Twilight

So some people may completely disagree with me, but Twilight was a terrible movie. Granted I have not read the books by Stephenie Meyer, so I cannot comment as to whether the content within the book was any better. 

Sure the actors/ actresses (Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, and Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen) were handsome and beautiful, but where was the content? The lines were delivered with monotony. I want some feeling! I want to have an emotional connection to the characters even if they are vampires. 

I feel like the idea of having a romantic vampire story was a good one, but this could have been so much better! Not only was the acting unconvincing, but the digital effects were, in general, lacking. 

I will fully admit I desperately wanted to see this movie. It looked great, and who doesn’t love a little blood-sucking, teen romance? I think my expectations were too high. So many people raved- I guess I just wanted more. 

Here is the trailor- 

I would say if you’re looking for something to watch and have literally nothing better to do, you should see this movie. I sound harsh, but there is so much great cinema out there! If you’re looking for some good fantasy movies check out the Harry Potter movies 1-5. They too have a few flaws, and the books are definitely better, but for what they are- they do a great job of turning JK Rowling’s masterpieces into an on screen delight.

Gone with the Wind

Since this is the last movie for me to review, I thought I would go out with a bang. Gone with the Wind is literally my favorite movie of all time. You would think I could go on and on about how amazing this movie is and how much it has done to change cinema as we know it today. However, there is really only one word that comes to mind when I think of this movie: EPIC. 

I could not possibly recount all of the amazing scenes with Scarlet played by Vivien Leigh and Rhett Butler played by Clark Gable. The movie is too amazing for words to give it justice. I will leave you with this: If you have not seen this movie, and you are of a substantial age, you quite simply have not lived. 

My favorite line in the entire movie is “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” said by Clark Gable, and can be seen here. You shouldn’t watch it if you have not seen the movie:

 

Sweet Home Alabama

Sweet Home Alabama is one of my favorite Reese Witherspoon movies. She has been in quite a few movies that I like to watch including Just Like Heaven and Legally Blonde, but there is just something about this movie that keeps me wanting to watch it over and over again.

Melanie (Witherspoon) is a very successful fashion designer in New York City. She has a fabulous fiancé, Andrew (Patrick Dempsey). She has everything should could ever possibly want, except for a divorce from her previous marriage to Jake (Josh Lucas). The only problem is, he won’t sign the divorce papers.

In what was supposed to be a quick trip to Alabama to receive the signature she needed, she discovers how much home actually means to her. While it took a lot of wheeling and dealing, she finally gets Jake to sign the papers. She is set to go, and the wedding is still on, despite her obvious feelings for Jake and despite the fact that Andrew feels like he doesn’t know her anymore because of the lies she’s told him to cover up her past.

Here is Melanie doing everything she possibly can to get Jake to sign the divorce papers.

The film covers the highs and lows of a young woman in conflict. She is trying to decide which man is going to be the best man for her.

I think I like this movie because it has that sweet factor along with the funny. The humor is believable to me, which is sometimes rare in romantic comedies.

If you like this movie you will also enjoy the movies mentioned above: Just Like Heaven and Legally Blonde.

Mama Mia

I am typically opposed to musicals. I find them to usually have just a tad too much singing for me. I’m more of a drama, love and comedy type girl, but without a doubt, I loved Mama Mia. Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), a young girl getting married, desperately wants to be walked down the isle by her father. 

There is just one glitch, she doesn’t know who her father is and her mother, Donna (Meryl Streep), was with three different guys all around the time that she could have been conceived. The three different guys are as follows: Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Harry Bright (Colin Firth) and Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard).

Sophie decides to fly all three of them out to discover who her real father is, but Donna knows nothing of their coming. She gets all a flutter when she sees all three of them. They do a terrific job of exploring who is the right guy for Donna and who is actually Sophie’s father. Therefore, I cannot give away the ending because it is simply to amazing to give away. 

I will, however, tell you that I loved the music and I was literally dancing in the theater when I saw it. Also, my mother who never goes and sees movies went to go and see this movie not once, not twice but three times in the theaters.

This is the main song from the movie. If it doesn’t make you want to get up and dance I don’t know what will.

If you like this movie you will also like the movie Hairspray.  Mama Mia was just released on video. It would be a great gift for anyone who loves musicals.

A Walk to Remember

A Walk to Remember will forever remind me of the summer between my eighth grade year and my freshman year of high school. I literally watched this movie every day I could with my best friend Amy. It is incredibly sad, and no matter how many times we watched it, I still cried. Over thanksgiving break, this movie was on TBS (they show movies in the morning) and my sister, Mary-Cate and I snuggled up and watched it together. Looking back, the movie is not some epic masterpiece, but it’s sweet in its own way, and it holds a lot of really great memories for me. 

Mandy Moore and Shane West really did quite a good job portraying two high school kids from opposite sides of the popular spectrum. Jamie (Moore) was a very religious girl who stuck to herself, and was involved in the school plays. Landon (West) was extremely popular, but he was arrested for driving into something after daring one of his friends to jump into a very shallow lake. His punishment at school was to join the school production. This brings the two together, as Landon is the lead male and Jamie is the female. Landon starts to fall for her, and after the play is over, he wants to continue to spend time with her. 

Here they are together doing one of the things on Jamie’s list of things to do before she dies (Get a tattoo). 

The movie has a tragic end, but it doesn’t take away from what the film is all about. The film is trying to get across that there are more important things in life than popularity contests and drinking with your friends. There’s deeper meaning, and we have to find it. 

This film inspired me to carry around a list of things I want to accomplish before I die. This list is from when I was 14, but I still keep it with me in my wallet. I would encourage everyone who sees this movie to sit down and make your own list. While you might forget about it for a little bit, it’s really cool to be able to mark things off the list and think back on the memories you had accomplishing your tasks. 

If you like this movie you might also like How to Deal.

Step Up

Step Up is one of those movies that most people look at and say, “Wow there was absolutely nothing to that movie.” While I somewhat agree for the actual story line, the aspect of this film that is the most impressive for me is the dancing. It is absolutely amazing.

Being a dancer myself, I understand the difficulty in doing just some of the simple moves they do. It is really cool to see a movie devoted to the dance, even if that means that the story line is a bit lacking.

In the film, Nora (Jenna Dewan) is an incredibly talented dancer, attending school at Maryland School of the Arts and trying to find her place after college. She really would like to join a dance company, but her mother would prefer her to attend college. Tyler (Channing Tatum) is a rough kid from the streets. He has been in and out of foster houses his entire life. After he gets caught breaking into Maryland School of the Arts, he is sentenced to janitorial duty at the school.

Nora’s dance partner hurt his ankle in practice, and he is unable to continue dancing for the remainder of the year. She is desperately trying to find someone to replace him. It is while she is holding auditions that Nora and Tyler meet. After going through numerous guys for the part, Tyler asks if he could try.

The film follows their progress and then has the final dance scene at the end. It is an incredible dance sequence.

 

As I said, the story is really not all that impressive, but the dancing is outstanding. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is at all interested in dance. When I watched this with all of my girlfriends we all decided that the movie made us want to take dance lessons to become better dancers. 

27 Dresses

27 Dresses is one of my favorite movies to come out of 2008. Katherine Heigl is fantastic as the girl who was always a bridesmaid and never a bride.

Jane (Heigl) is practically perfect. She does nice things for other people, and is constantly there when others need her to be there. Jane has just one problem, she likes helping others get married, but she’s never actually gotten married herself. She is madly in love with her boss, George (Ed Burns), which turns out to be a big mistake.

Jane’s younger sister, Tess (Malin Akerman) meets George and they fall madly, or so it seems, in love with one another. Jane is left with all of these unrequited feelings. She finds out soon after Tess and George start dating that they’re engaged and Tess wants Jane to help plan the wedding.

While attending one of her many weddings she meets Kevin (James Marsden) who writes the wedding announcements for the local paper. She finds him irritating, annoying and overwhelmingly attractive. Kevin ends up covering Tess and George’s wedding.

The film follows them throughout their journey with Tess’ wedding. It has its ups and downs, but overall it is really romantic and a fun movie.  In this clip, Jane and Kevin are dancing on the bar after their car got stuck in the mud.

 

I think this scene really shows how much fun they have with one another. I think the main reason why I am so drawn to this film is that my sister’s name is Jane ,and her boyfriend of over a year is named Kevin. They remind me of the characters. It’s nice to be able to look at something in real life and then look at something on screen and say, “It really does happen in real life.”

School of Rock

School of Rock is a comedy for the entire family. It stars Jack Black and Joan Cusack. It follows the story of Dewey Finn (Black) as he enters the world of education.

Dewey is a total bum. He used to be in a band, but was kicked out. His roommate and substitute teacher, Ned Schneebly (Mike White) and his girlfriend (played by Sarah Silverman) told him that he desperately needed to get a job. He picks up the phone after they leave and it’s a long term substitution for Ned. Dewey decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to get a job and tells the woman on the other line that he will be in tomorrow, only trouble is, he’s never taught a grade school class.

The children call him Mr. Schneebly because he has stolen the identity of Ned. He decides after hearing that the children go to music class and know how to play instruments that he can create a band to enter into the battle of the bands contest. The kids get incredibly interested in the history of Rock that Dewey gives them. They decide to enter into the Battle of the Bands. All of the preparation for the concert is done behind principal Mullin’s (Cusack) back and their regular studies are completely dropped.

Here is Dewey discovering that the kids can play instruments.

 

This film is amazing because of the children who portray the fourth grade class. They are incredibly funny. As per usual, Jack Black steals the show as an incredible music talent. He also does an awesome job of presenting Dewey as a man who can transform from someone who could not care less to someone who develops in a very positive way towards maturity.

I remember going to see this movie with my brother, David and saying to him as soon as we walked out of the theater, “Oh my gosh! I want to own that movie!” It really is quite funny and the songs the kids sing are really quite good.

If you like this movie you might also like Nacho Libre. 

To Sir, With Love

To Sir, With Love is an older movie, but a movie that everyone should see. Made in 1967 this movie was ahead of its time. Staring Sidney Poitier, this movie provides a great amount of social confrontation for the times.

As a black teacher in London, England, Mark Thackeray is an inspiration for his students, but not until they learn how to respect him. He declares that he demands respect from his students asking that they call him Sir and he will address them as Mr. or Miss and fill in the last name.

The film follows the hardships he faces when confronted with rebellious teenagers who are completely disrespectful and have no care for anyone but himself or herself. He shows them not only how to be respectful to him, but he shows them how to be respectful of one another, despite their skin color or their financial status. 

Sir talks the principal into letting the class go on a field trip after they have really proven that they can behave. Here is a scene from that field trip, it also gives the theme song for the film:

 

Sidney Poitier is incredible in this film. I fell in love with his character, as a man who is willing to stand up and set the kids straight and allow them to learn respect along with their normal studies.

It shows that the social problems that our parents faced were extremely trying. Not only that, but there was a sense of utmost rebellion amongst teenagers, which is still present today.

When I was in sixth grade, my mother and I would have movie nights. I used to beg her to let me watch this movie. Looking back I have no idea why at such a young age I was so drawn to it. However, after watching it again all I wanted to do was curl up with my mother and watch this movie. 

Return to Me

David Duchovny and Minnie Driver both give incredible performances in Return to Me, a movie about sorrow and finding love after the death of a loved one.

Bob (Duchovny) is madly in love with his wife, Elizabeth. Tragically, they are in a car accident and Elizabeth dies. Meanwhile, Grace (Driver) is in desperate need of a heart transplant because of heart disease. She receives Elizabeth’s heart the night Elizabeth is killed in the car accident.

On a fateful night, Bob goes out to dinner with his friend who has set him up on a blind date. They decide to go out to dinner in the restaurant where Grace works. When Bob leaves his phone at the restaurant, he comes back and they really hit it off. The one glitch is that Grace has Elizabeth’s heart. Grace becomes aware of this when she sees the letter she wrote to the family of the organ donor. 

This is a story of fate and love. The supporting actors and actresses really sell the movie for me. Bonnie Hunt, who co-wrote and directed the film, plays Grace’s best friend and her husband in the movie is James Belushi. In addition to this, Grace’s father is absolutely terrific; unfortunately I cannot find the actor’s name anywhere. I will hopefully get this fixed as soon as possible.

The inspiration for the title was Dean Martin’s song Return to Me. Here the sounds of Martin’s voice reflect exactly the emotion and feeling behind this movie.

If you’re going to watch this movie I recommend getting a good box of Kleenex and a good pillow to hold on to. It’s a beautiful film with a terrific message.   

I could not think of a movie to compare this one too. It is kind of in a category of it’s own.