These past couple days have been extremely hectic. Though, somehow I was able to go to the movies on Saturday night and watch Big Miracle.
Big Miracle is fictional retelling of the 1988 Operation Breakthrough mission. In short, Operation Breakthrough was an international effort to save gray whales trapped in ice near Point Barrow, Alaska. The movie depicts this event, but in order to grasp a large audience, the plot contains romance, betrayal, and many other factors that were not present in reality. The film also tries to connect with a broad audience and attempts to portray the event in a Disney-esque way.
Despite wanting to like this movie, I felt it was not able to create an emotional connection with an audience. I didn’t cry and by the end, I was kind of happy it was over. Big Miracle should have been shorter and less romance/back story would have probably made it a lot stronger.
This past Thursday I went to see One for the Money with my brother, and it featured Katherine Heigel playing, ‘Katherine Heigel’.
After seeing one Katherine Heigel film, you’ve basically seen them all. Each movie Heigel has starred in features her playing the exact same character, but with a different storyline. Within this film, Heigel plays a character, Stephanie Plum, a woman who is unable to keep a job and is down on her luck. When in trouble, Plum finds work as a bounty hunter, working for her cousin, and seeks to capture the highest bond available. In this case, the bounty with the highest reward is for one of Plum’s ex-boyfriends. The story involves a couple twists and turns, but in general, it’s extremely predictable.
Overall, I enjoyed One for the Money because it was lighthearted. I just wish more humour was placed into the film because some scenes lacked emotion.
After nearly a month of waiting, Mannequin-Dance.Com is back online. YAY!!
So why was the site down? Well, I initially had a bit of trouble renewing my domain name because my domain register changed, and no one ever informed me. Now however, everything has been figured out and I’m ready to start posting regularly again.
For now, I leave you with the song that has been in my head all day.
Last night I went to see Young Adult with my brother, and it defied all my expectations.
Despite being marketed as a dark comedy, I found Young Adult pulled on all my emotions. At some moments I was laughing, sometimes I wanted to cry, and at other times I was empathizing with the main character and feeling guilty. The main plot focuses on a woman, Mavis Gary (played by Charlize Theron), who writes teen-fiction, frequently gets intoxicated, is recently divorced and continues to reminisce about her high school love interest, Buddy Slade (played by Patrick Wilson). One day while nursing a hangover, Mavis receives an e-mail with a photo of Slade’s new child, prompting her to trek from the big city, back to her hometown. Though, it is important to mention that Gary is one of few individuals from her hometown who has moved on to the big city; thus causing some tension between her and other people. Throughout the film it provokes a viewer to think, “what happens when you don’t move on?” and “when should the past be forgotten?”.
With many plot twists and unexpected outcomes, I was engaged from start to finish. Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt and Patrick Wilson were amazing cast choices, and each respectively played their assigned character well. I swear, throughout the film, it was as though real life was unfolding in front of my eyes because each actor made their character believable.
Overall, if I had to rate the film, I’d give it a 9/10. I loved every second of it, and will probably purchase the film when it comes out on Blu-ray!
Amazing : The one word that sums up the past few days of my life.
I went to Niagara Falls with a couple of my high school friends, bought tickets to the Black Keys (with the Arctic Monkeys), Demetri Martin and Jim Gaffigan, went to a friends birthday party, watched a couple bizarre yet fascinating movies, and I actually enjoyed working retail during the month of December.
Therefore, my life has been pretty positive lately. I’m really hoping this trend carries on through the holiday season, but every boxing day my holiday spirit is dampened by customers. Though, it’s just one day out of three hundred and sixty-five, so I’ll live.
Other than that, I can’t stop listening to Example. I was watching London Live last week with my family and a performance from Example was featured. After seeing Example perform ‘Kickstart’ live, I was mesmerized. The music was different from everything else I’ve been hearing lately, and I actually ended up buying both of his CDs.
For the last couple days, I’ve been reading the novels nonstop; thus this has been preventing me from writing a well written blog post or even communicating with fellow individuals online. Normally, it takes me a good two or three days to get interested in a series, but this time, after an hour of reading, I couldn’t stop myself. The Hunger Games Trilogy is probably the only recent teen fiction series I’ve become highly invested in. The trilogy is well written, has amazing character development, and unlike Twilight, it’s actually extremely interesting. Based on the rate I’m reading at, I should be done the last book by Friday. At the same time, I will be ready for the Hunger Games movie coming to theatres on March 23, 2012!
Every year I attend at least one concert in December, but this year, I feel all my favourite music artists/bands are coming in February/March of 2012. Therefore, I have made it my mission to see numerous films from December 2011 to March 2012 to pass the time. The festivities started this past week when I went to see both Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1: To be quite honest, this has to be my favourite movie yet from the Twilight Saga. Not only were there continuity issues, the acting was horrendous, vocal manipulation reminded me of the Power Rangers, and the idea of a vampire impregnating a mortal made me laugh throughout the entire film. Not to mention, the individual who added the films soundtrack did an amazing job of making it extremely obvious. I honestly could not stop laughing when a slow song came on at a romantic moment, or when an upbeat tempo attempted to add action and suspense. In most films this simple technique is done flawlessly, and you never really focus on the soundtrack, but with Breaking Dawn Part 1, your ears simply could not help but focus on the music.
Though, on a more positive note, Bella Swan (the character portrayed by Kristen Stewart), did not drive me insane during this film. In the past three Twilight movies, I’d get so frustrated watching her awful acting and lack of emotion, but I felt her characters screen time was reduced in this film and made it tolerable.
Overall however, the film made me laugh out loud, and I left the theatre with a smile. It served its purpose as being an amazing comedy.
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas: I loved the first Harold and Kumar film as it was unique, had amazing one-liners and some of the incidents that occurred were completely out of the ordinary. This film however, was decent. The movie had some awesome one-liners, but in the end, it fell flat for me. I wasn’t laughing, and at some points, I was actually bored/paying more attention to the people seated in front of me that were texting on their cellphones. Though, this may have been because the movie is intended to be watched in 3D, and I watched it in regular 2D.
Overall, it was better than the second film part of the franchise, but it lacked actual humour.
I went to see Prince last night with my mom and it was…
AMAZING
Normally I’d post an accompanying music video or photos from the show, but since Prince is against online media, and photography at his concerts, I don’t really have much to post.
I must say however, Prince was unbelievable, playing for nearly three hours and showcasing all of his hit songs from the past thirty years. My favourite moment of the night was witnessing my mom go crazy when ‘Purple Rain‘ came on. I swear, another side of my mom came out that I had never seen before. Not to mention, I loved hearing Prince belt out songs like ’1999′, ‘When Doves Cry’ and ‘Controversy’.
Last night I went to the Watch the Throne tour with my friend Anita and my brother Steven. The concert was amazing and featured Jay-Z and Kanye West performing songs off their solo albums, as well as their joint ventures. I loved every moment of it, though I must admit, Kanye stole the show. Kanye’s songs allow for more audience interaction, and made me recall my high school days.
Next up, I’m seeing Prince tomorrow at the Air Canada Centre with my mom.
Today, Big Time Rush released their new album, Elevate, and I am addicted!
I know, I may not be the demographic the music is marketed towards, and I’ve been to numerous metal/alternative rock concerts, but for some reason I just cannot stop listening. Though, I would like to place blame on their highly addictive television show.
In other news, I bought tickets to see Big Time Rush and Young the Giants in 2012. EEK! And in the coming weeks I will be purchasing tickets to see Kelly Clarkson. I need to seriously stop spending, but how could I pass up a good concert?
