Mel & Ray's Movie Review (w/guest reviewers)

While my list of well thought out excuses for my painful lack of blogging doesn't seem to fly with my mother, I can say that at least I have something to show for it. I have been at the movies after all. Of course there's always the possibility that I really am just a slacker. It's hard to know.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince *spoiler alert*

The HP movies are tough to review. Are they amazingly done? Yes. Are the actors only getting stronger and better with every film? Completely. Can you really not go see a movie based on books that consumed nearly a decade of your life to read? I mean seriously. With all that, it's really hard to ever say I didn't like the movie even if in my heart of hearts I leave a tad bit disappointed. I'm not even one of those book reader/movie goer that sits there in disgust if they don't get all the details from the book just right. It's an adaptation. I get it.
But--(hold on, where did I put my soapbox...oh, there it is) how do you do movie six and not include anything about Dumbledore's Army?! Not even a token mention. Nothing. Plus, Dumbledore dies and it just fades to black? That's it?? And don't even get me started on the actor who plays Dumbledore. He just like, doesn't get who Dumbledore is or something. I can't quite explain it. But aside from my grips, it's Harry Potter, so, go see it.

Mom gave it:

Jamie gave it:

Caroline gave it:


500 Days of Summer

How do I put this....oh yeah. I LOVE THIS MOVIE!! A Sundance Film Festival winner, this is an offbeat quirky romantic comedy, but as the movie professes numerous times: It's not a love story. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel turn in what I would describe as refreshing performances. So many romantic comedies follow the same tired formula. Here. Let's do a little experiment.
Think of the last romantic comedy you saw. (Unless it was this movie. Then, you know,... think of the one before this one.) I will now predict how the movie went. Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Boy and girl despise each other. Boy and girl are put in a situation where they must tolerate one another, and oddly, in the face of all their differences and initial hatred, they start to see glimpses of good in the other one. They then fall for each other, only to have some sort of misunderstanding/miscommunication/attack of conscience, where they are then torn apart. But not to fear. The last ten minutes has them talking to their quirky sidekick friend who tells them that they are crazy, and they should go after the other person. Girl/boy does that and are reunited in a happy and blissful ending. Oh and Girl and Boy are played by either Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt or Matthew Mcconaughey.
I know. Am I good or what?? This movie is just so different. From the script to the directing, to the plot, I was just constantly in a state of not knowing what was coming next. How fantastic is that?
I don't usually read movie reviews before I write my own, but I was having a hard time verbalizing what I enjoyed so much about the movie. One critic wrote, "Together, [Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel] pull off the tough trick of making us root for their relationship to succeed and understand if it fails." Plus, the soundtrack is so killer. (If your taste of music lines up anywhere close to mine, just buy the soundtrack. You won't be disappointed.) This movie may not be for everyone, but if you want a break from the norm, I think you'll dig it.

*(I saw 500 Days with my friend Robin. I would have asked her to contribute, but quite frankly I have to walk her through opening up email attachments. I highly doubt she's gonna check out the blog! She enjoyed it though!)

My Sister's Keeper

Okay, remind me again that I'm not one of those people who dissect a movie line by line waiting to be massively offended if they stray in the slightest from the book?!.... This book by Jodi Picoult is such a moving, controversial, gut wrenching story. It was one of those that just stayed with me for days and days.

The book has such great material, and big unexpected twists that I just knew the movie was gonna blow people's socks off. Basically my plan was that I was gonna eat Milk Duds, cry and sob like an idiot and just not care. A plan that would have worked perfectly if they had decided to not change the entire ending!!!!!!! (I'm not sure how many exclamation marks would be sufficient to express my outrage and disappointment.) I mean, there were small little disappointments here and there as far as character development, but all could have been forgiven if they had gotten the ending right. And it's such a huge twist that I cannot believe Hollywood didn't eat it up with a spoon. I saw this with my mom and SIL Jamie. My mom had read the book also, and we had one of those slow motion, jaw dropping moments when it suddenly dawns on us that they've changed the twist ending. And changed it to something predictable and ultimately forgettable in the movie going sense. I honestly have no way of accurately gauging this movie fairly, and if you never read the book, I suppose you are none the wiser. Although my mom and SIL gave it one star, so, there you go.

Mom gave it:

Jamie gave it:


The Time Traveler's Wife

Time Traveler's Wife is a book I picked up on vacation last year. Sadly it found its way to a pathetic stack of books on my bookshelf that I had every intention of reading when I bought them. I would be so curious to know the opinion of someone who read the book. I saw this movie with some amazing friends from High School on my recent trip to Indiana. (More to blog on that later.) They felt like they were going to the movies with a celebrity movie reviewer and I can't really blame them. I get that alot. It's why I go to most movies late at night. Not so much for the convience of it, but the paparazzi are just relentless.

So basically with most time travel movies, I spent 80 percent of the time wrapping my head on the logistics of it all. "Okay, so, if he now he is here, but before he was there, then he passed himself on the way out..."
At the end of the movie, we were discussing how the time travel worked, and we had to talk over this loud buzz of everyone else in the theatre saying: "So he's in the future, but really he came from the past, but his younger self hasn't done that yet, so he doesn't know what he'll do..."
But don't let the confusion deter you. It's a wonderfully acted, oddly fascinating movie. If you are in the mood for different and unexpected, this would be one to see. I felt myself becoming attached to the characters, drawn in to the story, and ultimatley feeling very invested in their outcomes. For me, that is what makes a great movie, and it's what many can't quite do. My friend Stephanie says she gives it 3 confusing but strong Bradley Coopers, (we talked her out of Leonardo DiCaprio:) while Melinda totally followed it the entire time, unlike her slightly slower companions, and she appreciated how different it was. Between the both of them, I couldn't have said it better myself.


Stephanie gave it:

Melinda gave it: