A Wrinkle in Time | Movie Review and Unboxing

A Wrinkle in Time

Directed by: Ava DuVernay
Cast: Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Levi Miller, Deric McCabe, Chris Pine, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Peña, Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Childrens
Run Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
Release Date: March 8th, 2018
Rated: PG

–Possible Spoilers! Read at your own risk!–

Disclaimer: A huge thank you to A Wrinkle in Time (@wrinkleintime) on behalf of Walt Disney Studios (@disney) for sponsoring this post and sending me a lovely package with the book and movie for me to watch, as well as the other lovely props featured. I am so completely grateful. All thoughts and opinions on the movie are my own.

Curiouser and curiouser. I honestly do not even know where to begin let alone how to explain my thoughts on this absolutely crazy movie.

A Wrinkle in Time follows Meg Murry and her little brother Charles Wallace as they brave a thrilling journey to find their scientist father, Mr Murry after he disappeared discovering a new planet.

The movie is based on Madeleine L’Engle’s young adult fiction novel, A Wrinkle in Time which is a part of the beloved Time Quintet series.

I have not read the books, this will not be a comparison and all plot points are from the movie as I watched and observed it.

Somehow A Wrinkle in Time managed to be way too fast and way too slow all at the same time.

It was very visually appealing, the outfits and the makeup were so crazy and cool! The first world they go to was absolutely stunning and magical.

The characters were interesting, but besides from Meg, quite underdeveloped. We’re introduced to a lot of them and I honestly could not tell you practically any of their names nor their motivations.

I did like Meg, Storm Reid did such an amazing job capturing this awkward and angry and sad girl who loved her dad with all her heart. She is so fierce and brave and beautiful and intelligent and strong. A wonderful role model for young children.

I do wish the bullying thing was better developed rather than just mean for the sake of being mean. But I guess that’s school for you. We learn about Veronica’a struggles and the teacher because of the “IT”; however, I was it honestly wasn’t that important. The bullying was introduced, but I feel like it was underdeveloped.

Actions have consequences and while forgiveness is important, it is not as easy as the movie made it seem.

Can we talk about Calvin?? Where did he even come from? We saw like a glimpse of him in the beginning school scene and I was like, “Oh look, probably the love interest.” But there was like zero explanation? He just popped up out of nowhere? Am I supposed to care about him all of a sudden?? Again, we learn about his problems with his demanding dad, but it wasn’t very well-developed. We do not learn about his dad and why he is the way he is.

Of course, they had to fit it all in an 100 minute movie, so it’s understandable that they couldn’t develop everything.

As for the actual plot of the movie, as someone who hasn’t read the book, I was quite confused as to what was going on. I liked the opening with little Meg and her father teaching her of the wonder of physics, but after that the beginning was kind of dry, and it took me a really long time to get into it. The pacing of the movie felt a bit uneven, some scene changes were very abrupt as well as anticlimactic.

At the end of the day I enjoyed my time watching A Wrinkle in Time, it was filled with magic and childlike wonder. There are some scary scenes that may be a bit too much for really young kids, I would say about 8 and up for an age range.

Honestly the most terrifying moment for me was the scene with the synchronized kids and mothers. Actual. Literal. Chills.

But overall, while the movie had its faults, it wasn’t particularly bad. Did it blow me away? No, it was enjoyable, and there were moments that really touched my heart. The acting was solid for such a young cast. It’s targeted toward kids and it teaches many valuable lessons in a somewhat cheesy way. The movie captures themes of believing in and loving yourself. It’s filled with lovely family moments and lovely friendships.

I loved the discovery and magic and childhood imagination. It has important messages. Unfortunately, I wonder if it can capture a child’s attention long enough for it to teach and spread those messages.

I do think I should have read the book first, but alas. Perhaps I will check it out soon.

Also, shout out to the Hamilton reference, honestly my favorite part of the entire movie. Next to that leaf scene.

6.5 out of 10 stars

★★★★★★½/5

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Unboxing!

The media team of A Wrinkle in Time were also kind enough to send me a box filled with amazing goodies! A huge thank you to them for sponsoring my movie night!

Be sure to check it out when it releases on Blu-ray June 5th! It’s already out on digital! 👏🏼

The contents of the box included:

1. a digital code of the movie so I could watch it for free!
2. a copy of the A Wrinkle in Time movie tie-in book, which I am super excited to read
3. an absolutely beautiful A Wrinkle in Time Journal, it’s so stunning!
4. A Wrinkle in Time Mug featuring the Misses (Oprah, Reese, Mindy, my queens)
5. A super soft A Wrinkle in Time blanket
6. and finally a branded book light! (not pictured below)

 

Buy A Wrinkle in Time:

Amazon
Target
Walmart

Check out the book that started it all!

Book Depository
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

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Shadowhunters TV Show Pilot & Episode 2 | Review

Shadowhunters TV Show

Creator: Ed Decter
Channel: FreeForm/ABC Family
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Plot:
(Written by Emma Wolfe)

Clary Fray is a normal teenager living in Brooklyn with her mother. One day, she discovers that she is descended from a line of Shadowhunters; humans born with angelic blood that fight to protect our world from demons. After her mother is kidnapped, Clary must team up with three Shadowhunters: Jace, Alec and Isabelle and her best friend Simon on a quest to find her mother and recover her past.

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I, being a huge Mortal Instruments fan, knew I had to watch the new TV show series adaptation that was coming out. Not many book series get a second adaptation after the first one bombs, so I was very excited to see what the creators would come up with. Even so, I didn’t go in with very high expectations and because of that my experience was better than it would have been if I were expecting perfection.

Was the show the greatest thing I’ve ever watched? No, but I was expecting terrible and instead I got adequate, which honestly? Considering how much I disliked the movie, I’ll take it.

I did have some problems with the show though. I was not a huge fan of the acting. Perhaps it’ll grow on me and get better as the show goes on, but honestly I’m not really a fan of any of the actors. Plus there was some cheesy dialogue that irked me too. And I know the show had a low-budget, but the CGI needs a ton of work. Like, such as, when the warlocks used magic, it was so obviously fake I actually laughed out loud.

That being said, I will continue watching the show (when I can since I don’t have cable). It’s not terrible, but I don’t know, I guess we shall see how it goes. I’m hoping it’ll get better, but I’m not getting my hopes up.

2.5 out of 5 stars
★★½

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Insurgent Movie Review

Insurgent Movie Review

Director: Robert Schwentke
Release Date: March 20, 2015
Genre: Action, Science Fiction, Adventure
Rating: PG-13

*Warning spoilers for both movie and books! Read at your own risk!*

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To put it shortly, I didn’t like the movie overall. But let’s start with the things I did like. The list is short trust me. 1) Peter. Peter was literally the queen of sass in this movie. Miles Teller does such an amazing job. He actually makes me like Peter, which is pretty amazing

1) Peter. Peter was literally the queen of sass in this movie. I love Miles Teller’s portrayal of him, he actually makes me like Peter, which is amazing because my hate for book Peter is strong. Peter saves this movie for me, he brings the humor in more dark and serious situations and I loved every moment he was on screen. I’m so glad they chose him to play Peter because I cannot see anyone else who could be a better Peter than him.

2) Caleb. Let me just I hate Caleb with a burning passion. But Ansel Elgort’s portrayal of Caleb is hilarious. I’m thinking about the scene in Amity compound where Tris and Peter were fighting and in the background you can see Caleb all scared and running away from them. That part made laugh so hard, Caleb is so annoying it’s funny. I like how the producer’s are showing us how iffy Caleb is and how you can’t really trust him.

That’s it. Those are the only things I liked about the Insurgent movie. The list of things I didn’t like is much longer because it’s everything else. Which is shocking to me because I was actually excited for the changes in the movie, since I didn’t like the book Insurgent that much. But in all honesty I hated the movie more than I hated the book. Which is saying a lot. It really makes me sad though because I wanted to like it so much.

First of all, I didn’t like the whole thing with the box and the tentacle wire machine. That was stupid and totally unrealistic. How are a box and a tentacle machine (that we assume Erudite built) connected? How would a box know when I person passed a simulation? How would box know what simulation to give to each person? It doesn’t. I don’t care how futuristic this movie is, it’s not possible. Unless there’s magic involved, which I don’t think there is. If a box can do that why can’t the box just be like that machine that scans your brain and instantly knows you’re Divergent? It would be so much easier.

On the topic of the machine scanner. Are you serious? You cannot tell what faction a person belongs to by scanning their brain. People get to choose what faction they want to be in. They can either listen to their aptitude test or not. A machine cannot scan your brain and know who you are. Also the percentage of how “Divergent” you are? What? Again it’s not like it’s a disease. In Allegiant, you learn that being Divergent just means you’re a normal person. You don’t have a percentage. Either you have normal genes or you don’t.

A big part of what I loved about the Divergent trilogy were the characters. Lynn, Marlene, Uriah, Zeke, Shauna, Christina, all of them. But in the movies these characters don’t play big parts, they’re barely mentioned. Which takes away a huge part of the books, the Divergent trilogy has so much to do with emotional trauma. That’s why Tris didn’t want to hold a gun, in the movies the emotional traumas take a back seat. Tris never had that gun complex. And although I did find the gun complex annoying in the books it still plays a huge part on the emotional trauma and I feel like it should have been included.

During the suicide scene, there were three characters up on a ledge. Lynn’s brother, a blonde girl (who we later find out was Marlene), and Christina. Marlene dies in this scene, but the audience doesn’t care because they never got to know her. In the books, Marlene’s death created a bigger impact on the reader because her character played a bigger role. We loved Marlene and it makes me sad that the people who don’t read the books will never find out how amazing of a character Marlene was. The movie is mostly Tris and Tobias (yes guys, his name is TOBIAS. T-O-B-I-A-S), the other characters don’t get to play their roles which is depressing for us readers who love them so much. Uriah gets a small moment of screen time and then he’s shot and basically disappears for the rest of the movie.

The scene where Tris woke up from “dying” and her and Tobias have this moment where they’re just holding each other. I was literally screaming, “YOU DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!” and they didn’t. The Tris and Tobias I at least thought I knew would have flown into action immediately. I just, ugh. I can’t.

About Tris and Tobias, it’s implied they had sex right? In that scene right before Tris leaves for Erudite headquarters we have Tris and Tobias taking off clothes. Did they have sex? And if they did. No. Just no.

In the end after the box opens and all of the factions see the video we have a scene where all the factions mix together and start talking and socializing while racing toward the fence. This scene was cute, I’ll give it that. But it’s totally unrealistic. If I were just told that my entire life was basically a lie and that there’s probably something wrong with me I’d be pretty mad. I wouldn’t suddenly hold some random persons hand that I’ve never talked to before so we could frolic in the meadow together. No I’d be mad, I’d be screaming.

Also can we talk about the fact that Evelyn kills Jeanine in the end? WHAT? No. That’s Tori’s job. Speaking of Evelyn the actress they got to play her looks younger than Tobias. I could not get over how young she looks. Is she Tobias’s sister? Or is she his mom? Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to tell unless you told me. I was rolling my eyes every time Evelyn was on screen.

The entire movie was just so unrealistic, cheesy, and overall annoying for me to watch. Scenes that should have been serious and dark caused me to laugh instead. There was a group of people behind my friend and I who clapped when the movie ended and it took all of my willpower not to lash out on them like Tris would. I really don’t know how they’re going to make Allegiant into two parts. I don’t even know how Allegiant will even work out. Allegiant was a super long info dumping book with barely any events. I really hope the producers reconsider that idea. I’d rather not watch two terrible movies.

Just my opinion, if you liked the movie and book that’s cool. Everyone has different taste always keep that in mind before you say anything mean to someone. What did you guys think of the movie? I’d love to know your thoughts! Do you see the things I’m getting at? Were you cringing the entire time like I was?

2 out of 5 stars

★★

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