Ride Along: Movie Review

Today I want to talk about the movie Ride Along. This movie won zero awards and in fact you're probably not going to remember it a year from now. But it has a few laughs, a surprise or two and at least one hardworking actor. It only has a small job to do, to divert. And it does it.

Now the actor Ice Cube plays an in-your-face Atlanta cop and Hart is an excitable wannabe who wants a shot at the Police Academy – and also the man's blessing to marry his kid sister (Tika Sumpter). But how's he going to do that? He thinks he can impress this guy with a ride along.

This movie really reminded me a lot the Rush Hour in a couple ways. Hart yammers away so constantly, so screechingly that you wonder if he has to cut royalty checks to Chris Tucker. Hart can be genuinely funny, though – he is one of those comics who will do anything for a laugh, and some things twice – and he is tireless. Nearly boneless, too, from the shots of him (or his stunt double) getting bounced off walls like a rubber ball.

What he doesn't get to do here is play much of a consistent character – he's trash-talking brave or jelly-spined scared, as the jokes require. Nor is Ice Cube called upon to do much more than glower. But director Tim Story – who directed Ice Cube in "Barbershop," and Hart in "Think Like a Man" – knows his actors' strengths and weaknesses, and mostly plays to the first while trying to hide the second.

The plot, which has the cops looking for a mysterious crime figure known only as "Omar", is pretty good enough, too. And although Story is bad at staging firefights (there are two extended gun battles where it's hard to tell exactly who's shooting whom) he's pretty good with fistfights and car chases. And yes, there are plenty of both.

So what did I think of Ride Along? In all honesty it was pretty much exactly as I expected considering it had Kevin Hart and Ice Cube. It wasn't at the top of the line comedies, but the subtle little fits of Kevin Hart and the crude yet hilarious remarks and violence from Ice Cube was exactly what I was looking for when watching this film.

The Pursuit of Happyness: Movie Review

One of my favorite movies of all time with Will Smith definitely has to be The Pursuit of Happyness. In mine and I'm sure many other's opinions, this movie was by far one the most fantastic performances that Will Smith has given in his career as an actor.

It all starts off like this. Smith plays Chris Gardner, a struggling salesman who spends his days trying to sell expensive, unnecessary medical equipment to doctors who don't need it (he obtained many of these machines when someone was selling them for dirt cheap and he thought they would be a revolutionary product. Turns out he was wrong). When he randomly runs into a Wall Street trader who informs him all one needs to do his job is be good with people and numbers, Chris decides to pursue a coveted internship at a brokerage; unfortunately, the job is unpaid, which means that he will have to support himself and his son Christopher (Jaden Christopher Syre Smith) without any promise of a paying job in the future.

There isn't much more to tell about Happyness in terms of plot, but it's not because nothing happens; rather, the obstacles that Chris faces are likely familiar to many or most people who watch, read about or follow underdog stories like this. The difference between this tale and others, however, is that it's based upon a true story - naturally with some of the details changed. For example, the real Chris Gardner's son was only about a year old, not five as in the film; whether this was changed because the real story seemed too outlandish or just because Smith's son Jaden was available to play the role remains unknown, but rather than undermining the believability of the tale it adds a counterpoint - namely, the child's perspective - that enriches Gardner's struggles.

But what feels most striking about this film is not its truth or accuracy, at least not in a technical sense. Rather, it's that the film does not seek blame or create unfounded obstacles for the character - particularly racial ones - instead enabling Chris' triumph as a personal one unencumbered by social or political context. Ultimately, this isn't the story of a black man learning how to succeed in a white world, or a poor person becoming rich, but the achievement of one man who looked past the litany of obstacles to which he could have easily surrendered. The fact that no one in the film looks down on him because of his sometimes unkempt appearance, much less the color of his skin, is a testament to the unfiltered purity of the real Gardner's story, and what makes the movie accessible to all audiences.

Hunger Games- Mockingjay Part 1: Moview Review

To me this post is very fun for me to do because I for one, love the Hunger Games series. Yet i thought both the book and the movie was a bit mediocre. I still think it definitely deserves a review though.

Lately The Hunger Games series has been what is popular among movie-goers for both young-adults and some of the even more mature crowds. It isn't surprising to me though, they are good films with a great concept, a decent amount of heart-string tugs and some great action. I would definitely call myself a fan of the series, but I would not call myself a fan of the recent trend of splitting the final films in popular series in two, which is something this film kind of suffered from.

Most of you probably already know the plot, but I'll give you a quick summary in case some don't. Katniss, the face of the up and coming rebellion against the evil capitol of Panem, has to deal with whether she wants to lead the rebellion or not. Now this film focused primarily on the political side of the story, how District 13 (Katniss' new home) is going to get the rest of the nation to help them rebel against the corrupt capitol. I find the politics of Panem pretty fascinating, and especially in District 13. The main objective they have is to film propaganda, and the team they have assembled to do so has such great chemistry, and all of the characters are very likable and quite funny.

This leads to talk about the performances in this film, and as always Jenifer Lawrence did a very good job. Her character is very fascinating as she never expected, or even wanted to be a part of any of it, so she has to to choose and deal with the pressures of those around her. It is always a pleasure watching Woody Harrelson play his character of Haymitch, along with Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket. Those two have provided a well needed comedic relief throughout the rest of a dark series. This film also lead to the introduction of a few new characters, and some past characters getting some more screen time. The performance among these that stands out the most to me is Julianne Moore as President Coin. I thought she fit in perfectly with the rest of the cast, and her character provided for the first time someone who was able to control Katniss a little bit more than we had seen done before.

As I said, there were a few characters from the past films who got more play in this one, and who I'm talking about are Prim, played by Willow Shields, and Gale, played by Liam Hemsworth. Prim hadn't been seen too much of since the beginning of the first film, or at least to this extent. I thought it was refreshing to have her character back since we were able to see how she grew and had become more independent with the absence of Katniss. I would say same goes for Gale, he gets a lot of flack, but I think he is also a very interesting character, which leads me to finally talk about Peeta, who isn't in this film much at all. I can say for what he does do though, he succeeds. He has a particular scene towards the very end which was very well done, and incredibly intense as opposed to the rest.

Now so far I have been saying primarily positive things about this film, and again I will say that I did enjoy it, but I did have a few flaws with it. Although the concept of having one film centered around the political side of the story, it at times got to be really slow. I am able to handle films that don't move at fast speed, and aren't always full of action, but I don't think that is what these films are. They are a mix of politics, action, underlying themes, emotions, and relations. Having too much of one of these and not enough of the others made this film seem like it was two different in tone to the others, and I'm not saying that that is always a bad thing,but in this case it was. Although there were a few scenes that were well done and interesting I often was wondering when it would pick up, and when I'd see what I wanted to see. It was at the end I realized that wasn't happening for another year.

Mockingjay Part 1 is not something I would call a cash-grab as many people have. It is not entirely for the money, I think the artists do believe that there is enough story that it can and should be stretched over two films. I did not agree with that though, and that is where my main issue with the film was born. Overall I did enjoy it a lot though, and it made me very excited to see the next film!

Spongebob Sponge out of Water: Movie Review

As a fan of both the Spongebob Squarepants Series and the 2004 Spongebob Movie, I was really looking forward to see this new movie that came out. After watching it, I do have to say that I wasn't as thrilled with it as I thought I would be. But then again,how could you possibly follow the last movie that was made. That movie was fricken awesome!

Having written all that, I'm giving Sponge Out of Water a moderate recommendation. It's got some golden moments of weird, surreal glee, but there are also parts that are a huge mess. I know, it's weird to criticize something like SpongeBob for being too unorganized or wacky, but when it prevents the story from telling the way it should you wind up with a movie that sort of feels like a bunch of separate SpongeBob episodes all tacked together in a row.

The first movie was meant to be a bit of a primer for viewers who may not have been all that familiar with the series. It focused mostly on SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) and his thickheaded starfish friend Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) as they went on a quest to retrieve King Neptune's crown (and adventure that also took them up out of the sea and onto land). The rest of the SpongeBob regulars took a backseat to a more streamlined tale and (filled with guest stars like Jeffrey Tambor, Scarlett Johansson, and more) and it worked out really well. Despite sort of being "SpongeBob for Beginners," it turned out awesome.

Sponge Out of Water instantly sheds all notions of exposition at the door and dives into an insane story that contains magical tomes that can alter reality, singing seagulls, time travel, and inter-dimensional omniscient rapping dolphins. It's meant to just be a big madhouse with ever-so-slight signs of a story.

Sponge Out of Water brings all the series characters together for a movie that feels like a true ensemble, complete with a handful of truly golden moments of goofy hilarity. But it's also dragged down by an "everythingand the kitchen sink" approach that makes it feel like a bunch of good separate ideas thrown together in haste.

The Flash: TV Show Review

Most of you readers know, that my blog has mostly consisted of music and movie reviews. But I would like to live up to the name/blog change that I have made and go further into it with a review on my thoughts of the new Flash TV show.

The pilot episode was released on Tuesday October 7th (ironically my birthday, how nice of them). While watching it, I couldn't help but feel like this show was very heavily influenced by Sam Raimi's spider-man films. It sets up the whole origin story very similarly, as well as the action scenes, and the special effects are quite reminiscent. This is hardly a bad thing however, many superheros (such as the Flash) are very hard to translate to film, it is hard for them to not try to come across as trying to be serious and have that flop. The other option is to embrace the cheesiness, and boy they did. They cheesed it up just like a mouse in Wisconsin. They poured a whole bottle of Reddi-cheese on this show and doused it with an extra layer of queso!

Now, you're probably wondering if it was really that cheesey, and the answer is no. If it tells you anything , it is very similar to something you would see in the comics. I am being honest when I say they were definitely not holding any of it back. Now for many people this will be a turn off for. For the people the show is really targeting though, it won't be a problem at all! For me, it wasn't too big of a problem, but if I continue to watch it I could see it getting old real fast. I mean, the acting was pretty mediocre and the writing, don't even get me started on that.

Going into this, I did not expect much out of the action scenes. How could you really? You don't see too much examples of well executed super-speed, with the only exceptions being Quicksilver's "Time in a Bottle Scene" from X-Men Days of Future Past and Dash running on water in The Incredibles. Now nothing in this show did justice to either of those examples, but for the budget of a television show I thought they did fine. It made use of a lot of slow motion and styling effects of that sort to make it seem more realistic. In addition to that whenever Flash would be running we would either see it very up close or from a very wide angle. The wide angle actually added an interesting perspective that enhanced these scenes.

One of my biggest complaints is of the character development, it seemed like the writers tried to force a lot on you that could have fit into a three episode long area, but I'd rather have this than stretching out of material that ends up falling short. Over all I thought "The Flash" was alright, not too good or bad. I can see it sliding into the path of bad some point soon though, but I guess I will just have to wait and see!

One Song, Many Artists

The song I am going to talk about today is one that has touched the lives of many and relates to a very large group of people. This song is called "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen. There are several covers of this song, one of the most known covers of it is by Jeff Buckley, the song itself actually found greater popular acclaim through a cover by John Cale. But my personal favorite cover is by Rufus Wainwright. He puts so much emotion into the way he sings this song and even if you don't even understand the meaning the first or second time you hear it, it still might make you emotional and feel the why Rufus feels while singing it.





Many other cover versions of "Hallelujah have been performed by many various singers, both in concerts live and recorded for different events which have added up to 300 total versions. The song has been widely used in films and television soundtracks, the most popular was my favorite cover of the song by Rufus Wainwright in the movie "Shrek", which was actually the first time I had ever heard the song before.




What most people don't pay attention to, is the true meaning of the song. Even when people listen to it, I can't believe no one fully understands this song. The song is about both love and heartbreak, but there are also strong religious undertones, not exactly "anti-religious" but just showing the theory that people only turn to God to complete the holes left by the imperfections in life. The first verse combines these two meanings, beginning with a biblical reference to David being Gods favored man on earth, before a lyric with two meanings, "it goes like this, the fourth the fifth... the minor fall and the major lift" the first part cleverly refers to the musical structure of the song, but it also refers to the rollercoaster of love, peaks of emotions from the best to the worst.




The second verse is a reference to Sampson and Delilah from the holy bible, although when it says "you saw her bathing on the roof" is another reference to David and Bathsheeba. It finished by telling how a failed relationship can break your life apart, and again how people in relationships and mid_life crisis's "find god".

Big Hero 6: Movie Review

Disney has finally used the first of their Marvel properties they plan on using, and it is Big Hero 6. It takes place in a fictional hybrid city of San Francisco and Tokyo, cleverly named San Fransokyo. When complications arise, Hiro (our protagonist) must gather a robot and his collective friends to get together to fight someone who betrayed his family.

The animation in this film was very good. It looked very classic Disney at times but had the overtone of a new age animation style which I found to be really sleek. The city design was also quite amazing. The combination of the two cities oddly works perfectly, and makes for some great landscapes in the film.

This film had me laughing a lot. Which is probably the best thing I can say about it. There were several characters who just worked so perfectly and had great chemistry together especially since they were animated characters. The show was often stole by the widely advertised Baymax character, who was often funny not by the dialogue he had, but by his actions.

Although I really enjoyed this film, there were still a few problems I had with it. One being that it felt as though the characters did not receive enough development. One scene characters are introduced and in the next one they are being referred to as the main characters best friends, it just seemed as though it happened incredibly quick, and it just didn't seem right. Also, many of the happenings towards the end have become very cliche as of late. Especially the final battle scene, it seemed like it was an exact copy, but kiddie-d down, version of the final battle in The Avengers.

With that said, I really did like this movie. Disney seems to be on a real hot streak lately, and I am very glad for that. I encourage anyone, especially people with kids, or people into kids movies (I guess) to go see it!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer Review

The new trailer for the much anticipated return to the Star Wars universe has been released! Being a huge fan of the series, this excited me, and I thought there was no better way to return to my blog than to share my thoughts about it! In order to read this post though you are probably going to want to watch the trailer below.

Was that not fantastic? So anyway I'm going to start discussing it from the beginning, in which we hear Andy Serkis speaking lines. What he is saying can lead us to believe there has been an "awakening", as the title states, in the force, more specifically, the dark side. After that, we see someone dressed as a storm trooper in a mad panic, sweating heavily. Now this has led to some heavy criticism from fans. Many are saying that he can't be a storm trooper since they are all clones, however I think it is way to early to tell if that is even what they are trying to do, and that he is maybe in a disguise like Luke and Han were in A New Hope.

We then see a few other things, a soccer ball looking droid, which is an interesting looking take on the classic R2 unit look, then some footage of a bunch of storm troopers ready to go into battle. This shows us that conflicts are arising again, and that something is really about to go down.

The next clip was something really interesting... we see a girl, who non-coincidentally looks a lot like Princess Leia, get onto a pod and shoot off. Obviously this leads us to believe that this is the dream off-spring of Han Solo and Leia. This will be something interesting to see, and the film is rumored to be centered on the later generations of the Skywalker family.

After that there is a few scenes of some classic Star Wars ship battles, which gives me hope since they look a lot like the classic trilogy, but after that is when the real fun starts. A darkened figure, I'm presuming to be an offspring of Luke, is walking through a forest, and as he stops he pulls out something no one expected... a triple-bladed lightsaber. Now another criticism of this trailer was the practicality of the lightsaber, how will he be able to do tricks? Won't it cut off his hand if he messes up? Well those questions could be said about Darth Maul's double blade, but that was probably the best thing about the prequel trilogy! I think it will be practical since it is very reminiscent of old swords used in the middle-ages and it will be able to protect someone better while in battle.


After that we get to see the final, and by far the most satisfying shot of the entire trailer: the soon to be famous Millennium Falcon barrel roll. Seeing this shot made me giggle and smile and jump around like a child the first five times I watched this trailer (yes, I did watch it more than five times). Now my prediction is that at some point during the film, most likely this scene, Han Solo is going to be back in the pilot seat of the falcon. It just makes sense having him and Chewy back where they started.

Overall I loved this trailer, and it makes me even more excited for this upcoming film. What my main concern was if it was really going to be a Star Wars film, and what I mean by that is will it do justice, and actually restore the greatness that was the originals, or fall under the unfortunate curse of the prequels. I am very excited to say it looks like, and I say this with caution, it can be as good as the originals. I just cannot wait to find out if it will be.

Tove Lo: Habits/Stay High Song Review

Okay, let's talk about this Tove Lo song everyone around the world has been raving about. First of all, this song has probably had the most remixes and covers than any other song I've seen in the last 17 years of my life. It's pretty much ridiculous how many are out there! There's one's on itunes, one's on spotify, one's on iheart radio, pandora, and my personal favorite one's are on soundlcloud. Don't get me wrong, I love this song and everything about it. And heck yeah I have ALL the different remixes downloaded in my music. All I'm saying is people are crazy about this tune.

Even so, the world loves this song for many different reasons. The sound of the song, the singer of it, and even just because everyone else likes it and listens to it. But only a fraction of the listeners really pay attention to what the song's lyrics are saying. First she says, "... I eat my dinner in my bathtub... Then I go to sex clubs... Watching freaky people getting it on... It doesn't make me nervous... If anything I'm restless... Yeah I've been around and I've seen it all...". She is basically summing up her life at this point in time, saying that she's not nervous about the freaky things these people are doing in all the clubs she goes to and that she's "been around" which means she's slept with a lot of people.

From the tone of the song, I feel like it's more and just about a break up like most people think it is. I think it's about the death of a loved one. Everything in her life has gone down the drain because of her loss. She says that she "spends her days locked in a haze, tryin' to forget you babe. I fall back down. Got to stay high all my life to forget I'm missing you." She is basically spending all her money on alcohol, drugs, and she is just throwing her body around to any stranger that will take her for the night.

She also says that she "picks up daddies at the playground, how I spend my day time". She is pretty much saying that she hooks up with dads she meets at parks. It kind of makes me feel that she likes being a homewrecker, because once she is through with these guys, she won't be the only one who is miserable, because she has messed up the marriage.

Obviously this song is very depressing when you really listen to it. I don' know if this was really based off of what has happened in her past or to a friend or something, but whatever it is, the song has captured the world's attention and maybe makes us feel a little relaxed or on a "high" as she says.

Maze Runner: Movie Review

Basically, the first half-hour of the movie is a giant info dump where Thomas -- nicknamed "Greenie" -- gets to know the other guys in the camp. There's Alby, the group's appointed leader; Newt (who also played in We're The Millers which was hilarious), who's relegated to exposition duty for most of the film; and Gally, the forceful rule follower.

Ok, this movie was wayyyyy better than I expected it to be. Even though they got a couple things wrong, they did an amazing job making this motion picture. When I was in my Freshman year in high school I read these books and they easily skyrocketed into the top three best book series' I've read next to Eragon and Harry Potter. And when I firgured out they were gonna make a movie, I was ecstatic.

Here, Thomas learns the ins and outs of the Maze, along with its goofy, unending terminology. This includes the "Runners," which are the unlucky chosen few who run the Maze by day in search of a way out. A dude called Minho leads the Runners, and quickly befriends Thomas. Eventually, Thomas becomes a Runner too, and -- surprise, surprise -- he makes unprecedented discoveries that could lead the boys to freedom. Adding a wrench in their plans, the powers-that-be send the first girl to the Glade, Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), which spurs Thomas to double his efforts.

Now, I don't want to spoil the movie for those of you who haven't seen it yet, but overall this movie was spectatular in my opinion. The visual effects and even the acting (me saying this only because the cast mainly consisted of teens) was fantastic. I strongly recommend this movie to all viewers.

Braveheart: Movie Review

You know those movies that you would never even think of until it comes on television one day and
your like "whoa!!! I love this movie!!". Braveheart is one of those movies in my opinion. Costume drama, historical epic, large-scale action flick, and romance all rolled into one big, green, wet, plaid package-- that's Braveheart, the story of Scottish legend William Wallace, the man who fought off the English to regain Scotland's independence in the 13th century.

Yes, young William, played by Mel Gibson, who also directed the movie (which might I add is one of my favorite actors that played in a couple of great movies like all of the Lethal Weapon movies, Mad Max, Signs, and of course The Expendables), has seen England's tyranny close-up-- he walked into a barn full of locals hanged by the English, the day before his dad and brother were also killed by the English. (The English are bad.) So William travels the world for a while before returning as a grown-up to marry his childhood sweetheart played by the ever so stunning Catherine McCormack.

But in an effort to purge Scotland of its Scots, King Edward of Longshanks has granted his noblemen "first night" privileges, meaning sexual rights to any woman who gets married on her wedding night. When William marries the hottie and an English lord tries to cash his this new found privilege given to him on Williams girl. Then, William gets all "nuh-uh" and kills all the English in the village, but not before they kill his new bride.

With no wife and nothing to lose, and a healthy disgust with the way the English have occupied his country, William decides to keep this butt-kicking thing going and see where it leads.

Overall, this is a good movie, all three hours of it. It won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Sound Effects Editing, and it was nominated for five more.

Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack

As most of you know and have seen, I wrote a blog post a about a month ago on the fairly new movie that came out 2014 called Guardians of the Galaxy. In my personal opinion it was a pretty solid movie. It had everything I like in a movie, action, fantasy, even based of a classic comic book series, and the very occasional crude but hilarious humor. But I'm not here to tell you guys about how much I liked the movie because I've already done a post on that. I'm going to tell you about the one thing about the movie that really captured me which was the soundtrack.


When Disney released this new soundtrack called the "Awesome Mix Vol. 1" from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, it quickly sky rocketed to the number one spot for soundtracks on iTunes. One of the obvious reasons for this was because of the movie's obvious success. But the more important reasons was because of the list of classic 80's songs found on the tape. These songs were well known by the majority of the public and loved classics that had been passed down from generation whether it be from parents or movies or events of the years.


Here is the list of songs from the album:

1. "Hooked on a Feeling" Performed by Blue Swede
2. "Go All the Way" Performed by Raspberries
3. "Spirit in the Sky"* Performed by Norman Greenbaum
4. "Moonage Daydream" Performed by David Bowie
5. "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" Performed by Elvin Bishop
6. "I'm Not in Love" Performed by 10cc
7. "I Want You Back" Performed by Jackson 5
8. "Come and Get Your Love" Performed by Redbone
9. "Cherry Bomb" Performed by The Runaways
10. "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" Performed by Rupert Holmes
11. "O-O-H Child" Performed by The Five Stairsteps
12. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" Performed by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

I found it extremely moving and really got me into the movie more that the soundtrack of songs were all actually a part of the movie on the mixed tape that Quill had received from his mother before she died that had included the many songs that her and Quill shared and loved in the little time that they had together. And on top of that, considering that I had a similar experience of sharing classic songs from the past with my parents on long car rides to see my brother was such a cherished memory to me, it made the movie and songs that even I knew all the better to enjoy.


The one song that REALLY got to me though, was right at the end where Quill finally opens the gift/new mixed tape his mother gave him right before she died. And it wasn't the revealing of the tape that got me, it was when he put it in his stereo and it started off with the first song playing "O-O-H Child". And everything finally fell into place for Quill and his life and "things are gonna get easier".

Ain't No Rest For the Wicked: Song Review

This song was also a lost treasure that I found late one night while browsing the Alternative genre top 150 charts. The Caged Elephants have made so much music that I love still to this day. And they are still coming out with new stuff!! Right now, I can’t stop listening to their latest hit song “Cigarette Daydreams”. But let’s save that one for another time. Right now I want to talk about one of the greatest songs by The Caged Elephants ever made called “Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked” and what my interpretation of the song is.

To me, each verse represents something that could completely take control of you. The street he's walking on represents the course of his life.

In the first verse, the narrator encounters sex or lust. When he says, "You're such a sweet young thing, why do you do this to yourself?," I think he overcomes his temptations in search of a deeper form of love, though not completely.

I like to picture the person that the narrator encounters in the second verse as a drug dealer. I think that the whole verse vaguely talks about the risks and struggles associated with drugs and drug deals. I think it takes a while for him to overcome his temptation for drugs, contrasting the fifteen minutes that passed after his first encounter and the couple hours after his second encounter.

In the third verse, the narrator finally gets off of the street and into his house, as his life is winding down. He encounters religion, as a lot of people do towards the end of their life. He witnesses the corrupt bullshit that can take place behind the scenes of a church. He ends the verse in understanding because he has confronted these different temptations and he understands how easy it can be to get lost on the street of wickedness, even when you're subscribed to a religion that is meant to be pure.

These social issues exist as a result of our flawed capitalist system. Money fuels impurity and everybody is looking for their next thrill. It is sad that the world has come down to money and doing anything just to make a quick buck. I think that’s the main reason the group sang the song the way that they did. With anger and “wickedness”.

A Fault in Our Stars: Movie Review

I had been wanting to watch A Fault in Our Stars since the day I saw the trailer for it. Unfortunately, I was too stubborn to watch it until I could watch it with a close group of friends. So, I didn't end up watching it until two days ago which was about seven months after it came out. Yeah yeah I'm that pathetic.

So, since it had came out that long ago, the group of friends I watched it with had all already seen it at least once. One person had seen it seven times!! So of course when it came to all of the extremely sad and emotional parts, I was the only person with tears running down my face. Most everyone was either laughing, laughing at me, or only slightly tearing up.

The whole movie is pretty much based on the acclaimed novel by John Green, The Fault in Our Stars evades teen romance tropes to embrace more mature conventions. Instead of surviving high school, Hazel struggles with lung and thyroid cancer. Her love life is an afterthought... until she meets the perfect guy. Cancer survivor Gus (Ansel Elgort) disrupts Hazel's malaise with an intoxicating swaggerish attitude. Fault's not a corny high school movie, but it's still dream-fulfillment with a GED. 500 Days of Summer writers Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber and director Josh Boone indulge in whimsical fluff only to burn it down with grief. Cancer is their dramatic trump card. Tears will flow, one way or another.

It was mix of emotions all the way through the entire movie. The parts where the two, Gus and Hazel, are just hanging out and especially the parts where Gus does surprising and special things for Hazel and makes her smile always made me smile and feel truly happy. But, on the other side, I felt extremely sad and actually teared up during the parts where they were in the hospital and the death of Gus and his funeral (hit me very hard). But the one scene that hit me the hardest, was the scene when they were on the bench. That was the first time and one of the only times during the movie wear I had tears pouring down my face.

All together, A Fault in Our Stars was on of the most nerve racking, emotional, and amazing movies I have ever seen.

Stay With Me: Song Review

Sam Smith is by far one of my top favorite artists right now. The way he portrays his music and message the he wants to get through is enthralling. In this song, I don’t feel like he is singing about a lost love, rather an addiction of some sort. 

Right now the song means a lot to me. I feel it is about a relationship that just didn't work, they weren't in love. But he doesn't want to girl to leave because he isn't ready to be alone. So until he finds someone who he truly is in love with, he wants the girl to stay around to fill that empty void.

"Guess it's true, I'm not good at a one-night stand. 

But I still need love 'cause I'm just a man. 

These nights never seem to go to plan.

I don't want you to leave, will you hold my hand?"

The one night stand portrays an addiction of some sort. This "love" he needs could come from various sources, man, woman, drugs, alcohol. He can’t leave the addiction, he doesn't want it to go away or leave. 

"Why am I so emotional? No, it's not a good look, gain some self-control. And deep down I know this never works. But you can lay with me so it doesn't hurt

Addiction causes emotions and usually no self-control (the mind is powerful in many ways) whatever the addiction is, he doesn’t want it to leave, it needs to stay by his side. He can’t control it.

I just love this song and the meaning of it. I can’t really relate to it right now because I’m not currently in the relationship. But, I’m sure if I found someone that I truly fell in love with, I’d feel the same way as Sam Smith.

Tongue Tied: Song Review

Almost every night I have a set schedule. I get home from school, get some chores done, finish up my homework if I have any, check some instagram, try and make plans with friends after realizing its probably way too late to try, then sit around and watch netflix and text people. But one part of my night always stands true. At one point or another, I end up going on itunes and going through music of different genres. Usually it consist of casually browsing through the Alternative and Electronic categories. I'll look for songs in the featured section and the top one fifty in the genres chart.

This weekend I found several songs that I instantly fell in love with. But one in particular stuck out to me. The song "Tongue Tied" by Grouplove was a song that I had heard years and years ago and had completely forgotten about. It was honestly like finding a lost treasure.

I think this song is about a guy, who loves this girl, who he is addressing in the song, and he's saying let's go back in time, to your best friend's house, to that party, where I messed up. I got too high, I made out with some girl Marmalade that I don't like like I love you. And him being tongue tied is a double entente- he's tongue tied as in the literal sense, busy making out with that girl and caught in the act, but also tongue tied as in he doesn't know what to say to explain himself to her, the girl he loved then, the girl he still loves now, even after a meaningless makeout.

I'm pulling some of this meaning from the music video, which plays backwards like Coldplay's 'The Scientist'. You see him eat a brownie as the last shot, and working backwards (as in forward, if that makes sense), he makes out with some girl, the girl's part comes in and she looks annoyed as she sings, he looks distressed as he washes his face in the bathroom to 'sober up' and while he sings 'I love you now' you can hear the desperation in his voice, and then he runs away from the party escaping 3 masked men that watch him and chase him. Maybe symbolic of his regret.

I just love this song. It makes me feel alive and get away from my life and worries. I highly recommend this song for your playlists to listen to while chilling with friends or by yourself.

Youth by Daughter: Song Review

One of my really good friends showed me this song, I instantly fell in love with it. Youth by Daughter is probably one of my all time favorite songs.

Generally, I think this song is about growing up and the pain this brings along. It's a scream of pain directed to all those adults who think that young people have nothing to worry about and don't take youngsters seriously. She is opposing strongly to this general illusion of a carefree youth.

"We are the reckless we are the wild youth" to me is meant in an ironic way and is the bottom line of the song, cause clearly this person doesn't feel reckless and wild. At least not in a carefree way as young people are generally supposed to be. 

She is painting an image of her generation: young people who have no clue where to go and how to live life.
They (want to) die before they grow old (be it by suicide, traffic accidents, drugs,...). 
They set fire to their insides for fun (literally by smoking cigarettes, but also metaphorical by revolting and experimenting with extreme opinions)
They don't understand love.
They are just trying...and hurting. The way of life doesn't seem to make sense. 

I don't know about you, but for me the most intense lyric is "And if you're still bleeding, you're the lucky ones". Such a powerful way of saying that if you are bleeding, it means that you are still alive. Maybe only for a few seconds... but always remember: the unlucky ones are already dead. Be grateful for every second in your life.

She lost her home (childhood or feeling of safety) and some particular event or person caused it. She blames this person for it. 

No matter how dark the song is, somehow I feel she knows this is just how life goes and that's why she is not keeping the song on a strictly personal level, but is also reaching out to others with sentences like "if you're still in love than you are the lucky ones". She does know love or a feeling of home is possible, but at this moment she just doesn't believe it is meant for her, because she is aching too much.

The emotion and intensity of this song is too surreal. I can't really describe the feeling it gives you besides that it makes me want to keep listening over and over again till you really find out the true meaning of it.

Rangers Apprentice Book Series: Review

If you're a fan of fantasy and action books, you'll love the Ranger's Apprentice series by the author John Flanagan. In the book series, Will (who is an orphan and ward of the castle Redmont) becomes an apprentice to the master Ranger named Halt. Rangers are secretive warriors who use their intelligence, courage, ability to move around unseen, and skills with bows and knives to protect the kingdom of Araluen. After training under Halt, young Will is off on a series of adventures to save Araluen from the evil Lord Morgarath.

At first, you meet the main characters and learn about their skills and personalities in the first book of the series, Rangers Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan. Will, a ward at Redmont Castle, had hoped to become a knight just like he thought his father was before he died, but his small size was not suited to that path. Instead, he learns that his stealth and intelligence, which has been observed by from the ranger Halt from the first day he had the idea to sneak off, would serve him well as a Ranger. He's placed as an apprentice to Halt—the ultimate teacher. Despite Halt's grumpiness and constant demands, Will admires his master and soon considers him a father figure.

Will and Halt team up with Halt's former apprentice, Gilan, to battle a group of beasts, the Kalkaras which are intelligent beasts born to hunt and assassinate for shiny objects, dispatched by the evil Morgarath . Fifteen years ago, Morgarath, a former baron of Araluen, tried to overthrow the king of Araluen, but was defeated by Halt in a huge war/battle and sent into exile on Mountains of Rain and Night. Will's newly learned skills—and his ability to use them under pressure—are put to the test.

After this book, the series goes on, telling stories and showing the characters experiences and growth in skills and character over time.

I enjoyed this series because its filled with action and excitement. The author included so many vivid details that I felt as if I was at the front line of the battles. Each of the characters seemed human and realistic. For example, even the heroes had flaws. In addition, each of the books ended with a cliffhanger, making me eager to read the next in the series. I highly recommend the Ranger's Apprentice series to any fan of fast-paced fantasy and action books.

The Interview: Movie Review

When I went to see this movie, I pretty much got what I expected from it to be honest. I mean, it has James Franco and Seth Rogen in it and the whole movie is about making fun of North Korea and killing Kim Jung Un. Now this movie stirred up a lot of fuss, so much that North Korea actually threatened the United States with a terrorist attack that (and I quote) “will be worse than Nine Eleven”. But, as Americans, pretty much the greatest country in the world, didn’t care what so ever. We could easily destroy them if they tried anything on us.

But we weren’t going to be completely stupid while making this completely rude movie. Sony Pictures has already digitally altered the uniforms on the actors playing North Korean soldiers so that they are not identical to the real-world military. The studio is now also in the midst of the ramifications of a massive hack that may be related to the film. It’s much ado about a movie whose central characters have their watches perpetually set to 4:20.

This movie is basically about the character Dave Skylark (James Franco) who is the face of Skylark Tonight, a celebrity gossip show that prides itself on the revealing of deep, shrouded secrets of the Hollywood elite. Although, Skylark would nothing without his producer and best friend Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen).

When the team is offered the surprising opportunity to interview Kim Jung Un, the CIA recruits them to assassinate him. Once in North Korea, Kim Jung decides to trick the men into thinking all is well in North Korea and all the things that America has said about it like starving people are all lies. He manipulates Skylark not really caring about Aaron. He makes Skylark relate to him in many ways to force him into not wanting to do the assassination and say good things about North Korea instead of the bad things he was supposed to say.

Now I won’t say anymore just in case you viewers out there haven’t seen this yet, but this is one of the funniest craziest movies I have ever seen and let’s just say you won’t want to miss it.

How to Train Your Dragon 2; Movie Review

I must say, this movie far exceeded what my initial expectations were. Set five years after the first film, How to Train Your Dragon 2 boldly ages its characters from teenagers to young adults. Our hero Hiccup is now 20 years old, has picked up a lot of new tricks since we last saw him, and he's acquired a slick new arsenal that includes a custom wing suit, a duel-purpose prosthetic leg and, most notably, a telescoping fire sword.

Now, looking less like Harry Potter and more like Luke Skywalker, the older Hiccup is a natural adventurer, always on the lookout for new and exciting places to go. As Hiccup puts it in the movie, "With Vikings on the backs of dragons, the world just got a whole lot bigger."  However, Hiccup's father Stoick (Gerard Butler) has nobler plans for his son and hopes that Hiccup will take his place as Berk's Chief.

Naturally, this idea doesn’t sit too well with Hiccup. All the while, Hiccup has been trying and pushing Toothless, his dragon, to new heights and distances. Everyday Hiccup and his dragon will ride out to lands undiscovered by their village yet to see if there is anything else out there to be seen or needed by his people.

But, in all stories like this one, when exploring for things that haven’t been seen before, you usually find something. In one adventure out into new lands, Hiccup finds himself in front of a huge iceberg unlike any he’d ever seen before. It wasn’t natural. It was tall, thin, and had many spikes coming out from it. While looking at this ice, he is spotted by men that seem to be dragon hunters that try and capture Toothless. Hiccup finds out this man capturing dragons is Eret and he is doing this to give them over to Drago Bludvist. This man is a typical bad guy, wants all the dragons to himself, thinks he is the only one who can control them, wants to rule the world. Pretty much ripped from the pages of Bad Guys 101.

But one thing from this movie that is the most memorable part has to be Hiccups discovery of his long lost mother Valka. Now I don’t want to spoil too much, but let’s just say  she plays an important role in Hiccup’s fight against Drago and shares some emotional amazing scenes with her husband Stoick that fleshes out both of the characters.

With saying all of that, I don’t want to spoil the entire movie for all who have not seen it, but let’s just say, in my personal opinion, How to Train Your Dragon 2 is far better than the first and is a must see for all ages.