The Maze Runner - a movie review

This is a spoiler-free review, though the trailer might show some spoiler-ish things, if you don't want to know anything before seeing the film OR reading the book. If you want to know as little as possible about the plot, go see the beginning of my book review, I explain it there very vaguely.

(I feel so lost every time I try to start writing these reviews, it's hard. But here we go.)

I was really excited about this movie, but I tried to keep my hopes low, just in case. I mean, you can't be disappointed if you never expected anything great, right? That lesson I learned years ago, when Eragon was made into a movie. I had such high hopes... Anyway. The Maze Runner did not disappoint. It was entertaining, action-packed, thrilling and fun, and definitely worth the watch.

This is a little different from the book. I know it has to happen sometimes, because you can't show some things on screen like you would describe in a book. Most of the changes were good in this movie, which I have to say is a big bonus. That could have gone horribly wrong. Overall I think this is a really great book-turned-movie, with all the other not-so-great ones out there. (*cough*CityofBones*cough*) It works on it's own, you don't necessarily have to read the book to understand what's happening, which is also a big plus. It will give you some more backstory and a more detailed look, but I think the movie would be enjoyable even without having read the book.

I loved the music in this film, it really helped create the right atmosphere. And in the action scenes... whoa. Loved it. I liked the actors, they were all fit for the characters, though they were a bit different from what I imagined. (But that happens all the time, as is the norm with book-to-movie adaptations.) Overall I liked the sets and costumes, but some little things here and there were a bit annoying, as they had changed some things.

Please go see this. It's better than Divergent, and based on the trailers, better than the Hunger Games. (I haven't seen any of the Hunger Games movies, so I can't say for sure...) I really really enjoyed this one, and would like to see people supporting it. I think it was awesome, not as great as the book, but still awesome.

The Maze Runner series - a review

This review is for the whole book trilogy, and is spoiler-free. I might do one for the movie as well, as I'm seeing it tomorrow. We'll see.

The Maze Runner starts when a boy wakes up and the only thing he remembers is his name. Soon he finds out that the place he's in is a maze, and the group of boys that live there don't remember much more than he does. They don't know why they're there, what for, and who sent them. The first book is about them trying to find a way out of the maze, and that's all I'm going to tell about the plot / plots. The best way to read this is to know nothing, to learn as the characters are learning. Some people might find it a bit annoying, but I loved it. I loved not knowing what was going on in the world outside the maze, I loved not knowing almost anything. It was great that the whole backstory wasn't told in the first chapter, but discovered little by little the same pace as the characters.


The main character is called Thomas. He's pretty awesome. I love how he keeps questioning what's going on, he keeps asking and thinking why something happens, and doesn't just go with it. He's also pretty badass. I loved so many of the other characters as well, they were brilliant. Very well written and thought-out. The new made-up words were a great addition, and I have found myself thinking with those words after reading these.

The chapters are really short, which was good, it worked for the story. Many ended in cliffhangers, and sometimes I just had to put the book down to let my brain process what had just happened. The books are action-packed, really fast to read, full of surprised and plot twists, exciting and sometimes quite scary. I enjoyed the writing style as well, and as I said, it was really fast to read.

I laughed. I cried. I was really scared my favourite characters were going to die, all the time. The story surprised me many times, and most of those were good surprises. I was often left with a feeling of 'WTF', or 'holy shit.' I loved this series, well, trilogy, as there is a prequel I haven't read (called the Kill Order). I gave the first two books, the Maze Runner and the Scorch Trials, 5 out of 5 stars, and the last one, the Death Cure, 4 out of 5 stars.

If you like great books with adventure and action, this is definitely a must-read. (And I just have to add, none to very little romance!! Yasss!!) I picked up the first one and after I finished reading, I had to go online and order the next two. And the almost-two-weeks wait was painful. but when I got the books I read them in two / three days. I finished these a couple of days ago, and I still keep thinking about everything that happened. Definitely one of my favourite series, ever.

I don't know if these are even translated to Finnish yet, but anyway, keep your eyes out for James Dashner. The movie is called Labyrintti (basically just the Maze) so that might be the title of the book as well. Anyway, I don't know how good these will be in Finnish, but in English they were just brilliant.

Gone Girl - a movie review

First of all, this is a spoiler-free review, so no worries, I won't be spoiling anything. You have to go into this movie without knowing what's gonna happen, because holy crap those plot twists are brilliant and surprising.

Okay. I have just come back form the cinema, so these will literally be my first thoughts after seeing this film. I had quite high hopes for this one, and it did not disappoint. I had read some comments and people seemed to really enjoy this. And I also read quite a few warning about spoilers and how those would ruin the movie for you if you were spoiled. I stayed away from anything to do with this movie, I really wanted to experience it without knowing more than the trailer tells me.

And if you don't want to watch the trailer, I'll try to summarize the plot a little bit. The movie starts when Nick Dunne realizes his wife Amy is missing. He calls the cops, they start looking for her and keep investigating as new leads come up. The media is very much involved, and suddenly everyone thinks Nick is the one who killed his wife, while he keeps trying to find her. That's all I can tell, and that's basically all I knew when I walked to the cinema today. It's not the best summary, but that has always been my weakness.

Well then, what did I think? This movie was freaking amazing. As I already said, the plot keeps surprising and leaving you wondering what's going to happen next. The acting is great, as far as I can tell, and I really have to say Rosamund Pike is brilliant as Amy Dunne. The costumes and sets are amazing, the music brilliant. I wouldn't say this is perfect, but I did very much enjoy this, and would watch it again.

If I had to give this a star rating, from one being I didn't like it to five being it was amazing, I'd say this is about four, maybe even a little more. Seriously a great movie, go watch it. Especially if you like a bit of mystery and suspense in your movies. (Do keep in mind that at least in Finland this is not suitable for anyone under the age of 16.)

And now I kind of want to read the book.

Revelations

I was just talking about the Maze Runner - which I'm currently reading - with my flatmate, and how it has a male main character and how it's nice to read from his point of view after all the females in the Hunger Games and Divergent. And then it struck me. I think most of my favourite books have male protagonists. I really started to think about it, and yes, it's true.

It's not a bad thing, that's not what I'm saying. It doesn't matter in the slightest. Somehow I just hadn't realized it myself, not until I really thought about my favourites shelf (pictured above; not all are my favourites, I just didn't have shelf space left anywhere else) and really thought of if the main character is male or female. Interesting, how that had never even crossed my mind before. I had just read these books, liked them a lot, and decided they were my faves.

I find a lot of female leads annoying. I don't know what it is, maybe they are a bit helpless and stupid, maybe all they think about are boys. Maybe they do things without thinking them through, maybe they have relationship issues that could be easily solved if they just used their brains a little. Maybe it's none of those things and something else entirely, I couldn't say.

And sometimes it doesn't have anything to do with what sex the main character is; sometimes the story is just so good it could be written from either male or female point of view and nothing would change. This is the case in a lot of my favourites, but I do admit that I love the main characters in some if not most of them. They wouldn't be my faves if I didn't love more than just one aspect of the book; if I did it'd just be a good book, or a good main character. Or good writing, maybe.

I don't know what the point of this was, I just started to think about this yesterday. It's interesting, at the very least. And as I'm really enjoying the Maze Runner, I think this will be a continuing thing with my favourite books. But I don't mind, I love me some great male protagonists. ;)

Having a shitty day? - Bake!

Is your patronus on holiday? Need something to cure the sadness? Look no further; with these cupcakes you can get rid of any dementors in your area! Add however much cocoa powder you need to drown your demons, and everything will be alright again!

 Nah, just kidding. Okay, I did have a bit of a shitty morning, and then made myself feel a little better by baking some cupcakes. And now I feel like I can actually smile again, so yey. :)

This is my favourite cupcake recipe, it's so easy and fast to make and I have never failed with it. The frosting is just caramel flavoured cream cheese and powdered sugar, and gosh it's good. But anyway, here it is; the perfect cupcake recipe;

3 dl flour
1,5 dl sugar
2 ts baking powder
2 ts vanilla sugar
75 g butter
1 dl milk
1 egg

Mix all the dry ingredients, then mix in softened butter. Mix in milk and egg. Add whatever you like, chocolate chips, blueberries, M&M's... Bake medium sized cupcakes in the oven at about 200 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes, bigger ones longer etc. If you're making chocolate cupcakes, add about two tablespoons of cocoa powder, and add a little less regular flour. And the tip I have to give for every kind, don't add all of the flour at first, just check if you need all of that. Leave like 0,5 to add in the end if the batter is too runny.

This makes for about 12 medium sized cupcakes.