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Book Review: Fallen & Torment by Lauren Kate

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Every year I try and at least read two books a month. I think that’s pretty good considering how many shows and movies I watch in my spare time! Either way, the last two novels I read in 2018 were Fallen and Torment both written by Lauren Kate. The first book in the Fallen Trilogy, it was definitely less than. I wasn’t expecting much since it was young adult, but I just feel like I’ve read much more compelling young adult novels as a not young adult anymore. The premise is a bit Twilight-y except you can replace the vampires and werewolves with Angels and Demons (fallen angels).

In the first novel, Fallen, the only thing described in great and visual detail was the setting of the Sword & Cross campus. Other than that, the characters were flimsy at best. By the very end of the 400-plus page novel I finally learned that the main character, Luce, is a human who has apparently lived hundreds of lives. She dies every time she turns seventeen, which is when she meets her angel-lover, Daniel. Every death is almost always bursting into flames, and it seems like he doesn’t actively seek her out, but needs to? Like I said, the last fifty pages is really when any of the action occurred. It was frustrating how out-of-touch Luce was with her surroundings and reality, and not being told any other important details.

Which makes sense why there would be a second novel. I am still just shy of finishing it, but this book, despite it being another 400-plus pages like its predecessor, still hasn’t really gotten me anywhere in the way of plot. The author does a great job of shifting around and talking about everything except what the angel Daniel’s ultimate purpose is. And I’m pretty confident I won’t find out until the last page. Hence the third novel I will undoubtedly read at the start of 2019, Passion. I almost have to! But perhaps that’s what Lauren Kate wanted, and well, goal achieved I guess!

Overall, a frustrating and not very well done start to a trilogy. I think I’ve read wattpad stories better than these! Oh well, onto the next book.

Album Review – AFI The Missing Man EP

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What I would consider to be an early Christmas gift came on December 7th in the way of new songs by one of my favorite bands! That’s right, AFI released a five track EP on the heels of 2017’s eponymous Blood Album. That’s a pretty quick turnaround considering there were four years in between their last two albums. Overall though, I wasn’t super impressed by this EP. Of the five new songs released, I really only liked “Trash Bat” and the single “Get Dark,” mainly because they they were quick and punky in nature. The other three songs mixed acoustic guitar and almost detached sounding vocals. Regardless of what I thought of this EP, I’m still glad I got some new tunes so soon and in an interview with KROQ the band promised new material from Blaqk Audio (Davey and Jade’s electronic side project) early next year and that they’ve already started work on the next AFI album – fingers crossed for a 2020 release! Go give The Missing Man EP a listen and let me know your thoughts.

Potential Oscar Movies

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In less than 24 hours this weekend, I managed to watch what I would consider two very obvious Oscar contenders.  The first was “Beautiful Boy” starring Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell.  Based off of books written by father and son dealing with the son’s addiction, this was very well done.  Both actors commit to their respective rolls, especially that of Timothee playing the drug-addicted son.  I also felt for Carell’s take on the grieving and helpless father still trying desperately to save his son falling back into addiction time and time again.  Watching anything with needles just creeps me out, so this movie did well to further dispel me from ever using drugs.  While I don’t know that this film specifically will get a best picture nod, I do think Timothee Chalamet will get a best supporting nod (especially since he’s Hollywood’s darling right now).  

The next film I watched was “Boy Erased” starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, and Joel Edgerton.  This film touched on a boy getting sent to gay conversion therapy after being outed to his very religious parents.  Also based off of a real person, Garrard Conley, this was tough to watch, but a sad reality that I was surprised to learn still exists today.  Overall I thought the acting was very well done, and I am a huge fan of Joel Edgerton, so this was great!  The only artistic change I would have made would be how the movie itself flowed.  There were some oddly timed and fading flashbacks that I felt should have come well before the conversion therapy parts.  Otherwise, Nicole Kidman and Lucas Hedges were standouts.  I’d be surprised if neither of them got noticed by the Academy for their work in this film.

Underoath

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Hi all!  Sadly, this past Saturday was the last scheduled concert I got to attend for 2018, but man oh man was it a banger (head banger, that is).  I took my sister with me to go see Underoath!  Primarily a part of my middle school and high school soundtrack, the band hadn’t put out any new music since 2010.  That is a travesty.  Luckily for me, and the rest of the world in my opinion, they released a radical new album back in April.  This album pretty much abandoned most of what made Underoath, Underoath.  I love a good comeback and this was a great comeback.  A lot of other people must have agreed with me, because the show this Saturday sold out!  The openers were interesting, to say the least.  Unfortunately, we got there late so we missed all of The Plot in You and most of Crown the Empire.  I don’t actively listen to Crown the Empire, so the only good review I have is that from far away the lead singer looks like the actor who played Winston in The Ringer (Geoffrey Arend).  Sorry.  After those two bands, the main opener went on: Dance Gavin Dance.  Due to the clean vocalist having a concussion, only the screamer participated, and then the audience was made to do the singing parts.  It was tough.  You mean to tell me no one else in that band can sing good enough to pass for the clean vocals?  I digress.  Finally, Underoath came on and delivered “their longest setlist, EVER” and it did not disappoint.  They played classics like “A Boy Brushed Red…” and “Reinventing Your Exit” along with plenty of tracks from the new record, my favorite being “I Gave Up” and radio hit “ihateit.”  Obviously, it wouldn’t be a great show without ending on your biggest chart topper and cementer in the scene, so we were graced with “Writing on the Walls.”  Considering this was my third time seeing them this year (thank you Rock on the Range and Warped Tour, R.I.P.), I’m glad it was Underoath to round out my year of concerts!

Thanksgiving Weekend Movie Review

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Look Away, The Host, Instant Family, Game Night

Hi All!  First post on the blog (sans welcome post)!  I managed to get a few days off work, so with that time I watched a decent handful of movies.  To start off, I rented Look Away.  This movie co-stars one of my newer favorite actors, Harrison Gilbertson.  Those of you that haven’t seen Upgrade yet this year, please do so at your earliest convenience.  Anyways, Look Away was eerie, and a little slow, but ultimately was dark and twisted.  A socially awkward girl who gets mercifully picked on at school and at home finds a creepy sonogram of twins tucked in a mirror.  Soon after a doppleganger in this mirror offers to take her pain away by switching places.  Eventually, Maria, the lead character, concedes and is now trapped in the mirror while her (obviously malicious) doppleganger, Airam, takes her place in the real world.  A few deaths later and I’m not totally sure where we ended up, but mom is reunited with her twins…like I said, eerie.

The next movie I watched was The Host.  I know, a few years too late on this one, but there are too many movies to watch in a year!  This film that came out in 2013 is based off the novel of the same name by Stephanie Meyers (Twilight fans will recognize).  In some sort of “peaceful” alien takeover, the movie opens with a surviving human, Melanie, trying to face off against these aliens who inhabit human bodies and minds (for the most part).  She ultimately loses the battle and gets the alien, Wanderer, placed in her.  Soon after we learn that Melanie is sharing her mind with Wanderer.  And we learn that Wanderer has a conscience, so she helps Melanie find other surviving humans, including her little brother, uncle, and boyfriend.  They make it across the desert to a large, cavernous structure that houses other humans.  Some trust and others try to kill her, but eventually gains some ground in her little brother, a new love interest for Wanderer (threesome, anyone?), and her uncle.  Obviously, not all of those aliens are peaceful, so it’s a matter of fighting that host off before we see any semblance of a happy ending.  Overall, I thought it was a little corny, but having not read the book I can’t really judge it 100%.  Loved the cast, but Rotten Tomatoes swayed my opinion a little bit with that 8% score.

Next over this extended weekend I took both my grandmas to go see Instant Family starring Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne.  It was hella cute!  And Mark Wahlberg in anything helps it in my opinion.  Lots of laughs and the appropriate amount of swearing – my personal favorite was Rose Byrne yelling “Out the way you came Pussy Riot!”  I know overall this was a heart-warming movie and it’s supposed to motivate people to foster and adopt, but honestly, this just reinforced why I don’t want kids.  I know, heart of ice.  I can’t really give too much away considering most should be able to guess the plot, but it had comedy gold with Margo Martindale as grandma Sandy.  Definitely worth the watch.

Finally (for my review anyways), I watched Game Night for the second time this year with my sister.  Why not when you have free HBO for the weekend?!  After this second watch, I stand by my review earlier in the year when I said “best comedy of 2018.”  Which is sort of sad for the comedy genre considering it was a black comedy.  It follows a highly competitive couple who get together with some of their friends for the ultimate game night hosted by lead Jason Bateman’s brother, Ron Livingston.  What was supposed to be a planned kidnapping and brother reconciliation turns into a real kidnapping, mobsters, and one of my favorite scenes!  If you don’t laugh at people gagging over blood, are you even human?  Stellar cast, and an even more stellar plot!  Billy Magnussen plays a hilarious dip-shit, and I don’t think my sister will ever get over the wonderfully creepy performance from Jesse Plemons.  Bravo, Game Night, bravo.

Welcome!

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Hello all and welcome to my new blog! 

 I’m not sure who, or if any, will read this, but I felt it was time I start getting my view of all things entertainment out there.  By “my view” I mean an isolated, relatively sheltered, mid-west “view.”  I just enjoy the entertainment industry so much, so I figured I’d share with like-minded individuals rather then force my family and friends to listen to me drone on about it.

In this blog I aim to post weekly about any movie, show, book, concert, or album I’ve experienced.  At first it will be a look at this past year since I waited until November to get this started, but hopefully I can introduce you to some new and exciting stuff!  Some posts will be review-like in nature, and others may seem like a journal entry of my experiences, but ultimately I just want to write about these things that are important to me.  I hope you all enjoy (and hopefully this site will look better the next time I post)!