movie – Page 4 – Carol's Notebook

At the Movies: Jack the Giant Slayer

March 20, 2013March 20, 2013 by Carol12 Comments

Jack the Giant Slayer From: Warner Bros Pictures Release Date: March 1, 2013 Category: Action/Adventure, Fantasy Director: Bryan Singer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars The beloved fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk gets the big-screen treatment courtesy of director Bryan Singer and screenwriters Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie, and Dan Studney in this fantasy adventure about a naïve farm boy who attempts to rescue a beautiful princess from a race of vengeful giants. When Jack inadvertently opens a passageway that allows giants to cross into our reality, the towering titans stake their claim on the world of humans. Should they succeed, Jack's kingdom will be but the first of many to fall. Now, in order to save his people and rescue a noble princess, Jack must summon every ounce of bravery to drive out the invading giants. Jack the Giant Slayer was a fun movie. You all know I like twists on traditional tales and although I don't think I've ever featured "Jack and the Beanstalk" as...

The movie I forced my husband to watch

September 21, 2012September 20, 2012 by Carol8 Comments

We actually only watched half of it. I mentioned that I had a few movies I wanted to watch that tied in well with RIP. One was The Woman in Black (2012). I read the story recently (my comments are here) and hadn't found it as scary as I had expected. I wanted to watch the movie to see how they compared and I had heard the movier was spookier than the book. My dearest husband, who is not a fan of ghosts, agreed, reluctantly, to watch it with me last weekend. The movie itself fit the picture I had in my head, although the opening scene of three children jumping out a window was disturbing. The old house was dark and cobwebby and lonely, a suitable atmosphere for a ghost story. The whole feeling was tense. It was a spooky movie, but not exactly scary, in my opinion. But I didn't get to see the whole thing. About halfway through the movie, I...

Movie Review: Moneyball (2011)

February 25, 2012February 24, 2012 by Carol10 Comments

As most of you know, the Academy Awards are tomorrow. No, I won't be watching, but this year I have actually seen a couple of the movies up for Best Picture, The Help and Moneyball. The Help I saw in the theater when it came out and loved it. I had already read the book though, so knew what to expect. David and I just watched Moneyball last weekend. I had heard it was very good, and I wanted to see it, but my expectations weren't really too. Really, it's about baseball and stats, and even though I like Brad Pitt, he's not reason enough for me to watch a movie. I really enjoyed it though. The movie is based on the bestseller of the same name by Michael Lewis. It tells the story of the 2002 Oakland A's, a team with a low budget and a larger than life manager in Billy Beane. He takes a chance, looks at the numbers...

Movie Review: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)

February 19, 2012 by Carol7 Comments

Okay, just to be clear, The Mysterious Island (2012) is not a great movie. What it is is a fun adventure film, perfect for the whole family. TSean Anderson receives a message from his grandfather, who claims to have found the “Mysterious Island” that Jules Verne wrote about in 1974. Anderson's stepfather, played by, Dwayne Johnson, helpe him decode the message and then decides tot ake the bonding moment even farhter, heading out of a quest to the South Pacific. On the island of Palau, they hire a tour guide to take them to the island, and his daughter comes along, too. Before long, they’ve arrived at the Mysterious Island, Grandpa shows up. He shows them all the wonders of the isldand, and it is an amazing place, but they quickly realize they need to get off now, becuase the whole place is sinking. There are of course, all kinds of obstacles, most notably giant bugs, birds and lizards. And trekkig across the jungles...

Watching Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999)

January 23, 2012 by Carol5 Comments

My husband and I sat down to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream this past Friday, not a movie he would usually choose to watch, but he knows I've been enjoying Shakespeare month so he went along with it. The plot stays true to the play, which I talked about yesterday. Our story begins as Hermia and Lysander flee deep into the forest to escape Hermia's father who insists she marry Demetrius. Soon, Demetrius wanders into the forest himself in search of his true love Hermia. Following close on Demetrius' heels is Helena, who is hopelessly in love with the man. Things only get worse, of course, when the squabbling King and Queen of Fairies arrive on the scene, and King Oberon sends his fairy trickster Puck to liberally dose just about everyone with a magical love potion. Numerous romantic mix-ups ensue and then amateur actors show up adding to the mix, one is even given a donkey head by Puck and...

Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

December 27, 2011 by Carol9 Comments

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows was one of my most-anticipated movies of this year, probably behind only the Muppets. I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. Holmes is the same sarcastic, socially inept, brilliant man. This time around he's pitted against Moriarty, a name any Holmes fan will recognize. Moriarty is Holmes' only intellectual equal, but he is purely evil and power-hungry. His plan is to start a war and provide weapons to both sides. The interplay between the two was well-done I thought, although Moriarty's plan was a little complicated, to say the least. He and Holmes were like two sides of the same coin. My problem with the movie is that I had seen it before. The filming, the glimpses into Holmes' thought process, even the proclivity for costumes, nothing was new. The plot alone didn't grab me enough and I'm not sure that there was really much character development from the original. Or maybe I'm just mad that...