Category Archives: Life & Style

Why I Love Audio Books

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I am a ferocious reader. In my other life as an actor I have been known to read a book a day on set. But as I get more busy one of the things I hate the most is that I do not have time to read. This is why I love buying an audio book. I recently bought Rob Lowe’s Stories I Only Tell My Friends and Lowe narrated the story himself. This brings an entire new dimension to the experience of books and especially autobiographies. It is one thing to read Lowe’s book, but to hear him tell his own story is pretty cool.

You can ‘read’ while working, doing your emails, cleaning, walking. Audio books may not be new, but they have really taken off in recent years, and I think it is because we are getting busier all the time. I am also someone who multitasks all of the time, so audio books are perfect for me. I even listen to audio books when I have free time now.

I believe that when someone is well-read it comes across in how they think and speak. Nothing educates people more than books. People who have problems with their eyes and people with dyslexia can also enjoy audio books.

Do you love audio books? What is your favourite audio book?

Audiobooks can be bought easily online on audiogo.com

Spring Clean Your Body

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Christmas may be a mere memory now but some of us are still in need of a spring clean for our body. I know I certainly do. So with spring on the way I started to finally detox myself and get in the best shape of my life. Here are some of the things I kick-started the spring clean with.

Pukka Wheatgrass Juice Powder

Wheatgrass?! Yes, I know it is very LA, but not only did it make me feel energised and healthy, but I also liked the taste. Wheatgrass is one of the most nourishing foods in the world and you can tell when you are drinking it. It just makes you feel instantly better. It is health in a glass.

Wheat Grass Juice naturally supports the body’s ability to cleanse itself due to its high chlorophyll content. It is one of the most nourishing foods in the world containing an easy to digest broad spectrum of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins and antioxidants, but daily juicing can be a real pain – who really has time to pick and juice fresh Wheat Grass every day!?

Why not try Pukka Herb’s easy-to-use Wheat Grass Juice Powder instead? Unlike many other wheat grass products available, to ensure optimum potency, we use only concentrated fresh cold dried organic wheat grass juice, and now, for the first time, it is even available in a hand handbag friendly sachet for juicing on the go!

Pukka Herbs’ Fibre Plus

The fibre plus, like the wheatgrass, is in a handy sachet. You just add it to 250ml to water and you are good to go. It doesn’t taste as good as the wheatgrass but still leaves you feeling cleansed. It is a brilliant idea and has a lot of goodness in a condensed form.

Overindulging rich foods and alcohol can often result in indigestion. Pukka’s powerful new Fibre Plus sachets can help alleviate your digestive dramas. Containing a powerful blend of soluble and insoluble organic fibre blended to support and maintain a healthy and regular digestive system, its high fibre content lubricates the bowels, heals inflammation, and replenishes gut flora.

Clean Greens

Drinking this just gave me energy. Instantly. It made me feel healthy. I am inspired to buy these in bulk along with the wheatgrass. You can read below to find out exactly what it does, but I swear by these now. They just leaves you feeling cleansed and healthy. I have been trying to find a natural way to get more energy and I really think I have found it. They get the Frost thumbs up.

Alkalises & Oxygenates: Helps carry oxygen to the blood.

Mineralises: Minerals in these super-green foods help reduce food cravings.

Detoxifies: Removes unwanted substances causing stagnation, congestion from the body channels, organs, tissues and cells.

Reduces inflammation: Reduces inflammation throughout the digestive tract and liver.

The chlorophyll rich ingredients in Clean Greens helps carry out all of these vital functions and acts as a potent food based antioxidant that is intended to reduce premature ageing and bring you lasting vitality.

Pukka Herbs are available from Amazon UK and health stores.

After looking after your insides it is time to give your skin some attention.

 

As Jameela Jamil lands her dream job presenting the Radio One chart show, she also reveals the secret to her glowing skin and guess what?… It doesn’t cost a bomb!

Jameela credits the Dr Organic Manuka Honey Skincare range to her glowing skin and when asked what her top beauty tip is, she describes how “I throw on my Dr Organic Manuka Honey Rescue Cream, and go about my day”. She also loves the Dr Organic Manuka Honey Skin Lotion stating: “It smells so delicious I could eat my face!”

Dr Organic’s Manuka Honey Rescue Cream provides deep nourishment to skin leaving it feeling protected and intensely hydrated. Apply a small amount to the face, gently work into the skin and enjoy the gorgeous scent of Manuka Honey that will leave your skin silky and soft. Available from Holland & Barrett.

White Tea

Super healthy white tea is best brew for 2013 detox

Health-conscious shoppers have began searching for healthier alternatives to the morning caffeine hit or post-work pint.

This ‘detox January’ trend has driven brands like Tetley to launch green tea ranges, plugging the health benefits that the lower-caffeine and antioxidant-rich alternative to black tea is known to possess.

But east London tea entrepreneur Joe Kinch is backing a different, whiter horse – he knows that white tea is the perfect way to kick-start a healthy 2013.

Packed with antioxidants that boost the immune system, improve brain function, and can help prevent diseases like cancer and heart disease, and with very little caffeine, white tea is green tea’s healthier younger brother.

Both white and green teas come from the same tea plant, Camellia sinensis, but white tealeaves are harvested at a younger age than green tea leaves.

Because white and green teas are treated gently and not overly processed, they retain most of their beneficial antioxidants. White tea is the least processed of the two, as it isn’t fermented at all, but is simply steamed and dried. Since white tea is less processed, it retains a higher amount of antioxidants.

The antioxidants found in white tea have many health promoting properties from boosting cardiovascular health, helping to lower cholesterol, and enhancing weight loss.

In fact, a 2009 study by Kingston University and Neal’s Yard Remedies, found that white tea not only boosts health but can also combat age-associated wrinkles and other signs of ageing.

While green tea contains around 20g of caffeine, white has around 15g, making it perfect for people trying to avoid the less pleasant side effects of too much caffeinated stimulation.

White tea is considered rare and is usually more expensive than green, as it can only be hand picked during a few days of early spring and has to be handled with such care. But Joe’s Tea Co’s is set be the first tea company to make the health benefits of white tea available to the average Joe. Health-conscious shoppers can get a box of ‘Whiter than White’ online or in Harvey Nichols’ stores across the UK for less than a fiver.

Joe Kinch, owner of Joe’s Tea Co, said:

“I’ve been drinking white tea this January as I returned to work after a few days of over-indulgence – I hope people embrace it for its great flavour and super health benefits!”

Pharmacy-assured bespoke vitamins at the click of a mouse

A new way of taking vitamins has been launched which will change the way millions of people can access this important part of the health market, using innovative new daily vitamin pouches.

thrivevitamins.co.uk tailors the supply of vitamins to the user’s own lifestyle and brings pharmacy assured service to the online marketplace.

The service, established by retail expert Alan Beesley and pharmacist Brian Duggan, with support from Peter Batty, the chief executive of one of the North of England’s largest pharmacy groups, provides a personalised 28 day supply of vitamins unique to the customer’s own lifestyle and health and wellbeing needs.

The daily pouches instil a regimented approach to taking vitamins, which is both convenient and portable.

Using state of the art robotics, alongside the company’s professional experience in pharmacy and e-commerce, the vitamins are sealed in convenient teabag sized daily pouches, each printed with the customer’s name and the contents.

Brian Duggan said: “Prior to the launch of Thrive Vitamins, the marketplace could not cope with the requirements for individualised vitamin programmes, but we have developed a system which learns about the customer and recommends vitamin plans to suit their lifestyle.

“Rather than a bottle of one specific supplement, such as Zinc, the bespoke packs contain the mix of vitamins needed at regular intervals, meaning the service is efficient, removing the over-selling of products, which are in excess of the customer’s needs.”

Alan Beesley, who created the Thrive Vitamins brand, said: “We wanted to provide a more convenient, personalised service to compliment a customers lifestyle. So, we created an easy way to ensure customers receive the supplements they need, when they need them and in handy daily dose pouches.

“Our team includes pharmacists, retailers and even has a former member of the Royal Logistics Corps, whose organisation skills were utilised for 13 years ensuring the British Army had the equipment it needs. All together, we have developed an unique, professional and simple system which we believe will be popular with individuals and families alike.”

 

Ming Pin Tien Bye Bye Youth AW13 | London Fashion Week 2013

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Taiwanese fashion designer Ming-Pin Tein named his AW13 collection ‘Bye Bye Youth’. He sent the models down the catwalk to Wankelmut’s remix of One day/Reckoning, in knitted beanie hats and oversized white clothes. The clothes were structured, with clean lines. I loved the music, and I loved the clothes. Thumbs up.

Increase Your Online Security With Brand Protection

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In today’s world it seems that everyone is online. Whether having fun or working. This means the criminals have an entire new world to exploit. From phishing for your personal details, domain squatting – where people buy domains as soon as possible if they are associated with a brand, and counterfeit good. It is estimated that 1 in 6 products bought online are now fake.

This is why you need a brand protection services. Just like people need car insurance and home insurance, you need to protect your brand, and yourself, online. A company such as Netnames can help you to get covered.

 

Another way to protect yourself is to be vigilant. If you get an email that just does not look right, then don’t click on it. Be careful about putting your date of birth online. With your name and date of birth people can access some of your online account and maybe even your bank account.

Also make sure you have a good password. The most popular password is actually ‘password’. Have a hard password which includes numbers and upper case letters.

If you have your own blog or website then make sure you have some security. As many as 40,000 websites are compromised per week. You work hard to build your brand, so protect it.

Have you had a bad experience online? How do you protect your brand? Comment below.

netnames.com

BRIT Awards – Emile Sande, Ben Howard see social media surge, Muse get little

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BRIT Awards – Emile Sande, Ben Howard see social media surge, Muse get little

New figures reveal that Brit Winners saw a significant rise in new social media fans following her win and performance at the BRIT Awards ceremony.

Emeli Sand, who picked up the awards for Best British Female and Best British Album, saw a 60% increase in the number of people choosing to follow her on Twitter.

According to figures released by Musicmetric, the global music analysts, in the 24 hours following the Brits Sande the number of people following Sande on social media increased by 100% to 20,000, compared with 10,000 in the 24 hours leading up to the awards ceremony. Her Twitter growth was the most notable with nearly 15,000 new followers compared to almost 9,000 the day before.

Sande wasn’t the only big winner at last night’s star-studded ceremony; relative newcomer Ben Howard who took home the prizes for Best Male Solo Artist and Breakthrough Artist saw a massive spike in his new social media fans with an almost 250% increase on the previous day. The singer saw the most substantial leap in his new Facebook fans jumping to nearly 4000 in the last 24 hours compared to 600 the previous day.

Growing popularity on social media was also reflected in the iTunes charts. Emeli Sande, Grammy winners Mumford & Sons and Brit nominee Jake Bugg have all seen their albums enter the top ten of iTunes’ UK album chart.

Devon glam-rockers Muse, in spite their performance with a 60-piece orchestra, did not see a significant increase in fan uptake. On the day of the Brits, Muse gained 12,000 new fans on social media platforms, compared with the previous week’s peak of 15,000 new fans on the 15th February.

Gregory Mead, chief executive of Musicmetric, said:

“Awards ceremonies – like album releases, marriages, and deaths – have a big impact the online profile of artists.

“With more and more music fans are choosing to listen to and discover music online through social media and platforms such as Spotify, it is important that music industry bosses understand this activity in order to maximise revenue.”

 

Artist New social media fans:Pre-Brits

(Previous 24hrs: Feb 19th-20th)

 New social media fans:Post-Brits

(Last 24hrs: Feb 20-21st)

 Percentage change
Emeli Sande 8,737 27,433 213.99
Ben Howard 1,243 4,241 241.19
Muse 9,753 11,969 22.72
Adele 44,915 48,927 8.93

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Top Ten RTS Missions of All Time

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Forget the metronomic RPGs, the mindless shooters and embrace the true epicness that is the Real Time Strategy genre. It has been a sad time for the RTS game recently. The shift to consoles and mobile gaming has not been kind. That said 2013 is setting up to be a great year with both Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, and Rome Total War 2 set to be released. Here are my all time favourite top ten RTS missions. Apologies for those which I have left out, there will probably be many. Please add comments if you think I’ve missed something.

10. Homeworld 2 – Mission 9 Counter attack

Homeworld 2 has some very tough and challenging missions. In every mission you fight as an underdog and occasionally I found it a bit frustrating. It takes you so many missions to find the Dreadnought (a very powerful war ship) and capture the damn thing that the best Homeworld 2 mission has to be mission 9, the mission when you finally get to use it. The trouble is its main weapon, the ion cannon, is knocked out of commission almost immediately and swarms of enemy soon approach. This a very challenging and enjoyable mission.

9.  Starcraft 2 – Defend to the Last Missions

Some of my favourite RTS missions are where you have to just hold out and survive for long enough against overwhelming force. In Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty there are three of these missions (if you include the last Protoss mission) and they are all brilliant. There is something very satisfying about mowing down millions of Zerg units as they batter uselessly against your walls. The missions in Wings of Liberty are by in large excellent. Cleverly designed and very fun to play.

8. CnC Red Alert 2 –Allies Cuba Mission

Red Alert 2 was a great follow up to Red Alert 1 even if it wasn’t quite as good as its predecessor. There are a tonne of very cleverly designed and fun missions. The best is probably mission 11: Operation Fallout where you have to stop nuclear missiles being launched from Cuba using the chronosphere.

7. Gettysburg Scourge of War – On to the Roundtops
This relatively unknown highly realistic game is fantastic and one of my favourite games of all time. Superb if you’re a fan of history. Every mission has different scenarios (all of which can play out differently for replay-ability  and they are all excellent and tremendous fun to play. My favourite has to be the ‘On to the Round tops’ mission. You must lead your rebel division to reverse history and capture and hold Devils Den and Little Round Top.

6. Cossacks – Ukrainian Mission 1

A simply brilliant mission as many are in the excellent ‘Cossacks’ but this was definitely my favourite. Being the first mission of this campaign you might think it would be easy and short. You would be wrong! This mission is hard and then some. Starting off as a small group of Serdiuks (a unit which has no melee ability, a problem in this period in history!) you must fight your way through to a friendly village. Upon reaching the temporary safety of the village you are soon overwhelmed by the innumerous enemy. Your only hope? A thin palisade wall which will fall quickly.

If you somehow survive you must fight your way out across the map to save your captive Cossack brothers before it’s too late. A very difficult but extremely rewarding mission which is brilliantly designed.

5. Hearts of Iron 2 – Poland

Without doubt one of the best RTS games ever created although its tremendous depth and steep learning curve will not appeal to everybody.

The game lets you recreate the events leading up to and through WWII as any country in the World. My favourite and most challenging option was taking over Poland in 1936 and preparing and attempting to stop the coming German invasion. It should be impossible but it’s not. Once you’re done with Germany you can then go about taking over the rest of the world.

Berlin falls!

4. Rome Total War – Julli campaign

You can’t have any RTS list without including a total war game. Rome Total War is the best game in the series so far (Rome Total War 2 is coming out this year). I really liked the way you took over one of three roman families (something which won’t be available in the sequel) and the ultimately took over the whole of Rome for yourself. My favourite was the Julii family

3.  Supreme Commander – UEF mission 5

This game blew me away the first time I played it. It is truly epic and was miles ahead of its time. There are many great missions. What is unique about Supreme Commander is that your game map continues to expand throughout the mission. So you start off in a relatively small area and the map expands as you complete objectives. I really liked the fifth UEF mission operation forge. The opening briefing sets the mood very well. The war is going against you and you are now the last hope. It’s very challenging. You have to build defences against nuclear missiles and defend against constant attacks. ‘The strategic launch detected’ warning chills you to the bone the first time you hear it. A great game and a great mission

2. CnC Red Alert – Spy mission

There are many great missions in this brilliant game but the absolute best has to be the fantastic allies mission 10. One of the best RTS missions ever. Stalin is losing the war and in fury he’s about to launch a mass nuclear strike. Your only hope is to get to his launch controls and blow the missiles up in mid-air.

This mission starts off as a standard but excellent base mission. You mine resources build units and kill your enemy. But after you capture the enemy control centre that’s not the end as the mission continues inside. Your small specialist team of spies, engineers, medics marines and yes Tanya (if you can find her) must deactivate all those missiles before time runs out. It feels like a James Bond mission but as an RTS. Brilliant!

1. Starcraft Brood War – Patriot’s Blood (The traitor mission)

 

Zerg!

The best RTS mission has to come from the best RTS game of all time. Starcraft: Brood War. The only installation mission on Brood War, and my all-time favourite mission. What makes this mission so great is how its woven into the plot of the whole game and a major plot point takes place during it.

You start the mission in a Terran installation with nine marines. Your mission without wanting to give too much away, assassinate the traitor. But before you know it objectives and the whole story line have changed. Now the entire facility has been penetrated by the Zerg and there all coming for you! You’re going to have to fight your way through but the damn critters are burrowed in the walls and floor all around you. Worse still you’re running out of time. No mission encapsulates the true fear and horror of the Zerg as well as this one. I remember the first time I played this over ten years ago being absolutely terrified as I desperately tried to keep my small band of units together as I fought through the swarm. Without doubt the best RTS mission of all time.

Liz Earle’s Spring Detox Tips

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Liz Earle’s Detox Tips

When I was first told that fasting on a fruit only diet would give me more energy, or that giving up some of my favourite foods and cups of coffee would leave my skin glowing, I was skeptical. But the principals of detoxification are based on traditional “cures” practiced by European naturopaths for centuries. Giving up certain foods, or existing on fruit alone for twenty-four hours, is not hard, especially when the benefits are so great. I now give my system a regular detox boost, even if it is only over the weekend. A short detox programme is a great way to feel more energised and refreshed. It is the perfect way to revitalise the body, renew energy levels and restore glowing skin and when you have finished you will feel far fitter and healthier and motivated not to return to bad habits.

 

Better Breakfasts

 

Starting with a healthy breakfast is not only the best way to boost energy levels for the day ahead, but is an easy, positive and delicious daily start to a new you. Refined sugars, found in most breakfast cereals, are the first thing I give up if I’m embarking on a health spring-clean and cutting them out gives me far more sustained energy throughout the day. On cold winter mornings, I switch to a bowl of porridge made with water and sweetened with honey, complete with a sprinkling of sunflower seeds. Or if I’m craving for something fresh, I opt for chopped fruit and berries with a dollop of natural yoghurt. You also can’t beat a protein-packed organic boiled egg that also contains useful vitamins A, B-complex and E, as well as minerals such as zinc, served up with toasted wholemeal soldiers and a glass of orange juice (vitamin C will help increase your uptake of iron from the egg yolk).

 

 

Midday Meals

 

Not only is eating soup (of any kind) a good way to get various vitamins and vegetable fibre in a simple, healthy way, it’s also been proven to help shed a few pounds. This is because when food and water are finely mixed to make soup, they enter the stomach together and stay held in a homogenised state as they pass through our intestines. The increased volume of water and semi-solid food then stays in our system for longer than if we were eating food and drinking liquid separately, so we feel fuller for longer. According to researchers at Nottingham University, this means we are much less likely to over-eat. This is especially true of whizzed-up blended soups which reduce hunger-pangs the most due to this homogenisation effect. Never more useful than at this time of year, I’m swapping lunchtime sandwiches for a simple home-made soup and even pop mine into a thermos if I’m out and about, so I don’t miss out on the health and beauty benefits.

 

 

 

Winding Down

 

If a little overindulgence has left you feeling a little ‘liverish’, you might like to try a ‘liver wrap’  – a simple but highly effective way to stimulate the detoxification process in the liver. You will need: A hot water bottle, a flannel and a small fluffy towel. Wearing just a dressing gown, gather everything together and lie down somewhere comfortable. Start by applying the cold damp flannel to the right-hand side of your body just beneath the ribcage to cover the liver area. The coldness felt by the skin briefly lowers the temperature of the tissues beneath and your body’s reflexes respond by increasing circulation in that area. Next, place a really warm hot water bottle on top of the damp flannel to retain moisture and stimulate the autonomic nervous system. This in turn boosts blood flow to the liver and supports its detoxification activity. Cover the hot water bottle with a soft towel and rest on a sofa or go to bed. This is a useful therapeutic treatment to carry out at bedtime and you can even fall asleep with the hot water bottle in place. Otherwise, simply put your feet up and rest for 30 minutes (the longer the better).  Three things to love about the liver wrap – it’s inexpensive, simple and it works.

 

Follow @LizEarleMe on Twitter for more tips on wellbeing. You can buy Liz Earle products at Boots.

 

Best & Worst Films of 2012

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It seems 2012 has come and gone! We have gone through the best and worst of Hollywood and I am here to bring you my personal favourites and least favourites of the year that was apparently and supposedly to doom us all! I should note that I have not yet seen some movies that may (or may not) have ended up on this list, such as Beasts of the Southern Wild and Battleship for examples.

(Note: In alphabetical order)

– BEST –

1) Argo: Ben Affleck has not only grown to be a very sophisticated actor but also an exceptional filmmaker. It’s a movie that is so bizarre that it could only work as a true story. The cast nothing short but fantastic, Alan Arkin and John Goodman bring great performances and the tension is absolutely thrilling. A great authentic thriller that feels like it belongs to the great thrillers of the 70s like All the Presidents Men.

 

2) Amour: Making a film about love is quite hard to pull off, without having the emotions feeling forced or contrived. Michael Haneke delivers one of the most heart-breaking but inspiring pieces of work he has made to date! Emmanuelle Riva’s performance is astounding, really capturing the effects of old age and truly pulled my heart strings. The film may leave audiences cold but it has that brutal honesty about the themes of age, time and (inevitable) death. It certainly left me touched on a personal level (which is a rarity in this day of age).

 

3) Skyfall: Bond certainly came back with a bang! Sam Mendes promised to deliver a respectful tribute to this 50th anniversary of the film franchise. Not only was it one of my favourite Bond films but it was my favourite blockbuster of the year (yes, even found it better than The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man). Javier Bardem makes one of the most memorable Bond villains in a long time and it is quite refreshing the film overall is having fun rather than being grim (i.e. Quantum of Solace). The cinematography by Roger Deakins is beautiful as ever and Thomas Newman’s score all sounds very modern but also rings back to the classic Bond we know and love. I am certainly looking forward to Bond’s return.

 

4) Zero Dark Thirty: Quickly making a film about the manhunt of Osama bin Laden was going to be a hard task. Though with director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal (the same team behind the Oscar winning The Hurt Locker), all made sense that they were suitable with this material. Jessica Chastain delivers a strong and memorable performance that actually comes across as a character that has a lot of depth and subtlety. The fact that Bigelow knows how everything is going to end but still makes it one of the most exciting sequences on film. The huge plus about the film is it doesn’t glorify their success, they show you how it was done and you decide how you feel about it.

 

Honourable mentions; The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Looper and The Master.

 

– WORST –

1) The Amazing Spider-Man: I really wanted to like this film, I really did but it was even worse than Spider-Man 3. Andrew Garfield is a really good actor (see The Social Network for proof) and the idea of casting him as Peter Parker/Spider-Man did actually sound really good. Although the material he’s been given is awful, and it doesn’t help he’s going against one of the most one-dimensional villains I’ve seen. The visual effects looks terrible, as if they came out of a PS2 cut-scene and it also features one of the most cheesiest scene since Spider-Man. The only decent part of the film is Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy was a smart and self-dependent character rather being the damsel-in-distress.

 

2) The Expendables 2: This macho rubbish has gone on a bit too long, even whilst I was watching the first film. The Expendables are once again on a mission to fight one man and his army, and that bad guy is played by Jean-Claude Van Damme as Vilain (no, really! That’s his name). We still know nothing about the characters, the most we get is a running gag that Gunnar has an advance degree of chemical engineering (when in real life, Lundgren has a master’s degree in chemical engineering). This isn’t a case of ‘it’s so bad, it’s good’, it’s just a bad action movie that doesn’t separate itself from the next. This really wants to be a nostalgic trip of the action movies of the 80s and 90s, when all it makes me want to do is watch the movies that made them famous!

 

3) Taken 2: I was never a fan of Taken to begin with. It’s a mediocre action film that’s taking the story from Commando but is treated like an episode of 24. Liam Neeson looks incredibly bored and seems to being doing this sequel waiting for a cheque. The villains this time round are a lot dumber and don’t even make sure he has any chance of escaping. The worst part is there’s somehow going to be a third one in the works!

 

4) This Means War: For someone like McG that is still making movies to this day still shocks me! After the dreadful Charlie’s Angels movies and the incredibly underwhelming Terminator Salvation, he really brings his career to a whole new low! You have three talented actors from Chris Pine, Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon in this unfunny, misogynistic and boring action/rom/com. The fact we’re supposed to be rooting one or the other when they’re clearly a bunch of juvenile agents who wasting the agencies time and effort to impress a woman is something I find really cringe worthy.

 

Dishonourable mentions: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Dark Shadows, Lockout and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2

 

– SURPRISE MOVIE OF THE YEAR –

Dredd: I was not expecting anything from this film but hearing the (somewhat) positive buzz, my curiosity grew and decided to give it a go! To my much surprise, it was really entertaining and very well done. The film is grim and violent but what did you expect from a Judge Dredd movie? Karl Urban makes the character worth rooting for and at least brings some charisma (despite going all Dirty Harry on his perps). The interactions between Dredd and Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) is the most interesting part of the film, showing the different perspectives of the law. It is a shame it wasn’t a box-office success but I believe it’ll have a cult-following in the near future.

 

– DISAPPOINTING MOVIE OF THE YEAR –

Prometheus: Now I’m not saying the film is bad (though depends how you look at this film), the production design, costumes and visual effects are top notch. The idea about faith and creation are all interesting but if only it had nothing to do with the Alien franchise. The mysterious derelict ship from Alien has lost its intrigue and the result is a bit puzzling. Not to mention the characters aren’t as memorable as Dallas and his crew in Alien (or even James Cameron’s Aliens). The reason I didn’t really put this on the worst list is because it did have some positives to the film (i.e. Michael Fassbender’s David was the most interesting character in the entire film).

 

– MOST ANTICIPATED FILM OF 2013 –

Man of Steel: 2013 is going to have another hefty year of comic book films, with Marvel initiating phase two to lead up The Avengers 2 with Thor: The Dark World and Iron Man 3 (Captain America: Winter Soldier will be released in 2014). Though my interest is the upcoming Superman reboot, why you ask? Well it has been seven years since Superman Returns (remember that movie?) and it’ll be the first time that is not part of Richard Donner’s Superman. Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, the team behind The Dark Knight Trilogy, has created a story that feels relevant and interesting for a Superman movie. Zack Snyder is sitting on the directors chair and British actor Henry Cavill will be donning the suit (first time for a non-American actor to play Superman). What interests me is how this film will be received? It was just as intriguing back in 2004 that a Batman reboot was going to be made, and expectations were a bit low since the last Batman film at that time was Batman & Robin (remember THAT movie?). I’m very excited to see this version of Superman and I really do hope he soars this time round.