Album Review: Little Machines

I believe that this is the first album review that I've ever done on my blog, and so I figured that I would start with a really good one. The album that I'm reviewing is called Little Machines, and is by the Canadian musician Lights. I have been familiar with much of her music for a while, but it was only until recently that I began listening to some of the songs on her newest album.
I was not disappointed; several of the songs on this album became stuck in my head (in the best way possible) after only listening to them a few times. One aspect of Little Machines that I really find pleasing is the mix of well-written and heartfelt lyrics put to catchy, electronic-pop music. I find that most lyrically deep songs today are often quite melancholic while upbeat songs are often very lyrically shallow, but this album forms the perfect bridge between the two. You can lyrically relate to the songs, but the music provides a catchy and upbeat accompaniment to them.
I really do like all of the tracks on this album, but I would say that my personal favorites are Speeding (track 5), Muscle Memory (track 6), and Lucky Ones (bonus track 13). If you are at all familiar with this album, or the artist Lights in general, let me know what your thoughts are in the comment section.

Artist: Lights

Genre: Pop/synthpop

Number of Songs: 11 (plus 3 bonus tracks)

Release Date: September 19, 2014

My Rating: ★★★★☆

Movie Review: Divergent

I guess I should begin this review by saying that I have never read any of the Divergent books, which this movie is based on. I don't know if reading them would have made me enjoy this movie any more or less, but putting this fact aside I do know exactly how I felt about the film.
To begin I'll give a quick synopsis of what the movie Divergent is about. Basically, it takes place in a future society where five different factions exist. The main character of the film, Beatrice, does not fit into any of the five factions, thus making her a divergent. Ultimately her identity as a divergent is compromised and her life is in danger due to this. The climax of the movie occurs when the leader of one of the factions, Jeanine, attempts to overtake the entire society by taking control of the members of Beatrice's faction and controlling their actions. Since Beatrice is a divergent, she is unaffected and must stop Jeanine.
Okay, now for the review itself. The movie Divergent failed on so many levels for me, from the sub-par and predictable plot to the hardly formidable villain that Kate Winslet portrayed. The entire time I was watching Divergent, I was conscious of the fact that I was always waiting for something else to happen that would really pull me into the story line or the characters in some way, but this never happened. None of the characters seemed to click, and their relationships with each other were not believable to me as a viewer. Even the main romance between Beatrice and the character Four seemed very unnatural to me, and was also very predictable.
I feel like I basically spent 2 hours waiting for more to happen. Even during the action scenes in Divergent, it never felt like enough was going on. To sum up all of my feelings about this movie, I would say that it's a stagnant story line featuring unconvincing character relationships, all put to a really bad-ass soundtrack (my one praise for this movie). Overall I would not recommend Divergent.

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Science Fiction/Action

Run Time: 139 minutes

Release Date: March 21, 2014

My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆