Believe in Bieber's New Album

Lately, I have been obsessed with all of the great summer movies coming out, but there is also great music being released for this summer. One of these releases is Justin Bieber's Believe. Now, you should know, I am not a Belieber, but I listened to the album out of curiousity. I had heard  "Boyfriend" (hasn't everyone?) and I thought it was okay, and better than any of his other songs up until that point. So I was pleasantly surprised by Believe. I was taken by how grown up he sounds on the album and how different the music is from anything he has currently done. He has many collaborations on the album including "Right Here" featuring Drake, "Beauty And A Beat" featuring Nicki Minaj, "All Around The World" featuring Ludacris, "As Long As You Love Me" featuring Big Sean, and my favorite track on the album, "Fairytale" featuring another more mature sounding star, Jaden Smith, who also collaborated with the Biebs on the song "Never Say Never" which was featured in Jaden's movie The Karate Kid. Also on this album are other romantic yet unexpected tracks from Bieber like "Thought Of You" which showcases Justin's interesting higher-range, "She Don't Like The Lights" which features the sounds of cameras flashing and basically talks about the difficulty of dating a person who doesn't want to be in the spotlight and wants nothing to do with his fame, and the namesake track "Believe" where he describes, in a nice acoustic ballad, how he wouldn't be where he is without his fans' support.  A song on this album that is getting a lot of hubbub for the Bieb's baby-daddy rumor, a song which is compared to Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" because of the similar situation, is "Maria" where the Canadian popstar talks about the rumor that went around a couple months ago where a girl said she had given birth to Justin Bieber's son. In "Maria" he sets the record straight and tells his fans that he has never gotten anyone pregnant, much less this girl, who is just focused the publicity and getting his money. Overall, Bieb's new album is not too shabby, and definitely not what you would have expected from him. If he continues down this path and keeps evolving as an artist, he might have one more Belieber on his hands...
Justin Bieber's Believe is in stores now.

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Summer Movie Review: Rock of Ages

  Yesterday, I went and saw Rock of Ages.
It. Blew. My. Mind.
It was seriously ah-mazing. Anyway, some people have reviewed Rock of Ages and said it was bad. For the record, definitely not true. I was just accompanying a couple friends and didn't think heads or tails of this movie beforehand, other than I might not like it. Man, was I wrong. The plotline is a little cheesy. I mean it's a star-studded movie about all these characters who have a different lifestyle that somehow revolves around rock 'n roll. Drew (Diego Boneta) works at a club called the Bourbon Room waiting tables and serving beer. He aspires to be like Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise), rockstar/lead singer of the fictional band, Arsenal. Then there is Sherrie (Julianne Hough), the girl from Oklahoma who moves to L.A. to become a rockstar. Dennis (Alec Baldwin) is the owner of the rock 'n roll club the Bourbon Room and Lonny (Russell Brand) is a close friend of Dennis's and also an employee at the Bourbon Room. Constance Sack (Malin Ackerman) is a reporter for Rolling Stone magazine and also plays Stacee Jaxx love interest. Lastly, is Patricia Whitmore who is the mayor's wife and is trying to stop rock 'n roll and shut down the Bourbon Room. Yes, some of the plot is cliche. On the other hand, the acting was all very good, the singing and music was overall great, although a little broadway sounding at some points, but the story really showcases the lifestyle of rock 'n roll and power rock 'n roll has over all of us.

  Rock of Ages is a brilliant movie. One of my favorite aspects of the movie is that they use the songs so perfectly to describe the situation a character is in. Sherrie and Drew sing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison when they break -up. The rockers sing "We Built This City" by Starship while the Church-goers and Patricia Whitmore protest against the Bourbon Room, and rock 'n roll in general, singing "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister. I also really loved Tom Cruise as Stacee Jaxx. I thought he did a fantastic job with the drunk, sleep-til-noon, heartbroken, and misunderstood rockstar. I also was really drawn to the relationship between Stacee Jaxx and Constance Sack. Constance meets Stacee before his final performance with his band, Arsenal, before he debuts his solo career, in his dressing room at The Bourbon Room. She is reporting for the cover story of Rolling Stone and is told by Stacee that she has five minutes to conduct this interview. After he wastes away the interview, giving answers he assumes his fans want to hear, and not what he necessarily believes, Constance tells him how unprofessional he is, and how his music is less than it used to be because his heart isn't in it like it was before. This is when Stacee explains how lonely it is to be a rockstar and we, the audience, eventually learn that to be a rockstar one must focus more on sex then love, and so rockstars are generally heartbroken. However, Constance really makes Stacee reconsider things and he ends up falling in love with her and having a family together. I only have one question, though: Where can I get a rockstar? Anyway, Rock of Ages is in theatres now. Really, it is worth the $8.50 ticket.

Tom Cruise as rockstar Stacee Jaxx

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Summer Movie Review: Snow White and the Huntsman

 There are so many great movies coming out this summer! From The Amazing Spider-Man to Rock of Ages, there is sure to be one to fit your fancy. Yesterday, I went to see Snow White and the Huntsman with a friend. Needless to say, we were excited to see this movie. However, that excitement didn't last long. Snow White was less exciting than I had gathered it would be.

 The beginning was good because it starts off with some backstory. Of course, this backstory is the classic fairytale we know and love. You know, the one were Snow White is born with lips red as a rose, skin white as snow, and hair black as night. Then, the princess's mother dies and her father falls in love with a commoner who ends up killing him, and Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is imprisoned in the North Tower of the castle in the kingdom her evil stepmother (Charlize Theron) and queen reigns over. Snow White lives in this dungoen until her eighteenth birthday, when she becomes fairest of the land. However, Snow White sneeks out before the queen came have her. Like the Disney movie, a huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) comes to collect Snow White and her still-beating heart in the Dark Forest. The huntsman lets Snow White go when he realizes that the queen will not be keeping up her end of the deal. Queen Ravena and the huntsman had made a deal that if he captured Snow White and brought her back to the Queen, the Queen would bring the huntsman's late wife back from the grave. The huntsman soon realizes this was a lie and lets Snow White go. This is where the movie becomes lackluster. It was a lot of wandering around in forests and a lot of running away from the queen, and in that way, lost some of the idea of the story. During this time Snow White and the huntsman meet the dwarfs. Still, uneventful. It isn't until we near the end that things become interesting again. On her journey through the forest, Snow White meets a prince and he is very into her and will do just about anything for her. However, in the one of the last forest scenes, Queen Ravena is disguised as him and presents the princess with the infamous poisoned apple. You know what comes next: Snow White is then dead until true loves kiss can reawaken her from this eternal slumber. The prince tries to kiss her, but, unlike the classic fairytale, she does not wake. Then the huntsman has a moment alone with the sleeping princess and pours his heart out to her about how he has not felt a love like hers since his late wife. Then he kisses her and walks out of the room. In a few moments time, the princess awakes (Cue Awws). SPOILER ALERT! As predicted, Snow White kills Queen Ravena and then is crowned the new queen and the land lives happily ever after. As for the huntsman, it is assumed he and Snow White fell in love. At least that's what I gathered.

 So maybe it doesn't sound that boring, but there was a good hour where they were just running through forests. To be fair, the actors and actresses in this movie were very good. Charlize Theron was darkly captivating as the evil queen Ravena. Kristen Stewart turned a pretty princess into a warrior leader and her accent was much better than I had anticipated. For the record, Kristen Stewart is much better in this movie than Twilight. Chris Hemsworth rounded out this immensely talented trio and was very convincing as a scary huntsman turned protective and trustworthy soldier. I honestly think the story was what got them into trouble, not the acting. I would give this movie a 3.5 out of 5 stars for the brilliant acting, the amazing costumes and sets and the beginning and end of the story, which was interesting. Would I recommend it? Not sure. I would say if you want to see it then do, but if you were uninterested before, you'll probably still be as uninterested after.

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MTV Movie Awards Top Five Style Stars

I am fully aware that the MTV Movie Awards was two weeks ago, but I don't think it's ever to late to go over the best-dressed. Since my last post was exhaustingly long, I'll try to make this one a lot shorter. Here are my top five looks from the Movie Awards.
#5. Shailene Woodley in a sexy business-y Stella McCartney jumpsuit

#4. Elizabeth Banks in a spiderweb-like Elie Saab jumpsuit... apparently jumpsuits were a common trend at the Movie Awards

#3. Holland Roden in a sexy red Mandalay mini-dress with a lace overlay

#2. Emma Watson in a water pattern minidress by Brood

#1. Obviously, my number one pick has to be the lovely Emma Stone. She nailed the entire look from her black and white Martin Grant dress to her romantic chignon and playful pink lipstick. She is not only our latest celebrity obsession, but also  the MTV Movie Awards most stylish in our book.

 

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Emma Stone is an "Easy A"-lister

  Easy A has been on what feels like all the movie channels today, so I thought we should discuss how much we love Easy A and Emma Stone. If, for some reason, you have been living in a cave your whole life or have some weird dislike for romantic(ish) comedies, then I'll tell you what you need to know regarding this movie. Easy A is a movie depicting the strange and somewhat relatable life of a teenage girl who lives in California named Olive Penderghast.
  Olive is a good student and is, for the most part, blending in when it comes to her high school status. However, this comfortable invisibility is shattered when she lies to her best friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) about how she had sex with a date over the weekend. This is totally made up, seeing as she actually spent her weekend singing "Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield and told Rhi how she had a date over the weekend so Olive originally wouldn't have to spend the weekend camping with her overdramatic BFF and her That So '70s parents. This rumor was found out by the (very cliched) Bible thumper Marianne Bryan (Amanda Bynes). The rumor of Olive's one-night stand spreads fast.In her literature class, Olive finds herself in a quarrel with another girl, which lands Olive in the principal's office. The next day, she serves detention with an openly gay peer named Brandon (Dan Byrd) with whom she discusses how to avoid being bullied for his sexual orientation by saying he had sex with a girl. The two end up at popular girl Melody Bostik's party where the slip away and pretend to hook-up. Much like real-life,  Brandon is deemed a sex-god, while Olive is now the school "super slut".  After more rumors begin to circulate about Olive's hook-ups, which we know are fake, things take a "turn for the scandalous". The literature teacher, Mr. Griffith, is making the class read The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. So because Olive doesn't do anything "half-assed", she buys sexy lingerie-inspired outfits that she embroiders a red A on. Then throughout the duration of the movie, Olive solicits sex for money, sort of. Actually no. Not at all. She solicits the idea that one has had sex with her for money. Yet, Olive is still a virgin. In the midst of all this, she has her sights set on the school mascot himself, Todd. Todd is one of the few people who believes that Olive really isn't a slut. So at the end of the movie you find out that the whole film was basically a webcast Olive made to tell her peers that she didn't really sleep with anyone and that they were all rumors. And then Olive and Todd ride away on a lawnmower like they do in an '80s movie. The movie is funny, endearing, and has moments that everyone can relate to. I give a lot of this film's comedic credit to Emma Stone who plays the funny, quirky, creative, and relatively average California girl Olive Penderghast.
  Emma Stone has hit the landmine in Hollywood lately. She started acting as a child and had super small roles to begin with like the voice of Ivana Tipton on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Diane on Malcolm in the Middle. Her résumé is quite bulky including performances as Jules in Superbad alongside Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and Seth Rogen, The House Bunny, Friends with Benefits alongside Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake, and Andy Samberg, Crazy, Stupid, Love with Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling, The Help, and the newly released and highly anticipated The Amazing Spider-Man where Stone will star alongside her real-life BF Andrew Garfield.
  Stone will be in two movies that have yet to release trailers, seeing as they are in the final stages of production, Red Band and The Croods. She will also be in the upcoming movie Gangster Squad, in theatres September 7th this year, along with Sean Penn, Josh Broslin, and Ryan Gosling (...yet again). Speaking of her reoccuring co-star, they have also been talked about to play the leads in the film adaptation of the notoriously naughty novel Fifty Shades of Grey. I would also like to mention that Emma recieved the Trailblazer Award at this last week's MTV Movie Awards, where she looked absolutley XOXO-worthy. One might find a picture below. That's all for now. Until next time.

Emma at the MTV Movie Awards in a Martin Grant dress

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Kristen Stewart: The Unconvetional Fashion Star

From Bella Swan in the Twilight Series to the redefined princess in Snow White and the Huntsman, Kristen Stewart is everywhere. Stewart is a chill person, not interested in the fame, but more the art of movies. She recently did an interview for Elle magazine, where Stewart and the interviewer where in a book store and Stewart had seemingly read every book in stock and had picked out which role she would most enjoy playing in the movie adaptations. More than that, Stewart has risen as a fashion star. One of my personal favorites was the ensemble she wore to the premiere of Snow White and the Huntsman. She wore a black blazer, a white shirt, and a black mini skirt. I also really liked her spread in Elle, in which Kristen posed a both a man and a woman together in multiple shots. I have compiled some of my favorite fashion moments from Kristen Stewart below. Enjoy! Until next time.

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