Here Comes the Boom!

This is my kind of movie!  I needed some cheering up and for the hour and forty-five minutes that this was on, I was definitely cheered.  I laughed, cried, and was inspired.  I came out of this motion picture, happy.  It was laugh out loud funny and heartwarming.  The ultimate recipe for a winning film!  Thanks Honey for a great movie choice for our date night.

The cast was incredible.  They all were a perfect fit.  Every role was important to the story and I couldn't help but fall in love with them all!  They all contributed to conveying the message of conquering fears, dreams, goals, and much more.  I love, love, love this movie! See it and you'll understand. 

Here Comes the Boom had a lot of heart and you know I love hearts!  I give it 5 stars ..a must see! Now, this needs to be written into a book and I'm on it like white on rice!  :)

(source)

“Without music life would be a mistake”

In the comedy Here Comes the Boom, former collegiate wrestler Scott Voss (Kevin James) is a 42-year-old apathetic biology teacher in a failing high school. When cutbacks threaten to cancel the music program and lay off its teacher (Henry Winkler,) Scott begins to raise money by moonlighting as a mixed martial arts fighter. Everyone thinks Scott is crazy – most of all the school nurse, Bella (Salma Hayek) – but in his quest, Scott gains something he never expected as he becomes a sensation that rallies the entire school.

Movie: The Avengers ..Aaahhh!

I know this isn't bookish but it's based from comic books so we'll let this slide, right?  Anyway, I've been waiting for this movie to come out and I finally got to see it today for date-day with hubby dear and wowzers it did not disappoint!!  Totally loved it!  Super heroes are the best!  This movie was like some you young folks would call, the bomb!  In addition to the spectacular special effect, it had heart and humor.  Not to mention the eye candy casts ..namely Chris Hemsworth ..but dang Robert Downey Jr. brought it on in this movie!  Oh, Agent Phil Coulson ..love you too!!

Okay, that's all.  I just had to do a virtual scream.  Alright, one more time ..AAAHHHH!!!  :D

Book and Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes Investigates: Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, selected and introduced for new readers by Michael and Mollie Hardwick, AF, 1963, 232p, rating=5
source: library

Recently for date night my husband and I saw the movie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and I absolutely loved it!  So I had to get my hands on the book.  Well, I ended up with this compilation instead.  What a gem of a find.  According to this book, Sir Doyle wrote 4 long stories and 56 short ones.  This collection gave an excerpt of one of the long ones and six short ones, indeed a wonderful introduction to new readers of Sherlock Holmes stories.  I ate it all up!  I think I found myself a favorite mystery author and character.  I enjoyed the cleverness of the Sherlock Holmes adventures and his summations of them ... reminds me of the TV series Monk but I would put Sherlock Holmes in a class of elegance. 

Just to note the stories that are included in this book:

• Mr Sherlock Homes Meets Dr. Watson
• The man with the Twisted Lip
• The Speckled Band
• The Red-headed League
• The Engineers Thumb
• The Reigate Squires
• The Blue Carbuncle

My quote-ables:
"I have usually found that there was ethod in his madness.  Some folk might say there was madness to his method." The Reigate Squires
"My name is Sherlock Homes.  It is my business to know what other people don't know." The Blue Carbuncle

Now for the movie review.  Well, as I mentioned I absolutely loved this movie.  The acting was superb, the music was fabulous, and the special/visual effects was incredible!  It was hilarious and action packed. I'm not a big fan of Robert Downey Jr. but now he's on my radar.  The whole cast was great!  Really, if you want to see a very entertaining movie, this is it!  You'll get your money's worth.  Loved it!!  :)

Mail Giddy

I was truly giddy when I got this in the mail this weekend!  It came the same day that we were having a birthday party for my daughter so it felt like it was my birthday too ... this being my present.  Pretty cool.  Anyway, thank you Alison @ Alison Can Read for the wonderful treat!  Oh by the way, Alison had mentioned that I was the last one to enter the giveaway and random.org chose me!  How lucky was I?!! 

I read the book last year and liked it a lot.  When word came out that Robert Pattinson was to play the leading role, I couldn't picture it.  He just didn't seem to fit the Jacob in the book that I imagined.  When the trailers and promo pictures started to come out, the idea that he could pull it off warmed up to me (he was great in the movie Remember Me).  He was awfully cute and it had been a long time since I've read the book so maybe?

After the party I did a quick minor clean up then relaxed and watched the movie by myself (the fam had other interests).  Well, it was pretty good (3.75 stars/5).  The movie brought back the lovely read and I think Christoph Waltz did an amazing job playing August.  Of course, Rosie rocked!!  As far as Pattinson and Witherspoon .. good but not amazing.  The forbidden love affair gaze was there but lacked the passion ..I'm not talking about the raunchy kind, but something more searing.  I think they played the characters a bit too subdued or something? Oh, I don't how to describe it!  Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie and this DVD will be in my prized collection.  

In this case, the book was much better.  However, I do appreciate the movie.  It was a good tribute.

BTW, I didn't realize that Reese was petite.  --Just an observation, I'm not saying I have anything against petite people ..I'm petite!

Movie to book?

Last night my hubby and I watched the movie The Invention of Lying via DVD and a thought came to mind ... This would be an interesting book ...which led me to wonder... Are there books based on movies?  I'm a recent bookworm so I haven't come across any (I think) that was a movie first before the book. 

I'm curious ... does anyone know of any book that was a movie first?  If so, which ones and what are your thoughts on it.  Usually (speaking of book to movie), I find the book version better than it's film adaptation.  I'm curious how it is on the flip side.  ~Thanks.




Play the video for the blurb ... intriguing.  ~I would give this movie 3.5 stars.

"The Cinderella Pact"

by Sarah Strohmeyer, 2006, 287p, rating=3

Here's a twist... I like the TV movie version better than the book!  I saw the movie about a couple weeks ago on  Lifetime Movie Network (titled Lying to be Perfect) and enjoyed it.  Poppy Montgomery was wonderful as Nola Devlin/Belinda Apple.  Her leading man, real husband Adam Kaufman as David Stanton Jr. wasn't bad either.    A 21st century Cinderella fairy tale rendition ... instead of pitiful to princess, it's fat to skinny.  Can we guess why that attracted me?  Yeap, someone's been carrying an extra load or two *huge grin*, so I can certainly relate!

I'm not sure if I would have liked the book version better than the movie adaptation had I read the book first.  I just really enjoyed the movie take on it.  I would even venture to say it's just about completely different.  The only thing that stayed the same was the plot ... fat lady takes on an alter ego to stay afloat in her career and in the process becomes skinny and ends up with a rich handsome man.  Sexiest?  Not exactly.  Certainly if you go political on it, but then you'd lose the fun of a simple romance story.  It's simply a chick flick/read.

Synopsis by Goodreads:

Nola Devlin has a secret identity. By day she is an overweight, frumpy, and overlooked editor at Sass! (the "celebrity magazine with an edge!"), but by night she slips behind her keyboard and into her alter-ego: Belinda Apple. Belinda is thin, gorgeous, British and the author of a trendy advice column- she is, in effect, the latest Carrie Bradshaw. Not even Nola's two best friends or her self-absorbed sister (who worships Belinda as the "sister she never had") know her secret.

When "Belinda" jots off a column about how easy it is to lose weight, Nola is shocked when her best friends take her own lies to heart and urge her to follow Belinda's weight loss program. Since Nola can't reveal herself as the real Belinda Apple, she bites the bullet and joins her friends in making the "Cinderella Pact"- a last ditch attempt to lose weight (again!) and transform their lives for good.

But as the pounds come off, things don't turn out the way the three friends expect. Their journey of self-discovery leads to the return of an old love and the unmasking of new problems. Meanwhile, Nola finds herself torn between two different men as she stomps out fires caused by her deception as Belinda Apple and falls in love with the man who just might be her prince - or the rat in coachman's clothing.

Book vs Movie

I watched the movie, The Notebook, on DVD yesterday and it was practically nothing like the book! I don't remember that carnival stunt, Allie's mother didn't have that much character, why did they leave out the crab dinner?, there was NO Martha, and that wasn't the ending ... just to name a FEW differences. If you watched it without reading the book you would still get a strong love story but having read the book I couldn't help point out the inconsistencies.

Which do I like better then? The book I suppose, but both was good in its element. The film version had to make appeal to drama and so the changes did that while the book stood as the original version and made it's own impact on the readers.

I wonder what affect it would have on me if I saw a film version first before reading the book it was based on? I'll have to try that one day and let you know.

The book was better

Watched the film version of The Boy in the Striped Pajama this afternoon and yeap, the book was better! The movie omitted a few things and tweaked the characters. The movie was still moving and basically true to the message, but you get a more powerful awe from the book. However, I did cry at the end of the movie. The book left me too shocked and dumbfounded to shed a tear and now a few days later, I got my chance.