Recently watched...

The Imitation Game (2015)

For some reason I didn't think this would be my kind of film but decided to give it a go. Set in the second world war about real life code breakers including mathematician Alan Turing, it follows them as they try and break the nazi enigma code. This film was amazing, I'm not really fussed about Benedict Cumberbatch usually but he gave such a warm and dignified performance here. The parts about Turings sexuality were heartbreaking, and overall the film was just brilliant! 5/5

Child 44 (2015)

Based on the book by Tom Rob Smith this is set in 1950s soviet Russia. It follows a secret agent played by Tom Hardy after he is exiled after refusing to denounce his wife as a traitor and starts to uncover a string of child murders. I felt like this was a bit all over the place- the first half was really good and appealed to the George Orwell fan in me, but the whole murder mystery thing felt shoe horned in and wasn't really a mystery anyway. The Russian accents were also a bit dodgy (it was mainly British actors) but Hardy, and Noomi Rapace were both very good in it, and it was strange to actually see Tom Hardy communicating by talking rather than grunting... 3/5 

Dark Places (2015)

Dark Places is a film adaption of the book by the same name by Gillian Flynn (writer of Gone Girl) and is my favourite of her books- in fact it's one of my all time favourite thrillers. Paired with the fact it stars one of my favourite actors Charlize Theron I've been eagerly awaiting this film ever since it was announced. For some reason it took around a year to be released here and went straight to dvd. I thought this was ok, the acting was good but it rushed through the layered story too quickly. There are so many twists and turns in the book that the film forgot to really give much time to exploring the characters- which were very interesting and complex and it just left the film feeling really flat. I'd definitely recommend picking up the book first, but this is still worth a watch. 3/5

The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)

This is another book adaption (although I haven't read the book) set in 1970s San Francisco about a 15 year old discovering sex and becoming an adult. I mainly wanted to see this because it has Kristen Wiig in (she's not really in it much) but this was a genuine, warm and often funny film about being a teenager. This is way better than the majority of YA films I've seen- there was no sugar coating, or patronising message it was just honest, and fun. 3.5/5