Yes/No Films

The Iceman

2013-05-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

I didn't know much about The Iceman going in to it, except that it's based on the true story of Richard Kuklinski, a contract killer, whose wife and daughter didn't know his true profession until he was arrested in 1986. However, fantastic acting performances make this a great movie that is definitely worth seeing.

Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) works as a dubber for porn movies, although when he meets his girlfriend, Deborah (Winona Ryder), who will later be his wife and the mother of his two daughters, he tells her he's a dubber for Disney cartoons. When the porn shop gets invaded by gangster Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta), Roy tells Richard that if he wants to, he can work for him as a contract killer. Earlier in the movie, Richard killed someone he was unhappy with, just because the guy made him angry, so we know that even though he appears to be mild-mannered, he's definitely got a dark side; the money is good, too, so Richard accepts the job. When he leaves a teenage girl at a crime scene as a witness, Roy gets angry with Richard and tells him he's retired, and can't work for any other gangsters too; Richard eventually disobeys Roy and starts partnering with Mr. Freezy (Chris Evans), who owns an ice cream cart where he also stores the bodies he's killed and frozen. Richard's family is never the wiser to all of this, but then a series of unlucky events happen, and things starts to go downhill for Richard. Read more »

The Great Gatsby

2013-05-10T00:01:00.000-04:00

The Great Gatsby has lived as many previous incarnations, but its newest is directed by Baz Luhrmann, known for such lavish spectacles as Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet (1996), which Leonardo DiCaprio also starred in. I really liked Luhrmann's version, however, and it brings a certain amount of glitz to the story that was previously missing in film adaptations.

Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio) lives in West Egg (Long Island) and is known for throwing fantastic parties. But the man himself is a mystery; not many people have met the host behind all of these fabulous soirees. Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), a writer-turned-stock-broker, lives in a tiny cottage next to the Gatsby estate, and one day receives a handwritten invitation to Gatsby's next party. He arrives at Gatsby's with his invitation in hand, only to find out that he was the only one who received an invitation - everyone else from the area knows to just show up. He meets Gatsby, and later in the film Gatsby has a request for him: to invite Nick's cousin Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), a married woman, to tea, so that he can be reunited with her. Five years ago, when Gatsby was an officer in the war, they were deeply in love, but she later married Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton), a rich man, when she found out Gatsby was penniless.

We later find out that everything - the house, the riches, the whole persona - was for Daisy, as Gatsby, who is very naive, always believed he would win her back. And for a time, he does: they have a summer affair at his place, while her husband Tom continued to carry on with his mistress, Myrtle (Isla Fisher), and no one is the wiser. But when he decides that Daisy should leave her husband for him, a series of unfortunate events happens, and things only get worse from there.Read more »

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

2013-05-10T00:00:00.000-04:00

I'm a little surprised that in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, The Reluctant Fundamentalist's release date wasn't pushed back a few months, as it tells the story of terrorists kidnapping an American professor in Pakistan. It was definitely interesting to see America's prejudice towards Muslims and other people of color through a Pakistani's eyes, post-9/11, but others may not particularly feel like seeing a movie like this with the events in Boston fresh in our minds. The movie is worth seeing, but runs a little on the slow side, which may deter some people from enjoying it; I in particular sometimes have issues with slow-paced movies.

Changez, pronounced "Chan-GHEZ" (Riz Ahmed) is living the American dream. He moves to the U.S. to pursue a Princeton education, and then snags a coveted spot as an analyst at a top New York firm, where he works for Jim Cross (Kiefer Sutherland) who quickly promotes him to an associate. He meets and falls in love with Erica (Kate Hudson), a photographer and artist, and he wants to plan a future with her. After 9/11 happens, however, he must deal with much prejudice; on the way home from a business trip with Jim and another colleague, he is pulled aside at the airport and taken to a back room, where he is strip-searched. In another situation, he finds his tires slashed and has an expletive said to him by a white man. Changez soon finds himself disillusioned with America, and he quits his job and moves back to Pakistan, since his work visa is no longer valid.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist opens in 2011, ten years later, with Changez now working as a professor, with Bobby (Liev Schreiber) questioning him as to his involvement, if any, with the kidnapping of one of Changez's colleagues, an American. The people that Bobby work for believe that Changez or his family is involved in the kidnapping, and Bobby tries to talk to Changez, who ends up telling him his entire story.Read more »

Iron Man 3

2013-05-03T00:01:00.000-04:00

We last saw Tony Stark in The Avengers, but he's now back in an Iron Man-only movie, Iron Man 3. Although the film makes repeated references to events that happened in the previous movie, this film can definitely be on its own without seeing the others; for those that are familiar with the series, however, it may just be its best movie yet.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) now lives with his girlfriend, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who has recently moved in with him to his California mansion. A new "bad guy," called The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), has been bombing the U.S., however, and soon he goes too far: one of Tony's friends and his former bodyguard, Happy (Jon Favreau), is injured in one of the blasts, and Tony Stark vows vengeance on the Mandarin on live TV, going so far as to giving his address and challenging the Mandarin to seek him out. Needless to say, that wasn't a smart idea, and Stark and Pepper soon find themselves struggling for their lives as his house is bombed from helicopters in the air. After that, Stark is convinced that there's something more to the story, and he goes off on an adventure to seek more info, with a little boy named Harley (Ty Simpkins) as his guide.Read more »

Win Justin Timberlake Tickets from Ellen on Local 4 #Ellen4Justin

2013-04-28T14:36:00.000-04:00

JT is going to be performing in the D on August 6th at Ford Field, and it should be an amazing concert. Only one problem: tickets are sold out.

But guess what? You can enter to win two FREE tickets to his sold-out concert from Local 4 (ClickOnDetroit.com) by clicking here. It's very simple to enter, too - all you have to do is log on to Ellen's site by May 3rd and share why you love Justin, and you must be 18+ to enter. The winner will be announced on May 6th on her show.

Before that, though, you can take part in the #Ellen4Justin Twitter party, on Wednesday, May 1st at 8pm EST. Your hosts @emilyhay and @laurenweber84 will be giving away some official Ellen Show swag, and no RSVP is required! Check it out for the chance to win some fun prizes - all you have to do is follow the #Ellen4Justin hashtag on Twitter.

And make sure to watch Ellen during the month of May for the latest trends, entertainment guests, and more! She's one of the funniest talk show hosts, and I love watching her show.

*Disclosure: I was selected for this sponsored post by Hay There Social Media. All opinions expressed are my own.

Sweet Relish Sunday (#4 of 4)

2013-04-28T09:00:00.000-04:00

Well, we've now made it through 3 weeks of Sweet Relish Sunday - welcome to week 4, the last week! This week, I will be talking about 5 Necessities for Family Movie Night.

I've chosen two family-friendly DVDs/Blu-rays along with a Blu-ray player and some sweet and salty treats that are essentials for any movie night. Here are my picks:

ParaNorman Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. This movie was one of the best kids' movies I saw in 2012, and the title character shares his name with my dad, which was also kind of fun. Be aware that it may be a little scary for younger children, though.
Wreck-It Ralph on DVD. Another one of my favorite 2012 kids' movies, and a great choice for the younger children or if you think your child will be too scared to see ParaNorman. Or, if you have time, you could even watch them both!
LG Blu-ray player. This is the same Blu-ray player that I own, and although it has ethernet and not WiFi, it's a great choice for those who want to use their Blu-ray player to play Blu-ray and DVDs, not connect to Netflix or the internet, for the most part. It's only $79.99 right now on Amazon, too (remember when Blu-ray players used to be $300+??), which is a nice deal.
Pop Secret Movie Theater Butter Popcorn. If you can't have popcorn from the theater, why not make your own right in your house? Pop Secret has a lot of different flavors of their microwaveable popcorn, but their Movie Theater Butter is one of the best, in my opinion.
Sanders Milk Chocolate Hot Fudge Dessert Topping. Obviously you would need some ice cream to go with this too (or not ... I won't judge ...) but it's pretty hard to find ice cream being sold online, which is why I didn't add that to this Relish list. You can get Sanders online at Walmart.com and I imagine Sanders would have it on their own website as well.

What are your essentials for your family's movie nights? And what was your favorite family-friendly movie of 2012?

*Disclosure: I was compensated for writing a series of blog posts about Sweet Relish and using their site to compile lists. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

The Big Wedding

2013-04-26T00:01:00.000-04:00

The Big Wedding may be the fluffiest of "fluff movies" that I've seen lately. With an all-star cast encompassing everyone from Robert De Niro to Topher Grace, I expected it to be hilarious; unfortunately, the script was not great, and there was little-to-no character development, for the most part.

Don (De Niro) and Ellie (Diane Keaton) are preparing for the wedding of their adopted son, Alejandro (Ben Barnes) to Missy (Amanda Seyfried). Don and Ellie are divorced, and Don lives in their former house with his girlfriend, Bebe (Susan Sarandon), who used to be Ellie's best friend - until Ellie caught Don cheating on her with Bebe. Don and Ellie haven't really spoken for the past ten years, so things are awkward, to say the least, when the family all reunites. Alejandro's birth mother, Madonna (Patricia Rae), who is Spanish, is also very Catholic - where divorcing is considered a sin - and Alejandro asks Don and Ellie to pretend to be married for the wedding weekend, so that Madonna won't think badly of him and his family ... and that's when the fun starts.Read more »

Mud

2013-04-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

Mud is what I would imagine a modern day Huck Finn to be like. The title character, played excellently by Matthew McConaughey, is a bit of a drifter, who is hiding out in an abandoned boat on an island waiting for his girlfriend, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon), to meet up with him. Juniper, however, has no idea that he's on the island, so it may take her a while to find him, and in the meantime, we get a coming-of-age story concealed as a "con man does good" plotline; it's the former, however, that makes Mud as good as it is.

Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and his friend Neckbone (newcomer Jacob Lofland) take a small boat to a nearby island, to look for an unusual boat they've heard about: it's stuck in a tree, probably from some storm. When they get there, however, they find that the boat is already inhabited, by a man who introduces himself to them as Mud (McConaughey). Mud spins a story to them about true love and waiting for Juniper (Witherspoon) so that they can be together; the naive Ellis, however, later finds out that there is more to the story. When Ellis and his mother (Sarah Paulson) pass through a highway roadblock one day, they're shown a picture of a wanted man, and it turns out to be Mud; Ellis confronts him about it and Mud tells them his secret, and part of the reason he's waiting on the island for Juniper rather than looking for her in town. Ellis and Neckbone must decide if they want to help Mud, now knowing his past, or if they should leave him on the island by himself.Read more »

Best of Warner Bros 100 Film Collection Mother's Day Giveaway - $597.97 value!

2013-04-25T21:19:00.000-04:00

So when I received an email today about this giveaway, I became a little jealous of you, my readers - because this prize pack is pretty awesome.

Mother's Day is coming up and this would be a GREAT gift for moms (or to keep for yourself - I won't tell!) .

First, check out the widget and "Dream Mother's Day" fill-in-the-blank sheet below:

If you'd like to email me your filled-in Mother's Day sheets, feel free to do so! You can email me here.

This collection retails for $597.97 and includes 100 of the Warner Bros. Library Best Picture winners. A little bit about the collection:

The World’s Largest Film Collection From a Major Studio! Warner Bros. continues to entertain the world with films passionately produced, selectively acquired, carefully preserved and impeccably curated for both the casual and ultimate movie lover to enjoy forever.

100 movies including all 22 of Warner Bros. Library’s Best Picture™ winners on 55 discs presented in book style premium packaging. Plus two all-new documentaries: Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot and The Warner Bros. Lot Tour. With hours of commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes and more on select films. Also includes a limited edition 27” x 40” poster, plus a postcard series of Warner Bros. movie posters designed by legendary Bill Gold. Look for these movie-poster titles on DVD.

(To see the full list of movies included, click here - the oldest is The Jazz Singer [1927] and the most recent is The Departed [2006])

To enter the contest:

Enter the contest via the Rafflecopter widget below. Prize will be sent via FedEx or UPS - no P.O. boxes, please. The contest ends on Friday, May 10th, at 11:59pm EST, and the winner will be contacted on Saturday, May 11th and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
*Disclosure: Warner Bros. and DBA Worldwide is sponsoring this contest and will be shipping the prize pack to the winner.

Review and GIVEAWAY: Ring the Bell

2013-04-23T08:30:00.000-04:00

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

The movie Ring the Bell started off promisingly, and even made me laugh in a few scenes. Hotshot sports agent Rob Decker, now unused to personally going on recruitment visits, makes a visit to a small town to try and persuade a high school baseball star to sign with him and his agency rather than going to play college ball. Unfortunately, as the movie continued on, it became more about the religious themes throughout than the baseball story, and I began to lose interest.

Official synopsis:
Ring The Bell shares the story of a slick, big city sports agent Rob Decker who seems to have it all. But on his latest mission to sign a high school baseball superstar, Rob becomes stranded in a small town where the simplicity of life—and the faith of the people—stand in stark contrast to his own fast-paced, win-at-all-costs mindset. Torn between these two worlds, will Rob have the courage to let faith transform his life? This heartwarming story of redemption is sure to entertain and inspire the whole family.
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I knew beforehand that this film would have faith-based themes throughout, so I'm not chastising it for having these; I'm just saying that I, personally, thought the beginning and end of the movie was a lot better than the middle part, and I believe that's because the middle focused more on the sports agent, Rob (Ryan Scharoun) beginning to realize his faith and connecting to that, rather than the baseball story.

I will say that I really liked the music throughout the film - it featured a real-life band, Counting Crowns, along with other Christian music artists - and the baseball scenes were well done, which isn't surprising because one of the actors in it, Casey Bond, is a former professional baseball player turned actor. Bond actually starred in the recent Moneyball, also as a baseball player, alongside Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, too.

Although I didn't particularly like the film as a whole, I think others would like it - specifically, if you enjoy faith-based films or are looking for a family-friendly movie, as the film is rated PG.

Ring the Bell is now out on DVD. 2 stars out of 5.

GIVEAWAY:

I have one copy of Ring the Bell to give away to one of my readers, thanks to Fly By Promotions and Propeller Marketing.

Enter the contest via the Rafflecopter widget below. The contest ends on Sunday, April 29th, at 11:59pm EST, and the winner will be contacted on Monday, April 30th and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sweet Relish Sunday (#3 of 4) + a giveaway

2013-04-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

Week 3 of Sweet Relish Sunday brings us to "10 Must-See Book-to-Movie Adaptations." As you might know, I also have a book blog, Books I Think You Should Read, and I'm an avid reader. When I hear that a favorite book of mine is being turned into a movie, I'm both excited and also a bit apprehensive, because sometimes the essence of a book can be lost in translation when it airs on the big screen.

With these ten movies, however, the movie is just as good as, if not better than, the book version, and they are shining examples of what a good book-to-movie adaptation can be.

The ten movies I chose are:

Sarah's Key (2010). Still one of the saddest Holocaust movies I've ever seen; I don't often cry during movies but I challenge anyone to see this movie and not cry. I actually liked the book less than the movie, but only because parts of it were very different.
Holes (2003). The book was intriguing and the movie was just as good, with Shia LaBeouf as the main character, about a group of teenagers who gets sent to camp to dig holes ... but the camp has a secret.
Life of Pi (2012). I haven't actually read the book yet (shh!) but there's a reason that Ang Lee won Best Director at the Academy Awards for this movie; the cinematography is beautiful and the movie itself is entrancing, from the plot to its characters.
Jane Eyre (2011). I'm not a fan of Jane Austen-esque books (or this one, by Charlotte Bronte) but I did read it. There's been a ton of movie adaptations over the years but this one was one of the best of the ones I've seen. Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender star as Jane and Mr. Rochester.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). I'll confess that I thought the book version was just okay, but the movie version was fantastic. Stephen Chbosky, the writer of the novel, wrote the screenplay for the movie, but Charlie's character and his friends came alive much more on the screen for me than they did on the page - a rare feat indeed.
Warm Bodies (2013). I'm not a fan of horror movies or movies with excessive amounts of gore, but I really liked Warm Bodies this past year - it was a unique spin on a vampire-human relationship, even though it had a lot of similarities to Romeo and Juliet. I received an e-galley of the book and started reading it, but I've only read about 1/3 of it thus far; I don't really like how it's narrated.
The Help (2011). One of my favorite books and the movie lived up to the novel. Fantastic performances by Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Emma Stone, and a 5-star movie in my opinion.
Forrest Gump (1994). I had no idea this was a book until I started researching for this list! It's on my to-read list now, as the movie is classic; Tom Hanks was great in it.
The Notebook (2004). Love the book and love the movie, although a word of caution: the movie's ending is very different than the book's ...
The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Thought the book was just okay, but the movie is great. It's actually one of my favorite roles to watch Meryl Streep in, even though it's a "chick flick." Anne Hathaway and the supporting cast also does very well in this movie.

Check out these movies and where to buy them on my Sweet Relish list, and stay tuned next Sunday for the last list in the series, 5 Necessities for Family Movie Night.

GIVEAWAY:

Myself and the other bloggers who are posting these Sweet Relish lists have three Mountain Khaki's Market Totes to give away - a $60 value. Fill out the Rafflecopter form below to be entered, and if you are a winner, you will be notified via email by Sweet Relish. Contest ends on April 30th.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure: I was compensated for writing a series of blog posts about Sweet Relish and using their site to compile lists. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

NBC's Share and Tell + Eco Prize Pack Giveaway

2013-04-19T19:20:00.000-04:00

What is NBC’s Share and Tell?

Did you know that for every pound of new goods produced, 71 pounds of waste are generated during manufacturing? This Earth Week, NBCUniversal is partnering with the sharing site yerdle to help you minimize your impact on the planet by sharing your stuff. One person’s stuff is another person’s story!

Here’s how it works:

1) Join or host a Share & Tell Party (click the “Join the Party” button in the app below).
2) Post your stuff to share with friends. Discover other items that are up for grabs.
3) Tell the story of your sharing experiences on your favorite social media site. #ShareandTell.

And if you're like me, you're probably wondering what yerdle is ...

Yerdle is the new mission-driven California Benefit corporation that’s out to help people share with their friends rather than buying things new. On yerdle, friends post items they're willing to give away or loan, search for items they're looking to get, and nab the things they want. Simple.

Why Host a Share and Tell?

Protect the planet, save money, give gifts to your friends and find things you want. Hosting a Share and Tell means inviting your Facebook friends to share things you want. Parties can either be hosted in-person or online, it’s up to you!

Check out the widget below, and the best and most interesting posts may be highlighted on NBC’s Green Is Universal, and yerdle’s Facebook pages!

NBC has a prize pack to give to one lucky Yes/No Films reader! The prize pack consists of:

One Green is Universal canvas tote bag (made from recycled cotton)

... along with two of the items below (chosen at random):

- Planet Ocean DVD
- Green is Universal T-shirt (made by Alternative Apparel)
- Green is Universal colored pencil kits (made from recycled newspaper)
- Green is Universal Vapur water bottles (BPA-free)
- Green is Universal hardboard cover spiral bound notebook
- Green is Universal burlap FEED bag

Enter the contest via the Rafflecopter widget below. Prize will be sent via FedEx or UPS - no P.O. boxes, please. The contest ends on Friday, April 27th, at 11:59pm EST, and the winner will be contacted on Saturday, April 28th and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure: NBC and DBA Worldwide is sponsoring this contest and will be shipping the prize pack to the winner.

Oblivion

2013-04-19T00:05:00.000-04:00

I saw Oblivion on a Tuesday night, and by Wednesday afternoon I was still mulling it over in my head, trying to put together some of the pieces. It's a sci-fi movie with a bit of action thrown in, and there's a major plot twist that complicates the entire movie. After talking the film over with some friends, I understand it enough now to write this review (hopefully!) and to also give my opinion on the movie - I got the gist of the film, but there's some details that are hard to figure out throughout it.

Earth, 2077. After a long war with the "scavs" (scavengers), the humans won, but destroyed Earth in the process - it is a shell of what it used to be. All of the humans now live on Titan, one of Saturn's moons, except for Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough, also in Disconnect), who monitor the drones that patrol the Earth looking for scavs. Jack is in charge of fixing these drones, and Victoria speaks with Sally (Melissa Leo) while he is out, who is their mission commander. Jack and Victoria know that they've had their memories wiped, so that mission details wouldn't be compromised, but he keeps having weird dreams that include a woman named Julia (Olga Kurylenko), and they feel almost like memories; one recurring one includes them walking the streets of New York City together. When an unauthorized aircraft drops from the sky, he finds four human survivors, three of which the drones kill; the fourth survivor is the woman from his dreams. With the help of Julie, Jack starts to realize that things on Earth might not be what they seem, and he finds out a number of disturbing truths about Earth and the new human colony on Saturn.Read more »

Disconnect

2013-04-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

I had a feeling that Disconnect was going to be similar to 2010's Trust, a movie about online predators that was partially filmed in Michigan, and it is, although the type of predators is different in each - the one bad guy in Trust is a sexual predator preying on young girls online, and in Disconnect, we get a variety of predators. The movie follows three stories that interconnect, and although each one is different, any of them could happen in real life.

Story #1, the main story of the film, follows two teenage punks as they pull tricks on people. They go to a mall and urinate in a used sports drink bottle, and then go to a gym and put the bottle in the fridge where drinks are sold, and watch to see who falls victim to their malicious prank. Ben Boyd (Jonah Bobo, the kid from Crazy Stupid Love) sees them do this and the boys don't like that; they look Ben up on Facebook and find that he goes to their school, and is a bit of a loner, so they decide to make up a female Facebook persona and message him.

Story #2 is between Cindy (Paula Patton) and Derek (Alexander Skarsgard), a married couple whose lives have never been the same since their baby boy died. Cindy is an artist who sells her wares online, and she's found an online support group and, more specifically, one person to talk to on it, since the relationship between her and Derek is strained. Derek, who travels for work, has an online gambling addiction that his wife doesn't know about. When one or both of their identities is stolen, and the money from their accounts drained, they hire an ex-cop, Mike (Frank Grillo), to investigate; Mike happens to be the father of Jason (Colin Ford), one of the boys who is involved with the Facebook prank mentioned above.

Story #3 is about an ambitious newswoman, Nina (Andrea Riseborough), who starts chatting with an 18-year-old, Kyle (Max Thieriot) online in order to draw him out for a story. Kyle lives in a house full of teens where they basically prostitute themselves on the internet for money and/or gifts - although it's their choice, they aren't being forced to do this - and Nina wants to interview him for a story. He agrees, but only if he can be anonymous; after the story airs, however, the FBI wants to raid Kyle's house and get the kids out, and they make Nina cooperate by saying that they will bring legal action against her if she does not.Read more »

Sweet Relish Sunday (#2 of 4)

2013-04-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

So now that we know what Sweet Relish is, and what you can use it for, let's jump in to week two of four of
this series.

As you may or may not know, I am not a fan of scary movies. Suspenseful movies, I can handle - movies like The Shining, which brings the crazy but doesn't have as much gore - but "slice and dice" movies are not my thing.

Using Sweet Relish, I made a list called "Scary movies for people afraid of scary movies," and I chose six movies that popped into my mind for the list. They are:

The Shining. Both the book and movie were fantastic, and Jack Nicholson is utterly creepy as a writer who goes insane while living as a hotel caretaker with his family in a remote location. I first watched it when I was 16, at a birthday party, and may have had few nightmares; however, I return back to the movie because it's so good.
The Sixth Sense. Maybe you got the twist ending, but I didn't, until the very end. And the girl ghost hiding under the bed still scares me.
Carrie. They're actually making a remake of this to come out this year, with Chloe Moretz in the title role and Julianne Moore as her mother, but I don't think it's going to live up to the original; the original, with Sissy Spacek as Carrie, was utterly creepy. Not scary - but creepy.
Fright Night (2011). I haven't seen the original version of this, but Colin Farrell was a sexy vampire in this version, and it was actually more comedic than I thought it would be. This one was a little gory, especially in 3D, but it was doable for me for the most part.
The Grey. Looking back on this, I'm not sure why I gave it a "Maybe" review, because I also gave it 3.5/5 stars. I own it on Blu-ray but it's probably not one I'm going to be watching over and over ... it's scary because it's so realistic, especially the airplane crash at the beginning.

Check out these movies and where to buy them on my Sweet Relish list, and stay tuned next Sunday for my next list, 10 Must See Book-to-Movie Adaptations.

What are your favorite scary movies, and are you a "scary movie person"? (can you handle watching scary movies?)

*Disclosure: I was compensated for writing a series of blog posts about Sweet Relish and using their site to compile lists. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

42

2013-04-12T00:01:00.000-04:00

I didn't know much about Jackie Robinson before viewing 42, other than that he was the first African-American to play in major league baseball. Although the movie chooses to focus only on the beginning of his baseball career, and fills in a bit about the time period immediately before that, you still learn quite a bit about his career, even though I would not have minded learning more about his post-baseball life as well.

Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) is a baseball player who is trying to make the Montreal Royals team, managed by Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), who is also the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Branch has been thinking about adding an African-American player to the Dodgers, and once Jackie makes the Montreal team, he is soon after offered a spot on the Dodgers. Rickey warns Jackie that there will be a lot of backlash, and he's right; in one particularly hard to watch scene, Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk), with the Phillies, calls him the n-word over and over during a Phillies-Dodgers game, trying to intimidate him. Robinson must "prove" that he's good enough to be on the Dodgers, and also must "earn" his place not only in the white man's game of baseball, but with his own teammates too.Read more »

Starbuck

2013-04-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

The director of Starbuck, Ken Scott, is remaking the film in English with an American cast, which I found to be interesting because I had never heard of a director remaking his own film before. That movie, called The Delivery Man, will be out this October and stars Vince Vaughn as the main character, with Chris Pratt and Cobie Smulders in supporting roles. This version, however, is French with English subtitles, although the characters live in Montreal (not France), and was actually very funny; the American version has big shoes to fill if it is to be as good as this version.

David Wozniak (Patrick Huard) works as a meat delivery man, and has a kinda/sorta girlfriend - they date, but he hasn't seen her in a while. One day, when he shows up at her doorstep with flowers at 3 AM (his idea of a romantic gesture), she tells him that she's pregnant, but that she will raise the baby herself. He decides to change his bachelor ways so that he will be a good father, but soon he finds out some unsettling news: he's already a father to 533 other children, who are now in their 20s. From 1988-1990, he donated sperm over 600 times, which apparently ended up with 533 successful pregnancies, and now 142 of those children are suing the clinic to find out who "Starbuck" (his alias there) is. David's friend Avocat (Antoine Bertrand), who is a lawyer, suggests that they sue the clinic to protect David's privacy - a counter lawsuit - and since David currently is having some money issues, he agrees. Now David has to decide if he wants to do what is right - reveal his identity - or hopefully win the lawsuit and keep the money from it. Read more »

Sweet Relish Sunday (#1 of 4)

2013-04-07T10:00:00.000-04:00

Sweet Relish is a website where you can keep a list of things you "relish" - aka, things you like - and make lists based on any categories or themes that you like. Imagine that every time you clicked the "like" button on Facebook, you could categorize whatever you "liked" into a list with a name of your choosing - that's what Sweet Relish is, in a nutshell. For the purposes of these posts, I made my lists movie and entertainment-oriented, but I could also see Sweet Relish being used for clothing or event ideas.

The site seems similar to Pinterest to me (although Pinterest is pretty much the one social media site I haven't signed up for), but it's rather fun "relishing" items and then seeing your completed list after. The BIG difference is that anything you see on the site that people have "relished" comes from another site - i.e., I mostly used Amazon for these lists - so you can click and buy that item if you so choose, which Pinterest does not have.

According to the website:
"Sweet Relish is basically a tool for organizing discovering, sharing what you want, and seeing what others like. And best of all, you can actually buy this stuff. We call it the 'secret sauce' because it's the missing piece from online shopping. It's super easy to check off a birthday list, send a list of classroom needs out to parents, or sneakily surprise a friend with a gift that she really wants - all based on our lists."

Over the next four weeks, I'll be exploring movies by genre using Sweet Relish.

The first list I made on the site was '90s Movies I Love, which you can find here.

The re-release of Jurassic Park in 3D this weekend got me thinking about my favorite movies from the '90s, and it's no secret that I love '90s movies! It was fairly easy to hop on to Amazon, pick a few of my ultimate faves, and include them in this list.

Some of the movies on the list include:

Jurassic Park (obviously!)
Hook
10 Things I Hate About You
The First Wives Club
Brokedown Palace

Stay tuned for next week's Sweet Relish movie list, which will explore "scary movies for people that dislike scary movies" ... you know who you are!

*Disclosure: I was compensated for writing a series of blog posts about Sweet Relish and using their site to compile lists. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

Jurassic Park 3D

2013-04-05T00:00:00.000-04:00

Is it bad when a 20-year-old movie manages to entertain you more than most of the films you've seen in the theater in the past five to ten years? That's what I was wondering as I left the screening of Jurassic Park 3D. The movie is celebrating its twenty-year anniversary, and I was six when it was in theaters - needless to say, I didn't see it on the big screen. I think at one point I saw it on VHS, and also its sequel, but I'm not sure if I saw JP III; also, there will be a JP IV released in theaters next year. So we know the movie is worth seeing again, and definitely in theaters - but what about its 3D?

For the uninitiated: according to IMDb, the movie occurs "During a preview tour," when "a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok." That's the polite way of putting it, I suppose; perhaps they should have added that the park founder should not have let his grandkids test out the exhibits before the public, as well. The founder and money man behind the park, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), entices Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) away from their archaeological dig in the desert, because he needs some archaeologists to sign off on the park to appease his investors. They join Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferraro), a lawyer, as well as John's grandkids (Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards), for a "soft opening" of the park. During a major storm one night, however, and some sneaky subterfuge by a JP employee (Wayne Knight, aka Newman from Seinfeld), the power goes off, and the dinosaurs run amok ... while the tour group is still out in the park.Read more »

The Host

2013-03-29T00:00:00.000-04:00

I read The Host when it was released, back in 2008, and although I want to reread it, I haven't had a chance yet. Therefore, I went into seeing the movie version with a sort of "book amnesia" - I remembered the main gist of the book, but not all of the small details. Regardless, I ended up really liking The Host, despite its currently dismal Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) lives on a planet where most of the humans have been occupied by "hosts" - aliens that take over their bodies and eventually force out the human souls that lie within. She is one of the members of the Resistance, one of the few people still human that hide from these aliens to avoid becoming occupied. She gets caught by one of the Seekers (Diane Kruger) and flings herself out a hotel window, but with their advanced medicines, the aliens are able to revive her and implant Wanderer, a host, into her. Wanderer's duty is to report Melanie's memories to the Seeker so that they can find the Resistance; what they don't anticipate, however, is that Melanie's soul will not die out so easily, and she eventually convinces Wanderer that they must find her boyfriend, uncle, and younger brother, before the aliens find them.Read more »

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

2013-03-28T00:00:00.000-04:00

The first G.I. Joe movie, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, came out in August 2009, when I was a very recent college graduate still living in Ann Arbor and car-less, so I wasn't able to see it. G.I. Joe: Retaliation, however, has an almost completely different cast, and definitely stands out on its own; there's no need to see the first one to enjoy this movie, although I'm guessing it might help with a little of the backstory. Retaliation is a mix of X-Men and Kill Bill, in my opinion, and it had some of the best action scenes I've seen in a film in a while.

Duke (Channing Tatum) and Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson, aka "The Rock") are G.I. Joes, and they fly back and forth between the desert and their families. After an attack on base camp, however, all of the Joes are murdered except for three of them. Together, they figure out that it was the President (Jonathan Pryce) who attacked them, because one of their enemies, Warden (Walton Goggins), who is skilled at disgusing himself, has taken on the form of the President and wants to start another world war; to do this, he needs to eliminate the Joes first. The three remaining Joes must team up with a few of their former comrades, including Snake Eyes (Ray Park), and try to get rid of the imposter President before he is able to do this.Read more »

Olympus Has Fallen

2013-03-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

Gerard Butler's last few movies haven't been great, and his last one I reviewed, Playing for Keeps, was awful. Luckily, he's back to the action film genre in Olympus Has Fallen, and he plays a former secret service agent who now works at the Treasury. The movie was much better than Butler's recent endeavors, and there is a lot to recommend about it, although parts are definitely a bit unrealistic.

Mike Banning (Butler) serves President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) as a secret service agent. One night, when the roads are especially snowy and treacherous, the President and his wife and young son leave Camp David with their entourage, headed to some billionaire's Christmas party, with the two of them in one car and the son and Banning in another. Their entourage of cars are suddenly halted when the lead car hits some ice and spins around, headed for the river. The car teeters and Banning is able to save the President; however, the car goes down with his wife still in the car.

A year and a half later, Banning has a boring security job at the Treasury, where he can see the White House from the window. The leader of South Korea comes to visit the President to talk about the North Korea situation and their mutual interests; soon, however, the White House finds itself under attack by North Korean forces. The President and some of his staff is kidnapped by Kang (Rick Yune), an evil man who wants to make a "united Korea," and he threatens to kill the President if the U.S. Government does not do as he says. Banning has made his way to the White House by now, and actually has slipped inside, even though the rest of the President's secret service guards have all been shot down. Banning makes contact with the government and helps get the President's son out of the White House, and will battle Kang to save the President as well. Read more »

Admission

2013-03-22T00:00:00.000-04:00

Admission was one of the first books I reviewed on my book blog, back in 2009, and I remember the novel took me a while to get through. It was a serious book, and I liked it a lot; I was surprised, then, to see it being made into a movie, and being marketed as a comedy, with Tina Fey and Paul Rudd in the leading roles. Although the movie had not been receiving good reviews, I still wanted to see it; unfortunately, as I suspected, it doesn't really know what movie genre it wants to be, and because of that, the film as a whole suffers.

Portia Nathan (Fey) is an admissions officer at Princeton, and is currently in the midst of helping to select the incoming freshman class of 2016. Her work is her life, and she takes it very seriously. When she learns that her boss (Wallace Shawn) is about to retire, she pits herself against one of her ambitious coworkers, Corinne (Gloria Reuben), so that she will be the top choice for the job; when she gets a call from John Pressman (Rudd), the principal of an alternative school called Quest, she goes to the school thinking that it will score her some originality points. What she finds, however, is an exceptionally bright student named Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), who wants to apply to Princeton, although "on paper" his grades are awful. When John tells her that he thinks Jeremiah is the son she gave up for adoption eighteen years ago, she's shocked, but wants to do her best to help him gain admission to Princeton.Read more »

Review: Disney on Ice at the Palace of Auburn Hills

2013-03-17T09:30:00.000-04:00

This was not my first Disney On Ice, but I think it's the one that I enjoyed most. In the past two I've seen, it seemed as if they tried to squeeze in more content than they should in a 2-hour show (with intermission, too) but in Dare To Dream, the newest show to hit the Palace, there were only three stories: The Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, and Tangled.

I attended the show with my parents - my mom is a huge Disney fan, as am I - and we all very much enjoyed it. The show started with Princess and the Frog, which my parents hadn't seen, but I was able to explain the gist of the plot to them.

It then moved on to Cinderella, a Disney classic, and ended with Tangled, a recent movie that may become a classic in the next few years.

The skating, of course, was phenomenal, but there were some pyrotechnics and some aerial things that were surprising and also very cool.

I was glad I got to attend Disney On Ice this year, and am looking forward to next year's performance!

There are still some shows left for Disney On Ice today, March 17th, and you can get 20% off tickets with my discount code - use the code MOM during checkout.

Showtimes: 11:00am, 3:30pm, 7:30pm.

Valid for any performance but not valid on Rinkside or VIP tickets.

See below for some pictures from the show, as well, although I apologize for the quality - I brought my regular camera but unfortunately the batteries went dead, so these are from my cell phone.

*Disclosure: I am a Feld Family Ambassador and was provided with free Disney On Ice tickets for the purpose of writing this post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

Mickey and Minnie

My mom and I at the show

The Princess and the Frog

Some voodoo magic during The Princess and the Frog

Cinderella and the castle

CONTEST: The Hobbit on Blu-ray

2013-03-15T22:15:00.001-04:00

I reviewed The Hobbit back in December 2012, and it's definitely a unique movie. Fans of the Lord of the Rings series will love it, and I thought it was interesting, although to be fair I'm more of a Harry Potter than a LOTR fan.

Synopsis, in case you missed the movie:
J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure follows the journey of Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an amazing quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Sorcerers.

From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” the first of a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Hobbit is coming to Blu-ray on March 19th, and you can win a copy here!

First, check out the widget below:

Then enter the contest via the Rafflecopter widget below. Prize will be sent via FedEx or UPS - no P.O. boxes, please. The contest ends on Saturday, March 23rd at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be contacted on Sunday, March 24th and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

*Disclosure: Warner Bros., as well as DBA Worldwide, is sponsoring this contest, and will be shipping the Blu-ray to the winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway