Couch Potato Time #5 – The Maze Runner

I went to the cinema last saturday and saw TMR....after loads of begging my parents....what can I say....I'm shameless when I really want something.
And wow! It was phenomenal! The graphics, the presentation, the mood of the movie was better than I could've hoped for!

In some ways, I thought that the movie was even better than the book! It built on the book. Improved it even.
Not that the book wasn't amazing...it was...for me, anyway; even tho a lot of stuff was still unresolved and unanswered, the Maze Runner novel was a great start to the trilogy. The only problem I had with the book was that it lacked balance.
It was so centred on the mystery and the maze that I felt that the emotions and budding relationships between the characters were overlooked and pushed into a corner.
In the movie adaption, however, the different elements of the story were really brought together perfectly, and I was really happy that the guys were portrayed in a way that freely showed their emotions, and weren't all stoic and bleehh :)

I read the TMR book over 6 months ago, and I have pretty terrible memory most of the time (whoops hehe), so I can't really point out all the book-to-movie differences, but the most noticeable difference was the lack of supernatural/sci-fi element with the telepathy between Thomas and Teresa. And I actually liked that they cut out that element because it really brought the story to it's raw base and made it more relatable to us as a real story that could happen to us in the future or something. And yes, I think this was a strategy because the general movie-watching public (including myself in this case) tend to like being able to easily relate the the story, hence the success of The Hunger Games, and our apparent love of Dystopian.
But I've also recently heard that the telepathy is quite instrumental in future books, which leaves me wondering how they intend to continue the series as movies.
Pleeeease don't become a repeat of the Eragon fiasco *crosses fingers*

And squeee! The actors were amazeballs! I've seen the actors of Gally and Newt before (XD not literally *pouts*), and I know they're great at what they do, but all the others were new for me, and they sure did impress ;) I can't wait to see more of these up and coming actors (and actress....if people use that term anymore o.O *scratches head*), and I'm crossing my fingers for a sequel soon!
Gossipy Belle: Haven't you heard? The second movie is already in pre-production and casting on IMDb! Get with the times! *facepalm*

The movie interpreted the novel perfectly, and OMG did it start with a bang or what?! XD One second I was sitting in the cinema cradling my popcorn and waiting for the movie to start, and then the next the rattling and grating of the elevator just slammed into me like a double decker......so I guess the cinema speakers were in fully functional capacity ;) But seriously, that start was so epic I was on the edge of my seat from the beginning to end.
And don't get me started on the Grievers *shudders* They looked seriously creepy o.O Ewwwiee!

I especially liked that there was no romance....in the first part of the trilogy at least.
YA romance normally develops rather rapidly, so the lack of romance was pretty new, and honestly, I didn't realize how tired I was of the constant lovey-doveyness till there wasn't any XDD

I haven't actually read the 2nd and 3rd books, but now that I've watched the adaption, and the extent of it's success, I'll have to read the rest of the series before the movies beat me :P

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Couch Potato Time #4 – Pompeii

Ohh. Myyyy. Gawdddd. *dies* I loveddddd this movie <3

There was such attention to detail! :D I was watching the special features after the movie finished and apparently they went craaazy precise to make it look as authentic to Pompeii as possible :)

And the graphics were awesome and everythang! I was just left gobsmacked staring as the mountain erupted, the ground shifted and the oceans heaved. Yessssss *sighs happily*

Ohh and guess what?! Jon Snow has magically appeared in another show ^^ *coughs* Wait sorry, what I meant was, a buffed, hotter Jon Snow, appeared in another show *winks*

I'm not kidding, he was literally identical except for the change of physique! XD Same curly black hair and everythang ;) *giggles* ......aand as you can tell, I may have acquired a teensy crush :P

Belle's rational side: *clears throat* Moving onn.....

Emily Browning played the lead female role, and I was pleasantly surprised by her character! :D Honestly, I was kind of expecting her to be this naïve rich girl who would annoy me the whole movie and then fall in love with the slave/gladiator (played by Jon Sn–I mean, Kit Harington......gaaaahh I keep thinking of him as Jon! *facepalm*), but Cassia (Emily's character) was actually pretty tough! Not physically *rolls eyes* XP Physically she looks extremely delicate. But instead of physical qualities, she was humble, brave, smart, and strong-willed :) Me likey! *nods approvingly*

There were also a few other notable actors and actresses......one in particular being Cassia's mum! SHE WAS THE SAME ACTRESS WHO PLAYED TRINITY IN MATRIX!!!!!!! Eeeeeekkk *gaaasp*

I adored the character developments and relationships. It wasn't just a romance, there was bromance with Atticus (a fellow gladiator) and Milo (Kit's character), and and sisterhood with Cassia and Ariadne (niice names ;D), who, although she was technically Cassia's 'slave', they grew up together and mutually treated each other as sisters *wipes away tears and holds hand to heart* XP

Make no mistake tho, this is POMPEII. No one gets out alive *cries* Not even ze main characters. I knoowww, I burst your bubbles *pats head* But honestly, by the end even tho the story could be labeled tragic and star-crossed love, I felt at peace, and the ending was perfect in my opinion (the make-out session was a bit longer than I expected tho.....noottt that I'm complaining exactly ^^)

And before we watched Pompeii, my brother and I actually made a bet on if the main characters would die or survive....

You see, he was convinced that they'd die, simply because it was Pompeii, but I was hanging on to the hope that they'd let them live somehow.....but as it goes, you know nothing, MissBloodsucker ^^ (and to you GoT fans......yesss I did just say that XD)

And of course they didn't survive, and of course my bro had to make us bet 20 cents >.< *sniffs* Goodbyee my preciousss XD

So what can I say? I seriously loved this moviee! Can I pleaaasee see more movies with this new and improved Jon Snow? Pretty pleasee? Cherries on top? XDD

Thrilling. Enthralling. Haunting.

Thrilling because of all the fight scenes (ohh how I love old Roman time history stories *beams*). And the struggles of power. The politics.

Enthralling from the vengeance and retribution that was brought down upon a certain Senator......*smirks* I am always up for a good vengeance plot....they never fail to bring about a chilling smile on my face #AelinAshryverGalathynius

And it was Haunting. The cinematography. The deaths. Pompeii.

4.5 stars!

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Couch Potato Time #3 - Lucy

A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.

I have to say that this movie was pretty good. I was expecting something a little different from watching the trailers, but the actual movie still surprised me in it's own way. Lucy, played by Scarlett Johansson, who might I add was the perfect actress to play this part, wasn't injected with a drug like I had originally thought, but had come in contact with a drug that caused her brain to open up to unfathomable capacities when the bag inside her stomach, put there by her captors, had ruptured.

Through the whole movie, she was trying to figure out what was happening to her and how the drug could do what it was doing to her. She was also looking for the other people who had had bags put in their intestines so that the same thing didn't happen to them.

Morgan Freeman played a professor who had been researching the different capacities of the brain and what would happen if humans were able to unlock more than 10% of their brain. Lucy was pretty much the end of that research due to the fact that she was the only human on earth to have ever unlocked 100% of her brain's capacity.

Everyone who played in this movie were exceptional and there wouldn't be better actors to play the parts. This movie was action packed and had just enough serious life lesson parts to make it interesting.

The ending...That was a fantastic ending. "I am Everywhere." Lucy, after unlocking that final percent of her brain, didn't need the physical body of a human. She was able to be everywhere, in everything, and she shared the knowledge she had learned with the professors and scientists that she went to for help.

I give Lucy a 3.5 because even though it was good and intriguing, it still had it's boring parts and seemed to be kind of like that movie Limitless, just at a much larger scale.

~LittleMissTotem Ruffling Your Feathers ;)

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Couch Potato Time #2 – Vampire Academy

Source of Pic: Moviepilot

Source of Pic: Moviepilot

Live fast die young bad girls do it well, live fast die young bad girls do it well.....

*adopts Rose Hathaway voice*
Soooooo. *cracks up* VA. Vaaampiiiree Academy. That's right, folks. The time has come to delve into the wonderful world of Moroi, Dhampirs, and Strigoi by means of it's (currently?) one and only movie adaption. Yuuup :P

I watched it two days ago with my family, and because my brother has read VA as well, he and I kept bursting out laughing like hyenas, like, every 5 minutes (I think our parents thought we'd gone totally bonkers XP) because every time it came to a particular point in the story where we read the book and imagined it one way, the movie reality was just soooo drastically different it made it unbearably baaaad and funny to watch at the same time ^^ It's safe to say I spent half the time either fixated on the TV whilst cringing behind my chair, or laughing uncontrollably XD

I have a confession to make xD As much as I liked the the VA books, I didn't expect much from this movie.....I know, I know, how pessimistic of me *holds hands up in surrender* But you see, me being the movie fanatic that I am, I followed the production of VA quite closely. And.....weeelll........it didn't exactly impress :P I mean, yeaahh the trailer was hilarious ^^ But from the start a lot of factors seemed cringe worthy XD Like, anything from the acting, the cheesy lines, and casting choices, to the way they walked and talked *nods sadly*

But it actually surprised me! I mean, it was totally cheesy and all that, but for me it felt longer than it's 1 hour 40 minutes, and some of the original plot work by ze glorious Mead really shined through.
So I guess you could say it was cheesy, but somehow so cheesy it was bearably hilarious? ^^ *snickers*

I actually feel like I benefited by knowing the book because seeing the movie compared to what I had imagined some scenes would be like when reading the book made it that much more funny! Also I think that if you'd never read the books, this movie may not appeal to you as much, because peeps who've read the books understand what's happening more clearly......for example where fans see a giggle worthy introduction of Ms Karp, you'll probably see some eyebrow raising what-the-fudge-sticks-am-I-doing-watching-this-movie worthy introduction to a teacher who's psychotically weird ^^ ....if you catch my drift XD

Cons Time.......*sigh*
I'd love to say that there weren't any cons, buuut then I'd be lying. And I don't lie......ookaaay, that's a lie *flashes grin*.......but I don't lie often *nods* XP
Firstly, the character development sucked (no pun intended *winks*) because the actual individual scenes were too rushed! VA is a really glorious book, with nice plot work, and you just cannot fit it in a 1 and 2/3 hour feature film :/ So to compensate for the lack of time, it was like.......'goood we're done this scene (albeit to the minimum), let's get to the next one effective immediately aaaaaahhh!! ......and don't forget to talk extremely fast o.O' XDD I'm not joking, my mum kept complaining that it almost seemed like the movie was on fast forward with the speed of their convos...*raises brow*

Casting.....

Rose! She was alright ;) I enjoyed Zoey Deutch as Rose Hathaway, so for the most part *thumbs up* :D

 

Lucy Fry as Lissa.....hmmm. She wasn't exactly what I'd pictured Lissa to look like, and the contacts were pretty obvious at times *quirks eyebrow* But overall she did a pretty okay job I think.....

Dimitri's actor pick wasn't as horrifying as I'd thought it would be *taps chin*, but still o_0 I stick to the fact that my vision for a less pale, less bulked up, in some ways more youthful, 5 o'clock shadowed Dimitri seems more appealing *frowns* And I seriously cringed each time he used the Rose pet name aka Roza *scrunches up nose* Blehhhhh.

Christian Ozera baybiii XP Now he was an awesome pick in my opinion! Tho unfortunately I had trouble connecting with his character portrayal for the simple fact that he 'fell in love' waaaayy too quickly in the movie. But that's not Dominic Sherwood's fault, that's just another movie length casualty -__-

Mia ^^ No. Sorry, but nooooo. Her pick just didn't work :/ Not only did she look nothing like I imagined, but her character arc was just a complete fail. Whether this was the actress, Sami Gayle's fault, or the fault of her script, I'm not sure, but nooo *shudders*


Will There Be A Second Movie?!
The million dollar question! Squueeeee! *pauses* The truth is, it's unconfirmed at the moment.....I guess it depends on how much they made....which probably wasn't that much XP And what the demand is....which depends on all you peeps out there in the big wide world *gestures widely*

Conclusion Dun Dunn Duuunnn!
If you wanted a serious badass adaption of VA, you'll be mighty dissapointed, but if you're happy to roll with a highly cheesy, lightly funded, mean girl style version, then go for it ^^ No one's gonna stop you :P

Well see y'all.......*pauses*......sweet sassy molassy! *cover mouth*......errr *turns bright red*......sorwieeee.......uhhh.....I couldn't help myself *waggles fingers* XDD

2.5 stars :P

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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Couch Potato Time #1 – The Fault In Our Stars

Like pwomised I watched TFiOS! ;D Dun dunn duunnnn *waves hands like a craaazy person*

TFiOS was a pretty good adaption for YA, I'll give it that xD
It wasn't full of only half-good actors, it didn't ruin the plot, and it didn't cut half the story. Nor was it a scarce one and a half hours long *cough* vampire academy *cough* :/

I guess they kinda re-wrote it partly like a skim. They skimmed over the parts they felt was less important, and only really focused on the juicy bits. But not soo much that the movie felt like they were rapidly flicking through the book 20 pages apiece, which was one of the problems with VA's movie adaption.

There were a few changes I noticed; namely there was no mention of Gus's *winces* dead ex-lover. Which I kinda preferred, honestly XP That aspect of the book always made me squirm uncomfortably......o.O
Also, they omitted the part just before they go to Amsterdam when Hazel hears Gus and his parents having a suspicious shouting match.....which I felt was significant because then there was like, no hint about his health plummet *frowns*
Oh well. We gain some, we lose some *winks*

One problem I had with the book and the movie alike, is that Gus kept the knowledge that he was dying to himself. He never told her until the end of the Amsterdam trip. Also (I don't want to, you know, down-grade his apparent 'perfect' image, but it's true, sorwieee *guilty look*) known as after he lost his virginity.
There she was, blabbing about how she's a 'grenade', and then she has that health scare, which is also around the time Augustus finds out about his own rapidly ailing health, and yet........he never mentions it to her. Not after she recovered, not before the Amsterdam trip, not during the Amsterdam trip. At the end.
Sure, he already made his intentions and feelings on loving a sick/dying person clear, aka his speech about how he'd love to have his heart broken by Hazel (by her dying.....if she had before him). That's jolly and all, but she never said she had the same outlook, soooo *raises eyebrows* If I were her, I'd be just a little mad. But nooooo, she was just like, okay.

The cheesiness rating! XDD Ehhh. *grins and shrugs* For the most part, it wasn't too cheesy......tho there were those few liness.......*cracks up and points down*

Anyhooo, the actors were awesome! And the movie was def worth watching, so if you're into that sort of thing, what are you waiting for? ;)

3.5 stars

—MissBloodsucker™ All Sucked Out!

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