Les Miserables

This movie was phenomenal. I'll never get over how heart-wrenching it was and how much I loved it. I don't think I've ever experienced so much catharsis in my life. The casting was perfect, and I loved how they filmed everyone close up as they sang. It captured so much emotion and made the story so much more personal than a play. If you didn't see it in theaters you missed out.

Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and Aaron Tviet did especially amazing jobs. 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

It would be dramatic to say that when the lights went down and this movie started to play I felt my fate hang in the balance and all my hopes and dreams were hinged on Peter Jackson. But it would also be true.

Luckily my love and faith were not wasted on Peter, Fran, and Phillipa. 

This movie was indeed epic. Lighter than the LOTR trilogy, but appropriately so- The Hobbit was a children's book and much more lighthearted. Portraying it differently would misrepresent the book. In case you were wondering, I still think it's hilarious that the editors ask JRR Tolkien for a sequel to The Hobbit and they got The Lord of the Rings. I'd like to meet that man. But I digress. The casting was excellent, the music was perfect, the plot of The Hobbit and other works of Tolkien (appendices mostly I think) were meshed together very well, and have I mentioned Martin Freeman? Love him. My only disappointment at the end of this movie was that you DIDN'T HEAR BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH! He is voicing Smaug, and I'm very excited. I guess I probably heard him growl, but I was hoping for a monologue. 

Considering the fact that The Lord of the Rings trilogy was finished nine years ago and Ian Mckellan was old then, it would make sense that he is indeed aged now. But I was still surprised at how old he looked in certain scenes. Not always, but sometimes he just looked so much older. But he was still a perfect Gandalf. 

The music was excellent. I am so glad they got Howard Shore to do the music for this one too. The dwarves' theme is my FAVORITE. I think I like it better than I like Rohan's theme, which is really saying something. I love how he took it from the song they all sing when they are in Hobbiton, because that song gives me the chills and you remember what they are fighting for every time you hear that melody. 

The casting for this movie was phenomenal and I loved the dwarves. I loved how original they are were (my nightmares consisted of thirteen Gimlis) and how they were able to highlight certain personalities. I hope that in the next movies more of them are highlighted until all of them are developed. We'll see. But they were all adorable. I consider dwarf culture to be completely opposite of me personally, but even I appreciated the slight mockery of the elves. Rivendell was really shown through the dwarves' perspective.

 

So adorable. I really can't get over how much I love this group. And even though Thorin is a jerk I really liked him. And that wasn't just because he was a total babe.

Speaking of babes. This is Fili and Kili. My BFF Brittany and I have it all planned out- she's going to marry Kili and I'm going to marry Fili because they are brothers, so then we'd be sisters! She called Kili first. I would have chosen him because I think he is the most attractive dwarf. But I am very happy with my future man and I think I'd chose him first now. I love them both. I love how they are always the first ones to come save Bilbo. 

Also, Kili makes a really attractive dwarf, but Kili (aka Dean O'Gormun) is much more attractive as a real person. Also he is from New Zealand. Also I say also a lot. 

This, my friends, is Martin Freeman. I love Martin Freeman. He was Peter Jackson's most brilliant casting choice.

And he looks like a hedgehog.

Even if I wasn't biased I would think Martin Freeman was the perfect choice for Bilbo Baggins. Why? His face and mannerisms. He is a PERFECT disgruntled, proper hobbit who has found himself slightly lost but is clever enough to rise to every challenge thrown at him. Look at that face. Perfection. 

I love his suspenders. I didn't think it was possible for me to love him anymore, but hobbit Martin Freeman is just the best of the best. 

The mannerisms Martin Freeman portrays are that of someone extremely proper who finds himself in the wild facing unknown dangers, but still strives to be as polite as if he was entertaining company in his hobbit hole. You can see it in his gait and how he holds his hands. I LOVE it.

This picture of Gollum really freaks me out. However, the riddles in the dark scene of this movie was my favorite. It was hilarious and witty and Smeagol is just adorable, not to mention the fun that was had playing Smeagol and Gollum off of each other. Precious. Just precious.

"Yes. Yes. Just us."

Today I learned that technically Thorin is two hundred years old and dwarves generally live to be about two hundred and fifty. Which explains the fact that Thorin looks way older in the promo stuff than he does in real life and in the movie. That just resolved a question I had- I am not in any way complaining. He was an excellent casting choice. Really I think Peter Jackson discovered BBC through Netflix.

And this didn't happen yet. But I'm excited for it.

Also, I didn't see this movie in 3D or in the 48 frames per second, but I would be really interested to, especially the 48 frames. Maybe someday when I have a super awesome movie theater that Fili buys me for our fifth anniversary.

Jack & Sally

This is my tribute to Jack and Sally. The Blink-182 song has been stuck in my head like crazy lately and I loved this ride at Disneyland (The [refurbished] Haunted Mansion- I went on it for the first time this week and thought it was a hundred times better themed after this movie). So, for my tributary offer, I edited this picture on Picnik. I love it a lot. All in all, I am craving this movie.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

This is an excellent title for this movie. I would have never watched it and I never thought I would like it. However my sister Cora convinced me that I should (she owns it and watches it twice a week) so we did, and ironically I liked it a lot.

The movie is filmed documentary style. There are interviews with various members of his staff, his mom, his friends, his agent, Usher, Snoop Dog (gross), and his fans. The fan interviews are HILARIOUS. Here is a quote from one preteen girl: "I love Justin Bieber. We will be husband and wife." The movie also features plenty of backstage and concert footage.

He has an interesting and pretty amazing story; I recommend this movie. I am not a fanatic and would not watch it twice a week, but I did enjoy it and like Justin Bieber a lot more now because of it.

Water for Elephants

Book:

• Awkward/ inappropriate scenes that were long and not at all vital to the plot.
• Engaging and interesting concept.
• The plot had an appropriate amount of twists and unpredictability.
• The main characters weren't extremely lovable, only the elephant was.
• Interesting narration that kept the pages turning.
• Bad language.

Movie:

• Inappropriate scenes cut out or only hinted at.
• Kept true to the plot with only a few necessary changes. It kept the twists and unpredictability.
• The characters were engaging and personable and extremely well cast- even down to the relatively minor characters. Even the age gaps were exactly as I had imagined.
• A lame last line/ ending which stayed true to the book but lacked ingenuity and good acting. It could have been a lot better.

This is one of the few times I would not recommend the book and suggest you rent the movie- it kept the good and largely eliminated the bad.

Transformers 3

Things I liked about the movie:

• Transformers and summer brings back good memories.
• There was a preview for Harry Potter.
• The best of company.
• No Megan Fox! I liked the new girl lots better- she was less trashy and put pants on for the second half of the movie. Imagine that.
• Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.
• Good action/ Autobot and Decepticon fight scenes. I have always been partial to them, and the ones in this movie were especially good.
• There was a new Decepticon. It was like a worm and did some pretty awesome things.
• Some pretty smooth transforming.
• Senor Chang. That humor wasn't exactly cohesive with the rest of the plot, but I did enjoy the majority of it.

Things I disliked about this movie:

• Shia LeBeouf. My opinon of him has always been "meh."
• It was loooooong in all the wrong places. I got bored. I could have gotten the exact same story out of a hour of movie.
• Far-fetched/ same-old predictable plot.
• Badly used slow motion- it made it more humorous, not more dramatic.
• Crude humor/ language.
• Shia whined about not having a job for the first half of the movie. There was way too much of that- long in all the wrong places. Get to the point.
• Random/ poor humor.
• Wardrobe. The girl wore a white shirt the whole time that never got dirty. Also she ran at full speed in heels for the entire movie and there was no broken heel/ ankle. But maybe she has mad skills. It's possible.

All in all it was an alright movie. It wasn't great or one I would buy, but I wouldn't call you a moron for getting it from Redbox.