Movie Review: "Arrival" 09/01/16 ITA

This is a movie review for "Arrival", first released at the Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2016. I watched this January 10, 2020.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Run Time:  1 Hour and 56 Minutes

Trailer

Official MPAA Rating (According to IMDB.com):

G / General Audiences

PG / Parental Guidance Suggested

PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned

R / Restricted

X

Not Rated

Notable Cast

Amy Adams ... Louise Banks

Jeremy Renner ... Ian Donnelly

Forest Whitaker ... Colonel Weber

Michael Stuhlbarg ... Agent Halpern

Plot

Aliens have come to Earth and landed 12 "pods" (ships). The USA sends a team (including a linguistics professor) to try to communicate with these aliens. Why did they come to Earth? Are they friendly? Do they have more sinister reasons? Can the humans communicate with the aliens?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

4.5/5 - *SPOILERS*

I love it because of the linguistics and trying to communicate. But then they threw in the idea of time perception and I just fell in love with it even more. 

A lot of the bad reviews didn't like the lack of action or the lack of CGI. True, there wasn't much of either but that doesn't make a movie good. The thought provoking and emotion touching elements are very active in this one. Some movies can pull off an almost monochromatic color scheme and I think it was done well with this one.

If you want a sci fi movie with action, this is not the movie for you; try the new Star Wars movies instead. If you want CGI, try Avatar by James Cameron. If you want a thought-provoking movie, then you might like this but it is really about linguistics and trying to find a "common ground"/way to communicate. They don't really show how they have a break-through to be able to communicate because it does throw in the whole "the aliens don't see time in the same way we do" thing. Sure, maybe she's getting the fact that they will eventually get the full break-through later, which starts the break-through now, but.... *mind boggle*

Anyways, trying to describe this movie is difficult because of the whole "time isn't linear" thing. If you want to watch, I highly recommend it. If not, that's your choice. ;-)

That's my movie review. Thank you for reading! Feel free to leave a comment. More reviews to come.

~ Gracie Mae DeLunac

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Everything Wrong with "The Arrival"

by @CinemaSins

483.

Movie Review: "The Omen" 06/25/76

This is a movie review for "The Omen", released June 25, 1976. This is the first movie I watched in 2020. We watched this January 2020.

Genre: Horror

Run Time: 1 Hour and 51 Minutes

Trailer

Official MPAA Rating (According to IMDB.com):

G / General Audiences

PG / Parental Guidance Suggested

PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned

R / Restricted

X

Not Rated

Notable Cast

Gregory Peck ... Robert Thorn

Lee Remick ... Katherine Thorn

David Warner ... Keith Jennings

Billie Whitelaw ... Mrs. Baylock

Harvey Stephens ... Damien

Patrick Troughton ... Father Brennan

Plot

Robert and Katherine Thorn have not been able to have children. Finally, they are able to get pregnant but things start getting weird when the child (Damien) is about five years old. A nanny hangs herself off the mansion during a birthday party, all for Damien. The child screams when he is taken to church and hears the church bells, attacking his mother. What could the reason to these strange occurrences be? Is there something supernatural to what is going on? How can the problems and strange occurrences be stopped/corrected?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

3/5 - *SPOILERS*

This is a strange movie. I have watched "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist" but this is strange to me. I get the fact that they say Damien is spawn of the devil (or something similar) but... I definitely think that this would have been good horror/scare for the era though the content is a bit lame for nowadays [like "Rosemary's Baby" being terrifying back then but not so freaky nowadays]. Don't get me wrong; creepy children are creepy, especially when they try to kill their parents or family members or other people close (like babysitter/nanny).

Some things were predictable (like the photograph predicting the deaths and then the actual deaths). "Drink the blood of Christ" made me laugh "VAMPIRE". The rottweilers being at the graveyard was weird and creepy since Darien had one at home. The ending twist that Darien lived and was taken in by the friend (President of the US) was a bit predictable but very dumb because why didn't the ambassador lock the door to the church when he went to kill him on the altar? I recommend as it is interesting and keeps attention, but definitely not up to date since it is a 1976 movie (so don't expect much from the special effects and whatnot).

Anyways, that's my movie review. Thanks for reading!

~ Gracie Mae DeLunac

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Skype gracelyn2019@yahoo.com

489.

Movie Review: "IT: Chapter Two" 09/06/19

This is a movie review for "IT Chapter Two", released September 6, 2019. I watched this around November of 2019.

Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Run Time: 2 Hours and 49 Minutes

Trailer

Official MPAA Rating (According to IMDB.com):

G / General Audiences

PG / Parental Guidance Suggested

PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned

R / Restricted

X

Not Rated

Notable Cast

Jessica Chastain ... Beverly Marsh

James McAvoy ... Bill Denbrough

Bill Hader ... Richie Tozier

Isaiah Mustafa ... Mike Hanlon

Jay Ryan ... Ben Hanscom

James Ransone ... Eddie Kaspbrak

Andy Bean ... Stanley Uris

Bill Skarsgård ... Pennywise

Plot

The Losers Club of Derry, ME survived the demonic Pennywise the Clown when they were children. They made a promise to come back and fight Pennywise should he ever come back and, lo and behold, he does so Mike (the librarian that never left Derry, ME) calls everyone back. How do they defeat Pennywise permanently? Will they survive? Can they save the children of Derry, ME?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

1/5 - *SPOILERS*

Again, another movie that did not impress me very well to the point of forgetting about until after I wrote the "My 2019: Reviewed Books and Movies in Review" post. ...says a lot about this movie, eh?

Just watching the trailer and refreshing myself on this movie makes me shake my head and go "yeah, that was a waste of movie watching time; I remember how disappointed I was in this movie".

Mike manages to get everyone back to Derry, ME to fight Pennywise the Clown; all except Stan, the one we find out later had committed suicide (with a "this is the best way for me to help against Pennywise" letter that came at the end of the movie? wtf?).

Mike reveals to Bill that there is an ancient ritual to capture Pennywise (who is an alien....?). But you need to spend a LARGE amount of screen time to find artifacts to sacrifice for this ritual [WASTE OF TIME as the pieces aren't really used anyways]. Oh, but it is so you can remember what's going on or what happened in the past, since you forgot since you left Derry. >.> Seriously? The jump scares and the terrible animations that ensue just make you cringe and say "wtf am I watching and why am I wasting time/money to even watch this? Is this going to get better?".

Once they finally go through the act of searching for the artifacts and their memories, they come back and find that a bully from their past has escaped the mental institute and is attacking them. Do we have a reason? No, that's not really talked about at all. Thanks.... But the Losers manage to kill him before he kills Mike, so that's "good".  *harrumph*

Bill finds out that there is a new family living at his parents' old house (the one they were living in when his younger brother was killed by Pennywise) and they have a kid. He ends up getting a weird premonition and follows the kid to the county fair, where he tries to save the kid from Pennywise. It is unclear if he does save the kid or not.

And off they go to fight the evil alien clown. Yes, alien.... The ritual to capture and defeat Pennywise turns out to be not helpful at all and they turn to imagination to help defeat IT.

Then they receive the note from Stan saying that him not being there was the right thing to do to make sure they'd win against Pennywise.... Like wtf....

Anyways, this movie was pathetic. I would recommend the mini-series by Stephen King "IT" that came out in 1990. Seriously, go watch that instead of this. The mini-series was 3 hours and 12 minutes long, compared to chapter 1 having 2 hours 15 minutes and chapter 2 having 2 hours 49 minutes [total of 4 hours + 64 minutes = 5 hours and 4 minutes]; watching the mini-series saves you over an hour and a half of watch time! The plot and character development was way better in the mini-series, but that's usually how Stephen King movies work {for example: "The Shining" by Kubrick versus the mini-series "The Shining" by Stephen King}.

The only thing that I thought was interesting was Stephen King's cameo in this movie:

Making fun of Bill's stutter was not nice but I thought it was hilarious that Stephen King was able to say something that he constantly hears: "I didn't like the ending". It is true that he has a hard time with endings and, as a writer, can you blame him? Every writer has their own weakness...

Anyways, that's all I have to say about this movie. It was so much "fill" that there wasn't much "movie" to the movie and I had forgotten about it until after I did the "My 2019: Reviewed Books and Movies Review". I will go add it to it now.

{Go see the mini-series of "IT". That's stuff of your childhood's nightmares.}

Thanks for reading! More reviews to come.

~ Gracie Mae DeLunac

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"Everything Wrong with IT: Chapter Two in Red Balloon Minutes"

by @CinemaSins

948.

Movie Review: "A Million Ways to Die in the West" 05/29/14

 This is a movie review for "A Million Ways to Die in the West", released May 29, 2014. I watched this on November 23, 2019 via DVD.

Genre: Comedy, Western

Run Time: 1 hour and 56 minutes

Trailer

Official MPAA Rating (According to IMDB.com):

G / General Audiences

PG / Parental Guidance Suggested

PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned

R / Restricted

X

Not Rated

Notable Cast

Seth MacFarlane ... Albert

Charlize Theron ... Anna

Amanda Seyfried ... Louise

Liam Neeson ... Clinch

Giovanni Ribisi ... Edward

Neil Patrick Harris ... Foy

Plot

Living in the Wild West is not easy. Everything is out to get you - animals, doctors, the pastor, outlaws, cholera, etcetera. When a new gal comes to town, Albert tries to be nice to her, having just broke up with his girlfriend Louise (she did the break up), but there's more to the story than just a gal moving to town. Anna turns out to be wife of the baddest outlaw in the area - Clinch. How will Albert survive Clinch's revenge, his ex's new boyfriend, and everything else in the West?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

3/5 - This is a stupid movie... It was funny like watching "1000 Ways to Die" but the plot aside the whole "death is everywhere" is really dumb. Like the prostitute holding sex from her boyfriend (Edward) because they are "saving themselves for marriage" since they are Christians... WTF, man. She's banging 10+ guys a day and not having sex with her boyfriend. WTF...

There's death everywhere....

Mustache song - funny but super dumb. (Oh and Mr. Mustache is the guy that Albert's ex went for....)

Best way to getting your ex's boyfriend to stop bothering you:

Albert learning Indian because he's a nerd is messed up. Like seriously, in the wild west? And then he has a hallucination trip that really is f**ked up.

Aside all of these minor points, it was good for the first half of the movie but it became lame after the “training for a shoot out” montage. 

All in all, this movie was so bad that I forgot to post the review for a movie viewed in 2019! Whoops. ...says a lot. A friend of mine says "it definitely is much more funny when you're stoned/high". -.-;

I would not miss this DVD falling out of my library and I am not interested in watching this any time soon again.

That's my movie review. Thanks for reading. More reviews to come.

~ Gracie Mae DeLunac

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Skype gracelyn2019@yahoo.com

503.

My 2019 : Reviewed Books and Movies in Review

Below is the list of the books I read and the movies I watched in 2019, and their ratings. For books, I didn't read much. I'm not a big reader as there are so many movie out in the world that take up my attention. Both "Ender's Game" and "The Girl with the Dragon's Tattoo" were interesting books that I will keep in my library and will gladly recommend.

2019 Books Reviewed

4/5 – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

4/5 – Ender's Game (1985)

As for movies, I watched quite a handful of movies over the year of 2019 (due to my knee injury). I have put the movies in bold in the list below if they earned equal to or lower than a 2.0/5 or earned a 4.5/5 or higher.

Here are my top rated movies (not in order) of movies I watched in 2019:

5/5 – Titanic: The Aftermath (2012)

5/5 – Dragonheart (1996)

5/5 – Quick Change (1990)

4.5/5 – Train Driver's Diary (2016)

4.5/5 – Bleach (2018)

4.5/5 – Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

4.5/5 – August Rush (2007)

4.5/5 – Egypt: The Quest for Immortality (1995)

4.5/5 – Fed Up (2014)

4.5/5 – Incredibles 2 (2018)

4.5/5 – Coco (2017)

Here are my lowest ranked movies of those I watched in 2019 (not in order):

2/5 – Leaves of Grass (2009)

2/5 – The Emoji Movie (2017)

1.5/5 – Krampus: The Christmas Devil (2013)

1.5/5 – Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985)

1/5 - IT: Chapter Two (2019)

1/5 – Dogtooth (2009)

0.5/5 – A Serbian Film (2010)

The full list of all of the movies I have reviewed are below. All of these have reviews posted here in my blog, but I will not be linking to each movie (sorry but that is a lot of work and I have to catch up on the 2020 reviews).

All in all, I did watch some interesting movies in different genres including documentaries. I was able to watch some movies that were newer and some that were older. I will continue to give reviews as often as I can though it takes a while for a review to be completed (sometimes 2+ hours on one review, honestly).

Feel free to give me suggestions on movies to watch. I have a list growing, which is much longer than my To Be Read book list, hahahahaha, but recommendations are always heard. ^.^

Anyways, that's my year of 2019 in review. With the whole Covid-19 pandemic, I believe I have watched more movies this year than last year so I will definitely have a huge task ahead of me to catch up for reviews.

Thanks for looking back with me! Here's to 2020 and the future, if the world doesn't explode before then (*grumble grumble riots grumble*).

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2019 Movies Reviewed

1/5 - IT: Chapter Two (2019)

3/5 - A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)

3/5 - Beauty and the Beast (2017)

3.5/5 – Life (1999)

3.5/5 – Titanic (1953)

4/5 – My Fair Lady (1964)

4/5 – Fireworks (2017)

4.5/5 – Bleach (2018)

1.5/5 – Krampus: The Christmas Devil (2013)

4.5/5 – Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

2.5/5 – Clerks (1994)

3.5/5 – Big Driver (2014)

5/5 – Titanic: The Aftermath (2012)

2.5/5 – Speed (1994)

2/5 – Leaves of Grass (2009)

2.5/5 – Sinister (2012)

4/5 – The Greatest Showman (2017)

4.5/5 – August Rush (2007)

4/5 – One Last Shot (1998)

2.5/5 – Cannibal: The Musical (1993)

2.5/5 – 6 Souls (2010)

3.5/5 – Allegiant (2016)

3/5 – Black Panther (2018)

3.5/5 – Insurgent (2015)

4/5 – Aladdin (2019)

3.5/5 – Dawn of the Dead (2004)

3/5 – Swearnet: The Movie (2014)

2.5/5 – Mystic River (2003)

3.5/5 – World Trade Center (2006)

2.5/5 – 10.0 Earthquake (2014)

3/5 – Welcome to Leith (2015)

3.5/5 – Airplane! (1980)

2.5/5 – The Commuter (2018)

4/5 – Saving Private Ryan (1998)

2.5/5 – Ender's Game (2013)

3/5 – Cube Zero (2004)

3/5 – Cube 2: Hypercube (2002)

4/5 – Cube (1997)

3.5/5 – The Other Man (2008)

3/5 – The Resident (2011)

3.5/5 – Aliens in Egypt (2016)

3.5/5 – Magic Mike XXL (2015)

3.5/5 – Magic Mike (2012)

3/5 – Interview with the Vampire (1994)

3/5 – Fade to Black (1980)

3/5 – Dead and Buried (1981)

4.5/5 – Egypt: The Quest for Immortality (1995)

5/5 – Dragonheart (1996)

4/5 – Reasonable Doubt (2014)

4.5/5 – Fed Up (2014)

3.5/5 – Shallow Grave (1995)

5/5 – Quick Change (1990)

4.5/5 – Train Driver's Diary (2016)

3.5/5 – My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)

1/5 – Dogtooth (2009)

4/5 – XXY (2007)

3.5/5 – The Seven Deadly Sins The Movie: Prisoners of the Sky (2018)

4/5 – The Magic Pill (2017)

3/5 – Mermaid's Song (2015)

3.5/5 – Knights of Badassdom (2013)

3.5/5 – Tangled (2010)

3.5/5 – Suspiria (1977)

4/5 – Warm Bodies (2013)

3.5/5 – The Muppets All-Star Comedy Gala (2012)

3/5 – Drive Angry (2011)

3/5 – Waxwork (1988)

4/5 – Whale Rider (2003)

4.5/5 – Incredibles 2 (2018)

3/5 – Anti Matter (2017)

3.5/5 – Deja Vu (2006)

3/5 – Coraline (2009)

4.5/5 – Coco (2017)

3/5 – The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do The Time Warp Again (2016)

2.5/5 – Pet Sematary II (1992)

0.5/5 – A Serbian Film (2010)

3/5 – Escape Plan 2 (2018)

4/5 – Escape Plan (2013)

3/5 – The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

4/5 – The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (2013)

3.5/5 – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

2/5 – The Emoji Movie (2017)

1.5/5 – Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985)

2.5/5 – Tales from the Hood 2 (2018)

3/5 – Jigsaw (2017)

953.

Movie Review: "Beauty and the Beast" 03/17/17

This is a movie review for "Beauty and the Beast", released March 17, 2017. I watched this in December of 2019.

Genre: Family, Fantasy, Musical

Run Time: 2 hours and 9 minutes

Official MPAA Rating (According to IMDB.com):

G / General Audiences

PG / Parental Guidance Suggested

PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned

R / Restricted

X

Not Rated

Trailer

Notable Cast

Emma Watson ... Belle

Dan Stevens ... Beast

Luke Evans ... Gaston

Josh Gad ... LeFou

Kevin Kline ... Maurice

Ewan McGregor ... Lumière

Ian McKellen ... Cogsworth

Emma Thompson ... Mrs. Potts

Plot

An artist and his daughter Belle, having moved to a small countryside town in France, are having to adapt to the quiet lifestyle. Unfortunately for the bookworm daughter, everyone thinks that she is strange for loving to read. Actually, they think it is bad...

Anyways, father Maurice goes off to another town's market (a yearly thing). He somehow gets lost and finds the beast's castle. He plucks a rose for Belle and gets captured. Belle goes to find him, swaps places with him so that he can go free, and then starts to learn of the castle's curse.

Can the prince/beast learn to love? Will Belle be the one? How will the townsfolk (including Gaston, the man that wants to marry Belle) react about the beast?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

3/5 - *SPOILERS*{Well, this is awkward but I didn't put down a rating when I put it on my list of movies to review... Anyways, after reviewing the movie well after watching it, I have decided to rate it a 3/5.}

As a live-action remake of a beloved 1991 Disney movie, this movie is mediocre. They add in things and take out things that make a "Beauty and the Beast" 1991 fan cringe.

For one, Maurice is nothing but a kind father that is trying his best to help his daughter. He shows nothing of "crazy" like the 1991 version. He is more of an artist than an inventor but he never shows the town reason for them to call him "Crazy Old Maurice".

For being in France, almost no one knows French. Gaston actually says something to LeFou about wanting to marry Belle (she has this....) and LeFou responds with "je ne sais quoi" [which means "I don't know what" in French] and Gaston goes "I don't know what that means". I mean, come on.... Do your French, dummies!

They knock down reading multiple times. I guess there was a time where reading was less popular, especially for women, but... [Put a time stamp on it to make us understand WHEN in France reading is a no-go.] LeFou actually admits that he can't read when singing the "Gaston" song and there is Gaston's name up on the wall - "I'm illiterate". [Bad quality but you get the drift...]

Of the original songs, they kept most of them identical to the original songs but they did change the "Mob Song". LeFou actually seems to realize that Gaston, his hero and man-crush, is probably the monster.... Here's the 1991 version of the "Mob Song" with the comparison afterwards.

I like how LeFou is wising up but I don't like how they changed the lyrics. Gaston says: "Call it war. Call it threat. You can bet they all will follow for in times like these, they'll do just as I say." I mean, are we making references to the war after 9/11 or what....? This really really bothered me.

Why the heck is Belle and Maurice's house in town?! *angry grunt*

As for the music of the movie, there is NO comparison between Angela Lansbury as Mrs Potts and Emma Thompson playing the same part. The wonderful depth of voice acting in the 1991 version is not matched in the 2017 version. Here is a comparison between the 1991 version and the 2017 of "Tale as Old as Time". In my opinion, Angela gives the song much more character with her voice instead of Emma's version.

"Tale as Old as Time" 1991 with Angela Lansbury:

"Tale as Old as Time" 2017 with Emma Thompson:

"Learning you CAN change." Really, why is there an accent there?!

This is true also with "Be Our Guest". I like Ewan McGregor but his version of the song really fell flat....

"Be Our Guest" 1991

"Be Our Guest" 2017

Sorry, Ewan, but your French accent is TERRIBLE! "Gueeeesst....." It's like the whole song is trying too hard to be good.....

New songs - "How Does a Moment Last Forever" and "Evermore".

"How Does a Moment Last Forever" - I think this is a cute song but it is forgettable.

"Evermore" - This is a cute song about the beast/prince realizing that he loves Belle, even though she has just left. "I know that she'll never leave me even as she runs away. She will still torment me, calm me, hurt me, move me, come what may." Well, at least you realize that you care for her... But you still need her to return that love for the spell to be broken.

I definitely did not like the enchanted book. I mean sure, let's learn why Belle's mother wasn't in the picture (the plague in Paris) and why they are out in this other town but it seemed unnecessary and did not flow with the story.

I was upset that the father was changed into an artist especially since Chip never stole away to help them get out of the basement after being locked up, but how could a porcelain cup help anyways? And what is it with the enchantments on the servants anyways? Like how is it only one cup that is a child....? (I was wondering about that with the 1991 version too, since there were more cups with faces. Like how many children are in the castle and why aren't they shown after the transformation?) What is up with the fact that every servant turns to "pure object" right before the transformation back to human? 

[That really messed with the ending because wtf, so we did this too late but NO we didn't!] And then there's the prince giving out a beastial growl at the end.... *cringe*

I guess it was worth giving it a try but honestly, I would suggest just sticking to the original 1991 version. Seriously. If you love the 1991 version, stay away from this one. This was just a terrible try to remake the beloved classic. If you never watched the 1991 version, then you could potentially like this movie. Watching it is your choice though, so thank you for reading my opinion ;-).

(If you want a decent live-action remake of a classic Disney movie, I'd suggest "Aladdin" over this one even though Will Smith didn't do as amazing as Robin Williams for Genie.)

That's my movie review. Thanks for reading! More reviews to come eventually.

~ Gracie Mae DeLunac

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"Everything Wrong with Beauty and the Beast (2017)"

by @CinemaSins

1249.

Book Review: "The Girl who Played with Fire", 2006

 After previously watching the American version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and the Swedish trilogy of the series "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", I decided to read these books. I purchased the three books ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl that Played with Fire", and "The Girl that Kicked the Hornet's Nest") from a thrift store. After reading the first book of the series, I immediately picked up the second book and started reading. This is a book review for the second of that series - "The Girl that Played with Fire".

"The Girl who Played with Fire"

Author: Stieg Larsson

Language Read: English

Published: 2006

Genre: Crime, mystery, thriller

Finished reading this book: January 10, 2020

Plot

After solving the Harriet Verger case and resolving the Wennerström libel suit against Blomkvist, Lisbeth Salander (having stolen money from Wennerström's failing empire) decided to go for a vacation and to improve herself. She has stopped communicating with Blomkvist, having felt shunned by him previously when she almost gave him a gift, but she still keeps tabs on him via his computer. When a new writer enters Blomkvist's magazine department with an idea about sex trafficking in Sweden, Lisbeth takes interest. Soon, however, the new writer is found dead and Lisbeth is blamed for it.

As Mikael (the one person that thinks that Lisbeth is not responsible for the murders of the writer and the writer's girlfriend) and Lisbeth (from the shadows) research into what is going on with the murders, they find a web of issues and connections that tie further back in time to Lisbeth's past. Can she deal with her past without getting killed? Is it possible to solve these murderers and catch those responsible?

Review

3.5/5 - 

*SPOILERS*

The book starts off slow and monotonous. Lisbeth is a great character, even after siphoning money from Wernerstrom back in the first book, and she shows it from the beginning. The plot doesn't really get interesting until 1/3rd into the book when Daag Svensson and his girlfriend Johansson were murdered. The questions from that point on are who did it (why are they all blaming Lisbeth and is she the one who actually did it?), why did they do it (was it connected to the prostitution expose that Svensson and Johansson were working on or was it for a different reason?), and how do they get closure for what has happened? The investigations by the police, Millenium and Milton Security slowly each pull information out about the situation, but Lisbeth's investigation into Zala (Zalachenko, her father) leads the plotline further.

Turns out that Zalachenko is a Russian defector that got protection from the Swedish government years way back when. He impregnated Lisbeth's mother (with Lisbeth and her twin sister) and never agreed to marry her. Being a nasty drunk, he would constantly beat Lisbeth's mother and no police would help her because of Zalachenko's protection. So Lisbeth took the initiative to protect her mother - she threw a homemade Molotov cocktail made from a milk carton into his car as he was about to leave, burning him, disfiguring him, and causing him lose his foot via amputation. Of course, he never forgot. She had been sent to a psych ward thanks to the government protecting Zalachenko, where she was abused, and was given a record of being mentally ill though she had only tried to get help to protect her mother. The reports of that time also pushed the police to suspect her more, on top of circumstantial evidence.

Bjurman had been associated with Zalachenko back when he defected from Russia and, because he was annoyed and angry at Lisbeth, asked for Zalachenko's help to get rid of Lisbeth. Zalachenko sent his son (Niedermann, the German-born giant that has a medical disorder that doesn't allow him to feel pain) to Bjurman to settle the issue right as Lisbeth was talking with Svensson/Johansson about Zala. Lisbeth blamed herself for giving Svensson the link between Bjurman and Zala because Niedermann killed Bjurman, drove to Svensson/Johansson's place and killed them. If she hadn't asked about if there was a link between Bjurman and Zala, then Svensson and Johansson probably wouldn't have been killed. It just so happened that Lisbeth had touched the gun previously (2 years ago when she was getting Bjurman back for raping her) and Niedermann had used gloves. So, that's why the police thought she was the main suspect for the murders.

So, what happened? Lisbeth tracked down Niedermann and Zalachenko, went after them, and they saw her on surveillance camera and took her down. They took her out to be killed but she tried to cause as much damage as she could and tried to get away. However, Zalachenko shot her three times: hip, shoulder and right by one ear. The head wound took her down, they dropped her in a freshly dug hole, buried her without making sure she was dead, and left. Fortunately for her, she didn't die from the shot, had enough air in the grave to breathe, and hadn't been crushed to death by the ground because it was light and sandy. She managed to dig herself out and walk away from the site, but unfortunately managed to walk back to Zalachenko's farmhouse. They didn't see her in the cameras this time because she came from a different direction. She wanted to set the place ablaze so she went into a woodshed, but no gasoline or other way to start a fire. Zalachenko heard the commotion and came to investigate, where he was whacked twice by Lisbeth with an axe. He went down with the axe but didn't die. Niedermann heard Zalachenko screaming so he came to investigate. Seeing Lisbeth looking worse than a zombie, his fear of the dark and seeing her made him panic and run away. He just so happened to be on the road looking for a ride when Blomkvist came driving up, looking for Lisbeth. Blomkvist tied him up to a road sign, found the farmhouse with Zalachenko moaning in pain in the woodshed and with Lisbeth barely alive lying on a bench in the kitchen. Blomkvist called emergency services and the story abruptly ended.

I disliked the fact that the end had almost NO finality. So Berger is going to leave Millennium and hasn't told anyone except her husband (left that to the very end too!), Zalachenko is in the woodshed, Niedermann is tied up to a sign, Blomkvist is on the phone and is Lisbeth going to live? What are the police going to say over all of this? Are they going to charge Lisbeth for the damage that she did to Zalachenko and some other of his associates or are they going to let her go considering the evidence? No clue because the book just stopped. Seriously, worse than a Stephen King ending!!!

This book took me longer to read than "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" because the plot was just so slow that I opted many times to watch something over reading this. Once the homicides happened, I was more intrigued but it was still more of a "I like Lisbeth and want to know what happens to her" thing than "let's get this solved". To have the ending that it did made me feel angry that I had spent so much time and emotional investment into this book because I didn't get what I was looking for. I still plan to read the third book "The Girl That Kicked The Hornet's Nest" but I am not reaching for it immediately because I am bitter at the lack of conclusion the book made.

Let's say it like this: I own all 3 of the trilogy and I haven't even tried to read the third book because the ending of the second one left a bad taste in my mouth/mind.

I might try to read the third later but it has been over eight months since I finished the second one and other books come to mind before "The Girl that Kicked the Hornet's Nest". However, there is hope because I bought a copy of the fourth book. Stieg Larsson only wrote three books of the Millennium series (passed away in 2004 before the books were actually published) but another author (David Lagercrantz) picked up where he left off and wrote three more books for the series: "The Girl in the Spider's Web", "The Girl who Takes an Eye for an Eye", and "The Girl Who Lived Twice". I bought "The Girl in the Spider's Web", so there is a chance that I may want to read the third book eventually. We'll see in the future about that.

"Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was much more interesting to read. I would definitely still recommend the first book but this second one is more of a "you can read it because I won't stop you but I don't recommend it". Your tastes might like this book better than I did or even better than the first, but I am not pleased.

So, that's my book review. Not a bad book, slow first half, and an ending that was lack-luster. Definitely read the first book before this one because it piggybacks off of the first book.

Thanks for reading my review! More to come eventually.

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Email graciemaedelunac@yahoo.com

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Skype gracelyn2019@yahoo.com

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Book Review: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", 2005

Book Review: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

I previously watched the American movie "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and the Swedish trilogy on the books. I therefore thought, when I saw the books at a thrift store, 'why not try the books'. Sometimes the movies just don't do as good as the books so why not. This is a review for the first book, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

Author: Stieg Larsson

Language Read: English

Published: 2005

Genre: Mystery, Crime Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Nordic noir

Plot

Reporter Mikael Blomkvist receives a request from a corporate man (Henrik Vanger) to help him solve a family mystery that has haunted him for over thirty years: what happened to his granddaughter Harriet? Who has been keeping up a tradition she started years before her disappearance (sending him a pressed flower on his birthday)? Who is responsible for the disappearance of Harriet, of all the family members that could have done it on the day in question thirty years ago?

Mikael finds that he has a connection to the Vanger family [Harriet had been his babysitter sometimes] and is given incentive to take the job. Having just had a major court case of "slander" against a major business mogul (Hans-Erik Wennerström), Mikael needs to take some time out of the spotlight and Vanger says he can help with dealing with the Wennerström case.

As Mikael works on the case, he finds out that there is a computer hacker watching his moves. Vanger had asked a security company (prior to offering the case to Blomkvist) do a background check on Blomkvist. The person that did the background check is a young woman named Lisbeth Salander and she checks up on him every so often. However, she takes interest in the case of the missing Harriet and soon Lisbeth and Mikael are working together to figure out the thirty-year-old mystery.

Can they solve the mystery? Did someone in the Vanger family kill Harriet and, if so, where is her body? Why would someone of the family attack Harriet? Are there darker secrets than just Harriet missing? And who is sending the pressed flowers on Henrik's birthday?

Review

4/5 - This is a very good book ["a page turner"] and I do believe that the Swedish version of this movie did a very good job sticking to the book. There are some dark things that this book deals with including vile murder rituals, attacks on women (murdered and raped), incestual abuse/rape/attacks, etc.

Even though the story has a lot of nasty topics to deal with, I do think this book was very well written. I enjoyed the intelligence that Lisbeth and Mikael both showed while dealing with their investigation. I was sad to see the book end but it was a good ending and had a bit of "look of hope" for Lisbeth. I picked up the second book immediately to read it as I was not ready to be finished with this 'verse, so the review for that will be soon.

I personally think this is very good book. I am glad to have it in my collection but I don't think that I will be rereading it any time soon (thanks to that never ending list of To Be Read books and To Be Watched movies and the reviews that ensue).

Oh, and by the way, the American version of the movie might have had decent special effects and whatnot but it didn't stick to the book as much as I would have liked.

That's my book review. Thanks for reading! More reviews to come eventually.

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Classic Movie Review: "Life" 04/16/99

This is a movie review for "Life", released April 16, 1999. As I have seen this before, this is a classic movie review. I watched it again most recently on December 31, 2019.

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama

Run Time: 1 Hour and 48 Minutes

Official MPAA Rating (According to IMDB.com):

G / General Audiences

PG / Parental Guidance Suggested

PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned

R / Restricted

X

Not Rated

Trailer

Notable Cast

Eddie Murphy ... Rayford Gibson
Martin Lawrence ... Claude Banks

Bernie Mac ... Jangle Leg

Plot

Rayford and Claude end up taking a trip for a New York (mafia?) boss down to the south. While they are down there, they are robbed and arrested, tried for the murder of a bad guy and thrown into prison for life. Of course they didn't kill the guy but no one would listen to them because they're in the south. So, how do they survive prison? Or can they get out before their life sentence is up....? And what will happen between the two of them - will they become friends or just stay mad at each other for all the years in prison that they are serving together?

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

3.5/5 - This is a decent comedy though it is about being stuck in prison. It is interesting to see how people try to survive inside a prison, especially since Ray and Claude didn't do the crimes they were committed for. It is funny to watch Ray try his darndest to get out of prison and the ending makes you go "well....". I'm not going to spoil it for you but it is cute and they do end up as friends, after many years in the prison.


Ray's Boom Boom Room (a fantasy about owning a club):

I have seen this movie at least twice. I would recommend this movie as something to watch though it seems like there isn't much to see during the movie because they are stuck in the prison (except watching the failed attempts to get out of the prison, of course). The camaraderie between the inmates is cute, as seen in the dream sequence of Ray's Boom Boom Room. Is this a kid-friendly movie? Not necessarily but it isn't too violent or graphic.

Anyways, that's my movie review. Thanks for reading! More reviews to come eventually.

~ Gracie Mae DeLunac

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