Night at the Museum - Movie Review

So we saw Night at the Museum like last week and I just forgot to update about it. I liked it but was upset that they didn’t finish up the ending more. And then I found out that apparently you have to stay till all the credits are run to see the ending…thanks people for letting me in on that little secret. Now I’m going to be scared to leave a theater before the credits are done. Anyway it was a good movie we’ll be buying it when it comes out. A-

Jedadiah: I don't want to be manhandled!

Five stars
Buy it people

Murder at a Vineyard Mansion

Finally I finished the book I started months ago. Murder at a Vineyard Mansion by Philip R. Craig. Not that great of a book which could be one reason it too me so long to finish since it’s only 251 pages, but one interesting feature is at the end of the book he has the recipes for all the foods talked about throughout the book. Not that I’ll ever make any of them since I don’t cook, but I thought it was interesting that it was in. Not something I’ve seen before. I’m sure I’ve read worse for the book wasn’t necessarily bad it’s just a little on the dull side.

One star
Not Recommended

Stranger Than Fiction

So Matt and I went to see Stranger than Fiction on Tuesday. I love the ½ student movie night, if only Matt didn’t have class most Tuesdays and we could afford to go every week. So I’ve got to be honest and say I’m not a huge fan of Will Ferrell, but I loved him in this movie. Even though the movie was very predictable in multiple ways and places it was good. Defiantly go see this film if you have the time.

Five Stars
Great flick

Before He Wakes - Book Review

Just finished Before He Wakes by Jerry Bledsoe. It’s a true crime novel about a women who murders two of her husbands for insurance money. Well that and her own psychotic motives, whatever they may have been. It was a good book, but not the best true crime I’ve ever read. What I don’t understand is how the woman was sentenced to life in prison but is/was up for parole in twelve years (2005). Thankfully I’m pretty sure she was turned down, but how can that happen? The jury had two options for sentencing; life in prison or the death penalty. While I’m against the death penalty I don’t like it because it’s too easy of a way out so I’m totally against life in prison with parole in twelve years. Makes you aware of the problems in our legal system.

Four Stars
Would recommend to true crime lovers

Napoleon Dynamite

We also watched Napoleon Dynamite today. I have no idea what to even say about this movie because I have no idea what it was about. I had heard such good reviews about it and it stunk.

Mr. Holland's Opus - Movie Review

So I was perusing our free On Demand videos and came a cross Mr. Hollands Opus. I love this movie! I haven’t seen it since high school choir class, I’m going to have to look for it at Wal-Mart next time we go. It shouldn’t be too much longer before I start the water works : )

Five Stars

Happy Feet - Movie Review

So Matt and I went to see Happy Feet on Tuesday. Not worth seeing in my opinion. Matt liked it but only because Robin Williams was in it, and I will admit Williams carried the movie. There was a lot of sexual innuendoes which just makes me uncomfortable. The first hour I had no clue what the movie was about and then you get a few hints of what It might be about, then you get a few hints of another topic it might be about and then basically they sum the up the whole moral in the last oh 45 seconds or so.

Two Stars

Wicker Man - Movie Review

Friday Matt and I went to see the Wicker Man. I’m so glad that we didn’t pay full price to see the movie because I may have had to write the company and ask for my money back. It was horrible many many plot holes and unexplained situations.

*** SPOILERS ***

Unlike some people I understood many of the basics quite early on.
One it’s an island where the men are submissive in all forms to women. It’s wasn’t hard to figure out.
Two they are a Pagan community – it wasn’t hard to figure out when everyone was talking about seasonal festivals and walking around in animal costumes.

But there were many things that bothered me or I didn’t think were explained well enough…you may need to have seen the movie to fully comprehend and there are many additional answers/theories on imdb message boards if you wish to check them out.

Whether or not his friend, the woman police officer which came to his house and later in a flashbacked turned into bees was in on the whole plan.

There were many twins on the island but this was never explained… could it have been the selective breeding taking place?

If ultimately they wanted Cage brought to the island why did they then kill the pilot? And secondly if they killed the pilot because they didn’t want the police coming around and asking questions to him about Cage wouldn’t his family put out a missing person’s report for him and since he was the only supplier of goods to the island it’s a place the police would stop and ask questions about the pilot. And if the police did show up they would defiantly see his plane that they sunk since it was barely off shore and in shallow water. Also if this type of thing went on every year or even every bad year (as some have suggested) then sooner or later someone is going to put two and two together and realize that there are a lot of island pilots which go missing.

In addition to the basics and missing pieces I was also greatly disturbed by the way they had Cage running around the island. He was a brute of a police officer who continually made fun of the culture around him and flashed his badge as though he had some type of authority over the island inhabitants. It was a character which seemed to scream the typical over zealous police stereotype.

I think this movie is just another case of the Cage curse. He’s not a bad actor he just does shitty movies.

Jericho Walls - Book review

Jericho Walls written by Kristi Collier was ok. A bit simple and possibly to simplistic for the topic she was writing on. The book was set in the eyes of a ten year old child living in the South in 1957 and overcoming the challenges of multi racial friendships.

Finished in a day (224 pages) so that’s always a good sign of a page turner.

Four Stars ~

Nothing But the Truth - Book Review

The book Nothing But the truth written by Richard Parrish; which I found out is a sequel, wasn't as great as it could have been. The reader doesn't really connect with any of the characters and they feel slightly one dimensional even their relationships with one another never really seem to scratch the surface. The story chronicles the life of lawyer Joshua Rabb and his family. Joshua has taken a part time job working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Tucson Arizona and building his own private practice. After taking a mafia boss for a client his world takes a turn…for the worst and the novel is spent chasing the bad guy and rescuing his family.

While Nothing But the Truth wasn’t horrible it is forgettable.

Grade: B+
Recommend: If you like law/crime books

The Devil Wears Prada - Movie Review

Last night we went and saw The Devil Wears Prada and I will say Matthew enjoyed it more than I did. Well I believe something close to his exact words were “For a chick flick it wasn’t that bad”. I on the other hand didn’t enjoy it half as much as I thought. Maybe it’s because that movie hits way too close to home and my work life for me, but overall it just didn’t sit well with me.: Find me that piece of paper I had in my hand yesterday morning. ~ Miranda Priestly. Who does that remind you (or me) of...The Bee…ahw yes, maybe.

It wasn’t that the movie was horrible or that it had been done five times before like some movies, but it was just missing something at some point. The ending was shaky and I think they left it open so the viewer could decide the ending, but sometimes the writer has to decide the future or their poor pitiful characters and not leave those of use at home hanging.

The movie starts off with what you think is going to be the same old make fun of skinny girls and models, but at someone point changes and actually sticks up for the beauty industry and has the main character Andy excited that she’s down to a size four (A complete character change). The movie does end with a feeling that it’s ok to be on either side of the fence you can care about fashion or not and either way you’ll be ok. I just feel we’ve worked so hard to tell girls not to worry about weight and be themselves (which I agree with) and this movie may have a way of undoing it with out anyone even noticing. On the other hand those notions of not worrying about what you look like on the outside may have back fired making American the fattest country in the world so maybe it’s a concept to consider, but not dwell on.

Andy Sachs: You look so skinny!
Emily: Really? Thanks. I'm on this new diet for Paris. I don't eat anything... and then when I feel like I'm about to faint, I eat a cube of cheese. I’m just one stomach flu away from reaching my goal weight.
(imdb.com)

On a last note I’m still just not sure if the moral of the movie was and that could be why I left a little empty at the end.

”It's not fair though, I mean you eat carbs!” ~ Emily

Finding Neverland

Matt and I watched Finding Neverland this weekend. I thought the movie was absolutely wonderful and even though I didn’t official cry I was very close.

The main thing that kept me from totally engulfing the movie was the constant little voice reminding me that it probably wasn’t true...and of course it wasn’t. Immediately after watching the movie I did some research on the true story behind what really happened. The first place I went to was the imdb boards and of course people were so upset that the movie wasn’t right on truthful. The main problem being they had said in the opening that it was based on true events...my point being the emphasis on the word based . If people were really interested in the story you can search the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia for J.M. Barrie; there I’ve done it for you. I agree it’s sad that the movie wasn’t true and but they have to play up the love aspect of it or no one would like it. It’s not a real point by point story, it’s an interpretation of the facts…didn’t we learn anything from Michael Moore…or Titanic at that?

With all that said and done it was still an amazing version of the events and terrible that it led to such a sad ending. Barrie really does seem to ruin everything he touches, in regards to that family at least.

Oh, great, 25 orphan children, now my nightmare is complete. ~ Charles Frohman (A fact: There were no orphan children at the opening of Peter Pan)

4 ½ Stars ~ Sometimes it’s ok to tell the truth and I would have like to have seen more of it in this adaptation.

Big Fish

Movie Review

I’ve seen Big Fish at least ten times, but I decided to review it since I started reviewing movies on this and Matt and I did watch it sometime in the last week. (I’ve gotten a little behind)

I love this movie and I think it resembles life as many people go through living it. Just like Will we go through life thinking something completely different of our parents and their history, but in the end it’s really not so unbelievable or false. This movie is also quite a good representation of how I feel about the Bible…but we can save that for some other entry.

I’m really beginning to love Tim Burton., he’s still no where near Jerry Bruckheimer but a semi distant second. I do love Burton’s wile characters and scenes which almost always have a whimsical theme to them. (Which reminds me I need to buy Nightmare Before Christmas this year).

The man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him. And in that way, he becomes immortal. ~ Will Bloom

Five Stars Hands Down

Half Life

Movie Review
The movie Half Light was very good and it kept me guessing throughout the whole plot line…which you know is a hard thing to do. I ended the movie a little disappointed in the final results but that’s only because I’m a romantic. It wasn’t until after the movie was over and I was getting ready for bed that I began to notice some problems with the story line and actions of certain characters. These minor problems won’t be an issue to most viewers, but I feel that if your going to make a movie you should at least make sure things make sense and you’ve looked into all the little details to insure perfection or at least tie up the lose ends with some sort of explanation.

~SPOILERS BELOW~

Issue Number One:
In the beginning scenes Angus/Pat was living in the light house and had many of items all over the house…he was living there. Later in the movie we see the lighthouse is empty and the sheriff explains to Rachel that the house has been empty for seven years. Ok all seems fine except that I leave my house for a week and there is dust everywhere an empty lighthouse would have been dust filled wouldn’t she or the sheriff have noticed that there wasn’t any dust or cobwebs in the house and thought that odd. And even if you say that it’s because it’s a light house there wouldn’t be dust like on land. I have to counter with I think there would be, there was enough open land around the lighthouse to make it an island (I even believe the wild horses were on the island). There fore there was a beach and sand and when the waves came in it would have gotten windy…hence dust (or sand) in the lighthouse. Someone surely would have noticed this especially Rachel who was looking for a reason to believe he was real.

Issue Number Two:
A continuation from issue number one and all these items in the lighthouse. Angus/Pat had things hanging on the walls and nick knacks everywhere (as addressed earlier), but later within a day at most the house was completely cleaned out…empty. How did he get these items out of the lighthouse and off the island (let along get the items in). Wouldn’t the towns people have seen someone moving in and out of this deserted light house or the boat taking or brining back all his possessions? I think it’s highly unbelievable he was able to do this by himself with his little row boat in the dead of night no less.

Issue Number Three:
This one may be a little picky for some of you, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Although I have never been to England or the surrounding areas many of my friends and acquaintances have and the one thing I always hear when I get back is about the smoking. Everyone wants you to smoke when you’re there and you can’t walk down the road without a cigarette before someone stops and ask you if you’d like one. Now people I’m not naive and I highly doubt it’s that bad, but I do believe that smoking is more prevalent in Europe and therefore I find it hard to believe that NO ONE smoked in this movie. It’s fine if none of the major characters smoked, but the least they could have done was let someone light up when they were doing many of the bar scenes, the bingo hall, or at the open air birthday party. I just find it hard to believe that at none of these locations not a single smoker could be found.

Even with these issues Half Light still receives Five Stars.

Matchstick Men

The book which the movie "Matchstick Men" was based off.

Matchstick Men the book was a good read through and I continued to want to turn the page after each chapter.
The ending was a total surprise with a full switch, but after reading I felt angry and as if something was lacking from the explanation...you'll have to read for yourself to find out why.


Grade: B+
Recommend: Yes

Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man

Michael Moore is a big fat stupid white man ~
David T Hardy & Jason Clarke

Three out of five stars. The book starts out wonderfully and spits many Moore facts and discrepancies at the reader, but as the book progresses the facts are just restated and restated through a different channel. All in all we know….Moore lied and deceived his audience. The book reviewed his career from the beginnings and Mother Jones, Roger and Me, Bowling for Columbine, and his two books; Big fat white men and Dude where’s my country? (Canada!). The authors could have taken out at least the middle of the book. We had the idea with the first few chapters and the conclusion, but it was interesting to hear the facts behind the oh so told Moore story.

Clerks II

Saw Clerks II on Friday

It's not my favorite Kevin Smith Movie, but was a wonderful addition to the Smith prodigy. He topped off the movie with some inter-species bestiality but other than that all most all his characters returned in true form and followed a great storyline. Many great references to his previous movies, but I would have liked to see more Star Wars comments.

I will defiantly be purchasing it when the time comes.