Poltergeist - Mini Movie review

02/05/16

Poltergeist - Mini Movie review

Warning: Major spoilers ahead, if you have not seen the movie and wish to do so, don't read this review, if you are still reading I hope you enjoy this review.

Released May 22nd 2015

Directed by Gil kenan

Starring Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kennedi Clements

I'll be honest here, I was really looking forward to this. A unique horror movie coming out in a year of found footage and the sixth paranormal activity movie, But unfortunately, this movie is pretty weak, it's not terrible, it's just weak. This is a very hard movie to review though, it has good aspects, but at the same time, it also has very bad aspects. So let's take a look at Poltergeist and why it doesn't really work in my opinion.

Okay let's start with the scares, oh wait, there aren't any, this movie is boring. Very little happens in the first 20 minutes and the first 'scare' in the movie revolves around a bunch of clown toys with freaky faces. The scenes with the clowns could have scared me because I personally don't like clowns, but the scenes are so poorly executed that they didn't even elicit a mild gasp. Most of the other scares are simply generic, predictable jump scares because you can't have a modern horror movie without cheap, crappy jump scares.

The acting is a mixed bag, the child actors are among the weakest I've seen in recent memory but the adult actors do an okay job, particularly Sam Rockwell who plays the role of the father pretty well. However, the characters are bland to say the least, at best their generic, at worst, they're extremely irritating. For example, the teenage daughter is your average disinterested teenager character, nothing ground breaking, but the other kids are very annoying, I know there young but, could they not have tried a little bit harder? The little girl is so annoying that if I didn't know better I'd say she was literally the director's daughter!

The supporting cast are pretty good though, the paranormal investigators aren't exactly amazing but they won't terrible. The effects are actually pretty good, the realm where the little girl is taken to looks really good and the parts of the movie that take place there are easily the highlights.

In conclusion, the movie is very boring with long sequences of nothing interesting happening, there is no character development, the acting is sub par and it is not scary in the slightest. The effects were good though.

Acting: 5.5/10
characters: 4.5/10
story: 5/10
Special effects: 7/10
overall: 5/10

Fantastic Four - Mini Movie Review

02/05/16

Directed by Josh Trank

Released 6th August 2015

Starring Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell

Superhero movies, they've been around for decades, ever since Superman in 1978, the genre has become massive. However, it hasn't always been that way. For every Spider-man 2 that came around, something like Elektra was right around the corner. My point is that whenever a great movie in this genre came around, a terrible one is in the making. As a result of this, bad superhero movies have always been unavoidable, and the fantastic four have given us some poor movies over the years. The 2005 movie was too goofy and over the top and the 2007 follow up was just plain forgettable. So when FOX announced a new movie set for a Summer 2015 release, people were sceptical at best, the movie looked like it was going for a darker tone unlike the 2005 and 2007 movies. So did Fantastic four or Fant4stic succeed?

To start off with no, this is not a great movie, nor is it a bad movie, it is at best okay. It is probably actually better than the 2005 movie, but it is definitely flawed.  So what went wrong here? Well, for starters, the pacing is horrible! it's slow and at times boring, there are long sequences of people just talking... and talking and very little happening. Don't believe me? Doctor Doom, the main villain of the movie, doesn't make a proper appearance as a villain until the final 10 minutes of the movie.

So the pacing is terrible, hows the acting? it's pretty good I guess. Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan being the stand outs with Kate Mara not being far behind. But the weak link is easily Jamie Bell mainly because his character disappears for like 45 minutes, where was he? So the acting is okay, what about the character themselves?

Reed Richards (Miles Teller) is a pretty bland character here as is Sue Storm (Kate Mara). In fact the only characters with any personality were Franklin Storm played by Reg E. Cathey and Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan). So all in all pretty weak characters. Is their anything good here?

Well the writing isn't bad, the script is pretty strong and I like some of the visual effects. But alot of the movie is just underwhelming. The characters, The pacing the story it's just not all that good. The soundtrack is good though.

Acting: 6/10
Characters: 5/10
Story: 6.5/10
visual effects: 7.5/10
Overall: 5/10

Jurassic World - Mini Movie review

16/4/16

Jurassic World - Movie Review

Released: 11th June 2015
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Ty Simpkins, Irrfan Khan and Vincent D'Onofrio

Jurassic World was one of those movies coming out last year which was highly anticipated but at the same time had people sceptical. 'Jurassic park' may be one of the most iconic films of all time, but the sequels 'The lost World' and 'Jurassic Park III' weren't exactly well received. But despite this, people were looking forward to 'Jurassic world', with a great cast and Steven Spielberg as executive producer, expectations for this movie were high. So did it deliver, let's find out!

To start off, the cast is great here, Bryce Dallas Howard gives a fantastic lead actress and Chris Pratt does a good job with his role. Vincent D'Onofrio plays a very effective villain and both Irrfan khan and Jake Johnson are good supporting actors. Where the acting unfortunately falls flat is with the two child actors, there not terrible but their very interesting and when ever the characters are on screen the movie seems to slow down.

The special effect are also one of the movie's strongest elements, they look great some of the best of the year. The Dinosaurs also look great with the Raptors looking especially good. The effects are most impressive during action scenes though because it is clear in those scenes that alot of the budget was put into them.

Speaking of the action scenes, they're some of the highlights of the movie. Not only do they look fantastic but they are genuinely intense at times.

Overall, 'Jurassic World' was an excellent film, Great effects, good characters and acting for the most part and a good story! It's pretty much good across the board! I definitely recommend Jurassic World.

Story: 8/10
Characters: 7.5/10
Effects: 9.5/10
Acting: 8.5/10
Overall: 9/10

Halsey - Colors - Song review

28/02/16

Halsey - Colors - Song review

In 2015, Halsey released her debut album 'Badlands' to mixed critical reception. Some critics liked her and she quickly developed a huge fan base, however some critics criticized her music because they thought she didn't a particularly different or unique voice, critics also thought that she wasn't doing anything that other artists like Lorde or Lana Del rey hadn't done before her. Her big Single from that album 'New Americana' didn't help matters as that song did not please critics at all. So I didn't know what to think when Halsey released another song from her debut, but I went into Colors at least expecting something better than 'New American', did I get that?

Well for the most part, Colors is a much better song 'New Americana'. But I'm still not sure I have alot to say about her as a performer, she has a good enough voice but as I said before, I can listen to a song like 'Team' by Lorde or 'National Anthem' by Lana Del Rey and enjoy them more than this song. 

So what went wrong here? Well to start off with, the instrumentation is barely worth mentioning on this song. It leaves no impression on me what so ever and is heavily over shadowed by the vocals. Say what you will about an artist like Lorde but at least her instrumentation is more interesting than this and works well with her vocals, here however, the instrumentation appears to be struggling to work well with the vocals.

As for the lyrics and themes, all I can say is that I may feel slightly awkward talking about the lyrics on a Lana Del Rey album,but at least I have things to say about them! Halsey is credited as the writer of the song which is admirable but I can't but feel that she could do with some help from someone like Max Martin to help her write a cohesive song. From what I can tell the song is about a boyfriend with a drug addiction and who doesn't realise that the people around him actually care about him, but the lyrics are repetitive and believe me, this is not a song that can pull off repetition very well.

In conclusion, Colors is a song that could have been good but I can't help but feel it squanders it's huge potential and instead of being legitimately interesting and telling a captivating story, it's just kind of dull and a bit forgettable, Still better than 'New Americana' but I still don't think I'll come back to this any time soon.

Vocals: 7/10

Instrumentation: 4.5/10

Lyrics: 5/10

Overall: 5/10  

Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence - Album review

26/02/16

Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence

Album review

Lana Del Rey is a strange artist to talk about, she is a singer who released her debut album 'Born to die' in 2012 and right from the beginning her work has gained a huge fan base but that debut album received very mixed reviews from critics. But what do I think of her? Honestly I haven't always been a massive fan, but it was only when I started exploring her albums I really started enjoying her music! However, that doesn't mean I don't have some problems with her albums. I will elaborate on the problems I have with her music as I review her 2014 full length follow up to 'Born to die', 'Ultraviolence'! Let's take a look.

On first listen, I didn't know what to think of this album, I like Lana's vocals, but I thought the instrumentation was a mixed bag and I wasn't particularly fond of the writing, But as I've re-listened to the album, I have started to enjoy it more. I still have problems with the album, but I also have alot of positive things to say about it.

So what is good about 'Ultraviolence'? Well as I mentioned earlier, I really like Lana's vocals, she has a very elegant voice that definitely works well on songs like the title track 'Ultraviolence' and 'Old money' which was in my opinion the best song on the album. However, I can tell that she has the type of voice that wouldn't appeal to everyone. If you don't enjoy down beat, lower tempo music, I'm not sure you'll enjoy this album.

I may like the vocals on this album, but I'm not sure about the instrumentation. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed alot of the instrumentation on this album, for example, the album opener 'Cruel World' uses guitars well and 'West coast' is a very good indie rock song and the drums and guitar definitely help the songs groove. However some of the instrumentation is lacking in substance like on 'Brooklyn Baby' where the guitars feel wasted and aren't as prominent as they should be especially on the chorus where they're shoved to the back of the mix.

And now we have to talk about the most frustrating element of the album, lyrics and themes. Some critics have complained about the fact that Lana appears to glamorise her bad behaviour and an overwhelming focus on drugs throughout the album on songs like 'Cruel World' and 'Shades of cool'. And honestly if you read into the lyrics, it could have a negative effect on your enjoyment of the album. I'm not talking about every song on the album, songs like 'Old money' and 'west coast' aren't bad lyrically which is probably the reason they're my Favourite songs on the album. I'm talking about songs like 'Sad girl' where she boasts about being a mistress on the side or 'Ultraviolence' where she says her partner hit her and it felt like a kiss. Some of these lyrics are enough to make any casual listener feel quite uncomfortable. There are also songs on the album like 'sad girl' and 'Brooklyn Baby' which run way too long and constantly repeat lines to fill up space. And then there's 'Money power glory' where she says she's going to take a man for all he's got and the fact that the whole song has an underlined theme of entitlement.

While the lyrics are quite underwhelming on this record, there are other elements on this album I really liked. 'Pretty when you cry' may have been a bit too long but the vocals and the instrumentation work really well together and despite the fact that 'Ultraviolence' featured some questionable lyrics, it still has one of the best choruses on the album.

In conclusion, for the most part, I liked 'Ultraviolence', the vocals are really good on most of the tracks and most of the instrumentation works on the album, However outside of songs like west coast and Old money, alot of the songs have problems in the lyrics department which are really hard to ignore.

Best songs: Old money, West coast, Cruel World, Ultraviolence, pretty when you cry
Worst songs: Sad girl, The other Woman, Money power glory

6.5/10