Dragon Games Review

I have always enjoyed the Ever After High movies and Dragon Games is no exception. I will be mentioning some spoilers in this review. As someone who is not in the target demographic for the movies or the corresponding doll line, I really enjoyed this movie. I think Mattel is very smart in partnering with Netflix to release their movies for Ever After High. I really like that they are releasing each movie as a series of a few episodes and then calling that a season.

I feel that there is so much heart behind these movies. I know that they are simply a marketing strategy to sell their doll line, but they are very well thought out and beautifully animated. Something I really enjoy about these movies is that yes, they focus on the main characters for the central plotline, but they also make an effort to include several supporting characters as well.

I knew this was going to be a good movie based on their movies from the past and how beautifully designed the dolls were. I really liked that the main focus was the continuing struggle of Raven in choosing her own destiny. I thought it was great that the main villain was Raven’s mom and that they finally introduced Snow White into the story to provide some further conflict into the battle of good and evil.

The dragons were a great addition into this fairytale world and I thought they were some of most lovable characters, particularly Nevermore. I loved that the dragons were not fully grown from the start, but we got to see the dragons hatch and build a bond with their trainers from birth. To reference the dolls, I felt it was silly that Apple was the one to be given a set with her dragon. It should’ve been Raven and Nevermore because they were really the stars of the show. Apple’s doll design was pretty disappointing to me when I first saw it, but I was even more disappointed when I saw the animated version. Mattel slacked heavily on Apple’s design compared to her animated counterpart, presumably due to the inclusion of her dragon in the set.

The overall plot was interesting and compelling. I enjoyed the rivalry between the Evil Queen and Snow White. I loved the design of the dragons and the armor for the girls. This was overall a very good addition to the story. My favorite part was Maddie’s subtle nod to Monster High. Apple and Raven showed up after the credits of the last Monster High movie and now this, so I think there is a definite crossover in the future.  

Grease Live Review

When Grease Live was announced and the names of the cast members began to trickle in, I was very skeptical. I felt that some of the actors were miscast, namely Aaron Tveit, Vanessa Hudgens, and Carly Rae Jepsen. The original Grease, the movie not the Broadway musical, is a very nostalgic movie for me. It was hard for me to picture some of the actors in their respective roles because you can’t replace the brilliance of the original cast. By the end of the three hour show, only one of the main actors felt like a miss to me –Aaron Tveit. I just don’t think he has the bad boy swagger that Danny requires. I also felt that his romantic chemistry with Julianne Hough and his bromance with Carlos Pena Vega just wasn’t working. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John will always be Danny and Sandy to me.

The casting choice that bothered me the most was Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo. She will forever be Gabriella from High School Musical to me, so it was hard for me to see her playing a baddie. My skepticism was shot down by her performance. I thought she was great and her acting ability just keeps getting better and better.  I was also extremely proud of her after reading that her father had died from cancer just a few hours prior to the start of the show and yet she still went on. That’s what her father would’ve wanted and I know that he would’ve wanted to see her doing what she loves.

I was very surprised with Carly Rae Jepsen’s performance as Frenchy. She was very quickly my favorite! I think Carly has proven that she is a great actress and I think she’ll get future gigs in musicals. It was clear that she wanted to give a faithful homage the iconic role that was brought to life by Didi Conn. Speaking of Didi, SHE MADE A CAMEO! I was so thrilled to see her come back in the role of Vi. That was the perfect way to give her a cameo. The talk between Frenchy (Carly) and Vi (Didi) before Beauty School Dropout was one of my favorite moments of the show. The nostalgia felt so wonderful and I’m so happy that Didi continually strives to keep the integrity of Grease alive.

A few members of the supporting cast made me very happy as well. It was great to see Eve Plumb in this! About a half an hour in, I decided to check the cast list because I couldn’t figure out who was playing Patty. I squealed with joy when I saw that it was Elle McLemore. I originally discovered her when I watched Heathers the Musical. I think she is a wonderful performer and has a huge career ahead of her in the world of theatre.

Not to be nitpicky, but I wasn’t super happy with the choice to have a racially diverse cast. I know that it’s 2016 and that they felt the need to modernize the show a bit, but Grease is a period piece. You wouldn’t see mixed couples back in the 50s. I felt that they were trying to do Hairspray a decade too early with this choice. I do have to give Fox props for the sets. NBC needs to step it up if they want an equally positive response for their next musical. The sets and costumes for this show were fantastic and I think the positive response regarding Grease Live will lead to other live musicals on Fox. 

Thoughts on a Star Wars Fan Theory Regarding Kylo Ren

I recently came across a Buzzfeed post about a fan theory involving Kylo Ren’s actions in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. After seeing the movie myself, I didn’t see any redeeming qualities about Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), but this theory got me to rethink. From now on, I’m going to talk spoilers. When Kylo killed off Han, I was so angry and wanted nothing more to do with him. I’m the type of person who gravitates towards protagonists more than antagonists. There are some villains that I absolutely love, but Kylo has done so much and caused so much pain for the good characters that it’s hard for me to find something to love about him. I just feel that he let down the legacy of his parents.

Personally, I would really enjoy if Rey ends up being the daughter of Han and Leia. In the original trilogy, Luke and Leia are brother and sister and have the dark side of the force pressuring them to join. In The Force Awakens, Kylo has already given in to the dark side, but has the light side pressuring him to return to the light. I think it would be interesting if Rey and Kylo end up being siblings and remain on their respective sides of the force, finally bringing balance to it.

To sum up the theory, Kylo wants to help the light side and bring balance to the force, but he had to turn to the dark side in order to do this. His main objective in the end is to kill Snoke. He is always saying how much he idealizes Vader and how he wants to “finish what he started.” At first, I thought this meant that Kylo had glossed over the fact that his grandfather did return to the light side before he died. This theory proves that to be wrong. Before Vader was Vader, he was Anakin Skywalker, the chosen one set to bring balance to the force. See how this is all making sense?

Kylo needed to become a Sith before he could complete his task with killing Snoke, but he would have to sacrifice someone closest to him to succeed in his training –Han. Han willingly sacrificed himself to his son without even realizing it. This never occurred to me. Kylo didn’t want to kill his father, but he had to in order to complete his task. This was not in the theory, but I think the new name for the Empire, the First Order, could also be a reference to the overall plan. Kylo’s first order of business is to kill Snoke.

I hope this is true because I actually enjoy that the new trilogy seems to be mirroring the events of the original trilogy quite a bit. They have said in the press that this new trilogy will continue to follow the Skywalker family, so I think revealing that Rey has Skywalker blood in her and is the lost sister to Ben, like Leia was to Luke, is a great way to set up a continuation to a story that we already know and have followed for many years. 

Praise for Adele

Nowadays, it’s not often that hit music is free of vulgar language and sexual content. If it’s not those things, there are often music videos that promote promiscuous activities and fashion choices. For these reasons, I am a fan of Adele. She is the embodiment of raw talent. I feel that she a huge role model for girls everywhere. She never wears revealing clothing, her music videos are usually very minimalistic, her songs have meaningful lyrics that are from the heart, and her vocal range is so vast and beautiful.

I casually enjoyed her music back in the Set Fire to the Rain and Rolling in the Deep days, but I never considered myself a fan. I didn’t appreciate her wonderful voice and what she is all about back then like I do now. When Hello first started playing frequently on radio stations, I didn’t really think anything of it. It didn’t really care that Adele was back or that she was making new music. That was until I actually listened to the song and realized how beautiful the lyrics and her voice were. This got me interested in listening to the rest of her new album.

I have since listened to 25 and have fell in love with Adele’s talent once again. Her songs are just so beautiful, even though they often are written because of sad situations in her life. The three songs that stood out to me the most were of course Hello, Water Under the Bridge, and All I Ask. I wish that Hello wasn’t the song to be released as a single because I feel that other songs on the album are much more deserving of the insane amount of views that Hello received.

All I Ask, in my opinion, is the best song on the album. The first time I listened to it, I almost cried. The lyrics and the orchestration brought to life by her magnificent voice and vocal range just filled me with emotions. It’s a sad song, it really is, but the beauty of it shows through more than the pain. I hope that it will be released as a single sometime and get the proper recognition it deserves. I’ve been listening to the live version of it quite a bit. That is something else I admire about Adele, her live renditions are almost identical to her studio recordings. Raw talent right there. 

The Good Wife 7x12 "Tracks" Review

-SPOILERS BELOW-

This episode addressed some things that I’ve never thought of before. It never occurred to me that Alicia could be penalized, even evicted, for running her law firm out of her apartment. It was sort of comical when all of the packages and clients were accidentally going to the wrong apartment because of the faulty placement of the elevator buttons. To be honest, I probably would’ve reacted in the same way as the poor tenant who continually got the wrong mail and random people showing up at her door. I don’t see the problem with Alicia working out of her apartment, although I really want her to go back and work with Diane and Cary, but I certainly don’t want to see her get evicted.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the return of Rowby Canton. The episode where we were introduced to Rowby is one of my favorite episodes from the entire show. He is such a quirky guy and I love seeing him intermingled in with the serious atmosphere of law. I was hoping his return would also bring a new song that I would enjoy, but the song kind of let me down. I don’t think any other song that will come out of this show will top Thicky Trick. That song was something you wouldn’t think came from a law drama. The accompanying music video, complete with the cast, is an absolute treasure.

I was a bit shocked when Rowby started flirting with Lucca. I was even more shocked when Lucca went along with it. This season has been a lot of relationships that have gotten little to no development. I’m not going to stop complaining about the lack of Kurt and Diane until they get another story arc. That is the one couple on this show that is absolutely deserving of screen time, but continually does not get any. I apologize for the amount of times I’ve complained about this lack of screen time, though I’m really not sorry. The show needs a good arc right now in the season because I’ve found a lot of the scenes thus far to be rather dull.

I’m curious to see if Rowby will return in future episodes or if his return was just to be a fun cameo for those of us who enjoyed him in the past. Either way, I enjoyed to see him again and he gave some much needed humor to the episode. 

The Good Wife 7x11 "Iowa" Review

-SPOILERS BELOW-

I was very intrigued by the title of this episode, with it being Iowa. I never did support Peter’s campaign for president, but I really enjoyed this episode. With this whole buzz of presidential candidates, talk of Hillary Clinton, and just the overall political topics within the dialogue, I thought this would be primetime for a Diane story arc. I was sad to discover that she was barely in the episode, which has become a usual thing. Diane has been a Hillary supporter since the first season and her husband, Kurt, has been a Sarah Palin supporter. With Hillary being in the presidential race and Sarah just recently endorsing Donald Trump, I would’ve loved to see Kurt and Diane’s reactions. Kurt has yet to return to the show this season and that worries me.

I really don’t want to dislike Eli, but some of his actions are making me think otherwise. I wish he would’ve kept his little secret about erasing Will’s voicemail from Alicia’s phone to himself. We really didn’t need another thing for Alicia to get angry about. When I say angry, I mean angry. I was so shocked when she started throwing plates at Eli. Then, to have Jason over at her apartment directly afterwards. I just don’t know how to feel about it.

I did like seeing the whole Florrick family on a bus together, though they never had a true family scene. I always love to see Zach and Grace, so that was a treat. This was also the first episode where I actually liked Ruth. Seeing her have a heart-to-heart with Alicia changed my views of her character. It was a very intimate moment and I really enjoyed it. What I didn’t enjoy was Eli trying time and time again to get Alicia to forgive him. I think it’s going to take an extremely long time for Alicia to forgive Eli, or maybe she never will.

I thought this episode was quite stereotypical. Several shots of corn, the really weird Iowa music, and having Peter eat a meat sandwich in every county he went to was odd to me. I really loved the shady news crew that was broadcasting every insulting thing that the Florrick’s said or did that could be taken the wrong way by potential voters. I found it to be quite comical. I also like the caucusing scene, with Grace really stepping up in support of her dad.

Storylines came to a bit of a halt with this episode just because Alicia was away from Chicago. I didn’t think it was a bad episode, I am just waiting for them to have stand-out episode. 

High School Musical's 10th Anniversary

WHAT TEAM?

Today, January 20, 2016, marks the 10 year anniversary of the Disney Channel Original Movie, High School Musical. I seriously can’t believe it has been 10 years since this movie first aired. This movie, and its two sequels, were huge staples of my childhood.

I like to think of the High School Musical trilogy as the Grease of this generation. The basic premise is the same and they both take place in a high school setting. I actually have High School Musical to thank for my exposure to Grease and Grease 2. While the attempt at continuing the story Grease was not a huge success (though I absolutely love Grease 2!), the HSM trilogy was a roaring success that has left a huge legacy and still resonates with fans.

I am so happy that the core cast, with the exception of Zac Efron, will be coming back together for a reunion tonight during a special airing of the movie. They have all grown so much in these last 10 years, so seeing them reunited is really nostalgic. HSM is also nostalgic in itself because it represents when Disney Channel was great. The DCOMs used to be special and meaningful, like HSM, but they have lost this touch. I see potential in Descendants, but I think this is attributed to it also being from the great mind of Kenny Ortega. Kenny Ortega is one of those directors that greatly cares about his actors and makes them feel like they are a part of something special. I think this attitude is partially why the core cast has remained in touch and was willing to do this reunion.

As a young elementary student when HSM aired, I was blown away by this movie. I am still blown away by how wonderful of a production this is for only being a TV movie with a small budget. For as pleased as I am with this movie, it did give me false expectations for my high school experience. Something I absolutely love about the phenomenon that is High School Musical is that you can scream “What team?” into a crowd of people and at least one person will scream back “Wildcats!” This franchise turned a generation of kids into a family and that still holds true.

A few years ago, a hoax went around online about a fourth installment of the franchise titled ‘High School Musical 4: College Years’ with a logo of white lettering and a grassy background. This sent people buzzing about the idea of seeing further into the lives of these beloved characters. When this was confirmed to be a hoax, I didn’t know how to feel. I think another movie would be great, but I also think it could potentially hurt the magic of the first three. It is a very successful trilogy and I think it should remain as such. I look very forward to the reunion tonight.

WILDCATS!