The Sherlock Tag of Ten

Greetings, dear friends!

It is time for something elementary, because the game is afoot over at Notes From a Hartfield Girl and The Winchester North Star, because Miss Woodhouse and Thunderbird Queen are hosting a Sherlock Blog Party!

All of May is featuring the BBC tv series. They created a tag that I am going to fill out today! I only watched it last year for the first time, but I would love to rewatch sometime because it is so complex while being really fun.

That being said, there are SPOILERS for the tv show Sherlock, so if you haven't watched it, don't read any further!


~ A Tag of Ten ~:

Would You Rather....

1. Spend a day with Sherlock or John?

I feel like this is all that would happen with Sherlock. I would not interest him at all. Nevertheless, it would be fun, and I would probably pester him with questions, like the little boy in The Sign of Three.


2. Watch the first episode or last episode?

I know that this is an unpopular opinion, but I actually didn't like the first episode. I don't know, I wasn't really excited about watching it and my sister was dragging me into it. I didn't really enjoy the entire first season, and I only got into it in season 2, episode 2, The Hounds of Baskervile. But, I loved the last episode! It was marvellous. The emotion made me cry.

3. Have Sherlock's mind or John's compassion?

*rubs hands together* Any excuse for quoting a James Stewart movie is a good one. Here is one of his lines in the movie Harvey (1950):
"Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be' -- she always called me Elwood -- 'In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me."
I choose John's compassion!
(Can we also talk about in the episode Sign of Three when Sherlock said, "Here I was trying to solve a murder and John Watson saved a man's life. Ah! I love it!)

4. Work with Molly or Lestrade?

My first response was to say Molly, but it wasn't until I was reading other answers that I remembered where each of them work. In that case, I would say Greg Lestrade.


5. Face off against Moriarty or Magnussen?

If you can't tell, I'm groaning over here. This is such a hard question! Ugh, probably Moriarty just because he doesn't gross me out as much as Magnussen.


6. Be best friends with Molly or Mary?

Molly Hooper! Though, Mary is awesome, too,

7. Prevent the events of The Recheinbach Fall or The Six Thatchers?

The Six Thatchers was so horribly sad, I still can't process it. So yeah, that one.


8. Deal with a grumpy Sherlock or a grumpy Mycroft?

Not sure. I think that I could just ignore both of them until they are feeling better.

9. Ride in Mrs. Hudson's car or Mycroft's helicopter?

Mrs. Hudson's car! Haha!


10. Babysit Rosie or help plan the Watson wedding?

Is this even a question?? Babysit Rosie, of course!



A huge thanks to Miss Woodhouse and Thunderbird Queen for hosting this! I had a ton of fun! Check out the links in the comments HERE for more answers to this tag!

Thanks for reading! Where are the other Sherlock fans? Do you agree with my answers?

MovieCritic

Movie Review: This Beautiful Fantastic (2017)

Hello, hello, hello!

I hope that all of you are doing well! I'm really excited because today I am reviewing a movie that I just recently watched and absolutely loved! My sisters and I have been obsessing over this because it is just so good. I'll try to be organized while reviewing this and not just scream about how wonderful it is.

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is spoiler free!


This Beautiful Fantastic (2017):

"It's a world of beautifully ordered chaos."
Bella Brown dreams of being a children's author, but for now works at the library. One night after falling in her garden and ending up in the house of her grouchy neighbor, Alfie, she hires his cook, Vernon, whom he just fired. Her landlord warns her that she will be evicted in a month if she doesn't clean it up. With the encouragement of Vernon, and grumpy advice of Alfie she begins to make her first steps, but will she be able to turn the overgrown mess into something beautiful?
"I don't want to prod around in your obsessive little world longer than I have to."

Genre: Drama, I really don't know. Is there a genre for incredibly amazing?
Length: approx. 92 minutes.
Costumes: 10, It's just simple clothing, but I absolutely love it. All of the outfits fit everyone's characters so well.
Script: 10, there is some name calling (between Alfie and Vernon and is kind of hilarious) and Alfie has a few swear words, but it was really light while adding to his grumpy character and didn't bother me.
"You can speed read, but everything that matters takes time." (this is a paraphrase because I was so into the movie that I didn't realize I was writing over my own notes and making a mess that I can't read.)
Crew:
Directed by: Simon Aboud.
Written by: Simon Aboud.
Starring:
Jessica Brown Findlay as Bella Brown.

Tom Wilkinson as Alfie Stephenson.

Andrew Scott as Vernon.

Jeremy Irvine as Billy Tranter.

Anna Chancellor as Mrs. Bramble.

Eileen Davies as Milly.
Natalie Nasseraldeen as Rhian.
Nancy Nasseraldeen as Amy. (There is some confusion here as this is what the girls are credited as, but in the movie they call them by different names.)
Cinematography: 10! Can we talk about the flowers?? SO GORGEOUS.
Cinematography by: Mike Eley.

Music: 10, I wrote, "This music is making me happy." It is so airy and sweet and lovely.
Music by: Mike Eley.
Quotes: 10, everything that they say is just delightful!
"Food prison." (That was Vernon and it made me almost die from laughter.)

Content: 10, this is so clean! It was so refreshing to see a movie with nothing that bothered me at all.
Originality: 10! Okay, it's just a story about a girl cleaning up her garden, right? Yes, but there are so many other things and I love it to pieces.

THIS SCENE WAS A RIOT.

Good For: Everyone (seriously, you need to watch this)!!!
Age Range: This is rated PG (probably for Alfie's brief words), but absolutely anyone could watch this!
"You should doubt only a man who changes his story, I just repeat myself in the vague hope that one day somebody will actually hear me."

Overall Score: 10!!!!!!!!!!
Bonus thoughts:
Do you ever come across those perfect movies? Movies that are just so wonderful that everyone needs to see and appreciate how spectacular they are? Well, this is a perfect film! This movie is so marvelous! I'm trying to convey it to all of you but you can't see me jumping up and down, squealing with happiness. Just believe me, okay?

The characters are the heart of this movie. Right away we get to know Bella and care about her, and as soon as we meet everyone else we love them as well. I love the pure friendship between Vernon and Bella, as it is something that I feel like I don't see in movies a lot. I knew that it had Jessica Brown Findlay and she was amazing. Tom Wilkinson was splendid, and Jeremy Irvine's Billy was precious and adorable, but I was so unprepared for Andrew Scott, based on the other role that I've seen him in. Anna Chancellor's small role as the librarian was hilarious!
Bella's Luna story! We get a story inside a story which just added to the brilliance. I love it!!
This movie is about caring for people, kindness, flowers, stories, and happiness. What's not to love?? It bumped its way into my top ten movies of all time, and is both of my sisters's new favorite movie ever. So yeah, just please go watch it. If you are ever going to watch any of the movies that I have reviewed, make it this one. It truly is beautiful and fantastic in every way.



Thank you for reading through my excited ramblings! I am now incredibly happy because I talked about it. At first I couldn't find a lot of photos, but then I did and went a little over the top. There is no in between.
If you have seen this tell me your thoughts, and if you haven't, what are you waiting for??

MovieCritic

Movie Review: Knives Out (2019)

Good day to everyone!

I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy! Today I am going to review for you the latest movie that I saw in the theater, and that was back in January. I love mysteries and this one was a fun time. I hope that you enjoy this review!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is spoiler free!


Knives Out (2019):

"The guy practically lives in a Clue board."
The famous detective Benoit Blanc is hired by an anonymous person to further investigate the suicide of the 85 year old mystery writer Harlan Thrombey. He finds that Harlan's family aren't telling him everything and tension grows as Harlan's will is going to be read. He finds himself in a mystery equal to the ones the man used to write, but is there a solution?
"I keep waiting for the big reveal."

Genre: Mystery, Crime, Drama.
Length: approx. 131 minutes.
Costumes: 8, just usual clothing.
Script: 5, so there was a lot of swearing. There are quite a few arguments where people yell bad words. One insult that I thought was hilarious was "Weak sauce."
Crew:
Directed by: Rian Johnson.
Written by: Rian Johnson.
Starring:
Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc.

Christopher Plummer as Harlan Thrombey. "You had to find a game to play with him."

Michael Shannon as Walt Thrombey.
Riki Lindhome as Donna Thrombey.
Jaeden Martell as Jacob Thrombey.

Toni Collette as Joni Thrombey.

Katherine Langford as Meg Thrombey.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Linda Drysdale.
Don Johnson as Richard Drysdale.
Chris Evans as Ransom Drysdale.
Ana de Armas as Marta Cabrera.
Edi Patterson as Fran.
K Callan as Greatnana Wanetta.
Noah Segan as Trooper Wagner.
LaKeith Stanfield as Lieutenant Elliott.
Frank Oz as Alan Stevens.
Cinematography: 10, I'm going to give it a 10 because it was really cool to me. Most movies I think about the cinematography afterwards and say, "Eh, it was the normal." But it is rare that I find a movie where while watching it I think, "Wow! This is so neat!" Yep, those stick with me and this did exactly that. I love the aesthetic that goes with it and from the first it pulled me in.
Cinematography by: Steve Yedlin.

Music: 9, this music, like the cinematography, helped get me hooked! My first comment to my sister who went with me was "Creepy music!" (and that was a compliment). The score has a great amount of mystery, tension, and surprise, while being a little spooky at times.
Music by: Nathan Johnson.
"Physical evidence can tell a clear story with a forked tongue."
Quotes: 7, okay, so the reason that this has a lower rating is because of this one time where the dialogue was trying to sound really cool, but it didn't work and was hilarious to me.
It's when Jodi asks Benoit, "Do you suspect foul play?" There is a pause, then he replies, "I suspect foul play." She literally just asked you that, you could have just answered yes. Or, she could have asked, "Do you think something's wrong?" then he could have been all dramatic with the answer. Usually I'm not this picky, so I was surprised that I noticed this. Other than that, my sister and I quote this a lot, but I can't put most of them here because they are spoilers.
Oscars won: It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, and I thought it was going to win because to me it was more complicated than another mystery Gosford Park (2001) which won the award in 2001, but it didn't.
Content: 6, it is a mystery involving death and some violence, scary scenes, along with a lot of smoking. Another thing is that one character vomits a few times, so there are several disgusting times. There are also one or two suggestive and racist comments.

Source

Originality: 8, this was an epic mystery. The way it was told was so great, I can't recall seeing anything like it! But, one note is about a name. When my sisters and I were little my mom would sometimes read us Choose Your Own Adventure stories, and our favorite was Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey? - by Edward Packard. When we heard about this movie for the first time, we immediately thought of this book. This movie is a mystery about a man who has died named Harlan Thrombey. I don't think that you can get much closer than that! While it is pitched as an original story and I really liked it, I'm suspicious about the coincidence.

Good For: Mystery fans!
Age Range: It's rated PG-13 and I agree with that just because of what the language and content that I mentioned. As always, it depends on each person's comfort level.
Overall Score: 8!
"Close the book with a flourish."
Bonus thoughts:
I went to see this because of the great cast and director Rian Johnson (who directed one of my favorite STAR WARS movies, The Last Jedi (2017)), and came out really impressed. My older sister and I had talked about what we thought was going to happen but we weren't ready for this. Ah, it was so good! I mean, my only problem with it was all the bad words and smoking, but other than that it is one of my favorite mysteries because while it is a fun time and complicated, it also has a great message.
I'd never seen Daniel Craig in anything, but he did such a great job, I totally wasn't expecting it. And, he pulled off a southern accent!

I need to talk about Marta. She is now one of my favorite fictional characters! She is so sweet, kind, honest, and great. If nothing else that I have said has convinced you, you should all watch this for her.



Thanks for reading this far! Now I need to know if any of you have seen this! What are your thoughts? If you haven't, does this look interesting to you now? Stay safe everyone! And, Happy Mother's Day!

MovieCritic

Movie Review: Rogue One: A STAR WARS Story (2016)

Greetings, my fellow movie watchers!!

Today is a very special day! It is:

May the Fourth Be With You!

Also known as STAR WARS day!! As an avid fan I, of course, have to do something to celebrate (besides blasting the soundtrack, looking at all my merch, watching a movie, and drinking chocolate milk. [The last one is a tradition]), so I have decided to review one of the movies!

Here are links to all of my previous reviews:
IV: A New Hope (1977), V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), VI: The Return of the Jedi (1982), I: The Phantom Menace (1999), II: Attack of the Clones (2002), III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), VII: The Force Awakens (2015), VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), & IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Now, I've already reviewed all of the main ones, so it is time for the side stories. And you've guessed it, I'll be reviewing the greatly loved Rogue One (2016)!

If you haven't seen this and are wondering when in the series to watch it, it comes between III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) and IV: A New Hope (1977) (But don't watch them in the order the numbers are! Watch them in the order I have above) but it can be watched really anytime because it doesn't have spoilers for the others.


My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is spoiler free!


Rogue One: A STAR WARS Story (2016):

Jyn Erso hasn't seen her father since he was taken away by the Empire fifteen years ago. One day the rebel alliance contacts her. They have reason to believe that her father has been working on a huge weapon called The Death Star and they need to get the plans to find a way to prevent it. She teams up with Cassian Andor, and droid K-2SO, together they find a pilot who defected from the Empire who might have a clue to lead them to her father. Will they be able to gain the upper hand against the Empire when all hope seems lost?

Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure.
Length: approx. 134 minutes.
Costumes: 8, pretty standard.
Script: 9, I don't recall any bad words.
Crew:
Directed by: Gareth Edwards.
Written by: Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy, John Knoll, Gary Whitta, & George Lucas.
Starring:
Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso.

Diego Luna as Cassian Andor.

Donnie Yen as Chirrut Îmwe.

Wen Jiang as Baze Malbus.
Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook.

Ben Mendelsohn as Orson Krennic.
Alan Tudyk as K-2SO.
Guy Henry as Governor Tarkin.
Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera.
Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso.
Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa.
Alistair Petrie as General Draven.
Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma.
Ben Daniels as General Merrick.
Ian McElhinney as General Dodonna.
Fares Fares as Senator Vaspar.
Jonathan Aris as Senator Jebel.
Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Senator Pamlo.
Spencer Wilding & Daniel Naprous as Darth Vader.

James Earl Jones as Darth Vader (voice).
Ingvild Deila as Princess Leia.
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO.
Valene Kane as Lyra Erso.
Michael Smiley as Dr. Evazan.
Warwick Davis as Weeteef Cyubee.
Cinematography: 6, this takes a nose dive because of the CGI. I originally didn't want to watch this movie when I learned that they used the character of Grand Moff Tarkin but because Peter Cushing is no longer with us they decided use a bunch of CGI. Now, I know that there actually is a guy there, and they projected everything onto him later, but it bothers me. Did they have to use that character? No. They could've used someone else. Other than that, it was okay.
Cinematography by: Greig Fraser.

Music: 8, when I saw this I was annoyed at how close it was to the original, but yet how far off! I just wanted it to be the same! Thinking about it now, I like that they didn't use the same, but adjusted it. After all, it isn't part of the episodes, but just a side story. The original STAR WARS score is my favorite of all time so I can be a little picky about it.
Music by: Michael Giacchino & John Williams.
Quotes: I'm going to say N/A because I really can't remember any of them.
Content: 8, there is a lot of violence with shooting, killing, and a few scary scenes.
Originality: 9, it is actually pretty original, and I am impressed that they could come up with a decent story connected to the originals, but yet be its own thing.
Good For: STAR WARS fans.
Age Range: It's rated PG-13, and I agree with that just because there is a lot of war action. Otherwise, it's totally clean so it depends on the person.

Overall Score: 8.
Bonus thoughts:

It's been a while since I saw this, but I still wanted to talk about it today. I watched this sure that I wasn't going to like it. Several things about the production bothered me: the already mentioned CGI, and the fact that they were supposed to be working on episode VIII! I also knew the whole storyline. Usually I'm really good about avoiding spoilers but I didn't on this one. It was because I was talking to a friend one time and we realized that we each love STAR WARS so I asked her, "Which one is your favorite?"
She replied, "Oh, definitely Rogue One. I couldn't believe that ------------!"
There went the ending of the movie. She had just supposed that I, like the rest of the STAR WARS fans, had seen it (but I hadn't yet, because of my small issues with it). A couple months later I was talking to some other friends about STAR WARS and they mentioned that they didn't like Rogue One. Since I already knew the ending without knowing anything else about it I asked them to tell me everything without worrying about spoilers.
A couple more months and my mom said that we should watch it. I was a bit defensive about it because people always say (I've this said to me more times than I can count),
"Rogue One is so great! It is so much better than The Last Jedi which was really disappointing."
Now, everyone has their personal preferences and favorites and least favorites (and that's awesome because otherwise it would be really boring) and if you love this movie I think that is great! But, The Last Jedi happens to be my second favorite STAR WARS. And, currently my third favorite movie of all time. So yeah. When anyone talked about how bad it was and how great Rogue One was I didn't feel like it deserved all that hype. You get tired of people hating on your favorites!
Anyway, we watched it. My mom loved it because she knew nothing about it, but I was indifferent the whole time. I didn't love it. I had heard everyone talking about how great Jyn and Cassian were, and I didn't like Cassian that much (Note, I thought that Diego Luna did a great job, just his character wasn't my favorite).

Even though I thought I knew everything, there were some surprises that were truly great, and there names are: Chirrut Îmwe, Baze Malbus, and Bodhi Rook.
Seriously, these guys are the best! If you haven't seen this movie, watch it just for them.


Okay, that's enough from me. Your turn! Tell me how you celebrated STAR WARS day and your thoughts on Rogue One!

Thanks for reading! May the Fourth Be With You!

MovieCritic