Your Highness, Paul, Soul Surfer

Another weekend past, another movie review in store for those of you that read these writings.  This weekend the movies we gathered from the RedBox were Your Highness, Paul, and Soul Surfer.  Again, I'll jump right into the reviews rather than spending time on a big build up.

Sucker Punch, Scott Pilgrim, Beastly, Star Trek, Skyline

It's that time again, time for my report on the movies we watched this past weekend.  It must seem like we really don't do much, but that isn't the case really.  We just tend to watch a movie or two on weekend nights and this week was no different with another five movies to review.  I won't waste a lot of time getting into them though, so here we go.

Insidious & Take Me Home

This past weekend another pair of movies were on the agenda, and finally after having a number of movies that I liked I hit a couple that were just "meh".  Those two movies this past weekend were "Insidious" and "Take Me Home Tonight".  I won't spend a lot of time on either one (not that I spend a lot of time on any movie it seems), as I have a lot of other stuff to get done and I have a number of other posts that I have in my head to spend time on as well even if they may get done one per day.

Vampires Don't Glitter

A while ago I made a deal with my wife in which I agreed to read the Twilight series if she would read the first book of my Wheel of Time series, "The Eye of the World".  While she hasn't started yet because she wants to wait until the last book comes out in case she enjoys it and wants to finish the series, I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and start the Twilight series.

While I have seen the movies I worried about the book as I've heard it is a tween romance type novel, and honestly that doesn't appeal to me at all.  However I do enjoy reading and like being entertained, so I dove right into the book and honestly it was pretty easy reading and I flew through the first book.  I grabbed the second one this morning, but before I get going on it I'll touch on the first book here first.

A Bunch of Movies

This past weekend we watched a number of movies once again as we relaxed around the house.  I figured five was a bit much for the title of the blog so didn't put them all in there, but those five movies were "No Strings Attached", "Red Riding Hood", "Source Code", "Lincoln Lawyer", and "Arthur".  Yes, we do more than just watch movies but we do enjoy a good movie and it is a good way to relax at night, especially now where we don't have many shows that we're watching as seasons have ended and we haven't really found that replacement for "Lost" on Netflix.  I'll take on the reviews in the order that they were watched once again.

Tangled, Rango, Witch, Hall Pass and Rio

I have had a chance recently to see a number of new movies.  Most were watched this previous week, and one was watched just last night.  I didn't get around to reviewing them prior to now but before too much time passes or too many movies pile up I want to get a little something about each of them posted.  Thus, here we go in the order they were watched.

Transformers from the Moon

Recently the wife and I took the kids to see "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (that really is the title I guess, not "Dark Side...").  I used to have some Transformers when I was growing up and watched the cartoon as well.  I really enjoyed the first one, the second one was ok, so I was unsure about this one coming into it.  Just as with the second one though I found it to be ok, and for many of the same reasons.

Killers - the movie

This one is going to be short, I'm sure, but a couple of nights ago we watched the movie "Killers" via Netflix instant play (you really have to love technology today).  The story is about a couple who meet, and the guy who previously was a hit man type gets out after falling in love, then later he becomes the target.  A pretty done over storyline with little originality, though this one was a comedy rather than a thriller.  It wasn't great, wasn't horrible, but rather was an ok movie that was worth spending the evening watching.

Go With It, The Hangover II

This past weekend I got to spend some great quality time with my wife.  We were able to take in a couple of concerts at Nebraska Land Days, seeing a few country artists including Brad Paisley, then seeing My Darkest Days and Hinder the next night.  Both were great shows and worth seeing.  Before we came home we went to see Hangover II in the theater, and then watched Just Go With It when we got home.

Number 4 Bear Fockers

Another weekend has passed and we again watched a movie a day.  This weekend it was "Yogi Bear" followed up with "Little Fockers" the next night and then "I Am Number Four" on Sunday.  None of them were mind-blowingly good, however all were at least decent as well.

Pirates - Stranger Tides

Friday night my soon to be wife and I went out for dinner and a movie.  That movie just happened to be the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.  I truly enjoyed the first three but coming into this one with two thirds of the main cast not coming back I wondered how this movie would turn out.  As it turned out, the show could go on and do so quite well.

Tron, Hereafter, 127 Hours

Yet another weekend has passed and we got the chance to watch a few more movies.  This week I got to check out the new Tron, then watched "Hereafter" which I knew little about going into it, and we also got to see why all the awards were talking about "127" Hours and James Franco (or as you'll come to read, we didn't get to see why in my opinion).  Without further ado, here are my brief thoughts on those movies.

Deadliest Catch

A few days ago another TV show that I have come to not only watch regularly but look forward to returned, that being "Deadliest Catch".  The show is a documentary on the king crab fishing in the Bering Sea and films four main boats as well as others at times and the Coast Guard as well.  It does this using film crews on the boats as well as a "chase boat" that will go from boat to boat for shots as well.  The show does an incredible job showing just why this profession is considered the "deadliest on earth" with stunning video and great work in bringing the captains and crews and the life they live to the viewers.

Plenty of Movie Time

I swear that we did more than just sit around and watch movies this past weekend even if it doesn't appear that way.  In fact we spent almost an entire day down the road doing shopping and stuff.  However we did fit in four movies again this weekend (Due Date, Sex and the City 2, Love and Other Drugs, and Case 39), and while I won't go into great detail on any of them, I will comment a bit on them all.

Destination Truth

The new season of Destination Truth started on SyFy not that long ago (just about 2 weeks ago in fact) and I've begun watching the first season on Netflix as well because I didn't know what I was missing until I caught a later season.  I have to say that of all the "truth finding" shows that are out there this one is my favorite by far.  Unlike many other shows (such as Ghost Hunters which is 2nd on my list and Ghost Adventures), this show began not hunting paranormal but hunting other legends such as Bigfoot.  It wasn't many episodes in before they did their first paranormal investigation but they still hunt more "legends" than ghosts.

Face Off - SyFy

Two nights ago the season finale of the SyFy series "Face Off" aired.  I missed the first episode of this series despite being very interested in seeing it from the first preview I saw.  The premise behind this reality competition show was one that hasn't been done before (to my knowledge) and actually looked interesting.  In this series "aspiring make-up artists" would go into each week with a challenge that would see them putting their skills as movie special effect make-up artists to the test, and each week they were judged by some pretty well known Hollywood names from the effects world and one person would be sent home until in the end only one remained and of course that person would get the awards.

Plenty of Movies During a Busy Weekend

Still got tons of stuff to do before the big date (and the second slightly smaller date on which we'll hold the reception), but did get quite a bit accomplished this past week and got the tux figured out Saturday.  As I said, plenty to do still but a trip to Denver soon should help wrap up a bit more.  As such, this weekend we did get to watch a few more movies which I'll take a moment to comment on here.  Actually we ended up watching four movies (and again I love RedBox and Netflix instant play) which did cut into our time for sleep a bit but that's ok I suppose.

How are a Raven and a Writing Desk Alike?

Recently we again watched Alice in Wonderland and again I really enjoyed it.  We first watched it at the theater some months ago in 3-D, a format that I really enjoy seeing movies in, and liked it then as well.

Everyone knows Alice and the story pretty much.  The movie is fun and enjoyable throughout and the characters are a joy to watch. I especially liked the performance of Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Mia Wasikowska as Alice but there weren't any performances that I disliked.  Visually I loved the movie.  The effects, the colors, the scenes created ... it was a huge success from the beginning to the end.  It did cross my mind though during the growing and shrinking why clothing growth and shrinking wasn't across the board, either all clothes grow or shrink or all don't ... but that's just one of those random thoughts that really don't have an effect on the movie that tend to pop up in my head from time to time.  (...and really, why would certain clothes grow and shrink and others wouldn't???)

Date Night/Inception

First off let me state that I will have spoilers scattered in my reviews from now on, much like I already have, because I have found that doing these blog posts without spoilers isn't as easy or enjoyable when I'm watching what I say.  Thus, spoilers can be found at any time ... just a warning.

Now on to the reviews.  This past weekend we got in a couple of movies amongst the housework and wedding planning, those movies being "Date Night" and "Inception".  For the first time in a while both movies that I got from the beloved Redbox I really enjoyed.

Eat, Pray, Zzzz...

This past weekend we rented "Eat, Pray, Love" from the local RedBox.  I knew going into it that it was a "chick flick" but that's ok, I don't mind those types of movies at times.  I had also seen some reviews on Facebook where people had said that they had liked it.

They must have been suffering from insomnia and they are thankful the movie gave them some sleep.  Ok, it might not have been quite that bad but it wasn't good either.

Again, as has turned into a bit of the norm, "spoilers" start right away...

The story is about a woman who found herself in a marriage that she didn't want to be in.  She then left her husband and found herself in a relationship with a younger man.  As is with the character, she finds that she isn't happy in that relationship before long as well.  Having been in and out of relationships she decides that instead she is going to remain unattached and travel to Rome, India, and Bali (or somewhere equally unimportant to the whole story).  In Rome she finds some friends and becomes "happy" again so she moves on to India where she lives at a temple/religious location.  There she finds herself very unhappy and another American there gives her grief until he reveals that he is there because of past things he has done as well.  He leaves and shortly after she "forgives herself" and leaves as well for the beach.  There she "interns" under some religious guy she met on a previous trip there, gets run off the road by a guy who ... surprise, surprise ... becomes her love interest, and then after fighting to not get too attached at the end (but only at the end) finally gives in to him ... though you still don't know how it all turns out down the road.

The movie wasn't horrible, but it wasn't anything better than just ok either.  In fact as a chick flick my fiancee found herself losing interest quite a bit and looking around the room or doing whatever caught her attention until she realized she wasn't watching the movie.  I think that is the best proof I can offer to my views on the movie.

The plot is just slow and plugs along, never really rising or falling and thus is just kinda flat.  Adding to that the movie was fairly long and felt even longer than it was.  The transitions from place to place weren't well done either.  There weren't any real surprises either, with a pretty predictable storyline from the start to the end, and that also added to the 'meh' factor of the movie.

The characters weren't all that interesting either, and granted the only one that was in more than a third of it was the main character but there was no real connection to any of them nor were they developed well. 

Overall despite being not bad but ok the movie really isn't worth seeing in my opinion.  They say the book is better than the movie but I'll likely not find out.  I have plenty of things to read already with not enough time to read them all and this just doesn't fit in with the things that I like to read in the first place.