OJ's BIT Review - 2001: A Space Odyssey

I can't even.

Sometimes there are films made where it splits it's audience into two categories: those who get the film, it's ideas and everything about it; and those who don't get it at all and view it in quite a negative light. This is one of those films.
   I can guarantee that this film is unlike anything you've ever seen in your life; it is a unique piece of cinema and an outstanding historical achievement of the film industry. But goodness me, this isn't for everyone. The plot is anyone's guess but it's set in space. The thing is the cinematography is so unique and amazing, especially for the 60's, you can see that it has obviously influenced films from then on even to today. The problem is though, it's just so boring! The majority of the film is made up of very long, extended shots of space, or the ship, or travelling through another dimension with these epic pieces of music behind it. If your into classical music, or that genre of the arts then this is amazing. But for the majority then this is a very slow, long and uninteresting 160 minutes of your life.
   The only positives I have to say is that the H.A.L. 9000 computer is the best part and the special effects are pretty good even now. In the end I'm not surprised that 241 people left in the middle of the premier but glad it exists because it's inspired so many of the biggest blockbusters that we've come to know and love.

3/10

OJ's Movie Review - The Maze Runner

A young adult novel being adapted to film? Never had one of those before...

  So yes, The Maze Runner is the latest in a genre that tries, and sometimes succeeds, to get teenagers to give their cash. I've watched trailers for them over the years but then I learnt about this film and it actually sounded interesting; I haven't read the book so this review is going off just what I saw in the movie.
   To start off, the storyline, it's about a guy who finds himself in a large field surrounded by a giant maze, and he's not the first to appear there, there is a whole community that has been built by these young adults who have also had their memories wiped and are in this field. This film certainly gave you the feeling of isolation, the CGI was pretty good for the most part so the walls and the maze looked awesome, the plot had few good twists, although maybe some were a little predictable, and for at least the first two acts it was a solid movie, it had tense chase scenes, strong characters and I enjoyed it. Some of the dialogue was a little hard to swallow, nobody could seem to answer questions straight forward, it was always a vague command or statement.
    Of course there has to be a resolution to all this and that becomes the last 20 minutes or so. Without going into spoilers, I was a little surprised how after the revelation the entire tone of the movie changed; some people are going to hate it, I'm on the fence currently but it just seemed odd; especially the fact that they were almost to the point of looking at the audience and saying "Please let there be a sequel!". Apart from that though I enjoyed The Maze Runner's mystery and thrilling dark moments and the I couldn't really fault the special effects so from me, this movie gets:

6/10

OJ's Book Review - Exposure

Let's expose my thoughts on this novel.

So Exposure is the 4th book in a series of young adult novels written by Kathy Reichs. If you've read the previous one, Code, then you'll know it had an awesome climax involving a serial killer, the beginning of this book carries that on a bit showing the court case and after effects which to me was a mistake, it would be very confusing for new-commers and to be honest I couldn't remember the finer details of the last few pages of Code so a few references went over my head.
     After that is all over with we get into the plot. The main focus in Exposure is basically a kidnapping; the Virals also start having problems with their powers but that's secondary to the criminal investigation they've decided to take upon themselves. The book flowed mostly smoothly with just a few plot pauses here and there but the tension at the end kept the book glued to my hands. There were also a few humorous points and some cool references to pop culture and the like.
     The only major thing I can criticize about it is that it feels like it went really mild in terms of story. The first book was great with the characters learning their powers and that, the second had a big treasure-hunt adventure and the third involved geocaching, a hurricane and a sweet twist near the end but Exposure didn't really feel amazing, it felt very average. Even their powers took a break a lot of the time because of {spoilers}. In the end it was a good read but inferior to the previous three.

6/10