It's a wee bit eggy...

Anne Cassidy’s novel ‘Looking for JJ’ is one that I read after it had been suggested in a video by Carrie Hope Fletcher. Within this video, she stated that it was one of those books that she had read when she was younger, and felt as though it stuck with her forever – a feeling which is completely understandable. Looking for JJ is a gripping novel that explores an intriguing concept regarding  the circumstances and motives behind the murder of a child by her own friend. Six years after the incident, JJ has been released with a new identity; however, is there really the possibility that she can lead a "normal" life anymore? To begin with, I have no idea who to suggest this book to. It has a very simplistic writing style, which seemed a little too simple for a young adult reader-base; however, many of the topics addressed were more adult. I do, therefore, assume that it is intended for a young adult base, but more advanced readers may find the style infuriating simple. W...

As I have now mentioned repeatedly within this blog, I have recently started using my sisters Netflix, which turns out to be great if you enjoy nothing more than an amateur horror movie. Although many of these films are absolutely, appallingly poor, one film which I came across was actually surprisingly good and enjoyable. Its name; ‘Would you Rather’. Directed by David Guy Levy, ‘Would you Rather’ displays the story of a young girl, Iris (Brittany Snow), who is desperate to save her sick bother. After being given the offer of a lifetime, Iris and several other victims unknowingly agree to partake in a horrific game of ‘would you rather’, hosted by a sadistic millionaire. As previously mentioned, my hopes for this film were not high when I first clicked to watch it, especially after sitting through an overly long title sequences, which was made up largely of a poor-quality x-ray style of editing.  I also found the large number of jerky zooms (which were only really used within...

‘The Girl on the Train’ was written by Paula Hawkins, and is one of those books which everybody seems to demand that you read. The story revolves mainly around the character of Rachel, a divorced alcoholic, who is suffering an alcohol-induced sense of amnesia in regard to the night when a girl went missing. To begin with, the stories layout is somewhat complicated. Not only is the story told in three different perspectives, but the dates of accounts also jumps around, meaning it can be complicated if you don’t take note of the date at the start of each passage. The chapter sizes are also longer than I usually prefer, but there are easy places to stop. Perspective wise, I found two of the characters very irritating; Rachel and Anna. Anna I found to be self-absorbed, naive and nasty, and Rachel I found to be heavily infuriating and irritating. Although these characters were realistic, it did mean I had to put the book down for a few hours sometimes, just to stop me wanting to punch ...

‘Chef’, the 2014 feel good film, literally allows audiences’ to sit and watch around two hours of non-stop food porn, thus obviously making it a worthy watch. Directed and written by Jon Favreau, ‘Chef’ focuses on the character of Carl Casper (also Jon Favreau (seriously, how many talents does he need?!)), who, after losing his job in a restaurant, reclaims his culinary creativity by starting up his own food truck. The main aspect of this film which I enjoyed (with the exception of the food) was its overall concept. Although the storyline isn’t the usual ‘mass-action’ style which appeals to mass audiences, it does convey the clear concept of family values, as well as pursuing passions and dreams. The story is simplistic and enjoyable, and is only made better by the likeable characters and fantastic performances (especially the Sons performance which was outstanding). Another aspect which I enjoyed was the editing style (excuse me as I now sound nerdy). Usually, I can’t stand any f...

After the constant nagging of my father, I finally sat down and watched the “comedic display of British brilliance” (clearly I get my descriptive skills from my dad), which is ‘A Bunch of Amateurs’ (2008). I hadn’t heard of this film prior to my dad raving about it, and therefore only had a vague idea of the plot, alongside low expectations, when watching this, but I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. The story focuses on Jefferson Steel (Burt Reynolds), an obnoxious Hollywood fade-out, who is tricked by his failing agent into playing the role of King Lear in an amateur charity production. This British comedy was directed by Andy Cadiff, and also features acting stars such as; Samantha Bond, Imelda Staunton and Derek Jacobi. As mentioned above, I did not have particularly high expectations for this film, especially due to some of the poor reviews I had then read, but, I must admit that the film pleasantly surprised me. The storyline isn’t overly dramatic or action fuelled, bu...

Inside Out is the latest Pixar creation, so obviously, it was AMAZING! The plot surrounds the concept of growing up, and the way in which we emotionally react to major changes within life. We mainly focus on the emotions of the character Riley, a young girl, who has lived a majorly happy life until her parents decide to move house and turn her world upside down. Throughout the film, we are shown the inside of characters heads, allowing us to view the communications between the five predominant emotions – joy, sadness, fear, anger and disgust – thus making a very interesting and enjoyable concept. However much I hated the Volcano pre-film (which did make me panic as I thought it was the actual film), the film itself was fantastic, especially for an older audience. Due to the amount that I laughed in comparison to the younger kids, I do feel like you have to be 18+ to understand some of the humour, especially when there are comments about imaginary friends or puberty, as well as f...

Unfortunately, I can’t use an accent within a blog, due to the fact that you are reading it instead of listening to it (well done, Captain Obvious), but, when I say the words “Death Note”, please read it in a Japanese-y accent. That’s right, I’m reviewing Death Note! (The TV series that is, as that is all which is available on Netflix…) Firstly, Death Note is a Japanese anime which I watched with English subtitles. It was also available as English dubbed, but I found the accents to be too weird and entropic for the character. The plot line is centred on the lead character, Light Yagami, as he aims to cleanse the world of evil using the Death Note. The Death Note is a book which fell to the Human World, and when a person’s name is written in the Death Note they die. Obviously, more rules of the book are explained as the episodes progress and the plot thickens, but due to the fact that many criminals are dying, authorities begin to investigate and call upon a mysterious detective, k...