Reviews | Amy C. Shaw

Mini Reviews: X-Men Days of Future Past & The Monuments Men

June 9, 2014 • 10 Comments

X-Men: Days of Future Past

I’ve discussed my feelings on X-Men in general before, but in case you don’t know, I don’t really love the franchise, but I keep up with it anyway. I thought 1 & 2 were pretty meh. I actually liked 3 OK, but everyone else hated it. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was OK. I did really enjoy X Men: First Class. The Wolverine was fine. X-Men: Days of Future Past was thankfully more in the First Class vein, and I enjoyed it.

First off, if you’re going to see this movie (and you haven’t already), you might want to brush up on your X-Men movies because I was confused a few times and had to ask my husband a few questions after the fact. Also, I somehow missed the memo that the first part of the movie was in the future, so that part confused me too. So just know, it’s in the future! Well, until it’s in the past. But that part is pretty obvious. 🙂

This movie is heavy on Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence as Wolverine and Mystique, which I wasn’t expecting, and of course on Charles Xavier and Eric/Magneto, mostly on the portrayals done by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. The whole cast is great, but if you’re looking for a lot of people from First Class, you’re not going to find many outside of those already mentioned. Most of this movie also takes place in the 70’s, and I thought the way they filmed much of the 70’s storyline was great with a grainy film look.

My two biggest reservations about this movie though are that the cast is so large that you don’t get as much of any one character as you’d really like (unless you’re a big Wolverine or Mystique fan), and that the story felt a bit convoluted to me. The idea of changing this one thing to change everything else and then not expect that it couldn’t go wrong another way seemed really naive, and then of course when that did happen, how they managed things didn’t feel like it would have actually worked well enough. And what happened to Magneto after the 70’s story? I’m dying to know!

You’ve probably heard a lot about the addition of Quicksilver in the movie, and that scene in the kitchen was a lot of fun, definitely a high point in the movie. His time was so brief though that it almost felt pointless. But not pointless enough for me to mind him being there, since it was entertaining.

This is a hard movie to only “mini-review,” yet at the same time I don’t want to go on and on about it. If you enjoyed First Class, then see this movie.

Also check out:

Funk House of Geekery’s The 10 Best and the 10 Worst of X-Men: Days of Future Past

Natalie’s (Natflix and Books) review

The Monuments Men

So imagine if Danny Ocean (Ocean’s 11) was into art and had a purer heart and lived during WWII, and you would kind of have an idea of the premise of The Monuments Men. This was an interesting sort of movie. It’s written and directed by George Clooney, and while it was beautifully filmed, it’s clear he doesn’t have much screenwriting experience (though I did look up his writing experience and he did also write the screenplay for Good Night and Good Luck, which was a snore of a movie for me when I really thought I’d like it). The first part of the movie has a very strange pace and it felt very disjointed. We’re “introduced” to the different Monuments Men, though not in a very coherent fashion, so it took me a while to remember who all these people were.

But once you realize who everyone really is and get into the story, it’s interesting. There was a really poignant scene where Bill Murray’s character gets a recorded message from home that really stood out for me in the movie. There are other little vignettes, just glimpses into these these men’s missions, that build up to the climax of them finding particular art that they have been seeking for much of the film after the death of one of their own.

The Cate Blanchett character was a disappointment for me since she’s a great actress and her character was so distant and not very interesting. She’s so cold for most of the movie, and then warms up to Matt Damon’s character after she realizes he and the other Monuments Men want to genuinely protect art, so much so that she’s coming onto him (even though she knows very well that he’s married), and it felt weird and unnatural. Thankfully Matt Damon’s character, James, didn’t give in, but it just felt a little odd. If all that really happened in real life, I’m sure it unfolded in a more natural way than the way the movie presented it.

To me, this movie felt like it was just scratching the surface of something larger, just trying to give me a glimpse into a much grander story. During the credits I Googled to see if there was a book and then proceeded to add it to Goodreads, because I wanted to know the whole story instead of just these little parts. This movie wasn’t enough, and some of the script was weak, but it gave me a craving for more and had some interesting elements to it.

If you’ve seen either of these movies, let me know what you thought of them!

Mini Reviews: Shadow and Bone & The Scarlet Pimpernel

June 5, 2014 • 6 Comments

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

I bought Shadow and Bone on a bit of a whim. I spotted the paperback for cheap and remembered that basically everyone loved it, and thought maybe I ought to check it out. You see, not long before this purchase I realized I haven’t actually read anything I would classify as fantasy except The Hobbit, and I felt I needed to remedy this. I enjoy science fiction, so obviously I have no problem with other worlds. Even though I like the idea of fantasy, the blurbs on fantasy novels (YA or otherwise) often turn me off because they sound so confusing. I figured Shadow and Bone would be a good gateway into fantasy.

And I was right. Bardugo did a great job laying out the world without info dumping. The world naturally unfolded throughout the story and I was never really confused, even when I sometimes couldn’t remember what a certain kind of Grisha was. So if you’re a little uncertain of fantasy and haven’t checked this one out, I’d definitely recommend it. Though really, I feel like I’m the last one in the blogsphere to read it. 🙂

I flew through this one, so it pretty much felt like I blinked and it was over. I think I remember the story and yet sometimes I wonder if I missed something, even though the story felt complete, because I read it so much faster than I normally read. Even though it didn’t feel like anything was truly missing, there was just a little something that separated me enough emotionally from what happened and the characters to give it a 5. The story was great, I can’t even think of any one particular thing that I didn’t like, but for some reason it didn’t have all the BANG I wanted. But I did really, really enjoy it. I liked Alina and felt she was very realistic. She wasn’t super courageous, but she didn’t curl up in a ball and cry when things got too hard either. I liked Mal, and I’m almost always a sucker for a friendship-turned-romance. The Darkling was interesting, but I definitely cannot get on that team bandwagon because he is a bad dude. And the ending left me interested in how the story will continue.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

As mentioned in a previous post, I also bought The Scarlet Pimpernel on a whim when it was on the cheap. I LOVE Across a Star-Swept Sea, a retelling of the story (as if you haven’t heard a million times before from me), so I was hoping to really love the original story as well! And… it started out slow for me. Real slow. I have this problem with most classics though, where language and unnecessary details bog me down.

(Hey, classic authors, why do you elaborate on some of the most random stuff and then not elaborate on the really awesome stuff?!)

About halfway through though, the story really picked up for me. The chapter where Marguerite finally talks to Percy about how she feels – WOW, the feels really came through there! And it continued to be exciting, and the last few chapters were really tense, even though I knew it would all turn out OK.

But I have two complaints about this book, one being the slow beginning, and the other being the ending. The ending was really shaping up to be great, but then after the climax, we basically get a couple of paragraphs of wrap-up and then THE END. I always hate rushed endings. I would rather have drawn-out Return of the King (movie, can’t speak for the book) style endings than super short ones (though obviously a happy medium is most preferable). I really, really, REALLY expected/hoped to see a nice scene between Marguerite and Percy at the end where they would finally be all happy and lovey dovey and give me feels like they did in that one chapter, but sadly… no. And that alone actually downgraded a potential 4.5 star book down to a 4 for me. It’s a great story filled with intrigue and trickery, and I definitely saw the foundation of my beloved Across the Star-Swept Sea in it, but the feels were lacking in the end when they showed so much potential earlier in the story!

Share your thoughts on Shadow and Bone &/or The Scarlet Pimpernel! And please feel free to recommend other fantasy books you think I might like!

Review: The Distant Hours

May 9, 2014 • 8 Comments

I would have never picked up The Distant Hours on my own, but when someone loaned it to me, I thought I should give it a shot. Thankfully, it was a pleasant surprise.

Note: It’s been long enough ago since I read this that I am not sure if I can remember enough to write a full-fledged review, so I will just be elaborating upon the notes I jotted down shortly after finishing the book.

– Incredibly layered and rich in story-telling: This book is like Code Name Verity on crack in terms of layers. I’m really impressed with all the storylines and characters Morton had to keep straight in order to successfully weave everything together so seamlessly!

– Several fascinating mysteries, secrets, and connections: This is really just a further elaboration of the first point. There is so much going on, in the past, in the story’s present, interweaving between events and characters and secrets that get revealed at various points in the story to various characters.

– Loved the castle setting: When I started this book, I was in the mood for reading something with a fantasy or fairy-tale feel, which I wasn’t expecting to get from this, but the castle setting that part of this book takes place at gave some of that feel without it being completely otherworldly.

– Usually enjoyed going back and forth between the past and present narratives: The fun thing about this book is we get two narratives in one really, one from the past and one of the “present” (it’s the early 1990s, but it is the present for the narrator). However, at some point I did get a little tired of so much back and forth, especially when the narrative shifted just as something really exciting was happening in the current narrative.

– (Sorta vaguely spoilery) So incredibly tragic for the sisters – thankfully there is more hope for Edie and her mom: This story doesn’t end happily for everyone, but there is some hope in the end.

– Never felt super connected to the characters: I can’t complain about the characters. They were all incredibly distinct, three-dimensional, and interesting, but I think in part because of how much “book time” is spread out among them, I never felt a real connection with any one of them. Just when I was relating with Edie or Saffie, I was switched to another character, and then I didn’t necessarily get the feeling back when I returned to that other character.

– Felt too long at times: This book is 562 pages long, and I honestly felt it. As someone who reads YA fiction primarily, I don’t read many books over 400 pages, and when I do, the pacing is usually fast and helps me get through the book quickly. It took me a long time to read this book and after a while, it started to wear on me a little. I was interested in everything going on, but couldn’t it just go a little faster? Thankfully, when it did start to feel a little draggy to me, something would usually spark my interest again for a little while longer.

– Raymond Blythe was a terrible father: Seriously. This is a case of someone trying but failing miserably.

– Never really understood what “the distant hours” means: There were several references to some song or poem that Edie’s mom told her about that mentioned “the distant hours,” and it gets mentioned in reference to the castle, but I never understood what the heck it actually meant. (If anyone can explain it, I would appreciate it.)

Overall, it was a very good read that I would recommend to those who enjoy stories with mysteries, secrets, and who have an interest in how the past and present can be linked.

Advisory content: Some sexual content and references (nothing graphic) and some mild language.

Have you read The Distant Hours? What are your thoughts?

Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

April 6, 2014 • 10 Comments

Since I saw the first Captain America movie, I knew Captain America was going to be my favorite of the Avengers. I mean, he’s such a gentleman! And he hails from the 1940’s, one of my favorite time periods in history! And Peggy Carter! Oh, I adored her too! But then, spoiler if you haven’t seen the first movie, when Steve crashes and he ends up asleep in ice for decades, of course this separates him and Peggy. SO sad! We saw him adjust to his new life in The Avengers, but we see more in The Winter Soldier.

First, my shorter, non-spoliery thoughts on the movie. I will always love the period feel of the first Captain America movie, but I do believe this was a better film. There is some great character development, the stakes are high, and there was a lot added to the overarching storyline of SHIELD. Steve has a bit of an identity crisis, but he works through and continues to act on what he knows is right, and there was never a heavy-handed *STEVE HAS FOUND HIMSELF* moment, but I think he did find his place in the end. This is a great movie for secondary characters as well with Nick Fury, Natasha/Black Widow, and Sam Wilson/The Falcon (a new character) all getting good screen time and moments in the film. If you’re a fan of the Marvel universe, I think you’ll really enjoy this latest installment.

Now for the longer review, complete with spoilers…

So first off, the TV show Agents of SHIELD has clearly been setting up for what happened in this movie, and if you haven’t been watching it, I can only imagine that Fury showing Steve the message “SHIELD has been compromised” had to take you for an absolute loop. But on the show, we’ve been catching wind of something amiss. Now the exacts of it were definitely still surprising, to find out that SHIELD has been infiltrated by Hydra for decades reminded me of the movie Salt and was really surprising to me. Also, Agents of SHIELD has featured Agent Sitwell from time to time, so to find out in this movie that he’s with Hydra was a big deal, whereas it wouldn’t have been had I not been watching the show. So for the folks who gave up on the show or never gave it a chance, it’s gotten better, and now it’s clearly tying in with the movies. WATCH IT!

I liked that Nick Fury and Black Widow had larger roles in this movie. I was curious to see how Steve and Natasha would work as a team since they’re so different, but they worked well together. I loved how Steve actually took Fury’s advice to trust no one and was skeptical of Natasha until she proved herself. And I love that they team up with Sam Wilson, a military veteran who Steve meets turns out to be quite skilled in his own way.

I think most Marvel fans knew going into the movie that The Winter Soldier is, in fact, Steve’s old friend Bucky Barnes, who was experimented on (Steve rescues him from an operating table in the first movie, in case you have forgotten), and somehow was able to survive his nasty fall and then be turned into this villain of The Winter Soldier. I did hear one moviegoer in the theater with me audibly gasp once we finally get a good luck at Bucky’s face, and I could tell Steve certainly felt a gut punch in that moment as he realized it too. He tries to reason with his old friend, though it’s clear he does know who Steve is, but then at the very end, when he’s trying to figure it out… wow. I wonder if that’ll come back up. Marvel doesn’t seem to have arbitrary scenes in their movies though, so I’m thinking it must be important. That’ll be interesting.

Now, let’s talk about Peggy Carter. SHE’S IN THE MOVIE! (Hopefully you already knew that, if you’re down here reading the spoilery stuff.) We find out that she did marry a few years after Steve “died,” which is understandable, and we also find out that Steve has reconnected with her, and she is now of course elderly and living in some sort of assisted living or nursing home. At first it was really sweet as we watched the two of them talk like old friends, and I was so happy for some kind of closure with her and Steve, but then suddenly she got confused and was like, “Steve! You’re alive!” and oh my heart broke. Dementia. Uh it was so sad! Hasn’t poor Steve suffered enough?! And then we never got to see the two of them together again after that scene. It doesn’t detract too much from the movie, really, I just wish we could have ended on a better note with the two of them. But kudos to whoever did the makeup job on Haley Atwell because WOW, it looked so real.

Also speaking of Peggy, it’s clear Steve still cares for her, but he knows he needs to be open to meeting 21st century girls. But when Natasha asks Steve if she’s his first kiss since 1945 and he says no, I’m like, seriously?! He’s spent the whole movie acting like he has not been socializing with ladies and then suddenly he’s been kissing them? I don’t buy it. I’m just pretending that line doesn’t exist, or that he was being so sarcastic I couldn’t tell, because it didn’t feel in character. Maybe I care too much about my belief that Steve was a true, chivalrous romantic, but yeah, that line about the kissing is definitely not in my personal head canon.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed a lot about this movie and thought it was very solid. And I’m really curious to see the next Agents of SHIELD episode (which I am about 99% positive is going to be aftermath of this movie) on Tuesday, as well as see what’s in store for this ever-changing universe.

What are your thoughts on Captain America: The Winter Soldier?

Mini Movie Reviews: Frozen and The Book Thief

March 31, 2014 • 23 Comments

I’m still catching up on some movies from 2013, so recently I FINALLY saw Frozen and The Book Thief!

Frozen

I’ll tell you, I only became interested in Frozen because everyone was raving about it. The trailer for the movie really did not do it justice. My husband and I thought it was a movie that centered on a silly snowman, but that turned out to not be the case at all. It’s a story about family and love and sacrifice, and Olaf the snowman was sweet and funny, not ridiculous as the trailer made him out to be. And the big twist in the story surprised me!

I thought overall, the characters were pretty good. And I love that Disney is able to poke fun at itself and its usual formula when it comes to love at first sight and all that. Though the relationship in this story doesn’t have the chance to develop as well as Rapunzel and Flynn in Tangled, in my opinion, I still really liked what we got of it.

I will admit I was also a little concerned going into this movie about the hype over the music. I had heard “Let It Go” several times before watching the movie, and I honestly didn’t get what the fuss was about and why it was “the song” of the movie. In the context of the movie, I did enjoy it more, and I liked the other songs as well. For some reason, overall, the music felt less forced than it did in Tangled, but maybe it was because I was expecting it from this movie. I think “Let It Go” could have been a bit grander, but still, it’s a nice song. I also really like the ice song at the beginning.

It was a fun, well-done film, but I would have liked it more if it could have been just a little longer to develop the story just a little more. I rate it four stars.

The Book Thief

With The Book Thief, I was curious to see how everything would be adapted. I had heard pretty positive things so I was optimistic, but also aware that there is no way it could meet all my expectations. But overall, The Book Thief did a good job of hitting the highlights of the story and capturing the spirit of it. Though Death does not speak up much, he does narrate the film, and the movie ends with the same words as the book.

All the actors did a great job in their role: Sophie Nélisse as Liesel, Geoffrey Rush as Hans Hubermann, Emily Watson as Rosa Hubermann, Ben Schnetzer as Max, and Nico Liersch as Rudy… they were all pitch-perfect! Sophie and Nico especially, as Liesel and Rudy, respectively… well, just look at them!

They were completely adorable, and I absolutely fell in love with little Rudy all over again. While watching the movie I didn’t think of it because they were doing so well that I was just completely into everything, but in hindsight, it’s amazing that these child actors were able to display the complexity of their characters and of emotions that they needed to, and I believe they truly held their own against the adult actors. And Geoffrey Rush? Just so perfect.

I only have a couple of small complaints. Obviously, it’s not a perfect adaptation because they couldn’t fit everything in, but I so wish they could have! But mostly, that they *SPOILER* changed Rudy’s death so that he survived the bombing for a short period of time before he died in front of Liesel (after he starts to say “I love you”) was not a good change in my opinion. First off, that meant he suffered a lot, and secondly, how traumatizing for Liesel! I mean, more so than already with everything she experiences. I just wish they hadn’t done that. *END SPOILER* My husband, who has not read the book, liked the movie, so I think it was a success in appealing to fans of the book as well as others.

What are your thoughts on Frozen and The Book Thief?

Category Archives: Reviews

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share