Tag: Books to Movies

Review: The Kissing Booth

Posted July 24, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 4 Comments

The Kissing Booth (2018)
Starring: Joey King, Jacob Elordi, Joel Courtney
Director: Vince Marcello
Release Date: 11 May 2018
Rating: TV-14
Run Time: 1:45
Movie Type: Comedy, Romance

When Elle Evans (Joey King), a pretty, late-bloomer who’s never-been-kissed, decides to run a kissing booth at her high school’s Spring Carnival, she unexpectedly finds herself locking lips with her secret crush- the ultimate bad boy, Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi). Sparks fly, but there’s one little problem: Noah just happens to be the brother of her best friend, Lee, (Joel Courtney) and is absolutely off limits according to the rules of their friendship pact. Elle’s life is turned upside down when she realizes that she must ultimately make a choice: follow the rules or follow her heart. Based on Beth Reekle’s self-published coming-of-age novel that became an international sensation, THE KISSING BOOTH is a Netflix Film, written and directed by Vince Marcello.

I’m always all about the books to movies to when I heard this movie was coming out and it was based on the book by Beth Reekles, I was in. I haven’t been too disappointed in the stuff Netflix has been coming out with so I had high hopes that this movie was going to be decent.

This movie is about Elle Evans and her pact with her best friend Lee Flynn. Elle and Lee have been best friends for forever and they have rules that keep their friendship on track. One of those rules is that Lee’s older brother Noah is off limits. Noah is stupid hot and he’s a bit of a jackass so Elle hasn’t had trouble keeping that rule…until the start of junior year and things start to change between them. Elle struggles with her feelings for Noah and keeping it from Lee, but she can’t seem to help herself. Noah is a lot more than she was expecting and her connection to him is inescapable.

So over the course of the movie, Elle and Noah get closer and closer but Elle makes Noah keep their relationship a secret from everyone, including Lee. You know, just until she can tell Lee about them because he needs to hear about it from her. They’re best friends and this is something that can only come from her. Only, she never tells Lee and her secret becomes bigger and bigger until there’s no way out without hurting everyone.

I did enjoy the movie, for the most part, but I don’t know if it’s because I’m older and a Mom or whatever but I thought Lee and Elle were assholes to Noah. They treated Noah like he wasn’t a real person with real feelings and I hated that he suffered the most for something that Elle was just as much to blame, if not more since Noah wanted Elle to come clean from the start. That scene at the dance where Noah declares himself in front of everyone? I wanted to junk punch Lee for being a little shit since he had a girlfriend and didn’t like Elle that way so what did it matter that she fell in love with his brother? Their pact was a pact between children. Lee was an asshole for not being happy for them and I want to smack the shit out of Elle for bowing to Lee’s pressure.

Other than that, the movie has cute moments and funny moments but it’s a movie for a younger audience because a lot of the drama in this movie is so extra. I think I ruined Brenna’s movie experience because I kept complaining about what assholes everyone was…still, the movie itself was decent and I hated certain things but not the entire movie.

Movie Trailer

My Rating

3.25 out of 5

4 Comments
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Movie Review: Everything, Everything

Posted April 19, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Everything, Everything (2017)
Starring: Nick Robinson, Amandla Stenberg, Anika Noni Rose
Director: Stella Meghie
Release Date: 19 May 2017
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 1:36
Movie Type: Drama, Romance

A 17 year old girl named Madeline Whittier has a rare disease that causes her to have to stay indoors 24/7 with her filtered air. Her whole life is basically books, her mom, and Carla (her nurse). One day, a moving truck pulls in next door. There she sees Olly. Olly Bright is Maddy’s new neighbor. They get to know each other through emails. The more they get to know each other, the more they fall in love. Olly starts to make Maddy realize that she isn’t really living. This starts the adventures of Maddy’s new life.

Brenna wanted to watch this movie so in one of our weekends where we had nothing going on, we watched it. Now, I should preface this review by saying that I didn’t read the book so I won’t be comparing the book to the movie or anything like that. This is strictly my thoughts on the movie. I should also preface this review by saying that I wasn’t all that interested in watching it but I did because Brenna wanted to.

So this is another a book that was turned into a movie and the book version of this story was written by Nicola Yoon. The book has gotten some great reviews from bloggers all over so I went into this movie thinking that I would love it and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it.

The movie is about a young girl named Maddy who has a disease that keeps her inside her home at all hours of the day. Leaving the sanctuary of her home and its filtered air is dangerous to her life so she stays inside with her nurse and her mother, the only two people she interacts with all day. Maddy wishes that things were different but she deals with it because what else could she do? When Olly moves into the house next door to her, Maddy is intrigued.

Olly is a cute boy and when they become friends, Maddy’s life is forever changed. Her desire to live outside o her home are increased and as I mentioned a little bit ago, that’s dangerous to her life. But seeing Maddy fall deeper and deeper in love with Olly was sweet and seeing how much Olly cared for Maddy was equally sweet but I don’t know, there were things in here, things that Maddy and Olly did together that the Mom in me rolled my eyes over.

While there were a few things that had my Mom meter beeping, the biggest one was their trip to Hawaii. The way that they pulled that off without a hitch made me laugh out loud and because of that, my enjoyment of the movie suffered. So while there were things I didn’t care for, I still enjoyed both Maddy and Olly’s character and I thought their acting skills were great. Brenna says that if I weren’t thinking so hard about stuff that are no big deal to younger people, I would have enjoyed the movie more.

This movie was good and I’m interested in reading the book still so that’s saying something. Brenna loved this movie so I think it’ll go over better with the younger audiences.

Movie Trailer

My Rating

3 out of 5

2 Comments
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Movie Review: Forever My Girl

Posted April 12, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 6 Comments

Forever My Girl (2018)
Starring: Alex Roe, Jessica Rothe
Director: Bethany Ashton Wolf
Release Date: 19 January 2018
Rating: PG
Run Time: 1:48
Movie Type: Drama, Music, Romance

After being gone for a decade a country star returns home to the love he left behind.

Brenna and Makenna could not wait to see this movie. We made plans to see it but those assholes went and saw it without me with their friend Nao but wanted to see it again when I bought my tickets. And then Brenna’s weird ass dragged her boyfriend with us and he didn’t even want to see it. Poor guy.

Anyway, on with the review. So the movie starts off with a Liam Page concert. He’s up there performing his little heart out and when the concert is done, he just wants to be left alone. You see, Liam left his hometown to pursue his dream of becoming a country music superstar. He also left town on the day of his wedding to Josie and she found out that he left when he didn’t show up to say I do. A whole decade later, he’s the big country star that he hoped he’d become and while that’s great and all, you can tell that he’s lonely.

He’s surrounded by fans, by people who want something from him but there aren’t a lot of people surrounding him that are there for him, and him alone. They’re either paid to be there for him or they want something from him and Liam has become so jaded that he drinks too much. He seems to be spiraling out of control and when he sees a news report about the death of his childhood best friend, Liam decides that he needs a break from his life. He needs to go home to regroup.

When Liam gets home, he is not sure what he would find. He realizes when he gets there that he’s hurt a lot of people, more people than just Josie. His entire hometown is pissed at him and he’s got his job cut out for him because one of the people he left behind is…a daughter he didn’t know he had. The movie isn’t really a romance even though there is a happy ending. The movie is more about Liam’s journey home than it is about his second chance romance with Josie and it’s a pretty good movie. I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed seeing Liam come into his own, make things right with those he hurt and I really enjoyed seeing him get to know little Billie. I also became a fan of the movie soundtrack because the music in this movie was freaking great. My favorites are Enough and Finally Home. The acting in this movie was fantastic and to date, this was probably my favorite romance novel brought to life. Lord knows it’s a lot better than the stuff they’re pushing out at Passionflix. *shrugs*

So yeah, this was a great romantic movie about a country star who goes home to right the wrongs of his past. Alex Roe was a fantastic Liam Page and Jessica Rothe was a fabulous Josie and the young girl that plays Billie stole the thunder because she was fantastic! This was a gem that I enjoyed and will definitely be seeing this over and over. I definitely recommend this one.

Movie Trailer

My Rating

4 out of 5

6 Comments
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Review: Before I Fall (2017)

Posted May 2, 2017 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Starring: Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, Cynthy Wu
Director: Ry Russo-Young
Release Date: March 3, 2017
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 1:38
Movie Type: Drama, Mystery

What if you had only one day to change absolutely everything? Samantha Kingston has it all: the perfect friends, the perfect guy, and a seemingly perfect future. Then, everything changes. After one fateful night, Sam wakes up with no future at all. Trapped reliving the same day over and over she begins to question just how perfect her life really was. And as she begins to untangle the mystery of a life suddenly derailed, she must also unwind the secrets of the people closest to her, and discover the power of a single day to make a difference, not just in her own life, but in the lives of those around her – before she runs out of time for good.

When I first heard that Lauren Oliver’s book Before I Fall was being turned into a movie, I wanted to see it. I always try to watch every movie that is based on a book and even though I hadn’t read this book, I was all in for the movie.

My daughter Brenna saw this movie before I did and wasn’t all that impressed by it so because of that, it took me a while before I finally went ahead and saw it. I didn’t share Brenna’s thoughts on the movie because I thought it was pretty good.

So Samantha Kingston is a young woman who is devoted to her squad. She’s got plans for Cupid Day and they involve getting naked with her boyfriend, Rob. So the movie starts and it’s just another day in Sam’s life. Her alarm goes off, her little sister comes tearing into her room to wake her up, she gives teenage attitude to her parents and gets picked up by her best friend Lindsey for school. Everything is normal and as it should be until after school, they head to a party and their day goes to shit when the school crazy, Juliet, goes off on her entire squad. Calling them names and just lighting into them for making her life at school a living Hell.

Sam and her girls take off, leaving the party (and Rob) behind and while they’re driving away from the party, they get into an accident and Sam wakes up the next morning…reliving the day before. She relives the same day over and over again and for the life of her, Sam can’t figure out why. It is through the reliving of the same day over and over again that Sam begins to see her life through a bigger lens. She starts to see things that she didn’t see before and her eyes are really opened to the person she was. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, reliving the same day over and over again, especially since it was a day best forgotten in Sam’s opinion but you really see her grow as a person throughout the entire movie and I thought Zoe Deutch did a great job in portraying Sam Kingston.

Brenna thought the movie was slow going and parts of it were but overall, I thought the movie was good and had a great story to tell. I thought the acting was decent and the cast was pretty good too. Zoe Deutch really stole the show for me and I’m glad that I watched it.

Movie Trailer

My Rating


4 out of 5

2 Comments
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