Movie Monday and a Minute

I adore Nicholas Sparks. Even though all of his books and movies make me cry, I still like them.

  I was really excited to see The Last Song because he wrote the screenplay before he wrote the book. So, it was my thought that they had to each other much more closely than normal, since he already knew what would be in the movie.   I was a little disappointed because some of the storylines in the book were not gone into much detail in the movie and some parts were left out entirely. I know there have to be changes made due to the time constraints, but still....screenplay first, then book: in my opinion, they should be more similar. Though, there weren't any completely crazy changes, like there were in Dear John.   Miley Cyrus was a little odd for the character of Ronnie, who is supposed to be this "bad girl" in the beginning of the movie- and it just didn't work. Though, much as I've seen her acting criticized, I thought she did better than her co-star.   But, all that said: I did actually enjoy the movie.  Should you see it? It was sweet and the majority of the people in the theater was crying towards the end.  I would recommend seeing it. I'll probably rent it when it comes out on dvd and watch it again, when I want a good cry.  Should your kids? Even if you have tween girls who love Miley still, I think that it would be okay to take them. There's a bigger focus on her relationship to her father than there is on the romance. The physical part of the romance doesn't go past some making out.  Though, with all Sparks, it is sad, so keep that in mind.  Click to play along with Messy Mommy's Movie Monday or to see other reviews.  ***** I'm also joining in with Ian at Dose of Reality for his Monday Minute. I had seen him all over the blogosphere, but finally went over to check out his blog a couple weeks ago. I came late to that party. He's hilarious. AND, he cracks me up with his questions- definitely different from the other question memes I see.

What's wrong with fake breasts? That they're so expensive. I want a pair. Hubs is in full support of this. Though, we disagree with the size that I should get. He wants ones that would make me tip over. I've blogged about my desire for fake boobies before: HERE

List your latest run-in with the Carnival of Idiocy: I'm being the bigger person and not going into it. I hate being the bigger person.

Name one thing you'd like to tell your ten year ago self: I know you think you love him, sweetie, but RUN. Run away. Do it. Now. Go! I mean it. RUN!

What's your favorite word that's not in the dictionary? Oh, come on! Do you really need to ask?  <a href="http://thingsicantsay-shell.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="" src="http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac246/shellthings/motherbitchesbutton.jpg" /></a> You can grab my button and use it, too!
  Why do fools fall in love? Alcohol. Large quantities of it. It's also where a lot of babies come from. What? You didn't know that we almost gave my oldest the middle name of "Corona"?
 

   

Wild Things

The preview I just saw for the dvd that is coming out tomorrow is all sweetness and light: playing around, hugs, fun music: Be warned- that is NOT an accurate view of the movie! That's why I'm playing along with Messy Mommy's Movie Monday. You need to be warned!

I thought this would be a timely review to do, since this movie is coming out on dvd tomorrow and many of you might be wondering if it is appropriate for your children to watch. My 3- and 5-year-olds and I saw Where the Wild Things Are in the theater just two weeks ago. The theaters around here give free movie passes to some of the schools in the area on days when the kids have off for school holidays, to a children's movie that is a few months old.

Mil volunteered to watch Cub so that I could take the other two with me to go see it.

Monkey had seen the previews and had asked to go see it and of course, both boys were familiar with the book.

I was a little skeptical. The previews looked little scary(though NOT the one that I just saw!!!) and the movie is rated PG.

Now, I do let my boys watch PG movies, but I've found that for the movie theater, we're usually safe with a G-rated, as far as holding their attention, but PG-rated are better off as a dvd at home.

But, since the tickets were free and Grandma even gave the boys some popcorn and soda money, I thought we'd give it a shot, figuring we could always leave and it really wouldn't be any big loss.

I thought it was actually a great adaptation of the book to the movie.

But, I do think that it was a little too mature for my boys.

There are some scary scenes. In the book, the monsters are almost cute.

They are not cute in the movie.

When the monsters in the movie want to eat Max, it's frightening.

There's also a lot of dark and fast-moving scenes, which are a bit overwhelming. It probably won't seem quite as bad at home, though,unless your tv screen is THAT big.

Bear had to cover his ears several times because there were quite a few loud scenes.

There was a scene where they have a huge mud fight and both of my boys were laughing almost uncontrollably at that, though.

I do think that you could watch this movie with your child and take a lesson from it on how you should treat others and how to behave when you don't get your way, but I think that Monkey, at 5, is probably the youngest that I would have watch this movie.

And keep in mind that he's 5-going-on-22.

So, if you are thinking about this movie for toddlers or even preschoolers, you might want to reconsider.

Older than that, I'll give it my thumbs up.

Did you see it? What did you think?

Will you be renting it on dvd?

Have a movie you want to review? Head over to Messy Mommy's blog and link up!

****

Kiran, over at Masala Chica, whom I cannot wait to meet on Saturday at Bloggy Bootcamp, is travelling like crazy this week and so I had a guest post over at her place yesterday.

Please don't forget to head over there and show me some love so she doesn't regret letting me guest post. It was a Sunday and you know Sundays are sort of dead in the blog world.  But, what a bad impression that would be - to have almost no comments on it- when we're meeting irl soon.

She might act like she doesn't know me.
Please click HERE to visit!

 

Movie Mondays: I Never Agree with the Critics

I was actually able to see TWO movies recently, in the theater. We tend to wait for dvds a lot. Trying to find a sitter is sometimes more of a hassle than it's worth.  Plus, there's the whole not-able-to-stay-awake factor. So, this is a little rare for me!

Messy Mommy just started a new blog carnival last week called "Movie Monday," so this gives me a chance to talk about the movies and tell you why the critics are wrong! If you've watched a movie lately(in the theater, on dvd, or even just on tv) and want to talk about it, click the button below and link up!

Whether it's books or movies, anytime the critics are raving about something, I tend to get let down by it. But, when they don't like something, I tend to like it. Especially if the reason they don't like it is because it wasn't "deep" enough.

Pbbbbbfffffftttttttt.

I don't need deep.

I just want to enjoy myself.

*The Valentine's Day review does not contain spoilers, though the Dear John review does.*

Hubs and I saw Valentine's Day on Valentine's Day. Awwwwww. That's when I busted my knees by performing my cartoon-like fall.

The critics basically hated this movie. Poor script, tacky comedy, date movie from hell, quantity of actors instead of quality: these were all reviews that I read.

But, do you know what? This movie was FUN. It was cute, sweet, and funny. 

I did get a big kick out of a line that Taylor Lautner's character said at one point: "I don't feel comfortable taking off my shirt in public."  I laughed and then felt a little dirty, thinking about how I drooled over him in New Moon, back when he wasn't even legal. I didn't know that then: I'm too young to be a cougar!

The relationship with the "old couple" was my favorite plotline. I just love the scene with them near the end, in the graveyard(yes, I said graveyard) and the speech about how loving someone means you love all of them, not just the good parts. It fits perfectly with my view on marriage.

Even Hubs liked this movie. He doesn't get into the deep and sappy crap, so this was cute. Plus, the last line of the movie made the whole theater laugh, sending us out the door in high spirits. I don't want to spoil it for you, though. But, if you ask me, I'll tell you.

You know how you'll flip through the channels, looking for something to watch and there will be a movie on that you've seen a million times, but you always stop to watch it anyway? Valentine's Day will become one of those movies for me.

The other movie I saw was Dear John. I'm a huge Nicholas Sparks stalker fan. Though, this was probably my least favorite books of his. I kind of went off about why in this post, but I'll give you the short version of why, since I know it's a pain to go back and read an old post to get caught up.

So, I just copied and pasted my main problem with the book:

Here's my problem with Dear John: at the end, you are left with a couple who is married(Savannah and Tim). The wife loves her husband, but it's more a marriage that just happened due to circumstance and not because she actually is IN love with him. She's IN love with her ex(John) and still thinks about him, wishing things had happened differently. Her husband, who just went through a bout of cancer from which he almost didn't make it, is well aware that his wife would choose to be with her ex if she wasn't so set on honoring her marriage vows, but her heart is really else where. And then there's the ex, who is still in love with the girl that he can never have.

Tragic all around, right?

You always expect changes from the book to the movie. But, the ones that were made this time around left me with an unsettled feeling. Maybe even more unsettled than the book...but it's pretty much a toss up.

I could dissect this for the-longest-post-ever, talking about the changes made from book to movie, but I'll just tell you about the two most important ones.

The biggest change was just plain creepy. Savannah still marries Tim, but Tim is OLD. Like, old enough to be her dad. He is sick before they get married and pretty much pressures her into marrying him so that she will take care of his autistic son(in the book, this child is his brother; Tim doesn't get sick until after they are married; and he's only a few years older than her). People in the theater were visibly shuddering when they found out whom she married. Some even called out "That's NASTY!"

Then, there's the big change in the ending. In the book, John sells his father's coin collection and uses the money to pay for Tim's experimental treatment and it saves Tim's life.

But, in the movie, the treatment gives him a couple more months to live, to come home and say goodbye to his son. Then, he dies. Savannah writes a letter to John, professing her eternal love, and they exchange a kiss at the end.

A friend of mine told me that she liked the movie better than the book because the movie gives you the happy ending that you want. But, is that really a happy ending? I don't know how you could take the plotline of the book/movie and actually come up with an ending that does sit well with me.

I did still cry at parts, because I'm a giant sap like that. And watching Channing Tatum without his shirt on didn't hurt, either. He's legal, right? Phew.

In my opinion, see Valentine's Day and be prepared to have an uneasy feeling if you see Dear John.

Anyone see these movies? What did you think?

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