Repo Men: GotchaMovies Movie Review
Send repo men to repo the money spent on Repo Men
Enjoy!
Film: Repo Men Review
My second review for this month is of Repo Men, starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker. The studio offered fans some interesting marketing and the potential to express a message within the out-there story, but quickly fell short in the theater.
Repo Men: GotchaMovies Movie Review
Send repo men to repo the money spent on Repo Men
Enjoy!
Repo Men: GotchaMovies Movie Review
Send repo men to repo the money spent on Repo Men
Enjoy!
Food: Red Velvet Cake
By now you've probably noticed how much of an opportunist I am when it comes to making holiday inspired baked goods, but things got a little crazy this St. Paddy's and I don't have time to bake any treats so I thought I'd take it back a couple months and share a cake recipe for everyone's new fav, red velvet.
My boyfriend and I had been talking about making a cake completely from scratch and we finally decided to hash out a red velvet cake. I wasn't entirely pleased with the actual cake (it was very dense and didn't have much flavor) but the frosting was TO DIE FOR. You should definitely make a double batch as suggested in the recipe. The other half a bath was delicious on strawberries and a pan of boxed brownies I made the next week.
We searched 3 different stores to find a bottle of red food coloring so we could avid the expense of buying to multi-color packs we didn't need. We found a huge bottle at Smart and Final for a few bucks which was great. They also carry huge packs of jell-o and the perfect size plastic condiment cups and lids to make jell-o shots or kid-friendly jigglers. This was also our first basic cake decorating attempt. I used a new pastry bag and tip set I got for $5 at Ikea and it worked pretty well
Red Velvet Cake
Recipe courtesy of Johnnie Gabriel
Ingredients:
For the Red Velvet Cake:
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cocoa
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 cups canola oil
* 1 teaspoon vinegar
* 1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 cup buttermilk
For the cream cheese frosting:
* 1/2 cup margarine
* 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
* 1 box confectioners' sugar, sifted
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
For the Red Velvet Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) round layer cake pans.
Sift flour, baking soda and coco together. Beat sugar and eggs together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl mix together oil, vinegar, food coloring, and vanilla. Add to the bowl of eggs and sugar and beat until combined.
Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the wet mixture by alternating the buttermilk and dry ingredients. Always start with the flour and end with the flour.
Pour batter into pans. Tap them on the table to level out the batter and release air bubbles. Bake for 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted near the middle comes out clean but be careful not to over bake or you'll end up with a dry cake.
Let layers cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning out of pan. Cool completely before frosting.
For the cream cheese frosting:
This is the "official" cream cheese frosting recipe but we always use about 1 1/2 recipes on each cake to cover it well.
Let margarine and cream cheese soften to room temperature. Cream well. Add sugar and beat until mixed but not so much that the frosting becomes "loose". Add vanilla. Spread between layers and on top and sides of cake.
Enjoy!
My boyfriend and I had been talking about making a cake completely from scratch and we finally decided to hash out a red velvet cake. I wasn't entirely pleased with the actual cake (it was very dense and didn't have much flavor) but the frosting was TO DIE FOR. You should definitely make a double batch as suggested in the recipe. The other half a bath was delicious on strawberries and a pan of boxed brownies I made the next week.
We searched 3 different stores to find a bottle of red food coloring so we could avid the expense of buying to multi-color packs we didn't need. We found a huge bottle at Smart and Final for a few bucks which was great. They also carry huge packs of jell-o and the perfect size plastic condiment cups and lids to make jell-o shots or kid-friendly jigglers. This was also our first basic cake decorating attempt. I used a new pastry bag and tip set I got for $5 at Ikea and it worked pretty well
Red Velvet Cake
Recipe courtesy of Johnnie Gabriel
Ingredients:
For the Red Velvet Cake:
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cocoa
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 cups canola oil
* 1 teaspoon vinegar
* 1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 cup buttermilk
For the cream cheese frosting:
* 1/2 cup margarine
* 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
* 1 box confectioners' sugar, sifted
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
For the Red Velvet Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) round layer cake pans.
Sift flour, baking soda and coco together. Beat sugar and eggs together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl mix together oil, vinegar, food coloring, and vanilla. Add to the bowl of eggs and sugar and beat until combined.
Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the wet mixture by alternating the buttermilk and dry ingredients. Always start with the flour and end with the flour.
Pour batter into pans. Tap them on the table to level out the batter and release air bubbles. Bake for 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted near the middle comes out clean but be careful not to over bake or you'll end up with a dry cake.
Let layers cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning out of pan. Cool completely before frosting.
For the cream cheese frosting:
This is the "official" cream cheese frosting recipe but we always use about 1 1/2 recipes on each cake to cover it well.
Let margarine and cream cheese soften to room temperature. Cream well. Add sugar and beat until mixed but not so much that the frosting becomes "loose". Add vanilla. Spread between layers and on top and sides of cake.
Enjoy!
Film: Remember Me Review
Remember Me Movie Review
We know not all movies can have happy endings, but the least they could do is keep us interested until the climatic tragedy that leave us all realizing we were simply bored, depressed, and bored yet again for the past 2 hours. The Remember Me trailer sucks you in as a classic love story about the lost boy who is swept off his feet by the girl who knows what’s right for him. What it doesn’t allude to however, if the ridiculously slow plot, lack of relationship development, and pointless ending that makes you wonder what the point of it all was.
Remember Me stars Robert Pattinson (Twilight) as Tyler Hawkin, a wealthy NYU student who must deal with an absent, workaholic father (Pierce Brosnan) and the suicide of his older brother. Tyler’s hotheaded actions lead him to Ally (Emilie de Raven) a damaged, yet charming New Yorker who wins her way into Tyler’s heart.
When you strip off his dazzley glitter and gag worthy Twilight dialogue, Pattinson isn’t too bad of an actor. He’s emotional, brings depth to his character, and invokes a natural sense of humanity into Tyler’s persona. Unfortunately, the ridiculous plot line in this film fails him once again and creates a story no one wants to remember. Tyler and Ally never create a believable connection, mostly due to the fact that the only times they sleep together are when they have daddy issues one or the other needs to get over, or maybe it’s because they never really do anything together aside from sit around not talking, or cuddling, or doing anything else people normally do to get to know each other. This, mixed with the awkward and distracting attempt from Emilie de Raven to lose her Australian accent, leaves audiences unconvinced and uninvested in the relationship.
The bright light in this story is Caroline, Tyler’s younger sister, played by Ruby Jerins. Her and Tyler’s relationship is genuine and heartfelt. Her character brought the most substance to the story and helped create a family dynamic that would be better portrayed on it’s own without her brother’s romantic interest. The Hawkin family deals with enough tragedy and drama to stand on their own with genuine connections and believable emotional attachment. Strip away the awkward, poorly developed romance and this film just might improve.
Like I said the plot goes from boring to depressing and wraps up with completely unnecessary drama that will leave some viewers downright offended. I for one was definitely not satisfied. This is one of those stories that makes you feel like when life beats you all the way to the ground, you’re in for some more kicking. I’m not even sure what message this movie is trying to send. How to deal with grief? No, that’s not quite addressed. That you should cherish family? Well no, considering Tyler’s dad only turns to one random act of kindness towards his children that just happens to occur simultaneously with a tragic event, as if that makes it genuine or the start of a new pattern. We should be more open to love because life is short? No, because Tyler and Ally’s relationship isn’t really about love, it’s about dependently attempting to work out your issues through a relationship. And don’t expect the ending to clear anything up, it only makes you feel ten times worse than you did before.
All things said, don’t waste you eleven bucks on this film. Movies are either supposed to be an escape, or make you think about your world. Good ones do both, Remember Me does neither.
We know not all movies can have happy endings, but the least they could do is keep us interested until the climatic tragedy that leave us all realizing we were simply bored, depressed, and bored yet again for the past 2 hours. The Remember Me trailer sucks you in as a classic love story about the lost boy who is swept off his feet by the girl who knows what’s right for him. What it doesn’t allude to however, if the ridiculously slow plot, lack of relationship development, and pointless ending that makes you wonder what the point of it all was.
Remember Me stars Robert Pattinson (Twilight) as Tyler Hawkin, a wealthy NYU student who must deal with an absent, workaholic father (Pierce Brosnan) and the suicide of his older brother. Tyler’s hotheaded actions lead him to Ally (Emilie de Raven) a damaged, yet charming New Yorker who wins her way into Tyler’s heart.
When you strip off his dazzley glitter and gag worthy Twilight dialogue, Pattinson isn’t too bad of an actor. He’s emotional, brings depth to his character, and invokes a natural sense of humanity into Tyler’s persona. Unfortunately, the ridiculous plot line in this film fails him once again and creates a story no one wants to remember. Tyler and Ally never create a believable connection, mostly due to the fact that the only times they sleep together are when they have daddy issues one or the other needs to get over, or maybe it’s because they never really do anything together aside from sit around not talking, or cuddling, or doing anything else people normally do to get to know each other. This, mixed with the awkward and distracting attempt from Emilie de Raven to lose her Australian accent, leaves audiences unconvinced and uninvested in the relationship.
The bright light in this story is Caroline, Tyler’s younger sister, played by Ruby Jerins. Her and Tyler’s relationship is genuine and heartfelt. Her character brought the most substance to the story and helped create a family dynamic that would be better portrayed on it’s own without her brother’s romantic interest. The Hawkin family deals with enough tragedy and drama to stand on their own with genuine connections and believable emotional attachment. Strip away the awkward, poorly developed romance and this film just might improve.
Like I said the plot goes from boring to depressing and wraps up with completely unnecessary drama that will leave some viewers downright offended. I for one was definitely not satisfied. This is one of those stories that makes you feel like when life beats you all the way to the ground, you’re in for some more kicking. I’m not even sure what message this movie is trying to send. How to deal with grief? No, that’s not quite addressed. That you should cherish family? Well no, considering Tyler’s dad only turns to one random act of kindness towards his children that just happens to occur simultaneously with a tragic event, as if that makes it genuine or the start of a new pattern. We should be more open to love because life is short? No, because Tyler and Ally’s relationship isn’t really about love, it’s about dependently attempting to work out your issues through a relationship. And don’t expect the ending to clear anything up, it only makes you feel ten times worse than you did before.
All things said, don’t waste you eleven bucks on this film. Movies are either supposed to be an escape, or make you think about your world. Good ones do both, Remember Me does neither.
Film: She's Out of My League Review
I've got a new review for you all today, and luckily since I got the opportunity to see She's Out of My League at a free screening on campus, it's here a few days before the film will be released. It's stars Hollywood up-and-comer, Jay Baruchel and the fabulously good looking Alice Eve.
GotchaMovies Movie Review: Shes Out of My League
Clever, entertaining and relatable.
Enjoy!
GotchaMovies Movie Review: Shes Out of My League
Clever, entertaining and relatable.
Enjoy!
Film: 1 Year, 100 Movies - February
Last month I told you all about my goal to see 100 movies in 2010. Another month has come and gone and I've seen 7 more movies.
Enjoy!
2/5/10: Edge of Darkness
So we all know Mel Gibson has passed his prime. He’s been caught in scandal, seemed to age 20 years in a matter of weeks, and walked the line between respected actor and Hollywood has been. No matter his personal life I can’t easily forget the actor he used to be which is why me, and apparently only like 5 other people, actually watched Edge of Darkness. It was surprisingly action packed and interesting. The story was pretty liberal and pretty cliché which doesn’t usually suit my fancy, but I enjoyed it.
Bottom line: If, like me you can’t resist a story about a bad ass father with nothing to lose, Netflix this, you won’t have to worry about a wait list either.
2/12/10: The Wolfman
Vampires…werewolves…they are both the hottest thing in Hollywood these days. I’m not buying it and I don’t think I’m the only one. Anthony Hopkins is in this movie so it gets an auto 5 points, but other than his awe inspiring BAMFness this film has got nothing. It’s basically just a bunch of blood and gore (think Sweeney Todd goes wild), with a depressing ending and crappy love story. I’m all for blood and guts, but I like it to make sense with what I’m watching. Violence for violence sack just doesn’t do it for me.
Bottom line: Skip this, an old werewolf film on the 99 cent movie rental shelf will be way more satisfying than this one.
2/13/10: Dear John
I have a severe love, hate relationship with Nicholas Sparks. A Walk to Remember is my favorite movie of all time, whereas the notebook makes me cringe. I gave Dear John a try mostly because of my Amanda Seyfried obsession (“my breasts can tell the weather) and Tatum’s abs didn’t hurt much either. This story is dumb. I don’t like sad love stories. If I wanted to witness that I’d just hit up my friends and hear about their dramatic personal lives. The relationship is rushed and underdeveloped and the “other man” is downright creepy.
Botton line: Don’t put any guy through the torture of watching this, save yourself too. Buy A Walk to Remember and watch that…seriously you’ll be happy you did.
2/14/10: Valentine's Day
Valentine’s Day joins the ranks of my favorite type of romcom, the ensemble. Rivaling some of my favorites such as Love Actually and He’s Just Not That Into You, Valentine’s Day has a great cast and entertaining set of intertwining stories. It explores almost every type of relationships, friends to lovers, marital affair, career vs. love. This is the perfect anecdote for people in love, and those who wish they were.
Bottom line: Valentine’s offers something for everyone, look for it soon as a great date rental or movie night with the girls.
2/18/10: Shutter Island
After is delayed release I was super stoked to see this Scorcese-DiCaprio compilation as soon as it hit theaters. For the most part it met my expectations. I was confused and sat wanting to find out what would happen next. This type of movie usually ends with the I-know-how-it’ll-end-but-hope-it-doesn’t type thing and I can’t say Shutter Island broke the mold. Scorcese did it well though and an ending that would usually leave me angry, left me pretty satisfied.
Bottom line: This is a solid psych thriller that will keep your attention.
2/19/10: Percy Jackson
This movie was marketed as the supposed runner up to the Harry Potter series. I haven’t read the books, but it’s quite a stretch to compare this to the great teen wizard. The Greek mythology theme is interesting and this is definitely a great movie for a wide range of age groups. The special effects are pretty good. The acting is also fairly decent.
Bottom line: It’s worth a watch, especially if you have kids you are trying to entertain.
2/29/10: The Crazies
The best movie I saw in February award goes hands down to The Crazies. This movie is awesome. I’m not a huge horror film fan because half the time they make no sense, fail to freak me out, and have no intelligent bone in their skeletal plot. The Crazies breaks down all my horror hating walls. Josh Deschanel’s doppelganger does a good job as the small town sheriff trying to save his pregnant wife from an accidental government induce epidemic. This movie has some sweet kills and surprisingly pleasing relationship development and personal sacrifice. The social commentary is obvious, yet not that annoying. I love a sci-fi type story that fits in the real world.
Bottom line: Watch this, as soon as you can. This is my favorite horror movie in a long, long time. Paranormal Activity wasn’t that great, so see this.
Total count for 2010: 16
Enjoy!
2/5/10: Edge of Darkness
So we all know Mel Gibson has passed his prime. He’s been caught in scandal, seemed to age 20 years in a matter of weeks, and walked the line between respected actor and Hollywood has been. No matter his personal life I can’t easily forget the actor he used to be which is why me, and apparently only like 5 other people, actually watched Edge of Darkness. It was surprisingly action packed and interesting. The story was pretty liberal and pretty cliché which doesn’t usually suit my fancy, but I enjoyed it.
Bottom line: If, like me you can’t resist a story about a bad ass father with nothing to lose, Netflix this, you won’t have to worry about a wait list either.
2/12/10: The Wolfman
Vampires…werewolves…they are both the hottest thing in Hollywood these days. I’m not buying it and I don’t think I’m the only one. Anthony Hopkins is in this movie so it gets an auto 5 points, but other than his awe inspiring BAMFness this film has got nothing. It’s basically just a bunch of blood and gore (think Sweeney Todd goes wild), with a depressing ending and crappy love story. I’m all for blood and guts, but I like it to make sense with what I’m watching. Violence for violence sack just doesn’t do it for me.
Bottom line: Skip this, an old werewolf film on the 99 cent movie rental shelf will be way more satisfying than this one.
2/13/10: Dear John
I have a severe love, hate relationship with Nicholas Sparks. A Walk to Remember is my favorite movie of all time, whereas the notebook makes me cringe. I gave Dear John a try mostly because of my Amanda Seyfried obsession (“my breasts can tell the weather) and Tatum’s abs didn’t hurt much either. This story is dumb. I don’t like sad love stories. If I wanted to witness that I’d just hit up my friends and hear about their dramatic personal lives. The relationship is rushed and underdeveloped and the “other man” is downright creepy.
Botton line: Don’t put any guy through the torture of watching this, save yourself too. Buy A Walk to Remember and watch that…seriously you’ll be happy you did.
2/14/10: Valentine's Day
Valentine’s Day joins the ranks of my favorite type of romcom, the ensemble. Rivaling some of my favorites such as Love Actually and He’s Just Not That Into You, Valentine’s Day has a great cast and entertaining set of intertwining stories. It explores almost every type of relationships, friends to lovers, marital affair, career vs. love. This is the perfect anecdote for people in love, and those who wish they were.
Bottom line: Valentine’s offers something for everyone, look for it soon as a great date rental or movie night with the girls.
2/18/10: Shutter Island
After is delayed release I was super stoked to see this Scorcese-DiCaprio compilation as soon as it hit theaters. For the most part it met my expectations. I was confused and sat wanting to find out what would happen next. This type of movie usually ends with the I-know-how-it’ll-end-but-hope-it-doesn’t type thing and I can’t say Shutter Island broke the mold. Scorcese did it well though and an ending that would usually leave me angry, left me pretty satisfied.
Bottom line: This is a solid psych thriller that will keep your attention.
2/19/10: Percy Jackson
This movie was marketed as the supposed runner up to the Harry Potter series. I haven’t read the books, but it’s quite a stretch to compare this to the great teen wizard. The Greek mythology theme is interesting and this is definitely a great movie for a wide range of age groups. The special effects are pretty good. The acting is also fairly decent.
Bottom line: It’s worth a watch, especially if you have kids you are trying to entertain.
2/29/10: The Crazies
The best movie I saw in February award goes hands down to The Crazies. This movie is awesome. I’m not a huge horror film fan because half the time they make no sense, fail to freak me out, and have no intelligent bone in their skeletal plot. The Crazies breaks down all my horror hating walls. Josh Deschanel’s doppelganger does a good job as the small town sheriff trying to save his pregnant wife from an accidental government induce epidemic. This movie has some sweet kills and surprisingly pleasing relationship development and personal sacrifice. The social commentary is obvious, yet not that annoying. I love a sci-fi type story that fits in the real world.
Bottom line: Watch this, as soon as you can. This is my favorite horror movie in a long, long time. Paranormal Activity wasn’t that great, so see this.
Total count for 2010: 16
Posts
