New Website

I have recently made steps towards becoming a freelance editor and writer.
I have created a website for myself for this purpose and have moved this blog onto that website.
Therefore, all further posts will be posted on that website.

Follow this link to access the new website - do tell me what you think!

If you know of anyone in need of a freelance editor or writer, send them my way!

I will no longer be using this blogspot page so if you want to contact me, go via my website.

Thanks

FILM: Moana

I loved Tangled. I loved Frozen more. Brave is one of my favourite films. Recently, Disney have been outdoing themselves.
I had very high hopes for this film - and, I suppose, high expectations.
But, to be really honest...it was a bit crap, wasn't it?
The story wasn't believable, the script wasn't very good, Maui was downright annoying and can you remember any of the songs?
The lyrics were pretty bad, the melodies weren't catchy, there wasn't a 'big number'...the songs were just not very good.
It was quite a let down. There's a reason why people aren't going on about this film, and why people are still going on about Frozen. It felt like a desperate attempt at another great Disney princess...an attempt that fell on its face.

FILM: Trumbo

Bryan Cranston seems to be one of those forgotten actors (you know his as Walter White from Breaking Bad) - people don't go on about his brilliant acting like they go on about, eg, Leo DiCaprio or Johnny Depp.
Bryan Cranston outdoes himself in this film.
(True story) Dalton Trumbo was Hollywood's top screenwriter in the late 1940s. Jailed and blacklisted for being a communist in America, Trumbo and his political friends find a way around their blacklisting using pseudonyms for their works. It is discovered that Trumbo secretly wrote award-winning films like Roman Holiday and Spartacus.

Cranston is brilliant in this intellectual and political drama.
I thought the film was good - there was only one thing keeping it from being fantastic. Helen Mirren.

Helen Mirren is one of those incredibly famous actresses who, I think, is rarely actually good in anything. Her character in this film is portrayed in a very simplistic way - 'I'm not a nice woman because I'm just not'. That kind of character...

It's an interesting look at the communist scare in America in the 1940s, and it's always interesting watching Cranston tackle another character.

FILM: Good Vibrations

Here's a feel-good film about foolhardy determination. It tells the true story of Terri Hooley who opened a record shop in Belfast amidst the riots and troubles in Ireland in the 1970s. Terri is a music-lover, idealist, radical, and rebel will do anything to make his dream a reality.

The film features portrayals of the young Undertones, who he discovered and produced. Terri is a lovable character who, in the end, has his own human flaws.
I didn't agree with all of his choices in the film, but his determination is inspirational and heartening.

It's a feel good film that will get you listening to the old rock classics from the 70's and 80's.

BOOK: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Here is a fascinating book about art and language. This is the first Joyce novel I've read - well, I've dipped into Ulysses and Dubliners - and I will definitely be testing his other works in the future! (I'd like to try Finnegan's Wake).
The book's narration develops alongside the age and education of our protagonist, Stephen Dedalus. The book isn't about the story of Stephen, it's about the development of the character as a person - his religions, philosophical ideologies, his intellect, and the ways in which Stephen views the passing of every day life.
The novel begins like it is being told from the eyes of a toddler and quickly zooms through basic memories to Stephen's teenage years. As a teenager, Stephen revels in life, breaking all manner of Catholic moral rules. His sins grow and grow and eventually Stephen cowers under the might of his God and turns to repentance. The last chapter develops his ideals and turns him away from religion.
The novel is an experiment in the development of character, his good and bad sides painted onto the way the novel is written. Written in five acts, it really is like a portrait, only in novel form.