MOVIE - Wonder Woman

PG-13 (2:21)

Wide release 6/2/17

Viewed date at 7/11/17
IMBd: 7.6

RT Critic: 92   Audience:  88
Critic's Consensus:   Thrilling, earnest, and buoyed by Gal Gadot's charismatic performance, Wonder Woman succeeds in spectacular fashion.

Cag:  4.5 It was really good, with lots of WWI history

Directed by Patty Jenkins

Warner Bros. Pictures

Actors: Chris Pine, Gal Godot

My comments:  This ended up being an unexpectedly good movie.  From the supernatural Amazon tribe, hidden away for many years in preparation to bring down Aries, comes Diana, daughter of the Amazon queen Hippolita.  When WWI spy Chris Pine breaks through the invisible barrier and crashes into the ocean near the island, he is saved by beautiful Diana.  The backstory of Wonder Woman proceeds from there.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, Diana, an Amazonian warrior in training, leaves home to fight a war, discovering her full powers and true destiny.

30. The Power of Six - Pittacus Lore

#2 in the Lorien Legacies series

listened to on my phone through Overdrive audio/ TPPL

audio read by two readers: Neil Kaplan and Marisol Ramirez (NOTE:  Although I liked having two voices, Neil Kaplan made Sam sound like the idiot-boy from Scooby Doo and I hated the way he read Six's female voice.  Marisol Ramirez did an outstanding job reading Seven. But I think it was Kaplan's reading that made my rating an "okay" not a good.....)

2011 Harper Collins

406 pgs.

YA SciFi/Dystopia

Finished 5/26/2014

Goodreads Rating: 4.18

My Rating: 2 (It was okay)

Setting: Florida, West Virginia, Spain
First sentence/s:  "My name is Marina, as of the sea.  But I wasn't called that until much later.  In the beginning I was known merely as Seven."

My comments:  Well, this was certainly an action-packed addition to the series.  The story flip flops back and forth between Seven, who is in Spain, and Four, who is with Six and his friend Sam on the east coast of the U.S.  There was definitely a lot of battling going on, with monsters and meanies and bad guys galore. Near the end of the book we meet Nine and Ten (Ella) and you know that the next book may reunite all seven of the remaining Loriens.  Too much battling for this old lady.  But it sure would make a great action-packed movie for middle-schoolers, although I've heard after the lousy reception of I Am Number Four on the big screen, future movies have been put on hold.

Goodreads Summary:  Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us—if we all still believe in our mission. How can I know? There a re six of us left. We're hiding, blending in, avoiding contact with one another . . . but our Legacies are developing, and soon we'll be equipped to fight. Is John Number Four, and is his appearance the sign I've been waiting for? And what about Number Five and Six? Could one of them be the raven-haired girl with the stormy eyes from my dreams? The girl with powers that are beyond anything I could ever imagine? The girl who may be strong enough to bring the six of us together?

MOVIE - Avatar

Awesome!
Released Dec. 18, 2009
PG-13 (2:30)
Viewed 1-10-10 (Cool Date) at Oro Valley Marketplace
with the Weinstein family
RT: 82% cag: 96%
Director: James Cameron

I was quite taken with this movie. It was spectacular. Watching it in 3-D alone was pretty amazing. The huge, brand new theater at Oro Valley Marketplace, although packed, was roomy and ultra-comfortable. Even the 3-D glasses were not a burden. The story! The SET! The whole premise.....other than the battle scenes, which I realize had to be included, were amazing. My palms were clenched and sweaty. The two and a half hours passed in a haze of sensations. I was totally wrapped up in the story and the scenery. Whew.

Jake Sully has returned from war a broken man...literally. He has no use of his legs and is in a wheelchair. His identical twin brother, a brilliant scientist, has died. So Jake takes over the extremely tricky job that his brother had been working on for years.

It is 2154. Earth is a mess, we have to go into outer space to find more viable ways to live. So the army and some sort of conglomerate have found a far-off planet that has riches in THEIR earth that our earth needs. However, it is a very alien planet. So some scientists, headed by Sigourney Weaver, have replicated the shells of the alien population using DNA from the scientist's bodies, so that the scientist's thoughts and actions can go into this.....avatar. But it's really a showdown between the scientists who want peaceful relations with the aliens and the military who want to take over with force. And the battle begins.

My friend, Ivan, hit the nail on the head - he says it's a modern western. It is. Only this time, it takes place in 2154 on Pandora, a planet far, far away and - -yay, yay, yay (SPOILER ALERT) the "indians" win!

Avatar is playing in Chandler at the IMAX theater. I MUST go see it there! ! ! ! !

MOVIE - Angels & Demons

Nonstop action with never a dull moment!
Viewed May 27 at El Con
PG-13 (2:20)
RT: 37% cag: 70%
Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor
Director: Ron Howard

It seems like I've been rating a lot of movies at 70% or so lately. That's good. Means I've not been disappointed.

I read this book early in 2001. It kept me occupied while Steve was sick when no other book could. So I've remembered it quite well, which isn't usually the case. However, I went to the movie with the attitude I was going to watch it as a movie in itself and not compare it to the book. I was pretty much able to do that. And sure, some of the plotline was the same. I also totally remembered who the BAD GUY was (I didnt' want to),even though as the ending approached I thought that part may have been changed. I DO think the ending of the movie was changed from the ending of the book, but that was totally okay. It worked. Except now I've got to get ahold of a copy of the book and see if I remembered, perhaps, the ending of ANOTHER book....

Tom Hanks and his female sidekick go on a crazy ride through the city of Rome from historical church to historical church following clues related to the illustrious Illuminati that Hanks' character is such an expert on. He matches wits with Vatican priests and Swiss guards, trying to prevent the murder of four cardinals and the destruction (literally) of the Vatican while the Cardinals are locked in voting for a new pope. Ah, such hair-raising excitement. I remember this book made me ask a multitude of questions about the politics of the Catholic church, many more than the movie did....

It was fun to watch. I had a nervous stomach by the end, though. Tom Hanks is so much fun to watch!