Two Thoughts From Under The Dome

I must admit...while I do enjoy the stories written by Stephen King, I just cannot read his novels.  His writing style is as challenging for me to read as it is to read a Shakespeare play.  Yes, I get lost.  But the movie adaptations created from his novels are amazing!!!  I have watched them all and always find them suspenseful (and terrifying in a "crawling in your skin" way).  

The latest movie adaptation released, Under The Dome, is a TV miniseries.  It's still currently in progress so I don't know what'll happen next.  I've been watching the episodes on Amazon Prime because the network airs the original episodes so late at night, I'd have trouble going to bed with the heightened fear that the story elicits in the viewer (or is it just me?).  At least through Amazon Prime, I can watch anytime I want - commercial-free!

Two Movies I Look Forward To In 2013

First of all, I hope everyone had a safe New Year's Eve celebration and getting 2013 off to a good start.  What a year we had in 2012, didn't we?  The year was very full of activity for me outside of my "dreamz" blog which resulted in less frequent posts compared to previous years.  (Sorry, fans - didn't mean to keep you hanging).   But it's been great - and I'm very thankful to have the opportunities I've had to do the things I got to do in 2012, thankful for the people that have faith in my abilities, and thankful for the moral support I've received in the process.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sam Claflin in Catching Fire

Now that's the next movie adaptation I can't wait to see!  We already know that the three main stars, Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss), Josh Hutcherson (Peeta), and Liam Hemsworth (Gale) will be back to reprise their roles in the second installment of the trilogy.  The other roles have also already been cast but one big role that a lot of fans have been waiting to know who'll play the part of is Finnick Odair.

Dear John...a year later

Sometimes I feel bad that I wait over a year after a movie is released before I get a chance to watch them but some movies are not worth rushing to the movie theater for.  The movie adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' DEAR JOHN is one of those kinds of movies.  With the movie debuting as #1 at the box office and knocking Avatar out of the top spot in February 2010, I guess the majority of movie-goers didn't agree with me.

Marley & Me and other dog movies

 

I watched "Marley & Me" this past Saturday night.  I kind of avoided the movie because I'm not really much of a Jennifer Aniston fan.  But I couldn't resist it when one of my sisters said she had a copy of it and hadn't watched it yet.  So I asked her to bring it over and we made it a family movie night.

Boy, I didn't expect to be in tears when the veterinarian told John (played by Owen Wilson) that Marley would not likely survive the only surgery that could take care of his very serious stomach condition.  Then that one scene of an aging Marley laying outside under a tree reminded me of my own dog when he got old and wasn't coming inside anymore when I called him.  I always found him laying in the same spot in the backyard, under the same tree. It broke my heart thinking perhaps he didn't want to be with me anymore.  But now I guess that was just a canine thing they do when their time with us is almost up.  Maybe they just didn't want us to see them "go"?

These dog movies really get me emotional, I must admit.  Maybe I've just learned to bond with my dog to the point that I feel like there's a human side to dogs?  Perhaps that's why scenes like that in the family movie "Airbud" where Bud's cruel original owner reclaimed him made me so upset.  Man, I just wanted to rescue Bud myself!

There are so many dog movies out there that are just as touching as these two movies.  Perhaps the one that remains a classic for all would be "Old Yeller".  If you're a Generation Y-er who hasn't yet seen "Old Yeller" be prepared to cry.  That movie can really bring you to tears even if you don't normally cry during movies. 

Halo Legends

I decided to join Netflix and give it a try with the 1 movie at a time offer (you can get more at a higher monthly fee).  There are a number of people I know who joined and are pretty happy with the service.  Besides, it seems like good fit for me - the convenience of picking out a movie online, waiting for it to arrive in the mail, having a postage-paid envelope to send it back in, and the ability to stream movies online as well. That sure beats having to wait in line or spend hours at the video stores looking for "just the right movie".  Besides that, with Netflix I don't have to worry about the movie being due back by certain time or day.  It's also a lot cheaper than paying for cable TV which just gives me hundreds of channels of nothing interesting to watch.

The first movie I got from Netflix was the HALO Legends movie.  I'm not a video gamer so I don't really know much about Halo but my son does and I thought it might be cool to watch something he gets into.  (Am I a cool mom or what?!) 

The movie contains seven stories about the history of HALO.  What I thought was interesting about the way this was made was that the stories were presented in different animation styles.  Check this out:

One story was presented in a more traditional Japanese anime style. (I don't know if there are any special terms used to describe it).  I just describe it as the kind where the people have small noses and large eyes.  

Another story looked like a more common American cartoon style.  You know, just like the techniques used in American favorites like Scooby Doo or the SuperFriends.

This kind of water-color style animation that was used in one of the chapters was new to me.  I thought it was artistic, although my kids weren't too impressed by its visuals.  Story-wise, that part of the movie was a very dramatic chapter.

Another style of animation used reminded me of the Final Fantasy series.  This style used more realistic looking depictions of people.  Makes you feel like you're not watching a cartoon at all sometimes.  And they always seem to make the females look so hot! 

Overall, the Halo Legends movie was pretty good. It gave my kids and I an understanding of the origins of Halo and a more in-depth feel for the characters from their background history.  I'll admit, the movie wasn't exciting enough to make me want to become a Halo gamer but it did bring about an enjoyable two hours with my kids who normally wouldn't sit still for that long for other movies I want to watch.

New Moon Posters featuring the Wolf Pack

DeviantArt has a number of Twilight fans that created some pretty amazing fan art for the movie. I did a little research to see what other creative minds have made as far as New Moon poster ideas go. What I found pretty cool is the growing theme of Quileute Tribe - Wolf Pack movie posters and some surprisingly hot ones of Jacob Black (which make you really wonder what the heck does Bella want Edward's "cold" body for?!)

Interesting blend. However, I think the artist should've continued blending the wolf face a little further down...say maybe keep some fur down to the chin line at least. With the way it looks here, it kinda looks like an eyepatch, though it's still a pretty good, original piece to me.

Source-http://cinemink.deviantart.com/art/New-Moon-Fan-Poster-1-116930628


This one uses the recently released group pic of the Pack, featuring buff and tan young men from La Push donning unique tribal tattoos. I wish I could see the design that was used for the tattoos a little closer. It would be interesting to look into the symbolism of the design. As far as the poster itself goes, it's great eye candy for the giddy girls.

Source -
http://grodansnagel.deviantart.com/art/New-Moon-Wolf-Pack-120133396

This surprised me. I hope a teenager came up with the idea for this one. Otherwise, some adult is having some serious fantasies about a 17-year old boy. Just kidding, it's not that bad. You barely see his shoulder in the pic. Artistically speaking, however, this idea is pretty intriguing and if you didnt read the book, it may make you wonder if the movie is going to show a very dramatic shift of focus to Jacob's changing bod...he IS after all, going to become a fairly large, muscular werewolf.

Source - http://xxgoingblindxx.deviantart.com/art/New-Moon-poster-Jacob-Black-118761575

Now this is what I meant by blending the faces more. Being a photoshop artist myself, I imagine that it might've been a little bit of a challenge to get the wolf's face to fit just right with Jacob's face. In doing so, I'm not really sure that's a wolf or a bear that was used in this blend. I don't want to spoil anything for those that didn't read the book, but there could be a good reason for the artist allowing this to look somewhat like a bear. You have to read the book to know what I'm referring to.

Source -
http://dragonkeeper7.deviantart.com/art/New-Moon-poster-120599212

I saved the best one for last...teehee! This one really took me by surprise. Taylor Lautner really did buff up to make sure he could keep his role in the follow up movie to Twilight and this fan-made movie poster really does an excellent job of exploiting that. Kinda makes me hope that the producers actually use this one because boy, the artist did a really good job on this one.

Source - http://grodansnagel.deviantart.com/art/New-Moon-Jacob-2-121431117