Watch out New York, the ghostbusters are back! I've seen all five Ghostbusters movies so here’s my review on the new one: Frozen Empire. It has a new squad of Ghostbusters who were introduced in the last film Ghostbusters Afterlife (see my review). The premise of the movie is that they are protecting New York City from turning into the Ice Age. The new ghosts are very cool and the visuals and special effects are mind-blowing. This movie also brings back all the original Ghostbusters! Having the original actors return makes it super nostalgic!

I wanted to share my review of the movies that I saw this year that you might be able to catch on streaming now. Regal theaters are only $6.87 on Tuesdays and $17.91 any other time so now I only go to the movies on Tuesdays.  I've been trying to get back into going to the movies since I've hardly gone the last 5 years. I always walk out the theater having a magical experience as the film takes me to another world and the escapism of seeing a movie in theaters,  I don't look at my phone for 2 hours. 

Do you think cinemas are dying or do we prefer to stream at home? There's never more than 5 people in the 132 seat theater when I go.  I have to ask, do we still need assigned seating? There's way too many previews that I always arrive 10 minutes after start time. I also think theaters are way too loud now a days. I used to buy the child's size popcorn but now I resist completely so I hate having to smell everyone else's. lol 

I remember when I went to college in NYC, my roommate and I often walked an hour to Lincoln Square to see movies. I think going to the movie theater allows you to experience movies the way they're intended to be experienced. Then you walk out having a sensory experience. 

Ghostbuster Afterlife was the first movie I've watched in the theaters in two years. If you were a fan of the original movies from the 80s, this was a good follow up and heartfelt reboot. This film connects to the previous films which you have to have seen to understand all the Easter eggs. The premise of the movie is a single mom and her two kids move to a small town to live in the farmhouse their grandfather left them. They soon discover that he was the original Ghostbuster Egon Spengler played by Harold Ramis who has now passed but this movie is a tribute to him. 

I still have the DVD in the mail plan for $12 a month as do 4 million other people. I do this because when I see a commercial for a movie on TV, I can immediately put it in my netflix queue and get it in the mail just a few months later. When I tell my friends what movies I'm watching at home, they tell me it's not in the streaming plan. I do switch to the streaming plan for one month every summer to watch Orange is the New Black and Wentworth and see this for myself. I also have Hulu so I feel I have enough to watch and don't need netflix streaming or cable.

After watching the Golden Globes and Oscars you probably have a long list of movies you need to see. Here's a round up of 28 new films that you can find on netflix now. Did you know netflix is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this year?

While we don't see much of Saroo's adopted brother Mantosh (also from India) in the movie, I think he was there to show contrast with two sides of love, loving someone who's easy and someone who isn't as far as parenting goes. If it wasn't for him, Kidman wouldn't have had her compelling scenes. While his disability is not revealed clearly in the movie, my guess was his two meltdowns were due to autism?

In the book Saroo actually had another older brother Kallu and its implied that the loss of the two boys gave the other two children a better future than they wouldn't have had, as the mother could now afford to send those two to school. The sister was able to become a teacher.  The siblings always wanted to help the mother move out of the slums, but the mother refused to go anywhere in case Saroo ever found his way home.
                       
I've been to India four times and for awhile I was really into watching Bollywood movies which typically are 3 hours long with lots of song and dance. But only in the last decade have they started to show kissing. I think that influenced why in Lion you never actually see Saroo kiss his girlfriend on the lips, even though they're in bed. I think they wanted to make the film more marketable in India? I wasn't a fan of Mara Rooney's role of the girlfriend in the movie. I just thought she was  unnecessary and didn't like the importance of her character. Even the poster for the movie makes it look like the movie is about their love story, it's not. I wish the director hadn't chosen to keep focusing on his relationship with his girlfriend instead of his adoptive family.

The music is mostly classical piano and was nominated for a Golden Globe. I loved the song by Sia in the movie called Never Give Up. The Australian scenes were filmed in Tasmania, Australia and the scenery was just gorgeous!  If you want to understand why the film is called "Lion" stay for the end credits, there’s an explanation behind the film title and also you can see some pictures of the real characters of the story.

Lion moved me to tears. I could not recommend it highly enough. This is the best movie I've seen in a long time! You can find it on Netflix in April.

There's a lot of great new movies released on video this year that you should see. Did you know that netflix still has four million DVD subscribers and I'm one of them. I get 2 discs each week for $12.68 a month. I think that's a great deal so I rarely go to the movie theater as everything ends up on DVD 3 to 6 months later. As soon as I see a commercial for a movie I immediately put it in my netflix queue and when it becomes available it'll move up in the queue so I don't have to remember and keep track of what I wanted to see. I must have a netflix warehouse nearby because they get my returned discs very fast. The only time there's a wait for a DVD is if it's super popular like Prince (Purple Rain) and Carrie Fisher (Postcards from the Edge) movies right after they died. And Christmas movies in December which I can never get.

The Girl on the Train is the story of Rachel Watson who post divorce has become an alcoholic and takes the train everyday (so her roommate still thinks she's employed) by her former house where her ex-husband now lives with his new wife and baby. Next door lives Megan and Scott Hipwell whom she does't know but appear to have the life she always wanted  based on what she views through the train.  Then one day as the train passes, she sees something shocking that fills her with rage. The following day she wakes up with bruises all over her body and no memory of what happened the night before, typical alcohol blackout. On the news she hears that Megan Hipwell is missing. So Rachel inserts herself in the case to "help" find Megan.

I listened to the book on Audible which takes place in London so all the characters had British accents. Thus, I was surprised to learn the movie was based in New York. However Emily Blunt's native British accent seems to go in and out during the movie. Rachel's self destructive behavior due to her alcoholism was the most fascinating part of the book but I don't think that plays out as much as it could in the movie. Emily Blunt didn't go through much of a physical transformation required for the role, just a  lack of make-up and I'm-so-pathetic manner. In an interview she said her cast mate Justin Theroux guessed she was pregnant during filming based on how she didn't really throw herself into action scenes.

The book is told from three female narrators, none of which you feel you can trust. The book shares a lot more back story than the movie does about each character, one critical scene was taken out I thought. The movie chose to tell this story in a non-linear format to stay true to the book. I couldn't stand Anna's character wearing a very obvious blonde wig.  Edgar Ramirez's character was just as mysterious in the movie as in the book. A lot his storyline from the book was also omitted from the movie so you didn't see too much of him. There was one curious moment in the movie where Dr. Abdics was asked his ethnicity but the director refused to go there. It was surprising to see Lisa Kudrow playing a much older role, she will forever be freeze framed for me as her age on Friends.

The trailer for the movie really makes it look like a psychological thriller, which the book is. I think since  I had read the book and knew the ending, it lost that heart pounding thrill for me. I still would rate it a great film with great performances. The book is still number one on Amazon, did you know last year Amazon had gone out of stock of it once?

I read the book The Light Between Oceans a year ago (coincidently every book in that post became a movie, I must have good taste in books lol) and it's still in the top 10 books on Amazon. I watched the movie this weekend and it was fantastic and true to the book, it really did it justice at a 2:13 hr length. It's starting Alicia Vikander, a Swedish actress whom I loved in the movie The Danish Girl. The movie had me in tears. The story takes place after World War I in a remote part of Australia. Tom Sherbourne  takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on the isolated island of Janus Rock. He marries Isabel and she has a number of miscarriages on the island.  Then one day a baby washes ashore on a rowboat and they decide to keep her claiming she is theirs. It's a beautiful period romance full of plot twists. I think this movie has a pretty good chance of winning an Oscar. The two main characters are now dating in real life. Have you seen the movie, what did you think of it?

Speaking of light, this weekend I watched the sunset with my mother and this was the view from her home. As Hurricane Hermine brushed the area, its clouds put on an amazing show in the sky! I've never seen such a gorgeous sunset with clouds like this before!

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! I loved Ghostbusters 2 as a kid and I'd watch it every Halloween. I finally got around to watching Ghostbusters 1 last year to learn the back story. When Mindy Kaling wrote her first book she said wouldn't it be cool if they remade Ghostbusters with an all female cast, and what do you know it happened! I think it's really awesome to have a blockbuster movie where the main cast is all female and who are scientists. The movie will also have action figure dolls which is pretty groundbreaking considering it will be little boys playing with female action figures.

The storyline for the movie is following a ghost invasion of Manhattan, paranormal enthusiasts Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates, nuclear engineer Jillian Holtzmann, and subway worker Patty Tolan band together to stop the otherworldly threat. They hire the hot Chris Hemsworth to be their secretary. There were quite a few moments in the movie that had me cracking up laughing! At the end of its first weekend, it's number two in the box office so it did pretty well. You can expect to see cameos from the original Ghostbusters cast and your favorite ghosts Slimer and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

Last week I watched the cast do their media circuit and have been in awe of Melissa McCarthy's fashion! I love a good yellow dress; she wore them to the movie's premiere and to the Today show. She used to have difficulty finding designers to dress her for red carpets because she wasn't a certain size. Now she started her own fashion line, trimmed down a bit and always looks so stylish on the red carpet. Her co-star Leslie Jones tweeted last month how she couldn't find a designer to dress her for the movie's premiere and threatened to put those designers on blast who refused her! lol

A couple weeks ago Lyft brought the Ecto 1 car to DC and you could request a ride in it! Sadly I had nowhere to go those two days and missed out. Sad face. I just finished Bobby Brown's book and it reminded me of his cameo in the movie Ghostbusters 2 and his song for the movie "On Our Own."

Too hot to handle, too cold to hold They're called the Ghostbusters and they're in control Had 'em throwin' a party for a bunch of children While all of the while the slime was under the building 

So they packed up their group, got a grip, came equipped Grabbed they Proton packs off their back and they split Found about Vigo, the master of evil Try to battle my boys? That's not legal

I read the New York Times bestseller book and couldn't wait to see the movie last weekend starring British actors Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones. The movie really did the book justice! A few spoilers here if you read the book, otherwise it won't matter. Will's sister isn't in the movie but she wasn't missed. Will's father isn't seen having an affair. At the racetrack you don't see Will being kidnapped by a bunch of drunk men for fun. lol Oddly enough they don't say where their vacation is to, it's an unnamed country. It's not mentioned in the movie that Louisa's grandfather is housebound which is another reason she's stuck there. You might recognize that actor as Bates from Downton Abbey. Louisa's boyfriend Patrick was Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter.

While reading the book I truly got invested in the characters and learned some touching, heartbreaking lessons. I finished the book in 3 days because I couldn't put it down. This was one of those books that I wish could wipe from mind so I could have the pleasure of reading it again for the first time. 

The book takes place in the British countryside with Lou, a small town girl caught between dead-end jobs and Will, a high-profile, successful man who becomes wheelchair bound following an accident. Will has decided his life is not worth living until Lou is hired for six months to be his new caretaker. They are two people who wouldn't have met and who didn't like each other at first. But Lou was determined to prove to Will that life is worth living as they embark on a series of adventures together while Will shows Lou that her life is too boring and encourages her to chase her ambitions and not settle. Neither of them realize how much they are going to change the other. The writing was amazing, the characters are real and the emotions the book makes you go through are incredibly moving. Here's my favorite quote from the book:





After You (Me Before You #2) 
Last year the author released the sequel to the book. If you loved the first book like I did, you wanted to know what happened to Lou afterward. Unfortunately, I have to say I didn't like it as much as the first book, isn't that what usually happens with sequels? But definitely check out the movie Me Before You. I took my mom to see the movie and afterwards she said she couldn't stop thinking about it. Here's an article from the author explaining the differences from the book and the movie.

Have you seen the movie? Did you like it?

When the Oscars nominations came out I felt like I hadn't seen many of the movies and few were out on DVD yet, well now I'm finally catching up. There's a lot of great new movies released on DVD this month that you should see.

Brooklyn
Nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay

In late 1951, Eilis Lacey, a young Irish girl, emigrates to Brooklyn. Sponsored by Father Flood, a priest from her native town Enniscorthy, she is assured to find a full-time job there. But the early days are tough, seasickness being soon replaced by loneliness and homesickness, two feelings all the more acutely felt by Eilis for having had to leave behind her widowed mother and her dear sister Rose. She nevertheless little by little manages to find her footing by adapting to her job as a salesgirl, by studying bookkeeping at Brooklyn College.  I read the book  so I couldn't wait to see the movie and it didn't disappoint. I would really encourage you to read the book first because so many things are not touched in the movie, yet just shown for a second and you wouldn't notice its significance had you not read the book. For instance, you see her stocking pantyhose in the store and the box has a face of a black woman on it. Well, the store had just integrated and Eilis was the only one willing to sell the brown pantyhose to black women.

The Danish Girl 
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard Won Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and Best Achievement in Costume Design

Copenhagen, 1926 Danish artist, Gerda Wegener, painted her own husband, Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne), as a lady in her painting. When the painting gained popularity, Einar started to change his appearance into a female appearance and named himself Lili Elbe. With his feminism passion and Gerda's support, Einar - or Elbe - attempted one of the first male-to-female sex reassignment surgery, a decision that turned into a massive change for their marriage, that Gerda realized her own husband is no longer a man or the person she married before. I have to say the scenary of Denmark was amazing!


Creed
Starring Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone who was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Adonis Johnson is the son of the famous boxing champion Apollo Creed, who died in a boxing match in Rocky IV (1985). Adonis wasn't born until after his father's death and wants to follow his fathers' footsteps in boxing. He seeks a mentor who is the former heavyweight boxing champion and former friend of Apollo Creed, the retired Rocky Balboa. Rocky eventually agrees to mentor Adonis. With Rocky's help, they hope to get a title job to face even deadlier opponents than his father. But whether he is a true fighter remains to be seen. If you haven't seen the four Rocky movies, here's a recap which is useful since this movie refers to their history.





The Big Short
Starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling Brad Pitt Won - Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay; nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Three separate but parallel stories of the U.S mortgage housing crisis of 2005 are told. Michael Burry, an eccentric ex-physician turned one-eyed Scion Capital hedge fund manager, has traded traditional office attire for shorts, bare feet and a Supercuts haircut. He believes that the US housing market is built on a bubble that will burst within the next few years. Autonomy within the company allows Burry to do largely as he pleases, so Burry proceeds to bet against the housing market with the banks, who are more than happy to accept his proposal for something that has never happened in American history. The banks believe that Burry is a crackpot and therefore are confident in that they will win the deal. Jared Vennett with Deutschebank gets wind of what Burry is doing and, as an investor believes he too can cash in on Burry's beliefs. An errant telephone call to FrontPoint Partners gets this information into the hands of Mark Baum, an idealist who is fed up with the corruption in the


Spotlight
Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams Won Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

When the Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team of reporters dives into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church, their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston's religious, legal, and government establishment. The focus is on unveiling the continual sexual abuse by hundreds of predatory priests and cover-up of scandal by Boston Archdiocese in 2002. The central figure, Cardinal Law, who was actively participating in the covering of was summoned to retirement at the Vatican. The movie is very slow and a lot of it taking place in the cubeland of their office. However, it's an eye opening storyline that of the scandalous behavior of priests in the Catholic Church.  The movie has increased my admiration for journalists who work I didn't know can work up to a year to find the truth behind serious stories.

Bridge of Spies 
Starring Tom Hanks & Mark Rylance; Won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role and Nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year; Director: Steven Spielberg

Based on the true story of an American lawyer, James B. Donovan, who during the Cold War was recruited by the CIA and involved in an intense negotiation mission to release and exchange a CIA U-2 spy-plane pilot, Francis G. Powers. The pilot was arrested alive after his plane was shot down by the Soviet Union during a mission and stays in the company of a KGB intelligence officer, Rudolf Abel, who was arrested for espionage in the US. This is a slow moving movie where parts are filmed in black and white and most of the movie is dark.




Joy 
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper; Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

In 1995 Joy has always been fascinated by creating things, this pursuit always supported emotionally by her maternal grandmother, Mimi. Joy feels that lack of practical support has led to others making fortunes on ideas she had come up with years ago but could not act upon manufacturing. Despite being broke, Joy is the person in her extended family to who everyone has always turned, in the process forgoing her own life, including not having attended college to help see her parents through their divorce. She works in an unsatisfying job as an Eastern Airlines ticket clerk, and lives with her mother Terry who spends all day in bed watching soap operas, her ex-husband Tony, a less than successful aspiring Latino Tom Jones wannabe, and their two children. Added to this mix is her father Rudy, the owner of a failing heavy-duty garage, which is managed by Joy's older half-sister Peggy, with who she has somewhat of a strained relationship, and for which Joy does the books. This movie is coming out next month on DVD.

Okay so these three weren't nominated for anything but worth watching.

Concussion
Starring Will Smith (with a Nigerian accent) and Alec Baldwin, this is the movie Jada Pinkett Smith said she was boycotting the Oscars because her husband wasn't nominated for one. Based on the true story of a Nigerian doctor in Pittsburgh, Dr. Bennet Omalu, who uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play. He's a brilliant forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of CTE, a football-related brain trauma, in a pro player and fought for the truth to be known while criticizing the NFL. Omalu's emotional quest puts him at dangerous odds with one of the most powerful institution in the world. I thought it was an interesting movie to bring this topic to light.



Secret in Their Eyes 
Based on a book and later an Argentinian movie that won an Academy Award, this is the remake starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts without makeup. The movie constantly switches between 2002 and the present which makes it a bit hard to follow except for the subtle differences in hair styles. The movie has two investigators in a private police unit led by the DA who receive an anonymous tip about a girl raped and killed. In 2015, the former detective says that after 13 years, he has found a lead and convinces the DA to reopen the case. They find clues and leads unknown to them, and secrets from the past come to light as they start discovering the real, chilling truth. The movie is dark and starts off slow, but wow the ending was such a twist I wasn't expecting!




Bessie
The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s. Queen Latifah auditioned for this role 20 years ago, that's how long it took to make this movie which was fantastic! It's directed by an African-American woman named Dee Rees and also stars Tika Sumpter, Michael Kenneth Williams, Mike Epps, Khandi Alexander, Mo'Nique, and Charles S. Dutton. The costumes and the scenery really take you back in time.


Sisters 
Starring the SNL crew Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, and Rachel Dratch. The storyline is that sisters Kate and Maura Ellis are summoned home to clean out their childhood bedroom before their parents sell the family house. Looking to recapture their glory days, they throw one final high-school-style party for their classmates. Unfortunately this movie ended up being 40-year-old adults in a teen comedy with the party taking up 75% of the movie. From the commercials, I thought this would be a funny movie, but I'm afraid to say it was cheesy and boring. I forgot that I didn't care for the last Fey/Poehler film either, remember "Baby Mama"? yeah probably not. lol

It's  time for Halloween themed movies which usually mean horror. To my surprise I loved this fantastic animated movie with voices from  Zoe Saldana, Channing Tatum, Christina Applegate and Ice Cube.  It recreates the Romeo-and-Juliet story against the backdrop of the Mexican customs surrounding the Day of the Dead. I worried maybe the "skeleton" painted Day of the Dead characters may be creepy but they weren't at all. The Book of life has one of the most colorful and unique set designs I have every seen in an animated movie! The Land of the Remembered was especially visually stunning.  It was nominated for best animated film at the Golden Globes last year. It's out on dvd now so check it out.

Don't forget to re-watch Ghostbusters as well!

On the topic of Halloween, if your office is allowing you to dress up on Friday, here are some work appropriate halloween costume ideas.

Dark Places is the movie adaption of Gillian Flynn's book published before "Gone Girl." Per usual, the book is better than the movie because there’s simply too much going on in the book to condense into a two-hour movie which doesn’t come across nearly as dark as Flynn’s book reads. The movie is a puzzling thriller with a strong list of actors including Charlize Theron, Corey Stoll, and Drea de Matteo. Charlize plays Libby Day the sole survivor of a massacre in a rural town in Kansas. Having witnessed the murder of her sisters and mother in what appears to be a Satanic cult ritual, she manages to escape and later testifies in court against her teenage brother Ben. Twenty-five years later true-crime fanatics called the Kill Club enlist Libby to exonerate her brother Ben, whom they believe in innocent, but first they must convince Libby.

The chilling story has some similarities to Charlize's real-life experience as a teenager. When she was 15 she witnessed her mother shot her alcoholic and abusive husband in an act of self defense. Charlize has spoken publicly about it.

I was scared to start this book because of the topic matter and because the reviews were very melodramatic. But honestly only 2 pages were devoted to details of the murder, the rest read like a dateline investigation series of who done it. I was perfectly fine reading it at night in my dark bedroom. This book kept me guessing throughout as it kept switching back between narrators. I highly recommend this book as a great mystery!

 But how does a movie based on a bestselling book and starring A-list actors get dumped into an extremely limited theatrical run? It was released in April in France, then opened in the US 2 weeks ago with no publicity and will go straight to video. I guess the powers that be decided the film wasn’t made well enough to spend money on promotion so it’s only made less than $1 million at the box office so far. Check out the trailer: 


Check out my list of books coming out as movies this year.

A friend of mine had a Jurassic viewing party. First we went to her house to watch the first movie – Jurassic Park. Then we went to the movie theater to see Jurassic World which set a new record for highest-grossing box-office opening weekend of all time making $100 million dollars each weekend. Starbucks even made it to Jurassic World. There was more product placement than actual dinosaurs from the Mercedes, to the Beats by Dre headphones, Pandora and Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. Can’t forget the man who made sure to save himself and his margaritas when all hell broke loose! lol

I’m glad I watched the first movie because I don’t remember seeing it some 20 years ago. It won three Oscars and started Samuel L. Jackson, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Wayne Newton (Seinfeld's Newman). The new movie (not directed by Steven Spielberg) seemed just like the first movie remixed, same premise of two kids surviving an attack from the world’s deadliest predator and saved by the hot Chris Pratt. While the female lead character tries to out run the dinosaur in heels. Well I did notice this time around they sprinkled in a lot of black people which the old was devoid of. If you’re thinking about seeing this movie, I’d say wait to catch it on video.

I thought spring was here, but the weather this weekend proved otherwise. But it was good weather for the kite festival I went to, nice and windy! I also went to brunch with a couple friends and their moms who were in town. I made my lunch for the week with this kale recipe.

Then I went to the movies and saw the historical drama Serena, since I read the book earlier this year. It's only showing at one theater in my area, I guess instead of going straight to video they did a token theater run. See this movie was finished 3 years ago yet they are just now releasing it. Starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, this is their third movie together after Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. The author of the book, Ron Rash, also wrote The World Made Straight which came out as a movie earlier this year which I thought it was a dark but an interesting movie starring Noah Wyle set in Appalachia

Serena is set in the North Carolina mountains at the end of the 1920s with newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton who build a timber empire. Serena soon proves herself to be equal to any man: overseeing loggers, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man's life in the wilderness. With power and influence now in their hands, the Pembertons refuse to let anyone stand in the way of their inflated love and ambitions. However, once Serena discovers George's hidden past and faces an unchangeable fate of her own, the Pemberton's passionate marriage begins to unravel. The movie only had one set location but costumes were really nice period style. As with all books made into movies, you really need to read the book first because the movie glossed over so many scenes. I knew the back story to a 5 second scene but someone else would not get the relevance of it all. The movie has a completely different ending from the book. I was surprised the movie got poor reviews, I really enjoyed watching it but highly recommend you read the book first.

The nominations tell me which movies are worth seeing so I try and catch up to see those top nominated films. What surprised me about the Best Picture nominees this year is that many were pre-releases and none made much revenue at the box office (as in little-seen).  Compared to last year where the Best Picture nominees were all big box office films. American Sniper was released in theaters the day after the Oscar nomination announcement. Did you hear that poop got nominated for an Oscar? lol During the nomination ceremony the Academy President called Dick Pope (Mr. Turner) Dick Poop! lol



The Grand Budapest Hotel was nominated for 9 Oscars. The premise for the movie is that in the 1930s the Grand Budapest Hotel was a popular European ski resort, presided over by concierge Gustave H. and Zero, a junior lobby boy who becomes Gustave's friend and protege. Gustave prides himself on providing first-class service to the hotel's guests, including satisfying the intimate needs of the many elderly women who stay there. When one of Gustave's lovers dies mysteriously, Gustave finds himself the recipient of a priceless painting and the chief suspect in her murder. The film was shot in Berlin and Görlitz, Germany but in the film the hotel is located in a fictional place– the Republic of Zubrowka, an Eastern European nation ravaged by war and poverty in the 1960s when the movie ends. It's a quirky and charming movie with beautiful imagery, a massive cast of talented actors - Ralph Fiennes, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson.

Shoes to Shiraz | Two Teens and their Mama | A Lovely Little Wardrobe | R Squared  Confessions of a Frumpy Mommy | Family Love Inspiration Education   The Mishaps and Mayhem of Solitary Life | The Blondissima | Positively Learning | Quilty Joy Joy  Daily Style Finds | Sheila's Potpourri | Puppies and Pretties | She thought She Could   Foxy's Domestic Side | Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After | Sprinkled Just Right

I bought this book as a gift for my mom a few years ago (on her request) but never got to reading it myself until I heard it was being turned into a movie and then I thought I had to read the most talked about book. By the way did you know it's a trilogy? I didn't. I read the first book and couldn't believe the ending only to discover there were two more books in the series. The book was so incredibly boring I had to force myself to get through it, but once I start reading a book I feel invested in ending it. The author used too much repetition in her writing, her favorite word was "impassive" used over and over again, then there were lots of eye rolls and lips bitten - you'll notice this in the movie. The book starts off at Washington State University in Vancouver which I had to google because I was so confused that such a town actually existed in the US. Interesting enough the British author had never been there, but had been influenced by the Twilight series for a location. The book even has a soundtrack to it, lots of classic music. This is my first and last erotica book that I will read, if you'd like to read a real romance book, check out Me Before You by JoJo Moyes.

Since I invested time into the book, I felt I had to see the movie. I wanted to see Christian Grey's grey suits and grey eyes and how the book comes to life. It stars Dakota Johnson as Anastasia, she is the daughter or Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson and said that both of her parents will not be seeing the movie. I didn't think the movie deserved all the buzz it got, in fact it was as boring as the book. It did a lot of close up head shots during the scenes in the red room. In the book Anastasia has a lot of internal conflict, but we don't really hear her voice that much in the movie. There's a lot of back story to various scenes like dinner with his folks and her airplane ride home from GA that are not explained in the movie. One point I didn't understand is why Christian rode shotgun next to his driver, anyone know?

My favorite quotes from 50 Shades of Grey are:

"Because I'm fifty shades of fucked up." Mr Grey

"I could buy you your heart's desire, Anastasia, and I want to, call it redistribution of wealth, if you will." Mr. Grey

"Mom...she is scatty, disorganized, but newly insightful." Anastasia

OPI released a Fifty Shades of Grey nail polish collection last month.

The Ellen show got in on the action too by spoofing the Today show hosts: