~DVD~ Morning Glory

I LOVED this movie. It made me laugh so much! I didn't know what to expect going into it. I had heard good and bad reviews. But it gets a big 2 thumbs up from me!

It has an amazing cast. I mean you've got Diane Keaton, Rachael McAdams, Jeff Goldblum, Patrick Wilson and.... Drum roll please. Harrison Ford!!!! I love this cast. You've got amazing old and new (in experience not age) actors wrapped into a feel good comedy.

So Rachael plays a producer that's trying to pull a morning new show out of the gutter. And she doesn't exactly have an easy time of it. Especially when she's dealing with two news anchors (Ford & Keaton) that are giving her a run for her money. Not to mention juggling a love interest at the same time.

This movie I would completely recommend to watch. The men in your life may night enjoy it, but get your gal pals together, grab a pizza (or wine if your into that kinda thing) and embrace the laughter.

All the actors did a stand up job playing their characters. But I will say that Mr. Harrison Ford was my favorite. Every time he walked onscreen I thought of my Dad. They really have similarities. But that's beside the point. He was awesome. Even when he's being a complete jerk, you love him.

And Diane Keaton is the queen of the hissy fit. And you want her to do it over and over. And I must say, that woman just gets better looking with age.

Oh Patrick Wilson, how I like to look at you.  Ha ha. He also has a range in his repertoire. Love him.

I'd run out and rent or buy this. I think I'll be adding it to my DVD collection. Great funny!

But that's just my opinion........

~Movie~ Red Riding Hood

Oh man...... This movie was a disappointment. I went into it hoping for a good suspenseful goth flick. Not what I got. The biggest problems? Well... Bad acting, bad costumes, bad directing, bad dialogue and a crappy storyline.

As far as the acting goes; Amanda is a very pretty girl. I loved her in Mama Mia and Letters to Juliet. But those were cute little love stories and she does well at those. But this movie called for fear and angst. Not 2 emotions she plays very well. Widening your eyes and breathing heavy doesn't make fear. This definitely wasn't her genre. She should stick to the chick flicks. She's good at those.

I was excited to see that Billy Burke was going to be in this movie. I like him in the Twilight series. I didn't in Riding Hood. He seemed very forced in his acting and they didn't present him with very good dialogue.

Now we've got 2 attractive guys. "Peter" and "Henry". They're supposed to hate each other, but as I watched, it seemed more like they wanted to grab a beer together rather than fight each other for a woman's heart. The actors Shiloh and Max were great when they weren't onscreen together. I think they did a good job of picking 2 very different looking male leads. One is very dark and rugged while the other is more clean and polished. That made dynamics better. And they were nice to look at. :)

Now Julie Christie did the best job of everyone. But she's been in the business long enough to know what she's doing. She was an awesome "Grandmother". I loved er when i was supposed to , and hated her when it called for it. Had she not been in this movie it would have been a COMPLETE wash!

But I can't place all the blame with the actors. I mean your only as good as what you have to work with. And they didn't have a whole lot. Twilight fans out there, does the name Catherine Hardwicke ring bells? It should. She was the director of the first movie. And Twilight fans might also remember that the movies got better AFTER she was replaced with someone else. Sooo.. need I say more?

David Leslie Johnson was the screenwriter for this film. And his dialogue sucks. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It was cheesy. I was expecting more. Got WAY less.

Okay so I guess I should say something good. Something good.. Something good... Yep can't think of anything else. Basically, they took a classic children's story, and made a miserable movie out of it.

But that's just my opinion.....

~Movie~ Beastly

So this movie is based off of a book. And as far as sticking to the book, they did a bad job.  But as far as making a decent movie, I enjoyed it. I will say that Vanessa Hudgens isn't my favorite actress. I'd like to see her take a few acting classes. It would be good for her. Alex Pettyfer was great. He is proving to have a good range. And I like to see that in actors.

So onto the movie. And there will be spoilers. So beware if you don't like that sort of thing.
So in the book he's actually turned in to a beast. Fangs and all. But in the movie he's just deformed. And I have to say I like that. Because, really, making a man into a hairy beast on real life film would either come off as scary and gruesome, or fake and cheesy. And the make up artists did a good job making him deformed. It looked real and plausible. And I will say he looks good with his shirt off even when he's all "beasty". But they should've made Vanessa look a little more plain. She's a beautiful girl, and the actual character is rather plain and ordinary looking. But life goes on... :)

Mary Kate Olsen was awesome!! I'm so happy to see her in a role that isn't some sweet little teeny bopper. She needed a break out role as a bad ass and I think this was a great start.

Neil Patrick Harris portrayed the tutor role really well. He was a great addition to this cast lineup and made me laugh more than once. I think I may have even snorted a time or two.

Now some of the BIG differences between the movie and the book; and these are spoilers!
The opening speech that Kyle gives is different. And the one in the book was way better.
How the 2 main characters meet is different, but not bad.
Now in the book, Vanessa's character comes to live with the "beast" because her Dad breaks into his house and gets blackmailed into giving over his daughter. But in the movie, the father kills someone and is blackmailed that way. I would have preferred the books take on things just because then there wouldn't have been any death. But oh well, no biggie.
The ending was WAAAYY off, and I really wish they had stuck to the book. The movie ending just didn't seem to have as much heart and depth to it as it could have.
I do wish it had been longer. It was only an hour and a half and had they extended it to 2 hours, they could have told a little more of the story. There were times when it felt a little rushed.

Overall I'd say it's worth it to see in theaters if you want a cute chick flick to see with your gal pals. I went with 3 of mine and we had a good time. But some might want to wait for the DVD.

But that's just my opinion.......