Mockingjay | Movie review

So guys, it happened. This past week Mockingjay hit the big screen and it’s safe to say I was one of the first in line to see it. I know it’s been a few days, but I needed to collect my thoughts before I wrote this. With that said, I feel like I’m finally in a place where I can cohesively tell you what I thought, so lets get started. Oh, and this is going to be spoiler free… if that changes I’ll let you know further down!

First of all, the acting. Wow. I was so, incredibly impressed with Mr Hutcherson in this film, he 100% convinced me he was Peeta, and I hated watching him disintegrate, but loved the way they did it. On a similar note, hats off to the make up team for his look in the final scenes, it was the perfect combination of creepy and cuddle-worthy. (I could rattle on for another paragraph about the awesomeness that is Jennifer Lawrence, but you already know that, so I’m going to take it for granted and spring past it.)

In terms of the actual script, I’m so glad they brought Effie back. It wouldn’t have been the same without her and she brought some much needed comedy to a pretty dark film. I also want to look at Coin for a second, I hated her in the book from the very beginning, but somehow they managed to transform her into a more sympathetic character, which I liked… Snow is enough of a villain at this point, we don’t need Coin too.

The set, costume and soundtrack were all good… nothing to write home about, but overall solid and didn’t detract from the film or the story. I would however like to say that I’ve had the Hanging Tree stuck in my head for days and I really need to get it out… any suggestions are more than welcome!

That’s really all I have to say about the film itself, but can I just take a second to review the reviews? I understand that some people thought nothing happened in this film and that it was ‘boring’. To them I ask this question, so what?

This film is the third in a series, therefore you shouldn’t be watching it as a stand alone film. Both the original and Catching Fire were action packed and fast paced and this one wasn’t… that doesn’t make it a bad film!

This film wasn’t riddled with killing, it was more subtle focussing on Katniss relationship with Gale, her family, life in 13, her conflicting feelings over Peeta, his dissension into madness etc. It was a more acquired taste. However, it did offer the perfect platform for people to fall in love with the characters. You didn’t get to see a lot of Plutarch in Catching Fire and Coin is a new addition entirely, in order for Part 2 to pack a punch, they needed this film, and this extra few hours, to really get you invested in the story and people, particularly if you haven’t read the book. Also, this film takes place in front of a totally different backdrop to the previous two, and so the new world and system needed to be established before the film could proceed successfully.

I’m not necessarily saying if I were translating this series to film I would have split Mockingjay, but I do understand why they did it. Plus, is one more year really going to kill us?

Overall, I'm going to give this film an 8/10... a pretty solid score coming from me! 

What did you guys think? Did you like Mockingjay, or did it leave you a little sad, let me know!

xx

Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Upon close examination of this blog I realises there is little evidence as to how much of a geek I truly am. Sure, you know my favourite film is Aliens, but aside from that, you have little knowledge of how deeply rooted my nerdiness is.
I decided that I needed to remedy this and so today I'm posting a review of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Now, this review is designed mainly for the fans of the original film (not the piece of rubbish they released in 2001).
Personally, when this film was first releases I refused to watch it on principle. I wasn't going to risk ruining the original film for myself by watching a crappy remake.
This idea was reinforced after hearing how terrible the 2001 version was, and so I thought I'd made the right choice. The other part of this choice was based on my experience with The Italian Job. Original film with Michael Caine -amazing, one of my favourites... Remake, made me want to turn off the TV and never turn it on ever again.

Anywho, I digress, after sitting through a hundred trailers for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I decided I was going to bite the bullet and give it a shot, and thus I had to start with Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

First good point, the creation of Caesar and the other Apes is brilliant and incredibly life-like, not to mention Andy Serkis' Ape voice is really impressive. Automatically, this is a pro above the original film, however I was at first saddened not to see grown men running around in monkey costumes with sideburns.
In terms of the actually plot, I really liked it. I felt that the initial humanisation of the Apes helped to give the viewer a much greater compassion for and relationship with the Apes, and thus set up an effective plot where you were rooting for a species which could lead to the extinction of your own race - that's a lot deeper than I meant it to be, but I'm going to leave it!
Looking then at the acting, its hard to go wrong with James Franco, and all off the supporting actors also did a fantastic job of capturing the differing layers of humanity, some were compassionate, some were vulnerable and some were cruel... It lead to a mix that did leave you feeling quite conflicted at the films climax.
Generally, the cinematography was leaps and bounds ahead of the original, but I felt that it was the lack of impressive cinematography that has made the original film so timeless.

Overall, I think this film is definitely worth a watch, whether you're an fan of the original or not. It is action packed, but still pulls on your heart strings and is so vvastly different from the original that you can almost watch it independently, with limited association to its predecessor, leaving your opinion of the original unscathed.
I'm going to give this film 8 stars for general enjoyment and successful execution.

I hope to see the newest film (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) soon, and so hopefully I'll have a review up for that soon.
xx

Top 10 Quick Reads | 200 pages or less

Hello everyone! I'm going to keep this intro short, since this is a post all about quick reads. I know that sometimes you can get stuck in a reading rut and it seems like there's no way out.  your reading rate slows down and you start to think that there's no way on earth you're ever going to finish another book before you're 60.

Have no fear!
This is a list of 10 books all of which are under 200 pages (okay, one of them if 213 pages) which will help you fall in love with reading again. I know some people feel that shorter books aren't as well developed, but these tales break the mould and there's no way you have any excuse for not falling in love!

1. The Ocean at The End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (181 pages) - a great fantasy story with Neil Gaiman's traditional creepy spin. Great for around Halloween and just beautiful to read.
2. Animal Farm by George Orwell (152 pages) - this is a modern classic and is the father of the dystopian genre. It is fairly important to note that this is actually an analysis of communism, with many of the characters making specific reference to key communist leaders such as Stalin, but you almost forget this as you get engrossed in the story!
3. Surviving Hitler by Andrea Warren (146 pages) - This is a great war time story about a boy who's sent away to a Nazi death camp and his experience there. The innocence and simplicity of the writing makes this a truly riveting read and gives a much greater character depth than is usually possible for a book this short!
4. The Tulip Touch by Anne Fine (160 pages) - Warning! This book is scary, Tulip is a demented character but she's so incredibly intriguing and the plot sucks you in so completely that you barely notice how disturbing the story is until you've finished.
5. Four: A Divergent Story by Veronica Roth (208 pages - sorry, I know it's over, but you can handle an extra 8 pages!) - I'm not a hundred percent sure if you could realistically treat this as a stand alone, but even if you've just read Divergent itself without the rest of the books this is a good read. It gives a really interesting insight into Four's character and just makes me want to give him a great big cuddle!
6. All My Sons by Arthur Miller (84 pages) - This is a play and so the characters are really well established, not a lot happens within the play but the context and history of the characters makes this a thought provoking and harrowing read that I literally couldn't put down... I read it in like 2 hours.
7. The Giver by Lois Lowry (179 pages) - This book is interesting because it really doesn't have that much of a plot, and you don't really get to know the characters, yet you're still totally invested in the book. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but I do know that you should definitely go check it out!
8. Lovers: Winners, Losers by Brian Friel (77 pages) - This is another play but it is sensational and just captures the various stories so well. I actually did a drama for a Speech and Drama exam from this and so always have had a special connection with Mags. I think I'm going to reread all of Friel's works to refresh my memory, it's been a while, and I'll do an Author's Note once I get that far.
9. The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky (213 pages - again, I'm sorry.) - This book really did depress me when I read it, and so even though it's short it took me a little while. It is amazing and the characters are brilliantly sympathetic.
10. The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Alan Po (31 pages) - This is by far the shortest story on this list but is sensational in every way, I love the creepiness of this story and the slow decension into madness of the character, even in a small number of pages.