I think my problem with lack of inspiration and blogging is that there is nothing new on Netflix. I keep browsing the "New Releases" and "Recently Added" on Netflix but nothing has been catching my eye. I keep starting movies and then stopping them because they're terrible. But are they really terrible? Or I have maxed out my Netflix watching ability? I didn't think it was possible but I can't seem to get into anything.
I did watch The Core last night. I had seen the beginning of The Core three times. Made more than halfway through but had never made it to the ending. Finally, I discovered that Netflix had indeed added The Core to their streaming list. Thank you Netflix! Finally I can see the ending of this movie!
So, I guess this blog entry is going to turn into some writing about The Core.
So, this movie is pretty cool. Very unrealistic, but cool. These scientists/astronauts travel to the core of the earth to, well, save the earth! And they get "Rat" aka DJ Qualls to keep it all off the internet! He gets to control the internet! I'm so excited to write about this movie suddenly.
The Core features a star-studded cast! It's actually pretty crazy! We've got Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Stanley Tucci, and Richard Jenkins. Plus some other great actors that I sort of recognize by face but not name, so I won't list them. Mostly because I'm lazy, to be perfectly honest.
The graphics in this movie are interesting. They're not quite bad but they don't seem realistic. I mean, we don't really know what the inside of the earth would be like if we were to tunnel through it. However, I don't think it would look like a long ship moving super fast through water and that's how it looked in the The Core.
I won't go into too much detail on this one. It's pretty darn good, though. So check it out now in case Netflix won't keep streaming for long! I don't really know how long they keep titles streaming but they should start switching it up soon. I'm getting bored.
Enjoy! This clip from the movie is of the Golden Gate Bridge melting. The sun is so strong because the earth's core stopped spinning and the world is going insane. This looks freakishly realistic.
I am so into the second season of Once Upon A Time that I can't even watch anything else. It is SO GOOD. SO GOOD. Please, if you have not watched it yet then please go. It's available to stream on Netflix. And the seasons are so long! A lot of shows only have twelve or thirteen episodes but there are twenty-two episodes of the second season. Many new characters, new magic, new lands, outsiders, flashbacks, relationships, it's all so crazy! I love how everything ties in together.
If you have not read it yet, check out my post on Once Upon A Time. Thanks!
Enjoy some music! I love movies but I love music even more.
I love horror movies. It's my favorite genre and it probably seems uncharacteristic of me. I'm not sure what it is about horror that I like so much because I definitely don't like being scared. I don't watch horror when I'm going to be home all alone for a night. Sometimes I cringe at the gore or I hide my face during a suspenseful moment and maybe that is what horror is all about. The whole point of the genre.
Demons are not my favorite but The Possession was a very decent movie. I actually watched thinking it was another movie called Sinister. Clearly it wasn't the same movie! But it was still quite good. The Possession is about a little girl who buys an old box at a lawn-sale. What's in the box possesses her and her father will stop at nothing to get that demon out of his little girl.
Not an original plot but it was still entertaining. The movie is based off a real box called the Dybbuk box. Jewish folklore defines a dybbuk is a restless spirit believed to be able to haunt and possess the living. The box was first brought to light by previous owner Kevin Mannis who put the box up for auction on ebay. Mannis said that the box had "belonged to a Holocaust survivor named Havela, who had escaped to Spain prior
to her immigration to the United States. Havela purposely sealed a
dybbuk inside the box after it contacted her and friends performing a
seance with a homemade oracle board."
When Mannis opened the box, according to Wiki, he found "that it contained two 1920s pennies, a
lock of blonde hair bound with cord, a lock of black/brown hair bound
with cord, a small statue engraved with the Hebrew word 'Shalom', a
small, golden wine goblet, one dried rose bud, and a single candle
holder with four octopus-shaped legs; all items supposedly used in
Jewish folklore to exorcise demons."
The Dybbuk box is very cool and, if the information on Wiki is correct, has had interesting experiences with its past owners:
"Numerous owners of the box have reported that strange phenomena
accompany it. In his story, Mannis claimed he experienced a series of
horrific nightmares shared with other people while they were in
possession of the box or when they stayed at his home while he had it.
His mother suffered a stroke on the same day he gave her the box as a
birthday present – October 28. Every owner of the box has reported that
smells of cat urine or jasmine flower and nightmares involving an old hag accompany the box. Iosif Neitzke, a Missouri student at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri
and the last person to auction the box on eBay, claimed that the box
caused electronic failure – phenomena from lights burning out in his
house to computer failure, a mysterious insect swarm centering around
the box, and unexplained medical conditions such as extreme and sudden
hair loss. Jason Haxton, Director of the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Missouri,
had been following Neitzke's blogs regarding the box and when he was
ready to be rid of the box Neitzke sold it to Haxton. Haxton wrote The Dibbuk Box, and claimed that he subsequently developed strange health problems, including hives,
coughing up blood, and "head-to-toe welts" His wife experienced
"bloody, weeping, blisters" after coming in contact with clothing he
wore during a failed containment attempt. His office also experienced
the bursting of light bulbs, shared by Neitzke and Mannis and computer
failures akin to Neitzke's experiences.
Upon removal of the box from the museum, Haxton had locked the box in
the back of his truck, parking it at his home in the evening. Haxton
experienced nightmares of Hag-like women, not unlike Mannis's claims.
The final straw, Haxton claims, happened while he and his son were
watching television and his son noticed a black flame-like mass in the
room with them. Haxton consulted with Rabbis
to try to figure out a way to seal the dybbuk in the box again.
Apparently successful, he took the freshly resealed box and hid it at a
secret location, which he will not reveal."
I personally do not believe in demons, ghosts, aliens, or anything of the sort. However, I still like movies and stories about those topics. The Possession is a great horror film! It has that typical horror end where more could possibly happen in the future. Plus it has a great cast! Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays the father and Kyra Sedgwick plays the mother. I feel like Sedgwick is too big a name for her small role but it was still nice to see her. Natasha Calis plays the girl who gets possessed and Madison Davenport plays her older sister. Both are unknowns but I think they did a wonderful job, especially Calis. Being possessed seems like a hard job! So, in honor of it almost being fall, almost being October my favorite month, and eventually being Halloween, here's a good horror! It's streaming right now on Netflix, so please enjoy!
PS. I wanted to add that Marisyahu is in this film. He's a musician and has done music for a few of movies plus has two of his own albums. I am not familiar with him but Caleb recognized him right away.
I'm not always into romance movies but I have a soft spot for Nicholas Sparks movie adaptations. I mean, who doesn't right? Sparks is known for writing some intensely romantic and dramatic novels and many of his books have been turned into movies like A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, The Notebook, and The Last Song. I will admit I've never actually read one of his books and admitting that somehow feels wrong. The emotions I feel when watching any of his movies are pretty strong so I can't even imagine what it is like to read his books.
I recently watched Safe Haven on Netflix while I was browsing the "recently released" section. Let me tell you, that was a damn good movie. I was hooked pretty immediately from beginning to end. And just to warn you, I was a crying mess at the end so come prepared with tissues!
Safe Haven stars Julianne Hough as a woman running from her past to a little seaside town where she meets a man she never expected to fall in love with, who is played by Josh Duhamel. You probably remember Julianne Hough from Dancing with the Stars! She is a talented dancer, country music singer, and now actress. I was a tad unsure of her casting for this role but I think she was outstanding. I was also unsure about Josh Duhamel because I always think of him as playing jerks. Luckily, I was wrong, he was great, and the pair had wonderful chemistry.
Sometimes Nicholas Sparks gives his work such a surprise ending that I hate it. It's either stupid or just too sad to even comprehend. A Walk to Remember and Nights in Rodanthe are two of my favorite endings. I know A Walk to Remember probably seems like a weird choice because she dies at the end but you know the whole time that she's sick so you shouldn't be surprised. And if you haven't seen that movie, then sorry for spoiling the ending. But don't worry, while it may be sad it's also very sweet and satisfying. I love movies with a satisfying ending!
Dear John has the worst ending ever out of all the Nicholas Sparks movies I've ever seen. It is so terrible. It ruined the rest of the movie. That makes me sad because I love Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum.
The Lucky One is maybe the steamiest Sparks film. I mean, Zac Efron hunkyhunk and Taylor Schilling from Orange Is The New Black? Hello! Steamy love scene!
Anyway, now that I'm semi off track let's get back to Safe Haven. It's really great guys! I highly recommend it. It is a romance/drama, it will make you cry, but it has a wonderfully satisfying ending.
I am not a huge Adam Sandler fan. However, there are two movies of his that I love: The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates. 50 First Dates just became available to stream on Netlix and I was super pumped to watch it. I just realized that the two Adam Sandler movies I love also have Drew Barrymore starring opposite... hmm.
If you have not seen this movie then please go watch it right this minute. It is so good! It's a great romantic comedy, with maybe a little more comedy than romance. A wonderfully hilarious cast make this movie fantastic. We have Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider (of course!), Sean Astin, Dan Aykroyd,Blake Clark, and apparently Maya Rudolph is in this somewhere.
This movie, for those of you crazies who do not know, is about a woman with short-term memory loss who keeps meeting the same man over and over again. In true romantic comedy fashion, they fall in love, fall out of love, and end up happily ever after. Don't even try to tell me that I spoiled the ending for you because as soon as you see the words "romantic comedy" you should know how the entire movie will play out.
This is a movie where Adam Sandler is charming, handsome, and patient. Usually he is crude and I don't find him that funny so this is a nice change. He gets his comedic moments but overall he plays a pretty swell dude. He has breakfast every single morning with a woman who cannot remember him. He goes along with the facade: pretending it's her father's birthday, watching the same game on tv (that's actually a recording), seeing her wear the same outfit everyday, and reading an old newspaper with her. I mean, this guy is great! Some days she likes him and some days she doesn't. Plus, he works with dolphins and his best friend is a walrus! You can't get any cooler than that!
50 First Dates has endless laughs within the hilarious writing and acting. Adam and Drew must have great chemistry because they go together like peanut butter and jelly. But only the raspberry jelly. And by jelly I mean jam. And by jam I mean preserves.
I cannot tell you enough how much I love this movie. It's one of those films that I can keep watching a lot and never get sick of. I can't say that for too many movies. This one makes the cut, though. I think you should check it out if you haven't seen it already. It's streaming right now on Netflix and should be enjoyed thoroughly.
The clip below from 50 First Dates is of Adam Sandler singing an original called "Forgetful Lucy" to Drew Barrymore. It's one of my favorite Adam originals and captures the movie perfectly. So please enjoy!
I love fairy tales and have always loved Disney movies since I was a child. Once Upon a Time is an excellent show that started in 2011 on ABC and features a multitude of fairy tale characters. The show is set in a fictional town called Storybrooke, Maine. The residents are all characters from different fairy tales and were brought to Storybrooke by a curse made by an evil queen. Each episode is centered in Storybrooke but there is always a second plot about another fairy tale character's life before the curse happened.
Once Upon a Time was created by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, who both wrote Lost and Tron: Legacy. The series has three seasons and will also have a spin-off called Once Upon a Time in Wonderland which will be premiering this fall.
The protagonist of the show is Emma Swan, played by Jennifer Morrison, who is drawn to Storybrooke by a boy who claims to be her son that she gave up at birth. Her son is the only one besides the evil queen, who just so happens to be his adopted mother and mayor of Storybrooke, who knows that everyone in town is really fairy tale characters trapped in this world.
It is interesting to learn about the characters and their overlapping lives in the fairly tale world. Snow White, Prince Charming, Pinocchio, Belle, Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, and Rumpelstiltskin are just some of the main fairy tale characters in the show who the audience gets to learn more about. It is an interesting take on the original fairy tales because their stories all overlap and intersect and suddenly here are all our favorite characters in one place. It's wonderful!
It's a great cast featuring Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Emilie de Ravin. Those are just the names that I recognize, there are even more talented names featured on Once Upon a Time. Jennifer Morrison you might recognize as Cameron from House. I know Ginnifer Goodwin from Something Borrowed, Big Love, He's Just Not That Into You, and Mona Lisa Smile. Emilie de Ravin is extraordinary and I know her best from Remember Me and Brick but most people probably recognize her from playing Clair Littleton on Lost from 2004 to 2010.
Once Upon a Time is about fairy tales and the show has a dreamy, imaginative feel to it. I think it's wonderful! The first two seasons are available to stream on Netflix and the third season and the spin-off show will be premiering at the end of September. It's jam-packed with drama, action, and teamwork! It's one of my favorite television shows and I think you'll enjoy it, too.
Duuuuuuude. Check out the trailer below! Now, the internet lied to me and told me Captain Hook joins the cast in the third season, however he joins in the second season! I knew I should have watched that before writing about it. Oh well! I'm in the middle of the second season, it's totally awesome, and I want to go watch more of it right this minute!! ALSO Mulan joins in the story! MULAN PEOPLE, MULAN. She's very cool.
Caleb introduced me to the movie Event Horizon. We had each browsed through all that Netflix and Amazon Prime had to offer us. In the end, I handed him the remote, closed my eyes, and said "pick anything." I was, of course, a bit nervous because I was sure this was going to be a really stupid movie, but I was wrong. It was great! Well, it was sort of stupid but in a good way.
Event Horizon, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, came out in 1997. For a film that came out that long ago, I am impressed with its CGI capabilities. Normally, as you might know, I am not a fan of computer graphics but this is a case where it's necessary and it works. Paul Anderson is probably best known for his Resident Evil movies. He wrote, directed, and produced them.
The film is about a rescue crew, of sorts, that investigate a lost space ship called the Event Horizon. It got lost in a black hole that it created and now something sinister is hiding on board. It's a great horror/sci-fi and I'm not always a huge fan of sci-fi. Though, I do seem to like most of the sci-fi movies I see, I just wouldn't pick them to watch myself. But if it's someone else's idea, then why not?
You will probably recognize Sam Neill as Dr. William Weir. Neill has been in tons of stuff like Jurassic Park, Daybreakers, and The Horse Whisperer. He's talented and versatile, though in my opinion he plays creepy the best.
Then there's Captain Miller, the captain of the rescue team, played by Laurence Fishburne. He is best known for being in The Matrix and taking over as lead on CSI.
According to IMDB, there are a lot of neat facts about Event Horizon and I feel the need to share them. Because this blog is supposed to be about how the movie is made and interesting things that most people don't know about them. However, I get too excited while I write and totally stray away. Oops! So, here's some neat stuff!:
The space suits worn by the actors weighed 65 pounds each. Due to the weight, standing upright in them for
longer periods could lead to back injury, but sitting down was not
possible either due to the backpack. Special "hanging poles" were
constructed on the set, so the actors could rest on them between takes.
The Event Horizon was modeled on Notre Dame cathedral. Its long corridor
resembles a church nave, and its interior is filled with cruciform
shapes, columns and vaults. Also, its engines resemble rotated church
towers.
When the Lewis and Clark first docks with the Event Horizon, the number of the main airlock is briefly visible: 13.
The Event Horizon was named after the theoretical boundary surrounding a
black hole, within which gravitational attraction is so great that
nothing, not even radiation, can escape because the escape velocity is
greater than the speed of light. Technically, it is where the physical
universe ends and physical laws no longer apply. So the ship's name is
symbolic for its journey beyond the borders of the known universe.
Philip Eisner wrote
the movie after a family tragedy. He had recently entered a
multi-picture writing agreement, and in an effort to force himself to
get back to work he pitched the idea of "The Shining in space" to the
studio, who were very receptive.
The rotational shot of the space station over earth took nearly a third of the film's budget.
Some of the lost footage includes a great deal more of the
Bosch-influenced Hell sequences and of the orgiastic video log that was
found in the Event Horizon. This was shot by both director Paul W.S. Anderson and Vadim Jean, mainly on weekends.
The shot where Sam Neill stares out of a window which then pulls back to reveal he's on the deck
of a spaceship orbiting Earth took the digital special effects house
Cinesite 10 weeks to achieve. The shot lasts for 45 seconds.
What I take from all the trivia is that Event Horizon is a complex movie. I really did enjoy this one! It's streaming right now on Netflix and I think you should check it out if you haven't seen it already. If you have, then maybe you should watch it again for old time's sake! It's a great horror/sci-fi so if you like those genres then this is a good movie for you! Enjoy!
Watch the clip below for an intense scene between Captain Miller and a crewman. I love how he listens to the whole thing and his face is like "Yeah, this doesn't surprise me."
