Once upon a midnight dreary...

If you're not familiar with the title of this post, it is the opening line of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." This is my last semester of college and since I'm an English major we are required to do a Capstone project and after choosing to work with Jane Austen I realized that just wasn't my cup of tea and I switched to Poe. I have no idea why I didn't think of Poe before but I am so happy I decided to change. I will be spending the next 15 weeks of my life working on this project so I had to pick something I was interested in. I've read a lot of Poe and I really love his work so I'm very excited to research some of the lesser known stories. I'm planning on looking at between three and five of his short stories and looking at how they work in terms of Gothic Fiction and also the role Poe had in creating the Detective/Horror genre (which, if you've read any of his stuff, you know he was pretty messed up). I will also be looking at different ways he portrayed narration and just the overall creepiness of his text. I seriously can't wait! If you've read my blog before you know how much I love the horror genre so this is totally up my alley. I will also get to incorporate Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones into my project in terms of how it works with Gothic fiction and narration so I'm really excited about that because it's one of my favorite books! As you can tell, I'm pretty excited about this whole thing!!!

Friends With Kids. Another Piece of My Heart.

Friends With Kids (2011)

Here's another one that I've been waiting to get from the library for quite a while and I was definitely happy with the results. It's similar to your average romantic comedy in that it's obviously a comedy with romance but Friends With Kids had more substance then others. The movie centers around two friends who want to have kids but don't want to ruin a romantic relationship by having them so they decide to have a child together without the romantic ties. Four of their closest friends have children and they don't seem to be very happy and they are bound and determined not to end up like them. The main reason I wanted to see this movie was because I love Adam Scott (Jason) and I've loved him since his time on Boy Meets World (which apparently he hated so that's a bummer). He was really great in the lead role of Jason and I'm glad he finally got to play the lead in something. The movie had a really solid cast, including Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd, Megan Fox, Kristin Wiig, Jon Hamm, Ed Burns and Jennifer Westfeld (who wrote and directed it) and they all did a really solid job and I liked that they all played a part in the way the movie flowed. If you like a good romantic comedy with a little bit of drama, I would definitely recommend this, & even if you don't like that type of movie I would still recommend it because it was just a really good movie.

Another Piece of My Heart (2012)

Just got done reading this the other day and I absolutely loved it! I randomly grabbed it off the shelf at the library one day and after the first few pages I totally fell in love with it. The main plot of the story is about a woman's relationship with her stepdaughter (they basically hate each other) and I feel like I was actually kind of drawn to this book. I'm currently going through a little something with my own stepmother so I was able to relate to this book right off the bat. The story really changes throughout the book but it stays amazing throughout. I've never read anything by Jane Green before but I will definitely be reading more by her. I highly recommend picking this up the next time you're at the library or bookstore.

The Wolfman.Fifty Shades of Grey.

The Wolfman (2010)

So I really wanted to see this when it originally came out but since my mom is my usual movie companion and she really doesn't like any type of horror movie, I didn't make it to the theater. It was on TV the other night so I automatically set my DVR for it and I'm actually watching it right now. There is about twenty minutes left so I don't actually know how it ends yet. I saw the original The Wolfman (1941) and even though it's really old and they obviously didn't have the type of effects they do now I still thought it was pretty good. I didn't find the original to be scary and I didn't really think the new one was either but it was good nonetheless. The movie stars Benecio Del Toro as the wolfman and he does a very good job. I haven't seen him in a ton of things so I don't have a lot of experience to go on but I know that he's a decent actor and he did a very good job of portraying the mysterious wolfman in this film. Most people probably know what this movie is about but in case you don't here's a quick summary: a man (Del Toro) comes back to his hometown to help search for his missing brother and while there he is bit and falls under the "wolfman" curse. Chaos ensues. The movie is very dark (story and color) so if you're not a fan of that I would think twice about seeing it but it really gives it a good atmosphere. It's not the most exciting movie either but the story and the acting makes up for that. I'd say, check it out!

Fifty Shades of Grey (2011)

Being that I am a huge reader, I had to check out this book because practically everyone was talking about it. Well I finished it about two weeks ago and to be honest, I really didn't see what all the fuss was about. It's considered an erotic novel so it's obviously not going after any literary awards or anything like that, and believe me, the writing is far from great. It's basic at best. The author is obviously not an English scholar and being that I am an English major I have pretty high expectations sometimes. The story itself wasn't all that exciting and the erotic scenes were purely for shock value and they honestly weren't all that shocking. I've read some romance novels (small paperbacks) that were pretty similar to this so I guess the scenes in this didn't really shock me all that much. The whole big craze about this book had to do with the S&M part of it and there wasn't even that much of that in there so I'm not sure what people were making such a big deal about. If you have some spare time and want to hop on The Fifty Shades bandwagon so you can discuss it with your girlfriends then by all means, read it. But don't expect some fantastic piece of literature, it's far from that.

2012.The Uninvited.

2012 (2009)

John Cusack. Yep, another movie I rented because of my love for John Cusack. I'm a big fan of the movie The Day After Tomorrow so I was hoping this was going to be similar. It kind of was but I felt more like it didn't make a ton of sense. It just seemed like the world started going crazy at the beginning but there wasn't really a reason as to why and I'm not a huge in-depth person kind of person but I needed a little more clarification. The special effects were pretty good but it was almost a little too far-fetched. Once they got to the "ark" it was strange because I felt like it was more of a UFO and that it kind of got more sci-fi for my liking. John Cusack did a good job though so that was a plus. If you like the disaster/action type movies then I would suggest this but if you don't really care for that kind of stuff then I would say you should pass.

The Uninvited (2009)

So as you know by now I am a big horror movie buff which is why I rented this and it did not disappoint. It wasn't a fast moving moving and in all honesty it was more of a thriller/mystery movie rather than pure horror but it was supposed to be creepy and it succeeded. The Uninvited is good in that creepy, wait for it kind of way instead of being filled with blood and guts and it really was creepy. The movie focuses on two sisters, one of whom just got released from a mental hospital and how they cope with the death of their mother and their father moving on to a new woman so fast (who has already moved in). As the movie goes along we find out the new girlfriend's intentions aren't so kosher and the girls start to realize that they may be in danger. I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it yet but the end has a pretty great twist that I didn't see coming and it really turned the movie around. It's one of those ones that after you watch it and realize what really happened (like Shutter Island) you want to watch it again to see if there are any clues you can pick up. If you like creepy movies then this is for you!

The Descendants. The Ward. Identity. 1408.

The Descendants (2011)

So I've been hearing lots of good things about this movie so after a couple months I finally got it from the library. My mom saw it in theaters and she said it was really good but I didn't really think it looked all that exciting so I opted to not go. Well it didn't have a ton of exciting moments but it was still a good, solid film. The plot is basically centered on George Clooney as a man whose wife has just had an accident and is now in a coma and his relationship with his two daugters who he didn't have much of a relationship with before. While the wife is in the coma Clooney finds out that she has been having an affair and that their mutual friends and his daughter knew about it. I was appalled by the way her friend acted about the whole affair, I really just wanted to slap her. She didn't think the woman was doing anything wrong by having an affair and she didn't want to betray her friend by discussing it with the woman's husband and I just didn't like that. But other than that, it was a good movie. Clooney's relationship with his daugthers improve throughout the film and that was nice to see and he also improves as a person which I think was really the whole point of this movie. It just shows what happens to a family when one of the worst possible things happen and how that family reacts and works together. If you like a good dramatic movie then I would suggest this.

The Ward (2010)

Bad. That's really all there is to say about this movie. As you already know I am a huge horror movie fan and I also usually really like John Carpenter's work (he is after all the mastermind behind one of my favorite horror movies, Halloween) but this was just lame. It didn't make a lot of sense, the parts that were supposed to be scary came off more as laughable and it was a total ripoff of Shutter Island and Identity (side note: if you haven't seen Identity with John Cusack, you should totally rent it). I hate when a movie rips off an idea of something that was recently new and this did just that. This was a waste of time and I would not recommend this at all.

Identity (2003)

Since I mentioned this movie in talking about The Ward I thought I would do a quick review of it. This movie is sweet! I've seen it a couple times and I've got to be honest, the first time I watched it I didn't totally understand it which is why I watched it more than once. I don't want to completely spoil it but basically this movie has an awesome twist at the end (that I didn't see coming, but maybe you will). It stars one of my favorite people, John Cusack and he is just as awesome in this as he is in everything else. This movie is very simliar to Shutter Island but Identity did come first. Identity is one of those movies that keeps you on the edge of your seat and I wouldn't describe it as a horror movie but rather a thriller, and a very good one. I love the twist at the end and watching it twice definitely makes it more understandable.

1408 (2007)

I'm really not sure why, but I am obsessed with this movie. I've seen it numerous times and I still can't get enough. Maybe it's because of John Cusack? Who knows. 1408 is based on a short story by Stephen King (who almost always gets it right) and if you've seen other Stephen King movies (IT, Thinner, Needful Things) this is a lot better. King movies are either really good (Rose Red, The Shining, The Stand, Storm of the Century) or not so good (see above) but I always love to watch them. 1408 is about a writer (Cusack) who writes about haunted hotels and he travels to the Dolphin Hotel to research supposedly haunted room 1408. He is greeted by the manager of the hotel played by Samuel L. Jackson who doesn't want him to enter the room but against his wishes Cusack enters anyway and insanity ensues. The stuff that goes down in that room is crazy and just really brings this movie to a whole new level. It's a horror/thriller/action/mystery movie and I definitely recommed it, it's one of my favorites! I also read the short story and though it wasn't nearly as good as the movie it was stull pretty creepy.

Magic Mike

Magic Mike (2012)

So I went to see this for all the obvious reasons (the eye candy) and I really wish I could say the story part of it was excellent but....it just wasn't. The man candy was pleasant but other than that it honestly wasn't that good. I've never thought that Channing Tatum was that great of an actor and he didn't change my mind with this role. The story just seemed like an afterthought to all the stripping and now that I mention it, lets talk about the stripping. I'm no prude but after a couple scenes of it it just started to get a little old. It was like once you've seen it once you've seen it enough. And some of the scenes were just trashy which was really a shame. But this is a stripper movie and that's all you are going to get from it, don't go to it expecting some thought provoking storyline or any tear-inducing scenes because you won't get them. I would only suggest going to it for the hot men, plain and simple.

Session 9. Hot Tub Time Machine. Hatfields and McCoys.

Session 9 (2001)

Weird. That's really all I can say about this movie. Session 9 was actually recommended to me by imdb.com when I was looking up another horror movie. I really like that it recommends things to you now (it goes by what you're looking up and then suggests things that are similar to that). I had never heard of this until then and it sounded like something I would like so I ordered it from my library. I had no idea what to expect from this and I still really don't know what I got from it. It was filmed as if it was a documentary so that gave it kind of a cheap feel but it worked. I love movies that take place in mental hospitals (don't ask me why) and that's exactly where this took place. Basically this movie is about a group of guys who go into the abandoned mental hospital to clean up the mold and mildew and that kind of stuff and as soon as they start working there weird things start to happen. You never actually see anything it's more of just a creepy feeling movie which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't and I'm not sure it worked here. The end of the movie had a good twist to it though and I definitely didn't see it coming. Not sure I would really recommend this because for me it wasn't scary enough but if you like the creepy stuff then this might be your kind of movie.

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

To be honest, the only reason I rented this was because I love John Cusack. Other than that I really had no idea what to expect. I thought this was going to be really stupid just because of the title but I actually really liked it. It was pretty darn hilarious and I love anything that has to do with the 1980s. The plot of this movie is that a group of 40 something year old guys and Cusack's nephew go to a ski lodge for a weekend and somehow they travel back in time to the 80s after getting into a hot tub. Chaos ensues. I liked that this was raunchy and that they didn't use 20 year olds. Rob Corddry (What Happens In Vegas) was absolutely hysterical in this which is no surprise since he is just that. Cusack was as adorable as always and Craig Robinson (The Office) and Clark Duke (Greek) who very funny also. This movie is not to be taken very serious so please don't watch it with that in your mind. It's just a funny, raunchy comedy with some good music. I recommend it!

Hatfields and McCoys (2012)

Ok so I'm ashamed to say that I knew nothing about the Hatfields and McCoys but after seeing commercials for it and Kevin Costner doing talk shows I decided I wanted to check it out. Well I was pleasantly surprised! I actually loved it! It was a three part miniseries on the History Channel and it had all the characteristics of a big screen movie. It had the perfect amount of drama, action and romance to keep me paying attention and the story really captured my interest, even to the extent of looking it up online. I'm probably in the minority with not knowing about this story but I was immediately drawn to it. And I loved the love story between Johnse Hatield (Matt Barr) and Roseanna McCoy. And Matt Barr was very, very sexy in this:

                                                       Enough to make you watch it?
Not sure if you will be able to rent this or not but I know it was being put on DVD so if you didn't catch it on TV I highly recommend renting it!