Big Hero 6 Review

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So as usual, university caught up with me and I found it very difficult to write any kind of review, whatsoever, even though I have seen plenty of movies, TV shows and even Youtube channels that I wish to review. I have a big list of them in a little notebook so maybe, I’ll try to do a once-a-week thing again and try to be successful in keeping up with it.

Now, as a returning blog, I felt like this one particular movie was the most important one for me to review and address. I feel like there has been a lot, perhaps even too much, hype over this one film and a lot of things being said about the movie have actually irked me a little.

Big Hero 6 is the newest movie from Disney. It has long been anticipated and the trailers, posters and products have been EVERYWHERE. The main focus of the movie is a big, inflatable, chubby robot that appears to be funny and adorable in the trailers and clearly screams ‘Disney movie’. I must say I am a huge Disney fan, I lap up everything Disney and rarely say a bad word about it. I am one of those people captivated by the magic of the animation studio, much to the annoyance of my long-suffering boyfriend. I have never once said a Disney movie was over-hyped and I ADORED Frozen like nearly everybody who ever saw it. However, Big Hero 6 really, really annoyed me. I do have positive aspects to discuss about the movie but if you’re looking for a review that is going to lick the a** of Disney for this “masterpiece” then this is not the review for you and it may actually be my most confrontational (if that’s the word) review. This review could be due to having a bad day, feeling a bit rotten or just wanting a good rant but it is NOT going to be all warm and fuzzy.

So…Let’s begin!

Big Hero 6 is about a young boy named Hiro Hamada (Hiro = Hero, get it? Clever, right?…), who is interested in “Bot Fighting” and building robots. He’s a typical, pubescent boy with a serious attitude at times, which we see after one great tragedy in the movie (I won’t spoil). Everything really kicks off after this tragedy and a creation of Hiro’s is stolen. With the help of a medical-help robot that his brother built, Hiro strikes up an ‘unlikely’ friendship. If you guys know Disney, then you know that this ‘unlikely’ friendship was going to happen right from the moment you sat down with your popcorn and snacks. This friendship leads Hiro on the quest to get his creation (microbots) back and make a group that have been dubbed as the “animated Avengers”. This movie was inspired and is partly based upon Marvel Comics’ team of the same name and is the first time that Marvel Comics characters have been featured in a Disney animated movie. I don’t think it was so successful.

Dubbed as the “boy’s-version of Frozen”, Big Hero 6 has few things in common. The only thing that I can see, personally, is that it is a tale of two brothers, instead of two sisters. Tah-Dah, what a comparison! I do see why children would enjoy this movie, it has a chubby robot for one thing and it flies and makes silly noises, acting drunk when his battery is low and exploiting sellotape to fill in holes he receives from one of his and Hiro’s trips outside. I admit, I did giggle a few times and still quote Baymax with his fist-bump thing (watch the movie, it’s easier to see than explain!). I know I shouldn’t complain about it not being for adults or even an older generation than young children but Disney have nearly-always provided a film that was enjoyable for the whole family. With Big Hero 6, the characters (aside from Baymax) were not enjoyable, the plot was scattered and even the animation wasn’t the best that Disney can do. Now, I will discuss why I think this.

I’m not going to rant for ages about these points, I just want to point them out really.

The characters in this movie were nothing special and there were very rare moments of character development. If this really was the “animated Avengers” then the characters need a movie each for the development, at least we get more personality from Iron Man in his suit than some of the group in this movie. There is very little focus on each individual character apart from Baymax and Hiro and even Hiro isn’t that likable. He is a young, gifted adolescent who suffers grief in his life and seeks out to find his mini-thingies. This suffering and his little quest still doesn’t build up his character. I’m finding it hard to even sum up what Hiro is like, aside from reckless and wrathful at some points – traits that would scare me if I ever saw an adolescent want to kill somebody (not counting normal teenage tantrums!). Hiro is like any teenager really, aside from his gifted robotics skills, etc but the fact that he is SO much like a normal teenager makes him unlikable and unrelatable… He’s boring. I dislike adolescents as much as any grouchy adult would so why would I like Hiro? He’s not even cute. Yeah…That’s all I really have to say about characters because that’s all there is to say! Barely ANYTHING! Give me Thor (the worst Avenger) any day! P.S. The villain can be guessed within 30 minutes of the movie.

I’m going to just shove plot and animation together so I don’t rant as much as I planned to.

The plot is dragged out a lot and it isn’t well-fleshed out at all. I believe there is about 30 minutes of the 92 minute movie that could be cut out of it entirely. I am a fan of the scene where Hiro is upgrading the ‘avengers’s’ creations to help chase down the villain and also, a few scenes with Baymax are adorable but a lot of the plot seems jiggled around and at times in the movie, I didn’t understand why Disney decided to make the villain the villain anyway…It just seemed really random (even his history seemed random). I feel like it was a little bit rushed to be honest but that rushed writing seemed to make a film that was pretty tedious.

Finally, there has been a lot of praise and talk about the animation of Big Hero 6. To be honest, I don’t see the hype of it all. I think the city-scape was pretty enough for an animated movie and there were some lovely little details, such as the cherry blossom’s etc but there was very little texture. After saying the hair was quite textured and nice-looking, I was corrected and shown that actually, it was lazily textured. If you want VISUALLY STUNNING then look at How to Train Your Dragon! Those movies are not lazily textured – each scale and fiber of fur is perfectly and painstakingly drawn on and looks spectacular! Everything about those movies is absolutely beautiful but Big Hero 6? The animation is okay but it doesn’t match up to the movie it has been compared to lately!

On the note of Big Hero 6 compared to How to Train Your Dragon, one thing irked me and my boyfriend like crazy! The scenes where Baymax (SPOILER) flies across the city-scape with Hiro on his back is very reminiscent of Toothless and Hiccup’s first flying scenes and this moment of both movies is a ‘defining’ moment, it just seems a little coincidental…Hmm..

Anyway, enough bashing of this movie! I did enjoy this film. It was fun to watch and I did enjoy it the second time I watched it with my housemates but I found it tedious in places and most certainly don’t think it deserves the hype it has received. It only got this hype because of the company it comes from, maybe if it were Dreamworks it would be a different story? Hmm..

Rotten Tomatoes has 90% of good reviews and has been given the “certified fresh” stamp but for my rating, I’d give it about a 67%. It was fun in places and I did laugh but it was sloppy and a bit TOO easy to watch. Kids will love it though and if you have the brain of a child, then this movie is most certainly for you!

Thanks for reading guys,

Ciao for now –

Hollie

x.

Constantine Season 1 Episode 1 Review

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As said in my most recent blog about Gotham, I have never been a big DC Comics fan. If you want to find out why or how, just hop on over to that review as I don’t really want to repeat myself here. Anyway, lately I do find myself drawn to a few of the new television series’ adaptations of DC comic heroes. I may pick up Arrow and possibly even The Flash since reviewers have been raving about them two shows recently. I don’t know what it is but lately, DC Comics are having a good run with shows with one of their new ones, The Flash being picked up for a second season after only 3 episodes, crazy or what?! Anywho, the reason for this little introduction is just to basically say, I am not a DC fan and have not read the comics or do any existential research about the characters of the shows I have started watching. I have no idea about any Easter eggs or exciting editions in the show I am about to rave about so please don’t get offended by my limited knowledge and simply enlighten me if you feel so passionate as to do so.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

To begin with, I’ll give you a brief summary of the show (not the comic- Hellblazer).  The shows premise is based around a English man named John Constantine, who is an exorcist and works with demonology and supernatural things. He has a sordid and sinful past which follow him throughout his life and curse him in someways. When he arrives in America, he finds that the supernatural threat is bigger than he thought and that’s it. The show will surround that, I think.

So with that in mind, I’m going to jump straight in to doing my first ever episode review, ooo how exciting! Let’s see how it goes.

Okay, so immediately I had very negative views about this show (this kind of changes so stay with me). I have seen the movie and didn’t know it was based around a comic but enjoyed it and liked Keanu Reaves in it but what ticked me off with the very beginning of the show is the main character’s accent. If you have seen it and don’t know his accent, it is a North Yorkshire accent. This is exactly where I am from and all of my family, so I know how we are meant to or do actually talk. Now I’m not sure if it is anything to do with the fact that it is not an English writer, writing this script or if it just is to make everybody know that he is clearly a Northern Englishman but seriously, the accent and dialogue just burnt my ears. I was actually getting rather ticked off by it.

The reason I was pissed off was because whoever wrote the script used every well-known Yorkshire-man’s phrase and repeated it and repeated it until it had no meaning. We Yorkshire people do not use ‘bloody hell’, ‘bloody’, ‘bollocks’, ‘love’ or ‘mate’ in every single sentence. Yes, they would be used on occasion but not in every dialogue we have! I would be a frequent user of ‘bloody hell’ but do I say it all the time? Nope. I’m not sure if it is just because I am a Yorkshire lass myself or what but I just could pick up on everything and because the actor, Matt Ryan, is Welsh, I could also pick up on how he was trying too hard. I’m sorry but don’t get me wrong, Ryan is a good actor and nice enough man (I read previous interviews with him before doing this review) but his accent is the most Welsh accent you will ever find and it shines through. Matt Ryan tries very very hard with the accent and at some times, you can actually see his mouth focus on it. I think I missed the first half of the episode just because I was focusing so hard on his dialogue rather than major plot points.

So that was pet peeve number 1.

I know it was a pilot episode and the budget is not always the biggest for pilots but I feel like the special effects team, make up team and ‘let’s try to make this scary’ team just tried so hard. I have to hand it to them, I did get a few jumps on the way and I did admire the horrific make up of the possessed but when, in one scene, a girl flies through the air, it looks as if she had a chord attached to her and someone was jerking a puppet around. It took away from what was meant to be a horrific scene. I’m hoping this does get better throughout when/if the show becomes successful. Usually it does because that is what happens with CW shows usually so maybe NBC is the same, I know that is how Grimm was and they really did fix up the horrible special effects eventually.

After mentioning CW shows, I guess I should mention how Supernatural-esque this show felt. I have watched three seasons of The CW’s Supernatural and have witnessed the lights flickering, electric power lines sparking, mobiles and computers not working. They are all common signs of paranormal activity and this was used in excess in this pilot. If you timed it, I bet it was every five-ten minutes. Of course, this is not the worst thing. It does get the viewer to feel as if something is about to happen and intends to build suspense, which it kind of does. I should have watched it at night instead of early morning and then I may have felt the affect it was going for.

Not only does all of these paranormal things add up to a Supernatural-esque show but the fact that it is all about angels and demons (with bad contact lenses) and when driving, rock music plays in the background of the travelling scenes, all add up to the popular CW hit. Maybe NBC watched Supernatural to get a few hints but I really did feel like I was watching that show with only one of the brothers, instead of two. Kind of annoying really but as I said before, it could be just because it is trying to find its feet as a show on a big network.

The final point I want to touch upon about the pilot episode is the beginnings of the plot. The main idea of the episode is that a girl named Liz Aberdeen is targeted by a malevolent spirit who is trying to kill her through electrical means and through the possession of others. Liz Aberdeen can somehow see spirits but only learns of this when she meets Constantine. It turns out she inherited her father’s, Jasper Winters’, powers. Sounds similar to many other shows/movies, doesn’t it? Usually supernatural shows all start like this with someone who inherits powers they didn’t know they had. It is kind of yawn-worthy and I was a little bored by that, especially by the way Liz acted. She wasn’t that surprised and immediately took to her powers, not the best acting if you ask me. The focus of the series is about a badass guy who shuts out people from his life because of a past he cannot forget. Sound similar to any other show? It sure sounds familiar to me!

My final verdict is that this show is definitely trying to find its feet. I think DC comic fans will like it but it is not for everyone. I am not sure how long I will be into it for as I do not like supernatural shows but we will see. Hopefully, it will get better. For now, I give the show a 7/10 for the effort it put into. One moment that stood out for me was the final scene, where Constantine pours gasoline over his hands, lights them and scares away a load of people that were going to beat him up. That was kind of cool so maybe they can use that for later episodes?

This show definitely needs to figure out where it is going or I do not see it staying around for long. We’ll see though, I’ve been wrong before.

Thanks for reading, tune in for more in the coming days and look out next week for another Constantine review.

Ciao for now,

– Hollie.

x

Gotham Review

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So I have to be honest here, I am not the biggest DC comics fan. I have serious problems with the story-lines and the characters. Superman makes me snore and Batman, well I just don’t know about Batman. Don’t get me wrong, I did love The Dark Knight but possibly because of Heath Ledger’s The Joker but The Dark Knight Rises was the biggest snooze fest EVER for me. It was wayyy too long and frankly, I hated the story. However, I am not going to be slating DC comics in this review. This may be the first and only time I will ever praise them.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

When I first heard of the new Fox series, Gotham, I was quite apprehensive. Not liking Batman or DC, I was pretty sure this show wouldn’t be for me. The crime side of it also did not appeal to me. I am not a fan of the crime drama genre and I’m just too picky unless it is something extremely special, like True Detective. I don’t know, I’m basically a pain in the ass. Anyway, as I said, Gotham did not seem like the show for me. However, my boyfriend and I discussed it and we decided to try it out. I now wait impatiently for Tuesday’s when my boyfriend comes home from work and we can stream an episode.

You know why I like Gotham so much? I like it because it is original. I know it follows the same story-line of the comics and the movies but the idea of doing a prequel to Bruce Wayne becoming Batman is A-mazing. Bruce Wayne does feature as a young boy, struggling after his parent’s death and being brought up by Alfred. However, Wayne is not central. Commissioner Gordon is the central protagonist except he is not the Commissioner yet in this show. We see Gordon struggle through the corrupt police force and try to right the wrongs of Gotham. Not only do we see the police force at work but also, the villains. This is the most exciting part for me.

The villains come in various shapes, sizes, ages and genders. To be honest, the villains are the best part of this show. However, a basic knowledge of the Batman series may be better for somebody starting this show. You can start with no knowledge though! I have barely ANY knowledge and had to pause a few times or check on Google after the episode to look up certain names. Whilst I was pretty sure, I knew which characters were which by their outfits, mannerisms and names, it was not always clear. So with that…I guess I better actually say why the villains are the best.

Oh my god, the villains…Just…Ahh! I don’t even know where to begin with this. Everything about the renowned Gotham villains in this show is captivating. First of all, I know I always rave about the casting in films and shows but if you don’t like the casting then think realistically; are you going to watch the show? This casting is great. Whilst we haven’t met all of villains entirely, we still have met a few whether it is in passing or as a main component of the show. The mains at the moment are Penguin, Fish Mooney (A made-up character) and the mob bosses; Falcone and Maroni. We see Catwoman occasionally as a pre-teen girl and have seen Poison Ivy in passing as a younger child. There is still no sign of The Joker or Harlequin but we do have an exceptionally-well characterised Riddler. However, it must be noted that some of these villains are not villains yet.

Each casting suits the vision of each character and the costumes are brilliant. Catwoman has a more ‘Steampunk’ feel with goggles to impersonate her cat ears and Penguin (Oswald Cobblepot) wears a dapper tuxedo layered with purples and greens. He also has a prosthetic pointed nose, sticking-up hair and a waddle that is so in-genius. The waddle is explained in the first two episodes after a certain event (no spoilers here) and ever since, he has become the most perfect Penguin one could imagine. I have to admit, Penguin is my favourite and I do want to coddle poor, little Cobblepot, despite him being fantastically ruthless and evil. The castings have been done with the look, personality and acting considered. Each character not only looks the part but portrays their famous villains with the exact mannerisms that DC comic/movie fans will admire and love. If they can pull these great characters off already then imagine The Joker? The Joker is coming but will he live up to the great Heath Ledger or are people going to be narrow-minded and too jacked up on the tragic stars past role? I hope not because this show is nothing like the movies and should not be compared. It is in a league of its own.

One other thing I like about the show is that there are so many different story arcs. It doesn’t just focus on Wayne’s recovery or Gordon’s police carrier but it also shows us what Cobblepot is doing, what other murderer are doing, etc. It keeps us entertained instead of bothering us with a long-running one character story-line. I enjoy that about this show. It switches the focus every now and again. The focus sometimes even switches to the murderer or the culprit of the crime that may be focused upon in that single episode so that Gordon can try solving it and fix Gotham. The murders can sometimes be grizzly or they are not shown much. I was rather surprised when in one episode, called ‘The Balloonman’ showed a guy falling from a burst weather balloon in the sky, only to land on an elderly lady and squish her. That was quite disturbing but also, interesting at the same time. I like how they range the ‘grizzliness’ from each episode and are not afraid to show too much gore.

Anyway, that is a rather quick review on this new series. I am very excited for two episodes time when we get to the episode named ‘Penguin’s Umbrella’…So excited! For now, I may do a weekly review on each episode but I’m not too sure. People can comment if they would like that or if not, I’ll just check out viewership. I may just do it to say my thoughts anyway.

I hope you all enjoyed this returning blog and I look forward to the next.

Walking Dead, Once upon a Time and American Horror Story season 4 reviews will be coming soon.

Thanks for reading!

Take care,

Ciao for now,

– Hollie.

x

Red Band Society Review

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So naturally, life caught up with me and it has been an absolute nightmare to attempt to get even the motivation to start writing a blog – not to mention, trying to find the time to watch the television shows I would like to review. I did plan on having a planned day to do reviews but for now, I am just going to write about shows, books or films I feel like writing about at the time or I will never get the time to do these things. Television will probably be the main reviews I do as I watch a LOT of television.

I apologise to anybody who missed my blogs but I am back now. I am in my 4th year of university and as some of you may know, that can get rather hectic and I am swamped so here I am, taking some time out to write about the newest show I started – Red Band Society.

To be honest, I was not the least bit interested in Red Band Society when I read about it a couple of days ago. It was advertised as ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ meets some sitcom I have never heard of before. Now I’ve done my review on The Fault in Our Stars and I am not even going to discuss the movie but it turned out, I wasn’t as big of a fan as I thought I was. I was rather critical about the movie and definitely didn’t enjoy it as much as the book – although the tears still flowed. Anyway, branding Red Band Society this way was clever in a way so that it got a teenage audience but other reviewers have said it is more of a teenage show for adults and I guess I can see why. I am in my twenties and I see the adult appeal rather than the teen appeal. I guess I should maybe say what this show is about before reviewing.

Red Band Society is based off a Spanish drama-comedy called Polseres Vermelles. The original being based around the writer’s experiences as a child hospital patient. The show is about a group of teenagers living in the pediatric ward of a hospital so they come together in horrible circumstances. Several of the teens have cancer, have limbs removed, have eating disorders and are terminal. I find that the worst one is the narrator. The story is told through the eyes (more like ears) of a child coma patient. It is not known how long he has been in a coma but he looks quite young and he does discuss how aging doesn’t mean growing up. In his coma, he hears everything that goes around and tells us the stories of the more active patients and nurses. He also appears to other patients when they are under anesthesia and going through something major in the hospital. Oh! One last thing – It is called Red Band Society because after a major operation or any kind of surgery, the kids received red bands and they wear these as a new sign of their friendship and club and the red bands stand for something in their life. Cute, right? There has to be some tragedy coming..

There is only one episode so far so that is as much as I can summarize for you.

I am not too sure where they are going to go with the story-line but it does have Steven Spielberg credited as a writer so I guess there is that to fall into. I have heard it is a dark-comedy and Fox  has hyped this series up massively over the past month so it is either an effort to boost Fox’s ratings or it is actually a show that is going to be liked and adored like some comedy’s and medical dramas are. I did watch it this morning and I had no problems with it. Usually when I try to get into a new television show, I get quite bored with the pilot and have serious difficulties getting into such a show but I immediately was excited for this one. It gave me a weird feeling in my gut. I felt quite happy and thought it could be quite ‘feel good’ but then I also felt a sense of dread as these shows can never end well, right? They have made it quite clear that one of the characters will need a heart transplant and that is difficult so how long will this character last?

That leads me on to discussing the characters. The actors (aside from doctor and nurse) are quite young and I am going to guess that they are ‘upcoming?’ Since I’ve never heard of any of them before or seen them in any other kind of show before. I feel that some of them are going to annoy select viewers but others could find their way into our hearts and stay there, as long as this show doesn’t take that away. The characters are written all differently and kind of remind me of Breakfast Club? They are all different and are stuck in circumstances that, if they weren’t under, they wouldn’t make friends with each other ever. I always like that type of show so maybe that will work out for me.

Since there is only one episode, I don’t have much more to say as I usually like to do a more general overview of a whole season but I did enjoy the pilot of this show. It did make me laugh and smile but also feel worried for the character’s fates so if you like morbid comedies or are even a fan of the young-adult genre of novels, then you should maybe try this show. It may not run long as ratings were mixed and viewership wasn’t the highest but hopefully Fox will try to hold onto it long enough for us all to make our own verdict.

I am sorry this was quite a short blog. Usually I write heaps but I can’t say too much about the show yet. When it is further on, I will write more about it and give you my real verdict instead of my initial one.

Thank you all for reading,

Ciao for now,

– Hollie.

x

Godzilla Review

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(No Spoilers this time, I promise)

2014 has been a year filled with major blockbusters that have raked in millions of dollars and have created a hype throughout thousands of movie-goers. Whilst most of these blockbusters fall under the ‘superhero’ category or as part of series’ and trilogies, Godzilla was one of the few movies that created an intense hype as a stand-alone movie. The trailers that debuted months before the Godzilla premiere were phenomenal and had fans of monster films, the original Godzilla or just movie-goers in general in a frenzy. I was a part of this frenzy. After seeing the first trailer for Godzilla, tingles go down your spine and the excitement is so immense. Who wouldn’t get excited over a giant dinosaur wrecking sh**? 

Unfortunately, Godzilla is nothing to get excited about. 

With the promise of popular actors, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Taylor Johnson, you would think this movie was set to be the hit of the summer but Godzilla disappointed and faded into the background whilst X-Men: Days of Future Past and Guardians of the Galaxy became the big action movies of the summer (in my opinion). Cranston and Johnson are fantastic actors with the skill to deliver a crackin’ film but Godzilla did not live up to the promise it made. 

As can already be guessed, I have a very negative opinion of this movie and so if you enjoyed it and cannot stand the negative reviews then you should maybe move on from this review and wait for my next movie review (if you wish, of course). 

So where do I even begin? I’m going to try not to rant too much but I apologise in advance if I go off on a tangent. 

First of all, I do not believe that the actors were used to their best ability. I know that a lot of Cranston fans flipped when they saw him in the trailer and in movie posters but he is honestly in it for 20-30 minutes. I was actually quite angry about this. Why get an actor that has just stepped out of such a profilic role (Walter White – Breaking Bad) and give him 20-30 minutes of acting? I guess it was used to bring in the Breaking Bad/Cranston fans and expand Godzilla’s audience but it was a cheap trick and I know that a lot of people who went to see the movie (including me) were rather angry over it. I even read several reviews where people actually walked out when Cranston was in it no longer – Now I cannot guarantee that those reports are correct but if they are then it is not good publicity for the movie. 

Aaron Taylor-Johnson featured very heavily in the movie as he was the main character. I am a huge fan of Johnson, I think he’s gorgeous, funny, lovely in interviews and his acting isn’t the worst – I am very excited to see him in Avengers: Age of Ultron as I believe that will definitely show us his great acting skills. For him to carry a huge movie, such as Godzilla, you would think he would be exceptional but to be honest, he was mediocre. I don’t think this is because of his acting skills but more to do with the lack-luster plot and character he was given to portray. His character had very little development and seemed to have been thrown together for the sake of him being in the midst of the drama. 

On the subject of the plot, don’t even get me started… About an hour into the movie, I didn’t even realise that the plot was actually the plot. There were a lot of loose ends and not enough explanation. There were some moments that were just thrown into the movie for the hell of it and they weren’t even moments of greateness that could have added to the plot. Basically we watch a team of individuals hunt down giant ant creatures called MUTO, who feed off nuclear waste and eventually come across Godzilla, who they have been studying. The reason why I haven’t given a small plot summary in this blog is because I can’t really. There is not a lot I can say without giving away the whole chaotic plot and what I have said is the basis of it all anyway. Most of the time whilst watching this two hour movie, you’re questioning what is happening, why is it happening and when will Godzilla be shown? 

The main focus for most of the movie is the MUTO’s, which nobody is really interested in seeing. Sure, they have great detail on their icky, insect bodies but where on earth is the giant dinosaur I was promised? For about an hour and 5 minutes, Godzilla is only mentioned and there is no hope of seeing it. When the monster finally rears its visually disappointing head, blink and you could miss it. One minute Godzilla is on screen, the next he has gone again. Go get a drink at this time and you won’t see the monster again for the whole movie. 

That is it really. Godzilla was meant to be an awesome monster movie with giant creatures throwing each other around and destroying everything in sight but what did we get? We got a boring, unimaginative plot with great actors that were not shown for their real skill and not enough monster. For the big guy to be the name-sake of this movie, he has a rather small part. Fans of the special effects and CGI will lap up this movie but if you’re looking for the ‘big summer hit’ that we were promised then you’re in for disappointment. Give me the original Godzilla any day. 

The only thing I can praise Godzilla for is the effects but even then, I am trying hard to not say anything negative. 

I am sorry for anybody who enjoyed this movie but yeah, as you can see, I could have gone my whole life without having seen that movie and wouldn’t have missed out on anything. 

4/10 Godzilla… I think you need to demand a pay rise and more screen time. 

On the bright side (maybe), there is talks of Godzilla being a trilogy and with the ‘cliffhanger’ of an ending, I wouldn’t be surprised if they dragged it out. However, they could maybe redeem themselves.

Anyway guys, thank you for putting up with this negative rant of a review and keeping an eye on my blog, it means a hell of a lot to me.

Ciao for now,

– Hollie.

x

 

 

If I Stay Review

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My book review for the week is a little late but here it is! Today I will be reviewing ‘If I Stay’ by Gayle Forman. It is a young adult novel and is around 321 pages long so it is not a book that is going to take forever to read, which is nice if you are looking for a book to finish on holiday and whilst travelling. In this review, I will give a quick overview of the plot and then discuss the negative and postive aspects of the novel. 

First of all, there will be no spoilers in this review since if I gave you the ending then there would be no point of reading the book to find out if the girl ‘stays’ or not, right? So this should be spoiler free! Any plot points that I do discuss are all either in the blurb, in the first chapter or can be seen in the upcoming movie trailer.

If I Stay was published in 2009 but recently became a bestseller when the young adult genre rose to fame after ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ came out. It has also been highly sought after due to the movie, starring Chloe Grace Moretz, that is being released on the 22nd of August 2014. The movie follows an extremely talented, 17-year old, celloist called Mia who is a victim in a intense car crash. She then has an out-of-body experience after slipping into a coma. The book is told through Mia’s eyes as she watches friends and family gather at the hospital and recollects old memories. Mia is told that it is her choice to live or die and she must make the difficult decision on her own.

The plot sounds quite silly and supernatural at first but when you start to read the book, it is not at all like that. The first chapter is hard-hitting and Gayle Forman is ruthless in throwing this young girl into a horrific car crash that may or may not claim more lives than one (no spoilers here). After the accident, each ‘chapter’ is headlined as a different time to show us how long it has been since Mia fell into the coma and one chapter is often a flashback and the other is anything that is happening in the hospital. There are chapters on Mia reflecting on life and death, love and family and how lucky she has been up until now. The story holds some compelling quotes and although they seem a bit too wishy-washy and to some – lame, they hold a special place in the story to help us see Mia’s struggle through her eyes. 

Music is extremely prominent throughout the novel and will possibly appeal to classic and rock musicians who like to follow the lives of those who are like them. Mia’s family were rebellious punk-rock lovers in their hay day whilst Mia is shy and classically trained in the cello, which she plays beautifully. Another person in Mia’s life is her boyfriend, Adam, who is in an upcoming rock band that has been getting alot of attention recently. So, as you can see, music has a very strong influence throughout the short novel and this may be boring for some. I did find that some of the chapters were a little slow and I know at one point I put the book down in the middle of a chapter and did not read again for two weeks. This may have been because I was busy but it shows that it is not an extremely compelling read. The ending can be guessed half way through and if you guess correctly, it is definitely a huge let down although, if you are reading it, stick to the end because that chapter is the most emotional of them all. 

Something that I know almost put me off is the numerous reviews that compare this novel to ‘The Twilight Saga’. This made me pretty angry. Back in my teenage days, I did read those ‘books’, if you can call them that’ and they were horribly written. They were not thought out at all and I can’t count the spelling mistakes on one hand – and don’t get me started on the grammatical errors. I know my writing isn’t always perfect in these blogs but I do not use spell-check and this isn’t exactly a novel that will sell millions, like Twilight did. Anyway…Back to ranting about the comparisons! 

This book is NOTHING like Twilight. It doesn’t have vampires, supernatural, powers, etc and it doesn’t have boring, emotionless characters throughout. The relationship in the book is beautiful and healthy, it is not overbearing and isn’t a huge feature of the book (although it may be in the new movie). The critics that make these comparisons are doing nothing for this book. This book has beautiful quotes, a well-structured and thought-out timeline and plot and the characters are not people you can hate with a passion. This novel makes you feel different emotions, unlike Twilight which can leave people gagging after one page. This book is sweet, innocent but also raw and harsh so whatever you do, if you are interested in picking up ‘If I Stay’, ignore the reviewers who compare it to Twilight, seriously. 

One last thing I would like to say about this book is that the characters weren’t pretentious and didn’t act older than they were. When reading Mia’s confusion over all of the events that were occuring, you could feel the innocent and the lack of knowledge that a seventeen-year old would have about everything happening in her life. In The Fault in Our Stars, the couple, Hazel and Augustus, were constantly speaking formally and as if they were about 40- years old, although I’m still pretty sure 40-year olds don’t talk like that either. In If I Stay, Mia and Adam speak to each other as a young couple would. They say cheesy things and think the world of each other despite coming from different backgrounds. The only thing I found unrealistic about their relationship and a little weird was what I would call a ‘heavy petting’ chapter, where the couple play each other like their instruments and the reader isn’t exactly sure what on earth is going on. However, aside from that, Mia and Adam are a couple that young and old readers can most likely relate to their old, new or future relationships. 

If I Stay is followed by a sequel called ‘Where She Went’ which follows the perspective of Adam after the events of the last chapter in If I Stay. The sequel received better reviews and ratings than the first and is deemed to be a lot more emotional and harder to bear so if you did like the first book but were disappointed by the levels of emotion in it then I recommend the sequel too. 

If I Stay will not be for everyone. I enjoyed it but wouldn’t be able to rant and rave about it for too long. I am excited for the movie as the movie trailer looked phenomenal and more emotional than the book so maybe it will play out better on the big screen. However, all in all, it was a well-written book, an easy read and it kept me entertained for the while I was reading it. 

If you like young adult novels and emotional stuff then grab this book!

Thanks for stopping by,

Ciao for now,

– Hollie.

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X:Men: Days of Future Past Review

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Today’s review will be about the new-enough movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past. This movie came out mid-to-late May around the world and received a great 91% from Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.4 rating from IMDb. Some papers and critics have said it is the best X-Men film of them all and fixes all mistakes from the incredibly bad third movie. 

Mild Spoiler Warning!

For any of you who don’t know, X-Men: Days of Future Past takes place in both the future and the past (hence the title). In the future, a man named Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) has created mutant-exterminating robots named Sentinels that, no matter what is thrown at them, can adapt to the mutant’s powers and kill them using the opposite to their gift, e.g. Fire powers kill ice, etc. These Sentinels threaten the future of the mutant race and so the X-Men must send Wolverine back in time to stop the building of these robots – it is all explained in the movie, don’t worry.

That is just a short plot summary, I don’t want to give too much away but there is a lot of Mystique, Magneto, Xavier and Wolverine.

I will first of all start with anything negative I have to say about the movie.

First of all, the trailer did nothing for this movie. When I saw the trailer (super excited and everything), I was not impressed. Although I was still very excited for the movie and couldn’t wait to see the sequel to my favourite one of the X-Men (First Class), I was so confused at the past and future changes and who the ‘big bad’ was for this movie. I also expected a lot more of the original X-Men, such as Storm, Rogue and Kitty Pryde, especially after all of the hype that the newspapers gave to them coming back. There were a number of other things that left a lot of ‘trailer viewers’ lost, such as the fact that past Charles Xavier was standing and walking a lot when the past part was supposed to be AFTER his paralysis. Fortunately, the movie cleared this up but trust me, do not trust the trailer. 

One of the main issues of the movie is some parts of it can get quite confusing. In my opinion, if you truly want to understand every little detail that this movie has to offer then you have to have seen a number of the movies (if not all), including Wolverine’s own spin off movies (despite their negative reviews). There are moments where Wolverine’s past comes into play and if you have no idea what his past contains then you may be a little confused. I had to explain to somebody online about the presence of a young Stryker and why Wolverine had his ‘bone’ claws in the past. I know other people were confused about the Sentinels of the past and of the future. (Spoiler ahead)

The Sentinels in the past cannot adapt completely to the mutant’s powers since they do not have a certain character’s DNA in them yet (I won’t spoil that minor detail). These Sentinels can also be controlled by Magneto because of something he does to them half way through the movie – I’m trying not to spoil everything so sorry for the vagueness of it all! 

However, the Sentinels of the future cannot be controlled by Magneto and CAN adapt to the mutant’s powers, basically they are indestructible. 

Just thought I’d tell you all so to clear it up.

My last negative comment is: Not enough Quicksilver! (Those of you who have seen the movie will hopefully agree!) 

So yeah…The main negative issues are:- The trailer, the confusion in some parts, and the fact that the movie works better if you know X-men history from the comics or the previous movies. 

However, it is not all negative. Actually, I thought very highly of this movie. I really loved the prequel (First Class), I think it has to be my favourite Marvel movie of all time (no joke). I loved seeing the young versions of Xavier, Beast, Mystique, Magneto, etc and enjoyed seeing how their earlier lives were and so I didn’t think that could be topped. If it wasn’t for the aforementioned confusion of Days of Future Past then maybe it would have surpassed First Class. That being said, not everyone will be confused by DoFP but for those of you who weren’t confused, you will most likely have to explain something to another movie-goer if this ever comes up into conversation. 

Like most Marvel movies, Days of Future Past mixed humour, emotion, violence and drama all in a lovely, harmonious blend. It was great to see young and old faces and the older generation of X-men all together again. There was enough drama for everybody and there are no long, redundant monologue scenes or long dialogues that tire viewers out and grow boring very very fast. The plot is fast and continuous and before you know it, you’re half way through the movie. At two hours long, this is great as you’re not dying to turn it off or fall asleep in your chair.

Another positive aspect of Days of Future Past is this moviecompletely erased the third movie and for the better, to be honest. The actions of Wolverine in the past fix the scrappy writing and directing of X3 and now there is a clean slate to do whatever the writers want to do with the characters they messed up in the third movie.

All in all, X-Men: Days of Future Past is fast paced, interesting and is brilliantly written. Although it didn’t keep to the promises of more of the ‘original’ X-Men (Storm, Rogue, old Magneto, etc, it still featured them in small blasts and it was great to see them back together again. The acting is not always the best in the X-Men movies but the cast have come a long way since X-Men and X-Men: First Class. Most of the actors in X-Men are some of my favourites in the whole acting world and so it is great to see them come together. The actors I think everyone should keep a close eye on are Michael Fassbender (young Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Peter Dinklage (Bolivar Trask) and definitely watch out for Evan Peters (Quicksilver). The first three feature heavily in the film and really pull the film together with their amazing portrayals of their characters! 

Everything about this movie is great for an X-Men movie and once again, I recommend going to see it (if it is still in your cinemas) or getting the DVD when it is out. 

Oh and watch out for the Nixon impersonator – They even got his nose right!

Thanks again for reading!

Ciao for now,

– Hollie.

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Avatar: The Legend of Korra Review

 

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Hello everybody! I am sorry for the lack of reviews there have been lately. I have not been sat at my computer much and when I have had chance, I’ve been too zapped of energy to write something that I am happy with and would be happy sharing with the people who read my blogs. So I am really sorry about that. I also have a very quick update about my blog. I have decided that I will be posting only movie reviews on Mondays, book reviews on Wednesdays and television show reviews on Fridays. This is so I do not have four blog posts reviewing film all at once and gives some variation to my reviews. I hope this is a better system and this way, if you follow me for a certain type of review, you know when I will be posting them. 

Warning: This review may hold spoilers from the first two seasons of The Legend of Korra and all seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The spoilers will hopefully not be too major but I am just giving a warning in case.

Onto the review! 

The Legend of Korra, for all of you who do not know it, is an animated television series that follows years after the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is set in a world where some, not all, people can bend certain elements. There are water benders, air benders, fire benders and earth benders. There are also some specialist benders such as (spoiler) blood bending and metal bending. However, each person can only control one element. “Only the Avatar can master all four elements” – This quote is where Korra comes in. Korra is Aang’s successor and is in charge with keeping the world in order, whilst also learner all the bending she can. 

If you have watched Avatar: The Last Airbender then you will know that it is set in a more ‘traditional’ world and follows the avatar back then, Aang, on his journey to master all four elements and stop a raging war that is brewing in the Fire Nation. The Legend of Korra takes quite a different approach. The main setting for season one is Republic City, a city that Aang constructed. Korra’s world is a lot more modern than Aangs and we are now immersed in a industrial, ‘Steampunk’-like revolution. However, although the plots are thicker and darker, the humour and spirit of The Last Airbender is still there. 

Something I adored in The Last Airbender was the world itself and the creatures that are created, this is not lost even in a modern environment. Dee Bradley Baker returns to voice some of the most adorable creatures you will meet in an animated series like this. There are flying lemurs, sky bison, Naga – a polar bear dog and a fire ferret named Pabu. These creatures immediately lift some of the darker themes that can feature in Korra and even though we follow the Avatar and her friends as they fight evil and try to bring peace to the world, the viewer can easily get caught up in Pabu and Naga’s antics. 

It is not only the creatures that bring the spirit of The Last Airbender back but it is also the humour of the characters. I always find myself laughing at Bolin (who owns Pabu), Meelo (Aang’s grandson) and Bumi (One of Aang’s sons). They definitely remind me of Toph, Sokka and Aang with their humour. 

It is not only the world of this animated series that should be applauded. The storylines are intense and leave viewers wanting more. Each series is called a ‘Book’ and currently there are three ‘books’. I shall break down the plots and my thoughts about each down below. 

Book One: Air: This series is where we meet everybody for the first time. We are thrown into a crazy world where Korra has just moved from the South Pole to Republic City, where she is to learn Air-bending. She grows interested in a boy and a pro-bending team and Voila, we have Team Korra, along with a non-bending heiress. The big bad of the season is a masked man named Amon. He is the leader of the ‘Equalists’, who disagree with bending and wish to take away the powers of those who can. 

To be honest, if you don’t like Book One then you most certainly won’t like the other two seasons. Book One sets the tone for the other books and gives us a chance to see the new characters of the Avatar World develop. We learn about what happened to the characters from The Last Airbender and see both past and present. Book One was very highly acclaimed and was a great start to a great show, especially since, if you watched The Last Airbender it just brought all of the memories of that series back. 

Book Two: Spirits took a different turn.Six months after Book One, Restless spirits are out to cause trouble and Korra must find a way to communicate with the spirits. Most of the season is set with the Water tribes and the Spirit World and we get to see more cute creatures (the spirits). We learn about the first Avatar and how he became master of all four elements and also how he helped the spirit of light, Raava to vanquish her counterpart, Vaatu. Unfortunately a new big bad wishes to release Vaatu and fuse with him to become an Avatar. Korra clearly must stop him.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy Book Two as much as its predecessor. As much as I love Korra and was so excited for the new season, it  didn’t live up to the storyline of the previous book and many of the main characters that I loved were absent for quite a bit of the series or held mediocre sub-plots that added nothing to the show. Book Two was a huge disappointment but Book Three seems to have picked the show up again.

Book Three is named Change. It is set only two weeks after the ending of Book Two and Korra has a lot of problems to fix (I can’t say much or I will spoil it). Book Three is only half way through and has already shown that the new writers have stepped up their game and have fixed the damage of Book Two. I am thoroughly enjoying Book Three and can’t wait for more.

It must be noted that each Book is only 12-13 episodes long and each episode is 20 minutes so it doesn’t take too much time to get through a whole series but when you get up-to-date with it and have to wait for the next series, it can be quite a bummer.

I highly recommend this series to both teenagers and adults alike. If you’re a fan of fantasy, cute things, steampunk or Chinese culture then this show might just be for you. You can get through a series in a day and sometimes it will leave you on edge or thinking deeply about something. This show isn’t really for children as it holds dark themes and sometimes disturbing scenes (which I don’t think are suitable for young children) and some of the humour can be a bit more adult than some animated shows would feature. There is no blood or gore or any of that as it is still aimed at children despite it being a little more adult and it can be very humourous at times. I didn’t find that this series had many, if any, filler episodes and the story was consistent and continued straight through to the end. The voice acting is superb and the writing is even better.

If you’re into these kind of shows or have seen The Last Airbender then this show is certainly for you. You don’t have to have seen The Last Airbender to begin watching Korra but you may want to check that out too as that was brilliant (possibly why they made a sequel). 

Anyway, that’s all for today.

Check in again on Monday for my film review and I hope you enjoyed this one. 

Leave comments or like down below and all that jazz.

Thanks for reading,

Ciao for now,

– Hollie.

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Rush Review

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It’s been a little over a week since I wrote my last review and since then I have watched quite a number of movies, finished a book and have found a new television series to review. I surely have a lot to write. I have decided that I am going to do a spree of film reviews since I have about four to review (including this one) and some of these movies are quite recent.

A quick note about release dates of my blogs: I have chosen to write blogs every other day. I will be writing blogs on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and occasionally on Saturdays. This is just for anybody who looks out for my blog or wants to pop in on the days I post.

Anyway, lets get onto the review. Quick warning: If you do not know the story of the two race car drivers, James Hunt and Nicki Lauda, then there will be spoilers in this.

To be honest, I really was not looking forward to watching this movie. I am not a fan of fast cars and the whole sports rivalry thing between two people bores me to tears. I like team sports and that is all. My dad was the one who wanted to watch Rush so we decided to put it on one night to appease him.

Rush is a biographical film based on the 1976 Formula One season. It follows the rivalry of James Hunt and Nikki Lauda – two of the most famous racers of the time. Through the film we see the two come from the bottom (Formula Three) and get to the top, constantly fighting between one another to become the best. Unfortunately not everything runs smoothly and at the German Grand Prix, one hour into this two hour movie, the racers take to Nuerburgring in terrible conditions. On this track, Lauda’s Ferrari runs into problems, he is flung into an embankment and his car bursts into flames. Lauda is trapped in the wreckage, inhaling toxic gases and he receives severe burns to the face. The rest of the movie follows Lauda’s bravery as he gets back into his racing car and also continues showing Hunt’s success and spiral into the world of fame.

At two hours and 6 minutes, this film had the potential to drag. A sport biography is not exactly for everyone but five of us watched it and each of us have different preferences but I think it is safe to say, all of us really enjoyed the movie and didn’t find it dragging. I watched the movie not knowing anything about James Hunt or Nikki Lauda but during the movie, I was reading their wikipedia’s and looking at old pictures of them.

This leads me to discuss the casting. The casting was just perfect. Daniel Bruehl (you add an e if you cannot type an umlaut on your computer, just to tell anybody who says I can’t spell!) as Nikki Lauda was almost identical to Lauda before and after his accident. He also spoke with a very heavy Austrian accent, which sounded close to Nikki’s own (who speaks at the end of the movie and features). I’ve seen Daniel Bruehl in the Spanish movie, Eva, and thought he was great and emotional in that but his role as Lauda topped that. He made me root for Lauda throughout and I have great respect and admiration for the bravery, courage and tenacity of the man I would have never heard of if I had not watched this movie.

Now onto James Hunt, it is safe to say Hunt’s portrayal was not something I was particularly fond of. He was a womanising, fame-hungry, arrogant man (in the movie) and when Nikki was suffering in hospital, he was racing to beat the man who was fighting for his life. I lost all respect for him right then but that’s just how some sport stars are, right? In the last hour of the movie, Hunt redeemed himself a little by sticking up for Lauda so he was not portrayed as a complete monster. Chris Hemsworth was very good as Hunt. He had the right look, arrogance and attitude but I cannot really see him as anything but Thor anymore and frankly, I’m not a huge fan. I much preferred Bruehl but that is definitely personal taste.

This film is all about the characters. Bruehl and Hemsworth definitely make the movie but the story/plot is accurate to everything that happened. If you read a quick summary of the plot, it doesn’t sound that dramatic or worth watching but trust me, this film filled with cars is filled to the brim with drama. There is enough there to get all emotions flowing. I went through a heap of emotions watching this film and when it finished, it left my head reeling. I am still trying to get over it, especially since it depicted the past, our history , not like the millions of fantasy-fiction movies and books I love to throw myself into. This was a breath of fresh air.

The film not only entertains but it educates. If you have never heard of Hunt or Lauda, you will be researching them after watching this film and you will be enthralled in their story. It does sound like a load of tosh since it focuses a lot on a ‘childish’ rivalry that was the subject of plenty sensationalist headlines but trust me, this rivalry is something you want to be watching.

All other reviews I have read were very positive with IMDb giving the film a solid 8.3 and Rotten Tomatoes giving it 89% (last time I checked). Bruehl and Hemsworth have both been highly praised for their work in this film and I honestly cannot praise them enough.

This movie isn’t just for car lovers and people who live for the thrill and adrenaline of danger, just make sure you are over the age of 16 before watching as there are scenes of a sexual nature, bad languages and disturbing scenes (regarding Lauda’s wreck).

Anyway, I think I have raved on long enough about how great I thought this movie was so I hope you all enjoyed this review. Thanks for reading.

Ciao for now,

– Hollie.

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American Horror Story Review

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By now I have posted two book reviews and a film review so I thought it was about time I added a review about a television show. For my first show review, I chose one of my favourite shows of all time; American Horror Story.

In this review, I won’t give away any spoilers and will just give a brief description of the plot so you know what each season is about so don’t worry about this review, there are no spoilers here!

American Horror Story is a horror series directed by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. You may have heard of Ryan Murphy from his once-popular series ‘Glee’ but trust me, this is nothing like Glee and the writing in this show is exceptional. Do not be put off by its director! Each series has a different location, time setting and theme with different characters but portrayed by the same actors as the previous season. This makes it great for newcomers to the show as you do not have to watch one season to watch the others. You can possibly watch the first season, skip the second and move on to the third or watch the second, first and then third in different orders. It makes no difference. Let me tell you why and after I will tell you my thoughts on the series as a whole.

The first season is named American Horror Story: Murder House. It features a young family in modern times, who move to escape the memories of the husband’s infidelity and a brutal miscarriage. This house is not just any house though and is haunted by the previous members of each century. It is full of malevolent spirits and they will stop at nothing to torment the poor family. The theme of this season is infidelity and lying. 

American Horror Story: Asylum is the second season and is based in…you guessed it, an asylum, run by a Catholic order. It is set in 1964 and follows the lives of the inmates and workers of the asylum for the insane. Exorcisms and even extra-terrestrial abductions feature within this season and of course, what is a horror show without a psychopathic scientist or a brutal murderer? The theme for this is, naturally, sanity. 

Finally, the most recently aired season was named American Horror Story: Coven and was set in modern day New Orleans. The theme of this season was oppression as it is about a young coven of witches that, after the Salem Witch trials, were nearly extinct but now have a school ran by a powerful witch, who has secrets and is looking for something. Race, voodoo, torture, witchcraft and bringing things back from the dead all feature heavily within this season. It also is a little more light-hearted than previous seasons.

The show has been filming its fourth season which is said to be based in Florida and focuses on one of America’s last running Freak Shows. It will be set in the past. 

My verdict on this show? It is absolutely amazing.

I started this show after seeing a few posters on the internet for it. I began when I had just started university for the first time and instantly became hooked. It was terrifying, thrilling and was packed with so many surprises that I never saw coming, it really left me on the edge of my seat. I was distraught when the season ended because I could not wait for more. The second season, to me, was a little lack-luster. I have read many thoughts online that the second is the best out of the three seasons but I watched it with my boyfriend and we were often looking at each other with confused looks on our faces or we just laughed at how ridiculous some of the stuff in that season was but I guess the theme was sanity so maybe it was to test the viewer’s sanity? There was one character in Asylum that my boyfriend couldn’t stand though and I think that shows great costume, prosthetics and acting since he was so creeped out by the way they had made-up/dressed-down this creepy creature of a character (if you watch it, you will know who I am talking about – RATS!). 

The third season was great, in my opinion. It was bitchy, sassy and filled with girl power (that I enjoy a lot of the time). However, it didn’t have the horror aspect that the first two seasons held. I know that the writers said prior-to-season that they wanted a more uplifting, younger season and this was it. It has been called the weaker of the three seasons and I can see why but I enjoyed it really and always was super excited for Thursdays when I would stream it straight after class.

The fourth season is said to go back to its creepy, horrific, startling roots and I can’t wait for that!

I think one thing that really lifts this show is the cast. It features such names as Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts (in season 3), Lily Rabe, Taissa Farmiga, etc. Nearly every member of the cast is in two or more of the seasons as different characters from their previous season. You can see them morph from an evil, terrifying character to the goody two-shoes of the show. These actors really know how to tell the story and act. They add to the horrific aspects perfectly and Jessica Lange is always great as the big, bad bitch of the seasons. The cast is also always applauded highly for their work and receive awards and nominations galore so I guess that says something too.

This show is great for horror lovers or somebody who likes a good twist in a story. The writing is superb and there are no rubbish CGI moments (like some horror shows/movies) that leave you cringing. When you think you have figured something out, Murphy and Falchuk throw something new your way to confuse you even more but they always tie everything up in the end. 

American Horror Story is fresh and exciting and doesn’t copy other shows in the TV schedule, which is great as too many shows do that lately!

I recommend this TV show highly and I think everyone, who has a strong stomach and an open-mind, should go and watch this now!

Leave your thoughts, likes, comments at the bottom if you would like and don’t forget to read my other blogs if you’re interested. If there are any other television shows you want me to review, let me know right away, I’m always looking for something new to watch.

Thanks for reading!

Ciao for now,

– Hollie. 

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