Maze Runner: Scorch Trials - Movie - Review by Grace

Maze Runner: Scorch Trials - Movie - Review

I recommend that you don’t read this if you haven’t seen the first Maze Runner

Rating: 5/5 stars -

Maze Runner: Scorch Trials! Best thing since sliced bread! The marvellous movie that is filled with surprises was released 10th September 2015. The movie was based on a book written by James Dashner.

The thrilling sequel to Maze Runner, is the whopping amazing Maze Runner: Scorch Trials! First of all, I thought the Maze Runner series wasn’t going to get any better, until I saw Scorch Trials. The suspenseful movie features someone called Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) who is confused and curious about what is happening to the world, the people around him and himself. He has been accompanied by many survivors from a horrifying maze who want to know what is going on as well as him, including Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), Newt(Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and Minho (Ki Hong Lee). In the first movie, all Glader’s minds were swiped and they were put in a maze filled with blood curdling mechanical monsters, known by the name of Grievers. As you can tell, that would be a very tough and difficult situation to be in. Along the frightening journey very few made it out of the maze and many died trying and the rest that didn’t bother are unknown. But here comes the spoiler alert, I warned you about… One of the people that died trying were a heroic and unsuspecting role model, Chuck, he died by saving Thomas life as a knife was heading straight for Thomas’ stomach, then Chuck came to save the day, by interfering and being hit by the flying knife. Chuck's death scene was very touching and sad. It was a great movie, but Scorch Trials is even BETTER!!!

I found the storyline of Scorch Trials very suspenseful and entertaining. Since, I was in a dark movie cinema with surround sound when I first watched it, the jump scares and intense scenes caused me to constantly jump. The frightening moments made me feel even more terrified because the movie can relate to a zombie apocalypse movie. I found the storyline amazing, thrilling and intense. After having escaped the Maze, the Gladers/survivors now face a new set of challenges on the abandoned roads of an infinite landscape filled with unbelievable obstacles. Some of the challenges include the scorch (An aftermath of the world tearing itself apart), the flare (An uncured disease that has affected the world outside of the maze).

The only thing that would’ve made the movie even better is that I didn’t have Mrs Jumpy A.K.A my Mum beside me. Every time something came around the corner she would fly off her seat, that’s why I had to hold the popcorn. Other than that odd comment, I found it amazingly EXTREME!!!

Although, just because it is an awesome movie, doesn’t mean other parents will think it’s appropriate for their children and easily let them watch it. Well, they have a point. The Maze Runner is rated M: Violence, this rating is telling the truth, the action packed film has an explosion of violence and fight scenes, not really fight scenes though, more like gunshots, tackling and finally A LOT of running. The title is pretty self explanatory. And another VERY important note that I mentioned earlier, ZOMBIES!!! There are zombies, zombies, zombies and ZOMBIES. I didn’t find them too bad, but if you’re going to bring your 5 year old child to the cinema to watch this movie in the dark, they will freak out. Even I was lucky enough to watch it. I recommend age 11+, because this movie is definitely not for children under 9 years old. The movie does include many swears, curses and in one scene, Thomas, the main character uses his middle finger, which preferably is not appropriate for many audiences under 10 years old.

The Hunger Games - Reviewed by Elizabeth Kinney

The Hunger Games - Reviewed by Elizabeth Kinney

Rating: 5/5  

Review:  The Hunger Games revolves around a time when choices are made for you and wealthiness was chosen by Districts. The main character Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) was born into a poor family and long ago lost the hope of living in a fear world. She was forced to fight for her survival in and out of the Hunger Games.  Katniss’ hunting partner Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) is also one of the unfortunate, he slowly realizes that in this world there is no fear and proposes a plan in hope that they will run away together but when Katniss stands in for her sister Primrose Everdeen (Willow Shields) at the reaping Katniss is thrown into a unknown world, the Capital. She is forced to change her ways of living and make friends with her partner Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) as the Hunger Games begin she fights to save her life and forms an unlikely truce. The Hunger Games tell a story of love, heartbreak and mystery.

I think that The Hunger Games would be more suitable for 12 and over viewers because of the violence, it is a good movie if you're looking for suspense and a thriller. It would be classed under Action film, Adventure film, Science fiction, Thriller, Fantasy and Drama film. One of the reasons I thought it was a good movie because it gave me an insight of what it would look like without democracy and how one place ruled the world and how one man decided the death of another.

The Hunger Games is the first book and movie in a series of 3, The others are The Hunger Game Catching Fire and The Hunger Games Games. In my opinion The Hunger Games got more viewers because of the famous actors in it like Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth. Also the book was a big hit when it came out so that May have contributed to it. Overall if you are looking for a movie that makes you sit on the edge of your seat and shudder with fright then this is for you.

Pan by Letitia

Movie Review - Writing - Pan

Living a boring life at a London orphanage, 12 year old Peter suddenly finds himself in the fantastical world called Neverland. While the boys are asleep one night some of the boys are snatched up by air men on tethers and are flown by the Jolly roger to Neverland where the adventure begins.

Director Joe Wright said “There has been many series to Peter Pan from the original Peter Pan to our new Pan”, he also mentioned that he made this movie to extend the story and get more of a  insight of how Peter came to live in Neverland.

When Pan eventually makes it to Neverland he meets  James Hook and Tiger Lily and with a little negotiation they become great friends, which helps them all on their journey. They all must work together to fight and to save Neverland from the dreaded Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman). Along the way Peter’s rebellious and mischievous personality sends him to his true destiny and leads him to find out what happened to his mother.

Peter experiences many challenges in which he overcomes with the help from his friends Tiger lily and James Hook, as they travel through the magical Neverland. They meet different cultures and learn many things along the way.   

Will there be a Pan 2?

Rooney Mara who plays tiger lily) stated “We are unsure if we will make this a sequel, it all depends on how the audience responds, there is definitely plenty of things to put in the sequel if it becomes a reality”.

Personal Opinions:

Rating:                

I think this movie is based at ages 9-14, and the genre is fiction. I has been quite a popular movie and most cinemas were fully booked each session. Many people believe that one of the reasons it was so popular was the cast member and well known actor Hugh Jackman who played Blackbeard in the film.

Overall I think the movie was great, I also believe that the actors did very well and I enjoyed the fantasy and fiction of the film. I would definitely want to see Pan 2 if it is made.

By Letitia Hill

Don't Give Up Don't Give In by Patrick

Don't Give Up Don't Give In

By Louis Zamperini and David Rensin

Don't give up don't give in is a wonderful story sharing a lifetime of humor, insight and wisdom, he lived one of the most inspirational and amazing life. He was a troublemaker at first stealing from shops and running from the police. His older brother tried to help get him out of trouble by using his speed to run away from the police, taking it and turning him into an Olympic athlete. This book  is written for 13 + readers

The book gives an overlook of his life in little short stories talking about how he went from zero to hero. Louis and David finished the book 2 days before Louis's death at age 97, it shows his ups and downs throughout his life like stealing from the local dairy, spending 42 days at sea, running the mile in the Olympics and running away from the police.

Positives. It uses good language and humor while telling important stories of his life and sharing his thoughts of the war with us. Negatives. I couldn't find any negatives in this story but they could of, it was all pretty good and humorous

Overall I rate this book a nine out of ten because the only fault in this is they could of made the paragraphs a little bit longer. It was a good book about his life at sea, as a troublemaker, as an athlete, a soldier and a prisoner of war.

I recommend you read this book because it shows his most important life lessons and important parts of his life and these are some of his quotes

Divergent Review by Aniela

Divergent Review

The 2014 American science fiction film, directed by Neil Burger, is based on the world-wide best selling novel, Divergent, written by Veronica Roth. A society in which people are divided into factions based on human virtues. Beatrice Prior is warned that she is Divergent and will never fit into any one of the factions, and later learns a sinister plot brewing in her seemingly perfect society.

*This Review Contains Spoilers*

Starting with the negatives, firstly, if you read the book before watching the movie would know the amount of important scenes the director didn’t include. Edward is a character whose role is reasonably important in the divergent sequel, yet he went entirely unmentioned throughout the divergent film. Having him in the film in a specific scene would explains the competitiveness of dauntless and how far they would go. If he was included in Divergent, it would explain his history and Tris’ relationship with him. Having this scene in Divergent would really help with understanding Insurgent.

Secondly, the tall and beautiful Shailene Woodley, is definitely not the small and weak Tris we imagine in the book. I believe that her acting was quite poor. She portrayed Beatrice Prior as a strong, attractive woman in Abnegation and Dauntless. In the book Beatrice (Tris) is very weak and at risk of being removed from Dauntless until near the end. Her inner thoughts are very important to the story. During the first part of Tris being in Dauntless, she is terrified. She acts strong but she is feeling incredibly upset and weak. I believe Shailene Woodley did not portray this correctly. I also find that in the movie she can seem a bit cocky which doesn’t fit with Tris’ original personality. Also, one of the characters, Tori, has quite compassionate bond with Tris, but in the movie she is quite sharp, strict and a bit bored with Tris, she doesn’t have that bond like in the book.

Lastly, I believe Neil Burger was the wrong director for this movie. The writing was a bit cheesy and the scenes were too predictable. The ending was very different in the movie, I might have appreciated it if I hadn’t read the book. Four was supposed to hack the computers and cancel the serum from controlling the people of Abnegation. But in the movie Four and Tris injected the serum into Jeanine Matthews, who then disabled the program.  It wasn’t a terrible scene, it just felt rushed and if they left it like the book, it would of explained that Four was good at hacking computers, which is useful in the next movies. Also the Fear landscapes were incorrectly portrayed. Details of Four were supposed to be revealed in his fear landscape, he seems unfazed by it. This scene is so critical to the book, it is the first time we see how vulnerable Four really is. Four never tells Tris to call him Tobias in the movie either. In Tris’ fear landscape she sacrifices herself for her family, but in the movie the scene ends with her pointing a gun to them.

Overall when reading the book I was worried about how it would translate into the movie, there isn’t a lot of action and most of the story is internalized to the protagonist. There were a few good scenes, like the zip line, aptitude test and simulations but the director tried to make a lot of changes to the story which I think was terrible. I personally think it wasn’t a good 2- hour interpretation.

The Maze Runner Book Review by Katia

The Maze Runner Book Review

The Maze Runner is the first book in the best-selling series written by James Dashner  followed by: The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure and lastly The Kill Order. The Maze Runner is a detailed and interesting book that was published by Dell publishing on the 6th of October 2009. The Maze Runner was then turned into a movie in 2014 and the Scorch Trials in 2015.

The Maze Runner tells the thrilling story of a group of boys, but not just any ordinary boys, they are extremely intelligent and where stolen by a top secret ‘agency’ when they were very young. The agency is called WICKED and is the acronym for World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department. They were stolen from their family and friends and their homes and placed in what they called the Glade. Before they were put into the Glade the boys’ brains were altered and all they were able to remember was their first name. Along with many buildings and places to go in the Glade the most important thing was the entrance to maze. Every day 8 runners go into the maze and search for an exit. But for a whole 2 years they had no luck. Every week supplies would show up to keep the boys alive and every month a new Glader would show up. Every night the doors to the maze entrance would close to save the Gladers from the terrible and indescribable monsters called Grievers. If your are stung by a griever you will go through ‘the changing’ and if you survive you will never be yourself again.

Then one day just as usual another boy arrived his name was Thomas. Thomas accepted that he was in the Glade much quicker than most but had the unnatural urge to become a runner. The next day unusually another person arrived at the Glade but even more strangely this person was a girl. Before falling into a coma the girl said that everything is going to change. Not long after, even though she was in a coma, the girl began talking to Thomas telepathically and then everything started falling apart. Once the girl had awoken from her coma the doors stopped closing giving the grievers an entrance into the Glade, the weekly supplies no longer came and the sky was always grey, and still try as they might there was just no exit.  But then Thomas begins to realise that maybe the maze isn’t quite that but the whole Glade was perhaps all a test.

Throughout the book you see the characters change and develop new skills and friendships. Some characters grow in strength while some grow weaker. It is interesting to see the way the characters act when put in certain situations and the way they mature and develop trust for each other.

James Dashner uses a wide variety of interesting and alluring vocabulary to captivate and grab people's attention. Along with being captivating and intriguing the vocabulary is very powerful and brings you into an incredible atmosphere and paints a picture in your head.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it amazingly amusing although that does not mean the book is for everyone. I would recommend this book to adventure seeking kids ages 12-16. It would be a great book for children that like reading descriptive, suspenseful, and compelling stories.

By Katia

Procedural Writing by Hannah

How to make a glider

What you need:

popsicle sticks

cellotape

masking tape

hot glue gun

mini popsicle sticks

paper

pencil

Method:

1-Design your glider on a large piece of paper drawing the exact measurements you will need.

2-Lay 3 popsicle long ways and 3 across and 2 for the thickness.

Stick it together like the image above.

3-For the wings lay 3 popsicle sticks long ways, 2 across and 2 for the thickness. Also add another popsicle stick going horizontal at each end, repeat this step another time for landing.

Stick it together like the image above.

4-At the front of the plane make a point by cutting the popsicle sticks on an angle.

5-Using the hot glue gun, glue the wings two thirds of the way up the plane. Make a little stabiliser by getting some mini popsicle sticks a cutting them down to size for the gap you need to stabilise it with. Glue the stabiliser onto the bottom of the body of the plane. The body of the plane should be up right.

6- For the landing feet you need to place one mini popsicle stick every two centimeters and glue it onto the wings. On the other side of the mini popsicle stick glue it to the landing feet.

7- EXTRA: If you want to make your plane look more “pretty” you could make a tail or a propeller.

You finished product should look like this.

Paper Glider Procedure by Aniela

Paper Glider Procedure

By Aniela G

Materials

• 10 matchsticks
• Hot glue gun
• Skewer
• A4 paper
• Cellotape
• Piece of wire (3 cm long)
• Pencil
• Scissors

Steps

1. Draw this shape (using the same measurements) with a pencil onto a blank piece of A4 paper, then cut out using scissors.

(Not drawn to scale)

2. Fold inwards sides where the red lines are, creating folds. 
     
3. Tape two matchsticks to one one of the folds, on one side.
4. Repeat with the other fold, it should look something like this. (the green lines representing the matchsticks.)
5. Tape 6 matchsticks in two columns next to each other. Do this on the same side as the other matchsticks on the wing. Tape them in the middle of the wing so it looks something like this. (the orange lines representing the matchsticks)
6. When the wing is completed, put it aside and take the skewer.
7. Twist the wire around the non-sharp end of the skewer (the circular end), using the pliers.
8. Using a pencil, draw a 10 cm long, and 1cm wide rectangle with curved ends, out of blank paper. Then cut out with scissors.
9. Create two loops, by pulling both ends into the centre, and glue with a hot glue gun. This will be the tail.
10. Attach this to the end of the sharp side of the skewer, using a hot glue gun.
11. Matchstick-side down, glue the wing to the skewer about 5 cm from the top end, (the wire end) using a hot glue gun. You have now completed the glider.

Katia's Procedural Writing

Procedural Writing

Building Your Paper Glider

Materials:

• 13 popsicle sticks (even size, any colour)
• 20 mini skewers (you may have extras)
• 5 large/normal sized skewers (for body of glider)
• 1 A4 pieces of paper
• Hot glue gun
• Cellotape
• PVA glue

Steps:

Step 1. Take 3 of your popsicle sticks and tape them together with the ends slightly overlapping, to begin forming what will soon be part of the wings. Do this again 3 more times.

Step 2. Stick five of your mini skewers onto the flat side of the popsicle sticks with the hot glue gun, evenly spreading them out, remember to always use the hot glue carefully but don't forget to also be quick when gluing.

Step 3. Grab another set of your 3 popsicle sticks and place them on top of the five mini skewers directly opposite the other three popsicle sticks (these can be the same or different colours).

Step 4. Repeat step 2 and 3.

Step 5. Taking your 2 rectangles, set them parallel to each other and secure them together using 6 mini skewers, (3 for the top and 3 for the bottom). You have now created your wings.

Step 6. Once you have done this take your 5 large skewers and place them in the middle of your wings, (two either side of the centre mini scewer and one extra on the side of your choice) Stick in place carefully with your hot glue gun, you have now formed the body of your plane.

Step 7. Take 1 more popsicle stick and lay it horizontally across your bunch of skewers, then take your hot glue gun and secure it in place, this is the beginning of creating your tail.

Step 8. After sticking your popsicle stick in place take 3 more mini skewers and place 1 on each end of the popsicle stick and 1 in the middle.

Step 9. Take your A4 piece of paper and cut it to size so that it will fit nicely covering the top of your glider, stick down with hot glue gun.

Step 10. If want you can decorate the glider however you like, (although I do recommend using pens or felts so it stands out.

Step 11. Congratulations you have just finished your very own D.I.Y paper glider. Just remember to be careful, and ENJOY!!!!! :)

Flight by Hannah, Elizabeth and Alex

Flight

For topic this term we have been learning about flight, as part of this unit we made our own gliders. First we researched gliders to see what we need to make equal so that it can fly. We then made our plane out of popsicle sticks, mini popsicle stick, masking tape, cellotape and a hot glue gun. We then tested out planes a few times so then we can adjust the problems. A few times it crash landed and it broke so we fixed it up until we thought it was fixed.

By Hannah, Elizabeth and Alex

The Flying Dutchman by Nathan and Victor

Flying Dutchman Report

We have been testing out our glider, the first time it was unsuccessful because when we threw it, the plane was not compatible with the thrusting technique. We tested the boomerang throw three times and only one was successful. Then we gently threw it once and afterwards we completed our objective, but we are still using every minute to try and improve our plane.

Paper Gliders by Grace

Paper Glider

This term in room 13, we have been learning about flight. We spent 40-50 minutes watching a boring, but factual and informing documentary about man attempting flight in the past centuries. Our teacher, Mr Atherton gave us a challenge to go along with the experience. We had to make our own paper gliders. In groups of 3-4 we all made many attempts to make a successful glider. Although we had very few resources to make the paper gliders, including paper, popsicle sticks, skewers, mini skewers and A LOT of glue and tape. Mr A gave us just over 1 week to make our first glider, most failed and were put under pressure, then the rest had perfect models on the first go and focused on improving their planes. Through the thrill ride we were able to learn that efficient gliders have to include lift, drag and the correct weight. You are probably wondering, What about your plane? Did it work, or fail? Our group’s plane didn’t work how we wanted it to, it only flew 1-2 metres, it’s an estimate though. We could’ve done better.

By Grace

Paper Gliders By Katia

Paper Gliders

This term in room 13 we have been focusing on flight for the class topic. As part of our research we have split into groups of 3 or 4 and constructed our own paper gliders.

Before we began to make our own gliders, we, as a class did some study on flight and gliders by watching a documentary. We were then provided with some equipment and resources to create these with and also were allowed to bring some of our own. Many people made the choice to figure out how a glider worked before doing anything else, after figuring out how they could keep their glider up, all groups decided together on a kind of glider that they would like to make. Using these ideas the children began to write and draw on paper a visual of their plan. After creating their plan and ensuring that it had all the correct things to make a working and flying glider they began to construct. Every group was working hard to build a great glider after they claimed to be finished each group would test their glider outside. Many groups realised that although their glider flew well there was still so much they could do to improve, and others realised that their paper glider was just not going to fly and so they had to revisit the principals of flight and gliding. Over a number of days the children of room 13 have been building and improving a series of hand made gliders and learned so much about the history and present information about the world of flight.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience of flight and have learned so much about gliding and flying and have loved working in groups. I have really appreciated the effort Mr. Atherton has put into letting us have an exiting and fun experience with topic and that everyone else has put into working together and making this topic fun for everyone in the class.

By Katia

Glider Summary by Letitia and Aniela

Overall, our gliders got better as they were remade, we started with a glider that didn’t fly, to a glider that flew about a meter. We learnt from each glider what we needed to do for the next one, for example we made a smaller base for one, and made bigger wings for another. We both learnt a lot from this topic and have enjoyed experimenting with the gliders requirements. In the end we decided to make a simple creation the glides well.(In picture)