Friday, February 27, 2015

30:30:30: 1985 Legend

February 27th - Day One!

(To hear more about this crazy project visit my first post about it here)




Fun Facts:
Directed by Ridley Scott (From Blade Runner to Legend...okay)
Released in 1985 in the UK 1986 in the US
Tom Cruise was 22-23
Mia Sara was 16
Tim Curry was fabulous

Before: 
What I remember of this movie before it starts is Tom Cruise as a weird man/boy and Tim Curry as an evil Devil like thing.  The chick from Ferris Bueller gets kidnapped or something by Tim Curry and the world almost turns evil.  There are unicorns involved and weird trolls. And that's about it.

Live thoughts:
- Oh it has those kind of special effects...I'm sorry Tim Curry
- Awww the evil ones rhyme
- Maybe I should watch Ferris Bueller next.
- Oooh I feel like these play this soundtrack in River Center Mall...or at least in the nature store
- Tom Cruise looks like Peter Pan
- Why does she have glitter all over her face?
- "Don't you trust me?" ummmm yah don't put that blindfold on
- Too bad The Last Unicorn came out before I was born...the dialogue is much better and America did the soundtrack.
- Those poor horses
- And inconsistent accent award goes to Tom Cruise...
- And a woman destroys peace...typical.
- OMG the trolls are so flamboyant it's amazing...look at that sass
- oh nevermind they're goblins apparently...my bad
- Why is the snow sparkling?
- Oh ya there's a fairy! Ummm did the Fairy just touch Tom's ass?
- Oh god this little fairy boy is going to so get on my nerves
- I feel like we're in Narnia...a weird drunk Narnia
- And Tom's crying...and there's no accent anymore just normal Cruise voice I'm cool with that
- Yah yah, there's always a Last Unicorn
- Ooh yah Oona- she's worse than Gump! And she tells Jack "I can be anything you want" you're a child stop that!
- Also why is everyone covered in stripper glitter
- Oh you're a really bad crier Lily- Do the goblins have guns?
- Lily you're useless
- Thank god this movie is only an hour and a half...
- Ewwwwww you're gross....green swamp goblin thing....so gross
- Kill it!!!!
- Oh yah I remember her annoying breathing...and eventually her voices gets weird and low and kind guttural
- Hey it's that one guy, he played a weird troll/gnome thing in some other movie too
- Ooona that is inappropriate, he loves someone else don't ask that
- Uuuhhhhh no Jack, uhhg teenagers are stupid, she's not real!
(Hey Sookie joined me! She doesn't seem to like the movie either... Bellatrix is cool with it. Although neither seems to like my commentary)
- Yah hissing will scare them Gump...good job, even Tom thinks you're exasperating
- Lily how did your clothes get so torn up so quickly, it's been a day chid
- Oh yah dangle diamond's in front of her and she'll forget she's lost her love and in some weird underworld...uhg
- oh yah the creepy dementor dancing and the weird guttural noises, I remember this
- Don't dance with it, it's creepy!
- See what happens when you dance, you turn goth! Sparkly goth!
- Oh Tim Curry you're so fabulous.
- Yah, just gasp and don't communicate that'll help your situation
- Gump you suck, like he's going to give up it's Tom Cruise he always gets his girl
- The music is definitely different now...very rock opera-esque
- No means no...so I guess never means like really no
- Really Darkness you're just as bad as Jack and Lily, you really believe her shit?
- Okay Lily your accent sucks now too, especially in that low register
- Yah that wasn't very subtle Jack
- Really you think arrows would stop Darkness?
- I'm so glad Tom can fight in a a sparkly dress.
- I really don't remember this ending...I know Jack and Lily win but still...
- How does he end up in space? I'm so confused...
- Awww Tom you cleaned up so fast.
- Loved by the Sun...no just no. Or Yes...cause you know the singer...
- So the moral was the usual right, women cause the world to almost end and a man had to save the girl and the world...
- Hey look Tim Curry lives!

After:
Okay final thoughts. Glad this was a shorter movie...it just does not stand the test of time. I remember liking it as a kid and thinking it was cool and stuff, but it's been 30 years and now it just looks sad and dated. Like old bad TV movies from the 90s with lots of glitter and fairies. Tom Cruise started off with an accent then lost it very quickly and became the Tom we all know and love today. Mia was obnoxious the whole time...seriously I have no idea what that chick's motivations were.  Tim Curry you're perfect never change. The elfs and goblins and fairies were sooooooooooo annoying. Seriously they were creepy and useless.

The story was pretty blah too.  Women touches something she shouldn't touch because a stupid guy in love "wanted to show her something". So of course she touches it and the world falls apart into evil.  Then the guy in love has to save the girl because she caused Evil to happen and the entire world almost falls apart because of it....blah blah blah, love conquers all and good triumphs over the fabulous Tim Curry.

OMG the music was like the nature store music you heard in the malls in the 90s it was hysterical.  Then the costumes were useless too. One fairy was wrapped in medical gauze, Tom was in a giant sequined dress armor and Lily's clothes kept getting more and more disheveled and torn even though she wasn't really doing anything but running and making weird gasping noises.

Overall it was a fun movie to snark watch, would have been better with friends instead of just my cats, but it's cool.  My running commentary above is what I would have said if I'd watched it with my friends...or Haley since I remember her really liking this movie too.

Tyler ranking: B+ B movie.
It was good for a B movie, but not enough to be an A+ B movie...

Thursday, February 19, 2015

30 days, 30 years, 30 movies.

Soon I will have been alive for 30 years! I am so excited to turn thirty it scares my friends.  To celebrate I'm doing a lot- spending time with friends, family, eating super good food and drinking really good wine.  That's basically all I got.  But since I'm super lucky and my 30th birthday falls on March 30th I thought I'd do something extra fun and silly.  I'm going to watch one movie from every year I've been alive-  here are my options if you have thoughts on which should win feel free to comment below and I'll update and post new blogs for movies that really had a fun impact. as well as at the end which once I ended up watching.

1985- The Breakfast Club
           Legend
           Clue*
           A Chorus Line*
1986-  Top Gun
           Stand By Me*
           Pretty in Pink*
           Short Circuit
           Little Shop of Horrors*
1987- The Princess Bride*
           Dirty Dancing*
           The Lost Boys
           Empire of the Sun
           Harry and the Hendersons
1988-  Beetlejuice*
           Rain Man
           Who Framed Roger Rabbit*
           Willow*
           Heathers*        
           Big
1989-  Batman
           Dead Poets Society
           The Little Mermaid*
           Say Anything*
           Steal Magnolias*
           Troop Beverly Hills*
1990- Pretty Woman
           Edward Scissorhands*
           Dick Tracy*
           Arachnophobia
           The Witches
           Mermaids* 
1991- The Silence of the Lambs
           Hook*
           Thelma & Louise
           My Girl*
           The Father of the Bride*
           City Slickers
           Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
           Drop Dead Fred
1992-  Reservoir Dogs*
           A Few Good Men
           A League of Their Own
           Newsies*
           Buffy the Vampire Slayer
1993-  Jurassic Park
           The Sandlot
           Hocus Pocus*
           Robin Hood Men in Tights
           Falling Down
           The Three Musketeers
           Benny & Joon*
1994- The Shawshank Redemption
           Forrest Gump
           Leon
           Interview with a Vampire*
           Clerks*
1995- Se7en
          Clueless
          Toy Story*
           A Little Princess*
           Empire Records
           Too Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar
1996- Jerry Maguire*
           Romeo + Juliet*
           The Birdcage
           The Craft*
           Mars Attacks!
1997-  Boogie Nights*
           Starship Troopers*
           The Fifth Element*
           Contact
           The Saint*
1998- The Big Lebowski*
           Saving Private Ryan
           The Truman Show
           The Wedding Singer*
           The X-Files
1999-  American Beauty*
           Office Space
           Girl, Interrupted*
           Magnolia*
           The Talented Mr. Ripley
           Dogma*
2000- Snatch*
           Almost Famous*
           O Brother, Where Art Thou*
           Chocolat*
           High Fidelity*
           Boondock Saints*
2001- Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone*
           Ocean's Eleven*
           Moulin Rouge*
           Blow
           Vanilla Sky*
           Gosford Park*
2002- Star Wars Episode 2- Attack of the Clones*
           Ice Age
           Chicago*
           Signs
           Punch Drunk Love*
2003- Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl* 
           Finding Nemo*
           Big Fish*
           Lost in Translation*
           Mystic River*
2004-  Mean Girls*
           Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*
           50 First Dates*
           The Life Aquatic*
           Closer*
2005- Batman Begins*
           Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire*
           V for Vendetta*
           The Chronicles of Narnia- The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe*
           Walk the Line*
           Jarhead*
2006- The Departed*
           The Prestige*
           Pan's Labyrinth
           Cars
           Stranger than Fiction*
2007-  Stardust*
           Juno*
           The Golden Compass*
           Knocked Up*
           Pirates of Caribbean at World's End*
          Ocean's Thirteen*
          Across the Universe*
2008- The Dark Knight*
           Twilight*
           Mamma Mia*
           Vicky Cristina Barcelona
2009- Watchmen
           The Hangover*
           District 9*
           Up in the Air
           Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Price*
          Up*
2010- Inception*
          The Social Network*
           Easy A*
           Toy Story 3
           Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World*
2011- Harry Potter & the Dealthy Hallows Part 2*
           X-Men First Class*
           The Help
           The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
2012- The Hunger Games*
           The Dark Knight Rises*
           Zero Dark Thirty
           Silver Linings Playbook*
           Moonrise Kingdom*
           Les Miserables*
2013-  Frozen*
           The Great Gatsby*
           The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
           American Hustle*
2014- Gone Girl
           Big Hero 6
           Interstellar
           Guardians of the Galaxy*
           The Grand Budapest Hotel*
           The Book of Life

* = I own.


With the help of IMBD these are not my favorite movies from these years, not all the movies I own from these years in fact since I own over 300 DVDs (yes I know I have a problem).  I own 104 on this list of 165.  There are no movies on this list I haven't already seen.  And there are a few movies I'll disqualify because I've seen them pretty recently like in the last 3ish months.  I could have added all the Harry Potter movies but I may watch those all before the end of February so we'll see. Either way these are all movies I really like for some weird reason or another.

So this all starts March 1st.  Now I probably wont be able to watch one movie a day so I'll probably end up binging a bit on the weekends.  Also for the rest of February I'm going to tackle some of these I know I can't make in March.  So I'll try to post at least once a week maybe twice a week in March with my progress and what years I cover.  This should be fun! Anyone who knows me knows how obsessive I can be when I decide I want to do something so while it'll be fun it will also be really really obnoxious. 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Review: Once Upon a River


Once Upon a River
Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book was recommended to me ages ago and I finally got around to it. I'm so glad I did. It was such an interesting and different world. Along a Michigan River in the late 70s early 80s a young girl grows up with a dysfunctional family, basically no mother or father and family she can't trust. She's a little slow but can take care of herself because she can shoot and forage. She lives on the river and meets a variety of characters who help take care of her while she learns to take care of herself. It was such a very different life that I've ever experienced so it was hard to understand why some of these things were happening to her, but towards the end I was getting sad about the book ending because I enjoyed her story and all the interesting characters she met.

I listened to this on audiobook on my last drive to San Antonio and planned to save the second half for my next drive but couldn't stop so i'll need another audiobook for the next trip home. Luckily this author has another one available through the online audio library! Yay.



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