Star Trek Beyond: Reaching Beyond My Expectations

Star Trek will always have a special place in my heart because I watched the TV show religiously growing up at my grandparents house.  They had an antenna so whatever channel Star Trek came on had the best clarity and therefore my attention.  This is a good thing though because I don't think I would have even attempted to watch it otherwise, and that would have been a travesty because as all Star Trek fans know, it's pretty damn awesome.

This film entailed Captain James Kirk finds himself contemplating if exploring space is still what he wants to do.  He reflects on his time with the crew of the Enterprise and wonders what else there is.  Little does he know, his partner Commander Spock is also debating leaving the Enterprise in order to pursue what his successor left behind.  Meanwhile, the Enterprise has a new mission as they discover a stranded survivor in need of help on a planet that is holding her people captive.  The crew has no clue that they are about to encounter a ruthless, dangerous villain awaiting their presence.  Will they be able to defeat this one or will this be Captain Kirk's and Commander Spock's last mission after all?

The graphics, acting, and storyline made this film engaging for not just Star Trek fans, but for those that may have never seen a single Star Trek movie, like my mom.  Even she liked it and this is not her typical movie.  Between you and I, she called it Star Wars a few times......but back to my point.  You don't have to be a Star Trek fan to appreciate this movie.  It has the perfect about of twists and moments of suspense that leave you wanting more.

If you aren't a Star Trek fan, then you should see it to see the final movie actor Anton Yelchin (The lead role in Charlie Bartlett) plays in.  His performance is nothing short of amazing.

Another aspect I loved about the film was how close the actors resemble the characters.  Chris Kline is Captain Kirk reincarnate and Zachary Quinto is a clone of Commander Spock.  Even Doctor "Bones" McCoy played by Karl Urban is a replica of the original.  He even dabbles with his line "Damnit Jim I'm a doctor not a...."  Gotta love it.

So whether you are a "Trecky" fan or not, you'll appreciate an excellent action, adventure film.

The Secret Life of Pets: A Movie Review

I have been so excited to see this ever since seeing the first trailer.  It showed Max, this adorable puppy who just loves his owner so much that he literally waits by the door, all day, until she returns.  You also see his friends who react a tad different when their owners leave and henceforth their "secret lives" emerge.  In short, it is a funny tale of cuteness and  I was quite stoked to see it this week.

Max is a dog who was picked up by his owner one day on a crowded New York street.  You could say it was love at first site.  So Max and Katie are living quite the life and things really couldn't be better, then we meet Duke.  One day, Katie comes home and brings a surprise.  His name is Duke and to Max he is a giant fur-ball who needs to be gone, like yesterday.  Once Duke realizes Max's mission to get rid of him, he is on the defense and decides to fight back.  Their back and forth battle eventually gets them both in a worse situation where they are miles from home and stranded on the streets with Animal Control on their tales and a crazy group of abandoned pets who want to take over the world after them.  Meanwhile, their friends realize their pals are missing and set forth to find them.  

This movie is perfect for everyone.  The characters were adorable and resembled what you may imagine many animals think which made it that much more relatable and funny.  My favorite part was the poodle from a refined family who blasted metal rock when his owners left. I think it creates a wonderful extension to our imaginations when the we leave our furry/non-furry friends at home.  There was the perfect amount of adult humor (not at all inappropriate) and a sweet innocence that children will appreciate.  If your experience is anything like mine, an adorable little girl will clap at the end.  A definite must see for all.  

Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters: A Movie Review

For those of you Ghostbusters fans, please don't hate me when I admit that after seeing the trailer, I told my husband I would not be seeing this.  Apparently I lied, because months later, here I was.  It was definitely a bad call on my part to judge too soon and I can admit when I am wrong.  So yes, I was acting like a movie snob and am glad I snapped out of it because it really was an awesome rendition of a classic, childhood relic.

I should have known would be funny.  I mean did you see the cast? Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy are two of my favorite comedians, then throw in Leslie Jones (SNL) and Kate McKinnon (plays a great Justin Bieber on SNL) and you're set up to laugh out loud a lot.

The premise is based on a time where several disturbances have occurred involving hauntings in New York City.  A team of scientists are working to study ghosts and help decrease the number of incidences.  It isn't easy for them as the government wants them to let them handle it and leave it alone so as not to alert the public.  The problem is, this is there passion and they are just to involved to let it go.  It doesn't help once they discover a local man has a plan to set thousands of the dead free into the world of the living where he plans on becoming a ghost himself.  You can't blame him the way his fellow New Yorkers treat him.  It is up to the girls to kick ghost butt and save New York.

This may sound like a sci-fi movie, but I assure you it's got a good dose of comedy as well.  The dynamic of Kristen, Kate, Melissa, and Leslie is an excellent balance of good humor.  I definitely recommend if for Ghostbuster fans or girls who want to see their favorite comedian sheroes in action.

The One and Only by Emily Giffin

Ever since reading Something Borrowed, I have been a big fan of Emily Griffin.  She has a way of drawing you in and relating you to her characters.  Which is why I was hesitant on reading this one since it was based on football and the state of Texas.  No offense to either, but I am a midwest girl who has never gotten into the game, however, I did get into this book.

Shea has been a die hard Walker football fan since birth.  This is all due to her mother's best friend Connie whom happens to be the wife of the talented Coach Carr.  Shea is also best friends with Lucey, the coaches daughter.  So it only makes sense that Shea attended Walker College and landed a job there after college, reporting stats for the football program.  She has a wonderful best friend, extended family with the Carrs, and is dating Miller, a nice guy who played football for Coach in college.  Life seems to be pretty good, until the coaches wife passes away and all of their lives seem to change drastically.

After the funeral, Lucey gives Shea a hard time about dating Miller.  She wants more for her best friend than just a nice guy.  She wants her to fall in love.  Shea has been hearing this from Lucey for awhile, but doesn't take it seriously until Coach calls her in his office for a heart to heart.  From that conversation, Shea ends things with Miller and takes a writing position for the Post.  From there her life seems to continue to change when the star quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys Ryan James falls for her after his messy divorce.  Shea seems to have it all, but why doesn't she feel like she should?  Her job is challenging in a good way and she is still able to write for Walker football while actually reporting football versus stats, and her relationship with Ryan is a dream world.  She still can't fathom why he chose her, but something is missing.  She could love him eventually, but her heart as she continues to discover, belongs to someone else.

Shea has always looked up to Coach.  Her own father wasn't always in the picture so her fatherly advice often came from him.  She also admired him as a coach of her favorite sport for her favorite team.  The feelings she had, were confused with his role in her life.  She couldn't be in love with him.  he was 20 years older than her and his wife just passed away, but as they spent more and more time together during football season, a connection developed that neither could ignore.  As more events transpired and their feelings grew, both continued to hint without saying directly how they felt.  It was like they were playing along with their normal lives concealing this hidden secret.  Finally after a scary night where Shea saw Ryan's dark side she had been warned about, her and Coach crossed that line and knew they could never go back.  The only problem now was that they had to tell Lucey.

Lucey had just lost her mother, was struggling with connecting with her dad since her mother had always been the buffer, and now finds out her best friend and father love one another.......this was all too much.  She refused to accept it and demanded they choose between their love and her.  Shea then had to decide if this was all worth loosing her lifelong best friend.


I have to be honest, when I read this and started to see the signs of Shea having feelings for her best friend's dad, I was turned away.  However, I forced myself to keep reading because I wanted to see if it was a "daddy issue" thing or real.  It kept drawing me in and I loved the ending.  Was it my favorite Emily Griffin book?  No, but I really enjoyed a different story than I typically read.  I am a firm believer that you can enjoy a book you would never relate to in life.  I couldn't stop reading until I was done and there were plenty of twists and turns to keep me interested. I definitely recommend it.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Ever since seeing the trailer, I knew this was going to be hilarious.  I am a new fan of Anna Kendrick with her quirky humor, and have loved everything Aubrey Plaza has been in (her humor more on the raunchy side but still oh so funny). Throw in Zac Efron and Adam Devine (The guy from Pitch Perfect), and you have yourself a comical summer movie.

Mike (Devine) and Dave (Efron) are brothers that tend to feed off one another.  Their competitive nature and passion for the extreme has gotten them into some fun but also trouble along the way, so it is only natural that their parents demand they bring wedding dates to their little sister's wedding in Hawaii.

Alice (Kenrick) and Tatiana (Plaza) have hit rock bottom.  Alice's fiancé left her at the altar and in a very grave state with only her BFF Tatiana to help her through it.  The only issue is that the girls have resulted to drugs, stealing, and not showering for days to cope with their lives.  The girls are true badasses in their minds and always have been, but need something more than their current situation.  Once they find out about a free trip to Hawaii, they know just what to do.  The only problem is that the advertisement is for nice girls who will attend a family wedding, but they can totally pull this off, right?

The girls maneuver their way into Mike and Dave's lives one night and make all the right moves to get the official invite to the wedding and trip to Hawaii.  Everything things to be going well as they meet the bride, parents, etc, until their true colors start to show and trouble arrises.  They soon find out that enticing the bride to take Ecstasy, an extra tip for a quality "massage", and hitting the bride in the face with an R.V. are the perfect choices to end a wedding.  Even though their intentions were good, the boys find out their nice girls are not to nice after all, but how are their choices that far from the guys' lifestyle?  It takes a dose of their own medicine for Mike and Dave to see they really do need to shape up, but can the 4 work together to save this wedding?

I definitely recommend this for adults only.  The humor is raunchy, not in an uncomfortable way ladies, but just enough to be too much for teens.  It has a refreshing spin with Kendrick and Plaza showing off their inappropriate style that definitely out plays Efron and Devine.  I laughed out loud a ton and so did my husband.

The Shallows: A Great Movie for Shark Week

I debated seeing this one.  The previews reminded me of that movie with Collin Farrell where the whole movie was basically based around a single scene involving a phone booth, only in our case this would be based on a rock in the ocean.  My assumptions were not wrong, but I am still glad I saw it and was still in suspense.  I also hope I don't upset any animal rights activists when saying this but, I kind of wanted to punch the shark in the face, but also our main character Nancy.  You'll see why.

Nancy is in search of direction when she leaves med school after her mother dies of Cancer.  To Nancy, no matter how hard her mom fought, Cancer won in the end.  So to her, she couldn't dedicate her life to a profession that can't save everyone.  She flees her world and does what makes her heart happy and brings her closer to her mom, she heads to an isolated, exotic beach to surf.

Nancy may have been a med student, but the girl isn't too bright when it comes to life choices.  Surfing by yourself while only having one person know what you're doing sounds lovely, but that's how chicks get kidnapped.  She does find a good surf and things do seem to be going well though.  She meets two surfer locals and proves to them this Texan gal knows how to take on the big waves.

After surfing one last wave, she sees something in the distance and curiosity gets the best of her.  As she swims closer, she sees it's a dead whale, and just when she realizes how it died, she sees the predator coming right for her.  The shark drags her as she fights to get free.  She somehow is released from his teeth and climbs onto a patch of rock surrounded by water.  Her surfer friends have left, she is severely wounded, and has nowhere to go while her predator lurks in the distance.

There are signs of hope when her surfer friends come back for the next day's surf, but I think we all know what happens to them when they try to save her.  Without giving away too many spoilers, I will let you go see it to find out if she makes it out of this alive.

Blake Lively did a great job portraying Nancy, and let's be honest, I think men and women all over have had a crush on her at some point.  Ryan Reynolds, you are one lucky dude.  The premise could seem cheesy, but there is a decent amount of suspense.  My only regret was seeing it by myself.  I recommend bringing someone you can lean into and cover your eyes.  It was the perfect entertaining summer thriller.