Girl, Interrupted

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having first seen the movie, I have been interested in checking this book out for years. I was very excited to randomly come across it as one of my library's staff picks.

I didn't realize that Susanna had written this book about herself prior to reading it It definitely adds a new dimension to the story, that is an added benefit.

Overall it is well written and an enjoyable read. I enjoyed the way that Susanna was able to assess herself and the world around her, making her intelligence apparent even through the pages.

The most complicated part of reading the story was the timeline shifts between chapters. Sometimes she would mention an event (such as a death) and then a couple of chapters later that person would be talked about in a present tense.

Definitely worth the read. 4.5 stars for me.

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The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not even sure what to write in a review about this book.... Let me just say that this book IS AMAZING! It deserves, 5, no 10, no ALL the stars.

I loved this book. I loved the characters, it was beautifully written. I love the way the Book was broken up into parts for different experiences and points of view . Cassiopeia is easy to love as a badass dystopian character.

Although the ages of this book make it young adult, if you are into thriller or sci-fi, it has none of the cutesy young adult themes that may make you think twice about it. Do yourself a favor and READ THIS BOOK!

I can't wait to read more in the series, one of the best alien novels I've read EVER. Heck, one of the best novels I've read ALL year!

I had many theories and thoughts, many of which were correct, but some that weren't but it was not predictable. The 5th Waves takes you on a ride and you don't ever want to get off! 5 Stars easily!

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5th Wave:The Movie......

WTF.  Seriously.  Did whoever wrote the script even READ this book?  The movie was akin to a REALLY Long trailer and lost all essence and emotion of the story.  You destroyed this story.  What a waste.  The characters weren't badly cast, but they truncated every scene and changed intricate details, and WHY?  WHY oh Why?  Please do not just this story based on this horrible rendition that was portrayed in the movie.  This book is SO MUCH MORE!   

Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had started this book years ago and could not male it through to the end. That was long before the movies came out. I ended up revisiting this book after a "blind date with a library book" in which the book was wrapped in paper with a short blurb on the cover so I decided to give it another go.

Just the beginning reminded me why I had put it down in the first place, it just was a lot of mean people and young kids as main characters, not really my cup of tea

I forced myself to press through and by the time that Hogwarts comes around it does luckily pick up. Overall tough I must say that 3.5 is the most that I can award it. The ideas are original but not necessarily ones that I like. The audience is very obviously the middle grade reading crow 11-17ish. The chants and songs are original but also annoying, not really anything I would want to be repeated. The ideas are what pushes me through this book.

I do like the mystery woven throughout but wish there was less immature squabbling between the characters to get through to rally get to the meat of the story. Even on the "good" side there is a lot of wishes to carry out harm and even death to other barely known characters, which seems a bit extreme to me for this age.

I have repeatedly heard that this series does get better with each book, so one day in the future I will find myself int he 2nd book, because I do feel that this series ha potential if it can get more lively. Lots of great ideas here though.

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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Today I finally had the opportunity to finish watching Catching Fire as the plumbers were fixing stuff in my house....  Let me start by saying:  Wow... just wow.... phenomenal.  I laughed, I cried, I yelled, I hated when it was over, and don't want to wait for the rest of the story!  I have been boycotting reading the books until the movies are over because I don't want to ruin the movies that I love so much.  If the movie is this spectacular, I can't even imagine how amazing the books must be.

Catching Fire is the 2nd movie in the Hunger Games Trilogy.  It was released in 2013 and is based on the Suzanne Collins book of the same name (Catching Fire).  The first movie (The Hunger Games) was released in 2012.  Catching Fire is an American sci-fi, adventure, dystopian film.  The movie is taking place one year after the original Hunger Games movie ended.  Filming began in Atlanta, GA and ended with the majority done in Hawaii.


Lots of returning faces and some new one can be seen in the cast:


Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss (Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook, Winter's Bone, X-Men:First Class)
Liam Hemsworth as Gale (Hunger Games, Last Song, Empire State, Expendables 2)
Woody Harrelson as Haymitch (Hunger Games, Cheers, Zombieland, No Country For Old Men, True Detective)
Josh Hutcherson as Peeta (Hunger Games, Bridge to Terabithia, The Kids Are Alright, Epic, Journey to the Center of the Earth)
Donald Sutherland as President Snow (Hunger Games, MASH, Italian Job, Pride & Prejudice, Crossing Lines)
Elizabeth Banks as Effie (Hunger Games, Next Three Days, Pitch Perfect, Modern Family, 30 Rock, Scrubs)
Lenny Kravitz as Cinna (Hunger Games, Precious, Zoolander, The Butler)
Stanley Tucci as Caesar (Terminal, Devil Wears Prada, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Julie & Julia, ER)
Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch (Capote, Doubt, Charlie Wilson's War, The Master, Moneyball, Mission Impossible III)
Sam Claflin as Finnick (Snow White & the Huntsman, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Quiet Ones)
Jena Malone as Johanna (Hatfields & McCoys, Sucker Punch, The Ruins, Into the Wild, Pride & Prejudice)

 

Catching Fire currently ranks as the tenth highest grossing film domestically, and surpassed the sales of the first film.  For Thanksgiving weekend rankings: it was the first 2-D film since 2008 (Dark Knight) to top the box office.  It was the first film since 1983 (The Exocist) to have a female lead that topped the box office.  The film grossed over $864 million worldwide.

In order to get rid of the shaky feeling of the arena scenes from the first movie, Catching Fire's arena scenes were all shot using IMAX cameras.  Reviews of the film have been positive overall.  The final installment of the trilogy: Mockingjay will be released in 2 Parts, with Part 1 being released this November and the 2nd part coming out in November 2015.

Overall I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.  It was nothing short of spectacular.  The characters are done excellently.  The story is enough messed up and relatable.  The Costuming is amazing.  The visual effects are stunning.  It is just an all around wonderful movie.  Don't miss it.  Re-watch value is high! 





You can view the official website here: Catching Fire

The Thorn Birds

I had been reading this book for quite awhile during my breaks at work when I finally finished it.  I must say that I felt like something was missing in my life when the journey did come to a close. 

The Thorn Birds is written by Colleen McCullough and encompasses three generations of the Cleary family.  The story is predominantly placed in Australia during the depression.  Speaking of
depressing, this book is seriously depressing and kind of a downer for about the first half and almost 3/4 of the story.  Not to say that it isn't a good read, but it left me wondering if any one in the family was ever going to catch a break.  The historical fiction was brilliant and the characters were really brought to life. 

I really connected with Meggie as a little girl and as she got older.  She spent her life striving for happiness in her own surrounding and life really knocked her down, but she never gave up hope and never let go of the love she felt in her heart. 

There is so much heart break from every realm that a heart can be touched within this story.  I found myself crying at work on several occasions.  I just wanted so much for so many of the characters to find happiness.  Yet they were not fully miserable.  They accepted their lives as they were and went on with life.  None of these characters looked at life with defeat and gave up.  They were all hard working and persevered. 

As a reader you follow Meggie from the time that she is a little girl.  You get to see her grow up and then have her own family and watch her grow old.  The main love of the story is between Meggie Cleary and a forbidden man to her Ralph di Bricassart.  Ralph is a priest in the Catholic church and therefor has sworn off women in his love of God and the church.

Justine is Meggie's daughter and I was not a big fan of her until the last part of the book and then I must say that I absolutely loved her.  Her spunk and zest for life in comparison to the rest of the Cleary clan was a nice relief and a splash of color in their gray world. 

The closing of the book spoke volumes.  There were so many (dare I say) epic lessons within this classic story.  This book was not written lightly and was not meant to merely entertain, it was meant to SPEAK to the reader.  That it did for me.  I still feel like something it missing after saying goodbye to these characters.  I give it a 5 out of 5 stars and high recommend this historical fiction book. 

How To Train Your Dragon 2

Yesterday my sister and I took Liam to the movies to see How To Train Your Dragon 2.  I must say that my sister and I enjoyed the movie immensely more than my toddler did.  It was a great movie for older kids and adults and any younger kids who love dragons.  As for my son, there were moments that he enjoyed it but he got bored with it and was ready to leave.  It took a lot of convincing and bribing to get him to stay for the entire movie, and it was definitely a struggle, with that being said.  I definitely loved the movie for me.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is (surprise) the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon.  It is a Dreamworks Animation film.  It is the second in a trilogy with the original coming out in 2010, and the third expected to be released in June of 2016.  It is based off of a book series with the same name by Cressida Cowell. The main character is a boy named Hiccup and his nightfury dragon named Toothless who is from a Viking culture.  This film is 5 years from the original film with the characters now as young adults.  It is quite a site to see Vikings as dragon riders.  At the end of the original film Hiccup helped his Viking village of Berk make peace with dragons.


The voice casts includes the talent of:
 Jay Baruchel as Hiccup (Are You Afraid of the Dark, She's Out of My League, Robocop, Tropic Thunder)
Cate Blanchett as Valka (Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Lord of the Rings, Blue Jasmine, Robin Hood)
Gerard Butler as Stoic (300, Olympus Has Fallen, PS I Love You, Phantom of the Opera, Gamer, Law Abiding Citizen)
Craig Ferguson as Gobber (Brave, Winne the Pooh, Drew Carey Show, The Late Late Show)
America Ferrera As Astrid (Ugly Betty, End of Watch, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Our Family Wedding)
Jonah Hill as Snotlout (21 Jump Street, Superbad, Wolf of Wallstreet, This is the End, Get Him to the Greek)
Christoper Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs (Superbad, Kickass, Role Models, Neighbors, This is the End, Year One)
Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut (Bridesmaids, Despicable Me 2, SNL, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Friends with Kids, Paul)
Djimon Hounsou as Drago (Gladiator, Blood Diamond, Amistad, Constantine, The Island, Push, Eragon, Beauty Shop)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the first Dreamworks Animation film to use scalable multi-core processing, which was developed with HP.  This enabled artists to work in real-time, instead of having to wait 8 hours to see the results of their work.  This was also the first film to use new animation and lighting software throughout the entire production (Premo & Torch).  This allowed subtle improvement to movement and facial features such as the the appearance of skin moving over muscle or fat jiggling.  By the end of production over 500 people had worked on the film at the Dreamworks headquarters in Glendale as well as branch offices in Redwood city and Dreamworks India in Bangalore.


The sequel was written, directed and executive produced by the same man as the original: Dean Deblois (Lilo & Stitch).  he agreed to come back on the condition that it would be a trilogy.  The entire original voice cast returned for the sequel. This film was focused on Norway as the primary location.  Overall the film has received positive critical acclaim, but is thus far unimpressed with it's overall monetary gross of $75 million to date with it currently behind 22 Jump Street in North American sales. 

I thought that this was a really great movie with a high re-watachability rate.  It made me laugh, it made me cry, I did wish for someone else to have voiced Hiccup, but otherwise the picture quality was great and the storyline was great as well with many learning points.  The characters were lovable and seeing the vast amount of different dragons that appear as butterflies was amazing.  I also enjoyed some of the dog aspects adopted in the mannerisms of the dragons.  I love the idea of this story and I think the delivery was good.  I give the film 4.5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it, especially if your child is about 6 or 7 or older. 

Visit the official website: www.howtotrainyourdragon.com

Beautiful Creatures

I literally just finished watching this movie for the first time.  I wasn't really sure what to think about it.  I had heard so many things about it.  That it was great.  That the book was so much better, etc.  Naturally the book is always better in my opinion, because there are some imaginative thoughts that can never make be imagined the same way as my mind sees them, so I will always have a disappointment factor.  I always try to see the movie first so that I can enjoy them both separately.  With that being said, I have NOT read this book yet (but I definitely will now), and I have to say that I was really intrigued by the story.  Overall I felt that the filming was interesting in that there were very few close ups of people faces, I felt like the characters were all being filmed from far away for the majority of the movie.  They really included the setting as a big part of the filming.  I was left wanting to know more about the background (as is normal in most book to movie stories).  Watching this movie knowing it was based on a book made me feel like the movie was just scratching the surface of an expansive new world.  I loved the glimpse that I got into this world, but I felt like this movie that was beautiful creatures did not have enough time to really tell it's story.  It seemed like with so much to tell that it should have been a 2 part movie to really let the ancillary characters come to life.  Don't shy away from it though, it is still totally worth seeing.

Beautiful creatures was released in February of 2013.  It is considered a romantic fantasy film and is based on the novel Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl.  It starts off with a boy named Ethan Wate living in small town Gatlin, South Caroline, he reigns as the narrator.  It also features a new girl to school named Lena Duchannes who is automatically shunned in a religious zealot town as a devil worshiper.  We learn that lena is something called a caster (akin to a witch), that considers themselves a separate race from mortals (normal boring powerless humans).  Of course it is Romeo & Juliet-esque in that they fall in love.  I won't say too much more for fear of spoilers, but it is definitely a romance, but not in the sort of chick flick manner.  More of an epic story fantasy romance. It is also a challenge between light and dark forces in nature, life, and even a religious aspect.

Alcon entertainment purchased the rights to the movie back in 2009.  Casting began in late 2011.  Jack O'Connell was originally slated to play the Ethan but dropped out of the film due to a scheduling conflict. The filming took place in New Orleans.  Filming included practical special effects as well as computer based ones, in the dining room scene, the table, chairs and chandeliers all really moved.

The cast included:
Alden Ehrenreich as Ethan ( Blue Jasmine, Stoker, Tetro)
Alice Englert as Lena (In Fear, Ginger & Rosa)
Jeremy Irons as Macon (Lion King, Man in the Iron Mask, Borgias, Eragon, Kingdom of Heaven)
Viola Davis as Amma (The Help, Ender's Game, State of Play, Law & Order: SVU, Antwone Fisher)
Emmy Rossum as Ridley (Devil Wears Prada, Phantom of the Opera, Shameless, Poseidon, Nola)
Emma Thompson as Mrs. Lincoln/Sarafine (Nanny McPhee, Saving Mr. Banks, Harry Potter)

Beautiful Creatures was considered a box office flop in America bringing in only $19 million domestically against a $60 million budget.  Internationally it reached $40 million in sales for a total of just over $60 million, barely recouping it's budget.  The film received mixed reviews averaging at about a 50%.  Most critics considered it a watered down Twilight with roles in reverse. 

Overall I give this movie a 3.5 star out of 5 total stars.  I think the storyline and potential was there, but the time limit was not enough to show the full story.  I was left wanting to know a lot of details that I felt were left out.  Jeremy Irons did a great job of playing Macon in a development role and I felt that Ethan was played well as a developing character as well.  However, I feel like outside of Emmy and Viola, the women fell short.  They didn't seem to embrace their roles and really bring the characters out.  I didn't really like Ethan's "ignorant mortal" character until about 40-50% into the movie.  There were some great sweeping shots, but overall the story was lacking.  The ending definitely left you off at a possible major cliffhanger.  I also felt like the dark side was emphasized a lot, while the light side was only the alternative you want, but never really explained much.  Even so, it was still worth a watch.

Here is the official website for the movie: Beautiful Creatures