Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 – Movie

Adapted from the book written by J.K. Rowling

Starring:

Daniel Radcliff, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson

and a host of stars

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/index.html

Preorder it Here

Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Rated PG-13

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series.  The much-anticipated motion picture event is the second of two full-length parts.

In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world Read the rest of this entry »

Fast Five

Starring:

Vin Diesel

Paul Walker

Jordana Brewster

The “Rock”

Rated PG-13

Action/Adventure/Drama/Suspense/Thriller‎

Since Brian and Mia Toretto broke Dom out of custody, they’ve blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom. They know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the more »corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he’s not the only one on their tail. When hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs is assigned to track down Dom and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault. But, Hobbs learns he can’t separate the good guys from the bad. Now, he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey — before someone else runs them down first.

Okay, I’m going to step out and say it: I’m a Vin Diesel fan. Plus, what’s not to like about Paul Walker and his big blue eyes? This is the fifth movie of the “Fast and Furious” series and I’ve seen them all. Yes, all. So you can guess that I might have liked this one also. I did, I thought it was one of the best of the group. If you enjoy good looking guys, fast cars, on the edge of your seat storylines  this movie is for you. I will be watching it over and over. It gets an A+ from me.

Tangled

Disney Movie

When the kingdom’s most wanted – and most charming –bandit Flynn Rider hides in a mysterious tower, the last thing he expects to find is Rapunzel, a spirited teen with an unlikely superpower – 70 feet of magical golden hair! Together, the unlikely duo set off on a fantastic journey filled with surprising heroes, laughter and suspense.

A cute, fast paced tale that ends with the characters falling in love. Despite being a cartoon, the movie is a story of two characters looking for their place in the world. I bought the CD and plan to enjoy the movie over and over. Disney movies don’t disappoint and this one isn’t one either.

The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)

 http://www.sonyclassics.com/thesecretintheireyes/

“The Secret in Their Eyes,” this year’s winner of the Oscar for best foreign-language film at the Academy Awards®, is a movie worth seeing.

In Spanish, with English subtitles, “The Secret in Their Eyes,” has it all – a 25-year-old unsolved crime, a story of unrequited love, and one man’s obsession with his young wife’s violent death. A first-class thriller, the movie is also humorous, and very well acted and written. I wasn’t familiar with any of the actors or the writer-director, but the film was stellar and completely absorbing.    

After 25 years, Benjamin Esposito, a retired criminal investigator, can’t get a brutal rape and murder out of his mind and now he wants to write about the case. He returns to his old office where his former boss, Irene, who he also can’t get off his mind, now works as a judge.

The film flashes back and forth in time from 1974 (during the rule of Eva Peron) to 2000 Buenos Aires. The movie is about how Benjamin and Irene work together to solve the case and about their lost chance at love. There is a poignant scene at the train station that is reminiscent of “Casablanca.”

One character, Sandoval, Benjamin’s alcoholic assistant is particularly engaging.   

A typewriter with a broken “A” plays a key comedic role. At times, the film will frighten you and the ending will shock and surprise you.

I highly recommend this film as a “must-see.”

The Bounty Hunter

Jennifer Aniston

Gerard Butler

Comedy, Action

Sony Pictures

Nicole Hurley and Milo Boyd are ex-marriage partners. Nicole is a strong willed, hard-nosed newspaper reporter. Milo is an ex-cop turned bounty hunter, who owes gambling debts.

Milo is assigned to pick up Nicole on a bench warrant because she missed a court date for an issue she considers unimportant. Nicole is following a story about a suicide that involves the police department in something possibly illegal.  When Milo locates Nicole she is digging into her story and soon people are chasing them, trying to kill her. She tells Milo about what she believes and that she suspects one of their good friends of being involved. Nicole and Milo work together to discover who the real killer is and along the way find that they still care for each other. 

They catch the killer, Nicole gets her story, and Milo gets the girl – to court. They decide to give their relationship another chance.

I like Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler but I wasn’t wild about this movie. It had some funny parts but not funny enough to carry the whole movie.  It is worth watching on TV, but for the price of a movie ticket, and especially popcorn and a coke on top of that, there weren’t enough funny scenes.

Movie and Book #1 from the series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Starring:  Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Catherine Keener, Uma Thurman, Pierce Bronson  

Director: Chris Columbus

Writers:

Craig Titley (screenplay)
Rick Riordan (novel)

Studio: Fox 2000 Pictures

Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Book Released: June 28, 2005

Percy Jackson thinks he’s just a troubled kid with really, really bad luck.  After being attacked by his psychotic pre-algebra teacher, he finds himself in a life or death race to the safety of a place called Camp Half-blood.  Once there he discovers this is a camp for children with a parent who is a Greek God and that he is a son of Poseidon.   With this realization, his luck goes from bad to worse. 

He barely has time to take it all in before he has to embark on a quest to save the world from an all out mythological war.  With the help of two fellow campers, Percy has to make his way to the underworld while navigating his way from one side of the United States to the other and through all the monsters in-between.  If he can make it through this alive, he might just save more than humanity.

Mythology, heroes, and boy-meets-girl.  This book/movie/series has it all. 

I LOVED this story.  My son and I started reading The Lightning Thief together and then both found ourselves skipping ahead when the other couldn’t be there to read it.  Rick Riordon did an amazing job of creating Percy’s world.  The way he bounced myths and legends off of each other made me feel like I was coming home to a place I already knew.  It didn’t take us long to read all five books in the series. 

The movie was an excellent adaptation of the first book.  Although there were many differences, I felt they did a good enough job that the differences were not disappointing.  I highly recommend both the movie and the books, but if you want to know how the story ends without having to wait for the next movie to come out, the books are definitely the way to go.     

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