Movie Review: Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Title: Jupiter Ascending
Director(s): Andy & Lana Wachowskis
Produced by: Grant Hill, The Wachowskis 
Written By: The Wachowskis
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: February 6, 2015
Source: Rented from Redbox
Gifs & Movie Poster from the official Jupiter Ascending website (Check them out here)

Yes, I actually watched this movie from start to finish because I was curious to see what it was like. My initial thoughts—upon seeing the trailer—for Jupiter Ascending was that it was going to be a science fiction/fantasy film of epic proportions. But after watching the movie, I was more than a little disappointed by it.

Here’s the thing, Jupiter Ascending had a lot of potential to be great, but suffered from too many flaws.

Albeit, visually stunning, the movie fails in the story department. I felt like I was watching different, segmented scenes with transitions that couldn’t properly put them together. Thus, the entire movie felt like a video game with villains popping in and out—disappearing altogether once what they had to offer to the plot was over and done with. I would have liked to see more of a resolution, but instead, I was left feeling like I’d just sat through two hours of something that wasn’t complete—like it needed a sequel to further explore the world.

For one thing, this movie was incredibly long, and some of the scenes felt like they lasted forever, like they were fillers to take up some of the space. At several times I found myself a little bored by it. Now the detail put into the visual aspects were as I said above, nice—even stunning—especially the scenes directly involving space and the various planets featured in the movie—as well as the alien technology/Abrasax ships. And then there was Jupiter Jones (played by Mila Kunis), ugh, I felt like she just sort of had this I’m-kind-of-bored expression throughout the entire movie. And when she actually did something productive—being saved by Caine Wise (played by Channing Tatum) doesn’t count—that it seemed so out of character for her that it was almost entirely unbelievable. Her character could have been better if developed more. Caine Wise was a complete (not even borderline) dues ex machina. His presence was more than convenient, and he showed up whenever Jupiter seemed to be stuck, which happened way too often. Now the characters weren’t all bad and Diomika Tsing (played by Nikki Amuka-Bird) was probably my favorite character in the entire movie. She was the captain that oversaw the Aegis ship that was present in the movie—she was kind of awesome.

At the end of the day, Jupiter Ascending seemed like the kind of movie that would interest me, but the story itself basically destroyed my enjoyment of the film. If you want to see this movie I suggest renting it before buying it.

ARC Review: The Winners Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Title:The Winner's Curse
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Source/Formate: Goodreads, Bound ARC
Age Range: YA
Publisher/Publication Date: Farrar Straus Giroux, March 14, 2014



My Thoughts:

     Today I'm going to keep this kind of short, so rest assured there won't be any angry rants ahead. *Warning there will be...nope, kidding, there aren't any spoilers ahead so continue on.
     The Winners Curse was the first YA book I’ve picked up in a while, and all I have to say is that I’m really disappointed.  While the synopsis sounded mildly interesting, once I started reading I found that I couldn’t get into this book.  It wasn’t for me, at all.  And you know what?  The writing style wasn't even an issue at all.  My problems began with the opening chapter, it didn’t captivate me, and it certainly didn’t draw me into the story.  I was more or less indifferent towards it, and unfortunately I found myself leaning more towards dislike.  I didn’t like the concept of the slaves at all, nor did I like the initial setting of the slave market.  And Kestrel, oh gosh, what to say?  She was just another YA heroine that I’ve seen so many times already that just…blah—just another cookie in the giant jar filled with them. This book, from what I read of it, left a bad taste in my mouth.  While it might not have been a fit for me, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t check it out if it’s something that interests you.  But sadly for me, this will probably be the only thing I’ll ever read by Marie Rutkoski.

This Bound ARC was won through Goodreads First Reads, thank you!

My Thoughts: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me (Click title for Synopsis)

Source/Format: Won, Paperback

Age Range: YA

Publisher/Publication Date: HarperCollins, October 2, 2011

My Thoughts:

     Originally, I’d heard lots of good things about Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi around the web—good reviews, good comments on twitter, etc..  But when I finally got around to reading it, I was kind of disappointed.  It’s not that it was the most horrible book in the world, it’s just that there were some things it could have done without.  All the crossed out sentences, really, it made the book tough to read.  Sometimes there were three or more sentences crossed out on one page.  It was so often that it made my eyes hurt.  Also, I find it kind of odd that all of the detailed explanations/thoughts were the ones that got crossed out, only to be restated in a simplified—often one-word—explanation.  On top of that, I didn’t get the whole thing where the sentence would start on one line, and then there was one word after that—not even capitalized—and then four or more one-word lines later the sentence would finally end.  What?  So, it pains me to say it, but I did not finish this book. Will I be getting the second book in the series? No.

 

DNF (Did Not Finish)