He Named Me Malala Review

Eleven weeks ago I read a story that resonated somewhere deep within me. This story was one of a girl. A girl named Malala. You have probably heard of her, as I thought I did, but, as I came to realise, I only began to understand her truly when I read her book; received her message; connected with her words, thoughts and ideas.

I started and finished 'I Am Malala' in one day. This quote was one of the many which I connected to so deeply. 

I am in absolute awe at Malala's spirit, wisdom and unwavering faith in the universe As I often find myself saying, and know to be true on all levels, it does not matter whether you are living in a country where there are frequent terrorist attacks. It is only the feeling of vulnerability that ever puts you into a vibrational harmony with that which you fear. I know Malala understood this concept deeply and applied it to her own life. That is why she was never afraid - and so when death and her seemed to come close, death did not want her. God is kind. All is well. We are one. Let the powerful force of something bigger and stronger than us dwell inside you.

The above review-of-sorts probably won't make much sense if you aren't familiar with Malala's story, but I am happy to announce that it has been turned into a film and 'He Named Me Malala' will be broadcast globally on Monday 29th February at 8pm EST / 7pm CST!

HE NAMED ME MALALA is an intimate portrait of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The then 15-year-old was singled out, along with her father, for advocating for girls’ education, and the attack on her sparked an outcry from supporters around the world. She miraculously survived and is now a leading campaigner for girls’ education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund.

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman) shows us how Malala, her father Zia and her family are committed to fighting for education for all girls worldwide. The film gives us an inside glimpse into this extraordinary young girl’s life – from her close relationship with her father who inspired her love for education, to her impassioned speeches at the UN, to her everyday life with her parents and brothers.

I absolutely loved the book and am super excited for the film's broadcast on television to spread Malala's message even further across the globe! Don't forget to like He Named Me Malala's page to keep up with the latest news.

Will you be watching Malala's new film?

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This is a sponsored post on behalf of Review Wire Media for 20th Century Fox. I received information to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.

Six New Movies I Want To Watch

Snuggling season is finally here and it's the perfect time to binge-watch all those movies you've been meaning to go see for ages. I don't know whether it's just because my attention is focused upon it, but there seems to be some great films in the cinema right now and some fab upcoming releases in the next few months too. I've compiled a list of my top six films I want to watch in the near-future - so be sure to comment below if you've seen any of them yet!

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1. Inside Out

I don't usually like Disney movies but Inside Out really appealed to me as I like the idea of having cute little creatures running around inside your mind managing your emotions. It just seems to be something which is light-hearted yet quite profound when you think about it. I actually got halfway through watching this movie when my laptop decided to break on me so I'm still waiting to see how it finishes!

2. Macbeth

Anyone who knows me will be aware that I absolutely love Shakespeare plays - particularly Macbeth. I could probably quote the entire thing word for word which is pretty useful considering I'm studying it in sixth form this year for the third time in total! One of my teachers has been to see it and told me that it was the first film adaptation to make her feel an ounce of sympathy for Lady Macbeth, which is really interesting as it's always great to see different interpretations of famous stories.

3. Pan

I'm not going to lie. The only reason I want to see this is because Cara Delevingne is in it...

4. The Intern

Any movie about interning for an online fashion site is going to be on my must-watch list - regardless of if it focuses on a 70 year-old man! The trailer for this film also looked really funny so that's a plus.

5. Ed Sheeran - Jumpers for Goalposts

I adore Ed Sheeran and his music - he's one of the few male celebrities, let alone singers, I actually like. I think his concert film would be really interesting and I'd love to see behind-the-scenes of how he writes his songs but I can't say I'm ecstatic about the running time of 180 minutes.

6. Trainwreck

I'm still undecided about whether I like Amy Schumer. I feel like her comedy is a real hit-or-miss with me. However, this film does look like the type I'd usually watch - especially as I loved Bridesmaids!

What movies are on your must-watch list? Do you agree with my picks?
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Paper Towns Movie Review

Yesterday I popped off to the cinema all on my lonesome to watch the advance screening of Paper Towns which also had exclusive Q&A footage shown with it. I'd been sent a pair of guest tickets by Odeon months ago and have been saving it for this very moment! I did enjoy the film so this post will probably be me rambling on in a nonsensical way but if you happen to make sense of my views, then that's a bonus! Despite Cara Delevingne's awkward interview this week, the cinema was quite full and I do predict big things for this movie.

Let's get things straight first - I absolutely detest everything to do with The Fault In Our Stars (both book and movie) for very good reasons and I still do. Nothing will magically change that and I am still not a John Green fan but do feel that Paper Towns has a very different ideology. I had read the book before but I will be honest and say that I didn't really 'get' it at the time (however I understand the true message now) so the only reason I was so excited for the film was purely because Cara was cast as the female protagonist. I will admit that -  and honestly, I really do think she held the film together. As someone who always appears so quirky and fearless, I feel like the role was suited so perfectly to her and I saw no problems with her acting either; considering she has such a distinct British accent, she does well to disguise it. Sure she might just seem like she's playing herself at times and there is no real challenging drama on her behalf but it's important to remember that we're seeing her through the eyes of Q the entire time - someone who has idolised her for years and really knows nothing about her life. She does appear like a 'paper girl', as Margo says herself in the film - but it's because that's how our male protagonist has fictionalised her to be thus how she's been constructed for us to see. As the audience/reader, we are constantly looking through the lens of Q and don't ever get to see the 'real' Margo. Perhaps the reason why the film ends with 'But that's Margo's story to tell' is because there's the chance of an upcoming sequel happening which will finally give us an insight into her true character. However, in this film she is intentionally portrayed as a mystery and Delevingne excels in conveying that. I absolutely love Margo's character and I think that's because I share the same values as her. She thinks it's the saddest thing in the world when Q thinks he'll finally be happy when he's 30 and married with kids - and so do I. Why not just be happy now? Margo is spontaneous and nonconforming to society - a lot of people say that she's an dislikeable character, but I personally thought she was great. Yes, not perfect (but that's the point!).

Moving on to the actual message of the film, I think it's a great one. Paper Towns is a story of 'what a treacherous thing [it is] to believe that a person is more than a person.' It's almost a cautionary tale of why we should never romanticise or idolise other human beings and create expectations of them in our heads. We will never know what it's like to see the world through anybody else's world's so we need to be aware that everything we see and discern is just our perception. Q is a teenager who has been obsessively in love with a girl called Margo ever since they were young - and I mean like super obsessive - he even calls her his miracle. However, the problem is that he doesn't actually know her. The  'myth of Margo Roth Spiegelman' is the hot topic of the school and there's a different rumour each day about what cool things she gets up to on her adventures. These versions of Margo that everybody sees and the one that Q falls in love with are entirely fictional. [SPOILER ALERT] When she runs away he believes all the clues that she leaves indicates that she wants him to come and find her, when really he couldn't be more wrong. I don't want to give too much away, but at the end I feel like Q did learn the ultimate lesson - that you can't live your entire life chasing a person who doesn't need you and expecting people to be anything but themselves. Not everybody who goes missing is lost and waiting to be found. Nobody is perfect and it's a bad idea to idolise the fictitious versions of other people that we create in our minds.

I'm pretty much rambling here but it's hard to explain unless you've read the book. I definitely feel like I wouldn't have enjoyed the film as much if I hadn't read it beforehand as the movie isn't as ambiguous. It's almost like a simplified version of events. If like me, you had so many questions left unanswered after reading the book (and hated having them) then I'd suggest you watch the film as it leaves out most of the 'deep' parts which make you second-guess yourself trying to find meanings in things. However, if you liked the depth of the book and the mystery of it then you might be a little annoyed at how dumbed-down the film is. Much of the heavy-symbolism and metaphors are left out. One of my favourite things about the film is the title. Margo refers to the town she lives in as a 'paper town full of paper people' - nobody cares about anything that's important. It's all flimsy and fake, not even hard enough to be made of plastic. This is partly the reason why she hates it so much. The second meaning of paper towns refers to entirely fictitious places put on maps by cartographers so that they could tell if someone illegally made a copy. This meaning is also important as I feel like it reflects the image Q had of Margo - the idolised view of her was entirely made up in his head but it seemed so real to him that he convinced himself it was true. I also like this one as these fake towns were essentially 'traps' and that links to when Margo writes 'You will go to the paper towns and you will never come back.' which I took as her meaning that all these people who conform to society and live their 'normal' lives have been tricked into thinking that's the only way to be happy. There are so many different meanings but it all fits together so perfectly when you watch it.

Overall, I feel like the true message of this film will be overlooked or missed by so many. They will probably see it as John Green advocating the idea of a teenage guy objectifying a girl and perpetuating the 'manic pixie dream girl' stereotype but I feel like he's actually criticising and making fun of that very notion. We're told the story from Q's viewpoint but ultimately he is proved wrong. I feel like Margo definitely comes out the winner in this story (in fact, she does that all the way through) and John Green is actually not-so-secretly making fun of how ridiculous teenage boys are. The entire film proves a point about how dangerous it is to objectify and idolise people by doing that very thing and having the characters learn from it.

Of course, this is just my opinion and I welcome everyone to discuss their own interpretations below! This is just the interpretation of the book that I feel the movie represents the most.

Have you seen Paper Towns? Let me know what you thought of it!

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The Inbetweeners 2 Film Review

The Inbetweeners has always been one of my favourite TV shows ever – I feel like it depicts typical British teenage boys in a nutshell and I can never truly pick a favourite character (although I do really like Will aka Simon Bird) as they’re just all so good. I’ve been counting down the days until the release of the second movie ever since it was announced MONTHS ago, and I was super excited to finally go and see it on Tuesday night at my local ODEON cinema!