Burlesque: A Review

*****PLEASE BE ADVISED, SPOILERS MAY BE PRESENT BELOW*****

The girls and I went out this past weekend for a much anticipated new movie:  Burlesque.  I absolutely, one-hundred-and-fifty percent loved it.

Singing?  Check.  Dancing?  Check.  Hot guys?  Check.  Naked hot guys?  Check.  Is there anything else needed in a movie?  Pretty sure that would be ah,  no. 

This was a star-studded cast (Cher, Christina Aguilera, Eric Dane, Cam Gigandet, Peter Gallagher) which always helps.  Did I mention a naked guy?  In case you're wondering, it was Cam Gigandet.  And I promise you won't be disappointed.

Basically, the movie is about a girl from Iowa, Ali who wants more from life.  So she goes to Hollywood in hopes of singing and/or dancing because it's what she loves.  She stumbles across this club, Burlesque, which features tasteful dancing that doesn't involve stripping but it most certainly erotic in nature.  It's hot.

Since Ali is played by Christina Aguilera, it's obvious that singing is involved.  That girl has a set of pipes on her that still amaze me.  From the moment I heard "Genie in a Bottle" all those years ago, I was hooked.  I heart her.

Anyway, the owner (played by none other than Cher) finds out she can sing and suddenly the whole show now revolves around Ali.  There is tons of singing, sexy dance numbers, and of course romance.

Burlesque is kind of a cross between Coyote Ugly and Moulin Rouge--both of which I also love.  If you love singing and dancing (and hot, naked guys) you'll love Burlesque!

Easy A: A review

*****PLEASE BE ADVISED, SPOILERS MAY BE PRESENT BELOW*****

Can I just say, awesome?  Truly, awesome.  Laugh-out-loud hilarious.

That would be "Easy A" (staring Emma Stone) in a nutshell.  I think I'm starting to get a little too old to enjoy most movies that revolve around high-schoolers and their melodrama, but Easy A did not disappoint.

With one little overheard lie to her best friend, Emma Stone's character Olive becomes the topic of discussion around school.  Soon the nobody became somebody, if only because she was known as the class slut.  Too bad she was still a virgin.

I love how the classic novel The Scarlet Letter was incorporated in the movie.  Seeing as how I'm a book addict, that only makes sense I suppose.  I read the book when I was in high school too so I understood all the subtle connections between book and movie.  Glad to know school was good for something.  Ha.

Pretty much all coming-of-age movies have some moral they are trying to convey, and Easy A was no different.  But it was done with so minimal amount of cheesiness that I don't think I rolled my eyes once.  And throughout the movie, as Olive narrated the story, she made fun of any cheesiness that was present. 

You'd think by the storyline of the movie that not being promiscuous is the moral that's being conveyed.  But I think it's more that honesty is the best policy and that it's okay to make fun of yourself.  The rumor mill can kill your reputation, but that's if you help fuel it or never do anything to stop it.  Olive did both which made for an interesting plot line.

Can I just finish by saying how fantastic Emma Stone is?  She's a fresh face in movies right now, and I'm loving it.  She's about the only reason I can stand the movie Super Bad.  Emma's got a vibrancy and corkiness that sets her apart from her peers.  It's refreshing.

So I'll end my review by saying that "Easy A" got an easy A from me (bahaha).  Run out and see it!

The Hunger Games Triology: A Review

*****PLEASE BE ADVISED, SPOILERS MAY BE PRESENT BELOW*****

The much anticipated final book in the Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins came out last week.  I've been stamping my foot with impatience since the release of the second book last year, waiting to read exactly what happened to the people in District 12.  I'm been desperate to know just how Collins was going to unravel the love triangle between Katniss, Gale and Peeta.  And most of all, I was aching with the need to know if good would once again prevail against evil.

It took me almost a week after the book came out to finally find the time and mind frame to open it and read.  If you're not familiar with the series, the best word to describe it is revolution.  It's one of those books that you can't put down because you have to know how it ends, if only to unloosen that hard knot of despair and helplessness that has been lodged in your gut since you turned that first page.

Most of the third book continued along those lines. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, desperate to know what would happen next.  The end was finally drawing near; the enemy would finally be put to rest.  I knew people I had come to know and love would die.  That's what happens in the Hunger Games, no matter what arena the players are in.

But I just wasn't prepared for the ending.  Literally, unprepared.  Because it just came out of nowhere.  People died left and right.  I knew they would die, but yet I expected more from their deaths.  Really, it was just...anticlimactic.  That is the best word to describe it.  That, and disappointing.

I absolutely love this series and was riveted until almost the very end.  But in those last few chapters, it seemed like steps were missed, that pieces were never fully put into place.  I was left feeling that there were too many loose ends.  Too many people not fully put to rest.  Too many emotions never truly explored. 

Maybe that's how I'm suppose to feel, though.  Maybe that was Collins purpose all along.  Because evil and war and revolution and death are not easy things.  They can't be tied up neatly in a bow.  People do not come out of them unchanged.

The Katniss who took her sister's place in the Hunger Games in the first book was a completely different person than the one left at the end of the last.  The same can be said for all the characters who came out alive at the end.  War changes people.

I realize this review is possibly confusing.  Did I like the book?  Would I recommend it to others?  The answer to both of those is a resounding yes. But I was left feeling disappointed in the way Collins chose to end the book--mostly because I have so many questions left unanswered.

I think everyone should read this series.  Although it's a fictional book set in the future, it is real.  It screams out against social injustice.  It unapologetically displays cruelty amongst mankind.  It defiantly brings forth a revolution.

It makes me want to create change.

It's Complicated: A Review

(Please be advised that movie spoilers may be present in this post!)

It's Complicated,

I watched this movie with my close friend Mandie the other night, and I have to say, I was more than pleasantly surprised.  It features a star-studded cast (Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin) so I knew it wouldn't completely suck, but by now you know how I feel about romantic comedies.  We have a love/hate relationship.

Unlike the romantic comedies that I don't love, It's Complicated was very realistic.  It portrayed real-life:  the messiness of love and divorce and dating.  The title says it all.  It's complicated.  Nothing about love is black and white:  there are always gray areas.

Throughout most of the movie, I wasn't sure which male to root for.  That rarely happens.  Usually you know within the first few minutes who the "good guys" and "bad guys" are.

Did I want Jane to fall back in love with her ex-husband Jake

or with the sweet architect, Adam?

 

I just didn't know.  Decisions in life are never clear cut.  If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

But Mandie made a very wise observation that the writers of the movie must have also made.  In life, you can't go backwards.  Life is about new beginnings and taking leaps of faith and trying new things.  It isn't about rehashing the things that didn't work out as planned. 

With that piece of advice, I'm happy with how the movie ended.  It was logical and realistic.  The cast was great, there was plenty of comedic relief, and though I could have done without seeing Alec Baldwin's bare butt, it was a movie I'd love to see again.