Book Review: Fifty Shades Trilogy

After weeks of wondering what the heck the hype was all about, I was finally able to get my hands on the trilogy that apparently has the whole world hooked.

Book One: Fifty Shades of Grey

Book Two: Fifty Shades Darker

Book Three: Fifty Shades Freed

The whole trilogy focuses on the sexual and romantic relationship between the protagonists, Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. There were a few side stories included, but none of that was really focused on throughout the series; they're just like fillers to extend the story further.

As an avid reader, the trilogy came across as a juvenile attempt at writing an erotic romance novel. Why it got so much attention, I wouldn't really know, but compare it with the other erotic romance writers, the Fifty Shades Trilogy will look like a grade-schooler's composition. There was no depth in the story, no climax, nothing, not even a proper ending. It was no wonder I finished the three books in three days. I felt like I was reading a young adult book instead of a novel suited for adults.

I can't even say that it is erotic enough for an erotic romance novel. I've actually come across fan fictions with greater graphic descriptions of sex online, and they're not even professional writers.

Overall, it is mediocre literary piece that doesn't deserve to be called a novel. It doesn't even deserve to be a bestseller. I am actually regretting the fact that I bought the three books, instead of just borrowing them. My piece of advise: if you can obtain a copy for free, read it just out of curiosity. If you're going to spend on the trilogy, just forget about it. It isn't worth it.

I can't believe this is going to be adapted into a movie. Goodness gracious.

The verdict: Two out of five stars

Movie Review: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Finally. After days of being busy with work, I finally got the chance to see The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. I had been wanting to see this particular part of the Saga, since, well, this is probably the most action-packed Twilight Saga chapter ever. EVER. Who can't refuse to see vampires and wolves banding to together to fight even badder vampires -- just for the sake of ONE human girl? I mean, come on.

Anyhoo. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse splits into two side stories that ultimately merges into one. The film opens with the creation of a newborn vampire by Victoria in order to help her to bring down the Cullens and ultimately kill Bella. They go on and create an army of newborns, thinking that their numbers can bring down the Cullen Coven.

On the other side, Jacob still pines for Bella, flat out telling her that he knows that Bella feels something for him, she just wouldn't admit it.

But, Bella being the common ground here, when the newborns decide to come to Forks to confront the Cullen coven, the Quilete wolves and the Cullen vampires decide to band together to defend their town, catching the newborns by surprise.

Oh yeah, and Edwards formally proposes to Bella (she accepts, duh).

It is in this chapter that we find out the stories of Rosalie and Jasper -- how they got transformed into vampires, and the root cause of Rosalie's dislike of Bella's choice to become an immortal.

My favorite scene: The battle scene. That's all I watched Eclipse for, anyway.

Cinematography wise, it's very "Twilight". Granted, there were still a few deviations from the book itself, but let's suspend judgement until Breaking Dawn (which I read somewhere that it's going to be made into two movies).

The verdict: Three and a half stars

Movie Review: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 has been released in the Philippines a week before the US release due to the fight against movie piracy. Frankly, I think it's a great idea. That way, we Filipinos have something to claim we were first, haha.

*Warning: SPOILERS ahead*

But kidding aside, Iron Man 2 is the continuing story of Tony Stark's adventure, set 6 months after the events of the first movie. It's the time for the Stark Expo, and what better way to launch the expo by flying in from the sky in the Iron Man suit. As the movie progresses, we see that Tony Stark is summoned to a Senate hearing, where the US Senate is - to put it in words - demanding that the Iron Man suit be turned over to the US Government. Naturally, Stark refuses to let go of the suit, expressing that Iron Man and him are one and the same, arguing that how can you take one from the other. At the same time, Tony Stark makes his long-time secretary, Pepper Potts, as the CEO and Chairman of Stark Industries, thereby hiring Natasha Romanoff, a secret agent affiliated with SHIELD, as the new executive assistant.

We also see Tony Stark's new enemies -- business competitor Justin Hammer, who partnered with criminal physicist Ivan Vanko, known as Whiplash. Together, they create an army of drones, to be led by Tony's best friend James Rhodes, who outfits a power suit with all the weapons one can possibly think of, hence renaming the suit Warmachine.

In a side story arc, we can see how the palladium in the arc reactor that powers him is slowly beginning to poison his body. We see Tony be approached by the director of SHIELD, Nick Fury, and be given a chest full of notes and files of his late father, in an effort to find out a cure for his slow poison.

In the end, as always, the good guys win, and there's this thing called the "Avengers Initiative" -- which we all know is a teaser for another Marvel movie around 2012, revolving around the Avengers.

In my opinion, the sequel is either better than or didn't quite put up with the first movie. I would say that Iron Man 2 is leaning towards didn't quite put up with the first movie. Don't get me wrong, Iron Man 2 is a good entertaining movie, but I must admit I wanted to sleep halfway through the movie. It's like halfway through, you'd know what the whole story is about, and that the only thing you're waiting for are the explosions and the fight sequences. It has become predictable and frankly, quite boring.

If it weren't for the fact that I got the tickets for a fraction of the cost, thanks to a Citibank credit card promotion, I would've waited for a later showing than seeing the movie on the second day of release.

I guess the most memorable part was where Tony and Pepper finally admitted that they loved each other and were kissing -- when a little boy loudly expressed "EEEEEWWWWWW" in the theater, eliciting laughs from all moviegoers. That, my friends, is a classic.

The verdict: 3 and a half out of 5 stars

Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland

Ok. This is I think my first review of 2010. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had the chance to update this blog. So... let's do this.

Alice in Wonderland - the live, 2010 version - is nothing like the fairy tale from Hans Christen Andersen back when I was a kid. This version of Alice in Wonderland is the updated version: It's been thirteen years since Alice first tumbled down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Alice Kingsley (I never knew that until this movie) is now 20 years old, and is about to get engaged to this guy who's a lord named Amish. She then gets distracted by the White Rabbit... as Amish gets down on one knee to propose in front of a whole gathering. Alice excuses herself saying that she needed to think, and follows the White Rabbit back to the rabbit hole, where she once again falls down.

Everybody in Wonderland - now called Dunderland (maybe it's a silent "D" but I couldn't really understand) - knows who Alice is, but Alice is pretty sure she's only dreaming. They get chased by the Knight Sting - who has this eye patch in the shape of a heart - who's working for the Red Queen. Alice escapes with the help of the Cheshire Cat, the Hare and the Mad Hatter, who reminds Alice that the place they all now know as (D)Underland was the place she once called Wonderland.

There's a series of prophesies surrounding Alice's return to Wonder/(D)Underland, the main one being that she's to slay the beast called the Jabberwocky, in order to return the crown to its rightful owner, the White Queen.

In essence, there begins a battle between Red and White, with the Mad Hatter serving as knight for the White Queen and Alice as her champion.

I find this movie a wee bit disturbing, since we all grew up knowing the story of Alice in Wonderland, and THAT fairy tale painted pretty pictures in our head, especially with the cartoon version also by Disney. Although it's obvious this Alice in Wonderland isn't for the young, there were still a lot of kids who watched the movie, and I, for one, think that they won't be able to sleep well tonight. This movie has a stellar cast - Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, to name a few - and they all complimented each other so well. Although this movie might not be that much of a blockbuster, I think that this could very well be one of the top-grossing movies of 2010 so far.

I don't think that there's a difference between the 3D version and the regular version, but I do find the 3D glasses a teeny bit annoying. One size does not fit all.

The verdict: 3 and a half out of 5 stars

Movie Review: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

The much anticipated sequel to Twilight has finally arrived. The Twilight Saga: New Moon had so much hype surrounding it that advance ticket sales skyrocketed through the roof. Yahoo!movies reported that New Moon has the third biggest opening weekend, after The Dark Knight and Spiderman 3, respectively.

New Moon drifts from the Vampires to the Quilete Tribe, where we find out more about the wolves that protect the reservation lands, and the growing relationship between Jacob Black and Bella Swan.

When Jasper tries to launch himself at Bella when she accidentally gets a paper cut during her birthday celebration at the Cullens', Edward and the Cullen clan decide that being around a human like Bella can be very dagerous for her. In order for Bella to get a more "normal" human life, Edward tells Bella that they're leaving Forks, Washington -- and that this would be the last moment that they're going to see each other.

For months after the "breakup", Bella remained in a catatonic state, with nightmares haunting her every night. The only way that Bella knows she could see Edward again was to try adrenaline rushing things - dirt bikes, cliff jumping, name it.

Enter Jacob Black. He makes Bella forget for a while the hole left in Bella's heart. Bella soon finds out the secret that Jacob desperately wants to tell her but can't: their tribes are descended from wolves, and to be able to restore the balance, chosen tribesmen morph into ginormous werewolves.

But Bella can't bear not seeing Edward and decides to jump off a cliff - recreationally. Alice sees her in a vision and discovers that she can't see past werewolves. Rosalie tells Edward about Alice's vision and phones Bella's house, disguising as Carlisle. When Jacob tells him that Charlie's arranging a funeral, Edward thinks that Bella's dead and decides to commit Vampire suicide by violating the laws set by the Volturi.

Overall, I think that the actors have grown into their roles, easily shifting into their characters. The story was kind of hanging in the end, leading viewers to look forward to the next installment.

The story has its deviations from the book itself, but then again, what movie doesn't do the book justice? It could've been better, though.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars

Movie Review: Julie&Julia

Julie & Julia stars Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Julie Powell. This movie was based on two true stories - Julia Child's life and Julie Powell's experience on trying 500++ recipes from Julia Child's cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". The movie jumps from the 1940s to the year 2000s, alternating from Julia's story to Julie's point of view. Julie & Julia is all about food and cooking, and the various relationships that they established and nurtured over the years. 

For the most part, this movie is all about food -- a subject I hold dear to my heart -- and cooking (which is necessary to love food. ^_^). There are also some side stories intertwined throughout the movie such as Julia's sister starting a family, her marriage to Paul Child, the support that her husband gave her, and Julie's life with her friends, family, her supporting husband, meltdowns and her blog audience. I somehow can relate to Julie's position, where she blogs her year-long experience with trying out Julia Child's recipes, since, hey, I'm doing this -- blogging about my thoughts on different views, right? And I know that it's so frustrating not to know if you really reach out to some people out there. Anyway, like what Julie does, it's sort of a reprieve from the monotony of daily life -- some sort of a break from the 9-5 job that we all have.  

Although it may be based on two true stories, I didn't find the movie that thought-provoking, or profound in any way, because, well, it deals with blogging experiences with cooking. I mean, anybody can do that. It really didn't have to be made into a movie. BUT, all aspects considered, it is a welcome break from all those movies that are so serious or so comedic or so dramatic or violent that you can't really appreciate the simpler things in life. 

With regards to the technicalities of the movie, there were some parts that lacked enough light, but I guess the director has her reasons for that. The flow and transition of the two time periods was smooth, and it wasn't confusing to which era you're watching at the moment. I think that they captured the essence of the each time through the location, the costumes, even the background music. 

All in all, I think that this movie can stand out on its own, although it's never a bad thing if it can still be improved, right?

The verdict: Four stars

Book Review: Have A Little Faith (A True Story) by Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom returns with another heart-warming memoir as a follow up for his best-sellers Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, For One More Chance among others. 

Have A Little Faith (A True Story) has two similar stories about faith but from two different religions. One story is about Mitch's childhood rabbi's last years starting on the day he asked Mitch to do his eulogy. The other is about Pastor Henry's life story - from his troubled past to how he ended up as a pastor. 

I just stumbled across this book during a trip to the bookstore with my boyfriend one day. I didn't even know that Mitch Albom had released a new book, but having read his other books, I knew that I just had to get a copy of this one. 

Having finished the book just this afternoon, it made me sit back and reflect on just how strong my faith is in my religion. Mitch Albom showed that it doesn't matter what religion you're from, as long as you have faith in one God, it transcends all boundaries of gender, race, culture AND religion. It doesn't matter if one is Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindi, or Buddhist... all that matters in the long run is your faith in God and what you do with your life in order to fulfill the mission that God has you written down for. In the case of Rabbi Albert Lewis (fondly called the Reb), his faith led him to save a deteriorating Jewish community and establish it to a bigger, stronger community. This book also shows that it doesn't even matter what background you come from. Pastor Henry Covington started out as a smoker, alcoholic, drug addict, convict and still ended up as a pastor who takes care of the homeless in one part of Detroit. 

Like what his other books have been imparting, Have A Little Faith reminds each of us of our faith and that we should embrace and believe in it -- whatever it takes...

The Verdict: Four and a half Stars