Movie Review Monday

First, and most importantly, the two winners of my giveaway are:  Mary Jo Burke and Jean MP.  Please send an email to pembrokesinclair at hotmail dot com and let me know what story you would like and what format you want it in (pdf, Kindle, etc.).  Congratulations and thank you to everyone who commented and participated in the blog hop!

Also, don't forget The History of My Wishes is $1.99 this week.  Great time to check it out, especially if you like vampires and dark romance.

I watched three movies this weekend.  It was pretty chill.  I'm not going to go into an in-depth discussion on each, though.  Just give you the highlights!

American Reunion (2012)

I feel just about as old or older as the characters in the movie.  The first movie came out in 1999, three years after I graduated high school, but I was still young enough to relate.  Watching the film was like looking into a mirror.  I don't know if that is depressing or flattering. 

The film wasn't terrible, but it wasn't as raucously funny as the first.  It had it's moments, but the franchise is wearing itself out.  If you like the American Pie series, I recommend checking it out, just so you can say you watched them all.

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

Originally, we were supposed to go to the circus with the kids this weekend, but since it was snowing and very cold, we opted for a movie instead.  The 5 year old has been asking to see this since the previews came out.  I thought it looked entertaining, so going to see it was fine with me.

The film was pretty funny.  There were elements that were entertaining for both adults and children.  It was very predictable, as I'm sure you can imagine, and there wasn't much of a plot.  At an hour and a half, it dragged a little.  The kids absolutely loved it, though, and that was all that mattered.  The 5 year old said that when Dracula would get his mean face, that scared him just a little bit.

All in all, it wasn't a completely wasted afternoon.  I enjoyed the movie, and so did the kids.  It sounds like we will be adding it to our collection.  If your kids and you like monsters, I recommend seeing it at least once.

Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

I have wanted to see this movie since I saw the previews.  I thought it looked fascinating.  My spouse thought it looked ridiculous and terrible.  I was going to go to the theater by myself to watch it, but time slipped away from me.  I finally convinced the spouse to watch it this weekend because it was free on HBO.  I loved this movie.  It was everything I hoped it would be and more.  The spouse hated it. 

It was a typical Western.  A mysterious stranger with a questionable past shows up in a small town and has to help the townsfolk fight an evil.  The stranger is neither good or bad, but lost somewhere in the middle and has moments of both honor and evil.  Instead of fighting really bad guys or Indians, the stranger has to fight aliens.  What's not to like about that?

The aliens were really cool, too.  Vicious, hard to kill, and intelligent.  My kind of extraterrestrials.  There were explosions and great fight scenes.  The plot was thin and predictable, but that didn't lessen the entertainment value.  I'm a big fan of mashups like this, and the film totally delivered.  Of course, throw some science fiction or horror into anything and I'm a happy camper.  I know the film won't be for everyone, but watch it and form your own opinion.  And, come on!  It's got some big name actors in it!
Pembroke Sinclair's books on Goodreads
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