Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters

Last night, whilst babysitting a set of 12 year twins, I was made to watch the second film on the Percy Jackson series, Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters. After watching the first film, Percy Jackson: And The Lightening Thief, I was quite pleasantly surprised as I really didn’t think it would be my kind of film but it was quite enjoyable. However I wouldn’t be quick to watch it again. Anyway back to Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters, I thought thus film wasn’t as good as the first one and I didn’t think the first one was that great.

The film is about Percy Jackson, obviously, who is a half-blood or demi-god. This means that one of his parents is a human and one of them is a god, Percy Jacksons mum is a human and his dad is Poseidon. He trains in a camp with other half-bloods and his good friend and sort of sidekick, Grover, who is a satyr. Together they compete against each other and train to be come good enough and strong enough to fight mythical creatures and people if they have to. In Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters, Luke from the first film come back and causes havoc, again. However Percy Jackson and his team are there to save the world, again. They all go on a quest to retrieve so sort of cloth that restores life and Luke wants the cloth for evil and Percy wants it for good, of course.

I completely understand why people enjoy these films and want to watch them. But I just don’t really think they’re a genre I enjoy for one and I found the film to be just a bit too obvious and over the top which didn’t make it at all believable or engrossing to watch. I wouldn’t advise that you rush out and watch this but if its on television and you’re bored with nothing else to watch, it would enjoyable fill your time.

The Kings Of Summer

The Kings of Summer, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, is described as a ‘coming of age comedy’. The film is about 3 teenage boys, who are friends and are all unhappy with their home lives. So as an escape from the misery they experience at home, together the three of them decide to build a house in an area of the woods that is very isolated and that no one knows about so their house would never be found by their parents or anyone else. After building the house they decide that they’re going to live off the land, no more shopping in supermarkets or conforming to society. So they try to teach themselves to hunt and they collect berries and make their own fires and other things that connect them to nature. Meanwhile their parents have contacted the police and everyone is searching for them. The three boys living together goes well for around 3-4 weeks until a girl gets involved and breaks up two of the boys friendship.

I found the film to be quite funny with a fairly good story line. It is definitely aimed more at teenages, I doubt an adult would really enjoy it as the plot is quite strange and far fetched. However I did enjoy watching the film, it is light hearted and easy watching for a boring Sunday afternoon. If there is nothing else you can think to watch on a rainy day at home, I recommend this, it is a bit silly but it will make you laugh and keep you entertained for an hour or two.

Spectre

So last night, my friend text me saying she was coming to pick me up and we were going to watch Spectre, with it seeming like I had no choice in the matter, I went and I’m glad I did. I must admit, although it is an unpopular opinion, I’m someone who isn’t that bothered by the James Bond films, they’re not something I would choose to watch, I’d only really watch them if they’re on so I haven’t seen many and was sceptical about seeing Spectre as I wasn’t expecting it to be my cup of tea. However I was pleasantly surprised. As I saw this film a day after its release date and with it being so immensely popular, the cinema was packed with excited James Bond fans.

Anyway, Spectre is directed by Sam Mendes and is the twenty-forth Bond film. And as every Bond film is, Spectre is jam packed with shoot out, explosions, romance, fast cars, helicopters and everything else that is expected of a good James Bond film. And as ever the opening sequence including the new Bond song, Writing on the Wall by Sam Smith, was even better than I was expecting, it was so elegant and mysterious. The opening sequence included a topless James Bond, Daniel Craig, being touched by lots of attractive women because of course that what every Bond film opening needs. However I’m not a big fan of a half naked Daniel Craig. Although the film was incredible, so action packed and thrilling with lots of little plot twist throughout. I mean whats not to love with huge explosions and crazy car chases and everyone secretly loves it when James Bond saves the day against all odds and ends up in love with a beautiful woman who at first hates him.

Bond fan or not, you should definitely watch this film. Although I have heard people say it isn’t as good as Skyfall, I think it is still incredible and definitely worth a watch, it’s so creative and far fetched that you just have to see it.

Common

Common is a television programme that is presented as a film, directed by David Blair and was shown on the 26th of May 2014 on BBC 1. However I recently watched Common on Netflix. The film starts with a young lad, sat in his car clearly waiting for something and the next thing you know a group of 3 lads run towards the car, get in it and shout for the boy to start driving, driving fast because they need to get away. As the boy starts driving, during the car journey, it becomes apparent that something had happened in the pizza place, one of the 3 lads had stabbed someone and run and was now unaware of whether the boy he had stabbed would survive or not. The next morning, the news of a fatal murder in the pizza shop is reported on the local news. So the hound lad driving the car decides to try and persuade his ‘friend’ who is guilty of the murder to go to the police and confess but ends up getting threatened and told not to say anything by the young murderer. Eventually the truth is told and all the boy involved, the driver and the group of 3 lads are put on trial for joint enterprise murder and after the person who committed the murder pleads guilty, the other three are left with the difficult decision of whether to plead guilty to intended GBH and serve a maximum of 6 years or risk serving life but through taking the risk, they could end up with no charges at all.

Common is quite a short film where not much seems to happen, there is he main story line of the murder and nothing else really happens but I suppose this stops it from getting complicated and doesn’t allow for the film to diverge from the message it has about whether life for joint enterprise murder should be allowed to be give as a punishment. Joint enterprise is where under the doctrine of joint enterprise, a person may be found guilty for another person’s crime. Simple association or accidental presence during a crime is insufficient for a charge under joint enterprise. A suspect must knowingly assist or encourage the crime and agree to act together with the primary offender for a common purpose. For example, the driver of a getaway vehicle can be charged with robbery under joint enterprise even if an accomplice actually perpetrated the crime. So therefore joint enterprise murder is where everyone involved with the murder is prosecuted for murder even though only one person commited the actual murder, like only one person stabbed someone but everyone involved in the planning is sententced to life imprisionment for murder.

I think that this film successfully showcases the effects of and issues with joint enterprise murder, as I was unaware of what joint enterprise murder even was before watching this film and now I know and can make my own conclusions about the drawbacks and benefits of it.

Common is a British film that contains a few famous British actors that play their characters very well. The acting is very effective as you really feel for an empathise with the characters in the film. Which give you a more emotional attachment with what is happening and make you consider what it would be like to be in the position of the family of the boys and the boys themselves and what you would do.

This Is England

Over the past two and a half media lessons we have watched This Is England. This Is England is directed by Shane Meadows. The film is set in 1983 and was released in 2006. The film is followed by 3 series that are each set 2 years apart and show the character progression. This is England showcases the many racial difficulties at the time and realistically shows what it was like, for some people, to grow up in the 80s. The film follows the life’s of a group of ‘skin heads’ living in a town in the Midlands. The leader of the gang is called Woody, who sees a young lad called Shaun walking home from school upset and from this Woody decides to adopt him into the group. As the group adapts to having Shaun as a new member and start to like him and accept him, they are disturbed by an old friend of Woody’s called Combo, who returns from prison to surprise Woody. Combo tries to rekindle his friendship with Woody but with them having so much time apart it becomes apparent that they have both changed. However Combo has changed to become very patriotic and ‘proud’ to be British and through this he is a very racist character which upsets the only black member of the group, Milky, and along with upsetting Milky, Combo also upsets a lot of other members in the group creating a group divide. This divide eventually causes a lot of pain and upset and leads to Combo brutally attacking Milky. 

I enjoyed watching This is England and feel it successfully handled the racial issues of the early 80s and provokes the realisation of how much things have changed since then. The storyline to This is England did well with playing with the audiences emotions and made you really empathise with the characters. Since watching This is England in class, I have started watching the following TV series Shane Meadows has made and hope they are just as good as the film. 

God Help the Girl

Recently, I decided to watch God Help the Girl on Netflix. The film is directed by Stuart Murdoch and is described as an ‘indie musical’. The film is rated over 4 stars on Netflix, which is quite a high rating compared to most other films on Netflix, so this is what seemed to persuade me to watch it. However personally I found this film to be just a little too confusing, it seems to be one of those dramas that trys too hard to be all deep and meaningful, where the director try’s to make the film all artsy and creative. Similar to that of Frank, another British drama, directed by Lenny Abrahamson, which I feel also tries to be too deep with hidden meaning but instead I find it ends up falling quite flat.

Anyway God Help the Girl is about the band Belle & Sebastian and the director, Stuart Murdoch was the ‘mastermind’ behind the band. A girl called Eve, played by Emily Browning, starts writing songs that she then sings throughout the film, alone and as part of the band. She writes the songs as a way of sorting through and dealing with some of the emotional and mental problems she is facing. She then meets and boy and girl called James and Cassie, Olly Alexander and Hannah Murray, they are both musicians and alongside Eve, together they form a band.

Olly Alexander and Hannah Murray also play characters called Jakob and Cassie in the popular TV series Skins. Skins is a TV series I throughly enjoyed and found that both Olly and Hannah’s characters were played very well but the characters they play in God Help the Girl are practically the same as their characters in Skins but I feel as though it doesn’t work as well in God Help the Girl. They are sort of unexplainably quite odd in the film which adds to the confusion and the ‘artsy-ness’.

I could understand why people enjoy this film and how it successfully portrays the formation and career of Belle & Sebastian but it’s just not really my cup of tea. Personally I found the best bit in the whole film was when Eve wore a ‘The Smiths’ t-shirt because The Smiths are simply incredible. I feel as though Stuart Murdoch should probably stick to making music rather than making films.

Legend

On Saturday, I went to the ODEON in Lincoln with a friend to see Legend. I was very impressed with the film, I had heard good things about it from friends and relatives who have seen it but it was still much better then I was expecting. If you have not yet seen this film I advise that you do.

Legend is directed by Brian Helgeland. It is about Ronald (Ronnie) and Reginald (Reggie) Kray, otherwise known as the Kray Twins. They are a set of twins who practically ‘own’ London’s Eastend, they are at the very top of their own gangster world, everybody knows who they are and nobody wants to be in trouble with them. Tom Hardy plays both Ronnie and Reggie Kray, which is actually really effective! Ronnie Kray is a schizophrenic with many other mental health issues which are portrayed perfectly throughout the film. Not only is the film very serious and thrilling but at the same time there is a very comical aspect, the Krays are so confident within their gangster circle that their encounters with rival gangs or businesses they’re working with are actually quite funny because their confidence makes these encounters a lot less serious. Legend is a lot less violent than I was expecting, which is what makes it better I think because it doesn’t have to be packed with blood and gore to be a good gangster film.

Brian Helgeland shows the deterioration of Frances, Reggie Kray’s wife’s mental health very well as her relationship with someone who is so strongly involved with the gangster culture progressively gets worse and eventually leads to domestic violence which leads to Frances commiting suicide to escape Reggie Kray. This is also what lead to The Kray’s finally being put behind bars because the guilt of what Reggie ‘did’ to Frances became too much for him and sent him crazy at the mention of her name.

If you have not yet seen Legend I strongly recommend that you do! I’m not usually a big fan of gangster films but I found the lives of the Kray Twins very interesting and the film was just great to watch whether you’re interested in the Kray’s or not.

Short Term 12

Short Term 12 directed by Destin Daniel Cretton is a film that I had never heard of until I came across it while looking through Netflix for something to watch, but I am so glad I did find it because I really enjoyed it.

Short Term 12 is about a foster-care facility for at risk teenagers. Not only do the kids at the care home have troubled pasts, most of the staff do too. Which of course helps them to understand and help the children in their care but can also causing a few problems too because they get too involved. One member of staff in particular, Grace (Brie Larson), makes it her own personal mission to help a girl that is new to the home. The girl continuously runs away from the home and has a history of hurting herself. Grace feels more of a connection to the girl as she has experienced similar things and so she starts digging to find the root of the girls unhappiness and Grace tries to save her from drowning in whatever’s going on. 

The film is quite dark and reflects on issues most children in care have to deal with, it helps people who have never had to experience such things to understand how it must feel, which creates a lot of empathy for the characters. It also makes you realise how much care workers have to go through and how difficult it must be. Destin Daniel Cretton has created a great storyline and I advise that everyone watches this, but don’t forget your tissues because its bound to make you cry.