Maggie film review

So I went to book tickets to see Pixar’s new film yesterday and while looking for times I noticed a film called Maggie.

It is staring Arnold Schwarzenegger, being a big Schwarzenegger fan I did a little squee of excitement and watched a trailer. The trailer didn’t show a traditional Schwarzenegger film; instead it seemed like a heart-breaking thought provoking film. I was surprised this had slipped my to watch list, and more to my surprise it was showing for less than a week. So I booked tickets to see it that evening!

I am so glad I did.

To sum up the overall story line there is a Zombie virus that has swept through the world killing crops and infecting people. We join the story as the virus has been brought somewhat under control by quarantining people away from the general population. Unlike the walking dead and other zombie related films that almost see you turn into a zombie instantly, Maggie shows what happens when it takes around 6-8 weeks for the virus to take a hold of person.

Schwarzenegger’s character (Wade Vogel) is the father of a girl called Maggie Vogel (played by Abigail Breslin) whose mother has passed away years before. They now live with his new wife and 2 children who go to stay with family so the focus is on the father daughter relationship throughout the film.

The film starts with Maggie running away and Wade finds her in hospital with a bite wound. Fearing losing his daughter to government quarantine, he takes her home to spend whatever time she has left, together.

It’s heart-breaking watching the deterioration of a young girl’s health and watching a father deal with this, knowing he will eventually lose her to the virus. There are hard decisions to be made and although it is a fictional virus, you can’t help but feel the pain for family’s suffering with terminal illnesses of loved ones.  

Arnold Schwarzenegger is great in this too. This is a completely different role for him, usually his presence is well known and takes over the film, and when fighting robots or defending mankind that works well. He plays a heart-broken father exceptionally well, portraying such love for his daughter in a  subtle way that never once over powers the film
 

This allows Abigail Breslin's character to the main focus of the film. She also plays her character exceptionally well.. An angsty teen who shows a great love for her family and friends. She portrays a cool character but you see her weaken as the film goes on and moments of pure fear and regret are shown. 

Overall I really enjoyed this film and I think it is highly under advertised and underrated. The pace of the film is slow but steady all the way through but at no point does it feel like it is dragging or boring. It is a bit gory at times, but no unnecessarily so. Unlike a lot of zombie apocalypse films this has a feeling of reality attached to it, if there were such a virus I believe that is how the world would end up being.  

Heck I went ahead and gave it 5 stars out of 5 because for me it didn't let me down at all. It is a film that will pull at your heart strings while getting to watch a Zombie movie. Although it is a low budget indie film, the quality of the story telling and acting shows that you don’t need big money and big booms to make an amazing film! 

I would highly recommend this!

Read this review as well as others over at Film Review UK

Oh weekends you go too quickly!

So last week was a really busy one for me. I had gym Monday as usual, then friends round Tuesday then I did my Pilates class and the gym on Wednesday (which kinda killed me a bit) and then I went out with Lisa on Thursday night to see an artist called Beans on Toast and then Matt and I had a great day out Saturday and a really chilled out Sunday.

I'll start with Saturday as I had such a good day! I woke up about 10:30am and we had a plan to go to Brighton (weather depending) and do some shopping, go to the pier, have dinner and see a film. Matt kindly got us a subway breakfast and I got ready and we headed off to Brighton. We go down there about 1ish I think and hit the shops…

I just wanted to have a good shop and day out as I haven’t been able to for months possibly even a year really… I picked up two things I fell a bit in love with!

The first was this Sugarhill boutique dress. It had little birds on it and the back was so pretty!

And the second was a more considered spend (£56 in the sale reduced from £75) this Collectif leather jacket… it is just so beautiful. I have a leather jacket but I have never gotten along with it. I always felt it was too harsh on me and I don’t think it fitted that well. But this one was just perfection. Also when I was paying they said, 'you've spent over £30 so you get to pick a free pair of sun glasses' so I was all over that! Win win!

I was hoping to get a few bits shopping, but ended up with just a dress and a jacket, but as the jacket was rather pricey that was ok!

I am still on the hunt for a summer skirt I really like, although summer seems like a wash out at the moment away so maybe I won’t need one haha!

We then headed down to the pier. Usually we spend a lot of time playing on grabbing machines, but as we threw out so many soft toys when we moved and I had to put loads back in my Dad’s loft we decided to give them a miss. The wind was pretty fierce but I have to say it was pretty warm and sunny all day and most importantly it stayed dry for us! I did flash my knickers completely when the wind got a hold of my skirt! Woops.!

I decided I would like to go down to the sea front for a bit so we went for a walk and there was a mini golf place, which was only £3 per person. I was pretty excited when Matt said he wanted to play as he usually doesn’t like things like that. I actually ended up having a fantastic time and I won wohoo! It may have only been by 1 point but I won!

We then went and sat on the beach for a little bit, but it was getting pretty nippy so we had a little cuddle took a few photos and headed to the car. 

After that, we headed to the Harvester and had a really lovely meal and went to see Ted 2 at Cineworld. I being a classy girl split BBQ sauce down my dress and in an attempt to get it off (I did succeed at that) made it looked like I had, had a HUGE accident all down the front my dress. Luckily being thin cotton it dried very quickly. 

Ted 2 was great as well. I may write a little review on that, I just wish the people behind us could of avoided kicking our chairs throughout the whole movie. Meh. Then we got home about 1-2am and crashed out in bed to wake up late Sunday and have an exceptionally chilled one!

Thursday before the weekend was another really good evening for me too! Beans on Toast was playing for the Ambition Festival that was held over the weekend just gone in Croydon, surprisingly for Croydon it all looked really good.

I was really looking forward to it as I haven’t had a night out in well too long and he was performing a few minute walk away from our offices. We headed to the pub after work and had some noodles and cider and then headed to another pub for some more cider and then headed to Mathew’s Yard where they were performing. I really enjoyed the support acts, especially the second one who was Glenn Hodge Banned, I’ve been listening to him on apple music the last few days!  

(Glenn Hodge Banned)

Beans on Toast came on about 9-9:30 I think and he was fantastic. He was really funny and witty and his music is great! I really really enjoyed the evening! I eventually got home about 11:30pm where I grabbed a naughty burger on my way back.  

 

(Beans on Toast)

Considering I don’t really drink I felt pretty alright on Friday (even though EVERYTHING hurt from my class and gym on Thursday)

I am pretty gutted as Lisa is leaving at the end of this week to go on to new adventures. I do hope we keep in touch, but work will not be the same without her!

I will end this entry with a few pretty pictures. 

While having a chilled Sunday and tidying up, I sorted my dresses out and I am surprised at the amount of beautiful patterns and dresses I have collected. They bring me mucho joy and happiness and they are just ALL SO PRETTY! I just wish I had more places to wear them!

I hope the week is good, and the weather improves!

(although I am happy to wear my jacket this morning ha)

London Film and Comic Con 2015 - Richard Dean Anderson!

So it is Monday and Comic Con is over and done with! I am feeling pretty meh about it. BOO.

Friday rolled around and Matt had been having tooth ache all week and it was getting worse. On Thursday night I was late to bed sitting up with him why he was in agony. We had booked an appointment for Friday, but he had been waiting over a year to have his wisdom tooth pulled out. Instead we waited and it would get real bad again and they would patch it up and it would get real bad again…. So I said to Matt let’s just pay private and get the damn thing out, even though it would have been a hefty £150. Eep.

So the plan was for him to go along, get it patched up and then book in for the following week to have the thing pulled. Didn't turn out like that they pulled it there and then and said if was easy they would only charge NHS price (£50) and if it went wrong it would be private price. THANK GOODNESS it came out in one and he paid NHS price and walked out 1 tooth less. Bit of a shock for both of us.

Anyhow onto the comic con things! So although I was relived Matt wouldn’t be in crippling stabbing pain from his tooth I was now worried he wouldn’t feel great having a big hole in his gum!

Friday I had lots to do… shower, get my outfit ready, get my food shopping and start the washing (boring flat owning stuff I now have to do…. But I ordered my shopping online and I am VERY happy with that!).

So I packed my bag….

I made sure to bring deodorant, lady items, money, sun glasses and normal glasses, sun cream, spare tights, tickets, photo holder and then in the morning I packed sammichs, oreos, big bottle of water and my fully charged camera and back up batteries for our phones.

The food shopping arrived by 10pm and I was in bed around 11pm but I won’t lie I didn’t sleep well, I was far too excited.

I had planned on getting up around 6-6:20am but got up at 6am, which I am pleased with as I ended up having less time than I had thought! I straightened my hair as the weather had been pretty temperamental Friday and my curls had ended up kind of huge and poofy! I did my make up and put on my dress, I chose to wear my hell bunny fox dress, Matt bought it for me in October and it was such a summer dress I just haven’t gotten around to wearing it!

I was very happy with it and felt very good in it and just before 7am we headed to McDonalds and got breakfast. I covered myself in napkins in fear I would spill it all down myself on my very pale dress and white cardigan.. I checked my watch and realised it was 7:07am and thought OOH GOD OUR TRAIN COMES IN 11 minutes so we had to hurry it along a bit and headed across the road to the train station.

We made it to the queue for just before 8am.. I was expecting to walk round to a different entrance but we ended up queuing where we queued in 2012 as the queue was pretty huge it went all the back along the building. It didn’t take long until it snaked back up along the other side of the street!

Time went pretty fast and the hour zoomed by and just after 9am the queue started to move quite quickly and we were in just before 9:30am! We looked around a little bit as it was still quite calm in there and we then headed to photo shoot area C to queue up for my photo.

We were going to go to the Doctor Who talk which was free and then do the photo later, but I’m glad I changed my mind and went to the photoshoot first as it ended up getting really manic for Richard Dean Anderson later in the day so I have read.

I queued up and I was batch 2 so I was called in… and I went through. He was just so amazing and smiley and happy…. He seemed like he genuinely wanted to be there and was enjoying himself. I said ‘Hi’ and he gave me a squeeze took a photo and the as I left he said, “you’re very pretty” with a big smile on his face…. I swooned and said THANK YOU and then kinda ran off to get my photo! I am SUPER happy with my photo too. I think it turned out really well! 

When then headed upstairs to the first talk which was Richard Dean Anderson. The queues to be honest were a mess. We realised we were in the wrong queue as we had batch 1, however it worked out and we got great seats. On the way up we realised quickly the place was filling up and getting up the stairs and through the crowds to the super stage was quite a battle.

Richard Dean Anderson came on and he was just amazing, I think it is probably my favourite talk I’ve ever been to. He was so down to earth and genuine. He seemed like it truly was enjoying being there and he was more eccentric than I imagined! He was just great! He told some funny back stage stories from Stargate and was just really well timed and funny!

He also had a huge range of facial expressions that just added to his charm! The 40minutes went WAY too fast and alas it came to an end.

There was half an hour before the Game of Thrones talk but we decided to go straight out and queue again, which was a huge mess again but we got good seats and waited for it to start.  I was a tad disappointed with this one. Charles Dance and Rose Lesile cancelled alas, so it started with just Carice van Houten and Daniel Portman however they were swiftly joined by Finn Jones and Keisha Castle-Hughes.. The talk was enjoyable, but Charles and Rose were the main reasons I booked the tickets alas….. They were funny and charming though and I enjoyed it!

It is great to hear that actually start filming season 6 today! However unsurprisingly couldn’t give any clues into the season!

We then came out and were pretty hungry as it was gone 1:30pm ( I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THE MORNING WENT) and found a quiet spot to sit on the floor and eat lunch. WRONG turned out it was quiet for like 1 minute and we had actually picked a bloody terrible space to stop. Oh well!

Prepacked lunch over we hit the stalls. This year it was over 2 floors. The amount and the quality of the stalls were in a different league this year! There was SO MUCH TO LOOK AT and so much to choose from.

(This guy was amazing, i believe he is called Spock Vegas and for a donation to a Epilepsy Foundation you could get a photo of him or a selfie and I couldn't say no!

 He didn't break character and sounded so much like the real Spock!)

(Just cause I love Arnie)

(My FAVOURITE cosplay of the weekend)

If you’ve read any of my other blog posts you will see I have spent the last 1-2 years paying of debt. All over years have been tight with money and guilt unusually stops me spending too much. This year though I decided to just get what I wanted and enjoy myself. Any money spent would be MY MONEY and I can do as I please with it!

And I did! I got less ‘bits’ this year. Usually I get some necklaces and accessories. Instead I got bigger pieces, including one very naughty buy!

• Star trek bow
• Wash and Zoe pop funks
• Baymax pop funko
• Lord of the rings ring
• Some art prints
• Brain slug hair thing
• And the big spend with the SDCC2013 exclusive Destructor and Gender Bender Futurama figure set… I just COULDN’T SAY NO! I would of regretted it if we hadn’t of gotten it! But it was rather a lot of money! I regret nothing!

We finished up about 5pm and Matt had been carrying my bags all day so my back wouldn’t hurt me (best boyfriend awards right there) and he wasn’t feeling 100% because of his tooth so we headed o a few last stalls and visited Jenna and Mike at Get Ready Retro to say farewell and at just gone 5:30pm we headed home. I was VERY RELUCTANT to go, although we had been in there for 8 hours I felt like it was only about half an hour and I had NO IDEA where the whole day had gone! I was still full of energy and didn’t want it to be over!

Once on the train home alas I did crash pretty hard and realised actually I was EXHAUSTED… we got in a ordered Pizza Hut and ate some and then fell asleep. I think we were in bed before 10pm which is unheard of for us! 

This year was much much bigger than any other year I have been! I had an absolute blast though and I am already excited for the Winter one. We usually go out for lunch and take lots of breaks outside but this year was so intense and being spread over 4 floors in total didn’t allow us any time to go outside! I am really glad we packed a lunch I will defiantly be doing that again next time we wouldn’t of had time to go out for lunch.

I always urge people to go to conventions, the atmosphere is great and being surrounded up like minded people is so much fun. It makes you feel comfortable and at home!

So now the post con blues are in full swing, and the next cool thing I have planned is the week I have booked off for my Birthday! But I shall go and wallow in self pity for the rest of the week wishing I could back! Haha!

I hope you all have a fabulous geeky week! 

1 Month into a different life!

WOWZA. It has been a whole 4 weeks since we moved in and exactly 1 month yesterday.

It was Saturday the 13^th and yesterday was Monday the 13^th; it was 4 weeks the Saturday just gone. So yeah that month went quickly, I’m not even sure where the heck it went! Comic is now a matter of days away and I am already planning for the autumn! Well kind of!

So I have scrapped my plan for 2015 to have a holiday. I know really I won’t have the money to save up for a holiday abroad comfortably in the next few months I am fed up of saving every penny I have and now I really don’t have to. I put all this effort into saving and being unhappy and now I achieved what I wanted and it was well worth it!

 However now I want to be able to spend my money (all be it sensibly) so I am going to book a week off for my birthday and have that as a holiday. I want to visit the Harry Potter studio tour again so I will book tickets for that and then I guess we

can just see where the week takes us. We did think of going away for a week, but it’s around £300 and the weather at that time of the year is really temperamental! Instead we will just see what the weather is like and play it day by day! Hopefully there will be some sunshine and a few trips to the beach and shopping.

The flat is really starting to feel like home now. I am starting to sleep well (I didn’t sleep great at first used to wake up very early), which on the downside means it is harder to get out of bed each morning! When I first moved I was happy to clean, I was cleaning up after myself straight away all the time that is slowly lacking haha! I thought it might, but I still enjoy tidying and cleaning to an extent as I feel very house proud which I haven’t had before! We had Matt’s Dad and Julie over on Wednesday and I cooked a big dinner for us all. The spaghetti went a little wrong, I cooked too much and also over cooked it slightly buy hey ho it tasted ok! That was nice, they were the first people to properly come over and visit over than my Mum and Dad. 

I am now counting down the days until Saturday and comic con time where I will get to meet SUCH A LEGEND and a bit of a hero to me Richard Dean Anderson!

I picked out this outfit!:

(Hell Bunny fox dress)

I got this dress back in October, it was on my birthday and me and Matt went shopping and Matt bought it for me! Alas as it was October it was far too summery a dress to wear in October so it has just sat in my wardrobe but will get its first outing this weekend!

I have already started planning the day!

• 6-6:15am get up!
• 6:50am – Leave the house and go get breakfast and McDonalds
• 7:18am – get train to London
• 8am – Arrive and join queue!

Then there is the Doctor who talk that is free I would like to attend, Richard Dean Anderson talk, Game of Throne talk and then Richard Dean Anderson photo!

I am really excited now… this year has been tough; we have had very few days out so this will be great fun! It’s the one big event I wait for every year!

Do you know what is really bad though! I am actually feeling autumn already…. The summer kind of breaks through here and then quickly vanishes even though 2 weeks ago was one of the hottest days on record. As much as I now enjoy the summer, autumn is my favourite month and I can’t wait for candles, coffees, Halloween, Christmas and jumpers. I can’t wait to experience this all in my flat, especially as we aren’t holidaying now! HOWEVER maybe if we could have a few months of warm dry weather first that would be lovely! Haha!

Well I hope the rest of the week goes quickly and I will report once Comic Con has been and gone and Con blues have set in!

Comic Con how I prepare!

So we are now into the count down for Comic Con. WAHEY! And this year is looking like it is going to be a corker! I am very excited. I alas have missed out on a chance to have a photo with Charles Dance, however I have booked my photo shoot with Richard Dean Anderson. I have also this week booked a Game of Throne talk and a Richard Dean Anderson talk! The Game of Thrones talk has a fab line up:

• Charles Dance
• Carice Van Houten
• Rose Leslie
• Daniel Portman

I think that is a fab line up and I can’t wait to go to it! I am slowly meeting the whole line up of SG1, I now only have Claudia Black to go until I have met all of them!

As this is my 5^th London Film and Comic, I thought I would write up a little what to expect and what I do to plan for Comic Con!

First of all get your tickets. I used to wait until a few weeks before booking my tickets so I could get all the things I wanted in one go and save on p&p. This year however tickets have been selling out so I would advise once someone is announced you want to see you book your ticket and entry ticket in one go! There seems to be a large number of people who booked photos and other tickets but waited to get entry tickets…. Then they sold out! So get your entry tickets as soon as you buy any other tickets.

You can’t really do much planning until a week or so before the event as they don’t announce talks or the schedule before then, but I would advise arranging and planning travel! This year I am pleased to say I will be traveling from my new flat which is around 4 minute walk from the station with a mccy d’s breakfast on the way.  So the plan is a mccy d’s breakfast and then hoping on the train. It works out considerably cheaper to get a return rather than a travel card so we will be doing that as we are always too tired to venture anywhere else in London. Be warned you will be KNACKERED afterwards!

Arrival time I would advise the earlier the better. Every year so far the queues have gotten bigger and bigger! I am hoping to get to Olympia for around 8:11am. The doors open at 9am so it is a little later than I would like to get there, but currently I don’t have ‘too’ much planned so that should be plenty of time. If you have LOADS to do and LOADS of plans then I would advise just getting there as soon as possible. I never have more than a few things booked so I'm not too fussed about getting in too early! But hopefully I will be in by 9:30am at the latest. This the new ticket system this year I think queuing times will be much less! I hope anyway!

When I get in I usually head straight for any tickets I want to buy or any free talks that require tickets. I usually have a plan for the day after the schedule is posted up! Makes the day easier and makes sure I can get to everything and everyone I want to go to! I also like to plans and make lists, but I would advise it if you do have a lot of people to meet!

As far as things to take, I also pick a nice dress and outfit as I always get photoshoots so obviously I want to be in a nice outfit! I usually prefer a backpack, it leaves my hands free and helps prevent my back hurting (I tend to get a bad back). My backpack is pretty small but enough room for the bits I need. I also take:

• Deodorant
• Water
• Make up
• Camera
• Phone
• Portable charger
• Cash, cash, cash!

Deodorant, because well I will warn you it is going to be RAMMED In there and you get very hot and I like to feel fresh when I meet any guests! Water because it is rammed and gets very hot! Make up to just make sure I haven't sweated half of it off my face before my photo! Camera and phone to document the day and keep in touch with the outside world, and if I get lost I can all my over half! And my phone never lasts all day so a portable charge works well too!

Cash is my next thing. Even if you don’t really plan on buying things still take some! The queues for the cash machines are INSANE and most stalls don’t accept cards… actually pretty much none do from previous experience! 

You will most likely get caught up with the excitement of the day and spend more than you planned so defiantly take some cash! I will most likely take £100+. I have no intention in spending that much, but I would rather have it than wish I had taken it out!

I would advise planning a spot of lunch too. Look up the area before you go and pick somewhere to eat. You will need to stop and eat at some point. I like to go out of the venue and sit down and rest, but you can just grab something and eat on the go or find a ‘quiet’ spot to eat!

I would mostly advise just enjoying yourself, try not to get too caught up in the planning and stress and just relax and see where the day takes you! It is an amazing atmosphere and everyone is lovely. You will see some amazing cosplay and art, and obviously see some of the stars you love in the flesh too! AND make sure you eat and drink enough cause SERIOUSLY it is a tiring day and if it's hot like it has been the last 2 years you will need all the liquids you can get!!

HOWEVER through all this excitement I will mention post con blues, they are just awful and hit you like a ton of bricks!

So the count down begins - 2 weeks this Saturday! I CANNOT WAIT!

Oh hey there summer!

So I have been in the flat for over two weeks now! I am very much enjoying it, even though I feel like I haven’t spent much time there with work! I did get to thoroughly enjoy it over the weekend though!

The summer is 110% here as well! The last few days have been soooo warm and today is meant to hit record temperatures. Luckily now I have a boost in confidence I am far more happy and comfortable about this! No more hiding and overheating in a hoody….. lovely flowy tops and skirts… however still it is exceptionally warm outside!

Last week it was hard to drag my ass back to work and then to the gym Monday too! It is a long drive now to the Gym but I’ve finished up there now and I’ve joined another gym much closer… a couple of minute drive rather than a 20 minute drive. Then Tuesday we went and saw The Terminator at the cinema. It was fab to see the old film the cinema I haven’t seen it in ages!

Wednesday I FINALLY got to relax and just watch back to back Orange is the New Black! (I have now finished this!) and Thursday back to the gym ugh! As you can see my week was busy, but this week I have no plans other the gym, just lots of relaxing and spending time in my flat. 

I have a bit of a wish list going on at the moment…

TopShop Sunglasses bag

Floozie Swimsuit - Debenhams

 Sandals - Asos

H! by Henry Holland top - Debenhams

I might have to treat myself to a few things... we shall see I guess!

I wanted to save for a holiday abroad so much! However I think I am just going to try and save and get some savings together and look at booking a holiday in January for early next year instead! I think it is better to have some savings and be comfortable than try and stretch my money to afford a holiday!

I think we may try and get away at some point this year. Perhaps to centre Parcs as we have always wanted to go there or maybe somewhere near the coast. But I guess we can see how money goes! My plan is to let things settle down for a couple of months and see where we are and how much extra money we will have each month! June was an exceptionally expensive month with moving and I spent more of my savings than I wanted to! But I have high hopes that we should be finically stable now and actually have extra money to enjoy which would make a change as we’ve spent the last few years struggling through. I still feel weird to think that I owe no money and its such a freeing feeling.

I also tried the train for the first time today. That was pretty good to be honest, the drive has varied between 40-60minutes and the last few days in the sun with broken air con has been quite uncomfortable. The walk took around 4 minutes to the station and there was no queue for the ticket machine so I got the earlier train. I arrived into Croydon at around 8:42 and it took about 13minutes to walk to work from there and may have been quicker had I not had to shuffle out the train station because of the crowds of people. It was considerably less stressful and more peaceful than driving. I just zoned out and enjoyed the train ride, and the air con was a bonus!

So I will try the train for the rest of the week! See how that goes and I will continue to enjoy my flat. Thursday we have an induction at the new gym but other than that I have no plans and I hope to enjoy the sunshine and my space!