Morning Glory Film Review

Morning Glory Movie Review

I was a little skeptical when starting this film, the cast looked great: starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Dian Keaton, Patrick Wilson, so I knew that it had that going for it, but I have been caught of guard by so many second rate comedies recently that I honestly was not sure what to expect.
I was surprised however when I found myself laughing out loud at the comical and fun story line.

The general plot is: Becky (McAdams) is a workaholic whose dream is to one day become the executive producer of a national morning show, specifically ‘The Today Show’. Her dreams however are jolted back a few steps when she is fired from her current job. Luckily for her she managed to get another position at a low rate morning show called ‘Daybreak’ despite her lack of experience Becky is determined to make the show a success.
She finds a way of hiring a legendary anchor named Mike Pomeroy (Ford) to Co-anchor, despite his lack of desire to do so. The two anchors do not get along and the show seems to be going down hill, Becky is given one last chance to get the ratings up before they cut the show. Some serious attitude changes and news stories changes are made by Becky, but will it work?

The film offers humor, romance and a little bit of frustration as Becky desperately tries to save the show.
A great light-hearted and funny film. A must see.

Waste Land

Waste Land, The Documentary

Filmed over almost three years, Waste Land follows the well-known photographer Vik Muniz as he ventured from Brooklyn back to his homeland, Brazil.
He journeys to the worlds biggest rubbish dump site, Jadim Gramacho, located out side of Rio de Janeiro where he photographs a small group of ‘catadores’ (self designated pickers of recyclable materials).
He is inspired by these pickers and diverts from his original plans. He decides to recreated photographic images of the chosen ‘catadores’ out of the rubbish and recyclable materials.
It is both a sad and inspiring story, the lives of these pickers are very poor and it is moving to see how lives can be so unfortunate for some. But it is moving to see how the processes of recreating the images out of garbage can guide these people into a better life, and show them that there are more possibilities out there for them.
It is a must watch, the documentary is mostly in Brasillian but comes with subtitles and allows the viewer to see and feel the emotion through out the film.

And lets not forget how amazing the works of art are, to look at the photographs you would not think that the images have been created out of garbage. bellow are two of the final photographs.

William and Kate: The Royal Wedding Merchandise

After watching the film yesterday I couldn’t help but do some research on the Royal Wedding of William and Kate. Although I am English I live elsewhere in Europe and have not been so caught up in the phenomenal extravaganza that is now the royal wedding.
I found out today that there are daily updates on the wedding plans as well as stories about the couple on the TV, radio, newspapers and magazine. Well seeing as I am not living in England I had not realized how over the top it has all become and was greatly surprised when I found that they are even doing commemorative merchandise for the public to buy; everything from tea towels to books and lots more.
Here are a few pictures of various merchandise you can buy:

Now don't get me wrong, I think that they make a lovely couple and i wish them all the happiness in the world, BUT i do think that people are going extremely over the top for the big wedding. i can tell you this much, i will not be buying any of the royal wedding merchandise. I will be tuning in on Friday morning to watch the wedding live though.

Oh and lets not exclude the books that are available about the lovely couple:







There are many more i promise you, but i will not bore you with putting them all up on here!

If you are a fanatic about the couple then there is plenty of reading for you to be digging into.

The Royal Wedding: William and Kate the movie

despite all the poor things said about this film, I found that yesterday when the film appeared on TV I did not change the channel. In stead I went onto watch the film, rather sceptically I must add.

The main thing I have to say is that for anyone interested or lets say close to obsessed (as some people are) about the love story between William and Kate then it is worth watching.

The Quality is poor, as is the acting and the cast choice. But it allowed me to understand the love story of William and Kate a little better and after all is that is why people will be watching it. because I can promise you it will not be for the acting skills or great cinema.

I am also pretty convinced that, despite claiming to be inspired from true event, that there are a lot of scene that have been added to create a more Hollywood feel to the film, such as William singing karaoke to gain Kate's attention.

As a British fan of Kate i like to believe that the basis of the story line is true, that she hung back, was not throwing her self at William like every other girl seemed to be. I also feel sorry for Kate due to the torment she went through with the paparazzi and the constant hounding from the media.

All in all i would say that this is a film that any William and Kate fans should watch, but don't expect miracles and take the story line with a pinch of salt.

The Blind Side

So I have finally managed to watch the Blind Side, a year and a bit to long later!
I was thoroughly pleased to find myself watching a funny, hearth wrenching and beautiful story.
Sandra Bullock steps out of her normal role into the serious role of Leigh Anne Touhy, which ended up winner her an Oscar for Best Actress.
Based on a true, driven from the 2006 novel by Michael Lewis, the Blind side maps the efforts of Leigh Touhy, wife of a hugely successful fast-food franchise owner, to make a difference and change a boy called Michaels life. Michael was brought up around drugs,, the ghetto and low expectations in life.
Leigh has a huge amount of goodness inside her, so when she sees Michael wondering the streets alone at night, and recognises him from her children’s Christian school where he was recently enrolled, she stops her car and inevitably changes his life from that moment on. In turn he changes the lives of everyone in the Touhy family for better or worse you will have to wait and see (that is if you have not already seen the film)
A gripping, enchanting and mesmerizing must see!

The Black Swan

The Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky
I have to admit that I was not sure what to expect when beginning this film, what I was met with was definitely not what I has been expecting, it was much better.
This psychodrama ballet is gripping, compelling and brilliant.
Staring Natalie Portman as the young beautiful and somewhat vulnerable and naive ballerina Nina Sayers. In order to play the role of a life time Nina has to delve deeper into her dark side which proves to be a great challenge to begin with until she is pushed beyond her own limits and finds a darker side than anyone had expected. The consequences are grave as she gets closer and closer to her big début.
The dark, thrilling, gripping and unpredictable film is a must watch.

The Kings Speach

The Kings speech
Written by David Seidler and directed by Tom Hooper, The Kings Speech is an extremely enjoyable and absorbing true life story about the stammering King George VI and his extravagant Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue.
The Roles are preformed with true theatrical brilliance by Colin Firth as King George, Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen and Geoffrey Rush as the fun speech coach Lionel.
Both Kings George and the Queen have to learn to loosen up and acknowledge and accept the life style of the normal English folk whilst King George struggles through a number of speech therapists before finding Lionel.
The story of King George over coming his stutter at the time of war when the country needed him the most is very well portrayed by all three main characters, but mostly by Colin Firth who went on to win an Oscar as well as many other awards for his spectacular talent in this particular film.
A great film and definitely worth watching if you have not already.

An Absolute Scandal by Penny Vincenzi

Penny Vincenzi’s An Absolute Scandal. The story is set amongst a circle of characters that are all affected by the Lloyds crisis. It is a page-turner the tale will keep you locked into the lives of the small group of rather privileged families who have all made an unfortunate investment into the Lloyds group.
There are the Beaumonts, a rich family with three children who live, what appears to be the perfect upper-class life style with private schooling, a second house in the countryside and successful careers from both the parents. When Lloyds starts to ask for money however the fairy tale life starts to fall apart as other financial issues are brought to attention at the same time.
There are the Cowpers, a young attractive couple, Nigel works for Lloyds, Lucinda is bored of her life and longs to leave him but when the Lloyds scandal begins he decides to transfer everything into her name trapping her in the relationship.
And then there are the Fieldings. Debbie is a bored middle class house wife who rather resents her mother in law, due to her large amounts of money saved in Lloyds, the return of which she uses to pay her grandchildren’s education forcing Debbie to be polite to her. When the grandmother’s checks stop coming, due to the Lloyds scandal, Debbie and Richard struggle to keep the family within the life style they have become accustomed to. Debbie sees this as an opportunity to re gain her professional life and make her own money.
The novel is a very tragic one, many lives are altered and changed forever due to the financial crisis that each family faces. Vincenzi has focused more on the prime characters an their troubles in this novel. The personal and professional dilemmas are prominent, as are the rumours, secrets and lies that keep the book rolling from one chapter to the next.

BBC- The Big read

Bellow is a list of a 100 novels that the BBC put together in the search of the nations most loved novel.

The winner was The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien.

There were a total of 750,000 votes received.

How many of these 100 books have you read?

I have put all the ones i have read in bold!


1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

28 out of 100 - I think i have some reading to do! so many classics as well that have been on my pile to read for years!

What is your total number?

Marley and Me; John Grogan

I just cant resist this book, i have now read it twice. As a dog owner of, lets just say a completely lovable terror who weights almost as much as me, i can relate on so many levels with this book. As i am sure all dog lovers out there can.

Marley and Me, written by John Grogan is a heartwarming story about a uncontrollable Labrador, named Marley, and family that learn to love him despite all his faults.
Grogan's story tells the reader of many personal accouters that happened to him and his family due to the terrorizing yet lovable Labrador that busted into their lives and changed everything.

Through out the book i found myself looking back on some of my own dogs moments of bad behavior as a puppy and found my self cringing as i remembered that she was equally as bad as Marley is portrayed to be.
If you are a dog owner it is a must read, it will make you laugh, cringe and cry.

Tiger Hills; Sarita Mandanna

Tiger Hills written by a new novelist Sarita Mandanna is an inspirational story.
As a first time novelist Mandanna has extraordinary talent.
The novel is a heart wrenching story of love and tragedy set in India, displaying the Indian life under the command of British Raj.
the novel begins in 1878 when the first girl is born into the Nachimandas family in over sixty years. she is a lively, high spirited girl from the go. Devi is adored by her family. she become friends with the shy Devanna at an early age, they quickly become inseparable, they grow up amongst the rolling hills, rich coffee plantations and jungles. it appears that their lives are always to be entwined.
Everything changes when they attend a 'tiger wedding', it is here that Devi first meets Machu. she declares, despite her still being a young girl, that she will one day marry him. from that moment the three enter into a dangerous triangle of passion, but they are still unaware of what is to become of their lives.
it is love for another that eventually puts a wedge in between the once inseparable Devi and Devanna, this love will have consequences for generations to come.
memorizing, captivating must read!