Trailer Tuesday #6

This one that has been out for a little under a week now and it's called 'The Book Thief'. This has to be one of my favourite books of all time. I cried and cried throughout it. If you haven't read it, I seriously recommend doing so before you see the movie. To put it simply this is one of those books that will change your life. It's such an incredibly moving and eye opening book and the way that it is narrated is simply amazing. It's actually narrated by Death, the Grim Reaper. My problem with the trailer is that I can't tell whether they've translated that narration into the film. So far it doesn't look like it, and I'll be so disappointed if they haven't. His narration is probably my favourite reason why I love this book. 

I have to be honest with you guys and admit that I don't really want to see this movie. I know I will, hell, I'll probably go on the first day, but sometimes I feel like some books should not be converted into films and this is one of them. I'm hoping they prove me wrong though. 

'The Book Thief' is released in cinemas on November 15th. 

Hunger Games News

Very excited about this news! She looks absolutely perfect. 

Sam Claflin has already tweeted her to welcome her to the Hunger Games cast.

Earlier this week Natalie Dormer was cast as Cressida. 

This cast just keeps getting better and better.

Teen Wolf is Over . . . Now What?

If you're like me and you've been watching Teen Wolf a little bit obsessively lately, then you'll probably have found yourself at a bit of a loss after Monday night's mid-season final. To help you (and myself) out, I've compiled a little list for you to have a look at and hopefully you'll find your next favourite show in the Teen Wolf break. 

You're missing the supernatural - Have a look at Fringe. It's named after an area of science known as "Fringe Science" which is basically all these weird, wacky and non-mainstream experiments. While you won't find any wolves with six packs, what you will find is experiments more like one where Isaac goes into the ice bath to recall his memories in "Chaos Rising". Other things include an alternate reality, shapeshifters and glyph codes. The cast is absolutely amazing too including Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Seth Gabel, Lance Reddick and Leonard Niomy. Seriously, it's worth watching just for the acting.
Honourable mentions: Vampire Diaries.

source: cyborgias

You're missing the relationships - Yes Game of Thrones could belong in the drama category, and it does have fantasy/supernatural elements to it, but the main reason why I think Game of Thrones is so successful is because of the detailed and amazingly realistic relationships that every single one of the thousands of characters have. For some reason, even though there are so many characters, it just works perfectly. The relationships have me grinning from ear to ear one second to sobbing my eyes out the next. I won't ever stop saying it: you have to watch it.

You're missing the whodunnit - You want the crime solving element of Teen Wolf again? Miss testing out your skills? Try Elementary. As a die hard fan of the BBC's Sherlock (you should definitely watch that too if you haven't seen it) I wasn't even going to give this a try when it came out last year. Only I kept hearing good things about it and so I reluctantly gave the first episode a go. Although I wasn't hooked straight away, the second half of the series really picks up and had me looking forward to watching it each week. Now I have to admit that I cannot decide between the two and that is something I never thought I would say. 

source: targaryen-prince

You're missing the drama - You want drama, here it is: Breaking Bad. If you are missing the on-the-edge-of-your-seat, "what's going to happen next" feeling and you haven't seen this series, then you need to start watching now. The show is currently airing it's last season, which is really a shame, but there are five beautiful, heartbreaking, drama-filled seasons to love. Once you start watching you won't be able to stop, you'll be clicking on the play button episode after episode, and I have to confess that I lost a lot of sleep watching this series, so you've been warned.
Honourable mentions: Orphan Black.

You're missing the comedy - New Girl. It has me laughing out loud every episode without fail. This show makes me want to leave home and live with three guy roomates just in case they turned out to be exactly like Nick, Schmidt and Winston. I would even be happy with just a Nick. He is seriously my dream guy - hilarious, awkward and looks like Jake Johnson. Season Three begins in a few weeks time, so it's a good time to start if you haven't yet. 
Honourable mentions: Misfits. 

source: wenchyfloozymoo

Other suggestions: Teen Wolf (1985) - the film that the television series was based on. There's a Scott (played by Michael J. Fox), a guy named Stiles and a Coach. I've never seen it, so I can't say whether it's worth watching, but obviously the creators of the tv show saw it's potential.
An American Werewolf in London (1981).
Or you could just start again, and begin re-watching Teen Wolf from Season 1. I wouldn't mind doing that myself actually. 

What I am doing is catching up with Breaking Bad, which I am currently up to the third season and finishing Orphan Black. What did you guys decide? 

Trailer Tuesday #5

I don't think I've done a 'Trailer Tuesday' that hasn't been for a movie. So here's a bit of a change for everyone because today's trailer is for a television series!
Some of you may know that all I have been watching for the past two weeks has been Teen Wolf. I got so obsessed that lately I've been dreaming about it. Instead of stopping completely like I normally do, this time I was determined to catch up because the mid-season finale came out today/yesterday in America. You'll be pleased to know that I made it. I'm all caught up on Teen Wolf and after tonights sleep I probably won't be dreaming about it again (or at least until January when the season starts up again!). 
The trailer I've got is a pretty poor quality one, and I promise you I did go in search of a better one but I couldn't seem to find one anywhere. I'll try and update it later when more high quality versions come out. 

Also, I feel I should let you know that Teen Wolf has now been added to 'My Favourites' page, filed under 'Television Series'. It's a pretty huge step because I only put things I absolutely love on there, so I thought it needed a little announcement. 

Teen Wolf Season 3B begins on January 6th 2014. 
Is it just me or does that sound like a lifetime away? 

Skins: Fire, Pure, Rise

"And next weeks episode sees the end to the Skins generation".

That was what I heard when I finished episode five of Skins Season Seven, the first part to Cook's two episode story. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Because I'm the Skins generation, and I don't want it to end.

I'm sorry I haven't written any other posts this week but I kept sitting down to write this one and I couldn't. I had to think about Skins and what it meant to me, and for the life of me I couldn't put it into words.

For me, Skins was the first show I ever watched weekly, trying to find a link on youtube for the episode that hadn't been taken down because of copyright issues already. I fell in love with Sid easily and quickly, and with baited breath hoped that Tony would tell Michelle he loved her and they would stay together forever. I almost didn't think it was possible but I loved the second generation of Skins more than the first. I loved Freddie more than I could ever explain to anyone, and when he died I think I actually mourned him. Skins taught me how to love a fictional character.

I tried watching generation three but I just didn't love the characters anymore and stopped towards the end of their first season. When I heard there was to be a series seven, and that Effy, Cassie and Cook would be back, I felt so overjoyed. A proper send off for the show I had loved for four years.

I really enjoyed both Effy and Cook's storylines but Cassie's just dragged on and on. All the things I had loved about her had disappeared. I didn't know who that girl was, she felt like I was just watching someone who I'd never met before and happened to look like Cassie and have the same name. I felt absolutely no emotional attachment to her.

One thing I did love about the whole series was the times it referenced the previous seasons. I loved seeing Lily Loveless return as Naomi Campbell, and Kathryn Prescott as Emily Fitch. I loved it when Cook confessed he'd killed someone and when Cassie said she'd travelled around America with her boyfriend. But that was it. I would have liked a little more than just that. Not like it had to be every second line or anything, and I didn't mind that only Effy's had other characters in it but I was just expecting a little more than what they gave.

However overall, I think they did a great job, and I know that I feel more content now saying goodbye to Skins than I would have if they had just ended it at series six.

Trailer Tuesday #4

You may (or more likely, may not) be interested to know that I actually study art history. So you'll have to forgive my extreme excitement over George Clooney's latest film which he is not only starring in but also directing, co-writing and producing. This movie combines not only my love for history and art but also my love of Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett. Monuments Men is set in World War II and is a based-on-a-true-story film about allied soldiers who protected and returned the art which the Nazi's had stolen. 

This is one of those films where just the cast can draw you in as not only does it include Clooney, Damon and Blanchett but also Bill Murray, John Goodman and Jean Dujardin. Just one more film to add to my must-see for 2013 list!

Monuments Men is released in cinemas on December 18th, just in time for Oscar nominations. 

Now You See Me

After seeing Now You See Me earlier this week, I still feel cheated.
This movie had such a fantastic cast. I would have seen this movie no matter what it was about with a cast including names such as Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Mark Ruffalo, Isla Fisher, Melanie Laurent, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenburg. That kind of cast is just too good to resist.

The problem with the movie begins with the fact that there are just so many good actors. That's because it means there are so many characters, and each have their own back story. Add in three magic shows which have to be both performed and then explained, two love stories and a chase to find who is actually behind the burglaries, and by the end I felt cheated. Parts were also very predicable, and although I didn't see the final twist coming, it was very disappointing and I did hear a few groans in the audience (or was that me?).

What needed to happen was less of a focus on Mark Ruffalo, both his pathetic detective work and his love story, and more of The Four Horsemen (played by Isla Ficher, Jesse Eisenburg, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco). These four all had great dialogue and too little time on screen. All my favourite parts belonged to them, especially the action scene where Franco uses magic to attack the police, which was very funny to watch and quite cleverly choreographed. Plus there's just something about Dave Franco's accent, isn't there? It's this sultry, slow, deep voice that I just cannot resist and from the moment he appeared on screen he was my favourite character . . . okay back to the movie!

The film uses Freeman to deconstruct the magic and explain how it actually worked in a sort of Ocean's 11-esque style, with different layers and you hear Danny Ocean explain how it's going to work while watching it happen. Apart from the fact that Ocean's 11 pulled it off brilliantly, while Now You See Me fell short. There are just far too many holes in the plot for my liking, and I can usually accept a few in most cases. Another thing that was extremely off putting was the spinning camera style that was used during the magic performances. I was sitting quite close to the screen (the cinema was packed!) which probably made it even worse, but it was still very annoying and I found it hard to concentrate on what was going on and what was being said during those times.

All that said I did enjoy it while I was watching it and it's actually a nice, light, enjoyable-if-you-don't-pay-too-close-attention film which has already done so well at the box-office that a few days ago they announced that there is to be a sequel.

What did you guys think? Have you seen it yet? Do you have plans to see it? Do you love Dave Franco as much as I do?

Week in Review #4

Hei hei guys, 

Once again this week I've just been working and studying. It hasn't been too bad, it's just been really long. Here's what has been getting me through this week:

source: aconits

(Loved) Reading: This week I read this piece by Iona McLaren for the Telegraph which basically sums up all my feelings about Skins in one article. I watched Skins from the moment it came out in the UK because there was a new girl at my school who was from London and she told to watch it. The rest, as they say, is history. I became addicted, I loved all the characters, watched it religiously and I now consider it one of the vital parts of my teenage years. That all changed with Season Five. That wasn't Skins, not the Skins I had known and loved. Hearing that there was to be a Season Seven, the final season, I was curious but also doubtful. This article restored my hope and I downloaded it tonight. Look out for my review later in the week. 

(Loved) Television: So although I only started this on Friday but I have been loving it for the past three days and that is Orphan Black. It is absolutely amazing. I know I wrote about it for my last post so I won't rave on about it too much, but seriously, it's amazing. A must see. 
(I wasn't going to mention Teen Wolf but I can't help it! It's just so addictive, so I've been watching an episode a night as the last thing I watch before I go to bed.)

source: ifallelseperished

(Loved) Film: As a treat to myself for working so much this week I've been buying myself DVD's. I have literally bought eight DVD's this week alone and so I've just been watching some of those. The one I totally loved was Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Of course, I've seen it before but it was nice to have a re-watch, especially because I'm getting more and more excited for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug everyday.

(Loved) Random: I was trying to think about something random that I've been loving this week and all I could think of was this song which I have just been playing literally on repeat all week. It's called Resolution by Matt Corby. He's an Australian guy who actually came really close a few years back to winning Australian Idol. The work he is producing now is absolutely beautiful but I just feel like Resolution is that one step further. I cannot stop listening to it, he just has the most amazing voice.  

Let me know if there is something else I should be reading or watching and as usual let me know what you guys have been loving this week, I would absolutely love some suggestions!

Orphan Black

Tonight I wanted a little bit of a break from Teen Wolf, mostly because I feel like I'm rushing through it and I want to savour it more. So on a whim I decided on a whole new show altogether and that was Orphan Black. 

source: melemneme

I've heard a lot of things about this show and all of them have been good.
Naturally, I decided to check things out for myself just to make sure. 

From the opening scene in this drama I was hooked. I wanted to know more. I needed to know more.
I went from one episode to the next and had to stop myself from watching the third one, otherwise I was going to end up in the same situation I had just tried to avoid with Teen Wolf. 
Before I wrote this, I just wanted to do a little bit of research on the show, only to find a few reviews that stated that everything really begins in episode three. So this is more of a post to say that if everything does really begin to unfold in the next episode then I'm amazed because I'm not sure how much better this show could get. The suspense from the first two episodes is already killing me, and so is watching the actress Tatiana Maslany. She is absolutely perfect so far and it hasn't really even delved into the whole twin story yet. 

source: melemneme

I can't wait to see where this show goes, I'm both nervous and excited. I know what I'll be watching tomorrow night. 

Have you guys finished Orphan Black already? Should I be pacing this one too or is it just too good to resist? 

Man of Steel

You will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive to.

You know those movie’s you just know you’re going to love? Well this was definitely one of them for me.

source: isaaclacry

What is there not to love? I’m a sucker for all superhero movies, Henry Cavill, and anything Christopher Nolan has his name on.

Sadly, I couldn’t see this movie when it first came out (the downsides of Europe, eh?) so I feel like this review is a little pointless but if you haven’t seen it yet: try and find a cinema where it’s still showing and go or definitely start looking forward to it coming out on DVD.

When I was talking to Jess after we saw the film, I said that it reminded me of Nolan’s Batman Trilogy. She agreed, and then added “but a lot cheesier”. That is something I definitely noticed too, and there were times during the film I felt it was a bit lame and other times I kind of liked it, and I swooned like a little school girl falling easily for the cheesiness of Henry Cavill’s lines and wishing desperately that I was Amy Adams.

source: isaaclacry

At Comic-Con a few weeks ago, they announced the Man of Steel sequel, which is to feature an established, older Batman too. Rumours have already started circling about who is to play Batman including Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin and my favourite of the rumoured: Tyler Hoechlin from Teen Wolf. Personally I am very interested to see who ends up with the role. As a huge fan of Christian Bale, whoever ends up in the role has massive shoes to fill in my opinion. It is set for a 2015 release.

What did you guys think? Did you love Henry Cavill as the latest Superman? Are you looking forward to the next instalment? 

Trailer Tuesday #3

Who's the master: the painter or the forger? 

David O. Russell's latest project, The American Hustle trailer came out last week and I watched it with eager anticipation. Like his previous work, Silver Linings Playbook, the cast for this movie looks absolutely amazing. Christian Bale is the main drawcard for me, and then there's also Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams,  Jeremy Renner and Robert De Niro to add to that too.

The trailer includes very little speaking and gives so few details of the actual story away. It's kind of refreshing seeing a trailer do that these days, seeing as most of them today just give the whole plot away in the one and a half minutes they have to entice you to see it. I love the music they used for the trailer, Led Zeppelin's 'Good Times Bad Times' which is the perfect song for the era of the film and is such a perfect focus the trailer seeing as there is so little dialogue. On the other hand, the trailer left me with absolutely no idea what the movie was about. I googled it, and it turns out it's based on a real life FBI case known as 'Abscam' which was an investigation of corruption in the U.S. government.

What do you guys think of the trailer? Like or dislike?

Week in Review #3

Hei hei!

This week has been my first week back at university, but it's actually been a pretty nice one and I'm still really in holiday mode because there isn't much uni work to do yet! The next three weeks are going to be so hectic though because I've offered to just take heaps more shifts at work (trying to think of the DVD's I can buy with the extra money!) and I know uni work is just going to pile up like crazy. Anyway, because it's Sunday night, I've written a post to finish off the week about all about the things I've been loving for the past seven days: 

source: awanawell

(Loved) Reading: I've been reading a few more things online lately rather than reading Mortal Instruments and that's because I got a new Macbook Air! I can't stop using it - I've been going to bed so late since I bought it because all I've wanted to do is use it. First off I love this article, which is all about the character Margaery Tyrell (from Game of Thrones) costuming in the series. I feel like it sums up every one of her costumes perfectly and it was such an enlightening read. Secondly I found this website which I have just been trawling through for hours on end. There is just so much information, statistics and graphs about Lord of the Rings I cannot believe it! 

(Loved) Films: I finally saw Man of Steel on Monday. I hadn't been able to see it due to the fact that I'd been traveling when it was released and I finally found the time to go earlier this week. I'm currently writing a full post about it, which should be up sometime in the coming week. Basically I loved it, and I knew I was going to love it. That's a pretty lame review, but seriously, there isn't much more to say than that. Go and see it if you haven't yet!

source: cancelingtheapocalypse

(Loved) Television: This week the only television I have been watching is Teen Wolf. I've just finished the first season and tonight I went straight on to the second one. My best friend is all up to date so I want to catch up as soon as possible so we can talk about it - I feel like there are going to be a lot of late nights this week! Also, last night I started re-watching Season One of Misfits, which had me laughing out loud in the first ten seconds. It's still just as funny as I remember it and it's so good seeing Nathan (Robert Sheehan) in it. I feel like the show started going downhill the minute he left (although I did like his replacement, Rudy, and I do think Season Three is one of my favourites). 

(Loved) Random: I am loving my new Macbook Air this week. I bought it on Wednesday and it is all I've been on since. I have actually wanted to do uni work this week just as an excuse to use my computer (I'm pretty sure that won't last very long!). Also, I'm up to level 41 on Candy Crush which was my Random love from a couple of weeks ago. I feel like it's getting harder and harder, but I'm kind of determined to get to at least Level 100. 

Let me know in the comments what you've been loving this week!

The World's End

What would you do if you came back to your hometown only to find everyone had transformed into robots? Finish the pub crawl of course!

This is why I love Simon Pegg films: it’s because they’re so crazy and unpredictable you always end up in stitches laughing. I will forever remember seeing my first Pegg film “Hot Fuzz” in the cinema when I was about fifteen. Jess and I couldn’t stop laughing, and then we were screaming, and the whole time I was thinking just what kind of movie was this? There are far too little sci-fi comedies.
llenge that they had attempted when they were younger but never managed to actually finish. Returning to their old town they find it has become inhabited by “robots”.

At World’s End is about a group of men going back to their hometown to finally complete the “Golden Mile” Pub crawl cha

Surprisingly, this movie has a lot of serious undertones to it. Pegg’s last speech to the robots reminded me a lot of the one Nathan Young (played by Robert Sheehan) makes in the final episode of Season One of Misfits on the rooftop: “we were so beautiful!”. 

I felt the beginning got off to a slow start, and there weren't too many laugh out loud moments, but I found myself getting into the film much more once they had actually realised something was wrong with the town. The ending is a bit weird too (but I loved the end to Martin Freeman’s storyline, I personally thought that was the best part), and I never actually found myself taking a liking to any of the characters very much.
It’s got a stellar cast though, with people like Pierce Brosnan and Bill Nighy making appearances, along with Rosmund Pike (who has been confirmed to play Amy Dunne in David Fincher’s Gone Girl), Martin Freeman and David Bradley (who has been popping up everywhere lately, from Broadchurch to Game of Thrones). 
I definitely recommend this film for those looking for a good laugh with nothing better to do on a Friday night (don’t cancel your plans or anything) or if you've seen the other two in the so-called "Cornetto Trilogy" (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are the other two) then you should definitely finish it. 

Teen Wolf

source: heavinisfalling

My best friend, Jess, started watching Teen Wolf about a month ago (which was during exam period, a time where we both always seem to find new shows to start . . . weird, huh?) and said that I should check it out. Convinced, I started it a few weeks later, watched a few episodes and thought "yeah, that's alright" but never got around to continuing it. If you've read any of my posts from the last couple of weeks you'll have noticed that I've pretty much solely been watching New Girl and Luther. Tonight I thought I would mix it up a little and try Teen Wolf again. It wasn't that I hadn't enjoyed it, it was just that I felt there were more interesting programs to watch. I had a little bit of uni work to do and thought this was a show that I could put on in the background and get some of my readings for astronomy done. Now I have a whole different view. Around episode four of the first season, this show heats up. The storyline takes a more dramatic turn and there is suddenly a story arch that I'm invested in and want to keep watching to find out the answers. So now I've accomplished absolutely no university work tonight but I am just past half way through season one and so excited for tomorrow night when I get home from work and I can sit down a watch the rest of the season. I can't wait to see where this show goes. 

Am I a little late on the Teen Wolf bandwagon? Do you guys already watch it? Let me know in the comments!