Chasing your dreams even when you lack courage

Howdy ladies and gents, time for another personal blog post and this one centers around my aspirations in life and how I’ve fallen off track and gotten a little confused on my road towards greatness.

That’s what I’ve been doing since my childhood and its the only thing that makes my future worth living for. Sounds bad, but its true.

Well it is no secret that I’ve been feeling incredibly off of my game in the world of art for a very long time now and it has seriously affected not only my mood but my university work and this bothers me greatly. But to fully understand the issue we’re gonna have to go back in time.

Let’s look back at 1997, I was seven years old and had decided I wanted to be a cartoonist or at least create cartoon shows that I wanted everyone around the world to see and become stupidly famous. Back then in junior school from then until I was eleven, you would have meant this overly energetic little monster of a boy who dreamed big and was full of confidence. He drew because he loved it, but he also loved the attention. Back then especially at age nine through to eleven I felt invincible. I drew pictures nearly all the time, people loved and respected me for my work and since I was the only one doing it I felt indestructible. I was one of a kind and I loved the power… However that eventually changed once I got to secondary school.

Art from 2002, at 12 years old I’d really gotten into Spider-Man thanks to the first Sam Raimi film.

Once I started doing art after I went into secondary school I found that there were other people with the same talent as me, doing the same drawing stuff and that’s when I felt for the first time kind of intimidated because I wasn’t the special guy any more. Unfortunately it only got worse when I did GCSE art where I found that there was not only several artists in my year, but also artists that were a hell of a lot better than me and more versatile being able to use paint, water colours, oil pastels, chalk, graphite, etc. I felt so small. But the biggest blow was when my art teacher told me in year 10 that I should stop drawing cartoons and start doing other styles of art. Now while I understood what she was trying to say, at the same time she was telling me to give up the art that made a sketcher in the first place. I felt offended and personally said to myself “Fuck that!”

Sonic and Shadow, age 14.

And so I continued to hone my skills in spite of all the other brilliant people around me and from school through to college I excelled and became a much better sketcher but also got better at using other mediums too. It was at this point I knew I wanted to be an animator and craft animated films and TV shows. So when I came to university I was ready to learn, adapt and become awesome, but what uni did again was make me feel even smaller than I ever could have imagined. Here all the students were ABSURDLY well-versed in art, cartooning, 3D modelling and all that other stuff and seeing their work just made me want to cry. I’ve never been good at handling competition that was within close proximity to me, but because of how good it was in comparison to my own work and then seeing the kind of material the industry demands, I just felt like shit.

One of the last few pieces of good work I did almost 4 years ago, I never draw anything this elaborate any more.

So now we arrive at present day. I’m in my final year of uni and I fear I may fail the year, why? Because I don’t believe I have the skills necessary to pass. I have a lot of self-doubt going on in my world these days and lack inspiration a lot too. This has seriously affected my work ethic when doing my last two modules.

You could argue that it’s the wrong frame of mind to be in and you hand to pick yourself up and do your best and things will work out. But getting out of a hole of doubting yourself is not easily. I’ve been this way for a long time now without even noticing it until recently. I don’t even know how I ended up like this, I honestly used to believe I was the shit, the best guy ever at what I did and I thought with my mind, that I would create so many things that would change the world. And to a degree I believe that I could still change the world with the madness that resides within my head, it is just a question of materializing the ideas in my head.

In the end I know what I have to do, I just don’t know how. I’m not sure if it the people in my class that’s putting me off or whether it is the pressure of university grades or if it’s just me. Either way I’m tired to fighting myself. I know what I want in life and I will fight for it with all I have. I think I just need a little help and then I’ll recover.

Thanks for reading yo.

 

End of Year Review 2013

Hey hey hey ladies and gents, welcome to my annual END OF YEAR REVIEW!. And this is the 3rd edition on WordPress. 🙂 It’s that time of year again when the we reflect on the last 12 months asking ourselves where the time has gone and see what kind of stuff went down. As with previous versions I will discuss the year as I saw it, breaking it down into sections and then concluding with a summary. You cool with that? Nice, let’s go!

Video Games

With video games it’s started to take more a backseat to my love for film and going to the cinema, that being said I think I did a lot more gaming this year then last year. With my 3DS gaming I played a lot of Ocarina of Time 3D, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Mutant Mudds, Steamworld Dig and I totally had the best time ever playing Pokemon X and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds this year. And in addition of playing GTA V, Terraria and all the games I played on emulators that gave me serious rushes of nostalgia and new experiences, I’ve become more of a gamer than I ever was before. However since I haven’t played enough games due to my lack of cash and lack of free time, so don’t expect any top 10 list from me lol.

Films

When it comes to films, I thought this year was a pretty disappointing especially when compared to last year. There was so much promise of awesomeness and unforgettable material, however there was just a lack impact and presence when it came to a lot of the films this year. I even wrote a post about it a while ago. Now that’s not to say that 2013 was a complete waste of time, there were some really fun and impressive films on show that were on show and luckily made those days in the cinema not as painful.

Annoyingly just like last year there are films that came out this year that I’ll have to wait until next year for (12 Years as a Slave and American Hustle come to mind), but I’ve gotten used to the fact that the UK film distribution is totally unfair.

So it’s now time for my top 10, but before that keep in mind this was a frigging hard list to do and I’m only counting films released in 2013, films from 2012 that were released in 2013 for us UK residents DON’T COUNT! Okay here’s my list:

Top 10 Films of 2013

1. Captain Philips
2. Now You See Me
3. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
4. Iron Man 3
5. Gravity
6. Saving Mr. Banks
7. Rush
8. Thor: The Dark World
9. Frozen
10. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Honourable mentions:

• Fast 6
• Despicable Me 2
• The Wolverine
• Pacific Rim
• Kick Ass 2
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Filth

When it comes to upcoming films I think that 2014 will be better, I’m praying for it. With epic titles like Godzilla, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Interstellar, Sabotage, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past and so much more, I’m sure that it has the potential to rectify the mistakes of this year.

Music

Now let’s talk music! As with last year, I don’t care much for modern music because most of the time it sucks. I only make exceptions with established artists who have been going for a while or those odd few musicians who are good. Some of the music I’ve had to endure this year is beyond terrible, last year was the year of dubstep, this year was the year of dirty mainstream dance music bullshit. Everything sounded the same and what the hell was up with all the covers and sampling of old songs and then being raped by new artists? Is there no justice in the world?

Well outside of that, the return of Daft Punk, Justin Timberlake, AFI and Janelle Monáe was brilliant as they provided me with albums I had a lot of fun listening to. In addition to that while going back in time for music I got really into Deadmau5 over the summer, continued my love for A Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip, RX Bandits and Alexisonfire, started getting into Alter Bridge, Beastie Boys and Coheed and Cambria, revisited Yellowcard, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.

Top 5 Song of 2013

1. Get Lucky by Daft Punk featuring Pharrell
2. Suit & Tie by Justin Timberlake featuring Jay-Z
3. I Hope You Suffer by AFI
4. Dance Apocalyptic by Janelle Monáe
5. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays by Issues

My Experience

Ah 2013, good gravy, as with previous years I’ve never had a good or bad year, just a mixed bag and this year was no exception. There were many highs and lows in my world and I can’t even begin to know how to describe it to you, but hell I’m gonna try.

Let’s start with the bad stuff. Well, there’s been an array of shitty situations that have befallen me this year that’s put me in the worst of places like: 1) Being financially messed up and again. 2) Almost getting kicked out of my house by my landlord. 3) Getting stranded in a random town over the summer. 4) Having the most painful dentist experience ever. So yeah it’s not been a good time at points lol.

Then let’s talk about the reverse with the good stuff. Firstly this has been one of my most adventurous years in the sense that I went out of my way to try new things like going to my first music festival, witnessing an amazing Zelda concert, doing volunteer work again, and going to the Peak District for the first time and applying for various types of jobs. Friends have also been a big part of my year, the old ones have been true blue and badass as always and now I have some new peeps in the collection too.

So it has been a crazy year, but I consider it all a learning experience and I have gained much knowledge of which I shall put to good use in the future.

Conclusion

So to summarize 2013 was a good and bad year. I had so much fun and so much tragedy go down and the world of media has given me joy and pain in many ways. Well the year is done and I’m ready to move on, hopefully 2014 will be my year, it looks promising and I’m ready for some new adventures.

Thank you all for reading whether you are my regulars or fresh new face, have a happy new year and I hope you’ll join me in again 2014. Peace out! 😀

 

Mud Review

Yay it’s time to talk about Mud, a film I’ve been looking forward to watching for good few months now. This film along with The Paperboy were Yesterday was the last day it was showing at my local cinema so I HAD to watch it before it left the cinema and so I did and I am glad because it was really good and I’m going to explain why in this review.

The premise for this film is as follows:

“Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and to reunite him with his true love.”

The story in this film is pretty much a drama which involves Mud but is more a coming-of-age story for the character Ellis, the latter of these two stories I was not expecting. Basically what we have is two boys who venture out to an island to find a boat in a tree that they want to use for their own, however there’s a shady man living there already, he’s on the run from the law but needs food. So he strikes a deal with the two boys, if they get him food he’ll give them the boat. Along with this one of the boys has family issues and finding out the highs and lows of love and relationships. And what ensues is a series of events which are funny, emotional and just downright sad at points. One of the main themes in this film was the concept of relationships with women and how complicated they can be and how different characters in the film deal with those situations. The story in this film is pretty good, its feels realistic and believable, and even though you can see where the plot is going at times and the pacing is a bit questionable I was totally engaged from start to finish and was satisfied by the time the film was over.

The story is good, however, it really is the characters that bring this film to life. Let’s start with Matthew McConaughey as Mud, McConaughey was awesome and had magnetic performance as this questionable man who befriends these two kids because they help him out in his hour of need. Then there’s Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland as Ellis and Neckbone, both of them do an incredible job as these young boys who not only help Mud given his dodgy past but also have to deal with their own problems too. I especially have to give props to Tye Sheridan as Ellis, this is his film as much as Mud’s as the stuff he goes through is some really dramatic stuff for someone his age and Sheridan is really amazing at bringing his acting talents to the table.

Reese Witherspoon as Juniper was also good as the woman who was the girlfriend of Mud and had situations of her own to deal with. I can’t say I’ve seen many films with Reese Witherspoon in them but she was good here. Then there’s Sam Shepard as Tom Blankenship was a really interesting character, at first he came across as a questionable old man, but I ended up really liking his character and his interactions with Mud and the boys. Also Michael Shannon as Galen was good, this was probably the most different role I’ve seen him in because he’s usually so mean in the stuff I’ve seen him in before but I liked what I saw in this film and Shannon was entertaining, I just wish there was more of him. Joe Don Baker as King was nice, he was a character that worked from behind the shadows but had some nice relevance to the plot.Ray McKinnon and Sarah Paulson as Senior and Mary Lee (Ellis’ parents) they were great and had some wonderful and dramatic scenes in the film. And lastly Paul Sparks as Carver was great, he was a right mean guy in this film and Sparks played that to great effect in this film. And am I the only one surprised to find two actors from Boardwalk Empire in the same film together?

In conclusion Mud was a film I really liked it, while the pacing was a pad questionable at points otherwise it was a cracking with some fine performances from the cast and a story that made me care about what was going on.

Rating: 8/10 (Definitely worth a watch for the performances alone)

So have any of you seen Mud and if so what did you think of it? Sound off your comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo! 😀

 

Why The Avengers Was And Still Is A Big Deal – Part 2

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Part 2 of Why The Avengers Was And Still Is A Big Deal. This is a two-part blog post talking about why I believe the film was and still is a big deal and what were the key elements that led to its success. If you haven’t read the first part then stop reading this and got back and check it out and then come back here. As for everyone else let’s continue…

Kevin Feige

This is the man with the plan, without this guy I doubt the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be as grand as it is without this man’s talent. Now I don’t know how much influence he has over the ideas or films that get picked to be greenlit but I can only assume he has that kind of power because of all the announcements and interviews he does. I mean I’ve never seen any producer have so much knowledge on comic books and understand source material in such a vivid way. Feige has powers! I mean every interview he’s in here’s always offering information on current happenings on Marvel films or upcoming ones and he doesn’t just talk about from a business point of view but as a person knows his stuff and understands how to translate it into live action along with the directors, writers and actors.

But what I really like about him is the fact that he’s always thinking, he always seems to be one or two or maybe even five steps ahead of everyone else. If fans have ideas of where to go with storylines or costumes or introducing new character solo films Feige seems to have thought of it already or made it happen behind the scenes and then makes a massive announcement about it later down the line. The man never stops moving and that’s something you gotta appreciate.

The End Result

Whatever your thoughts are on The Avengers no one can deny its success. It’s been said many, many times and I’ll say it again, this film was a massive gamble and could have especially blown up in Marvel’s faces. Having several superhero characters in their own separate films come together one film? Nothing like this had been done before and it was incredibly risky. But somehow thanks to the awesomeness that is Joss Whedon, hard work from Kevin Feige and the people at Marvel Studios and some fine acting from the cast involved they crafted a great superhero the likes of which has never been seen. Now allow me to explain what I mean by that.

Up until the time before The Avengers everyone was gearing towards the dark and gritty realism created in the Chris Nolan Batman films. I swear most audiences, critics and people I talked saw The Dark Knight as a template for future comic book films and only wanted dark and realistic films. But then The Avengers comes out of the blue and completely squashes that concept with a film that had a lot more humour than any comic book film in recent history and while it was a lot more light-hearted than most films in the genre it had moments for character development and emotion when needed. There was not only great action going on in the form of the CGI and special effects but there was also action going on between the characters as they argued and fought each other. It was some badass, dynamic, tension-building and funny stuff and it worked in a very natural way and related to the source material so well. It really was a great film not only for casual audiences but for all the comic nerds out there waiting to see their favourite characters fighting each other and then coming together to save the world from evil.

Finally there was a film to break the chain of all these “dark and gritty” comic book adaptations. I know that there are a lot of comics that revolve around that but not ALL comic films HAVE to be that way. The Avengers was a good time in the cinema and everyone from fans to critics to casual film audiences responded well to it. It made a ton of money at the Box Office and the sequel was greenlit for 2015 just a short time after so year rock on Marvel!

Foreshadowing

And now we come to the final point and this one is pretty important, it’s all about foreshadowing. As I said before Kevin Feige is the man with the plan and is always thinking several steps ahead of everyone else, with this power he knows to make announcements about future projects that’ll keep fans wanting more or just send them into a frenzy freaking out about upcoming films. Also the Marvel films themselves have always given us a look into the future thanks to their post-credit cutscenes. At the end of Iron Man Nicky Fury showed up, at the of The Incredible Hulk Tony Stark showed up, at the end of Iron Man 2 Agent Coulson located Thor’s hammer, etc. The point is Marvel Studios have been smart about the way in which they’ve marketed their films and the way in which they’ve filmed the too. And now they’ve established their Marvel Cinematic Universe they are looking to continue their success with their Phase Two set of films.

2013 is the year when we’ll begin the next set of Marvel solo films with three sequels and two new solo films to add to the mix. Firstly starting with Iron Man 3 which will be out pretty soon (tomorrow for us UK citizens), then entering Thor: The Dark World in November, then we have two films in 2014 in the form of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy and finally after the release of Avengers 2 is Ant-Man in 2015. Marvel have always hinted at the future and right now they’ve smartly given sequels to the films that needed them and been ambitious with films like GotG. I believe that Kevin Feige along with the other big people at Marvel are hard at work not only crafting these upcoming Marvel films but also looking into Phase Three and add additional films to tag along with Doctor Strange (hopefully we’ll FINALLY get a Black Panther film).

In the end Marvel Studios worked for four long years and gave us one of the finest comic films in existence. The Avengers was and still is badass and if anyone tries to imitate that in the future I hope they won’t forget that this was the film that gave them the blueprint.

So yeah that’s it, I just had to get that out of my system and share my thoughts with you all. Anways what do you think? Do you agree with my points or do totally disagree completely? Whatever your thoughts leave them in the comments below and I’ll see you lot on the next blog post yo! 😀 😀

 

Why The Avengers Was And Still Is A Big Deal – Part 1

After going home over the easter and getting a chance to re-watch one of my favourite films of last year, The Avengers on Sky Movies in HD, it got me thinking about how much of big deal the film was. I mean the hype for this film was insane and that is no exaggeration. The film was 4 years in the making after its post-credit announcement via Nick Fury in Iron Man 1, it could have easily crumbled under the pressure and failed miserably. But it succeeded and not only that but it was a fantastic piece of work and considering the way that films are made The Avengers really was and still is the kind of film that’s special and unprecedented in recent film history. So with that in mind I’m going to talk about why The Avengers is badass and is still relevant one year after its initial release.

The Hype

To say that there was hype for The Avengers would be an understatement. The anticipation for this film is biggest I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. I mean sure I’m only 23 at the moment so I can’t say much about my lifetime, but I know hype when I see it. As previously mentioned when Nick Fury showed up in the post-credits scene of Iron Man and said that Tony Stark wasn’t “the only superhero in the world” and said he wanted to discuss the “Avengers Initiative” the Marvel fan base blew up. Ever since then over the course of the next four films, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, we got introduced to the team as individuals and got more and more teasers leading up to the eventual film. The first preview we got of the film was at the end of Captain America and even though it was like only 30 seconds of footage it sent fans insane. It was watched several times online and some people went back to the cinema several times just to see the preview again haha.

Marvel knew how to market their films and get the hype and excitement going from 2008 to 2012 when The Avengers eventually arrived in cinemas.

Then in October of 2011 the first trailer came out and that’s when fans took to the internet and raped the hell out of the repeat button as they watched the teaser trailer over and over. On iTunes Movie Trailers the trailer was downloaded over 10 million times in 24 hours which broke the website’s record for the most-viewed trailer at the time. And with each subsequent trailer the hype and anticipation got more and more uncontrollable. I travelled from Marvel.com to YouTube to IGN to Facebook to Superherohype and many other places and the fans were freaking out all over the place. With all of the footage, images and interviews with Joss Whedon, Kevin Fiege and the rest of the cast involved by the time May 2012 came along fan expectation was at an all-time high and luckily for most the film satisfied their needs and then some.

The Competition

Even though Marvel had all these plans going down on their side of town it didn’t mean that there wasn’t any competition for them. In 2008 Iron Man went up against the giant that was Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and we all know how that battle went down. While Iron Man was indeed a success and made people see Marvel films in a much more serious a realistic manner, against the hype and success of TDK it didn’t stand much chance. TDK is highly famed film that apparently changed the way comic book films are made because its complex story elements, drama, dark, realistic and gritty tone, and obviously the incredible performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker. The film is loved by everyone comic book fans and critics alike and it’s noted as the best comic book films in existence. After July 2008 TDK set the bar for the next set of comic books films.

Luckily we learnt in 2011 that DC can’t do anything outside of Batman films as Green Lantern came and failed while Thor and Captain America fared a lot better. It wasn’t until last year when Marvel saw some real competition for their Avengers film with The Dark Knight Rises. 2012 was the year where The Avengers went up head to head with The Dark Knight Rises. The Avengers came out first and rocked the world which meant that TDKR had a lot to live up to, however when it came out it did just as well and in some cases better than The Avengers when it comes to box office numbers and reviews. Until this day opinions about both films are divided, some prefer the light-hearted, comedic and self-aware elements of The Avengers while others still prefer the dark and gritty realism of TDKR. It seems like the competition between Marvel and DC will continue for a while now.

2012 was a hectic year for comic films as these two titans went up against each other for summer supremacy.

Joss Whedon

It should be obvious but it has to be noted that I don’t think The Avengers would be the success that it was without Joss Whedon. His writing and directing changed this film’s story and characters from being very basic and lacking in substance to something that was pretty stylish, witty, comedic and serious when needed. Whedon was clearly a fan of the source material and comics in general and given his amazing track record with his television series including Buffy, Firefly and Dollhouse the man knows how to handle a massive cast of characters and make them all feel relevant and necessary to the plot. Recently I watched Dollhouse and I’m currently watching through Firefly and I’m seeing immediately comparisons to The Avengers. in the dialogue and character departments.

Some say the film could have been done with another director and while I guess that is probably true I still don’t think it would have been as great without the awesomeness that is Joss Whedon. The man is all-powerful!

Okay this post is becoming longer that I originally thought it’d be so I’ll end here for now. Be sure to come back for part 2 where I’ll discuss the other key reasons why I think this film succeeds so much. Thanks for reading and I’ll see ya later!

 

Balancing My Cinema Life With My Real Life

Now this is a subject I’ve been thinking about for a few months now and it is now becoming more and more apparent that its something I feel like discussing here on my blog. So the subject today will be on the balancing act I do between my life in the cinema and my life in uni.

These days choosing to go to the cinema or uni really is like a fork in the road.

Ah what happened to my life? When did it become so complex? I remember when I first got my real taste for the cinema and became a film junkie. That was the summer of 2010 after I’d seen Inception 4 times, I knew from that point that the cinema was gonna be one of my new favourite places to hang at. Though I have to say that 2011 was the year when the cinema became my second home, that year I saw so many of the big blockbuster films at least 2 or 3 times or in the case of Thor, 5 times! 2011 was the year to feed my film addiction and before going up to Sheffield to take on university me and the cinema were inseparable.

When my first year of uni came around during the first semester I didn’t know where to go to find the nearest Cineworld cinema, plus I had loads of work to do too. So I missed out on so many film and only got to watch most films when I went home back to Luton. Luckily that changed in the early part of 2012 and I finally got my cinema groove on again. And after th summer began I was all over the cinema watching loads of films just like I 2011 all over again, the summer of 2012 was my best year for cinema feeding my addiction. Now fast forward to present day where I have a bigger uni workload than before and my choice between the 2 of them has become more difficult.

Now I understand that education is important and is mandatory for knowledge and job purposes, but honest uni these days is as boring and as useless as loads of the subjects I learnt in school. Me and uni are so out of sync with each other that it’s ridiculous. I only do it because I feel like I have to rather than I’m actually enjoying it, whereas with the cinema it’s been something I’ve been doing for years and I love to death. I actually use the cinema as a form of release from the stress and tedious nature of university life.

I feel like I’m making this kind of choice all the time.

Since January going to the cinema and doing uni stuff has become a tough balancing act. Sometime I can’t do my reviews because I have to wait until a free moment away from my uni work or if I got the cinema I run the risk of my work becoming sloppy. This week was the worst occasion though. On Wednesday I got up late for class and decided to go to the cinema for a film triple instead. Now back in my blog entitled The Day I Turned My Back On My Educational Morals I talked about how I’ve dramatically changed my views education from school and college and how I see university as just a place to go full of boredom rather than fun. I guess this post is an expansion upon that. In truth if I could hang around in the cinema for the rest of this second year I would much prefer that to doing my work right now especially with the big releases in April.

 

The Paperboy Review

I recall seeing the trailer for this film I think around a month ago and I knew from that point that this was a film that would be worth a watch. The story seems interesting and the cast was solid, so fast forward to Wednesday this week when I went to watch this film in the cinema and I have to say it was definitely something I’m not going to forget anytime soon.

So the story of The Paperboy is set in the 1960s in Moat County, Florida. Here we have Jack Jansen; he’s the son of the local newspaper publisher and has the job of paperboy after he’s kicked out of college. But things change when Jack’s journalist brother Ward arrives from Miami hot on the trail of a story that could make his career. Along with writing partner Yardley, Ward wants to uncover the mystery behind inmate Hilary Van Wetter’s imprisonment and prove him innocent. And then there’s Charlotte Bless, a woman obsessed with prison-based men who has now taken a liking to Hilary who tags along with Ward and Yardley and supply them with information relating to the investigation. With Jack now as their driver, the four of them travel to prison to meet Hilary and try to help his situation. However what follows is a tale of mixed emotions, sexual tension, mystery and deceit.

I thought the story in this film was very intriguing and at no point was I bored, as the plot advanced and thickened I just wanted to know more about each of the characters. Elements of the story and characters really fell into the area of strange and disturbing territories for me. Some of the secrets and mysterious behind these different situations are pretty unexpected and dramatic. There is one now-infamous scene in the film that everyone talks about. I won’t say what it is but it is a scene that sort of leaves on speechless. Annoyingly the specific scene question was ruined by Mark Kermode while watching one of his videos online, however that still didn’t stop the scene from being strange to watch.

I think the strongest element of the film is the characters as the performances from the cast here is some of their strongest stuff for a while. Let’s start with Zac Efron as Jack Jansen. In this film he plays a young adult with issues in his past and has a pretty dull life until the return of his brother and his first encounter with Charlotte Bless. After seeing her he becomes obsessed and wants to court her, but due to Charlotte’s love for Hilary it creates emotional and sexual complications for them. I think this is his finest performance to date. Now I have to say I have become a fan of his in recent years, while I stay away from his romantic films, after I saw him in Me and Orson Welles I knew he had actual talent. In this film his talent is on show as much as he is in his underwear for a lot of the film too haha. Then we have Matthew McConaughey as Ward Jansen, he was really as this journalist who tried was well-headed and stayed in control of most of the situations he was in. I don’t have much to say about McConaughey besides the fact that he played his role very well and I was impressed.

Let’s move onto the most surprising performance in the film which was Nicole Kidman as Charlotte Bless. My god, what difference from her other roles! I have never a transformation for a role. Kidman was simply captivating as this sexually charged prison groupie who is a complicated and vulnerable person that has wants and needs. You can see that she knows what she wants and tries to keep Jack away at a distance because of his young love for her. The other notable performance would be from John Cusack as Hillary Van Wetter, he was a creepy individual who was calm and collected in is meetings with Ward, Yardley and Jack; however with Charlotte they have a connection of the sexual kind that comes to the surface a points. This is most different kind of performance I have seen from Cusack; it was quite strange and disturbing.

Now we move onto David Oyelowo as Yardley Acheman, he was surprisingly intriguing as Ward’s writing partner. He brought some humour to the film and some reliability too both due to the fact that he was black and English too. And lastly we have Macy Gray who plays as Anita but also acts as the narrator of the film too. I thought she was simply fabulous. I also liked how she was the innocent party in this watching the chaos ensue from a distance as the maid for the Jansen family. The relationship between her and Jack is sweet and lovely to watch, Gray and Efron have great chemistry together on-screen. I know Gray has made some film appearances over the years but this is the first time I’ve seen her in years and I’m glad I did, she does have some acting talent.

When it comes to the presentation its pretty good, visually the cinematography and lighting is nice and there is a use of film grain in the film which I think really worked for the film especially because of it 60s setting. Also the soundtrack by Mario Grigorov was very good at conveying emotions and amplifying the dramatic elements of the film, it can be quiet unnerving and creepy at points, also the collection of songs in the film was nice to listen to too.

So to conclude The Paperboy was a film that was definitely an interesting film which left me with mixed feelings after I left the cinema. I kind of feel the same way about this film like I did with On The Road, it has some very interesting and impressive elements but some elements are unnerving and awkward to watch for me. I still recommend the film for the story and performances of the cast which is very good and unforgettable.

Rating: 7.5/10 (I recommend it for the story and cast alone)

So what did you think of The Paperboy? Whatever your thoughts drop them below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo! 😀

 

I Got Me The Dragon’s Loyalty Award. Yay!

Me Likes Dragons!

All I can say about this is yay. Yay indeed. I just love to blog most times and when people like and comment on your post just to let you know they’re paying attention, well that makes me feel fab. 🙂 This is my second award that I’ve I received and it is again from the ever so kind myreelpov. She does really awesome film reviews and her passion for film seems to be just hardcore as my own so yeah just wanted to point that out before we continued. 🙂

So what’s the rules that apply with this award? Well they are as follows:

1. Display the Award Certificate on your website.
2. Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented your award.
3. Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers.
4. Drop them a comment to tip them off after you’ve linked them in the post.
5. Post 7 interesting things about yourself.

As for 7 Interesting Things about me well:

• I’ve been drawing since I four years old
• When I was 13 I stepped on sea urchin when I was on holiday in Dominica
• In 2011 I spent the majority of my summer in the cinema
• I’m obsessed with the acid jazz band Jamiroquai
• I tend to add the word “yo” at the end of most of my sentences
• I like to smile a lot, it’s almost permanently imprinted on my face haha
• I LOVE pizza!

Now it’s time for me to give back to the public! As for the people who I’m gonna nominate for this award well those people are as follows:

1. http://iamnotwaynegale.com/
2. http://dtmmr.com/
3. http://lesleycarter.wordpress.com/
4. http://capcraigasaurus.wordpress.com/
5. http://bennisinc.wordpress.com/
6. http://transcendingbordersblog.wordpress.com/
7. http://addgrainonearth.com/
8. http://ashleyjillian.com/
9. http://todayiwatchedamovie.wordpress.com/ (http://todayiwatchedamovie.com/ new website)
10. http://aopinionatedman.com/
11. http://aopinionatedman.com/
12. http://urbanwallart.wordpress.com/
13. http://theknightsofgaming.com/
14. http://headinavice.com/
15. http://theverybesttop10.com/

Phew! That was quite a mission, maybe 15 is a lot of lurve to spread but hey, these guys have great blogs that you should totally read! Some of you have already been nominated as well, but I saw this more of a chance to say HEY I read your shit and thanks for being AWESOME. 🙂

Peace out and cheers! 😀

 

Robot & Frank Review

Ever since I saw the trailer for this film back in either November or December last year I knew I just had to see it. Robot & Frank looked so different from most film and it looked like it’d be a good time with a great story and cast. So I finally got around to watching on the weekend just gone and I can easily say that it’s the best film I’ve seen this year.

The story is set in the near future where a retired cat burglar by the name of Frank, he lives alone and has to deal with dementia and other mental issues. Both of his adult children are concerned for his well-being so one day Frank’s son Hunter buys Frank a robot which is meant to look after him and improve his physical and mental health. What follows is a bond that begins to form between the two of them which in turn gets Frank back in the mind-set to go back to his old ways of cat burglary with his new friend.

The story in the film is just beautiful and precious, there are a good few things going on in this film like Frank’s detachment from his family and his whole isolated living pattern, but at the centre of the film is this connection between the Robot and Frank. The film deals with the question; can you be friends with a robot? And there’s also themes covered like the life and death, the progression of technology versus the past and artificial intelligence being slaves to humans. There are also science fiction elements as well it never distracts you from the main story and after a while you kind of forget that it’s there unless there’s the odd scene of advanced technology on-screen.

Besides the lovely story it’s really the cast that makes this film shine. Frank Langella as Frank was great; he handled his role with great style, humour and drama. Frank was funny and had a lot of good lines of dialogue, also he was a character you were always rooting for even when he wanted to steal from other people it’s just because he was well-organized and had a very charming personality. Peter Sarsgaard as the voice for Robot was great, he delivered so many great lines of dialogue and for a robot it did have a dry sense of humour and an interesting way of thinking too. I also need to give props to Rachael Ma doing the body work for the robot which must not have been easy so props to her too!

Susan Sarandon was looking lovely as Jennifer in this film and she also did well as the librarian that Frank visits from time to time. James Marsden as Hunter and Liv Tyler as Madison were nice as Frank’s concerned children who check up on him via phone calls and home visits, both have different ideas of what is good for their father and I liked how they had different feelings and approaches to the use of the robot. I also really liked the soundtrack by Francis and the Lights especially the song “Fell on Your Head”, that was just beautiful!

In conclusion Robot & Frank is a beautiful film about finding friends and making connections at the most unexpected points in life, it’s just funny, smart and heartbreaking all at the same time. It bothers me so damn much that we in the UK had to wait until March to get it when the US got in back in August last year. What the actual hell? Anyways if you’re looking for a good quiet bit of entertainment in the cinema at the moment give this film a try; it is definitely worth your time.

Rating: 8.5/10 (I highly recommend it!)

So what did you think of Robot & Frank? Did you like it or dislike it? Whatever your thoughts just drop them in the comments section below and I’ll see you on the next film review yo. Laters! 😀

 

Living in a house that isn’t a home

Good day to all who may be reading this blog post, since I won’t be going to the cinema until tomorrow I guess I’ll share another chapter of my life with you all. Today I will be discussing my housing situation and how living in this house is just not a jolly time anymore.

I dunno about this but it would make things a little more interesting haha.

You’ve probably heard the term “a house is not a home” or possibly heard of the song by Dionne Warwick, anyway the fact of the matter that is how I feel about my current living quarters. However it wasn’t always this way, back when me and my other housemates move into this house back in July things were on the right track. However problems continuously came over the months. Firstly we lost our most lively house mate when he just disappeared off to Manchester and left us with a random Russian lass who I swear is the hardest person to get a conversation out off. Secondly we lost another housemate when he had to go back to his hometown to take care of his mother’s house taking his dog with him too. And thirdly we have this asshole of a landlord who I may have mentioned before on this blog, he basically just invites himself into the house on the odd occasion, he’s proper nosey and he demands money continuously from me and my other housemate who aren’t in the best financial situations.

Then add on top of that the fact that there is barely interaction between people in this house. Back between July to October that was a connection between me and my fellow housemates, however after 3 people left, 1 randomer moved in and the Freeview box on the TV broke no one hangs out in the living room. It is as empty and barren as an abandoned warehouse. Normally it’s just me and my best mate Craig talking while the other 2 we barely interact with because their rarely here or just choose not to talk to us. However when Craig goes home I'[m left alone, and that’s the key word here. Alone.

Back in our flat accommodation last year even though we were pretty individual we always made time to hang out and bond. But back then I had 3 whole friends to hang with, but no I only have 1 of them to hang with. In this house there is no family, no bonding, just people living in a house who sometimes complain by each other’s backs and steal things.

So what’s the point of this blog post? Well I just wanted to highlight that if you gonna live in student housing make sure you move in with people you ACTUALLY like and want to be around, also make sure your mates don’t desert you randomly too.