EW Gives 'The Last Song' a "B"....What the Heck?

I say "what the heck" because I'm shocked! I figured that since Mylie Cyrus was starring in the flick, the critics would have no mercy on her movie adaptation of Nicholas Spark's best-selling novel. I'm so eager for Friday so I can feast my eyes on Liam! I'm not looking forward to the snot fest that is sure to ensue after the plot begins to develop. Lisa Schwarzbaum reviewed 'The Last Song' and she typically doesn't like a dang thing that I do, so I'm skeptical now that she's basically telling me that it's good. Here is her full review from Entertainment Weekly:

If you know anything in advance about The Last Song, you know that it stars Miley Cyrus. You also probably have an opinion about her. She is, after all, the formidably successful teen Disney Channel hatchling who heads a global pop culture empire that now stretches from Hannah Montana mania to a line of Walmart clothing. But in order to get the most out of The Last Song, it's best to tune out your awareness of Cyrus' celebrity. Or the fact that this mild, girl-oriented tearjerker has been written specifically for the young star to expand her thespian range, in a story machine-welded by indefatigable best-seller churner Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) and coscreenwriter Jeff Van Wie.

So forget all that. Just know that The Last Song stars a dark-haired up-and-comer in the role of a sullen teenage girl named Ronnie. Ronnie and her kid brother have come from New York City to spend a summer in an atmospheric Southern beach town with their divorced father. (Likable-dad player Greg Kinnear plays Dad.) Ronnie's relationship with her father is pretty awful, but their communication gets better after she meets a nice, cute guy named Will (Liam Hemsworth), whose niceness makes Ronnie nicer, too. And that's good, because before this melodrama comes to its sand-and-surf conclusion, Ronnie, Dad, Will, and just about every single resident of this atmospheric Southern beach town will experience character-building challenges and heartrending sadnesses. These are guaranteed to result in tears, for the sad fictional people on screen as well as for the satisfied real people watching in movie theaters.

And here's the revelation: Miley Cyrus is a really interesting movie star in the making, with an intriguing echo-of-foghorn speaking voice, and a scuffed-up tomboyish physicality (in the Kristen Stewart mode) that sets her apart from daintier girls in her celebrity class. As Ronnie, turning moods on a dime the way girls her age do, Cyrus sustains a perfectly believable demonstration of post-high-school, precollege female longing. She shows anger, vulnerability, defensiveness. And she anchors a serviceable idealized drama about how a loving relationship between a father and daughter paves the way for that lucky daughter to one day find adult love. B

The Last Song Author Featurette - Check Out Will! Hot!

A group of my 8th grade girls and I are going to see this film on Friday. I'm excited to see if it remains true to the novel, and for some odd reason, Greg Kinnear reminds me of my own father. I'm sure I'll be bawling like a big ole' baby by the end of this thing, but I really do love the story. If you come from a home with divorced parents, you can easily identify with Ronnie's plight. I also love that Will's character is a hottie. Can't wait to see the volleyball scenes, that's for sure! I particularly love the scene in this featurette where he is hosing off Ronnie after a day of mudding. Oh my!

This video just has a few more scrumptious shots of Liam Hemsworth. Mylie is a lucky girl!

REMEMBER ME? Uh, Heck Yeah!

I'm just going to say that Entertainment Weekly is on crack for giving Remember Me (the new flick with Robert Pattinson) a grade of D-. I was blown away by the movie, and didn't expect such depth and drama out of a film I was only going to see because of the eye candy. I'm not going to go into plot too much because I might spoil the dramatic ending of the flick, but Rob plays Tyler Hawkins, a guy battling several demons - mainly the loss of his beloved brother to suicide and his work-a-holic father who neglects him. He orchestrates a "chance" meeting with an attractive blonde from one of his classes, who also happens to be the daughter of the cop who through Tyler in jail after a bar brawl. Tyler doesn't expect to fall in love with Ally, but soon finds he can't control his heart, no matter how burdened and messed up it may be.

Even though my love for Pattinson was cemented with his New Moon appearance, I saw him in a totally different light in Remember Me. He is a good actor...no, check that, a great actor and it's sad that he won't get the credit he deserves because he was in a pop culture phenomenon movie. I see him having to travel the long, difficult road that Leonardo Dicaprio had to endure after his role in Titanic. If I do recall, Leo wasn't taken seriously as an actor for quite sometime after his Titanic success (no pun intended).

This film was surprisingly well-written, full of delicious scenes (Rob plays the bad boy SO WELL), and had some extremely heart-tugging, tear-jerking moments that left such an impression on me that I'm still mulling them over long after leaving the theater. I'm not sure teeny-boppers will understand the importance and poignancy of the ending, but Remember Me is a great film to see over your Spring Break if you want to be pleasantly surprised. LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT....and hated to see it end. You'll know what I mean after you see it. Trust me.

Must-See Movie: SHUTTER ISLAND

The previews for Leonardo Dicaprio's new movie, Shutter Island, in no way made me want to see the production. I'm a huge chicken and scary films are not my forte. My husband is a fan of Dicaprio and wanted to see it Saturday evening, so being the good wife that I am, I begrudgingly agreed to accompany him. I can't tell you very much about the film without screwing up what makes the movie AMAZING, but let's just say that the previews do not do this film justice. IT WAS MIND-BENDING AND, AND, AND.....JUST WOW!!! If you have the chance to see the film, take it. Trust me...it's that good!

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

6th Grader Percy Jackson has had a rough childhood. Trouble has followed him to every school he's ever attended, and his dyslexia and ADHD haven't helped matters, either. Percy has never understood why he can see things other can't see and why when he's angry, he can do things that "normal" kids can't do...things that usually involve water. He finally feels like he may have found a place at his current boarding school, until a field trip goes awry and a Percy battles for his life and discovers his hidden lineage in the process. As a half-blood, or son of a Greek god, Percy must find his way to Half-blood Hill camp and learn what the gods have in store for him.

I saw the trailer for the new movie during the previews for New Moon, and I knew I needed to read the books. Not only have my 8th grade boys latched on to the series, but our school librarian has been pushing the Reading teachers to read Riordan's popular series. Action-packed and chock-full of Greek mythology references, I am very excited about this book. For one, I love having a series I can recommend to my students (especially boys), and two, I have to teach Greek mythology starting next year. This novel will be and excellent way to introduce Greek mythology, and the new movie will only help fuel interest in the series. I'm a bit concerned about them changing Percy in the movie from a 6th grader to a high school student, but we shall see if that altercation affects the plot of the movie. I'm hoping studio execs aren't tampering with a good thing by changing his age. Lord knows having Harry Potter in the movie version of the book remain young worked out well for that cinema series. I do know that the book is a worthy read, so if you want an imaginative and fast-paced series to dive into, then Riordan's series is worth a shot.

AVATAR is Living Up to the Hype!

I will be the first to admit that I love science fiction and fantasy story lines. Heck, I'll even fess up that one of my favorite t.v. shows when I was younger was Star Trek...yes, I'm a closet Trekkie! However, my former football player husband DOES NOT do Sci-fi. I think it is a cardinal rule for jocks or something. They take an oath in junior high before they are issued their first set of pads, promising to abstain from using their imaginations and brains for anything other than drawing up or analyzing football plays. However, since I can pretty much badger him into doing anything that I please, I forced him to see AVATAR with me...in 3D, no less! He had to sit in the theater with all of the other dorks AND wear Buddy Holly-esq glasses. I soooooo wanted to take a picture to commemorate the moment but he would've punched me in the throat, so I didn't dare.

Anywhoo, back to the lecture at hand, AVATAR was amazing; the creme de la creme of Sci-fi films. The computer animation was out-of-this-world, and it still boggles my mind that there are people in this world who can actually MAKE stuff like this. It is mind-blowing, and I totally understand how it took such a long time to make - I think it was eight years in the making, or something outrageous like that! The storyline obviously parallels many conflicts Americans have created in the past and currently: the taking of land and resources from native populations. It is a great testimony for peace and understanding in this time of war. Now before I nominate James Cameron for the Nobel Peace prize, I will admit that there was a bit of cheese involved in the the plot, but not necessarily Velveeta. It was cheesy, but more like an expensive cheese you purchase at the deli to have with your sort-of-expensive bottle of wine. If you do plan on seeing the flick, take my advice and see it in 3-D. It is well worth the extra dough and you won't even notice the dorkiness of the specs after the previews start to roll. Go see AVATAR, then join me in recycling or possibly donating funds to the Aborigines or to Rain forest kittens.

Sex and the City 2 Trailer!

I loved the first movie, and I hope the second is just as good. May 28th, 2010 is the release date, and I will be eagerly antcipating catching up with Charlotte, Carrie, Miranda and Samantha, but I certainly could do without any Miranda/Steve naked scenes. That was a little TOO much SATC for me!

The Princess and the Frog

My two daughters give me great excuses to see children's movies in the theater. I love Disney, and I've been a fan of Disney princess movies since I could walk. The Princess and the Frog was a beautiful and cute movie that both of my daughters (and myself) enjoyed. Read the review from EW's Lisa Schwarzbaum. She does a much better job of writing the review than I would!



Entertainment Weekly's Review of The Princess and the Frog (Give an "A" Grade)
Young viewers of The Princess and the Frog won't give a croak that the marvelous new 
 adventure from Walt Disney Animation Studios has been created using the same hand-drawn, 2-D techniques that entertained those viewers' Bambi-loving grandparents more than 65 years ago. But adults should: This old-fashioned charmer holds its own beside the motion-capture elegance of Disney's A Christmas Carol, the engrossing stop-motion universes of Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox, the CG-enhanced genius of Up, the wonder of 3-D technology, and, indeed, the unique, hand-drawn Japanese artistry of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo as the year's deepest, most affecting, and most inventive movies.

Still, for the greenest or the grayest in the audience, the inclusive story of a resourceful African-American girl in 1930s New Orleans who kisses a frog with unexpected, funny results is its own reward: This A-level, G-rated entertainment is a fresh twist on the classic fairy tale about a handsome prince temporarily out of commission due to a malicious magic spell, a royal catch requiring the smooch of the right kindhearted, risk-taking heroine to restore him to his waiting throne. (As an added benefit, the smoocher gets to stand alongside her royal as his princess.) Only this time, the kiss that the lovely heroine, Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose), bestows on frog-bodied Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) backfires. He ends up in the same shape that he hopped into — and Tiana turns amphibian too. The patient, beautiful, hard-
working, entrepreneurial young woman is particularly irked because she has no desire to be a princess at all; what she really wants to do is open her own restaurant.

Great swampy mess! The race to restore happily-ever-after order involves a jazz-loving alligator named Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley); Ray (Jim Cummings), a bebopping Cajun firefly; Dr. Facilier (Keith David), a shady New Orleans gent who dabbles in dark arts; and Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis), ancient royalty of the bayou magic world with the power to undo Dr. Facilier's treachery. And this being the Disney kingdom under the beneficent creative rule of veteran directors Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin) and composer Randy Newman (Cars, Toy Story), the frolic also includes songs of gumption (''Almost There''), mischief (''Friends on the Other Side''), optimism (''When We're Human''), spiritual uplift (''Dig a Little Deeper''), and 
 the love of something up above — in this case, an evening star (''Ma Belle Evangeline'').

But while little kids laugh at the froggy humor (summed up in the excellent, repeated punchline ''that's not slime you are secreting — it's mucus!''), the firefly antics, and the cute sight of a fat alligator wailing on his trumpet like Louis Armstrong, adult viewers are rewarded with something more moving — a Proustian remembrance of the durable 
 power of Disney at its old-school best. The filmmakers trust in story over special effects, and character over celebrity voices (there are almost none here, save for a brief cameo by queen-of-all-she-surveys Oprah Winfrey as Tiana's saintly mother, Eudora). They steep the movie in colloquial American culture. They offer a sophisticated musical experience (ragtime, zydeco, gospel, Tin Pan Alley) 
 accessible even to the youngest ears. And in doing so, the creative team behind The Princess and the Frog upholds the great tradition of classic Disney animation.

The Princess and the Frog happens to introduce an African-American heroine, a Disney animation first. The story also 
 happens to be set in an idealized New Orleans of an earlier time, a city whose historic beauty and cultural importance will forever be 
 filtered by contemporary adults through grimmer awareness of the natural and man-made disasters of Hurricane Katrina. It's all the more effective, though, that this Big Easy of a movie needs no overt mention of Katrina to move our hearts, and inserts no overt lesson in the history of civil rights to distract from the groundbreaking matter-of-factness of Tiana's equality. What matters is that Tiana triumphs as both a girl and a frog, that dreams are fulfilled, wrongs are righted, love prevails, and music unites not only a princess and a frog but also kids and grown-ups. A

'If I Stay' Catherine Hardwick's Next Big Movie Release and Other 'Twilight Effect' Projects

Is There a 'Twilight' Effect in Hollywood?
With Catherine Hardwicke receiving more film offers, and similar projects ''The Vampire Diaries'' and ''The Hunger Games'' underway, we ponder the flick's influence on Tinsletown

By Nicole Sperling, Christine Spines
(from http://www.entertainmentweekly.com/)

Judging by the fanfare over the news that Twilight's Catherine Hardwicke will direct another young-adult novel (Gayle Forman's If I Stay, out April 2), you'd think she'd already found her next blockbuster. But Stay, about a comatose teen who mulls whether life is worth living after a car accident, isn't exactly box office bait. No matter. Now, even a loose association with Stephenie Meyer's sensation is enough to ratchet up a project's profile. ''I get a million offers a day, even [for]projects that studios will resurrect if I can make them more like Twilight,'' says Hardwicke, who's also developing James Patterson's best-selling teen series Maximum Ride for Sony. ''But I don't think anything can be like Twilight.''

Hollywood would like to disagree. Besides Hardwicke's projects, Kevin Williamson is producing an adaptation of The Vampire Diaries for The CW, while Lionsgate just scooped up The Hunger Games, a futuristic teen-fiction series that Meyer endorsed on her blog. ''Twilight shows what we've known since Titanic,'' says Games producer Nina Jacobson. ''If you speak to young people in a way that resonates emotionally, they'll show up again and again.'' If none of those works, Twilight fans can turn to the big-screen sequel New Moon, out Nov. 20. ''People always ask me who the next Stephenie Meyer is,'' says literary agent and producer Ellen Goldsmith-Vein. ''The next Stephenie Meyer is Stephenie Meyer.''

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If you haven't read If I Stay by Gayle Foreman, give it a whirl. It is a short but awesome read! I'm hoping this movie is as hip, touching, and cool as the book. I think Hardwick is a great choice to direct the film adaptation of this novel because she has such an edgy, earthy vibe about her. I look forward to April of 2010 to judge the movie adaptation!

Role Models...Funny, Funny, a Little Disturbing, but Still Funny

I love Paul Rudd, and the movie Role Models has been out for quite sometime, but I just needed to say how freakin' funny I think it is. It's been on HBO lately and I find myself watching it everytime it is on! I'm a fan of sarcasm, and Paul Rudd is King.

Harry Potter...in FIVE SECONDS!

It's a trend on YOUTUBE to make 5 second versions of popular movies. I thought this one of Harry Potter was clever:


This Titanic clip is also cute:

The Lovely Bones Trailer

One of my favorite books of all-time is now a movie, releasing on November 21st. Maybe after seeing New Moon at midnight, I can come back that afternoon to catch The Lovely Bones! This book will grip your soul and keep you mulling it over for weeks and weeks. Watch the trailer, but keep in mind, that the book is always better than the movie!

I Know Where I Will Be on May 28th...

At the Sex and the City sequel premiere, with a box of Raisinettes, large popcorn and ginormous coke! Love me some SATC!

Michael Oher and The Blind Side

Drafted in the first round this year by the Baltimore Ravens, Michael Oher walked a LONG and treacherous route to shine in the NFL spotlight. Oher's story is being told in the new movie, Blind Side, with Sandra Bullock. I saw the preview before The Time Traveler's Wife (which I LOVED, btw) and the preview sparked my interest in Oher. Of course my husband Donnie knew every detail about Oher's journey and filled me in after the show. I have a soft spot in my heart for ANY child who doesn't have love from the time they enter this world, and I still don't understand how a mother (or father, for that matter) can give birth to a child and not love that little being with all their heart and soul!
Michael was not a child from a home full of love. Oher was one of THIRTEEN kids and pretty much was left to fend for himself in a crime-ridden neighborhood. His mother was addicted to drugs and his father had been murdered, so Oher didn't have any parents to love and care for him. He attended 11 different schools in 9 years and bounced from foster home to foster home. Until he came to Briarcrest Christian School, Oher remained under the radar. Watch both youtube clips to see how a child's life can be changed when people who "have it all" open their hearts and their homes to a child whose never known the love of a parent. Stories like these are what should inspire us all to love one another and lead by example...I will DEFINITELY be watching this come November!

Stay Gold, Ponyboy!

I love teaching the novel, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. My students always groan when I pass the book out, thinking that they will not like it because it isn't "new", but it always ends up being their favorite by the end of the year...well, excluding The Hunger Games! To wear on Fridays while I'm teaching the book, I also purchased this shirt from Cafe Press. If you haven't read The Outsiders, pick up a copy, or at least watch the movie. I love how my 8th grade girls (who weren't even born yet when this movie came out) have NO CLUE who Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, and Matt Dillon are, but they fall madly in love with them by the end of our movie viewing. I creating a whole new generation of Karate Kid fans by showing The Outsiders!

Julie & Julia Movie Review

After twisting my husband's arm and orchestrating a babysitter for the middle of the day (thanks Granny Deb!), I was finally able to see Julie & Julia yesterday afternoon. Can I just say how healthy having a jumbo popcorn, box of Rasinettes, and a large Coke are for lunch? And I complain about the size of my butt like I have nothing to do with it! Sheesh! Okay, so I digress...Julie & Julia wasn't bad, wasn't great, but it was good!

Just like the book, the film bounces back and forth between cubicle worker Julie Powell and the pre-famous Julia Child. The beginning of the film, I could tell (in my very unprofessional opinion) that the editing was very well-done and kept the pace of the film at an interesting level. I'm not sure what happened towards the middle, because parts of the script lagged, and I found myself wondering why certain aspects of the book were not included in many of these parts. There needed to be a hilarious account of Julie Powell's recipe mishap that contained bone marrow. Something needed to be put into the middle of the film to jazz it up a bit! The details of Julia's process of writing and publishing her cookbook were a bit much, and could have been cut and condensed for continuity purposes, but again, I'm paid to teach 8th graders Reading, not the big bucks to edit films.

Meryl Streep's performance as the larger-than-life Julia Child was amazing! I never knew what a dynamo of a woman Julia Child was, and Meryl had me cracking up just by watching her animated facial expressions! Julia Child's voice is her trademark, but Streep didn't overdo it like so many actors could have easily done! I would compare it to actors who have to perform a southern accent...either they over emphasize the twang, or they hit it head-on. Much like Julia's voice, you could totally over-do the pitchy quality, but Streep should win many awards this year for her perfect execution. Amy Adams also did a great job, but Chris Messina, who played Julie's husband, and Stanley Tucci, who was Child's spouse, were excellent counterparts to the lead roles. Great and hilarious husbands!

The film is a good one, and sparked my interest in Julia Child as a woman and mogul. I now want to read her memoir about her life in France (my grandparents also spent time in France during the fifties) and find her to be a very interesting woman. View a few clips from her cooking show below:

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

I saw the preview for the soon-to-be movie of this book a few weeks ago and had to read it! Julie Powell is 29 and feels like she's yet to do anything with her life, when everyone within her circle that is within her age bracket has seemed to accomplish something. She is a temp for a New York office that is helping to build the 9/11 memorial, so on a daily basis, she is dealing with heartache. That makes for a depressing job, and a negative work day, everyday! Julie leaves the city for a weekend to visit her parents in Austin and has an idea as she is guzzling coffee and lamenting to her mother about the current state of her affairs. She begins thumbing through her mother's old Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook by Julia Child and decides that she will attempt to cook every recipe in Julia's famous cookbook, all the while writing a blog about her adventures in the kitchen. Along the way, Powell juxtaposes Julie's adventures and struggles with Julia Child's life in Paris.

Julie Powell could easily have been my older sister's forgotten twin. I say this because they both have a dry humor and wit that is gut-busting hysterical without being insulting. Julie's struggles with the bone marrow sauce have to be my favorite escapade in the entire book! "It feels like bone-rape" she says as she's trying to pry the tiny scrap of marrow from the bone. Sounds barbaric (and it is) but it is hilarious! Powell is an amazing writer and easily conveys her sarcastic personality within this novel. I would have loved to have more Julia tidbits, and found her rise to cooking fame very intriguing and inspiring. I can't wait to see the movie, but I would highly recommend you read the book before venturing into the theater! Here's the trailer for the film:

The Hangover...Best Movie of the Summer!

While I'm critiquing movies this week, I might as well throw in my two cents about the breakout movie of the summer, The Hangover. This movie is gut-busting hilarious! Even though it doesn't take much to make me laugh, this movie doesn't go for the cheap laughs based on crude humor alone(but do not be mistaken, there is plenty of it).Weaved into the obvious laughs is witty dialogue and amazing comedic writing. The script should win awards, even if the movie's actors do not. Check out the trailer below, and pay money to see it in the theater...it is definitely worth it!

KNOWING...With Nicolas Cage

Donnie and I watched this last night, and it wasn't bad! Not awesome, but okay. If you want something to rent and watch in the a/c, this is an entertaining choice. I found myself saying "yeah, right" or "why are you leaving your kid alone again?!", but all in all, it was a pretty satisfying thriller. Cheesy at the end, but not horrible.

If Twilight Was Made in the 80's...

I love The Outsiders novel and movie, and of course I love Twilight, so this video montage cracks me up!