All is good and nothingness is dead.
I've decided to broaden my horizons when it comes to movies and books. I'm really a movie snob so I've decided to maybe listen to popular opinion, maybe even critical acclaim, and watch some things I wouldn't normally be thrilled about. According to every -and I do mean every- year end list Despicable Me and Tangled were huge hits, so Netflix it is.
Despicable Me
2010 5/5 -just wonderful
Steve Carell, Jason Segel
In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru, planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon. (Yes, the moon!) Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.
Crazy Stupid Love
2011 4/5 -cool
Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
Cal and Emily have the perfect life together living the American dream... until Emily asks for a divorce. Now Cal, Mr Husband, has to navigate the single scene with a little help from his professional bachelor friend Jacob Palmer. Make that a lot of help...
August Rush
2007 2/5 -nothing special
Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Robin Williams
This is a story of a music prodigy. Lyla is a renowned and beautiful cellist and Louis is a guitar player and vocalist at a club. Lyla and Louis fall in love once they meet each other following the music. Since they have different lives, they have to separate without seeing each other again. However, Lyla has had their baby - Evan, a prodigy born to music. Lyla has an accident and bears the baby but Lyla's father gives the baby to an orphanage without telling her, for fear of affecting her career. After that, both Louis and Lyla give up their music careers. Eleven years later, poor little Evan believes that his parents are waiting for him and goes to New York to find them. In New York, his musical gift leads him to success but also gives him some trouble. A monger uses Evan to make money and prevents him from achieving success. He escapes and runs into a church and people there are surprised by his gift and send him to the best music school...
Water for Elephants
2011 3/5 -worth watching
Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz
After his parents' death, Jacob Jankoski is left penniless and homeless. Events lead him to joining the circus as their vet, working under their unstable boss August whose violent tendencies give everyone reason to be cautious around him, including his beautiful and quiet wife Marlena, whom August is very possessive of and who Jacob finds himself soon falling in love with.
Changeling
2008 3/5 -worth watching
Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan
Los Angeles, 1928. A single mother returns from work to find her nine-year-old son gone. She calls the LAPD to initiate a search. Five months later, a boy is found in Illinois who fits the description; he says he's her son. To fanfare and photos, the LAPD reunite mother and son, but she insists he's not her boy. The cops dismiss her as either a liar or hysterical. When she joins a minister in his public criticism of the police, they in turn use government power to silence and intimidate her. Meanwhile, a cop goes to a dilapidated ranch to find a Canadian lad who's without legal status; the youth tells a grisly tale. There's redress for murder; is there redress for abuse of power?
As for books, I'm going to go the classic route. Not abandoning YA or paranormal romance, but just add some stuff everyone has/should read. I don't know who decides what everyone should read. The Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, The Outsiders. I'm not going to be intimidated with this old English, or whatever you call it, or the length of a book. I am going to buy books that intimidate me though, especially if the length is daunting to me. That way the library isn't going to pressure me.
Despicable Me
2010 5/5 -just wonderful
Steve Carell, Jason Segel
In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru, planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon. (Yes, the moon!) Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.
Crazy Stupid Love
2011 4/5 -cool
Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
Cal and Emily have the perfect life together living the American dream... until Emily asks for a divorce. Now Cal, Mr Husband, has to navigate the single scene with a little help from his professional bachelor friend Jacob Palmer. Make that a lot of help...
August Rush
2007 2/5 -nothing special
Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Robin Williams
This is a story of a music prodigy. Lyla is a renowned and beautiful cellist and Louis is a guitar player and vocalist at a club. Lyla and Louis fall in love once they meet each other following the music. Since they have different lives, they have to separate without seeing each other again. However, Lyla has had their baby - Evan, a prodigy born to music. Lyla has an accident and bears the baby but Lyla's father gives the baby to an orphanage without telling her, for fear of affecting her career. After that, both Louis and Lyla give up their music careers. Eleven years later, poor little Evan believes that his parents are waiting for him and goes to New York to find them. In New York, his musical gift leads him to success but also gives him some trouble. A monger uses Evan to make money and prevents him from achieving success. He escapes and runs into a church and people there are surprised by his gift and send him to the best music school...
Water for Elephants
2011 3/5 -worth watching
Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz
After his parents' death, Jacob Jankoski is left penniless and homeless. Events lead him to joining the circus as their vet, working under their unstable boss August whose violent tendencies give everyone reason to be cautious around him, including his beautiful and quiet wife Marlena, whom August is very possessive of and who Jacob finds himself soon falling in love with.
Changeling
2008 3/5 -worth watching
Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan
Los Angeles, 1928. A single mother returns from work to find her nine-year-old son gone. She calls the LAPD to initiate a search. Five months later, a boy is found in Illinois who fits the description; he says he's her son. To fanfare and photos, the LAPD reunite mother and son, but she insists he's not her boy. The cops dismiss her as either a liar or hysterical. When she joins a minister in his public criticism of the police, they in turn use government power to silence and intimidate her. Meanwhile, a cop goes to a dilapidated ranch to find a Canadian lad who's without legal status; the youth tells a grisly tale. There's redress for murder; is there redress for abuse of power?
As for books, I'm going to go the classic route. Not abandoning YA or paranormal romance, but just add some stuff everyone has/should read. I don't know who decides what everyone should read. The Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, The Outsiders. I'm not going to be intimidated with this old English, or whatever you call it, or the length of a book. I am going to buy books that intimidate me though, especially if the length is daunting to me. That way the library isn't going to pressure me.