The Scorch Trials (2015) review

The Scorch Trials is the sequel of The Maze Runner trilogy. It still follows the journey of Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and his fellow ex-gladers after they left the Maze. 

Please note that I haven't read the novels, so everything written here is based on my opinion about the movie only. (Although tbh I read the book plot on Wiki and it looks quite different from the movie??? Idk)

---SPOILER ALERT---

Sooo, I missed the first 10 minutes or so of this movie, sadly, so I'm kinda lost on how this movie started. When we last left The Maze Runner, Thomas and some other gladers were being rescued from the WICKED facility after they escaped the Maze. Skip to the part when I start watching, Thomas and the others except Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) were in a some sort of a facility with a bunch of other kids, and this guy,

Yes. Janson (Aidan Gillen) a.k.a Littlefinger from Game Of Thrones. He is the one in charge there and it seems that Thomas doesn't like him (not that I would blame Thomas bcs look at his smug face). Long story short, Thomas finds out about the bad things going on in that facility and manages to convince his group to leave the place. 

Now, this trilogy is called The Maze Runner, so of course it involves a lot of running. Like, almost half of the movie is spent with these guys running away from something. Even just watching them is exhausting enough for me. Also, Thomas has this tendency to be very "explosive" and he kinda likes to run through a very limited space gap, like, why you gotta make your life harder than it already is, bruh???

So they run away, against sand storm, a seemingly never ending desert, lightning storm, WICKED soldiers, ruined city, another group of survivors with questionable motive, and last but not least, zombie-like creatures which are actually the victims of flare disease, also they can run and climb quickly just like the zombies from World War Z. That last thing genuinely surprised me bcs I did not expect in the slightest that the flare victims will be depicted like zombies but it totally adds to the element of surprise and suspense of this movie so, well done.

A few other surprises including the fact that Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson) the doctor and the head of this trial program in WICKED is still alive and still a boss, there are new cool characters, like Brenda (Rosa Salazar) a bad ass girl with guns, a group of army called Right Arm who is against WICKED and audiences are given a short story about Thomas' history before his memory was wiped. It didn't explain everything, but it gave us an idea about WICKED and Thomas and how they're related and what happened in general.

Oh and Teresa kinda betrays them, so, yeah. 

---SPOILER ENDS---

A few thoughts about The Scorch Trials:

• Minho (Ki Hong Lee) definitely went through a lot. He knee-bashed a WICKED soldier, got struck by lightning, and finally got electrocuted and caught by WICKED :( Poor Minho. And this is a personal opinion but I like his character a lot more than hot-headed Thomas. 

• There're excessive usage of "Go!" "Let's go!!" and "Come on!" all throughout the movie. Too much, perhaps.

• I like how the lighting works in The Scorch Trials. It works really well in the bright scenes, and equally nice in the dark scenes

• Something that bugs me a little is the plotline, actually. Like, it moves fast, lots of stuff happen at the same time and yet, it feels like nothing is accomplished. At the end, Thomas and the gang decides to go back and fight WICKED and it feels like they're going back to square one. Unlike, say, in The Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss' main goal is to bring down President Snow, and in each installment, there's a progress in the plot. But The Scorch Trials, it's just missing something and I can't really put my fingers on what it is actually 

I give The Scorch Trials 3.5/5 noise. It's action-packed, intense and shocking at times, it'll keep you on the edge of your seat, and it's definitely enjoyable. However, if we compare it to similar YA fiction movies, I'm not sure The Scorch Trials will be that memorable after a while. 

Jess Glynne "I Cry When I Laugh" album review

So yes, Jess Glynne is my current obsession. And I Cry When I Laugh has been on repeat for these last few days. No regret.  This is my first post about music! YAY!! 

Before this album came out, we mostly knew her from her collabs, "Rather Be" and "Real Love" both with Clean Bandit (the violin part in Rather Be, LOVE IT). That, until I found out that she released her own single "Hold My Hand" earlier this year.

Overall, this album is, in my opinion, a nice, feel-good mix of pop, dance, and RnB with uplifting vibe. The standard edition consists of 14 tracks, and the deluxe edition contains 6 extra tracks, including an acoustic version of Route 94's "My Love", which is (much like Sam Smith's acoustic version of Latch) a nicer, calmer version of its original edm version. This song clearly shows Glynne's distinctive vocal style. 

Oh, and 20 tracks in a debut album of a newcomer? That's brave, considering most artists usually release only 13 or so songs in one album. Also the fact that Glynne herself co-wrote every single one of these songs, except for Clean Bandit's Rather Be, only gives one more plus point for this album.

2 successful singles and the highlights from this album so far are "Hold My Hand" and "Don't Be So Hard On Yourself". Both are chart-toppers, reaching #1 on UK hit chart. Both have the similar captivating pop-dance beat that basically sets the rhythm of the whole album. However, there are also a couple of slower, soulful ballads in the album. "Take Me Home", a ballad filled with emotional lyrics, such as this personal favourite line of mine "Could you take care of a broken soul?". And the other one is "Saddest Vanilla" featuring Emeli Sandé. Double yes. 

The thing I love the most from this album is how you can really hear the piano sound stands out in the music, although they are mostly electronic dance types of tunes. Especially in some of my favourites "Give Me Something", paired with upbeat violin in "Ain't Got Far To Go", and with the Whitney Houston's R&B style in "No Right No Wrongs". 

Lastly, I also LOVE the lyrics. Personally I find them uplifting and it makes you feel good, thus the uplifting vibe I mentioned earlier. This will be one long ass post if  I put every line I like here, so just listen to those songs I mentioned above. You'll see it. Just one small example, from Ain't Got Far To Go:

"I wasn't scared, I fought this on my own

You pulled me down and I let you go

I told you I would prove you wrong

And now I'm here and I'm standing strong"

Now I'm off to watch Jess Glynne's  live performance on Youtube. I hope she sounds as good as her recordings.

I give Jess Glynne's debut album I Cry When I Laugh 4/5 noise. Go dance yourself out to this album. 

Inside Out (2015) review

Another collaboration from Disney and Pixar, Inside Out is, in one word, CREATIVE. It's no secret that Pixar's movies are good at playing with viewers' emotion. The opening sequence of Up? Toy Story 3 farewell scene? But Inside Out is something... different.

---SPOILER ALERT---

Inside Out follows a story of the 5 main emotions in the mind of a young girl named Riley from the day she was born. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear. Their job, is to control Riley's emotion and memories in life. All through her childhood, Joy is the main controller of Riley's emotion and character. All Riley's core memories, which build her personality, are dominated by Joy. 

The problem starts when Riley and her parents move from their hometown in Minnesota to San Francisco. Sadness starts to touch Riley's happy memories, which are presented in the form of golden orbs like bowling balls, and it causes them to turn blue. This makes Joy cast Sadness aside, to prevent her from making more sad memories.

Unfortunately, Sadness accidentally causes Riley to cry on her first day at the new school. This major experience turns into a core memory, but this time it's a blue, sad memory. Joy tries to prevent this core memory from reaching the central hub, but everything goes to chaos and ends up with Joy and Sadness being accidentally sent away from their headquarter to the long-term memory space. The adventure of these two, trying to go back to the HQ starts here. 

In the HQ, Anger, Disgust and Fear try to fill in Joy's absence but they only manage to make Riley become distant from her parents and friends. Meanwhile Joy and Sadness' journey is not easy since Riley's personality is falling down one by one, making it hard for them to go back to the HQ.

All attempts done by the remaining 3 emotions in the HQ only leads to a depressed, numb Riley, shown by her "emotion console panel" turning dark and unresponsive to command. Up to the point where, no thanks to Anger's idea, Riley steals her Mom's wallet to buy a bus ticket back to Minnesota. But before her bus leaves the city, Joy and Sadness makes it back to the HQ and, surprise, Joy lets Sadness take control for once, remove Anger's idea, reactivate the console and Riley goes back home.

From that point, Joy and Sadness and the rest of the crew work together to create emotion and memories. The orbs show more complex mix color, instead of one solid color, showing a more complex emotions as Riley grows. New core memories, and new personality. She adapts well in SF and all is well.

---SPOILER ENDS---

I went to see this movie with such a high expectation, due to praised reviews from my friends and the net. And I'm not disappointed. 

The one thing that I like the most from Inside Out is how it explains how brain, emotions, memories, thoughts, basically everything inside our head work, so very easily. 

The opening line of this movie goes like this, 

"Do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on inside their head?"

And that's exactly what this movie is about. I mean, words like, subconscious, abstract concept thoughts, long-term memory, memory dump, are not the words I'd expect to be in a children animated movie, let alone be understood. But the way Inside Out presents those complicated concept, it's brilliant. Some examples:

• The headquarter, is our conscious mind, where everything is processed
• The long-term memory space keeps every single information and memory we get everyday, pictured as bowling-ball-like-orbs l in the movie
• However, after a while, some memories that are not-so-needed will be dumped into the memory dump, or simply put, be forgotten
• Subconsciousness is shown as a deep dark dungeon-like prison where our fears are stored
• During Joy and Sadness' journey back to HQ, they also encountered areas like, imagination land, dream production studios, and the abstract concept room, which is another brilliant stuff by itself. 
• Also a special shoutout to Bing Bong, Riley's forgotten childhood imaginary friend. He's a mixture of cat's tail, elephant's head, pink cotton candy body, and dolphin. What's not to love? Also he's the actual hero. 

The second thing I love from Inside Out is the message. We are shown from the very beginning how Joy is the leader of the group. Intentionally or not, she dominates Riley's emotions to the point where she casts aside Sadness. We rarely see other emotions take control of the console panel when Joy is around. However, in the end we see that everyone is working together, each get their own space in the bigger upgraded console. Riley's emotions and memories later become a mix of colors, not just one color dominating the orbs. 

This goes to show, to teach viewers, that we can't just put aside what we're feeling just because it's not a positive feeling. In the ending, we learn that Sadness is actually important, she gives signal to others when Riley needs help. Acknowledgement of "negative" feeling is important. 

To quote Meredith Grey, from Grey's Anatomy season 4, 

"Not everybody has to be happy all the time. That's not mental health. That's crap."

I also love the graphic and color of this movie. It's very on point. The SF is shown in dull colors, the house, the pizza place, very much like Riley's reluctance towards the city. On the other hand, inside her mind, everything is candy-colored. Bright, cheerful, reminds me of Wreck It Ralph a lot.

One last thing I really enjoy. This maybe personal liking, but I like the subtlety of how it's actually relatable not only to younger viewers but also to adults. 

• The scene where the console panel turn grey and unresponsive, I believe that it really describes what depression is like. Numb, apathetic, badly-reasoned actions but no way to realize that they are bad
• The emotions of Riley's mom and dad

• See the difference? Mom's emotion is lead by sadness, while Dad's emotion is lead by anger. Any guess what this might mean? 

To conclude, I give Inside Out 4.5/5 noise. It's brilliant, it's different, it's complex and simple at the same time, it's handled very nicely, and it's definitely enjoyable. 

Hello Audience

Dearest Audiences.

A year of hiatus. Or, to be more precise, 13 months and 5 days of ignoring this blog. Hello? Is anyone even still reading?

I know, I know. I failed to keep this blog running. No one to blame but me and my excellent level of laziness. But tonight (yes I'm writing this very line at 10:22 pm) I'm gonna give NoisyAudience and myself another chance. 

Here are the plans. 
1. Reviving this blog from its deep slumber 
2. Going back to writing and re-discovering my excitement for movies

That's it. 

So let's do this, Audiences. 

The Fault In Our Stars (2014) review

The Fault in Our Stars a.k.a TFIOS is a movie based on a young adult novel with the same title written by John Green. I FINALLY HAD THE CHANCE TO WATCH IT. It's romance, which is not my usual favorite type of movie/book, but this one is special, I guess.

I will start with the book first, okay? Okay. (See what I did here?)

I read TFIOS a while ago simply because it's very popular on the internet. And it turns out that I really like it. Yes, the plot is kind of typical romance, but not as cheesy as Nicholas Sparks' books. But what I really like is John Green's writing style. Especially I like his choices of words and quotes. How to describe it huh? Powerful? Idk, but they stuck with you even after you finished reading it. In my opinion, the plot is not that strong, but the characters and the wordings are awesome.

So, with great novel comes great expectations for the movie, right? Yeah I was excited about TFIOS movie. But to be honest, after I watched it, I don't feel the strength of the story, the appeal, as much as when I read the book. Maybe, maybe, it's because, again, the plot is basically standard. Maybe that's what made the movie feel kinda flat, boring, with no intense peak, except perhaps at the twist. 

As for the quotes, thank you writers for putting most of the great quotes in the movie. However, to me there's a difference between reading them and hearing them being said. You see, when the characters said the quotes in the movie, it's like those words just passed through you. But when you read it, it's like you can process it in your brain and you can find the beauty of it. For example, one of my most favorite line in the book, 

“The world," he said, "is not a wish-granting factory.” 

Gus said it after he told Hazel about his cancer returning. That's some painful bitter truth right there but it didn't get enough appreciation because, well, it only took maybe 2 seconds to say that line. 

Really, read the novel. Way more beautiful than the movie. 

Enough about the things I don't like. I love some aspects of TFIOS movie. One, the way Ansel Elgort portrayed Augustus Waters. He got it. He totally got it. He understood that Gus was one cocky, pretentious dude and Ansel did it justice. Gus always wanted to be a hero, to leave something important so everyone will remember him after he died, and Hazel knocked some sense into him that being important for one other person is enough. 

I didn't expect to enjoy Shailene Woodley's portrayal of Hazel Grace, but I did. The cynical, realist girl with cancer, who found happiness in her bitter life from Gus. I like the way she portrayed the love Hazel felt for Gus. It's not over the top like usual teenagers movie. It fits perfectly with the characterization of Hazel Grace. Well done, you two.

Fun things I'd like to add. It's pretty clear since the beginning about Gus' fate. It's obvious that he's gonna die at the end. Some clues:

• Gus insisted to call Hazel with her long name, Hazel Grace. Maybe this is some kind of a "powerful" metaphor to him. You see, Gus likes metaphors and symbols and stuffs. When Hazel started calling him Gus instead of Augustus, there's a quote in the book where he said “You used," he said, and then took a sharp breath, "to call me Augustus.” 

• Gus said “I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend.” We all know there's no such thing as a roller coaster that only goes up. At some point, it'll go down. And for Gus, it went down the day he discovered that his cancer is coming back and he "lit up like a christmas tree".

• Anne Frank's house is the set where Gus and Hazel kissed for the first time. Anne Frank died not long before the war ended. She was so close to surviving the war but she didn't make it. It's almost the same with Gus, he survived without cancer for months, but then things go unplanned. Damn you John Green. 

One more thing I like is the music. It fits the movie tone really well and it's beautiful.

I give The Fault in Our Stars movie 3.5/5 noise. I love that it stays true to the book, the quotes, the characters and everything. But perhaps for those who haven't read the book, plot-wise it's flat. Also I don't really enjoy the camera work, but I honestly can't pinpoint why. But still, thank you John Green for a beautiful pain that is TFIOS.

An update after a month of hiatus

Hello, and yes I know, it's been more than 1 month since the last time I wrote reviews and updated this blog. Sorry, sigh :(

So, I finally got a job after months of joblessness (is that a word?) and that's mostly why I haven't been writing lately. I suck at managing my time, like, I meant to review GoT finale, PLL season 5 premiere (also the 5th episode which is the 100th episode of PLL series!!), Rizzoli & Isles' new season, but well, I usually get home sleepy and not-in-the-mood-for-writing and then it was too late to write reviews and I'm honestly pissed at myself for that haha. 

That and also I'm soooo behind on movies lately. I haven't watched anything since Disney's Maleficent, which was great, in my opinion. It's beautiful, I enjoyed the not so traditional plot twist, and Angelina Jolie's stellar performance was beyond awesome. That's absolutely perfect casting, she was the soul of the movie and, really if it was any other actress, Maleficent would not be as "enticing".

I haven't watched The Fault In Our Stars yet and I want to so badly. I like the novel, I like John Green's writing style and the reviews are great for the movie so I would love to see (and judge) whether Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley do justice for Gus and Hazel Grace. 

22 Jump Street and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes are also on my list of must watch. As for the new Transformers: Age of Extinction, I've heard about how bad it is, and that made me kinda wanna watch it just to see how bad it actually is, haha.  

Well, well. So now you know why I haven't been here lately. I'll try to write again, probably on weekends, oh and also there's a one-week-long holiday coming up soon so YAYYY :)

Game Of Thrones 4x08 The Mountain and The Viper review

The Mountain and The Viper is the eighth episode of GoT season 4. I know this post is very late but I really didn't have the will to write this week, so yeah.

The title refers to the battle between Gregor Clegane a.k.a The Mountain and Prince Oberyn a.k.a The Red Viper of Dorne which took place at the end of this episode. One word, mind-blowing. Or should I say, head-blowing? 

--- SPOILER ALERT ---

The episode opened with the Wildlings (Ygritte and her gang) attacking and killing everyone at the brothel in Mole's Town, the place where Sam left Gilly and her baby in. But for some reason, Ygritte spared Gilly's life. Why? Then we saw Jon Snow and his crow brothers talking about the attack, and the possibility of them fighting the Wildlings army soon.

I guess that scene was some kind of a "prologue" to the big Night's Watch vs Mance's Wildlings battle next week, since based on the preview it seems that next week's episode will be focusing on The Walls. Also next week's episode's director is Neil Marshall, the one who directed Blackwater in season 2. So a great battle scene is to be expected, I guess. 

Also from the north, we saw Reek a.k.a Theon Greyjoy claiming back Moat Cailin (which is a castle ruins) under the command of Ramsay Snow. 

I really really don't understand what happened to Theon tbh. Someone explain it to me please. During his time with the Starks, and when he betrayed Robb, Theon was one proud (a little dumb but still) man. I mean, how could he be completely brainwashed like that? Theon was practically walking back to his army, his fellow Ironborn in Moat Cailin, he could easily join them and fight back Ramsay, right? Instead, he's now Reek, forever Reek. 

Back to Ramsay, he killed all the ironborns at the ruins and presented Moat Cailin to his father Lord Bolton. As the result, his father awarded him with the name Ramsay Bolton, son of Roose Bolton, Warden of the north, from now on. See, Ramsay was a Bolton bastard, and it seemed that he really wanted to be considered as Bolton's real son. So, to me, this change of name felt like a conclusion for Ramsay's plot for a this time. Maybe we won't be seeing his character anymore for the last 2 episodes, but who knows.

Let's move on to The Eyrie. We know that last week Petyr Baelish killed Aunt Lysa, and this week, he was being investigated for it. Sansa, as some sort of the witness, gave viewers a great surprise, though. 

Maaaan, I can't even begin to describe how brilliant this is. Sansa had always been a smart girl, she survived King's Landing and Joffrey's cruelty, for God's sake. But now, she was smart and manipulative as well. 

She started her confession with her real Stark identity, her sad story, how Baelish helped her reach The Eyrie, how her Aunt Lysa was a jealous lady, every single part was real except for the part how her Aunt was killed. And her tears definitely helped the whole situation. Sansa protected Baelish, and the elders (the investigators? idk) totally believed her. Well done Sansa, very well done. All the awards. But why did Sansa protect Baelish?

See, she knew how to play safe now, she knew how to play smart and take charge of her life. Also, Sansa definitely changed in this episode. It's like, she's turned to the dark side. Has she actually decided to go along with Baelish's want for her to be her mother? Or is she playing Baelish now? 

One biggest part of this episode was, of course, the battle of the Mountain vs Oberyn. We know that Oberyn's main goal was to revenge his sister Elia Martell, who was raped and killed by the Mountain. Oberyn started really well and confidently, he was much quicker than the Mountain, he managed to knock off the Mountain's helmet, he even managed to wound the Mountain.

During the battle, Oberyn kept on pushing the Mountain to confess his crime towards Elia. Oberyn repeatedly said "You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children." You know what, this scene reminded me of The Princess Bride movie, especially Inigo Montoya's battle, haha. 

However, G.R.R. Martin is not GRRM if he doesn't kill a character loved by readers and viewers. Oberyn was already winning, he had the upper hand, the Mountain was already lying on the floor dying, but Oberyn took his time before finishing him off because the Mountain hadn't confessed yet. All of sudden, the Mountain grabbed Oberyn's leg, causing Oberyn to fall down beside the Mountain. This time the Mountain beat the crap out of Oberyn. He knocked off Oberyn's teeth with one punch, and then he smashed Oberyn's head with his bare hands. Dammit.

WARNING THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE NOT GUT FRIENDLY

To me this was one of the most disturbing scenes in Game Of Thrones, ever. Seriously. I knew already that Oberyn was going to lose the battle but I never expected this as the way he'd die. Also what will happen to Tyrion now?

Sigh. Oberyn was one of my favorite characters in the series. He stood up to Lannisters' bullshit, he fought for his sister's honor, he was a great character. Also kudos to Pedro Pascal for such an awesome performance that made us fall for Oberyn even though he's only been on screen for 1 season. 

Some other stories from this episode:

• Another big thing came from Daenery's story line. A letter of royal pardon came for Ser Jorah, causing Dany and her team to know that Jorah had been a spy for King's Landing all this time. This caused Dany to banish him from the city. HA! I knew there's a reason why I never liked Jorah.

• There's a bit of romantic scene between Missandei and Grey Worm. I don't really care about this plot but they're cute together

• Arya and the Hound reached the Eyrie only to know that Lysa had died. And then Arya laughed hysterically. 

• In my opinion, this was also a changing point for Arya, like it was for Sansa. For all Arya knew for sure, she had no family left, except for Aunt Lysa. Now that Lysa died, maybe Arya thought she's alone now. Cruel joke of life. But Arya had always been a tough kid. Like Sansa learned how to be manipulative from Baelish, Arya learned how to be tough from the Hound. I'd like to see how this plays out.

• Before the battle between Oberyn and the Mountain, Jamie and Tyrion had a talk in his cell about their cousin Orson Lannister, a simple (dim-witted) who liked to smash beetles, crushing them with rocks. I didn't understand this scene when I watched it, but after the event of Oberyn's death, it seemed funny. The beetles were smashed with rocks, like Oberyn was smashed by the Mountain. Oh. 

--- SPOILER ENDS ---

I give The Mountain And The Viper 4.5/5 noise. It's been a while since Game Of Thrones left me with jaw-dropping ending. Just plain awesome.