Tag: movies | Amy C. Shaw

2016 Faves + End of Year Book Survey

January 7, 2017 • 4 Comments

2016 highlights…

Books: See my top 10 books of 2016 here, and see below for my answers to Jamie’s End of Year Book Survey

Book Signings: SE YA Fest (feat. several authors!), Rick Yancey, and Leigh Bardugo

Movies: Doctor Strange and Rogue One (see more about that here)

TV Shows: Timeless and Designated Survivor (LOVE the characters on Timeless and I’m just awed by Designated Survivor every week.)

Music: My two favorite bands, Switchfoot and Needtobreathe, both released new albums this year and both came to Nashville. I loved it all but I spent the last couple months of 2016 specifically really into Needtobreathe’s song “Clear.”

Life Highlights: Built and moved into our new home. Celebrated 7 years of marriage/12 years together with my husband. Traveled to Hilton Head, SC and Asheville, NC. Turned 30.

The Biltmore library decked out for Christmas was STUNNING.

Thanks to Jamie at Perpetual Page Turner for sharing this with us every year. I did skip some questions but wanted to go ahead and answer most of them…

Number Of Books You Read: 45 total, 43 new-to-me

Number of Re-Reads: 2

Genre You Read The Most From: YA

Best Book You Read In 2016? Anne of The Island by L.M. Montgomery

Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)? I reread The Start of Me and You after reading it last year and I loved it just as much and still push it on everyone, and had at least one or two read it based on my rec!

Best series you started in 2016? The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Best Sequel of 2016? The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (I will not accept that this is the end!) Best Series Ender of 2016? Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Favorite new author you discovered in 2016? Ruta Septys

Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? Looking for Lovely by Annie F. Downs

Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Favorite cover of a book you read in 2016? When We Collided by Emery Lord (Salt to the Sea is a very close second)

Most memorable character of 2016? Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe (don’t make me choose between them)

Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2016? Salt to the Sea

Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read? Anne of Green Gables!

Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2016? Shortest: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them//Longest: Illuminae

Book That Shocked You The Most: The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Oh my goodness.

OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!) Gilbert and Anne!!!!

Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year: Joel and Melody in The Rithmatist//Edward and Jane in My Lady Jane

Favorite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read Previously: The Fixer and The Long Game, both by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Best Book You Read In 2016 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure: The Anne of Green Gables books

Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2016? I don’t really do fictional crushes because I am a happily married woman but let’s be real: it’s Gilbert Blythe.

Best 2016 debut you read? I only read one so… Love, Lies, and Spies it is!

Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read? My Lady Jane!!!

Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2016? Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray, both by Ruta Septys

Hidden Gem Of The Year? Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

Book That Crushed Your Soul? Between Shades of Gray, Salt to the Sea, Nora & Kettle

Most Unique Book You Read In 2016? The Archived and The Unbound, both by Victoria Schwab

2017 Debut You Are Most Anticipating? Caraval by Stephanie Garber!

One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2017? I would like to build my blogging base back up a little bit, but much more importantly is what I want to accomplish as a writer, in that I want to find an agent in 2017. If I can’t do that, I hope to have my current WIP in the best shape I know how to and complete a new draft for a new story. As far as reading goes, I just want to read more books that I truly enjoy.

Were any of your favorites from 2016 the same as mine?

My Ranking of 2016 Movies

December 30, 2016 • 4 Comments

In a surprising twist, I not only managed to see all ten of my most anticipated movies of 2016, but they were also the only ten 2016 releases I’ve seen thus far. So this isn’t actually a top 10 so much as a ranking of the ten movies I did see.

10. X-Men: Apocalypse

Not that great, but there was one really funny line that my husband and I will be quoting forever now: “The most American thing about this place is that it used to be British.”

#8 on my most anticipated list

9. Independence Day: Resurgance

This movie was entertaining enough, but definitely not great.

#9 on my most anticipated list

8. The 5th Wave

This movie met my not super high expectations. It was enjoyable for a watch and Leiv Shrieber was perfect in his role.

#10 on my most anticipated list

7. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

I was just slightly disappointed in this one. I did enjoy the characters, but the story was just sort of so-so, split between a dark storyline and a lighter storyline, that inevitably intertwined in an alright way. I think I’ll like it more once the story unfolds more and I can see the bigger picture.

#3 on my most anticipated list

6. Jason Bourne

While not the strongest Bourne offering, I did enjoy this one.

#7 on my most anticipated list

5. Star Trek Beyond

A fun addition to the rebooted Trek franchise.

#6 on my most anticipated list

4. Captain America: Civil War

An addition to the Marvel universe that managed to introduce us to new characters, make us excited for their movies, and further delve into the psyches of both Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. A solid film, but had I do have some quibbles with it.

#1 on my most anticipated list

3. Finding Dory

A sweet sequel I never really needed, but am happy to have.

#2 on my most anticipated list

I thought I had settled in my mind my 1 and 2 choices, but I found myself flip-flopping on it. So let’s consider this last two a tie for number one…

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

I thought this movie was solid. It wasn’t perfect, but the last act, especially the climax, was fantastic. I loved Jyn and Cassian even though they weren’t as fleshed-out as I would have liked, and I felt I was able to fill in some of the blanks for myself. The message of this one was profound for me and has really stuck with me a couple weeks after viewing it; I feel Ella summed it up beautifully on her blog. I am actually thinking about checking out the novelization of this movie so I can get even more details.

#5 on my most anticipated list

Doctor Strange

Yes, this movie is pretty formulaic. But I came to care for Stephen Strange and his character arc, and it also had themes I found profound.I especially loved how the Ancient One tells Stephen both that not everything’s about him that and that he’s more than just some molecules floating around in the universe. It has its flaws, but I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

#4 on my most anticipated list

What were your favorite movies of 2016?

Movie Thoughts: Star Trek Beyond & Jason Bourne

August 17, 2016 • 10 Comments

Hey, everyone! I’m not dead and I promised Charlene I would try to get around to reviewing Star Trek Beyond, so here I am coming back from my unintentional absence to talk about two summer flicks.

I went into these two different movies with different expectations, and they may surprise you. Despite my love for Star Trek, my enthusiasm for Star Trek Beyond waned before I saw the movie because, of all things, my rewatch of the two previous reboot films. I really enjoyed Star Trek 2009 and Into Darkness the first few times, but the more I watch the show and the more I watch these movies the less I care for the latter. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy them enough to rewatch them, but I definitely have problems with their respective stories.

On the other hand, I was really excited about Jason Bourne. It just looked spot-on and I could not wait.

Ultimately, when I went into Star Trek Beyond, I went in a little warily but also hopeful that I could enjoy it based on everyone else’s reviews that it was fun. And fun is a very good word to describe it. Not that there aren’t any serious moments or stakes, but it felt like TOS to me, in the best way. (Well, not the literal best, like The Trouble With Tribbles, but another solid and fun episode like A Piece of the Action or something.) Chris Pine actually for real felt like Kirk to me, but not in some rip-off-of-Shatner way at all. I believed that this alternate Kirk was actually a viable Kirk. Really, the entire cast of the Enterprise crew were great, and I loved how they spent part of the movie separated but paired off, giving us a taste of some different interactions we don’t normally get.

Jaylah was a great new character too, though I’m still annoyed that there are like zero aliens from the prime Star Trek universe other than Vulcans and a couple others, and that almost every alien is something brand new. I appreciate the creativity of it, but it just feels disproportionate. And I feel that leads me to my main quibble with this movie, the villain.

Before we see Krall or even know he’s the big bad, he seems pretty vicious the way he attacks the Enterprise. When we actually meet him and see him on the planet he doesn’t seem quite as bad until we see how he attacks one of the crew members. Then we get a big reveal about him (that I guessed beforehand) that is pretty significant but we get so little development that it ultimately falls flat, and we end up with someone who was just a hair better than Nero in 2009.

Overall, I enjoyed all the great character interactions that felt so genuine, the fun lines, and I really appreciated the tribute to Leonard Nimoy (and there’s just a tiny bit there for Anton as well). I was absolutely against more of the reboot films before seeing this film, but now I’m more open to it if they stay more true to the feel of this film.

The new Jason Bourne feels pretty much just like the first three Bourne films, just more modern. If you enjoyed those, you’re probably going to enjoy this one as well. I had some problems with it… mass amounts of unnecessary destruction, the death of a certain character that felt meaningless, and perhaps a slightly shallow/flimsy storyline… but overall I was entertained. I think my favorite part of the movie was Alicia Vikander’s character, Heather Lee. I love how there was more to her than met the eye, and if the story continues, I definitely want more of her. There was also a little bit of a subplot that I felt was sadly too underdeveloped that I want more of, involving a social media company called Deep Dream and its mogul.

And since I’m like the only person who prefers the Aaron Cross/Jeremy Renner movie to the Matt Damon ones, I would be super intrigued if we could see these two intersect in the future as well. But please don’t fridge Rachel Weiss.

Have you seen either of these? What are your thoughts?

One Paragraph Reviews: The Books & Movies Edition

July 11, 2016 • 6 Comments

The Shadow Queen by CJ Redwine

While I saw there were mixed reviews of The Shadow Queen, I really wanted to check it out, and was thankfully able to do so through my library rather than having to commit to buying it. Now that I’ve read it I am left to wonder why any YA fantasy fan wouldn’t enjoy it! I really enjoyed the characters, the pacing was mostly good, and while it was a retelling there were some pretty interesting and unique concepts. It’s not my new favorite ever, but I did really like it and look forward to the next book in this series!

The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Oh Jennifer Lynn Barnes, why do you torture me so?! So I loved this book just as much as its predecessor The Long Game, and it was filled with just as many twists and turns that really floored me. And though I did like Tess, Asher, and Henry in the first book, I grew even more fond of them in this book. And then… ugh, I won’t go there! Major spoiler! Let’s just say I simply need another book for more resolution, yet I don’t see one listed on Goodreads?! I NEED MORE.

Finding Dory

I love the way Honest Trailers said it best when referring to this movie: the sequel you hope will be more like Toy Story 3 and less like Cars 2. Finding Dory was cute, fun, and yes, emotional. It didn’t have the same magic for me as Finding Nemo, but it was still a good, solid story about Dory where we learn a lot about her and meet a few more fun characters. I will say that there were moments of this movie that felt a little outrageous for Pixar fare and almost more in Dreamworks’ territory (which is not a dis on Dreamworks, they just have a different philosophy for their animated movies), but again, these were minor quibbles I can forgive for the overall enjoyment of the movie.

Independence Day: Resurgence

I didn’t watch Independence Day in 1996, but at the point where enough years had passed where it seemed more cheesy in our modern age of movies. I have seen it again a few more times since then, and in that time, and especially in this last time I saw it in preparation for the sequel, I have grown fonder of it. In Resurgence, we see Earth has progressed in the 20 years since the aliens attacked, and we get to see many of the same characters and/or their children. There were a few different storylines that were eventually intertwined, much like its predecessor, and several new characters introduced, but I feel this was all well-developed. I especially enjoyed the President’s daughter and her fiance’s good friend Charlie (her fiance was Liam Hemsworth so he was… OK, actually, considering my natural prejudice towards Liam), and the other young, new characters. Overall, it’s not going to win Oscars and I did have a few issues with it, but it was a fun summer flick, and ultimately that was all I wanted from it.

If you’ve read either of these books or seen either of these movies, let me know what you thought of them! What’s been your favorite summer movie so far?

Movie Review: The Martian

April 4, 2016 • 4 Comments

Despite my bookish nature, I decided to watch the movie The Martian without having read the book. Thus, this review will be about the movie as a movie, not as an adaptation of the book.

After a mission goes south and it’s believed he’s been impaled to death, Mark Watney is left behind by his crew – on Mars. Once the reality of the situation sinks in for Mark, he puts his mind to work. How can he contact Earth? How long would it take for a rescue mission to reach him? How can he make his food supply last that long?

I really liked Mark’s character. He’s extremely competent, but he does have to try things by trial and error at times. He’s also very funny, which helps him get through and is entertaining for the movie as well, especially since there’s also a lot of science and math babble.

In addition to Mark being stranded on the planet, we get to see some of his mission crew, making the long journey back home, as well as that of several NASA employees on Earth. I really liked seeing all these different facets of the situation. When NASA finds out Mark’s alive, we see them struggle with the PR situation, if and when to tell the rest of his crew, how they are going to attempt a rescue, etc.

I really enjoyed every aspect of the movie, from the writing to the acting to the directing. Since I didn’t know the story and how everything would play out, I was intrigued the whole time and on the edge of my seat towards the end. The only complaint I have is small, and that is I wish I could have gotten to know some of the other astronauts a little better, but I know that wouldn’t have been feasible in the movie’s time length, and it didn’t need to be any longer.

The Martian isn’t a new favorite, but it was definitely very enjoyable. If funny, realistic sci-fi appeals to you, I’d definitely recommend The Martian.

Have you seen The Martian? What are your thoughts? Have you read the book?

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