MOVIE REVIEW - Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Title: Despicable Me 2

Director: Pierre Coffin

Starring: Steve Carell, Kristen Wig, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand & Ken Jeong

Released: 2013

Rating: ★★★

I was so excited to go and see Despicable Me 2 last night...hey, you are never too old for cartoons...! And believe me, I was not the only one. The cinema was pretty packed out with people of all ages, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that others loved the first movie as much as I did!

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So Despicable Me 2 continues on from the first movie, with ex super villain Gru leaving his past behind him and entering the world of parenthood, fathering three orphans who he adopted in the first film; Margo, Edith and Agnes.
Gru is suddenly kidnapped by a mysterious agent, who takes him to an underwater lair. He soon discovers that the agency, the AVL (Anti-Villain League), kidnapped him to ask if he would go undercover on their next mission, as he has the expertise and knowledge of being a villain. The mission consists of Gru disguising as a cupcake shop owner in a mall, to investigate the suspects (all store owners in the mall) who are believed to have stolen a formula which turns any animal into a mutant. Gru, annoyed at the AVL kidnapping him and happy with his new lifestyle, refuses to participate in the mission, but after further encouragement agrees.
And on top of saving the world, a family to run and a love interest, Gru has certainly set himself up for one hell of an adventure.

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I definitely enjoyed watching Despicable Me 2 and it definitely did the movie franchise justice.
The storyline they chose was great because it brought together a lot of different genres; action, comedy, romance. It really is a great movie for the family, because people of all ages will love it!

The one thing I must comment on first, and the thing I believe stole the show was Gru's minions. They were certainly a highlight in the first film, and did not let down in the second. I could see myself going to watch a spin off with purely just the minions! These little guys are hilarious and had everybody laughing out loud! If somebody can teach me minion talk, please give me a call.

The next thing which Despicable Me would not be the same without, is the three children Margo, Edith and Agnes. In this film, Margo meets the boy of her dreams and Gru, like any other overprotective dad, does anything he can to separate them. I loved this storyline because not only was it was extremely comical, but it also highlighted Gru's love and protection for the girls.
And Agnes, who can resist those eyes? Whenever she is on the screen my mind is just saying awwwwww! So cute!

Gru also has found love in this film, and my, is it just so adorable! But don't worry, I wont spoil much of that for you! ;)


The animation of Despicable Me is also fantastic! There was one point in the film where two characters were in the middle of the ocean, and boy I actually thought it was real water. The 3D glasses even had me reaching out in front of me. I don't care if I got some weird looks...

Overall Despicable Me 2 was a fun, enjoyable movie which I would definitely recommend you go see with the family or if your up for a laugh! Three stars.

Next stop, Monsters University.

Have you seen any new films lately, or are planning to? Let me know in the comments below!

-Bee

MOVIE REVIEW - Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)

Title: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen & Peter Stormare

Released: 2013

Rating: ★★★

This film has been getting pretty mixed reviews, but here is what I thought of it!

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We all know the classic Hansel and Gretel tale right? Well Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters has taken the story to a whole new level.

The movie begins with the classic Hansel and Gretel tale. Two kids get thrown into the woods by their evil step-mother. They find a house made of Candy which is occupied by a witch. She tries to eat them, but they push her into an oven (wow, and these are called fairy tales?!) But instead of just ending there, fast forward fifteen years and Hansel and Gretel are now super hot and famous witch hunters.

The two are called to the town of Augsburg, where they are to investigate the strange disappearances of several children in the area. And these are no ordinary disappearances, because yes, you guessed it, witches are behind them.

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I actually really enjoyed watching Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, even though it kind of wasn't what I expected. I really liked the concept of the movie and it was quite a new fresh twist on the tale. I'm really digging the whole fairy tale remakes right now.

Even though the story is set quite a long time ago and the set looks old fashioned, the characters and the script is very modern and I quite liked the contrast.

The acting was all round fairly good in the movie, but I really enjoyed seeing Gemma Arterton play Gretel. I was a huge fan of her in Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and although she plays a completely different character in H&G, she still nailed the sexy and feisty persona.
Even though Jeremy Renner is such a familiar face, I haven't actually seen a whole load of his movies, but I will definitely be checking some out as I thought he did a great job as Hansel!

Now it's that time for the not so great things about the film.

First off some of the graphics in the film weren't that great, mostly it was the design of the creatures, which was a bit of a let down but I know that the film didn't have the biggest budget.

Secondly, and probably my biggest qualm with the film (and I have noticed other peoples biggest qualms), was the amount of fake blood and random gore.  I mean, don't get me wrong, some of the action was totally amazing but some of it I just found it really over the top. The movie would have been a lot better and a lot less cliché without it. Luckily this didn't overpower the film, as thankfully, there wasn't that much of it.

I did however, really enjoy the ending, which wasn't that cliché and was pretty bad ass. ;)

I'm going to give this three stars, because I genuinely did enjoy it.
Oh and just warning guys, this is definitely not a family film.. :P

Have a great weekend,

-Bee

BOOK REVIEW - Beneath the Glitter by Elle and Blair Fowler

Hello, hello, how has everybody been?

If you don't already know who Elle and Blair are, they are Youtube beauty gurus, and first time authors. Beneath the Glitter is loosely based on their lives and their fame through Youtube. As a viewer of Elle and Blair's video content on Youtube, I had been really excited to finally get a hold and read this novel!

I hadn't actually read some chick-lit in a while, so here are my thoughts:







Title: Beneath the Glitter

Author (or in this case Authors): Elle and Blair Fowler

Published: 2012

Rating: ★★ 1/2

Welcome to a place where dreams are made.  And where nothing—and no one—is ever what it seems.After their make-up and fashion videos went viral on YouTube, sisters Sophia and Ava London are thrust into the exclusive life of the Los Angeles elite.  Here fabulous parties, air kisses, paparazzi and hot guys all come with the scene. Sophia finds herself torn between a gorgeous bartender and a millionaire playboy, and Ava starts dating an A-list actor.  But as they’re about to discover, the life they’ve always dreamed of comes with a cost.

Beneath the glitter of the Hollywood social scene lies a world of ruthless ambition, vicious gossip…and betrayal.  Someone close to them, someone they trust, is working in the shadows to bring the London sisters falling down. And once the betrayal is complete, Sophia and Ava find themselves knee-deep in a scandal that could take away everything they care about, including the one thing that matters most—each other.

Blurb by St. Martin's Griffin

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Okay I don't exactly know where to start with this book, so I guess I am just going to dive into my notes and go from there.

So after two chapters of reading this book I had kind of already established what I had thought of it. And it wasn't exactly that great.
It actually reminded me of something that I would of thought up when I was a little younger, like a 'made up' story. And I know that sounds ridiculous. ALL stories are made up. But I still like to pretend they're real. Like to be able to live within the novel through whatever is being written.
But Beneath the Glitter was just giving me some artificial world, and quite a predictable storyline.

The writing just has a lot of dialog and descriptions of people and places. They didn't do too badly in the character development department, but I would have liked to see a little more.
I definitely feel that younger readers would really enjoy this, yet I felt that it was meant to be written for an older audience.

I would however, really like to point out that Elle and Blair did a pretty good job for writing a novel with little experience, and I know I am totally making this book sound terrible, but it actually wasn't that bad.

HOLD UP. I must be confusing you.

I would definitely call this book a guilty pleasure, because despite the predictable storyline and not so great writing, I actually kind of found myself getting pretty addicted to it once the storyline started to get rolling... okay maybe a bit more than a little.
I really began to look forward to reading it.

Oh and did I mention that the cover of this book is actually really cute?

Although the storyline was based around Elle and Blair's life and fame around Youtube, Youtube itself wasn't a big part of the story and it was only mentioned a few times within the book.

The book ended with a mystery and was intended to leave the reader guessing, even though I think I have nailed what is going to happen (very unsubtle villains :P).

I can certainly say though, that I am looking forward to the sequel which comes out next month I believe, and is titled Where Beauty Lies. When the time comes I will do a review of that and tell you guys what I think!

I spent a while thinking of my rating for this novel, and I was very close to boosting it due to my slight addiction, but once I had weighed out my thoughts and read over my notes I knew that two and a half stars was pretty fair.

So tell me, are you a viewer of Elle and Blair and have you read Beneath the Glitter? If so, leave a comment below. And if you haven't, leave one anyway, because I love to hear from you guys!

Until next time,
-Bee

MOVIE REVIEW - Beautiful Creatures (2013)

Title: Beautiful Creatures

Director: Richard LaGravenese

Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson & Viola Davis

Released: 2013

Rating: ★★★ 1/2


Time has certainly flown since my last post! I feel pretty bad for already needing to give excuses, but I have had a seriously busy month! Could you ever forgive me..? *Bats eyelashes*

Well today I will be reviewing Beautiful Creatures as you can see by the title. This movie came out a few months ago and I totally missed it in cinema! I haven't read any of the books (I have heard they are quite good), so my review will be from a complete outsider!

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So Beautiful Creatures follows a boy called Ethan Wate, who lives in  a small, secluded town called Gatlin. Ethan wishes to escape Gatlin, and plans on applying to the farthest college possible once he graduates.
But something stops him in his tracks, as the mysterious girl that he has dreamed about for months has suddenly moved to Gatlin... and she is not all that she seems.
As strange events start to take place after her arrival, Ethan discovers that she bares a dark secret, one that has deadly possibilities.

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The first thing I would like to say about Beautiful Creatures is that I was glad it was in the point of view and narrated by a male. It is more often that I see movies like this told by the female so it was a nice change.

Prior to watching, I had read many mixed reviews about this movie, people who loved it, people who didn't, and people who were just so-so. It has also been stated many times that it is just a Twilight rip off, but I highly disagree.
Yes, I did think of Twilight at some points because of whole paranormal relationship thing, but that's really as far as it goes.

Beautiful Creatures definitely deserved a lot more recognition than it has received, as it is an extremely underrated movie. I mean if Twilight has grown into the success that it has, I really am stumped at why Beautiful Creatures has not taken off.

First of all, the acting is fantastic! It isn't exactly an all star cast (Wait.. except for Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter) but they have still done a really great job with casting! The two leads Alden and Alice (wow they sound like a couple) I had never seen before, but I will definitely be looking out for more of their work in the future.

This movie also had a great set of characters, many refreshing personalities and each were developed really well.
The costuming of this film I also have to make a note of, I loved the whole 1800's gothic vibe!

I can say that I really enjoyed Beautiful Creatures and found myself genuinely wanting to see the next one. I would definitely recommend this film. I hope that they will be able to make a sequel, as the low income has made an unsteady future for the series. *Crosses fingers* Please do not let this be another Golden Compass!

Three and a half stars.

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Please tell me in the comments below if you have read or seen Beautiful Creatures, and I would be really interested to know, if you have read the books, what you thought of the movie. Oh and do you think they are worth the read? I have been thinking about it for a while!

Oh and thumbs up for 10th post guys ;)

-Bee