I am Number Four // Snippet Review

     SNIPPET REVIEWS: Brief, rambling, concise, or incomprehiensive,                           fangirling or bashing.

I am Number Four

So, I when I went to watch the movie, I hadn't read the book and I didn't really know much about the plot or anything. Despite the fact that I felt it was potentially just another one of those new movies, they all bring something different, and this had been recommended by several friends, so I went into with pretty good expectations.

If I were to give my opinion in conversation in one sentence, it would be: Yeah, that's a good movie, I liked it. But since this is a post, I'll be a little more specific.

Number Four

I liked the character of Number Four, or John Smith. He was a pretty believable sort of hero, typical teenage sort of character. (Seemed a little old for a highschool student, but that's typical movie style.)

Sarah and John

Then of course there's The Girl. 

Sarah was okay. She was sweet, and their relationship was cute, I just felt like she was a little shallow as a character. She seemed to just smile and blink a lot. I do like the fact that he ended up with a normal girl, and not Number Six, the other alien.

Henri

I liked Henri. As a guardian, he sometimes seemed the over-protective father, but for good reason. He was kind, and a great character.

Number Six

Six was pretty cool, she had a lot of action and not so much deep character develop in her short amount of screen time, but she got the job done. It was also neat to see an Australian actor (I'm a Kiwi but it's still cool).

Ugh, the Mogodorians. They were a little gross, but just picture 10 ft human-like aliens with bald head tattoos and gills. Yeah. 

The mean kid, whose name escapes me, was an okay character for the plot, and I gave him a little sympathy in the end.

Oh, Sam. My absolute favourite character.

Sam Goode

The underdog, bullied kid, and sidekick. He was very sweet, determined, and caring. And hilarious.

Actual cinnamon roll right there.

The plot was pretty good, I enjoyed it overall.

The ending was a little disappointed, it felt really leading like it was building up to a sequel, but there hasn't been a sequel, sadly. It has potential, especially with later books in the series.

A good movie, I'd gladly watch it again.

Overall rating:

8/10

Movie Review - Our Zoo

                                          

I am determined to go about this review in an ordinary manner. Given that this series is fairly new, I shall do my best to keep spoilers to a mild minimum. :) I will just add, however, that this series is based on a true story. 

The series is set in Post-WWI Chesire.

Firstly, I'll talk about the characters. At the end, I'll highlight the main reasons I love it so much.

Anyway, Characters.

George Mottershead

The main character, George Mottershead, is husband to Lizzie, and father of two daughters. He lives with his family at his parents house behind their shop. Having served in the War, he still has bad days, flashbacks, scars both emotionally and physically. He also (in case you couldn't guess) loves animals. 

He has a strong will and determination, and is sometimes called stubborn. He has a strong vision for building his own zoo, but has trouble explaining to others who simply don't want to know. 

Lizzie Mottershead

At first Lizzie doesn't quite understand her husband's ideas, but she soon gets behind him and supports him as much as she can. She tends to be the practical/sensible side of the plans. 

Muriel (Mew) Mottershead

The elder of the two daughters, Muriel is a bit like your typical teenage girl, who loves lipsticks, dressing up and listening to records. So she's not exactly thrilled about the whole zoo idea, but she grows into it, and finds herself enjoying it :)

June Mottershead

June has a sweet relationship with her father and is always behind him. She loves animals as much as he does, and adopts one of the first animals they get (above), Mortimer the monkey. 

"Gran" Lucy Mottershead

Gran is the most against the zoo of anyone at first, it's a wonder they got anywhere! She misses her other son, George's brother, who didn't return from the War. In time, she realizes George's dream, and comes to like it herself. 

"Grandad" Mottershead

It was Grandad who helped to set the zoo in motion, by selling his shop and helping George purchase a large house and grounds for the zoo. He doesn't always understand his son, but he is always right behind him and ready to knuckle down and do some hard work to get it done.

Billy

Then there's Billy, Lizzie's brother. Billy is funny, though sometimes a little reckless, but nevertheless a strong supporter of the zoo. He assists George on one or two of his animal capturing adventures, and acquires the group of penguins. He likes Frankie, from the Council, and she helps him when they are having the court hearing for planning permission for the zoo.

Archie

Archie the post-boy is the shopkeeper's son. His father died during the war and he lives with his mother and helps her run the shop. He likes Muriel.

Archie is very funny but sweet.


Then there's Archie's mum, the shopkeeper. She is one of the townspeople most in opposition to the Chester Zoo. Later in the show, however, I felt really sorry for her....for reasons I shall not reveal at present, :)

Lady Catherine Longmore

Lady Catherine Longmore is the next-door neighbour, who is very kind, and most certainly in favour of the zoo.
At first I wasn't so sure about her, but she is very nice - I grew to like her more as the show went on.


Rev. Aaron Webb.

Now, this guy. Well, he pretends to be nice, but, as I tell my sisters, "*I* always distrusted his appearance of goodness! Ay, and told the girls [my sisters]; but would they listen?" *Sorry shake of the head*

Anyway, yes, after the fashion of Mr. Collins, a clergyman who you don't really like. But he was worse than Mr. Collins - spiteful, in fact. Anyway, *no more spoilers* I'll try :)

Dr. Barnaby Ford.
He was nice enough; he didn't always favour the zoo, but that was mostly because so much of the town was opposed to it, he could well lose business. But I like him anyway, 'cos, well, he's also Joly.


Then there's Frankie, the girl who works at the council. Billy and she like each other. 

She's very kind, and does what she can to help them - she even brings them a snake she rescued from being taken away after it was found in the council building!

I just love the characters! (most of them)

Reasons I love Our Zoo so much:

1. The accents and just the general British-ness of it.

2. Archie

He's so funny and sweet!

3. Joly Dr Ford. Dr. Ford is played by Hugh Skinner - Joly from Les Miserables!

A doctor. Joly! Do you not see the resemblance? Joly was studying to be a medical student!

4. The costumes.

I love the costumes - I don't like all of the styles, but I like the vintage-y look, and especially the formal dresses they wear!

I quite like some of Lady Catherine's outfits! Her hair's pretty!

Yes, and Celia Imrie (Lady Glenmire of Return to Cranford) makes a small appearance.

So, to wrap it up, I absolutely LOVED this series, and would definitely recommend you see it!

Happy Barricade Day!

It's Barricade Day! (I named it that - more or less)

Today is the 6th of June. (The date of this post will say the 5th, but where I live it is actually the 6th).
The anniversary of the June Rebellion

in France, told of in Les Miserables. (If you like history, or just this topic in general, check out the wikipedia page on it here. There are links in that article to Victor Hugo, General Lamarque....(on an extra side note, they also have articles on the ABC and Enjolras, Gavroche, Jean Valjean.... - I was inpressed!))

Anyway, 183 years ago today, the June Rebellion took place in Paris, France.

If you go by the Les Miserables calendar, yesterday was Lamarque Day (also my own naming), 

the day of Lamarque's funeral and the beginning of the rebellion (Do You Hear the People Sing and Night of Anguish)

Today is Barricade Day (Dawn of Anguish, The Final Battle, etc.)

(Have you SEEN this gif?!^ *chills*)

Anyway, I am resolved not to post any more depressing pictures, but instead, I've decided to give you some links you might find interesting, of some great Les Mis articles and posts you might like to read, if you're in that sort of mood, like I am.

I will now add in random Mis-related pictures as I go.

Pictures: 

Sink Me!'s Les Mis label

People Articles:

Enjolras

Jean Valjean

Cosette

Marius

Javert

for any others, follow respective links in the Les Miserables article

Blog Posts:

Defending Enjolras

Defending Grantaire

That Really Long Post About Enjolras

In fact, pretty much any of Amy's Les Mis posts

Symptoms of Mizziness, one of my personal favourites, especially if you go for the humorous sort of thing

                     

Videos:

Polish Flashmob - yes, it's in Polish, but it's still great!

Green Fields of France

and any number of movie trailers, best scenes, musical performances......

Anyway, I'm off - happy Barricade Day!

                                              

Yes, I just felt like adding this one again.

Short and weird update.

At the moment I'm really into:

~Coffee. Anyone who knows  me really well will know that I have never liked coffee, and have always been a tea-drinker. Since my sister, who works at a cafe, got hooked, she's converted me.....I like it a lot. Especially Cafe Bombon, which is espresso made with sweetened condensed milk! So good.

                   

~LOTR, especially The Return of the King. I love it!! I never enjoyed the books, but now I'm quite interested in the story, especially the movies' untold stories, like Eowyn and Faramir.



~"Our Zoo", the new British TV series. I love it! It's post WWI, and full of nice costumes, wonderful accents and funny characters.


And.....the doctor, Doctor Ford, who we always remarked reminded us very much of Joly, I just discovered, actually IS potrayed by that actor, Hugh Skinner!

He's hilarious! 

And the scenery and locations are beautiful!

But, seriously, if you get then chance, watch it - it's so good. I've seen the first four out of six episodes. I shall attempt to write a review when we're done. 

Anyway, I have to go, apologies for the lack of interesting-ness in my posts (mostly updates) lately....

Will try to improve that!