Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Monday, January 15, 2018

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day! (+ drawings)


Hi everyone, Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!:)
Even though I just did a drawing post I thought I would do some drawings in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. 
Here are the drawings: 




                              A drawing of the characters from one of my favorite movies, Hidden Figures.
                         I love how it turned out.


                                           A drawing of Rosa Parks, I had to look at a picture of the real Rosa Parks                                          to draw it and I like how it turned out.
             


A drawing of Melody. Normally I would have posted this on my doll blog,
but I thought I should post it here. I like the way she turned out, especially her hair. 


                                 And finally...in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. I drew a picture of him.
                               I really like the way he turned out.


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Which drawing is your favorite? And I hope you have a Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!:) 
Love, 
Quinley


Sunday, December 31, 2017

Happy New Year's! (+ favorite posts and other things from 2017)


Happy New Year's everyone!:)
 Last year was amazing (and somewhat crazy!), and I am excited to see what will happen this year (2018).  To celebrate I made a post of all my favorite things from 2017...

             Some of my favorite posts from 2017: 

                   Character Karaoke tag 
           
                     Getting characters onto paper parts 1 & 2 

                 My Camp NaNoWrimo novel (2017): The Mystery of the Phantom of Dragonspire court 
  

       Movie reviews: Family Friendly The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Movies 


       Song Suffragettes 


      The Terrible Idea 

October Drawings (+ Drawing Requests) 



When did we get a fox?

The Mystery of The Stolen Crown (my novel so far) 


The Holiday Fairy 

           Some of my favorite movies from 2017: 

                                    Wonder Woman   

(Image from Amazon 
https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Woman-Blu-ray-DVD-Digital/dp/B0714QRG4Z/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1513353829&sr=1-2&keywords=wonder+woman ) 
Rated: PG-13 
Though I haven't watched many super hero movies, I like Wonder Woman because it mixes mythology into it, and it has a strong woman character. 

                           Beauty and the Beast (2017) 

(Image  from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_(2017_film)#/media/File:Beauty_and_the_Beast_2017_poster.jpg) 
                             Rated: PG
                     I have loved Disney's animated classic, and I was excited when they finally made it into a live action movie (I was also excited when Emma Watson was playing Belle). 


                                 The Man Who Invented Christmas 


(Image from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Invented_Christmas_(film)#/media/File:The_Man_Who_Invented_Christmas.png)


                        Rated: PG
This was a really amazing movie to see, especially because it was about a writer, Charles Dickens.
 I can relate to the things he does while he is writing (also I am going to do a review of it next December). I loved that he was able to talk to his characters, and that his characters complained to him about things (My characters do that to me all the time). Also another neat aspect of this movie is that it showed how Charles Dickens changed the way we celebrated Christmas.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales 




(Picture from Wikipedia,
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_Dead_Men_Tell_No_Tales#/media/File:Pirates_of_the_Caribbean,_Dead_Men_Tell_No_Tales.jpg) 


Rated: PG-13 

This is actually a good movie despite what the critics say. Having seen the other Pirates of the Caribbean movies, I thought they did a good job with making new characters for the movie while still keeping Captain Jack Sparrow and Barbossa (along with some minor appearances of Elizabeth and Will Turner). 

Sherlock Holmes 


(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_(2009_film)#/media/File:Sherlock_holmes_ver5.jpg ) 

Rated: PG-13 
As you can probably tell already, I love mysteries and I have recently gotten interested in Sherlock Holmes. This movie was not released in 2017, but I watched it for the first time this year. I actually listened to the music before I saw the movie, and I was amazed with the special effects, the plot line, and the way they portrayed the story of Sherlock Holmes. 


Despicable Me 3 

(Image from Amazon,
https://www.amazon.com/Despicable-Me-Blu-ray-Steve-Carell/dp/B072Y3LDZB/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514151613&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=dicible+me+3 ) 

Rated: PG

This was a hilarious movie, and I am glad they made a third film (or fourth if you count Minions).
Despite the fact that the trailer was a little weird (and made it look like the movie would not be good), the movie itself turned out to be awesome.


Some of my favorite songs from 2017: 

I found many new songs and artists this year. Here are a few of my favorites,  



                                            Lament for Boromir performed by Karliene 

                                         You can also listen to it on YouTube Here

                                           I love this song because I, as a LOTR fan, love
                           The Two Towers, and I was excited when Karliene put the original
                           song written by Tolkien to music.  


                                               Disney Princess Medley by Georgia Merry

                                          You can also listen to it on YouTube here

                                       Georgia Merry is one of my new favorite artists!
                                        I like her covers of Disney songs. 
                                    Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Lindsey Stirling 

                                      You can also listen to it on YouTube here
                                 
                                       Whenever I listen to this song by Lindsey Stirling
                                          I picture detectives solving a mystery. 

                                             Will'o The Wisp by Jillain Aversa
                                              You can also listen to it on YouTube here 
                         
                        This is one of my new favorite songs, because the song is about Will'o the Wisps
                         (which are in Irish and Scottish Mythology).

                                           Two Hands by Kalie Shorr 

You can also listen to it on YouTube here 

                                      This is one of my favorite country/pop songs by Kalie Shorr
                                      (of course, besides Fight Like a Girl). I like this song because it talks about                                           how over dramatic writers, song writers, actors, etc. can be and how other                                             (non-writer) people react to them.


For the first time in forever (reprise) performed by Georgia Marie & Kayleigh Ann Strong 

                                      You can also listen to it on YouTube Here 

                             I thought they did a good job with singing this song (also with the acting, too!).
                            Even though they were not in full costume and the setting was different,
                I still felt like they made it feel like they were the characters from Frozen, which is one of                  the most important parts of acting and musical theatre!
                                     
         I would also like to give a special thank you to all my followers (on both my blogs). Thank you for giving me feedback on my writing and drawings... 
And I hope you all have a Happy New Year!:) 

                       --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

         What are some of your favorite things from 2017? Are you excited for the new year?

Love, 
Quinley 

Friday, December 1, 2017

Movie reviews: Family Friendly The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Movies




Hi Everyone,
So...you're probably wondering why I am posting this when it is not Halloween or October.
Well, last October I posted a short story series called  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: The New School Master?  (You can read them, Here, here, and here), which was a fan fiction of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The setting of the story was after Ichabod vanished, but not too long after. Anyway, I have found that the one movie about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow that I hear everyone talking about, when I try to bring up the original story, is the horror movie Sleepy Hollow. It is R rated, which disturbs me, because well, I don't feel like the audience is getting the real story.  So... I did a review of (family friendly) Legend of Sleepy Hollow movies:


                        Tall tales and Legends: 
             The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Shelley-Duvalls-Tall-Tales-Legends/dp/B000A0D1LU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 )

     
Rated:
Not Rated (Amazon didn't have a rating for it, but I think it is rated G) 

This is my favorite version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, because it is quite accurate and yet hilarious at the same time. They had some really good jokes in there, and I thought they got Ichabod's character right. In the movie, the character, Ichabod, is good at some things that in other versions that I have seen, he is not so...good at. They also showed his superstitions and fear of ghosts. 

Katrina's personality was also done well. The movie portrays her as a character, who causes disagreements between Ichabod and Brom (since she is toying with Brom in some ways). Brom's personality was also in keeping with the original story (at least in my mind). He was pictured as a tough, and rather mischievous person (like in the book). And in this version we also have two added characters who aren't in the original book (which I like because I wrote a fan fiction). Katrina's uncle and Katrina's nephew (who is young and one of Ichabod's pupils (students) are fun additions. 

I also have to say they do a good job of showing Ichabod's love of food (of course I won't tell you how they do it, it would spoil the movie). The chase scene at the end between Ichabod and the headless horseman lasted a few minutes, but they left out the symbolic tree. Despite this omission, I think they did a good job of turning the original story into a movie. 

Note: This is a somewhat old movie (not too old, it is in color), so the visual quality might be a little poor. 

I rate the movie: 



                         


               The Legend of 
               Sleepy Hollow


(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Sleepy-Hollow-anglais/dp/B000083EGD/ref=sr_1_9?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1511981534&sr=1-9&keywords=the+legend+of+sleepy+hollow ) 

           
Rated: PG

This was the first one that I watched, and it is also one of my favorites. 

The movie opens with a good, mysterious entrance by the storytellers. There is thunder and lightning in an old inn, which I liked. Depending on the retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod is either portrayed as tone deaf or a really good singer, and in this version he is tone deaf. In some versions (including Disney's) Ichabod may want Katrina just for her fortune, not because he likes her. In this movie that is shown as the reason Ichabod wants to marry Katrina. 

Brom was interesting in this version. I think the film maker for some reason is on Brom's side, but I think they should have been on Ichabod's side.  At the beginning the character didn't quite remind me of Brom Bones fully (but that's just me). He was slightly mischievous, but didn't really show the Brom I was hoping to see. Unlike the original story, Katrina Van Tassel actually played a big role in this version. She had a goal (besides wanting to marry either Ichabod or Brom...) she wanted to visit the world and go to places other than Sleepy Hollow.

I did not feel like the ending was accurate, because the film tells you what happened to Ichabod, instead of leaving it unanswered (Like in the book). But other than that, it was a good Legend of Sleepy Hollow adaptation.

  I rate the movie: 



        Wishbone in The Legend of 
        Sleepy Hollow

     
(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Wishbone-Legend-Sleepy-Hollow-VHS/dp/1571322272/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1511981119&sr=1-1&keywords=wishbone+in+the+legend+of+sleepy+hollow ) 



       Rated: Not Rated (once again, Amazon didn't give a rating, but I think it's G) 

      This one isn't really a movie, it is an episode of the TV series Wishbone, but it was a really good episode (and also a favorite of mine). And the retelling is mostly accurate, although there things they left out, most notably the fact that Gunpowder the horse was not included. And at the beginning the episode did get the date wrong. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was published in 1820 not 1819. However, Wishbone did a really good job with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, especially with Ichabod's character.  

There are necessary changes to the story, due to the fact that Ichabod (AKA Wishbone) is a dog actor. For instance Ichabod doesn't dance with Katrina Van Tassel (which Ichabod did do in the book). But otherwise they try to make the story as accurate as possible, including scenes like Brom messing up Ichabod's school house. They also portray Ichabod's love of food in the story (Wishbone did a hilarious job of showing that). Brom in this version doesn't believe in ghosts (or so he says...), but otherwise his character is in keeping with the book. Katrina was portrayed well, too. I like that in this version Katrina was as interested in ghost stories as Ichabod (Wishbone) was. The chase scene was also pretty accurate (of course minus Gunpowder the horse, who Ichabod Crane rode in the original story, as I mention above).

Overall. Wishbone did a good job bringing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to the small screen.                    


I rate the movie: 



              The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr.Toad
      


(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Ichabod-Toad-Bing-Crosby/dp/B00K7BCWEE/ref=pd_sim_74_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=8KS0P38DBEQN50XFZBTJ )


           Rated:

I am only reviewing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow half of this movie...(I promise if I review The Wind in the Willows movies, I will review the first half). 
               
The movie started out a little too bright and happy looking, not really the mysterious and slightly spooky Sleepy Hollow I picture as described in the story. And being typical of Disney, they made into a musical. The songs had a kind of a "Beauty and the Beast feel"  or "Cinderella feel" to them, especially the one about Ichabod. That song reminded me of "Belle," the song at the very beginning of Beauty and the Beast. 
          
Visually, the movie was very funny, a cartoony kind of funny, and more visually funny than the making jokes kind of funny. Aside from the musical and cartoon aspects the movie was mostly accurate. This was really the only Disney movie that I can think of, that tried to remain true to the original story (which I like, and appreciate from Disney, for once).
The writers didn't make any dramatic changes, and they did include details like the dog that howls whenever Ichabod sings. However, they left out Brom messing up Ichabod's school house. In this version Brom only finds out that Ichabod is superstitious near the end of the movie (when in every other version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, I have seen, Brom knows from the beginning). 

In a Cartoony kind of way, they show how Ichabod and Brom interact and argue. Surprisingly, Katrina is a non-speaking character, who doesn't sing or talk (I do like that in some versions Katrina actually has a role in the story, instead of being just a speechless, everybody-loves-you, sort of character). Most of the movie was narration, so, there wasn't much talking for the characters, it was singing mostly. 

The end scene was actually pretty accurate. The tree is mentioned, and the headless horseman chases Ichabod (in a little bit of a cartoony way...), and the movie captures the uncertainty of what happened to Ichabod in the original story. 


But if you are looking for a serious Legend of Sleepy Hollow movie, then I would reccomend some of other movies listed above. Overall, Disney actually didn't ignore the original story, and got it right for once. I think this is a good Legend of Sleepy Hollow adaptation. I rated it three stars, because they missed a few important details that were important to the story in the Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.    
            
I rate this movie: 

         --------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Have you seen or heard of these The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Movies? 
               Or are you interested in them?
    Also, do you know of any other family friendly Legend of Sleepy Hollow movies, besides the ones I mentioned? 

Love
 -Quinley 

          P.S. There is a lyric in a holiday song: "Scary ghost stories and tales of the glories" so this post might have been posted at the right time. 

P.P.S. I will respond to the comments from my previous posts as soon as I can.   
    
Note: This review is not sponsored whatsoever by the film companies who made these movies or by Disney. It is a personal review on my opinions of these Legend of Sleepy Hollow movies.