Review

Back to Christmas (2014)

Back to Christmas (2014)

Director:

Tim O’Donnell

Starring:

Kelly Overton

Michael Muhney

Gloria Loring

Plot:

A woman travels back one year in time to the Christmas before her broken engagement and tries to repair what went wrong. She discovers that this is a challenging undertaking.

Review:

Alright, we’ve got a Christmas do over! Ali, Kelly Overton, thinks her entire life would be better if she hadn’t “over reacted” and dumped her boyfriend. Once she goes back we quickly realize he’s a tool and deserved so much more, but of course it takes her a while to catch on.

Her mother was borderline just no and there could probably be a whole movie or thirty minute side story about how she needs to finally live the life she wants.

The “angel” or whatever she was looked like a hooker when we first met her, which was kind of awesome. She was one of the best parts of the movie actually and I enjoyed each of her visits, even though she was a bit weird at first.

Ali ends up with the right guy, of course, but I thought the movie focused too much on the other dude and you didn’t really feel like the romance was there. There wasn’t much chemistry with the actress with either of the guys, actually.

Overall, cute movie.

4/5 (Christmas movies will now be getting an extra star unless otherwise mentioned, just because I feel like it)

A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)

A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)

Director:

Todd Strauss-Schulson

Starring:

Kal Penn

John Cho

Neil Patrick Harris

Plot:

Six years after their Guantanamo Bay adventure, stoner buds Harold Lee and Kumar Patel cause a holiday fracas by inadvertently burning down Harold’s father-in-law’s prize Christmas tree.

Review:

This is the first movie my husband and I saw in 3D and it did not disappoint. Even now, watching on a non-3D TV it’s still awesome.

Boobs, check.

Penis, check.

Tons of drugs, check.

Seriously, what more could you want in a Christmas movie?

Harold and Kumar have drifted apart but a holiday miracle will bring them back into each other’s lives when they need each other the most. It’s beautiful.

I’m not a stoner, but I highly recommend these movies to anyone that loves crude humor. This is one of those rare series that each successive movie gets better.

5/5

Side note: Totally worth $2.99 on Amazon Instant Video

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Director:

Taika Waititi

Starring:

Chris Hemsworth

Tom Hiddleston

Cate Blanchett

Karl Urban

Idris Elba

Jeff Goldblum

Anthony Hopkins

Mark Ruffalo

Plot:

Imprisoned, the almighty Thor finds himself in a lethal gladiatorial contest against the Hulk, his former ally. Thor must fight for survival and race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela from destroying his home and the Asgardian civilization.

Review:

BEST MARVEL MOVIE!

I know, that’s a pretty bold statement, but I stand by it. The music was awesome. The characters were fun. The acting was great. The story, always the weak spot in a Thor movie, was entertaining. Seriously, days later and I still can’t think of a single thing that I didn’t love.

Thor’s hair was cut, they somehow took an already super attractive man and made him that much more attractive. His comedy timing was perfect and it felt like they finally found a good balance for the role.

The Hulk was great, he’s a character that can’t really carry a movie all on his own, but adding him to a Thor movie worked out beautifully.

The new characters and world were fun and exciting and honestly I just freaking loved this entire thing. If I could I would see it again and again in theaters. It was that good.

I loved the colors, I loved the action, I loved the comedy, I loved it all.

I know, I know, this is a sucky review, but just go watch the movie.

5/5

Charmed: The War on Witches (Charmed Series #1) By: Paul Ruditis

Charmed: The War on Witches (Charmed Series #1) By: Paul Ruditis

Plot:

Having won the ultimate battle against the forces of darkness, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige—The Charmed Ones—are looking forward to a hard-earned, peaceful future. But when Phoebe’s former love, Cole, returns from the dead and the sisters are reunited with Prue, now imprisoned at the magical convergence between the realms, a dangerous new threat emerges.

As seemingly normal mortals violently steal the magic of witches, The Charmed Ones must shield their kind while protecting themselves from a modern-day witch hunt.

Charmed: The War on Witches continues the story of the Halliwell witches, picking up where the hit television series, Charmed, left off. With only the Book of Shadows to guide them, the Halliwell sisters are the fulfillment of their ancestor Melinda Warren’s prophecy that three sisters descending from her line would become the most powerful witches of all time. As The Charmed Ones, the sisters use the Power of Three to protect the innocent and banish evil from the Earthly realm.

Review:

I used to love Charmed. I watched the show live, muted, with closed captioning because my parents would have grounded me if they’d caught me watching. I took that risk, though, because I loved the sisters and their world. A few years back I saw that they had made a comic book for a season following the last, I bought the first volume immediately but ended up not liking the art or really the story so I didn’t continue. Still, I would randomly look into the series and recently decided to try this book.

The War on Witches takes place after the comic and if you haven’t read it you’re going to be confused at first. I know I was, I ended up finding a plot synopsis online for the comic to catch myself up. I can’t say I’m actually fond of having Prue and Cole back, but I can see why they did it. They are some of the fans two favorite characters and book form is the perfect way to bring them back.

The book ended up being almost exactly like the show and I loved that. However, there were times when the characters didn’t quiet sound like themselves and that wasn’t really helped by being able to see inside their minds for the first time.

There were demons, warlocks, reference to past episodes, and family drama, it was exactly what you’d expect from an episode of Charmed. Really, my only complaint is that I wish there was more about the family and Leo.

3.5/5


Side note: I bought this on sale, it doesn’t appear to be on sale now, it is not worth paying $9.99

A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird #1) By: Claudia Gray

 

A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird #1) By: Claudia Gray

Plot:

Cloud Atlas meets Orphan Black in this epic dimension-bending trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray about a girl who must chase her father’s killer through multiple dimensions.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite’s father is murdered, and the killer—her parent’s handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul’s guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is far more sinister than she expected.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores an amazingly intricate multi-universe where fate is unavoidable, the truth elusive, and love the greatest mystery of all.

Review:

Lost Stars was an incredible book, because of that I needed to try something else by Claudia Gray. A Thousand Pieces of You is about parallel universe and traveling to them, if that isn’t right up my alley I don’t know what is.

A Thousand Pieces of You is about traveling between universes, it’s got a system all worked out, it does it multiple times, but that isn’t the main point of the book. The main story is a freaking love triangle! Ugh. Other people might not feel that way, the characters certainly wouldn’t, it’s not about who she loves that way it’s about finding who killed her father and what the hell is going on, but there was just too much relationship stuff for me to agree. Her struggle between the two was in every chapter and it annoyed me to no end.

The book was well written the world’s created were cool and well thought out, but I just couldn’t stand the main character. She was stupid, it was clear from the first chapter that something was wrong with her motivation and she didn’t question it, she just pushed on and it bugged me. I just kept wanting to get to the part where she was as smart as people kept saying and I had to wait until the end of the book.

If it wasn’t for those two things I’d read the next book, but I just can’t handle more of the relationship drama. She’s basically made her choice at this point, but I know it’s not going to be that simple, it can’t be in these types of books. Technically I believe this book was actually a New Adult instead of a YA, the heroine was a senior in high school but she had sex, so *shrug*

If you don’t mind any of the things I mentioned I recommend reading this, it has a nice fleshed out plot and I’m sure it will continue to be, but I just can’t go on and that makes me sad. I was really hoping that Claudia Gray would end up being another favorite author.

3/5