Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

alice-through-the-looking-glass

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

Director:

James Bobin

Starring:

Mia Wasikowska

Johnny Depp

Helena Bonham Carter

Plot:

Alice returns to the whimsical world of Wonderland and travels back in time to help the Mad Hatter.

Review:

If you liked the first movie, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t like this one. Apparently, though, most people didn’t like this movie.

The story wasn’t as strong, but the characters were there and I liked seeing what Alice was getting into. It wasn’t overly realistic for a woman to be captain of a ship at her time, but nothing in the movie is overly realistic.

The score was great and one of the reasons I like these two movies.

Nothing really remarkable or bad about the movie.

3/5

 

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)

under-siege-2

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)

Director:

Geoff Murphy

Starring:

Steven Seagal

Eric Bogosian

Everett McGill

Katherine Heigl

Plot:

Casey Ryback hops on a Colorado to LA train to start a vacation with his niece. Early into the trip, terrorists board the train and use it as a mobile HQ to hijack a top secret destructive US satellite.

Review:

This movie too starts out with boobs. Pixilated boobs, but boobs none the less. It’s actually kind of disgusting how it’s done. Apparently a dancer jumping out of a cake topless is fine to me, but when they use a satellite to peep on a sun bather I take offense. Several men are weak pigs in this movie.

Anyway, the bad guy, Eric Bogosian, plays a great crazy bad guy.

Someone should not have told Seagal he could act because he can’t and anytime he tries it’s bad.

Graphics are bad, which is understandable considering the year the movie was made, but there are so many of them it’s ridiculous.

Competent bad guys are great, especially when the good guys are as well.

My husband freakin loved this movie, I did not.

2/5

Island of Glass (The Guardians Trilogy #3) By: Nora Roberts

island-of-glass

Island of Glass (The Guardians Trilogy #3) By: Nora Roberts

Plot:

As the hunt for the Star of Ice leads the six guardians to Ireland, Doyle, the immortal, must face his tragic past. Three centuries ago, he closed off his heart, yet his warrior spirit is still drawn to the wild. And there’s no one more familiar with the wild than Riley—and the wolf within her…

An archaeologist, Riley is no stranger to the coast of Clare, but now she finds herself on unsure footing, targeted by the dark goddess who wants more than the stars, more than the blood of the guardians. While searching through Irish history for clues that will lead them to the final star and the mysterious Island of Glass, Riley must fight her practical nature and admit her sudden attraction to Doyle is more than just a fling. For it is his strength that will sustain her and give her the power to run towards love—and save them all…

Review:

Very excited to finally read this book, I waited until after my son was born because I didn’t want to have a library book out and then be in the hospital unable to return it.

Anyway, this was a great ending to the series and I would honestly love more in this world and with these characters. Since it’s Nora Roberts I don’t see that happening since she tends to do trilogies and move on, but maybe.

Riley was cool and logical, Doyle was brooding and tragic, and together they made a good couple. Their romance wasn’t very romantic, but it worked for them, plus there was so much going on in the rest of the story that it fit better. They weren’t overlooked at all, but this was the climactic conclusion of the series.

That being said, the end battle was pretty short, but again this isn’t really a fantasy book, it’s a romantic fantasy. Whatever, I loved the series and I’m going to buy it when I can cause I foresee wanting to re-read it.

5/5

Conspiracy Theory (1997)

conspiracy-theory

Conspiracy Theory (1997)

Director:

Richard Donner

Starring:

Mel Gibson

Julia Roberts

Patrick Stewart

Plot:

A man obsessed with conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of his theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, in order to save himself, he has to figure out which theory it is.

Review:

This is one of my favorite movies. It has slow parts and the story could be tighter, but I still watch it any chance I get.

Mel Gibson plays a great crazy man and Julia Roberts plays a nice normal lawyer with the Justice Department.

Patrick Stewart gets his nose bitten off too, which is always fun.

This movie would be a lot less interesting set during our internet age. It’s too easy to get your personal conspiracy theories out there and all the effort he goes through is fun to watch.

His apartment is one of my favorite parts cause it’s just so freaky and paranoid. All the little quirks are fun and the fact that Julia just goes with it is fun.

4.5/5

Better Homes and Corpses (Hamptons Home & Garden Mysteries #1) By: Kathleen Bridge

better-homes-and-corpses

Better Homes and Corpses (Hamptons Home & Garden Mysteries #1) By: Kathleen Bridge

Plot:

After Meg Barrett found her fiancé still had designs on his ex-wife, she decided it was time to refurbish her life. Leaving her glamorous job at a top home and garden magazine, she fled Manhattan for Montauk, only to find decorating can sometimes lead to detecting…

In between scouring estate sales for her new interior design business, Cottages by the Sea, Meg visits the swanky East Hampton home of her old college roommate, Jillian Spenser. But instead of seeing how the other half lives—she learns how the other half dies. Jillian’s mother, known as the Queen Mother of the Hamptons, has been murdered. Someone has staged a coup.

When she helps a friend inventory the Spensers’ estate for the insurance company, Meg finds herself right in the thick of things. Cataloging valuable antiques and art loses its charm when Meg discovers that the Spenser family has been hiding dangerous secrets, which may have furnished a murderer with a motive. As Meg gets closer to the truth, the killer will do anything to paint her out of the picture…
Review:

I didn’t read the whole of Better Homes and Corpses, I got to sixty percent and then skipped to the last few chapters. It just was not my preferred cozy mystery. It had everything there, for the most part, I could have done with more character development of the male characters and less antiquing stuff, but it had everything else. I think that’s honestly why I didn’t like it as much, Meg’s career was just not something I have more than a passing interest in so all the little info dumps about antiques and refurbishing stuff was just boring.

Meg was an alright protagonist, she wasn’t too perfect, and she was interesting enough. There were editing issues, though. Too often I had no idea who was talking in the large cast of characters. The men all sounded the same and the other women in the story were all a bit off. One minute Meg was internally complaining about how sheltered and “introverted”(the author used introverted as basically a synonym for shy which bugs me a lot)  Jillian was and the next she was ordering for her like she was a child. Meg would also just randomly show up places with absolutely no indication to the reader except vague suggestions that you were just supposed to understand.

I’m not going to rate this book, even though I read about 75%, maybe someone else with different hobbies would enjoy this more. For me, I’m going to pass on the series.