And thus concludes my 8-day work week! Or, it concluded 2 days ago, which means...I SURVIVED! To be fair, working the 8 days wasn't as horrible as I thought it might be. It's been a while (half a year or so) since I've worked more than 5 days in a row, but I started my 8-day work week with a 12-hour shift. Not the greatest way to start off. In addition, I *almost* worked 9 days in a row, so I guess I should be happy it was only 8. :) However, as my co-worker said, it's all in your expectations. Since I knew I was working the 8 days, I mentally prepared and I did. I was trying to get more sleep, take my breaks, and pace myself. It's unfortunate, though, that most of my work week was spent being a little short staffed. I think I started my 5 week stint as "manager" under stress and ended it under stress. Somewhere in the middle I definitely hit my stride. Not to say I totally lost it towards the end, but with everything going on at the store and with our manager coming back, I definitely was reverting more back to my being the assistant manager and just trying to keep the boat afloat.
With that said, my last week as acting manager was a total success as we dug ourselves out of the hole we made in making our plan and I think it ended well. I felt like the 5 weeks as acting manager were both good for me in the ways of character building and leadership skills, but also just solidifying my place at Goodwill. Not to say I really want my place "solidified" (I do not want to be a manager at Goodwill, tyvm), but I felt like I finally got some notoriety with the higher-ups. When our manager returned, he said that the higher-ups had noted how well I handled the store and it went better than they could have hoped. I always feel like Goodwill leans a little too heavily upon the managers when I can do things just as well as he can (granted, not all assistant managers can do that, but I can!). It was also nice "getting to know" other people at Goodwill I normally never had any contact with because my manager handled it all.
I'm really proud of my co-workers too. They stepped up and were understanding (mostly) with everything going on and were flexible with changes and with me sometimes just running around having to let them run the store while I went and did whatever administrative thing I had to do. I think, in a lot of ways, we proved something as a team. Not that I thought the store was going to fall apart without our manager, but I also wasn't sure how smooth it was going to be or how everyone was going to take me being at the helm for 5 weeks. People stepped up where I needed them and it worked out. Course, saying all that, THANK GOODNESS my manager is back! :P I think being the leader on your own is one thing, but filling a place for 5 weeks is a totally "other" thing because you're both having to manage and try to keep the spirit of your manager there. It's not like he even left the job, so it was kind of weird sometimes since I wouldn't always get forwarded emails and had to keep up on some of those also.
At any rate, now that he's back, I can go back to my own duties and projects I liked to do. I noticed while he was gone the things I used to up keep and do fell by the wayside and I focused more on his areas and things he did. I just couldn't find the time to do two people's projects! I'm kind of excited to get back to my own routine. I liked my routine and I got back to it the minute he walked through the door. I actually got to clean two sections I like and get things out!
With my manager back, I saw him for one day and then took 4 days off. LoL I really needed the 4-days turns out. I was going to take 3 days off split up, but decided the last minute to do 4 and I'm glad. It's been nice having this time off. My last 4-days off were spent finishing my Aquarium report so this is kind of like the first time in a while I've had NOTHING to do. I tried a new manicure technique I haven't done before (gradient) and I'm rereading a ton of books and generally just enjoying my time off!
I have watched several movies in the last few weeks and might go see another this weekend. So, movies!
Dead Man Down (Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace) - Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I feel like Farrell does the same type of movie or he's a similar type of person in a lot of them. Then again, I could just be thinking of just a few movies of his I have seen. At any rate, it's okay. Your typical mob-vengeance type of movie. I think the acting is good, but the story doesn't really work for me. It also doesn't bode well when I can tune out the movie for 20 minutes and know where I am too... Grade: C-
The Host (Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, etc) - This surprised me. I've read the book and between Twilight and The Host, The Host is generally favored between Meyer's written works. I, too, fall into that category. The Host came out the year Breaking Dawn came out and I liked The Host, but it's a novel that takes place, mostly, between one entity or body. In other words, an alien takes possession of a human body and the human fights back and communicates with the alien. To say the least, I was really dubious how the movie was going to play out given there's so much talking to each other in their head. Turns out, they handled it pretty well. I never realized how slow the book is, though, until I watched the movie. It is a rather slow paced movie, but it was okay for me. The only time I really thought the talking-to-each-other thing was awkward was at the end where you're in a close-up of the body and they just talk to each other. It was a little weird and really showed the "slowness" of the book, but at least it moves past it. To say the least, it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't fantastic either. Grade: C
Spring Breakers (Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, James Franco) - What in the world did I watch? LoL I can get its allure from the critics and sort of its point (wait, am I sure there was a point?), but it's definitely NOT for everyone. It's definitely a polarizing film where some people will love it and others will really dislike it. With that said, I thought Franco's acting was really different than you normally see him and good and I didn't mind the girls either, but the whole premise of the story is...different. I suppose the main point is to look at our culture and what is the point of spring break. In ways, that's what the director wanted to do and I suppose he accomplished that. I think watching the movie took up precious memory space, but it was an interesting watch to see what the "buzz" was about. Wouldn't recommend it, though. Grade: D
Pacific Rim (Charlie Hunnam, Mako Mori, etc) - Now THIS is what I think of a summer blockbuster...Not to say Star Trek or Man of Steel weren't blockbusters, but I somewhat miss the mindless action that films bring and Star Trek and Man of Steel required too much analyzing at the end (or disappointment?). I'd buy this on DVD. It's a great action packed film with fantastic special effects. Sure, it feels a little Japanese-western sci-fi cliche-y movie, but it works. It could have been really bad (and the trailer does make it look pretty bad -- even *I* thought it was a DVD renter!), but it works. I liked it. I did keep thinking, "They're destroying precious ocean habitat!" throughout the movie, that's probably a problem few people had watching it. :) It's a good theater watch for the special effects and the sound quality. I'm glad I saw it in theater. It's not an original story and the story is REALLY predictable (there's various levels of predictability and this near the top -- I could predict which actors were dying and whether it was a heroic death or just a casualty), but it somehow works. It is a little more mainstream for a del Toro film, but it was interesting to see him direct a big movie like this. Grade: B+
Despicable Me 2 (Steve Carell) - Cute sequel. I can't say whether it was better than the first one or not because I don't remember the first that much, but this one is cute. I liked the minions, I liked the relationship between Gru and the kids, and I liked the story (generally). It's just about what you would expect so not a whole lot to report on it. Grade: B
Jack the Giant Slayer (Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, Elanor Tomlinson) - Well, this was better than I thought it would be, but still nowhere near as good as it could have been...? It does give a slight feel that's ala Princess Bride, but it is its own movie. I'm not sure what really turned me off from it, but something doesn't work. I'm not sure if it's Hoult, the feel, or the story. Could be all three. It's a mindless watch, for the most part, and there are interesting moments, but, mostly, it's nothing fantastic. Grade: C
Welcome to the Punch (James McAvoy, Mark Strong) - I was distracted by Strong the entire time! I couldn't figure out what was bothering me till I looked at photos of him in Sherlock Holmes and then it dawned on me -- Hair! Who'd of thunk that'd bother me so much? At any rate, I like McAvoy so that's why I decided to rent this. You saw the pairing of the two former enemies to take down the "greater" enemy coming from a mile away, but it was something you still needed to watch. The movie was paced kind of weird. Normally, films like these you can tune out for 5-10 minutes, tune back in, and know where they are (more-or-less). I had to rewind the movie several times and then finally resigned myself to needing to watch it with my whole attention. There were things they left "sitting" for a while (to get back to at a different time) and they didn't need to. I thought the acting was good, but I wish the story flowed in a different way. I guess the attempt was to make it "different," but it just didn't work. And then, the semi-non-ending was kind of weird too. I don't know. Not my favorite. Grade: C-
Identity Thief (Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy) - Pretty much what you'd expect even towards the end because you could see it coming midway through. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but wasn't anything really interesting too. I did find it hard for Bateman's character to steel the identity of his boss, but maybe that's me. He couldn't be the saint the whole movie or that'd be "boring," but still...With that, it's a little haphazard of a film and the laughs weren't there. You expect more from a pairing like that (or maybe you don't) and they didn't really deliver. Grade: C/C-
It occurs to me that I haven't given a movie that came out in 2013 an "A," ye t...In fact, Pacific Rim at a B+ is the highest this year! I can't tell if I'm becoming more jaded given how many movies I watch or if there truly hasn't been a "great" film this year. I guess I'll have to wait till the latter half of the year where the Oscar dramas start pouring out of the woodwork. Plus...Who can't wait for Thor or The Hobbit?! I don't know if I'll make 100 movies this year, though. I have 44 more movies to go and 5 more months. That's about 9 movies a month and I tend to slow down towards the end because the summer movies haven't come out or I've watched them all. We'll see!
Friday, July 26, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
3rd time is the charm?
I have attempted to write this blog post three times now. I write half of it and get tired of writing so I save it and go away thinking I'll get to it the next day. Little do I realize, the next time I get to it, it's been a week and I don't feel like posting anything I wrote! So I start all over again. Hopefully, this post will actually make it to fruition!
Weather for a while here was really warm. Our store has almost no airflow unless the front doors are open and if it's windy, you can't have the doors open because the wind just BARRELS through it. So we tried to keep the doors open as much as possible, but the humidity was gross. The temperature this week has gone down a little, but our store still gets pretty warm and the weather of late has been that it's just a little too cold to leave the front doors open or the cashiers start to freeze to death. It's unfortunate that anywhere away from the doors ends up being warm and stuffy. I've been in the office a lot with our manager being gone and that room has no vent for anything so it's either stuffy as all get out or an ice box. Yuck.
Anyway, beyond that, our manager had the baby! Or, I should say, his wife had the baby. :) Baby will be three weeks old on Sunday (depending when I end up posting this, this could be either tomorrow or today). I've been managing the store and will be managing it for a total of 5 weeks. I'm glad he can take that time to be with the baby. Only get them at that age once, right? Mostly, the store is running. It's had its rocky moments for various reasons and we did, mostly, finish the month out strong, but we did miss plan altogether. Oh well, at least I got some good 4 days in there at the end. The start of July has been good (knock on wood!). We'll see if we can maintain that momentum the rest of the month, though. It's kind of early to be saying things like that. It took me about a week, but I think I've finally got my manager groove on. The first week was a big scramble because it was the end of the month and a lot of things happen at the end of the month. I got it all done, but I felt like I spent a week just scrambling. In fact, because my days off changed (just till our manager gets back), I almost had 4 days off in a row. I had two days off, worked one, and had another two days off. The one day I worked I spent almost all day in the office because I had a lot of things to do that had to be done before I left for another 2 days off. It was crazy! Mostly, though, it's been going well. I haven't seen any higher-ups and I'm not sure if that's because I'm managing the store well so they're not worried or if it's because they're all busy with our new CEO/President coming on (our old one's last day was June 28th -- he retired) and the new store opening in Soledad (opens the 25th). At any rate, I definitely feel like I've firmly planted in the "manager" role, though. Before, it was a lot of questions about where to send things and being a little more timid about doing some things. Now, I feel like I've got this. I think... :P
Other than that, not a whole lot is going on. My Aquarium report is in for peer review so I've got a little down time right now (it was ready for peer review on the 20th of June). So that's kind of nice. I'm doing some reading and have gotten into reality TV a lot. I'm watching Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, Whodunnit?, and Top Shot. Mostly watching Hell's Kitchen because it's an easy extension of MasterChef, but I really like MasterChef more than Hell's Kitchen. I find MasterChef more interesting to watch, whereas Hell's Kitchen is a lot of yelling and people messing up how to cook food. MasterChef is more about how they cook the food and then criticizing how they cooked/prepped/handled the food. I've always enjoyed Top Shot, but I forgot the new season started and that it was an All Stars season. I have to admit, I was maybe a little *too* excited for the fact Top Shot was back. I'm enjoying the season and it's fun seeing people from the past 4 season. I really liked some of the people from the past so it's good to see them back and how a lot of the episodes and challenges are the same things from past seasons, but amped up. Whodunnit? was a fluke that I got into. It was just there and I had read about it so I just started watching it and now I'm curious to see how it finishes. I think it's clever, but I think part of its current cleverness is because it's a new show so you're not entirely sure how it'll play out. I will say, thus far, I think they're handling it in an interesting way. It is a little cheesy at times (there are no real dead bodies) or overly dramatized, but it works to a point.
Been feeling nostalgic over the closing of Hollywood Park lately. Its last summer meet is about to come to a close (1 more week) and it'll be sad! They'll get a winter meet in Nov-Dec, but, after that, it'll be closed and construction should start the first of the new year. 75 years of history demolished to build new housing and retail in Inglewood, CA. Sad...So many great and well-known horses originated and ran at that track. Three triple crown winners (Citation, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed) ran there. Zenyatta and I'll Have Another (last year's Kentucky/Preakness winner) were based there. Seabiscuit ran there too. So sad. Bay Meadows closing down was sad, but nothing like this. It's historic! The Warner Brothers (yes, THE Warner Bros) managed the track when it first opened. Great Hollywood industry leaders helped get that track off the ground. No clue who where all the horses will be stabled when Santa Anita is closed. Looks like California is getting closer, but we'll see. If I can, I think I'll try going to one of its last days in December (closing day and its LAST day is Dec 22nd). It was the first track I went to and I got to see Zenyatta there. I should try going.
Anyway, movies I'm watching about one a week in theater and rentals have been sort of low. A lot of "eh" movies to watch on DVD. I want to see Beautiful Creatures, but I really had problems reading through the book (not even sure how I made it through the 2nd one!) that I can't seem to bring myself to watch the movie. I am curious to see how they did it, but...eh. We'll see.
Monsters University (Pixar) - Good Pixar film. Not their best, but it was cute. I liked learning the little tidbits here and there about the characters when they're in Monsters, Inc. It is pretty predictable, but what are you going to expect when this is a prequel? I did like how they made you see the parallels between Monsters University and our Universities. That was fun to see. I just don't think it was *that* good, though. It was a little too "kiddy" perhaps? I'm not sure. Some of the enjoyment of Pixar films is how an adult can see the film and get just as much enjoyment out of it as a kid can (or so I think it does), but this was maybe just a little too predictable...? Not sure. It just didn't quite live up to my own hype, but it was still cute and a good film. Grade: B
Man of Steel (Henry Cavill, Amy Adams) - This actually was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. True, Cavill doesn't say a whole lot, but I generally liked it and I liked the origin building and how they explained things. I liked his costume, flying stance, and the way they did the story. I liked how they didn't go immediately into a Lex Luthor story and I liked how it was more flashbacks to the past instead of starting firmly in the past and building forward. I liked Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon. Costner wasn't the greatest, but that was also how his role was written. Adams was a little flat for me, but she wasn't terrible. There were some bad/stupid moments, but it was generally pretty good and fulfilled the reason you're seeing it in theaters rather than at home. Grade: B
Side Effects (Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law) - This was not what I expected the movie to be when I saw the previews. I saw the previews enough that I wanted to see it and thought it'd be more like a thriller version of Contagion. Yeah, that wasn't it. I had the thriller part right, but it was NOTHING like Contagion. I think if I hadn't had Contagion in my head, I would have been okay. This was much more of a thriller than I thought it was going to be too. I rather enjoyed it, though. I thought the acting was good and the plot was good. There's a twist that you catch on to about midway through the movie, but you're still somewhat unsure how it's completely going to pan out. You get the general idea of how it's going to end, but you just don't have all the facts. The trailer also leads you slightly off the correct path too so I was surprised how instrumental Law's character is to the movie. To say the least, it's a good drama-thriller and leads you on a little chase. Grade: B
Oz the Great and Powerful (James Franco, etc) - I knew this was going to be bad (reason I didn't see it in theater), but I was curious to know how bad and what they'd do to the "origin" story of the Wizard of Oz. Uhm, yeah. My conclusion from the movie: Oz became the Wizard of Oz because he was a player. Yes, he was a player. Being a player gets him into all sorts of trouble that result in him needing to "become" the Wizard of Oz behind all the theatrics. And, him being a player, is what turned the Wicked Witch of the West into the, well, Wicked Witch. Wow, it was bad... Grade: D (it entertained a little, hence the reason it's not an F)
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton) - I was curious to see what they'd do to Hansel and Gretel and knew it'd be bad, but, again, I didn't realize how bad it was going to be. It's laughable sometimes, but it did entertain if you can go with the fact the plot is supremely weak and it's just a lot of chasing and nonsense. With that said, I do think they appropriately cast because Renner is good for the females and Arterton is good for the males. So, I guess they got something semi-right... Grade: D
The Call (Halle Berry) - If they took out all the screaming and whining from the abductee in the first half of the movie (maybe 2/3), I think I'd have liked it better. I mean, okay, if I was abducted and thrown into a car trunk, I might be a little hysterical at times, but this girl (and, again, she was young) was really grating on my nerves. I just couldn't take all the hysterics...And, again, I understand that a girl who is 16 or something, abducted, and tossed into a trunk is going to be devastated and scared, but it wasn't pleasant to listen to or really watch. I did enjoy Berry's character, though, and thought it was actually kind of interesting to watch even though Berry's character is on the phone for 3/4 of the film, but...gah. The girl! When she got over the hysterics, I was more inclined to watch. I could NOT stand the ending, though. I 100% disagree with that ending. The ending completely killed the movie for me. Sure, they're both traumatized and everything, but I honestly can't fathom that ending. The ending was more about vengeance and I can't support that type of ending. So, despite the fact I probably would have given the movie a C on its own, I'm giving it a D for the ending alone. Grade: D
I'll be seeing Despicable Me 2 in theater on Monday. Don't think I'll see Lone Ranger in theater...I don't think it'll be bad in the sense I'll dislike it, but...I don't know. Something turns me off from the trailer. I need to find someone who's seen it...
Anyway, off to keep reading. :)
Weather for a while here was really warm. Our store has almost no airflow unless the front doors are open and if it's windy, you can't have the doors open because the wind just BARRELS through it. So we tried to keep the doors open as much as possible, but the humidity was gross. The temperature this week has gone down a little, but our store still gets pretty warm and the weather of late has been that it's just a little too cold to leave the front doors open or the cashiers start to freeze to death. It's unfortunate that anywhere away from the doors ends up being warm and stuffy. I've been in the office a lot with our manager being gone and that room has no vent for anything so it's either stuffy as all get out or an ice box. Yuck.
Anyway, beyond that, our manager had the baby! Or, I should say, his wife had the baby. :) Baby will be three weeks old on Sunday (depending when I end up posting this, this could be either tomorrow or today). I've been managing the store and will be managing it for a total of 5 weeks. I'm glad he can take that time to be with the baby. Only get them at that age once, right? Mostly, the store is running. It's had its rocky moments for various reasons and we did, mostly, finish the month out strong, but we did miss plan altogether. Oh well, at least I got some good 4 days in there at the end. The start of July has been good (knock on wood!). We'll see if we can maintain that momentum the rest of the month, though. It's kind of early to be saying things like that. It took me about a week, but I think I've finally got my manager groove on. The first week was a big scramble because it was the end of the month and a lot of things happen at the end of the month. I got it all done, but I felt like I spent a week just scrambling. In fact, because my days off changed (just till our manager gets back), I almost had 4 days off in a row. I had two days off, worked one, and had another two days off. The one day I worked I spent almost all day in the office because I had a lot of things to do that had to be done before I left for another 2 days off. It was crazy! Mostly, though, it's been going well. I haven't seen any higher-ups and I'm not sure if that's because I'm managing the store well so they're not worried or if it's because they're all busy with our new CEO/President coming on (our old one's last day was June 28th -- he retired) and the new store opening in Soledad (opens the 25th). At any rate, I definitely feel like I've firmly planted in the "manager" role, though. Before, it was a lot of questions about where to send things and being a little more timid about doing some things. Now, I feel like I've got this. I think... :P
Other than that, not a whole lot is going on. My Aquarium report is in for peer review so I've got a little down time right now (it was ready for peer review on the 20th of June). So that's kind of nice. I'm doing some reading and have gotten into reality TV a lot. I'm watching Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, Whodunnit?, and Top Shot. Mostly watching Hell's Kitchen because it's an easy extension of MasterChef, but I really like MasterChef more than Hell's Kitchen. I find MasterChef more interesting to watch, whereas Hell's Kitchen is a lot of yelling and people messing up how to cook food. MasterChef is more about how they cook the food and then criticizing how they cooked/prepped/handled the food. I've always enjoyed Top Shot, but I forgot the new season started and that it was an All Stars season. I have to admit, I was maybe a little *too* excited for the fact Top Shot was back. I'm enjoying the season and it's fun seeing people from the past 4 season. I really liked some of the people from the past so it's good to see them back and how a lot of the episodes and challenges are the same things from past seasons, but amped up. Whodunnit? was a fluke that I got into. It was just there and I had read about it so I just started watching it and now I'm curious to see how it finishes. I think it's clever, but I think part of its current cleverness is because it's a new show so you're not entirely sure how it'll play out. I will say, thus far, I think they're handling it in an interesting way. It is a little cheesy at times (there are no real dead bodies) or overly dramatized, but it works to a point.
Been feeling nostalgic over the closing of Hollywood Park lately. Its last summer meet is about to come to a close (1 more week) and it'll be sad! They'll get a winter meet in Nov-Dec, but, after that, it'll be closed and construction should start the first of the new year. 75 years of history demolished to build new housing and retail in Inglewood, CA. Sad...So many great and well-known horses originated and ran at that track. Three triple crown winners (Citation, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed) ran there. Zenyatta and I'll Have Another (last year's Kentucky/Preakness winner) were based there. Seabiscuit ran there too. So sad. Bay Meadows closing down was sad, but nothing like this. It's historic! The Warner Brothers (yes, THE Warner Bros) managed the track when it first opened. Great Hollywood industry leaders helped get that track off the ground. No clue who where all the horses will be stabled when Santa Anita is closed. Looks like California is getting closer, but we'll see. If I can, I think I'll try going to one of its last days in December (closing day and its LAST day is Dec 22nd). It was the first track I went to and I got to see Zenyatta there. I should try going.
Anyway, movies I'm watching about one a week in theater and rentals have been sort of low. A lot of "eh" movies to watch on DVD. I want to see Beautiful Creatures, but I really had problems reading through the book (not even sure how I made it through the 2nd one!) that I can't seem to bring myself to watch the movie. I am curious to see how they did it, but...eh. We'll see.
Monsters University (Pixar) - Good Pixar film. Not their best, but it was cute. I liked learning the little tidbits here and there about the characters when they're in Monsters, Inc. It is pretty predictable, but what are you going to expect when this is a prequel? I did like how they made you see the parallels between Monsters University and our Universities. That was fun to see. I just don't think it was *that* good, though. It was a little too "kiddy" perhaps? I'm not sure. Some of the enjoyment of Pixar films is how an adult can see the film and get just as much enjoyment out of it as a kid can (or so I think it does), but this was maybe just a little too predictable...? Not sure. It just didn't quite live up to my own hype, but it was still cute and a good film. Grade: B
Man of Steel (Henry Cavill, Amy Adams) - This actually was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. True, Cavill doesn't say a whole lot, but I generally liked it and I liked the origin building and how they explained things. I liked his costume, flying stance, and the way they did the story. I liked how they didn't go immediately into a Lex Luthor story and I liked how it was more flashbacks to the past instead of starting firmly in the past and building forward. I liked Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon. Costner wasn't the greatest, but that was also how his role was written. Adams was a little flat for me, but she wasn't terrible. There were some bad/stupid moments, but it was generally pretty good and fulfilled the reason you're seeing it in theaters rather than at home. Grade: B
Side Effects (Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law) - This was not what I expected the movie to be when I saw the previews. I saw the previews enough that I wanted to see it and thought it'd be more like a thriller version of Contagion. Yeah, that wasn't it. I had the thriller part right, but it was NOTHING like Contagion. I think if I hadn't had Contagion in my head, I would have been okay. This was much more of a thriller than I thought it was going to be too. I rather enjoyed it, though. I thought the acting was good and the plot was good. There's a twist that you catch on to about midway through the movie, but you're still somewhat unsure how it's completely going to pan out. You get the general idea of how it's going to end, but you just don't have all the facts. The trailer also leads you slightly off the correct path too so I was surprised how instrumental Law's character is to the movie. To say the least, it's a good drama-thriller and leads you on a little chase. Grade: B
Oz the Great and Powerful (James Franco, etc) - I knew this was going to be bad (reason I didn't see it in theater), but I was curious to know how bad and what they'd do to the "origin" story of the Wizard of Oz. Uhm, yeah. My conclusion from the movie: Oz became the Wizard of Oz because he was a player. Yes, he was a player. Being a player gets him into all sorts of trouble that result in him needing to "become" the Wizard of Oz behind all the theatrics. And, him being a player, is what turned the Wicked Witch of the West into the, well, Wicked Witch. Wow, it was bad... Grade: D (it entertained a little, hence the reason it's not an F)
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton) - I was curious to see what they'd do to Hansel and Gretel and knew it'd be bad, but, again, I didn't realize how bad it was going to be. It's laughable sometimes, but it did entertain if you can go with the fact the plot is supremely weak and it's just a lot of chasing and nonsense. With that said, I do think they appropriately cast because Renner is good for the females and Arterton is good for the males. So, I guess they got something semi-right... Grade: D
The Call (Halle Berry) - If they took out all the screaming and whining from the abductee in the first half of the movie (maybe 2/3), I think I'd have liked it better. I mean, okay, if I was abducted and thrown into a car trunk, I might be a little hysterical at times, but this girl (and, again, she was young) was really grating on my nerves. I just couldn't take all the hysterics...And, again, I understand that a girl who is 16 or something, abducted, and tossed into a trunk is going to be devastated and scared, but it wasn't pleasant to listen to or really watch. I did enjoy Berry's character, though, and thought it was actually kind of interesting to watch even though Berry's character is on the phone for 3/4 of the film, but...gah. The girl! When she got over the hysterics, I was more inclined to watch. I could NOT stand the ending, though. I 100% disagree with that ending. The ending completely killed the movie for me. Sure, they're both traumatized and everything, but I honestly can't fathom that ending. The ending was more about vengeance and I can't support that type of ending. So, despite the fact I probably would have given the movie a C on its own, I'm giving it a D for the ending alone. Grade: D
I'll be seeing Despicable Me 2 in theater on Monday. Don't think I'll see Lone Ranger in theater...I don't think it'll be bad in the sense I'll dislike it, but...I don't know. Something turns me off from the trailer. I need to find someone who's seen it...
Anyway, off to keep reading. :)
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