Everything, Everything Trailer Reaction

Everything, Everything

In Theatres: May 19th 2017

Drama - based on Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Cast: Amandla Stenberg (Maddy Whittier)

Nick Robinson (Olly Bright)

Anika Noni Rose (Dr. Whittier)

Ana de la Reguera (Carla)

   The unlikely love story of Maddy, a smart, curious and imaginative 18-year-old who due to an illness cannot leave the protection of the hermetically sealed environment within her house, and Olly, the boy next door who won't let that stop them. (IMDb.com)

   I want to start of this trailer reaction/review post by saying that I absolutely loved Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. It was one of my favorite books of 2015 so when I heard that it was being turned into a movie, I was excited. Then I heard that Amandla was cast as Maddie and I couldn't be happier. She fits the role amazingly.

   After waiting for over a year, here we are today with the brand new trailer for the movie. I was reluctant to watch it because, as we all know, the thing with trailers and YA book to movie adaptations is that it can go either of two ways: be a complete disaster (*cough*Divergent series*cough*) or absolutely nail-on-the-head amazing (*cough*The Fault in Our Stars*cough*). Everything, Everything falls somewhere in between those two.

   Don't get me wrong, it doesn't look bad BUT the trailer is showing way too much, like way, way too much and thus spoiling many interesting plot points that would've been much more convincing and surprising when watching the movie if we wouldn't have seen them in the first trailer.

   Disclaimer: This is very much a train of thoughts type of review since I'm re-watching the trailer as I write down my thoughts to give you my most authentic ones. Hopefully that's okay.

   Let's rewind a little and start at the beginning. I am a fan of the house and finally being able to properly visualize how it looks like and how this whole closed off system kind of thing works that is keeping Maddie away from all the bad bad things outside. It's very high tech, but not too much, so it's convincing and I like that.

   I love the opening narration that perfectly sums up Maddie's life and immediately catches your attention. Great job with that one. Then there's the shot of Maddie in her window and Olly sitting in the back of the truck, great way of telling us that he's the new kid without actually saying anything.

   Moving on, I like the on screen text messages that pop up instead of being read out loud which reminds me of The Fault in Our Stars, though this one doesn't have the fun, quirky animations which is fine. Many people don't like texts and emails being part of movies and shown on screen and all that, but i actually like it. Our lives are full of texts and such so it adds to the realism. Besides reading a couple words doesn't take away from the movie in any way.

   Then we get the scene where Olly visits Maddie and I really like it. The dialogue is funny and Maddie seems a bit shy which makes sense especially when you remember that she's never been outside and thus never really had any real life friends besides her mom and her nurse.

"You're really different than I thought you're gonna be"

"Sexier, right?"

-

"What would happen if you went outside?"

"Probably spontaneous combustion."

   Yes, please, more of these types of dialogues and I will be a happy person.

   And that is basically where I think we go downhill into SPOILERS territory. Olly asks Maddie where she would want to go if she could go outside and we see a shot of her in the ocean, since that's her answer. That in and of itself would be fine since it could be like a 'of I wish this is what I would be doing' type of sequence but it doesn't end there and I think that's a shame really.

   We have Maddie's mom firing her nurse, telling Maddie that she won't be able to see Olly again, and then to top it all off we have these shots of Maddie going outside. Again the latter would be fine if we'd end it here, leave it open to discussion and raise curiosity. But of course we do not.

   The trailer continues and shows us Maddie and Olly actually going to the ocean and that, my dearest reader, is that one step too far that definitely and truly moves into spoiler territory. As book reader I know it happens, they go there and everything, but as movie watcher that is something I wouldn't want to find out through the trailer. That's definitely something they should've left out to make that part of the movie more surprising and interesting. But they didn't.

   Let's talk about music. I really like the songs they've chosen for the trailer, they fit really well and make me curious if the movie soundtrack will be just as good. I am a sucker for good movie soundtracks so that's a good sign. Besides, having a Beyonce song just adds awesome points to the movie simply because it's Beyonce.

   Overall the trailer looks fine. I like the cast, the dialogues seem good, the cinematography feels YA and the music is good. I will definitely watch it, that's not a question, simply because I loved the book and I want to see how they managed to translate it into movie form. But looking at it from just a movie viewer perspective I think the trailer lacks a certain something that would truly grab your attention and make it stand out. Maybe it's because it's another YA book-to-movie adaptation, maybe it is because we already had The Fault in Our Stars starring kids with illnesses, in that case cancer, as main characters, or maybe it's neither of those but something completely different.

   I am looking forward to seeing more snippets and trailers, and in May the full movie. Hopefully it will be just as good as the book. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or tweet them at me, @Alice_Reeds.

Cheers!

Trailer Review: The Martian and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two

   Hey guys!
   It's time for some trailer reviews! Originally I planned on writing two separate reviews for these two but then I decided against it. Today I'll be talking about, as the title suggests, the just released trailers for The Martian and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two. Both of these are movies I am highly anticipating so let's get right into it.

First off The Martian:

   "I'm going to have to science the shit out of this."
   Heck yes! I am beyond excited for this movie, even more so now that we have a trailer.
   When I first heard that they are making a movie out of The Martian by Andy Weir, one of my favorite books of last year, I was skeptical about it. We all know how book-to-movie adaptations usually work out and therefore I wasn't sure if Hollywood had it in them to make a good movie out of this book I fell in love with.
   I've changed my mind and am quite sure this will be an amazing movie, based on what we get from the trailer.
   The idea behind The Martian is quite simple: it's the story of astronaut Mark Watney who gets stuck on Mars after his crew had to abort their mission due to a storm. They all made it off of mars, Mark did not. As simple as that may seem, the story is amazing and watching Mark try to figure out how to survive on a planet where nothing grows is brilliant. From what we see of Mars in the trailer it seems amazing, and I finally have a visual in my mind when I think about the hub Mark lives in, as I had no clue how one would look like while I was reading the book.
   Matt Damon plays Mark, which I wasn't too sure how that will work as I'm not the biggest fan of his and the movies he's played in before, but after seeing a bit of his acting in the trailer made me quite hopeful that he will be a really good Mark.
   All in all, everything that we get to see in the trailer makes me super excited for the movie and I get jumpy each time I as much as even just think about it. Let's hope the rest of the movie will be just as amazing as this trailer!

And now, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two

   "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 76th Hunger Games."
   As you guys know, I love The Hunger Games. I loved the first two movies, liked the third one and am anticipating the finale, just like everybody else. I was really excited when I heard that we will get a teaser trailer soon, even more when they said it'll come out June 9th, being today.
   The problem is just that, after watching the teaser trailer, I feel underwhelmed by what we get to see. I know many people feel like Mockingjay is the weakest book in the trilogy, that it doesn't have enough plot to fill out two movies, and, after watching Mockingjay Part One, I was kind of on their side. Personally, I liked Mockingjay the book, but I fear that the movie makers will go into either of two directions: too much focus on the love story or too much focus on big explosions and action sequences.
   Okay, I admit, the wedding looks super cute, the scenes where Katniss hugs Peeta and Prim are adorable, and yes we all know why they are in there, we know you want to make us suffer, dear movie makers, we know. But, even the action sequences with exploding cars, the black tar crashing through the streets and Katniss' speech somehow have no effect on me. Whereas I get excited each time I see the trailer for The Martian, I just feel underwhelmed and only mildly exited for Mokingjay Part Two. Of course I still want to see the movie badly, of course I am super sad that this will be the end, but the teaser didn't make me more excited, like a teaser should make you feel.
   Maybe my problem lies within the fact that it took me at least two screenings to like the third movie which makes me worry that 'what if the fourth one won't be as good? what if it'll be like the third one, and not as amazing and outstanding like Catching Fire?' but I guess a teaser won't easy my worries, as it is merely a teaser and not the entire thing.
   Nonetheless I am looking forward to the movies and the next trailers, I hope the movie will be excellent and a worthy finale to the series.
   "Snow has to pay for what he's done."

   All in all I am super excited for both these movies. Tell me what you think in the comments below or tweet me @Alice_Reeds!

Insurgent Trailer Reaction/Review

   Hey guys!
   Yesterday the first real trailer for Insurgent, the second movie in the Divergent movie quartet hit the internet which means that it's just about time to talk about it. But first, if you have not done it already, watch the trailer below:

   As you guys know I am a big fan of the book, Divergent, while I was definitely less than impressed by the movie. I wasn't that big of a fan of Insurgent, the book and, subsequently, I am even less then less than impressed by the trailer we've just received.
   I must admit, it's been a while since I read the book and I don't know if they said they will stick to the book plot or if they'll change up things to make them into better movie. I don't know. But what I do know is, is that this trailer looks more or less nothing like what I remember the book being. If they said they will change up the story line, my bad, I don't know. I stopped following the Divergent movie news after seeing that movie.
   But it does seem like the whole story line surrounding the "box" was completely changed because I don't remember that box being that big of the thing and surely it also not being the reason why Jeanine was hunting down those who are divergent. Then again I do not want get into more detail because, as mentioned previously, my memories of the book are quite vague and I don't want to spoil anyone who has not read the book yet.
   Speaking of things that annoy me, am I the only one who thinks Tris looks awful with the short haircut? I understand that it's because Shailene cut her hair for The Fault in Our Stars and all that, but don't they have a few bucks left to get the girl a wig? Or did I forget something and in the book she also decided to cut her hair? I don't know, and it also doesn't change the fact that she looks awful and now even younger which makes Four, whom you guys know I don't like (aka I'm not a fan of Theo James, the actor and not the character in itself, I know, I'm crazy, right? I know all the girls are going crazy over him), look even older next to her which makes seeing them as couple even more awkward as he looks like he would be at least a decade older than her. Anyways.
   Speaking of age, did someone notice the tiny fact that the actress playing Evelyn looks about Four's age and thus I really don't get how that is possible. I don't wanna spoiler those who have not read the book, but I know that those who have will understand what I mean. Or did they change that up, too? I mean, Theo is supposed to play a 18 year old boy while looking like someone in his late twenties (because that is the case), so maybe they thought they could do the same with Evelyn, take someone who looks in their twenties and make them play the a role of a forty year old charcter or something in that region?

   All in all, I am definitely not a fan of this trailer and where this movie series seems to be going. Then again I didn't like the road the book trilogy went down either, despite the fact that I absolutely loved the first one. I guess we'll simply have to wait and see. Maybe I am completely wrong and this movie will be amazing, while I feel like they already showed us all the key scenes this movie will have to offer in the trailer, but okay. Who knows, maybe the second trailer will be a little better?
   What do you guys think, did you like the trailer? Am I being too hard on the trailer because of the fact that I like my book-to-movie adaptations to actually follow the book's plot line? Tell me in the comment's below or tweet me (@Alice_Reeds).

   Have a wonderful day/night,
   Cheerio!