Let's mix it up with some movie reviews.
As far as books go, I'm right in the middle of reading The Maze Runner right now, and I LOVE IT. But I'll get to that once I finish it.
For now, I figure I've seen 8 movies over the past 2 months. Let me talk about them.
Kat and I do movie days where we literally do nothing but go to see movies one day a month. So the first four we saw on one day. The next four we saw another day. The first movie day I'm talking about here was great. Each movie was better than the next. The second movie day was another story.
Movie Day 1:
Monsters University-This probably had the most cliche plot I've ever seen ever. That aside, I loved this movie. It was a really good time, had a lot of heart, and it had just enough twists to keep it interesting. The ending in particular I wasn't sure how they were going to handle, but I ended up being very satisfied. And oh, the character design for the main antagonist is BREATHTAKING. She is a brilliant combination of beautiful and terrifying.
Much Ado About Nothing-Joss Whedon does Shakespeare. It was brilliant. How could it be anything else? Seriously, though, everyone was fantastic. And guh, that sexual scene with Sean Maher in the beginning. Like a sexy, evil Simon. I don't care how gay he or I are, I would ravage that man. It's the voice. I love people who enunciate clearly. It's the same thing for that Food Network VP, Susie. I could just listen to her talk at me for hours. She should do a sex scene with Sean Maher and they could enunciate at each other. Nathan Fillion was probably the best part, of course, because it's fucking Nathan Fillion, and being the best is just what he does.
This is the End-From my POV, this was either going to be brilliant or horrendous, and I thought it was brilliant. It helps that I'm a huge fan of James Franco and Jay Baruchel to begin with. Compared to The Heat, which I saw right after this, I didn't think it was as funny, but I thought it was an extremely enjoyable time. Definitely funny, don't get me wrong, but since there was a more serious storyline underlying the whole thing, it came out feeling deeper than I guess I expected it to. Also, people being stuck in one place dealing with one another is probably my favorite plot device ever. Seriously, it's one of those things I'm always asking for as a writing prompt. Like...if I shipped any of these people, this would have been a fanfic come to life for me. And I did end up seeing this one in the theatre twice. And dude, I loved the end. ^_^ And the gimp cameo near the end. How priceless was that?
The Heat-This was fantastic. It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. I was laughing so hard during that bar scene there were tears. These two are brilliant together, and I would love to see a sequel to this movie. Melissa McCarthy is hilarious. I watched Bridesmaids the other day to get a feel for her, and, against popular opinion, I didn't think it was that great. The main character is a miserable asshole. But Melissa McCarthy is the best part of that, and it made me want to see The Heat. Oh, it was so great. I totally want to see it again. Like, I could see myself owning this movie.
Movie Day 2:
Pacific Rim-This movie was a giant clusterfuck. And sadly, the more time passes, the more I feel that this was probably the best movie we saw this day. In my head, this was like a big budget Sharknado. It was ridiculous, and it knew it was ridiculous, and when it embraced that was when it really worked. The giant robot/alien battles were all fantastic. They were fun, they were beautiful. They were just a great time. And there was a side plot with two scientists (One of which was Burn Gorman!) that was really fun. But then there was the main plot. And...ehhhh...this is where the movie fell flat. They needed to have a serious, angsty plot to ground the ridiculousness of the rest of the movie, and that's fine. But what they chose was horrible. I could really go on and on and on about the plot holes and the mishandling of character interactions and plot points, but meh. And I'm sure there are people that think it doesn't matter because everyone's just here for the giant robot battle anyway, but there were really obvious plot lines that they actually set up and COULD have done that would have gotten me, personally, more invested in these character and would have made the whole movie a better package deal. Kat and I pretty much pointed out everything wrong with the movie and how we could have fixed it while the credits rolled. And yeah, this was one of the best ones we saw that day.
Despicable Me 2-Part of me feels like I should be saying this was the best movie we saw this day. And part of me keeps thinking that, despite its flaws, I actually enjoyed Pacific Rim more. This was a fun movie. It had a decent plot, fun character interactions, etc. But I do feel like I came away from this was thinking it was a solid kids movie rather than a solid family movie, you know? I felt like the inevitable reveal was a let down, and I didn't really feel there was enough tension or enough at stake in the end. I don't know. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it didn't live up to my hopes, I guess.
R.I.P.D-Now mind you I went in expecting this movie to suck super hardcore. I guess it didn't suck SUPER hardcore? But it really isn't great. I don't think it's so bad as to deserve its 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it's pretty bad. But it's a good time. It's a super campy, predictable, forumalic good time with really bad pacing...but Ryan Reynolds is hot. Yeah, no, I guess the only saving grace is that Ryan Reynolds is hot. He shows off a bit of skin in a couple scenes. Those are the best scenes. But more than anything, I really feel like this suffers from the most horrendous pacing I've seen in a while coupled with nonsensical scene jumps. The characters are all likable, the plot is compelling, but the way they strung the story together stinks.
Turbo-Every time I told someone I was seeing this, their response was "You have fun with that." And you know? I did. It had its flaws, but it was a pretty solid movie. I wish that it made just a little more sense, I guess. But it was surprisingly funny, and I feel like there was more a stake here in the final "battle" than in DM2, weirdly enough. It's really the complete lack of sense in the science of the movie that brought it down for me. Also, I found this one scene really interesting for the children in the audience's reaction. In this one scene, a bus hits a crow, leaving behind a cloud of feathers. Kat and I gasped, mildly horrified, while the children all burst out laughing. Children are horrible little monsters. ^_^ But yeah, it was better than I thought it would be. It was also just really weird.
Next month we're seeing City of Bones as well as Elysium, The World's End, and Planes. City of Bones I actually am looking forward to seeing the handling of it since it looks like it'll be leaps and bounds better than the book. I'm also really looking forward to The World's End, and a little bit to Elysium, but it's really hard drumming up excitement over Planes. I would be seeing Kick Ass 2 and Percy Jackson (which looks surprisingly good) except I've never seen the first of either movie in its entirety, so those will have to wait. I think I might see The Conjuring with Lyndsey when she comes up for my brother's wedding in the middle of the month. It looks creepy, is getting decent reviews, and I've fallen desperately in love with Vera Farmiga.
And on another note, I've spent the last week/week and a half watching the last 3 1/2 seasons of Masterchef US. It's my new favorite thing. I've seen all of the first and third seasons, most of the second and most of what's aired of the fourth season. Now I want to try my hand at a souffle. O.o
For now, I figure I've seen 8 movies over the past 2 months. Let me talk about them.
Kat and I do movie days where we literally do nothing but go to see movies one day a month. So the first four we saw on one day. The next four we saw another day. The first movie day I'm talking about here was great. Each movie was better than the next. The second movie day was another story.
Movie Day 1:
Monsters University-This probably had the most cliche plot I've ever seen ever. That aside, I loved this movie. It was a really good time, had a lot of heart, and it had just enough twists to keep it interesting. The ending in particular I wasn't sure how they were going to handle, but I ended up being very satisfied. And oh, the character design for the main antagonist is BREATHTAKING. She is a brilliant combination of beautiful and terrifying.
Much Ado About Nothing-Joss Whedon does Shakespeare. It was brilliant. How could it be anything else? Seriously, though, everyone was fantastic. And guh, that sexual scene with Sean Maher in the beginning. Like a sexy, evil Simon. I don't care how gay he or I are, I would ravage that man. It's the voice. I love people who enunciate clearly. It's the same thing for that Food Network VP, Susie. I could just listen to her talk at me for hours. She should do a sex scene with Sean Maher and they could enunciate at each other. Nathan Fillion was probably the best part, of course, because it's fucking Nathan Fillion, and being the best is just what he does.
This is the End-From my POV, this was either going to be brilliant or horrendous, and I thought it was brilliant. It helps that I'm a huge fan of James Franco and Jay Baruchel to begin with. Compared to The Heat, which I saw right after this, I didn't think it was as funny, but I thought it was an extremely enjoyable time. Definitely funny, don't get me wrong, but since there was a more serious storyline underlying the whole thing, it came out feeling deeper than I guess I expected it to. Also, people being stuck in one place dealing with one another is probably my favorite plot device ever. Seriously, it's one of those things I'm always asking for as a writing prompt. Like...if I shipped any of these people, this would have been a fanfic come to life for me. And I did end up seeing this one in the theatre twice. And dude, I loved the end. ^_^ And the gimp cameo near the end. How priceless was that?
The Heat-This was fantastic. It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. I was laughing so hard during that bar scene there were tears. These two are brilliant together, and I would love to see a sequel to this movie. Melissa McCarthy is hilarious. I watched Bridesmaids the other day to get a feel for her, and, against popular opinion, I didn't think it was that great. The main character is a miserable asshole. But Melissa McCarthy is the best part of that, and it made me want to see The Heat. Oh, it was so great. I totally want to see it again. Like, I could see myself owning this movie.
Movie Day 2:
Pacific Rim-This movie was a giant clusterfuck. And sadly, the more time passes, the more I feel that this was probably the best movie we saw this day. In my head, this was like a big budget Sharknado. It was ridiculous, and it knew it was ridiculous, and when it embraced that was when it really worked. The giant robot/alien battles were all fantastic. They were fun, they were beautiful. They were just a great time. And there was a side plot with two scientists (One of which was Burn Gorman!) that was really fun. But then there was the main plot. And...ehhhh...this is where the movie fell flat. They needed to have a serious, angsty plot to ground the ridiculousness of the rest of the movie, and that's fine. But what they chose was horrible. I could really go on and on and on about the plot holes and the mishandling of character interactions and plot points, but meh. And I'm sure there are people that think it doesn't matter because everyone's just here for the giant robot battle anyway, but there were really obvious plot lines that they actually set up and COULD have done that would have gotten me, personally, more invested in these character and would have made the whole movie a better package deal. Kat and I pretty much pointed out everything wrong with the movie and how we could have fixed it while the credits rolled. And yeah, this was one of the best ones we saw that day.
Despicable Me 2-Part of me feels like I should be saying this was the best movie we saw this day. And part of me keeps thinking that, despite its flaws, I actually enjoyed Pacific Rim more. This was a fun movie. It had a decent plot, fun character interactions, etc. But I do feel like I came away from this was thinking it was a solid kids movie rather than a solid family movie, you know? I felt like the inevitable reveal was a let down, and I didn't really feel there was enough tension or enough at stake in the end. I don't know. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it didn't live up to my hopes, I guess.
R.I.P.D-Now mind you I went in expecting this movie to suck super hardcore. I guess it didn't suck SUPER hardcore? But it really isn't great. I don't think it's so bad as to deserve its 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it's pretty bad. But it's a good time. It's a super campy, predictable, forumalic good time with really bad pacing...but Ryan Reynolds is hot. Yeah, no, I guess the only saving grace is that Ryan Reynolds is hot. He shows off a bit of skin in a couple scenes. Those are the best scenes. But more than anything, I really feel like this suffers from the most horrendous pacing I've seen in a while coupled with nonsensical scene jumps. The characters are all likable, the plot is compelling, but the way they strung the story together stinks.
Turbo-Every time I told someone I was seeing this, their response was "You have fun with that." And you know? I did. It had its flaws, but it was a pretty solid movie. I wish that it made just a little more sense, I guess. But it was surprisingly funny, and I feel like there was more a stake here in the final "battle" than in DM2, weirdly enough. It's really the complete lack of sense in the science of the movie that brought it down for me. Also, I found this one scene really interesting for the children in the audience's reaction. In this one scene, a bus hits a crow, leaving behind a cloud of feathers. Kat and I gasped, mildly horrified, while the children all burst out laughing. Children are horrible little monsters. ^_^ But yeah, it was better than I thought it would be. It was also just really weird.
Next month we're seeing City of Bones as well as Elysium, The World's End, and Planes. City of Bones I actually am looking forward to seeing the handling of it since it looks like it'll be leaps and bounds better than the book. I'm also really looking forward to The World's End, and a little bit to Elysium, but it's really hard drumming up excitement over Planes. I would be seeing Kick Ass 2 and Percy Jackson (which looks surprisingly good) except I've never seen the first of either movie in its entirety, so those will have to wait. I think I might see The Conjuring with Lyndsey when she comes up for my brother's wedding in the middle of the month. It looks creepy, is getting decent reviews, and I've fallen desperately in love with Vera Farmiga.
And on another note, I've spent the last week/week and a half watching the last 3 1/2 seasons of Masterchef US. It's my new favorite thing. I've seen all of the first and third seasons, most of the second and most of what's aired of the fourth season. Now I want to try my hand at a souffle. O.o