All Consuming : cenamaria

Consumed "The Blind Side [Theatrical Release]"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:44:53 GMT

The Blind Side [Theatrical Release]

by John Lee Hancock

WORTH IT!

New Bore (rated 2 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:35:02 GMT

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

by Chris Weitz

I have to say I DON’T GET THIS! I really don’t understand the whole appeal of Twlight at all. That movie was waaaay too full of unnecessary teenage angst. I mean, really?! Is life THAT BAD? And I’m talking about the serious emoness going on before Edward left Bella. I had to stifle laughter the whole time – it was just way too cheesy and stupid. In fact the only good thing about this movie was A – everytime Jacob showed up on screen with no shirt on and B – it made me want to come home and hug my fiancé and thank him for not being emo.

I’m sorry you guys, but Twilight is duuuumb.

Consumed "The Twilight Saga: New Moon"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:35:02 GMT

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

by Chris Weitz

NOT WORTH IT!

Harry Potter and the Half-Assed Movie (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:45:59 GMT

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

If you havenâ€™t seen the movie yet and care about spoilers, now is the time to walk awayâ€¦ but come back and share your thoughts after youâ€™ve seen the movie! ^_

Usually when I see Harry Potter at midnight I try to go see it a second time at a decent hour to give it a fair shot; however given how expensive movie tickets are these days I am certainly not wasting another $10.50 on a movie I know is not worth a second try. Now, donâ€™t get me wrong, I didnâ€™t hate it like I did PoA. It was a good movie. Great? No. Best out of all the movies so far? Hardly! Better than the last movie? Yes, in some aspects.

Prior to seeing the movie I had finished re-reading the book to refresh my memory. As most of you know this is quite a sad story, which is why I havenâ€™t re-read Deathly Hallows since it first came out. Before I glanced at the what-will-be-cut portion of WikiPediaâ€™s page on the film, I was very optimistic about the film; however once I realized some VERY crucial scenes were cut I was already annoyed.

Ever since David Yates became the new director the only thing keeping me going with these films was his ability to do every scene involving Voldemort and his cronies 98-100% faithful to how it is in the book. This film disappoint me in that respect. If anything, this movie was supposed to be about Harry learning more about Voldemort. Instead, it was overshadowed by Ron and Lavender snogging all over the place!

I understand that for the sake of budgeting and time, some scenes have to be cut. What I donâ€™t understand is changing around and adding stuff in the scenes you do include. By now the changing things around is really compromising the integrity of the film therefore leaving a lot of people who havenâ€™t read the book confused. My sister was confused. Joshua was confused. Joshuaâ€™s brother was confused. I tried to keep the book out of my mind, and even I got confused!

I expected the first chapter to be cut. The second chapter was included, but it wasnâ€™t the first scene. The Durselyâ€™s being cut I was understanding, but why couldnâ€™t they have Dumbledore picked him up outside of #12 Privet Drive and make some reference to the spell? WTF was with him being picked up at a train station after flirting with some black chick? Kinda reminded me of the train scene in Prince Caspian.

I did like how they touched on the bridge being messed with and showing Harry numb from the events in the previous film. I loved Horace Slughorn and basically every scene involving him was great! Him as a sofa, hah! Now was it just me or was there a lot of emphasis on the pond near the Weasleyâ€™s house? Harry apparates via Dumbledore there. The extremely UNNECESSARY and infuriating scene during the Christmas holidays was by the pond. Um, what?

Diagon Alley was great with the Weasleyâ€™s shop until they decided to go after Malfoy. There were key things that happened with Malfoy which supported Harryâ€™s theory Malfoy might be a Death Eater. In the movie they cut these small things out so when Harry expresses his thoughts on Malfoy being a Death Eater it sounds like he pulled it out of his ass. And unless you happened to take a really good look at the wanted poster, youâ€™d never know quite who/what Fenir Greyback is.

Luna or Tonks, I honestly donâ€™t think whoever found Harry was that big of a deal. It made no difference. Surely it was cheaper to have Luna find him than Tonks. I was pretty much fine with everything until we started getting into some key scenes.

The whole Ron/Lavender bit was funny at first, but then it just got annoying. As one reviewer put, â€œIt seems that the producers of Harry Potter were aware of the growing popularity of the Twilight phenomenon and wanted to make their own teenage romantic love story as part of the series.â€* So true! The portrayal of Harry and Ginnyâ€™s relationship was extremely disappointing. In the book Ginny didnâ€™t kiss Harry. Harry kissed her upon realizing she won the Quidditch match replacing him as Seeker. Any scene with those two made me want to barf because it was so overdramatic, not to mention didnâ€™t happen like that at all in the book. They didnâ€™t even touch on their Peter Parker/MJ-like break-up.

My biggest heartburn out of the entire film? The lack of memory scenes (which are a HUGE part of the plot and next book) and the insertion of the Death Eaters burning the Weasley home. In no way shape or form did anything remotely close to that occur to the Weasley house in the book. Didnâ€™t happen AT ALL! Why was it in the movie? What point did it serve? None. By only including 2 out of about 6 or so memories did the film makers waste 2hrs explaining one fact: Voldemort split his soul into 7 Horcruxes. And because there is no explanation the audience is only going to be further confused on how Harry goes about finding these Horcruxes.

As acting goes the only characters that did well were Ron, Slughorn, and Draco. Emma Watson makes Hermione into such an overly emotional drama queen; I canâ€™t stand her. The character of Harry is suppose to be modest, not into himself (â€*But I AM the chosen one!â€*) as Daniel made him to be. Snape was only good for the Unbreakable Vow scene.

Hereâ€™s the thing about the Potter series. Books 3 through 6 give thorough explanation on why Voldemort went after Harry, why his parents die, how Voldemort came to power, and how he can be destroyed. If you didnâ€™t understand what was going on throughout the book, Dumbledore was there at the end to explain everything. They have failed again and again to give the audience that same courtesy in the movies. Even if things like Dumbledoreâ€™s funeral, Bill and Fleurâ€™s wedding and such are supposedly going to be in the next one, theyâ€™re going to be wasting a lot of time in the 7th film to try and explain what wasnâ€™t included in this to make sense of the last two films.

Bottom line: Cutting scenes to save time/money is one thing, but cutting scenes that are crucial to the plot and explain things is what makes this movie a poor one.

Consumed "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:45:59 GMT

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Consuming "iMac (Intel-based)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:13:35 GMT

iMac (Intel-based)

by Apple

Oh mia! (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:41:23 GMT

Mamma Mia!

by Phyllida Lloyd

Um… so it was okay. I thought there was too much singing for a musical. Anymore singing and it would have been like Evita. Also the only person who could really sing was Amanda Seyfried. Everyone else, including Pierce Brosnan (WOW HE CANNOT SING) not so good.

Take the songs away and it’s a really cute story. The plot itself is what really saved this movie. Other than that… it’s better as a play than a musical. Sorry ABBA.

Ugh.

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:05:48 GMT

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

by Gore Verbinski

SPOILERS BELOW!

I liked the movie overall, it’s just I don’t know how to feel about it. It kinda left me feeling depressed. A lot of good characters died, especially Norrington, which made me very upset because that kiss with Elizabeth was SO HOT. I didn’t like how they just kinda let go of the whole Calypso thing after they freed her; I did a happy dance at calling Tia Delma as being Davey Jones’s lover, something I figured since Dead Man’s Chest. I felt like there were a lot of holes in the plot and things unexplained, like Jack’s whole issue with Beckett and what Jack’s mark was on him. I think what really bummed me out more than anything was the Will & Elizabeth ordeal. After all the issues they went through in the past two movies and now they only get to see each other once every 10 years? That’s messed up. I would have been a lot happier if say they sailed together forever but him being with his dad forever on the Dutchman? YAWN. I think Barbossa is the only character who gets a 10/10 for being awesome. Davey Jones was mostly a wimp, which makes me sad considering he was beyond kickass in Dead Man’s Chest, making him my favorite villain of all time next to Darth Vader. The fight scenes were great, especially when Barbossa married Elizabeth & Will, and Jack’s entrance was as grand as ever. The humor was good, as well as the acting and music was awesome. I give it a 7 out of 10.

I found this review on IMDb who pretty much was on the same page as me. These are the 10 reasons why he didn’t like the movie, which I happen to agree with:

1. Will and Elizabeth have about the least satisfying end to their romance imaginable.

2. Davey Jones became such a tool so fast. He didn’t even put up a fight to Beckett. He was completely different than the first movie for the first 2 hours or so.

3. Calypso’s whole thing was utterly pointless.

4. Beckett and Jack had a past… What was it? They kept referring to it for two whole movies. What’s the deal? There was also a hint that Beckett was present at the previous pirate lord meeting. What was up with Beckett? They didn’t do anything with his character at all. I felt nothing for him one way or the other.

5. Norrington was done a total disservice as a character. It’s like the writers felt they had too much going on so they might as well kill Norrington off after 5 minutes of screen time. They set his character up so much in the first two movies as well! Why spend so much time on him if he’s gonna be a total non-factor in the third?

6. I didn’t buy the Elizabeth Swan Pirate King thing for one bit. Seemed completely forced and contrived.

7. Chow Yun Fat was a non-character. He might as well not been in the movie.

8. Didn’t care one little bit about the pirate lords and their meeting. Cut em’ all out of the movie.

9. Elizabeth’s dad was killed with very little depth or drama. I felt he was done a disservice. And why didn’t Elizabeth kill Beckett to avenge him? That angle was pretty much forgotten.

10. Jack was a virtual non-factor in this movie. It was like they set up the movie and had the plot they wanted, but then they added Jack. He makes a few twists and turns, does this and that, but really has no effect on the outcome of the story. They set him up in the last two movies to do something truly heroic, but it never happened. As such I became weary of Jack Sparrow. I never thought I would say that.

A story about "Proactiv"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:21:50 GMT

Proactiv

by Guthy-Renker

I started using this on July 7th and I have to say this just might be the end of the road for me acne-wise. I’ve spent the past week overcoming my reactions to Benzoyl Peroxide and now I can see this is the one ingredient that works.

When I first started using it I got a reaction right away: some redness, bumps, and itching. Nothing serious compared to my previous reactions. This was mainly due to using it twice on the first day. As directed I began Tuesday with just using it at night (and using Clinique’s Antioxidant Moisturizer) while resuming my Wexler routine in the morning. By Friday it got to the point where my skin would be irritated if I didn’t use the ProActiv in the morning and night. Since I started using it twice a day the reaction has gone down tremendously. And my skin? CLEAR!

So far so good! Hope it keeps going!

A story about "i.d. bareMinerals"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:18:19 GMT

i.d. bareMinerals

by Bare Escentuals

Still consuming it! Best make-up, hands down!

A review of "Spider-Man 3 (Widescreen Edition)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:09:22 GMT

Spider-Man 3 (Widescreen Edition)

by Sam Raimi

What a BAD movie. This was like, really REALLY bad. It came out a year ago, and instead of wasting a movie ticket I was redoing the flooring in my house. Good thing I did because, wow this was a totally bad end to a fairly good trilogy. The first movie was awesome, the second one was good in the sense it gave you hope and then third one was kind of like, “Um… WHAT?!”

The singing and dancing was so unnecessary and got old really fast. And did we forget that this is Spider-man or should we have changed the title to MJ? I got sick of MJ rather quickly along with Harry. I also thought they way the relationship between Peter and MJ got a rather crappy ending. Not impressed.

I don’t know. If there is a 4th one they really need to work hard to redeem themselves from this one.

A review of "Sex and the City"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:46:57 GMT

Sex and the City

by Micheal Patrick King

There are spoilers, my dears so if you wish to be spoiler-free move along!

What a fabulous movie! I think that was probably the best movie I’ve seen in a long time. After watching the series over and over again for the past five years it was like nothing changed between the TV show and movie. It did a great job of making you feel like they picked up right after where they left it.

The beginning of the movie had a montage of classic scenes describing the series in a nutshell. When touching on Charlotte they included my favorite line of hers, “I’ve been dating since I was 15! I’m exhausted! Where is he?” And of course they included an outrageous line from Samantha, “I’m dating this guy with the funkiest tasting spunk!” However, Joshua and I turned to each wondering, “Do any of these people even know which episodes these are from?” Yeah, we’re a bit snub about it, merely because I’ve watched every single episode numerous times. ;P

Big looked handsome as ever. The Penthouse on 5th was absolutely gorgeous, and the closet Big ended up building for Carrie made me green with envy! I would have loved to have seen the closet with her wardrobe in it, but oh wellz. And then when they “decided” to get married I couldn’t help but giggle! The almost-wedding scene was so upsetting, especially since you’re watching what’s going on with the both of them at the same time, and yet Carrie has no clue! I felt so sad when she got out of that car and hit him with the flowers. Thank God for Louis and her spirit because seeing Carrie down for so long was heartwrenching. And Big’s proposal? One of the most romantic gestures of all time! ♥

Oh Miranda and Steve! It was so sad at first, but when they reunited on the bridge I cried! First off I was surprised that it had been 6 months since they had nooky; there were a few episodes where Miranda was like, “OMG 3 MONTHS I NEED SEX!” and yet suddenly 6 months? Second, such a shocker Steve cheated. I mean, Steve didn’t seem like that kind of person. I’m so happy they didn’t stay seperated. They’re like Carrie and Big: they’ve been through so much together for too long to not be with each other.

I was a little sad over how it ended, but I loved the way they did the whole Samantha/Smith thing in LA. For one thing, fans of House will notice they totally incorporated Smith’s whole Doctor-on-a-TV-show thing! I got such a kick out of that. Oh and the sushi all over Samantha’s body was just hilarious, especially when the phone was ringing. The horny neighbor (whose penis we saw, bwee hee!) was pretty hot, and such a hoot with Samantha being a peepin-tom. I didn’t get why they had to have her get a dog though. To me it showed no point whatsoever. Same with her eating to replace cheating. She didn’t even look fat so I don’t know what they were talking about!

Charlotte brought so much humor to this movie! Especially the most unforgettable part when she crapped her pants from drinking the water in Mexico! :lol: So classic! I really liked her character, everything from her getting insanely angry at Big to her getting so angry she broke her water! And her finally getting pregnant! What a blessing!

Despite having to sit in the very front row, I enjoyed the movie immensely. I loved everything about it. Such a treat! I’m hoping to see it a few more times with better seating arrangements!

A review of "Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:39:44 GMT

Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix

by David Yates

Cristina saw Harry Potter a week ago and the results are finally in! You know the drill. If you want to be spoiler-free, run along!

I kinda want to do the I-told-you-so dance because it seems people are starting to dislike the movies for the same reason I have. Too many cuts and too many changes. I think I enjoyed this movie more than a lot of other people because my expectations were extremely low. I only saw one trailer and did not do anything to get myself hyped up except wear my Hogwarts jacket to the show.

I honestly think at this point there is no director out there that will ever be as faithful to any of the books as Chris Columbus was to the first two. However, this movie was definitely a step up from both PoA and GoF. But as all of us fans know there is much need for improvement.

Beginning was alright. I had a hard time trying to tell if that was Dudley’s real voice or if he was just doing mocking baby talk the whole time to piss Harry off. The dementors scene was great, and I’m happy they kept the Hollywood drama to a minimum. I got scared for a second when Harry’s wand got kicked away. I was afraid they were going to drag it out and make it seem like the most dramatic thing ever since getting the dragon’s egg but they didn’t. Yay. I didn’t like how calm Figg was. In the book all she kept doing was freaking out whereas in the movie she’s like, “Hiya! Weird dementors being here. Now don’t go outdoors.” Kinda had a deja vu moment from CoS, which I think has to do with the fact I am currently reading that book. I think I need to go straight to the 5th book because throughout the whole movie I was getting book 5 and 6 mixed up.

When the Order picked Harry up, I was like okay why is everyone here except Lupin? Did they cut Lupin? WTF I HATE THIS MOVIE. Then they get back to Grimmauld Place and there’s Lupin. Why is it so hard to squeeze in a tad bit of faithfulness? Why couldn’t Lupin be there like he’s suppose to? Why did you have to add two or three other people that we didn’t even know? Jesus. But I have to say I love Tonks. I love that Natalia Tena is playing her. And it gave me goosebumps when I saw her and Lupin.

Okay, we’re into what the 5th movie now? CAN WE PLEASE STOP THE DRAMATIC HERMIONE-HUGGING-HARRY?! We all know they don’t get together so just let it go! It was cute in CoS, fans know the hug was technically supposed to happen in SS/PS, so quit makin it such a big thing in each damn movie. If anything, have him hug Ginny already. Speaking of which, I watched Ginny’s facial expressions the whole time and I loved it! Especially when Harry was going ga-ga over Cho. And as much as I was looking forward to seeing Cho’s breakdown in the V-Day cafe scene, I got an evil kick out of it that they made her betray Dumbledore’s Army. I’ve never liked Cho so good riddins.

I was pretty much okay with everything up until the Threstrals scene. I think they need to get it straight that if you’re actually stick shit in from the book you need to explain why. You can’t just stick something because only the book readers will know and most of the movie franchise is people who’d rather see the movies than read the book. Like, let’s make Neville stand there with his Mimbulus Mimbletonia and not explain. Haw haw haw. I think Luna is awesome, though I wish they would have added more of her awesomeness into the movie other than her pudding and nargles obsession.

I have to say I love the way they made up Umbridge’s character. Her being the cat lady was just fantastic. Her little “ahem”… exactly how I imagined it in the book. I think they took it a bit too far with making the whole DA doing the “I will not tell lies” bit. The montage of her inspecting the teachers was well done. And poor poor Trelawney!!

Aside from the ending, my biggest complaint towards this film was … no Quidditch. HELLO WEASLEY IS OUR KING?! That’s like us fans big thing. You say “Weasley is our king” and we just know. But none of that and that just saddened me. I also wished they did a bit more with the Weasley twins exit. And how come no explanation about Percy?

I was bit bummed about the whole Department of Mysteries scene because the whole flying brains in the tank bit was confusing so I was hoping to see it on screen. Perhaps the screenwriter was confused too and left it out, haha. I loved Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix.

So I got teary eyed when Sirius died but man did that whole scene lack emotion. And once again, the director’s have a wonderful opportunity to tie up loose ends but refuse to do the Dumbledore-explaining-things-to-Potter scenes. WHY?! Do they realize how confusing they make it by not explaining? It’s the most pivotal part of the books! They didn’t do it in the last movie, which pissed me off, but this one was the BIG ONE. COME ON!

I love how the film was shot (like those flying shots in London were awesome) and the music. Other than that, it’s the same feelings I had toward Pirates. I think one of the father’s in our movie audience said it all when his snores could be heard echoing throughout the theatre.

I’m looking forward to the 7th book release more than anything.

A story about "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter 4)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (cenamaria) — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 17:33:32 GMT

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter 4)

by Mike Newell

Those people who said it was the best movie yet (just like they said about PoA, mind you) are in SERIOUS denial. The only parts that were well done was anything having to do with Voldemort (i.e. the Death Eaters, the graveyard scene, etc.) and the hottness of Cedric Diggory. Other than that I was disappointed just like I was with PoA.

Each book has an amazing plot written for the screenplay writers. All they need to do is to decide what goes and what stays. They don’t need to change the plot around. The problem with all the Harry Potter movies is they’ll change something around and then they have to compensate for what they changed in the next movie therefore they keep getting more and more screwed up.

I look at making books into movies as a way of confirming my imagination. Putting a face to a character or showing me a setting that I couldn’t exactly imagine. And when they take away characters or bits of the plot it just ruins it for me. There is a reason why Rowling put everything in there that she did and I think the screenplay writers need to respect that.

And the fact they add unecessary stuff in and can’t even keep the REAL stuff in makes me mad even more. Hogwarts is a school of Witchcraft & Wizardry. It is NOT a regular school therefore there is NO reason to put in choirs with singing toads and marching bands. Stuff like that just ruins it for me.

Besides, there is NO excuse to cut things when Return of the King was almost 4 hours long. I mean you would think with the money they’ve made from the last 3 movies they could afford to make it better. Not just jump through a billion chapters and still cut stuff out and add stuff where it doesn’t belong.

They’ve officially ruined Harry Potter movies and need to stop making them. I don’t think I will go see OotP. I tried to give GoF a fair chance (I saw it twice) but I’d have to say the soundtrack was much better than the movie itself. Save a movie ticket, buy the soundtrack. You’ll be glad you did.