Catching Fire--Ramblings

I finally got around to re-reading Catching Fire and finished it up last night. Can I just say that I am so, so nervous about the movie? Catching Fire was my favorite book of the trilogy, and I think that there's so much going on that perhaps this should have been the book to split into two movies.

Here are just a few of the things that bother me (these might be spoilers if you haven't read CF yet):

• Bonnie and Twill--the two runaways from District 8 that Katniss meets in the woods--aren't mentioned on the IMDB Catching Fire page. This, to me, is a pivotal plot point and I'm scared to see how it's going to be mangled.
• Madge--I had forgotten how important the roles of her and her family were in CF. Not only the whole thing about her mom and the reaping, but Katniss really sees the uprisings for the first time on a TV in her house. AND SHE WASN'T MENTIONED IN THE FIRST MOVIE. No record of her character on IMDB, either.
• And after watching the trailer? I am even more scared. Yes, I know they didn't show any of the Quarter Quell, but remember, they didn't show any fighting in any of the trailers for the first movie, either. That doesn't bother me at all (although I fear they will dumb down the monkeys the same way they dumbed down the Muttations). I got the impression that they are going to great lengths to spell things out for the viewer, which pisses me off. President Snow did not admit to doctoring the Quarter Quell decree-things in the book (at least, not in Catching Fire)--readers knew it was all too perfect to be coincidental but we were with Katniss as she slowly came to that realization. Here, we learned in the trailer that Snow has tricks up his sleeve.

Ugh, I don't know. Of course I will be at the movies the weekend Catching Fire opens (I don't think I can do a midnight showing!), and I will be GLAD, ECSTATIC, to come back here and tell you all that I was SO WRONG AND THEY ROCKED CATCHING FIRE. Will I be doing that? Only time will tell.

I do know that I found Liam Hemsworth immensely less stupid-looking--dare I say, almost hot?--when he presented the trailer at the MTV Movie Awards. The facial hair made him look more like his brother, my next husband, Thor.

What do you think? I know I've missed a ton of stuff here.
Enjoy your reading!
Christi

In My Mailbox (130)

In My Mailbox is a meme created by The Story Siren to showcase new books received.
So here's what I got this week!

Borrowed from the library:

• Four Secrets by Margaret Willey (it's been on my radar ever since I processed it a few months ago)

DVDs borrowed from the library:

• Zero Dark Thirty
• Killer Joe
• Killing Them Softly

What did you get?
Enjoy your reading!
Christi

Early April Movie Reviews

Since I haven't been reading as much lately, and I really haven't been enjoying what I've been reading all that much (with a few exceptions, god I have to get some reviews up!), here are some thoughts on some movies I've seen recently:

Jurassic Park (in 3D, natch) (rated PG-13): Best Girl and I saw this over the weekend. I have ZERO memories of this movie from its first release EXCEPT: when my parents got their big, 50-inch TV, my mom would always pop JP into the VCR to demonstrate the surround sound system. Best Girl LOVED the ride at Universal, and we were pleasantly surprised to see how true the area in Florida was replicated from the movie. The movie was pretty scary (I will venture a guess that 1993 PG-13 standards are not the same as 2013 PG-13 standards!), but overall we very much enjoyed the movie. We enjoyed it so much, in fact, that we picked up the movie on DVD at Target the same day. :)

Robot & Frank (rated PG-13): my colleague at work does lunchtime films for the adult population once a month, and she decided to show this one. I'd never heard of it, so I put it on hold. It was interesting--it takes place in the "near future" and is about an ex-con (Frank, played by Frank Langella, who I love) whose son gives him a robot health aide to make sure he's eating well, sleeping enough, and to basically be a loyal companion. It seems Frank might be starting to get a little...forgetful. Frank soon realizes that Robot might be the perfect companion to pull off one more big heist. This was a cute movie with a great cast (James Marsden, Susan Sarandon, and also Liv Tyler, who I'm not really fond of). Much of the movie revolves around the local library and it's transformation to a digital repository, which of course I found especially interesting.  It wasn't a movie I would've picked up on my own but it was cute enough.

Easy A (rated PG-13): my brother and I were discussing how much we love Stanley Tucci one night, and he (my brother) pulled up a few of Tucci's scenes from this movie on YouTube, so of course I had to borrow this from the library. I have to say I thought this movie was absolutely adorable. Of course Stanley Tucci OWNED this movie, but Emma Stone is adorbs and Thomas Hayden Church was a nice surprise, too. I don't know why I was so hesitant to see this one; I loved it!

What have you seen lately?
Enjoy your reading (and viewing)!
Christi

In My Mailbox (129)

In My Mailbox is a meme created by The Story Siren to showcase new books received.

So here's what I got this week!

Borrowed from the library:

• Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight (adult fic)
• The Adults by Alison Espach (adult fic)
• Hysteria by Megan Miranda

DVDs borrowed from the library:

• Robot & Frank
• Breaking Dawn Part 2 (It's over. Thank the lord, it's finally over!)
• Last Play at Shea (Billy Joel's concert, the last one held at Shea Stadium. My brother thought I'd enjoy it.)

ARC received from publisher to share with my teens at the library (thank you, Little, Brown Books!):

• Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin 

What did you get?
Enjoy your reading!
Christi

In My Mailbox (128)

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate!!!

In My Mailbox is a meme created by The Story Siren to showcase new books received.

So here's what I got this week!

Borrowed from the library (I actually made a trip to work--during my vacation!--to pick up my holds!):

• Bluefish by Par Schmatz

eGalleys downloaded from NetGalley:

• Rotten by Michael Northrop
• Dare You To by Kate McGarry

DVDs borrowed from the library:

• Argo
• Lincoln (see why I made the trek to work?)
• Girls, Season 1

What did you get?

Enjoy your reading!
Christi

March Movie Reviews (and my feelings on James Franco)

I have been on the fence about James Franco for a long, long time. I really want to like him--I love the idea of him being our generation's Renaissance Man--but something about him just doesn't ring true. My ex-husband has always said never to trust anyone with beady eyes, and for the most part he has been completely spot-on with that advice. Something about James Franco just doesn't ring true for me, like he's made it his life's mission to make us all look like idiots or something.

Still, I enjoy some of his work. Of course I loved him in the Spiderman movies :) and he was absolutely amazing in 127 Hours (rated R)--especially THAT scene, which was done in one horrifying take (I really feel he deserved the Oscar that year, not just a nod). If you can stomach it, I highly recommend it.

Best Girl and I (and a few of my friends) saw Oz: The Great and Powerful (rated PG) a few weeks ago. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Mila Kunis is, as aways, stunning. James Franco was better than expected, although I felt the cockiness of the character was more along the lines of how I think Franco might act in real life. But who knows?  The two things I loved best about this movie were Finley, the flying monkey, and the China Doll. I want each of those things for my very own.

Finally, this evening I treated myself to the movies to see the other Franco film out right now, Spring Breakers (rated R). Entertainment Weekly has been raving about this movie for several weeks, and naturally I was curious to see Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens fully breaking out of Disney. Hudgen proved herself, but Gomez's character was a little too clean-cut to really gauge how well she's going to do outside of the Disney bubble.

I was also curious to see how James Franco did as Alien, rapper and local thug. I was not disappointed but instead quite surprised at how well Franco transformed himself:

Until Franco took off the sunglasses, you couldn't even really tell it was him. He didn't just embrace this character, he became this character. It was an amazing transformation. 

This movie is not for everyone, of course. Lots of drug use and drinking, sex and gratuitous nudity, and violence abound. But it was an interesting film that I enjoyed. I never took a spring break trip during college, and you can bet your butt I'm not going to let Best Girl take one, either!

I don't have a final verdict on James Franco. I do enjoy his performances as an actor, but I get the feeling that he's always acting.

Enjoy your reading!
Christi

In My Mailbox (127)

In My Mailbox is a meme created by The Story Siren to showcase new books received.

So here's what I got this week!

Borrowed from the library:

• Banished: surviving my years in the Westboro Baptist Church by Lauren Drain (adult nonfic)
• Six Years by Harlan Coben (adult fic)

DVDs borrowed from the library:

• Easy A
• Boiler Room
• Arbitrage

What did you get?
Enjoy your reading!
Christi