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.

Jem and The Holograms

Ok, so if you're like any 80's kid you watched Jem on Saturday morning with your cocoa puffs....or in my case my rice krispies. If you walk into this movie thinking that it's going to be a remake of the Saturday morning cartoon then you probably shouldn't watch this movie. If you are like the 9 billion of us that loved movies like Juneau, Saved!, and so many other quirky coming of age movies, then you're going to love Jem and The Holograms. This movie is a far cry from the Saturday morning cartoon in many wonderful ways. It's about Jem and her sisters of course, and their true and beautiful bond of love and friendship that only sisters can have. It's about finding yourself and helping others do the same. I left that movie feeling inspired and with a smile on my face. I give it a four out of five for the only purpose that I wish there was more. I was totally into watching this movie after it flopped at the box office, and I can't understand why. It's got a great feel to it and it's just a light fun movie to watch. 

Sully....What can I say? This movie is inspiring, no that's not a good word for it. Incredible...no that's not it. There are no words to describe this movie. The whole event was a miracle in itself and it was at the hands of the two men piloting that plane. I was astounded at all that happened, how just by happenstance those people were on that plain, and how incredible their stories were and how everyone made it. I was so moved by the response by the ferries in the water and the coast guard. This movie really is a movie about the indomitable human spirit. The only complaint I had, too short it could have gone so much further. The writing and acting was amazing and Hanks and Eckhardt did a great job of telling the story of these two incredible men. This movie cannot be reviewed on the acting abilities of one actor, not even by two actors, it's a great ensemble piece.  My favorite part was seeing the real people at the end it was so awesome. Highly recommended. 

The Shadowhunters Codex Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis

First off....the artwork....oh my gosh....there are various artworks in this book and they are all beautiful however what struck me is the artwork under the front cover and under the back cover it is so beautiful and you really see the two different storylines from the Infernal Devices and from the Mortal Instruments. 

The words are clear and concise and very different from Cassie's creative style, however it is supposed to be because this book was written by the Clave for the use of future Shadowhunters. So you can truly see the way the Clave looks at things and it really ties everything together. You see how they look at it and see things from the different series of books and things that happen and you go..."Oh I know what that is" (eg...Demon Pox nuff said). 

The little comments by Clary, Jace, and Simon are hilarious. Simon, I love his comedic remarks and Clary's answers. I personally love when she shows the book to Luke and takes notes. There's a point where Luke is mad and pacing around the room and I just rolled laughing because I understood the Clave's one mindedness and I agreed with Luke. He was taught all of this before he became a werewolf and now he's seeing how one minded the Clave is and he sees how ridiculous it is. 

It's a dry read but it's meant to be and it really is so descriptive and "in the world" of this incredible series. Cassandra Clare's writing is one of a kind and so beautiful and amazing and special. She's created this wonderfully frightening world of angels and demons and good and evil and the fine line that we all walk between the two. This is just an overall awesome read and I highly recommend it. 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a classic in its own right

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them... It's not Harry Potter, however it is a classic in its own right. I loved the creature creations for this movie including of course those greedy goblins which I was so very happy to see in this film as well. Eddie Redmayne did such a wonderful job as Newt Scamander and his cast of creatures was breathtaking. They were all created differently and beautifully in their own right. His deep connection and understanding of the creatures was so well done by Redmayne who seemed to be a little Autistic with his lack of eye contact most of the time while talking, which if it was done on purpose, I love it. It gives the character even more depth and beauty. The other wizards were amazing, I think my favorite was Queenie Goldstein she was so endearing and such a wonderfully played character. She had a lot of heart and that endeared her to the audience even more.

It was cool to see the differences between the American and British Ministries of Magic and the difference in terminologies between the two countries. All in all this movie gets 5 enthusiastic stars from me. The continuity was incredible and I highly recommend it.