Ed Sheeran - X Review: Versatile Yet Nothing Special

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Everyone's favourite, loveable red head, Ed Sheeran is back with his debut album 'X' a.k.a 'Multiply'.

Ed Sheeran: 'X'

Since the album's release on the 23rd June 2014, Sheeran has been dominating the charts, nabbing the number one spot in over 65 countries on iTunes. He also made TV history yesterday (26 June) doing the first interactive TV advert during The Big Bang Theory on E4. Viewers got to vote via Twitter for which song they would like Ed to perform during the advert. The advert received thousands of votes with 'I'm a Mess' resulting as the most voted.

So it's time for the big question, is the album worthy of its positive reception its had so far?

I'll be honest, after the release of his new annoying, yet catchy single 'Sing' I wasn't expecting much from the singer-songwriter's debut album. The single is very repetitive with annoying noises and yells of "sing" or "love" chucked in. It seems as though he didn't put as much effort into that song compared to his previous hit tracks.

Sam Smith - In the Lonely Hour: "Sam Smith Is the Epitome of Talent"

Rating: ★★★★☆

The release date for Sam Smith's debut album, 'In The Lonely Hour' is finally upon us!
No longer do we have to lie in wait playing 'Money on My Mind' on repeat (or was that just me?)

Sam Smith - In the Lonley Hour released 26th May 2014

Sam Smith shot to fame in the past year after featuring on other artists' songs, including Disclosure's 'latch' and Naughty Boy's 'La, La, La' which Smith co-wrote. In February 2014, he released his own debut single 'Money on My Mind' which became an instant hit, jumping to the top spot in the UK charts. Now months down the line, fans can have a sigh of relief as his album is finally released!

However, before you all go rushing to the shops (or to download it more likely), be warned; don't expect a happy album full of catchy, electronic songs similar to 'Money on My Mind' as it is quite the opposite.

Smith has admitted himself that the album is full of heartbreak;
"My debut album is just a diary from a lonely 21-year-old. I fell in love with someone who didn't love me back, and it made me get into this head space of, 'Will I find love? When will I find love?'"

My Mad Fat Diary: Cringetastic!

Courtesy of Channel 4

With the last episode airing tonight, My Mad Fat Diary is sadly coming to the end of its second series. But for any of you who haven't watched it yet, it's not too late to catch up and become addicted like the rest of us.

Ask any woman if they kept a diary when they were a teenager and I can assure you 9 out of 10 would say yes. It is a natural part of being a young girl; writing about your problems, fantasising over boys, worrying about sexual experience, etc. We've all pined over that one hottie in school and had our girl drama, Rae Earl's diary entries are no different...well except that she is mad - literally.



The gang:Courtesy of Channel 4

Rae Earl, played by Sharon Rooney, is a 17-year-old girl living in Lincolnshire who has just left a psychiatric hospital where she has spent the last four months after attempting to commit suicide. Her best friend Chloe (Jodie Comer) has started hanging out with a 'cool' gang, consisting of members Izzy, Chop, Archie and Finn. Rae strives to become one of the gang, eventually winning them over with her lad-like behaviour and good music taste. Things start to look up for Rae, but not everything is funky dory. Each episode presents her daily struggles such as her inability to like herself and lack of body confidence as well as the constant boy drama.

The Wolf Of Wall Street: Sex, drugs and more sex

Rating: ★★★

©thewolfofwallstreet.com

Since hitting the UK big screen in early 2014, The Wolf Of Wall Street has become a box office sensation, topping both America and the UK. Directed by the great auteur Martin Scorsese and featuring big names such as the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey and Jonah Hill; the film was guaranteed to become a huge success. Yet with explicit scenes of sex, swearing and drug taking, the film has caused outrage to many, leading us to question, is this film just one big fantasy orgy or is there more than meets the eye? 

Based on a true story, big-time dreamer Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio) takes on a stockbroker job in Wall Street, looking to rake in dollars and fuel his addiction to money. Here he meets his maverick boss Mark Hanna (McConaughey) who tells him the only way to succeed in this business is through hookers and drugs. So Belfort follows in his footsteps, eventually starting up his own brokerage with pal Donnie (Jonah Hill) - Stratton Oakmont Inc. However, the business is not all above board, scamming small companies, engaging in fraud and money laundering. With the cops becoming ever more suspicious, Belfort and colleagues strive to escape the eyes of the law, with the ever present lure of money preventing a clean break. Inevitability they were caught; Belfort serving his time. 

I, Frankenstein - Adequate at a push

 Rating: ★★

Here comes another sore attempt to take on the old tale of Frankenstein. 

I, Frankenstein (2014), directed by Stuart Beattie (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), is a modern twist on the old novel Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818) which simply features a sewn-up dead man brought back to life by a mad scientist. Beattie's modern take is based on the graphic novel I, Frankenstein by Kevin Grevioux. The film features what could be, a reasonable storyline but becomes so far-fetched and yet predictible at the same time, with a ton of action scenes thrown in.

Frankenstein's monster, (Aaron Eckhart, The Dark Knight) which is given the name Adam, is being hunted by demons, lead by Prince Demon, Naberius (Bill Nighy, Love Actually). Naberius's evil plan is to capture Adam and discover the dark secrets behind the creation of a living dead with no soul, so he can give life to thousands of corpses ready and waiting to be posessed by demons. With the help of the Gargoyles, Adam becomes aware of Naberius's plan and seeks to destroy his chances, whilst saving human pretty scientist Terra (Yvonne Strahovski, Dexter). 

The ending of the film is so predictable that you know it's coming ten minutes after the film has started.

In this version of Frankenstein, he is presented moreso as a hero than a monster. This is not exactly the character that we're used to, but all is well and good in the reigning super hero movie generation we are living in. It's the looks of Frankenstein that is one major annoyance in this movie. Just to prove it to you, here is what we all know and imagine when we think of Frankenstein:

©Amanda Stronach

And here is Stuart Beattie's version: 

©rogersmovienation

Eckhart simply looks like an edgier version of himself with a few scars painted across his face, not the living dead who was sewn together and has been alive for over 200 years. To make his character more believable he needs to be more monster-like, so that the audience could then empathise with him and his so-called life.

The demons could also look a bit more horrifying as some of them are quite laughable when they transform, reminds me more of a bad Doctor Who episode.
However, the CGI in the rest of the film is higher quality than what is expected in such a film. The gargoyles especially are well done, looking very realistic and powerful. Beattie has clearly realised the CGI in this movie plays the key part, therefore packing it full of action to entice the action loving, masculine audience. However, it all just becomes too much and leaves you wanting more from the storyline.

It's a shame this film has such a ludicrous storyline because with the casting of such great actors Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy, all is lost. I, Frankenstein is merely an adequate film, yet with the open ending of the film there is a chance for a sequel so we can only hope that it gets better.

National Television Awards 2014: Ant & Dec Domination

The National Television Awards has been and gone, but we can still re-live the best bits!

© ITV.com/Ant & Dec

For all those who watched it last night, you'll know that the NTA's 2014 was a show-stopper, with Ant & Dec (unsurprisingly) being the big winners of the night. Every year the Geordie duo rack up a ton of awards (their awards cabinet must be overflowing) and now they have another 3 to add to their collection. The other nominated presenters didn't have a chance winning the award for Entertainment Presenter, with Ant & Dec making it their 13th consecutive win! They also won best Entertainment Programme for I'm A Celebrity... Me Out Of Here!, with all the 2013 cast in attendance.

As if that wasn't enough, they won their very own special award, the Landmark Award, for 25 year in the business. The duo got very emotional, stating it had come as a total shock, 'Neither of us would be here if it wasn't for each other' -Dec. 
 Ant celebrated their victory by joining the new craze and taking a selfie on stage, with Dec commenting, 'You couldn't have done that 25 years ago.'
I think we can all say that Ant & Dec truly deserve all their success and hope their NTA reign continues for years to come.

Tonight's the night, NTA!

Image: NTA

As I'm sure you are all aware, from seeing the countless adverts on TV, tonight is the National Television awards!

Hosted by the lovely, ever-popular Dermot O'Leary for the fifth year running! Who can deny that Dermot is one of the best presenters on our screens at the moment? That wouldn't make you surprised to hear that he has been nominated for an award! But who else has been nominated? Well the voting has now been closed, with only hours left to go, lets take a look at all the viewer's choice nominees and I'll give you my predictions on who will win.