Dead Man Down Review

Review: Dead Man Down

By Ashley Matthew

            Dead Man Down, released on March 8th, 2013 is a thriller film. The film stars Terrence Howard, Dominic Cooper, Noomi Rapace, Colin Farrell and Former WWE Superstar Wade Barrett. Dead Man Down is rated R and tells the story of two people seeking revenge on those who wronged them.

            The film starts off showing a crime boss named Alphonse Hoyt (Terrence Howard) discovering one of his crew members has been killed, leaving him with a mysterious note. As Alphonse struggles to discover the mystery of who is killing his crew and why they are doing this to him, he has no idea how close the person doing this to him really is. Meanwhile, one of his crew members, Victor (Colin Farrell) begins a friendship with his neighbor, Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) who later asks for Victor’s help. When he refuses to help her, she blackmails him with a video showing him murdering someone in his home. He then agrees to help her seek revenge on a man who disfigured her face in a car accident.

            Later in the film, Alphonse starts to catch on to the mystery of who is seeking revenge on him as other crew members of his continue to perish. Meanwhile, Beatrice and Victor’s relationship grows closer when Victor opens up to Beatrice about his past. After Victor keeps his promise to Beatrice to help her seek revenge, Victor must face another trial when one of Alphonse’s crew members, Darcy (Dominic Cooper) discovers who is seeking revenge on Alphonse, leading to a showdown. The film ends with Victor and Beatrice starting a new life together.

            While this film has interesting plot twists that keep viewers guessing as to what will happen next, the plot tends to run a bit slow at times. The acting was well-done for the most part. However, the chemistry between the characters of Victor and Beatrice sometimes came off awkward and unbelievable. Former WWE Superstar Wade Barrett does have some lines in the film and is featured more prominently than what is briefly shown of him in the trailer. However, some of the trailer scenes of the other cast members were not included in the actual film. 

Sending Your Stress Away: Simple Ways To Help You De-Stress

Sending Your Stress Away: Simple Ways To Help You De-Stress!

Stress…We have all experienced it at one point in our lives. It keeps us awake at night, can cause us to lose our appetite, bring forth illnesses, make us become emotional and many other things. While we cannot always prevent stress, we can help control it by focusing on things in our lives to help us de-stress such as hobbies or activities. Here are a few ideas on simple things you can do to make your life a little more stress-free.

The first activity you can try to help you de-stress is coloring. Coloring in a coloring book often brings back memories from our childhood, when we had less problems to worry about. Coloring can be therapeutic and can also help us focus on our inner creativity. If you don’t wish to go out to the store and buy a coloring book, you can always do a Google search for coloring pages and print them out. You can even see if they might have coloring pages of you favorite cartoon characters from your childhood, whether that be The Flintstones, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rainbow Brite etc.

Another activity that may bring back childhood memories and help you to de-stress is watching cartoons from your childhood. Many people say that nobody is ever too old for a Disney movie so whether it’s Cinderella, Pocahontas, A Goofy Movie etc., pop in that DVD of your favorite Disney film growing up, sit back, enjoy a favorite snack and relax.

Not in a Disney mood? That’s fine! There are many non-Disney animated films out there that are just as enjoyable including Anastasia, The Princess And The Goblin, The Swan Princess etc.

Want to relax in a quieter way? You could always take a nice, warm soak in the tub. While many of us can’t afford that fancy spa trip or luxurious hot tub, sometimes a bubble bath in our own bathtub at home is just the thing we need to melt our worries away.

Sometimes to de-stress, we need to dance or sing it out. Music is a great stress reliever so pop in that favorite CD or look up your favorite songs on YouTube and sing it out while dancing your stresses away.

Another activity you can do to de-stress that is creative and therapeutic is writing. Whether that be writing in a diary, blogging, writing a story or even some poetry, you are getting creative energy out and also can write out your stresses and frustrations in imaginative ways. If you do go about writing a story or poem, you can even look into getting it published if you like how your written work of art turns out.

Another relaxing activity you can do to de-stress is reading. Reading can open the mind to learning all sorts of new things, keep you updated on current events and help you think, in a more philosophical matter. So open up that newspaper or favorite magazine and enjoy a few articles.

 Rather read a book? There are many great books out there to choose from, whether fiction or non-fiction. You can even head to your local library and relive some childhood memories by checking out some old books you remember reading from your childhood, whether that’s the Harry Potter series, Chronicles Of Narnia series, Babysitters Club series etc.

Yoga is also a relaxing actvity you can take part it. Not only is it stress-relieving, it also is a good activity to keep you body fit and healthy. You don't even need to take a trip to a yoga studio to do it. You can try yoga from the comfort of your own home by popping in a yoga DVD from the library or watching some YouTube videos.

They say laughter is the best medicine. In this case, it's true as things that make us laugh can get our minds off the stressful things in life. So pop in a DVD of a comedy movie like Kingdom Come, Norbit or First Sunday etc. or watch an episode from one of your favorite comedy sitcoms like Hot In Cleveland, 2 Broke Girls, I Love Lucy etc. and get ready to laugh your stresses away.

Saving Mr. Banks Review

Movie Review: Saving Mr. Banks

For many Disney fans, they remember the childhood memory of growing up and watching the popular Disney film, “Mary Poppins”, which starred Julie Andrews. Now, the story behind Mary Poppins is being told through Disney, in the film, “Saving Mr. Banks” but what makes this film even more unique is actor Tom Hanks, portraying the man behind the Disney magic, Walt Disney.

The story focuses on Disney working on negotiations for a film portrayal of Mary Poppins after promising his children that he would. This task is not as simple as it seems when the author of Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers, played by Emma Thompson, is very protective of her work and having rules regarding the production of the film, which includes it not being a musical, not starring Dick Van Dyke, no use of the color red; no made-up words and no animation. We later see the inspiration behind how Mary Poppins came to be, particularly the character of Mr. Banks as we see flashbacks of Travers’s childhood (where she went by her real name Helen Lyndon Goff and her close relationship with her father. Travers’s childhood was not as practically perfect like her character of Poppins, as her father, played by Colin Farrell was ill and drinking excessively to relieve the pain while her mother suffered some sort of depression, leading her to try and commit suicide.

Seeing Travers’s childhood is interesting because it is a complete difference to who her character is as an adult. While Disney still seems to have his inner child, Travers seems to have lost hers. She is more pessimistic and serious as an adult whereas as a child, she was innocent, carefree and a very imaginative dreamer, until tragedy happens when she loses her father. We still see glimpses of her inner child desperately trying to come out as she works on the film production of Mary Poppins, eventually agreeing to musical songs. However, when Disney tries to add in animated penguins, Travers claims the contract has been breached, causing the film adaptation of Mary Poppins to be temporarily put on hold.

Disney eventually heads to London to discuss the matter with Travers, revealing that he understands that Travers is so protective of her story because the character of Mr.Banks is based on her father. Disney promises that everything will be ok with the film and asks Travers to trust him. This scene is a pivotal moment in the film because Travers learns that despite his childlike faith, Disney’s childhood was not perfect either, as he was abused and that there wasn’t a day that went by where he didn’t think about it.

The score for this film is very moving and complements the scenes very well. The costumes are very decade-appropriate and the plot and character development is well-done, especially with the friendship that develops between Travers and her chauffer. The film brings emotion to many scenes, especially during the last scene between Travers and her father, along with the scene where Travers gets emotional while at the premiere of the film.

There is an exceptional cast along with Thompson, Farrell and Hanks, which includes Kathy Baker, Melanie Paxson, Ruth Wilson; Bradley Whitford, Jason Schwartzman and Ronan Vibert. The only issue is the film is a little inaccurate as it depicts that Travers appreciates the changes made to the film, when in reality, she did not approve of the changes and refused to do any more movie adaptations of the Mary Poppins series ever again. To conclude though, Disney brought this film to life with its emotional story of Travers’s life and work with Disney for Mary Poppins, one of the most beloved literary characters of all time.

August: Osage County Review

Movie Review- August: Osage County

“August: Osage County”, based on the play by Tracy Letts, focuses on a very sarcastic and drug-addicted woman named Violet Weston, played by Meryl Streep, who is suffering from mouth cancer. When her family comes to their home, secrets emerge and tragedy strikes. While this film has its humorous moments, due to Violet’s sharp-tongued wit, the film also has its dramatic moments, showing that this film has much darker tones than the humorous looking trailers depicted.

While the family begins to reunite, Violet’s alcoholic husband, Beverly Weston suddenly disappears. He is later found dead, having committed suicide via drowning. During all of this, Violet criticizes her family for various things, including sniping at her daughter, Ivy Weston for her choice in dress and lack of romantic life and ridiculing her 14-year-old vegetarian granddaughter, Jean for her extreme beliefs regarding eating meat. After Beverly’s funeral, more family drama ensues regarding the revelation of incest, secret affairs and an attempt at child molestation within the family. In the end, the broken family leaves Violet alone with her Native American caretaker, after Violet drives her family away, revealing her husband’s death could have been prevented due to her knowledge of where he was the night before his passing but blaming her daughter, Barbara Fordham, played by Julia Roberts, for Beverly’s suicide, causing Barbara to be the last family member to leave her mother, after realizing her mother cannot be helped.

The film consists of a great cast which includes not only Roberts and Streep but also Ewan McGregor, Abigail Breslin, Chris Cooper; Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepard and Benedict Cumberbatch. The character development and plot is deep and filled with many dramatic plot twists that help the audience relate and connect to the characters on a more emotional level, especially Violet and Beverly, who the audience can sympathize with to an extent. To conclude, the film comes off as a comedy towards the beginning but eventually escalates into a drama that anyone who has ever dealt with a broken family or any major family problems can relate to.

Gravity Movie Review

Movie Review: Gravity

“Gravity” was highly praised as a cinematic magnificence, receiving many Oscars this year but the film was a bit of a letdown that just dragged on. Its plot was too predictable, the script fell flat with its cheesy, overdramatic and even at times, vague dialogue and the character development was a bit lifeless and unrealistic at times. While its visual effects were its best feature, the creators of “Gravity” knew that wouldn’t suffice in drawing big ratings, having to rely on big Hollywood star names like Sandra Bullock and George Clooney to bring in ticket sales.

The film focuses on a female astronaut named Ryan Stone, played by Sandra Bullock, on her first mission in outer space. She, along with her team, which includes astronaut Matt Kowalski, played by George Clooney soon encounter chaos when debris hits their space shuttle, killing mostly everyone which if you ask me happened too soon into the film. They could have built that climatic moment up more, even by adding some background into the characters preparing for the mission, choosing to show that this is Stone’s first mission, rather than just have her mention it right away .

After the tragedy, Stone and Kowalski are the two remaining characters but even with the focus being on the two of them, the character development and script still fall short. Both before and after Kowalski sacrifices his life, Stone panics about everything, to the point where it is too over the top. Granted, it is her first mission in space but when your partner is telling you to stay calm in order to survive, you better be listening to them and shutting up but Stone does not, continuing to panic and give up on everything, to the point where her character becomes so annoying that you just want to slap her and tell her to shut up, even though it’s doubtful she would even listen and cooperate then either.

As for further character development, there isn’t much in the film. The only thing we learn about Stone is that she was a mother but her child died after taking a bad fall at her school. Of course, all of this is told to us through a poorly written script and we never see any flashbacks of Stone with her daughter, making Stone’s character seem even less realistic and believable when she is talking about how much she misses and loves her daughter. Perhaps, there could have been a stronger connection between Stone’s character and the audience if they had developed the character more through scenes showing memories of her with her daughter, instead of only scenes of Stone panicking and floating around in outer space the whole time. Eventually, Stone makes it back to Earth, which is no shocker since they made it overly predictable through the script that she was going to make it back the entire time.

To conclude, “Gravity” may have received major points for its visual effects but the film was highly overrated and never kept my interest from the very beginning.

ON Amino Energy Review

ON Amino Energy Review

                I have tried three out of five flavors. The five flavors consist of Watermelon, Fruit Fusion, Orange Cooler, Blue Raspberry and Grape. I have tried Orange Cooler, Grape and Fruit Fusion. The three flavors were drinkable but I found the Orange Cooler and Grape to be a little better tasting whereas the Fruit Fusion tasted a little powdery, even after mixing it up well. Also, drinking down the Fruit Fusion one too fast would make me feel nauseous sometimes.

 I would only use one scoop although they recommend two scoops. Just one scoop kept me energized for eight hours.  Other pros with this is that unlike Red Bull, soda pops or coffee, it has only 10 calories and never made me crash.  It does take about 15 to 20 minutes to fully kick in for me but I do start feeling a little more energetic 10 minutes after consuming it. I do not drink soda pop or coffee so really the only caffeine I ever get is from this so it does make me feel a little hyper at times, which is to be expected from a person who doesn’t normally intake caffeine.

However, my mother, who regularly drinks coffee and soda pop, did not feel jittery from it. The nice thing about this is that the caffeine from this product comes from green tea and green coffee which again, is a healthier alternative than getting caffeine from coffee or soda pop. I also feel jittery from it as I don’t drink it every day and only use when I need an energy perk, from either having to stay up late to do work or if my insomnia acts up and causes me to not get any sleep the night before. Another benefit from this product is I found that it put me in a better mood.

 It recommends not drinking this after 5 and normally I follow that rule if you have trouble sleeping, only drinking this after 5 once, due to the fact that I knew I was going to have to stay up later than usual, just to give me some extra energy that night to finish up work. I definitely recommend this for college students, as they tend to rely on soda pops like Pepsi and Mountain Dew, coffee, sports drinks like Gatorade or energy drinks like Red Bull and 5 Hour Energy to make it through, only to crash. This is a much healthier alternative. It may cost more but it is definitely worth it, especially when you’re getting something that has a larger serving size so you don’t have to constantly keep buying a product over and over, meaning this product will last you longer, in regards to uses. I will state that as a con, however, is that every time I have bought the product, it would only be half full, once even less than half full, something that for what you are paying for, should be filled almost nearly to the top instead.

I do plan on trying all the flavors eventually. However, I have been having trouble finding the Blue Raspberry flavor in stores. I have yet to see it there yet and have only managed to find it online.

PLEASE NOTE: This is just how it affected me. Different products affect people in multiple ways so it may not have the same effect on you as it did me.  Also, while they recommend this product for workouts, I have yet to use it for that purpose so I don’t know how it will affect me or any other person, when using it for that.

Ion Color Solutions Cool Blonde Shampoo Review

Ion Color Solutions Cool Blonde Shampoo Review

                Pros:

·         Lightens my hair

·         Takes away the dullness, making my hair seem more shiny and vibrant

·         Makes my hair look healthier

·         Allows me to do more with my hair, whereas before I could only do so much with my hair to make it look decent

·         Less bad hair days

·         Less tangles, found my hair easier to brush after showering and lost less hair from brushing it

·         Makes my highlights last longer which means I don’t have to highlight my roots as much anymore, which used to be a few times a year.

·         Smells good

·         Less expensive than other brands and just as effective (Definitely less expensive than Clairol Shimmer Lights)

·         Easy to lather

·         Left my hair soft after brushing

Cons:

·         Burns my eyes

·         A little drying but not nearly as bad as regular shampoos I have used in the past.

PLEASE NOTE: This review is just based on my experience with the product. It could affect others differently, depending on your hair type and how much you use it every week. I used it twice a week, per the suggestions I received of using purple shampoo only 1-2 times a week. Additionally, I do not know what will happen if you use too much or leave it in too long as I avoid that. From what I have been informed, you should never leave in purple shampoo for no longer than five minutes, so I am unaware of how it will change your hair color or affect your hair if you do not follow that simple rule. Also, I am unaware of how the product works with the conditioner as I have only tried the shampoo, opting to use regular conditioner with it instead, occasionally (Herbal Essences Honey I’m Strong/ Herbal Essences Hello Hydration). Also, I have only used conditioner with this product a few times as I only condition my hair once a week, due to it being so thin.