Today we’re talking about the 2015 film Barely Lethal.
Story
The story was clever and had some good ideas, but as a comedy it took itself too seriously.
Score: 0
Characters
It felt like the actors all got different direction. Most of the teens acted like they were in a fish out of water comedy. Samuel Jackson seemed to think he was in a spy parody, while the mom and brother were in a Disney movie. It was very discordant in tone. The dad and teacher were the worst acted, like characters from a cringe 90’s shock comedy. (Spoiler warning: their edginess was just sexism and homophobia.)
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
The dialogue was over the top and not all that funny. There were some great lines from the main character and her adoptive sister. I didn’t like that the fight between the two spies ended up with catty insults about their looks and weight. Again, the dad of the love interest and the teacher were just the worst.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
The movie was well shot; the action scenes were believable and fun. The clothes and visual gags were nice.
The music was nice and did a good job with the mood.
Score: 1
Fun
I really got into the movie, despite the weird changes in tone. It was okay and most of the family liked it.
Score: 0.5
Overall
A movie that is trying a little too hard to be a spy/comedy and not really hitting the mark with either one. There are moments that are truly entertaining and the main actors are great, but the weird choices in dialogue and story just bring it down.
Today we’re talking about the 2015 film Tomorrowland.
Story
It’s a little heavy handed in some aspects and takes way too much time getting to Tomorrowland. I know there was limited time, but I would have liked to know more about what happened to Tomorrowland itself. It seemed to go from clean and heavily populated to some sort of fascist police state.
Score: 0.5
Characters
I liked the characters but it took a long time for them to get to the point where they get over themselves and start working toward a goal.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
There’s a lot of funny, interesting, and deep quotes. The dialogue rolls well and is mostly logical.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
The movie is absolutely beautiful. The cinematography, locations, and special effects are top notch.
The music does it’s job but isn’t particulary impressive.
Score: 1
Fun
This might be a silly gripe on my part but I wish more of the movie was in Tomorrowland. I get it’s a metaphor for needing to strive but I wanted to spend more time in the beautiful hopeful world.
It was fun and action-packed but felt like it got lost in the journey and didn’t give the characters a chance to shine.
The rest of the family really enjoyed it.
Score: 0.5
Overall
An uneven movie that brings the thrills, the wonder, and hope. The movie is a visual feast with fast-paced action and a simple message that more people need to ask; “What can we do to fix it?”
Today we’re talking about the 2015 film Barbie in Princess Power.
Story
They tried really hard to mush together a superhero plot and a fantasy plot. Both are derivative with little of interest beyond a forced moral of cooperation. There were some pretty major plot holes that made the whole movie not make sense.
Score: 0
Character
A princess, her cousin, and her personal inventors? an evil adviser to the king, overbearing parents, and adorable kids. Every character in this movie is a cliché. I’d also say that the Rube-Goldberg physics of the world are practically a character.
Mostly it’s a bunch of really whiny privileged people whining.
Score: 0
Dialogue
The best part of the movie was dialogue borrowed from superhero movies. There were some nice nods to Christopher Reeves and other movies.
Other than that, it was pretty clipped and shallow.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
I’ve watched about six of the Barbie movies at this point and I understand they are supposed to be dolls and that the animation isn’t fantastic. I’m willing to forgive that mostly, but the physics in this are pretty bad, clothing doesn’t move, hair does odd things, and jewellery looks painted on. Worst was their faces, every female character looked like they’re faces were collapsing in on themselves. It was disconcertingly like the late stages of an eating disorder.
The music was a nice surprise; the pop track was catchy and not too bad. I also liked the score, it had a lot of influences from superhero movies and made the scenes significantly better than they should have.
Score: 0.5
Fun
The movie wasn’t a lot of fun. It was frustrating and made me want to scream at the characters.
That being said, the silly physics and pratfalls were entertaining. Especially to my youngest, who just loved Bruce the Frog.
Score: 0.5
Overall
One of the weaker Barbie movies. It tries too hard to be cute and not hard enough to fun. The character development is as hollow and vapid as the characters themselves. The music was good and there were some ridiculous moments that weren’t bad.
I will Write 500+ words a day and complete 1 novel
Between blog posts, short stories, FADDS, and the Serial Story; I have certainly written at least 500 words a day. [PASS]
I haven’t finished Everdome unfortunately. As much as I wish I could. I’m only on Chapter 24 of 32. I’m roughly 20,000 words short… Hopefully I can finish it quickly in the new year. [FAIL]
I will continue to read regularly and attempt to read 30 or so books
According to Goodreads I’m currently reading my 31st book of the year. It’s been an extra challenging year for reading since I’ve been reading the first in over 35 series. There have been some amazing books and some horrible ones. [PASS]
I will ensure there is 5 days a week of content on JenEric-Designs.ca
We have been steadily updating content every week day this entire year. With the new addition of the Blush and Fandom Travel articles by my wonderful wife and the pictures of the travelling TARDIS we have more than enough content. I’m even considering adding an extra day. [PASS]
I will submit Parasomnia to at least 3 publishers and 3 agents
I have submitted Parasomnia to 1 agent (No reply) and 3 Publishers. One of the Publishers has said it isn’t for them but they’ll read it and the other two have promised word by February.
This is probably the best thing I’ve ever written and I hope it finds a publisher willing to take it one.
I’m going to give myself a pass on this one. Publishing takes time and it was a lack of it that meant I submitted to publishers first and not agents. [PASS]
I will start a web-show and update regularly
Once again this is a fail… I really want to and I have all the equipment but I’m having trouble finding the time. [FAIL]
I will write a serialized story that I will update every month (Wattpad maybe?)
I went a little overboard with this one. Only Human was updated once a month except for November and December where I wrote 2-3.
The final Instalment updates this Thursday. [PASS]
My mid-year resolutions
I wasn’t satisfied failing my start of the year resolutions so I wrote up some extra ones in June.
Re-Submit A Study in Aether
After 2 years of beta-readers and editing. I finally resubmitted it to the publisher that wanted it. I feel like there’s still a lot of work to do on the book but I still love the characters.
I’ve been planning out, “The Hounds of Baker-ville” Which will see what our heroes are doing for their summer break. [PASS]
Re-Design and keep updating Website
I’ve been making minor changes to the website but it needs a full upgrade and I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Sorry. [FAIL]
Short Stories
This was a resolution to write, A Funny thing Happened on the Way to my Funeral and hopefully write a few more short stories that were kicking around in my head. I succeeded in the primary and wrote on extra short story. [PASS]
Versus
I still like the idea of writing this disaster novel but I won’t get to plotting it this year. I may make it my novel for 2016. [FAIL]
How’d I do?
Overall I passed 6.5 out of 10. That’s 4.5 of 6 for the Year and 2 of 4 for the midyear.
It’s not a fun percentage but I’m extremely proud of the things I’ve done this year. They were ambitious and ridiculously many and I managed to accomplish a lot more than I expected.
Go me! Now to work on 2016’s resolutions.
Thanks for following and I hope your resolutions have gone just as well or better than mine.
