140. Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants is a circus love story and famous circus accident set during the Great Depression.

After a family tragedy, Ivy League veternary student Jacob Jankoski (Robert Pattinson) drops out of school and circumstances lead him into circus life. He begins work for August (Christoph Waltz), an unstable and completely jealous ring leader who is always chasing the net big act to push his circus to the top. As a result of his search he eventually buys an elephant named Rosie--even though he has never worked with elephants before--and tasks Jacob with the job of training her. Meanwhile, Jacob is falling for August's wife Marlena (Reese Witherspoon). Which is a certain rescipe for disaster!

Needless to say, August is not the best of managers or bosses and when he gets mad you better steer clear. When he is upset or drunk (which happens often) he has been known to beat anything that comes in his path or to throw people off of the moving circus train. Eventually he goes to far and suffers the consequences. But I won't tell you how all of that plays out.

I enjoyed this movie. I love Reese Witherspoon and she did an amazing job as usual. I even found that Robert Pattinson isn't the worst actor in the world when he is playing a normal human being instead of being a wizard or vampire! That's a small miracle in and of itself. I think that this movie is worth owning.

32. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

                Well, just got done watching all three Twilight movies. If was fun to watch all three with my lovely wife.  Kevin and Shelby were here too!  Here is the thoughts on the third one.

Team Jacob!

      This movie is like a roller coaster to me. Up and Down, Fast and slow.  That is really the only beef I have with this movie. It's all over the map. The action sequences are great, action packed. But then there is so much down time that just seems to drag. I mean how many different times and in how different ways can you talk about the same thing.  Seriously, we get it. Bella wants to be a Vampire. Edward doesn’t want her to be. Jacob wants Bella. Bella is torn….blah blah blah. This movie could have been better if it was about 30 minutes shorter.

                On the acting front. Lautner is still the best, Stewart stays the same and Pattinson? Well Pattinson is Pattinson. Maybe he will do better in a movie with an Elephant, I don’t know.  The brightest part was Jackson Rathbone, who plays Jasper. His role takes on a more prominent part in Eclipse and he does a fine job. Overall, Eclipse was better than the first time I saw it, not as good as New Moon. It will be interesting to see how Breaking Dawn turns out. 

Final Verdict: Not worth it unless you own the set.

31. The Twilight Saga: New Moon

               Dakota Fanning is a vampire.  Now that I have your attention lets move onto the second of the Twilight moves: New Moon. 

Bella Has a BOO BOO!

                Here is the premise of New Moon. Bella turns 18, gets a paper cut, Edward leaves Bella, Bella is sad, Jacob helps her get better, Bella jumps off a cliff….oh and Jacob is a werewolf .  So begins the battle that has taken over our world.  Team Jacob vs Team Edward. The battle to end all Tween Battles.   Also beginning is the torment of Bella. The torment of the fact that she no longer wants to be human, but to be vampire. So that way Edward doesn’t have to kiss her as a grandma.

                This movie is better than the first. I think part of the reason is that Robert Pattinson  is absent for about 75%. Which, ironically, is the same percentage that Taylor Lautner  goes shirtless.  Speaking of Lautner, despite the fact the he was shark boy, he is the strongest of the three lead actors. Stewart improves in this. Pattinson continues to underwhelm. This movie is better paced than the first. Not so much endless staring at each other with longing in their eyes. But Bella really has bad luck with guys. Not to mention she chooses the wrong guy.  

TEAM JACOB ALL THE WAY. 

Final Verdict: Actually, I would own this one. 

Other Tidbits:

-Taylor Lautner was almost replaced in his Jacob Black role.

30. Twilight

The Saga Begins!

               Where do I even begin? I have started an undertaking of watching all three Twilight movies in one day. Back to back to back. Traveling into the world of Bella Swan and her discovering of the fact that Vampires are not only real but that they sparkle and have cool hair.

                What we have here with the twilight series, both with the books and the movies, is the resurgence of Vampires into pop culture. But that is today, it's strange to think that when this movie was made it was considered to be a risk. The budget was small. No one could have predicted the phenomenon that would follow.  Ok the positives.  The Twilight moves stay true to the original book, which I always appreciate.  There a minor changes but overall a good adaption.  The soundtrack and music selection for this movie is great. It sets a great tone and one of the very few movies that I think the music enhances the movie.

                Now the bad and here comes wrath of junior high girls everywhere. The acting is the worst part of this movie. The two leads Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are just not good in this movie. I do not know how people can tolerate them.  It's almost comical how many different ways that Edward and Bella can just sit and emote sadness.  It's such a distraction to me.  I'm interested to see if they improve over the next two movies. But as far this one it's subpar.  The real exception is Billy Burke who plays Bella’s dad Charlie.  He was great, spot on.  

Final Verdict: As of right now not worth owning but then again I'm not their target audience.

Other Tidbits:

-Author of the books Stephenie Meyer makes a cameo in the diner. She orders a veggie plate

-When Edward asks Bella to come over to his house for the first time and asks Bella if is she is worried you notice Pattinson's spot on British accent.