Tag: 3.8 stars

The Anomaly – Film Review

June 5, 2015

Well… this film is certainly one for all SCI FI lovers! I did have my eye on it when it first came out because the trailer did get me interested, but I never managed to see it… so when I saw it ready to download on sky I was all over it. Now I have quite a bit of free time on my hands, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to give it a watch.

The plot line is somewhat confusing… The main protagonist, Ryan, wakes up not knowing where he is or how he got there. He finds himself in the back of a van with a kidnapped boy. Whilst trying to save him, the contents of his jacket makes him realise that he was, in fact, the kidnapper but he has no recognition of doing such a thing. Once he comes to this realisation, he zones out then wakes up in a completely different place with completely different people. He is only himself and in one situation for 9 minutes and 47 seconds and the film is Ryan trying to find out WHY and HOW this is happening. Now you can probably guess by my incapability to write a coherent synopsis that it is really weird and VERY hard to describe…

Set some time in the future, the CGI is quite something, especially the enhanced London; that was wicked! However I found it quite hard to follow, and confusing, I really had to concentrate and rewind a few times just to make sure I understood, so perhaps don’t watch this will chatty people because you will certainly be baffled!

Even now I’m still not entirely sure what the whole point was, I think I have it, but it took a while… Also you’re kind of left in a confused state for about ¾ of the film, so you really have to stick it out if you want to even begin to have some sort of understanding.
But the thing about this film is that it is so gripping, although I was in a state of confusion for the majority of the film, I was desperate to see how it was going to end and what will happen next, and it really was unpredictable because Ryan was always waking up in weird and wacky situations that I could never anticipate.

A thing about this film that I wasn’t crazy about was that there was A LOT of fist fighting and one to one combat. Although at first it was intense and beautifully choreographed, after the 3rd fight, I was bored… However, these fights were well fought by some kick ass actors, Ryan is played by Noel Clark, who I knew from playing Micky in Doctor Who. Also the ‘badie’ (of sorts) is played by Ian Somerhalder who most will know from ‘The Vampire Diaries’, I mean he’s always going to be the perfect ‘badie’ and those bright blue eyes are a force to be reckoned with!

Over all this was a gripping and an interesting film, however it is confusing but if you persevere with it then it will start to make more sense and it actually turns into a very clever and unique story! I’m going to award this a 3 out of 5 stars, I might be being a bit mean as I did enjoy this film but it was just a bit too confusing for my old noggin. Also before you watch this bear in mind that it is rated 15 and does include violent scenes and sex scenes…

I shall link the trailer HERE so you can make your own opinion on this interesting film!

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landu-Banks – E. Lockhart

February 2, 2015

WOO GIRL POWER!

I picked this up in Waterstones because A) I had nothing to read and it sounded kinda interesting and B) because it was a signed copy and I’m a real sucker for anything signed.

I’ll start with the summery… this book is about an intelligent and feisty young teenager named Frankie Landu- Banks who is able to attend a very fancy boarding school. Frankie is one of those girls that completely transforms one summer and suddenly goes from girl with no boobs or curves to WHAM massive bust, lovely hips and a sizable bum, she’s now stunningly beautiful (by the way how unfair is that? I have never known that to happen ever, and if it does… URRG WHY WORLD?!). So she’s gorgeous now and turning heads everywhere she goes, so when she finally goes back to school her all – time crush suddenly notices her and wants to date her (unrealistic…). So all is cushy and nice UNTIL she finds out about an all – male society that she can’t join, even though she would bring so much to it, anyway she tries to prove herself and all hell breaks loose.

What I really liked about this book is the very prominent feminism shown throughout as Frankie can kick those guy’s arses! But contrastingly there are some points when Frankie is really typically girly and playing the damsel in distress just to impress Mathew (her crush turned BF) and that really irritated me!
I also really enjoyed the suspense of the book, I felt like I wanted to know what was going to happen but there just wasn’t enough to make me keep reading into the early hours of the morning… if ya get me…

At some points I felt as though I was in an English lesson or in a History class, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I did feel as though it was a little wordy and I felt myself falling asleep sometimes…
Also I really could not connect with any of the characters. Frankie really annoyed me even though I understood what she was doing and why he was doing it but URRG some of the things just drove me up the wall! When it comes to her crush to be BF Mathew I found the picture that was depicted was very nice indeed but he was just a bit crappy and needs to sort out his priorities I mean seriously…

Anyway that’s about it, I did enjoy this book but I found some bits a little annoying and unrealistic. I’m going to award this book 3 out of 5 stars * * *. A good read but irritating.

The Railway Children- E. Nesbit

October 5, 2014

The classic story of the Railway Children is no doubt a beautiful story, yet I found myself a little bored, this could be (probably is) because of these factors, 1) I have seen the film many times so I was familiar with the story already, and it pains me to say that the film was better and that literally goes against everything i believe in… 2) I feel as though the age demographic is of someone younger than myself 3) I usually read books that are filled with high action and high intensity and this book was the equivalent of one of those children’s rides you find outside of a supermarket…

The plot of this book is a very touching one (and I probably would have cried if I hadn’t already seen the film). The main protagonists are three children named Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis. One night in their privileged town house in London, their father is taken away for some unknown reason, because of this they are forced to move away to the country side in which they grow a loving bond with the railway and all the people working there. They go on many adventures and befriend an old gentlemen, who you never learn the name of… which kind of annoyed me…

Another way this book bothered me a little was the fact that it was really gender stereotypical, which after I watched Emma Watson’s speech the other day (wasn’t it amazing!?!) I have felt really strongly about gender equality and some of the lines in this book I was like WHAT? NO, GIRLS CAN DO THAT TO! And it just angered me a bit, however I did take into consideration the time in which it was written, set and all that shebang but still it annoyed me… a lot…

In summery this was in fact a lovely book, I however just found it a bit boring, because of that I’m going to give it three out of five stars * * *.

Salvage – Keren David

September 16, 2014

This was one of those books where you’re in somewhat of a rush in the book store so you hurriedly grab a book at random… or that might be just me.

Before I cracked this book open (not that I would actually crack the spine…That’s almost a crime) I didn’t really have any idea what it was about, I hadn’t seen it anywhere on tumblr or booktube as I believe it’s a relatively new release (don’t hold me to that I might be wrong). But the story line is one that I haven’t really seen before. It has the potential to be quite a controversial and touchy subject but I didn’t find that anything was insensitive or disrespectful. Anyway enough of my woffeling (don’t think that’s quite the right spelling but hey-ho) the book is about two very extremes of British living, however these two extremes are seen through the eyes of a brother and sister who were separated when they were very young. Cass, the younger sister, gets adopted at age 4 by some very wealthy and politically powerful parents where as Aiden, the older brother, is left to fend for himself in the “not as wealthy care system”. A sires of unfortunate events leads to their meeting twelve years after they were separated.

I actually really enjoyed this book. It was thrilling, but not in your typical way you might see the word ‘thrilling’ used in a YA book review. It’s hard to describe but it was the ‘realness’ that made the term ‘thrilling’ relevant as you knew this is a certain scenario that could happen and quite possibly has.

I have to admit the ending to this was fantastic. It was such a climax to the book and summed it up in a little nutshell so much so that I don’t feel as though I need to read a sequel, which for me is very rare! Although it doesn’t really shine a brilliant light on our country’s care system but I suppose everything has flaws.

Overall I really did like this book, my only criticism would be that at some points it can get a bit slow and if you don’t live in the UK there might be some parts that may be a bit alien (but i’m sure you can figure it out, you’re clever) I’m going to award this book a 3.8 out of 5 stars * * *.8 . A good read.