White House Down

I'll start off by saying that Director Roland Emmerich is a genius! He's responsible for Independence day- which should be seen for the president's speech if nothing else, The Day After Tomorrow - incredible film and 2012- which somehow gets humour in an end of the world film and now with White House Down added to his resume he should get an award for disaster films with an uplifting ending. White House Down see's John Cale (Channing Tatum) on a tour of the White House with his young daughter, as a Capitol policeman he springs into action to save his child and protect the president (Jamie Foxx) from a heavily armed group of paramilitary invaders. Also starring James Woods, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke and Richard Jenkins. I wasn't that excited for this film and wasn't bothered if i saw it or not but luckily I did, despite the outrageous circumstances and the over the top-ness of it all, I found it to be quite an enjoyable movie, I think its safe to say that Tatum has redeemed himself after the catastrophe that was Magic Mike and Jamie Fox was incredible as usual but the real scene stealer was Joey King who plays Cale's daughter Emily, who was fearless and incredibly brave when people twice, three times her age were not. An enjoyable film despite its unbelievable plot.

The Host

Despite it being written by Stephenie Meyer, The Host is an amazing book, I'll admit it takes time to get into but once you do it's hard to put down. The Host follows the story of Melanie Stryder, a girl trying to survive after earth has been invaded by an alien parasitic species. When she does get captured, her body is given to one of these aliens called Wanda, however when these beings take over a body the human is supposed to just fade away but Melanie refuses to, her only goal is to find her brother and the guy she loves and keep them safe. Saoirse Ronan plays Melanie/Wanda, at first when I heard the casting, I wasn't convinced, I thought she's too young and not right but now after seeing her performance, I was a complete idiot for thinking otherwise. This girl could be twelve in real life and it wouldn't make a difference because she's such a good actress, she carries herself well on screen and is a true heroine. As for her love interests, Jared (Max Irons) and Ian (Jake Abel), I thought they did pretty well, I think it's the best acting either have done and both have great chemistry with Ronan. Having said that, the film itself- the story does not translate well on screen, it's patchy and poorly edited and the world building is rushed over. I recommend the book but not the film, as much as it pains me to say. 2 out of 5 stars.