Movie Review: Cloud Atlas

"Everything Is Connected"

IMDB - Rotten Tomatoes - Amazon - Official Site

Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave dramatically through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. Each member of the ensemble appears in multiple roles as the stories move through time.

Release Date: October 26, 2012
DVD Release Date: February 5, 2013
Running Time: 172 minutes
MPAA Rating: R

Cast:
-Tom Hanks
-Halle Berry
-Jim Broadbent
-Hugo Weaving
-Jim Sturgess
-Doona Bae
-Ben Whishaw
-Keith David
-James D'Arcy
-Xun Zhou
-David Gyasi
-Susan Sarandon
-Hugh Grant

My Thoughts:
Sometimes, it happens rarely give the state of current authorship, but sometimes the film is better than the book.

I recently started dating again after my breakup and a friend decided to take me to see the film Cloud Atlas. I didn't know much about what I was going to see. So, I didn't have any real expectations from the movie. I wasn't prepared for the single most life altering film experience I had ever had.

The film begins slowly, but at the same time dives into a world of reality and fiction, past, present and future to give you a feel for what's in store. The films score is magical, it evokes feelings of utter sadness and loss, mixed with the angelic ting of hope. The film itself plays out like a symphony of words, images and thoughts.

Needless to say it was for me a life altering experience. I no longer thought my problems, my life, myself was something singular unto myself. But after seeing this film it became all to apparent to me that I am part of the past, the present and the future. That every decision I make will effect the world in some way no matter how minute. That every decision made before me has affected me and caused me to be who and what I am.

Cloud Atlas is 3 hours long but it feels like a blip of time because the view becomes so entangled with the action on screen. It is visual poetry and musical history. It is love, life, humanity, cruelty, death, loss, pain and hope. This film is more human than many of us could feign to ever be. I urge everyone to see it. Learn from it. Live it.

Screenshots :)

Have you seen Cloud Atlas?

Book Review: Anything He Wants by Sara Fawkes

First published as a five-part e serial novel, Anything He Wants inflamed imaginations everywhere and became a national bestseller.  Now available for the first time ever as a complete book, this edition contains never-before-released scenes and special bonus material. Don’t miss this erotic tale of  a powerful billionaire who always gets what he wants and the young woman who’s about to enter his exclusive realm--a world of glittering opulence and all-consuming passion, where she’ll explore the darkest reaches of her own desire.

Lucy Delacourt's temp position isn't quite her dream job but it pays the bills. The highlight of her day is riding the elevator in the mornings with a handsome stranger. Tall, dark, and sexy as hell, Lucy knows he's way out of her league, but a girl can look, right?

Everything changes the day the stranger seduces her. Completely out of character, she yields without a fight, but she has no idea her wanton acts with a man whose name she doesn't know will change her life forever. Because the sexy stranger is none other than Jeremiah Hamilton, billionaire CEO of Hamilton Industries, and one taste isn't nearly enough to satisfy his need.  As the billionaire pulls Lucy deeper into his world of high stakes business deals and ruthless takeovers, he demands nothing less than her complete surrender.  But even as enemies seek deadly revenge against him, she’ll discover that her greatest threat is falling for her fiercely guarded boss…and yielding to her own darkest needs.

Goodreads - Amazon - B&N

My Thoughts:
This book was good, I didn't love it unfortunately. The sex scenes were hot, but nothing compared to Selena Kitt or Sylvia Day. They were on the shorter side and just weren't really that descriptive. And it was straight and to the point. Not much foreplay which obviously sets the mood for the whole scene. I would definitely read another book by Sara Fawkes simply because she thought outside the box and it really did make a difference in my overall opinion.

About 50% into the book I really wanted to give up on this book. Not because it's bad because it's not but because every other 'bdsm' book is going the same now days. Some bottom of the line worker is seen by the million or billionaire or even bajillionaire and he instead has to hire her for some outrageous, essentially stupid position and have sex with her. So she's technically a fancy hooker. and then he likes her. But he can't love her for some random reason. And then some threat is involved and he has to keep her safe. And then its all over and he still can't love her. Sorry about the rant, but you know its true. So I was really thinking this book was going to follow that path....

It did somewhat, but it was very different at the same time. There was a whole lot more threat in the whole somebody's trying to kill us part. And way more deep and detailed. There was so much drama I almost couldn't keep up. The ending is what really made me give it a 4 star rating. I was incredibly relieved that it didn't end like fifty shades. With the whole marriage and happy ending bullshit. The ending to this book was really amazing. I can't picture it ending any other way.

And I just want to say sorry its been taking me forever to read one book and I've been posting mostly movie reviews, but since its the holidays and I work in retail, I've been working like crazy. And its so much faster to watch a movie and it helps me wind down. But have no fear, it'll be over soon.

Have you read Sara Fawkes?

What about this series?

If so, what did you think?

If not, are you going to?

Waiting on Wednesday: Let The Devil Sleep

Waiting On Wednesday #4! :)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick for this week is:

Let the Devil Sleep by John Verdon (Dave Gurney, Book #3)
Expected publication: July 24, 2012
Amazon -- Goodreads

From Goodreads:

The most decorated homicide detective in NYPD history, Dave Gurney is still trying to adjust to his life of quasi-retirement in upstate New York when a young woman who is producing a documentary on a notorious murder spree seeks his counsel.  Soon after, Gurney begins feeling threatened: a razor-sharp hunting arrow lands in his yard, and he narrowly escapes serious injury in a booby-trapped basement.  As things grow more bizarre, he finds himself reexamining the case of The Good Shepherd, which ten years before involved a series of roadside shootings and a rage-against-the-rich manifesto.  The killings ceased, and a cult of analysis grew up around the case with a consensus opinion that no one would dream of challenging  -- no one, that is, but Dave Gurney.  
 
Mocked even by some who’d been his supporters in previous investigations, Dave realizes that the killer is too clever to ever be found.  The only gambit that may make sense is also the most dangerous – to make himself a target and get the killer to come to him.
 
To survive, Gurney must rely on three allies: his beloved wife Madeleine, impressively intuitive and a beacon of light in the gathering darkness; his de-facto investigative “partner” Jack Hardwick, always ready to spit in authority’s face but wily when it counts; and his son Kyle, who has come back into Gurney’s life with surprising force, love and loyalty.
 
Displaying all the hallmarks for which the Dave Gurney series is lauded -- well-etched characters, deft black humor, and ingenious deduction that ends in a climactic showdown – Let the Devil Sleep is something more: a reminder of the power of self-belief in a world that contains too little of it.

 So, I read the first one and wow. It was  great, and really suspenseful. If you like a  good mystery/suspense/murder/crime book.  I really recommend this series! 

What are you waiting on this wednesday?
Leave a comment and tell me.
If you have a blog, leave your link :)

Have a good day!