Read, Watched, Loved: May 2017

 

Hey everybody! This post is going up super late this month – I was happily scheduling away on here and didn’t notice that I still hadn’t put this guy up. So as usual, here’s my monthly rundown (but for May). Let me know what you’ve seen and haven’t seen, and just generally how you are 🙂

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 (2017) – I don’t think anyone was able to hate this film. It was buckets of fun, and I really have such a soft spot for Baby Groot (who doesn’t?). It is similar to the first film but bigger and more of the formula that worked. The plot wasn’t as solid as the first, but I was able to have a fantastic time regardless of that.

Pride and Prejudice (2005) –I liked this movie so much that when I wanted to initially write a quick blurb for here I ended up writing out the review. It is a wonderful film. I am now convinced I need a Mr. Darcy. He’s difficult and worth it. The adaption is fantastic and the chemistry between the leads is amazing.

Sweet home Alabama (2002) – I watched this as a young person – maybe at around 21 years or so, and really enjoyed it. I have such love for Reese Witherspoon, she truly is a beautiful and talented woman. Her character has the terrible task of choosing between Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey, and this movie has humor and heart to it.

Jackie Brown (1997) – I watched this for Tom and Mark’s Decades Blogathon.It is one of the few Tarantino films I hadn’t seen as yet, and found it a great pleasure to watch.

The Host (2013) – I just had to watch this film again to compare source material to it. It is not as unforgivably bad as the internet make it out to be, and I had a rather enjoyable time watching it.

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice is a slow read, that is no lie, but I enjoyed it so much. It is a wonderful, wonderful book with many events and excellent character development. It also gave me yet another book hero to attach strongly to.

Three Fates – Nora Roberts: I reviewed this before and seemed to have a good thing to say about it. Strange, because I don’t remember loving it so much. I am having a really good time rereading it again though, it is truly Nora Roberts and some good and light reading.

The Host – Stephanie Meyer: I’m not sure whether the I was a masochist or just seeking enjoyment without thinking too much about it, but I decided to pick up The Host again. It is okay and certainly better than Meyer’s previous novels. It raises some moral questions and has interesting theories despite some slow parts.

What did you do this month?

June 28, 2017June 12, 2017 by Natasha Categories: 2017, Books, Fun, Movies, movies, reading, Review, ReviewsTags: 2017, Bradley Cooper, Brenda Blethyn, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Donald Sutherland, Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, Jackie Brown, Jake Abel, Jane Austen, Josh Lucas, Judi Dench, Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Max Irons, May, monthly rundowns, Movies, Nora Roberts, Nora Roberts Three Fates, Pam Grier, Patrick Dempsey, Quentin Tarantino, Rosamund Pike, Samuel L. Jackson, Saoirse Ronan, Stephanie Meyer, Sweet Home Alabama, The Host, Three Fates, Vin Diesel, Zoe Saldana 7 Comments

Movie Review: The Host (2013)

PLOT: When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about, proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world

Rating: 7/10

The Host is certainly better than its Rotten Tomatoes (8%) would suggest. A closer but probably still unfair score is the one IMDb (5.9/10) gifted it with.

The Host is adapted from a Stephanie Meyer novel of the same name. If you could ever possibly forget who that it, let me remind you; oh cave dweller: Mrs. Meyer is the author who penned the Twilight saga, those books who startlingly get more derision directed towards it than Fifty Shades of Grey does.

Apparently Meyer wrote this book between all the Twilight books, probably just to shake off that vague feeling that she was corrupting the minds of young women. Although I can’t begin to claim that I am educated in the science fiction world I do think that the story is interesting enough and I find the thought of these odd creatures inhabiting humans vaguely interesting and somewhat disturbing.

 

The Host was refreshingly devoid of a love triangle debacle and I liked that plenty. It has another issue that would have me screaming for a psychologist – Melanie is in love with her Jared but Wanda keeps falling for Jake. It’s more two souls in one body loving different people than the infuriating “I don’t know who to love” angle.

I had some major issues with Jake hitting Melanie while she was inhabited with Wanda – I don’t give a flying fuck if her body has been taken over by an alien that is still a girl sixty times smaller than you, douche bag. The violence on females was just a bit too pronounced and justified for me to fully enjoy.

Saoirse Ronan really is the best thing about this movie. She moves through all her scenes with the grace the dialogue doesn’t always deserve. The story is a bit beneath a woman with her acting abilities, although to her credit she does not seem bored to be there. Max Irons is definitely someone I can watch in a movie, he is cute and doesn’t do a bad job being Jared Howe.

I would really have enjoyed getting more into the nitty and the gritty of these characters and their stories – it is mostly rushed through and only snippets are shown. Yeah, the time allocated is limited, but I’ve seen other movies do it before.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Diane Kruger in something, and it is nice to put something to her other than her dating Joshua Jackson. I won’t be weeping with heartfelt emotion about her performance anytime soon, but I did think she makes a good alien (erm, that is a compliment)

If it sounds that I didn’t enjoy the movie, I did. I enjoyed it despite the corny dialogue and often dragging storyline. I think it is a good movie if you don’t expect too much and has decent popcorn entertainment. I liked that Melanie is so independent and that she took care of herself and her brother long before Jared entered the scene. I like that she was strong enough to fight back against alien invasion and that she wouldn’t just give up on Wanda’s existence so she could come back and kiss Jared. I loved the underground farm scenes and how they took efforts to show how humans were surviving in caves. I also liked that they tried to bring across that these alien life forms weren’t necessarily evil, just very different.

The Host interested me enough that I will soon start reading the book, something I’ve avoided until now. It is a decent enough movie, and although the plot isn’t solid or breath-taking, it kept me sufficiently entertained for a while.

Plot query: How did the first Wanderer enter a human? I get how the rest of them entered their hosts, but the first one? Someone had to help It and I have no idea who would even think of doing that.

April 13, 2015April 12, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Movies, ReviewsTags: Diane Kruger, Max Irons, Saoirse Ronan, Stephanie Meyer, The Host, William Hurt 11 Comments

Movie Review: Atonement (2007)

“I am very, very sorry for the terrible distress that I have caused you. I am very, very sorry…”

Plot: Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister’s lover of a crime he did not commit. Based on the British romance novel by Ian McEwan.

Rating: 7.5/10

I enjoyed Atonement. I had no idea what the storyline was even about, and going in blind is always entertaining. It has a heartbreaking story and ending, and you can’t help feeling like crap because you’ve had a much better life than anyone involved in there.

The characters had real depth and the actors were well able to keep you dedicated to watching the movie to the end. I was really excited to see Benedict Cumberbatch around and he is as great as always, although his character was reprehensible. I also got to see some more James McAvoy, and I am currently a huge fan of him after watching Days of Future Past. He is fascinating and lives himself into a character completely. He was so sweet and happy and got up to such ridiculous things – I knew his letter writing exercise would blow up in his face in the end and it did quite entertainingly.

Kiera Knightley plays a character that you eventually just feel sorry for – she lost what she had just found and could never really get on with her life after that. She was first the girl who loved someone beneath her class, then the second she made peace with her feelings it was taken away from her so badly, and her life turned out in a way that she never would have guessed.

James McAvoy as the male lead in Atonement had me fangirling again. I discovered him only last year when I watched X-men: Days of Future Past, and right now the man can do no wrong in my eyes. He is an incomparable actor with great talent and he really makes you understand the depth of who he portrays. It was wonderful seeing him in a role where he is a straight laced guy – his roles are often of incredibly broken men (not that his character had it any easier in here than he had as Professor X)

Saoirse Ronan as a little girl was an amazing actress. She very nearly stole the show because she makes you understand that she is a sensitive, inquisitive young girl. I was so mad at what she did because I fully believe that it is not something a man can ever outlive, but then eventually had to sympathize with her because she acknowledged she was very young and had no idea what the consequences of her incorrect evidence would have.

The interesting chronological order of Atonement made you pay attention. Most movies follow the expected formula of moving forward. I enjoyed Atonement because you were taken back in time frequently and could not know when it would happen.

The movie is masterfully directed to make you fully understand the tragic lives of all the people who suffered from Briony’s horrific mistakes. Even when Briony realizes she was wrong, which is pretty much immediately, the damage is done and she has caused a great deal of people in her life incredible amounts of pain and injustice.

Atonement is a strong and poignant movie with excellent directing, and it carries a message of great importance – to be 110% sure before you accuse someone for an unforgivable crime, because you are never ruining only one life in the process.

March 24, 2015March 22, 2015 by Natasha Categories: Movies, ReviewsTags: Atonement, Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Movies, Reviews, Saoirse Ronan 23 Comments