Roman Holiday (Unrated)

My Rating: 90%
The Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Audience Rating: 94%

Yes, I am aware that this film is incredibly old. Do you have a problem with that? No? That's what I thought. xD I did say that I would be reviewing all kinds of movies, so...you should already know about this. Anyway! I love this movie so much!!! It's one of those movies that you just have to see, because it's such a classic. Not to mention that it stars the one and only Audrey Hepburn. That girl is QUEEN. Just saying. Also, in case you don't know, this movie is in black and white, which I don't mind at all, but I know it does seem to bother some people. So...you've been "warned."

Photo courtesy of parkcircus.com

I'll give a quick, spoiler free summary of the movie. Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, a European princess that goes by the name of Ann takes off for a night while in Rome. However, when a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, the reporter finds out about Ann's regal identity and bets his editor that he can get an exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way.

Like I said, this movie is a classic. If you seriously haven't seen it already (for whatever reason) I highly, HIGHLY recommend that you do. It's beautiful, it's exciting, and best of all, it has romance. Did I already mention that romance movies are like seriously my favorite movies? Yeah I know, I'm seriously living up to the typical teenage girl stereotype by saying that, but it's true. I just can't get enough of romance movies! Also, since my Dad is really into the old films, I watch them a lot with him. Which I don't mind in the slightest, I love all of them. So when he told me we were going to watch this movie, I was SO EXCITED because I've heard so many good things about it. I'm so happy I finally got to see it.

Overall, I gave this film a 90% because it's definitely one of my favorites. Why didn't I give it a higher score, you ask? Well...look, I'm not gonna lie, I love old films. But they definitely have their "quirks" so that when you see them in this day and age, it's hard to overlook some of those "quirks" that all old movies seem to have. But other then that, I love the film VERY much, and I highly recommend this to anyone that feels up to watching it. Believe me, it's worth it.

Everest (PG-13)

My Rating: 70%
The Rotten Tomatoes: 72%
Audience Rating: 70%

Geez, how many movies about Mt. Everest do you need to make before you've decided that it's enough? Seriously though, there's a lot of these. Although I did like this movie. It was very realistic and engaging, and it was easy to understand and relate to most of the characters. Well...I guess "relate" is the wrong word, considering I'm a teenage girl and the people in this movie are like guys who are in their 40s. So...um...

...*forced cough*

ANYWAYS, I'll give a brief description of the movie, without spoilers, of course. Set in 1996, two climbers that were sent from different expeditions start their final ascent towards Mt. Everest, which is the highest point on Earth. Without warning, an extreme blizzard comes to the explorers, making it one of the most violent storms ever encountered by man. Challenged by these extremely harsh conditions and the high possibility of fatality, the teams of climbers must find a way to survive this epic battle given by Everest, against nearly impossible odds.

Photo courtesy of ukclimbing.com

Can you believe this movie is based on a true story? That's right. The actors in the movie are portraying the real climbers from a expedition to Mt. Everest. That is so crazy! I mean, I know people hike Mt. Everest all the time (well, not all the time), but still, it's hard to believe what's actually going on up there until you can see it yourself. This movie honestly showed you how dangerous it is to do things like this. I gotta be honest, the whole "risking your life just to go through the experience" thing isn't really for me. I'm fully aware though that a lot of people are into that stuff (like my Dad) so...I guess whatever floats your boat.

I decided to give this movie a 70% because don't get me wrong, it's a great movie and I definitely recommend that you see it, but I only gave it a 70% because it wasn't that original, and the plot definitely dragged at some points in the film. There were many moments were they waited around, talked with other people, etc. To me, it just didn't seem that necessary to add to the film. And since there was a lot of dragging...this movie ended up being SO. FREAKING. LONG. I mean, come on. It's 2hrs 30mins long!!! In my opinion, once you hit that 2 hour mark in a film, you really have to take a hint to stop. But of course...All of this is just my opinion.

The Forest (PG-13)

My Rating: 60%

The Rotten Tomatoes: 12%

Audience Rating: 30%

To be honest, I probably should have learned my lesson of watching PG-13 rated horror movies after the absolutely horrid review I gave The Visit. Wow, that movie was unbelievably bad. But actually this one... was alright. I came into the movie with extremely low expectations, because I saw the review that The Rotten Tomatoes gave it, and I just thought: If this review is even worse than the review for The Visit, this movie has to be absolutely terrible. I almost didn't go. Of course though, I was dragged by one of my friends who is a horror fanatic, and I ended up going to see it with her. We both had very low expectations, and we were both very surprised with the result. This movie wasn't half bad, even though The Rotten Tomatoes said it was terrible, and also considering the fact that this was a January release. Believe me, all January release horror movies are absolutely terrible. But I guess that isn't true for all of them, because this one was... pretty okay.

I will give a quick spoiler-free summary of the movie: When Sara's twin sister who is visiting a forest in Japan disappears, she becomes determined to travel to the forest in Japan to find her. The forest where her twin became lost in is called the Aokigahara Forest, and just in case you're curious, yes, it is a real place that people have nicknamed, "the suicide forest." Anyways, Sara enters the forest with the help of a guide named Aiden, who continuously warned her to "stay on the path." Her investigation in the forest shows her a dark world where angry and tormented souls of the dead prey on those who dare to explore the forest.

Photo courtesy of ibtimes.com

One thing I really liked about this movie was there was a twist ending, which was awesome. Other then the ending though, you could kinda expect what was going to happen next. A character would say a classic horror movie line, and then something totally expected would happen next. But once again, quite impressive for being a January release movie. One thing I should mention to those planning on seeing it. If you read my review of The Visit, you know I disliked that movie for so many reasons, but the main reason was because it wasn't scary, and that was extremely disappointing. That movie was my first PG-13 rated horror movie, and I just got the impression that they were all like that. Well... I was definitely wrong. This movie was scary. I will even go to the lengths of saying that it was REALLY scary at some points. Which for me, was awesome. If you don't like that kind of stuff though and get scared easily... DON'T watch this movie. But if you're like me, and just want a good scare without feeling it's overdone... this movie is definitely for you. I know the reviews may look bad, but I gave it a chance, and it turned out to be worth the risk.

A Letter to the Critics

Dear Critics at The Rotten Tomatoes,

I know people normally say that they want a job where they can just watch movies all day while giving opinions about it, but I've realized while writing this blog that it's definitely more than that. At times, well actually most of the time, it's a lot harder than people actually think it is. But also at the same time, it isn't rocket science. You know that. I know that. It's still fairly challenging nonetheless.

The thing is, when it's your job, you don't get to decide what you want or don't want to watch. I'm sure not all of you have to watch everything, but you all mainly do the majority. And that means not only to you get to watch and critique the movies you really want to see and look very good, but you also have to sit through and critique all the movies that look terrible, and that probably no one will see. But this is what you're here for. Heck I could even say that this is what I'm here for, on my blog. We help the people decide. Since the internet is always at everyone's fingertips, it's unbelievably easy just to look up a movie that looks interesting to you and check the reviews. And if they're bad... well, it's very unlikely that they're going to see that movie!

Photo courtesy of vimeo.com

I know it also must be hard when there is a lot of criticism thrown at you when you guys give a review that isn't popular to the masses. People do constantly make jokes relating to the critics, saying things like, "if they hate it, it must be a great movie." Look, I'm not going to lie. People have very different opinions. Even though I respect you guys very much for the things you do, that doesn't mean I'm going to agree with you all the time. For example, you gave a fairly good review to a movie called The Visit. I thought that movie was one of the worst films I've ever seen in my life, but obviously most of you did not feel this way.

But of course, I'm an amateur when it comes to critiquing movies, as it says right in my blog name. That means I'm going to have my own opinion, and of course, it's only the opinion of a fifteen year-old girl, which honestly isn't saying much. I highly doubt a grown man will have the same opinion of a movie as me. But I've learned that doesn't really matter. I like reading reviews because I like knowing the opinions of other people. I want to know what they think. I decided to review movies because I wanted people to know what I think, even though I'm just a teenage girl. That might make my reviews interesting for people, because they want to see it in my point of view.

We like to know what others think. Looking at your reviews for movies is a fun thing to do, and occasionally we will even have the same opinion at times, which makes it very fun. I hope you all love what you're doing, and I also hope you don't let negativity from others put a damper on what you do. Because I, for one, think it's pretty cool.

From,
Juliana (A Critic In Training)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (PG-13)

My Rating: 90%
The Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Audience Rating: 90%

Star Wars. The seventh movie finally came out, with $812.7M from the Box Office. Oh yeah, this movie was huge. But you probably already know that. Even if there was someone who's never seen a Star Wars movie in their life, they probably still have heard of it or know what it is. Do you even know how crazy people have been because of the release of this movie?? Okay, I'm definitely going to give some examples later on, but I'll just give you one now from my personal experience with seeing this movie. No, I didn't go opening night. That would seriously be suicide. If you didn't plan on arriving two hours ahead, forget it, you might have a spot to sit in that very first row where you seriously can't see the screen and end up having neck pains for the rest of the week. Basically I thought the best way to see this movie was to go in the morning. So I went to see it at 9 a.m on Sunday. Are you ready for this? The theater still completely filled up. If I didn't get my tickets the day before I wouldn't have made it. So yeah. It's just completely crazy. Worth it, but crazy nonetheless.

Now before I give a brief summary of the movie, or before I say anything else, if you have never seen a Star Wars movie ever, or if you've just seen the first one or something, I'm going to tell you right now. Do NOT read this blog post. Even if you don't care about spoilers, you won't have any idea what's going on because this links directly from the past movies. This is your warning. Alright then.
Thirty years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren and the First Order. When a defector named Finn crash-lands on a desert planet, he meets Rey, a tough scavenger whose droid contains a top-secret map. Together, the young duo joins forces with Han Solo to make sure the Resistance receives the intelligence concerning the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker, the last of the Jedi Knights.

Photo courtesy of starwars.com

Yeah, of course this was a good movie. I mean come on, it's Star Wars. What else really is there to say? Every year the effects get better, the fight scenes get better, the story gets better... Well, I know in some cases certain Star Wars movies are better than others, but I think you get my point. There really hasn't ever been a bad Star Wars movie. And this movie definitely lives up to its expectations. I definitely love all the new characters we're introduced to in this movie, especially Rey. She's a very intriguing character that you find yourself relating to throughout the movie. I also think it's nice that they added another girl besides Leia to have a lead role in these movies. Girl power! Am I right ladies? Yeah I am, I'm always right!

The Grand Budapest Hotel (R)

My Rating: 93%
The Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Audience Rating: 86%

Finally, after much persuasion from my friend Louisa, I finally decided to finally watch a movie that was directed by Wes Anderson. The only reason I haven't watched a movie directed my him in the past was because there were so many other movies that just kinda... took priority, I guess. But when you have nothing to do on a Saturday night with your friend and you're just scrolling through movies that you might want to watch... it then became much more appealing to start the movie. And let me just say: ...Wow.

Photo courtesy of hhsmedia.com

Okay, I know this is usually where I put the description of the movie, but quickly before I do that I just need to say this now. The color scheme for this movie was just... simply breathtaking. I just thought of this now, but I've been recently watching a show called Supernatural, and I just started watching the old 2005 episodes. There is seriously so much filter put into the episodes, it just ends up making it hilarious. This movie did have a filter. But the thing is... it was right. You honestly couldn't look away from it, even for a second. It was so unbelievably beautiful. The clothes that the characters were wearing just added to the color. Going from rich reds to deep purples... Every single scene could honestly be a work of art. Once again, unbelievable. I would seriously re-watch this movie just for this purpose.

Now, since I've finished with that, I will give a spoiler-free summary of this movie. Set in the 1930s, the Grand Budapest Hotel is a popular European ski resort presided over by a concierge, Gustave H. A junior lobby boy by the name of Zero becomes one of Gustave's closest friends. Gustave prides himself by providing first class service to every guest at the hotel, especially to those of elderly women. But when one elderly women, who Gustave cared very much about, dies mysteriously, Gustave finds out he is the recipient of a priceless painting and a high suspect in her murder.

Although this movie is described as a Drama/Adventure, which don't get me wrong, is exactly what it is, it does have an undertone of being a murder mystery. And if you just read my description of the movie you might think the same thing. Of course, it just makes the movie all the more interesting to watch. You know, I found something very interesting while watching the movie. They had this unbelievable perfect balance of many things going on and possibly being a stressful point in the movie...but then at the same time being extremely calm. It's really hard to explain it, and reading back now what I just wrote...I mean, it shouldn't even exist as a thing. Biggest oxymoron ever. But it was like that...Wow, was it amazing.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 (PG-13)

My Rating: 70%
The Rotten Tomatoes: 70%
Audience Rating: 70%

Cool, my rating matched the other two ratings! Haha, that's awesome. Anyways, it looks like this is it for the Hunger Games movies! Mockingjay Part 2 brings one of our favorite dystopian stories to a close. And although I would like to say it went off with a bang, it was more like a quiet ending that slowly dragged to a stop. Which was fine I guess, but it wasn't the best. But hey, who's really going to complain about this movie? It's The Hunger Games. Who honestly cares if it was good or not? Well considering I dragged myself into this movie review thing, I should probably be the one who cares, lol.

I'll give a quick, spoiler-free summary of the movie, because you know that's what I do. Realizing that she isn't only fighting for survival now, Katniss Everdeen teams up with her friends Peeta, Gale, and Finnick for their ultimate, final mission from District 13 to the Capital to finally kill President Snow once and for all. What lies ahead are unbelievable traps, dangerous enemies, and hard morale choices that will determine the lives of millions of people.

Picture courtesy of rockwallstinger.com

So this was definitely an action movie, or it was definitely described as an action movie. I understand where it was coming from, but usually in action movies I feel like I'm on the edge of my seat and hyperventilating throughout the entire movie because there are so many crazy scenes that actually end up making you go crazy. The thing is, this movie... didn't really have that. And I know a lot of people actually may disagree with me on this, but I definitely felt this way. Whenever there was one of those 'crazy' action scenes that should have you biting your fingernails, you just end up... not really caring. I mean sure, it was still pretty cool to watch but that's about it.

Also this movie really, really, REALLY dragged at some points. SPOILER ALERT: DON'T READ THESE NEXT WORDS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE PREVIOUS MOVIES!!! Okay, the whole love triangle thing going on with Peeta, Katniss, and Gale has a very... Twilight feel to it. (If you don't know what Twilight is I seriously don't know what to tell you) I mean come on, I can't be the only one who sees this! Katniss is the girl, Gale is the wolf, and Peeta is the vampire guy. I mean COME ON. That's seriously all I thought of when scenes like that would come into the movie. And you're just sitting there like, "Seriously!? The world's about to end and you're talking about some petty love triangle between you guys? WHO CARES!?!" Wait scratch that. I'm pretty sure every other teenage girl besides me is all for it. *Sigh* Whatever, you guys can just... keep doing you, I guess.

In conclusion, this movie was fine. Not terrible, not amazing. The only reason I gave it a 70% and not something lower was because there were parts of the movie I actually loved very much. First of all, the fact that this is the last Hunger Games movie ever coming out (hopefully, if they drag this out further it's going to ruin it) you have to love it. It's just what you have to do. Deal with it. Also, the acting/cast was extremely good. Jennifer Lawrence is seriously amazing. You know why she gets so many close-ups? Because she probably has the best looking skin on the planet. Just sayin'.