S Reignite

  After watching the first British series of Married at First Sight, I thought it was one of the most authentic dating shows. The reality show aims to scientifically match applicants with someone they believe could be a suitable partner but the two only meet for the first time on their wedding day. From this day they attempt to build a connection and see if they can make it as a married couple. Married at First Sight UK series seven cast The selection process for the first season took over a year, there were only three couples, whose relationships were supported by five experts. I then went on to watch a couple of the early American seasons and the format was similar, although Americans reality TV stars seem naturally better at creating drama than the Brits. But as the show continued to expand globally, with more couples getting involved each season, it became less clear how authentic the selection process was and I became less interested in the programme. It doesn’t help th...

  'Americans know entertainment but don't know pleasure' – Luca Spaghetti In the run up to the release of Ari Lennox’s second album age/sex/location , rapper and founder of record label Dreamville J.Cole, shared on Instagram a long message from the R&B singer, in which she describes the album as ‘my eat pray love journey’. Always trying to understand every reference that I come across and looking for a movie to watch, I sat down to watch the 2010 film to discover what the phrase truly means. Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts is based of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book of the same name. Unhappy in her marriage and questioning who she is and what she wants out of life Liz begins an international journey of self-discovery. Still from Eat Pray Love. Credit:NPR.org The Ryan Murphy written and directed drama film lethargically follows Liz as she travels across the world trying to define who she is outside of her romantic relationships. However while on this journey, Liz is...

                 ‘these people make me sick, but a law has been broken’ – Joe Miller. Last summer on the All Def Digital podcast SquADD Cast Versus , they debated which of the two juggernaut actors was better- Tom Hanks or Denzel Washington . After some conversation about their different styles of acting and whose catalogue would be better to take to a desert island, Denzel Washington won the debate by one. I’ve watched few films from the two Oscar award winners, so I haven’t made enough of a dent into their filmographies to seriously join the conversation or critique their final ruling. But why choose between the two when I can watch both. In Philadelphia , two once opposing lawyers, Andrew Beckett (Hanks), and Joe Miller (Washington), work together to argue the wrongful dismissal of Beckett from his law firm. The two lawyers meet briefly at the start of the film. They’re both underhanded lawyers, just on different sides of the cour...

  ‘Sometimes I can't believe you’re my daughter either' – Gabriela After changing school in the middle of the year Mia struggles to fit in while also dealing with her body changing.   When I read the tagline of a ‘normal teenage girl faces overwhelming body transformations’, this is definitely not what I expected. I assumed I’d be watching a coming of age about a teenager trying to fit in and potential falling in love. Instead Brühlmann uses the medium of teenage struggles to play with supernatural ideas. Watching Mia react to her body changing in ways, which at first seemed mundane, made me think Mia was going crazy. And after watching her shove her hand in a fish tank to catch and eat a goldfish, I feel this is a logical reaction. I don’t know what it is with European films and raw meat. The French film RAW (2016) has a much more concerning portrayal of its protagonist’s urge to eat uncooked meat, which I just couldn’t sit through. The role of raw meat in Blue My Mi...

‘There are no two words in the English language more harmful than “good job”’- Fletcher Whiplash surges more intensity and suspense than you could think possible for a movie that at its core is just about jazz music. For Andrew Newman to prove that he deserves a place in his prestigious music school, he works tireless to prove his worth to acclaimed musician and conductor Fletcher who is hell bent on breaking him down. Immediately the power dynamic between Fletcher and Newman is made clear as he shouts musical styles at him before leaves in silence without giving Newman any feedback leaving the young drummer confused and drenched in his own sweat. There is always a tense atmosphere when Fletcher is in the room as he gives nothing away and lulls his students into a false sense of security before aggressively crushing their spirits. Not that he sees it that way. In Fletcher’s mind he inflicts necessary pain to push the musicians to their full potential. He implores outrageous tec...

                             ‘One escaped the other was trapped forever’ – Narrator Celeste Ng gives an insight to the Asian – American experience, which is often looked over, in her debut novel Everything I never told you , where the death of middle child Lydia unravels the entire Lee family. From the first chapter it is evident that the Lee family’s lives revolved around Lydia with James being referred to as only ‘Lydia’s father’ despite having two other children, and Hannah being described as ‘Lydia’s sister’ or otherwise she would be forgotten beneath family trauma. Ng wastes no space on her pages. Everyone being filled with valuable detail about the characters and their perspective. Ng’s debut novel is set in late seventies but unfortunately the social pressures placed on Lydia by her parents remain timeless. Both parents place their failed dreams on Lydia. Her father’s unrealistic mental...

‘All that means is that it wasn’t personal to you. But it was personal for me.’ – Kathleen Kelly The supposed romcom You’ve Got Mail does nothing particularly well as it attempts to show how romance is affected by the digital age. While online Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox are steadily falling in love, offline they become rivals as Fox’s superstore threatens the success of Kathleen’s independent book shop. We’re introduced to the two stars as they are effectively cheating on their real-life partners as they secretly email each other. Though this is something they should be scolded for, it’s hard to sympathise with their respective partners as they show little to no personality. By the time Patricia unleashes her obnoxious side, it’s too late to garner any negative feelings to her character because it’s easy to figure out that we won’t be seeing much of her soon. Even Frank who has much more screen time and whose over valuation of his writing career was a fun element, ...

‘She is in balance with the tempo and rhythm of the universe.’ -Rob Amanda Robson’s debut novel shows the consequences of asking questions that you don’t want the answer to. After wife and mother Carly asked her husband Rob what she thought was a harmless question about who he would sleep with, it puts their lives as well their best friends and married couple Craig and Jenni, in a constant battle to regain themselves. The book is promoted as one that Paula Hawkins fans would enjoy because it is a thriller that utilises viewpoint narration that Hawkins help popularise. However, it doesn’t compare to Hawkins’ thriller debut Girl on the Train . The first parts of the novel manage to build suspense and intrigue as the reader witnesses first-hand how Carly has let her husband’s response to a trivial question consume her and motivate her questionable decision making. But in the latter chapters, as the story starts to go in around in circles and relationships are constantly broken and m...

On the 22 nd of April, British YouTuber James Marriott uploaded a video where he made fun of the mainstream media's obsession and lack of information on social media platform’s particularly TikTok based on a BBC article . He then turned his attention to the ByteSquad, a new TikTok content house based in London that was the subject of the BBC’s article. He pokes fun at how much the ByteSquad’s house pales in comparison to the lavish LA mansions of their American counterparts, then suggests some of the group’s gimmicks are outdated. To finish James wishes the England’s newest content the best on their new endeavours. Despite the video being comedic and light-hearted, there were a few BtyeSquad supporters that insisted that James not critique the house because its members are ‘unproblematic’.  Comments under Marriott's video that praise the ByteSquad for being unproblematic. Unproblematic, a word that is now used regularly on social media when fans explain to others why who ...

                                            ‘You gotta learn to balance it Ty.’ - Ronald Many of us aspire to be able do everything and be able to perfectly balance it all. It’s the same for Tyler Williams who juggles his grades, being a wrestler, having a girlfriend and playing the piano. Although, at one-point Tyler makes us and himself believe that he’s got it all under control, when thing falls out of balance his life quickly spirals out of control. From the trailer , I imagined the film would be more focused on Sterling K. Brown’s character, Ronald Williams - Tyler’s father, and in some ways it is. He intimidates his son and forgets his daughter until they both end up lashing out from his control. Waves begins with Tyler and his girlfriend Alexis Lopez singing in his car as the camera rotates around them. The camera spinning upon first look is a cool techniqu...

‘Well I’m going to heaven lieutenant Dan’ – Forrest Gump The innocent Forrest Gump is loveable from the start. The 1994 film adaption of the Winston Groom novel of the same name tells the story of Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks, who was born with a curved spine as he navigates through life. Forrest has an admirable drive and focus on everything he does which enabled him to succeed in each of his new endeavours, all of which have a surprising historical impact. He literally does everything he is told or whatever his heart desires, such as drinking an abundance of Dr Pepper. When explaining himself he simply states, ‘stupid is as stupid does.’ He has the same dedication in maintaining his relationships with both friends and family particularly Jenny(Robin Wright) whom he loves but she spends the film struggling to find herself. Her adventures are more varied and less successful than Forrest’s, they even push her to the edge but still Forrest remains committed to thei...

‘I just feel humiliation’ - Martin The Pascal Chaumeil directed adaption of Nick Hornby’s bestselling novel cuts out many details from the novel and causes the film to appear as an uncohesive work. When watching the 2014 adaption I was convinced that i was watching a badly edited version as the film skipped around so much and left out vital details like Jess’ relationship with her family or JJ’s reasons for wanting to kill himself. But at 1 hour and 30 minutes it was all there or I guess wasn’t. It appears that the writer, Jack Throne relied heavily on the fact that people would know the novel and just fill in the gaps, but despite knowing the story well myself I still felt that wasn’t clear. The film takes way the ability to emote with each character. Admittedly this is to be expected from films that traditionally aren’t told from more than perspective. The back-story of each character is briefly put on their car journey after coming down from the roof but it is develop...