Movie Review: Thor: The Dark World

picture property of Marvel Entertainment.

I seriously love the Marvel movies, they're so awesome and it makes me wish I read the comics but I've no idea where to start! The Avengers is probably my favourite but I do have a soft spot for Thor, so I seriously could not wait for the sequel to be released.

The movie is mostly set in Asgard this time, which gives the entire movie a much more LOTR/fantasy feeling. The costumes are uh-mazing, the detail in them is astounding. They really did well on giving the costumes a fantasy feel, but they still appear up to date with Asgard's advanced technology and thinking.

The story itself was pretty interesting but I felt it took quite awhile to take off. Supreme Loki fangirls may be disapointed that he actually isn't in the movie as much as the promos will make you think. If it helps though, he truly makes the movie with the few scenes that he has! Personally, I would consider Thor to be one of the main Marvel movies that uses comedy throughout and they continued this theme with The Dark World. The movie itself actually has quite a dark plot and sad moments, so I'm glad they added a lot of comedic moments, mainly coming from Darcy (Kat Dennings) and of course Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

A lot of the reviews that I've read have been complaining about Natalie Portman's character, Jane Foster, and I must say that I agree. I really felt that the story would have gone on just fine without her to be honest. The character isn't well developed at all and honestly she just seems a bit mopey just hanging around, waiting for Thor.

All in all, I really liked it. Iron Man 3 still tops my list but Thor: The Dark World isn't too low. It slightly lags during it because it seems to take forever for the proper story to begin, but it really is a worthwhile addition to the Marvel family.

Have you seen Thor: The Dark World? tell me what you thought about it in the comments!

Amy x

American Horror Story Coven: Episode 2 "Boy Parts" Thoughts

Urgh honestly I can't get enough of this show.

This weeks episode of AHS was fast paced and filled with action from the start until the end. I actually got a shock when the credits started because the episode seemed to go so fast. A lot of story lines got properly kickstarted this week and I can't wait to see how they unfold.

First of all Misty Day is alive, and awesome. She lives in a swamp shack and has a Stevie Nicks obsession. Kyle has also been brought back to life after a disturbing necromancy spell performed by Madison and Zoe. They found him literally in pieces in a morgue. As some form of creepy gift in return for killing her rapist, Madison decides to build Zoe the perfect boyfriend, starting with Kyle's severed head.Kyle comes back as a Frankenstein type monster, and apparently episodes to come will show him adjusting to this (in the next episode he apparently says his first word!).

It turns out that Cordelia has a husband, who knows that she is a witch. They're having trouble conceiving so they perform this really elaborate/creepy fertility spell that involves eggs, snakes and sex, t'is a bit strange to say the least. Apparently fertility spells are dark magic, and even though Ryan Murphy has denied the possibility of another Antichrist baby, it'll still be interesting to see what consequences will come from this.

It is also revealed that the reason Delphine is still alive is because Marie LaVeau cursed her with eternal life, and while she was at it, she treated herself and her Minotaur boyfriend to it as well. Marie now owns a hairsalon called "Cornrow City" (words can't comprehend how much I love this name). Fiona wants to try force Marie to give her eternal life, which leads to a total bitchy witch stand off in the end.

This series is so interesting so far, I can't wait for the next episode to be honest. I'm mostly excited to see how the love story between Kyle and Zoe will unfold!

American Horror Story Coven: Episode 1 "Bitchcraft" Thoughts

So after quite a wait, the beauty that is American Horror Story has finally arrived back to our televisions (or in my case, laptop). I understand I'm sort of late with this post but better late than never! I've been a dedicated AHS fan since the first series, but I will admit I was slightly apprehensive about the idea of a coven based story line. I'm incredibly interested in  the pagan religions such as Wicca, and I was nervous that this series would literally rip apart everything meaningful and good about these religions, and reduce them to nothing more than a few cheap scares. Thankfully it's so far so good, and the witches in the series don't appear to be based off of modern day witches, but are rather more inspired by Carrie and Hocus Pocus (and Teeth from the sounds of things).

First things first, I feel I should probably express how happy I am that there's so many "Murder House" actors in this season. We still have Jessica Lange (goddess), Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe and Frances Conroy (all season one actors, but they were also in season two, but actors that didn't come back for the second season are now back for season three! Taissa Farmiga, Jamie Brewer, Denis O'Hare and Alex Breckenridge have all returned (well Alex hasn't yet but you know). Jamie Brewer was so awesome in Murder House so honestly I'm super happy she's in it again. Kathy Bates and Emma Roberts have also joined the cast and so far is actually fitting in well (I seem to be constantly underestimating her).

This time, the story is set in New Orleans, at a school specifically designed for young witches. The school is a shadow of its former self. It's only students being Madison, the bitchy movie star who is a telekinetic, Zoe who from what I can tell has a poisoned vagina (don't ask), Queenie the human voodoo doll, and Nan, the clairvoyant. The girls are under the watchful eye of Cordelia Fox, and her mother Fiona, who is the Grand Supreme (aka baddass). The story alternates between the past and present. In true AHS fashion, they have brought in a historical element in the character of Delphine LaLaurie, who actually existed! She was a socialite who brutally tortured and murdered her slaves. The torture scenes are pretty brutal to be honest. By adding in the characteristic of being obsessed with staying young, they tie her character in with the events of the present, especially with Fiona (Jessica Lange) who is also obsessed with aging.

There appears to be HUGE feminist themes in this series. Namely because of the fact there is a very strong female cast. Already in episode one, AHS addresses a horrible event that many women experience, being raped. Emma Roberts' character Madison is gang raped after being drugged at a college party. I reckon that the rest of the series will explore the aftermath of such an event. The main themes also seem to be about women being strong and being empowered.

A big new feature to the series is a narrator (Taissa Farmiga's character Zoe). A lot of people are praising this feature because it makes the story line much more linear and less confusing. The first episode established a clear story line that looks as if it'll be very interesting in future episodes. Evan Peter's character has already been killed off so it'll be very interesting to see how they reintroduce him, since he's in the titular credits (necromancy maybe?). Also the character of Misty Day (Lily Rabe) seems very interesting. She seemingly burns to death at the start of the episode but Lily Rabe is also part of the main cast, so I don't think we're finished with her yet.

All in all, my thoughts on this series so far are hopeful. I'm unsure as of yet if it'll be my favourite (I'm still a die-hard Murder House fan) but the story line seems really awesome, and the characters are interesting. Hopefully it won't disappoint.

Netflix Favourites

I am at the stage in my teenage years, where I will freely accept that Netflix is one of my best friends, seriously. I know this isn't something that most people would like to admit (because that would mean admitting to a lack of social life which is true) but Netflix provides something that real people cannot, which is awesome television shows and movies. I figured I'd mention a few of my favourite television shows on it at this current moment in time.

Breaking Bad

Trust me, hop on the bandwagon, it's fun up there. I'm only at the start of season two and I can already understand the hype. Once you get over the fact that Walter White is Hal from Malcolm In The Middle and start taking the actor seriously, you'll realize it's a truly awesome show with a really unique set of characters (amazing acting skills as well)

Skins

If you're a teenager and you haven't watched Skins then you are doing it wrong, so wrong. It's pretty realistic representation of your late teenage years once you look past the fact that they go out partying every night, and swallow pills like it's really no big deal (parties in Skins make house parties look way better than they are in real life). The characters are amazing though and you will grow extremely attached to them and will hate the start of every new generation, until you become attached to those characters as well. This show is an undisputed classic to be honest and every teenager should watch it.

Orange Is The New Black

This show is honestly just so good. I completely binged my way through it. Honestly the main character Piper is a bit dull and irritating, but the rest of the characters are so well fleshed out, and you can't help but feel sympathy for them. Not all too sure if it accurately depicts how a woman's prison is like but who cares when it's entertaining. It also has not one, but TWO American Pie actors (Jason Biggs and Natasha Lyonne), bonus points to the fact that Jason Biggs makes reference to events in American Pie.

Fresh Meat

I've yet to go to university but this seems like a pretty realistic representation of what it's like. It's funny and Jack Whitehall stars in it and he sort of makes the entire show. It also has Slaggy Lindsay from Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, and Simon from the Inbetweeners but honestly their characters annoy me so let's not talk about them.

The Inbetweeners

Obviously the UK version. Just brilliant to be honest once you understand the type of humour the British churn out and enjoy it. These guys are just so hopeless you just wish that it'll eventually work out for them to be honest.

Beauty Review: Essence "Nail Art Peel Off Base Coat

I bought the new "Peel Off Base Coat" by Essence last week. Mainly because it was half price but I was also intrigued. I hate using nail varnish remover, I always seem to spill it, I can never get all the varnish off, and you can't seem to be able to put your fingers anywhere near your mouth for hours afterwards, unless you feel like tasting the most disgusting taste ever. I tried and tested it during the week, and I figured a review is in order.

So the base coat is obviously applied before your normal nail varnish. It's recommended that you leave it to dry for about ten minutes, and it dries clear. I applied number 147 of Essence's "Colour & Go" collection on top.

I applied the base coat and nail varnish on Tuesday night, and I got bored during school on Friday and picked it off. By Friday I was experiencing some chipping on the tips of my nails, but honestly that could have been because of the nail varnish. Essence's "Colour & Go" nail varnishes are only 1.99 euro so obviously the quality isn't meant to be brilliant. I figure though, that since the base coat is meant to make your nail varnish peel off quite easily, you could experience some chipping issues.

The nail varnish required a good bit of picking to get off, it definitely doesn't peel off in one go like it appears to say it does on the packaging. The nail varnish basically flaked off bit by bit, and I doubt it did the surface of my nails many favours.

All in all, the product is cheap, so that's definitely a bonus, but I don't reckon it's all too good for your nails. One of the only things I know involving nails is that your shouldn't pick your varnish off. I would say something if the product made the varnish peel off easily and in one go, but it doesn't so I don't think it's very good for your nails.

edit: I actually used this product a few more times and after applying the product more thickly, I find it comes off quite easily when you peel it off, so it works a lot better than I thought it did originally!

Review: We're The Millers

So I went to see "We're The Millers" yesterday and figured a review was in order. It's about a middle aged drug dealer (played by Jason Sudeikis) who's forced to smuggled marijuana into the US from Mexico. He decides that the best way to go about this is to have his neighbour, who is a stripper (Jennifer Aniston), a runaway teenager girl (Emma Roberts), and a weird guy who lives in his building (Will Poulter) pose as his wife and kids, and pretend that they're simply going on holiday to Mexico.

The simplest way I reckon to describe this movie, would be to basically say it's the exact same as that movie "R.V" that Robin Williams did a few years ago (actually good movie, just saying), with just a lot more drugs, and sexual references, and the jokes are cruder.

I personally like crude humor, it's just the type of comedy I find funny, and everybody in the cinema with me seemed to find it pretty funny too. It was the first movie I've ever seen in the cinema where people laughed so much. That saying, it isn't for everyone, like seriously maybe don't bring your grandmother.

I feel the actors did a pretty good job at making the characters come to life. Emma Roberts even managed to seem convincing as an angst ridden teenage girl. Jennifer Aniston was great as Rose, but the best actor had to be Will Poulter. He was perfect as the weird guy Kenny, who has never kissed a girl. Most of the movie's funny moments came from this guy and he pulled off the character perfectly, right down to the eyebrows.

The movie was 110 minutes in total, and one of the bad points I'll give it is it did slightly drag on, and then I feel that it was wrapped up a little too fast. It got slightly soppy towards the end and I can't really cope with soppiness so that was a bit of a bad point.

Also another bad point would be that the characters aren't very well fleshed out. You never find out things like why did Rose Miller become a stripper (in the movie it's made clear she hates it) or why Casey Miller ran away from home and was living on the street. Some of these topics get brought up throughout the movie but the subject is quickly changed by the character in question who gets angry and upset about it, which makes you think there'll eventually be a big confession scene that never comes.

"We're The Millers" is good, it's not amazing or anything, but it's not supposed to be. It's not supposed to break grounds in film making, it's just supposed to be funny, and it's very funny just as long as you like the type of humor that is portrayed. I'd give it four out of five stars because it did what it was supposed to do, make me laugh, and I thought the story was pretty original, even though it was slightly unrealistic and I would have liked to know more about the characters.

Imagine Dragons 22nd August 2013

So last night, I went to see Imagine Dragons at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. It was actually such an awesome concert. I first heard about Imagine Dragons last January, after their song "Radioactive" was put on the trailer for "The Host". The first concert date (which was the one I went to) was released around April, it sold out really quickly but around that time they still weren't extremely popular here in Ireland. Fast forward a few months and their songs are being played constantly, and a second date (for the 20th of August) was released due to high demand. Lots of people were fairly jealous of the fact that me and my friend Susan were going.

First of all the venue (the Olympia Theatre) was great. It's located on Dame Street in Dublin and there was a lot of activity on the street so queuing wasn't too boring compared to places like the O2 which is pretty far out and isolated. It was super small which added a personal and intimate setting to the gig. The atmosphere was brilliant and most people there were around my age and didn't seem bitchy like some concert goers can be.

 The support act was a Dutch band called Soul Sister Dance Revolution , I was a bit apprehensive about them beforehand because the only song I had heard from them seemed a bit slow and sad, but after their set last night I was instantly a fan. Don't let the name fool you, they play alternative/indie rock (my favorite) and were really fun and energetic. Their keyboard/tambourine player was absolutely mental, he practically jumped around the stage during the entire set! I love when I leave a concert a fan of the support act and I would highly recommend checking them out.

 

Imagine Dragons were epic to be honest! Their set was unlike anything I had seen before. Along with the drummer's kit towards the back of the stage, there was also a load of separate drums dotted around the stage (along with the big drum from the "Radioactive" video), throughout the concert, the band members would just start running around randomly beating along to the music. It looked exhausting but it made the concert really energetic and more interesting than what it would have been like if they just stood there (not that I would have minded). It was such a fun concert. During "Underdog" they released these giant balloons in to the crowd, and when they popped confetti came out! The band just looked so happy and amazed that they were there to be honest, the last time they had played in Dublin was for a leavers ball at one of the colleges!

Honestly I would totally recommend seeing them if they ever come to a place near you.They are a brilliant live band. They left Ireland today to go straight over to England for Reading/Leeds Fest and I really envy anyone getting to see them there!

The pictures were taken by my friend Susan :')

Beauty Review: LUSH "Ocean Salt" Scrub

I'm such a sucker for anything to do with the ocean, and this is no exception. I don't suffer from dry skin but obviously exfoliating is still sort of important, I think.

This stuff is actually quite strong, even if you suffer from the Sahara Desert of dry skin, you still wouldn't need to use it everyday. It contains really coarse sea salt, I only use it about twice a week at the most, and it does a really good job at also unblocking pores.

It's filled with all the good natural stuff (sea salt, avocado butter and limes). I've seen a few comments about people disliking the smell. It is quite strong but I like it. I think it depends on how much you like the smell of both the ocean, and various citrus fruits, because that's basically what it smells like. 

It's used just like any other scrub, wet your face, and spread the product around in circular motions. Then, just rinse it off using water. I would heavily recommend using a moisturizer afterwards, simply because this product is so strong.It's not just for your face, it can be used on the rest of your body as well which makes it quite multi-functional. The 120g pot cost about 8.50 in euros. I feel with LUSH it's worth it, since you know that you're buying a natural product that's homemade and not tested on animals, but that's just how I feel.

All and all I love this product. I'm reminded of the beach whenever I use it, and it does a really good job at unblocking any pores that I have.

Beauty Review: LUSH "9 To 5" Cleansing Lotion

So I thought the best way to review these products would be together, since you know, they're typically used together, at least by me anyway, "Ocean Salt" will be reviewed in a follow up post in the next few days.

I adore LUSH products, the stores always smell amazing and everyone is always so friendly in there. I suffer from acne, and even when I'm not technically going through a break out, my skin is still never one hundred percent perfect. Therefore I'm usually searching for good, decent skincare products. I bought "Ocean Salt" and "9 To 5" on a whim around the end of June, start of July, and have used them pretty much everyday since.

"9 To 5" Cleansing Lotion

I might as well start with the product I use the most (my bottle looks a bit battered because it's been on holiday with me). 

For someone who suffers from such bad skin, I'm still very lazy when it comes to actually applying the products I buy. The less work I have to do, the happier I am, (which is why Clinique's 3 step regime never worked out too well, couldn't cope with doing that twice a day). "9 to 5" is super quick an easy to use. It's literally designed for people who don't want to dedicate too much time to washing their face. You simply apply it to your face and neck, and then wipe it off with a damp cotton pad (the saleslady in the LUSH store said not to use a washcloth as they hold too much bacteria). 

A little goes a long way, and after using it twice a day, for well over a month, I can clarify that it definitely lasts long as I've still got half the bottle left, and it's quite a small bottle. I feel that this makes it worth the money in this sense, since I paid 5.80 in euros for the 95g bottle (also available in 240g).

Literally the only way to describe the smell of this is "clean", which has to be good right? It's made with orchid and almond extract, and is scented with honeysuckle and ylang ylang. My skin always feels refreshed after using it.

It claims to remove all traces of dirt and make-up from your face. That may be the one thing I'm unsure it does exactly. It does a good enough job of getting all the foundation I wear off, but sometimes when I wipe my face with my toner my cotton pad gets covered in little streaks of make-up (I could just not be wiping the cleanser off properly though.

All in all, it's still a very good cleanser, that leaves you feeling clean and refreshed and doesn't take too much effort to use. I would highly recommend it for anyone that's lazy, like me.