Movie Review: Warm Bodies

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With much of the world's population now an undead horde, R is a young and introspective zombie. While fighting with and feeding on a human scavenger party, R meets Julie and feels an urge to protect her. What happens next is the beginning of a strangely warm relationship that allows R to begin regaining his humanity. As this change spreads through the local undead population like a virus, Julie and R eventually have to face a larger issue when the very nature of their friendship is challenged. Caught between the paranoid human forces and the ferocious "Bonies", zombies who are a mutual threat, R and Julie must find a way common bond bridge the differences each sides must overcome so that they all fight for a better world no one thought possible.. -IMDb

You know, I was all like:  "I've got to review Warm Bodies, because I just watched it!"  Well that was several days ago, and now I'm feeling like I don't know what to write.  Shit!  So, if this review is crappy (because it certainly will be), just pretend like it's awesome, like it should be.

Movie Review: Mama

Guillermo del Toro presents Mama, a supernatural thriller that tells thehaunting tale of two little girls who disappeared into the woods the day that their mother was murdered. When they are rescued years later and begin a new life, they find that someone or something still wants to come tuck them in at night. The day their father killed their mother, sisters Victoria and Lilly vanished near their suburban neighborhood. For five long years, their Uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend, Annabel (Jessica Chastain), have been madly searching for them. But when, incredibly, the kids are found alive in a decrepit cabin, the couple wonders if the girls are the only guests they have welcomed into their home. 

Last night, my husband suggested we watch Mama.  When I asked him what it was about he said, "Oh, it's about two girls that are abandoned in the woods after their mother dies."  I was envisioning something along the lines of Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls.  I even jokingly accused, "Why is it you always want to watch these sappy movies with me?"  He never did reply, now that I think about it.  Either a) he didn't hear me or b) I couldn't see the smug, knowing smirk on his face as he was secretly laughing at my total wrong-ness.  I'm going with b.

Anyway, when we watched the trailer, I was a little surprised to find out it was a horror movie!  My brother claimed:

I almost pissed my pants at the movie theater.  I was scared shitless!

Courtesy of my 17 year-old brother.

This kind of set my expectation for the movie, so I was automatically expecting it to be super scary.  Of course, the hubby and I were watching it after midnight in the complete darkness of the bedroom (he likes scaring the shit out of me).  He even let me lay in front of him on the bed so I could see better, but I whined a little:  "It'll be scarier in front!"

Picture from Rotten Tomatoes.

So, on to watching the movie.  The movie is about two girls who end up in an otherwise abandoned cabin in the woods after their father goes crazy, kills his wife, and wrecks his car in the woods.  After a five year search by their uncle, Luke, the girls are found.  When they come to live with Luke and, girlfriend, Annabel, everyone begin to wonder if 'Mama' really is someone the girls made up or if she's something far worse.

Got your attention so far?  Good.

Oz: The Great and Powerful Movie Review

 

So, I was beyond thrilled about this movie.  The Wizard of Oz was probably my favorite movie as a kid.  I remember watching it about a million times.  I was really excited when my husband discovered the SyFy mini-series based on a modernized Oz called Tin Man.  We, of course, purchased it on DVD.

You should not be surprised that I totally forgot about the movie by the time it rolled into theaters.  However, when looking at movies to go watch this weekend, there was no second thoughts on my end: I wanted to see this movie.

If you, at this point, have no idea what I'm talking about...here's a trailer.

 I will sincerely try not to make this all spoiler filled, but I'm making no promises (just in case).

Anyway, we watched this movie in 3D.  I'm, honestly, don't understand all the 3D hype.  90% of the time, I could have done without the 3D and not have missed a thing.  I guess I just don't care about all those extras.  However, this time I was pretty impressed; and right at the beginning, no less.  Right away, the 3D blows me away in a snowing scene where the snow seems to be literally falling in your lap.  Mind you, we sat second or third row back, so I don't know what it looked like from the back of the theater, but we thought is was pretty darn amazing.

My husband claims it's the best 3D movie he's ever seen; much more worth it than many others we've seen.  If he says it, it must be true, because if there's one thing he knows...it's movies.  I call him my little movie guru.   Oh how I loathe the electronics section at Wal-Mart.  He manages to trap me in the store for much longer than I wish to be there if I let him have a look at the $5 movie piles.

So, in short, we were impressed with the 3D and think it's worth the extra.

The movie focuses on an ambitious, selfish, egotistical man who seems to have an knack for making women fall in love with him and then disposing of them after he's met his own agenda on the circus stage.  Much like Dorothy, he is whipped away by a tornado, only he's escaping the beating of a lifetime from Mr. Strongman in a hot air balloon.

Whisked away to Oz, Oscar Diggs (AKA Oz), finds himself being proclaimed the long awaited Wizard, prophesied to save the land of Oz.    My husband and I enjoyed guessing who was who.  We were almost right, thanks to his "director's intuition" and my having watching too many movies with him.  Plus, it is slightly predictable.

My husband's only complaint was the frequent monotonous voices used by the actors, although I'm sure it was intentional.  He didn't think it was...right.  I'm not sure how to explain it, but I don't think it affected our overall enjoyment of the movie.  In fact, we were both glad to have seen it.

I would reccomend it to anyway who needs a movie to watch this weekend and especially for those The Wizard of Oz fans.  Enjoy!

PS:  My favorite character is the little porcelain girl.  She's very sweet and sassy and quite funny!    
Witch Poster from Screen Crush.
Other image from The Daily Free Press.
I was not compensated in any way, shape, or form for this movie.  I paid for it out of pocket and watched it because I wanted to.  This is my opinion, without any nudging from outside sources.  Thanks!

Book Review: Fifty Shades Trilogy

You might be thinking: woah, you're reviewing the entire series? What happened to a single book review? Well, I might as well review the whole thing, considering I lost many hours of sleep last week thanks to it. E.L. James does an amazing job accomplishing her goal of writing a story people fall n love with.

I was not joking when I said I lost quite a bit of sleep over this series. Between Tuesday night and Friday afternoon, I'd had about 13 hours of sleep. I could not put it down. Fifty Shades of Grey is the first in the trilogy, and I read at a more leisurely pace than the other two. I think it took me about 2.5 to 3 days. Of course, I did not know that this series was so, well, erotic. Before you tell me that the word erotic is on the back cover, I'm going to admit I didn't even read that.

My purchase of Fifty Shades of Grey was spur of the moment, when I couldn't find the book a was looking for at Wal Mart. I realized just what I was getting myself into when I, without much preamble, found myself reading this:

Firstly, I don’t make love. I fuck… hard.

I think my eyes became the size of saucers, but I just had to read on. Throughout Fifty Shades of Grey, and the entire trilogy, E.L. James tastefully and artfully explores and exposes the erotic fantasies of Christian Grey. Even those light of heart might find themselves unable to put this series away because it is written in such a way that its not "dirty" or inappropriate, but a beautiful story.

I read Fifty Shades Darker in less than 36 hours. By the time I finished the first book and moved on to this one, all hope was lost for me. I was madly in love with Christian and Anastasia and all the characters throughout. The story was enchanting and I was lost in Fifty's world. I finished all but 50 pages of Fifty Shades Freed in 24 hours.

I hope that I have put into perspective how amazing I think the Fifty Shades Trilogy is, because I think it should be on everyone's reading list. In a few months, I'm sure Ill return to the series and fall head over heels for it again.

Have you read any of the Fifty Shades books? What are your opinions on them?

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