FILM: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

This film starts off really well.
Our protagonist, Jake, is a teenage boy with, what seems, quite a dull life and not very nice parents. We don't see much of his life at home other than one encounter with the 'cool kids' from school, which makes us assume he hasn't really got much of a life.
He was very close to his Grandfather growing up, who told him many fabulous stories about a home for children with special abilities.

The background to the plot is set out well. It does take up a bit too much time and introduces us to some unnecessary characters (I consider characters unnecessary when they haven't contributed to the development of the characters/plot), but we quickly understand the relationship between Grandfather and Grandson, and the essence of the film's plot. The Grandfather is played brilliantly by Terence Stamp. Unfortunately, this excellent choice of casting doesn't last long - Terence Stamp's character is frequently discussed but not seen very much.

FILM: True Grit

I worked out just how much I liked this film about five minutes in.
Our protagonist is Mattie Ross, a gutsy fourteen year old girl who stands up to the growling drunkard, Rooster Cogburn (played brilliantly by Jeff Bridges), and the man she seeks revenge on: the infamous Tom Chaney.
Hailee Steinfeld plays Mattie brilliantly, making the viewer wonder where the character got her gutsy courage and independence from, while also highlighting her childish innocence and vulnerability.
Jeff Bridges excellently pulls off the (secretly soft-hearted) dangerous and irresponsible Cogburn, while Matt Damon plays a Texas Ranger who, unusually for Matt Damon, is an unattractive character we deeply dislike.

The acting and characterisation in this film is so wonderful because the characters each have such detailed traits; traits that frequently contradict one another.

FILM: La La Land

I have two words for this film: magically spellbinding. 
In my opinion,  this is easily one of the most beautiful films of all time.

When I first saw Mamma Mia, I cried with joy. Literally, tears flowed from joy. I went to see it again the following weekend and then went to the sing-along on the same day.

I love this film FAR more than I loved Mamma Mia. I'm going to be re-watching this film many many times. I cried with joy, with happiness, with awe, with exhilaration, with understanding, with sadness...I'm pretty sure I cried throughout the whole film, because it understood me and the desperate dream.

The singing lacked a bit - neither Gosling or Stone have much power to their voices, but a Streisand type voice wasn't really
necessary for the film.

Post Numero Uno

Hello Blogasphere!

This is my very first blog post here!

For this blog, I will be writing book reviews of the books I have read, and film reviews of the films I have watched.

Participating in reading challenges helps me to keep reading, so I'll be logging that on here, too. 

I also have a playlist of music at the bottom of the page.

The aim is to discuss books, music, and films with people who wish to discuss them,  and last but not least, discover new music, books, and films!
Please do recommend me books to read/films to watch! I'll write reviews on them as soon as I can.

1) Book Reviews

I will be publishing book reviews of the books I read when I was young, when I was a teenager, in university, just for fun, only a few days/weeks ago...etc

Do feel free to recommend books for me to read!

2) Film Reviews

I'll be doing the same with film reviews. Not all of the reviews will be nice and sweet - there will be some I'll warn you about, and some I'll rave about.

3) Reading Challenge
I'll be updating this as I go along (to be posted on my 'Book Reviews' page.)
Here is the list so far: