Something Borrowed - Movie Review

Something Borrowed came out a few weeks ago, starring Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin and a new face to me, Colin Egglesfield (who seriously looks like he could be Tom Cruise's love child). The movie is based loosely on the novel by Emily Griffin.

Rachel (Goodwin) has been in love with Dex (Egglesfield) since they went to law school together. However, she has always felt that she wasn't good enough, or attractive enough, for him. So, when her best friend Darcy (Hudson) goes after him, Rachel fades into the background. Now, Darcy and Dex are engaged and getting married in a few months. Rachel is still in love with Dex, but puts on the best friend face and tries to get past it. And that works for a while until, one night after drinking too much, Dex and Rachel end up sleeping together. At first Rachel feels horribly guilty, but the affair continues and Dex admits that he has always loved Rachel.

Rachel's best guy friend, Ethan (John Krasinski aka Jim from the Office), finds out and tells Rachel to stop. She's not that kind of person. Eventually Rachel tells Dex that he has to choose between her and Darcy... he can't keep on having both and never making any decision one way or the other.

I am undecided about the movie. In a way, it was really fun.... alot of funny lines, Kate Hudson is an amazing actress, even when she is protrayed as the spoiled-rich-party-girl-villian, and I was kept guessing the entire movie as to what the ending would be. It was a tossup between if Rachel or Darcy got the guy.

However, the premise of it was a little uncomfortable for me. I do not condone cheating/affairs. Ever. Period. It is never cool. Get divorced, break up, whatever, THEN go after the new boy/girl. It's not OK when you are in a relationship. Especially when the person having the affair with your man is your BFF. As likeable as Rachel was, I couldn't get passed that she was a lying cheater. Same with Dex. And, yes, Darcy ended up being a cheater too, but still... she cheated after the others did. The characters all together were very disconcerting... a mixup between liking and disliking them. Even Darcy, the supposed villian, was more likeable than Rachel and Dex most of the time.

I'll give it a 7/10... although, truthfully, the rating may only be this high because I haven't seen a chick flick in a loooooong time, thanks to my wonderful husband who likes tough comic-book, he-man movies. LOL

Did anyone else see it? What did you think?

The Host - Book Review

I enjoyed the Twilight books... honestly have not watched a single Twilight movie, but quite enjoyed the books. And, The Host, also by Stephanie Meyer, had a similar level of enjoyablility to it.

The Host deals with an alien invasion on earth, but not your typical green-skinned, area 51 aliens. These ones, known as "Souls", take over a human body, attaching themselves to the brain stem. The entire planet has been taken over by these Souls, with the exception of a few surviving humans who have formed a sort of resistance.

The novel begins with us learning about Wanderer (aka Wanda), a Soul who is finding that her human body is putting up a bit of a fight. Melanie Stryder was one of the few remaining humans left when she was captured and Wanderer placed in her brain. Now, Melanie is fighting back, occasionally gaining control of her body, persuading Wanderer to do the right thing.

Together, Melanie and Wanderer end up fleeing to the human resistance outpost in the mountains, where, among suspicion and jealousy, they eventually make a home.

In true Twilight fashion, there is love and forbidden love (Melanie's one true love Jared is in the mountains, but he is upset at the possibility that Melanie might be lost forever. Also, Wanderer falls in love with a human, Ian, and is faced with the problem that if she ever relinquishes Melanie's body, she will not be able to be with Ian ever again.)

The humans learn how they can finally defeat the Souls, and little by little, a plan comes together, and the Soul's history is revealed.

Overall, The Host is an excellent book. It is science-fiction-y without being overly nerdy, although, in that same vein, I doubt it would appeal to those who actually care about the intricities of science. There is also romance, betrayal and friendship, enough to make it an enjoyable book for almost everyone.

Plus it made my he-man rock father cry. lol

I definitely recommend it. :)

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

We went to see Pirates of the Caribbean IV last night. First of all, the theater was not packed. Which was weird. Most of the seats in the front of the theater were empty. Some of the seats up top were empty. It was a strange feeling for the first weekend of a movie, especially a much-anticipated movie like Pirates. It made sense though, after watching it. Pirates IV was not nearly as good as the first. Although it was better than II and III, which isn't saying much.

It started out with Jack Sparrow meeting up with a long lost friend, Angelica, played by Penelope Cruz. Don't get me wrong... I love Spanish people. I took four years of school to get a Bachelors Degree in Spanish. But... I found Penelope annoying. She's been acting in English films for years... what is it now, 15 years? She's lived in America for a long time. And yet, she still has a thick accent. This sounds rude, but one of the biggest things I learned while taking Spanish classes is that you need the accent. Get the native accent, as a show of common courtesy. And Penelope didn't, which made her lines sound like she was reading the script. It made it a bit choppy.

Anyway, the rest of the movie was your typical Pirates mold. Jack Sparrow undergoes a quest, probably for the wrong reasons. Captain Barbosa appoears and is going to be the doublecrossing villian, but ends up doing things that are for the common good of everyone. Fighting ensues between the British and the pirates (and for good measure, the Spanish are thrown into the mix). Supernatural occurances happen... like zombies who for some reason are content with not eating brains. There is a battle with mermaids (which was the coolest part of the whole movie, actually. Very awesome fight scene), and then a mermaid is captured and a priest falls in love with her (thereby filling the void of young love that Will and Elizabeth made by not being in this movie). And then Jack Sparrow does sort of the right thing in the end before turning back into a pirate.

Overall? Decent movie. Better than the last two. Had it's funny moments. Has some sort of sweet moments. But the 3D effects were brutal (way too many swords and cannons being thrust at your head in the audience). Would I watch it again? Probably on DVD when it comes out. Not in theaters.

But... Johnny Depp was amazing as always as Captain Jack Sparrow. And he truly made the movie. Yay Johnny Depp... gorgeous and talented, which is quite an unusual combination in Hollywood.

But, don't take my word for the goodness of the movie... go see it yourself. I didn't like Harry Potter either (the movies, that is, loved the books), so my opinion may not be the same as the rest of the world's. :)

Happy Saturday!

Tanned, Toned, and Totally Faking It - Update!

Last thing everyone heard was that my commercial women's fiction novel (the long and 'proper' way of saying chick lit) was accepted for publication! Yup, I am still uber excited about it. And yes, I just said uber. :)

Anyway, I figured it is time to update everyone on the status of the book.

I sent my editor, Karen, the soft copy of my manuscript. She read it over the last month and made a bunch of edits (a bit on punctuation, some suggestions for clarity etc). She sent it back to me and I made the changes and added about 10,000 words. Now I've sent it back to Karen, (ya'll following?) and she said that she will have the next wave of edits completed within the month.

SO... end of May and I will have the manuscript back to make more changes to. :) It's getting better each time and I am so excited for everyone to have the chance to read it.

Still no publication date set as of now (but, WiDo, if you are reading this, I would have NO problem whatsoever with you hurrying up and choosing one!!! Haha...). I will keep everyone posted and assoonas I find out, you will find out! Karen says that it should be out sometime this year.

Fingers crossed that "sometime this year" does not mean December 31st.

Let me know if you have any questions... and I will do my best to answer them for you!!!!!!

xoxo