​Halloween is fast approaching and nothing is better for the holiday than a Gothic Violent Love Story! I give Crimson Peak an A.

​Edith Cushing is the spoiled and pampered bluestocking daughter of a self-made industrialist. Always fascinated with ghosts, she’s aware of their existence and believes in their warnings. She fancies herself an author and looks down on society’s trappings until she meets Sir Thomas Sharpe. His interest in her writing, gives him a way into her life and possibly into her father’s fortune.

​Sir Thomas Sharpe and his sister, Lady Lucille are searching for backing for a steam machine that would allow the red clay to be dug and made into bricks thereby saving their crumbling mansion—their only home. 

​But when Edith’s father pays off the two Sharpe’s in an effort to prevent them from getting their claws into his daughter, he brings out his own death as he was the one thing standing in Thomas’s pursuit of Edith and the money.

​The imagery of the decaying Allerdale Hall with weeping walls, oozing floors, and leaves falling through the ceiling, make for the perfect setting for a murder or two. While Tom Hiddleston plays the romantic lead wonderfully, it’s the eerie stillness and repressed anger that Jessica Chastain shows that left me astounded. After seeing her in The Martian, this was a huge 180 of a character. No hint of smile, no sense of happiness…

​While Goosebumps is a great movie for the kiddie crowd, adults are going to enjoy taking a trip back in time with Crimson Peak.

​Throw everything you thought you knew about Peter Pan out the window. This installment of the classic book and movie, retells the tale. I’m giving Pan a B+.

​Pan tells the story behind the boy who becomes the leader of a rag tag group of boys living in Neverland. Peter is left at an orphanage by his mother and then is kidnapped by sky pirates and taken to Neverland. Once in Neverland, Peter is put to work in the mines, toiling daily for pixie dust. Blackbeard, the pirate, needs the dust to extend his life. Peter befriends a man named James Hook (yep, Captain Hook) as the two set off to find Peter’s mother.

​The cinematography is amazing. Images appear to be a blend of cartoonish and realistic. Bright colors and unique animals abound. One of my favorite images was the use of a burst of bright color when one of Tiger Lily’s tribe dies. 

​While this tale doesn’t follow the original storyline, there are many nods to the story we’ve come to know and love. Captain Hook is a schemer but also a flirt and while Tiger Lily is a Caucasian girl rather than Native American, her tribe is a mixture of a variety of ethnicities.

​The fun action and exciting storyline make this a perfect movie for the whole family. Children will love the sword fights and pirate ship battles. Adults will understand the nods towards the original storyline as well as the twist on James Hook’s character. Who knew he wasn’t always a bad guy!

​But if you are going in expecting this story to remain true to the original, you will be sorely disappointed. Leave your preconceived notions at the door and enjoy a family friendly movie!

No one wants to be left alone…but it’s even worse when your friends leave you for dead on Mars with limited water and food. However, Matt Damon makes the best of it in The Martian. I’m giving it an A-.
​
During a trip to Mars, a sudden storm forces the team to leave…and one of their crew is left behind. Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, a biologist who must learn to grow food and create water on a planet that isn’t known for either.

​The Martian features an ensemble cast with many wonderful actors like Jessica Chastain and Sebastian Stan and Michael Pena who’s been everywhere…in Antman and Paul Blart- Mall Cop 2 this year. However, Matt Damon is forced to carry the movie as he records his thoughts and actions for posterity, just in case someone finds him in the future. Not only is he a botanist but also has a working knowledge of programming and basic mechanics, as well a surgical knowledge. He’s the guy I’d want to be stuck with on a desert island. I’m sure we’d be able to MacGyver our way off there!

​It’s the snarky comments that made this movie wonderful. Mark Watney is left with Happy Days reruns and disco to keep him company so it’s no wonder that he resorts to sarcasm to keep his sanity. It’s through his video journals that we learn of his successes and failures as NASA sets out to try to figure out how to keep him alive until they can rescue him. 

​The Martian should be nominated for best Lord of the Rings reference by an actor in Lord of the Rings as well as best use of duct tape. It is known as a guy’s favorite tool!

​The only detractor in this movie is the casting of comedy actors in such a serious movie. Jeff Daniels plays the head of NASA and I expected him to crack into a joke like in Dumb and Dumber. But Kristen Wiig as the public mouthpiece for NASA was a real stretch. I couldn’t see such a known comedic actress in such a serious role. But even these two couldn’t dim the overall exciting storyline.