The Duff (2015)

The Duff

The Duff (2015)

Director:

Ari Sandel

Starring:

Mae Whitman

Bella Thorne

Robbie Amell

Plot:

A high school senior instigates a social pecking order revolution after finding out that she has been labeled the DUFF – Designated Ugly Fat Friend – by her prettier, more popular counterparts.

Review:

Honestly I’m really pushing it renting movies I’m interested in seeing. Right now there’s not much at Red Box I want to see, I’ve also seen most of the good stuff on Netflix and Amazon too. So if I have a passing interest in it I’m renting it for this blog. I’m pretty sure I’ll be re-watching a lot of favorites in my future.

It’s been so much longer than I realized since I’ve been in high school.

I think that might be the most awkward montage I’ve ever seen. Period. It was impossible to watch. So many awkward moments in this film that I found parts of it difficult to watch because of that, still I got into it and laughed several times.

Really liked Robbie Amell’s character. He wasn’t trying to change Whitman’s character he was trying to focus her. I liked that. In She’s All That Freddie Prinz Jr. changes his girl, Amell just tries to bring who she really is to the front. He was a clueless dick sometimes, mainly at the beginning of the movie.

Ultimately Whitman’s character discovers for herself who she is, but she wouldn’t have gotten there without him or her friends and mom.

The Duff brought back memories of being a silly teenage girl, watching goofy high school movies, so I enjoyed it.

3.5/5

A Murder is Announced (Miss Marple #5) By: Agatha Christie

a-murder-is-announced

A Murder is Announced (Miss Marple #5) By: Agatha Christie

Plot:

Villagers expect a fun game after a Gazette announcement of murder, but when lights flash off, shots ring out, and a masked burglar falls dead, the Inspector and vicar’s wife Bunch call in expert Miss Jane Marple. Was Swiss hotel clerk Rudi framed? Miss Letitia Blackstone houses scatty Dora, cousins Julia and Patrick, gardener widow Phillipa, and paranoid cook Mitzi.

Review:

This is the first Agatha Christie novel I’ve ever read. I’m kind of ashamed to say that. I’ve watched several movies based on her novels and I’ve meant to read some of her books for a while, I just never got around to it.

Anyway, the mystery was great I didn’t figure out who did it until the very end. I also really liked the idea and thought it was cool, surprised I haven’t seen it done more often. Miss Marple didn’t play as large a part in the story as I thought she would based on the movies I’ve seen. There were also some language and cultural differences that I had to overcome. Still it was a great mystery and great story and I’m looking forward to reading more.

I liked the fact that the policeman knew Marple and didn’t treat her like a batty old woman and actually went to her for help. In the movies I’ve seen with her she’s always in such control and I didn’t really get that from the book. She really came off as a nosy little old lady.

I think I might try a Poirot next.

4/5

Side note: There’s a whole paragraph where they talk about old women and how nosy and useful they are, only they don’t call them old women, the use a slang term that means something else entirely and it was freakin hilarious and at the same time uncomfortable to read.

 

Tinker Bell (2008)

Tinker Bell

Tinker Bell (2008)

Director:

Bradley Raymond

Starring:

Mae Whitman

Kristin Chenoweth

Raven-Symoné

Plot:

Enter the land of Tinker Bell and her four best fairy friends.

Review:

Sorry for another Tinker Bell post but my movie watching time is very limited and no matter how many times I tell my daughter that The Matrix: Reloaded is a masterpiece she refuses to sit still for it.

For those of you who’ve always wondered how Tinker Bell came to be this is the movie for you. It starts out with Tinker Bell’s origin story and then goes right into what life’s like in Pixie Hollow. That’s right fairies live in Pixie Hollow, I’m sure you thought they lived in Neverland, newb.

Once she makes herself a nice tight, little miniskirt Tinker Bell is ready to tinker. Tinker is not really her name it’s a title cause that’s the profession she was called into when she was born. She’s not really thrilled with this placement and spends the movie trying to be something else.

Eventually, due to Tinker Bell coming to grips with her geeky role, she puts automation into effect in Pixie Hollow and is able to get an entire seasons worth of work done in a day. What is not discussed is all the fairies now out of jobs due to this. I’m sure one of the future movies will delve deeper into this issue.

3/5

Murder is Binding (A Booktown Mystery #1) By: Lorna Barrett

Murder is Binding

Murder is Binding (A Booktown Mystery #1) By: Lorna Barrett

Plot:

The streets of Stoneham, New Hampshire are lined with bookstores…and paved with murder.

Stoneham, New Hampshire, was a dying town until community leaders invited booksellers to open shop. Now, its streets are lined with bookstores – and paved with murder…

When she moved to Stoneham, city-slicker Tricia Miles was met with friendly faces. And when she opened her mystery bookstore, she met with friendly competition. But when she finds Doris Gleason dead in her own cookbook store, killed by a carving knife, the atmosphere seems more cutthroat than cordial. Someone wanted to get their hands on the rare cookbook that Doris had recently purchased – and the locals think that someone is Tricia. To clear her name, Tricia will have to take a page out of one of her own mysteries – and hunt down someone who isn’t killing by the book …

Review:

Wow Tricia Miles, the main character, comes off as a real bitch in the first few chapters. She’s judgmental, blames her sister or her mother for why she feels certain ways, and is about as boring as a stick in the mud. Things just get worse from there.

I didn’t like the way Barrett wrote, she was overly descriptive about the surroundings, and seemed to be forcing things to go a certain way. A lot of her terms and word choices seemed really dated and I was surprised to see the book was published in 2008. None of her characters were compelling. The setting and premise were interesting, so interesting in fact that I already have the second book (thankfully it was only $.99) but I do not plan on reading it.

So disappointed in this book and will probably never read anything from this author again.

1/5

Side note: I really think this book was some sort of wish fulfillment for the author and a way for her to live the life she wants. She gets to solve mysteries, own an amazing bookstore, and have men love her. Too bad the character comes off as a c!@#

Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2014)

Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2014)

Director:

Steve Loter

Starring:

Ginnifer Goodwin

Mae Whitman

Rosario Dawson

Plot:

Fun and talented animal fairy Fawn believes you can’t judge a book by its cover, or an animal by its fangs, so she befriends a huge and mysterious creature known as the NeverBeast. While Tinkerbell and her friends aren’t so sure about this scary addition to Pixie Hollow, the elite Scout Fairies set out to capture the monster before he destroys their home. Fawn must trust her heart and take a leap of faith if she hopes to rally the girls to save the NeverBeast.

Review:

The scout fairies are by far the coolest, but that’s probably just my adult talking. I’ve seen a lot of these fairy movies floating around and even watched bits and pieces of them, but never actually paid attention to them. Since I’ve got a daughter they’re probably in my future so I decided to check one out and see if I should try and steer her clear of them.

The movie really teaches you not to trust the police. Fawn believes a giant beast isn’t a monster and doesn’t tell the scouts about him even when she’s given proof that he plays a part in some apocalyptic world ending event. She just assumed that the leader of the scouts would kill the beast, of course the leader ends up trying to kill the beast so I guess she knew what was best.

It’s a pretty dark movie for something starring fairies. Lots of green lightning and the beast ends up almost dying in the end. He does have to go away for 1000 years of hibernation.

I ended up missing the last few minutes because my daughter decided she was done watching and wanted to play in the cat food so maybe he got to stay around.

It was a cute movie and if I end up having to watch them a lot it could be worse.

3/5