Rogue One

Well hello there.

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Last Sunday I didn't even realise I'd missed a post until late the following day which never happens. I was so caught up on packing my last fews bits and travelling home to drop them off that it slipped my mind.

And then Wednesday's post I did miss on purpose. I thought I would give myself the week off as I had a busy week packing up my belongings and a few rare social engagements!

And now, although I am sad that one of my colleagues left this week, I am happy to report I am all settled in to my new place -- if settled means I still have packing boxes everywhere...

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Well, this review has been a long time coming as it came out in what, December??

Bare with me if I forget a few of the details for the plot!

Think this was a spur of the moment watch as I'd taken the day off work to go to Winter Wonderland with Adeel. Then when we were done we decided to head over to Leicester Square and squeeze in a quick film before my drive home for Christmas the following day.

I'm not a massive fan of Star Wars, think I prefer Star Trek (although the second and third weren't as good as the first), but I've enjoyed the newer ones for sure as well as the original series (not so much the prequels).

I enjoyed the plot. It was very action packed which makes a change I think. The other Star Wars have been more quest driven with the one overall bad guy, whereas this one was a brewing war between two sides with many epic battles throughout.

I did find the ending a bit of a shock though. But I guess you never expect to watch a film and see characters get killed off. Princess Leia's cameo at the very end was quite nice and unexpected.

Felicity Jones is really growing on me as an actor. She's so talented and I love watching her characters unfold. Jyn was a beautiful character. Her backstory was intriguing and nicely interwoven throughout.

Diego Luna also did a good job of portraying Cassian and I rather enjoyed K-2SO's comedic comments as well.

Overall, it was a good film but one that I can't say I'm that fussed about. For me, it didn't make any impact, it didn't add anything to the other films but hey, I'm not a hardcore Star Wars fan so I probably don't know what I'm talking about.

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Rating:

★★★☆☆

Dark Heavens: Book 1, White Tiger

By Kylie Chan.

Image from Goodreads

[A young woman accepts a position as nanny to the young daughter of a handsome, wealthy, and mysterious Chinese businessman only to discover her new employer is really a god and every foul demon in creation is out to destroy him!]

I love Chinese mythology and just learning about the Chinese culture in general was fascinating which is what led me to read this book, along with a recommendation from a colleague at work.

The plot, I enjoyed.

It was action-packed and full of humour, especially between Emma and Leo. But, I did feel that a couple of things happened too quickly, like some bits just came out of nowhere.

And then there's also the dialogue. In some places, it worked (like with the humour), but in other places it felt like a filler and there were a handful of things said that the characters were implying that weren't obvious and never got fully explained.

The characters were great. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of the different levels of Chinese Gods and their "true forms", at least the true forms as they were in this book (I don't know if that's how they're truly perceived). Simone was a cute asset and Mr Chen was a dutiful mysterious father.

I have to say though, the thing that let it down for me was, well, the protagonist, Emma, and the relationship between her and Mr Chen.

Every other sentence they'd repeat stuff like "I know this can never happen" or "we're complete fools for letting it go this far". Blah, blah, blah.

In fact, I'm pretty sure the second half of the book was just filled with these sayings and it got really frustrating.

I also noted that Chan likes to use a handful of specific descriptive words a bit too much, which also got annoying.

It turns out that this is actually part of a trilogy, but I don't even know if I want to read the rest of them if the writing was that repetitive. It wasn't all that enticing with the ending either so I may just leave it as it is.

✌︎

Central Intelligence

I didn't expect to like this nearly half as much as I actually did. 

Some films surprise you I guess.

After seeing Kevin Hart live a few months back - and with A being such a huge fan of his and The Rock - I thought this film had a fair chance of being reasonably funny.

I was wrong.

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It was hilarious. And the action was good too!

I thought it would be over the top and ridiculous, with jokes that were forced. But, although the plot obviously wasn't a believable one, it was a rather amusing one and not too out there.

It starts off with a scene in high school where Kevin Hart's character is the popular kid getting an award for something or other at a football game when some of the others decide to play a prank on The Rock's character. Quite a mean prank at that.

I have to say, the CGI in this initial scene was pretty good. They both looked considerably younger in a realistic way.

The film then continues on some years later revolving around the idea of an upcoming high school reunion where the two unexpectedly meet up once again beforehand.

A series of action scenes and funny events then proceed to happen and I found myself highly entertained all of the way through.

Not only was it funny, exciting and obscure, but it also had a great message underneath.

Don't let people put you down, be proud of who you are.

Kevin Hart was great in his role - although a serious character - the sarcasm and downright panicky jumpiness of him was great.

The Rock, though, was the standout for me. I'm so used to seeing him in a purely action role, flexing his muscles and just, well, being menacing. But, you know, he actually shocked me. I thought at the beginning his character was just putting on a flamboyant, camp front but he wasn't! It was such an unusual, strange role for him to play and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him.

The film also proceeded to surprise me with a few twists and turns. You didn't know who actually was the bad guy until right at the end which was good. I definitely couldn't seem to guess as they kept flicking it between a bunch of different characters.

I still can't believe how much I enjoyed this film.

If you're up for watching an easy, fast-paced, action-filled, funny film with two great actors in it then you should give this a watch.

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Rating:

★★★★★



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Captain America: Civil War

When I heard about this film, I hadn't been entirely convinced it would be very good. In fact, I was damn right sceptical. I mean, the Avengers fight bad guys, not each other. Who would ever think that that was a good idea?

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But, it was actually pretty good, albeit very long.

It was very action-packed with an interesting, in-depth backstory for two of the main characters, entwining them unexpectedly.

For some reason though, I just don't click with Captain America. I find him incredibly irritating and boring, like, he's not exactly a superhero is he? Maybe it's because I'm a diehard Robert Downey Jr. fan, I don't know, but Steve Rogers is too noble and Prince Charming-esque for me.

I loved the addition of Spiderman, Ant Man and Black Panther however. Spiderman, especially, because he was hilarious and although I missed Andrew Garfield I felt Tom Holland did a great job and I look forward to seeing him in any future Marvel films.

I also liked how the superheroes seemed to be struggling more within themselves this time, dealing with their own flaws, the results of their own actions. It definitely made them more relatable. This was especially highlighted with Stark and Wanda. Robert Downey Jr. and Elizabeth Olsen were spectacular.

Paul Bettany was, again, brilliant as Vision. His high intelligence and power verses his misunderstandings of human nature was interesting. He could be the most powerful of them all without even really knowing it.

However, like I said earlier, the film was very, very long. Every time I thought the climactic action scene and following calm one would be the end, another action scene exploded onto the screen and I was left wondering if the film would ever end. It was also a little annoying that they added two extra scenes, one a minute or so after a few credits and another right at the very end. Come on, at least put them both together!

Anyways, if you like action films and men in spandex suits, this one's for you.

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Rating:

★★★☆☆

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