All About Christopher Nolan

Interstellar (2014)

8.9/10 on IMDb
73% on Rotten Tomatoes
Christopher Nolan's latest movie is a thought-provoking film about a future where Earth is on the brink of death, and humans are on the brink of extinction. Famines and droughts have resulted in corn crops being the only source of food left for humans, as dust storms periodically wreak havoc. The only solution is for NASA to send a team of people into space to search for other habitable planets, in the hopes of creating a better future for humans. Yet these interstellar travels come at a hefty price, namely loneliness and loss of time. We see the effects of relativity and the effects of separation, but most importantly, the effects of love and hope.

Going in to the movie, after seeing the trailers for it, I had a very very vague and ill-defined idea of what I was going to expect. I had also heard mixed reviews about it, so I was completely in the dark about how the film would turn out.

Turns out, I loved it.

It's hard to explain the plot of the film in detail, but going out of the film you really understand that the crux of the film is more than just cool space travel and cool effects. No, the crux or the essence of the film lies in this:

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
This is a poem by Dylan Thomas (full poem here) and this one stanza is repeated in the film. This one stanza basically sums up the entire film.

It ultimately shows you that this is a film about survival. It emphasises the one thing that us humans were programmed to do: survive. You can hear news about death, and you can accept your death, but you can never welcome it. This film is about the human drive to survive, even if that means potentially giving your own life. The paradoxical nature about our will to survive is that we will risk death to achieve it.

And that's what happens here.

The focus of the film is in the strong bond between the main character, Cooper, and his daughter, Murphy. It is a bond never before seen in a Christopher Nolan movie. It was so emotional it rocked me to my core. When this stanza of the poem was read out I had goosebumps because it was just so hopeful.

As President Snow of the Hunger Games films is never slow to remind us: the only thing greater than fear... is hope.

If we are going to die on this planet, and if we might be able to find other planets out there that we can survive on... then why not? Sure, death might be waiting in space for us, but if there is that one hope... why not?

I've always loved this idea about human survival. This idea that you can choose to die, you can choose to suicide, but when you're in that moment and when death is pouncing on you... you end up putting a fight. The movie addresses that here in I guess you could say one of the biggest plot twists in the film (if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about), and I really liked that.

Also the recurring idea that love transcends time and space. Like, how powerful is that? Read that again: love transcends time and space. That was just so amazing.

Not to mention that I love this idea of the relativity of time, and space travel, and that Christopher Nolan's directing was amazing. That all added to it.

The elements of time here were fascinating; the idea of determinism and destiny. What came first, the chicken or the egg? The idea that we are in charge of our own destinies as well was great.

The actors were amazing, Matthew McConaughey and Jessica Chastain were great, Anne Hathaway was pleasant, Michael Caine was really not much of a shocker seeing as it was a Christopher Nolan film, and some other great actors that I won't go into detail with.

I thought Mackenzie Foy was AMAZING, she has such great potential.

It was also super funny to see Wes Bentley from The Hunger Games in here, but without the fashionable beard he wore there.

Anyway I can't get into much detail without spoiling it, and I really absolutely cannot refute much of the bad points without spoiling it, so I will just say this one thing:

Yes it was a long movie. It was 3 hours. Yes it could have been a bit shorter, but I feel like that would have made the story seem more tacky and less believable. As I said, this is one of the most emotional Christopher Nolan films out there, and the film needs to be long to incorporate a realistic emotional foundation AS WELL AS the interstellar travels. So I thought that the length wasn't actually unreasonable.

In the end, I can't wait for it to come out on DVD. I will also be purchasing a box of tissues for when I buy the DVD.


Favourite Christopher Nolan movie
So now that that review's done, I decided to do a countdown towards my favourite Christopher Nolan movie.

I was inspired to do this blog post by Screen Junkies' video, where they do a knockout of all the Christopher Nolan films.

So here are all of Christopher Nolan's films in order:
1. Following (1998)
2. Memento (2000)
3. Insomnia (2002)
4. Batman Begins (2005)
5. The Prestige (2006)
6. The Dark Knight (2008)
7. Inception (2010)
8. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
9. Interstellar (2014)

Now I haven't seen Following or Insomnia, so I will just have to exclude them for now.


#7 The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
The third and most recent (and I hope the last) instalment of the Dark Knight series is set eight years after The Dark Knight, when Bruce Wayne has pretty much become a hermit after the traumatic events of the second film. However, he soon comes out of hiding when Bane enters the scene. We then have a look at the craziness that ensues, as well as the struggles, both mental and physical, that Batman has to overcome to get back into the hero he was before.

Yes, even the worst Christopher Nolan film (discounting Insomnia and Following) is pretty darn good. What makes it a good film on its own is the action, acting, introduction of Bane and Catwoman, and just the fact that it's related to Batman, one of the most loveable superheroes out there.

Unfortunately, what makes it the worst Christopher Nolan film I have seen is the fact that it had way too many plotholes. I can't go into every single one of them, but some of them make you genuinely laugh in the cinema despite it being a serious film (e.g. he spent ALL that time just making a pretty light display of the Bat signal? How does Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character just 'know'?).

You get out of the film and over time you realise that there were just so many random unnecessary stuff, as well as some stuff that just didn't make sense at all. Fortunately, it's a Batman film, so we let things slide.


#6 Batman Begins (2005)
Ah, the very first in the current Dark Knight trilogy. As you can tell by the title, this gives us a fresh start for Batman. We look at how Bruce Wayne trains with Ra's al Ghul and eventually transforms into our favourite masked vigilante.

I remember watching this before I even heard about The Dark Knight, because my brother borrowed it from the library. I had no idea it was the same director as Memento, as Christopher Nolan hadn't yet made a name for himself yet. But I remember being super impressed by this take on batman. It certainly was a whole heap better than the films done back in Michael Keaton's day, and I couldn't recall ever seeing a film on the beginnings of batman yet.

Even watching it now it's a pretty good film, with less plot holes than The Dark Knight Rises, and Katie Holmes will always be Rachel to me.


#5 The Prestige (2006)
The focus on this movie is magic, so it would be a bit hard to describe the plot.

Basically, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale star as two rival magicians that compete for shows, success and fame. The two both continually attempt to one-up the other, eventuating in them developing an unhealthy obsession on the world of magic.

First off, how much of a superhero movie does this sound like it would be? I mean you have Wolverine and Batman rivalling each other, Alfred being the old mentor that Michael Caine always is, and heck it's even got Black Widow (although the Avengers hadn't come out yet).

Not to mention how refreshing it is seeing Andy Serkis as a normal human being instead of a CGI puppet...

So I love the idea of magic (and who doesn't let's be honest) and that was a huge plus, but I remember just having like a rollercoaster of emotions for this film. At first I liked it, then over time I didn't really like it, then I liked it again.

The build up towards the ending is great, but I think it's the actual ending that makes it slightly less appealing. The ending will either make you very satisfied, or not at all. Because of that, it doesn't do as well as the other non-Batman films.


#4 Inception (2010)
Let's be honest, who doesn't know the plot to this? Well, for continuity's sake, here it is:

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Dom Cobbs, expert in infiltrating people's minds and secrets by entering and manipulating their dreams. The film focuses specifically on a task that challenges Dom and pushes the limits, with the stakes being the highest they have ever been, as the success of this task determines his chances of returning home to his family.

This was such a mind-blowing film, I remember that feeling of just confusion and awesomeness after seeing it. I was also really into the idea of lucid dreaming back then so I really knew what they were talking about and I really loved the idea of it. I remember keeping a sleep diary and eventually getting to the stage where I could realise when I was dreaming. And at first, the dream actually would collapse; I could feel myself slipping, and I would wake up. And then later when it got better, I could manipulate my dream. I loved that, and I loved the fact that the movie addressed all of that.

The only thing with this movie, though, is that it's not as exciting after the first time watching; the magic is lost.


#3 The Dark Knight (2008)
The one that started it all.

Christian Bale returns as Batman in a gritty and dark take on his continuing struggles with keeping his loved ones safe, as he goes up against The Joker.

It wasn't the first Batman film, but this was the movie that made the Dark Knight trilogy popular.

I remember seeing this film in the cinema, getting the limited edition DVD for my birthday, and then watching it like 5 times in a couple of weeks because I loved it so much (and have since, of course, rewatched it a few more times). If anything, my copious amount of watching this has probably made this slip from #2 to #3, because I feel kind of sick of this film, or kind of like it's getting to the point where it doesn't really surprise me anymore.

It was just so jam packed with plot twist after plot twist after plot twist. You kept thinking the movie was going to end, but it didn't. I guess in a way that does prove to be a con of it, because it seems like it goes on for forever (and thus gives me quite a headache), but every single sequence is still enjoyable, regardless of the length.


#2 Interstellar (2014)
The fact that this movie went beyond just cool mind blowing and actually made me cry and tear up on numerous occasions makes it stand out. It wasn't a standard Nolan film in that sense, because I definitely did not go in thinking that I would cry from it.


#1 Memento (2000)
The story follows Leonard Shelby, a man who's wife was raped and murdered, shortly before the attacker injured Shelby to the point where he could no longer create memories. The result is a man bent on seeking vengeance for his wife, but forgetting where he is or what he is doing every ten minutes. Because of this, he has an elaborate system of carefully placed polaroids, notes, and trusting his own handwriting.

Okay so seeing as this is my all-time favourite movie, there's no way I couldn't put this as the best Christopher Nolan movie, despite it being only the second film he has directed.

It's just so clever, unique and complex in the way it was directed, that it leaves a lasting impression on you. To see how complex the structure of the film was, just look at this diagram.

You see, the bulk of the film is in reverse chronological order, giving the audience the feeling of anterograde amnesia as well. We know what's happening now, but we don't know what happened before this sequence, so we get super confused. There's also a huge cult following of this movie, as the ending is a bit open-ended, and you decide whether or not you agree with the events that played out. The ending is so amazing; I've only seen it three times but every time I see it I am just so amazed at how this movie was done.

This film is hands down the best Christopher Nolan film out there. The actors, the directing, the structure, and the ending all make it an amazing film.

Cirque du Soleil: TOTEM

So last week, Diwan and I watched the TOTEM show from Cirque du Soleil at Moore Park!

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It was supposed to be our anniversary date but they didn't have any shows for our anniversary so we just bought the tickets for an earlier date.

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Anyway it was a really great show as it was my first Cirque du Soleil viewing, but honestly we were both expecting more acrobatics.

Whilst they had some really good acts, there were still a lot of filler comedic acts. In fact I think there were too many, and it devalued the show and lowered the quality of it. I didn't pay that amount of money for dry humour and over-the-top comedy acts; I paid to see amazing acrobatics. It makes Cirque du Soleil look like a sell out because they appear to be catering for the mass audience, by adding in comedic acts. But they fail because these comedic acts don't even incorporate good humour in them, and they don't cater for the people who went just to see the acrobatics and the technical acts (which is also every single person).

I was actually really disappointed that there was no flying trapeze. I seriously kept expecting it, especially after seeing the fixed trapeze duo, which was one of my favourite acts.

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This was a good act because it had an evident storyline, great acting, and they matched the story well into the actual performance, unlike some of the others.

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The music for this was also, I would say, the best piece. They really choreographed the performance to the song, which was great.

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Another good one with an evident storyline was the rollerblading one, which talked about the unity and contact of two people partaking in a marriage ceremony.

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This was also Diwan's favourite, because they had some amazing moves done on such a tiny platform (only 1.8m in diameter apparently).

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There were lots of spinning and turning; it was crazy.

One thing I really did not like about this show was that the theme was the evolution of animals and man, and the eventual desire for human flight.

"On an island evoking the shape of a giant turtle, TOTEM traces humankind's incredible journey - from our original amphibian state to our ultimate quest for flight."
-from the Cirque du Soleil TOTEM program

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The theme was good and I thought it would be amazing, but they just didn't really follow it well. Sure, it started off with frog-like people on a really cool set of double bars that were built into the bone structure of a turtle's shell...

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But unfortunately after that it just went all over the place.

For example, the best act of the show was the unicycles and bowls act, but it just had nothing to do with the theme of evolution.

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"In our highly interdependent world, Mother Earth performs the ultimate balancing act."
-from the Cirque du Soleil TOTEM program

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I mean come on, that was a bit of a stretch there, linking it back to nature and evolution.

Don't get me wrong, these acts were amazing, but the storyline didn't translate well. It seemed like they just had all these cool acts and were like, "Hey, let's put these performers in clothing that reflects different time periods and we'll call it the evolution of man!"

But as I said, these five Chinese girls on their unicycles KILLED IT! It was arguably the best performance of the night.

Here's a video of something similar, and I think it's even performed by the same five Chinese girls:


Fun Fact:
These girls are from China and have been training since childhood. The unicycles are 7 ft tall but very light, which makes them easier to manoeuvre down the ramp at the beginning of the act. To suggest a time of harvest and the abundance of fall, the unicyclists’ costumes feature seed pods, flowers, trees and leaves. The base costumes are printed in earth tones, with small details sewn onto them—including bolts and screws as well as feathers and insects.
-Vanessa Choot
Unfortunately they also didn't have a hand balancing duet performance. It was in the program but on the website it looks like it's been removed from the program, and it wasn't in the show I saw. That was a big shame, because those acts are always really good to see.

Another one of my favourites was the Ameridian hoop dance

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It didn't look super technical, but the way those two performances danced and hopped to the beat was just so mesmerising; it almost had like a calming effect on me. It was also super cool how they handled the hula hoops, even forming it into a ball.

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I think the most confusing act was the one where Darwin starred in. Yes, Charles Darwin. Because if they didn't put him in, it'd be really difficult to see how this show related to evolution at all (except for that comedic act with the evolution walk as pictured above).

But basically Darwin stood in this large plastic-like funnel and just threw these glowing balls inside and they bounced around and eventually just starting rolling horizontally. It was very confusing.

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Some other highlights:

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A balancing act done on a curved steel frame

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Dem arms.

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Russian bars
So overall, I did enjoy it a lot, but as I said, I expected a lot more. I thought I was just being picky and fussy, but I had a look at some of the reviews online and, well, I guess I'm not alone.

For example:

"I kept looking to the roof hoping that there would be some sort of aerial act"
-Leigh McIndoe
"Secondly the story didn't make any sense whatsoever. I thought, because it was about evolution, that the show would be in some kind of chronological order, but it kept on jumping from one "time" to another. I know, I go for the acrobatics, but I stay for the story. The individual acts were okay, but the whole thing didn't match at all"
-Madeleine Sabulis
This was good; something I completely agree with:
"Make sure you have seats front and centre of the stage or you will be unable to see much of the show."
-Cassy Gilbert
If you don't have the seats that face the front of the stage, you really miss out on quite a bit, seeing as everything is directed to the front. This was obviously different from The Lion King Musical, which was at the Capitol Theatre and everyone was facing the front. Diwan and I were sitting on the side in line with the front part of the stage (the second lowest priced seats) and it still wasn't good enough of a view. So I think it's worth the value to fork out the extra $50 or whatever it costs to get a better performance out of it.

Romance

Water for Elephants (2011)

7.0/10 on IMDb
60% on Rotten Tomatoes
This is a great romantic drama focusing on the romance that develops between a low-paid veterinary student of a circus and the star performer of the shows.

I haven't seen Reece Witherspoon in anything like this before, and I certainly haven't seen Robert Pattinson in anything other than Harry Potter, so it was very refreshing to see these two as the lead characters.

Actually, I would argue that the movie isn't so much focused on the relationship developing between these two love interests, but rather it's a movie that focuses on the two opposing and dynamic forces of Pattinson's character and Christoph Waltz' character.

While I was pleasantly surprised with Pattinson's acting, it was really Christoph Waltz that stole the show, as is only natural for him. His character is the husband of Witherspoon's character, and he is the boss of the entire circus so he can be really demanding. But beyond that, he is an incredible, angry and layered character, and Waltz just does an amazing job with him. He is SUCH a great actor.

It was also directed by Francis Lawrence, who did a great job. I normally don't mention directors but because Francis Lawrence also did Catching Fire and the two Mockingjays, I had to give him a mention.

So I reckon this was a great film, but only if you're into that whole artsy, romance type of film.


Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

4.04/5 on Goodreads
This was Austen's very first novel published in 1811, preceding Pride and Prejudice by two years. The two novels are quite similar in nature as they look at the love interests of sisters in a middle class family. Both are classed in the 'comedy of manners' genre, and both are entertaining, with Jane Austen's classic satire and ridicule of the people of her time making it an amusing read.

The story focuses on two of the three Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, who each have their own love interests and it mainly follows their love lives. Elinor is the most sensibile of her sisters, while Marianne is the most attractive and extroverted of her sisters. Because of Marianne's nature, she isn't the most sensible when it comes to love, friends and just manners in general, so you can see the stark contrast between these two sisters.

However, the novel provides both sisters with difficulties that challenge their abilities to maintain their own sensibility, and these plot twists are done so amazingly that they honestly turn your head in!

Also, like in how Pride and Prejudice you get to have a good laugh at Mrs Bennet, here in Sense and Sensibility you get to have a good laugh at John and Fanny Dashwood, and particularly Fanny's character.

It definitely was not as amazing as Pride and Prejudice was, but it certainly was still a very good read. I will say though that despite it having less chapters than Pride and Prejudice (this had 50 chapters, Pride and Prejudice had 61), it felt like a longer read because the events at the start weren't very engaging, and it was only in about the third volume when the novel started getting very very good.

Some good quotes of the novel:

"Lady Middleton was equally pleased with Mrs. Dashwood. There was a kind of cold hearted selfishness on both sides, which mutually attracted them; and they sympathised with each other in an insipid propriety of demeanor and a general want of understanding."

(When talking to Robert Ferrars) "Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition."

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

7.7/10 on IMDb
98% on Rotten Tomatoes
And now, the film adaptation.

Let me just say, this is an all-star cast, with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant and even Professor Snape Alan Rickman. Hugh Laurie also makes an appearance and heck, it's even got Professor Umbridge Imelda Staunton!

But the weirdest thing is that these people weren't even stars when they were in this film. This was two years prior to Titanic, so Kate Winslet wasn't even known. It would only have been Thompson and Grant that were stars back then I presume.

Anyway, it was weird seeing Emma Thompson as Elinor because, well, Thompson isn't the prettiest of women. It sounds harsh, but whilst Elinor isn't beautiful like Marianne, she's still very pretty. And, importantly, young. Elinor's character is 19, whilst Thompson would have been around 36 at the time of shooting. Since she naturally doesn't look the best, her age didn't help at all.

Even with Kate Winslet's character, she played the impulsive teenager well, but her character is meant to be amazingly gorgeous. Like, AMAZING. And Kate Winslet, to me, has never been a pretty face.

Like in Pride and Prejudice (sorry, I can't help comparing the two), Rosamund Pike is beautiful, so she was a perfect Jane Bennet, and Keira Knightly was a great choice for the carefree and tomboy Elizabeth, but here the cast just didn't match the characters they were playing, except for Hugh Laurie.

The movie itself was okay though. I suppose for that time it was good but I can't remember too much of my first impressions except being completely weirded out by the cast and knowing that I wouldn't rewatch it anytime soon.


About Time (2013)

7.8/10 on IMDb
69% on Rotten Tomatoes
Time travel is one of my favourite topics to explore, if not the most. So it was with great anticipation and hype that I picked this DVD up from the CIVIC store shelf and rented it.

However, I was quite disappointed with this film.

It tells the story of a man who learns that he can actually time travel to any moment of his past to change events of which he did not like. So, he uses this ability to make him find love.

And he does. About 1/4 of the way in the movie.

And then the rest of the movie is just like... boring.

There's no real complication in this film, as there are in most films. It's mainly just incident after incident after incident, but they're all normal incidents that are just side effects of living in general. So it was boring. Because humans go through those incidents anyway and we don't have the ability to time travel or correct our past mistakes.

It was also really slow-paced, particularly because nothing that interesting was happening in his life.

He also had some cringe-worthy moments because he just rushed into a lot of things. He would do something semi stupid and then just time travel back, even if it wasn't even worthy (to me) to travel back.

And sure it had a good moral to the story, but nothing that disastrous or that exciting even happened with him time-traveling, which you would think would happen, since the general story goes that someone travels back in time and does something that changes everything, and they have to fix it and realise that time traveling is just not worth it.

But in this film, that idea isn't really sold very well.

So in short, I would definitely not watch it again.


Dear John (2010)

6.3/10 on IMDb
28% on Rotten Tomatoes
I don't think you could title a blog post "Romance" without including an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks movie.

So this stars Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried as two lovers under circumstances that make it difficult for their relationship to blossom; notably that Tatum's character is in the military and has to go out to Afghanistan for extended periods of time.

It's the typical star-crossed lovers plot that Nicholas Sparks has.

I loved the way Roger Ebert's review put it:

"Lasse Hallstrom's "Dear John" tells the heartbreaking story of two lovely young people who fail to find happiness together because they're trapped in an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel."
It's an interesting plot but it's kind of slow. I would definitely not call it the best Nicholas Sparks book-to-film adaptation, even if I haven't seen any except The Notebook and A Walk to Remember. The ending especially was not how I would have liked it to be; there was an alternate ending on the DVD which I liked better.

So yeh; overall not a great movie.

Exams are Over!

Yay exams are over!!!

Time to clean up my room, throw out my notes and reorganise my desk...

I'm not travelling anywhere, but I've still got a lot planned for the holidays. I'm starting work at The Body Shop again in December for a Christmas Casual position, then in January and February I got this volunteering position at uni to help post-graduates with their research studies, so it'll still be pretty busy.

I also want to get back into doing some sort of artsy thing, as well as maybe get back into cooking and baking a little. But that can come later.


So yesterday was a pretty fun day. I went out to the city to get a haircut with my mum in the morning. My haircuts are FREE because I get them done at The Australasian College Broadway, and they need people for their students to practice on, so they have lots of services (both hair and beauty) that are either really cheap or even free. It's just that it takes quite a while for them to do the haircuts because they're a lot slower. Like usually my haircuts would take like maybe 30-40 minutes, but with these students it can take around 1.5 to 2 hours.

And then my mum and I went to watch Mockingjay!!!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014)

7.5/10 on IMDb
68% on Rotten Tomatoes
So the movie kicks off with a fragile and broken Katniss Everdeen suffering from PTSD after heading into two Hunger Games in a row. Following off from the events of Catching Fire, Katniss awaits news about Peeta, who has been captured by the Capitol, in the underground city of District 13.

As she finds out that Peeta is not only alive but being used by the Capitol as a piece in their propaganda to attempt to subdue the uprising in the districts, Katniss finds herself in a difficult position. On the one hand she knows that Peeta is being tortured and forced into saying the things that he is saying, but on the other hand she knows that she must take a stand herself and refute Peeta's messages of propaganda, and thus his credibility.

Ironically, this results in Katniss being yet another piece in someone else's plan, as we start to see the power and plans of District 13's President Coin.

So firstly I'll address this: I don't like it when books are split into two movies (or three, in the case of The Hobbit). Whilst this DOES give me (and other fans) more opportunity to get hyped about films, watch Jennifer Lawrence interviews and see more of the movie, it's definitely just a way for film companies to earn more cash. It also always makes the first movie of the split couple worse because it seems like it's just a dragged out introduction for the epic finale. Which it is. So I'm just going to review this movie based on how it fared with the book, and how it leads up to the last movie.

So the movie actually did really well if you look at how closely it followed the book. I think it emphasised a lot of the things that it should have emphasised, whilst also keeping those key themes in the movie.

This movie is probably something that you'd either love or really really dislike. Why? Because there's not much action. And there's not meant to be. In the final book of the trilogy, the first half is full of propaganda. In the second half, it still focuses on propaganda but there is more action because it's on the war that's happening. So the second half would be more interesting of course.

But I still really loved this film because it just shows how terrible reality is. In reality, you don't have one hero. In reality, the war isn't won by one person. It takes a team, a group, a nation of people to win a war.

Yes, Katniss has a very passive role in this film. But that's how she is in the books, because it's showing you that this is no longer just about Katniss. In the first two movies/books/games Katniss was central to the events. In this book/film, she's still central but she's no longer as important any more. In the first book/film, Peeta says that he wants to make sure he shows people that he cannot be used as a piece in their games. He does not want to change who he is for other people, regardless of what's happening.

But this film shows you that that is not your choice to make. The circumstances around you start to shape you whether you want them to or not. You're no longer than large predator that you thought you were; instead you're just a small pebble amongst a riverbank of stones, being weathered and eroded down by your environment.

Add to that the stuff that Katniss has been through, and her PTSD, and you realise that she simply just can't do much anyway. But when she decides for herself that she will stand up for herself and help the cause, it's not as amazing as she'd think it'd be.

In this film, Katniss thinks she is doing what she is doing because it is what she wants to do. But she doesn't realise that she's just a piece in the games, be it President Snow's games, President Coin's games, or even Plutarch Heavensbee's games.

This film is the perfect lead up to the last film in the series, because it shows you just how disposable Katniss is. Yes, they need her voice, but even if she didn't cooperate they would have other voices, e.g. Finnick.

I also really loved how they elaborated more on what some of the other districts were doing. The hanging tree scene and the dam was my favourite part of the film, together with the scene from District 7 with the lumberjacks, because it shows you that this film extends beyond Katniss. Katniss is no longer crucial to the plot.

So yeh, I would say that it was actually a really great film, which keeps the major themes intact and has a really good portrayal of the emotional journey that these characters are going through.

Also, I'd like to add that Jennifer Lawrence's acting in this was perfection. Everyone's acting was amazing; especially Josh Hutcherson (and even Jena Malone's very very small bit as Johanna Mason).

And I'd like to further add that the ending is PERFECT. If you've read the books and you think you know where it's going to end, then yes, that is where it is going to end.


Anyway, so yeh that was my review of Mockingjay. Sure, it's a bit biased but those are my thoughts anyway.

****EDIT****
I realised I didn't talk about things I didn't like, so I'll briefly do that:
1. The novel emphasised a lot on Katniss' Mockingjay suit. It was the product of Cinna's soul and it meant a lot to her, and the fact that it looked amazing didn't help either. The previous two films in nature focus a lot on the costumes, so they should have included a bit more emphasis on her suit. In the novels you realise that even though they're fighting against this warped system, they still have to make her look pretty and make her continue her role as a fashion icon. It's ridiculous because she's still just being used like a prop.
2. Finnick's character was so shallow here. In the novel he actually breaks down a lot. When he says the line about how it takes ten times as long to put yourself together than to fall apart, it has so much impact in the book because you really get him. You see him being completely out of it and lost, and you see how he recovers over time. It gives you hope that Katniss can do the same, and it gives you a lot of respect for Finnick because you understand the pain he feels. But in the movie? Almost nothing. The most was him looking sad on a hospital bed. He didn't even break down. At least give us one scene please.

****END EDIT****
ALSO I BOUGHT THE MOCKINGJAY CUP FROM HOYTS!

(The photo is really dodgy because the cup is really shiny and it's hard to get a decent picture of it)
HAHAHA it's actually SO LARGE.


Also, if you think that the movie was bad then I have some real shocking news...

They're thinking of doing:

Hunger Games the Stage Show?!?!!?!?!?!

Here's the article about it, as well as the video.

I mean I don't know why people seem really keen about it; it sounds like a horrible idea. Some people are saying it would be great if it was a musical but honestly? That sounds so bad. Even a stage show by itself sounds horrible.

In the video, the stage looks really awesome; a rotating 360 degree stage, but I mean can't they just use that kind of a stage for a completely different production?

It's only going to be in London (I think), but if it gets bigger and gets to Australia, I would definitely watch it out of obligation and curiosity, but I still think it would be horrible. There's just no way you can fit that action, brutal murders and furturistic technology into a stage show. And there are 3 books and 4 films to be fit into one stage show...

Doing Fun Stuff Instead of Studying

If you remember from my whale watching blog post, I stated that when I climbed the Harbour Bridge, I got tickets to go to the Pylon Lookout. Every climber gets a free entry into the lookout, which is only about $13 anyway ($8.50 for concession), but it expires in one month, so my mum and I went on the Saturday before my exams because that was the only time we could.

It's a pretty good view for $14, let alone for free, but obviously it doesn't compare to the bridge climb. It's still good though, because you're at 89 metres above sea level, which is the same height as about 1/4 of the way up the Harbour Bridge's upper arch. Obviously the upside here is that you can spend as long as you want and take your own photos.

There's quite a lot of stairs, I think off memory about 200 of them, but they're interspersed with various mementos and items for you to look at, so it's not that boring or tiring really.

After you get to the reception, once you go up one flight of stairs, they have this little thing set up for you to take a photo on, and it looks like an old-timey photo of you chillin' on the bridge.

Then when you get to the top there are a bunch of facts inside before you actually go to the lookout.

Unfortunately it was super super windy that day (I had to hold down my skirt even on ground level, let alone all the way up there), but it was still very enjoyable.

Some fun facts:
Sixteen men died when building the bridge (I'd imagine this is quite low for the number of deaths, considering men worked without harnesses or safety rails). Eight were iron workers, one was a carpenter, one a painter, two were quarrymen and four were labourers. Only two fell from the arch.

BridgeClimb started on the 1st of October, 1998, and had reached 1 million climbers on the 14th April 2003.

It required 272,000 litres of paint to give the bridge it's initial three coats.

Another fun thing I did was a market research taste test!

I pretty much got paid $50 for tasting 6 different types of dips - 3 guacamole and 3 salsa. It was pretty interesting; it was my first ever taste test. I always do surveys but I could never get through to actually being a participant until now.

It was also super professional, like you sit at a little cubicle so you can't see anything, and there's door/hatch thing in front of you that you slide up/down for them to slide the samples to you.

It was for a brand called Obela, as they're trialling guacamole and salsa products now, and I must say that the classic guacamole (with no spices) was sooo delicious. I ticked all the good options for that one on the survey.

I also checked out their website and I see that they specialise in hummus, so I went and bought some for dips for my brother's birthday party. The smooth classic hummus is quite nice, but the roasted garlic one looks really weird (it's not yet opened).

So anyway that was fun, and not a bad way to earn some cash while you're at it. The leading market research companies (at least I think they're leading? I dunno, they're just the ones I'm registered to) are Farron Research and Realtime Research if you want to sign up.


Movies!

The Amazing Spiderman (2012)

7.1/10 on IMDb
73% on Rotten Tomatoes
I remember when the trailer for this first came out and I was just like, "Why are they doing a reboot of this? Spiderman 3 was VERY recent! And why are they getting the guy from The Social Network?"

But despite that, this was actually really good. I can't remember too much because I've been waiting to watch The Amazing Spiderman 2 to do this review, but I remember liking Andrew Garfield and thinking he was a better Spiderman than Tobey Maguire (and let's face it, who wouldn't think that after being traumatised by Tobey's crying face and also his dancing scenes in the third movie?).

I liked how they added in Peter Parker's father's role (although I found it funny how his name was Richard, because of Richard Parker the Bengal Tiger from Life of Pi), as well as Spiderman's character development as a result of this. I also like the web shooter development just as something that's a little different.

Andrew Garfield's portrayal of Spiderman seems really arrogant though; like when he is swinging or even just talking it seems so over-the-top. I know that his character IS meant to be arrogant, but it was a bit off-putting. Although I don't particularly remember if Tobey Maguire's portrayal of him was arrogant too so I can't really compare.

But my favourite part of the movie, and I think many agree, would be the one where Stan Lee makes a cameo in the school library.

So in comparison to the original Spiderman trilogy, it was still very enjoyable.


The Amazing Spiderman 2: Rise of Electro (2014)

7.0/10 on IMDb
53% on Rotten Tomatoes

So if the first Amazing Spiderman was enjoyable, this was only alright.

I did hear some bad reviews on it but I watched it anyway, and whilst I didn't find it that bad, it wasn't that great either.

The whole movie is very emotional and very slow-paced. You get to see a lot more of Peter Parker's emotions and struggles with trying to find out what happened with his parents, as well as trying to protect Gwen and convince her that it would be best to end the relationship. It's all very sad and emotional and you really feel for him and just want to reach out and hug him.

HOWEVER, the plot was not the best. Whoever wrote the section for the villains... like I don't even know.

I really DID NOT like the actor for Harry Osborn. He looks like evil Luke Skywalker and was just super annoying. He also didn't play much of a big role in this so it was just annoying to have to see his annoying acting and then by the end of the movie not have a big justification for why he was in the film.

~SPOILER ON THE ENDING!~

In Jeremy Jahn's Spoiler Talk, he stated how it felt like Harry was just put into the plot JUST so that he could kill off Gwen Stacy. That actually seems about right and if so, that's really annoying.

Also if Peter Parker was arrogant in the first Amazing Spiderman, then he was like super super annoyingly arrogant in this one. I didn't think it was possible to be even more arrogant.

Electro as a villain was alright; Jaime Foxx did a good job of it, but I don't know... I just didn't really like the idea of him.

~SPOILER ON ELECTRO!~

How did he just materialise OUT OF NOWHERE? Like I get that he is literally just electricity at this point, but he still has organs and a brain and all that, and even if he doesn't, then how does he just materialise with the armour on? He's ELECTRICITY. Last time I checked, electricity couldn't be converted into a tangible form, let alone an actual body or a metallic armour.

~ANOTHER SPOILER ON ELECTRO!~

Why is Electro's weakness water? Doesn't water + electricity = electric shock? Isn't water an excellent conductor of electricity? That part didn't make sense to me. His weakness should be some really durable insulator, but obviously that wouldn't translate well across the screen; water looks heaps cooler.

Now with the ending, I think it should have ended a bit sooner, without the last scene. It actually reminded me a lot of The Incredibles' ending, and it also just reinstated Peter Parker's arrogance.

~ANOTHER SPOILER ON THE ENDING!~

I feel like they should have left him really upset about Gwen and then in a sequel make him go through that emotional journey and then meet Mary Jane, or even just condense it so that Gwen dies about halfway through the film so that the rest of it would be his emotional journey, instead of leading up to the death with a semi-unrelated emotional journey on his parents and then cutting out his grief at the end. This was exactly why I hated the HIMYM finale; it was too short. There was no time spent to see the character development over that long period of time.

So basically, I wouldn't re-watch this movie any time soon.

Patiently Waiting for Exams to Come and Go

My goodness, this last week or so has been droning on so terribly slowly. It's so hard to concentrate and try to study, especially when all the content I'm learning is so terribly boring.

I'm trying to keep myself busy and studying, but it's just sooo hard. I haven't been able to watch many movies lately, so here are some that I watched a few weeks ago. I've got Edge of Tomorrow and Godzilla.

But BEFORE that, I also went to Sculpture(s) by the Sea last week with Diwan as a little sort of break from studying (but also because it finished on Sunday, so we wanted to get in there).

Firstly, as I think pretty much every visitor has duly noted, the title of the open exhibition is called SCULPTURE by the sea. One sculpture. And, as everyone has noted, there is more than one sculpture. There are 109.

So secondly, quantity does not mean quality. Just because there is a great multitude of art does not mean that many of them are great at all. Factor in the walking and it's really not a terrific experience. I mean sure, some of the sculptures were good, but some were just... terrible. Like number 49, 'A spacious affair, from the outside to the inside' by Mikala Valeur is a closet that people line up for and what do you see when you are in the closet? Mirrors. The interior of the closet is just mirrors. Then the light at the top goes off so that "the darkness switches your attention to your inner consciousness and thoughts", except it's not even dark because the daylight from outside is flooding in from the gap underneath the door. And I lined up for that.

Thirdly, they're very abstract. Of course, this is most of the reason that you get so many sculptures and so many that are bad. Plus, a lot of them look kinda cool but then their descriptions are just sooo weird. Like number 63, 'Nevermore' by Jonathan Leahey is like some steel origami bird thing, and the description says: "Inspired by 'The Raven' by Edgar Allen Poe". Uhm, I'm pretty sure it was more inspired by origami than The Raven.

Fourthly, the Sculptures Inside is more enjoyable than the outdoor sculptures. Maybe because everything is in the one place and you don't have to trek all the way to see the next disappointing sculpture, but it's still better nonetheless. A lot of them are mini sculptures of the outdoor ones, and they look really cool.

Fifthly, it's very difficult to enjoy this without purchasing the booklet at the information center, and the booklet costs $10. Luckily my mum bought it when she went so I just took hers when I went. The money goes towards next year's exhibition, and there are also $20 calendars for sale. But as I was saying, it's very difficult to enjoy this without a guide telling you where each sculpture is (especially in that middle grassy section near Bondi since it's like a chaotic free-for-all that's totally not even ordered). It's also fun reading the descriptions of them and (at least attempting an) understanding of what the artist desired.

Sixthly, schoolchildren make it very hard to enjoy. There were so many on excursions, and they were sitting around on the grass eating their lunch, climbing on things, being really loud and even writing on some of the sculptures! I was so terrified of them.

My mum's favourite was number 33, 'Breaching' by Michael Greve.

I liked it too and it was one of my favourites as well. My mum had a chance to talk to the sculptor, since he stands there under the trees every single day making sure no one ruins his sculpture. He didn't do anything to the wood he used besides sculpt thoses lines through it, but the shape is natural and that's how he found it. He also bolted the flippers to it as well. I think it's pretty cool.

One of my favourites, if not my all-time favourite, was number 55, 'Resignation' by Michael Purdy.

The description reads, "The artist's father, a twice Australian chess champion, died in 2011. This chess piece, slumping in resignation, is in part a memorial to him while exploring the broader theme of mortality."

That's deep.


Anyway, time for movies!

Edge of Tomorrow

8/10 on IMDb
90% on Rotten Tomatoes

Tom Cruise, it's been a while since I've seen you in something decent. But obviously my bias against you as an actor and a person may play a part in that...

But even my strong dislike for Tom Cruise's voice couldn't prevent me from loving this film.

The concept is amazing, where the main character (Cruise) is unfortunately deployed into the army to fight against aliens, except he discovers that every time he dies, he wakes up only to relive the day again. This obviously opens up to a potential of "Groundhog day meets..." proposals, except it's Groundhog day with aliens, so... Groundhog Day meets Matrix?

And because of this, like in Groundhog day, you see him knowing how every single thing will pan out. He knows when to jump, turn, shoot behind him, and even how many steps to take. It gets to the point where everything is choreographed by him, but he still doesn't know how to actually fight, so he needs to train for it.

Enter Emily Blunt's character.

Firstly, Emily Blunt was amazing. I believe this was her first badass role and she was indeed a badass. I love her as an actress, and when her character comes, in the whole movie gets so much more interesting.

The main character then learns to fight and train, day after day after day, death after death after death. But the question remains as to why they still can't defeat the aliens. Then they discover it's much more complex than they imagined.

So the whole film was very intense and thrilling; the sci-fi part of it was done really really well, and it had great moments of humour interspersed throughout.

I must definitely commend Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise on their action scenes, since their suits weighed 85 pounds (38.5 kg) and they did quite a lot of scenes in those suits.

The only thing is that the ending did not make perfect sense to me, and I thought that it was actually going to end in some other similar way that would have made more sense, but then all of a sudden it ended super quickly.

~SPOILER!~

See I didn't understand why he got reset to the day BEFORE the normal time he used to get reset to (i.e. he got reset to that scene where the helicopter is flying him in?). Shouldn't he have gotten reset to just when he woke up in the army? Unless they did that just so that he could this time NOT try to bribe Mad-Eye Moody and instead gain his dignity back? But still that doesn't make sense.

Anyway, so he gets reset. I thought it was actually going to be: he gets reset, goes to the army place, then they win the war because the Alpha and Omega are no longer alive and therefore no longer know what the enemy is going to do. Or something like that. But when he resets, the Alpha and Omega are already dead. And they are dead two days BEFORE his character actually killed them. How does that make sense?

Also I don't understand why he was reset in the first place. I mean I know that the Alpha exploded and therefore its blood went into him to allow him to reset, but I thought that he could only reset if the Alpha and Omega were alive, since resetting uses the Omega's memories?

I dunno, this was a few weeks ago so I can't remember my first impressions/thoughts on how the ending should have been.

But I read something that is quite interesting and makes sense on why he reset. From IMDB: It is ambiguous whether Cage harnessed the Omega's powers without its influences, or if the Omega ingrained itself into Cage in a last-ditch effort to survive and to control/influence Cage.

But anyway; definitely a really great movie, and one of the good ones released this year.


Godzilla

6.7/10 on IMDb
73% on Rotten Tomatoes
Ahhh, Godzilla. Classic. Nobody has not heard of Godzilla; it's a legend that ripples through our hearts and runs in the backgrounds of our minds.

And yet, this film seems to ruin it all.

I mean sure, people praise it for being quite... different I guess to what you would imagine it to be, but that's what I didn't like. It wasn't so much action or thriller as it was just building up to something, and then making you disappointed. I can't really say much without putting a spoiler tag (which I will soon), but it just wasn't very exciting for me. In the trailer you don't really see Godzilla, it just hypes it up for you to see it in the movie, but in the movie you still barely see it at all. You see glimpses of it then at the end you see it, but apart from that it's like "eh".

But maybe it was just too hyped up for me. I don't know, I feel like it was one of the most hyped up movies of the year and it really disappointed me because it just wasn't that great.

I was also a bit disappointed in some specific stuff, for example:

~SPOILER!~

Bryan Cranston is barely in the movie when, come on let's face it, we all expected him to be a major character.

and

~SPOILER!~

The humans don't really do anything, do they? All they do is make you want to slap them because they're so stupid.

"Whatever you do, don't leave the hospital! Even if everyone is evacuating and Godzilla is coming for you. Don't leave the hospital. Feel free to send off our son so he can be safe, but you yourself don't leave it!"

Like, seriously?

It was also very slow paced, so I was completely not entertained throughout.

I wouldn't really recommend it.

Watching Whales (except not really)

Yay I went whale watching!

...Except we didn't see any whales...

Oh well, they have a "See a Whale Guarantee" where if you don't see a whale, you can just reschedule and go again another time for free. Since this was the last whale watching cruise for the season, we couldn't reschedule this year, but they said we could go next year and just quote the same booking number as we had on Thursday (last week that is), and they will organise it for us for free! So it's all good in the end.

It was still a really great experience even without seeing the whales though, because we went on this amazing tall ship, The Soren Larsen.

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It was made in 1948 and it's done quite a few rounds around the world since it was made, so it's definitely seaworthy. The ship started in northern Denmark and it was even part of the 1988 Bicentennial Re-enactment voyage, and it returned back to Britain shortly after.

It's really cool to be on it, especially when you see all the deck hands working the sails and the rigging; definitely really cool.

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So apparently the ship is 44.2m long with a 19th century brigantine rig and over 20,000 square feet of canvas. It's quite big and can fit around 100 people but I think they limit it to about 50 people for safety reasons. Our group was only about 15 or so people not including the crew, so it was quite spacious.

So it's usually $249 per adult, but we got it for $99 each because of a deal on Adrenalin. I think there are always deals like that on Adrenalin or Groupon, so it's pretty good.

We made the rookie mistake of showing up at 8:30am (since it said arrive at 8:30am for a 9am start), but lucky I brought stuff to study and read. It departs at around 9:20am after everyone boards it and stuff, then it quickly sails through the harbour, and after passing the Harbour Bridge you get a shot at climbing the mast.

You get given a harness that attaches you to it and it works like a seatbelt, so if you fall quickly, it'll lock itself.

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It's pretty safe and it's unlikely you'll slip and fall, but I guess it was still pretty scary because it rocked quite a bit even in the calm waters of the harbour.

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My parents didn't want to climb it at first, so I went up with this family of three. It's pretty high up and it's a great view, but since it's high up, all the movements of the ship are extremely exaggerated. It's not that scary though; I was quite worried before I went up but it was quite a lot of fun!

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The guy I was standing next to was really nice and offered to take this picture of me climbing down. Unfortunately there was a shadow from a rope that he didn't warn me of, so I now have a line across my face. But I still think it was a pretty good shot.

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Once I came down from the mast, they served morning tea, which was yummy hot home-made pumpkin soup with a bread roll. All the food is included in the fees as well, so it was pretty good.

After morning tea we got to rocky waters, so a few people got a bit sea sick. Everyone was sitting down, some guy threw up, my dad had to lie down because he was getting sick, and I was getting quite a bit of headache (didn't help that I was reading).

After some time it got calmer though, and so we watched out for whales, but as I said we didn't see any.

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Dat amazing water.
We did see this one seal chillin' on it's back though, with all its flippers stuck up in the air. It looked like it was having a lot of fun, and when the ship started getting closer it started swimming around, occasionally sticking up its tail for us. It was pretty cute.

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We also saw some dolphins in the distance, but alas, no whales.

I got a chance to talk to the captain, who's a really friendly guy with quite a lot of stories to tell.

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He was saying how you know, this is all about nature and you never know when the whales are going to pop up for us, but we were sailing along East-West, since the whales migrant North-South, so by going perpendicular, we should be able to catch them. There was a group of three boats in one area and he said that they probably found whales, but the rule is that you can't have more than 3 boats around a whale, so we couldn't go and follow.

Actually part of the crew have specific jobs of trying to spot whales. They kind of just looked like they were just sleeping or sitting down since they didn't help with the rigging or anything, but yeah, that was their job.

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And most of the crew are actually international and on holidays working and earning a bit of money for their travels. I thought that was pretty interesting because I can't imagine working while I was on holidays, but I guess that's actually quite a smart thing to do. A lot of the cruise is just nothingness, so you get to spend a lot of time sitting and admiring the (constant and hardly-changing) view, reading (in my case; sleeping for others) or talking to the captain/crew about themselves and their stories.

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For lunch we had beef lasagna, another bread roll and some salad. For afternoon tea we had muffins. There are also soft drinks, tea and coffee to help yourself to and they even have a bar but of course you have to pay extra for that.

So after some time, we started heading back into the harbour. The engine was turned off and this was when they started hoisting up the sails. Quite a few of us helped with the rigging, since it takes 16 people to hoist the main sail.

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If you look closely, you can see me at the top of the mast head! That was my second time climbing the mast.

On the way back, my mum wanted to climb the mast, since after seeing me do it she wanted to do it as well. My dad at first wanted to do it, but by this time he was feeling too sea sick to do anything so it was just me and my mum. I went up first, but my mum pulled out after going up about 5 rungs. The first 5 rungs are solid wood, but the rest are rope and she's had bad experiences with rope bridges so she stopped and went back down again. So at least I had shots of me on the mast by myself.

Too bad you can't really get a good angle with the mast because the ship isn't long enough, so that pic above with the whole sail will have to do for now.

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And on the way back we saw their other tall ship, The Southern Swan, which was built in 1922 and looked even bigger (and probably was since it had 3 masts).

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You get back by 4pm, so it's a pretty long day, but it was really good. It didn't feel that boring or long, and was pretty fun actually.

Although when I got home and was sitting at my desk, I kept feeling like I was still constantly rocking up and down, but I think that's just because I usually have problems with my balance anyway.

So overall it was pretty fun, and it was a good deal for $100 (thanks to Adrenalin) seeing as if you don't see a whale you do the whole thing again until you see one, so it's good value for money. The ship makes it so much better than a typical whale-watching cruise, since they're all modern, plain and boring (and probably since I have this weird fascination with old ships).

If you're into that stuff, I suggest you might as well pay that little bit extra (if you can find a deal on Adrenalin or Groupon) and go on the tall ship, because it's a really good and unique experience to have.

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The view of the Harbour Bridge was also truly amazing; I looked at it and just thought, "Wow, I can't believe I climbed it!" It definitely looks much more foreboding and terrifying looking at it from afar, so it's still hard to believe how easy the actual climb was!

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Speaking of which (awesome segue), I forgot to mention that with each BridgeClimb you get a printed group photo shot (but you still get that on the usb/cd of photos that you purchase extra). You also get free entry into the Pylon Lookout that expires in one month, as well as a BridgeClimb Certificate!

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So fancy...