stuff by paige

I tend to forget that you can watch things on Amazon Prime, but with the release of PANIC and it's multiple advertisements I was pleasantly reminded. Based on the the 2014 young adult novel PANIC by Lauren Oliver, this series covers a small town in Texas' yearly tradition, in which graduating seniors compete in a dangerous game and face their fears in order to win money to improve their lives.  From looking at other reviews, PANIC has gained a mixed receival, however I genuinely really enjoyed it and found it extremely binge able and tense at points. The series is an amalgamation of different genres and themes, including romance, crime, loyalty, poverty, privilege, and gave me similar vibes to The Society (2019) and Escape Room (2019) - but with lower stakes. A lot of the challenges felt a little lacklustre and seemed liked recreational behaviours that some individuals would do without money even being up for grabs.  I never read the book, however I'm thinking that the ch...

After how much I enjoyed WandaVision , I really hoped that I would enjoy The Falcon and the Winter Soldier just as much. And although I did enjoy it, there was just something not quite doing it for me from the beginning. The show follows the aftermath of The Blip (when Thanos snapped his fingers and made half of life in the universe disappear), specifically focusing on Sam and Bucky as they face many challenges adjusting to life after coming back from The Blip. Alongside their own many personal struggles, Sam and Bucky quickly find themselves involved in trying to stop a "terrorist group" called the Flag Smashers, who quite literally want to "smash flags" and abolish borders in order to help those in need after being uprooted from their homes and jobs after people returned from The Blip.  The show is quite heavily focused on humanitarian issues, including mental health, poverty, racism, and the abuse of power. These elements were all extremely gripping and I felt t...

When I saw the trailer for this show I was instantly intrigued as it appeared similar to Black Mirror , a show which (despite making me uncomfortable most of the time) I really enjoy.  SOURCE: Netflix The premise of the show is rather interesting; it revolves around a company's discovery of the combination of science and technology to match people with "The One." Once people find "The One," their lives change for the better. This of course raises many ethical and moral issues for characters within the show, revolving around how the DNA matches are obtained and between pre-existing relationships before it was possible to find "The One", which in themselves do make for an interesting watch. The narrative tends to stray from these dilemmas for the majority of the show to focus on a murder mystery revolving around this phenomenon, which you would think would mean for an extremely intense, on the edge of your seat viewing experience. I experienced the compl...

I'm not going to lie, I really had no idea what the heck was going on throughout most of this series, but I did really enjoy watching it. Behind Her Eyes , based off of the book by the same title by Sarah Pinborough, is an extremely suspenseful and interesting thriller. The story follows single mother Lou, who finds herself entangled in a romantic affair with her boss, David, and a secret friendship with his wife, Adele. It is indicated quite early on in the series that not everything is as it seems, and that there is something dodgy going on behind the closed doors of David and Adele's life, which Lou of course decides to take upon herself to try and figure out. There are a WHOLE lot of twists and turns in this show, and I made many incorrect guesses as to where the story was going. The ending was shocking and extremely sad, but also very satisfying as all of the confusing elements in previous episodes finally made sense. The only thing I wasn't too keen on in this show wa...

 After having the first few episodes somewhat spoiled for me on Twitter, I decided to give in and watch WandaVision as it was released weekly (thankyou Phoebe for providing me with your Disney Plus password so I could do so). This blog post will follow a slightly different format to what I usually write with, in that I will be discussing the show episode by episode, with a summary of my overall thoughts at the end. This means that there will be potential spoilers, so this is your heads up to stop reading if you don't want spoilers before you have watched the show yourself (and I highly recommend that you DO watch it yourself). Episode One: Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience The first episode throws us straight into black and white in 50's/60's sitcom style, following newly wed and new home owners Wanda and Vision as they tackle suburban life in West View whilst attempting to hide their powers. This episode feels very much like Bewitched, all the way down to the theme tune...

Escape Room really took me by surprise, and I actually found this movie to be an enjoyable and suspenseful watch. The film instantly hooked me by starting off with a very high stakes scene from near the end of the film, investing my interest in the character and giving me a little taste of the thriller and horror elements to come.  As with most films of this genre, like SAW and Final Destination , the characters fit into the usual stereotypes; the smart but shy girl, the edgy underdog with a pair of fingerless gloves, a rich man used to getting things his own way, the platinum blonde lady who is underestimated, the token smart Asian, and the token fat dude. However, I felt the movie does a good job of breaking past these particular stereotypes with some of the characters back stories and actions whilst in the escape rooms. This film kept me predicting and guessing narrative points, making me feel very smart when I got them right and leaving me gobsmacked when given a completely o...

 I watched Happy Death Day  a few years back and I didn't recall it being terrible, so when Happy Death Day 2 U popped up on my Netflix home screen I thought I would give it  a go. The overall premise of this film series is that the main character, Tree, gets stuck in a ground hog day situation and has to solve her own murder in order to escape the loop. In the first one she successfully manages this, however in this film more characters get dragged into this loop through her boyfriend Carter's room mates science project. This project ends up being the main solution to the time loop problems, and also explains how the time loops started in the first place. Rather than being a slasher comedy like the first film, this movie fits into a weird sci-fi teen drama genre. This mixture of genres could have made for an interesting and potentially good watch if it wasn't for the fact that the acting and narrative are just not very good. I overall felt that this film really did not ...

 Just to start off; I'm not particularly a fan of the To All The Boys franchise. The first one was okay, as cheesy as it is, but I really do not think the world needed a second or third instalment.  I found out about To All The Boys: Always and Forever through a YouTube advert, and I was set on watching it just to see if I was right, that the film would literally just be a two hour long drawn out version of the trailer. And I was right. There was nothing of surprise for me in this movie as I already knew exactly how it was going to go, as the trailer had told me everything that I needed to. Usually a trailer is a sneak peek into a film, intended to entice you to want to see more, but apparently whoever put this movies trailer together didn't get the memo. Anyway, onto the film. The main narrative arc which the main characters Lara-Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo) go through during this two hour long movie is whether they will end up going to Stanford together and...

 I would put a spoiler warning for this film but there's really no need to; we all lived through it. Death To 2020 is a documentary/mockumentary covering the shambles of a year which was 2020. I enjoy a good documentary as much as I love a mockumentary, so this film was right up my street. Featuring multiple famous faces, including Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Grant, Lisa Kudrow and Joe Keery to name a few, the film tells the story of the past year through "interviews" and news clips, making commentary on all things political, pandemical and social. There were so many events covered which I myself had forgotten took place in 2020, so the film served as a sort of revision session - I would definitely put this film on a future history class syllabus.  Of course, key events which were discussed extensively included the COVID-19 virus, the BLM protests, and the presidential election. With the coverage of COVID, the film highlights how many large companies and businesses, such as c...

 Sweet Home is a Korean Horror Drama series which I watched partly out of boredom than anything else, and is a show which I have very mixed feelings about. The shows premise is very promising; a group of apartment residents fighting for survival in an apocalypse where anyone could turn into a blood thirsty monster.  This promise however was let down by the very evident lack of production value in the CGI department, a surprising lack due to the CGI monsters having a significant on screen presence from the first episode. Many of the monsters are reminiscent of those which I have seen in other series or films, however they are not executed even half as well. I am honestly not kidding when I say I have seen scarier and more realistic monsters in a Play Station 2 game.  Alongside this, there is some very bad acting, which thankfully improves as certain characters die off. Despite the main major issues I had with this show, I did manage to sit through the whole thing. This...

I finally got around to watching Season Two of The Mandalorian , which was one of my most anticipated series returns, and I was not disappointed. This instalment follows Mando and fan titled favourite Baby Yoda as they search for Jedi to help train The Child and learn more about him. As with the majority of the Star Wars franchise, this season of The Mandalorian is full of action, adventure and interesting characters.   Each episode follows a similar narrative structure; Mando needs information, he can find it on a certain planet, but the character who holds the information requires him to fulfil a strenuous, dangerous task before he can obtain it.  Although some people might find the repetitiveness irritating, I found it quite comforting, plus if the show was just Mando and Baby Yoda eating soup I would probably still watch it. As always, the planet sets and different character details are stunning. The first episode especially featured some amazing establishing shots, disp...

 Part of my reasoning for watching this film was because Natalia Dyer is in it, and to say I've only ever seen her in Stranger Things (2016- present)  and Hannah Montana: The Movie (Dir. Peter Chelsom, 2009), that isn't much to go off of. However, I quite enjoyed it. Yes, God, Yes is a comedic coming of age movie which follows a young Christian girl at a Christian camp as she explores her sexuality within the constraints of religion, and discovers that even those who shame her are committers of "sin" themselves. The film very effectively captures the cringiness which comes with growing up, alongside the double standards which come with gender and sexuality. This film is extremely well shot, with wonderful lighting and many visually beautiful settings - wow, how we do love cinematography. The acting is also great, Dyers performance in particular being very convincing, and also slightly comparable to the character she plays in  Stranger Things ; a "good girl...

 It has been years since I watched a k-drama, and even longer since I watched one the whole way through. However, I decided to trust my friends judgement when they suggested Itaewon Class to me, and I was... pleasantly surprised?  As you would expect from the term k-drama, the show is literally jam packed with drama, revolving around a variation of high stake themes and expected themes, such as death, violence, romance, business, revenge, friendships and familial relationships. There is always something exciting and dramatic happening plot wise in every single episode, and at times I felt as though I had seen a whole series worth of content in one episode. This I felt was emphasised with the extreme time skips which carry the narrative forward, for example when the series moves on ten years within the first few episodes. I initially started watching the show by myself, however halfway into the first episode I realised my boyfriend was watching over my shoulder. Slightly confu...

I have intended to watch Netflix's The Get Down for a long, long time, and I finally got down to it.  Starring, amongst many names, Justice Smith and Jaden Smith, the two season long show follows a group of friends in seventies era Bronx as they find their passions, purpose, and paths in life through music and the relationships they make along the way. Music is the main theme of the show, with genres such as disco, rap and dj-ing explored by the protagonists. This means for an incredibly lively soundtrack which is used as a tool to navigate the narrative and reveal plot aspects. I have been familiar with the shows soundtrack for a few years, due to being introduced to it by a friend, and this made my viewing all the more exciting as I could sing along as I went. The show isn't all fun and music, however. The Get Down is a complex show, exploring not only tensions and drama in the characters relationships but also historical issues through dark themes, for example: poverty, gan...

Like most people in or current world situation, I have been spending a lot of time binge watching things on Netflix.  When I saw Down To earth with Zac Efron suggested on my home page, I was instantly intrigued. Zac Efron has made a documentary?  Huh?  The show follows Zac and his friend Darin as they travel around the world, visiting places and communities and exploring how different areas of society are living sustainably and offering new methods and solutions for the fight against global warming and climate change. A particularly interesting aspect of the show to me was how blatantly aware Efron is of the world he lives in. Hollywood is extremely detached from the reality of our worlds problems, taking their time to promote fads and over consumption rather than tackling real world issues. Efron uses his voice and influence throughout the show to highlight these problems, and shed light on solutions for power generation, food and produce production and consumption...

At the beginning of the pandemic, I decided to give myself a break from reading. As a creative writing graduate, reading was something unavoidable, meaning that after finishing all of my final assignments, I needed a rest from anything  reading    intensive. That was until the world was forced to open their eyes wide and raise their voices against the vile, blatant acts of racism present in society, sparked by the death of George Floyd. Numerous cases of police brutality surfaced on all social media platforms, highlighting the presence of systemic, and brutal, acts of racism all over the globe, uniting people to protest for Black Lives Matter.  I found myself reading, educating myself through numerous resources which I had found online and through my own university library, signing and sharing each and every petition which I could find under Twitter threads. The current world situation and my resurgence of my need to read reminded me of a book that I ha...