Nail photos and movies?

I'm contemplating posting photos of my nail stuff here. I'm by no means turning into a nail blogger (that sounds like work!), but I might just post the stuff I do. I post pictures on Facebook already, but since I already do it there, how much more work would it be to post here too? I don't know. I change my nails so regularly (every 2-3 days, if I can manage, but sometimes as long as 4-5 days or as short as, well, every day)...So...We'll see! It will require me to download my photos more. Oh the work! ;)

At any rate, quick update on work. My normal schedule is back! After working 7 hours of overtime in 3 weeks, being short-staffed, having to work 2 hours on a day off (admittedly, it was just for fire extinguisher training so it wasn't really like work and I did get to leave 2 hours early from another shift, but I did have to be up and present at the training), and then working 6-days in a row, I am ready to be back on my normal work schedule! I'm a little worried, though, because it looks like the work-cold might be making its rounds again...I'm waiting for the time when we're all back on our regular schedules and no one is ill! This week is ill person and one person is gone for 2 days to work at another store. Tired of it! At least my schedule looks to be okay.

Okay, on to movies! Really not a great group of movies, but Brave comes out this Friday!!

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Nicolas Cage) - Okay, okay. I shouldn't have been surprised that it was horrible, but...I mean. Come on! The first one was BAD. You'd think if they're going to put the effort into a 2nd one (with a, mostly, totally unrelated plot to the first one) that they'd make it a least a LITTLE better than the first one. Nope. It's bad, if not WORSE than the first one. Probably worse because it isn't even remotely better than the first one and that's just, well, bad. How many times can I say "bad" in this short paragraph? At any rate, skip it. The only even slightly "good" part is that the CG is decent. So much money in a movie that's horrible! Grade: F (I don't think I've ever given a F before!)

The Grey (Liam Neesom) - I knew the movie was centered around survival in the snow with a pack of wolves trying to eat them. With that said, Chris and I started the odds on each person as soon as they crashed and then guessed how many people (if any) were going to survive to the end of the movie. Most times you feel a little optimistic for some people through the movie, but you quickly learn not to get attached to ANYONE in this one. I'm not even sure what the whole point was for? Not to say every movie needs a point, but I just feel like this one had a point somewhere that I missed. Perhaps something about nature? Or surviving? Or past misdeeds? Or resigning yourself to the cards life hands you? I don't know. At any rate, it ends rather depressingly. The tension/suspense in the movie is rather high (they do that well), but I could have lived without seeing it. Grade: D

Red Tails (Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Nate Parker, etc) - I knew Red Tails hadn't received glowing reviews so I wasn't expecting much from it, but it certainly still missed even my expectations. There is something "off" about the film. It's supposed to be a dramatized history drama (whatever you want to call it), but even then I think I expected something more along the lines of a cross between Saving Private Ryan and Secretariat/Remember the Titans/etc. Unfortunately, the characters fell flat. Perhaps there were too many of them, but they weren't particularly likeable and it there were some you knew about more than others and it was just awkward with that many people to focus on. It also had a sense of dramatization to it like you were watching an action film. I liked the combat scenes (CG was good) and the premise is a good one, but it wasn't executed well. I think if the pilots were more likeable it'd have gone better. Grade: C

John Carter (Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins) - Not bad. It fell somewhere within my expectations. It's sort of a cross between Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars Episode I, and Somewhere in Time (with a happy ending). If you can imagine those 3 things together, that's basically John Carter for you. Except, instead of time travel, it's more like planet jumping (Earth to Mars). It starts off kind of different because it starts in the "future" and then backtracks to the "past" to tell the story of John Carter, and ends back in the "future" (or present). So it had an element of "mystery" to figure out at the very end, but wasn't totally surprising either. It's a lot of fighting and traveling. It's not a bad film, but it's certainly not fantastic either. Grade: B-/C+

This Means War (Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy) - It's not too bad. I can't say it's fantastic either, but it walks a very fine line between aiming itself at males and females. It's a romantic comedy, which you instantly think would appeal more to the women, but the main characters are male (most rom-coms focus around females). In that sense, both the guys and the girl have their "relationship" issues where both sides can understand (the guys' competition and the girl's dilemma with picking and dealing with her ex). It's pretty silly and the actual "mission" is kind of thrown into the middle of it to help create an action sense to it and also some "excitement," but it's definitely the back story. I will say, this movie made me think "bros before hoes," which is crude, but that mantra would have made the two guys pitting themselves against each other to win the girl moot. They're also best friends, not only CIA partners. It's cute and they all have a good ending, but it is rather silly (sort of the same feeling as Mr. & Mrs. Smith). I do enjoy Witherspoon, Hardy, and Pine, though. Compared to some other rom-com actresses, Witherspoon tends to have the better rom-coms (unlike Hudson, who I really can't stand...). Grade: B-/C+

Rewatched Sherlock Homes: Game of Shadows too. I like the film. I still think the horse scene is the funniest scene in the movie and still makes me laugh when I see/think of it. Has one of the best lines too: "They're dangerous at both ends and crafty in the middle. Why would I want anything with a mind of its own bobbing about between my legs?" So funny.

I just figured out that I've been shooting for 80 films this year, and I, actually, was supposed to be shooting for 70. At the rate I'm going, it'll definitely be easy to hit 70 (I suspect I'll hit 60 by the end of July), so I'm officially going for 80. It's a little harder to obtain, but shouldn't be unfeasible either. We'll see if I can do it! I also realized I totally missed Beginners on DVD. How did I do that?! So I'm going to have to find it somewhere to rent now.