Category Archives: Movies

Mini-Review: Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World is the latest addition in the Marvel movie franchise as well as the continuation of Thor’s story… but I’m sure you knew that! I wanted to keep this review short and sweet by covering the movie’s good points and “meh” points…

Good: The Snarky Dialogue… Especially with Loki

thor-loki-glassesAs all Marvel movies should be, Thor: The Dark World has many quotable moments. I don’t know why Thor goes from speaking Shakespearean-style English to telling Loki to shut up, but regardless, I still enjoyed a lot of the dialogue, especially where Loki was involved. They had some great brother banter moments.

Good: Darcy!!!

darcy-thorI absolutely adored Darcy in the first Thor film and was thrilled she was coming back. She did not disappoint!

Meh: Thor + Jane = Still Not Buying It

jane-thorI like Natalie Portman and I like Jane, but I didn’t find Jane and Thor together believable in either the first film or this film. (Team Sif all the way!)

Good: Thor’s Mom is Awesome!

thor-momI thought Thor’s mom was awesome, but I don’t want to spoil anything, so you’ll just have to watch to see why.

Meh: Poor Dr. Selvig

thor-erikIt was sad to see that state Dr. Erik Selvig ended up in after The Avengers. 🙁

Good: Zachary Levi!

thor-zacharyleviI think Zachary Levi did a pretty seamless job filling in for the role of an actor who was in the previous installment of Thor. And I’m always happy to see Zachary Levi!

Meh: Just OK Villain

thor-villainThe villain, The Dark Elf or whatever he was called, didn’t impress me in the slightest and I never really felt a sense of danger with him. I never thought about this until a few days after I had seen the movie though, which tells you how little I think about villains (unless they’re awesome), but I would compare him to Nero in the 2009 Star Trek movie… just not that impressive. But without getting too spoilery, let’s just say there’s plenty of questioning Loki’s motives throughout the film, and that is much more interesting… and then there’s the mid-credit scene that opens a new door…

Good: Overall Just Fun!

thor-2It’s Thor, it’s the Avengers, and it’s just fun.

4stars2Others’ thoughts:

Nashville Book Worm liked it OK but didn’t love it

House of Geekery loved it!

Have you seen Thor: The Dark World? What are your thoughts? 

Movie Review: Ender’s Game

Every once in a while, there’s a book you feel a strange and unknown draw towards to read, and Ender’s Game was that for me earlier this year. I think it was partly due to the movie coming out, but not completely, as there are plenty of book-to-move adaptations that I don’t pay attention to. But the story sounded interesting and I wanted to check it out. I was surprised by how dark and gritty it was for a book about children, but it’s painting a picture of a desperate society who has barely survived war once and is on the brink of another. It’s a cautionary science fiction tale of how far we will stretch someone, particularly a child, to receive a desired result.

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I don’t think I realized how much I got from the book emotionally until I watched the movie and felt much of a lack of emotion. I know this sounds like the start of a negative review, but it’s not. It is just to say that the book is about warfare and its psychological damage and the real-life causalities of it, as seen through the eyes of the child. I don’t think the movie adaption of Ender’s Game expressed this as fully as it could have, yet at the same time, it did help recall those feelings I had from the book.

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I saw this movie with my husband and two friends. My husband has not read the book, but thankfully he was somehow able to follow along with what felt like an extremely accelerated pacing in the movie. The highlights are all there (or at least in my opinion, one friend missed the Peter-Valentine subplot, which I get the point of but I can take it or leave it) in terms of scenes. But we don’t get to experience the full development of Ender’s mental battle in Battle School or his relationships with Valentine, Petra, Bean, and others. The relationships were my favorite part of the book, so while we see glimpses of these in the movie, they are more of a quick acknowledgment. I do think the relationship that was best represented in the movie was probably that of his and Petra’s, even though I wanted so much more of it! And speaking of Petra, I loved Hailee Steinfield’s portrayal of her. Really, I felt all of the main actors did a solid job in their roles, and even most of the minor kid actors.

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The movie does not really take liberties or change a whole lot, it just mostly skims. The ending of the movie also felt less strange than the ending of the book, and I was satisfied with it. Another part of the movie I thought was really well-done was how everything looked: the Battle school, the technology, etc., I felt all looked great and believable.

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As a supplement to the book, I’d give Ender’s Game the movie four stars, but as a stand-alone, I would give it three. So overall, I’ll average it out for 3.5 stars.

3.5starsI do feel it would be a decent introduction to the ideas of science fiction to someone who may be skeptical, but I feel it’s too obvious in many plot points instead of being delivered organically as it is in the book. Though the movie was already two hours, another half hour at least could have really made it a better film.

Have you seen Ender’s Game? What were your thoughts on it as a standalone and as compared to the book? 

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Little Women Dreamcast

Guys! Guyssssssssss!!!!!!!!! They’re doing another adaptation of Little Women! Squeeeeee!!!!

*Contains self*

I’m a big fan of Little Women, and though I simply love the 1994 version and Christian Bale will always and forever be Laurie in my heart, I am still really excited about a newer adaptation! So long as it’s done well, of course! So of course, I have to dreamcast!

I decided I wanted to use actresses and actors who are actually relatively close in age to the characters, which is a little difficult because of the large span in time in the story, but I didn’t want to cast a 30 year old for a 15-20 year old girl. This means no Amanda Seyfried for Amy, or Mia Wasikowska for Beth, or Aaron Tveit for Laurie, though I think would all have been perfect just a few years ago!

Meg: Emma Watson

Emma-WatsonI think Emma Watson would do a great job of portraying the often prudent, but still learning and growing, Meg, the oldest of the March sisters. She chooses to marry a poor tutor because she knows the value of love over money, and patinetly waits a few years to do so.

Jo: Hailee Steinfield

hailee_steinfeld2Hailee Steinfiled has proven she can play with the boys in True Grit and Ender’s Game, and Jo’s a bit of a tomboy herself. Yet she is also full of love and creativity, and I can see Hailee bringing all these things to Jo’s character.

Beth: Abigail Breslin

abigail-breslinIn her brief scenes in Ender’s Game, Abigail Breslin displayed a kind and emotional character in Valentine, and through this performance I saw the potential for a Beth March. Beth is quiet and compassionate and helps temper Jo, and I believe Abigail could bring that balancing force for Hailee’s portrayal of Jo.

Young Amy: Sophie Nelisse/ Older Amy: Dakota Fanning

amySophie Nelisse is playing Liesel in The Book Thief, which I have not seen yet since it has not been released yet, but she really looks the part of Amy! Though Amy is a very different character from Liesel, more spoiled and vain, I would hope she could pull it off. Dakota Fanning also perfectly looks the part of an older Amy. I thought about doing an Elle/Dakota combo since they are sisters, but I felt Elle just wasn’t young enough. And of course, I think Dakota would do a great job with the role of older Amy.

Laurie: Logan Lerman

logan-lermanLogan Lerman is easily one of my favorite actors under 25. I’ve hardly seen anything he’s done, but I’ve seen him in trailers and I know he’s played a wide variety of characters. He’s just got the “boy next door” look, and Laurie literally is the boy next door for the March girls. As far as I know he and Hailee have never acted together, but I can imagine they would play well off each other. Oh, and Dakota of course. Unless, you know, we change the ending. 😉

What do you think? Who would you like to see as the March girls and Laurie? Any ideas for who you would like to see as the secondary characters?  

Sci-Fi Month Intro Post!

It’s November, which means it’s Sci-Fi Month, hosted by Rinn Reads! I was very excited when I found out about this event, as the sci-fi genre has been creeping into my life in the form of movies and TV for well over a decade now. It all started with…

star-warsOf course! I thought it was a lot of fun! And then one day I caught a marathon on TV of this show…

The-Twilight-ZoneAnd fell in love with this particular kind of science fiction that examines humanity. Then while dating my husband he introduced me to…

Star-Trek1We watched the original series while dating, and after TRYING to watch the first few episodes of The Next Generation (those first few episodes really are pretty bad), we put the rest of the series on hold until after we married. But now I’ve seen it all and love them all! But in the meantime, we were introduced to…

fireflycastSuch a unique and awesome (but sadly short-lived) series! Then after we finished Star Trek, we watched…

babylon5It’s crazy underrated. I mean seriously, how many TV shows do you know of where the creator/writer of the show had the entire series plotted and planned out beforehand? Amazing story and character arcs in five seasons (or four… the fifth season sadly didn’t live up to the rest of the show in terms of great stories). And currently we’re watching…

Fringe-season2Most of these movies/shows will come up again in my posts this month! And now I’m starting to gain interest in sci-fi books as well, though I think the only true sci-fi book I’ve read so far is Ender’s Game. I liked it pretty well and I’m planning to check out more sci-fi books! But since I will not be reading anything new this month due to NaNoWriMo, I will have no new reviews of sci-fi books to share, and will be focusing exclusively on the movies and TV shows that made me fall in love with the genre over time. Here’s my personal schedule of posts that you can look out for:

November 7: Elements from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine I Want to See in Books

November 11: Ender’s Game movie review

November 18: Memorable Characters of Sci-Fi

November 22: Science Fiction World Building

November 27: My Top 3 Earth-Bound Sci-Fi Movies

If you’re participating in Sci-Fi Month as well, leave a comment and let me know! And if not, I hope you’ll enjoy some of these posts!

What’s your favorite element of science fiction? 

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Movie Trailer Round-Up!

I’m excited about several movies coming out this month: Ender’s Game, The Book Thief, Thor 2, and Catching Fire, and I’m also excited for some other upcoming movies that recently released trailers. But first, the final Catching Fire trailer…

So excited! I’m still firm in my belief it’s going to be better than the first movie. Then Captain America: The Winter Soldier…

Captain America is my favorite Avenger because he’s such a gentleman! But he also knows how to take care of bad guys! And then last but not least, the new X-Men movie…

The trailer has made me really excited about the movie. I have shared before that X-Men is not my favorite franchise, but this looks really good, And though his role is minor, I’m glad Shawn Ashmore is back; he was my favorite in high school.

Any other good trailers you’ve seen recently? What movie are you most excited for? 

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