Gossip Girl

• Tv Show: Gossip Girl
• Year: 2007
• Writers: Josh Schwartz, Cecily von Ziegesar, Stephanie Savage
• Narrator: Kristen Bell 
• Country: America 
• Runtime: 40 minutes per episode 
• Genre: Drama 

Gossip Girl is a 2007 American based drama series, based upon a book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar.  The series is aimed at teenagers and follows the lives of a group of wealthy adolescents living in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The show revolves around the mysterious identity of 'Gossip Girl' who stems to form the centre of the drama within the show, as she constantly shares text messages revealing scandal and heartbreak. The main characters include Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Lively), Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) and Nate Archibald (Chase Crawford). 

Being one of the most popular drama series aimed at teenage audiences, the series follows the experiences associated with the main cast as they live out their high school life. As the series progresses, the drama continues as the group embark on college life. ' Anonymous figure 'Gossip Girl' continues to create drama, suspense and scandal and is what keeps the show so engaging. Gossip Girl is one of those shows which viewers constantly want to watch, and keeps the audience engaged right until the final episode of season 6 where all is revealed. The show builds upon different experiences of each character, showcasing the groups’ shifting friendships, jealousies and turmoil all experienced in the wealthy and complex world of upper east side manhattan.

Recently celebrating their 10 year anniversary and making it past 100 episodes, Gossip Girl is still a much loved and popular show 10 years on.

The universal themes showcased, in combination with the surreal New York setting and lifestyle lived out by the characters is what makes this TV series so enduring and timeless.

Overall, I believe Gossip Girl is a great success within the genre of drama and its ability to produce a show which captures its audience greatly. This is one of my favourite TV series within this particular genre, and I would highly recommend this series to anyone interested in teen drama.

My personal rating: 9/10

Alyssa-

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Before the Flood: Fisher Stevens, Documentary, USA

Documentary: Before the Flood

Year: 2016

Director: Fisher Stevens

Country: USA

Runtime: 96 minutes 

Before the Flood is a documentary featuring the exceptionally talented and influential actor and  environmental activist, Leonardo DiCaprio. This documentary illustrates how climate change is affecting our environment and what human society can do to prevent the inevitable demise of endangered species, ecosystems and native communities across the planet. The film shows DiCaprio traveling the globe, examining our fossil-fuel addiction and the various other factors that are contributing to climate change. 

This is one of my favourite documentaries thus far. Featuring A-lister, Leonardo DiCaprio, helped attract attention from viewers globally which was an effective way of promoting the extremely prevalent issue that is climate change. This documentary offers crucial and current information about the state of our planet, informing worldwide viewers of the various ways in which we are destroying our planet, whilst offering hope for future restoration. I enjoyed this film as it effectively explains the ways in which climate change is a problem but also provides solutions that can be taken at an individual level, making the film more enjoyable as a opposed to depressing. This film is effective in providing an insight into how our individual habits are contributing to environmental damage and climate change, stimulating conversation amongst viewers about how we as individuals can help mitigate environmental damage by changing our daily consumption habits. For persons that lack environmental awareness, I think this entertaining and comprehensive media outline was a powerful way to convey the message of climate change and educate ill-informed viewers about our current global issues. 

My personal rating: 9/10

Eloise Pullan

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Bojack Horseman: Raphael Bob-Waksberg, TV Show, USA

TV Show: Bojack Horseman

Year: 2014 - Current

Creator: Raphael Bob-Waksberg

Country: USA

Runtime: 25-26 minutes

Genre: Black Comedy, Drama, Satire

Bojack Horseman was Netflix’s venture into the world of adult animation. It takes place in a world where anthropomorphic animals live alongside humans as equal beings. The series follows Bojack Horseman, an old washed up depressed sit com star from the 90s as he struggles to find his place in the current world around him. In its first season the show struggles to find its place, while it is funny at a few points at the beginning there is nothing special to hook viewers or to stand out from its established peers. 

This begins to change however as the show came into the 2^nd half of its first season. This 2^nd half involved such a drastic change in tone and meaning that one website, Indiewire, even changed its policy requiring reviewers to watch entire seasons on Netflix instead of just 6 episodes before any review.

This change in tone continues as the show gains confidence, receiving universal critical acclaim seasons 2 through 4. Throughout the seasons Bojack Horseman continues to examine important issues in society such as depression trauma and self-destructive behaviour. These may seem like strange issues for a satirical comedy show featuring a horse to tackle, however it has been praised for its boldness and the accuracy in which is deals with issues many shows avoid. 

Overall I believe this is a fantastic show that can often be overlooked by people due do the unusual setting of its world, or sometimes more understandably for the weak first 6 episodes. I would highly recommend this show for anyone interested on issues of mental health or fans of satire shows in general.

Personal rating: 9/10

Evan Simpson

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The Block

• Tv Show: The Block
• Year: 2017
• Host: Scotty Cam
• Country: Australia 
• Runtime: 55 minutes per episode 
• Genre: Renovation/ reality 

The Block is a tv series where reality meets renovation, seeing 5 couples battle it out every week to create beautiful, styled rooms with a mix of heritage and contemporary designs.  Each week, the contestants are given a brief of which room they are to complete and a strict timeframe. These may include, bedrooms, master suites, bathrooms, living/dining rooms, study, kitchen, laundry and finally the landscaping and exterior. The show is excellent in its ability to combine renovating and amazing room transformations alongside reality television. Viewers enjoy watching the show due to the combination of these factors. It is both enjoyable to watch whilst also providing inspiration for everyday styling and renovation. 

Additionally, each week the host Scotty Cam presents a range of challenges in which the contestants compete against each other in order to win extra prize money to enhance their spaces. For example, this may include making over family style accomodation offsite and charity based work. The other week, contestants renovated and styled a Ronald McDonald house to enhance the space and make it more aesthetically pleasing and functional for families staying with sick children. Not only did they present amazing spaces but were also able to give back to the community by helping out this charity. 

At the end of each week, the spaces are magically transformed and are judged by style guru and design experts Shaynna Blayze, Neil Whittaker and Darren Palmer. Providing their expertise and constructive criticism, this episode is usually the most anticipated out of the four aired each week. The spaces are shown as before and after's, allowing the audience to see the amazing transformations as well as hear the judge's feedback. It also allows audience members to form their own opinions on the rooms, which are usually discussed further via social media platforms. The show has generated both a high number of viewers/ fans as well as a strong social media presence, across platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Overall, I believe The Block is an excellent show, showcasing strong renovation and design skills which provide inspiration for all viewers.

I would highly recommend this tv show to anyone interested in home renovation and styling, or audiences who enjoy a good laugh. 

By Alyssa - 

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10 Cloverfield Lane

• Film: 10 Cloverfield Lane
• Year: 2016
• Director: Dan Trachtenburg
• Country: United States of America
• Runtime: 104 minutes
• Genre: Psychological Thriller, Science Fiction

This was a film I watched sometime in June last year by myself, due to the fact that none of my friends or colleagues didn't know anything about the movie, and was not enticed by the trailer as I was. I usually do not enjoy films alone, but I had to make an exception knowing that I would regret missing the chance to see this on the big screen. By the end of the year, I was easily able to say this film topped many others I have seen during 2016.

If you have not noticed from the title, this film was made as a spin-off or successor to the film Cloverfield (2008), which I definitely enjoyed as well. However, it definitely can be watched its own without understanding the context of Cloverfield.

The plot follows a young woman, Michelle, who is knocked unconscious from a car crash but wakes up locked inside an underground bunker, supposedly saved by a man, John, who found her knocked out and injured on the road. In the bunker, she meets another injured man, Emmet, who joined them by choice. The film proceeds to shift back and forth between attempting to form trust between the three members and intense suspense and suspicion of each other, by keeping the characters as well as the audience in the dark about the truth of why they are locked in the bunker.

I think that the actors did a fantastic job with keeping a sense of fear and tension throughout the whole movie until the answers were revealed, it definitely kept my heart racing for the full runtime. The ending was slightly disappointing and in my opinion probably only necessary to reference the connection to Cloverfield through (SPOILER) the alien appearances.

This is a film I would definitely recommend to others unless they really don't like horror or thriller films.

My personal rating: 9/10

Thanks for reading~

Susie

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