Insurgent (2015)

Review Insurgent

If there is one genre which has grown a lot in the last couple of years it is the “young adult” one and more specific the movies which are set against a future society where there (usually) is one special person who is the key to solving a huge problem within that society. The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner are examples of it and so is Insurgent.

In the first movie the viewer was introduced to the world of Tris (Shailene Woodley), in which order was kept by placing people in specific factions based on their character. Tris turned out to be someone who didn’t fit to one of the faction and ended up facing the political leader, having to fight her. It was an enjoyable movie which nicely set up the world. With the world building done in the first movie, it was a question what would be done with it in this second film. Continue reading

White Bird in a Blizzard (2014)

Review White Bird in a Blizzard

The most important thing a movie has to strive for probably is involvement. If a viewer doesn’t feel involved in what is happening to the characters, they probably won’t enjoy your film.
There are several ways to create that involvement: strong, deep characters, shocking events that grab you or by creating a believable world. Unfortunately White Bird in a Blizzard does not manage to do any of these, despite the fact that the mother of the main character suddenly vanishes. Continue reading

The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

Review The Fault in Our Stars

It is funny to see how a poster and a hype around a movie can influence your expectations. With this movie, based on a popular book, it was immediately clear to me that the target group for this one was teenage girls. I have seen various other movies of this type appear (Twilight, City of Bones, Beautiful Creatures (skipped all of them)), so I was not really jumping for joy to watch this one. My expectation was a predictable movie filled with clichés. But after hearing a lot of very positive things about it I got curious about the quality of the film. Continue reading

The Many Faces of… Shailene Woodley

Shailene Woodley

Shailene Woodley was born November 15, 1991 in Simi Valley, California. She started modeling when she was just four years old. When she was 15 she was diagnosed with a condition in which her spine turned out not to be straight. A chest-to-hips plastic brace straightened it. She did some small roles in TV series and TV movies. She had a bigger role in the show The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Her first big movie was The Descendants, which meant a breakthrough for her. Other movies include The Spectacular Now, Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars. Continue reading