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.

Tomb Raider Vs. Bioshock Infinite

Best Plot Winner:

I personally felt like Bioshock Infinite’s storyline was much stronger and had more twists to the plot that were unexpected whereas the Tomb Raider game had a storyline that fell a little flat of expectations and didn’t keep up my interest. Bioshock Infinite kept me guessing at what was going to happen next whereas Tomb Raider's plot seemed as predictable as previous Tomb Raider games. However, I do feel that Bioshock Infinite may have had a better plot due to postponing the release of the game to work on it more. Perhaps, if Tomb Raider had done the same, the plot could have been improved.

Best Character Development Winner:

I feel like the character development for both games was strong. In Bioshock Infinite, we see Elizabeth, a sheltered young girl dreaming of adventure grow into a strong woman after witnessing what the world is like. We see her innocence become a little darker as she discovers the real world outside of her tower. We also see Booker Dewitt’s character grow as we discover more about his mysterious past. As for Tomb Raider, we see a young Lara Croft transform from a vulnerable yet ambitious girl desiring adventure into a strong, powerful and confident woman, after being thrown into a dangerous situation where she must fight in order to survive.

Best Graphics Winner:

The graphics for both games were equally outstanding. The graphics in Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite looked very realistic and I absolutely loved the scenery of Columbia in Bioshock Infinite, due to its time period.

Best Voice Acting Winner:

I feel like Bioshock Infinite had much better voice acting. The voice actors made the plot and characters more believable and helped develop both factors. With Tomb Raider, I had expected Lara to sound more insecure and vulnerable starting out on her first adventure but did not get that with the voice actor playing the role of Lara, Camilla Luddington. I think that Camilla Luddington is a talented actress and enjoyed her film, William & Kate, but with this role, I feel like Luddington did not bring enough emotion to the role of Lara Croft.

Best Fighting Winner:

Despite having limited weapon choices, I think the fighting aspect was more successful in Tomb Raider than Bioshock Infinite. I loved that Lara Croft fought with a bow and arrow. I think it was a good choice for the creators to do that, considering how popular archery is at the moment, due to more recent films like Disney’s Brave and The Hunger Games.

Best  Acquired Weapons Winner:

I feel like Bioshock Infinite provided more when it came to weapon options. However, it is understandable why Tomb Raider was more limited with weapon options due to the storyline and setting of the game.

Best Soundtrack/Score Winner:

I think that the music for both games was amazing. I loved the soundtrack for Bioshock Infinite and how it had a variety of different music and I loved how the intensity of the Tomb Raider soundtrack provided the sense that the player of the game really was Lara Croft on an adventure.

Best Game Overall Winner:

Overall, I think Bioshock Infinite was the more successful game. I honestly expected to favor Tomb Raider more than Bioshock Infinite but Tomb Raider fell through a little bit for me as the game didn’t live up to my expectations. Overall, I think both games had its strengths and were both interesting but if I was to choose the Game of the Year between these two games, Bioshock Infinite would gain my vote.

Which WWE Divas Could Benefit From Being On Total Divas Season 2

While no future seasons have been officially confirmed, Total Divas, WWE's newest Diva reality show on E!, is a huge success so far. As of now, it stars seven current WWE Divas, Natalya, Naomi, Cameron, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, JoJo Offerman and Eva Marie. However, if the WWE and E! both mutually decide to bring the show back for a second season, I personally think they should bring in seven different Divas, instead of the current cast, just so other Divas can have the opportunity to shine and draw more media attention, both in and out of the ring. Listed below are seven Divas who I think could benefit from being on the second season of Total Divas, should there ever be a second season, of course.

Tamina Snuka-

Tamina Snuka would be an excellent choice for Total Divas as she is sadly underused in WWE. With the opportunity to be on Total Divas, we could see more of her personality shine through which could hopefully and eventually give her the push she deserves in WWE. We could also find out more about why WWE rarely uses her. Is it because she is a single mother who perhaps can't often be on the road or is there a whole different reason? Also, since she is a single mother to two daughters, it would be interesting to see that side of her life featured more as some fans will be able to relate to her if they are single parents who work hard.

Summer Rae-

Summer Rae would be a fabulous choice for Total Divas since she already shines as Fandango's dancer, basically to the point where she outshines him. This would be a great opportunity for us to see Summer as more than just a dancer and get more of her NXT work featured on the show. It would also be a good way of setting her up for her singles career away from Fandango on the main roster, when the time comes for Fandango and Summer Rae to eventually part ways.

Paige-

Paige would be a nice choice to add to the Total Divas lineup because of how unique she is from other Divas. She is the first NXT Women's Champion and that alone is worthy of making her featured on the show. It would be intriguing to see her on Total Divas as it would be a perfect way to show her preparing for her eventual main roster debut and even set her up to the point where she does finally make her debut on either Raw or Smackdown.

Sasha Banks-

The reason I chose Sasha Banks is because of her personality. I think it would be interesting to see more of a down to earth girl on the show. With her love for Pokemon, Sailor Moon and other popular things that are anime related, fans who are interested in those things would be able to relate to her easily.

Bayley-

 The reason I selected Bayley is because fans have been mentioning how the young NXT Diva is struggling to find a gimmick that works for her, without being too awkward. With the chance to be on Total Divas, maybe she or WWE can find that perfect gimmick for her, by being able to see better what her real personality is like outside of the ring.

Charlotte-

Charlotte would be a good choice because she does come from wrestling royalty, through her father, Ric Flair. We've already seen a brief moment of her training with Natalya from the first episode of Total Divas Season 1, which did truly show how athletic she really is. WWE has been praising her athletic ability for at least a year now. Perhaps putting her on Total Divas would be a great way to show how she is mentored by her father when it comes to her wrestling ability as well as put her in the perfect spot to build up her eventual debut on the main roster.

Rosa Mendes-

Finally, Rosa Mendes would be a great choice because fans will be able to see how hard she really works. With her new MuscleMania venture that she started earlier this year, Total Divas would be another great way for her to show how dedicated she is to becoming healthier and more fit, as well as helping her encourage WWE fans to stay healthy also. It would also be the perfect opportunity for her to get the push she deserves and to even have her appear on the main roster again, as she has not been seen on televised WWE shows since taking time off for personal reasons during this year's WWE European tour, despite having already traveled on the road with WWE again since then.

Future Total Diva Cast Honorable Mentions:

1. Layla El

2. AJ Lee

3. Emma

4. Kaitlyn

5. Brittany Fetkin

6. CJ Perry

7. Erika Hammond

8. Kendall Skye

9. Lilian Garcia

10. Sarah Backman

11. Lexi Kaufman

12. Christina Vargas