Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I haven't read the book in four-ish years, so what they cut out is a little fuzzy, but everything I remember happening in the book, happened in the movie, so I was well content.

All the stuff with the ball was absolutely great. When they're first told and all the girls get excited and all the boys start grumbling and looking around in annoyance. It's perfect! The actually ball was absolutely lovely to watch, all the pretty reds and such. And oh my god! Jarvis Cocker was in it! Why did no one tell me of this!?!

It just all really felt real. This is how teenagers act!

All those kids really know how to act, except in the one scene where Dan Radcliffe has to show actual emotions. I just didn't believe his crying at all, and that just really took me out of the moment. That part was awfully annoying. But then Jeff Rawle started screaming and crying, and that part broke my heart.

No one broke my heart like Neville (Matthew Lewis). He was just so adorable! Everything Neville does makes me happy, and I really like how they gave him a slightly bigger role in this movie than in the book. He's starting to look... well, nice.

Tom Felton is also starting to look a little dashing, especially in a suit. But I probably shouldn't be talking about kids who are younger than me. So, uh, how about that Alan Rickman? He was hilarious. He had about three scenes, but he was brilliant in every single one of them. It's incredible how he can just express so much with just a tilt of the head.

Well, I could go on and on (especially about the dragon scene, that was awesome!), but in the end all you need to know is that this movie is worth seeing, so go see it!
-LS

A History of Violence

It's probably wrong that I was turned on by this movie, but so I was.

Hottest angry sex I have EVER seen.

Viggo Mortensen was beyond hot, and yeah, acting good too. And oh my god could he kick some ass! AND we get to see his bum. *Dissolves into puddle of goo*

Ok, this is starting to sound less and less like a review.

The movie was great. Never a dull moment, though a few where I had to wince. When they put the word 'violence' in a movie title, one should expect violence.

Ashton Holmes was pretty good in the movie, awfully cute, though a bit of a pussy (except for that one scene at the school... that was hot). William Hurt was incredible! His reactions to everything were TOO funny. "How could you fuck that up!?!" But he was only in the movie for, like, half an hour. That made me sad. Same thing with Ed Harris, absolutely incredible, but not a whole lot of him.

I could have lived without the daughter. Her cuteness made me want to vomit, and she looked nothing like her parents. How do two (beautiful) people with high cheek bones produce a bleach blonde child with pudgy cheeks? Does not make sense people! Unless Maria Bello was sleeping around... But who sleep around on Viggo Mortensen!?!

Ok, this review has no substance at all. I should stop writing.
-LS

P.S. Go see this movie.

Zathura

Despite the fact that I still can't seem to pronounce this movie ("Thasura?"), I absolutely adored it.

Yes, yes, it's a kid movie, but it was still great! The story was fun, the effects very cool, and Dax Shepard DOES have gorgeous eyes! I think I liked it better than Jumanji, but that's just because I'm a bit of a space nut.

One thing I did not like (as much) was the ending. The best word I can use to describe it was 'smoke'. I could see it, I could even smell it, but I just didn't feel it. And it kinda came out of nowhere, but I suppose it was a neat little twist... if not slightly disturbing.

The other thing was that I couldn't quite connect with the theme. Brotherhood and all that, I have a lot of sisters, we work a lot differently. So that was a little lost on me (not that I didn't get it, it just didn't speak to me).

If I had a rating system, I'd probably give it a perfect score... or perhaps I'd take half a mark for the ending... but honestly, I loved this movie. Made me feel like a kid again.
-LS

Saw II

I figured my Hollowe'en wouldn't be complete without a scary movie, so I wrangled together some friends and we went to see Saw II. Not exactly the scariest movie out there, but it certainly did make me squeamish. The tagline ("Oh yes... there will be blood.") certainly did a good job of summing it up.

The movie took a little while to get off the ground, and I was getting a little impatient. I really liked how in Saw the story just jump-started and you discovered all the little things through flashbacks. This one had flashbacks from scenes that had happened not five minutes previously and portrayed them in a seizure-inducing flash of lights and sounds. They were unnecessary, except for the extremely stupid I suppose.

The story itself was rather interesting, and although a few things were blatantly obvious (their connection, etc) nothing important was obvious, though there was a slight nagging in the back of your mind: "Hey, what is going on here?" I also liked the link back to Saw (ever wonder just what did happen to Adam?)

It lacked character development on a whole. A few characters you got glimpses of understanding from, but people like Obi were never really explained, and seemed to hinder the movie more than anything. "Oh no he's evil! But... uh... what?"

Yeah, I liked it. I just really wished it hadn't been geared towards stupid people so much. That was massively annoying...
-LS