Maleficent (2014)

Director: Robert Stromberg
Producer: Joe Roth
Writer: Linda Woolverton
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning
Rating: PG
                                                                                                             
Angelina Jolie is a force to be reckoned with in Disney’s new spin on its classic tale of Sleeping Beauty. Disney has stuck to its recent theme of that there are no heroes and villains, although with a darker tone than Frozen.

Meet young Maleficent, a fairy who is not as evil as her name suggests. She whizzes around on her awesome wings, and all is fine and dandy in the incredibly CGI’d magical forest. Until she meets Stefan, a young boy who has snuck into the forest. And since this is Disney, they grow up together and fall in love. Stefan grows into ambitious adult Stefan, and due to his greed, he betrays Maleficent in a gut-wrenching scene where he drugs her and cuts off her wings. Soon Stefan is king and about to have a baby, and in a fit of rage Maleficent… Well we all know they story from there.

The visuals were spectacular. Director Stromberg is a well-known special effects artist; his past credits include Alice in Wonderland and Avatar, and he did not let fans down in this respect. The forest glittered and unfurled magically before your eyes; strange creatures whirled and snarled, and even the CGI on Jolie’s face looked bizarrely believable.

This was a one-woman-show at heart, that woman being Jolie, and with piercing cheekbones and glint in her eye; she swept sweet Elle Fanning’s Aurora and tormented Sharlto Copey’s King Stefan away. Maleficent was a women of few words, but that didn’t stop all eyes on Jolie, whose angry roars, heart-wrenching sobs, and knowing smirks says all.

Though the film may have benefited from some more words. Or plot. The obvious comparison to Maleficent is Wicked, the retelling of the story from the villains perspective, where we find out that they are not as evil as they seem. But while Wicked leaves you in awe of the cleverness and richness of the story, Maleficent is severely lacking in this area. Maleficent is betrayed, Maleficent becomes angry, Maleficent regrets her actions. Disney desire to stick rigidly to the 1959 original has caused this retelling to revert to a darker live-action version replica. And considering Linda Woolverton also wrote classics such as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, the standard of plot is sub-par.

It’s hard to not initially be bowled over by Maleficent, whose world it is too easy to be absorbed into. The film taps into truths of real life, from love and betrayal, to friendship and fear. But once the magical dust has settled, and your eyes are exhausted from the visual assault, the sour taste of disappointment remains.

Rating: 6/10

Updates and YA mini-reviews

You may have noticed that I have been absent from the internet recently. You may have not. If so, I’m not offended. So where have I been? University! Wooo!

I have been having a fantastic time. Such a fantastic time, that I now have no time. Between the 22 hours of contact time, the lab reports and coursework (this is what you get for choosing science), friends and extra-curriculars, I’m finding it to keep up, and I’ve just been lazy when it’s come to updating this blog and my Youtube channel. But with New Year’s around the corner, I am now determined to a better job of keeping up this blog and (hopefully) my Youtube channel. I say hopefully for Youtube because the walls in my halls of residence are so thin! So if anyone has some advice for me please let me know below.

I have also been a lazy reader. In the 3 months I was at university, I read three books one of which was on the train to and from London. To say I’ve been in a reading slump is to put it mildly. Luckily, the Christmas holidays have snapped me out of it, and I am on a roll.

So here’s the first part of my mini-reviews of what I’ve read.

Geek Girl and Geek Girl (Model Misfit) by Holly Smale

Geek Girl has been floating around the blogging circuit for a while and I now know why, it’s amazing! It’s funny and quirky (and not in a look-at-me-I’m-so-hipster kind of way). Harriet Manners is a geek (as you may guess from the title) and somehow ends up as a model, which of course is followed by several mishaps. I loved Harriet, especially once you peel off all the layers of facts and knowledge she was a normal, teenage girl. Geek Girl doesn’t take itself too seriously, but has a lot of heart.

I received Model Misfit from NetGalley 

Rating: 9/10

Heist Society by Ally Carter 

Heist Society had an interesting concept, as we follow Kat, a retired teenage thief whose father has been framed for a crime he didn’t commit. As much as I found the plot interesting, I felt like there wasn’t much to the characters. Kat was emotionless and lacked much of a personality, and I found it hard to connect to her. Even the plot, though fast paced and clever in places, required too much suspension of belief for me to take it seriously. It was fun to read, but ultimately left me feeling let down.

 Rating: 6/10

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare 

You may have noticed that I may be a tiney-winey (ok, massive) fan of The Mortal Instruments. So shockingly, I had not read the spin-offs. The reason for wanting to avoid them is that I’m not the biggest fan of historical fiction. Eventually I gave in and picked them up. I wanted to love it. Really, I did. And I did. Sort of. I really enjoyed the steampunk Victorian setting and the fast paced plot complete with a slippery villain. I loved all the characters, from book-loving Tess, to calm Jem, to strong Charlotte. The only problem I have is that I’m getting sick of love triangles. But I have high hopes for the rest of the series!

 Rating: 9/10

I have a lot of things coming up for this blog and I will get back into the swing of things, so stick around!

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Age Group: YA

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Pub Date: August 2012

Publisher: Bloomsbury

                                                                          

I had mixed feelings coming into Throne of Glass, mostly because I had been hearing a lot of different opinions about it. My conclusion is: I totally get why people love or hate it, and I really can’t decide how I feel.

Celaena Sardothien is an assassin in slavery until the Crown Prince, Dorian, pulls her out to become his champion in a competition held by his father to find the new royal assassin. Along the way, she is trained by the handsome Captain of Guard, Chaol, whilst trying to fit into the royal court. Yes, it’s a little ridiculous, but sometimes you have to shove away logic and sit back and enjoy the ride.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the love triangle. Shockingly, I am not opposed to love triangles, as over-used as they are, as long as they are done well and this wasn’t the worst one I’ve read. I liked both of the male characters, and it wasn’t blatantly obvious which one Celaena was going to pick, so my issue wasn’t with the triangle itself, but more with the number of clichés used. Up-close-and-personal-training, masquerade balls, childhood-friends-turned-love-rivals… Do I need to go on? I quickly stopped reading this as a fantasy book with a healthy dollop of romance, but as a romance with a fantasy background. Which is fine, as long as the writer knows what she’s writing.

I found both the plot and writing jumpy. It felt like Maas couldn’t decide if she wanted to write a riveting romance or an action novel, and the book wasn’t long enough to accommodate both. I found the stark contrast between cute and real romance, and grisly murders really bizarre. And the writing was painful to read. It was melodramatic, over-written, and sometimes made no sense. “Her blood grew warm and glittering” is an example of the problems I had.

Once I got past the writing and accepted the crazy premises, I actually enjoyed reading the book. I really loved the characters: Dorian was fun and Chaol serious, but most importantly both seemed like they had some depth to them. As for Celaena? I liked her character, but I didn’t feel like it fitted with her story. She was cool, witty, confident, and smart, but she didn’t strike me as an assassin. As much as I liked this version of Celaena, I wanted her to be darker and grittier, as the only way I kept on remembering that she was an assassin was because everyone kept on saying it.

Throne of Glass was a guilty pleasure for me. It was good in a bad way, and I understand why so many people love it. Despite it all, I found it really addictive and fun to read. However, if you’re looking for a more meaningful read about a teenage assassin, I would look elsewhere.

Sum It Up: Romantic fantasy, which is at sometimes a bit contrived and far-fetched, but really fun to read.

Rating: 6/10

Man of Steel (2013)

Directed by Zack Snyder
Produced by Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Deborah Snyder
Screenplay by David S. Goyer and based on Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe
Rating: 12A/ PG-13

So Superman is back, and smashing its way through the box office. With the hype surrounding the film, Man of Steel had a lot to live up too. It was good, but it stopped short of the height it was meant to fly too.

Superman lore is not a new concept of me, and as a fan I was incredibly excited for the film. Disappointingly, for a film so long, the plot was incredibly simple, especially when parts of it are integrated into popular culture knowledge. Superman leaves Krypton, arrives on Earth, grows up on Earth, the bad guy comes, and Superman saves the day… In a movie where everyone knows the general storyline, you expect a few more plot twists. Major parts of the film were given to intense, long action sequences that eventually became tedious, and felt like a rip-off  of certain movies (*cough* The Avengers). In all the time they wasted on that, they could have created a complex plot, especially considering Nolan’s involvement and his clever Dark Knight trilogy.  The saving grace of the storyline was the intertwining flashbacks to Clark’s childhood and his early days before the cape, with the struggle he had with family, choice, and destiny.

Henry Cavill was a good Clark Kent/ Superman, and certainly looks the part, but if he had been given a better script, he could have been a great one. But thinking back on the film, he was barely in it. Half of the film was dedicated to Krypton, Zod, or flashbacks. It seems all he was there was to throw punches around, meaning the character had barely any connection to the audience. But when he did get a chance to make a connection, boy, did he do it well. The fragility within the character was really shown when Clark was restraining himself in his early days or in the moments with Lois. I particularly liked Adams and Cavill’s chemistry, and Adams was a good Lois Lane, feisty and headstrong, if underdeveloped. In fact, all the acting was really good; it was the meagre script which let everyone down.

Gaping plot issues aside, Man of Steel wasn’t a bad film for numerous reasons. It played to the classic, feel-good blockbuster routine: attractive hero, lots of action, and the occasional injection of emotion to lift it up. A quirky feature I did like was that it was more light-hearted than The Dark Knight with the occasional quip here and there. And don’t get me wrong, the action sequences were exhilarating for the first 10 minutes worth. Most importantly, there were rare occasions where script, cinematography, and acting came together to produce something out of this world, which made the dire bits worthwhile.

I would say Man of Steel is worth a watch if you don’t expect too much of it; if you do, you will surely be disappointed. It lacked the fun and wit of Marvel, and the exciting plot of The Dark Knight, but made up in visuals, style, and the occasional glimpse into something great. I wonder if all the fun went with the red pants of Superman’s costume…

Sum It Up: Definitely worth a watch, bound to be a hit for those who like a lot of explosions, but don't expect anything more than a generic superhero film.

Rating: 6/10