Movie Reviews | Peaches Prattlings

{October 15, 2017} The Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Date night! I’m home, on a date with my honey on a Saturday night!

The, first, Kingsman we loved. I haven’t read the graphic novel, but I want to, but I loved the movie. I thought it was clever and funny, inventive, and just violent enough to be ewe, ouch and yeah! And the toys! You might call them weapons…

The only issue I had with the movie, no, the unbelievability of the entire plot? I totally got into the movie. Samuel L Jackson’s speech pattern, lisp, whatever you want to call it, awful.

It’s been a while, but The Kingsman are back. This time, an equally annoying villain. To be honest, she’s just not my favorite actress. Now, in her defence, she played a fabulous nut job!

The basics were the same with some twists. There is an evil in the world that wants to wipe out the Kingsman and see their product take over the world or at least hold the world hostage for a price.

We start in England, following our favorite agent, Eggsy, doing well and we see where his training took him in the first movie. Then boom, explosions and his world, with the Kingsman is torn apart. He and Mark Strong, one of my favorite roles for him, end up traveling to America to enlist the help of The Statesman, the ‘yank’ version of The Kingsman. This time, instead of fine men’s tailor, this group is in Kentucky making fine whiskey, led by Jeff Bridges.

There was action, adventure, plot twists, violence, cool toys, ok weapons, bad guys, and gals, agents and a common enemy to rally against. While there were some great characters, there wasn’t a lot of character development. In the fittest movie it was a combination of bringing new recruits, watching one in particular, Eggsy, become the man and agent he is today. I get that this wasn’t about watching another new agent, but a little backstory on the other side would be good.

Big surprise in the middle that helped with the plot twists and action, and there was a lot of action, which I love and some of it was a bit ridiculous, but it worked for the movie.

Do the Kingsman and Statesmen save the world? You betcha. Do they do it in style? You betcha. Will there be another Kingsman movie? Part of me wants to say you betcha. Will I see it? You know it!

{August 16, 2017} Movies in the Park…Hidden Figures

Fifth, sixth, maybe eighth time I’ve seen this movie, only gets better!

If you know me, you know I love movies and if I love a movie, I’ll watch it a few times, maybe more.

And if you know me, you know I love going to the movies and I love going with friends. And movies outside, bonus!

Tonight, the trifecta! A fabulous movie… in the park… with friends! How can you beat that!

After teaching, I went to my hotel, dropped my laptop bag, changed into jeans, headed out too pick up snacks, then…Millennium Park for movies in the park!

I met up with DLP and JM, my new movie in the park dates. We had all sorts of snacks, meats, cheeses, guac, hummus, chips, fruit and sweets for dessert. What more do you need?

We snacked, chatted, caught up and then roll film. DLP and I had seen the movie together, JM hadn’t. There were also a lot of folks around hadn’t, it was fun hearing their reactions.

DLP and I knew what was coming, but we still cheered, clapped and cried, just where we were supposed to!

If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s so inspiring, thought provoking, emotional, uplifting, and so much more.

What’s our next adventure?

{June 29, 2017} A bonus night!

Tuesday is DLP, Wednesday is WIS. That’s the way it is and the way it works.

This week has been extra special! An extra day with WIS, with her friend, if you recall on Sunday and two extra days with DLP. My life is full!

Sunday dinner with DLP, Tuesday movies in the park with JM and tonight, Thursday, last minute movie!

We were both in the office late, my class ended and I was getting some additional work done and DLP messaged “movie?” Definitely! What were you thinking? First option was D3, as in Dispicible Me 3, but i said nay- nay! I’m going with my girls this weekend. I promised!

We decided on Pirates of the Caribbean and off we went. The movies are always cold, so as we passed the Disney store, we went in and I got a picnic blanket. Hey, a blanket is a blanket and it came in handy, not just in the movies, but when we were leaving it was raining, so under the blanket I went, toasty and dry! And now, we have a blanket for the next movie in the park!

We both really enjoyed the movie, I thought it was better than the last one for sure! We laughed, cringed, laughed, laughed and laughed. Yup, that’s about it!

{June 27, 2017} Movies in the Park

One of my favorite things about summer… Movies in the Park.

I’m sure most cities have this, you go to a local park, sometimes a parking lot, maybe in a mall, and they have a giant screen they project movies on.

People bring picnic or snacks, anywhere from a bag of popcorn, sandwiches to some folks going all out, tables and chairs, wine, cheese, apperizers, full meals. It’s what you make of it.

Tonight, DLP and I joined JM, another coworker, or I joined them, they have done this together before.

The movie this week is Julie & Julia. This is based on two books and true stories. Paul Childs letters to his brother and Julie Powell’s auto biography, about how she decided to cook all of Julia Childs’ receipes, 524 in 365 days! It was quite the undertaking.

I loved this movie the first time I saw it and nothing changed. It was fun hanging out and doing something a little different.

Bon appetit!

{June 7, 2017} I’m a wonder woman but…

Now I want to be Wonder Woman!

Tonight, DLP and I went to see the latest installment of super hero movies, on the DC side, Wonder Woman.

Wow.

Yup, that’s all I have to say, wow. It’s all about the backstory, how Diana became Wonder Woman, the island, hidden, the Amazons, the gods, the training, the Warriors, the secrets, lies, the thing that everyone in the audience and on the island knew but no one would tell Diana.
There’s that solitary, all women life on the island, interject a man, the great scene is when he gets out of the bath and she’s more interested in his watch then the naked parts. I love when there is a movie with beings from another world, and we, mere mortals, have to explain things…sometimes it’s a little uncomfortable.

There were a few times that it felt a little Captain America-ish, only because you had a hero or heroin, as it were, from another time or place, amongst the world of Modern Men, and she had a shield. Not hating on Wonder Woman by any means just a comparison.

The hard part, is here we are again, the war to end all wars, the big bad Germans and the ragtag bunch fighting them because they can save it all. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it and that was the era of those stories.

As for the ragtag bunch, a great combination, a drunk, sharpshooting Scotsman, a Master of Disguise, an Indian chief thief, pilot and an Amazon woman, what could go wrong?

Does Chris Pine ride a motorbike in all his movies?

The costumes were great, with all the hubbub about Wonder Woman’s outfit and speculation, it kicked arse! It was the Wonder Woman costume we know with a little metallic, Iron Man flare, material wise that’s it!

Compassion, strength, fortitude, honor, duty, responsibility, belief, love. Yeah, that about sums it up.

Two great quotes:

I can save today. You can save the world. That’s Steve Trevor to Diana.

It’s about what you believe. And I believe in love. Only love will truly save the world.

{May 31, 2017} Earth Girls Are Easy

I don’t know if that’s completely true.

But it is a great movie! Haha.

I was flipping channels tonight looking for something to distract me and I found Earth Girls Are Easy. This I would say is a classic, it’s from the 80s it’s horrible, it’s funny, it’s goofy, it screams 80s.

You have Julie Brown, Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum in the infancy of their relationship, so it just screams from the screen. You’ve got a very young Damon Wayans and Jim Carrey, they all couldn’t been more than 12! And then you a bit rolls like Michael McKean, as the stoner, Surfer pool guy.

It emphasizes everything goofy about the 80s, well not everything, but there’s big hair, long fingernails, bright neon colors, zoot suits, Valley girls, the Miami Vice Don Johnson look and Julie Brown at the height of her goofiness with her plays on society videos and songs like “I’m a Blonde.”

Then there’s the underlying story, love, betrayal, infidelity, insecurity, discovery exploration they’re Spaceman after all. Of course, bottom line it’s a love story after all.

If you haven’t seen it, you haven’t lived. Check it out it’s goofy it’s funny and it’s for a good laugh.

It’s one of those cult classics either you love it or you won’t. One guess where I stand!

{May 25, 2017} 40 years? Not possible! May the Force Be with You

How did this happen? Where did the time go?

Today I posted on FaceBook about remembering who I was with and where when I saw Star Wars for the first time. I was with AS at the New Dorp Theather on Staten Island. Her response? “How can it be 40 years, I’m only 26!” Feels that way, doesn’t it?

Star Wars meant so much to so many of us. For some it’s Star Wars vs Star Trek, some feel it’s one or the other, like Beatles vs Stones. For someone like me, it’s both Star Wars and Star Trek. I have vivid memories of both.

Star Wars was revolutionary, inspirational, opened a whole new generation up to the world of science fiction and what could be possible. We had action figures, parties, costumes, games, stories, stars in our eyes. I’m sorry folks, I had a crush on Luke Skywalker, yes, I know he was whiny, but he was fabulous and I was crushing! I am definitely not discounting Han Solo, by any means and how much did Princess Leia make us realize women could be that bad-a$$ and how many of us strapped donuts to the sides of our heads or hoped our braids could be long enough to put into those buns on the sides of our heads!

We wanted more, couldn’t wait until V and VI. We introduce our kids to it when they’re young, have to raise ’em right! We own them and still feel compelled to watch them when they come on tv. I protected my little sister when we saw Return of the Jedi, Darth Vadar scared her, we were at the movie theater at the Staten Island Mall, I don’t know if she remembers, but I do. Same sister said, when I got divorced, I couldn’t date anyone younger than 25, I was 36 at the time, I said they had to have been born the same year or before Star Wars!

This was such an impact on my life, and so many others, many of my friends, we still get giddy when we think and talk about it and who doesn’t make the sound when pretending to fight with light sabers? A whole new generation is discovering, think about all we can share with them?

40 years? It’s been 40 years and it feels like yesterday. Hmmm…wonder what I’ll watch on my flights tonight!

Happy 40 years Star Wars and my fellow Star Wars fan family!

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{May 13, 2017} How do I go back to reality?

These have been an amazing two weeks.

It’s not over, I still have a day and a half, but… it’s been great! This is the first time PSM and i have really “lived” together since we’ve been together. Even the two weeks I was here at the end of the year we were both off, so it was more of a vacation.

This time, he went to work every day and I worked from home, usually between 4am and 6am, which worked out perfectly because that meant I was done between 12 and 2pm. Somewhere in there, dog duties, domestic stuff, like meeting with the pest control or yard guys, then it was either hang out in the hammock for a bit or take Mollie to the beach.

By 3 or 5pm, whichever PSM was able to make work, we would meet at the gym or somewhere to go stand up paddle boarding. Then it was dinner at home, we cooked a few times, even used basil from our garden!

Or eat where we were. Tonight it was burritos from Killer Taco, made me think of Moe’s, and anyone who knows me, knows I love some Moe’s! Home to chill with Mollie and then crash or tonight, go to see Baby Groot again.

I get why people love it. Mornings at the beach for a surf or paddle, great exercise, work or school then to the beach. It starts filling up about 3 or 4pm, surfing, paddle boarding, swimming, playing, some people bring grills for dinner. Play until the sun starts going down, then go home.

Today, I worked until 1245pm, hung out in the hammock, ok, fell asleep in the hammock, met PSM in Haleiwa for some stand up paddle boarding, then dinner, then movies.

Tomorrow beach and paddle boarding with friends, then Sunday afternoon back to Chicago. I know I’ll have fun with my friends from work and I’m ready for summer in Chicago, beaches and sun, maybe even some paddle boarding! But… it’s not home…sigh…

Good thing I’m coming back in two weekends!

{May 7, 2017} I am Groot!

I WANT A BABY GROOT! SOMEONE GET ME A BABY GROOT STAT!!!

We went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 tonight, it was fabulous! It was me, PSM, A&B R, M&D R and L ,who also happens to be Mollie’s vet, we love her, her husband works with PSM, it’s a win-win.

The cast and cameos were awesome and surprising, sprinkled in here and there. Kurt Russel was fabulous, still smokin’ hot! Perfect to play the role he was cast in and if I told you more, it would give away the secret. And the CG for his younger self, wow!

Do I mention the cameos? Oh, why not, I’m not telling where, who or why…David Hasselhoff, Ving Rhames, Sylvester Stallone, Rob Zombie and don’t forget Stan Lee, of course! Interestingly, he was in more than one place in the movie, a rare double Stan Lee sighting.

There was action, romance, well, sort of, adventure, space travel, snow, wait what? Yup, snow, I said to PSM, look, it’s Boston! A dorky, self-centered race of people dipped in gold, video games and another great soundtrack, of course!

It was a story about friendship, a story of families, which come in all shapes and sizes, not just the ones you’re born in to, the ones you make, self worth, self discovery, redemption, maybe a even a little pure revenge, and the love a boy has for his mother. It reminded me a little of the new Star Trek when a Vulcan boy teased Spock about his mother…you don’t talk about Star Lord’s momma, gonna get your arse whopped!

And…Baby Groot. Just watch the opening scene and you are hooked. Who knew there could be so much said in three little words “I am Groot”.

Worth it? YES YES and I AM GROOT [translation “Heck YES!]

{April 27, 2017} A movie… wahoo…Seriously AMC?

Another fun evening with DLP.

A movie at our favorite AMC, with the good recliners and decent menu, they have a quinoa burger for me, and it’s not too bad.

We saw Boss Baby, which was good a second time for me and DLP enjoyed it for the first time. It’s always interesting to see a ‘kids’ movie with another adult, you get a different perspective. And seeing a movie for the second time is fun when the other person hasn’t seen it yet, you get to see their reaction, to the things you thought were funny.

First, the food took forever to get to us, so AMC did right by us and gave us two free passes to make up for it. Good customer service.

Next, when the check arrived, they had applied my AMC rewards to the check, something I did not ask them to do. The v frustrating thing is that this is the fourth time this has happened.

I have the rewards card to build up rewards like free movies and food. During the week, if I’m on a project, I can expense my food at the movies, I don’t need or want to use my rewards, that’s for when I’m home and can get free stuff.

In the past, I would be asked if I want to apply my rewards. Apparently, it can happen automatically, what? I was told that it can happen, no thank you.

They did give me the rewards back told me to tell the server not to engage the rewards, we’ll see if that works next time.

Overall, a fun evening, as always. What’s our next adventure?

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