Final Girl (Tyler Shields, 2015)

Cast: Abigail Breslin, Wes Bentley, Alexander Ludwig, Cameron Bright, Reece Thompson, Logan Huffman

Summary: A man teaches a young woman how to become a complete weapon. Later she is approached by a group of sadistic teens who kill blonde women for unknown reasons. The hunting season begins.

Genre: Thriller, Action

Watched: November 2016

The final girl is a trope typically found in slasher films (I've written about this before in my Last Girl Standing review), where a number of victims are killed off one by one and the last surviving member of the group, who is almost always female, either kills or escapes the killer.

The film tells the story of Veronica (Abigail Breslin), a young girl who became an orphan after what I assume was a violent crime and soon after was recruited for "a very special job".
Fast forward 12 years we meet Veronica as 17 year-old with her mentor William (Wes Bentley) as he teaches her what he considers to be "valuable" lessons including withstanding the elements. We learn that she is preparing for her final test which involves four young men who bring girls into the woods to hunt and kill.
I think the film was okay, I thought the acting was a little painful at times, especially with Daniel (Logan Huffman) as he comes across as a bit too insane and I liked the story but I was confused about a couple of things.
Firstly why is she called the final girl? Is it because she was made an orphan when she was 5, making her the final girl in her family or is it because she has been trained to be always be the last one standing?

I like to think it's the latter.

Another thing that confused me was Veronica and Will. I remember rooting for Veronica and William (I do love a good romance) but it wasn't until I watched the film for a second time the I realised how wrong it was.
Clearly I wasn't paying attention because I didn't realise that the man who interviews Veronica as a 5-year-old (Gracyn Shinyei) is William, which really got me thinking. William looks as though he could be in his late 20's/early 30's, fast forward 12 years Veronica is now 17 and he is at least in his late 30's/early 40's.

It's not just the age gap that I think is way too big (although not unheard of), but it made to look as though William has been her sole carer and mentor as she has been growing up so it feels super weird that he would now be interested in the girl he has been looking after since she was 5.

Anyone else feel the same way?

Rating: 5/10
One Final Word: Okay

Raze (Josh C. Waller, 2013)

Cast: Zoë Bell, Rachel Nichols, Tracie Thoms, Bruce Thomas, Sherilyn Fenn, Doug Jones

Summary: 50 women are abducted and told they must fight to survive and save the lives of their loved ones.

Genre: Action, Drama

Watched: April 9th,2017

Kidnapped by husband and wife team Elizabeth (Sherilyn Fenn) and Joseph (Doug Jones), women are turned into brutal killers when they are forced to fight each other in a series of one-on-one combats until only one remains.
If they refuse to fight both they and their loved ones will be killed, lose the fight and their loved ones will be killed, be the last woman standing, their family will be safe and they themselves released back into society, forever transformed and all for the entertainment of unseen spectators.

I thought the opening scene was absolutely brilliant but I don't want to spoil it though so I won't say what happens. When I started writing this review I read a review where the person had said that they thought it was predictable, I definitely didn't think so, did you?

I liked how it plays with gender norms but for me it never actually goes anywhere. Matt Zoller sums it up perfectly in his review saying, '"Raze" begs to be read as allegory, perhaps for the way patriarchal society treats women as objects, entertainments, prisoners or slaves, pits them against one another for the prize of male approval, and pressures them to conform to limiting roles: girlfriend, wife, mother, tramp. Tantalizing fragments of meaning ricochet in the film's margins, but they never freeze long enough to let you look at them.'.

I thought the script was okay, although I was not a fan of the incredibly obvious rivalry very early on between Sabrina (Zoe Bell) and Phoebe (Rebecca Marshall). The acting was only okay at times for me, my favourite performance definitely came from Zoë Bell (although much of her acting is also questionable). Nicole Steinwedell (Isabelle) definitely came a close second and if she had been one of the earlier characters I think she would have been absolutely brilliant.

Even though the acting and the script weren't the best I still really enjoyed the film. The fight scenes were definitely the best bits for me, they were super realistic and the first couple were really impressive. There were definitely a few more heads slammed into walls, stamped on and neck broken then I was expecting.

Rating: 6/10
One Final Word: Good

TV | Attack on Titan (2013)

Japanese Cast: Yūki Kaji, Yui Ishikawa, Marina Inoue.

American Cast: Bryce Papenbrook, Trina Nishimura, Josh Grelle.

Summary: After his hometown is destroyed and his mother is killed, young Eren Jaegar vows to cleanse the earth of the giant humanoid Titans that have brought humanity to the brink of extinction.

Genre: Action, Adventure

Seasons: 1 and 2 (currently showing)

Attack on Titan is based on a manga comic of the same name that tells the story of a world where humanity lives in cities surrounded by three gigantic walls, the outer Wall Maria, the middle Wall Rose and the inner Wall Sheena. These walls are used to protect humanity from titans, giant humanoid creatures who eat humans for unknown reasons.
The majority of people inside the walls have never seen a titan and have lived a life of relative peace, but when a giant 60-meter Colossus titan mysteriously appears and breaches the outer Wall Maria, hundreds of smaller titans invade the town of Shiganshina.

The story initially focuses on Eren Jaeger, his adopted sister Mikasa Ackermann and their childhood friend Armin Arlelt, whose homes are destroyed in the Shiganshina titan attack. Eren and Mikasa's mother is also killed in the attack, which leads Eren (followed by Mikasa and Armin) to enlist in the military as he vows to kill them all.

It sounds pretty bizarre and I thought I would hate it straight away but I absolutely loved it! I was hooked from the first episode after hearing the first line of the theme song "Guren no Yumiya" (Crimson Bow and Arrow), "Are We The Pray? No We Are The Hunters!"
I was so upset when the theme tune changed after the first 13 episodes, but after watching a few more episodes I fell in love with the new theme song, "Die Flügel der Freiheit" (Wings of Freedom).

I did get a little bit confused at times, as the episode are roughly 20-25mins long I felt like a lot of information was squashed so I felt as though I had missed a few important details. I also found myself struggling to keep track of who is who as more characters are introduced when the story jumps ahead 5 years after the attack in Shiganshina.

I also watched the dubbed version rather then original Japanese as we weren't able to read the subtitles at the time. To be honest I probably wouldn't have watched the Japanese version anyway.

I really enjoy the story and I can't wait to see what happens in season 2, but I'll definitely by watching season one again to make sure I understand everything!

Rating: 7/10
One Final Word: Great!

TV | Shadowhunters (2016)

Cast: Katherine McNamara, Dominic Sherwood, Emeraude Toubia, Alberto Rosende, Matthew Daddario, Harry Shum Jr and Isaiah Mustafa

Summary: After her mother disappears, Clary must venture into the dark world of demon hunting, and embrace her new role among the Shadowhunters.

Genre: Action, Fantasy

Also Known As: Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments
Seasons: 1-2 (Renewed for Season 3)

*Beware there be spoilers*

I've written on here a few times about my love for Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments book series, the first time being in my first What I'm Excited to See post.
I remember being super excited when I found out that they were releasing a film and I read all the books in preparation for its release; however when I finally got round to seeing The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) I was left feeling a little disappointed (you can read why in my review)!

A few hours after I watched the film I started watching the Freeform TV show Shadowhunters which is also based on the Mortal Instruments books.
The show, now in its second season, is currently on a winter break and is back with episode 11 on June 5th!

I think season two has been pretty good and even better the first season.
There were a few things that were a little bit off about the first season, but for me my biggest issue was with Clary (Katherine McNamara) and Alec (Matthew Daddario). I hadn't read the books for a good couple of years so I could be remembering things wrong but I don't remember Alec being soo hostile.


I know it's common for screen adaptations of books to change, take out or introduce new characters, scenes, events e.c.t. and Shadowhunters likes to do this quite a lot.

In the first season there was the addition of Lydia Branwell (Stephanie Bennett), an envoy from the clave who later became Alec's fiancée and in season two there was the addition of Victor Aldertree, who I'm not a fan of at all and the death of Jocelyn (Maxim Roy)!

Did her death shock anyone else?!

For me Aldertree's character feels a little random. Although he's explained why he's there I don't really see the point of his character. He says he was brought in to replace Lydia as her leadership was ineffective and to question the team at the institute about their unsanctioned missions and to look into Jace (Dominic Sherwood).
He doesn't seem to be doing a good job though, because to me it looks like these unsanctioned missions are still happening left, right and center. I originally thought he was a character written for the show (like I said, I haven't read the books in a while) but he is actually a character who appears in the books, although slightly later on (City of Glass).

The Lightwood's mother Marsye (Nicola Correia-Damude) is also written a little differently in the show then she is in the book.

I'm loving the choice of actors for the main characters this time around. Although I liked Magnus from the film (Godfrey Gao) I really do prefer Harry Shum Jr as Magnus and Daddario, I just love him, he's much more believable then Kevin Zegers.
Dominic Sherwood is also a much better choice for Jace, he is able to portray the cocky yet mysterious character a lot better than Jamie Campbell Bower who I found to be a bit creepy.

And Valentin (Alan van Sprang) gets a massive yes from me this time round, Jonathan Rhys Meyers was never going to be good in that role.

What do you guys think of Shadowhunters? Who are your favourite characters? Are you looking forward to the rest of the season!!!?

Rating: 8/10
One Final Word: Very Good

Landmine Goes Click (Levan Bakhia, 2015)

Cast: Sterling Knight, Spencer Locke, Dean Geyer and Kote Tolordava

Summary: Trapped standing on an armed landmine, an American tourist is forced to watch helplessly while his friend is terrorized and brutally assaulted.

Genre: Action, Drama

Watched: March 6th, 2017

I've said this before but most of the films I've been watching recently have been thanks to thanks to Netflix and the Horror channel and this is another one of them!
I was flicking through the TV looking for a film to watch when I saw this title on the horror channel. I read the description and I thought it sounded interesting so I sat down to watch it, although I have to admit I wasn't actually expecting much.

American tourists and best friends Daniel (Dean Geyer), Alicia (Spencer Locke) and Chris (Stirling Knight) are back-packing in the Georgian mountains, where we learn that Daniel and Alicia are soon to be married but she and Chris have recently had an affair.
Chris, who is going to be the best man at the wedding, comes across as though he wants to be in a relationship with Alicia and is desperate to fess up to Daniel, while Alicia calls it a mistake and is desperately trying to forget about the whole thing.

I thought, I can see where this is going!
Or could I?

After meeting up with friend and colleague Devi (Giorgi Tsaava), who agrees to take a picture of the group, Chris steps on a landmine, thought to have been left behind after some unrest in the area.

Now I don't want to reveal too much of what happens because it would spoil the film for those who haven't seen it, but shortly after Devi runs for help Chris and Alicia find themselves alone, until hunter Ilya (Kote Tolordava) and his dog discover the pair.
At first Iyla is seems intent on helping the pair, but Chris and Alicia soon discover that he would rather terrorize the two, playing some sort of sadistic game which leads to violence and the brutal rape of Alicia.

Also just to clear something up, the description of the film on IMDB and the horror channel both say that the American tourist is forced to watch as his girlfriend is terrorized, but Alicia isn't actually Chris' girlfriend.

All in all the film was much better than expected and I thought the last 20 minutes or so were very good, but I did have a few problems with the film.

I found the acting to be a little bit iffy at times (I've been saying that a lot recently), for the most part it's okay but it's definitely more noticeable in the first sequence. I also think the film is too long. The whole sequence when the pair are dealing with Ilya is way too drawn out for me and to be honest I think the story would have been much better suited to a short film.

And lastly the story seems just a little bit too unbelievable for me. I think it would have played out better if Chris and Daniel swapped places but unfortunately for me to fully explain why I would have to give way spoilers!

Has anyone seen this? What did you think?
Let me know!

Rating: 6.5/10
One Final Word: Good

The Accountant (Gavin O'Connor, 2016)

Cast: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.k. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson

Summary: As a math savant uncooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities and the body count starts to rise.

Genre: Crime, Action

Watched: November 4th, 2016

I had absolutely no intention of watching this film when I first saw the trailer.
It looked incredibly boring, nothing that I would want to waste money on watching in the cinema. Then one of my closest friends asked if anyone wanted to go to the cinema and that she wanted to watch The Accountant.

I decided to go purely because I wanted to see my friend and I'm very happy to say I was absolutely, 100% wrong. This film is absolutely brilliant and I would 100% recommend going to see it.

I've only seen Ben Affleck in probably 3 films one being the awful Daredevil (2003), but I've never really thought much of his acting. I haven't seen Batman vs Superman, I'm not the biggest Batman fan although I have seen the Christian Bale ones, this one just didn't interest me at all.
I know he's also written and directed quite a few movies that people have raved about like Gone Baby Gone (2007), The Town (2010) and Argo (2012) (I haven't seen any of these either).


Affleck does an absolutely fantastic job and it definitely makes me want to watch more of his films. I also really enjoyed Anna Kendrick's performance, I've liked her ever since her small part in Twilight (2008). The cast as a whole is incredibly good.

I absolutely loved the story! I was able to guess one of the twists long before it was revealed, but the final twist definitely shocked me. For myself and probably most people that have seen it, it was definitely one we didn't see coming.
I did get a little confused at the very beginning trying to figure out which if the children was Christian and it found it a bit long in places, but no so much that I lost interest.

This film is 100% worth a watch, it's so good to watch a film that answers almost if not all questions that come up. The trailer absolutely does not do it any justice at all.

Rating: 10/10
One Final Word: EXCELLENT!

Dragonball Evolution (James Wong, 2009)

Cast: Justin Chatwin, Chow Yun-fat, Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung, Joon Park

Summary: The young warrior Son Goku sets out on a quest, racing against time and the vengeful King Piccolo, to collect a set of seven magical orbs that will grant their wielder unlimited power.

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Adventure


When I was in primary school (eek, we're talking over 12 years here) I was absolutely obsessed with shows like Dragonball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh, so when I heard about this film and that Justin Chatwin was going to be in it, I was super excited!

This film is awful. What an absolute load of rubbish! I don't know what I watched, but it was absolute nonsense. This is definitely up there in my list of worst films.

The story was told at lighting speed but not only that but the acting was absolutely horrendous, from Justin Chatwin to Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung, basically everyone's performance is painful to watch.

The only decent thing about this film is the kung fu, and that was only alright.


Rating: 2/10
One Last Word: Rubbish

Lucy (Luc Besson, 2014)

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked

Summary: A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.

Genre: Action, Sci-fi

Watched: August 2nd, 2016

I managed to watch this on the bus (they had TV’s in the back of the seats!) during our failed trip to Vienna (more on that in another post).

I had actually gone out and bought this DVD a few months ago because I thought the cover looked really cool, but as usual I never got round to watching it and this was one of the few films in English so I decided I might as well watch it then.

Personally I think this is such an interesting idea for a film and the opening sequence is brilliant. My three favourite scenes are definitely the earlier ones where Lucy is kidnapped, when she wakes up in a hotel room alone, and when the experimental drug enters her system.
I really enjoyed Scarlett Johansson's performance in this; I loved watching her become a little less human and more robotic as the drug took hold.

The biggest downside for me was that towards the end of the film everything started to become a bit of a jumbled mess, I started to lose focus and didn't fully understand everything that was happening. There was too much going on all at once.
All in all I think it's a pretty good film, definitely one I would recommend and definitely one I would watch again.

Rating: 7/10
One Final Word: Very Good

Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro, 2013)

Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Colins Jr, Burn Gorman

Summary: As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete special weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse.

Genre: Sci-fi, Action

Watched: August 2nd, 2016

This is the second film I managed to watch last month during Slovakia trip.

I remember being really excited to watch this but as usual I never bothered going to the cinema to watch it. I do this 99% of the time, nowadays because going to the cinema now seems to require so much effort, its super expensive and I can never find people to go with me.

I absolutely loved the opening sequence of the Kaiju attack in San Francisco, the fight scenes looked incredible; heck the visuals a s a whole looked amazing, but after seeing the beauty of films like Pan's Labyrinth and Hell Boy, I wouldn't expect anything less from Guillermo de Toro.
I definitely didn't expect it to be as emotional as it was. I'm not going to lie, I did tear up a few times but especially in the scene where we visit Mako's childhood and I absolutely loved the relationship between Mako and Stacker.

I do have to say though the biggest downside for me was the acting, I found a lot of it to be a bit off especially with Robert Kazinsky's, there were a few others but his performance stood out the most for me.

All in all I really enjoyed it and I'm totally looking forward to the sequel.

Rating: 8/10
One Final Word: Very Good

Red Dawn (Dan Bradley, 2012)

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson, Isabel Lucas, Connor Cruise, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Summary: A group of teenagers look to save their town from an invasion of North Korean soldiers.

Genre: Action

Watched: July 4th

I think this is the 9th film I've watched this year about some sort of invasion, alien and human. It's starting to become an obsession.

I haven't seen the original Red Dawn so I didn't really know what to expect. I had however read some reviews saying that the film wasn't good, so to be honest I wasn't expecting much from.

I liked the film, I thought most of it was okay but there were definitely a few problems.
I really like Chris Hemsworth, but I wasn't too keen on him in this and I found a lot of the acting questionable, especially when it came to Josh Peck. His speech at the end was just terrible.

The biggest problem for me was the time scale, I just didn't get it. It's not made at all clear how long it takes for everything to happen (or exactly what is happening), maybe I wasn't paying attention and I missed something important (highly unlikely).

It feels as though everything takes place within about a week, which I think is just a little bit too fast.

Rating: 5/10
One Final Word: Okay

Kill Bill: Volume 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2004)

Cast: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen. Daryl Hannah

Summary: The Bride continues her quest of vengeance against her former boss and lover Bill, the reclusive bouncer Budd and the treacherous, one-eyed Elle.

Genre: Crime, Action

Watched: January 2016


Just a short one here.

I watched the first part of Kill Bill sometime towards the end of last year; it had been on my list of films to watch for a couple of years, so when it came on TV I knew I had to watch it.

I really enjoyed Vol.1 but I remember thinking that in almost two hours it felt as though hardly anything had happened.

Still I was desperate to know what happened next and how everything was going to end, so I went out and bought Vol.2 on DVD.
Unfortunately I really didn't like this as much as Vol.1. For me it really did feel like nothing was happening, even more so than Vol 1. I really wasn't a fan of the second part of the story, for me it wasn't as interesting as the first part and it didn't feel like there was as much action.

Rating: 5/10
One Final Word: Okay

Battle: Los Angeles (Jonathan Liebesman, 2011)

Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo, Michael Peña, Cory Hardrict

Summary: A squadron of U.S. Marines becomes the last line of defence against a global invasion.

Genre: Sci-fi, Action

Watched: June 4th, 2016

I wanted to watch this film when it came out in the cinema but as usual I never actually got round to it, and then I heard people saying that the reviews weren't great so I thought maybe I should give it a miss.

I've been watching a lot of alien invasion/war movies lately, so when this came on Film 4 I thought I might as well give it a go.

I actually quite liked the film, I didn't think it was as bad as a lot of the reviews said it was. It definitely could have been miles better, the story was little boring at times and I wasn't a fan of some of the characters, especially Michelle Rodriguez’s character.

As far as Alien war films go it's not that bad, it's not as good as District 9 or Skyline but I would watch it again.

Rating: 6/10
One Final Word: Okay

Tomorrow, When The War Began (Stuart Beattie, 2010)

Cast: Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Licoln Lewis, Deniz Akdeniz, Phoebe Tonkin, Chrs Pang, Ashleigh Cummings and Andy Ryan

Summary: When their country is invaded and their families are taken, eight unlikely high school teenagers band together to fight.

Genre: Action, Drama, Adventure

Watched: March 20th, 2016

I can 100% say that I wasn't expecting this film to be as good as it was. I wasn't expecting much so I had been avoiding watching this film, which doesn't really make much sense seeing as though I added it to my list of films to watch.

Every Sunday my parents and I try to watch a film together and one week I thought let's just give it a watch and see what happens.

I really like the characters, a couple of which I actually recognised from my Home & Away and Neighbours watching days.

There were a couple of things however that confused me. My parents and I kept questioning how old everybody was, I think even from the start (despite their mentioning of school and classes) I just couldn't think of these people as being school children.

Secondly I spent while thinking that the town had been taken over by aliens (why I don't entirely know), I think I definitely need to watch it again to fully understand everything that is going on.

Overall I really enjoyed this film, definitely one to watch and I hear that there is now TV series.

Rating: 8/10

Fantasitc Four (Josh Trank, 2015)

Cast: Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey

Summary: Four young outsiders teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe which alters their physical form in shocking ways. The four must learn to harness their new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure

Watched: January 31st, 2016

I wrote in my Most Re-watched Films: Part 2 that I was super obsessed with Fantastic Four (2005) when it came out. I pretty much knew the whole script (I know I was quite a sad child), so when I heard that it was being remade I was pretty darn excited.

However after watching it I can safely say that I was quite disappointed, and in my opinion I think the 2005 version is a lot better although I can now see that some of the acting is absolutely horrendous.

I found it difficult to connect with the characters; I really struggled to understand them and their choices. I've never read a Fantastic Four comic but I'm pretty sure this is nothing like what happened in the comics.
It took a long time for the film to really get going, but it also felt like they were trying to explain everything and create relationships in about 30 seconds.
I really didn't like the film, it reminded me too much of Green Lantern (2011), which I hated.

Rating: 3/10
One Final Word: Rubbish

Act Of Valor (Mike McCoy & Scott Waugh, 2011)

Cast: Jason Cottle, Rorke Denver, Alex Veadov, Roselyn Sánchez, Nestor Serrano

Summary: An elite team of Navy SEALs embark on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent.

Genre: Action, War

Watched: January 9th, 2016

I really, really enjoyed this film. It's not often that I choose to watch war films and to be perfectly honest this film had been sitting in my Netflix watch list for months before I finally sat down and started to watch it (this is after attempting to watch several other films first).

I was totally expecting this film to be a bunch of rubbish, but I was hooked from the word go! I even tried watching the film while making cupcakes, but sadly the film won. I thought the action sequences looked absolutely incredible and I loved the authentic military language.

The film uses real Navy Seals (hence the super authentic language) but that brings me to the biggest downside of the film, the acting. There are times (quite a few I have to say) when the acting is incredibly rubbish, because obviously the Navy Seals aren't real actors so some things come across as un-genuine and super awkward.

Terrible acting aside, I still really, really liked this film and I would watch it again.

Rating: 9/10
One Final Word: Very, Very Good

Pandorum (Christian Alvart, 2009)

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue, Norman Reedus, Cung Le, Eddie Rouse

Summary: A pair of crew members aboard a spaceship wake up with no knowledge of their mission or their identities, or what the noises coming from the belly of the ship could be.

Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi

When I bought this DVD I didn’t bother reading the back because I thought the front looked interesting, so when I started watching the film I was hoping it wouldn’t just be about Bower (Ben Foster) searching for people.

I actually really enjoyed this film, even with the couple of scares it gave me. There were times when the story reminded me of Danny Boyle's Sunshine and a little of Niell Blomkamp's Elysium, which is a bit weird as the spaceship the crew are on is also called Elysium. Actually the film seems like a bit of a mish mash of quite a few sci-fi films.

For me the biggest let down is a bit of an odd one, but I felt like for the large majority of the time it was difficult to make out what was happening because it was so dark. Also the ending could’ve been better, but it’s still worth a watch.

Overall I thought this film was really good, the pace was good, some of the characters were really good (Payton, Bower and Gallo in particular) and the acting wasn't too bad either.

My Rating: 6/10
One Final Word: Good

Skyline (Colin and Greg Strause, 2011)

Cast: Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, David Zayas, Donald Faison, Brittany Daniel

Summary: The residents of Los Angeles are awakened in the dead of night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside before they vanish into thin air.

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller

I first watched this back in December 2010 on Christmas Day with my mum, dad, sister and grandad, so I have to start off by saying this is definitely a film for the family, although some scenes maybe not for young children.

The film starts straight away with the first scene showing us the start of the real action before it jumps back a few hours to show us how we got to that point. I liked that it doesn't start in the typical way and leave me thinking when is the action going to start, plus it only takes around 20 minutes before we get back to the opening scene so things get back on track pretty quickly.
I did think it was a little bit strange at first that you don't really get to know the characters throughout the film, but then again I suppose our focus is meant to be on Jared (Eric Balfour) and Elaine (Scottie Thompson) as they are who the story really follows. Eric Balfour might I add, is quite the looker.

I loved the story it's really easy to follow and there are definitely a couple of shocks with unexpected events, things that you did NOT see coming (well for me anyway). Plus despite not knowing much about Jared and Elaine you do end up getting quite attached to them. As usual I have to say a few words about the special effects as for me they're important and these deserve an A+, that end sequence gets me everytime.

My Rating: 9/10
One Final Word: EXCELLENT!

Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Jason Flemyng, Jessica Barden, Michelle Dockery, Eric Bana

Summary: A 16-year-old who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Back in August (I know, that was a while ago now) I finally got round to watching Hanna after having it on my shelf for months, and I absolutely loved it!

For me Saoirse Ronan was perfect as the teenage assassin Hanna. Usually cool, calm and collected, her emotions are completely believable when she is put into totally unfamiliar surroundings, especially when she begins her journey and when she meets the outgoing British family on their holiday.
Personally I love Ronan as an actress especially after seeing her in The Lovely Bones and Atonement, which is also directed by Joe Wright.

I have to say that my favourite scenes are the ones with the abandoned theme park and the amazing Brothers Grimm, Hansel and Gretel themed house.
The film also features the soundtrack debut of The Chemical Brothers which I think is pretty cool after watching Tron Legacy, which of course was the Daft Punk’s soundtrack debut. Just in case you’re wondering, yes the Daft Punk soundtrack is brilliant.

Finally Ian Nathan sums up the film perfectly for me in his Hanna Review saying its “Hans Christian Andersen refitted with glocks, smart phones and satellite surveillance”

My Rating: 9/10
One Final Word: Brilliant

Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (Bill Condon, 2012)

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson, Peter Facinelli, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene and many, many more…

Summary: After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi.

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Drama

So I took a trip to the cinema for the first time in months on Saturday (I'm poor wahhh), my lovely aunt paid for me and we went to see Breaking Dawn Part 2.
Now I know there's this massive love/hate relationship with the films and books, but personally I love Twilight. It's by no means perfect and I didn't like all the films, in fact I only watched the first film on DVD a year after it came out.

I remember when I found out the final book was being split I was excited because it meant one extra film, but when the first part came out I wasn't really impressed. I knew I would like the second half more because I knew there would be way more action to keep me entertained, and I was right!

I loved it, loved it, loved it, I thought it was a great end to a crazy ride. The cinema we went to was absolutely rubbish though, I missed a little bit of the film because the people working at the cinema were complete failures at their job, and they also left the lights on during the trailers and the first 10 minutes of the film. Never going there again.

There were a couple of things that I really didn't like one of which being Renesmee. The effects used on her in the first half of the film are terrifying and make her look a bit evil. I remember constantly thinking that her face doesn’t look right, her eyes were either slightly too far apart or too close together and they were too low down on her face. She just looks extremely fake.

But enough of my rambling, what did you guys think of Twilight and do you love it or hate it?


My Rating: 7/10

Transformers: Dark of The Moon (Michael Bay, 2011)

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, John Tuturro, Josh Duhamel, Kevin Dunn, Julie White and Tyrese Gibson

Summary: The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and to learn its secrets

Genre: Action Sci-Fi, Adventure

I absolutely loved the first Transformers (2007) it was unique and definitely one of a kind. I even liked Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) although I did get confused with all the robots and who was who.

This is the third film in the series and I have to say I liked this one as well; however there were a few things that I didn't like about the film.

Firstly the film felt a little too long and after some of the fights I found myself hoping the film was getting ready to finish.

Secondly I wasn't that keen with the addition of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. I wasn't that big a fan of Megan Fox in the first two films; but I felt like this film just became about Sam and his relationship with Carly, rather than being about him helping the Transformers in their battle to survive and protect the human race from the Decepticons.

Thirdly (this has to be my biggest hate of the film) let's talk about the demise of Megatron. I didn't understand how Megatron went form this pretty much unkillable character, to being this incredibly weak robot. The leader of the Decepticons hates humans, has no problems with killing them and even flicks them away like their insects. Yet little old Carly is able to calmly walk up to him and give him a piece of her mind.

Like really? Who is this girl, does she even know who he is?

My Rating: 7/10
One Final Word: Very Good