Long time no blog

Hello my lovelies,

So again I've left it a while between blog posts, I don't really have a reason but now at times there will be something as well as blog posts, and that's what I'm about to tell you about.

A while ago I was asked if I'd ever made YouTube videos or thought about it, and up until recently I hadn't really. My channel had two videos on it but now I'm hoping to change that. 

I wanted to try giving it a go even if it's just the odd Vlog now and then, so that's what I'm going to do. I vlogged for the first time the other week so I'll leave that below if you fancy giving it a watch. It wasn't anything too amazing but I was happy to have vlogged something at least. Everyone has to start somewhere, right. I'm hoping I'll get better with it eventually, then the vlogs and blog could go together somehow maybe. 

Anyway, I'll leave it there today. Would love it if you'd check out my first vlog, maybe subscribe and leave a comment to say hey! 

Until next time guys and girls, thanks for reading :) x 

Life is Strange

Hello my lovelies,

Spring finally seems to be arriving here in the UK, thank God! I'm so excited for the weather to start warming up and spending more time outside again. How are you all? I've got something a bit different for you today. Not my usual ramble about whether I like a film or television programme but instead, a game. But not just any game, it happens to be the first video game I've ever been bought and the first game I've ever really played for a proper amount of time to get into it. It is as the title suggests, Life is Strange.

I am a total noob when it comes to gaming. Sure there have been times when I've joined friends in games like Super Mario or Just Dance, and there was a short period of time that I actually played Pokemon. However when it comes to games with a proper story I wouldn't even know where to begin. I've watched friends and my boyfriend play and I find myself getting the storyline and wanting to watch more to find out what would happen, so when I came home from work last week to find my lovely other half had bought me a game like this, I was very happy and thought it was a really sweet thing for him to have done.

The limited edition Life is Strange. 

Not only did he buy me the game though, he bought me the limited edition version which just made it that bit more special, and I couldn't help but smile and be very grateful. Just from looking at the art book that came with it, I could tell it would be a beautiful game and from the short amount that I've played so far, it hasn't disappointed me yet. It also came with the soundtrack CD and although I haven't had a chance to listen to the whole thing yet, what I've heard in game play is really lovely and works so well with the game and its story.

Developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix in 2015 in different episodes, Life is Strange is a game that allows you to choose actions which then decide how the story unfolds, and could lead to good or bad consequences. It focuses on Maxine Caulfield, a photography student who discovers she has the ability to rewind time. How cool is that!! We follow her through her days at school and when she's just spending time with best friend Chloe, and see how she realises she has the ability.

I haven't played too much of it just yet but from what I have played I can easily say I really enjoy this game. At first I thought I'd be quite stressed figuring out what to do and how to do things, but I seem to have picked it up quite well. I know that sounds really silly but I really am not a very good gamer at all so this is quite good for me. Compared to other games I've seen, this seems to be a really good choice of game for someone like me. I love the story of it and when I play, I really find myself getting sucked in and not wanting to put the controller down. I really like how at times the story takes over and rather than control everything you get to watch as things unfold before it gives you control to move around again.

I would definitely recommend this game to anyone and everyone and I don't say that easily. I don't know a lot about games but I think this is one that many would enjoy and is definitely worth giving a go. If you're not sure about it, watch the trailer below and you'll see just how amazing it looks.

Until next time my lovelies, thanks for reading :) x

"Phenomenal Woman, That's Me" - Poetic Justice

Hello my lovelies,

Hope your week is going well so far, slowly getting to the weekend. 

Today's film is one that I've been told to watch numerous times and every time I say I'll get round to it, and now I finally have. Sorry to the person that suggested I watch it, but I just don't think it's my thing.

Poetic Justice is an American romance and drama film made in 1993. Written and directed by John Singleton, it stars Janet Jackson as Justice and Tupac Shakur as Lucky. All of the poems that are featured throughout the film are written by Maya Angelou who also makes an appearance in the film as Aunt June.

I won't bore you with a plot line that you could look up anyway, so I'll just give my opinions and what I thought while watching it. 

From close to the beginning I could tell it wasn't going to be my sort of film. At times it felt cringey, and it struggled to hold my attention. I wouldn't say it's a bad film, just not incredibly interesting. 

I wouldn't necessarily call it boring, I just didn't feel hooked on the story line at any point. It didn't feel like very much happened. I think it just needed a little more action for me to enjoy it more.

I liked the poems, and two of them I had actually heard before so I recognised them straight away. It wasn't badly made but it was quite long which could be another reason it didn't hold my attention fully but I still watched until the end, and the end was quite cute. 

I wouldn't write it off completely as a film I wouldn't watch again, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to find it again. For others they might really like it so it still may be worth you checking it out as you could enjoy it more than I did.

Until next time my lovelies, thanks for reading :) x 

Love

Hello my lovelies, 

Hope you're all well. I feel like I've been working so much recently so haven't really watched many films but I've managed to squeeze in some tv programmes here and there. For example whilst on my breaks at work this week I've caught up with the new episodes of The Walking Dead, and oh wow! I've done a post about it before so I don't want to be repeating myself and boring you guys, but I was not expecting so much to happen in the first episode back. If you haven't seen it yet then go and watch it right now. Right now!! 

I like to have background noise whilst doing things like tidying or getting dressed, so this morning I started a new series on Netflix called Love. I've only heard a small bit about it but thought I'd give it a go so it's something to have on. 

Love is an American romantic comedy based around dating and looks at both sides of relationships from male and female points of view. Created by Judd Apatow, Paul Rust & Lesley Arfin, it stars Gillian Jacobs, Claudia O'Doherty & Paul Rust. I hadn't heard of the cast before but they don't seem bad. They work together well and fit he character roles they've been given. Paul Rusts character Gus, is the one that stands out the most to me so far. A funny, nerdy guy that can't seem to get over his ex and starts hanging out with college kids. 

From what I've seen so far it's funny but I don't feel hooked yet. I could not watch this for ages and not miss it. Still undecided to whether or not I enjoy it but I'm giving it a chance and if I get into it more throughout the series I'll report back so you guys can check it out. 

If you're also watching this new series let me know your opinions and whether you think it's worth continuing to watch or not. 

Until next time, thanks for reading :) x 

Call the Midwife

Hello my lovelies,

How are you all this week? I've been working a lot recently so finally grabbing my chance to write something. I've been loving Call the Midwife so wanted to do like a mini review of it for you this week.

I'm not sure if its aired in other countries but it is on Netflix if you wanted to start watching it from the beginning. Call the Midwife is a BBC period drama that follows the lives of a group of nurses/midwives as they work in London during the 1950s and 60s. The nurses stay in a nursing convent with nuns helping them as they cope with the various medical problems thrown at them in the deprived district of Poplar, as well as helping deliver a large number of babies each month.

Its such an interesting program and it really makes you get attached to the characters and the things they go through tugs at your heart strings and has made me cry before. There are moments when it can seem quite depressing and you really feel for the people that actually went through situations like these in the 50s. Some of the storylines are so hard hitting and surprising at times. I'm not sure I could manage to cope and keep it together like they seem to.Although its probably not meant to be educational, there are times when it can teach you things from midwifery to what life was like back then.

The cast all seem to really work well together and they play their characters brilliantly. Miranda Hart starred in it for the first four series (currently on series 5) and I miss her character a lot. Chummy was so funny to watch and was the character that brought most of the humour to story lines that could really bring you down. The characters are all so different and all very strong individuals. They each bring something different to the drama that makes it work so well.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone and everyone. To be honest the only people I know that watch it at the moment are women, but its a program that I think anyone could watch really. You should all go and check it out!

Until next time, thanks for reading :) x

The Crow

Hello my lovelies,

What a miserable, rainy Wednesday it is. But you're getting two posts this week to make up for last weeks one. Today's film I have actually seen before but had been asked to watch it again so that it could go on the blog so here we go. However I don't feel like I have a lot to say about it as although I liked it, I still feel like I could've walked away and not been worried about missing much.

Directed by Alex Proyas in 1994, The Crow is a weird mix between fantasy and action with a neo-noir style. It's a bit of a very weird love story to be honest, the film follows a rock musician who is revived from the dead to get revenge on those involved in his murder and the death of his fiancée.

I can't remember what I thought of this film the first time I watched it many years ago, but I think I was still kinda young, so knowing me I would've found it scary for some reason, however it is definitely not a scary film. The Crow is more of a slightly creepy and eerie film at times, but also slightly funny in an odd way (maybe that's just me being weird).

At times it definitely felt like it was very much sex, drugs and rock & roll orientated and then at other moments it was just weird. I didn't dislike the film but I don't think it would make it into my list of favourites. I thought some of the camera shots worked well and I liked the way that Eric (Brandon Lee) was able to see through the eyes of the crow when looking for those to take revenge upon. The whole film is in very dull colour with the main ones being blacks and dark red and although the flashbacks were the same style they were brighter.

Towards the end of the film I found myself getting strangely attached to Eric and although I knew he was already dead in a way and would have to go back to being so at the end, I didn't want him to leave Sarah again. Personally the character that I liked the least is Myca (Bai Ling), I just couldn't understand the way she was. She was very strange and creeped me out quite a bit to be honest, no normal person cuts outs someone's eyes because they like them, just saying.

It's a good film and I may watch it again one day but I don't think its one that I would normally go out of my way to look for and watch. If fantasy action films are your sort of thing then totally give it a go, its definitely different and I hope you'll like Eric as much as I did.

Until next time, thanks for reading :) x  

'Hate is Baggage' - American History X

Hello my lovelies,

How are you all? Well I hope. I missed last weeks blog post due to making the crazy decision to go and get my nose pierced and spending that day with my best friends, then the rest of the week was filled with working so I apologise for not giving you any new reviews to read last week.

I'm still working on my long list of suggested films I've been given and due to a new project that I'm hoping to tell you all about soon, this weeks films was chosen for me to watch from this list.

Before watching American History X, I was told that it was a hard watch and that it was intense. I'd looked up a bit about the film but still didn't know exactly what to expect but wasn't thinking I'd enjoy it as much as I did, so I was surprised.

The 1998 American crime drama film directed by Tony Kaye is basically the story of two brothers and their lives as they are involved in the neo-Nazi movement. When looking things up about it prio to watching it, I saw it had been described as 'a brutal skinhead emerges from prison reformed and tries to show his neo-Nazi brother the error of his ways', and just by that sentence I was already interested in what this film had to show.

Throughout the film it switches between black&white and colour to show the difference between the past and present and I liked this. I thought it worked really well, almost as if to say the past was a bad, darker time in their lives so its not in colour but the present is better than it used to be so its brighter. It also helps to tell the story so that we are to understand why the younger brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), is the way he is now.

It is obviously the type of film that was made to get a reaction, and with the amount of racist, violent scenes there were moments that I didn't like what was happening but that's what its made to do so the film served its purpose well. American History X is both an interesting and surprising film. Interesting because it shows how you think some people can be so set in their ways of doing things or acting a certain way but that can always change and thankfully for the better in this film. Surprising because I didn't think I'd like it but I really got into it. Although it is nearly two hours long it held my attention and I was so gripped to the story and characters that the ending nearly made me cry.

The two actors that played the brothers Edward Norton (Derek Vineyard) and Edward Furlong (Danny Vineyard) worked brilliantly together. They seemed to bounce off of each other and have a genuine connection that could lead someone to believe that they were actually brothers. As the main characters in the film they were also my favourites. I loved seeing how Derek's actions effected Danny as he grew up alongside his older brother and then separately whilst Derek was in prison.

Although only in it for a short while at the beginning, the film also featured Elliot Gould which I liked just because he was also part of Friends to be honest.

I didn't find American History X to be a hard watch but I would agree that it is an intense film, some scenes more than others. I really liked it, it may even become a favourite. I would definitely watch it again and suggest to others to watch too, and with that I'll leave you to go and find it for yourselves.

Until next week, thanks for reading :) x