Copy

This was actually my first ever film review. After publishing it on an online film critique website and receiving some positive comments. I decided to carry on writing some more. 

‘Prawns’ that’s what they’ve been stereotyped as since 1982.  Lord of The Rings Director, Peter Jackson works with Director Neill Blomkamp to produce this exhilarating sci- fi thriller.  When a mother ship, bearing most of its extra terrestrial population appears immobile over Johannesburg, South Africa, the human race is forced to take drastic measures. ‘District 9’ is built. Holding the aliens as refugees they are welcomed to Earth and forced to live among us. 28 years later, newly promoted Wikus Van De Merwe (Shartlo Copley) appointed by father in law Piet Smit (Louis Minnar) Head of Multi National United (MNU) is given the task to evict the residents of District 9 and relocate them to the newly established District 10, where he meets the local resident from another planet, Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope).

The success in this film comes from the well written script that captures the friendship and emotion brought together by the contrasting characters of the two different races.  Just married, things are looking good for Wikus, but a turn of events occurs when he is exposed to the alien’s biotechnology, transforming his physical appearance.  Now on the most wanted list, having been accused of having a sexual relationship with one of them, and wanted by the Nigerians,  who need him to operate the alien weaponry, he seeks the help of his two new ‘Prawn’ friends Christopher Johnson and his son. They strike a deal, the biochemical’s for his normal life back, and venture deep into the facilities of MNU, once enemies now a team, to take back what was taken as evidence, in order for Christopher Johnson and his son to return home. 

An action packed District 9 is a must watch film. First and foremost it is a very entertaining film, alongside with its interesting storyline focussing on the relationship with between the two races; the production side of the film is spectacular! Producing multiple camera techniques using high tech handheld cameras like the RED One to form, classic first person shooter shots when handling weaponry, and many over head bird’s eyes views perfect for capturing news footage, which is certainly difficult to produce. With many perfect shots, including a still filming used for interviewing, it enabled great editing to create a documentary style format following the events of Wikus flicking to and fro between live action of the storyline and the documentary on him.

Just as good as the camera work, the special effects used was phenomenal.  Throughout District 9, the prosthetic make up worn by Copley on Wikus’s transformation, are very detailed, and are definitely not meant for viewing whilst eating. There is plenty of blood and gore spread throughout during action scenes, enough to make you go “whoa!” Through the use of CGI, an anthropomorphic like alien, completely different to those used in other sci-fi thrillers such as Alien,  was created so that the audience are able relate to the aliens and truly emphasize with them when derogative actions are constantly thrown towards them.

The story, complete with its special effects and production skills is not one for the weak minded. But if you want plenty of action, twists, and your mind blown away, then this is certainly the right film to watch. I highly recommend it and give it a 10/10 as it holds the key ingredients needed in a sci-fi thriller film for complete entertainment.

Trailer:

“Lets roll” That’s the empowering commanding order of the wise and almighty leader of the Autobots Optimus Prime. After months of waiting since the plot was revealed in October 2010, fans can finally follow his command and watch Michael Bays’ final sequel in the Transformers trilogy with his sci-fi action adventure blockbuster ofTransformers Dark of the Moon. New girlfriend of hero Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) must once again save the Earth with the help of its new allies, the ‘Autobots’ to stop the evil ‘Decepticons’ bringing back their home planet of ‘Cybertron’.

Being the final chapter of the trilogy, Transformers Dark of the Moon had to really raise its game in order to keep up with the success of its previous films. Has it done that? No. The plot quite frankly was too predictable.

Witwicky, unemployed, with a new girlfriend but without his all in one, car, companion, and friend Bumblebee, is now considered a messenger rather than a hero whilst looking for a job opportunity. Witwicky comes across a job as a ‘temp’ working for technology firm under the peculiar Bruce Brazos (John Malkovich). Obviously it doesn’t last for long as trouble once again follows him as he discovers vital information on the truth about one of the world’s greatest moments in history. The 1969 moon Apollo 11 landing! Years ago a spacecraft, ‘The Ark’ carrying the Autobots original leader ‘Sentinel Prime’ who was protecting ‘the pillars’ which have the ability to transport anything from across the galaxy, crash landed on the moon after evacuating its home planet of ‘Cybertron’ .

Meanwhile whilst working under the governments ‘NEST’ section, the Autobots discover its existence on the moon after intercepting some vital information that Decepticon ‘Shockwave’ was holding whilst on a mission in Chernobyl, Russia. Optimus and fellow Autobot ‘Ratchet’ head to the moon recovering their leader and the pillars.  Needless to say it was blatantly a clear trap set up by the Decepticons. Once that is known, twists that should have been huge, such as multiple betrayals in the film, ruined the ‘eye gripping’ experience. Many more obvious shocks, so to call, are shown throughout the rest of the film. A film needs twists to keep the audience entertained, especially when a high fan base of Transformers fans are expected to watch it. But with a predictable plot and twists it failed to make that impact.

Furthermore, there were some poor changes to its previous films. The decision to replace the beautiful and action packed Megan Fox certainly did have its consequences. ‘Newbie’ Rosie Huntington-Whiteley role as a ‘goodie two shoes’ could in no way replace ‘bad girl’ Megan Fox. Throughout the film she tries to hard to live up to the expectations of her previous counterpart, by trying to be too sexy in her footwear, heels. Constantly wearing heels, even whilst running and jumping off buildings during action scenes really makes her character seem more of a pathetic joke. Like Its previous films, comedy was needed to keep the audience entertained. However in this final instalment there like Rosie, there was too pressure to make the film better than the previous. Jokes were overdone and too witty throughout and would make you force yourself to laugh just like laughing at a poor joke from the one that finds themselves funny but really aren’t in the family.

On the other hand, just like the first two films, Transformers Dark of the Moon wasn’t short of action. The last action scene is jam packed and perhaps saved the film. But the only problem was that there is too slow a build up to it and we are forced to suffer from the obvious plot we already know delay as we wait for it to unfold. Even when the action does occur, you will be left with a sense of ‘De Je Vu’ as you realise that all the action scenes are all the same as previous films, using the same slow motion, CGI effects and battles between both the Cybertron sides and the humans on the Decepticons. For example, when the Navy SEALS and US air force take on the Decepticons and the classic scene where LaBeouf takes Fox’s hand to guide her away from danger.

This shocking film does not live up to the amazing ’jaw dropping’ expectations of its previous films. To be blunt, the only reason you would want to watch this would be to find out how the trilogy ends. I give the film a mediocre score of 5/10. 

Here's an example of some copy I wrote for an internship I applied for. The task was to produce a 600-800 word piece on vehicles. So i chose to put the task and something i'm passionate about together, and came up with this copy on Bond cars. I have made it to the interview stage of this internship, which will take place mid November. 

What do you get when you add a classic car from the 70’s and a bridge? The AMC Hornet X. When you add James Bond into the equation, you get a magnificent car stunt that will be remembered throughout time. (Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh0VF6s-UYU to see the Hornet in action)

The stunt couldn’t have been done without the right car. The Hornet’s engineering had the perfect weight distribution and acceleration to get to its calculated 40mph launch speed, to perform the corkscrew successfully first time. This would have been very difficult to perform in any other car.

“Ejector seat? You’re joking!” That’s Sean Connery’s line that kept viewers glued to their seats throughout 007s’ third film instalment in ‘Goldfinger’. The ejector seat was one of the many gadgets installed in the Aston Martin DB5, allowing the car to stand out from its predecessors the gadgetless Sunbeam Alpine and Bentley Mark IV.

The DB series was named after David Brown, head of Aston Martin from 1947-1962. Reclining seats, electric windows, a full leather trim and chrome wire wheels came as standard. On top of these features, it also reached 0-60mph in eight seconds, perfect for Bond to make a quick getaway.

An additional memorable Bond car is the Lotus Esprit S1. Unlike previous Bond cars at the time, this car lacked power. Having said this, it was viewed as having had the best steering of any Esprit and could still reach 133mph.

Like Connery’s DB5, this car gained its fame when Rodger Moore was put behind the wheel in 1977 in ‘The spy who loved me’, where it famously converted itself into a submarine. This certainly wowed the audience when they saw it on the big screen. Perry Ocenangraphic, a company based in Riviera Beach, Florida, carried out the submarine body work which was reported to cost around half a million dollars. Interestingly, the car went under the hammer last month and was sold at auction for £550,000. Higher than the price it was made, but £400,000 less than expected.

Not all Bond cars looked great and had amazing gadgets though. In 1981, a bright yellow Citroën 2CV appeared in ‘For your eyes only’. With its poor performance, it flipped over whilst turning a corner during a car chase. However, all was not lost as the small, lightweight car was tipped back over by the towns’ people. This scene was made possible as the body was constructed with an aircraft-style tube framework underneath a very thin steel shell. This also gave the car an unusual look, giving it the nickname ‘Upside-down pram’ by the British public. Even with an embarrassing nickname and poor performance, the car still saved our favourite spy.

So what car should appear in the next Bond film? The beloved DB5 has featured as a Bond car six times and is arguably the favourite amongst fans. However, we must remember before the Aston came onto our screens, Bond owned a Bentley Mark IV as seen in ‘From Russia with Love’. The four door standard sports saloon car, made of steel coachwork, reached speeds of up to 100 mph, but it wasn’t actually driven by him. Instead he made a call from the cars telephone, an unusual addition to cars at the time.

Since then, Bentley has only made a brief appearance when Sean Connery returned in 1983 with ‘Never say never again’. Therefore, it’s time to bring back a newly updated Bentley. Enter the Bentley continental GT V8 S, with its Beluga lower body styling and twenty inch rimed wheels, a 4.0 litre V8 engine, revised stability control and an up rated chassis with a sleek sporting appearance. Painted the right colour and with modified gadgets, this car could convey all the right aspects that a Bond car needs. The fact that Bentley is also British makes it perfect for 007, a true British legend.

The last five decades have seen many cars used to fit Bond’s needs, in order for him to complete his missions. They have varied from the glorious likes of the Aston Martin DB5, to the not so pretty Land Rover Defender as seen in the latest instalment ‘Skyfall’. Needless to say, every Bond car has lived up to its purpose; getting him out of those tricky situations and to where he needs to be.  So no matter what the next Bond car will be, there’s one thing for sure, Bond and his fans are in for the ride of their life. 

Skill building outside your course

Whilst at university you are given many opportunities. Many will develop your skills and expand your career path without you even knowing. So it’s not just your course that’s teaching you new things. You should take part in as much as you can, because not only will you increase future possibilities, you’ll also have a lot of fun. Here are a few things you can do:

1) Socialising

So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself out there, and make the most out of your free time. Because after all, the more skills you have, the greater chance of being employed.