August Movie Date

Phew! JUST made it for our August movie date! Literally the last day of August before we jump into September aka Autumn.

Best time of the year right?? Leaves change color, sweaters and booties, weather cools, all things pumpkin, sweaters and booties, Halloween, thanksgiving, my birthday 😎, oh and sweaters and booties. Can you tell I love Autumn? Speaking of which, my drink of choice today is a London Fog Tea Latte, a snuggly warm drink ready for cozy fireplace reading and watching the leaves change color 😁.

Alright, it's August movie date time!

Let's go to the Movies!

Watched in Theaters: Ant Man and the Wasp.

Definitely enjoyed. Paul Rudd was again absolutely hilarious and the fun this movie has with shrinking and enlarging buildings, cars, etc was hysterical. I will say I liked the first Ant Man a bit more but was very happy with the addition of a female super hero. In my opinion, there was a lack of real character development in the "villain", a character I was very intrigued by and wished I could've learned about more. To make up for that, Michael Peña steals every scene he's in. Not a run and see immediately movie, but entertaining over all! (Photo Via Pinterest).

Rented for the Homestead: Ready Player One

Hooooo-Kay. Buckle up because I have some THINGS to say. First off, I read the book. Now before you yell BOOK PURIST and shake your head at me in frustration, I would like to clarify that I am not a book purist.

Example 1: Lord of the Rings is my all time favorite movie(s) slash book(s). They took some pretty solid liberties and a bajillion short cuts in the movie because let's be real. They had so much source material there was no way they could fit it all in. Now a lot of LOTR fans were mad about what shortcuts nd liberties were taken. I was perfectly happy! I think they did a fantastic job of sticking to the plot/story line while nixing some not truly necessary points and switching/combining of characters.

Example 2: Harry Potter. I love me some Harry Potter. However, I felt the first couple movies were SO similar to the books, especially the dialogue, I was actually bored. I could literally predict what they were going to say before they said it. I absolutely loved the sets, the effects, and of course the story, but you need a little differentiation to be intrigued.

So, having proved I'm not a book purist, back to Ready Player One. This movie. Is not. Ready Player One. At all. I was deeply disappointed. Why call it Ready Player One if you take out all the pop culture, character traits, and main points of the plot, resulting in a bare bones action movie story line?

Spielberg literally took out the intrigue of the first challenge and changed it to a car chase. A CAR CHASE! If I wanted to watch a car chase I would've watched James Bond. What's sad is they could've easily fit the action they felt they had to have somewhere else. The second challenge, albeit interesting, was also in no way the same. I just don't understand. And then they flipped an important plot point about sticking it to the man entirely around by having a side character captured and forced to fight back as opposed to the main character having the smarts and guts to make up insane plan all on his own and fight back. Annoyed. Also, an entire "revolution" was added that was just completely unnecessary. A linear book about a small, quiet, sneaks up you plot line saturated with pop culture turned into an epic, revolutionary blow up with a couple 80's imagery cameos. As much as I love a good epic, just don't call it Ready Player One. Because it's not.
I was also very saddened about the changes made to a strong, female character named Artemis. It's so rare in books and movies that have a male lead to also have an equal if not smarter and one step ahead female side character. Artemis was knowledgeable, intelligent, and could kick some serious butt. The movie version? Well, they kept the kick butt I suppose. But she depended on the male lead to figure most things out and was almost always a step behind. Why change her from being a feminist icon to a wannabe side kick? Like I said, very saddened.
***(SPOILERS IN THIS SECTION ABOUT READY PLAYER ONE AND THE IRON GIANT - You have been warned)*** My final grievance? The totally wrong use of the Iron Giant. Now, this is a tidge more personal. My dad actually worked on the movie The Iron Giant as an animator, specifically the Giant himself, so we've always loved him. If you've seen the Iron Giant, you know the movie is about an enormous, self aware, alien robot that crash lands on Earth with a serious case of amnesia during the Sputnik era. He's befriended by Hogarth Hughes, an imaginative 9 or 10 year old who teaches him, among other things, how to be a good, moral being, specifically just like Super Man. This is to help him overcome the true purpose he was built for, which we come to see (****SPOILERS*****) is a gigantic war machine. The Giant must chose between being something akin to Superman and an enormous gun. (****MORE SPOILERS****) Guess what he chooses? THAT'S right. SUPER MAN! Then Ready Player One comes along and they use him as...a gigantic war machine. The ENTIRE point of the Iron Giant is that he DOESN'T DO THAT! Seriously, were there no other robots to license for this movie? Like I said, personal but enraging none the less.

In conclusion, Ready Player One, although not as thoroughly as upsetting as the Ender's Game adaption (don't even get me started), I was extremely unimpressed with and annoyed by what it was turned into. Honestly, if you haven't read the book, it probably plays ok if you're into action movies. It does have amazing effects and animation, but it should've been called "The Oasis" or something (the virtual reality the movie is set in), rather than Ready Player One. Other than the character names and general quest about 3 challenges and an Egg, this movie is nothing, absolutely nothing, like the book. (Photo Via Pinterest).

Excited to See: A Simple Favor

"Can you keep a secret?" YESSSS! Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in a mystery disappearance thriller chock full of humor, fashion and martinis? I'm so there. PS. If you don't follow Anna Kendrick on Twitter she is absolutely hilarious and you need her in your life. (Photo Via Pinterest).

Out of the Kitchen - Southern California

I took a quick weekend trip down back down to Southern California for my cousin's wedding and got to spend some time with the fam, including my sister! Since she lives way far away on the East coast, wait now South coast, of the country, we tend to only see her around the holidays. She was legit only there for 24 hours but, as you can see, we had enough time to take all the selfies.

We even went back to Santa Monica and were tourists for a day! Something I never really did the entire time I grew up in LA. Forget driving through that traffic just to hang out in a tourist trap...so it was awesome being a true tourist!!! We walked the pier, ate at Bubba Gumps, and strolled the beach.

One of my favorite things about my trip back to LA (apart from seeing all the fam!) was all the Mexican food. I absolutely love Seattle but the one thing it really doesn't have, is Mexican food. Sure, there are definitely some good restaurants, but in LA its literally on every corner. The pier even had a tamale stand!

Also, I truly miss the ocean. The beach with water that's juuuuust warm enough to go swimming. Weirdly though, I missed seeing the islands and the mountains out across the water. It seemed weirdly empty without the Olympic's watching regally across the sound! As much of a Californian as I'll always be, Seattle is definitely home 😁 .