The Lucky One

So, I have an ongoing battle with Netflix. Okay, realistically it may be my reluctancy to commitment. Allow me to explain, every time I get an actual DVD from Netflix I am fearful that I'm going to pick the wrong one. See, watching movies on instant doesn't have that, "Ugh, I can't believe I waited for this movie to come in the mail," attached to it.

All that to say, this movie was not one that I regretted waiting to get in the mail. I am very choosey and despite being told by someone - maybe my mom - that it wasn't a good movie I wanted to see it anyways. And I am not afraid to say, I liked it!

I'm fairly picky when it comes to romantic movies because so many cheesy ones exist. Not to say that this doesn't have its fair share of "cheese" and not that it is terribly believable, but it's sweet. I liked the story, I believe - even in this day and age - that the "right couples" are brought together by something bigger than us. This is that story.

It doesn't hurt that Efron is also very attractive and combine that with his extremely sweet and sensitive character who happens to do really well with Schilling's son in the movie and I'm a girly mess. Plus he is kind of a hero, so what girl can turn that down? Obviously not the main female character, based solely on the poster photo!

Anyways, it is not going to win any awards but if you are looking for a girly movie, this is a good one. So, my suggestion is rent it.

Oz The Great and Powerful

My #1 favorite film of all time is The Wizard of Oz, so naturally I was very excited to see this film. I am also not the biggest fan of 3D films, however I thought if I was going to give it another shot this would be the perfect movie to do so. And let me tell you, it was!

Now, while many of our old favorites from The Wizard of Oz are copyrighted and as a result cannot be used, it doesn't stop them from making a great film. There are new characters to fall in love with, I personally was a huge fan of Finley. A second wonderful little character is the China Girl.

Oz, is clearly a ladies' man, which is something that takes a second to get used to, but by choosing the lovable James Franco it is easy to get past what we had known about the wizard.

The colors used in this movie are nothing short of what we would expect and each destination is met with a great deal of imagination. Now, without ruining anything, the Wicked Witch that we have come to know as the green one, is not as scary as I would have imagined her to be. That doesn't mean there aren't some scary scenes in this movie, so parents be careful taking your children, especially the young ones.

Oz The Great and Powerful is most definitely theater worthy in my opinion.

Safe Haven

Before you begin reading I'm going to let you know that this review contains spoilers. Nicholas Sparks definitely has a talent for romantic tales. I appreciated the fact that this story has a dark side to it. Now, I know most of you, like me, know that Sparks includes some sort of darkness to all of his love stories, but I felt like this one was more real. Julianne Hough did a wonderful job throughout the movie as did Josh Duhamel. However, for me the star who stole the show was Mimi Kirkland, the adorable little girl. The love that builds between Hough and Duhamel is expected but Hough and Kirkland took their character expectations to a whole new level. I do not want to leave out the little boy who also did a good job, however I felt like his story was a little excluded. Now, that's the positives of the film.

For the negatives, let's start with the title. Haven literally translates to mean a place of safety. Break that down and the title is Safe Place of Safety. I'm not sure if Sparks anticipated that not many of his moviegoers were smart enough to put that together or if he just thought a one word title wasn't good enough, but none-the-less the title is not a fabulous one. Next, the story line is very cute, which was expected. However, it went a step too far leaving much of the audience asking what just happened, and not in a good way. Spoiler follows here: At the end of the film it is revealed that Jo the nice friend next door who seems to know everything without ever being told is fictional in the mind of Hough's character. In fact she is the ghost(?) of Duhamel's wife who has passed away. There is a beautiful situation throughout the movie having to do with letters that Jo had written while she was alive to her family members. However, it is within these letters that it is revealed who Jo was and I think in that reveal many people will no longer be on board with the film. This huge reveal of who the wife/mother was, was unnecessary and I would have enjoyed the film much more had that part been left out.

I do want to include that Tierney played by David Lyons did a wonderful job of being incredibly creepy which is what his role called for.