Red Riding Hood

Here is another classic tale retold, but this one is perhaps a bit darker. Classic Little Red Riding Hood is the story of a little girl in a red hooded cloak who walks through the woods by herself to deliver food to her sick grandmother. A wolf meets her on the way, who wants to eat her. The girl tells the wolf where she is going and when she gets to her grandmother's house, the wolf is there, dressed in grandmother's clothing, ready to eat little red riding hood.

Here is the modern day version: Little Red Riding Hood is not so little anymore, making her just Red Riding Hood or Valerie (Amanda Seyfried). She lives in a village called Daggerhorn with her father, Cesaire (Billy Burke) , and mother, Suzette (Virginia Madsen) , and sister, Lucy. She is in love with a woodcutter named Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), but her parents have decided that she is to marry Henry (Max Irons), the son of a wealthy blacksmith. When Peter informs Valerie of this, they decide to run away together when the village siren goes off, alerting everyone that the wolf has claimed another life. The wolf comes to the village once a month and is left an offering of an animal tied up outside to keep it from killing people. After this recent death, the villagers take off to go find the wolf and kill it. They kill a wolf and bring its head back to the village. Then in comes Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), a famous witch hunter. He informs the villagers that they have killed a wolf, but not the werewolf because his own wife was a werewolf. Therefore, if they had killed the correct wolf, it would've turned back into its human form. The villagers still believe that they have killed the right wolf and continue to celebrate until the werewolf comes and attacks the village that night. Now everyone is in fear over which one of the villagers is the werewolf.

I was honestly pretty skeptical of this movie when I first saw the trailer. My first thought was that it wasn't going to be good because Catherine Hardwicke directed it and in my opinion, she did a terrible job on Twilight. Then one day, I read that Leonardo DiCaprio was one of the producers and it peaked my interest because he's been in some good flicks lately. Overall, it was a good movie, but I'm not going to be running out to buy it later on. It's one of those sort of mystery movies where you watch it because you want to know what happens and who the bad guy is, but after finding out, it's kind of pointless to watch again. It is certainly a different twist on this old folktale, so if you're interested in finding out who the werewolf is, by all means, go ahead and see it. I can almost guarantee that you won't figure out who it is until they reveal it at the end. It's pretty unpredictable.

The Adjustment Bureau

I believe that there is an art to making movie trailers. If they are made just right, with the perfect music and perfect transitions, they can hook anyone and build up the anticipation to see the movie. I've seen the trailer for The Adjustment Bureau hundreds of times and have never gotten tired of seeing it because it's just so beautifully done. I finally had the opportunity to watch it the other night. David Norris (Matt Damon) is a politician running for Senator in New York. When he loses his lead in the race, he goes into the men's bathroom of the place where he is to give a speech to practice his lines. There, he meets Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt), a dancer who is hiding from security because she crashed a wedding upstairs. After talking to her, she inspires him to give a different, more honest and care-free speech that gains him much popularity and puts him in the running for the next race. This seems to be the work of the Adjustment Bureau because David's plan in life is to be president one day. They made an adjustment to have David meet Elise because they knew she would inspire him to give the speech that put him back on track. But apparently this is where his interactions with Elise are to end because when the two meet up by chance later, the Adjustment Bureau does everything they can to keep the two apart, causing these two to have to fight to be together.

This is sort of a sci-fi, romantic thriller. It toys with the idea that everyone has their own plan, created by God and no one really has free will. Even though it's nothing real, it kind of boggles your mind and really makes you think. I enjoyed this movie. It has a couple of twists that keeps the viewer wondering and the ending isn't predictable. My only problem with the movie was that it was all building to this climactic scene and then it just ends so abruptly. Don't get me wrong, I did like the outcome of it all but I expected a little bit more than that. But I still really did like this movie and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Beastly

In accidentally coming into work 2 1/2 hours early yesterday, I got the unexpected pleasure of watching Beastly. I'll be honest in saying that I was really skeptical about this movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. I found it to be a beautiful, modern day telling of Beauty and the Beast. Now, I actually haven't seen Beauty and the Beast since I was a child so I only remember bits and pieces. But the similarities are there and they can be related back to the classic Disney movie. The movie follows a high school student, Kyle (Alex Pettyfer), who is obsessed with his good looks and money. He's a snob and treats everyone like they are inferior to him. He goes too far in publicly embarrassing Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen), who everyone calls a witch, but in fact, really is a witch. She places a curse on him that turns him beast-like, one could say. She tells him he has until next Spring to find someone to say "I love you" or he stays that way forever. He starts to notice Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), a pretty but not-so-popular girl from school and really takes a liking to her because she's one of the only people who sees him for who he is on the inside.

I really enjoyed this movie and I'd say that I would place it high up on my list of favorite romance movies. While I haven't been a huge fan of Vanessa Hudgens, I think she fit the role she played perfectly. Mary-Kate Olsen has been off the grid for a while, but I think she was fantastic in this. As for newcomer Alex Pettyfer, I think he has a lot of potential. The whole mood of this movie was just so saddening and heartwarming at the same time. I recommend this as a great chick flick!