10 Film Facts You Didn't Know About Me

1. The Land Before Time is a childhood favourite of mine. I work in a child-care, and I watched it with a new generation of children. They were all enthralled! Meanwhile, I had to turn away because I got overly emotional and had to fight back tears. 

The Land Before Time (1988)

2. I truly enjoy watching "Twilight." It took me out of the depressing world of high school, and to this day I still think it's a good film. I guess it is my guiltiest pleasure of all.

3. James Franco is a good actor, but for some reason, I don't like him as a person. He annoys me so much! 

James Franco everybody...

4. The only film I've ever walked out on was "Paul Blart: Mall Cop." I found it so unfunny that it aggravated me. It was my 14th birthday too. There's only so much "fat guy gets hurt" humour I can take, until it becomes as irritating as the sound of nails scraping a chalkboard.

5. I think Studio Ghibli is a vastly superior animation company to Disney, because of their quality of stories, scores, and even animation. Few Disney films stand up with the best of Ghibli.

A collection of some of the works from Studio Ghibli.

6. Two directors are notorious for their disturbing actions in the past. Woody Allen, and Roman Polanski. I tend to hold the viewpoint that "talent is talent," and these men have talent. I don't agree with their actions... but I love their films. 

7. The first gay film I ever saw was an Aussie film called "The Sum of Us," starring Russell Crowe. I was 6 years old, and it was my first time seeing two men kiss. I can't even describe just how obsessed I was with that film. It was an important part of my life.

Russell Crowe and Jack Thompson in "The Sum of Us." Love these Aussie legends <3

8. Glenn Close is in my opinion the most underrated actress of all time. As much as I adore actresses like Bette Davis and Meryl Streep, I feel Close deserves just as much praise. 

9. The score to the film "Monster" (2003), by Brian Transeau  is one of the most moving pieces of music I've ever heard. No other score captures the feelings of heart-ache and depression quite like this underrated masterpiece. 

Theron's performance, and Transeau's score, moved me to tears. Such a powerful, underrated film.
Listen to the score in the video below:

10. The film "United 93" devastated me to the point where my hands were shaking, and I couldn't even talk because I was so overcome with emotion.

I wasn't aware of what would happen at the end of United 93. I've never been so affected by a film in my life.

There you go guys. These are just some random facts about myself. I will try to do this at least once a month, so you can get to know me more as I review films. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think!

Divergent (2014) - ★★★½

Director: Neil Burger
Writers: Evan Daugherty, Vanessa Taylor (Screenplay), Veronica Roth (Novel)
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet

I've seen so many YA (young-adult) films in the past 6 years, that they're all starting to blend in together and fade out of my memory. I disliked almost every modern YA movie I've seen during this period of time, because they're more silly than entertaining, they're poorly acted, poorly written, poorly produced, and quite frankly, poor excuses for films. While there are a few exceptions, like The Hunger Games (2012), this whole genre, whether they be book or film, stinks to high heaven with a lack of originality.

Divergent is a silly film.  Yet, I find its characters are interesting, the cast is brilliant, the soundtrack is unique, the set-production/cinematography is good, and most importantly, it's consistently entertaining. These critiques alone make Divergent stand as one of the best YA films made in recent years.