Fifth Harmony - Reflection (Album Review)

Tracklist:

1. Top Down
2. Bo$$
3. Sledgehammer
4. Worth It (Feat. Kid Ink)
5. This Is How We Roll
6. Everlasting Love
7. Like Mariah (Feat. Tyga)
8. Them Girls Be Like
9. Reflection
10. Suga Mama
11. We Know
12. Going Nowhere
13, Body Rock
14. Brave Honest Beautiful (Feat, Meghan Trainor)

Fifth Harmony members - Camila Cabello, Lauren Jauregui, Ally Brooke, Dinah Jane & Normani Kordei

Reflection release date - February 3rd, 2015.

SONG RATINGS:

Top Down - 10/10 - with a catchy chorus and continuous "Electric City" references, Top Down is by far one of the most energetic and fun songs on the album, that is split up with very equal parts for each band member.

Bo$$ - 8/10 - with many references to different leading and successful women in the industry, Bo$$ provides a strong empowerment and boost of confidence for all the women out there listening to this track.

Sledgehammer - 9/10 - written by the no.1 hit artist Meghan Trainor, Sledgehammer provides classic cliched romantic lyrics, that any young individual would see themselves listening to over and over again, possibly even relating to the song itself.

Worth It - 10/10 - this mature track features the rapping delights of Kid Ink, who provides a very catchy verse in between Beyonce style sections of the song. Worth It says goodbye to Fifth Harmony's old sweetheart lyrics and says hello to a brand new era of confidence.

This Is How We Roll - 9/10 - with a Will.i.am style beat dropping after each chorus, This Is How We Roll is the perfect club song for any dance music fan out there, who is ready to get up on their feet and start dancing the night away.

Everlasting Love - 10/10 with an Ariana Grande/Mariah Carey feel to the song, Everlasting Love is a classic enchanting pop ballad, that hearts will instantaneously fall in love with the second they hear it playing.

Like Mariah - 10/10 - with sampling from Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby" and written with assistance by the star herself, Like Mariah is the real deal for a future number 1 hit! Featuring a well put together rap by Tyga near the end of the song, Fifth Harmony show off all they have with powerful notes and gorgeous melodic whistle tones.

Them Girls Be Like - 7/10 - reminiscing a similar style of classic Fifth Harmony with their hit song "Me & My Girls", Them Girls Be Like provides a sassy and fun song packed right into the middle of the album, with lyrics that 99.9% of teenage girls could pretty much say they relate to in some way.

Reflection - 10/10 - what could be seen as an anthem for girls for the entire next century, Reflection provides a sassy lyrical masterpiece, in which the girls trick an "angelic" and "sexy" man into thinking he's the full package, when really, the girls have it all. Fifth Harmony once again stand up for strong female empowerment and confidence, topping it all off within this one song that is also the albums successful title.

Suga Mama - 8/10 - another hit song written by the one and only Meghan Trainor, Suga Mama provides yet another sassy output towards the album. With a confident storyline that details in Fifth Harmony standing up for themselves within a relationship that is going nowhere fast, 5H say they can't be your "Suga Mama" if the boy doesn't start to make a change.

We Know - 7/10 - with a slight twist, We Know provides a calm and melodic sound to the album. With very little features of a beat included, the strong lyrical content leaves you with shivers down your spine from the different focused vocals heard throughout.

Going Nowhere - 9/10 - with another hit beat produced by DJ Flint, Going Nowhere adds in to the fitting theme of women empowerment over men within the album. This song provides another sassy lyrical story, that features a strong, catchy chorus, and beautifully layered harmonization throughout.

Body Rock - 8/10 - with another successful club beat for the album, Body Rock is a perfect example of an ear grabbing dance track. With repetitive verses and choruses throughout, this song is bound to stay stuck in your head for a very long time.

Brave Honest Beautiful - 10/10 - written and featuring the delightful vocals of Meghan Trainor, Brave Honest Beautiful is the song to inspire women of all ages for the rest of their lives. Promoting confidence, fearlessness, empowerment and beauty, this song is bound to enlighten the hearts of millions, potentially giving them a boost of happiness inside that will never leave once they hear it.

Sledgehammer - Track 3

Bo$$ - Track 2

Worth It (Feat, Kid Ink) - Track 4

Favourite Movie Of The Week

The Craft (1996)

Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney), a troubled teenage girl who has previously attempted suicide, has just moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles with her father (Cliff De Young) and stepmother. She enrolls in a local Catholic high school, but has trouble fitting in. During French class, her classmate Bonnie (Neve Campbell) witnesses Sarah telekinetically causing a pencil to rotate while standing on its tip.

During lunch, Sarah is hit on by Chris (Skeet Ulrich), the school's football star. She asks about Bonnie and her two friends Nancy (Fairuza Balk) and Rochelle (Rachel True). Chris tells Sarah to stay away from the trio, because "they're witches". Bonnie tells Nancy and Rochelle that Sarah is the "fourth" who will complete their circle and make a full coven. The three girls each have issues: Nancy lives in a trailer with her mom, Grace Downs (Helen Shaver) and abusive stepfather Ray (John Kapelos) , Bonnie has massive burn scars all over her back, and the painful treatment recommended by the surgeon (Brenda Strong) is likely to fail. Insecure African American athlete Rochelle is subjected to racist taunts by the most popular girl in school, blonde Laura Lizzie (Christine Taylor).

After school, the three girls befriend Sarah and take her to an occult shop. The owner, Lirio (Assumpta Serna), comments that Sarah is not like the other girls and says to her: "Maybe you are a natural witch; your power comes from within." While leaving the shop, Sarah is harassed by a vagrant (Arthur Senzy), and all four girls simultaneously will for something to happen; the vagrant is then hit by a car. The girls escape, and Nancy is thrilled at their "connection". Nancy tells Sarah about "invoking the Spirit" Manon, which is their ultimate goal as a coven.

Sarah leaves the girls to meet Chris, but refuses to have sex with him. However, at school the next day, Sarah discovers that Chris boasted to the whole school that they slept together, and that she was the worst he's ever had. Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle comfort Sarah, and invite her on a field trip. They take the bus out to the country. The bust drivers tells them to be careful about wicked boys, but they say that they four are the dangerous ones. While on the countryside, they call the corners and cast some spells: Rochelle asks for the strength not to hate those who hate her, Sarah performs a love spell on Chris, Bonnie asks for beauty inside and out, and Nancy asks for "all the power of Manon."

Shortly after the spells are cast, they show signs of working: Chris becomes infatuated with Sarah and goes after her constantly in spite of his friends Mitt (Breckin Meyer) and Trey (Nathaniel Marston) taunting him about it, Bonnie's scars miraculously heal, and the next time Laura bullies Rochelle, Laura's hair begins falling out. At home, Nancy causes the microwave and all lightbulbs to explode, and Ray suffers a massive heart attack and dies. Then Nancy and her mother are told by the insurance man (Brogan Roche) that they have inherited $175,000 from an insurance policy, and they feel overjoyed about it. Nancy and her mother move into a posh high-rise where the girls meet one night and learn disguise-changing magic. Nancy's mother looks confused and dazzled. She has bought a weird-coloured sofa and a jukebox with only songs by Connie Francis. The four friends lock themselves in Nancy's room ignoring Nancy's mother, who is left empty and ignored, just as she felt before cashing in on the insurance money.

The girls go to Lirio's shop again, where Nancy finds a book about "Invoking the Spirit". Later that night, the girls go to the beach and form a circle, calling on Manon. At the culmination of the spell Nancy is struck by lightning. The next day the rest of the girls witness Nancy walking on the water, and from this point on, Nancy's powers have increased.

Later on, Rochelle sees a balding Laura in the locker room, hysterically sobbing after swim practice. Laura's two closest friends (Elizabeth Guber and Jennifer Greenhut) try to offer some consolation, to no avail. Rochelle feels remorse for the spell she has cast and when she looks in the mirror at herself, her reflection looks away.

Sarah's love spell also backfires on her. She finally accepts to have a dinner date with Chris, but he takes her to the top of a hill and attempts to rape her. Sarah runs away and knowns on Nancy's door. Nancy leaves her home for a party Chris is attending in order to punish him. However, when she arrives to the party, she tries to seduce Chris by disguising herself as Sarah, but when the real Sarah arrives as they engage in foreplay, Nancy causes Chris to fall out a third-story window, killing him.

On consequence of this, Sarah starts having nightmares concerning her old friends, and feels like they're following her everywhere to torment her. She tries to stop Nancy - who has become the leader of the three remaining coven witches - by binding her powers so that she won't be able to hurt other or herself, but this does not work and the three other coven girls now hate Sarah. Needing help, Sarah goes to Lirio, who tells her to invoke the spirit herself. Lirio also reveals that Sarah's mother was a powerful witch, and that her talent has passed on to Sarah. Sarah starts to invoke Manon, but she has a vision of fire and the shop exploding, so she leaves the shop absolutely terrified..

Sarah returns home, where she is tormented by Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle, who taunt her using magic and intimidate her with threats on her life. Sarah arrives home and nobody is there. She is instructed to turn on the TV set and listens that her family went back to San Francisco thinking that she had run away there, and that their plane had had an accident without any survivors. Without a second of rest, all kinds of snakes and worm appear everywhere. Nancy appears and tells Sarah that in the old days, if a witch betrayed her coven, they would kill her. After a few seconds of intimidation Nancy says that Sarah will commit suicide.

Nancy later slashes Sarah's wrists and a letter on Sarah's handwriting stating the reasons of her suicide magically appear - blaming herself for Chris' death. Sarah runs to her room, while Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle wait for her to die. Rochelle then tells Nancy that this has gone out of hand. Nancy tells her to go upstairs to check on Sarah and threatens to slit her throat if she doesn't. Bonnie pulls up Rochelle to Sarah's room. Sarah is almost too weak to invoke Manon, but then she hears her mother (Janet Eilber) moving in an old photograph and her sweet voice whispering, "Don't be afraid. Reach inside yourself". Sarah successfully invokes Manon and is able to cast spells to fight back, as well as heal the injuries to her wrists. Forced by a counter spell of Sarah's to see themselves and what they've become by catching their reflections in a mirror, Bonnie's face horribly scarred and Rochelle's hair falling out, Bonnie and Rochelle flee, leaving only Nancy and Sarah at home.

Nancy and Sarah have a showdown, in which Nancy is ultimately defeated by Sarah, who binds Nancy's power to prevent her from doing any more harm.

In the end, Nancy has been sent to a psychiatric hospital, and Bonnie and Rochelle lose any powers they had. They go to see Sarah and half-mockingly tell her not to be angry with them because when Sarah was made to believe that her family had died it was just an illusion. Sarah's father is packing everything in his car to move out of LA. The two girls ask Sarah if she still has any powers, and when she shows no interest in continuing a friendship with the two girls who tried to kill her, they make fun of her as they leave, saying, "She probably doesn't have powers, anyway". On hearing this Sarah makes a bolt of lightning strike causing a tree branch to fall, nearly crushing the two girls, revealing that she still has powers. As they stare back at her in shock, Sarah warns them, "Be careful. You don't wanna end up like Nancy", and smiles.

The scene cuts to a bird's eye view of Nancy's room in the psychiatric hospital. She is screaming like a maniac, telling the nurse (Esther Scott), "He gave me powers! I can fly, I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm flying!"

Movie Poster Evaluation

Movie Poster Evaluation

Movie Poster Research

Movie Poster Research by Niamh Sygrove

Catching Fire: Movie Review

Plot

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) returns home safely after winning the 74th annual Hunger Games alongside her District partner Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Winning however means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends behind, embarking on Hunger Games "Victory Tour" of each district one by one. Along the way, Katniss senses that there is some sort of rebellion simmering, but the Capitol itself is still in control as President Snow (Donald Sutherland) prepares for the next Hunger Games (75th, also known as the Third Quarter Quell), a competition that could possibly change Panem forever. - IMDB Preview

Everyone sees Katniss and Peeta as the star crossed lovers of district 12, but of course Gale (Liam Hemsworth) doesn't like this due to his feelings for Katniss. He instantly becomes jealous and can't hold back his feelings when seeing Katniss. He kisses her and walks away as she heads back to the winners homes for the time being to have an interview for the watchers of the Hunger Games. Her and Peeta both come out of their houses individually and slip on the ice and kiss whilst still being on the floor to show off their "district love" to the public. However there is one person who doesn't believe in their love. President Snow. He threatens Katniss after seeing her and Gale kiss into trying to make the love seem real, otherwise loved ones would face serious consequences, death. This puts a lot of pressure on her and she walks away, preparing for the district tour.

They start off by going to District 11 (previous home of Rue and Thresh) and try to gain the public's respect for the loss of the two tributes. Peeta offers them a lot of their earnings and Katniss manages to gain the respect of Rue's family and friends due to the situation that occurred in the actual Hunger Games itself. As she starts to gain their respect, the guards don't tolerate it and drag the two winners away, grabbing a man in the crowd at the same time and shooting him directly in the head, killing him, causing awful depression and tragedy. Katniss is horrified as she hears the bang during the same time as being dragged back inside.
She realises that what she may have said during her speech wasn't the best thing to say in front of the guards and President Snow watching from his home and instantly feels regret and despair. Because of this, they stick to a very strict and harsh script planned out for them for the rest of the districts. The rest of the districts of course don't like the things said and a massive destruction occurs.

Everything falls apart inch by inch and then you see Gale being whipped by a new guard in town who wasn't impressed with what was going on in his surroundings. Of course Katniss sees this and runs in his direction to protect him. President Snow once again doesn't like this. Then it goes on to the Hunger Games announcements.
As it's the 75th Hunger Games it's a quarter quell, the third one. President Snow thought he'd change this one up a little bit. All previous chosen victors of the Hunger Games who have survived would be reaped again. This automatically makes Katniss the chosen lady as she's the only one in district 12 to have survived the Hunger Games. However with the gentleman, there is Peeta and Haymitch (Woody Harrelson). Haymitch is chosen but Peeta volunteers in his place and doesn't let Haymitch have a say. They are against elite fighters, all that have won themselves before.

During training Katniss shows off her strengths extremely well from the beginning and her and Peeta gain many allies at the same time as they know it'll help in the arena. They look through all the tributes and figure out who the weaker ones are and who the stronger ones are. They come across a man named Finnick (Sam Claflin), who is an excellent fighter and instantly becomes friends with him and his district partner. They become friends with two other candidates from the same district and then they get ready to go into the real thing.

Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) as usual is their designer and when preparing Katniss gives her the legendary Mocking Jay pin, this time by hiding it in her sleeve. He gets her into the tube, with 10 seconds to go and then the guards appear and bash his head against the tube, then slowly take him away, just as Katniss is about to go out into the arena, leaving her screaming and in tears from what she's just witnessed. The tube then takes her out into a beach setting on the pedestal, surrounding her by water and the centre dome containing all the weapons and supplies. Many people die right from the beginning in a massive blood bath and instantly Peeta, Katniss and Finnick help each other in getting supplies and getting out of the area safely together.

Further on a mysterious lot of smoke/gas comes across Katniss and co in the middle of the forest area, Katniss goes out to it and puts her hand in. It slowly affects her and they all run away because it's poisonous gas. As Finnick's district partner is fairly old, she cannot run and so Finnick carries her away. Peeta gets badly poisoned and can no longer run any further. Katniss can't carry him as she isn't strong enough and so Finnick's partner runs into the gas, killing herself in place of the three left over, and they both carry Peeta together. They continue through the forest, fighting off all sorts of creatures and objects. They then come across some kind of forcefield and realise that the arena is in a dome. Peeta doesn't realise quickly enough and touches the forcefield, exploding him. Luckily Finnick manages to get his heart working again and they continue on.

Further on they meet up with their other two allies that they met from training and notice they are with another girl tribute, giving them an extra ally. They realise that after every hour, something new that's bad will happen and every night at midnight, a tree in the middle of the arena will be shot by lightning, setting off massive shocks and storms. One of Katniss' allies is a genius with forcefields and electricty and comes up with a plan to kill any tribute who approaches near the tree or in the way of the wire that they are gonna set up all across the arena. They start to spread the wire about and during the process some tributes catch Katniss and an ally and so the ally tricks them into thinking that she's hurting Katniss when really she is just distracting them away from her. They continue and when its all set up the wait till midnight. Sadly the plan doesn't work and the expert on electricity dies in the process. Katniss realises her strength, and attaches the wire to her crossbow and shoots an arrow with the electricity into the air. It reaches the top of the dome, destroying the entire forcefield and dome, also shutting down President Snow's machinery to check on them e.t.c. Katniss is then grabbed by a massive claw attached to a plane and they carry her up into the plane. She wakes up two days later by Gale and he explains what happened. She then gets up and goes into the other room to find Haymitch, Finnick and President Snow's assistant. They explain how the Hunger Games is over and that herself and Finnick are the only people left. President Snow's assistant mentions how that it was all a set-up to protect Katniss from Snow so that he couldn't kill her like he wanted to. Katniss asks Haymitch where Peeta is as he isn't in the room with them; he then mentions how they couldn't save him and they implied that he died in the arena. Katniss is furious and attacks Haymitch due to a promise they had made from the beginning that if Peeta had to go into the Hunger Games, Haymitch would do everything to keep Peeta alive.

It then ends on a cliffhanger of just Katniss in the plane and leaves you wondering whether or not Peeta actually did die or not. The answer will be revealed in the third film Mocking Jay.

I enjoyed every second of this film; normally second films never compare to the first ones, but this one is the complete opposite. I think it was an excellent sequel and really got the point across. All the actors and actresses played their roles extremely well and never failed to impress me or anyone in the cinema during watching the film. The film showed off the common theme of action with a lot of romance occurring at the same time with the occasional bit of humour just thrown in.

Even though I said it was an incredible film, I do believe they could have done somethings a little bit better. For example, the ending. I felt it was a little rushed. I was told previously that the film was going to be over 2 hours long; this wasn't the case. It was either 2 hours exactly or just under which I felt was a bad decision cos there was a lot more that they could've explained just to make it a bit more understanding for the viewer.

Overall I give this film a rating of 8/10.