The Holiday Calendar

My Thoughts:

-    This movie had potential, and that is what made it frustrating. It could have been SO much better than it was.

-    The movie started out good, and I loved the idea behind the story, but then . . . nothing.

-    About halfway through the movie, the story loses momentum, and nothing happens until the end.

-    I needed more reasons to not like Ty. He was a good guy, and all Abby got was second hand stories about him. Were those stories true? I don't know. She didn't see the relationship through long enough to find out! I actually liked Ty. Josh was good too I guess.

-    The calendar took a backseat to the movie about halfway through. It is the title of the movie!! You can't just ignore the calendar!

-    Yes, I watched this because the grandpa from This is Us was in it.

-    The movie could have been shorter, but maybe not because they could have added more meaningful moments in there. 

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

My Thoughts:

-    This movie was okay, and everything about it was just okay.

-    The story was alright. It wasn't anything special, but it was okay.

-    The cast was good, but Keira bugged.

-    Visually, the movie is stunning, and that is mostly what it has going for it. 

-    There were clowns! Clowns that come apart! The scenes with them lasted WAY too long. 

-    It is a good family flick, but I think the kids will enjoy it more than adults. I don't care if I see it again.

The Incredibles 2

My Thoughts:

-    I really enjoyed this one, but I wish I didn't have to wait so long to get it.

-    I laughed a lot throughout the movie. There were a lot of great moments.

-    They showed too many of the funny scenes in the trailers. I felt like they showed too much of the whole movie in the trailers. It made some of the scenes less special.

-    I felt like most of the movie was a repeat of the first movie. I still liked it, but I was hoping for a different formula.

-    I loved all the characters. I like that each of them had a moment to shine, especially Jack Jack. I love how his powers were being discovered and the family was trying to figure out how to deal with that.

-    Edna is my favorite! I love her!

-    Overall, this was a really fun family movie. I liked it. I think I liked the first one a little better, but I think I need to see this again to decide.

Wonder

My Thoughts:

-    In the book, I imagined Auggie's face looking much worse than it did in the movie. I suppose they didn't want to scare kids too much though.

-    I liked the cast. Everyone was good. Jack and Auggie were SO cute!

-    I liked that Via's boyfriend got a HUGE upgrade. He was kinda dumb in the book, and I like the movie boy better.

-    I thought this was a really great adaptation of the book. The book is more powerful, and I liked it better, but the movie was really good. It captured the essence of the story and the same feelings. 

-    I love that this story is for anyone and everyone. The message is a timeless one.

Paddington 2

My Thoughts:

-    Gnome loved the first Paddington movie, and I thought it was pretty cute, so we were excited when we saw that there was going to be a Paddington 2.

-    It didn't disappoint. It was SO cute and very funny. Hubby, Gnome, and I laughed a lot throughout the film. 

-    I love Paddington. He is such an endearing little bear, and I love his good manners. 

-    The cast was perfect. I loved all the characters.

-    This film is squeaky clean. I appreciated that this was a good-feeling family flick. Thank you!

-    Gnome loved everything about this movie, and she said she even liked it better than the first Paddington.

-    I'm sure this movie will become part of our home collection.

Christmas Belle

My Thoughts:

-    You'd think a Christmas Beauty and the Beast retelling would be fun right? WRONG!! This is the most terrible movie of ALL terrible movies. It makes other terrible movies look better.

-    The acting is awful! Oy! The piano music is SO annoying. It is loud and over the top. I couldn't hear some of the dialogue because it was too loud. 

-    I was SO bored! The plot was. . .

-    The "official trailer" is just a clip of the movie!? They couldn't come up with anything else?

-    Save yourself! Don't watch this!

A Christmas Kiss II

My Thoughts:

-    This movie was terrible! It was ridiculous, and I was SO bored!

-    This shouldn't even be associated with A Christmas Kiss. Yes, there is a kiss in the elevator, and Miss Hall is in a couple scenes, but it wasn't as good, AT ALL!

-    I didn't like Cooper from the beginning, and I felt the same way about him at the end. He was ridiculous. 

-    I liked Sebastian. He was a fun character.

-    I liked that Miss Hall found happiness, and I wish the story had been about her. I wish we could have seen her learn and grow from her experiences and find love. 

-    This movie did not keep my attention, I played on my phone for most of it. 

-    The movie didn't have a lot to do with Christmas. This couldn't have happened any time of year. 

-    Lame!

A Christmas Kiss

My Thoughts:

-    I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I kinda liked it.

-    Hubby watched this one with me, and he didn't fall asleep once (which is a big deal, he falls asleep during everything). He said he enjoyed it.

-    I love that the movie revolved around Christmas time, The Nutcracker, and a first edition copy of A Christmas Carol. 

-    I liked Wendy a lot. She was really pretty and very charming. 

-    I loved Wendy's friends. Tressa had the best lines! Every time she spoke, I laughed. 

-    I wasn't too jazzed about Adam. He was nice and everything, but his face bugged me. He wore WAY too much makeup. I don't like how they accentuated his features, it made his mouth move weird. 

-    Miss Hall was a piece of work! Wow! She is one of those ladies that shouldn't be around people. 

-    The story was cute. It held my attention the entire time, and I didn't feel bored. 

Christmas in the City

My Thoughts:

-    Oy! This one was a little more rough to get through.

-    I've only watched two cheesy Christmas movies this year, and both have had the girl walk in on the guy playing the piano. 

-    I liked all the Christmas songs, especially the Toy Land song, but I'm pretty sure everyone but Angie was dubbed. The Noel song was a tad too cheesy for me.

-    I liked that the mysterious Santa was the real Santa, but I wish they hadn't said it out loud. I like the mystery.

-    I get that Christmas decorations get people in the mood for Christmas, but you CAN have the spirit of Christmas without them. 

-    I don't understand how changing the store's decorations were going to help sales go up. 

-    The shirtless men in the children's department to replace Santa was HORRIBLE!!! UGH!

-    I liked how the little girl was nice to the stooge and softened his heart. 

-    Through the whole movie, I kept thinking about how the main lady was one of Ted's girlfriends in How I Met Your Mother, and she smiles WAY too much.

-    Santa's voice sounded SO familiar, but I couldn't place him.

A Christmas Prince

My Thoughts:

-    Last year I got into the cheesy Christmas shows on Netflix. Don't ask me why. This year I feel like watching some more.

-    There has been a lot of buzz about this Netflix original. It wasn't too bad.

-    Throughout the whole movie, I knew I'd seen Amber before in something else, but I couldn't place her. I kept seeing her with a different accent. It was driving me crazy! I finally realized that she is Tinker Bell from Once Upon a Time! 

-    The scenery is awesome. That castle is to drool over. 

-    I liked the Emily. I liked seeing Amber help Emily to overcome her self doubt and self consciousness. Their relationship was fun.

-    The prince was blah. I liked that he was kind and played the piano, but I wish there had been a little more to him. 

-    At the ball, I think Amber had too much eye makeup on. She looked like a raccoon. I liked her more natural look. 

-    The antagonists were very cheesy. They were the classic close relative that wants the crown villain.

-    Even though the movie wasn't too long, it felt a little too long.

-    Not the best flick, but definitely not the worst.

Coco

My Thoughts:

-    Olaf's Frozen Adventure is the short before the movie, and it is the longest "short" film ever! I enjoyed it, but when it was over, I felt ready to go home. I'd seen my movie! It is long!

-    I LOVED Coco!! It was heartwarming and fun. I went through such a range of emotions, and yes, I even cried. It has a lot of touching moments at the end.

-    The CG is beautiful! The characters eyes are amazing, and the environment is amazing! The water looked so real. 

-    This movie is rich with culture and family. I loved it!

-    I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the name of the movie is Coco! It is so awesome! You'll understand after you see it.

-    This is definitely one I'll be buying for our collection!

My Little Pony: The Movie

My Thoughts:

-    Gnome was pretty excited to see this, and she loved it.

-    I thought it was okay. 

-    There was WAY too much Pinkie Pie. The showcased her a lot more than the others, besides Twilight. 

-    I thought the movie was too long. I got a little bored in the middle, and I was wondering when the show would end.

-    There were too many songs. I love music and everything, but there were too many songs.

-    I wasn't a fan of the CG animation style. Twilight's face moved weird.

-    I did laugh a few times. There is a lot of humor. 

The Jungle Book

My Thoughts:

-    I loved this more than I thought I would! Great film! We rented it from RedBox, and I watched it twice before returning it the next day.

-    This movie is the perfect blend of paying tribute to the original Disney classic while creating something completely new and exciting.

-    I LOVED that they used some of the original music. The opening scene was awesome, and it just gave me chills.

-    I didn't think there would be any singing in this film, but I loved it when King Louie and Baloo busted out into song.

-    The CG is AMAZING! I can't believe how awesome this movie looks.

-    The cast was spot on perfect! I loved every single character. Each actor was perfect for their role.

-    Neel Sethi's performance was awesome! He is so talented for a little boy. He practically acted the whole movie in front of a giant green screen with green screen props. That is hard for a lot of seasoned actors. I'm really impressed. 

-    My only complaint is that Bagheera made a lot of noise. A panther would never make that much noise walking around the jungle. 

-    I wish the vultures had made an appearance in the film, but I'm not sure how they would have fit in. The movie is still good without them, but it would have been fun to see them. 

-    Great movie! I'll probably buy this.

Kubo and the Two Strings

My Thoughts:

-    The movie was good. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I feel like it was just shy of being an awesome movie, and that is frustrating. 

-    I think that if someone else had helped with the story, like John Lasseter or someone with equally amazing storytelling skills, this movie could have been SO much better.

-    I don't EVER say this about books or movies, but I felt like this movie was white washed. I usually don't care, but for this movie, I cared. I wish more of the voice acting had been done by actual Japanese actors. I liked Charlize Theron a lot. Her voice was perfect for her character, but I really didn't like Matthew McConaughey. His voice just didn't fit with the movie, and I hated that his character was classic male idiot. Why couldn't he have been the epic warrior he was? I also wish the Moon King had been a different actor, like Ken Watanabe or something.

-    The animation was awesome! I loved the stop motion stuff. They did a great job.

-    The origami was cool!

-    My favorite part about watching this movie was that my husband and I had the whole theater to ourselves. We were able to talk and be loud. I walked up and down aisles with Sqeaker. I also made shadow puppets on the screen, and poked the characters in the nose. It was SO fun. 

-    This movie is definitely worth seeing, but I probably wouldn't buy it. I'd watch it again though.

Hugo

My Thoughts:

-    I don't have a lot to say about this one.

-    It was good. I enjoyed the movie. I thought it was a decent adaptation of the book.

-    The actors were all great. I loved seeing Jude Law and Christopher Lee. 

-    The movie was a little long, and I started getting tired towards the end. It is probably because I was watched this late at night and it just felt long. 

-    So ya, I'd recommend the book and the movie. They are both very family friendly.

The BFG

My Thoughts:

-    Gnome and Hubby took me to see this for my birthday last week. It was fun!

-    This was the first Roald Dahl book Gnome and I read together. We loved the book, and we enjoyed the movie. It was a good adaptation.

-    Gnome was captivated the whole time, and she laughed a lot. 

-    The BFG looks just like Quentin Blake's illustration. It is awesome! The animators did a create job.

-    The CG is pretty good. I was worried that the giants would look fake, but they looked good.

-    The BFG is the most endearing giant. I loved him! The voice actor did a perfect job! 

-    All the characters were brought to life perfectly. The actors and actresses were brilliant. 

-    The sets were awesome!

Gnome's Thoughts:

-    I liked the whole thing.

Hubby's Thoughts:

-    Overall impression was good.

-    The BFG was very much like the book describes.

-    I liked how much they stuck to the story line.

-    I really really liked the snozzcumbers.

-    The acting was good.

-    They did a good job with the dreams.

Saturday's Warrior

My Thoughts:

-    I used to watch the 1989 version of this when I was a kid. I loved it. I loved the songs and I used to sing along. I remember watching this with my family on Sundays, and we loved it. I was excited when I heard they were remaking it. Sadly, I was disappointed.

-    I didn't like Jimmy. His voice really bugged me. It was really high and whiny. He killed his songs.

-    Julie also bugged me a little bit. 

-    One of the main things that disappointed me was they left out some songs, and they shortened a lot of the songs. There were new songs, and I liked those.

-    The Piano Guys cameo was fun! 

-    I didn't like when Emily haunted Jimmy. It was weird.

-    I liked getting more background on Tod. That was interesting.

-    Overall, I like the 1989 version better. I like the cast better. 

-    This movie is not for everyone. It hits you over the head with religion, mainly LDS religion. There are a few things that are not doctrinally correct, but I can overlook those things and laugh about it.

-    Seeing Alex Boye on the big screen was fun. His family was in our old ward, and it was fun but weird to see him in a movie. When I see him, all I can think about are his cute kids. 

-    After the movie was over, this guy stood up, turned around, and asked everyone (there was about 10 of us in the theater) if we liked the movie. Turns out this guy played Elder Kestler.

He said there were over 360 auditions for his role, and he was the lucky winner. One of the items on his bucket list was to be in a movie, and he is happy he can check that off. He said most of the actors came from LA, and not all of them were LDS. He is LDS and served a mission in his humble way. 

-    If you are a fan of Saturday's Warrior, I'd suggest seeing it.

Zootopia

My Thoughts:

-    I LOVED this movie!! It was so much fun!

-    All the animals were SO SO cute! The animators did an amazing job!

-    Voice actors were great! I loved Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin's performances. Great job!

-    I loved the environment. The world of Zootopia is somewhere I want to live. I love how the city was sectioned off into different climates and sizes. Brilliant!

-    Disney hasn't done an anthropomorphic movie for a while, and I'm so glad they finally made another one. Hooray for John Lassiter!! 

-    There are so many great moments throughout the film, but my favorite scene is the DMV with Flash the Sloth! OMGoodness!! It cracks me up every time!

-    Not only is this movie eye candy with fun characters, but the story is very well done. There are so many great morals, and I love how the movie touches on race and differences in a very tasteful and humorous manner.

-    Great great movie that the whole family will love! 

The Good Dinosaur

My Thoughts:

-    I wasn't impressed with this one. I usually love Pixar films, but this one fell really flat.

-    I thought Arlo was really cute, and I liked his family a lot. I wish they had done a different story with him and his family.

-    I didn't like the boy, Spot. Why is he the dog? I don't understand all the howling, and it got annoying.

-    I loved the idea of dinosaurs and humans meshing, but I want them to co-exist and be friends. I didn't like that the human was the pet.

-    The best part of the movie was the environment! WOW! It was beautiful and it looked real! 

-    I was really bored for most of the movie. It had fun moments, but they were few. 

Lawrence of Arabia

My Thoughts:

-    I have wanted to see this movie for some time now, and I finally did it! It took several sittings, but I made it through. The movie is VERY long!

-    What a cast! I was excited to see Alec Guinness, Omar Sharif, and of course, Peter O'Toole.

-    I love the way Peter O'Toole talks. I'm always mesmerized with the way he talks in every one of his films.

-    I like brunette Peter O'Toole better.

-    There is a lot of politics and other crap in this movie. I think I'd have to watch it again to really get it all.

-    I don't understand why the Arabs felt so compelled to follow Lawrence.

-    I liked when Lawrence got a little cocky, and he was majorly humbled. 

-    They don't make movies like this anymore! Wow! The huge landscapes and thousands of extras. I don't know if we'll ever see movies like this ever again. 

-    I felt bad for Lawrence. He didn't know where he belonged, and in the end, I not sure if either world truly accepted him. 

-    Would I watch this again? I don't know. I think I'd have to be in the right mood. This movie is quite the undertaking.