Tag: film

The Longest Ride – Film Review

January 27, 2016

Again another film I was really pleased to have received for Christmas as I am a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks and his stories are always very cute yet heart-breaking!

The primary story takes place between Luke, the charmingly attractive country boy looking to become the best professional bull rider in the world and Sophia, the pretty and intelligent college girl about to pursue her passion for art by taking her dream job in New York City. Despite coming from completely different worlds, Sophia falls for Luke’s southern hospitality. As they struggle to make things work, they cross paths with an elderly man named Ira. Sophia befriends Ira, and he tells her about the ups and downs of the romance he shared with his beloved wife Ruth. Sophia learns through Ira’s story and her own relationship with Luke that real enduring romance isn’t easy, and everyone has to make sacrifices for those they love.

The Longest Ride again followed the pattern of Sparks’s many other novels but for me I didn’t mind that because I’m a sucker for cute, cliche and predictable romances. It was an emotional roller coaster which truly showed the ups and downs of being and staying in love.I loved how they paired something delicate like art with something aggressive and dominate like bull riding to produce this powerful yet sweet romance.

I really, really enjoyed Scott Eastwood’s performance as the charming country boy with the dangerous profession of jumping on angry cattle. I really liked the element of the bull riding as it was different and something you wouldn’t normally associate with a love story. Britt Robertson performance was enjoyable however I have to admit my attention was more focused on Scott Eastwood for most of the film! He’s gorgeous!

What stole the show for me was the incredibly beautiful story of Ira and Ruth and I found myself just waiting for more of their flashbacks rather than caring about the present time. Jumping back and forth between stories can also be confusing, but this movie had a nice balance and the stories went well together, inspiring the present by way of the past.

Overall, I thought it was a perfect girly romance film which not only made me smile but cry and feel all warm and gooey inside! It is easily to say I give this film 4/5 stars and recommend it to anyone who is looking for that perfect film to watch on a rainy afternoon!

X Men: Apocalypse – Trailer Reaction

December 13, 2015

This post is a bit late but on Friday the first trailer for ‘X Men: Apocalypse’ was released and it looks amazing!

Brian Singer is back and it looks like he’s made another action packed and badass film. The build up of the action in the trailer is certainly dramatic and from the very beginning of the trailer we are thrown into this action with a vision of the end of the world from Jean Grey. But this is only the beginning as throughout the trailer we are thrown into the action left, right and centre!

Charcter wise we were able to see some familiar faces as well as some new faces like Jean Grey, Cyclopse, Storm, Angel, Jubilee and Nightcrawler (the list is endless) all of whom look totally badass especially in their suits! Another thing I thought was clever was that we never fully see Apocalypse (Oscar Issac) which makes me even more excited to see when the film is released. His ‘four horsemen’ also looked really cool and I can’t wait to see them in action. It looks like Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) again gets a large role in this film thanks to the trailer but I can’t stop seeing her as a blonde Katniss as she takes control in leading all the other young mutants.

I have to admit my favourite scene has to be which looks like the final battle with all the mutants which allows us to witness all their powers and I am positive that Brian Singer will certainly make this scene dramatic and bold with special effects. I hope I wasn’t the only one who freaked out at the end when the doors opened and their was Charles but he was bald!

X Men: Apocalypse is certainly one of many films which I am really excited to see next year when it is released! What did you think?

The Giver – Film Review

June 30, 2015

I liked this film, I definitely liked it, but I wouldn’t say I loved it… I really anticipated this film, especially as I didn’t manage to catch it in the cinema, it looked kinda cool and I was really excited to watch it… but I was a tad bit disappointed… once again, I downloaded this film from Sky (I bloody love Sky) and patiently waited until Saturday afternoon when I had got home from work, dad was in the garden and mum was out with her friend (apparently it’s ‘not their type of film…) So after a long wait I was eagerly anticipating this film. But, although I was disappointed, it wasn’t all rubbish, there were aspects that I did enjoy.

The film is based on a book by Lois Lowry where everything in this futuristic community is controlled, your age, your occupation, your children and even your spouse. At the annual ceremony of age, the main protagonist, Jonas, is now old enough to graduate from childhood to adulthood and is given his life’s occupation. But everyone else has been given their occupation and Jonas is still there on his own, his name and occupation was not called out, but this is because he has been given the very prestigious job that is the receiver of memories.

I really, really enjoyed the book that this film was based on so I suppose I went into this with rather high expectations (the killer of all films). In terms of how the book matched the story, it was basically spot on, I didn’t really notice what they changed or took out, it felt just like the book on screen (bearing in mind that I read this book a while ago and have a really bad memory so I might be wrong). From this you would suspect that I really enjoyed the film… but that wasn’t the case… there was just something about the story that just didn’t translate well on screen but in book form was beautiful. It might be because of the acting, but with high profile actors like Meryl Streep, I was expecting the acting to be better… also, I’m sorry but Taylor Swift just cannot act… just no.

However, I can’t write this film off completely, there were some things that I kind of liked. I really liked how the film starts in black and white and colour gets progressively added as the film continues. I felt that this nicely represented what Jonas is actually seeing, as he is the main character. It also portrayed the world in which they live in with absolute honesty and it didn’t really sugar coat things. I’ve said this already (I think) but I did like that it truly reflected the book and all that it stood for in terms of lessons and morals, but, although it is a beautiful story, I just felt that it just didn’t translate effectively.

This film did keep me engaged so I guess it wasn’t all bad… once again this is just my opinion so feel free to disagree, if you loved or hated this film I would love to know your reasons and opinions in the comments. I’m going to rate this a 2 out of 5 stars, not great but not utterly awful.
If you’re interested in the book, I wrote a review for that and I shall link it HERE

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 – Trailer Reaction

June 9, 2015

Amy:

I have to admit it has taken a lot of effort to restrain myself from writing this whole post in capital letters as I have been so excited for the trailer and I’m even more excited for the film itself!! I loved that in this film we are able to see more than just district 13 and more of the capital and the shots from the trailer looks like these scenes are full of action.

Jennifer Lawrence is once again a perfect Katniss and certainly in the trailer we see her aggression and determination shine though as well as her amazing leaderships skills. She also looks like such a badass, especially near the end when she walks up the road towards Snow with thousands of Panem citizens following behind!!! We also get a quick snippet of a Katniss and Peeta embrace which just made all of my feelings explode!! I have to admit though my favourite bit of the whole trailer was the wedding between Finick and Annie (how cute does that look!!?) as for once everyone looks really happy and is certainly a great contrast to the destruction we see caused in the capital!! I also love the line from Finick “Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to the 76th Hunger Games”!! Brilliant!!

Eleanor:

Oh wow! I was a little slow on the uptake on this trailer, I’ve got to admit I completely forgot about it until I got home from my driving lesson, I should thank Amy for reminding me so I wasn’t completely out of the loop (although I would have eventually seen it on twitter). But as soon as I got my ass in gear (bit of a cheeky pun there as I just came back from a driving lesson…Ha.Ha. I’m so funny) I was SO EXCITED! It was just the perfect trailer, wasn’t it? I am also interested about the Finnick-Annie wedding, purely because it wasn’t described in much detail in the book so I’m intrigued at how it will look.

It just looks so bad-ass and exciting! I’m really excited about seeing all the intense scenes in the capitol, purely for the excitement and also sheer terror (even though I know what will happen). Although the last book wasn’t my favourite, it’s looks as though it’s done it justice and they haven’t cocked it up, which is always good.

Although this all very exciting, there is also a little part of me that’s quite sad. When I was watching this I realised that this is the last ‘first reveal’ trailer that we’re ever going to get for the Hunger Games. This being the books that turned me into an official fangirl, and the first book that I tentatively waited for stills and trailers for, the first of many. I owe them a lot.

Overall we are both SO excited for this film and please do share your opinions in the comments below!

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!

Love, Rosie (2014) – Film Review

April 27, 2015

I was really interested to watch the film after reading the book only a couple of weeks ago (you can have a look at the book review here if you like), and I would just like to thank my co-blogger for lending me the DVD (thanks bud!). This film was a really nice break from my revision as it was light-hearted, cute and also incredibly funny!

For those of you who don’t know, this film is about two best friends Rosie and Alex who grow up together, it is pretty obvious from the start that they love each other but they’re always being pulled apart for various different reasons.

I did have high expectations for this film after my extensive enjoyment of the book. I was also rather worried that they might ruin it in some way. Although the cast did comfort me somewhat, any film with Lily Collins and Sam Claflin in isn’t exactly going to be bad! The acting in this film was also really good, it must have been difficult to be able to represent an 18-year-old and a 40-year-old in the same film but they seemed to do it with ease! I was also kind of worried about Lily’s English accent…I have certainly heard worse… JUST KIDDING, to be honest,, it was actually very good, I’m sure having two English parents helps! The thing that I really loved about this film is that it was hilariously funny but still managed to be serious about sensitive subjects such as teenage pregnancy. This film really perked me up after a long day of school and two hours of revision on top so I can imagine it would also be perfect for those sofa days or sick days!

It is always inevitable that when they make books into movies that they’re going to change and cut a few things. There are so many beautiful parts to this story that I was really worried that they would change everything and it would no longer be the story that I fell in love with. BUT I was pleasantly surprised, although they did change a few things here and there, it was still the same story and to be honest it made much more sense on screen than if they just used the book word for word (there are some bits in the book that would make a film a little disjointed).

I really, really enjoyed this film! It really cheered me up and it was worth the (long) wait! I’m going to give this book a 5 out of 5 stars, why not, it was a fun rom-com and a great story! Although this film is a 15 so please be aware that it does contain strong language and sexual references, so please bear this in mind before you watch this film.

The DUFF (2015) – Film Review

April 20, 2015

After reading the book I got relatively excited about the film however from the looks of the trailers I knew they had changed a lot. Normally, I don’t like to compare the film exactly to the book, however, this is an exception – they changed everything!

The DUFF stands for ‘Designated Ugly Fat Friend’ which for Bianca is what she is labeled as in High School! The story follows Bianca, a young woman as she faces the struggles of high school, family, and labels! With the help from the handsome and popular boy Wesley, Bianca hopes she can un-duff herself and win over the boy of her dreams.

I don’t know what happened to the film as it is nothing like the book, yes it does portray the message of not listening to labels but it missed out so many more important ones. I can understand why they didn’t include the sex scenes as it is a teen book and no one really wants to go and see that in the cinema (unless you want to go and watch ’fifty shades of grey!) but there was so much more stuff they missed.

I was also disappointed that Bianca’s friends Jess and Casey weren’t included as much as they were in the book as their role in the book is to support Bianca and to portray the theme of friendship. Another thing they changed was Toby Tucker; he wasn’t kind or romantic but just a total arse in the film which I really disliked. His relationship in the book is so much nicer and ends on a happier note than in the film!

The addition of the ‘mean girl’ Madison Morgan played by Bella Thorne did make it more cliche but it did suit the theme of the film which was the struggles of high school. I thought Mae Whitman who played Bianca was good and in my eyes was the perfect Bianca! Robbie Amell, I thought again was the perfect Wesley as he was sarcastic, handsome as well as being kind and caring. The on-screen relationship between Wesley and Bianca, in my opinion, worked really well as there was some banter and laughs between them which is what I also enjoyed from the book!

However, apart from a lot of the alterations, I thought the film did a good job for what it was; a cheesy girly Friday night film! There were some funny moments but there were also a lot of awkward and ‘WTF’ moments too (if you’ve watched it then you probably know what I mean!) which did affect my overall opinion.

Overall, I give this film 2/5 stars as it wasn’t the best ‘chick flick’ i’d seen but it was bearable. It had some laughs and portrayed some important messages. If you are thinking of going and think it would be exactly like the book, I recommend you think again! If you are interested in reading the book please do check out our review on the book here!

Have you seen the film? What is your opinion? Please feel free to leave a comment down below!

Paddington (2017) – Film Review

April 7, 2015

I hope you don’t mind us throwing the occasional film review on the blog, we might continue with it if you guys like it! I watched the film Paddington with my family this Easter and oh my word it is such a lovely film! It’s filled with fun, laughs and good old English wit! We had such a wonderful time watching this film, it’s one of those films that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside…

The film is a beautiful retelling of the classic story of Paddington Bear, for those of you who weren’t read this sweet childhood story before bed it’s about a plucky young bear from darkest Peru who decides to pack his bags full of marmalade and travel to London where he is taken in by a slightly dysfunctional family, who, through Paddington, learn to be slightly less dysfunctional.

This film is jam-packed full of very famous British faces who include Hugh Bonneville, Michael Gambon, Julie Walters, Peter Capaldi and Matt Lucas. As you can probably tell from just a few of the cast this film is acted incredibly well. Also, the script is amazingly written with witty lines and generally hilarious moments that this slightly mischievous bear gets up to.

But this film isn’t just for children as you might be thinking, both myself and my parents genuinely loved this film as it was written with a certain type of humour that would fly over children’s heads but we, being older and have a better understanding of the world understand. But there are also some tense moments as there is a ‘badie’ figure of a Taxidermist played by Nichole Kidman (told you it was a good cast!) with some incredibly close shaves for young Paddington Bear!

This is the perfect film for any occasion and is guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face, but if you’ve seen it and disagree I would love to hear why in the comments! I’m going to rate this film a five out of five stars * * * * *, I honestly cannot fault it, it’s just beautiful but for you to make your own decision I’ll leave the link to the trailer here.

The DUFF – Kody Keplinger

April 4, 2015

Initially I decided to read this book as it was being turned into a film but also that it was an Advanced Readers Copy on NetGallery, so thank you to them for sending it to me! From the trailer the booked looked cheesy and girly which I didn’t mind but I was surprise to find out they are both very different….

The DUFF stands for ‘Designated Ugly Fat Friend’ which for Bianca is what she is labeled as in High School! The story follows Bianca, a young woman as she faces the struggles of high school, family and labels! I thought the message behind the book was important telling its readers not to listen or follow labels as they don’t make us who we are and I 100% support that. Obviously ‘The DUFF’ presents quite a different take on the boy-meets-girl scenario, but it’s as unique and funny as nearly any teen romance I’ve seen.

Character wise, I had mixed feelings about Bianca as I understood the struggles she was going through however at times I found her rude and annoying. There is also the fact that Bianca ditches her friends in favour of getting laid. Yeah, yeah she needs an escape from her problems, but has she heard the saying ‘chicks before dicks!’

Wesley, on the other hand I really liked and I felt like he was a realistic teen guy. His relationship with Bianca was different and the ‘banter’ between them I enjoyed. Even though the ending was cliche, I thought it was cute!

In this story there is a lot of sex and inappropriate language which you might think is endorsing that teenagers be sexually active but this isn’t the case. In fact, her point is that there shouldn’t be labels and that our tendency to connect self-esteem problems with sex in a relationship is sometimes misplaced. However I know she is sending a message but I wasn’t a fan of all the sex!

Overall, this book was a nice light read which left me thinking about a lot at the end so I give it 3/5 stars and recommend it to more mature readers. The film is being released in cinemas in the UK soon so do expect a review!

What did you think of the book? Have you seen the film? Feel free to comment below!

Insurgent – Film Review

March 24, 2015

I loved the book and now once again I loved the film. Though it wasn’t perfect, i really enjoyed it and was on the edge of my seat for nearly the whole thing! I loved ‘Divergent’ and I have to admit I had high expectations for ‘Insurgent’

Insurgent follows ‘Divergent’ and is the second film in the series. Following the events of the previous film, a war now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. While trying to save the people that she loves, Tris faces questions of grief, forgiveness, identity, loyalty, politics, and love.

There is no doubt these films has an impressive cast. Once again Shailene and Theo portray Tris and Four in my opinion really well and it is clear that they have real chemistry together on and off screen! Shailene was perfect in showing the pain Tris was going through and thought she really shun in the ‘truth serum’ scene. Theo was once again gorgeous on screen and portrayed Four as still strong and mysterious. I have to give special mention to Miles Teller as Peter. His one-liners brought humour to the film and he is soon becoming one of my favourite characters. However I have to admit I was disappointed that some of the minor characters weren’t involved as much as they were in the book such as Marlene and Uriah – but you can’t have everything!!

Another big difference the film featured was ‘the box’ which I know has caused may disrupt for the fans but I thought It worked really well. I thought i made it clearer to the audience what the plot was as well as help driving it. Things that work in novel don’t always work in the film.

The only major negative I had was that I thought the film didn’t flow very well. i felt as if we were jumping from one scene to another very quickly as one moment we were at the Candor Headquarters and then back at Factionless. But I have to admit i thought both headquarters were pretty cool and represented there factions perfectly especially Amity which was my favourite scene of the whole film; the suspense and action was fab!!

If we are just being picky, I had mixed feeling for the ending as I thought it was good for ‘Insurgent’ but it got me thinking about how it would work for ‘Allegiant’ and I am interested to see how things work out in the next film.

Overall, I rate Insurgent 3.8/5 stars as it was actioned packed and a film I loved however i did have some flaws. In my opinion it wasn’t as good as ‘Divergent’ but it was an enjoyable film which I recommend you watch in 3D as it makes the simulations look really cool and make you feel like you are there with Tris, experiencing every moment!!

If you like what your reading I recommend you read the book series as it is amazing as well as checking out our reviews on ‘Divergent’ and ‘Insurgent’

What did you think of the film? Let us know in the comments!!