Which film should you go and see this weekend??

Review that has been enjoying a week off this week, which obviously means making a couple of trips to the cinema! We went to see Annabelle, The Babadook and Horns. Which one should you go and see?

If you want to be scared go and see Annabelle. It was pretty scary. The 2 of us were scared enough to be a little spooked out by our drive back from the cinema. Then when I got home I remained in a state of fear with my dad scaring me simply by talking to me! With any scary film I cannot possibly give away the plot but as far as horror films go it is ok. My main plus point would be that it is only an hour and a half, which avoids long winded plot lines and boring scenes. By keeping it short it keeps you on your toes and it comes to a conclusion before you get bored and restless. For a Halloween weekend it's a safe bet to not be disappointed.

If you want to be disappointed, go and see The Babadook! The premise is so good. A character from a children's book, that mysteriously appears in a house, comes to life. Great! Scary right?? That would be WRONG. It isn't the tiniest bit scary. Essentially all that happens is you spend the first half of the film thinking that the scary part will be coming up soon. And then the second half you accept that that is as scary as it gets and wish you were watching something else. One of the more disappointing films of this year so far I would say. If you like more Indie type films you will probably like it because that is what it seemed to be going for! You may like it!

If you want to hear Daniel Racliffe do a really bad American accent then Horns is the one for you! The film is inspired by a book so you can look up what happens but basically a guy's girlfriend is murdered and he turns into the devil. Far fetched?! yes. Potentially brilliant?! Yes. Does Horns do it justice?! Probably not. The first hour of the film is pretty ok. Funny in parts, gripping storyline, growing the Horns is really interesting and a good idea. As someone who has studied Religious imagery in films at Uni of course this appeals to me more than most! But everyone can find it pretty decent. You do get into it. By the end of the film, however, you will be ready to leave.

One of the things I really didn't enjoy about the film was the overemphasis on telling you what was happening. The main character would litterally tell you what was happening because you the viewer are not clever enough to work it out. Except you are and it just feels patronising (I genuinely felt patronised but the film)! Another failing is Radcliffe. Bless him. I am a huge Harry Potter fan and really do want to like him but he just wasn't very good. Really miscast part in  my opinion. He isn't dark or edgy enough, and you can't believe he is evil and tough. I had to stop myself laughing when he started beating someone up. It just didn't work, My last big issue with the film is that it just took itself way to seriously. At best it's going to be an entertaining film, it isn't going to be winning Oscars! But it was just so flipping serious and trying to be edgy. Dislike! 

Really what you should do is go and see Nightcrawler or Ouija and tell me what they're are like! They are 2 films I really want to see!

Student Finance: My Experience. 2014

For a while I have been feeling like I really need to air my opinions on Student Finance or SF as I shall refer to them to, because I don't want to wast my time typing their name! I would normally stick to things rather than my experiences, but someone needs to speak up!

Firstly a bit of context about my situation! I am a 'mature(ish)' student, in that I am in my 20s. I completed my undergrad degree in 2008-2011. This year I am doing my Post Graduate Certificate in Education, and like anyone else in my situation, am entitled to my 4th year of student finance. I live with my dad, who works but in a low income job, and my mother (divorced from my dad) is unemployed. I also have a sister who studied at uni from 2011-2014, which is relevant to my story!

Now I secured an unconditional place onto my PGCE course in February and knowing how long SF can take didn't wait long to apply. My application was sent out in April. Great. Dad fills in his part. Done. Great.

A while later, July to be precise I receive and e-mail from SF. Apparently they don't understand what course it is that I am applying to do. To put this in context, I go to Canterbury Christ Church Universtiy, which is famous for its PGCE course. Famous. It's been going on for a long time. This is not a new course. Anyway, like any normal person, I hit reply and respond to the email.

Big mistake.

Apparently if you email back it goes to junk. Now this wasn't a studentfinance@gov.uk (or whatever they use) email address. This was a man who was apparently assigned to my case emailing me. Literally why wouldn't you reply?! Anyone who uses email will have had an email at some point that says 'do not reply to this email'. NOWHERE did it say this. Or helpfully say 'please ring us'.No. They just let you email them back,

Well I carried on with my life, not really thinking much about it. In August I thought I best ring them. It was then that they told me you can't reply to their emails. Needless to say I found this both frustrating and distressing. So I spent a large chunk of that morning on the phone, on hold to them, whilst they told me that my course DOESN'T EXIST!

Obviously this is logical. A course that has been running for decades doesn't exist. Cue further distress and frustration. So I ring my university, who are frankly amazing! By the afternoon they had contacted SF on my behalf and sorted the course details out. Great. Superb. Let's get some money.

Not wanting to be caught out again I rang them to check everything was fine. Spent more time on hold (their on hold music is atrocious). Finally I get through to a human and ask if that is it, do they have everything? They say whilst my course is now fine, they still need evidence of my Dad's divorce.

Literally I feel cross writing this! My Dad has been divorced since I went to uni the first time around. In 2008, that is now 6 years ago. Since that original application 6 years ago, either my sister or I has applied for SF every year. Every single year they ask to see proof of my dad's divorce. Every. Single. Year. WHY!?!!? Can we not check a box saying evidence seen and have that remain on file?! No. I just can't get over how backwards this feels. So unprofessional and incompetent.

Eventually, now in my second week of uni, I receive my agreement and immediately send back my agreement.  The relief. It is finally sorted. I don't think about it. I log on to my account in the following weeks and by about week 4 of uni they say my payments have been approved and scheduled for 29/09/2014. Great! Money!

The money does not arrive. I don't live in Canterbury. It costs £20 each day just to get there. Days I am in school cost £10 a day. Each day my money goes down so I had to dip into the savings. As I outlined at the beginning of this, I don't have parents who are in a financial position to support me. Thank goodness I have worked hard for 2 years to save money and could support my self,

By the 8th of October I am getting annoyed. The payments are scheduled, why haven't I received my money. So after a long day at school where I am training to teach, I ring them. Imagine the delight to spend time on hold after a long day, such a treat. When I get through, they tell me that I am not registered at the University I have attended for the last 5 weeks. I have to confess I threw the phone down.

Because of their original incompetence my form was sent off late which means that when the university register people you get pushed back and don't get registered. My oh my. So the 'scheduled' payments aren't really scheduled at all!

Once again, my university could not have been more helpful and they registered me the next day. So on the 23rd of October, 6 months since applying and 1 month since my payments were scheduled, I finally received my money! The sheer joy cannot be expressed in words.

Now I do not want to come across as ungrateful because I am not. I am lucky that I can go to uni and have the support of money, even if it is only a loan. People might be thinking 'poor little rich girl, whining about money', which to an extent I agree with. After all, I have my money and I am fine! I am in a privileged position and I will never forget that. But there is no way to complain about SF.The fact of the matter is that despite them being rubbish, I have to rely on them and trust I will get my money. But I need to express my story.

SF need to rethink how they do things and make the system better! Another point I would add is that I have 2 twitter accounts, one in my name and the other is this account, Review_That! They did not reply to one tweet I sent from my personal account. They replied to my tweet straight away from Review_That! If you pay someone to tweet then please make sure they reply to everyone. If I take the time to tweet SF it is because I want help and support, not to be ignored!

There has not been one part of the process of applying for SF that has been easy this year, just one situation after another. Really all emails you can't reply to should tell you that! It takes minutes to create an email signature that says 'please ring student finance'. That is all they need to do!

Anyway, rant over. I promise to stick to reviewing films from now on!

The Jafflong - Dartford

Having lived in Dartford for a large portion (18 years)of my life, it is rare to find new things to do in Dartford, but tonight, I did something new!

My sister invited me to The Jafflong for an evening of curry and company with some of her friends. Curry would never be my first choice of meal out. I much prefer Chinese and most other restaurants, I like curry, but not that much. It is the only takeaway my family ever gets so I always relish a chance to have a different cuisine. But I do like curry and I love spending time with my sister, so a win win for me.

The Jafflong offers a 'banquet' deal 3 times a week, which is what we had tonight, and it is exceptional value for money. For £9.95 you get a starter, main, side dish and a rice or bread. Most curry houses offer a similar deal so it is always worth researching which days are best to go.

My sister and I both went for the mixed starter, which was a vegetable samosa, an onion bhajji and 2 pieces of chicken tikka. It was loved. I often find onion bhajjis are too greasy but they were lovely. We had had poppadums so retained our chutneys so have with our starters, which worked out a treat, I love  mango chutney and we had plenty to enjoy with out poppadoms and starters. Delicious.

For our mains we did some sharing to give us a variety. We had a Chicken Shaslik, chicken dupiaza, a cauliflower bhajji, an aubergine bhajji, a vegetable rice and an onion naan. It was all very tasty. The food was served very quickly and we got everything we ordered, a lot on a table of 6. I especially enjoyed the onion naan, a much more subtle flavour than a garlic naan. I would certainly order it again. Everything we had was cooked really well and tasted.

The restaurant is fairly small but it doesn't feel overcrowded. The staff are really fantastic. So efficient and friendly. The Jafflong is definitely worth a visit and we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

It's time. To Face. The Music.

My brother turned 30 this week and has set my sister, her boyfriend and myself each a blog challenge to celebrate. My challenge is the top 10 X Factor finalists of all time.

I have been meaning to blog about the X Factor for a while. This series has been really terrific and people just are not giving it enough credit. I am delighted Simon and Cheryl are back. Mel is doing a great job and I love that the three of them call Louis Walsh ‘lu-lu’. There is a huge amount of talent and I am loving it. So watch it!! Don’t even consider watching Strictly. Tess Daley and Claudia Winkleman are insufferable. ITV is the place to be.

Anyway… on to the list. This is based purely on my opinion. That is it!

10. Shayne Ward.

If you like the X Factor you are probably thinking what on earth!? If he hadn’t been such an idiot since leaving the show then James Arthur would have pushed Shayne out but I cannot bring myself to put a homophobe in my top ten. Shayne goes in the top ten mainly just because he is from the first 2 series, which I reckon Simey likes to forget about! We need to keep reminding him of the people that came out of the beginnings. So Shayne ‘that’s my goal’ Ward takes the tenth spot!

9. JLS

Right most people will think JLS should be higher but towards the end of their career their songs were awful. I have never really been a huge JLS fan but what I like is that they were the first band that were decent! And they weren’t put together for the show. They were four friends who loved singing together and they did a fairly good job, so they deserve their 9^th spot.

8. Matt Cardle

It’s a shame Matt’s career never really took off. I loved his voice and think he should have done a lot better than he did. Still, according to Wikipedia he is currently recording his 4^th album so life isn’t so bad!

7. Leona Lewis

Keep Bleeding in Love is a great Karaoke song so Leona deserves a spot just for that. She walked her year, no one even really compared. She’s done really well and recorded some good songs so well done to her. I still remember her first audition when she sung somewhere over the rainbow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JU3rWFq1gI

Effortless.

6. Rebecca Ferguson.

Another classic example of someone who has failed to really reach her potential. She should have had numerous number one singles by now. She absolutely had the voice for it and it just hasn’t happened. What I like about Rebecca is that she is genuinely different. People try too hard to be different nowadays and be a bit quirky but her voice was truly unique and beautiful. Leona may have been more successful but I think Rebecca has a better voice!

5. Jahmene Douglas

A genuine guy with an incredible voice. According to Wikipedia he is currently recording his second album. I hope he does well! Good luck Jahmene!!

4. Olly Murs

What I like about Olly is that I think he knows he isn’t the best singer! He has personality to carry him through. He has released some really good songs and seems like a nice fella. His songs are just so catchy.

3. Little Mix

The only band to ever win X Factor. That says a lot. At first I wasn’t convinced but it was in Halloween week that I really started to like Little mix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwqj03l0rTc

They were good singers, they sang competent harmonies and they could handle routines. I think they were really good on the X Factor and I really wanted them to win. In some years I haven’t really had a favourite but I really wanted them to win. They’re good!

2. One Direction

Even I am a little shocked that they haven’t come first. I am not ashamed to admit that I love One Direction. They are great. I love them. Especially Niall. I even have my set of One Direction gel pens. I am sad I know! Their movie was epic. It made me laugh, it made me cry, I was singing along and I was buzzing when I left the cinema. These guys are taking on the world. Whatever you think of them it’s good to see a British band do so well on a World wide scale! I just hope that they don’t burn out too soon. There is definitely a time limit on a band like One Direction so it will be interesting to see how long they last.

FYI the best One Direction Song is Kiss You!

And at Number 1 is….

1. Ella Henderson.

This girl is quality. What I love about Ella is she entered the X Factor at 16 years old and only came 5^th.  She was unfairly in the bottom 2 with the person who went on to win. But she went away, matured and nurtured her talent. Then she came back with an EPIC first single. Ghost is a great song. Those 2 years meant she had time to grow up a little bit and really develop her talent. I hope that she gets an amazing follow up single and has a long and successful career. Here is the best song she ever did…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTbcO9qaE5g

Cher’s believe. It still gives me goose bumps. Incredible.

I hope you enjoyed this blog! Please watch the X Factor! It is a great show now Gary Barlow has left!