The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo..

This film was evidently going to be one that touched on deep/disturbing issues, and while some films go a bit too far and make you unhappy about what you've seen, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo doesn't make you feel that way. You just accept it.

This is a gritty, dark and very clever film. The main characters Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) and Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) meet each other in a brilliant way, and when that happens in this film; you only want to see these two characters  on the screen...no-one else matters. The camera follows them around like they are the stars of the show, particularly so with Lisbeth. 

Lisbeth is such a complex character, her background, her mystery and the way she speaks are intriguing. She has a brilliant but troubled mind, and through the cinematography and script you can see that so well. The performance from Rooney Mara (and Daniel Craig for that matter) can't be faulted. Mara has an eccentric aura about her and her physical appearance is perfection. 

Aside from the brilliance of the characters and the main actors, the storyline itself was flawless - for a story about a typical missing person and the investigation that happens, it sure is something else! To put it simply; I did not see the ending coming and it wasn't in even a massive build up to the conclusion way, it was just: "Wow, shocked, okay, that's the ending, amazing, well done." The simple brilliance of how Mikael Blomkvist worked, how Lisbeth helped him, how the conclusion was drawn and the following circumstances were all perfect. 

After watching this film, you will feel happiness, sadness, compassion, hatred, intelligence and the desire to watch the film over and over. 

A definite 5/5. 

The Amazing Spiderman...

I'm a bit late watching this film because I wasn't a massive fan of Toby Maguire previously, and of Spiderman in general, but I finally watched it...

I'm impressed! I really love Andrew Garfield, he IS Spiderman in my eyes. He did a fantastic job;

1) He's gorgeous
2) He's adorable with his cute little 'oops' smiles


3) He is a real geek because he loves science and is really good at it
4) His chemistry with Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) is so real 

I couldn't help but compare the Toby Maguire Spiderman to this one, because well you just have to...and I preferred how his father died in this one and how he dealt with finding the murderer. I liked how he realised his Spidey senses, the way he experimented and learnt to do things. And the best thing of all was the accuracy to the comic - he built his own web shooters! 

The action scenes were incredible, his sarcasm and wit when defeating bad guys was just hilarious, I LOVED it. 

I have one big criticism though....I DO NOT like Rhys Ifans or The Lizard..

The actual lizard is just plain weird, the fact that it talks and has a bald head just looks weird! I get why he wants to make everyone a lizard but I don't get why he went after Peter Parker personally...so Peter found out that it was Kurt Connors who was the lizard, and Connors wanted to stop him because he knew...so where did he go?!...to his school!...a very public place! Makes no sense. 

This film is far better because he is involved in science, so the spider bite is more realistic. His family is better, and the beginning of them film mentions his parents and I like that. 

Overall I would give it 3.5/5 purely because I hate The Lizard, but everything else is great! 

Man of Steel...

I believe that this is finally a Superman film that we can be proud of, and not cringe when watching it.

Long gone are the blue tights and underwear on top, and no more whizzing around in a lift to transform.

This film took Superman to a different level, and Henry Cavill did a brilliant job with it. You actually see a complete history of Superman or rather Kal-El. You meet his real parents, and you see the whole back story to General Zod, which makes the villian of this film more understandable.


For someone who has just started to watch comic book films more, it really helped me to know about his history, why he was sent to earth and the reason behind Krypton.

I especially liked the way he came to terms with his powers, and explored his strengths and his ability to fly. You saw him as a child experiencing various things that he was confused by.

There are however a few things that I didn't like...

I wasn't too sure whether I liked how little screen time they gave Lois Lane, she seemed to appear at all these important but random moments, and then all of a sudden without any real 'getting to know each other' she kisses Superman, thought that was all too rushed.

I also didn't like the editing of the film, it seemed to be in an odd order. I liked the flashbacks to his past, but some of them were unnecessary. There were these amazing fight scenes which were phenomenal, but then it would cut to a scene like the one with Clark at his dads grave. NO, back to fighting!

I also didn't like that his father died in a tornado attack...in the comics it was a heart attack, and this would have been more prevalent because it would show pain to Superman that he can't save everyone (body failures can't be cured).. so for me they should have shown a heart attack or nothing at all (preferably nothing).

In summary, they could have cut a fair few scenes out, because it felt like a bloody long film to watch! Longer than Lord of the Rings! But...it was a Superman worth watching, and that is a very good achievement from both Henry Cavill and  Zack Snyder.

3/5

WORLD WAR Z...(spoilers)

Just going to start by pointing out that it's World War ZED for all the British folk, so say it right!

There's also a reason I capitalised the title of this blog, because this film is effing amazing!!

The film is (dare I say) an original zombie film...those 3 words don't normally go together...

I think the best part of the film was the zombies themselves, they are bloody scary and had me cowering behind my boyfriend several times, but that's what zombies are supposed to do! I LOVED how you saw when they transformed, with the weird spasms. And the biting they did and the creepy gnarling noises they made.

And to build up the tension of when zombies were coming, you had no 'scary indication music', it was just dead silence...and then BOOM ZOMBIE!

Brad Pitt wasn't too terrible either, he even looked okay with that long hair he's sporting at the moment. I liked that he was from the UN rather than the glorified CIA, this made me believe that his character had been through some tough shit and seen too many things, it made him perfect for the mission.

Here is the massive spoiler, and what makes it an original zombie film...

They are not FIGHTING the zombies, they ended up looking for a CAMOUFLAGE. How clever!?

The survivors are to be protected instead of killing all zombies, which lets face it would be impossible and very lengthy. And Brad Pitt doesn't realise this until he is on his 3rd journey of the film, which is believable!

Some have said the family was a bit 'meh'...my boyfriend didn't like them and thought they served no purpose and it would have been better if Brad Pitt was a single man fighting for all this just out of pure help for strangers. I said that they were there to provide a back story for Brad and he is trying to save loved ones as well...what do you think?

I have given this film 5/5 because I can live with the family, and the whole film is just brilliant, clever, fantastically edited and wonderfully scary.

Friends...

This is going to be kind of like my post about Gavin and Stacey :)

I have had the Friends box set for about 6 years and I have watched each episode like 100 times, and I would like to clarify that I am a MASSIVE friends fan. I can quote every line and it's just an amazing show.

The best things are:

• comedy is excellent
• Chandler and Monica are amazing
• Chandlers sarcasm is to die for
• You feel as though you are watching an actual group of friends
• And I love that it is set in New York, and I love that because it's half a 90s show you see cool outfits!

Buuuuut, with every show there are bad points, and I know it is so terrible to even discuss them because I love friends but I am reviewing it, so here goes!

Bad/ annoying moments:

- Rachel in season 4 is very annoying, she has broken up with Ross for the second time and it was a petty break up so they are all getting back at each other. He starts dating Emily and she thinks she's still in love with him (I don't believe this) so she goes all crazy. But before this, she kind of competes being with someone with Joshua, and she could have been happy with him for a few months but she went mad! (not that I liked Joshua, he was boring)

- Phoebes and her triples are so un real - if you carry 3 babies full term you do NOT walk around as free and light as she did and the birth would more than likely be a C-Section. Could she have not just had one, or even twins that would work!

- The One Without the Ski Trip was annoying - it was a whole episode of pettiness and just talking in the dark because a car broke down. Bleh.

- Joey dating Rachel was stupid and the whole 'proposal' after her giving birth was ridiculous, it just made the whole wonderfulness of having a baby all annoying. That whole episode of trying to explain it just wouldn't happen. And Joey and Rachel, just a little annoying time filler until Rachel and Ross got together..

- Ross marrying Emily was all too fast and stupid, I like Emily but it would have been better for them just to wait a little longer and then maybe Phoebe could have been at the wedding, then you could have got rid of Elizabeth because that was never gonna work with Ross because she was 21! (although I LOVE Bruce Willis) (and I guess it was a time for Ross to 'experiment')

- I HATE Susan. This line when they are picking last names - "it's my baby too" no it's not, you and carol didn't plan it with a surrogate, you just happen to get with her as she fell pregnant by her HUSBAND, and the picking of the name bit with old carol actress and her adding Bunch as a last name, ugh no! She is better though when Ben gets older and at the wedding its cute.. but overall = ugh, annoying.

- I really think that it was unfair that the writers couldn't give Monica and Chandler a baby of their own, Monica wanted to be pregnant and everything. But, no, Rachel had to have a baby with Ross. I really didn't like that because they weren't together there was no chemistry and it's all weird, and Ross gets all defensive if Rachel dates anyone.

- One final tiny thing, in the end episode when Erika is giving birth and the first baby is born, the midwife man has delivered in and asks whether Monica and Chandler wanna cut the umbilical cord, the actor says CLORD!!

Now then, the infamous 'we were on a break' - here's what I think..:

- THEY WERE ON A BREAK
- BUT...Ross shouldn't have slept with the zerox girl even though they were on a break, because even if he thought they were broken up he should be fighting for it because it was more of a fight than a definite break up, he loved her and that was what should have mattered, but...
- ..Rachel shouldn't have been SO into her job and made more time for Ross after work or on lunches
- AND she shouldn't have let mark come round which is what lead Ross to not go after her..
- she shouldn't have even suggested a break and should have forgave him for sleeping with the girl, because even though Ross was stupid to do what he did, he was hammered and it's so not like him
- but for the story line I guess they both had to grow up a little...

BUT YEAH,...Rachels fault! (and that's a girls opinion!)

Oh and SO many continuity errors are in friends haha!

As there are 10 seasons, and I am currently re-watching them for this post (I'm at season 5), I will probably update this post, but I have thought through as far as I can and I think i've said everything...but keep a look out!

The Great Gatsby...

I have just come back from watching the Great Gatsby and here is my review...(there may be spoilers, haven't decided yet)

Now then, I want to start by complimenting Leonardo Di Caprio's amazing performance and portrayal of Jay Gatsby, and if he doesn't win an Oscar for this then he never will again!

Gatsby, Gatsby, Gatsby..well isn't he lovely. He goes from this amazing, successful man to a naive, heartbroken soul who puts on an act. The character is written so well, I get why he threw all the parties, and why he built all his empire but I was disappointed to find out how he did it all and that all those people at the parties weren't even his friends.

This was one thing that I might have changed, from the trailer I was expecting this man who had everything, came from wealth, had stories told about him that were true and was loved by everyone...but that slowly changed as the film went on.

Don't get me wrong, the story was good, it was heart-wrenching to see how Carey Mulligan (Daisy) screwed with him but he wouldn't believe it. But I guess I wanted the other things, I wanted to see parties all the time and I wanted to see him win the girl and be great and someone you wanted to be..

(all just my opinion of course)

Toby Maguire - well I didn't like him or his character, it felt like someone you didn't need (but at the same time I get why he was there, for Gatsby) - and I came out of that cinema forgetting his characters name and saying that Andrew Garfield would have been a better choice.

1920s Parties...
Well they look like fun! I could BE in that era, Baz Lurhman portrayed it SO well, and credit to him for all the cinematography too. I loved the party scenes, the outfits, the music (THE MUSIC) and the glamour and glitz of the wealth in New York.

All in all, aside from the amazing parties and Leo being awesome, it just didn't wow me. And I'm really sad to say that.. even sadder to say that other than changing Toby Maguire, I wouldn't know what else to change/add.

Maybe if I watch it again I'll feel differently! Because the more I think about it, it was a great film...just not amazing..!

Rating: 2.5/5

Star Trek: Into Darkness...

I've just come back from this film and here is what's happening inside my head... *OMG OMG OMG*


So, as you might gather, I thought it was amazing.

This will be a brief review really, because there is literally nothing I could fault with it. But I will say that this film was so good for this reason:

- I was adamant that I did not like Sci-fi films, very adamant, and this film has COMPLETELY changed my mind. So well done J.J. Abrams! 

Everything about this film was out of this world (literally) - it had...:

• explosions!
• BRITISH bad guy!
• SIMON PEGG
• Spaceee!

The twists and turns were phenomenal, the acting was spectacular, the plot just thickened throughout and the special effects were out of this world. 

I am going to put it out there that my favourite character is Spock, I love that he is so straight edged yet when it matters he kisses ass! His friendship with Kirk is so cute and he made a great stint as captain :) 

And finally, my god am I proud to be British because of the man named Benedict Cumberbatch! Was he a bad ass bad guy or what?! He was perfect, his hostility, his brilliance, his characteristics - he was amazing and made the film what it is! 

5/5 - best film of the year. (and that's coming from a very new Sci-fi fan)  

(also, Simon Pegg is awesome Scottish!!)