Posts Tagged ‘Movie Review’

The Host Movie Review, Or Why the Movie Seems Better Than the Book

Apr 30 |15:04

Ok, full disclosure – I only watched The Host movie and did not read the book. To be fair, my plan was to watch the movie first THEN feel inspired by the awesome movie to dig deeper and really enjoy all the details the book had to offer.

Sadly this plan didn’t work out how I imagined…

The Host Review

The Host Movie

The Host movie


My Expectations: I was imagining The Host movie to be the alien version of Twilight. It has a few of the same hallmarks – a spicy love triangle and a supernatural setting. But, not knowing too much about the plot, I really didn’t know what to expect.

The Reality: The movie was interesting and much better than some of the early Twilight movies.

The Host was still very Stephenie Meyer though. It had plenty of “tense” moments with internal struggles and over-the-top boy problems ten times worse than the Edward, Bella, Jacob situation. We’re talking multiple make-out sessions with different boys and so many confused emotions.

Overall thoughts: I didn’t totally love and swoon over this movie, but I didn’t hate it either. It was different enough to hold my interest – I mean, it’s not every day caterpillar-like aliens invade and take over human bodies on Earth, right? Plus, the desert setting was unusual and whole sympathetic “bad guy” thing really worked for this story.

Also, there was the small thing of Saoirse Ronan actually being a great actress. For most of the movie, her character is actually “inside” the mind of the alien who took over her body. So, acting as two separate people was tricky, but I think she pulled it off.

Her love interests’ acting….ehh. But, that’s ok. It really wasn’t about them anyway.

The Host Book

Ok, so I can’t judge on this, as I haven’t read it. If you HAVE read the book and/or seen the movie, please share your thoughts in the comments! Did you think the movie represented the book well? Did you like one better than the other?

In the past when I’ve seen movies that I loved that were inspired by books, I typically would get really excited about reading the book because you get so much more insight and depth from written story. The Host movie didn’t really inspire that same “fire” in me. I didn’t feel any great urge to 619-page novel.

Apparently, she’s not done with The Host series yet! According to an article posted in February, she’s writing a sequel called The Seeker. Hrmmm, I smell another movie too, I’m sure.

Is Stephenie Meyer on your auto-buy list? Or are you evaluating her on a book-by-book basis?? Plus, what did you think of The Host movie?

 
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Breaking Dawn Part 2 Movie Review

Nov 17 |10:31

This is it: the Twilight franchise comes to a close in Breaking Dawn Part 2. I’ll just say up front – I was impressed. I had few expectations, and I was very pleasantly surprised.

Breaking Dawn Part 2 Movie Review

breaking dawn part 2 movie poster

Note: If you haven’t seen or read anything about the movie, do yourself a favor and DO NOT do a Google search, read any reviews with spoilers or talk to friends who are prone to telling you the end of movies.

The best way to enjoy this movie is to go in with as little knowledge of what happens in the movie as possible. This is because there is a pretty genius twist at the end of the movie and to enjoy it, you need to know NOTHING.

I’ll mention that briefly and without spoilers later in the review. Moving on…

Overall

Overall, I loved it. Seriously, Stephenie Meyer made some awesome decisions in this long-awaited finale to her Twilight empire. For me, this movie redeemed the entire series.

This is not to say that Breaking Dawn Part 2 was in any way perfect. Wow, was it flawed…but for me the point was that it was better than the book.

Nope, I was not a fan of the last Twilight book. There was a HUGE build-up for nothing at the end of the book. Plus, I was still creeped out over the quasi-pedophilia happening between Jacob and Renesmee.

Parts that were awkward/lame:

  • Creepy baby Renesmee – For some reason they decided to do a CG baby face. It was beyond weird.
  • Every scene with Kristen Stewart – Ok, ok, just the scenes where she’s “protecting” the family and doing a weird intense face (always).
  • Any scene with Dracula 1 and 2 and Aro – They are all creepers and all overacted. Aro shrilling like a little girl just made me laugh.

Parts that were funny/awesome:

  • Charlie – Like I said in my Breaking Dawn Part 1 review, Charlie is the best cast character. He’s always the comedic relief, and he’s the perfect gruff, softy dad.
  • Emmett and Bella arm wrestling – Emmett is another great supporting character. What a ham.
  • THE END OF THE MOVIE!!! – That’s all I say, but I was shocked and amazed and laughing and crying.

Breaking Dawn Part 2: Book vs Movie

I’m not going to even pretend that I re-read Breaking Dawn. I have no idea how accurate the book is to the movie. I was just impressed overall, like I’ve been saying.

Honorable Mention: New movie trailers

Of course, the previews before the movie featured The Host, Beautiful Creatures AND City of Bones. I won’t even pretend I’m not going to see all of those movies. Whether I read the books is debatable.

I dunno though…The Host looks pretty darn good.

Your turn! Please share you thoughts, expectations or rants about the Breaking Dawn Part 2 movie!!

 
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Movie Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Oct 24 |07:30

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an amazing novel that my friend Christina let me borrow in college. It was such a memorable read, and I think my friend and I may have even created some mix tapes.

Sometimes a movie totally and completely incapsulates the book it’s based off of. It’s a rare breed, but sometimes it magically happens. I think for The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the right mix of aesthetics, scripts and actors came together to create something really amazing.

Movie Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

the perks of being a wallflower movie


The Book

So, I’ve pretty obviously stated that I LOVED this movie, so now let me tell you why. First of all, The Perks of Being a Wallflower as a book is compelling – which means the movie had a lot to work with. That doesn’t guarantee that a book-to-movie conversion always works well (hello Eragon), but it gives it a fighting chance.

If you haven’t read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, please do. It follows the life of Charlie. A high school freshman who has trouble conversing with others, loves to read classic literature and is just trying to make some friends. I loved Charlie right from the beginning in both the book and the movie.

What a cutie!

The Movie

Full disclosure: I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower when I was a freshman in college. Which was roughly 7 years ago. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the movie keeping all of the nitty gritty details from the book, but I can say that the whole story was represented.

I didn’t get the sense that anything major was left out. If there was and you know it, please feel free to comment and let me know what was missing!

If we’re going to look at the movie as a separate entity from the book altogether (this is a common “this was NOT like the book” coping mechanism I use), The Perks of Being a Wallflower definitely still holds its weight.

Emma Watson and Logan Lerman deliver stunningly authentic portrayal of the highs and lows of high school and self-discovery. Charlie (Logan Lerman) is adorably awkward and bumbling. He’s shy and hesitant. He’s so smart that he asks for extra reading from his English teacher – dorky and admirable.

More than once, I found myself wanting to hug him and tell him that life after high school gets so much better. What makes Charlie’s story so much more than just another high school coming of age tale is that he deals with so many issues – like death, sexuality and drugs.

These complexities only served to add depth and richness to the story and keep me riveted the whole time.

Plus, I must give a shoutout to the actor who played Patrick. SO FUNNY! I loved the (necessary) comedic relief that kept things fairly light.

OVERALL:

Do yourself a favor – read the book, then watch the movie. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is amazing in both forms, and I sincerely hope you love it as much as I did!!

Awesome Quotes

This book has some gorgeously profound quotes, and you know the Pinner in me had to share. ;)

perks_of_being_a_wallflower_quote-6051


we accept love the perks of being a wallflower


love the perks of being a wallflower


infinite the perks of being a wallflower


What do you think about the book and/or the movie of The Perks of Being a Wallflower?

 
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Movie Review: Snow White and The Huntsman

Jun 13 |08:00

I wanted to see Snow White and The Huntsman ever since I saw previews for it in The Hunger Games premiere. Seeing Charlize Theron wreacking havoc on the world, especially Kristen Stewart…I mean Snow White…really appealed to me.

I finally saw it this weekend with the hubs, and thought it was both good and bad at the same time.

Movie Review Snow White and The Huntsman


Cast

  • Kristen Stewart: Snow White, with guest appearances by Bella Swan’s facial expressions
  • Charlize Theron: Ravenna, the fierce evil queen
  • Chris Hemsworth: Hunstman, who is far too old to be Snow White’s love interest
  • Sam Claflin: William, Snow White’s childhood friend and resident cutie

Plot:

As a Snow White retelling, you probably already know the basic plot of the movie. Snow White is trapped by the evil queen, Ravenna, after Ravenna kills her dad on their wedding night. Charlize doesn’t mess around (literally).

Moving on to parts of the movie you DON’T already know…The writers of this movie definitely didn’t follow the classic Snow White tale – they of course embellished it with a mixed up chronology and added in more background to Ravenna’s (the most attractive person in the movie) story.

I both liked and disliked this messing around with the classic children’s tale. But, when you add in all the special effects, it really made for a stunning film.

Romance:

There’s a quasi-love triangle for about 5 seconds in the movie, which is dispelled quickly. Sadly, the relationship that survives is disappointing in its watered down, inconsistent state. *Sigh.*

Acting:

  • K. Stew: -2. She didn’t even have that many lines! She mostly just looked peaceful and in one instance, rallyed the troops.
  • Charlize Theron: 10. Any scene where she’s yelling is fantastic. Haha!
  • Chris Hemsworth: 6. Not as good as Thor or The Avengers.
  • Sam Claflin: 7. A good performance even though he got like 5 minutes of screen time.

Snow White and The Huntsman Overall:

I loved the special effects and the new take on one of my favorite fairy tales. I didn’t like the awkward performance by Kristen Stewart and the lame romance that is supposed to be key to this story.

If only Snow White had done a little bit more of this in the movie…

snow white and the huntsman movie review

Just...stay asleep, ok?

 
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Breaking Dawn Movie Review

Nov 18 |03:42

I just got out of seeing the Breaking Dawn movie premiere!! I don’t know how coherent I’m going to be at 3 a.m., but here goes nothing.

You know that I didn’t have too many expectations, so here are my thoughts about the movie:

Breaking Dawn Movie Review:

breaking dawn wedding

Two Warnings-

  • If you are the LEAST bit squeamish, LEAVE the theater for the birthing scene. It’s so, so, so nasty and very graphic (we’re talking visually and audibly) AND very long! We’re talking 10-15 minutes- no joke! One of my friends almost passed out…it was that bad. Plus, Bella looks like a skeleton towards the end. It can be really hard to watch.
  • If you are a teenager and you’re seeing this movie with the parents- WARNING: the entire honeymoon scenes could be pretty awkward. They don’t leave a lot to the imagination, if you know what I mean…

The rest of the movie-

  • Charlie is the best-cast character of the WHOLE movie. I loved every scene he was in.
  • The newest wolf, Seth, is freaking adorable and I hope he’s in Breaking Dawn: Part 2 a bunch!
  • The “imprinting” part was. just. RIDICULOUS! In a hilariously amazing way. Oh, Jacob!!
  • Billy Black is with a strange woman the whole time. I completely forget who she is, but it’s so random they never really mention what’s up with her..

One thing I will mention is the lack of a serious plot. Breaking Dawn revolves a few major events that have little to no action (and I don’t mean pushing out a vampire baby…). The main things that happened were 1. Bella and Edward’s wedding (very, very long) 2. Edward and Bella’s honeymoon (way too long) and 3. Bella’s pregnancy (looking like a skeleton, hunching over in pain and being ripped open by her offspring).

Oh, there was also wolf pack drama, but it was sort of silly. When pack communicates in their werewolf form, it’s just sort of funny. Or so my sleep-deprived mind thought at the time…

Breaking Dawn was so random at times- I honestly don’t think I’ve formed an full option yet…but that may be because my brain is firing on all cylinders right now. :) I’m definitely interesting in seeing the second part!

Oh…did I mention that the showed The Hunger Games trailer in the theater?!?! Pretty amazing!

Other Breaking Dawn/Twilight posts of possible interest:

What did you think of Breaking Dawn??

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