing since its mostly CGI.
• Where is the security inside the museum, can't only be dear old Tilly outside?
• Bless Dexter the monkey...
• "Hello frog, keep hopping, your'e real" hahaha,
• Oh dear Pompeii 
• "Ever used a blade?".... "Only in World of Warcraft."
• To think you could electrocute  iron snakes. 
• "We have 40,000 of them" oh no.
• Haha the lions and the light in Trafalgar Sq.
• Huge Ackman oh my
• Haha dripping nose
• No the goodbye scenes, bye Hun, bye Dexter, bye guys!
• Winking with both eyes lol

I'm glad overall they ended it like that, having fun, dancing it was a good end to three magical films. 7/10

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.

Guardians of the Galaxy Review

                                           
Here goes Marvel again with another smashing yes SMASHING film. They have killed it these past two years and hopefully the upcoming films will hit the same mark.

Things I liked/loved:

Chris Pratt- Carried the awesome script and delivered the lines he was given in a confident and cheeky way. Zoe Saldana, played Gamora very well I enjoyed her portrayal a lot and the vulnerability she displayed within her character.

The music- The opening sequence, not to serious, I liked how the songs were incorporated in the storyline and how it added to the mood. Provided a nice close to the film too.

Acceptance- The film explored in different ways acceptance, especially with Rocket, I liked how it was addressed.

Humour- Nice humour throughout, nice romantic humour, nice friendship 'banter', Rocket was funny, 'get me his leg'.

Stan Lee's appearance- Always nice to see

The inclusion of two women conversing without talking about a man/relationship.

Groot- He was so cute, he's one of those characters that appears a lot alongside a hero, he may be unable to communicate the same as others, but he was still an important aid to the plot, and maybe the actual hero at the end. And baby Groot dancing at the end was adorable.

Things that I didn't like:

Cheese: Not literally, but the typical we love each, hands in the middle, all in this together, yes its Marvel, heroes blah blah I understand...

Unrealistic: The destruction of buildings/cities, typical for Marvel, e.g. The Avengers, shown very unrealistically.

Nebula: I loved seeing Karen Gillan in another sci-fi project, but I didn't warm to her character as much as I would have liked, I know she was a bad guy, but usually there's always an element where you can connect and I didn't.

Come to think of it the plot was not strong it was masked by the characters. Energy that is so powerful it can kill you or make you the strongest person, but weak.

Quill's background! I know we know about his mother, but there was nothing else, no family reaction to the abduction, no trying to find his family after, I think there needed to be something, I don't know what.


Overall- When I was watching it I loved it, I sat back laughed and watched.
On second thoughts there was some things covered up by the performances and likeable characters.
4/5 otherwise it would have been a 5/5.

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