On Friday night I want to see Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close with my family, but I am just now writing my review because I had to let everything from the movie kind of sink in. First let me say, this movie is getting reviews from amazing to terrible, and people feel very strongly about why they either loved or hated the film. I am sort of in the middle, I nowhere near hated the film, not at all, but I’m not about to go around telling everyone I see that they have to see this movie because it’s the best movie ever. The acting was incredible, the cinematography was beautiful, the story was moving, but it was truly one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. I cry pretty easily when I go to the movies, I’m an emotional person and when I see a movie, I am totally engrossed in the film so my emotions take over easily, but I have truly never cried in any movie as much I did at this one. I don’t want to give too much away about the movie, but it is about a young boy, played by the amazing Thomas Horn, a very precocious, interesting and incredibly smart little boy (aspergers is mentioned, but not confirmed) and the relationship he has with both his mother, played by Sandra Bullock, and his father, played by Tom Hanks, and the story is centered around the events of 9/11. Overall the movie is very good mainly because of the acting, but it was just very intense and in some parts very hard to watch. If you enjoy incredibly intense, but moving stories, then I would recommend this movie, otherwise, it may be best to avoid it.
Today I went to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D, this is a movie I have loved since it was first released years ago and I was so excited that they re-released it in 3D. There’s not a whole lot to say, the movie hasn’t really changed, it’s still an amazing and beautiful movie and the 3D aspect only added to that. The main scene that I love is the ballroom dancing scene, it’s so beautiful and “Tale as Old as Time” is one of all-time favorite Disney songs. The ending still gets to me, I cried, like I always do, but how can you not. Beauty and the Beast is a classic Disney film that’s hard not to love and if you love the movie like me, go see it in 3D, it’s definitely worth it!
Today I want to see Joyful Noise, as soon as I saw the preview I wanted to see it, I mean it’s Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah! The movie is cheesy beyond belief, it’s basically Glee goes to church, but I love Glee and despite the utter amount of cheese, I loved it! The main thing that I loved was the music, it was great, “Man in the Mirror” sung by Keke Palmer, was amazing, she has a beautiful voice and I loved the arrangement. I also loved “From Here to the Moon and Back” I don’t want to give anything away about that performance, just know that it was probably my favorite scene of the entire movie. The basic storyline is about a church choir and their journey to the National Gospel Choir Nationals (yeah, it’s Glee) and the relationships of the different choir members. There is a lot of very predictable moments, the relationship between Keke Palmer and Jeremy Jordan is annoying but there are some great comedic moments between Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton, this besides the music made the movie for me. Overall, despite all of the cheese and predictable storylines, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and I left the theater with a huge smile on my face.
On New Year’s Day I got a chance to go see War Horse. I had been looking forward to this movie for month’s and every time I would see the trailer, I would cry, but I knew if the trailer could move me like that, then the movie would be amazing, and I was right. First off, this movie is beautiful, in so many ways, from the cinematography to the story itself, It has some absolutely breathtaking shots and this one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. The story is about Albert and his horse Joey, and what an amazing horse Joey is. I love movies with animals where the animal is such an integral part of the story and feels like he is more that just an animal and that was how it was with Joey so I immediately became attached and invested in Joey’s story. I don’t want to give too much of the storyline away, but the movie is amazing, I cried a lot throughout the entire movie, it was an incredibly moving story and I highly recommend this movie.
The weekend I had a chance to go see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I had been looking forward to this movie for months. I had grand intentions of reading the book and watching the Swedish version of the movie before this one came out, but that didn’t happen, so I saw this with no real idea of what the story was actually about. From the start, I was invested, the opening credits for this movie are absolutely incredible, it was amazing. The story was so intriguing, I was immediately invested in Mikael and the story of Harriet and of course Lisbeth Salander. She was such an interesting character, she was not your conventional heroin and she goes through a lot of crap, but she is strong and she makes it through. The dynamic between Mikael and Lisbeth is amazing, but I will have to give that credit to the actors. Both Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara do an incredible job in their respective roles. Overall, this movie was amazing, the acting, the storyline and the cinematography, there are some absolutely beautiful shots in this movie. I plan on reading all 3 books and watching the Swedish versions of the movies, but I really hope they continue with the American versions of the trilogy.
Tonight I went to see New Year’s Eve and I know the critics weren’t crazy about it, but I have to say, I really and truly did enjoy it! It was a very feel-good movie, I spent almost the entire time smiling, aside from the time or two that I teared up. The movie is set up where there are several stories going on all at once, I really enjoyed all of them, but of course I enjoyed Lea Michele and Ashton Kutcher’s storyline the best. Lea did such an amazing job and I felt like a proud mama seeing her on the big screen. I also really enjoyed Zac Efron and Michelle Pfeiffer’s storyline and Sofia Vergara was HILARIOUS! There’s really not much to go in to, it’s set on New Year’s Eve, everyone has something they are looking forward to or something that is holding them back and the story deals with how they all handle their situations. Everyone did an amazing job and maybe I’m biased or maybe it’s because it was her first movie, but I feel like Lea Michele did an outstanding job. Seeing her perform Auld Lang Syne on the big screen was just incredible! This is one of those movies where you can just escape for a few hours and leave feeling happy, I highly recommend it!
Before I started the madness known as Black Friday, I went with my brother to see The Muppets. I have been a fan of the muppets since I was a kid, I loved all of the movies, the Muppet Show TV show and the Muppet Babies cartoon, Fozzie was always my favorite. So, when I heard that Jason Segel was bringing them back to the big screen, I was ecstatic. I love Jason Segel and I know how much he loves the muppets so there was no way this movie wouldn’t be amazing and he did not disappoint. As soon as the movie started, that old familiar muppet vibe suck in and I felt like a kid again. The music, the story, the muppets, everything about this movie was just perfect. The best part, the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously and even pokes fun at itself throughout the movie. Jason Segel and Amy Adams were amazing as the lead characters and all of the cameos fit in with the story well, some more than others, ie: Jack Black and Zach Galifianakis. The muppets were exactly as I remember them, they were all true to character and just as lovable and funny as they were when I was a kid. I literally had a smile plastered on my face for pretty much this entire movie and I really hope this movie does well because we need more of the muppets!
*this review contains spoilers*
I like Twilight, there I said it, I am a fan and have been since the first movie. I have read all of the books and been to the midnight premiers for New Moon, Eclipse and now Breaking Dawn. So to start, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Being a fan of the series and reading the books, I knew what to expect and I feel they did a good job adapting the book to the movie. However, there are several things about the series as a whole that I do not agree with and there were things about this movie I did not like. I am a fan of Kristen Stewart, but I feel like she was a terrible choice to play Bella, but in this movie, she was better, not much, but she was better. Secondly, the effects in this movie were terrible. For this movie to make as much money as it will, you would think they could spend money to actually make the CGI look real, this goes for the scenery, the vampires and the werewolves, there were several moments where everything looked so incredibly fake.
That is the extent of my complaints, the remainder is what I actually enjoyed. I thought the whole wedding scene was unbelievably beautiful and done so well, I loved every single aspect of it. Secondly, Isle Esme, it was one of my favorite scenes from the book and I feel like they did such a good job on every aspect of it. From the awkwardness of their first time, to the feathers (“why am I covered in feathers?” one of my favorite lines from the book) and the broken bed. I have seen some people complain about the fact that Bella was ok with the fact that Edward hurt her and bruised her and how she played it off, telling him it was ok and how happy she was. But if you realize, Edward felt horrible about hurting her, it’s they reason the stopped being intimate after the first time and it was something they had touched on from the very first movie, Edward’s inability to control himself around Bella, how he didn’t want to hurt her. So, I don’t feel like those complaints are warranted, this wasn’t abuse, Bella wasn’t telling her “abuser” it was ok to hurt her.
Lastly, the whole pregnancy and birth scene, I feel like they did such a good job on all of it. The way they made Bella look so sick, everyone’s reactions to the baby and Bella being pregnant, especially Jacob and Edward. And of course, the birth scene, having read the book, I knew it was going to be graphic, but they really didn’t hold back during this scene. It was intense to say the least, incredibly emotional and a tad bit scary. But once Renesmee was born, Bella “dying”, Jacob imprinting, the fight with the werewolves, all of that was just incredible.
If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll enjoy this movie, but I’m still upset that the movie was split in 2 parts. Hopefully it will just make the ending even better.
Even though it’s been out for almost a month, last night was the first chance I had to finally see Paranormal Activity 3. I have enjoyed both of the previous movies and I was so excited for the next installment in the series. Like in typical form, the story focuses on this family being haunted by something and there is the ever present video camera. There are the typical scares and crazy things moving and things happening, but what I liked most about this installment was the sisters and showing us how all of this started from when they were kids. My biggest complaint about the movie was the ending, it was terrible, but I will just assume they are setting it up for a 4th installment, because otherwise, the ending made no sense and left it way too open. If you’ve enjoyed the other films, you’ll enjoy this one.
Tonight I went to see Real Steel and it.was.amazing! I had been looking forward to seeing this movie as soon as I saw the trailer for the first time and it more than lived up to my expectations. There were so many things that I loved about this movie, it had a great plot, it was funny, had plenty of action, and of course it had drama, I may have even shed a few tears. The cast was incredible as well, I am huge fan of Hugh Jackman and he was so great as Charlie and I have been a fan of Evangeline Lilly since Lost and she was perfect as always, but the stand-out in this movie was Dakota Goyo who played Max, he was phenomenal. The interaction between Max with everyone in the movie, Charlie, Bailey and Atom (the robot) was perfect, his timing, his emotion, everything about his performance was stellar and I was completely blown away by him. This is one of those feel good movies that has the entire audience rooting for the characters and cheering along and I left the theater just plain old happy. I highly recommend this movie, everything about it was just great!
Last night I had a chance to see Contagion. I had been looking forward to seeing this film as soon as I saw the first trailer. Of course the amazing cast is why I was first interested in the movie, but I was also intrigued by the story itself. I am a big fan of disaster, epidemic, end of the world type movies so this was right up my alley. The first thing that I noticed about the movie, was the way it almost felt like a documentary. As amazing as the cast was, they really weren’t the main thing about the movie, but it was more the disease itself. I loved how they showed the progression of the disease and the way it affected everyone and every thing and so quickly, it was so scary how true to life the whole story really was. While the cast was not the main focus of the movie in my opinion, they all did well with their respective roles. Overall I really enjoyed the film and would definitely recommend it.
When I first heard that The Lion King was being re-released and in 3D, I was ecstatic. I absolutely loved this movie when it first came out and it may be my favorite of all the Disney movies (but really how can anyone pick just 1 favorite). So, last weekend when I finally made it to theater to see it, I was beyond excited. The first thing that I noticed, along with the obvious kids, there were so many adults there. I know I am not the only person who loved this movie growing up and it was nice to experience it with people who appreciated it as much as me. The next was the 3D, surprisingly it was really well done. The opening sequence to this movie is one of my favorites scenes from any movie and is just incredibly beautiful and moving and the 3D just added so much to this scene. The other thing that I loved, was of course the music. I still have the soundtrack that I bought when the movie first came out and it is one of my favorite soundtracks and I loved that everyone in our theater was singing and dancing along. There’s not much to say about the movie itself, it hasn’t changed, it’s still one of the best Disney films to date, it still moves me to tears, makes me laugh and just feel like a kid again. I love that the movie has done so well and I really hope Disney decides to re-release more of their 90’s era cartoons.
This is over a week old, but I figure better late then never! So I was finally able to see Colombiana and I loved it! Zoe Saldana was just a complete badass and I loved her! The story was a little predictable and unbelievable, but heck that’s why you go to the movies :) The thing that I enjoyed was the heart, I mean you know she is this person looking for peace after what happened to her as a child, but the way they show the journey of how she gets her revenge and the toll it takes on her and her family was really well done. Overall, the story is good, but seeing Zoe Saldan kick ass and looking incredibly hot was the main reason I loved this movie!
Tonight I went to the midnight premiere of Glee: The 3D Concert Movie and it was incredible!!! I wasn’t able to attend any of the concerts this summer so this movie was as close as I was going to get at seeing the concert. I absolutely loved it and I don’t think I quit smiling the entire time, it was amazing seeing everyone on the big screen and up close, they all looked amazing and sounded incredible. I made myself avoid watching the majority of concert videos that were posted throughout the summer (minus Dianna and Lea performances) so that when I saw the movie, it would be like seeing the concert for the first time and I am so glad I did, I had no idea how amazing it was going to be and I was pleasantly surprised.
1. Heather - JFC, she is a beast, just incredible, I about died, so thank you Hemo!
2. Lea - she is a flawless human being!!! The entire movie could have just been her singing DROMP and I would have been satisfied. AMAZING!!!
3. Dianna - she was not in the movie nearly enough, but I lit up every time she was on stage and when I was able to catch a glimpse of her in group numbers. There is a great shot of tongue!gron towards the end of Sing and D-dizzle swag!gron was definitely present during ESOM.
4. I didn’t hate The Warblers, even I was shocked, lol
5. The 3 stories told throughout the film are incredibly inspiring and show you just how much Glee has affected people and that no matter how much we gripe and complain about things on the show, in the end, Glee is important and has made an impact on people and society.
6. The Handhold! It’s only shown for a few seconds, but just seeing it on the big screen made me so happy and that look Lea gets right after she lets go of Dianna’s hand as she walks away, pure love!
So to sum up, it was incredible, everyone does an amazing job, I can’t get over how much I enjoyed it, and I cannot wait until I can see it again!!!!
Today I finally had a chance to go see Captain America and it was great. I am a huge fan of comic book movies and I have been looking forward to this movie all summer. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie, they did a great job of explaining the backstory of Captain America and Chris Evans did an amazing job. I loved all of the supporting cast, especially Tommy Lee Jones, but when is he not amazing! The movie had some great action and fighting scenes and I loved that Hugo Weaving was the villain, he is great in any role and I will always remember him as Agent Smith in The Matrix! The best part about the whole movie though, was the lead-in to The Avengers. I am so incredibly excited for this movie and I cannot wait until next summer!