Film Addict's July Film Choice

In honour of San Diego Comic-Con and the amazing panels they have had this year, I decided to embrace my inner nerd and chose a film that has something to with Comic-Con in it this month for Film Addict's July Film Choice.  Originally, I was going to review something to do with the film being set in July which ventured away from my usual selection but my inner geek won out and I chose Paul.

Paul is the 2011 British-American comedy science-fiction film directed by Greg Mottola; Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, This is the End) voices the titular character while Simon Pegg (Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, Star Trek) and Nick Frost (Three Flavour Cornetto Trilogy, Cuban Fury) are the stars along with Rogen as well as being the scriptwriters.  Other actors include Jason Bateman (Arrested Development, Horrible Bosses), Kristin Wiig (Bridesmaids, How to Train Your Dragon), Bill Hader (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Superbad), Blythe Danner (Meet the Parents, What's Your Number?), and Joe Lo Truglio (Superbad, Pineapple Express).

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Anyone; Pegg and Frost fans

Favourite Characters: Pat Shields; Ruth; Zoil

Favourite Part: [Paul hits Ruth and Graeme with his collective knowledge and experience which makes all three of them collapse while Clive is driving which upsets the latter]
Clive: Oh yeah.  He always knew what was going on in Battlestar before me 'cause his mum had cable.
Paul: Fine, pull over, I'll do you.
Clive: Absolutely not.  No spoilers.

Good Points: Pure Pegg and Frost; Paul brought a burst of energy to the film; very sweet film

Bad Points: A bit slow at first; Pegg and Frost dynamic a bit strange at first

Elizabeth Gilbert - Eat, Pray, Love

This was another case of me watching a film and then wanting to read the book because I was intrigued; Eat Pray Love with Julia Roberts as Elizabeth is one of my favourite films because it makes me laugh and cry.  As I said, the film intrigued me so I decided to buy the book to see what it was like because I knew it was a non-fiction novel, specifically an autobiographical novel, and these can be hard to adapt as they are based on someone's life so inaccuracies can be found to be even more upsetting for certain people, including the subject of the original text.

Eat, Pray, Love or the full title, Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia is a memoir from Elizabeth Gilbert, an American author, which chronicles her journey around the world following her messy divorce.  Eat, Pray, Love is her fourth book but was the first one of hers I picked up; it was a very personal book and was an interesting read.

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Anyone going through a rough time; anyone

Favourite Part: Giulio and Maria have a beautiful apartment, the most impressive feature of which is, to my mind, the wall that Maria once covered with angry curses against Giulio (scrawled in thick black magic marker) because they were having an argument and "he yells louder than me" and she wanted to get a word in edgewise. - Page 60 

Good Points: Loved the Italy/Eat section; a lot emotion written; great premise

Bad Points: Found Pray tedious; some unnecessary anecdotes; couldn't always connect with the book

Film Addict's June Film Choice

My original intention was to review this particular film in April but I changed my mind because I wanted to review Tron: Legacy instead, plus, I knew this was going to be a hard film so I had to prepare myself for it.  In April, I found this film in my Empire magazine and it intrigued me, plus I like some of the actors.  So the Film Addict's June Film Choice is Snowpiercer.

Snowpiercer is the 2013 science fiction action film from Bong Joon-ho, adapted from a French graphic novel, La Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette.  This is Bong's first English-language film with a large percentage of it having been shot in English and has a mixture of Korean, American, and English actors.  Some of the stars include Chris Evans (Captain America: The First Avenger, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World), Jamie Bell (Tintin, Billy Elliot), John Hurt (Hellboy, Doctor Who: Day of the Doctor), Luke Pasqualino (Skins, The Musketeers), Song Kang-ho (The Host, Memories of Murder), and Go Ah-sung (The Host, Elegant Lies) to name a handful of them.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Not for the faint-hearted

Favourite Characters: Curtis - protector, leader, reluctant hero, Chris Evans; Edgar - weird sort of comic relief, Jamie Bell; Grey - quiet fellow, Luke Pasqualino

Favourite Part: Edgar: What does steak taste like again? I had it once, but I can't remember.
Curtis: If you can't remember then it's better to forget.
Edgar: What does it smell like when it's cooked? It must emanate around the place.

Good Points: Great adaptation of original story; chemistry between the cast; odd moments of the humour

Bad Points: Felt like a long film - very intense two hours

How to Train Your Dragon 2

While it has already been released in the States, How to Train Your Dragon 2 isn't going to be released until early next month but fortunately, some of the cinemas showed it over the weekends which was great so me and my sister hopped in my car on my weekend off and went to see it because we were so excited and completely adore the franchise.  When I say adore, I mean we are obsessed; I have a Toothless toy and a Hiccup figurine; maybe I'm the obsessed one.
 
How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the 2014 3D animated action-adventure fantasy film directed by Dean DeBlois and is the sequel to the 2010 How to Train Your Dragon which is loosely adapted from the book series of the same name by Cressida Crowell.  The original cast returns, including Jay Baruchel (Sorcerer's Apprentice, This is the End), Gerard Butler (The Ugly Truth, 300), Craig Ferguson (The Craig Ferguson Show, Brave), America Ferrera (Ugly Betty, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants), Jonah Hill (21 Jump Street, Superbad), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad, Kick-Ass), T.J. Miller (Cloverfield, Unstoppable), and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, Despicable Me), with new additions, Cate Blanchett (Lords of the Rings series, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator, The Island), and Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, Pompeii).  In How to Train Your Dragon, Hiccup (Baruchel) is considered an outsider in the Viking village where he lives, Berk, which suffers from constant dragon attacks.  To make things even worse for Hiccup, his father, Stoick (Butler) is the chief and it seems that Hiccup doesn't live up to his father's expectations of what a true Viking is; a strong, courageous warrior who can simply kill a dragon with any given weapon.  During one of the attacks, Hiccup strikes down a Night Fury, one of the more deadly dragons, and when he finds it, he can't bring himself to kill it even though it can't escape because of an injured tail.  Hiccup is eventually able to win over the dragon and gain his trust as he cares for the young dragon, naming him 'Toothless' because he has retractable teeth.  As they bond, Hiccup builds a harness for himself and a saddle and prosthetic tail piece for Toothless, they are able to fly together with Hiccup have some control over the tail piece.  Meanwhile, Stoick places Hiccup in Dragon Training with Gobber (Ferguson) along with the other Viking teenagers while Stoick goes out with his fleet to find the dragon nest; with everything he learns from spending time with Toothless, Hiccup becomes the star pupil in Dragon Training, shocking his dad when he returns from his unsuccessful mission.  Following a failed attempt at showing Berk that dragons aren't evil and can in fact benefit them, Stoick discovers Toothless and disowns his son before he ventures out again to find the dragon nest, using Toothless as a navigation system.  Hiccup knows that this won't work out well as he knows what truly lives in the nest so with the help of his classmates, he goes to help his dad out and ensures that Toothless is safe.  Following a heartfelt moment between Hiccup and Stoick as the latter admits that he was wrong about the dragons, that you can trust some, Hiccup and Toothless fly off together to defeat the Red Death dragon who reigns over the dragons in the nest by using the main weakness of a dragon against it, fire.  While the Red Death dies and our heroes survive, albeit minus a leg on Hiccup's behalf.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Anyone; everyone

Favourite Characters: Hiccup; Toothless

Favourite Part: What do you think? What should we name it?
[Toothless scratches under his arm with his snout]
Hiccup: Itchy Armpit it is.

Good Points: Animation; excellent sequel plot; the composition of the dragons; relationship between the characters

Bad Points: Cate Blanchett's accent

Maleficent

My family and I went out to Meadowhall in Sheffield and while we were there, shopping and scoffing food, we decided to go to the cinema.  Between the four of us, we wanted to see different films so we split off into pairs and my sister and I went to see Maleficent because it was different than the others films and I wanted to see how they were going to recreate this classic fairy tale that was part of my childhood when I was growing up.

Maleficent is the 2014 action fantasy film by Robert Stromberg and rewrites the history of the classic Disney villain.  Stars of Maleficent include Angelina Jolie (Salt, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) who doubles as an executive producer, Elle Fanning (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Super 8), Sharlto Copley (District 9, Elysium), Sam Riley (Control, On the Road), Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Juno Temple (The Dark Knight Rises, Atonement), and Lesley Manville (Another Year, Vera Drake).

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Fantasy fans; Disney fans

Favourite Characters: Diaval; Maleficent

Favourite Part: Maleficent: I hate you, Beastie.

Good Points: Recreated fairy tale; beautiful setting; hints of humour

Bad Points: Predictable plot; Aurora fades in the background to Maleficent; found accents slightly irritating

Film Addict's May Film Choice

I couldn't decide what film I wanted to review for this month because nothing of major significance happened that stuck out in my mind but recently, I saw my best friend who I've known since I was a kid.  As I missed her so much because we don't live right down the road from one another anymore, I asked her if there was a particular film she liked to watch with me so the Film Addict's May Film Choice is Brother Bear, a film we watched repeatedly over the years and absolutely adore.

Brother Bear was released in 2003 and was directed by Aaron Blaise and Robert A. Walker.  As with a number of Disney films which don't feature a princess, this is an animated adventure feature with comedic and dramatic elements, focussing on a young person going through a particular journey.  Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator, Walk the Line) stars along with Jeremy Suarez (The Bernie Mac Show, Zambezia), Rick Moranis (Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors), Dave Thomas (SCTV, The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew), and Joan Copeland (As the World Turns, The Peacemaker) to name a few.

As this was a request review, I've added another point to the review list which is something that reminds me of my best friend who requested Brother Bear.

Rating: 7

Recommended To: Disney fans; siblings

Favourite Characters: Tanana

Favourite Part: Koda: Thanks Sitka, if it weren't for you, I'd have never met Kenai.  I always wanted a brother.

Good Points: Sibling relationship - even if it's not blood/family; background artwork and animation is beautiful; very sweet film

Bad Points: Very predictable and uninspired; the symbolism behind some of the part of this film could be complicated for this film

Special Point: Mabel: This year, I lost my dear husband, Edgar.
Edgar: Quit telling everybody I'm dead!
Mabel: Sometimes I can still hear his voice.
[...]
Mabel: If only Edgar was still alive.
Edgar: I told you, woman! I'm right here!

X-Men: Days of Future Past

 At this point in time, you may have worked out that on top of my book and film obsession, I'm a (bit of a) nerd when it comes to comic books and the movies though I think I've hidden it well.  I love all the Marvel Cinematic Universe and X-Men films that have come out recently so I specifically asked my family to come with me to see X-Men: Days of Future Past as I wanted to see how the entire production team was going to combine the old cast with the new.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is the 2014 comic book action film from Bryan Singer, a X-Men veteran, having directed X-Men and X2 before going onto direct Superman Returns; this is the seventh X-Men film in the series, acting as a sequel to both X-Men: Last Stand and X-Men: First Class.  This film joins the two casts and sees the return of some old favourites, Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables), James McAvoy (Atonement), Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds), Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games series), Halle Berry (Cloud Atlas), Anna Paquin (True Blood), Ellen Page (Juno), Nicholas Hoult (Jack the Giant Slayer), Shawn Ashmore (The Following), Daniel Cudmore (The Twilight Saga), Sir Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings series), and Sir Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation), while bringing in some new additions, Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Omar Sy (The Untouchables), Booboo Stewart (The Twilight Saga), and Fan Bingbing (Princess Pearl).

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Marvel fans; anyone

Favourite Characters: Bobby "Iceman" Drake; Logan "Wolverine"

Favourite Part: Professor Xavier: Hello old friend

Good Points: Wolverine and Professor Xavier's relationship; story developed well - especially past; melding of the two casts; Quicksilver

Bad Points: Wolverine's claws

Janet Evanovich & Dorien Kelly - The Husband List

So recently there's been a book that took me a month to read which really annoyed me because I would not be defeated by a book as well as another book that brings a series to an end; luckily, I enjoyed the latter thoroughly which cheered me up before I moved on to another book.  While this blog is under the 'historical' genre, it's probably not an accurate historical piece as it's just a light read and is just made up in the mind of the two authors and is a romanticised version of how society works at the time this book is set in.

The Husband List is the second novel from Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly which is the sequel (or more of a prequel to their first collaboration, Love in a Nutshell).  Janet Evanovich is known for her Stephanie Plum series which has spun off into the Wicked series which is a more paranormal series; Dorien Kelly is known for writing romantic comedy novels such as The Last Bride of Ballymuir as well as a number of others.  I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Love in a Nutshell, which followed Kate Appleton as she gets a job in a brewery, working for Matt Culhane undercover to spy on his employees to find out who is sabotaging his company.  The link between this series is that the one of the main characters, the man, is a member of the Culhane family who falls for the main female character as she falls for the Culhane.

Rating: 5

Recommended To: Evanovich fans; romance fans

Favourite Characters: Jack - still love the Irish; Flora - loved her

Favourite Part: "Mr. Edward Maxwell and Mr. John William Anthony Patrick Xavier Culhane," the butler announced to the other guests, who were readying to take their seats.
"He got it out in one breath," Jack said to Eddie as they stepped into the room.  "Impressive."
"Better than most," Eddie replied. - Page 125

Good Points: Easy read; finding out more background on the Culhane family; Caroline and Jack together

Bad Points: Secondary characters are very two dimensional; setting feels forced; predictable

Matthew Fort - Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons

I have never struggled with a book in my life apart from maybe when I was a kid and picked up a difficult book I didn't fully understand, which is normal when you're like 7 or something, but recently, I found myself struggling with this book, Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons, a book I bought out of curiosity and desire to travel to Italy.

Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons: Travels in Sicily on a Vespa is the sequel to Fort's Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa focussing Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean sea and off the coast of Italy.  Fort is a food writer and critic, having worked for The Guardian as well as writing for other media outlets.  As well as writing for newspapers and magazines, Fort has also written other book, one already mentioned, recounting Fort's travels from the south of Italy to the north, and another focussing on an English chef as well as English food and cooking.

Rating: 1

Recommended To: People interested in just the Italian food not the place

Favourite Part: 'We may take their food,' he went on, 'but all the foreigners who come to govern Sicily end up by becoming Sicilians - Greeks, Romans, Arabs, French, Germans, Spanish.  Even you English.  There is something about this island. - Page 21

Good Points: The concept and format; the descriptions of the food

Bad Points: Not enough photos; very Southern in his way of thinking; lack of details other than food; dude needs to learn his UK geography again

Kiera Cass - The One

Apart from film review posts, I haven't posted anything about any books because I've been busy with work and I've found a book I really have been struggling to get into, Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons by Matthew Fort, which I'm really not connecting with.  However, I pre-ordered The One by Kiera Cass ages ago when I first heard it was coming out and it arrived on the 8th May so I ripped open the box and started reading it immediately.

The One is the third and final book in Kiera Cass's The Selection trilogy which is centred around America Singer, a young woman who is from an underprivileged area of the kingdom Maxon is the heir to.  When Maxon turned nineteen, his father decided that it was time for the prince to marry.  The traditional way of finding the prince's bride is to hold the Selection where thirty five eligible girls are selected from a pool and sometimes it can take months, even years, and the prince can get to know each girl and decide which one will be his wife but now the King is getting desperate to quell the rebellion that is sparking in his country.  America only put herself in the pool for the Selection because her boyfriend at the time, Aspen, told her to go for it because it would be her best chance at a better life rather than staying with him forever.  America is still reeling from her break up with Aspen when she enters the palace as part of the Selection and unintentionally insults Maxon on the first night but fortunately their relationship grows over the course of the series despite some bumps in the road, including America pissing off the King so much at the end of The Elite that she is nearly kicked out and has greatly upset Maxon to the point where she wants to prove that she does indeed love Maxon, however hard it will be.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Those that liked The Hunger Games or Matched

Favourite Characters: America - strong female character; Maxon - still vulnerable but has potential

Favourite Part: He stared me down, determined.  "How did the girls find out about you taking my shirt off?"
I looked at the ground, hesitating.  "We were watching the guards work out.  I said you looked as good as any of them without your shirt on.  It slipped out."
Maxon threw back his head and laughed.  "I can't be mad about that." - Page 81

Good Points: America and Maxon; the plot of the series; links to previous books

Bad Points: Everything escalated very quickly at the end

Film Addict's April Film Choice

I've been so busy at work recently, with picking up some extra shifts and doing stock-take, I have been knackered when I get home so I haven't read any of my books at all or been to the cinema either.  Fortunately, I knew I had many films to choose from at home to review for my Film Addict's April Film Choice and I chose this month's film because I love it so much for the franchise and the visual effects used.  So ladies and gents, it's Tron: Legacy.

Tron: Legacy is the 2010 science fiction film directed by Joseph Kosinski and is the sequel to Steven Lisberger's and Disney's Tron (1982) which has become a cult film.  With the cult following, Disney decided to fund a sequel which included two of the former cast, Jeff Bridges (Iron Man, Crazy Heart) and Bruce Boxleitner (Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Babylon 5) reprising their roles from the original while bringing new blood into the franchise, Garrett Hedlund (Four Brothers, Troy), Olivia Wilde (In Time, House M.D.), Michael Sheen (Underworld, The Queen), Beau Garrett (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Made of Honour), and James Frain (The Tudors, True Blood).  In Tron, 28 years before Tron: Legacy, Kevin Flynn (Bridges) runs a video game arcade having been fired from ENCOM by another engineer who stole his video game programs (Space Paranoids being one of them), Edward Dillinger (David Warner, Planet of the Apes) and took credit for creating them which earned him a number of promotions.  Once Alan Bradley (Boxleitner), Flynn's friend who still works at ENCOM, is locked out of the ENCOM mainframe by the Master Control Program (MCP) because Flynn has been trying to hack the ENCOM mainframe from his own computer to prove he created the programs that got Dillinger his high position at ENCOM, he goes to Flynn and warns him that Dillinger knows what he is doing so Flynn persuade Alan and Laura, another employee of ENCOM and Flynn's ex-girlfriend, to get him into ENCOM so he can hack it from the inside a bit more discreetly.  All goes well until the MCP beams Flynn into the ENCOM mainframe and he has to ensure that he survives with the help of TRON and YORI and also gain evidence that Dillinger stole his programs.  Eventually, Flynn gains his evidence while saving the programs in the ENCOM mainframe from the control of the MCP and he is able to get back to reality and take his rightful place back at ENCOM, paving the future for the rest of the franchise and for his son.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Visual effects geeks; Tron fans

Favourite Characters: Sam - just connected with him

Favourite Part: Guard: Didn't anyone tell you?  Stealing is wrong.              
Sam: You can't steal what was designed to be free.           
[...]
Guard: You're Mr. Flynn?  Why?  This is your father's company. 
Sam: Not anymore.  [raises arms and starts to lean back so to fall off the top of the ENCOM tower]

Good Points: Visually stunning; music; references to the original

Bad Points: Predictable plot; introducing Edward Dillinger Jr.; Kevin Flynn's younger face

Note from the Very Busy Bibliophile

When I started this blog, I wasn't working because I had just graduated and moved back home but a couple of months ago, I got a job at a bookstore.  I was supposed to only be doing 12 hours a week but I was given extra hours so to cover the hours of people on holiday which I'm not complaining about because it mean I was earning more money but it meant I haven't had enough to write any of my reviews as quickly as I did before.

Still to write:-

• The Boat That Rocked
• The Mayan Prophecy
• An Enormously English Monsoon Wedding
• Reckless
• The Selection Stories
• Kiss of Frost
• Captain America: The Winter Solider
• Chocolat
• Snowpiercer
• Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons (still reading as of this moment much to my annoyance)

Update 01/05/2014 01:50 - Finished The Boat That Rocked review [here]
Update 10/05/2014 02:54 - Read The One, review to come
Update 14/05/2014 01:00 - Finished The Mayan Prophecy review [here]
Update 15/05/2014 10:25 - Read Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons, review to come
Update 23/05/2014 02:27 - Finished An Enomously English Monsoon Wedding review [here]
Update 25/05/2014 00:58 - Finished Reckless review [here]
Update 04/06/2014 19:45 - Finished The Selection Stories review [here]
Update 06/06/2014 22:48 - Finished Kiss of Frost review [here]
Update 11/06/2014 23:37 - Finished Captain America: The Winter Soldier review [here]
Update 19/06/2014 21:22 - Finished Chocolat review [here]

Film Addict's March Film Choice

So now we're in the middle of Lent and while I don't observe it because I am religious in any way, I think I'm more spiritual, I find it impressive when people actually fully observe Lent properly.  This is why I chose Chocolat as my film of the month - a film about a repressed village going through Lent.

Chocolat is the 2000 drama film directed by Lasse Hallström, adapted from Joanne Harris's book of the same name.  Chocolat was nominated for a number of awards including five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.  The cast include Juliette Binoche (The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Caché), Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), Judi Dench (Skyfall, Philomena), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Raiders of the Lost Ark), and Lena Olin (The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Ninth Gate).  Binoche and Dench won an award each for their performances which I fully agree with as they are both fantastic in this film.

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Those looking for a happy film

Favourite Characters: Josephine - better character development; Armande - love her

Favourite Part: Josephine: Who says I can't use a skillet?

Good Points: Most of the characters grew; didn't undermine religion; sets were great

Bad Points: Romance seemed forced; Armande and Caroline's relationship could have been explored more

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

After months and months of waiting, the film I've been waiting for has finally come.  Yes, the star-spangled man with a plan himself, Captain America.  I love Captain America and love Chris Evans so it's a big win in my book; I love Captain America so much that I wrote an essay on him for one of my university modules last year which I thoroughly enjoyed writing as it was a perfect excuse to watch both Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers and read random Captain America comic books.  Anthony and Joe Russo take over the Marvel Cinematic Universe helm and directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier and stars Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World), Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, The Island), Sebastian Stan (Black Swan, Once Upon a Time), Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, Safe Haven), and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Incredibles) who reprise their previous roles from previous films as well as newbies Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, What's Your Number?), Emily VanCamp (Revenge, Brothers & Sisters), and Robert Redford (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting).  As it is Mother's Day this weekend but I am working on Sunday, I asked my mum to join me at the cinema as a treat because we don't go out to the cinema often, just me and her I mean and she shares my love of superhero films.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the sequel to the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger from Joe Johnston and is a sequel to Joss Whedon's 2012 film The Avengers that focusses on Captain America and his progress in the modern world; this is the ninth instalment to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is an adaptation of The Winter Soldier storyline from the Captain America comic books.  Captain America: The First Avenger is the film adaptation of the comic book hero Captain America who was created by Joe Simon and Jack "The King" Kirby during the 1940s, created for patriotic reasons during World War II; the film follows Steve Rogers (Evans) as he tries to become a soldier for America while his best friend since childhood, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes (Stan) is shipped off.  Steve is a sickly young man who is deemed unfit to become a soldier until he is chosen to be a part of a "Super-Soldier" experiment run by Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci, The Hunger Games series) and Col. Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones, Men in Black) with the assistance of Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell, The Duchess) and Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper, The History Boys).  Just as Steve is transformed into a super-soldier, Erskine is killed and the rest of the serum is destroyed by Hydra.  After being hired by a senator to tour the nation as "Captain America" to promote war bonds, he becomes to feel like he is performing monkey but when in Italy performing for a group of soldiers, Steve learns that he is performing for what remains of Bucky's unit and Bucky is MIA so he takes it upon himself to rescue Bucky and the other soldiers.  When he returns with the missing soldiers, Phillips decides to allow Steve to lead a group of men, dubbed the Howling Commandos, to attack other known Hydra bases with Steve taking up the name Captain America officially.  Unfortunately, one of the missions goes wrong when Bucky is seemingly killed when he falls from a train much to Steve's despair.  This drives Steve to avenge his friend's death and ensure the safety of United States of America who are about to be attacked by the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving, Matrix series) who has control of the Tesseract and has harnessed its' power to create weapons of mass destruction.  Following his fight with the Red Skull who is killed by the Tesseract in the end, Steve realises the only way to stop the Red Skull's plan is to crash his plane into the Arctic as his weapons are too powerful.  Following the crash, Stark searches for Steve with a crew but only finds the Tesseract so Steve is presumed dead.  Decades later, Steve is found and comes to in a 1940s style hospital room but realises something is wrong due to the radio in his room playing a game he went to so he runs out into the streets and is met in modern day Time Square by Nick Fury (Jackson) who tells him he has been asleep for 70 years.  Later, Fury approaches Steve with a mission which sets up The Avengers.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Anyone; Marvel lovers

Favourite Characters: Steve, Nick, Sam - all three for multiple reasons

Favourite Part: Nick Fury: Well it's about damn time.

Good Points: The dynamic between all of the characters; massive plot point for Marvel series; a lot of action sequences

Bad Points: Some plot points were obvious

Jennifer Estep - Kiss of Frost

So I've read normal books recently, I've read some really odds ones set in another reality, and I've read dystopic/post-apocalyptic ones and now for a magical high school based one that I do have a tendency to read along with all the other weirdness.

Kiss of Frost is the second book in Jennifer Estep's Mythos Academy which focuses on Gwendolyn "Gwen" Frost, a Gypsy girl with psychometric magic who became Nike's warrior in the previous book at Mythos Academy, a place that trains young men and women to fight against Reapers who are warriors of Loki and want to release Loki from his prison.  Previously, Gwen had no friends at the school until she develops a friendship with the Valkyrie Daphne and her new boyfriend Carson after Gwen helps Carson find something he's lost.  As she's new to this school, Gwen is still out of place because she's not been training as long as the other students to be a warrior who have been training since they were children.  In the previous book, Gwen fights with a student who is a Reaper in disguise and wants to release Loki and intends to sacrifice anyone to do it.  During this fight, Logan Quinn the Spartan, who Gwen has a crush on, saves her and helps defeat the Reaper, saving the school and the world from Loki's chaos.

Rating: 7

Recommended To: Those that liked the House of Night series and Starcrossed series

Favourite Characters: Vic - sarcastic and bloodthirsty like last time; Oliver and Logan - both heroic but for different reasons

Favourite Part: Part of me was thinking about Logan, but the other part of me was thinking about Daphne[.] [...] Daphne was great with a bow. [...] An image flickered in my mind then, one of Daphne using the bow, instead of me-              
[...]
"Yeah, come on, Gwen, while we're all still young," Oliver sneered.       
My anger flared up to supernova level at Oliver's snarky tone, so much so that I didn't think - I just let go.     
THUNK!
The arrow hit the target dead center - perfect in the middle of the black bull's eye. - Page 17

Good Points: Taking the story out of the Academy; Oliver's character development; would almost be a funny story if Gwen's life wasn't in jeopardy permanently

Bad Points: Felt a bit repetitive; the identity of the Reaper was a bit obvious

Kiera Cass - The Selection Stories

After a mix of weird books and fairly normal, I have picked up a dystopia fiction, The Selection Stories, from a series I've started a while ago, The Selection.  My original plan was to read this book much later on because it is fairly new and I've only just received it through the post but once I finished Reckless, I picked up The Selection Stories immediately because I really wanted to read this.

The Selection Stories is the collection of the two short stories from Kiera Cass's The Selection series which follows America Singer, a young woman who comes from an underprivileged part of the country she lives in where she used to work as a musician while the other members of her family are artistic types so they can earn money to survive as well as her two potential love interests.  Along with thirty four other girls, America is chosen to be part of the Selection, their society's way of finding the bride for the prince of the ruling family when he becomes nineteen while the public watch through reports.  Sometimes the Selection takes months, even years, for the prince to choose his bride but this time, it seems more urgent as the country is in crisis with people rebelling in certain parts and are even attacking the palace while the Selection are staying there.  Unfortunately, America only put herself up for the Selection because her boyfriend, Aspen, told her to take the opportunity because it would be her best chance in life in his opinion as he is a lower caste than her.  America is reluctant to take part in the Selection because she is still reeling from her break up with Aspen and unintentionally insults the prince, Maxon, on the first night but they start to get along and their relationship grows over the course of the first book and eventually fall for one another (him faster than her though).  However, despite America seems to starts to get over Aspen, he shows up in the palace as a guard which throws her through a loop because now she questions her feelings for both Aspen and Maxon; the second book deals with how America comes to terms with her feelings for Maxon and Aspen and deciding which one she wants to fight for while neither young man knows what she is thinking.

Cornelia Funke - Reckless

I am giving up on normal books for a bit now, the stories don't interest me as much as paranormal or fantasy books and after An Enormously English Monsoon Wedding, I dove straight back into the weird and wonderful with a book from a German author which is a new one for me.

Reckless is the first in the Mirrorland series from Cornelia Funke, the author of the Inkheart trilogy, the first of which was turned into a film starring Brendan Fraser.  The Mirrorland series is set in two realms, ours and a hidden world that can only be found by going through a special mirror - one that coincidentally, Jacob Reckless's father owns.

Rating: 9

Recommended To: Fantasy lovers

Favourite Characters: Fox - really sweet

Favourite Part: Fox rubbed her head against Jacob's lifeless hand.  A last moth rose from his chest.  Suddenly she flinched.  His body shuddered - his lips gasped for air, and his hands clawed into the grass.
Jacob!
Fox impulsively jumped on his chest, causing him to groan in pain. - Page 200

Good Points: Thrown straight into the story; story for fighting for one's family; well written

Bad Points: Ending was a bit predictable

Christina Jones - An Enormously English Monsoon Wedding

After a few weird/fantasy books, I went onto something extremely normal and soppy from my point of view which isn't unusual for me but isn't particularly regular either as I find paranormal-romance and urban fantasy books a lot more interesting because I like the completely different stories that come from not being based in reality but in my mind could still happen if certain things were different or real.  However, back to reality or what is considered to be reality in chick flick books.

An Enormously English Monsoon Wedding is a chick-lit novel from Christina Jones who is known to write a number of these type of books which I consider to be holiday books where you just sling it in your bag when you are going to the beach or sitting by the pool and just want something fun to read.  After looking at other books from Jones, I have found her to be similar to Jenny Colgan and Abby Clements whose books I enjoyed as well so I thought it was worth a shot.

Rating: 7

Recommended To: Holiday book readers

Favourite Characters: Gina - loveable, funny, beautiful, yet insecure

Favourite Part: Jay smiled gently. 'I told her I loved her too.'
Oh God... Erin sighed.
'And that I'd marry her if she gave me all her samosas.'
'What?'
Jay laughed.  'We were at my Aunt Ganika's birthday party.  We were eight years old.' - Page 269

Good Points: Interesting to see a multi-cultured wedding; easy read; the inclusion of other couples not just the happy couple

Bad Points: Everything ended up going a bit too smoothly

Alex Scarrow - The Mayan Prophecy

I am definitely back on the weird books after a few - what most people would call - normal books.  This is one of the book series I have read written by a male author as I seem to primarily read books from female authors because they are more character driven but it's good to mix it up with a more action based book.  Thankfully, I know for certain that this book is also character driven with an interesting story as I've thoroughly enjoyed the preceding books.

The Mayan Prophecy is the eighth book in the TimeRiders series by Alex Scarrow; the series focuses on three young people - Liam O'Connor, Maddy Carter, and Sal Vikram.  The background behind this series is that the three main characters were meant to die in different periods of time; Liam, a young Irishman, should have gone down on the Titanic in 1912; Maddy, a young woman from Brooklyn, who should have died on a plane which was going down during a terrorist attack in 2010, and Sal, the youngest of them all, a young girl from Mumbai, who should have died when a skyscraper collapsed due to fire in 2026.  They are recruited by an older gentleman called Foster who gives them a second chance and live, to work for a secret agency that supposedly helps prevent time travel destroying history.  They go on many adventures throughout the books, traveling through time to ensure that they fulfil their objective of keeping history on track until they start to question what they are doing and who they are and are then in turn targeted by the people they are supposed to work for.  Because of this, they go into hiding and then travel to the Victorian age to set up shop there under their own agenda, helping if the world if they need to but making sure no one picks up on where they are.  Over the time they have spent working as time travellers, they have begun to realise that there is a price for going through time as they all begin to age rapidly, Liam more so than the others because of his more frequent trips travelling through time.

Rating: 9

Recommended To: Science fiction lovers

Favourite Characters: Liam - loveable, loyal, brave, caring, and Irish

Favourite Part: It took Liam no more than an hour to reach the halfway point of the 'climb'; it was more a stiff uphill walk than proper climbing.
[...]
But apart from needing the rest and the water, it was a perfect place to stop, if for no other reason than to take a couple of minutes and savour the spectacular view.
He was no more than a hundred feet up from the jungle floor, above the green canopy of the rainforest, and yet it felt like he was halfway towards the sky. - Page 191-2

Good Points: More character/story driven; characters continued to develop; dynamic between the TimeRiders; this book stood out against the others yet again

Bad Points: Bob wasn't featured as much

Film Addict's February Film Choice

Please not this is about the British cut of The Boat That Rocked, not the American.

I was gutted at the beginning of this month when I found out that Philip Seymour Hoffman had died of a drug overdose because I loved his work and I loved him as Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire so I decided to review a film that he was in this month as the Film Addict's February Choice.

The Boat That Rocked (also known as Pirate Radio in North America) is the 2009 British comedy film from Richard Curtis (About Time, Love Actually) starring Bill Nighy (a Curtis favourite who is also in About Time and Love Actually), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Capote), Nick Frost (Cornetto Trilogy with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, Paul) and Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, The Amazing Spider-Man) to name a handful of the actors.  Excluding Hoffman, all the other actors who portrayed the main characters were either British or Irish, making Hoffman stand out; while I was studying Media at school and university, one thing we discussed about British films was that they would tend to have an American actor amongst the top billing actors because they would make the film marketable to the American audience as well as the British.

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Richard Curtis lovers; 1960s music lovers

Favourite Characters: Simon - he was so adorable; the Count - got to love him

Favourite Part: Dr. Dave: Climb for America, sir.
[...]
If you fall, you will die.
[...]
Step away from the edge you silly bastards, this is madness.

Good Points: The tension between the Count and Gavin culminating in playing Chicken; great ensemble; the chemistry between each of the characters; the music; the inclusion of the station's listeners

Bad Points: Elenore - she was just a horrible character