Flashback April/May: Text Version!

So, remember how I normally make a Flashback vlog at the end of each month, giving you guys a bit of an update on my normal life by answering 13 questions?

Well, I was going to make one of those for these last two months, (I didn’t have the time to make one solely for April, what with moving back home and finals and all) and I even filmed it.

BUT… it was terrible. I’m a bit out of practice in front of the camera, and it shows… really badly. So, I decided to just do a text post, with the same 13 questions. I will say that I don’t have answers to some of the questions. With all that said, let’s begin!

1. What is the stupidest thing I did?

I honestly haven’t done anything too incredibly stupid. I’ve done a few silly-ish things, but not anything really stupid or anything that makes for a good story.

2. What is the most interesting academic thing I learned?

Well, in my last class of Medieval English, I learned about Margery Kemp, whom my teacher discussed by calling her, “The lady who thinks Jesus is sexy.” Yeah… it was an interesting class…

3. What is the most interesting non-academic thing I learned?

Well, in preparation for my trip to Japan, I’ve been learning a lot about the places I’m going to see and how to behave and such. I’m getting very excited for it! 🙂 I hope you guys are excited to see my videos about it.

4. What is my favorite wardrobe item?

Do sweatpants count? These were not good months for me, fashion wise. I’ve been in gym clothes and tee shirts a lot.

5. What have been my favorite beauty products?

Yeah… same story here. I have been really liking my Pearl Mint lip gloss from Bath and Body Works- simple, keeps my lips soft and freshens your breath, too! I’ve been taking it with me everywhere in my purse.

6. What movies and television shows have I watched?

In terms of television shows:

a) How I Met Your Mother- I was not impressed with the season finale. Yes, we finally know who the Mother is, wonderful, fantastic, whatever. We barely see her, and we don’t even know her name. I’m irritated as all hell with the continuation of the Ted-loves-Robin-but-can’t-have-her storyline, which should have died in Season Four, and I’m getting fed up with Ted himself. He began as a likable character, but now he’s just like that one kid who never leaves your hometown, and expects everyone to be exactly the same as when they left high school at your 30-year reunion, because GOD FORBID ANYONE JUST MOVE THE FUCK ON WITH LIFE!

b) I re-watched some older episodes of Bones- I used to absolutely love this show, but then I just kind of… stopped watching. I don’t really know why. But I re-watched a few that were on television, and I still enjoyed them. I don’t know, maybe I’ll catch up on this past season over the summer.

c) I started watching Doctor Who- and it’s grown on me since I wrote a post about it a few days back. It’s not as immediately addictive as Sherlock, but it’s not meant to be, I don’t think. It’s a more fun show- yes, there are some seriously un-fun moments, but there are also a lot of very fun ones. Christopher Eccleston is probably my favorite Doctor– although, I do love David Tennant and Matt Smith– do I have to have a favorite? Okay, maybe it’s like this– Christopher Eccleston would be the one I’d want to meet and go on adventures with and would see as a father-figure of sorts, David Tennant would be the one I’d want become very best friends with, and Matt Smith would be the one I’d want to marry and have many many children with. (Stop crying heresy, David Tennant fangirls.)

In terms of movies:

I finally saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It was pretty good, but not as good as the LOTR trilogy. I did really admire the acting of Martin Freeman, though- it’s so easy to say he’s typecast, but then you spot the differences in his characters and you can really see how talented he is, how he does more than just act out a formula.

7. What has been my junk food craving?

Pop-Tarts. The frosted cherry ones. Oh, so, good. And so so terrible for me.

8. What books have I finished?

I finished a book by Agatha Christie called Crooked House. I can’t say I loved it, but I did like it quite a bit- it had a twist ending and lots of mystery, so no complaints on those things. I’d recommend it, if you like that sort of thing.

9. What video games have I played?

I’ve been playing Tales of the Abyss some more, but not much. Haven’t really had a chance, too. BUT I also played Slender… and I never, ever, ever will again. It was terrifying. (See the post I wrote about it here.)

10. What songs have I been listening to the most?

I listen to classical music when I study, as I was a lot in April and May for finals, and my favorites would be Ronda alla Turca by Mozart, and La Gazza Ladra by Gioachino Rossini. I also downloaded a few songs from the Doctor Who soundtrack, namely “I Am The Doctor” and of course, the theme song. Also, “A Song for Ten” but that one makes me cry.

11. What is something that made me laugh?

If you’re in any way involved in these fandoms (or Tumblr), you understand why the Sherlock fandom is Ed. It’s funny because it’s true. (I don’t know who originally created this picture, but it wasn’t me- if you know, tell me so I can add a citation.)

12. What have I done to make me proud of myself?

I got my very first A in a college class! A solid A, too, not an A-. I was so proud, I was in tears when I first found out.

13. Did I accomplish my Flashback goal from last month, and what is my new goal?

Old goal: Yes, I put out my first countdown. I’m very proud of it! I wish it had some more views (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, hint, hint) but hey, I got it done! 😀 (I’ll put the links to Parts One and Two here.)

New goal: I really want to lose weight over the summer- so yeah, my goal is to keep working out and watching what I eat, and drop a few pounds. I’ve been to the gym a lot, and I’m hoping that all the walking I’ll be doing in Japan will help, too.

Wow… long post! But I promise I’ll be back making videos soon. I’ve got some pretty good ideas and such. 🙂

Love,

The Femme Fatale Farmgirl

 

It’s the Doctor. Just the Doctor.

Remember when I wrote about how quickly I’d fallen in love with Sherlock? How I’d watched every episode and was now tormented because I had nothing left, and was foaming-at-the-mouth crazy for more information? (Like most of the fandom…) How I watched every episode upwards of ten times? How I now have board on Pinterest specifically called “Sherlock Addiction”? How it’s left a deer-stalker-shaped hole in my life?

Well, in all fairness I don’t think I told you guys all of that, but believe me, my crazed frenzy is not even close to some of the fans who have been waiting longer than me (Stay strong, guys.)

But, as a… for lack of better word, temporary fix/replacement drug, I started watching Doctor Who.

How do I feel about it? Well…

I do like it, quite a bit. The acting is, mostly, fantastic. The Doctor and his companions are very well-fleshed out. The monsters range from adorable to ridiculous to shit-your-pants-terrifying.

But here’s the thing- I don’t love it as much as I would. And I don’t quite know why. I’m not sure exactly what is it that makes me not adore it as much as I adore Sherlock. I love each Doctor (9,10, and 11) and (most of) the companions, the worlds are imaginative, the TARDIS is awesome.

Maybe it’s that the Doctor is a bit less complex than Sherlock as a character. The Doctor is motivated to always do the right thing, a protector of humanity, tormented because he is a good person who has to make tough choices. Sherlock is a character who refuses to be aligned with “good” or “evil” and is more interested in the events themselves than the people. For me, Sherlock is simply more complex and fascinating than the Doctor.

But, I still enjoy Doctor Who. It’s funny and pretty original most of the time, and I’m very much looking forward to the 50th anniversary special. If you haven’t seen it, I’d recommend checking it out. It’s got enough to keep you coming back, even if you’re not rabid for it.

Don’t skip Nine, though. If you skip Nine, we can’t be friends.

Love,

The Femme Fatale Farmgirl

 

I May Never Sleep Again.

Once upon a time, about three years ago, I watched a movie called The Uninvited, which is a remake of a movie called the Tale of Two Sisters (which I’ve never seen, but can inform you of because internet research.)

Now, I don’t think it got good reviews, but let me tell you something. It scared me shitless. I’d seen other kinds of scary movies beforehand, including Saw, which I never found all that frightening, just gross. But this one… I don’t know why, but I couldn’t sleep for the next week. I actually made myself sick, I was so scared. Maybe it was this idea that your own mind is sometimes your worst enemy… I don’t know.

But what got me to go to that movie was the sentence, “Come on, it’s supposed be scary!”

For some reason, I thought that was a good thing.

Clearly, I was mistaken. BUT I vowed that I’d never do something again that was advertised to me on being “scary.”

Until last night.

Now, I’d be hearing about the indie game Slender for a long time- since last year. But I’d never played it. Mostly because it was supposed to be scary. But then… a friend of mine said, “You should try this game.”

And then he said “It’s really scary. But it’s not so bad, once you figure it out.”

Well, then, okay, I thought. Not too scary. I can handle a little bit of scary- I mean, I watched Psycho and Silence of the Lambs, and was able to sleep afterwards, and I even enjoyed the movies. How much different can this be?

Let me emphasize this– VERY DIFFERENT. THEY ARE VERY DIFFERENT.

For those of you who don’t know, allow me to explain. Slender or Slender: The Eight Pages came out in June of 2012, developed by Parsec Productions.  The idea stems from Slender Man- a faceless entity from internet lore, created by a user on the Something Awful forums that has turned into one of the first internet-wide “folk tales.” The main objective of the game is simple: collect eight pages while avoiding him.

In a forest.

At night.

Armed only with a flashlight.

That eventually runs out of battery power.

…..

Yeah. It’s not so bad.

IT’S ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!

I am very frightened of literally everything right now.

I would give you a blow by blow account of what happened, but it basically boils down to this:

Wander around. Find one page. Gain some confidence. Wander some more. Find another page. Gain more confidence. Get a little bored. Feel unsure if you’re playing the right version- maybe you accidentally downloaded the Slender-free version. Find another page. Notice the fog. Remember that fog isn’t that scary. Laugh to yourself about people who are scared of fog. Wander around some more. Randomly look behind you.

Scream so loudly that other people on your hall come knocking on your door to make sure you haven’t been violently murdered. Run around blindly in the woods. Run right into Slender Man. Get violently murdered in game. Cry under your blanket until you realize that, if you’re under your blanket, Slender could be right beside you and YOU’D NEVER KNOW! Muffle screams of panic and hyperventilate.

So, essentially, playing Slender has re-taught me a lesson- I am not equipped to handle scary things. I am not equipped to be frightened. When it comes to things like Slender, I am a big freakin’ chicken.

And you know what? I find myself to be perfectly okay with that.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to ingest all the coffee in the world so I don’t ever need to sleep again.

Love,

The Femme Fatale Farmgirl

 

Box Office: Oz the Great and Powerful

SPOILERS AHEAD!

http://www.collider.com

The Wizard of Oz seems to be a popular idea bucket in recent years. There’s the Muppet version of the original story, Wicked the novel and its sequels, Wicked the play, there’s even a Phineas and Ferb spoof of it (which is pretty great.) And now there’s another competitor on the market- Oz the Great and Powerful, which tells the wizard’s story. What did I think of, you ask?

Um… ah… well, see… hmm… how should I put this… mmm… ahh, well…

I didn’t think it was all that good.

Now, it wasn’t terrible. There are a lot of things about this movie that are extremely well done.

Number one, the animation of the landscapes and most of the film work in general. The movie opens in black and white, exactly like the 1939 MGM movie that I think most everyone has seen (with or without a Pink Floyd soundtrack.) The opening credits look like a pop-up book and allude to later parts in the film- i.e. when Mila Kunis’ name comes up, a shadow of the Wicked Witch is shown. The transition from that to the brightly colored land of Oz was amazing- at first you didn’t quite notice it, but once you did… it sort of takes your breath away. And the landscapes of Oz are just jaw-droppingly, epically, beautiful. My personal favorite was the giant crystal flowers that open as Oz (the character, not the land) passes them.

The music works very well, with the film, and, although the individual pieces are not exactly iconic, they do blend very well together, making the music seems somewhat seamless. They even included subtle musical tributes to songs in the earlier movies. I love it when composers do that.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the costumes- specifically, the dresses and outfits of the witches. My favorite would be Theodora’s first outfit- I’d actually love to recreate it. But I really liked how each dress was very different, yet they all shared a similar shape and cut- and I adored the bead work on Evanora’s dresses. If you’d like to see more about the costumes, watch this: First Look: Costumes of Oz the Great and Powerful.

Also, before I get to criticizing it (because there’s a lot of that coming) I would like to say that I’m not saying this movie was the worst I’ve ever seen (no, that’d be Wicker Man.) If all you’re looking for is a short lasting sweet puff of entertainment, then this is probably a good movie for you to go check out. The cast is star-studded- James Franco, Mila Kunis, Zach Braff. The animation is good. If that’s all you need, feel free to stop reading. Because now’s the part where I tear the movie apart with rusty scissors.

For such a big budget and a reputable franchise, not to mention an excellent cast and some pretty solid source material, this movie fell far, far, far short of my expectations for it. Overall, I just found myself… disappointed.

The first reason may seem a little small- maybe I’ll seem like a movie snob, or just cynical- but the green screen effects are TERRIBLE in this movie. It wouldn’t be as obvious if the movie as a whole wasn’t the aforementioned the gorgeous that it is, but since it is, every single green screen flying effect- which there are a lot of- looks absolutely ridiculous. It looks fake. The “layered” shots (where images are layered one in front of the other so it becomes a moving collage of sorts) are ridiculously unnecessary and pulled me out of the film- which wasn’t that immersive anyway. This is seriously not on par with my expectations of Disney film makers.

The second thing I hate… the repeating elements. Now, I don’t mean the connections between Oz and our world- those I actually enjoyed. I mean the “I’ll hide behind something until the witch goes away. Oh, no, I made a noise, she’s going to find me! Don’t make a noise, don’t even breathe! Oh, I guess she thought it was nothing because she’s flying away” scenes. It happens more than once- and once is enough for something as stupidly cliche as that. Another repeating element? Jump scares, evil things appearing from nowhere and screaming at you. And it’s just a cliche that’s been done too often before, not to mention better.

The dialogue… calling it atrocious is polite, especially in the film’s first 20 to 40 minutes. Every line sounds awkward and melodramatic, even though the actors really seem to be trying to make them sound natural. But it just can’t be done. This is what disappointed me the most out of all the disappointing elements. I expect more from Disney films. You can say I shouldn’t expect to much, most of the audience is children, but you know what? Phineas and Ferb, a Disney kid’s show with fifteen minute episodes, uses better vocabulary, AND makes it sound natural. Pirates of the Caribbean is a Disney film, and the writing in that is superb. Freakin’ WALL-E had better writing than this, and the first 45 minutes of it barely use language!

But my main problem with Oz… is the same problem I have with every prequel ever made. You already know how everything will end. There’s no weight to the Wizard’s “death” because you know he’s there in The Wizard of Oz. You know the witch sisters will be defeated because they live on the outskirts of Oz later. You know Glinda will live because she guides Dorothy in the future. There’s no suspense. There’s no tension. There’s no anticipation. Literally the only thing that I was curious about going in was which witch would turn into the green witch- once that happened (which wasn’t even halfway through the film), I really didn’t have much left to get excited over.

So, in conclusion… Oz is okay. Just okay. I’d say a less than average okay. Maybe some of you disagree, maybe you think I’m being too harsh or too gentle. But I give Oz the Great and Powerful a 6.2 on a scale of one to ten- mostly fantastic visuals and a great cast overshadowed by predictability, cliches, and awful dialogue.

Love,

The Femme Fatale Farmgirl

 

Box Office: Warm Bodies

http://www.comingsoon.net

Ah, zombies. I love to hate them. If I could choose a fictional profession to have, it’d be zombie hunter (Or princess, but you know.) Zombie movies are my favorite type of horror flick- okay, actually, they’re the only horror flicks I can watch without being scared out of my mind. Left 4 Dead is one of my favorite games of all time- same with Resident Evil (minus the damn quick-time events, also known as the Button-Mash Plague.) I love killing zombies- bang, bang, bang. Who’s dead now, zombie? Oh, that’s right- it’s you. Again. And this time, you ain’t getting up.

So, with my deep-seated love for killing, maiming, and mocking the undead, who would’ve guessed that I’d love a zombie romance movie so much? Certainly not me.

Warm Bodies, starring Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer, is based on the teen novel by Issac Marion- which contains some major allusions and connections to Romeo and Juliet. The most obvious of these is definitely the character’s names- “R” for Romeo, “Julie” for Juliet, even “M” for Mercutio. Even Julie’s friend Nora wants to be a nurse- like Juliet’s confidate, the Nurse.

The plot is far from the traditional story of Romeo and Juliet, though. The movie begins with R in the abandoned airport where hoards of the undead hang out, stagger around, and moan, grunt, and have “almost conversations” sometimes. We learn about this world through R’s voice-over- his thoughts. This was honestly my favorite part of the film. R has a very dry sense of humor, and he’s very funny to listen to. He’s very relatable and completely adorable- a philosophical zombie who is searching for his place in the world.

The film is over all very well shot- I especially like the details like the graffiti all over the buildings and the rusted out cars. The flashes into memories were well done- they looked sunny and bright, an obvious contrast to the rest of the film, that was overcast and rainy, (except the end.) The soundtrack was amazing- I can’t wait to buy it on iTunes. The costumes of the characters were nothing special, but then again, it’s a zombie movie- tear up a few shirts and stain some jeans and that’s pretty close to done.

Now, this movie, while it is good, is not exceptional. The plot is predictable, but I wouldn’t call that a bad thing. One specific thing I think could’ve been done better was Julie’s character. Teresa Palmer did an excellent job playing her, don’t get me wrong- but next to R’s hilariously awkward moments/dialogue, some of hers came out sounding way too forcibly deep or just so directed to move the plot along. I don’t blame the actress for this, though- I think this one’s probably on the writer’s. It’s not a big thing- I didn’t get up and walk out, and I obviously like the movie- but I just think she could’ve had some more of her spark and sauce come across. (Clearly, she had it- hello, her first interaction with R is throwing a knife into his chest.)

I do want to give a special mention to Nicholas Hoult’s acting in this movie. He had a tough part to play- his face had to be zombie-like but express some emotion, draw sympathy from the audience, and he had to change it incrementally through the film as he became more human. But when he went from philosophical thinking zombie to feral hunter… woah. It was honestly a little scary, because it was so different an expression. When he’s getting high on brains, it really does look like he’s stoned. He brought R (God forgive me for using this expression) to life… in a way I think a lot of other actors maybe couldn’t have.

So, all in all, Warm Bodies is definitely worth your time- it’s adorable, but in a very new way, a little cheesy, but is self-aware and almost always follows up a super cheesy line with a tongue-in-cheek zinger from R. (My personal favorite: “I’m alone. I’m lonely. I’m lost. I mean, I’m literally lost, I’ve never been in this part of the airport before.”) The story is predictable, but I think I would’ve been disappointed if they tried to make it super deep/complex or something. It’s a fun film, although I wouldn’t call it child-friendly- it does have a few NSFW language moments- but for teenagers, and young adults, it’s just fun. Not world-shaking, not scary, not exceptional. Just plain, simple, zombie-love fun. Maybe take your sweetie to it for Valentine’s Day- it’s cute, it’s short, and it’s not a chick flick (so, guys, you might enjoy the movie AND get laid.)

Just watch out for Bonies on your way there. They’ll eat anything with a heartbeat. 🙂

Love,

The Femme Fatale Farmgirl

 

Movies I Can’t Wait to See This Year

I’m never really been one of those people who is always looking for new movie releases, keeping up with big-budget movies and smaller indie titles as well. With me, it’s always been more that my friends will call, and we’ll have a conversation that sounds like the following:

Random Friend: “Hey, Femme, some of us are going to that Big Movie tonight at 7:30, wanna come?”

Femme: “What Big Movie?”

RF: “What do you mean, What Big Movie? It’s THE Big Movie. It had a budget of a gazillion million dollars and was directed by Someone Totally Famous, and Someone Else Famous was a producer, plus That Other Famous Guy was a consultant for the costuming department. How have you not heard of it?!”

Femme: “… Um… Oh, yeah, THAT movie. I thought you meant… um, the other one.”

RF: “Oh, no, that Big Movie doesn’t come out until exactly forty-three days after this Big Movie, and The Famous Lead in that Big Movie is supposedly a little out of their element in Whatever Genre. So, you wanna come? We got an extra ticket, since Some Famous Actor You Have a Crush On is in it, and we figured you’d like to see him, since you totally loved him in That Big Movie From Last Summer. You can pay Other Random Friend back if you want it.”

Femme: “Oh, that was really nice of you guys to think of me, but I’d kinda earmarked this evening for finishing my Medieval Studies essay, and then reading Amazing Spiderman and eating chocolate alone in my room.”

RF: *concerned and pitying look* “Um…”

Femme: *realizing what I just said and how pathetic it sounded* “Uh, you know what, forget what I just said. That Big Movie sounds great. 7:30, right?”

RF: *looking incredibly relived that I’m not totally crazy* “Yeah, we’ll pick you up at 3 so we can get in line, okay? Oh, and don’t forget to dress up- you should totally go as Hot Chick of the Franchise DuJour!”

So, yeah. Honestly, movies in general are just not usually my cup of tea. I enjoy them and everything but I don’t normally keep up with release dates or actors or anything. Even when I went to the Harry Potter movies, which I loved and am crazy for the franchise in general, I didn’t organize it. My friends did, and I just tagged along- thankfully, they knew me well enough to get me a ticket in advance.

But this year, for some reason, I’ve been looking at all the movies that are coming out and there are a ton that I want to go see. So much so that I actually did research into them and found out who was in them, who was directing them… everything. Maybe 2013 is the year of great movies.

Anyway, I’m complied a list of the movies I’m most looking forward to this year, in order of release dates. I might end up writing reviews of a few of them, just because I want to.

Gangster Squad (January 11)– I think this movie looks amazing- I was actually really looking forward to it before the release date got pushed back, but, in light of why, I completely support the decision to. However, I’m hoping to see this extremely soon- the story seems predictable, but I don’t think this is the sort of movie that is supposed to be complicated. It’s just supposed to be some bad-ass action mixed in with hot guys/girls and some corny one-liners that become awesome when Ryan Gosling says them.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (January 25)– Okay, in all honesty, I don’t have high hopes for this movie being great in terms of the writing or acting (although I don’t think it’ll be bad.) No, it’s on this list because of the costumes, which are supposed to be steam-punk with a little Gothic flair thrown in. That just sounds awesome. Steam-punk cosplays and costumes have been all the rage these past few years, and it’ll be really amazing to see what Hollywood does with them. Or it might completely fail. I’m still going to see the movie.

Warm Bodies (February 1)– Okay, don’t judge me before you read this. When I first heard the words “zombie love story” to describe Warm Bodies, my reaction was “Oh, dear God, you have got to be kidding me. Fantasizing about vampire cock wasn’t enough for some girls? I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.” I remained extremely judgmental until a few days ago, when I saw a trailer for the movie- and it actually looks pretty good. Yeah, it’s a love story, but it doesn’t exactly seem like one. It seems more like it’s asking the question “What makes us human?” And it almost seems to be a little tongue-in-cheek about what it is. I don’t know if it’ll be any good, but I’ve decided to give it a chance. I may read the book first, so I know what I’m getting into, but I may not.

Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 8)– Now, this movie just looks amazing. It’s a spinoff that doesn’t seem like a spinoff at all. It seems like it’s own story, and the fact that the cast is kind of star-studded is a big plus to me. The trailers all seem amazing, too, and they actually sort of remind me of Alice in Wonderland- someone from our world is thrust into a strange one where they seem to be a sort of lodestone to that world. I have such high hopes for this movie, and since it’s Disney, I don’t think I’ll be let down.

The Host (March 29)– I pride myself on the fact that I never went to see a Twilight movie in theaters- and therefore, never gave that franchise my money. (I did read all the books, but I didn’t buy them- I either got them as gifts or borrowed them from someone else. I’m not proud of the fact I own them at all, though.) However, I have no problem saying that I own The Host, and also, that I genuinely enjoyed it. I even wrote a paper on it for my senior English class. If you haven’t read it, I strongly recommend that you give it a chance. While there is a love story, it is extremely upstaged by the sisterly relationship that develops between Melanie (the titular host) and the “parasite” Wanderer. I’m a little nervous about this becoming a movie, simply because so much of the book takes place inside the character’s head, but I’m still hopeful that this will be a good movie. Since it doesn’t have Kristen Stewart in it, I’ve got higher expectations than I would otherwise. (Although that’s not even a slightly high bar.)

42 (April 12)– This isn’t the type of movie I’d normally be interested in seeing, but after seeing the trailer, I really can’t wait to. It’s the Jackie Robinson story, which is an amazing tale of strength and a strong argument for civil protests. But it’s Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford)’s line in the trailer that really clenched it for me, simply because it really made me think. (Jackie Robinson: You want a player who doesn’t have the guts to fight back? Branch Rickey: No. I want a player who’s got the guts NOT to fight back.) Put in Jackie Robinson’s situation, how many of us would be able to not fight back? It certainly would be the harder path. I think this movie looks fantastic.

The Great Gatsby (May 10)– One of my favorite books from high school turned into a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire in it? Um, there aren’t enough ways to say yes! I love The Great Gatsby, and, while movie version have been done before, I’ve never actually seen one. This movie looks very true to the book, from the lavishness of the Gatsby’s parties, to his and Daisy’s relationship, to the divide between the rich and the poor. I hope this movie is as fantastic as it seems to be, because, if it’s not, I’m going to be crushed.

Now You See Me (June 7)- Now, this movie just looks awesome. If you haven’t seen the trailer for it yet, go do so. I see so much promise here- it looks almost too good to be true. However, in the back of my head, there’s a little niggling doubt that says I probably shouldn’t go to opening night for this one- and maybe read some reviews before I shell out $20 for a ticket. It could be absolutely fantastic, but it could also go off the deep end in ridiculousness. I couldn’t find too much information on it yet, though, so maybe I’ll fall more to one side or the other as I find out more.

Man of Steel (June 14)– You guys know me- I’m a huge superhero nerd. The Dark Knight trilogy was one of my favorite movie series to date, and there’s so much promise for a similar Superman franchise, especially since Superman is a completely different type of superhero. With Batman, you kind of expect the story to be darker and the villains to be more disturbing and less ridiculous, simply because that follows in Batman’s story. Superman hasn’t ever had that, and I think it’s about time he did. Plus, it’s directed by Zack Snyder, who directed 300 and Watchmen (one of which was a little “meh” compared to the comic, but…)

Despicable Me 2 (July 3)– Now, admittedly, there’s not much information out about this movie yet. But I loved the first Despicable Me. I thought it was completely adorable, every bit of it. Plus, Jason Segel (aka Marshall from HIMYM) was the voice of the villain, and he did so well with it! So, I’m rooting for this movie just out of pure love for the first one, which might get me bitten in the ass, but I’m hoping against hope that the sequel will be as amazingly funny and original as the first.

R.I.P.D. (June 28)– Of course a movie with Ryan Reynolds was going to end up on this list- I’m a woman. (It could’ve been Deadpool, but no! They refuse to give me that movie, because life isn’t fair.) Once again, I couldn’t find a whole lot of information on this movie, but what I did find was extremely intriguing. The idea of a sort of undead disciplinary force has been used before, but what hasn’t these days? I’m going to this one no matter what- hopefully the movie will be good (it does have Kevin Bacon in it), but if it’s not, I reserve the right to just ogle Ryan Reynolds.

Star Wars Episode II/Star Wars Episode III (3D re-release)– Yeah, these movies suck. It’s true. I’ve said before how the Star Wars franchise is essentially a cow that the owners are milking every bit of money from, and will continue to do so until the metaphorically udders turn black and fall off. But, see, here’s the thing: I don’t care. I’m going to see them, because I’m fully committed to this franchise as a whole. I love Star Wars, and I always will, through the good and the bad.

The Seventh Son (October 18)– This movie. I CAN NOT WAIT UNTIL OCTOBER FOR THIS MOVIE. It’s based on one of my favorite books of all time, The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch. Ever since I read this book, which was seven or eight years ago now, I have said what an incredible movie it would make. I will be going to this movie on the premiere date, midnight showing if possible, and I don’t care how crazy that makes me look. I’ve only seen two images from it so far, and I’m so thrilled from just those that I don’t even know what’ll happen when I see an actual trailer. Either I’ll have an orgasm or my head will explode.

Ender’s Game (November 1)– Wow, two movies with Harrison Ford in them on this list! I was not this book’s biggest fan, but I did enjoy it, and it was definitely a good read. (However, I read it just after I finished Dune, which is one of my favorite books of all time, so maybe I should reread Ender’s Game to get a little less bias.) But I can see them being an amazing movie, especially with CG technology today. I can’t wait to see this-hopefully, some of my sci-fi loving friends will come with me to see this.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (November 21)– YES! Words can not express how excited I am for this movie. I am a huge fan of the books, and I loved the way they did the first movie, and how well each actor portrayed their character (especially Donald Sutherland as President Snow and Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket. Wow, talk about owning a character!) I can not wait to see this movie, and I am absolutely going to the midnight release of this. I don’t care if I have finals the next day. I’m going.

Now, these are just the top fifteen movies I want to see- I know there’s a Carrie reboot coming out, as well as Iron Man 3 and World War Z. I’d love to know what movies you guys are looking forward to, what movies you guys see that suck or are awesome, or if/when you have any information about the movies I’ve listed here. Also, let me know if you have any movies you like me to review in the future, old or new. I’m thinking I’d like to, just for fun.

Love,

The Femme Fatale Farmgirl