The Vampire Diaries: Season 4 (2012 – 2013)

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

What I liked:

• Klaus being alive and well and with us. Seriously, we are attached to this guy.
• It is amazing when Klaus and Damon “work” together.
• Damon Salvatore. Yes, I am going to say it again. And again. And again. He always knows how to just make everything hilarious (refusing to take things seriously is totally healthy).

• It breaks my heart, but how Damon still considers Alaric his best friend, even though he is gone, and won’t let anyone sit on Alaric’s spot in the bar, and drinks at Alaric’s grave with him. So many feels!
• Klaus and Caroline’s date at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant – I swear, he was like a child. She unleashes a totally different side of him and I love it to bits!

• Damon and Elena finally kicking it together. We have been waiting for this for like… forever!
• Klaus returning for Caroline’s graduation, and his adamant attitude that Caroline might love Tyler now, he intends to be her last love. I want to see this happen. These two drive me freaking wild! Their chemistry is insane!

• The Originals pilot that was inserted in here – it was quite interesting all round.
• Getting to see some more Elijah this season. It has been a while.

What I didn’t like:

• How absolutely freaking annoying Elena became. I mean, I know I complained last season about jerking the guys around, but this incessant whining is super frustrating.
• All the characters are actually whining and bitching this season – Bonnie especially.
• How much more Elena can you squeeze into one show?
• Everyone is screwing each other over, but let bygones be bygones the moment it happens, right? Who needs drama?
• Damon finally getting a chance with Elena, and yet it is so cold, I haven’t seen the absolute passion she had with Stefan yet, and that crushes me.
• Stefan is so self-righteous in this season! I get it must seriously suck when your brother gets your girl, but do you have to be so nasty about how it is only because of the sire bond?
• Speaking of – Elena being sired to Damon was just so freaking uncalled for. It’s like nothing can happen for Damon without some hidden reason, without some other cause, it could never just be because he and Elena are clicking. It also totally undermined their relationship.
• The whole hunter story line had way more potential than was ultimately realised, which was disappointing.
• The cure story line also annoyed me. Endlessly.
• Elena turning off her humanity just got beyond annoying.

Rating:
This season lost a bit of the traction that the last few had built on, and that was pretty sad. Not that it was bad, it was just not as good as the last two. When it started with Elena being turned, I just knew that there were going to be dramatics I had no time for, and I sure as hell wasn’t wrong there. I was a big fan of seeing Alaric come back from time to time, I sure as hell miss the guy. Rebekah was also in full evil swing here, showing you that the whole Mikaelson family is not too healthy upstairs. Kol annoyed me, too (and there is actually potential here for other things), and the inclusion of Professor Creepy (Shane) also didn’t help – I was irritated whenever we had to deal with his character, even when it was to help Bonnie. A regular, functioning Stefan returning was really great though, and I thought that the show handled the tension between the brothers due to Elena really well. I was not impressed with the way that Elena is finally with Damon, and the show manages to make it all wrong, like he is forcing her, or she was compelled to because of a sire bond. Come on, man, is Damon not allowed anything? On the Damon from, of course, I just wanted to have his hair cut, and it was crushing to watch him drinking alone, missing Alaric, and being really lonely after his death, but it was also nice to see him with Elena, even though that came with a ton of guilt. Speaking of feeling bad, there is the Caroline/Klaus/Tyler thing to consider. I mean, I do like Caroline and Tyler together, I always thought it was as real sweet thing, but goodness, when Caroline and Klaus are together, it’s like the universe is in sync. Forever. She is a challenge for him, he finds a good place inside himself, and they just click like few others. I want to see more, even though I know it will crush Tyler, I just don’t care. I am so cold like that. I know Klaus is bad, but we all love him. Come on, we do. The hunter story arc was something that had so much more potential than was used, and that was a real pity. Instead, it was really just meh at the best of times. So flat. Jeremy and Bonnie dying (at different places, of course) was not cool, and the consequences because of both deaths was something else. I was not a fan of Elena becoming even more whiny than ever before when she turned off her humanity, and it was cool to see Damon track after her all the way to try and bring her back. He loves her, man, really. Bonnie dying means Silas got out, which leads to some horrible consequences for Stefan, whom I really just feel sorry for. He cannot seem to catch a break at all. Oh gosh, then, the pinnacle of this whole goddamn season? The fucking cure. Yes. That is how much is pissed me off. What a convoluted and annoying plot. I don’t even really want to get into it, but goodness, could we waste our time any more than we did?! WHY?! Anyway, a decent watch, but not as solid as the last two seasons, too many histrionics all round.

Review: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

“Each perfume contains three chords: the head, the heart and the base, necessitating 12 notes in all. The head chord contains the first impression, lasting a few minutes before giving way to the heart chord, the theme of the perfume, lasting several hours. Finally, the base chord, the trail of the perfume lasting several days.”
– Giuseppe Baldini

SYNOPSIS: Jean-Baptiste Grenouille came into the world unwanted, expected to die, yet born with an unnerving sense of smell that created alienation as well as talent. Of all the smells around him, Grenouille is beckoned to the scent of a woman’s soul, and spends the rest of his life attempting to smell her essence again by becoming a perfumer, and creating the essence of an innocence lost. – via IMDB

So, it was movie day recently, and my friend is a huge fan of this movie. I have said for years I will get to it, and then never did (we all have that list), but now it has changed, and wow, I am glad I finally checked this movie out. I was entranced from the off, with the narrator telling us this weird and bizarre story (and John Hurt was a fantastic pick for this), from the way it was shot, everything. I have got to commend the way the film was directed, as well as the way it looked. So washed out and dreary, and yet things with beautiful smells had vivid colours, which in turn made me think of the scents tied to it.

The movie has this air of doom and creepiness hanging over it, this cannot be denied, the atmosphere is dark and broody, and Ben Whishaw is a fantastic Grenouille – he really just seems too damn off. You want to pity him, you do, and on the other hand, he is so outlandishly different you cannot help but recoil. The score suited this movie wonderfully, blending in, never taking over, always complementing. The performances, too, were impressive, and I thoroughly enjoyed the pacing of the movie. The storytelling and writing was brilliant because, while we know what Grenouille is doing is beyond heinous and wrong, we also want to see what will happen if he achieves his goal. Yes, it is that sick. It’s not about his success at killing these girls, it is just to see what he is willing to do about his obsession, how far he is willing to take it. I

have always known this movie to get a lot of hate, but I don’t understand that. It isn’t a bad movie at all. But then, maybe it is just too different, too weird, that it sets people on edge? It is dark, for sure, and it tells of Grenouille’s love story with smell, and later his obsession to forever capture it, and the story has many dark avenues it explores. Maybe because people took it too seriously, expected a realistic story, when it was so obviously not that from the off. I think the best way to describe this film would be disturbing. I honestly do, after the movie is over, you feel unsettled, yet the movie is put together well, incredibly well acted, very strange and out there, and it gets under your skin.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is dark, broody, creepy, unusual, fascinating and extremely lonely, and worth a watch at least once. I will definitely be seeking the book out now!

The Vampire Diaries: Season 2 (2010 – 2011)

*CONTAINS SPOILERS* 

What I liked: 

• Seeing more parts of the past of the Salvatores.
• Finally getting to meet the evil bitch Katherine.
• Damon Salvatore. For all sorts of reasons, and not just science. He is such an immensely layered character, especially when you get to see how he was as a human, before he was turned, before Katherine broke his heart.
• Caroline Forbes as a vampire. While she irritated the crap out of me as a human, as a vampire she is fiercely loyal, strong, more self-assured, much less whiny and quite fun and sassy. Who knew she just needed to be the undead?
• The friendship between Caroline and Tyler. It really just works on so many levels, and she really makes Tyler a more tolerable person.
• Elijah. His character is so… intense and incredibly interesting.
• These Original vampires have so much potential to be awesome, or just downright entertaining. Klaus is crazy to boot though, but so fascinating.
• Damon’s reaction to Katherine is priceless. He has been in love with her for 145 years, but to find out about her betrayal crushed him, and he has gone out of his way to block her out of his life, to shut down his feelings.

What I didn’t like:

• How many murders/disappearances per capita can a small town like Mystic Falls conceivably get away with before rocketing to the top of the most dangerous cities in America list? For reals man, people are just dying left, right, and centre.
• Seriously, just because a person heals, doesn’t mean there isn’t blood left on the skin.
• Katherine Pierce. Gosh, the woman is a nightmare.
• The Jules/Mason arc that came and went. Seriously, there are better things out there to deal with. Plus Jules was the most annoying thing ever.

Rating:
Sheesh. This was one hell of a busy season, but it was highly entertaining. Unlike the first season, this one hits the ground running and wastes no time searching desperately for momentum. From the off, we are dealing with Katherine finally making an appearance, and how Elena actually ties into everything, and we meet the Originals, the beginning of all vampire bloodlines, and that comes with its own fascinating story. Dramatic, left, right, and centre, of course, but it is good.

Caroline changing was really one of the better things – initially I was dismayed, because now we were never going to get rid of that selfish, needy, whiny bitch, but wow, the change is amazing because she has grown into a character I actually enjoy. While Tyler started really irritatingly in this season, his character changes so much, and a huge part of that is Caroline, and I like that. Matt Donovan is still a whiny child though.

I was, again, a huge fan of watching Damon and Alaric together, they really are just besties that work. Constantly snippy, but always looking out for each other, it is great. Damon had some real deep character reveals here now, which makes one think back to when he was a human, and a much nicer soul, so different. Lacing that with a cocky bastard was destined to win points all round, and every now and then he lets his nice side out, but hides it so well. He really is a damaged, impulsive, selfish creature, and it is more concerning that Stefan and all his broody history, because Damon is so in your face about his flaws and doesn’t acknowledge a better side, whereas Stefan is so desperate to cling to humanity and not acknowledge the evil of his past.

Stefan is a character that I really enjoy. As I have said, he dedicates so much of his energy to denying himself and what he is, but it makes for a complex character, constantly living on the edge. He also truly loves Elena, and I like watching the two of them together, even though I am interested to see where this is all going to go. I appreciated this season tackling the question of Elena potentially turning, as it is something that had not been addressed, which is off considering her choice of partner.

This season also spends a lot of time showing how Damon is actually falling for Elena, and how other people are picking up on it more. It works though, it does. I am not actually peeved with this love triangle because it is handled pretty decently, and I usually hate the freaking things. The first time Tyler turns is really sad, too, as you can see things will never be the same again, either. I do like the developments of things with him and Caroline, I was never convinced she should be with Matt.

I am quite a fan of these new, strange Original vampires being introduced – this has immense amounts of potential to bring awesome to the table. Elijah is a character that fascinated me from the off, and Klaus? What an evil SOB! Like wow, he is just evil, not like a maybe or something, and he just embraces it, which is madness, but I love it. So refreshing. There is so much to explore concerning the Originals, and the bits that we have been given so far are really good. So looking forward to more of this, these Originals really do captivate the audience without fail. Great season, I seriously enjoyed every moment of it.

Rapid Review: X-Men: Apocalypse

“Everything they’ve built will fall! And from the ashes of their world, we’ll build a better one!”
– Apocalypse

SYNOPSIS: With the emergence of the world’s first mutant, Apocalypse, the X-Men must unite to defeat his extinction level plan. – via IMDB

Yes! I finally went to see this. My husband wasn’t thrilled (he loves going to the cinema), but he knew it is one of the few superhero movies I will insist on seeing in the cinema. Screw that, any new movie in this franchise will have me tripping out, no matter how many installments. I know, it sounds mad. I think the reviews have been unjustly harsh towards X-Men: Apocalypse, though it is by no means a perfect movie. It definitely doesn’t have the wow factor of Days of Future Past, and the plot is a little messy (okay, maybe a dash more than a little), and there were some holes, and the pacing was a bit off. The villain, Apocalypse, was also quite disappointing in the long run. As much as I like Oscar Isaac, this was really not good. There was so much more that could have been done with this character! His rising and the X-Men battling him was so rushed and quick, his true power and danger is never really realised, which is a pity. Besides that, the cast is, as is to be expected, excellent. McAvoy is a fantastic Charles, and Fassbender, of course, delivers as the tortured Erik. I wish that the two of them had been given more screen time, if I am being honest, but I loved them when they were there. Also, Nicholas Hoult could have done with more screen time, too. Okay, I think one of the large flaws of the film is that there are a ton of characters, and none are really done any real justice. Evan Peters returns and owns as Quicksilver, which I loved. I must say though, his hit scene from DOFP was recreated here, and as entertaining as it was, it wasn’t perfect like the last one, and didn’t thrill me as much. It also felt squished in, like it was expected. Fun, but a little off. Sophie Turner really impressed me as Jean Grey (and trust me, this was something I was extremely leery about), and Tye Sheridan’s Scott Summers didn’t manage to peeve me endlessly, which in and of itself is a feat. Last but not least, I want to talk about how awesome Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Nightcrawler is. I was so stoked to see the Nightcrawler return, and to see him get such a large role was fantastic. Happy as can be! Look, he is no Alan Cumming, but he was still wonderful, and I am hoping to see more of him in future movies. Also, a young Storm? Yay! Yes, I had a total ball with all these things. I actually think this film is going to appeal more to people who love the X-Men franchise, and not necessarily newcomers. That being said, I enjoyed the story, but didn’t love it, it was flawed, but a fun film, the effects were good, but there were issues, but I would definitely recommend it for a watch. I really am such a fan of going back to see how the X-Men formed, how the relationships were, how everything was before, and I really think a great job is being done with that. I am going to stop now, before this review gets excessively long.

Top Ten Movies of 2015

Man, I have to say that while 2015 had some decent movies, it was quite the bland year for cinema overall. Really now, I mean it. I was quite disappointed with the pickings all round. In 2014 I had to split the list up into two parts, it was crazy! This won’t be a conventional list, that’s for sure, but I had a great time with these movies… well, most of them. Some really only just made the list. Without further ado, here’s a look at the movies I enjoyed the most this year!

10. Tie between The Martian and Sicario

I definitely did not love this movie like most people did, though I found it to be a decent watch. In fact, I was a huge fan of everything that was happening in space, on Mars. It was fascinating, and Damon gave one heck of a performance, he was brilliant. I loved the disco music and the geeky humour, I enjoyed all the little things. But then there is the Earth aspect, and that brought the whole film down quite a bunch for me. However, it is a nice return to form for Scott.

Again, maybe not a film that I obsessed about, but I enjoyed it well enough. It looked stunning and Benecio Del Toro gave one heck of a performance. But then there were the drawbacks, like the whiny character Emily Blunt played, making me dislike her (super shocker o.O), not to mention that the movie really strives to come across as smarter and more in depth than it actually is, which means there is this disjointed feeling you experience.

9. Spectre

This was one of my most anticipated movies of 2015. I was freaking out about it, I needed it. Immediately. I am almost glad we got it a little later than other people – that allowed me to get my expectations in check. The trailers were marketing a Casino Royale 2, which is most certainly the furthest thing from this movie. Spectre returns to some old school Bond cheese, for better or worse, but it is not nearly as supremely a crappy movie as it is painted to be. I had a good time with it, though it certainly isn’t my favourite Bond movie. There were things Spectre did right, and other places where it floundered. Uneven doesn’t make for terrible, though, and it is a fun watch.

8. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Oh yes. I had an absolute blast watching this. I knew from the trailers that it would likely be fun, especially with Ritchie’s name attached to it, but when I watched it? I had a ball. It was much better than I was daring to hope for, and by having the genetic jackpot winner Henry Cavill on screen opposite a worthy Armie Hammer was beyond fantastic. The duo shared great chemistry, the humour is highly entertaining, Alicia Vikander is gorgeous, and while there was nothing new to be garnered from the movie, it was stylish to boot.

7. The Final Girls

So much awesomeness! I watched this between exams when I desperately needed a moment to breathe, and I am so glad that I chose this. The Final Girls is smart and has heart, too, and is hilarious – especially if you are a big fan of old school horror, which gets plenty of homages here. The performances stand out in this movie, and the script is bold and endearing all at once, and everyone just looks like they are having the time of their lives. Horror comedy? Not so much, but a damn fine comedy with horror throwbacks for sure, and the execution is beyond brilliant.

6. Bone Tomahawk

Western horror. Those were the two words that intrigued me and sold me on this. I had to know how it was going to be done. Let me tell you, Bone Tomahawk is excellent. A horror opening, a western film beyond that, and it closes out with horror again. Yes, the balance is perfect, the performances were awesome, the movie was shot well and is bloody, brutal, violent. I fell in love with this, and I think it is a movie I am going to return to a few times.

5. Mad Max

I didn’t expect to enjoy this one nearly as much as I did, but the minute this movie started up, I knew I was in for something special. The film is an assault on the senses and balls to the wall crazy – just as you think they cannot top the bizarre that has just been displayed on your screen, think again! The insanity never wears thin, and it looks amazing and is well acted. The movie looks and sounds phenomenal, too. Let’s also not forget the fact that Theron did not irritate me in this (super unusual) and the movie carried a strong feminist message, even for a movie that is essentially a two hour car chase through the desert.

4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I went for this. Twice. I finally reviewed it. I didn’t expect to, because I never know just what to say when it comes to major favourites of mine. I had fun with this. When Disney bought out Lucas, I was worried, especially when they announced a new installment to the franchise. My fear was not allayed when Trevorrow dropped out, but my heart soared when I heard that J.J. Abrams was to helm the film. Why? Because he just gets sci-fi, and he totally knows how to reboot… and he is a Star Wars fan. After watching it? All I want in life is a BB-8 and I just want to say that Adam Driver was looky as hell. Oh. My. Gosh. Seriously, that hair ❤ I don’t want to go into another crazy geek out session here, so you can just head on over to the review if you want to know exactly how I felt about this.

3. Ex Machina

Ah, this. This was something I threw in to watch with my other half, seeing as he enjoys the whole concept of AI, etc. What I did not expect, however, was the perfect union between psychology and AI, something that is usually overlooked in these types of films. Also, the movie is quite ambitious, and when that happens with a film like this, someone usually ends up dropping the ball, leaving behind a bitter taste due to the botched affair. Ex Machina, however, did not suffer from this. It has a tiny cast, but each one of them delivered perfectly, the film looked beautiful and really makes you think when all is said and done. The best part? There was no disappointment by the end of it, it definitely delivered the goods.

2. What We Do In The Shadows

I know, many of you are going to wonder why the hell this ranks so highly… but I loved it. I freaking loved every damned second of it, and in my ten million rewatches? It remains a classic, priceless, hilarious gem. It appealed to every silly sense of my humour, and is way smarter than it is given credit for. #VirginSandwiches #EighteenthCenturyDandy #WearwolvesNotSwearwolves #DarkBidding

1. John Wick

This. Hands down. The style… the awesome, the beauty, the thrill, the colours, the choreography, Keanu Reeves… John Wick just blew my mind. The second I saw the trailer, I knew we were in for something insane, but I had no idea that it would win me over quite the way it did. It also doesn’t get old. Repeat viewings have kept me engaged and happy and even more excitement was to be had. Plus the soundtrack was fantastic. Too much style, too much awesome, too much love!