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.

FILM: The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner tells the story of the life of Amir Khan, who is tormented by the guilt of abandoning his best friend, Hassan, to the cruelty of the local bullies - an event that changes the two forever. The last third of the novel tells of Amir's desperate attempt at salvation; trying to redeem his childhood cowardice.
The story is also about the radicalisation of Afghanistan, and the mass exodus from Kabul to Pakistan and the US.

The Kite Runner had A LOT to live up to, for me. The book was one of the most wonderful books I've ever read (in my opinion), and I was very intrigued to see how the film would portray it.

The trouble is, the book is all in the mind of our protagonist, Amir. We see him grow up, we grow through his moral torments bit by bit, we see his wrong doings, his emotions, and fears. The plot very much depends on what is going on in Amir's mind. But the film doesn't quite capture this.

As itself, the film is good. There may come a time when I end up watching it again with a friend (I wouldn't be the one to pick it, though). But in comparison to the book, the film falls short.
The acting and direction and script are great. As a film it ticks all the boxes for me. As an adaptation - it doesn't.

FILM: Into the Wild

Into the Wild...A wonderful true story about a teenage boy, Christopher McCandless, who burns all his money and goes to find freedom, living alone in the wild. He renames himself Alexander Supertramp.
We watch his adventures along the way, and the close bonds he makes with people he meets. We also see the development in his philosophies.
He begins with a vague philosophy against material wealth - why do we have the constant need to own one more thing? I understand this philosophy and I can see where he is coming from.
Throughout the film, he develops philosophies around freedom: he believes he will find ultimate truth when he wholly embraces nature - when he lives alone, surviving in the wild. This philosophy, I find harder to grasp - it ignores human nature.
The film is a great story - though I did feel it went on a bit too long. Our protagonist is a very interesting character with a difficult past (though I felt this 'difficult past' was a bit unnecessary to the film - it wasn't really about his past, it was about his mind and philosophy of life).
Warning: the film does not have a happy ending. It's a gruesome ending, which highlights the problems with Chris'/Alex's final philosophy.
He believes he will find 'truth' in ultimate solace in the wild, but soon discovers abject loneliness - relationships are a part of human nature. We naturally live in communities. Without anyone around to help for hundreds of miles, Alex dies of berry poisoning, having neglected to pay attention to his education of wild plants.

Overall, I thought the film was pretty good. A good adaption of the true story, well acted/directed/scripted.

It's not a story that will make you want to follow in his footsteps - but it is a story that will make you think about human nature, the mind, and the way society has developed.