Divergent Movie

I saw the Divergent movie today. I was impressed. I was much better than I expected. There were a few part that I think we different from the book. Instead of having visiting day, Tris went to see he brother at the Erudite Headquarter in the University of Chicago library. She also saw her mom while moving food shipments from Amity at the Dauntless compound. Also, Tris get the bird tattoo before her fear simulation rather than after.

I really love how Chicago was portrayed. I really want to by the movie now so I can make my dad watch it just to show him the images of the city he grew up as a dystopian. The zip lining part was so awesome and you get to see the building. 

I really loved the movie despite the bad review that that it got from the critics. Shailene and Theo James work well together. Theo James did seem to have a southern accent instead of a Chicago accent. 

I love how movie from the soundtrack was actually in the movie, unlike the Hunger Games soundtracks. They actually had the Ellie Goulding songs in it. I love that the played Hanging On before the choosing ceremony. Music helps set a mood. 

Go see Divergent as so as possible. Don't believe Michael Phillips. He's from Chicagoland, but definitely not a fan like me or you and all the teens and YA readers out there.

Beautiful Creatures Movie

So, I just came home from seeing the movie. And let me tell you, I am not happy about the changes they made. The characters that they dropped. The ending that was definitely different from what I remember in the book.

If you haven't read the book or seen the movie yet, I do not suggest reading any further in this post. I'll be ranting.

The Good:
I loved the humor. So much funny dialogue.
Ethan's inner dialogue at the beginning, talking about Gatlin. Very similar to the book.
Link. I love how he's very much what I pictured.
Lena's charm necklace, her writing the count down on her arm.
Ridley has red lollipops, like in the book.
The setting and scenery. I loved all the sets. Loved the spinning table scene. Loved the Gatlin signs.
I learned how to pronounce Duchannes: (It's Duke-kane, not Dutch-chain) I knew it did rhyme with rain (but no Ethan inner dialogue on that.)

The Bad:
What happened to the whole "16 moons" theme? The song, poem..
Cheesy special effects in some parts. Very unrealistic.
Link is not singing, or playing bad music with the Holy Rollers.
Mrs. English doesn't have a bad-side eye. There's a history teach with an eye patch, though.
The guy who plays Ethan seems to old. He has forehead creases. Maybe he's not that old, but I pictured Ethan more teenagerish, with longer, lighter brown hair.
Lena's hair is not black enough. Her eyes should be green. And Lena's birthday is February 11th, not December 21. That's John Breed's birthday.
Ridley doesn't have her blond and pink hair. And she doesn't call Link "Skrink-a-dink" like in the book. I loved her nicknames! Why didn't she say them!!!???
Amma isn't spelling out words, doing cross-words. Or doing her voo-doo stuff. Instead she's the librarian and the Keeper. THEY DROPPED MARIAN!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!  Also, her act cent's not southern enough.
Uncle Abner likes Lemon Meringue, NOT COCONUT!
We never saw Ethan's dad.
They left out the caster dog, Boo Radley.
Emily's hair is too dark. She should be blonder.
Where the heck is Savannah Snow?
The Caster Ball scene felt way to short. I didn't get to see all the costumes.
Why does Grandma have pink hair? And why is she touching people faces? Isn't she an Empath who can borrow abilities?
The Lunae Libri should only be open on bank holidays.

The Ugly:
They dropped Marian, the librarian and Keeper in the book. Replaced her with Amma.
They dropped Reese and Ryan, Ridley's sisters. Unless they'll be in the second movie. And Hunting, Macon's brother wasn't there.
Link wearing a Union Soilder uniform. Link's mom would kill him for that.
The plot was kind of thrown of. Important scenes were missing. The dropped the Snow Ball/Christmas Dance.The ending was very different. So entirely drastically different that I feel like there will be no second movie. Macon still died, I think, unless that was Larkin that shape-shifted into Macon, because he turned from Ethan into Macon after being shot. There was no Holy Rollers concert, with Ridley singing. Larkin wasn't discovered as being dark. Lena made Ethan forget her, after she made it snow, and then didn't remember her for 6 months. That made no sense.
I don't know if the next 3 books can happen with how much the screwed the plot up. I love this book series and I hate what they changed and left out.
How is it that the producer talked to the authors and then wrote something so far off from their story line?

I agree with Amy from MTV's Hollywood Crush blog:
http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2013/02/15/beautiful-creatures-poll/


~Haley G

The Hunger Games Movie

(Yes, I made that image with my own firey photos)

I just got home from seeing the movie and I have to say it was pretty awesome. Better than I expected. The really did stay true to the book. I’d even go as far as to say that I liked the movie more than the book (but some parts were pretty gruesome). The capital people’s outfit were too over the top, Lady Gaga/Katy Perry style, but I really did love Katniss’s red dress. OMG! The flame special effects were so awesome with it! All the Rhine stones and stuff. The fire capes were great too! Oh, Peeta’s camo was awesome too. So realistic looking.

One thing that they didn’t put in the movie was the Avox that Katniss recognized in the book, the one Peeta thinks is Delly Cartwright. And also they didn’t have Madge give Katniss the Mockingjay pin. Madge wasn’t even in the movie. But they did add a lot of amazing stuff that wasn’t in the book: The Control room. You get to see what goes on behind the scenes! You get to know what Snow and Senica are up to. And I finally got to see what the “Cornucopia” was.

Go see the movie if you haven’t! It’s amazing!

~Haley G