upside down | The Journey of Two

Upside Down was, strange. Sort of interesting. A bit slow. Lacking little details here and there. But all in all, not terrible. Just. Really. Weird. The story is inherently simple, two lovers, separated by class and through the magic of science fiction, also separated by worlds. A current day version of Romeo and Juliet, in a sense. I think it’s worth watching if you like fantasy and science fiction with a little romance thrown in.

I’ve read The Host (by Stephanie Meyers) so my opinion of the movie is slightly biased by that fact. Many of you know I couldn’t stand the Twilight books or films. The Host on the other hand, I really enjoyed reading. As for the movie, I think it was a little rough. Some of the concepts are difficult to convey on-screen. I think it was done well enough to make for a good movie experience (Don enjoyed it.) But I also recognize moments where greater depth of character is lost in translation from book to screen. In this futuristic love story, an alien race has conquered Earth by implanting their species in our bodies. Only, not all of our consciousness is wiped out when they take over, or not always. There’s a whole lot more to the story but I don’t want to give too much away. I agree with other reviewers that as stand-alone movie, there might be too much that’s not explained for viewers to fully understand or be moved by the story. Having read the book may have given me an unfair advantage in that respect making it a worthwhile movie for me. If you’re interested, take a chance and see what you think.

Pacific Rim is an assault on your senses. Some of the action is so big, so intense, that you can’t distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. Is that a bad thing? I don’t know. The effects are amazing. We didn’t see it in 3D because there were only select showings and it didn’t fit our schedule. I’m actually glad. I think it would have been just too much in 3D. The music and sound effects were outstanding. I thought the characters, casting, and dialogue were all very well done. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to see this movie but Don was excited about it and I knew it was getting a lot of attention so I thought ok. I’ll see it. It’s GOOD. I have a couple of criticisms but I won’t go into them because they are petty little things that in the big scheme aren’t worth mentioning and ruining someone else’s fun. I think most people will think this movie is EPIC and even if I don’t go that far with my praise, I’ll say it was damn good. I’d watch it again. We might even buy a copy.

Pitch Perfect was a pleasant surprise. I thought it was a baseball movie. lol Some friends corrected me and recommended it so I picked it up to watch myself. (Don definitely would not have been interested. lol) It’s sort of like Step Up meets Bring it On, a capella style. It’s a musical comedy centered around college a capella clubs competing in a national competition. It was a lot of fun. I found myself dancing around the living room more than once. (Apparently I need more music in my life.) Don’t let the musical part of this film put you off. It’s done expertly well and there is plenty of story that doesn’t involve singing. Oh, and Elizabeth Banks, as one of the competition commentators was hilarious.

Bumper: I have a feeling we should kiss. Is that a good feeling or an incorrect feeling?
Fat Amy: Well… sometimes, I have the feeling I can do crystal meth, but then I think, mmm… better not.
~ Pitch Perfect