I have had it with these monkey-fighting skullcrawlers on this monkey-infested island!

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

7.1/10 on IMDb
78% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Watch it in cinemas;
Low-energy entertainment
Watch it if you: Want to see a gigantic King Kong;
Just want a fun and enjoyable action adventure
A US government agent is determined to explore the uncharted Skull Island. Following him is a military escort team, together with a skilled tracker, and an anti-war photographer. When they reach the island, they come across the terrifying Kong, who reigns King over the island. But our team soon discover that Kong isn't the only deadly creature to be worried about on this island.

I remember when I first saw the trailer to this, I thought it looked pretty awesome. Kong looked cool, and it had a good cast, with Samuel L. Jackson playing the military leader, Tom Hiddleston the tracker, and Brie Larson the photographer. I then began to hear quite negative reviews on the movie from some critics on YouTube, so I didn't prioritise this too high.

I was pleasantly surprised with this film though. Maybe it was because of the low expectations, but to be honest I never expected a fantastic movie anyway. We're talking about King Kong; it's a fan's movie, it's not meant to be a super serious drama like the one Peter Jackson did. No, it's supposed to be mindless action, fun, gunfire and explosions, and it was exactly that.

The actual plot is pretty typical of a King Kong or even a mysterious and dangerous island type of film, and some of the dialogue and writing was really not that great. A lot of the jokes didn't land at all, and every time there was a close-up of Samuel L. Jackson staring down Kong, I cringed. How does Kong even see that he's staring at him? He's so tall there's no way he'd realise.

Speaking of which, Kong is huge in this and it is pretty amazing. There's quite a few jump scares or just moments where Kong suddenly comes out, and because of the sheer scale of him, it's pretty great. This will be good for the King Kong vs Godzilla sequel that will be coming out later, since Kong needs to be huge to go up against Godzilla, and in the movie they state that Kong is quite young so will continue to grow.

There's not much to say about the actors just because it's such a guilty pleasure sort of movie that the actors don't really contribute much to it. I don't even know who the main character was. It seems like they were trying to push for Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson to be the two leads, but I felt like there was more of a focus on Samuel L. Jackson, and even then Kong was really the main character of this film.

All in all this film was an entertaining and enjoyable guilty-pleasure action film. It has enough bloody and violent scenes to distract you from the fact that the dialogue is pretty bad. It also has a pretty cool lore, with other crazy and bizarre creatures appearing, so that was good fun. It also actually showed us quite a lot of Kong, unlike how Godzilla didn't show much of its titular character. I would recommend this if you were contemplating watching it.

A few side notes:

The guy from The Entire History of You (Black Mirror season 1, episode 3) is here!

Tom Hiddleston is very handsome here

Singapore 2013 and 2017

At the beginning of this year, I went to Singapore! I've neglected the rest of my Vietnam travel blog series, but this trip inspired me to blog on my travels again!

Most of this blog will be from my trip this year, but some parts will be from my experiences in 2013.

----------
Singapore, Singapore
Highlights:

Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay

Night Safari

Botanic Gardens

The MRT (train) system; it's fast, efficient, and just amazingly convenient

Self-flush toilets (except in the airport where it flushed too frequently)

Taxis are still pretty cheap

I discovered my love for popiah here (strangely enough I never had it in Malaysia) - just don't get fried popiah because they're pretty much lame spring rolls!

Lowlights:

It was raining a lot when we got there, but I actually kind of liked the rain, so I can't think of any other low lights

Weather/Environment:

Wet and rainy (but this meant less crowds)

Nice temperatures

Accommodation:
This time I stayed at my cousin's place, but in 2013 my mum and I stayed at Marina Bay Sands for a few days. It is pricey, but very beautiful. And the rooftop infinity pool is great, obviously.

Overall:
I loved Singapore, and I would visit it again the next time I go to Malaysia. It's very easy to get around, and it's not that much of a culture shock because it's the most Westernised Asian country I can think of. The food is not as great as Malaysia, but it's a good country. There are a lot of fines though, so be careful with what you do, e.g. don't chew gum, etc.

The Marina Bay Sands light show at night as seen from Clarke Quay

Marina Bay

From the airport, we went straight to the Bayfront MRT stop which takes you to the Marina Bay Sands hotel and shopping centre. After lunch, we went to the ArtScience Museum, walked halfway across the Helix Bridge for some pictures, then went to the Gardens by the Bay, where we went to the OCBC Skyway and both the Flower Dome and the Cloud Dome.


Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Infinity pool on the Marina Bay Sands rooftop

The infinity pool at night (can you spot me?)
This hotel is beautiful, from the inside, from the street outside, and as seen from the city. It also has a night show every night at 8pm and 9.30pm (as well as 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, check the website here) and the view is really great from Clarke Quay.

Marina Bay Sands as seen from the Helix Bridge
Best views: Helix Bridge, walking along the Clarke/Boat/Robertson quays

Hidden gem: Many Singaporeans don't know about this themselves, but go to the eighth level of the Supreme Court to see a great view of the city, including Marina Bay Sands. The only downside is you are not allowed to take photos (there are security cameras), and at security downstairs you have to walk through the scanners and surrender any cameras. It has a great view though.

Marina Bay Sands again seen from the Helix Bridge, but during the day

The ArtScience Museum

The ArtScience Museum as seen from the Helix Bridge
My favourite building in Singapore because of it's beautiful asymmetry, which is also another reason I love the Opera House.

You will pass by it when exiting the Marina Bay Sands Shopping Centre, and you can get a good view of it from the Helix Bridge.

There is always a little free exhibition on the architecture of the building, and they have some pretty cool exhibitions and a cool gift shop as well. Check out their website to find out what exhibitions are being held when you are there. In 2013 they had a really cool Lego exhibition, and this year they had an Escher exhibition which was amazing.

From the Lego exhibition from 2013

From the Escher exhibition from earlier this year

Gardens by the Bay

The view from our room at Marina Bay Sands, overlooking the Marina Bay area
Just a short walk from hotel, the Marina Bay area is all reclaimed land, meaning artificial land created from rocks that have settled over a period of decades to form the stable land that it is now. Reclaiming land is an ongoing process that is necessary for Singapore as it is such a tiny country.

The Gardens are lit up every night at 7.45pm and 8.45pm, so a good idea is to start out in the evening so that by the time you finish, the lights are on.

The Supertree Grove in the Gardens by the Bay
The OCBC was the best attraction in the Gardens, as it provided an amazing view of the area and of Marina Bay Sands, and it's very cheap. Tickets are only $8 per adult (I'm pretty sure they were only $5 last time) and it's a pretty interesting walk 22m above ground. The artificial supertrees house solar panels that help to generate electricity to power the light shows. One downside is that the workers there rush you to keep moving forward because of the number of tourists there (and I don't remember them doing that last time).

The OCBC Skyway

The two conservatory Domes as seen from our Marina Bay Sands room
The domes are pretty interesting. They house different plants and floral collections depending on the time of the year. But just as a warning, these domes are freezing. Bring a jacket.

From the Cloud Dome
The Cloud Dome is the taller of the two. You take an elevator up to the top then slowly walk down. It's an interesting place, but I think if you are rushed for time and on a budget, it can be skipped.

From the Flower Dome
The Flower Dome is the shorter of the two and houses different collections of plants depending on geographical region. I really liked the African area because of the baobabs and cacti, but the rest was not as interesting. In the centre, they have a floral display which they change every season or public holiday to reflect the time, e.g. Christmas, Chinese New Year, Easter, etc. This is better than the Cloud Dome but I think if you are rushed for time it doesn't need to be seen.

One of the many baobab trees in the Flower Dome

River and Night Safari

I took the MRT to Choa Chu Kang, and took the 927 bus to the zoo. Purchasing a two-park pass is cheaper than purchasing passes separately, and I started at the River Safari. The River Safari is pretty straightforward as there is only one direction to walk in, and I also went on the Amazon boat ride. After that, we had dinner, and then we went to the Night Safari, first walking around the four trails, then going on the tram ride.

From the River Safari
I am not going to lie, one of the reasons I wanted to come to Singapore again was because the River Safari had not opened the first time I went to Singapore. I was super keen for the River Safari, but it turns out that the Night Safari was the better one, and the River Safari can actually be skipped to save money and time. I didn't go to Singapore Zoo, though, so I can't make any comments on that, although apparently it is similar to the Night Safari, so I would be keen on going there the next time I am in Singapore.

A panda baring all in the Panda Forest located at the River Safari

I discovered my love for flamingos on this Amazon River Ride in the River Safari
The Night Safari is a zoo only open at night. The main attraction is the tram ride that goes around the zoo, however there is a huge line for this as soon as the park opens. I had a look at this suggested itinerary they had on the website, and I walked around the zoo first. It was raining but that meant that there weren't as many people walking around either. It's interesting that it's an open air zoo at night because this meant that when it was raining, some areas were quite slippery (good thing I was wearing joggers), and this was exacerbated by the fact that some places are not well lit, so it's easy to fall and injure yourself. I'm actually curious as to how lawsuits would work here, as the novelty of this zoo is that it is outdoors and open, but still I think it is very easy to slip and fall.

Another thing that is both a downside and an upside is that the animals are not enclosed in cages, and they have natural barriers so you can sort of see them "in their habitat". For example, the coyotes have a moat surrounding their area, but it was a bit of a concern when they started running around and jumping here and there, because I was wondering whether or not they could actually clear the length of the moat as it doesn't look too big from where you are standing.

Regardless, it was a really fun time walking around.

Flamingos again at Night Safari!
After we walked around, we queued up for the tram ride. By now, a lot of the crowd had dissipated, and while the queue still looked really long, it was constantly moving, so we still got on a tram pretty quickly.

The tram ride was really a highlight. They ride to some places that you don't walk past, and they have a narration playing as you see each animal. You can't take very good photos because flash photography is not allowed (and they call you out if you take pictures with flash, like the girl in front of me did), but it's a great experience.

After the tram ride, we queued up for the Creatures of the Night Show, but unfortunately it was cancelled because of the rain. We then quickly left for the taxi stand, and while there were a lot of people queueing up, there was constant progression of taxis, so we got into a taxi in a decent amount of time.

The River Cruise at the River Safari
The tram ride in the Night Safari was actually what I expected of the River Safari too (and why I was so excited for it). Maybe I'm just stupid, but I seriously thought the main feature of the River safari would be the boat ride, hopping onto a boat and having a look at a whole heaps of animals.

Instead, the river safari is more like an outdoor version of the Sealife Aquarium, and then the boat ride is only a 15 minute thing and they show you random things like giraffes, so it's not that exciting. There is a $5 Amazon River Quest boat ride which is more to what I was expecting, but it was a bit underwhelming, especially because it went by really fast and you couldn't really see some of the animals as they were hiding or sleeping.

Perhaps a better attraction would be the Singapore Zoo, which sounds like it is a daytime version of what the Night Safari is (but without the tram ride).

A very blurry photo of the tram ride at the Night Safari

Singapore Botanic Gardens

One of the garden displays at the Botanic Gardens
The Botanic Gardens was also a huge favourite for me. I got off the Botanic Gardens MRT stop, walked through the gardens to the other side, and caught a bus to the shops at Orchard St.

A flamingo display in the Orchid Garden
The Botanic Gardens are filled with different types of gardens that you can walk through. There is a box of maps at the entrance, and you can return your map to the box so they don't have to print more.

There are so many things to see here that I was there for maybe 3 or 4 hours and still didn't have enough time to explore everything.

A really cool display of what prehistoric trees would have looked like in the Evolution Garden
My favourite gardens were the Evolution Garden, and the National Orchid Garden. Be sure not to miss the Orchid Garden, it closes at 7pm and the last entry is at 6pm. It costs $5 and it is simply amazing.

The other gardens also have different opening times, and as I said I didn't check out all of them, but some of them you walk past a little section of them anyway.

I would highly recommend this, and I would even suggest you do this instead of the domes at the Gardens by the Bay if you don't have enough time.

Really cool bromeliads in the Orchid Garden

Cultural Areas

A Michelin-starred soya chicken hawker store in the Chinatown Complex Food Centre
We decided to check out the different cultural areas all in one morning/afternoon. An interesting thing about Singapore is how embracing it is of different cultures, dedicating specific areas to them and even having a public holiday for different religious events.

The line for the soya chicken shop
Chinatown was up first. There are a few streets filled with little market stalls that you can walk around. You can also go to the huge Chinatown Complex Food Centre for a massive collection of hawkers stalls. There is one famous soya chicken stall in the red section of this food court, however the wait is something like an hour or so so I didn't bother, and I've heard at least two people say it's not that great.

The MRT stop for Little India
Little India was up next, where the smell of curry hits you like a brick wall. This was a bit underwhelming, mainly because all I wanted was some roti but they didn't have any! I had to walk around asking people where roti was sold, and eventually they pointed me to one shop that did all types of rotis and murtabaks. I was so disappointed in the lack of roti.

Walking to Arab Street from Bugis
Arab Street at the Bugis Junction MRT stop was last. Bugis Junction has a lot of market stalls, and then you have to walk a little in the opposite direction to get to Arab Street and it's surrounding streets. I thought this place was pretty interesting. The food was decent, although the people are quite pushy, doing a one minute memorised spiel on everything they have on the menu. There's a beautiful mosque there as well, so it's decent for photos.

A mosque near Arab Street

Shopping

I don't have any photos of the shopping centres on Orchard Street so here is a Kaya Toast breakfast meal
I planned to not do much shopping in Singapore because I wanted to focus on sightseeing, and I could do way more shopping in Malaysia, but I did go to Orchard Street for a bit after my Botanic Gardens visit and my goodness this is like shopper's paradise for anyone who wants to shop! The whole place is just an interconnected web of say 6 shopping centres, and you can literally shop 'til you drop.


So there's my blog on Singapore, I hope you enjoyed it. I really loved this country and would highly recommend it to anyone.

So this is what it feels like.

Logan (2017)

8.6/10 on IMDb
92% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Signed, sealed, and recommended by Chloe;
Watch it in cinemas;
I'm buying the DVD

Watch it if you: Are a fan of the X-Men series;
Want to see an R-rated version of Wolverine that is truer to the comics;
Are not really into superhero films and want to see what the fuss is about these "X-Men" people;
Want to see a superhero character receive a poignant and serious movie;
Liked the dark superhero tone of The Dark Knight

It is the year 2029, and mutants are endangered. An ageing and injured Logan cares for Professor X somewhere along the Mexican border as he attempts to hide from the rest of the world. As Logan and the Professor are each plagued by their haunted pasts, surviving is a struggle as is. Yet, the arrival of a young mutant heralds a new challenge for them.

Hugh Jackman has stated that this will be the last movie with him portraying our favourite claw-bearing mutant. Whether or not they will recast Wolverine (I hope not), or introduce another character to fill his void (likely), remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: this is the last Hugh Jackman Wolverine movie we will see, and that is enough for me to begin my period of mourning.

The trailers for this film had a really sombre tone to them, so going in you know that this will be a very different superhero movie. In fact, it's more a drama piece rather than an action film, and that was really refreshing to see. I think they did a really nice send-off for Hugh Jackman, and it was everything I hoped his last film would be.

It is really difficult to discuss this film without spoilers, so I will have a spoilers section at the end, and right now I'll just talk about the film broadly.

As I said, the tone of the film is what strikes you the most. It's a really tragic movie, and you see that right from the opening scene. Logan is ageing, scarred, limping, and a bit slow to draw out his claws. He's damaged, both physically and mentally. He has been through two timelines, he has seen many of his loved ones die, and he himself does not have the luxury of death. He is bitter, violent, and indulges in self-sabotaging behaviours. This film, and this portrayal of Logan, is truly heartbreaking.

It is also really sad to see Professor X ageing as well, because you are seeing two of the most powerful mutants be brought so low over time. It is also really interesting to see how damaged Professor X is due to his age and his past. He who was so mentally powerful; the strongest of the strong. Something seriously messed up must have happened to bring him down like this (but more about that in the spoiler section).

I have mixed feelings about the R-rating of this film (MA15+ in Australia). Hugh Jackman actually took a paycut so that this movie could have an R-rating, which just shows how necessary it was for him. On one hand, this allowed them to create that heavy tone for the film so it could have a bit more weight to it. With a lower rating, producers might have wanted the film to steer away from such seriousness to pander to younger audience members. The film is also extremely violent, and the R-rating comes in handy for a lot of the fight scenes.

On the other hand, there are quite a few random things that I think they threw in unnecessarily just because the R-rating allowed them to. For example, Professor X swearing a lot at the beginning of the film seemed really out of character and too over the top. Of course, it does show you just how much has changed and does make you pity what he has gone through to make him so different, but still over the top. Another example: the girl that randomly flashes Logan was just really unnecessary (and it wasn't even a good flash, let's be honest). But you do forget about these things and the movie makes better usage of it's R-rating in later scenes, so its only a small gripe.

The actual storyline is interesting, but it's not the focus of the film. We're not saving the world this time; there's no giant beam of death going into the sky. The film instead explores the characters really in-depth, and in doing so it felt like a really grounded and realistic film, even in a film where the main character has retractable claws.

The character of the young girl was pretty interesting, and Dafne Keen does a fantastic portrayal of her, especially seeing as this is her first film. Hollywood is really going very well in casting child actors lately!

Apart from that, I also really liked the score in this movie, and of course it's always great to hear Johnny Cash.

Okay now SPOILER TALK!

Spoiler on the mutants:

Sorry, this photo is meant to be blurry (I think; in the movie it was one of the scenes in the camera's videos)
Mutants haven't been born for 25 years. Did they give us a reason for this? I know they said those guys wanted to control and weaponise mutants, but how did they do this? Because if it's in a similar vein to The Last Stand, then I think it's interesting to think how history just keeps repeating itself. Even though this is after the "happy" timeline of Days of Future Past, maybe it really is like a ripple in the pond; you disrupt it momentarily, but in the end the pond will remain the same; humans will remain the same, and they will always continue to hunt mutants until mutants become the dominant species. (Cue Magneto's "I told you so!")

^After I wrote this I found out that Dr. Rice's company actually came up with a mutant-gene-suppressor and put this into the corn-syrup that they were mass manufacturing. I must have completely missed this part of the movie because the only mention of corn-syrup I remember was when the farmer is talking to Logan about how much corn they need. But anyway, it does parallel The Last Stand in trying to suppress the mutant gene, it's jsut unfortunate that corn syrup is used in almost all food products, and this ended up pretty much eradicating the mutant gene altogether.

Also, I was keen for some Children of Men type revelation of a mutant being born, but I'll settle for this.
(Hide this spoiler on the mutants)

Spoiler on Professor X:

The introduction into this ageing Charles was also very hard to swallow. Patrick Stewart lost 21 pounds (9.5 kg) to portray his sickly character, but the saddest part is his mental deterioration.

I think they mentioned he has Alzheimer's disease, and they certainly alluded to it when he couldn't recognise Logan, even though he always knows who he is. I guess he just can't recognise the ageing Logan, similarly to like how he seems really unrecognisable to audience members who are so used to the dashing, young, and strong Wolverine. But what's interesting is that he instantly recognised X-24 when he walked into the room, and started talking to him and opening up to him.

Speaking of which, did anyone realise what was happening in that scene? I thought it was a dream sequence and didn't think much of it. Sudden stabbing of Charles, young, strong, buzz-cut Wolverine with a black shirt; they all pointed to the fact that Charles was dreaming, right??? And then Laura starts attacking him, he throws her against the wall, what is happening?, then he kills the rest of the family and oh no! Charles really is dying! :(((

And his dying scene in the back of the ute, where he seems to be almost delusional, constantly repeating the name of their boat, Sunseeker, reminded me of the chapter in A Dance With Dragons when Maester Aemon is delusional on the boat to Oldtown and thinks Sam is Aegon ("Egg"). So that was pretty sad for me.

But I think the main thing everyone is wondering, is what was the Westchester incident? It sounded like he accidentally had a seizure and killed a bunch of innocent people two years ago and is living in constant regret of that whenever he does remember it. After giving it a google, I realised that Westchester was where the X-mansion was located, meaning Professor X, the one who founded and fostered these mutants and the only family Logan has ever had, was the very one to destroy it.

Living with the murders you committed, accidental or not, justifiable or not, self-defensive or not, seems to have been a theme of the movie. Charles tells Logan how much he feels he doesn't deserve to enjoy a nice family dinner, because of his guilt. Unfortunately, Logan doesn't actually hear this because it's actually X-24 that Charles is talking to, but Logan is able to make it in time to tell Charles that it wasn't him.
(Hide this spoiler on Professor X)

Spoiler on Logan:

How sad was it to see him in the very first scene? He wakes up in the car, limps out, and then proceeds to get momentarily beat up by those guys! It was a cool fight scene when his claws just go through their skulls like butter, but I was still pretty sad after seeing just how much he struggled.

If you think of what he has gone through, time travel included, it means that he has had to see all of his closest friends die, twice. And then with the Westchester incident, it must have been terrible for him to witness that, because his friends all died in a similar way the first time around (Phoenix being unable to control her powers).

I also only realised after watching the film that the thing that is poisoning him is his Adamantium, which is slowing down his healing process. It kind of makes me wonder whether Laura will suffer the same fate. Of course, he tells her not to be the weapon they made her to be, but she too will grow old and see all her loved ones die, over and over again. It seems like a sad cycle.

Also, that scene where he overdoses on the green liquid and goes berserk was amazing. That is probably what everyone has been wanting to see since the comics came out, sort of similar to the Darth Vader massacre scene at the end of Rogue One.

He is also amazing as X-24; I wonder how they filmed that, dang!

And turning the cross on an angle to make an X for the last X-Man, dayum.

A side note: The scene where Charles has a seizure in the casino and Logan is struggling in the hallway was actually filmed with Hugh Jackman being attached to a rope being pulled back by two men to make his struggle realistic. How crazy is that! Hugh Jackman, you will be missed.
(Hide this spoiler on Logan)

Spoiler on Laura:

At first I thought, dayum the consequences and similarities are too high! Little feral Laura, with claws and a healing factor, she's way too similar to Wolverine and they were so not creative. Then: oh right she's a clone of him.

I was pretty interested in her foot talon, but she didn't use it that much so that was a bit disappointing. She is great though, and seems even more deadly than Wolverine, mainly because of her wild and feral-like nature.

I'm also a bit confused with whether she has telepathy? I know Professor X was communicating with her, but I don't know if this was a sign that he was being able to control himself better, or whether it was easier because Laura could also communicate with him. Because Charles didn't communicate with Caliban or Logan, or any of the other child mutants to be honest. They also stated that the tank was meant to sort of block his powers, but he could still communicate with Laura?

Another thing is that as good as the actress was, I didn't buy Laura's sudden desire to start speaking. Like, she suddenly started speaking a lot. It seemed really out of character. And I didn't buy her desire for Logan to care for her more. Of course, she was probably told over and over again by that nurse that Logan was her father, but I just didn't buy it how much she cared about him, and even her little eulogy seemed a bit forced. Although, that's probably an issue with the writing rather than the acting, and it was very sweet to see her call Logan her daddy; he finally had a real family.
(Hide this spoiler on Laura)

A few side notes:

Caliban really did look like a motherly Nosferatu, it was pretty hilarious

Logan reading comic books (loosely) based on his X-Men adventures was great

Self-driving trailers look so scary!

No post credits scene but it doesn't need one

How did that lady edit her video on her phone like that?! Is she like a genius or something?

Don't let fear stop you from doing the thing you love

Sing (2016)

7.3/10 on IMDb
70% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: It's alright;
Low-energy entertainment
Watch it if you: Are keen for some celebrities singing songs you already know;
Have nothing to do since Moana was booked out
(obviously that last one no longer applies; this review was sitting in my drafts unpublished)

Buster Moon is a naive-yet-optimistic koala who owns a struggling theatre on the verge of repossession. In a last-ditch attempt to keep his bank, Buster hosts a city-wide talent show.

When I saw the trailers for this, I thought it looked like trash but I still sort of wanted to see it because of the cast and the fact that I love musicals.

And it was actually pretty enjoyable! Nothing amazing, but I had low expectations and actually found it to be enjoyable.

The plot is pretty predictable, with I guess maybe like one thing that is unexpected. Some of the pacing feels a little off, but I do like how they sometimes get our hopes up and show montages of everyone heading in the right direction, only to have the next scene completely ruin everything and make the situation seem more dire than it was before.

One thing, though... I didn't really expect the plot to be an actual plot. I went in assuming that most of it would just be like the audition process of American Idol, except with animals (so... Animal Idol?), but the audition part and therefore the singing part zooms by.

I'm not even kidding when I say that the majority of songs you see in the film only have small one-line snippets shown. I was quite surprised by this because I kept getting really into the songs in the first line (mainly because it made me suddenly remember that song existed in the first place), only for it to cut to another snippet of another song.

Instead, I wanted the entire film to be more focused on songs, but there's quite a lull in the middle where there's not much music happening.

Nonetheless, it was still decent, and when there was music and singing, it was pretty solid.

The actors were great at singing, but I was especially surprised at Taron Egerton (the protagonist from Kingsman). This guy can sing! A few times I actually thought it might be Sam Smith singing, he is actually really good! Just another reason for me to love him...

As for the rest of the main cast, I knew that Seth MacFarlane and Scarlett Johansson could sing, but they still blew me away. Reese Witherspoon was decent too, but nothing spectacular.

Surprisingly, Tori Kelly, the only actual professional singer in the main cast, was not as impressive. Her actual singing was great, but I wanted her to sing something a bit more memorable at the end, particularly since it was the big finale.

But in the end it's a pretty enjoyable movie. I thought it was going to be trash but I was pleasantly surprised. The music focus isn't the greatest, and I wished they spent more time on songs, and even original songs (there's only one original song), but if you go in knowing this is a kid's movie with a predictable plot, you'd still enjoy it for the music and the humour.

I pray but I am lost. Am I just praying to silence?

Silence (2016)

7.5/10 on IMDb
84% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Please, for the love of all things good and true, do not watch this;
Proceed at your own risk
Watch it if you: Want to see a really deep film about religion and spirituality;
Want to be bored halfway into the movie
The environment of 17th century Japan is one of hostility, as Christianity has been outlawed and Japanese officials terrorise small villages as they attempt to torture and execute the Christians out of them. Due to this, two Jesuit missionaries hear word that their mentor has renounced his faith after being tortured, and they decide to travel to Nagasaki in the hopes of finding out the truth about him.

I chose to watch this over Fences because the trailer looked fantastic in terms of cinematography, score, and storyline. It has also been getting some solid reviews from critics, so I thought it would be great.

Unfortunately, I didn't realise how long the movie was until I bought a ticket for it. 2 hours and 41 minutes! Nevermind, I thought. I've seen longer.

Turns out, I have also seen much, much, better.

The premise itself is pretty interesting. The film is a complex philosophical discussion about spirituality, faith, and human nature. Some of the themes that the film looks at are really interesting to delve into, such as "How far would you be tortured for your what you believe in?", "Are all religions the same?", "Can you keep your faith even if you publicly renounce it?"

But, as I said, the major downside of this film is the terribly long runtime.

I really liked the first half of the film, because of the fantastic cinematography, the opening and introduction into this anti-Christian Japan, and the solid acting by Andrew Garfield.

Then, I checked my watch.

And from then on I kept checking my watch every 15 minutes and internally sighing.

"Hang in there, just another 1 hour and 40 minutes to go."
So yeah, this is a short review, but basically, I wouldn't recommend this film. It is a pretty boring film, and the interesting premise does not make up for it. The cinematography and score are great, and Andrew Garfield does a great job here, but the film has too long of a run time for me to recommend it to anyone. All the interesting parts of the trailer are mainly from the first half of the film, and if you manage to bear through it all, it does become a nice philosophical discussion and religion and faith.

Also, Adam Driver's face is just so weird to look at on the big screen.

Two people took many days and weeks to plan out hate, but love responded in an instant

Patriots Day (2016)

7.5/10 on IMDb
81% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Signed, sealed, and recommended by Chloe;
Watch it in cinemas;
Low-energy entertainment
Watch it if you: Are interested in the Boston Marathon bombings;
Are a fan of the Mark Wahlberg/Peter Berg duo;
Want an engaging and non-stop thrilling film
Patriots' Day, April 15th, 2013, two brothers set off two bombs at the annual Boston Marathon. Three people died from this bombing, and several were injured, with many needing to have their limbs amputated. What followed was an intense man hunt after the two brothers, with intelligence agencies crawling through surveillance footage and trying to garner any information they could to capture these two terrorists.

Firstly, I have to say the trailer for this movie is absolutely terrible. I don't know who made the trailer, but it does no justice to the film, which I actually really liked. I thought it was a great film about the strength of love and unity in a time of fear and hatred.

We all remember the news about the Boston Marathon bombing, and it was a shock to all of us.

I was worried this would be an action-packed and purely-cash-grab sensationalised flick, but then I remembered watching Deepwater Horizon and how great (and importantly, accurate) that was.

There are some scenes in this movie that seem so unbelievable it sort of took me away from the movie, and detracted from the storyline, but when I went home and checked it out, I realised that they were pretty accurate to the real life events, which just goes to show how crazy and insane real life can get sometimes.

I don't know how to approach spoilers with this movie, since it is based on real life events that only happened recently, but I guess I'll approach it as if it were a normal movie and stick to vague references to things.

The unfolding of the movie was done pretty well. At first, there's a quick introduction of some of the characters and real-life people who were involved, just to show us how human and real they are. Then there's the marathon and the bombing, and then the progressive manhunt that goes down.

Similar to Deepwater Horizon, you never feel bored when watching Patriots Day. Everything shown is interesting, relevant to the story, and exciting. Even though it's not non-stop action, the story is non-stop and engaging. They also mix in some actual footage from the whole thing (e.g. surveillance cameras, etc.), and at the end they have interviews of some of the people who were involved, which I think was a really nice touch to cap it off.

Of course, Mark Wahlberg is the character who is at every crucial point in the film, but I don't think his actions and character movement were too forced. There's really only one scene where it's questionable if he should even be there, let alone if he should be the only guy in a room full of experts who knows anything helpful. That was a huge stretch and it was frankly a bit ridiculous. For the rest of the movie, though, he wasn't really in the limelight. He was just sort of there for all the events that unfolded, and provided us with eyes for all the events. It also let other characters shine, such as J.K. Simmons' role.

I was interested in how they would portray the two brother terrorists, since it's a very sensitive area. The younger brother was actually very interestingly portrayed. On one hand, you can see how brainwashed he has been by his brother, and on the other hand you see that he himself is a maniac and has a lot of strong and radicalised views on the American government. However, in everything, you can see that he is just like an average American teenager. He goes to uni, he's stoned 24/7, he wants to drive cooler cars, he's a pretty successful pot dealer, and all that stuff. He has friends, and he's not the complete antisocial isolated asshole that his brother seems to be. Which makes it even harder to watch, because it's so easy to see how his brother could be a terrorist. Yes, that is exactly what our image of an extremist looks like. But then you look at the younger brother, and you think how can someone seem so normal, (slightly) relatable, and (almost) sympathetic, and yet so casually talk about better ways to kill people?

Also, being mindful of spoilers, I just want to talk about how well they did some of the manhunt scenes. There are two scenes that still stick in my mind right now.

One is a super tense scene inside a car, and it was done so well. I was on the edge of my seat, shifting uncomfortably, and shaking my legs in agitation; it was so intense and the actor did a great job.

Then there was a car shootout scene and man that was insane. That was the scene I was talking about earlier where I thought it seemed so unrealistic, but was actually pretty accurate.

So in the end, I really liked this film. I would say Deepwater Horizon has more rewatchability value, because of the sheer scale of things, but this would still be a decent rewatch, and I think because it just tells this incredible story based on real events about how everyone came together to catch these two terrorists, and it sends a great message about the need for us to unite, instead of divide. I'd recommend watching it in cinemas just for some of the crazier scenes, but I guess it can also be quite a casual watch at home.

I wonder what the next Peter-Berg-real-life-movie-starring-Mark-Wahlberg will be?