You may be wondering why the red suit? Well, that's so bad guys don't see me bleed.

Where do I begin? Directed by Tim Miller, Deadpool is a horribly violent and strikingly self-aware, antihero Marvel movie. But by far, the funniest Ryan Reynolds film we’ve had in quite some time! Due to its recent achievement as the most successful R-rated movie ever released, it’s no surprise the sequel has already been announced.

The mocking tone is set by the opening credits, where the list of stereotypes and clichés the film intends to portray are there for all to see, including ‘the hot chick’ and the mandatory ‘British villain’. This scene also prefigures the overall storytelling style as choppy, fast-paced and episodic, with frequent flashbacks and breaking of the fourth wall.

Once the vicious, cartoonish opening is over we are thrown into love-story territory, as we are cast back in time to where Wade Wilson had not yet transformed into Deadpool by squeezing his body into a tight, red latex suit. He meets and falls in love with Vanessa Carlysle (Morena Baccarin), a beautiful badass who comes from an even more deprived background than himself and could outdo him when it came to one-liners.

From there, Deadpool’s plot is very simple. After learning he has terminal cancer, former special forces agent Wade Wilson decides to participate in a top-secret experiment run by that British villain, Ajax (Ed Skrein). The rogue trial leaves him heavily disfigured, but with accelerated healing abilities and so he tries to hunt down the man that done this to him. Of course, with the romance element included here, there and in between.

While many Marvel movies are made for ever-growing budgets, significant storylines, hugely overblown special effects and in-your-face action, Deadpool is a very modest entry in comparison. The driving force is the dry humour and relentless sarcasm of the hero himself. However, by Deadpool’s own admission he is no hero at all. Deadpool is effectively the unreliable black sheep of the X-Men family. At points he challenges the audience to guess "whose balls" he had to "fondle" to get his own movie. His humour may be self-critical but that doesn't stop him taking sideswipes at other targets, including Beckham, for his squeaky, not so manly voice.

Deadpool’s script spent about five years on the shelf waiting to be picked up and made, and after watching the finished package it is hard to understand why its potential wasn’t exploited sooner. The movie will endear a whole new audience to the sarcastically odd character, while once again demonstrating the vast opportunity for variety in the comic book genre. “Worth the wait” only just begins to describe the outrageous and exceptionally entertaining film. There are definitely incredible things in store for the character's future. So yes, go watch it if you a little bit of childish humour and plenty of sarcasm. 

You're welcome!

I've decided this review is going to have a different tone than usual because, hey, this isn't the kind of film I normally write about. Right from the start though I want you to know, I love this film!

Let's put aside the obvious for now. Yes, I get that this movie is about male strippers or 'male entertainers' but ultimately this is a group of muscly men who are on a road trip to Myrtle Beach for their last hurrah. That's it, that's the storyline. Of course it could have a bit more of a storyline but it doesn't. Is there anything wrong with that? Not at all. Despite that, it still very clever knowing that its audience are intelligent and not just airheads, rewarding them with witty one-liners and even deep conversations.

There are large dissimilarities with Magic Mike XXL, and in my opinion its much inferior younger brother, Magic Mike. Firstly, XXL's a lot more fun and funny, making it more like a comedy unlike the first one, which was a bit confused as to what it wanted to be. There were too many plot elements in Magic Mike and there was quite a dark undertone with all the drug use and debt. XXL is the film I wanted the first one to be, but alas it was not.

The dance scenes are equally as good, if not better overall (the only exception being the infamous 'Pony' scene) and there were more of them. It is cheesy how Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) gets back into the game but what a fitting way for him to do it. Mike's in his furniture-design workshop in a welding mask when suddenly Ginuwine's Pony comes on the radio. He stops and pauses with his face obscured, gives a reminiscent shake of the head and then takes off the mask to reveal a cheeky grin as if to say "Are you kidding me?" He then busts out into dance and begins grinding and drilling (with a handheld drill) simultaneously. There are too many for me to go into detail about but you get the idea.

The reason I loved it so much though was because of its ideology. Hear me out, I know I said this wasn't going to be like my other reviews and it isn't, but for once this isn't a film focusing on the male gaze and how a male audience should react! It's no surprise that a high percentage of adult females make up the overall viewing number, arguably it has targeted a population of cinema goers that has very often been forgotten about and ignored. Surely that is something extraordinary! Instead of being made fun of and/or being the butt of the joke (apparent in the first film) women of all sizes, ages and races are quite literally worshipped but also celebrated. Jada Pinkett Smith's character Rome is the boys' MC at the convention and she refers to all women as "Queens" who should be reminded how beautiful they are by their 'Kings'. I find it refreshing and much more enjoyable than the first because of all these subtle elements.

Should you watch it? To help you make your mind up here are the words of director, Gregory Jacobs: "We always felt that we were making the movie we wanted to make and the story we wanted to see. Any of my male friends who see these movies, especially the sequel, they think its like a bromance. They'll say, 'I didn't expect to like this movie...' They are put off by the male stripper thing, of course..." Men and women in fact, be open-minded and see it, it honestly has some hilarious scenes that will have you stitches, including the wonderfully brilliant convenient store scene!

"Welcome to the end of the world"

An encounter in a Long Island diner is all it takes to spiral these two families into a world of hurt, pain and betrayal. Yet all is not as obvious as it seems and by the end of The Affair it will have you wanting more.

This US production stars two British leads - Dominic West and Ruth Wilson - and has bagged itself two Golden Globes including Best Drama, pipping Game of Thrones to the post. What makes this series so good, I hear you ask? Well, let's start with the characters.

Noah (Dominic) has it all on paper. He is married to Helen (Maura Tierney) his college sweetheart, they have four beautiful kids, and live in an exquisite New York home. Albeit, with the help of his wealthy father-in-law who he would rather not rely on but is able to teach and more recently write novels, which is what he has always aspired to do. However, when he meets a waitress in a yellow dress (Ruth) during a journey to stay with the in-laws in he makes a 'mistake' that will cost him everything and more. 

Likewise, Alison (Ruth) is a married woman stuck in an unhappy relationship with Cole (Joshua Jackson) her young love, and is dealing with the grief of losing a child. Something the couple cannot seem to recover from, as the weight continues to crush down on not just her shoulders but her entire soul. This all appears quite cliché at the moment. They meet, fall in love, leave their other halves and everything is dandy. Except that isn't how it goes.

Each episode is split into two parts. The audience are shown a series of events from both Noah and Alison's point of view and how they recall them to a detective. I won't quite spoil why this is (even though it's revealed in the second episode). It is intriguing to see all the subtle differences and the major ones, such as who approached who? The differences are even visible in the clothing worn by the characters in each account. 

Like in everything, there are always three sides to a story - one person's side, the other person's side and the truth - it's getting to the truth that's the difficult job. Reminiscent of Gone Girl in many ways, the audience are left not knowing who to root for. Between you and me, I was unable to like any of the characters. I didn't feel sorry for Alison know matter how hard the writers/directors threw a heap load of excuses and sob stories down my throat. Despite this, I still wanted to watch it. It may have been nice to have had a special one-off episode dedicated to the thoughts and actions of Cole and Helen as a result of the affair, but I suppose we can't have it all.                                                              

And of course, there is a lot of sex - both awkward and uncomfortable. It's a grown-up drama that comes with grown-up sex, not the polished, perfect, hopeful bate for adolescent fantasies you find in Game of Thrones. 

As always, the bottom line is should you watch it? If you're looking for something a bit different with plenty of backstory, mystery, and has you filling in the blanks then this is for you.

Real affairs can fizzle out quite abruptly but this one keeps you coming back for more.

Catch The Affair on Sky Atlantic at 9pm.

“If it’s in a word, or it’s in a look, you can’t get rid of the Babadook”

Every now and again a horror movie comes along that truly makes you believe the era of 'torture porn' has come to an end. Thankfully, The Babadook is one of those films that restores faith in the horror genre.

This is Australian, writer-director Jennifer Kent's first feature length film, which is hard to believe as she appears to have a fantastic skill of understanding the film language by creating and building tension and fabricating complex characters, far beyond the standard you expect from a first-timer.  

Amelia (Essie Davis) is a struggling widow trying to raise her 6-year-old son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman) alone. She is traumatised and haunted by memories of her husband's death in a car crash en route to the maternity ward prior to Sam's birth. His mother isn't the only one battling demons of her own, as too is Sam. His imagination is getting the better of him as he becomes obsessed by the spectral monsters lurking in the shadows and so builds a series of homemade weapons to destroy them.

 

Samuel discovers an odd book entitled The Babadook that has apparently appeared out of nowhere on  his shelf. Amelia begins reading it aloud but realises all too late that this isn't a child friendly book and before she knows it they are being haunted by the eerily strange creature, Mister Babadook.

The themes present in the film are elaborate and intricate. And believe you me there is much more than meets the eye as this is not your typical ghostly, paranormal tale.

As I do not want to give too much away I will keep this review short and sweet and let you experience the film without any spoilers.

The dark fairytale feel helps to create plenty of tension and a few scares here and there. Thankfully, there aren't any jump-scares for those of you with a nervous disposition. If you fancy watching a horror film with a thought provoking outcome, then this is for you. If you want gore, masked murderers and teenagers with below average intelligence running into trouble then you may want to rethink.

A matter of wife and death

After taking an unnecessary stab at recreating the Swedish hit The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and it falling a bit short thematically, David Fincher returns with a grippingly destructive adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel - Gone Girl.

It all 'begins' on the day of bar owner Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and his wife, Amy's (Rosamund Pike) fifth wedding anniversary; where as per usual Amy had left a series of clues for Nick to find but this time it is shudderingly different. Nick finds his Missouri home violated; the front door wide open; a glass table smashed and his wife missing. Upon arriving at the scene, detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) spots specs of blood and other suspicious findings and senses that all is not as it seems. 

After discovering evidence of financial struggles and domestic altercations the finger is quickly pointed towards Nick, whose actions and emotions are deemed suspicious by the ever-judging, ever-growing press. The audience sees Nick explaining his side of the story, trying to persuade the police of his innocence but they aren't buying it. Amy's account is told through extracts of her incriminating diary, flashbacks and voiceovers, which reveals an alternative view of their apparently idyllic marriage. 

Just like in The Game, the main characters adopt and project different personas, while their true selves are hidden underneath layers of deceit. Everything is a performance. They are editing and rewriting themselves for the public – and for one another.

Affleck and Pike are cleverly cast, with their contrasting styles complimenting their characters' mismatched marriage. Affleck gives a very natural performance, he is confident but not cocky and charming, yet conveys a sly sense of concealment. Pike portrays a woman with such depth and complexity as if it is almost second nature to her. Margo, Nick's twin sister (Carrie Coon) brings elements of light relief with her blunt humour and comedic timing.

At 149 minutes long, the film never drags nor does the mood drop. Mystifying, unpredictable and tantalisingly dark, should you watch it? Only if you don't mind being bamboozled by the end of it. The film asks how well did Nick know his wife? But in reality it is really asking the audience how much do they know about their partners? It's a scary thought.

Sorry I've been absent for so long... and an announcement

Hi all,

I know I've been away from my blog for an extremely long time and for this I am sorry. However, a number of things were happening in my life some good and some not so good but this is my pledge to get back into writing my reviews. 

I know I said the next review would be on 22 Jump Street but there has been a change to the plan. Unfortunately, I have not seen 22 Jump Street recently enough for me to write an accurate, informative review for you lovely folks. I did watch David Fincher's Gone Girl yesterday afternoon when I had a few hours to spare, so thought I would give you my take on that. 

Finally, as cosmetics and beauty products make up as much of my life as Film/TV shows, I thought I would start up a new blog in which I introduce you to products, either new or old and review them. For those of you that follow my Instagram page (http://instagram.com/naz2411/) you have already seen me post some pictures of some exciting products I have used, including my precious Naked 3 palette, but I want to bring those products to life by reviewing them in detail.

So there you have it, a new blog and new posts for this blog to look forward to! As always don't be afraid to post your opinions and comments as all are welcome.

University has come to an end!

I have well and truly neglected my blog for the past couple of months, hell, the last year but now that my time at uni is over with I'm hoping to get the reviews flowing again. Firstly though, I have some exciting news to share with you all!

Two months ago I handed my dissertation in (for those interested it was on whether science news is misrepresented in British tabloid newspapers), which was the single most difficult task of my life so far. Not knowing if I was writing it up correctly, worrying about not making it to 10,000 words, then going over the word count and having to cut out irrelevant rambling; these are just a few of the problems anyone who has written/going to write a dissertation will encounter.

The amount of work and effort I put in and not knowing whether it was complete rubbish or not until results were released earlier this week was extremely painful, as with all the other assignments I was yet to learn the outcomes for.

But without further ado, I am completely delighted to announce that I will be graduating on the 17 July with a FIRST CLASS HONOURS DEGREE IN JOURNALISM! Words really cannot express how amazing it felt to find out that I did exactly what I needed to do to get the First, which was to get a First in every one of my modules during this last year.

Although I am looking for jobs/internships in Journalism, I am also thinking about joining the Metropolitan Police and have an assessment day on the Tuesday before my graduation, so as you can imagine I'm still a little nervous.

In terms of the whole university experience I wouldn't change any of it. It enabled me to learn the basics of life, including how to deal with the stresses of bills and landlords. I also met my partner of nearly three years there, and have achieved more than I could have ever imagined.

Anyway, that's enough from me for one post. Keep an eye out for the next review on 22 Jump Street!