My Selfish Dead Heart

(I am in the middle of my long Christmas holiday and I'm just bored, so I decided to post another story. I've had this story for a long time. Hope you like it!)

                 Once upon a time, in a cold and grim city, there lived a young lady named Olivia. Olivia was breathtakingly beautiful. She was incredibly canny as well. But the one feature that was always associated with Olivia was that she always got what she wanted.

                “She always gets what she wants. Always,” her proud mother said. “But sometimes she becomes a little… aggressive in the process. Only a little,” she continued with a giggle.

People around Olivia did not really know how they felt about her. They admired her but were scared of her at the same time. They tried to avoid her as much as they could, leaving her with almost no friend at all. Almost, because she still had one friend: Joseph.

The calm boy met the avid girl when they both were very young and somehow found a way to keep up with her. Olivia loved how mysteriously silent Joseph was; her curiosity about him was insatiable. On the other hand, Joseph saw Olivia’s burning ambitions as something unique. He told her that he had never met any girl like her before. Years after their first meeting, they realized that they loved each other and decided to get married.

                Joseph’s and Olivia’s families were very busy preparing their wedding. They did everything that was necessary: inviting everyone they knew, ordering the best cooks to prepare the meals, designing a magnificent dress for the bride, and all other wedding stuff. The wedding would have been a perfect one if the horrifying thing had not happened two nights before the wedding day.

It was nearly midnight, and Olivia had to walk home alone. While she was rushing through the dark streets, two drunken men ambushed her.

“Where are you going, beautiful?” shouted one of the men while the other one was trying to hold Olivia’s arms. Olivia tried to push them away, but they started laughing. The man who was holding her tightened his grip and the other man ripped Olivia’s clothes. Olivia shrieked and cried desperately, so one of the men took a rock from the street and hit her head with it to silence her. The pain from the blow was the last thing she felt.

                Olivia turned into a ghost and flew to Joseph’s house. She found the man that she loved sitting on his own bed; his face looked vacuous.

“He must have found out about me,” Olivia thought. “Oh, my love, you must be devastated.”

She tried to reach Joseph’s shoulder with her hand, but she could not touch him. She tried again with both of her hands, but they were like smoke to Joseph’s solid flesh. Olivia was furious.

“Even though I can no longer touch your skin,” she swore in her rage, “I am not leaving you, my love. I am not letting you go.”

Olivia really did what she swore. She kept haunting Joseph wherever he went, not letting him forget about her. She made him see her shadow when he either closed or opened his eyes. She made him hear her voice when it was completely silent. She came to his darkest and most awful nightmares. She kept him mourning about her death. She tortured him.

                One day, the mournful Joseph went out drinking with his best friend, John. “You need to get your life back, my friend,” said John. “Let’s have some drink and forget your sorrow!”

The two men went to a pub that was owned by John’s friend, Gordon. While Gordon and John were chatting and drinking, Joseph’s eyes were locked to a girl behind the bar: Violet.

Violet was Gordon’s younger sister. Her hair was long and dark while her eyes were big and grey, reminded Joseph of his Olivia. However, unlike Olivia, who had fire burning in her eyes all the time, this girl had fragile beauty that longed for protection and tenderness. Joseph was stunned by Violet’s unusual beauty. For the first time since Olivia’s death, Joseph was able to forget his painful loss.

                As the two became closer and closer, love began to grow inside their young hearts. His new love allowed Joseph to forget his anguish and continue his life. “You are the cure for the bleeding wound in my heart,” said Joseph before he leaned to kiss Violet’s lips softly.

From a dark corner, Olivia saw Joseph and Violet’s first kiss. She was furious. However, she was not the only one who was unhappy about Joseph and Violet. John was also pissed to see the girl whom he had secretly loved and his best friend together.

                Olivia could smell John’s hatred and flew to the man’s house. She went to his ear and whispered a devilish suggestion.

“Kill him,” she whispered cruelly. “The girl is yours, but he steals her from you. He has betrayed you! You have the right to do it! Kill him!”

The resentful John could not use his mind to think clearly at that time. He took his gun and rushed to Joseph’s house. He knocked the door and, as soon as Joseph opened it for him, killed his best friend with a single shot.

Violet, who was also there in Joseph’s house, was down on her knees and cried next to Joseph’s dead body.

“How could you do this?” she asked John hysterically. “He was your best friend!”

John did not say anything for a moment. He stared at his hand and the gun it was holding. He fell on his knees and started crying. With tears pouring from his eyes, John took his gun again and shot his own head with it.

                Joseph turned into a ghost and was enthusiastically welcomed by Olivia. Knowing what Olivia had done, Joseph acted coldly towards her.

“You said you loved me,” said Joseph, “but now look at what you have done! This is not love. You do not love me. You are selfish!”

Olivia was startled to hear what Joseph said. She felt very irritated and was very angry at Joseph. While Olivia was still burned by her exasperation, Joseph flew away to find Violet.

                Joseph found Violet kneeling next to his grave. She was holding a bouquet in silence, but Joseph could see tears falling from her bright eyes. Even though he knew that Violet would not be able to actually hear his words, he approached her and went to her ear.

“I love you,” he whispered, “and even if you stop crying for me, I will always know that you feel the same.”

Violet sobbed and trembled, and then put the bouquet on the grave. After a long gaze to the tombstone, she stood up and slowly walked away.

Anna and the Alien

Anna has got her heart broken before. A few times, actually. The plot of her love stories is always the same one. She meets a guy. She lets her guards down. She falls in love with the guy, slowly but usually really, really hard. She lets the guy keep her hanging for so long. And then it ends. Just like that, before it even starts. And then, of course, her heart is broken.

            

When it happens, it feels like there is a baby alien in her chest, ready to tear her skin and burst, like in the movie Alien. She doesn’t know what the alien is made of. Anger? Hatred? Sadness? Disappointment? Regret? Sometimes the alien moves away from her chest to her eyes. It usually changes its form into teardrops and frees itself from a cage that is Anna’s body through her eyes. The latter one is easier for the alien; it’s usually hard for Anna to hold her tears.

            

Anna hates feeling heartbroken. She shouldn’t be worried because she knows exactly what she has to do to avoid it: don’t fall in love.

           

But can she do that? Hell, no.

           

It had been a year since the last time Anna saw Ray, the last guy. She had accepted the fact that she couldn’t be with him, that he didn’t feel the same way, that she was only a friend for him, that she was never his girlfriend anyway, that he wasn’t the right one for her, blah blah blah… The baby alien had come out. She had moved on. She had convinced herself that it was better for her to be on her own. She had promised to herself that she wouldn’t let herself fall in love again and that she would focus on other precious things in her life.

            

But then she met Jay.

            

When she first met him, she foolishly thought that things would be different with him. He created butterflies and let them fly around in her stomach. He whispered lovely words and sweet promises to her ears. He held her hands and made her feel safe and serene. He embraced her when she was cold and made her feel warm. Oh, this must be true love, she thought.

            

Four months later, the baby alien returned. Just like in the Alien movies.

Sometimes Anna wonders why this keeps happening. Why does that crazy little thing people call love keep coming to her and breaking her heart?  She doesn’t even want it to come to her; she doesn’t even look for it. She is perfectly fine being single and all she wants is to be happy. “Why?” she always asks the walls of her room, but no one has ever answered.

(I was just in the mood to write a story and happen to have something to write about, so I made this unusual blog post haha. It feels really good to turn your thoughts and feelings into a piece of writing! Hope you enjoy it!)

My Spoiler-Free Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

Yesterday, December 18th 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was finally released in my country. Before, it was set to be released on the 16th here, which made me make plans to see it on the 17th, my last day of work before the Christmas holiday. It would be perfect to celebrate the beginning of the much-anticipated holiday by watching this movie with your loved ones, right? My brain was so ready to see it on the 17th too. So, when it was announced that it would be released on the 18th, I was SO MAD. Well, I just had to wait for one more day, but still... It's a typical fangirl problem.

So, I watched it alone yesterday because my usual date could not watch it with me due the sudden change and the fact that he is so busy. It was actually good to see it alone. I could focus on the movie and go on the crazy fangirl mode freely haha.

How is the movie? It is AWESOME. Here is a list of things that I love about the movie:

1. They keep the traditional Star Wars things. It felt really amazing to see the writing "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" showed up at the beginning. And then the title and a short explanation of the current situation came up in the famous Star Wars style with the classic theme song as the background music. Man, I almost cried seeing them. The famous quotes like "May the Force be with you" and "I have a bad feeling about this" are kept too, which strenghtens the Star Wars feel of this movie. 

2. The new heroine, Rey. Two thumbs up for Daisy Ridley for bringing this character to life. She is just so lovable and relatable. She has a heart that is pure, kind and brave but lonely and scarred. She reminds me of young Luke, actually. The fact that she is a girl and the main character in the movie makes me really proud. The previous trilogies are led by male protagonists but this time we have a female protagonist, which is really cool. I hope this character will develop and become even better in the upcoming films.   

3. Another new character, Finn. He's just so funny and sweet. And lovable too, just like Rey. I'm still curious about his background, though. I have a feeling he is related to someone from the previous films haha. Well, I hope we will get to know more about his past in the next movies. 

4. The Darth Vader of the new generation, Kylo Ren. If Rey resembles young Luke, Kylo resembles young Anakin Skywalker. Like Anakin, Kylo seems to be very... conflicted. He certainly finds it difficult to control his anger, just like Anakin. I like this villain because, you know, I love complex characters haha. Kylo is involved in two insanely shocking scenes in the movie that made my jaw drop. Prepare yourself for those scenes!

5. The original trio. Luke, Leia and Han don't have much screen time in The Force Awakens. We all love those three characters but I think it's good to make them the supporting characters. The fact that they don't dominate this movie is kind of surprising but it makes the story more natural. These characters blend with the new characters and support the story when it is needed. I like this.

6. The flying scenes. The Millenium Falcon, the X-Wing... Oh, the flying and shooting scenes are cool and fun and so Star Wars.

7. The lightsaber fight scenes. They are not as classy as the lightsaber fight scenes in the prequel trilogy; they are more... rough here. But I think this goes well with the story. The ones who fight with the lightsabers in The Force Awakens are not trained Jedi Knights while the ones in the prequels are trained Jedi Knights in their glorious days. So, it makes sense if their fighting style is more rough. However, I hope we will be able to see the prequels' sophisticated kind of lightsaber fights in the future films. The prequels might not have remarkable storylines but their fight scenes are really, really cool.

8. The famous supporting characters from the original trilogy. Chewbacca! R2-D2! C-3PO! Seeing these characters again after all this time made me smile. I really wish we could also see other characters from the past films like Master Yoda, Obi-wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Mace Windu and, of course, Darth Vader. But I don't think it's going to happen *sigh*.

So, overall, the movie is amazing. As a fan, I'm genuinely satisfied and happy about it. Thank you, JJ Abrams and his crew, for bringing back our beloved saga in a classy way!

Rating  : 5/5

What I Got from My Last Outings

Since I graduated from university, I haven't been spending much time with my college friends. It's just so hard for us to meet because we all work in different places and have different schedules now. This is sad because we used to spend a lot of time together and have so much fun. I miss those days when I got to see my friends every day, attend classes with them, eat with them, complain about the tasks that the lecturers gave us together... I miss my college friends so much.

But, I got the chance to see some of my best friends over the last few weeks. Two weeks ago I went to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 with my fangirling partner, Lia, and my super busy PE teacher friend (hahaha). Last week, I met my mentoring group members (I used to be a mentor for junior students when I was still a student). And yesterday I had an early Christmas lunch with my former co-workers, most of whom are my college friends too. Seeing them makes me really happy and I hope we all can do that more often.

My blog post is not complete if it does not include book and movie stuff haha. So, yeah, I am still going to review something here. As I said before, I saw The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 two weeks ago. I didn't just see it in the cinema, actually; I saw it with 499 other people who are diehard fans of the Hunger Games saga from the saga's fan community. It was really fun because everyone was so excited and passionate about the movie (they screamed a lot during the viewing event). We got some cool Hunger Games merchandises too.

Katniss and her star squad in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

For the movie itself, I think it's a good one. My favorite from the saga is still the second movie, Catching Fire, but Mockingjay Part 2 is still a great conclusion to the saga. My favorite thing about the movie is probably the acting. I don't know why I didn't realize this before, but Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of Katniss is really good. She truly transforms herself into the character. When I saw the movie, I didn't see Jennifer at all because I only saw Katniss. I am always fascinated by actors who are able to do that. I think Josh Hutcherson does a great job too. Just seeing him and his traumatized expression makes me sad. My favorite character dies (in a horrible death scene that involves mutants with sharp teeth) in the movie, so I'm so broken-hearted haha.

When I was waiting for my mentoring friends to come last week, I strolled around a bookstore and found a novel that I had wanted to read. The novel is Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl. Rainbow's other novel, Eleanor & Park, is one of my favorite books (read my review of it here). It is simply beautiful, easy to read and, like Park says in the book, really makes you feel something. So, I hope Fangirl is just as awesome as Eleanor & Park. I'm pretty sure I will be able to relate to the story because even the title is so... me haha.

Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl

That's all from me today. I'm sure it will take some time until I can write my review of Fangirl, but I'm definitely going to review it. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is coming to theaters in less than two weeks and I can assure you that I'm gonna watch and review it as soon as it is released. I hope I can see the movie on the first day because I just can't wait any longer haha.

Have a wonderful year-end holiday! :)

Thoughts on The Light Between Oceans and Spectre

After a long, long time, I finally managed to finish reading The Light Between Oceans! Actually, I finished reading the book a few weeks ago, but it has been really hard for me to find the time to write about it. I go out a lot during the weekends now. and when I don't, I am usually too lazy or too tired to write haha. But now I miss writing, so I will write my thoughts on that book and the movie that I saw recently, Spectre. Oh, there might be spoilers ahead, so watch out haha.

THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS BY M.L. STEDMAN

In this book, there are three lives that get intertwined. Those are the lives of Tom Sherbourne, a war hero who signs up as a lighthouse keeper after he comes back from the war; Isabel Graysmark, Tom's young wife who longs for a child but keeps losing the chance to have one; and Hannah Roennfeldt, a woman whose life falls apart after she loses her husband and baby.

After losing their third baby, Tom and Isabel find a boat that carries a baby girl floating in the sea near the island where they live in isolation. Even though Tom is hesitant in doing it, they decide to keep the baby because Isabel thinks the baby is a gift from God after all the pain that they have been through. Little do they know, their decision will heavily impact someone else's life and their own future.

This story is such a beautiful one. I really love the words that the author choose to tell the story. The story is actually quite dark because it explores how death and loss can affect people, but somehow the words give the sense of purity and innocence to it. This gives me a mixed feeling. The beauty of the diction makes me admire the story, but what happens in the story itself makes my heart hurt. So, yeah, this book gives me all the feels.

Another thing from the book that touches my heart is the moral message. The message of this story is very common, very true, but often forgotten by people: let it go. We often forget that sometimes we should not enforce things, that we should just let go of them. We often forget this, like Isabel, who cannot accept the fact that she has lost her babies and insists in keeping a baby that is not hers. Like Hannah, who cannot accept the fact that her daughter has changed and can never be the one that she used to be. Things just get worse when they cannot let those things go, but when they are finally able to do it, the tangled problems just disentangle themselves. I like how this message is delivered in this book.

Rating : 4/5

SPECTRE

Spectre is the twenty-fourth Bond movie and Daniel Craig's fourth Bond movie. This time, it features Oscar winner Christoph Waltz, who plays the main villain, Lea Seydoux and Monica Bellucci as the Bond girls. Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw join Daniel Craig in reprising their roles as M, Moneypenny and Q.

Ben Whishaw and Daniel Craig as Q and Bond

Even though Dame Judi Dench's M died in Skyfall, she is still the one who sends Bond for a mission in this movie. It turns out that she recorded a video for Bond before she died, which tells him to kill a man and attend the man's funeral. This funeral leads Bond to a secret organization, which surprisingly connects him with some enemies from his past.

Actually, I am not a fan of Bond movies, but I really enjoyed the previous Bond movie, Skyfall. So, I had quite high expectation for Spectre. After finally seeing it, I must say that I am quite disappointed. The story is not engaging at all. And I was really tired and cold when I was watching the movie, which makes it even harder for me to follow the story haha.

The acting element is not impressive either. Not bad, just not impressive. This is quite surprising because the actors who are involved in this movie are great, talented actors. I still love watching Ben Whishaw's Q here, though. I love how he represents young people in Bond movies. And he has more screen time here, which makes me happy haha.

Rating : 2,5/5

Movie Reviews: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials & The Martian

It's getting harder to find time to do my hobbies these days.

I still haven't finished reading The Light Between Oceans. I haven't been watching the second season of How to Get Away with Murder. I haven't been posting my writings here... My weekdays are just sooo exhausting because there are sooo many things to do at school. The terrible traffic in Jakarta makes it even worse; it takes hours for me to reach my office from my house and vice versa. At the end of every day, I'm always super exhausted. I just have no strength to do anything. Thankfully, I manage to keep my weekends free from work-related thingy, so I can have some time to rest and do my hobbies, like today.

Today I want to write about the two movies that I saw recently: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and The Martian. Here are my thoughts on those two films.

MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS

This movie is adapted from James Dashner's novel, The Scorch Trials (read my review of it here) and the sequel to last year's The Maze Runner. As I wrote in my review of the book, the one thing that I don't like about it is how Thomas seems to obey WICKED. Luckily, the director of the movie adaptation, Wes Ball, seems to agree with me. He alters one part of the story (SPOILER ALERT! Thomas and his friends escape from the WICKED facility and go out to The Scorch instead of going to The Scorch because Janson tells them to do so) in the movie, which changes everything. This change keeps the burning spirit to reach freedom there. I like this a lot.

Top: Minho (Kihong Lee), Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) & Newt (Thomas Sangster)
Bottom: Harriet (Nathalie Emmanuel), Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) & Brenda (Rosa Salazar)

Despite the major change that I mentioned above, there are sooo many differences between the book and the movie. Some fans might not like it, but I don't mind. To be honest, I like the story of the movie more haha. The action sequences are just as tense as the ones in the first movie. I think the Cranks chase scenes are the best ones; those scenes made me hold my breath for a long time! I love the settings too; they are grander than the ones in The Maze Runner. I miss The Glade, though. I just love the concept of The Glade haha. And I love the cast too, of course! Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scoelario, Thomas Sangster, Kihong Lee, Jacob Lofland, Rosa Salazar, Nathalie Emmanuel etc give such enjoyable performances.

Rating : 3,5/5

THE MARTIAN

The next movie is the one that I saw yesterday: The Martian. The movie is about a botanist named Mark Watney (Matt Damon) who is left alone in Mars because his crew thinks he is killed when an unexpected storm hits them during their expedition in the red planet. This movie is directed by Ridley Scott and full of great actors such as Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels etc.

The Martian is full of great actors, but Matt Damon is definitely the shining star in the movie

When I first read the synopsis of the film, I thought The Martian was going to be very emotional and full of dramatic death scenes like other astronaut movies, such as Interstellar and Armageddon. But it turns out that it is not like that at all. The Martian is surprisingly funny and enjoyable. Matt Damon's Watney is completely alone in Mars and has no one to talk to except his webcam, but he delivers so many hilarious monologues. I laughed a lot when I saw the movie yesterday.

Mark Watney is definitely the most interesting character in The Martian. I expected him to weep and get totally depressed in that planet because, dude, he is left alone in Mars! But he does not. Even when he first realizes that he is left alone in the red planet, he doesn't get panicked. Instead, he keeps thinking, uses his knowledge and solves the problems that come to him. I think this is a great approach and it makes The Martian different from other astronaut films. This also shows to us that the ones that matter are not the problems, but the way we choose to see and deal with them. Matt Damon definitely stands out in this movie. I love Jessica Chastain's and Kate Mara's characters too, though. Strong, brave and smart female characters always make me proud haha.

Rating : 4/5

The Girl on the Train and the Girls around Her

It's been a long time since my last blog post, eh? I started working again last month and my new job has kept me busy since then. I am a teacher assistant in a class of fifteen 5-year-old children now. My kids are all cute but working with them takes all of my energy and patience. Every day, the kids cry, fight, get sick, drop their food to the floor, refuse to follow the lesson, etc. Despite the classroom situation, I also have to face the fact that I am the new girl at the office. Not only the new girl, actually. I am also one of the youngest staff members and one of the few people who are single there. I didn't know that being new, young and single could be difficult, but it turns out that it is. So, things haven't been easy for me these days, but I think it's good to have something new and challenging. Hopefully all these will help me improve myself.

Because of my new job, I have to cut my reading time as well. I usually give myself 30 minutes to read every morning, before I start working. So, I am a super slow reader now. It took me forever to finish Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train. I started reading it right after I finished In the Woods and I just finished it two days ago.

Like In the Woods, a lot of people say that Train is similar to Gone Girl. After reading the book, I have to say that I disagree with that. I think it's more similar to How to Get Away with Murder. Anyways, Train is told from the perspectives of three women whose lives are connected to one another: Rachel, Megan and Anna. Rachel is the girl on the train. After losing her job and her husband, Rachel spends most of her time drinking and sitting on the train to hide the fact that she is jobless. From the train, she often sees her old house, which is now occupied by Anna, her ex-husband's new wife, and the house of the Hipwells. Rachel loves to watch Scott and Megan Hipwell, the young couple who live there, because they remind her of her happy days with her ex-husband, Tom. But one day, Megan goes missing. Rachel's drinking problem makes her unable to recall the memory of that night when Megan goes missing. But she knows that something has happened and she has to try to figure it out.

I love how the author shows the complexity of women through her female characters. The story lets us experience how it feels like to be a wife whose husband cheats with another woman; a woman who cheats with someone else's husband; a wife who betrays her husband; a woman with drinking problem; a bored housewife-mother; a mother who loses a child; a woman who can't have children; etc. This story lets us see that just because she cheats with someone's husband doesn't mean she can't have your sympathy. Just because she is happily married and has beautiful children doesn't mean she is happy. Just because she makes mistakes doesn't mean that she can be blamed for every wrong thing that happens around her. I think this is realistic because real women are complex. Real women have many sides and layers in their personalities. Real women can't be labeled as the bad ones just because they do one bad thing and vice versa.

The ending of this book doesn't really satisfy me. I don't feel like I get a closure with all the characters. After what happens to Megan is revealed and the bad guy is finished, the story just ends. I think it will be better if we get a glimpse of how the characters move on after the case ends, how it has changed them. Oh, the revelation is quite shocking because readers are unable to reveal it at the beginning due to the characters' personal feelings towards one particular character. A lot of authors like to do this these days, don't they?

So I think this book is okay. It's not, llike, very impressive, but it is enjoyable. The next book that I want to buy is entitled The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. I found the book in a bookstore and the synopsis at the back of it made me curious. It sounds like a story that will make me emotional. I've read too much murder-related thingy these days, so I think an emotional story will be good. Make sure you read my review of it!

Rating : 3

The Tangled Mysteries of Tana French's In the Woods

I've got a job offer! And it comes from a company that seems really great! I'm so grateful and happy and excited. No more job hunting madness! My mom says it's a blessing that is brought by the Holy Month of Ramadhan. Well, I think it's true.

Besides getting the job offer, I also finished reading Tana French's In the Woods  earlier this week. As I wrote in my previous post, In the Woods tells the story of a detective named Rob Ryan who has to investigate a murder that reminds him of his dark past. Twenty years before the murder of a little girl named Katy in Knocknaree, Rob's childhood friends mysteriously disappeared in the woods of the same little town. Rob, who was with the two missing children in the woods, was found with no memory of what happened to his friends. Strange, isn't it? Now, Rob must go back to Knocknaree to investigate the murder case, which is just as strange as the disappearance, and fight the trauma that is caused by the lost memories of the woods.

This book is included on almost every list of recommended books for Gone Girl fans that I've seen. Well, it does have some similarities with Gone Girl. Like Gone Girl, the point of view from which the story is told is very influential in In the Woods. This book also has a shocking revelation at the end, which is pretty similar to that crazy twist in Gone Girl (It didn't hit me hard as Gone Girl did, though. So I'm fine, thank you hahaha.). Besides Gone Girl, there are some parts of this story that remind me of Pretty Little Liars. I also have a theory about the unsolved mystery in this book that is inspired by an old movie starring Andrew Garfield called Boy A (which is about two children who murder their classmate without even knowing what they have done).

My favorite thing about this book is how it lets readers dive into the detectives' world. The author gives vivid, sometimes eerie, descriptions of the police procedures. They gave me an amazing detective experience. The most fascinating yet creepy part of the police procedures that are described by Miss French in this novel for me is the autopsy scene. She describes Katy's autopsy results through a character named Cooper and, man, the descriptions are so vivid! They created very clear images of the dead body in my head which gave me nausea. I could also feel the detectives' frustration about the case. They found so many dodgy things but they lead them to nowhere! That got me flipping the pages brutally because I was so desperate to know the truth. I got a little confused by the leads that are related to the government and the politicians, though. I'm just not good at those matters haha.

The one thing that surprised me more than the revelation of Katy's murderer is the fact that one of biggest mysteries of the story remains unsolved until the end. This just keeps me wondering, what's the purpose of putting the mystery in the story if it's not going to be solved? I assume that the purpose is to show the psychological aspects of Rob; to show how the trauma of losing his friends affects and ruins him. He seems like a solid character at the beginning, but when his judgement starts to get clouded by his trauma and feelings, he turns into a huge mess. Maybe that is the reason why detectives with emotional connection to a case must not be allowed to handle the case. Anyways, I think it would be very nice to know the truth about the unsolved mystery; it will give us, readers, the sense of closure.

This book also has some interesting characters. Rob is the main character and the narrator of the story. When I started reading the book, I liked and trusted him. In fact, I felt related to him. But, as the story goes on, he changes a lot. As I said before, he gets twisted by his trauma. Near the end of the story I just didn't  know who he was anymore. I still feel bad for him, though. Rob's partner, Cassie Maddox, is such a cool character. She is smart and sensitive and strong. I'm so excited to read the sequel of this book because it is told from Cassie's POV (it's about a different case, though). And yes, there is an Amy Dunne in this story, people! Prepare yourself for her! I think the psychopath in this story resembles not only Amy Dunne from Gone Girl, but also Alison DiLaurentis from Pretty Little Liars.

So, I think this book is a great one. It's recommended not only for fans of Gone Girl, but also fans of crime fiction, psychological thriller, and Pretty Little Liars.

Rating : 4/5

Little Stories about Detectives, Robots and Loss

Getting a job is so hard, isn't it?

Since I quit my old job, I have been job hunting like crazy. I have done many interviews, tests, teaching demos, etc. Sometimes this makes me feel exhausted, frustrated, desperate. I'm not giving up, though. But sometimes I just need to escape from all the job hunting madness. And my way of escaping is, you know, getting lost in the stories of films and books haha.

I ordered a book entitled In the Woods by Tana French earlier this week. It's about a detective who has to investigate a murder case that is similar to his traumatic experience in the past. Yup, I'm in the mood for crime fiction again haha. People say that this book is recommended for anyone who likes Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. Well, you know how I feel about that book (read my thoughts on Gone Girl here), so I decided to order In the Woods. The book is expected to arrive next week and I'm so excited to read it.

A few days before I ordered the book, I saw a movie called The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them. It's a drama about Connor (James McAvoy) and Eleanor (Jessica Chastain), who are perfect as a couple. However, a tragic loss that they experience changes everything. There are moments in this movie where I don't understand what is actually going on. But I think this is good because, I think, that's what would happen when you experience something traumatic like that. You feel confused, lost. Everything seems chaotic and messy. Those feelings are portrayed by Jessica Chastain in a beautifully heartbreaking way. I love James's performance too but I think he needs more screen time haha. My favorite scene involves these two actors and occurs near the end of the movie. The two talk about their memories about the person they've lost and their grief. It's just really sad and heartbreaking. Oh yeah, the amazing Viola Davis is in this movie too. She plays a supporting character here, but you just can't ignore her because she's just so cool.

Another movie that I saw recently is Ex Machina. This film is written and directed by Alex Garland, the one who wrote the scripts of Never Let Me Go and 28 Days Later. It is about a female AI (Artificial Intelligence) named Ava (Alicia Vikander) whose human characteristics are tested by her creator, Nathan (Oscar Isaac), using his employee, Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson). The movie is so tense! And quite scary too, I think. The music and the look of the movie play a huge part in making it tense. There is one piece of the music that sounds like the beat of a heart, which makes me anxious whenever it is played. Nathan's modern, sophisticated house and the huge trees that surround it somehow create coldness that makes me quiver.

There are only four actors in this movie: the three actors mentioned above and Sonoya Mizuno as Nathan's assistant, Kyoko. They all are fantastic in their roles. Alicia Vikander's Ava looks so innocent and sweet, which lets me understand why Caleb is so taken with her. But sometimes you can see something different when she demands answers from Caleb; something that makes me hold my breath. Oh, what she does at the end leaves me completely breathless because it's terrible but she still looks innocent. Domhnall Gleeson plays the naive Caleb successfully and makes me feel related to him. I still can't stop thinking about what happens to him at the end. Oscar Isaac plays his strange character so well. His performance truly deceives me and makes the revelation at the end so shocking. And that Kyoko girl! She doesn't even talk but she freaks me out whenever she appears, especially when she reveals her true self to Caleb in Nathan's room.

Despite all the greatness that I've mentioned, I think the most memorable part of the movie is the ending. It is just so shocking and eerie and thought-provoking. Ugh it's so hard to talk about it without giving spoilers haha. The ending gets me thinking, who is the villain in the story, actually? Do Ava's actions at the end make her the villain? Is it wrong for her to want to live freely? Should people keep trying to build AIs? Should we let the AIs look back on us the same way we look at fossils, like Nathan says? Can we, humans with the instinct for survival, let that happen? Are we afraid of AIs?

So that's all from me today. Wait for my review of In the Woods!

It's Not a Bird. It's Not a Plane. It's Not a Man. It's Supergirl!

A few months ago, it was announced that there would be a new tv series about Superman's cousin, Supegirl. They released some promotional pictures featuring its leading lady, Melissa Benoist, in the Supergirl costume as well. When I saw the pictures and the costume, I wasn't really sure about it. But then they dropped the extended trailer this morning, which got me really excited and jumpy.

I love what I see in the trailer very much! 

The way this series looks reminds me of The Flash a bit. Melissa Benoist who plays Supergirl does a monologue throughout the trailer, just like Grant Gustin, the actor who plays The Flash. She even starts the monologue with "My name is...", exactly like Grant's monologue for The Flash. Supergirl aka Kara Zor-El also looks as nerdy as Barry Allen when she's not doing the superhero thingy. I like nerdy superheroes, so I approve this (haha). And both series have former Glee stars as the leads! As you may know, Grant and Melissa used to play Sebastian and Marley in the musical series. We've seen Grant sing in one of the episodes of The Flash, so maybe we'll get to see Supergirl sing as well hahaha. Oh, Jeremy Jordan is in this series too! He is a Broadway actor (who also stars in the movie adaptation of The Last Five Years with Anna Kendrick) whose amazing singing voice never fails to make me melt. They should make a musical episode for this series hahaha.

In the trailer, we get to see Kara fight identity crisis, work in an office, face an intimidating boss, get underestimated, and go on the fangirl mode when she sees herself on television. I like this because it makes her look human. I think it would be easy for me to feel related to her. It's also really cool to see a girl stop a plane from falling with her superpower! Most of superhero films and tv shows today are centered on male heroes so I am happy to finally see a female superhero as the lead.

Our Supergirl, Melissa Benoist.

Supergirl is going to have its premiere in November 2015. The wait is going to kill me haha, but yeah, I'm definitely going to watch this series. Hopefully it would be as awesome as The Flash.

The Day I Went to See Avengers: Age of Ultron

I went to see Avengers: Age of Ultron with my sisters last weekend and we had so much fun. There was an Avengers exhibition at the mall where we could see the superheroes' properties, meet some models who wore the superhero costumes, buy Avengers merchandise and play some games. We took a lot of pictures with the properties. I also met Darth Vader that day! A newly opened store was having a promotional event which is related to Star Wars so they put models in some Star Wars costumes! It was a great day for a fangirl like me haha.

Anyways, I saw the hotly anticipated movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron that day. And here are my thoughts about it.

The movie meets every expectation that I had before I saw it. As expected, there is nothing special about the story. As expected, I still find it difficult to relate to the superhero characters. I don't know why but I always have this problem with the superhero films that are produced by Marvel Studios. I can perfectly relate to other Marvel characters whose movies are produced by other studios, like the mutants from X-Men and Spiderman, but not with these guys from Marvel Studios. 

As expected, my favorite thing from the movie is the Maximoff twins, played by Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. I like how they portray the brother-sister relationship of the twins in this film, especially how they protect each other. It's too bad that [SPOILER ALERT] one of them doesn't make it out alive. It's hard to imagine one of them without the other. The action sequences and the humor in this movie are really entertaining too. My favorite action/comedy scene is when Hulk's mind gets manipulated by Scarlet Witch. He turns into his angry mode and forces Iron Man to fight him. It's scary to see how destructive Hulk can be when he is manipulated but the way Iron Man deals with him is just hilarious. I am also happy to know more about Hawkeye's personal life and kind of fascinated by The Vision. The Vision is just so... graceful haha.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen as the Maximoff twins

So, I think Avengers: Age of Ultron is not a brilliant movie, it is really fun and entertaining. Go see it and have a good time!

And here are some of the pictures that we took at the mall haha. The mall is Gandaria City. I think the Avengers exhibition is still on until tomorrow but I don't know about the Star Wars cosplay. 

Cars, Explosions, Fights and Tears in Furious 7

I saw many interesting things last week. I saw Fifty Shades of Grey, but I don't like it so I won't review it because I don't like shaming movies on the internet. I also started watching Sherlock, which is really fun to watch. Last week's episode of The Flash with Mark Hamill aka Luke Skywalker as the guest star also amazed me. But the most memorable one is the movie that I saw on Sunday: Furious 7.

Actually, I'm not a fan of the Fast & Furious franchise. Well, I don't hate it but I'm not a diehard fan. But I was really excited to see this movie because I wanted to honor Paul Walker, one of the cast members who passed away in 2013, before the production of the movie finished. They pushed back the release date of the movie and altered the script in order to honor the actor, which makes the movie a little more emotional than the previous ones.

The movie is super loud. There are a lot of explosions in this one; I think it has more explosions than dialogues. The fight scenes are also dominating. The craziest fight scene for me is the one at the beginning, which involves Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and Shaw (Jason Statham). The sound of the punches is just crazy; it sounds really painful. Just hearing it makes me feel sore. Well, The Rock used to be a wrestler, right? No wonder. And the car scenes! The cars are thrown from a flying plane, from a skyscraper to another one, from a cliff... I shook my head a lot during those scenes haha. The action sequences are a little too crazy and hard to believe but I have to admit that they are pretty cool.

Despite the full-on action, the chemistry among the cast members also dominates the movie. I think this chemistry is the thing that makes this movie more special compared to other car movies, which usually lack of good chemistry and only focus on the action. These actors look like, just like Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) says, a big family. I could see it even when they are doing the action sequences. I like this because it makes me, as a part of the audience, feel related to the characters and adds humanity to the movie.

Lastly, I really like what they do with Paul Walker's character, Brian. I think it's smart to make his character "go to a different direction". It's a beautiful way to say goodbye to his character, and to the actor as well. When I think of Paul Walker, I will smile because I will always remember that he smiles during his final scene in this movie. 

Favorite quote: "No matter where you are in this world, whether it's a quarter mile away, or half way across the world, you'll always be with me, and you'll always be my brother." -Dom Toretto about Brian O'Conner.

Rating : 4/5

Living Many Lives in David Levithan's Every Day

A few years ago, I found a lovely mini series entitled The Beauty Inside on Youtube (click here to watch it). The mini series tells the story of a person whose body keeps changing every single day even though the soul inside stays the same. One day Alex, his name, might wake up as a big fat Caucasian guy and become an old Chinese lady on the next day. His anomaly isolates him from other people, until one day he falls in love with a girl. I truly love this mini series because the story is unique and sweet while it is also visually beautiful. Oh and the score is sooo lovely! The one thing about it that disappoints me is the fact that it is very short. I wish it was longer. I wish I could know more about the main characters, about living a strange life like that...

My wish came true when I found a book called Every Day by David Levithan.

My copy of Every Day

The concept of Levithan's novel is similar to The Beauty Inside. However, A, the main character in the book, travels around and inhabits other people's bodies. When A wakes up in someone else's body, A must get through one day as the person who owns the body, not as himself, and does the same when he wakes up in another body on the next day. Just like in The Beauty Inside, A also isolates himself from the outside world and keeps his existence a secret. But everything changes when A inhabits the body a sixteen-year-old boy named Justin and meets his girlfriend, Rhiannon. A falls in love with her and, for the first time in forever, lets his desire to connect with her take control.

I've never read a book like this before. Usually, a book lets me experience one or two lives. But Every Day lets me experience so many lives as I follow A's journey. With A, I get to experience how it feels like to be a jerk, a gay boy, a lesbian girl, a teenager who is biologically female but psychologically male, a girl who looks like Beyonce, a homeschooled boy, a mean girl, a drug-addict, a depressed girl who plans to kill herself, etc. It's just so amazing to see the same world in so many different ways like that. It makes me realize that everyone has their own stories, their own struggles. It makes me realize that it is really important for us to be kind to one another and to appreciate one another.

I love how Levithan describes the world from A's point of view. The descriptions of A's opinions about the things in the world are very rich and detailed. Sometimes the descriptions are too long, but I find them very romantic. One of the most interesting thoughts that A describes is his opinion about love and gender. When it comes to gender, A is both and neither (I keep using the pronoun "he" to describe A because, I don't know why, I keep imagining A as a boy). When it comes to love, A doesn't care about gender either. A sees people for who they really are, for what they have inside. So when A falls in love, A could fall in love with either a boy or a girl. Once A falls for a guy named Brennan, but then falls for Rhiannon. A loves their personalities, so it doesn't matter whether they are a boy or a girl. This concept is not easy to grasp but I find it really interesting. Maybe this is Levithan's way to remind us that love is universal, that love is blind and has no gender.

Sometimes I feel sad for A too because it must be very lonely for him to live like that. He doesn't have a place to go home to. He doesn't have a best friend who knows everything about him. He doesn't have a favorite pair of shoes. He doesn't have his own phone. He has nothing that he could hold for more than one day. He has nothing but himself. There are some parts where A longs to have a connection with something or someone in this world and has to stop himself because he can never have it. It's just really sad and heartbreaking; reminds me to always be grateful for everything that I have.

There are two moments in A's story that I don't really understand. The first one is when he falls so hard for  Rhiannon after knowing her for only a few hours. I just don't believe people could fall in love with someone that quickly, without knowing much about the person that they fall for. Well, I believe that people could leave great impression on the first meeting which leads to love but I think love takes time. I can see that Rhiannon feels the same way about this, but A doesn't, which I don't understand.

The second moment is the ending. I just don't get the ending. I'm so moved by what A does for Rhiannon at the end but the thing that he does to himself is just confusing. The ending doesn't give a sense of closure at all. I really like the ending of The Beauty Inside and I think it would be great if Every Day has a similar ending. It's not because the ending of The Beauty Inside is a happy ending, but because it gives a sense of closure. I really need a proper closure for this wonderful story.

Overall, Every Day by David Levithan is a great book. It might not end on a nice note, like Rhiannon says, but it gives you a wonderful experience of living countless lives that you will never be able to experience in real life.

Favorite quote : There will always be more questions. Every answer leads to more questions. The only way to survive is to let some of them go. (page 213)

Rating : 4/5 

Thoughts on Me Before You and Cinderella

After a few weeks, I finally finished reading Me Before You by Jojo Moyes earlier this week and, man, the ending left me speechless. The book is about a very ordinary woman named Louisa who has to work as a carer for a disabled man named Will. The two find an unexpected connection as Louisa learns that Will doesn't want to continue living because he just can't bear living with his illness. This story makes me question a lot of things. Is it acceptable if we want to end our lives because it is so unbearable? What do we do if someone we love wants to die like Will? Should we let them make their own choice and have what they want? Or should we try as hard as we can to keep them alive even though they don't want to live anymore? Which one is the right thing to do? To be honest, I still don't know the answers and can't stop thinking about this. What a thought-provoking story.

I also saw Cinderella in IMAX this week! One of my most anticipated movies of the year! As expected, the movie is soooo lovely!

The way Cinderella and her prince look at each other is just........

My favorite thing about this live-action version of the classic fairy tale is the relationship between Cinderella (Lily James) and the prince (Richard Madden and his beautiful blue eyes haha). I love that they don't meet for the first time at the ball and just fall in love like in the animated version. Instead, they meet before the ball and leave a great impression for each other, which then grows into love as they know more about each other. It seems more realistic. I also like the fact that Ella is fine with just remembering the prince as a beautiful memory. She loves the prince but she doesn't have to have him; just loving him is enough. I think it's very kind and selfless. And the chemistry between Lily and Richard is just really good. The way they look at each other makes me want to smile, squeal and swoon hahaha. There's also a little story about the prince and his father in this movie, which is not explored in the original animated movie. I love the father-son relationship; it's just so sweet.

The costumes are fantastic. I especially love Cinderella's blue dress. It's HUGE and so dreamy. I thought it was a CGI dress but I heard it's real. The dress looks so wonderful when Cinderella dances with the prince at the ball. Oh yeah, the dance scene done by Lily and Richard is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. They say the two actors had to prepare for about 2 months for that scene. Well, it's definitely worth it.

Quick Reviews of The Last Five Years & Mockingjay

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO THOSE WHO CELEBRATE!

But I myself don't celebrate Chinese New Year and only had one day-off in the middle of the week, so I had nothing to do yesterday. I didn't want to get bored to death, so I decided to start reading the e-book that my friend gave me (Me Before You by Jojo Moyes) and watch movies (The Last Five Years and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1). It will take time for me to finish the book and write a review of it, but I've finished watching the movies. So here are my thoughts about them.

THE LAST FIVE YEARS

This movie is included in my anticipated movies list for 2015 (See it here). I was very, very excited to see this movie, but after finally seeing it, I must admit that it is not as good as I expected. The story is actually very interesting. I think it's an honest portrayal of a failed relationship because it shows how the failure is not anyone's fault. It shows that, like I once said in one of my posts, people have different paths. People might cross paths but there will always be one point where they have to go to different directions. The separation might be painful but it's no one's fault; it's just how it is. I also like the concept of the storytelling (The female character, Cathy, tells it from her point of view backwards while the male character, Jamie, shows us the way he sees it chronologically). I think it's unique. And the two main actors, Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, are awesome. I really love their chemistry and their singing voices! 

But I find the movie as a whole quite... strange. Hmm it's hard to explain why I think it's strange. For people who are not familiar with the musical (This movie is based on a musical where all the dialogues are sung, like Les Miserables) and the way the story is told, I think this movie would be very confusing. There is no clear explanation or clue about how the story is told (the backwards and forwards thing) and about what Cathy and Jamie are actually doing. The two characters just take turns in singing all the time. It's more like a compilation of their music videos than a movie, actually. Maybe this movie would be better if they make some adjustments with the storytelling, so that it would be easier for audience to follow the plot.

Rating : 3/5

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1

I know it's a bit late, but I just saw this movie yesterday. When the movie came out in cinemas last year, many people said that this movie disappointed them. Well, I still like Catching Fire more than this one, but I don't think this movie is disappointing at all. It's just a little different from the previous films, and from people's expectations. Unlike the previous two films, this one is not an action-packed movie. It shows more of the characters' emotions, especially Katniss's.

I love how they show more of Katniss's emotions here. In this movie, and in the previous ones too, she keeps saying that she doesn't want to be involved in the war against President Snow and the Capitol; that all she wants is to keep the ones that she loves safe. I used to think it was selfish. But then I realized how sickening it must be for a teenage girl like her, to get dragged into a war where there is nothing but pain and violence. It's just too... crazy. Wanting to run away from that kind of thing is something very... human, I think. And then, as the movie goes on, she learns that she also cares about other people. She can't stand seeing other people get hurt by the Capitol, even though she doesn't know those people. Katniss grows in this movie, and I can relate to that because I've been there. Well, not there in the middle of a war, but there where you grow up and realize that you want to make yourself useful for other people. Again, this reminds me that I'm not a teenager anymore haha.

Since I love getting my feelings twisted (hahaha), I also "enjoy" Josh Hutcherson's and Sam Claflin's heartbreaking performances as Peeta and Finnick. That scene where Peeta sees a footage of Katniss during an interview and talks directly to her really breaks my heart. And the heroic, charming Finnick is replaced by the Finnick who looks miserable and lost here. I have a crush on him and it's just so heartbreaking to see him miserable hahahaha.

Rating : 4/5

Being Young and in Love with Eleanor & Park

I realized that I had spent too much time reading and watching things that involve murders and psychotic people (which made my mom a little worried haha), so I decided to have something different this month. And since this month is February aka the month of love, I thought it would be great to read something... romantic. So I bought a novel called Eleanor & Park, written by Rainbow Rowell.

Eleanor & Park follows two teenagers whose names are in the title as they experience first love. Eleanor is an eccentric new girl at school who catches the attention of everyone at school, including Park, a Korean-American boy who sits next to her on the school bus. They unexpectedly fall so hard for each other despite the abuse, the insecurity, and the bullying that they experience as teenagers.

On the cover of my copy of the book, there is a quote from John Green's review that goes like this,

"Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book."

Well, I agree with him. This book reminds me how it feels like to be young and in love.

Eleanor & Park makes me realize how old I am because it makes me recall the time when I was as young as its characters and realize that that time was a looong time ago. Eleanor and Park are sixteen in the book. I am turning twenty-three this year, which means that I was their age, like, seven years ago. Following Eleanor and Park's journey makes me realize how much I've grown since I was sixteen. I used to be like Eleanor and Park. Like those two characters, I used to be so insecure about myself, my abilities, my future, my physical appearance. Like those two characters, I used to believe that love is true when you can be with the person that you love forever. But now things are different; the way I see things are different. I'm sure things are also different for Eleanor and Park when they are older. After that open ending, I can imagine how they learn to accept themselves for who they really are, to be grateful for everything they have, and to love selflessly without wanting to keep the ones that they love for themselves. 

Eleanor & Park also makes me fall in love. This book made me want to smile all the time, until my cheeks hurt. It made me giggle like teenage girls when they talk about their crushes. It made me want to sing and dance with strangers and birds on my way to my office like Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 500 Days of Summer. It made feel like there were butterflies in my stomach. I was crazy in love when I was reading this book, just like Eleanor and Park.

 

My dream cast for the movie haha. Ki Hong Lee as Park and Hailee Steinfeld as Eleanor.

I heard there will be a movie adaptation of Eleanor & Park  soon and I'm excited about it. I still can't decide who should play Eleanor because, when I think of her, I always picture Merida from the animated movie Brave in my head hahaha. Probably because of the crazy red hair thing. Someone suggests Hailee Steinfeld and I love her, so I think I'll support that suggestion. For Park, I really want Ki Hong Lee from The Maze Runner to play him. He just fits the role perfectly! I also imagine Cate Blanchett as Eleanor's mom and Yunjin Kim as Park's mom.

Rating : 4/5

Movie Review : Begin Again

During the announcement of this year's Oscars nominees, a song called Lost Stars was mentioned as a nominee for the best original song category. The song is taken from the movie entitled Begin Again, starring Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld, James Corden, etc. I had known about this movie for a while when I heard about the nomination, but I hadn't seen it and knew nothing about the song. After the announcement, I listened to the song and immediately fell in love with it. And then I decided to see the movie, and then I fell in love with it too.

So Begin Again  is about two lonely people, Gretta (Knightley) and Dan (Ruffalo). Gretta is a talented singer-songwriter who gets betrayed by her rock star boyfriend Dave (Levine) while Dan is a music producer who gets fired by his business partner. Dan thinks Gretta is the great discovery that can help him get his job back. Then, they start working on Gretta's demo with their friends, but the process turns out to be more than just a recording process: it makes the two realize what they really want in this life, what they want to do with their music, and so much more.

This movie made me cry A LOT. This is not even a sad movie but I did cry so much. It is just so natural and sweet and cute; it just touches my heart. The story is about music and, to be honest, I'm not really a "music" person. But this story makes me see music through the eyes of the people who love it so deeply. I can see how music magically fixes a broken family, how it makes a broken teenage girl smile again, how it can make you understand things that cannot be spoken, how it contains all the feelings inside its writer's heart. It's just beautiful.

It is so easy for me to relate to Gretta. She is lonely and loves someone, who wastes her love, like a fool. She turns her feelings into songs and doesn't care about what people think about her songs because they are hers, not theirs. She gets tempted by that foolish love when her ex boyfriend wants her back but then she realizes that it's not what she wants. My favorite Gretta scene is near the end of the movie, where Dave sings their song, Lost Stars, and Gretta watches him with a smile. The happiness in her face slowly fades and then she runs away. Her heart is broken. I'm not sure about this because it's never explicitly explained in the movie, but I think, at that moment, she realizes that she doesn't want to be with Dave anymore. I think she realizes that things can never go back to they way they used to be. I could really feel her heartbreak in that scene. And then cried like a baby haha.

Keira Knightley plays Gretta very naturally and beautifully in this movie, but James Corden, who plays Steve, is definitely the scene-stealer. I really love his scenes with Keira. They're so natural and don't look like they're scripted. Their scenes together look like a video of two real, drunk friends chatting. And then there's Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Dan's daughter, Violet. Her character always tries to look tough and careless but she is actually really sweet at heart. I just can't stand her cuteness.

Another thing that I adore from this movie is, of course, Lost Stars, the song. I really love the Adam Levine version (that's the one in the scene that made me cry) but Keira's version is also nice and so natural. Ehm how many times have I said the word "natural"? Well the movie IS really natural.

So I think Begin Again deserves more recognition and everyone should see it. The movie is so beautiful. It is the kind of movie that would make you smile and cry at the same time; the kind that brings warmth to your heart.

Rating : 4/5

Movie Review : The Imitation Game

I saw The Imitation Game! It is, similar The Theory of Everything, a biopic of a genius British man with a lovable British actor playing the lead role that gets nominated in all the awards this year. If Theory has Stephen Hawking, this one has Alan Turing, a British mathematician who is known as the father of computer science. The movie focuses on Turing's contribution in the British government's secret project during World War II. Turing and a group of code breakers must decode messages that are sent by the Germans which contain the information about their upcoming attacks to England. Turing's work helps save so many people and shorten the war, but no one knows about his heroic act because the government decides to keep it a secret. Ironically, Turing gets recognized and punished by the government for being gay, which is illegal at that time.

The movie's most memorable quote

First of all, I do NOT understand anything about the encryption and the computer science things that they talk about in this movie (hahahaha). So please don't expect me to talk about it.

The most fascinating thing about this movie for me is the main character, Alan Turing, and the way he is portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. He is, like, the most human character I've ever seen in a movie. He has all the sides in human personality. He is smart, but very arrogant. He can be the most irritating person in the world, but he can be ridiculously funny as well. Sometimes he appears to be heartless, but at other times he shows that he has the capability to care so much about something, or someone. He achieves something that no one can even imagine, but he experiences painful loss too. Sometimes he looks like a robot that has no feelings, but at one moment we get to see him crying his heart out like... a human. There is one scene where Turing asks, "What am I? Am I a machine? Am I a person?". I find the questions very heartbreaking because, like I've stated, he is the most human character I've ever seen. The screenwriter writes the character very well, and Mr Cumberbatch plays it beautifully. I'm amazed.

Besides the insanely famous and talented Benedict Cumberbatch, there is a group of other actors who are really fun to watch in this movie. There is the beautiful Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke, the only woman in Turing's team. The character is, like, the coolest woman. She's intelligent, very determined, sensitive, kind and, of course, breathtakingly beautiful (Keira always looks beautiful in 1940s make up and costume, doesn't she?). And then there is Matthew Goode as Hugh Alexander, who is very charming and smart (I love guys who is smart and charming haha). I enjoy watching Allen Leech as John too. There is a shocking thing about John that is revealed near the end of the movie and it really shocks me because he is always very likable throughout the movie.

I tend to forget mentioning this aspect in my reviews but I don't forget this time, the score of this movie is so beautiful! It is composed by the famous composer Alexandre Desplat, who also worked on my other favorite films such as Harry Potter and Benjamin Button. I also love the costumes and the sets of the movie. This movie is so good for your eyes to see.

Lastly, I think the story that this movie delivers is still relevant in our era. In this era, we can still see people get discriminated and even punished for being gay, for being fat, for having a skin color that is different from other people, for choosing a certain religion and for doing other little, personal things. We can still see how people's extraordinary talents and great achievements get completely ignored while the little, personal things about them get judged. This movie can make us think again about how we treat other people.

To conclude, The Imitation Game is remarkable. The message, the performances, the story and the characters are crafted so beautifully and carefully, which creates something very powerful.

Rating : 4/5