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

The Wolf of Wall Street

Director:  Martin Scorsese
Producers: Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Riza Aziz, Joey McFarland, Emma Tillinger Koskoff
Writer: Terence Winter
Based on The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
Rating: 18

Greed and lust. There’s the plot in two words. Want some more words? Lies, drugs, sex, swearing, and of course, money. This is the terrifyingly true story of the rise and fall of stockbroker Jordan Belfort, a man in the late 80’s went from conning the working-class to opening Stratton Oakmont, where his illegal dealings went mass market. Belfort is a hedonist; snorting coke, popping Qualuudes, and sleeping his way through New York. But his biggest addiction lies at the heart of the film: money.

The Wolf of Wall Street is mesmerising and unyielding. You are sucked into an incomprehensible world, where there’s a hooker every day and throwing dwarves is a reasonable thing to do. And that’s just in the office. It’s sleazy, it’s immoral, but you can’t tear your eyes away.

A mixture of hilarity, vulgarity, and violence; it engaged every emotion from laugh-out-loud laughter, to jaw-dropping surprise, to pure horror. At three hours long, the film was pushing it, but considering the amount of excess lavished in the film, what are minutes alongside everything else?

Credit where credit’s due (which is something the stockbrokers did not say), the film is genuinely funny. DiCaprio has once again proved himself by playing a despicable character, and his versatility is shown as he slips from smooth salesman to drugged-up crack-head. Belford is utterly unlikeable, yet completely watchable. He has no morals, no guilt, which is important because as much as we enjoy watching him, we never empathise with him.

Whilst watching, we’re all Jordan Belfort. The film is like one of his Qualuudes dropped in water, fizzing and ready to explode as we start to swig it in. It takes us on a high; we’re drawn into a dysmorphic world that is nothing is like the reality we live in, and we can’t get enough of it. But the crash is hard and painful, and only on exiting the cinema do the thoughts creep in. Why are we so obsessed with greed? Why were no victims shown? And is it okay that Belford is profiting with his new-found celebrity?

Overall: Decadent and disgraceful, no matter how much you want to, you won't be able to take your eyes of the screen.

Rating: 9/10

Updates and Monthly Wrap Up

Hey everyone,

You may or may not have noticed that I have been slightly absent from Youtube (or maybe you haven't noticed because it’s only been a week). I’m just going to cut to the point here: I’m writing a book. Even more to the point, I’m writing a book for the Hot Key Young Writers competition, which has a deadline, so I have 3 weeks to get 40000 words done.

Maybe other people can balance writing, reading. blogging, vlogging, and their day-to-day lives, but sadly, I procrastinate too much to be able to cope with all of that. This means until the 22^nd July, there will be no Youtube videos from me. However, I’m still reading, and want to keep discussing books, so I will be putting more up on this blog. I’m also transferring a lot of book reviews from Goodreads to this site, so keep your eyes out for that.

Boring stuff aside, let’s talk about my reading life.

So a while ago I said I would do the 30 Day Reading Challenge. I’m going to hold my hands up here and say: I’ve failed. I don’t know what happened… Well I do know what happened, I didn’t read enough. I blame my art exam. And my laziness.

But let's just skim past over this and move over to my wrap-up.

Reading Recap

• Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams  (I will review the whole Hitchhikers series once I finish it)
• A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin (same as above)
• A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow by George R.R. Martin
• Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
• The 5^th Wave by Rick Yancey
• Noble Conflict by Malorie Blackman
• Introducing Freud by Richard Appignanesi (I have 3 Introducing guides and I’ll review all of them at once)
• The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani (review up soon!)

I forgot to add The School of Good and Evil...

I’m quite impressed with myself (if I do say so myself). 8 books, including two Game of Thrones books isn’t bad for me at all.

Film Recap:

I didn’t watch many films this month, but I did see my favourite film of the year (so far), which was Much Ado About Nothing!

• Much Ado About Nothing
• Man of Steel
• The Great Gatsby
• Despicable Me (which I loved and now I have to see Despicable Me 2!)
• What a Girl Wants (don’t judge me, it came on TV)

Monthly Favourites:

Book: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

TV: The White Queen (BBC1) and Nashville (More 4)

Film: Much Ado About Nothing

Music: Gabrielle Aplin - English Rain (Panic Cord)

Also, I would like to know what the best blogger features are, as I would love to join in with that, so I’m open to suggestions! Actually if you have any suggestions for me with what I can do with this blog, please tell me below!