brave // movie review

I know. It's been a little while. Actually a long while. But I'm still here. I'm just mega-busy with life. :D

But I wanted to post this for a specific reason...I went to see Brave in 3D yesterday with my family. Pretty awesome. And I wanted to review it to give y'all my opinion on Pixar's awesome new film.

So here we are...

Having watched most of Pixar's films, I'm a huuuuge fan. They (almost. Walle's my 1 exception) always seem to add a perfect amount of seriousness with a perfect amount of humor. Plus they're animated. And I LOVE animated movies. :D

Brave is the first Pixar film in which there is a princess. And it's also the first Disney princess film in which there isn't a prince.

So let me introduce you to Princess Merida:

Let me just put it like this. She rocks. She's an archer; she has triplet brothers; and she has red hair. How can you go wrong?

But Merida hates her fate. Very soon she's going to have to be betrothed. And all that will do it take away her freedom, in her opinion.

Her well-respected mother, Queen Elinor trys to make a proper lady of Merida. But Merida is convinced that Elinor is trying to live Merida's life for her. And the princess hates it.

 So when the time comes when she'll have to pick her future husband, she runs. And she and her horse find a witches cottage where Merida thinks she may have found a solution to her problem.

But the witch doesn't mention one of the side-effects of her potion...

And everything goes downhill from there.

It's a very cute movie. But, honestly, for a Pixar film, it gets rather dark. If you've watched the trailer, you'll know there are bears involved. And even animated, these bears are terrifying. I know my brother would've been scared to death. So if anyone in your family was scared by Tangled, Brave is probably not for them.

However, there was some pretty clever humor in it, provided mostly by these three. I have to say, the triplets are the best characters in the movie, by far. They're cute, and they're very clever (especially for people so small. :D) 

So of the humor wasn't quite so nice, though. You know, bathroom humor and stuff. All of it wasn't really necessary, but at least since it's animated, they can still pass it off as PG.

All in all, *very* cute movie. At times it was scary, it even made me cry (yeah, i know. an animated film.), but it was great. 

And the storyline is good too. Because, though Merida is sassy in the beginning, she ends up having to fix her mistake herself. And that was good for her and her family.

I'm gonna give it a ***** out of *****. :)

And know that it's up there with The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Cars 2. ;)

~Vivi~

P. S. It has a toddler version of Merida in it that's adorable. So even if you watch it just for that, it'll be worth it. :P

P. P. S. I know I said we saw it in 3D, but just FYI, the 3D doesn't add very much. So I'd probably just go 2D if I went again. ;)

prom pictures. :)

So I put together this video of our prom photo shoot this morning. :) Gab and I went together with my friend, Hannah. It was yesterday night, and my ankles and shins are still aching. 

But it was awesome. Hope you like it!

(5 brownie points if you know what movie our 'princess waving' is from)

that orange UVA hat...:D

It's Bug's favorite thing to wear. And so, it only seemed right that, for his birthday this past Sunday, we make him a baseball cake.
Yes, our little baby bug had his 3rd birthday. Here are some great pictures to sum him and his special day up. :)

aren't his eyes *lovely*?

sorry, had to 'erase' his name that we put on the rim. that's why it looks foggy in all the hat pictures. :D

notice Gab and mom's scared looks when i hit the pinata. :D

The little blonde girl is 'A' from Pure Joy. We had their family over for his 'party'. :)

please excuse how weird i look in all of them.
And Gab and I were all fancied up because we went to the swim team banquet before. :)

I think he had a wonderful birthday. :) Happy late birthday again, Bug!! I can't believe you're 3. 

because they're awesome...

...and because I'm such a huge Cimorelli fan...

...and because this is such a cute video...

...and because this song is now in my head...

...and because I feel colorful right now...

Hope you have an awesome weekend!

P. S. I went to The Hunger Games last night! It was a totally last minute thing...as in, Mom told me that morning that my parents had decided it was fine for us to go (thank you, plugged-in). And then we got tickets. And we went last night at 9:30. And it was awesome. Thank you, wonderful parents!

(oh, and watch for a review. don't worry, I'll warn you if I give spoilers...:D)

i think i'm obsessed...

Comes out Friday! Are you excited??

courageous - a movie review

We watched Courageous last night!

And it was truly amazing, I thought--everything it promised to be.

They had me bawling like crazy at certain parts (even if I knew what was going to happen), but then laughing hysterically also. They really upped the humor in this one, which was awesome. :P

Unfortunately, I really can't give you much of the plot, since it would give away a lot...

But if you've seen the trailer, you'll know it's about a bunch of cops who try to become better dads. And they make this resolution...and they're eventually tested to see if they follow through with it.

There were a couple of places that were kind of violent...(fighting, gangs, drugs) stuff like that...but my 9-year-old sister watched it and was fine. So, though it's rated PG-13, I think it'd probably be fine for younger people...

And there were some really sweet, sad parts too...

And some really great witty humor. :D

And then of course there's the trademark Alex Kendrick move where he bows his head and cries (y'all probably all know that one). ;) But it had to happen somewhere...

As for the quotes, I don't really want to give the best parts away (aka, I don't really remember the ones that wouldn't)...so you'll just have to watch it and find out. :)

This movie had a really great message tied in with it's plot, also. And that's part of what makes it so sad/funny/totally awesome...

So...I give it ******************* out of ***** stars. :P

And if you have a spare evening (or even if you don't), sit down and watch Courageous with your family (and make sure your dad's there, 'cause this one is really for them). Trust me. You won't be disappointed. ;)

this has been making it's rounds...

...so I'm sure a bunch of y'all have already seen it. But it's a video that was put on youtube 10 days ago and got a huge response from a ton of people. It's a guy telling us why he hates religion, but loves Jesus. It's a really cool video...

...but I don't really agree with all of it.

So then there's this really awesome blog I love to read, written by this college student, Marc, who lived here and went to the church we go to until he went to Franciscan University. And he wrote a great response to this video, from a Catholic's perspective (go and read it, esp. if you're Catholic!)

And Marc found this video response to the above video. So if you don't feel like reading that entire, long post...then here's what I believe in a nutshell...

Wow. That was fun.

And no, I don't mean *just* fun...I mean fun as in "incredibly awesome, wonderfully exciting, and altogether fantastic". Guys, this conference was AMAZING.

Ok, so it looks kind of boring from the link I put up here, maybe...and, I'll admit, the only speaker/singer I had ever heard of before that was there was Audrey Assad...but still. The talks were meant for teens which means they were more fun, more relatable, and more interesting. For any of you Catholics--YOU. SHOULD. GO.

I really didn't take many pictures. In fact, I think I took 3 in all. And all of them were of the stage when no one was on it. I just didn't feel like getting out my iPod with people all around me, and music playing, and stuff like that. So I didn't.

But, for me, the weekend was WONDERFUL. Literally. Full of wonder. Guys, have you ever just really thought how our God is so big, so powerful, and so...modern? I mean, I guess to some people he seems like an old-fashioned god--you know, one that only grandmas and stuff worship. But he's not. And I think that's one of the things that really hit me this weekend. He's a God that loves any kind of worship. Not just hymns and stuff. So we can sing as loud as we can (even if we're horrible singers), we can dance to Christian rock music, and we can have fun while we're still praising Our Lord. I was thinking while the music was playing how God might be smiling down on us. You know, kind of just looking down and smiling and nodding. And how his love was just like radiating through our voices and the music. That's what it was. It was God. And it. Was. Awesome.

So just one more thing I don't want you to forget. And if you agree, feel free to comment and tell me so. ;)

~Vivi~