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Review: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Jumanji - Welcome to the Jungle

 

I loved the original Jumanji movie however I didn’t think it needed a sequel but when I saw the video game transformation of the original movie I was in awe with the action, comedy and cinematography.

 

Four teens that would normally never talk are forced to hang out with each other in detention when they find a video game, and get trapped inside the video game version of Jumanji as the avatars they selected. Two friends who have drifted apart are brought back together and a romance is formed between the ‘nerd’ and the ‘introverted’ girl played by Dwayne Johnson and Karen Gillan. Kevin Hart’s portrayal of ‘Moose Finbar’ his avatar character of the zoologist was hilarious as he goes from a tall teenager to the small zoologist and his best friend goes from the smaller geeky friend to the tall and muscular ‘Dr Smolder Bravestone’ and of course the ‘self-obsessed’ popular girl choses the character of ‘Professor Shelly Oberon’ is amazingly portrayed by Jack Black who’s one liners are guaranteed to make you laugh out loud throughout the whole film.

 

The group struggle to get along at first but soon discover they have to work together in order to get back to their normal lives. Jack Black’s character helps guide Karen Gillan’s character through the basics of flirting to distract the guards so that the team can escape, this was my personal favourite scene when ‘Ruby Roundhouse’ uses one of her character’s skills of dance fighting to take out the guards. This movie is the perfect combination of action and comedy, and is completed with great character development where friendships are reborn and romances are formed.

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City Poems

Part One

The unknown mystery of the night

Every street a page

A waiting discovery

Every corner like the next page

Begging to be seen

 

The streets seem disconnected

Not like the day with its welcoming light

But a dark river of sin and madness

Calm yet unpredictable

 

What connects this city’s madness?

The dim lights, the alleys, the sin?

We all know the city’s addictive toxic

Could it be the people within?

 

Part Two

Towering alleys swoop over the city

The good men and sinners below

The moonlight cats demonic shadows

On the city’s proudest buildings

 

The devil’s hour approaches

Anticipation from each window

Only those without a care in the world

Would be seen at this hour

 

There is never silence within the chaos

Each passing hour offers more.

Deep within the heart of the city

Is where the sin is almost pure

 

 

Part Three

Darkness swallows the city

The streets are dimly lit

By only a couple of shining lamps

 

In-between the light there is pure darkness

The darkness evokes mystery, excitement

But sin and murder

 

Spiralling streets descend into madness

Madness unfolds into the night

The people and places create wonderful disasters

Embedded into our history.

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Review: Justice League

Justice League

 

Going to see Justice League with two fellow superhero fanatics, I did not have any expectations and had only seen a couple of short trailers for the film. I have never been the biggest fan of the DC movies; Justice League did not convince me to become a fan.

 

In the film, Batman has to form a team of superheroes (in a very similar style to The Avengers) to which some obviously refuse and then turn up “unexpectedly” mid-battle in order to be more dramatic. Of course Ezra Miller and Gal Gadot’s acting outshines the rest of the film and their characters individually are very charismatic in comparison to Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Batman. I am not implying that his acting was bad but I think that the writing did not reveal anything about his character as he spent half the film being sad and angry that Superman was dead and barely contributed to the plot. There was no character development for Batman at all in Justice League

 

The overall plot was predictable and had no originality or plot twists in comparison to other movies of the same genre. The villain ‘Steppenwolf’ had the very predictable plan of taking over earth with unearthly power without any empathy towards human life. The team soon realizes they do not have enough power alone to defeat the villain and have to resurrect Superman by using the dangerous power that the villain needs to take over earth. I think that this moment was the highlight of the movie as Superman added more character to the team.

 

This film wasn’t all bad, it definitely had good moments and introduced two new characters well; Aquaman and The Flash, however I think it lacked plot and a climactic ending and was instead very predictable and clichéd.

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Review: Me, Earl and the Dying Girl

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

 

Another iconic and beautiful indie film, the small and simple moments in Me, Earl and the Dying Girl make the audience feel closer to the characters, which I think is a huge factor that many films miss out on, when they don’t let the audience build a relationship with the characters.

 

Greg, an awkward teen with one friend, Earl, whom he calls a ‘coworker’ is forced to befriend a girl with leukemia (Rachel) and they form an unlikely friendship over Greg and Earl’s film projects they’ve made together. Greg narrates the story through the movie, his self-doubt gets the best of him as he feels he doesn’t fit into any group in high school and is hesitant to apply to college. Rachel convinces him to apply to college and although the storyline sounds like a cliché high school romance movie, it is anything but cliché. There are witty captions, an 80’s themed colour pallet and no hint of romance between Greg and Rachel.

 

Throughout the movie we see Greg categorizing the school into groups, isolating himself from others and even refusing to acknowledge anyone as his friend. We see his character development as he begins to build a friendship with Rachel and despite setbacks from school and college deferrals, the audience sees him descend into maturity as he learns from life’s tough lessons. Rachel helps Greg overcome his self-doubt and fear of applying to college because of people not liking him.

 

With a beautiful soundtrack, dry humour and amazing camerawork, this is a real heartwarming tragedy.

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Review: Thor Rangnarok

Thor: Ragnarok

 

Director Taika Waititi takes on a whole new approach to the Marvel cinematic universe. With hilarious one-liners and references to previous movies, ‘Thor Ragnarok’ definitely tops the previous ‘Thor’ movies.

 

I love a good superhero movie but the witty comedy; amazing soundtrack, incredible special effects and enthralling action scenes really topped other Marvel films for me. Despite previous conflict between brothers Thor and Loki, the two work together in order to save Asgard from their rival and sister portrayed by Cate Blanchett. Loki continues to scheme against his brother despite agreeing to help him multiple times, their sibling rivalry is increasingly funny throughout the film.

 

I really enjoy how the Marvel films allow different directors to take a new approach to each movie, as it is incredibly interesting to see the different director’s approaches to each film. The first two films in the Marvel series of ‘Thor’ were deeply revolved around action and there was much less character development. I thought Thor had far better character development in ‘Thor Ragnarok’ in comparison to the previous movies as he deals with far more complex issues and is far less of an arrogant superior god, but instead a warrior and a leader.

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Review: 13 Reasons Why

 

Viewers were shocked to see the character of Hannah Baker in ’13 Reasons Why’ slit her wrists open and bleed to death in the bathtub. Although this show sparked controversy about suicide, this controversy may just be the reason suicide and mental health needs to be discussed more.

 

’13 Reasons Why’ follows the recordings Hannah Baker left behind for specific people to hear after her suicide. Episode by episode, the audience finds out what brought her to commit suicide. Through the narration of Hannah, her former friend Clay Jensen listens to these tapes one by one. At first it seemed shocking to me that someone would leave 13 tapes telling people that they were the reasons they killed themselves, but as I learnt about each character and the pain they had caused Hannah, it became more obvious why she had left the tapes. Each character seems innocent at the start of the series however their innocent act wears off, as Clay gets deeper into the tapes. These characters try to defend themselves and hope no one else finds the tapes that show their lack of remorse for Hanna’s death and call her “attention seeking” for killing herself.

 

The ‘suicide is not an option’ posters in the school are ironic as they were put up after Hannah’s suicide, which shows even the school disregarded any bullying happening in their school halls. All the flashbacks are filmed with yellow, bright lighting in comparison to the scenes set in the present which are much more darker and blue. Scenes that caused the most controversy were the rape scenes and one of the last scenes when Hannah is shown in the bathtub, slitting her wrists open. As disturbing and upsetting as these scenes may have been, their purpose is to make the audience feel uncomfortable. The reason being is that issues like sexual assault and suicide are not widely discussed because they make people feel uncomfortable but these are both issues that need to be spoken about as they continue to happen all over the world. One quote that really disturbed me was when Hannah’s rapist said, “If that’s rape then every girl at this school wants to be raped.” This shows how some people have this mentality and think that it’s acceptable.

 

’13 Reasons Why’ now has a crisis information page for anyone who was affected by the content of the TV show. Despite the controversy, I think this TV show has raised awareness about serious issues like suicide, mental health and sexual assault, and will enable young people to discuss these issues and do something about it.

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Review: The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

 

Scott Fitzgerald perfectly captures the reality of the American dream in ‘The Great Gatsby’ set in the 1920’s; Nick Caraway lives alone trying to earn a living in the American Dream. Nick lives next to Jay Gatsby who hosts extravagant parties, which he never seems to attend. When Nick eventually comes to know Gatsby, he discovers that, like his parties, he is a very extravagant person with many stories to tell about his life.

 

Jay Gatsby and his long lost lover eventfully meet and their romance blossoms like it did before, as the novel goes on, we see that Gatsby relies on a luxury lifestyle in order for him, Daisy and all the other characters to live a seemingly “happy” life which all comes to a tragic ending.

 

One of my favourite themes in this book is how despite all the luxury of the idealistic American dream, the characters still feel that there is something missing from their lives and the tragic ending shows how despite Daisy’s love for Gatsby, she still let him take the blame for the woman she hit with Gatsby’s car. Fitzgerald’s writing is enthralling: his way of depicting romance is stunning whilst also showing the social themes of the 1920’s when the idea of the American dream was coming to an end. The story of a romance, which falls apart, ultimately ending in murder is symbolic of how the unrealistic goals of the American dream and the over-romanticized view of what life should be like eventually decays and falls apart.

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Review: Cockpit

Cockpit

 

‘Cockpit’ is a captivating play that gives the audience a completely new perspective of the play by allowing the audience to sit on stage, I felt immersed in the action as I sat within the audience on stage.

 

Director Wils Wilson created an incredible drama exploring the chaos and disorder after the Second World War as British soldiers try to orderly send those who have survived the war back to a safe home, but the definition of ‘home’ after the war is lost. At the end of the war, a theatre in Germany is used to hold misplaced people; tension rises as people from different countries refuse to be sent away together and there are accusations of some being fascists. There is disorder, as the plague is feared to be spread within the theatre as a man falls ill. Some characters form brief alliances as they work together in order to create peace within the misplaced people who are nervous and don’t know where they will be sent to next.

 

There are some moments of peace as an opera singer performs and there is a calm serenity within the room after her performance before the chaos starts again and there is more conflict. The staging was used very effectively as the minimalism of the stage showed how there was little left after the war, which reflects that the misplaced people had nowhere to call home as many of their homes had been destroyed in the war.

 

This play conveys themes of loss, humanity and trust. I think it has an important message as it shows future generations the corruption and division that war causes even after the war is over. This play is especially relevant now after Brexit as it shows how history could be repeated. This play is definitely worth seeing.

5 stars

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Review: Submarine

Submarine

 

‘Submarine’ directed by Richard Ayoade is a beautiful coming of age film about a socially awkward boy and his love interest a mysterious girl. This indie film gives off a Wes Anderson vibe with the incredible soundtrack performed by Alex Turner.

 

‘Submarine’ explored the awkward stage in-between adolescence and adulthood as two teenagers fall in love with each other as they are still trying to figure out who they are themselves. The witty dry humour of the film adds to the alternative genre of film making it immediately likable. The character of Oliver Tate hopelessly pines after the mysterious Jordana Bevan, and as their romance blossoms the film becomes increasingly intriguing. Jordana’s coolness contrasts with Oliver’s awkwardness and stunned facial expression but this makes their characters even more likable as if there is something hidden and secretive about both of them. Their wild contrast adds to the quirky lightheartedness of the film.

 

Tension is built well as Oliver’s relationship with Jordana starts to fall apart and he tries hopelessly to stop it from doing so. At the same time he is anxious that his parent’s marriage is also falling apart. Oliver’s way of speaking with far more knowledge than a 15-year-old boy makes the film more humorous. The use of dark humour adds more depth to the story. This new genre of British film is definitely something I would love to see more of.

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Review: Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom

 

‘Moonrise Kingdom’ directed by Wes Anderson has to be one of my favourite movies. The wide shot scenes and vibrant colours are just one of the many amazing things about this film.

 

Two troubled teenagers run away from home, away from their complicated lives and people who don’t understand their need to run away and find their own land to live. Of course they inevitably fall in love. Wes Anderson creates more quirky and immediately likeable characters. Suzy, the eldest child of four, isn’t of the same mind as her family and feels like an outcast among them. Sam is an orphan who runs away from his group of scouts to be with Suzy.

 

The simplicity and romance of every scene makes this film more lovable through its characteristic style. Wes Anderson clearly shows that this was set in the 60’s through the exaggerated use of retro colours and the use of costume that brings the characters to life. Anderson has a way of communicating themes through his own style that is so beautiful and unique, which in itself is an art form.

 

I was lucky enough to be able to go to a screening of ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ at the Glasgow Youth Film Festival which was held at the Mackintosh Church, this was an amazing way to be able to watch this amazing film especially as one of the final climactic scenes of the film is set in a church. This added to Anderson’s ability to make the audience feel like they were in the film. The openness of the church made the music more ambient.

 

This is definitely one of my favourite movies with its quirky characters and amazing soundtrack; Anderson makes the audience feel as if they are in another world in his movies.