Reviews | Amy C. Shaw

Mini Movie Reviews: Nonstop, Tron, The Lego Movie, and Mansfield Park

July 30, 2014 • 13 Comments

I’ve been watching new (to me, anyhow) movies and been slacking on the reviews! Here’s my one paragraph thoughts on four films…

Non-Stop

Non-Stop was pretty much a non-stop adrenaline rush, other than its slow beginning and then somewhat wrapped-up-with-a-tidy-bow-on-top ending. This, like Taken, is a Liam Nesson movie that really makes you think twice about traveling. It’s an interesting idea and I was really invested in what was happening, but the reveal was a little disappointing for reasons I can’t fully explain (not because of spoilers so much as I just don’t know to explain it!), and then the ending was kind of like, “OK, yay Liam Nesson saved the day, movie over.” I don’t know, I just would have liked to have been thought through a little more after an intriguing premise. Other than the suspense, another upside to this film was actually the characters.

(Note: This is the same director as the Liam Nesson film Unknown, which I have similar complaints about, though I liked Nonstop more.)

Tron

If you go into Tron expecting it to be 80tastic, you’ll get exactly that. It was a little confusing too, especially in the beginning, and I would have been much more lost had it not been for my familiarity with Tron: Legacy. But the idea is interesting, and I really liked how these initial ideas were further developed in Tron: Legacy.

The Lego Movie

I had zero interest in this movie, but I had many friends who insisted it was great, and more of an adult movie than a kid movie. Well, these friends of mine have kids, and I think maybe their opinion has been somewhat diluted by this. I enjoyed it pretty well at the moment, and it made me laugh, but with a heavy-handed message to parents and the crazy fast pacing, it didn’t quite reach “everything is awesome” level for me, and ended up more on the forgettable side. (P.S. Unikitty is awesome though. Hands down my favorite character.)

Mansfield Park

Finally! This was the last Jane Austen novel I had zero exposure to, and I was finally introduced to Mansfield Park via the 2007 adaptation. I enjoyed it, but it felt so short, and I really want to see the slightly older version that has Jonny Lee Miller. But the actors and actresses in this adaptation were really good, and Hayley Atwell was the evil Mary Crawford! As a big Peggy Carter fan that broke my heart!

What movies have you seen lately? Have you seen any of these?

Review: The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet

July 27, 2014 • 8 Comments

(Note: I think it goes without saying that there will be Lizzie Bennet Diaries GIFs below…)

When I found out that The Lizzie Bennet Diaries web series was turning into a book, this was my reaction:

But I admit, I was also slightly skeptical, because can you really write a solid book based on a web series based on a classic novel. Well, I think The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet pulled it off pretty well.

There were a few things that prevented this from getting a 5-star rating from me, and I’ll list those up front.

First: this feels like a companion to the web series. I don’t think you should really go into reading this without knowing The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, or at the very least Pride and Prejudice (but even then… it’s better to know the series). I would have liked to have seen it stand on it’s own a little better. Also, I was disappointed in some character moments that weren’t in the web series that felt unnecessary in the book. I’m not going to go into details, but some of it just didn’t really ring true for me.

Lastly, while it felt mostly consistent with the web series, it didn’t ALWAYS. There’s at least one instance that became really obvious when I decided to watch one of the episodes (I watched a few as I read the book, just to see how they played out in both and because I felt like it :)), in which Lizzie got her new phone. In the book, it’s emphasized that her phone started acting up after it was dropped on the marina pier on her day with Darcy and Gigi, but in the web series it sounded like her phone had been acting up for a while and she finally got a new one when her contract came up for renewal. Maybe it shouldn’t have bothered me so much, but considering that in the Q&A in the back the authors emphasized the importance of consistency between the two, I found that to be a little too inconsistent.

However, I hate that that bothered me so much because the day where she hung out with Darcy and Gigi in the book (and was not described in the web series) was so cute and left me wanting more of those interactions! But then, of course, things got crazy with the whole Lydia thing. And thankfully, “the Lydia instance” felt a lot more balanced in the book. In the web series I think they dragged it out for weeks, which felt really disproportionate to other plot points in the series, so I appreciated less emphasis on it, yet still making the important points of what everyone learned from it.

This book made me chuckle out loud a lot, which is also a definite high point for any book. (Though there wasn’t enough Lydia-isms or Fitz for me!) I think Lizzie venting about Catherine de Bourgh amused me the most.

And of course anything that showed more of Darcy was a plus, like the aforementioned day out with him and Gigi, as well as his letter to Lizzie. I do wish we had gotten more than just a couple of video transcripts about Lizzie and Darcy’s big moments on camera, and got more of her elaboration on them, though.

I did feel like there was some additional insight and characterization to Lizzie, which I liked. I learned that she prefers a classic wardrobe over trends (which I think is obvious in the videos), that she drives a Honda Civic (me too!), that she majored in English for her undergraduate degree, and why she chose new media communications as her course of study for graduate school. Of course, I related to a lot of this which was largely why I liked these new tidbits! 🙂

Though both the web series and the novel have a couple of low points for me, overall, the novel is just as totes adorbs as the series overall! If you’re a fan, it’s definitely worth checking out!

Content advisory: A few instances of mild/moderate language, and mentions of sex but nothing graphic and no sex scenes.

What are your thoughts of The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet?

Double Review: Siege & Storm and Ruin & Rising

July 17, 2014 • 10 Comments

I thoroughly enjoyed Shadow and Bone when I read it on vacation in May, and was excited that I would get to read the second and third books of the trilogy so soon. And thankfully, I was not disappointed.

I am not really going to talk about each book individually, but here were the highlights of both of the books for me:

– Sturmhond *highlight for spoilers*/Nikolai and his humor and his personality and basically everything about him.

– The pacing in Siege and Storm was amazing! It started with a bang and never let me go.

– The plot was always thickening, the stakes always raising… basically, Bargdugo is excellent at crafting a riveting story.

– The FEELS.

– The ending was absolutely perfect. To remain vague… Part of what happened, I had wanted since the first book but didn’t think was possible, a couple parts I wanted since the first book and thought them possible and were glad they happened, and the rest I couldn’t have dreamed of. It was all just great, exactly what it needed to be… not perfectly happy, but happy with a cost and a perfectly satisfying conclusion for the reader.

I did have a few small problems, however…

– The pacing of the first half of Ruin and Rising was slow and weird for me. The whole first part with the Apparet and being underground just old quick for me and I was ready to move on.

– For some reason, I started to like Alina and Mal’s relationship a little less with each book. *highlight for spoilers* I was still rooting for them overall, but I don’t know, it just became less appealing. While reading, I almost wondered what it would be like if Alina did start to like Nikolai, even though I didn’t want her to flake out on Mal either. I know, it’s so complicated. But I am happy they did end up together at last. By the way, I don’t understand anyone who is Team Darkling. He’s so evil, why do you love him?! But I digress…

– Even though these books did give me feels, I still felt slightly distanced from the characters (which I mentioned in my review of Shadow and Bone) for reasons I can’t really express. I think I just never really connected with any of them fully. I find the storytelling and the world of The Grisha Trilogy its strong suits, and while I liked the characters, they’re a bit weaker in comparison to the overall story or in comparison to the characters of, oh let’s say The Hunger Games, where I was completely emotionally invested in virtually all its characters. I wanted that with these books, and never got it. But to be clear, I did care about Alina, Mal, and some of the others and their well-being, it just wasn’t quite to the extent that I fully hope for.

The amazingness of this trilogy really outweighs my complaints though, and I would highly recommend this series to anyone thinking about checking it out. Each book gets 4.5 stars from me.

Content advisory: Mild language, violence, and a somewhat fade-to-black, very discreetly, not-at-all-graphically written sex scene.

Also, check out these reviews that I enjoyed and are a more eloquently written than this one:

Sana’s review of Siege and Storm

Brittany’s review of Ruin and Rising

Are you a fan of The Grisha Trilogy? What are your thoughts on the series as a whole? Or have you started and not finished (then what are you waiting for?!)?

Review: Seraphina

June 26, 2014 • 10 Comments

Seraphina is like a YA sleeper hit. You don’t see a lot of blog buzz and hype about it, probably mostly because it was published in 2012. But if you look on Goodreads, you’re going to see that your friends who have read it most likely love it.

When I was looking for a new read, I decided on a whim to download the e-book version of Seraphina from my library, and the fact that right after I finished I wished that I owned a copy and that I could re-read it right then means it was pretty special.

But I do have a couple of small complaints, so I want to get those out of the way…

What’s My Motivation?

Actually, the real question is: what was Seraphina’s motivation? About 100 pages in I realized I had no idea what Seraphina’s goal for the story was, thus I had no idea where the story needed to go. She was trying to blend in and not stick out too much, and then Orma was trying to find out about his father/her grandfather, but it wasn’t real clear-cut to me exactly what the plot was. That made it just a little off for me and made the beginning seem slowish (not too much so because I was engaged the whole time, but I felt like I was waiting to find out what the book was about).

So Many People, Places, Terms…

So I realized once I finished the book (which again, was an e-book) that there was a cast of characters and a glossary in the back. That would have been useful to use throughout since I ended up confused many times about who a minor character was exactly again (they don’t have the easiest names) or what a certain term meant. I did read it after the fact and that helped some, but if I read it again (and in paperback!) I will definitely utilize these tools to help me appreciate the story even more!

But here’s what I loved…

You Get Thrown Right Into the World

Wait, dragons can become people? Uh, okay, awesome! For the most part, you can figure things out as the story unfolds and there is really only added backstory/narrative occasionally, which I really appreciated.

Seraphina and Kiggs!

I loved them individually! I loved their friendship! I loved their *wanting more*!

The Ending

It felt right, and it left me wanting more without leaving me at a cliffhanger. And good news, another Seraphina book is expected to come out next year so I’ll get the more that I want! Yay!

Basically, I don’t know what to say. The story is interesting and I just fell in love with the world and the people, and I especially loved Seraphina and Kiggs, and want more of them. This are no adequate words for this review. I had a couple issues (one that could easily have been resolved, so really just one) but overall, it was just great. Just read it.

Content advisory: Some mild language, most of which was the correct usage of the word b-stard.

Have you read Seraphina? What are your thoughts? If not, what are you waiting for?!

Mini Reviews: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and How to Train Your Dragon 2

June 23, 2014 • 14 Comments

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

I don’t really watch quirky, indie movies, and while The Secret Life of Walter Mitty isn’t indie, it is certainly quirky. The message of living your life is extremely heavy-handed in the film, and yet, it’s OK. I can’t explain why it is… I suppose because of the style of the movie. Words of wisdom are written out on the street and on buildings as Walter talks to a guy on the phone about his online dating account, which he only has so he can “wink” at a girl that works with him that he is too shy to confront in real life. And the humor (minus a really weird scene where Walter imagines growing old but backwards a la Benjamin Button) is spot-on and really makes most every character interaction and moment just charming and endearing. This isn’t your typical movie, but it’s a character study and it speaks of the human condition, and to me those are two very important elements of storytelling. And the music was spot-on too. Even though the music featured in the film is not the typical fare on my iPod, it fit so perfectly with the movie and I instantly wanted the soundtrack. If you’re looking for something a little different and a little inspirational, Walter Mitty is definitely worth checking out.

How To Train Your Dragon 2

This is a hard review to write (even in miniature form), especially without spoiling things. Here’s the thing: when you hear they’re releasing a sequel to a beloved standalone movie, it’s easy to be nervous. But for some reason, I didn’t feel that with How to Train Your Dragon 2 at all. The first one blew me away so much I figured this would be have to be incredibly awesome just like it. Well, in many ways it was. But here’s the problem… it’s the sequel to something that was meant to be a standalone. It took something fairly light and made it a bit darker. It changed the characters’ lives in a more dramatic way than I was bargaining for. But it really is still very, very good. But it did make me sad and I did cry. And that was something I was not expecting at all. I understand why the story happened the way it did academically, but I still wish they had done it a little differently. But overall, still really good. I loved seeing how Hiccup, Astird, and the others had grown.

Have you seen either of these movies? What are your thoughts on them?

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