Movie Review: Jem and the Holograms [Emz]

So I recently watched this film on Netflix. I was aware of the bad reviews and the Box Office flop, but I thought I would give it a go.

The film was released on 23rd October 2015.

This film is based around the animated TV Series Jem that aired between 1985 and 1988.

The film stars: Aubrey Peeples (Nashville) as Jerrica Benton/ Jem, Stephanie Scott (ANT Farm) as Kimber, Hayley Kiyoko (Lemondae Mouth) as Aja, Aurora Perrineau  as Shana and Juliette Lewis as Erica Raymond.

Here is the Synopsis:

As a small-town girl catapults from underground video sensation to global superstar, she and her three sisters begin a one-in-a-million journey of discovering that some talents are too special to keep hidden. In Universal Pictures’ Jem and the Holograms, four aspiring musicians will take the world by storm when they see that the key to creating your own destiny lies in finding your own voice.

Review:

I surprisingly enjoyed this film. The film is set in present day where Social Media is a big thing. This is different to the TV Series that was set in the 80's.

The songs in this film were very catchy. I liked Hit Me Up and Youngblood. 

The theme of Jem being a mystery in an age where Social Media is huge and there is no place to hide, was a great idea, but could have been worked on a bit more I think.. not quite sure how.

We learn that Jerrica (Jem) and Kmber are sisters who lost their father at a young age. They were raised by their Aunt along with her two foster daughters , Aja and Shana.

Jerrica records herself singing and thinks she has deleted the footage afterwards as she is too shy to even think about uploading it, she even refers to herself as Jem in the Video. 

Her sister Kimber finds that the video had not been deleted and uploads it to YouTube.

The video goes Viral overnight at Jerrica under the name of Jem becomes huge on Social Media.

Jerrica is contacted by Erica Raymond from Starlight Productions and offers Jerrica a record deal. After originally only wanted to sign Jerrica, with alot of pushing from Jerrica she agrees that all the girls can go.

Before Jerrica's debut performance as Jem, the Robot that Jerrica and Kimber's dad supposedly made but didn't finish, activates during their first night in LA since they were children. it leads them around LA finding the missing pieces to put in the Robot known as 51N3RG.Y (Synergy.)

During her time in L.A. Jerrica learns that her aunts house is going to be taken from her and determined to help she asks Erica for her first payment in advance so she can help her Aunt. The only trouble is that Erica persuades her to continue with her Sisters.

This is a scene that has been replicated thousands of times in movies, not exactly the same but a similar idea.

Eventually things do come together and they reunite for their last performance. Jerrica finds that the earrings she was given by her father  were the last piece to getting Syngery to work. inside was a hidden message from her father telling her that she was his best invention and tells her how much he loves her.

 The film ends with Erica being fired and her Son taking control of the company. Followed by their next performance where get named Jem and The Holograms.

The mid credits scene introduces a rival band that Erica dropped years ago called The Misfits. As, she is out to get revenge she teams up with them. The leader of the band is called Pizzazz and is portrayed by Kesha.

There were Cameo scene from a few Orignal Cast members but it would have been nice for that to have been expanded a little more.

I enjoyed the song and parts of the storyline but there was alot I wasn't so keen on. There was alot of 'fans' shown during songs and after songs and some bits made it very corny. I feel that things were solved too quickly and there was much more that could have been shown. That being said I would listen to the songs over and over again.

The 80's theme from the cartoon was very present in the girls choice of wardrobe but only at the beginning, I felt they were modernized when they were styled in LA, It would be been nice to see a little more 80's glam.

At the end of  the day This was teenage film and although fans of the original Jem cartoon were disappointed (from what I read), it still works even if you have never heard of it before.

Thats all for now, till next time

Emz x

Read more...

Movie Review: Blade Runner 2049 [Emz]

So I saw this film a few weeks ago. Needless to say... I enjoyed it but it wasn't brilliant in my opinion.

Anyway The films stars Ryan Gosling as the Lead character of Agent K Jared Leto as Niander Wallace and Harrison Ford Reprises his role as Rick Deckard from the original 1982 film.

Here is the Synopsis:

Set thirty years after the original film, the story depicts a bioengineered human named K, who discovers the remains of a once-pregnant replicant. To prevent a possible war between replicants and humans, K is secretly tasked with finding the child and destroying all evidence related to it.

Review:

Baring in mind I hadn't seen the original.. It was a bit before my time and I hadn't thought of watching it prior to this film.

There was brief explanation at the beginning explaining what happened after the last film (in the world, not necessarily to the characters)

The original film is set 2 years from now.. give or take.. in 2019. This film is set 30 years later.

We meet Agent K (Ryan Gosling) as he is employed by the LAPD to kill all of the original Replicants that fled prior to the Blackout that occurred after the first film. We find him tracking down the Replicant and eventually killing him.

Of course after this happened he realizes something is amiss and scans the area. He locates a box under the tree and that is where we begin the next part of our story.

So everything that happens after that starts with the discovery of what is in the box. We find out there are skeletal remains in the box of a woman who had given birth. After further examination it turned out the woman was a replicant. 

Throughout the story K keeps finding evidence to what he thinks proves that he was the child that she gave birth to, as his memories matched things that were mentioned and evidence he found. With evidence lost in the Blackout, he struggles to find alot of evidence but he is also led to believe that there were either twins and the girl died and the boy survived or someone altered the data. also the date of birth for the child match a memory of a young child with a toy horse with that same date on it.

He decides to visit a woman by the name of  Dr. Ana Stelline who lives in a bubble as she would be ill if she went outside. She specializes in memories she  for Replicants, who when he shows her the memory she says that someone did live it. He thinks this helps prove his case.

After going to an Orphanage and not finding much information there except the Toy horse from his memories, which he thinks proves that he is the child of Rachel the replicant. 

After having ther horse analysed he heads out to find the child's father is, or as he believes it to be his father he flies out there to meet him. The father of the child turns out the be Deckard and he tells K the whole story of how the child came to be and why he has never seen the child and wasn't able to try to search for his child after the blackout as all the data was lost.

Obviously he was followed by Wallace's replicant Luv and her "men" who kidnap Deckard and leave K for dead. He is saved by a woman named Freysa who informs him that the baby was in fact a girl.

K figures out who the child is and then saves Deckard from Luv and takes Deckard to meet his daughter.

The thing that annoyed me was the very slow pace in which everything happened. You are led to believe that Harrison  Ford is in the Majority of the movie but in actual fact he only turns up just over halfway through the film.. if that. the whole film was really slow at the beginning I understand that it's not always quick to gather evidence but it was just so drawn out.

Then after we get to Harrison ford's appearance in the film everything starts to quicken up... even though it is still rather slow.

I did enjoy the whole idea behind the story but it's not a film I would watch multiple time at the cinema.

Till next time

Emz x

Read more...

Rodger and Hammerstein's The king and I (Zee Tay film review)

Film: The King and I
Year:1956
Director: Darryl F. Zanuck
Starring: Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner,  Rita Moreno, Martin Benson,  Terry Saunders, and Rex Thompson.

The King and I is set in the 19th century Siam which follows the story of a female English teacher Anna and her Son traveling to Siam to teach The King's children. It shows the relationship growing between them. But with a king who unwilling to change for the better, will Anna be able to convince him what right from wrong or will His unwillingness to change drive Anna back home to England.

This is one of the few classic I grew up watching, from a young age, and every time I watch it I always see something different in the movies.

This story now I am a 21 year old has a strong massive, that even though we are in the 21st century, there are still a few country very much like one of Siam in 1863.

Of a women in that time Anna was very brave to travel alone and entering one of which is Siam, but like the the opening song about whistling and you won't be afraid, has a great message about trying to not be afraid and face your fears.

It very educational Musical, that I totally recommend watching. The age group I would say would be 8+ as there is one scene which I feel any younger won't understand near the end.

Overall I give the movie a 5/5 stars.

Read more...

Movie Review: American Assasin [Emz]

So I recently saw this at the cinema. I didn't realize it was an 18 until the movie began, but that didn't matter. The film stars Dylan O'Brien, Michael Keaton & Taylor Kitch, to name but a few.

Dylan O'Brien is best known.. well to me anyway in The Maze Runner series. He has also been starring in Teen Wolf.

Here is the synopsis of the story:

When Cold War veteran Stan Hurley takes CIA black ops recruit Mitch Rapp under his wing, they receive an assignment to investigate a wave of random attacks on both military and civilian targets. After discovering a pattern of violence, Hurley and Rapp join forces with a lethal Turkish agent to stop a mysterious operative who wants to start a global war.

Review:

Even though the beginning was very brutal, I enjoyed this film. 

Just to make it clear I saw this film last Wednesday (27th September) before the attacks in Las Vegas and my heart goes out to everyone affected.

So in this film,  Dylan O'Brien's character of Mitch is trying to take down a Terrorist cell single-handedly after his fiance was murdered by them whilst they were on Holiday. 

He gets recruited by the CIA for Black Ops and i is trained by Michael Keaton's character Hurley, of course he is a loose cannon right from the beginning but he completes his training.

Turns out there is more to Hurley than meets the eye as the mastermind behind the mission they are training for is a previous recruit trained by Hurley (Taylor Kitch) 

The fact that Mitch kept doing his own thing instead of completely following orders made this movie much more interesting. Of course he was still trying to complete the mission, just finding a different way of doing so.

I enjoyed the film and the way it ended, but hopefully there wont be a sequel as some films should just stand on there own.

Till next time

Emz x

Read more...

Movie Review: Tomorrowland [Emz]

I really like this film. But it took me a while to see the very end, I had to leave the cinema before the end as I had made other plans and they overlapped each other.

This has that Disney vibe to it (which is just as well as its made by Disney) 

The film stars George Clooney, Britt Robertson and Hugh Laurie.

Here is the Premise:

A former boy genius (George Clooney) and gifted teenager (Britt Robertson) set out on a dangerous mission to unearth the secrets of "Tomorrowland", an enigmatic location caught between time and space.

Review

I loved this film. Once i got to see the film to the very end it all tied together. The way they created another world and we get a glimpse of what it looks like before things get a lot worse.

It was strange seeing George Clooney in this film but I liked the character and the way we first meet him when he was younger. Also the way we meet Britt's character. Both characters are very creative and inventive.

I liked the concept of giving the kids a taster of Tomorrowland before they go. We see this with Casey (Britt Robertson) it's very  funny to watch though as she ends up in a huge lake.

This a film for many ages groups and is definitely one to watch.

That's all for now.

Till next time

Emz x

Read more...

Ella enchanted (Zee Tay Post)

Film: Ella enchanted
Year: 2004
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jim Carter, Hugh Dancy,  Minnie Driver, Aidan McArdle, Parminder Nagra,
Plot: Anne Hathaway From the princess Diaries, is Ella in the charming fairytale adventure of Ella enchanted. At birth Ella's fairy godmother gave her the gift of obedience. Which is a curse as Ella has to do what ever she been asked to do even if it bad. So she chose to set of to return then gift. This simple task turns into an amazing adventure filled with ogres, giant, wicked stepsister and the handsome princes evil uncle.

Review

Ella enchanted is a fill good movie that all the family can sit down and enjoy. There are places where you can tell that they CGI as they are not amazing, but in all fairness for a 2004 film where some CGI techniques was still new. So I guess for that year it was about average.

The overall story line was lovely about understanding how lucky we are to be able to choose in what wrong and right as there are some people in the world who not as free in doing what they want to do.

It about listening to your heart, as there are times where your heart might say something stupid but in reality you know in your mind that your heart is right.

Overall I give this film a 4/5 stars.

Read more...

Movie Reviews: American Made [Emz]

So I was supposed to go and see Atomic Blonde today but the film finished at my local cinema on Thursday. So instead Myself and my friend went to see American Made.

Here is the premise:

Barry Seal, a TWA pilot, is recruited by the CIA to provide reconnaissance on the burgeoning communist threat in Central America and soon finds himself in charge of one of the biggest covert CIA operations in the history of the United States. The operation spawns the birth of the Medellin cartel and almost brings down the Reagan White House.

Review:

So I knew that this film was going to be about drug-smuggling and lots of money.

What I didn't know was that this film is based on a true story. So true  it actually happened (no i'm not kidding)

I actually enjoyed this film. Now I have to say the whole of what happened is before my time but blimey it was so easy to commit fraud and get away with it.

Overall the film was really good, sad ending for the family of this person, but it was definitely interesting.

I would recommend if you like true stories... or Tom Cruise..

Till next time

Emz x

Read more...

Movie Review:The Hitman's Bodyguard [Emz]

I finally got to see this film on Saturday and really enjoyed it.

The film stars Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson.

Here is the premise:

The world's top protection agent is called upon to guard the life of his mortal enemy, one of the world's most notorious hit men. The relentless bodyguard and manipulative assassin have been on the opposite end of the bullet for years and are thrown together for a wildly outrageous 24 hours. During their journey from England to the Hague, they encounter high-speed car chases, outlandish boat escapades and a merciless Eastern European dictator who is out for blood.

Review:

To be honest I needed a good laugh along with the action and that is what I got. Reynold's character is a Protection Agent who after the death of a Client loses his top ranking status. 

Following this a Hitman (Jackson) is being taken to Brussles to the Hague to give evidence in a case against an evil European Dictator. 

Reynold's Character ends up protecting him after an Interpol Agent discovers a leak within the agency.

So they end up travelling from the UK to Brussels via The Netherlands and they are being pursued every step of the way.

The funny thing I found was, after just finishing watching Marvel's The Defenders, who should pop up in this film but the Actress who played Elektra, Élodie Yung.

The film also starred Gary Oldman as Vladislav Dukhovich, a merciless dictator of Belarus, Salma Hayek as Sonia Kincaid and Richard E. Grant as Seifert.

I would recommend this film as the cast are brilliant and all the funny bits link in to the action also. By the end of it I was no longer picturing Deadpool and Nick Fury.

Hope you enjoyed the review.

If you have seen this film, let me know what you thought.

Till next time

Emz x

Read more...

Walking on Sunshine (zee tay review)

     

Walking on Sunshine
Year: 2014
Cast: Giulio Berruti, Hannah Arterton, Annabel Scholey, Leona Lewis, Greg Wise.

Plot:

When Maddie brought her sister Taylor to Apulia in Italy after she advice her into go there 5 weeks earlier after one of her worse breaks up with Dough. She thought that she going to relax and great no man. To be surprised at the fact that her sister brought her over because she was getting married to Taylor old flame Raf. Will there still be a spark or will this be no "holiday"?

Review:

Walking on Sunshine is one of those feels good movies that is cheesy but a good cheesy. Out of all the jukebox musical there is on film. This is among my favorite as most the cast can sing.

However Giulio Berruti, he can just can carry a tone, I think the mainly got him, because of his Italian looks, he looks amazing, and his Italian, I assume it is but how can I tell. I'm not Italian or speak it.

Dispute this one slight let down, I really like the songs they choose as it helped to bring the story along and all the songs are well known, so all ages are able to sing along to " girls just want to have fun" to "wake me up before you go-go"

My favorite character is Tiziana, as she seems grumpy at first, but at the movie goes on, the more wild she gets, till one shot in "white wedding" where she was on the beach with two man laying down... Well you can fill in the rest.

Rating

Read more...

Movie Review: Suffragette [Emz]

I went to see this film at the cinema not long after it was released. I teared up many times throughout the film and it reminded me how lucky we are as women that we are in good strong job and we are able to vote.

Meryl Streep, Carey Muulligan and Helena Bonham-Carter are all brilliant in the film.

Here is the Premise:

In early 20th-century Britain, the growing suffragette movement forever changes the life of working wife and mother Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan). Galvanized by political activist Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep), Watts joins a diverse group of women who fight for equality and the right to vote. Faced with increasing police action, Maud and her dedicated suffragettes must play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, risking their jobs, homes, family and lives for a just cause.

Review:

This film was the most emotional film I had seen for a while. With it being based around the true story of the Suffragette movement and all they wanted was the right to Vote and men thought that was a ridiculous idea. they were in prison multiple times, they starved themselves in protest and one was killed after being trampled by a horse.

The main character lost her son through the process as he was adopted. 

I will never take for grated the right to vote as so many women worked so hard to make sure we had that write.

I can't even begin to rate this film as it is so powerful and emotional. If you haven't seen, but want to, I would say go for it.

Hoe you enjoyed this review.

If you have see this film, what was your opinion?

Till next time

Emz x

Read more...

Movie Reviews: The Outcasts [Emz]

So I literally just finished watching this.

There is the Premise:

Best friends Jodi (Victoria Justice) and Mindy (Eden Sher) have suffered years of torment under the thumb of the school's mean girls Whitney and Mackenzie (Claudia Lee, Peyton List). They plan to ride out their senior year under the radar, but when they become the victim of a humiliating prank, the two hatch a plan to unite the outcasts of the school and start a social revolution. They join forces with Dave (Avan Jogia), an affable slacker, Claire (Katie Chang), a girl scout with a secret, and Virginia (Ashley Rickards), an overachiever with dirt on everyone.

Review:

As I live in the UK I never fully had the experience of cliques in school. But this film was really funny. I've never seen aa film where the Nerds, Misfits and other Outcasts manage to overthrow the popular clique but the clique fights back. It was rather cheesy but very funny all the same.

There were a few actors I knew: Victoria Justice and Avian Jogia (Victorious), Peyton List (Jessie) and Ashley Rickards (One Tree Hill).

It was interesting seeing everything from a nerds point of view. Would I recommend them film? If you want to have a good laugh and like Star Wars references then this ones for you.

I would give it 4/5 stars as I love this kind of thing!

Till next time

Emz x

Read more...