Wish Upon 5 stars

Wish Upon....Be careful what you wish for!

Synopsis:

A teenage girl discovers a box that carries magic powers and a deadly price for using them.

Review:

I was skeptical about this movie in a HUGE way... so much so I waited till it was playing at the discount theater to see it. I can tell you, I was wrong. 

Wish upon is about this girl who loses her mom when she is very young. I won't tell you how that would spoil it! Anyway, forward approximately 14 years ish. She is now in high school, yep...the scariest place on Earth. Her father is a upcycler going from dumpster to dumpster to find things to sell at the swap meet. 

While out looking for items to sell he finds an oriental box in the the garbage and decides to give it to his daughter. Since his daughter is taking foreign language she can read enough of the characters to see that it is a wish box. She's a skeptic and wishes for her enemy.....well you'll see. 

My thoughts. I loved this movie. I am a huge huge fan of the final destination movies. It feels very similar although the box is much much creepier. The overall acting and twists in the story caused by the box are incredible. The writing in this movie also sets up the scares very well for the audience. Some of them you can't see coming, but they're there. 

I truly enjoy that this movie does not follow the rules of horror movies set out by Scream :) Sex drugs and rock and roll are not a part of why...or how these people die. 

I have not seen a movie like this in quite some time, nor done as well as this movie was written and directed. 

Everything, from the initial idea...right down to the nitty gritty of perfecting a scene was done to perfection. Being a true horror buff, I truly appreciated this movie. 

I definitely give this movie an enthusiastic five out of five. 

Annabelle Creation 3 stars

A couple still grieving the death of their daughter take in children from a local orphanage, but the family are soon terrorized by a demented doll known as Annabelle.

Annabelle Creation is the second movie in the Annabelle saga. However, truly it is a prequel of sorts. The story starts out with a family who loses their daughter in a car accident. The man who loses his daughter is the man who also created the "Annabelle" doll.  Surprise surprise her name is Annabelle. Cut frame to a group of girls on a bus from an orphanage going to live in the same house with a nun from the convent to guide and protect the little tykes. So, of course Annabelle picks her poison and chooses a little girl made lame by polio. The story goes on and I'm not telling you anything else except there's a lot of jump scares, terrified running, screaming, and general horror mayhem that goes on in all horror films.

Jump to the ending where the director thinks "oh S*** I have to connect this to the first story." so you get a short scene where they move twelve years ahead.

My thoughts. While I liked the movie there was too much action around the girls and the connection to the other film seemed flimsy at best. Why not tell the story about the girls and spend the last twenty minutes connecting it instead of the five minute scene. It would have been good to bring the story full circle and would have made it meatier for the whole Annabelle loving crowd (as I am one of them).

I am hoping the writing will be better as the series progresses IF the series progresses. I give this one a three at best for the storyline taking two stars for the flimsy ending.

Guardians of the Galaxy Part 2

Guardians of the Galaxy part 2 is bigger better and funnier than the first one (which is saying a lot because I adored the first one.)

Baby Groot is so cute, ok yes it rhymes. I had to say that first before getting in depth with this review. All of the characters were expanded upon in this movie, giving us a much wanted glimpse into who they were and where they came from. It was totally well played into the movie and woven into the fibers of the storyline with mastery only the Marvel company can muster.

Even the opening sequence featured a fairy logo that was uber cool right before the movie began. That set the tone for awesomeness to ensue, and from start to finish the effects, world building, creature creation, and action sequences were  spectacular. I especially liked the makeup they did for Nina Dobrev.

Many of you know Nina from playing Elena in Vampire Diaries, this is an all new BADASS Nina that is far and away from the girl she played in Vampire Diaries and this role suits her well. Not only does it suit her well she plays it with such a sarcastic elegance that you want to see more of.

Everyone gets a hero moment in their own way and I love that about the Marvel films, they are very good about giving these awesome characters their due along with pieces of their stories.

I could go on and on about this movie, but I don't want to spoil it for you. I can tell you GO SEE THIS MOVIE NOW! You'll be glad you did!

A Dog's Purpose....very moving and very beautiful

I just finished A Dog's Purpose. If you have a dog or any kind of pet this movie will move you to tears guaranteed. Every animal has a purpose, and a soul. They have a heart and they can love. The story of one dog and his many lives (well sometimes he's a she and he's not sure what to think of that)  is heroic, touching, amazing, and beautiful. There were a great many issues with this movie however at the heart of it all they have given us a story for all ages that can be enjoyed alone or as a family. 

**spoiler alert here*** I liked that they featured a police dog as one of the lives the dog lives. So many people do not truly understand how hard their jobs are or how heroic these creatures truly are, or how truly special they are and loved both on and off patrol.  (ok down off the soapbox) 

The writing and the characters in this movie were so well played and well written with incredible depth. All of them have different spirits, some loving, some....well not so much. It also brings to light animal neglect and abuse as a part of the movie. All in all it carried a great message and  I truly loved this film and I will definitely be reading the book.

I think there will be many dogs named Bailey Bailey Bailey Bailey in the coming years *grins*

Passengers....a piece of cinematic genius

First of all, Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence together in a movie makes it a definite must see just because of these 2 brilliant performers. How can you not? 

The movie Passengers is about a spaceship taking people to a new colony because the Earth is overpopulated and far too expensive to live on. Chris Pratt wakes up out of an induced state of hibernation to a huge, empty, spaceship and he is alone. As the story goes on you see this character devolve into a totally different almost feral human being. His only friend is Arthur, a bartending android. 

Enter Jennifer Lawrence, who is Chris Pratt's dream girl. These two performers did such an amazing job with coping to life in space and waking up too soon to ever be able to get where they were going. I loved the winding, beautiful, and well written story line of this movie. Watching the two character's relationships build and become closer really warmed my heart. The humor between the two characters and of course their relationship with the android really added to the plot. Jennifer and Chris' comedic timing was spot on and really is one of the reasons I loved this movie so much. 

The effects in this movie are incredible. What they did with the water in the pool scene was amazing and so interesting to watch. It was a stroke of genius doing what they did, (I can't spoil it). 

This film is a brilliant piece of Sci Fy, and high on my list of favorite movies. With the amazing cast, crew, writers, effects people, and world builders it's a total A+. 

Rings a must see!

My daughter and I went to see Rings and to say we're impressed would be an understatement. I was expecting to be disappointed as  I was for Blair Witch and The Gallows. I was so happy that this wasn't the case.
The movie itself stuck to the plot line of The Ring and Ring Two. I liked especially that the movie was true to the story back in 2002, but was still new enough to feed the curiosity of new Ring fans.
Samara is back and badder than before with a whole new group of folks to terrorize. The movie delves into Samara's history and parentage which really gives it a whole new twisted story line to be explored.
I loved the movie from the very beginning, I must say though that I am a huge Ring fan and I love the premise of the movie. I'm very glad they brought it back.
One of the things about the horror in the movie that I really liked was that it was not slasher horror. The movie had me thinking the whole time. There were several parts where I remembered that I'd seen something in the movie that is shown to the people before they are marked for death by Samara. Horror doesn't have to have someone stabbing someone or cutting them up with a chainsaw (although they are fun to watch.) Psychological horror has it's own beautiful niche for this film to fit in.

Great writing, great direction, great cast, great effects, this movie has it all. The physicality of Samara was incredible I wish I could get my body to bend that way.
If you weren't a Ringophile before you will be after watching Rings. I'm hoping for more installments of this awesome piece of cinematic eye candy.I truly enjoyed this movie and I will be adding it to my private library when it comes out for sale.

Hidden figures....a Hidden Gem

Hidden Figures is a hidden gem in 2017's movie lineup 

I just got home from watching Hidden Figures. This film is a beautiful commentary on how diverse our space program truly was. I loved seeing that men and women were working side by side on that project. Back then women were not as respected as they are today, what I mean is they were expected to be wives and mothers and the man would be the "breadwinner." 

That's until you meet the three brilliant women of color who worked on the space capsule program at NASA. Those three amazing, incredibly intelligent, and inspiring women really made their mark on history working as "computers" for NASA. I'd been itching to see this movie since I'd seen the preview. I love movies set in that time because I look at it as a commentary on how one minded this world can truly, and how far we've come since then. 

These three hardworking women really made the white men and women on the program see their equality and even at times surpassed them with their incredible knowledge of mathematics equations. I give them a lot of credit, I can't do higher math it makes my brain blurt out expletives. Seeing these women write out the equations AND figure them out was so incredible, knowing that these were real women that did just that. 

I loved this movie, the sass the women had and the balance between home, work, friends, and romance really lightened the topic and the acting and writing on this movie was amazing. I highly recommend it and give it 5+ stars Taraji P Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae are a dynamic trio of women that really bring the story to life through their portrayals of the characters. This will be added to my collection when it comes to video.