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Category: reviews

Likes & Dislikes: Ant-Man

For the very first time in years, I didn’t watch Marvel movie on its first showing day. Ant-Man was released one day before the Eid. There was no way for me to go to movie on Eid eve, so I had to skip the premiere. It was such a bummer, given the fact that I had a straight record of seeing the premiere. Haha!

Ant-Man tells the story of Hank Pym, who invented a substance called Pym Particle which can shrink human into an ant-like tiny form. He shut down his own research because he saw that his invention could potentially create chaos in the world. However, he needs to use the particle again when his protegee, a young scientist named Cross, gets closer to finding hiw own shrinking substance. Hank is already too old to become Ant-Man, so he chooses Scott Lang, a criminal freshly out of prison for burglary. The two men along with Hank’s daughter create a plan to steal Cross’ invention to stop it being exploited by Hydra.

Likes

+ It’s refreshing to see smaller (both literally and figuratively) Marvel movie. After seeing London and Sokovia being destroyed in previous MCU movies, seeing Ant-Man saving the world by fighting Cross on top of Thomas the Tank Engine is super entertaining. Ant-Man is a proof that superhero movies can be fun and don’t always need to be depressing (remember Age of Ultron?)
+ I love the father-daughter relationship in this movie. Not only the relationship between Scott and his daughter, Cassie, but also the one between Cassie and her mother’s fiance, Paxton.
+ I know both Hank and Scott are good looking as hell, but my all-time favourite character is Luis! His best scenes are the Dubsmash-like ones. Haha!
+ I also love the part where Falcon shows as a cameo. “It is really important to me that Cap never finds out about this.” Hilarious!
+ But my version of the best scene is of course the one when Siri plays Disintegration by The Cure. Classic yet techie joke.

Dislikes

– It’s less funny than any other installment in MCU. It’s even less funny than The Amazing Spider-Man.
– I don’t really know Paul Rudd. I didn’t even know the name Paul Rudd before Ant-Man. And I think his acting is flawed. There are several lines which should have been funny but came out just wrong, IMO.

That being said, I’m glad Ant-Man will be joining the Avengers in the next movies. But I’m also sad because Ant-Man marks the end of MCU Phase 2 and the Phase 3 won’t start until next year. That’s okay though, we will have Mockingjay Part 2 later this year 😉

Image via.

Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

27 July 2015
Likes & Dislikes: Out Of The Wasteland (Lifehouse Album)

2015 has been so good to me as both my two favourite bands released an album when 2015 has only been 6 months. Earlier this year, Fall Out Boy released their sixth studio album. I wasn’t very excited and I didn’t like the album. They sound so different now than when I first found out about them and fell in love with their From Under The Cork Tree album. I understand that a band should evolve and become “more mature”, but it’s just not my taste. I didn’t post a review about American Beauty/American Psycho, because I knew it would be all negative.

Now, back to the awesomeness that Lifehouse’ new album, Out Of The Wasteland. Their previous album, Almeria, wasn’t really appealing to me and I gave it a bad review when comparing it to Boys Like Girls’ album. My argument was the same as why I didn’t like Fall Out Boy’s album: it didn’t sound like them. Almeria was a failure for me because it sounded so different than their previous albums. Out Of The Wasteland, however, has made me fall in love since the very first track, which is also the first single of the album, Hurricane. The whole album sounds like a nostalgia to me. All tracks bring me back to my teenage year where I used to stay in my room listening to Lifehouse’s self-titled album. It reminds me of being young and naive. The lyrics are also quotable; all my friends are probably already sick of my posting quotes from the album on my Path account. Haha!

Honestly all I can tell you about this album is just one word: AMAZING!, but here are my favourite tracks:

Hurricane – The lyrics feel personal to me. The lines “We made it through hell and back again” and “it just gets better” remind me so much about our struggle during our first year together. This song will be quoted by me for a long, long time to come. Haha!
Flight – The piano intro reminds me of one of their old songs, but I can’t really put my fingers on it.
Firing Squad – The intro and the lyrics make me want to stay up late and watch the sunrise.
Stardust – My #1 favourite track of the album! I love Bryce’s voice and he sounds even much better than he did in Wrecking Ball (in Smoke And Mirrors album). Glad to have two talented vocalists in one band.
Alien – The music sounds like Easier To Be (in Who We Are album) and I love it! Second favourite in this album.
Central Park – This one reminds me of Stanley Climbfall (in Stanley Climbfall) and Walking Away (in Lifehouse), but the lyrics isn’t as depressing. My 18 year old self would love this song very much. It’s a good song to listen to in the middle of the night (I don’t know why, though).
Hurt This Way – Hurt This Way sounds like a country song. I’m not really into country, but I like this one so damn much!

What do you guys think? Well, I can go on and on but I’m sure this whole post can be summarised with only one line: “This album is good so yeah go buy it, kids!” 😉

Image via.

Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

11 June 2015
Pitch Perfect 2

Sorry for the grainy pics!

Finally.

Finally, I have a working internet connection.

Finally, Pitch Perfect 2 is showing in my country.

Finally, I saw it yesterday.

Yes, guys. Finally.

I really liked the first Pitch Perfect and have been obsessed with the soundtrack. I marked my calendar so I could see the premiere show of Pitch Perfect 2, but it wasn’t released in my country until a few days ago. But I finally saw it yesterday evening and… it was disappointing. At least for me.

Pitch Perfect 2 is set about three years after the first movie. The Bellas are in their senior year (except for Chloe, who is a super senior, after ‘refusing’ to graduate for three years) and their latest performance in front of the president is a huge disaster after Fat Amy’s failed solo performance, where she accidently rips her outfit, revealing her vagina to the whole nation. The incident costs them their tour and the only way that they can make amends is by winning the world championship. Their road to the world championship is not that smooth: their main rival is Das Sound Machine, an intimidating German a capella group; and Beca’s main focus is not on it, as she is interning for a music producer. The Bellas lose their voice and Chloe decides that the group needs to go to a retreat to find it. Will they find it? Will they win the championship? Well, it’s actually easy to guess but still, I won’t say it here. Go and watch it by yourself! :p

To me, Pitch Perfect 2 feels like a bridge from the first movie to the third one (not officially announced, but you’ll understand what I mean after watching). The characters are shallow. After what happened in the first movie, I was expecting more of Beca & Jesse, or other Bellas’ personal story. But no. Jesse is just a supportive boyfriend who drives Beca on her first day interning and who screams “That’s my girl!” in front of the stage at the world championship. The movie introduces a new character, a freshman Bellas legacy who clearly will be the new lead in the third movie. But even she doesn’t have her (back)story explored. The other Bellas are just accessories, except for Fat Amy. Honestly, Fat Amy is the star of the movie! She and Bumper (who comes back to Barden University as a security guard) are secretly in a relationship. Fat Amy is the only one who made me genuinely laugh throughout the movie. She deserves a spin-off, IMO.

So, generally speaking… Disappointing. Not funny. Probably will re-watch only for the sake of Fat Amy after the DVD is released. Two out of five stars.

Have you seen Pitch Perfect 2? Did you enjoy it or are you as disappointed as I am?

Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

4 June 2015
Likes & Dislikes: The Girl On The Train
I had heard good things about The Girl On The Train but I was never really interested to read it. But when Amber told me how she finished this book in less than 24 hours, my spidey sense was tingling. So I downloaded the digital version and started reading. It took me about 3 days to finish it (I’m not a fast reader, except for when it comes to Dan Brown’s books). Many reviews call it “the ‘Gone Girl’ of this year”, but since I haven’t read Gone Girl (what can I say? I’m not really into grown up novels) and only watched the film, I don’t think they’re comparable. But that’s just me.

Anyway…

The story itself is about a woman, Rachel, who takes the same train everyday, in the morning and in the evening. She becomes familiar with a couple who lives near the railway; she even gives them name inside her head. One day, the woman who lives in that house goes missing for days and on the day she was last seen, Rachel saw something that might be an important clue about the woman’s whereabouts. So Rachel goes to the police. But turns out Rachel is not a reliable witness. She is an alcoholic who constantly blacks out and has no memory of hours in her life. She also used to live a few doors next to the missing woman, where her ex-husband lives with his new wife and their little daughter. And turns out that the truth is so much close to Rachel’s life.

Likes
- As a commuter myself, I enjoy Rachel’s description of the train and her everyday journey.
- The whole idea of getting used to seeing a couple of strangers’ life is intriguing. I also like looking at people around me in public places and wondering what they’re going through (does it make me a creep?)
- It’s a page turner. It makes me want to read more.
- I have a personal experience regarding cheating and secret lover and such, so I enjoy reading the whole story between Rachel, her ex-husband, and his new wife. I understand their relationship; something I might not do if I didn’t have the experience.
Dislikes
- I don’t really like Rachel. It’s frustating to see her keep coming back to drinking. I have no sympathy for her at all for that reason.
- Rachel is too creepy. I understand the detectives’ suspicion towards her. She is a stranger to the missing woman and her husband, but she knows so much. She knows too much. She even has the guts to go directly to the missing woman’s husband. Gees…
- Helpless people. Helpless people everywhere.
- It’s too slow paced for me.
- About third quarter to the story, it becomes easy to guess the ending. The thrill and suspense that has been built since the beginning goes away just like that.
I’d give The Girl On The Train 2 out of 5 stars for those factors. I only enjoy several parts of the story, but the whole book is not really my thing.

Have you read this book? What do you think about it?

Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
27 May 2015
Thoughts on Season Finale: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

WARNING: This post may contain major spoilers.

So it’s finally here. The season finales of the series I watch are coming. This week is that of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and holy birds was this a good finale! As the previous episode has hinted, this finale tells about the war between the Inhumans led by Jiaying and SHIELD, though I’m not sure if it’s okay to call it a ‘war’ since it looks pretty much just like a small fight but with so many deaths.

All through the season, I wasn’t sure what to feel about Jiaying. While I was pretty sure that the Inhumans meant no harm at all, I couldn’t decide whether Jiaying was a friend or foe. The previous episode proved the latter when Jiaying killed Gonzales with a Terrigen crystal and then shot herself to make it look like Gonzales tried to kill her. The Inhumans believed her, even Skye at first. But thank God she can see her mother’s true colour when Jiaying is murdering Raina (Yes, folks. The Flower Girl is dead.)

Jiaying and the Inhumans then attack SHIELD’s ship while Coulson and Co. are busy dealing with Cal’s crazy prower. Here’s the funny part: Coulson gave Cal a pep talk and after all those episodes of Cal hating Coulson, Cal finally teams up with Coulson for the sake of Skye/Daisy’s safety.

Meanwhile, Ward and Agent 33 have captured and are now torturing Bobbi so that Agent 33 can have some “closure”. Now, there are romances that make you go “Aww…” and there are the ones that make you want to vomit. Ward and Kara’s relationship is the latter and I must say that I’m glad to see Kara dies in the hands of her own boyfriend. Props to Agent May for coming up with that plan! A few episodes ago, I thought that the team should have forgiven Ward and let him back, but turns out the team was right not to trust him again. He’s such a dick.

Back in the ship, Cal is confronting his wife to try and stop her from executing her plans. Coulson, Mack, and Fitz are trying to stop Gordon from teleporting the Terrigen crystals inside a box. Fitz gets to say the “Science, biatch!” and eventually kills Gordon, but in his last moments Gordon still tries to kill every non-Inhumans on board by dropping a Terrigen crystal. Coulson drops and catches it with his left hand which quickly turns into stone(?). Mack has to go to the rescue and quickly chop Coulson’s arm off. Literally, you guys! And then Coulson screams.

Outside, Skye is trying to stop her mother but Jiaying insists on carrying on with her plans. She tries to absorb her own daughter’s soul and when Skye tries to stop her with her quake power, Cal comes and kills Jiaying instead, saving Skye from the horror of killing her own mother. Poor Cal. I’ve always liked him but I love him now.

The conclusion: Coulson now only has one hand. Skye will go find other Inhumans. May is going on a vacation. Bobbi and Hunter may leave SHIELD. Ward is heartbroken (turns out he really loved Kara) and now tries to rebuild HYDRA. Mack is staying. Cal was put into TAHITI program and now lives as a vet and has no memory of Daisy. Fitz finally asks Simmons out and she says yes!!! But then she is dragged into the alien’s substance and we don’t know what happens to her yet.

I like how the finale actually concludes the whole season. It serves well both as the second season conclusion and the third season premises. While I must say that I don’t want Raina gone, looks like she really is gone because the actress gets a bigger role in another show. Also, I hope Lincoln will be a regular next season. I need more cute guys in the show (aside Coulson). I can’t wait for season three!

All images are from this site.

PS. My giveaway on Sara’s blog is ending in TWO HOURS!

Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

15 May 2015