Movie Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel

I have not shared my opinions on any movies I have watched lately. We still do the Netflix disc in the mail and have watched several movies lately. We also sometimes stream movies on Netflix, but we mostly stream TV shows. 

The last disc we received from Netflix was The Grand Budapest Hotel. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was definitely quirky and a little strange, so it is not for everyone. It reminded me a little of Pushing Daisies, one of my all-time favorite TV shows. People didn't really get that one either which is why it only lasted 2 seasons.

One of the things I liked about the movie (and Pushing Daisies, for that matter) was the intentional style of the set. The set was quirky to fit the movie, but was interesting to watch.

The characters were weird, but fascinating. They had a story to tell and it made you want to learn more about them. One of the characters had a distinctive birth mark on her face. I like details like that in movies. I appreciate when writers notice small, seemingly insignificant, features in a person.

Movie review: Chef

A couple weeks ago Charles and I both had a day off on the same day. We decided to make a day of it. We had some lunch and saw a movie. He suggested Chef; I hadn't heard of it, but he said it looked good so that's what we chose.

It was such a good movie. I definitely recommend checking it out. It is about a restaurant chef who likes to be creative with his cooking. His restaurant is visited by a food critic and the restaurant owner convinces him to stick to the menu instead of trying something new for the critic. Well, the critic was not impressed with the food. What follows is funny and heartwarming. He ends up with a food truck and travels across the country with his son and sous chef. The ending is happy. It's just a feel-good movie.

Austenland: Review

A while ago, I saw a preview for the movie Austenland. I love Jane Austen books, especially Pride and Prejudice. When I realized it was a book, I decided to read the book and wait for the movie to come on Netflix. The book made for light and quick reading, but it was a cute story. It is such a short book that you could read it in a day or two.

Last week the movie came in the mail from Netflix and we finally got around to watching it on Saturday evening. From the very beginning I knew I wasn't going to like it. As with most movies based on books, they deviated quite a bit from the book.

The other thing about the movie that I did not like was they made it too cheesy and ridiculous. Some of the characters were just annoying in the movie. I do not remember them being that way in the book. Only one character from the book and movie were pretty dead on.

In summary, I suggest reading the book and skipping the movie.

Review: Seattle's Best Coffee blends

I am not a big coffee drinker. I do not like the taste of plain coffee. It must be sugared and milked up to be enjoyable. Plus caffeine and my tummy do not get along most times. Despite this, sometimes I like to treat myself to a coffee beverage.

While grocery shopping a few weeks ago I discovered the Seattle's Best Coffee blends. I thought I would try it out. The first one I tried was Mocha flavored. It was quite tasty. And since I have a Magic Blender, it was easy and convenient to make.

Today I am trying the Caramel flavor. It is very yummy as well! Plus, check out the coupon I found so you can try one with $1 off.

Coupon!

The Great Gatsby

I know that I read this book at some point during my years in school. However, for the life of me, I could not tell you what it was really about. Thankfully I can be slightly redeemed after seeing the latest movie version of the book.

This afternoon I got off work early and the local movie theater offers $5 tickets on Wednesdays. It seemed like the perfect opportunity. The theater was packed. I am really glad I got there about 15 minutes early. If not, I would have been stuck with a front row seat. I did sit next to some idiotic girls. One of the previews was for a movie based on the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing. They were convinced that wasn't the name of one of his plays. I was sooooo close to leaning over and letting them know it actually is a play. Instead I just shook my head at their ignorance.

I found the movie enchanting. It was on the longer side with it being over two hours, but I never got antsy for the ending. The music was different, but worked. There was one song that plays throughout the movie; it is haunting. The song is called Young and Beautiful. It's such a beautiful song that I instantly had to download it when I got home.

It was definitely worth seeing in the theater. I don't know how true it is to the book, but it made me want to re-read it.

On a side note, it did make me think about how Leonardo DiCaprio is getting older. I don't even know how old  he is, but you can definitely tell he has aged in his recent movies.

Movie reviews

I've seen a few movies lately that I wanted to share with you.

Argo

We saw this movie while in Columbus a few weeks ago. It is based on the true story of some Americans that went into hiding in Iran during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. I do not know much about this period of history, so it was interesting to learn more. It was a great movie and very intense. I highly recommend seeing it in the theater.

Jeff Who Lives at Home

This was our most recent Netflix movie. I read about it when it was at a local theater that plays indie movies. It sounded interesting. The movie starts off with the main character (Marshall from How I Met Your Mother) talking about the movie Signs. That is one of my personal favorite movies, so that was a good start. It was about these two brothers and how their lives are not going how they want. They reconnect and somehow fix each other's lives. It was good. There is some drug use, lots of language and an awkward moment with their mom, but overall it was worth seeing.

Wreck-It Ralph

This movie just came out and we saw it yesterday afternoon (love matinee prices!). It was such a cute concept for a movie. It is somewhat similar to Toy Story; after the Arcade closes, the video game characters get to do their own thing. There were some lines in the movie that I didn't think were 100% appropriate for children, but Disney movies are never totally geared towards kids. And the movie really made me want to eat candy since a lot of the movie takes place in a game called Sugar Rush where everything is candy related. I recommend seeing this one, too!

Movie Review: Looper

On Friday, I took the day off from work to attend Charles' office get-together at Young's Dairy. Afterward, we decided to see the movie Looper. We hardly ever see a movie on opening weekend, but we went around 4pm and we got a free ticket from some reward points I have through work. There were like 10 other people in the theater with us.

Looper intrigued me because both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt are in the movie. I think they are both good actors and have enjoyed their more recent movies. Plus, the description sounded interesting.

The movie is a little more violent than I was expecting. And it was a little sci-fi. But it was an captivating story. It takes place in 2044 (and according to the movie the world seems like a horrible place to be at that time). Time travel was invented 30 years from 2044 and is only available on the black market which the mob controls. The mob sends people back that they want killed. People called Loopers are given notice that someone is being sent back and they wait and shoot them immediately.

I won't go into too much detail more about the plot because I do recommend seeing it. The ending was good and not exactly what I was expecting.

Review: The Pacific

Our most recent Netflix viewing was The Pacific, a miniseries from HBO. We enjoyed Band of Brothers and this was a similar series. My favorite period of history to learn about is WWII era. Life seemed some black and white. Of course, life is never truly black and white.

The Pacific was good, but not as good as Band of Brothers. I found it a little difficult to get into the characters at first. They all look the same in uniform.

Charles made a good observation last night as we watched the last part. This series was much more psychological. It showed you more the emotional effects of war on the individuals. That is the hard thing to see about war--PTSD, disease, etc. Some parts were so heartbreaking.

If you enjoy WWII era and haven't seen The Pacific, I recommend it.

Movie Review

I've thought for months now that I should dedicate a post every once in a while to review my latest disc in my Netflix queue. To date, have I done that? No. Today, I am going to do just that!

Last night, Charles and I finally watched the disc that has been sitting around for a couple of days. Usually we're very on top of our Netflix watching because we have a very long queue. Last night's film was Everyone's Fine. Netflix thought we would give it 2.7 stars. I thought it was very good. I have to consult with Charles, but I would give it 4 stars (a movie has to be spectacular in every way to get a full 5 stars).

Basically it is about a man whose wife had passed away and she was the one who kept in touch with their 4 kids who were all grown up. He was preparing for them all to come visit, but at the last minute they each cancelled. He decided if they couldn't come visit him, he would surprise each of them with a visit. His first stop was NY to visit his son, the artist. However, his son was not home when he was there. Then we went to Chicago to visit his daughter, followed by Denver and Las Vegas. All the while, you can tell the kids are keeping a secret from him regarding what is really going on in their lives and what was going on with the first son.

The movie made me cry several times, which in my mind makes it a good movie. The ending was very sad, but the dad was able to become closer to his kids.

One scene that made me cry was after the dad had a bad experience with a homeless guy, he called his house so he could hear his late wife's voice on the answering machine. That's what helped him feel better.

I definitely recommend this movie if you want to watch a movie that will make you cry and appreciate your Dad.