Movie Review: The Gentlemen - #TheGentlemen

The Gentlemen
Genre: ​Action | Comedy
Cast: ​Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, with Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant
Director: ​Guy Ritchie
Screenplay by: ​Guy Ritchie
Story by: ​Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson & Marn Davies
Producers: ​Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, Bill Block
Release Date: ​January 24, 2020

From writer/director Guy Ritchie comes ​THE GENTLEMEN​, a star-studded sophisticated action comedy. ​THE GENTLEMEN​ follows American expat Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) who built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he’s looking to cash out of the business forever it triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him (featuring an all-star ensemble cast including Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant).

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Good news! There is a new Guy Ritchie movie out right now.  It’s called The Gentlemen.  Better news?  If you like Guy Ritchie’s gangster movies, you’re going to enjoy this one, too. Not so good news? This Guy Ritchie movie is the same gangster formula that you have seen in flicks like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch.

Still, The Gentlemen is not a bad movie. Guy Ritchie’s formula has been tested and it still delivers.  The characters were quirky and charming.  The cast was stellar.  Matthew McConaghey (as Michael), Charlie Hunnam (as Ray), Henry Golding (as Dry Eye), Michelle Dockery (as Rosalind), Colin Farrell (as Coach) and Jeremy Strong (as Matthew) were all in top form.  Their work was completely believable and engrossing to watch.   As entertaining as the aforementioned cast was to watch, Hugh Grant (as Fletcher) took the prize.  His narration and performance wove the story together well  and kept the pace moving.

The heist was entertaining. The “American ex-patriot running a successful marijuana operation in London while fighting off a coup at the twilight of his career” story felt grown-up.  This isn’t your kids’ hot rod racing, action flick.   This felt more pensive. It felt timely, especially for its marijuana references. Rosalind’s “female luxury cars operation” plot points were also timely.  Loved that she was a boss in her own right, separate from her cartel boss husband.  Even found Flether’s “novice screen writer” story funny.  

The Gentlemen worked in the way that things work only in Guy Ritchie movies.   There were a ton of twists, turns, and expletives. The movie had backstabbing, dead bodies, and  assorted crimes galore. It is a great film for fans of Guy Ritchie’s work, and anyone out for a lot of fun. 

Above all else, The Gentlemen is great escapism.  Guy Ritchie has his own movie-making mold and his latest adheres to it perfectly.  It might be a formula, but it’s a formula that works.  This isn’t family fare.  The young ones should avert their eyes and ears, but adults will find it entertaining.  The Gentlemen is playing in theaters now.

Book Review: Beautiful Burn by Jamie McGuire

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Beautiful Burn
The Maddox Brothers #4
Author: Jamie McGuire
Reading Level: New Adult
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Released: January 31st 2016
Review Source: Purchased

Fresh out of college, Ellison Edson has fallen through the cracks of rock bottom. While staying in her family’s vacation home in Colorado, her behavior has finally gained the attention of her parents—but not in the way she hoped. Cut off from the millions she’s always taken for granted, and left alone to fend for herself, Ellie spirals further out of control, making a mistake she can’t take back. Like his twin brother Taylor, Tyler Maddox is a member of the Alpine Hotshots, fighting wildland fires on the frontline. As arrogant as he is charming, Tyler’s nomadic lifestyle makes it easy to contain his relationships to one night. When he meets Ellie at a local party during off-season, her extreme personality and dismissive attitude fascinates him at first, but as his feelings deepen, Tyler realizes that the crippling inner demons of the woman he loves might be the strongest enemy any Maddox has ever faced.

Every time I finish a book in this series I say to myself…that’s it, this is the brother for me, I’m in love the most with this brother! Well…it happened again. Tyler Maddox is no exception and I’m definitely in love. Beautiful Burn by Jamie McGuire is what I assume will be the last book of the Maddox Brother’s Series (and this truly makes me sad). It follows brother Tyler Maddox, twin of Taylor Maddox, a firefighter in Colorado (as if that isn’t hot enough), and Ellison Edson, a socialite with a vacation home in the area.

My first impressions of Ellison (and let’s face it, it is because she is all these things) are that she is a snobby, over-privileged party girl, and to be quite frank…very slutty. After meeting Tyler at a party at her parent’s estate they both make it clear after a one night stand (well really a one hour stand…she dismisses him and he is too eager to leave as well being that he is a playboy type) that neither of them are looking for anything beyond that one night and they go their separate ways. Well of course we knew that wouldn’t last. After running into each other in town, Tyler, who has always been the playboy who never settled down with one girl, realizes he has met his match when Ellison wants nothing to do with him. Of course what do bad boys do when they meet their match? They want them more and chase them hard.

Ellison eventually gets cut off by her wealthy parents when they finally decide to show her tough love after their house is ruined in a party she threw. At this point in the story I’ll be honest that I didn’t really like her and I felt like she deserved what she got. She now had to go out and get a job for the first time in her life, find a place to live, and save up money from her job to pay her parents back for the damage caused to their house. When Tyler Maddox starts pursuing her diligently she is very standoffish and snobby and I sometimes wish I could have smacked Tyler upside the head and told him to move on, but it quickly becomes apparent that Ellison has much deeper issues than just being a spoiled rich girl. Her disease of addiction to drugs and mostly alcohol start to be shown in a deeper level then just a girl getting drunk at a party on the weekends. Tyler is there for her through it all. Even when she is at her meanest and ugliest. The way his playboy persona melts and is gone when he is around her, mixed with him being this rough and tumble fighting Maddox boy…is just so incredibly yummy and sexy! Just like all his brothers before him, he might be a tough fighter who no guy would want to mess with, but when he falls in love he is all mush in his girl’s hand…it just makes you want to swoon!

Not only do I recommend this book a million percent, I recommend this entire series for anyone who hasn’t read it. I had read the original series Beautiful Disaster a while back. It is kind of its own series based on the youngest Maddox brother Travis. Then Jamie McGuire broke off and started this series on the remaining other four brothers. For some reason I didn’t think I would be into them so it took me a while to finally pick up the first book, and boy did I want to kick myself in the head over it. I loved this series as much, if not more than the original two books about Travis. So I give this book and the whole series overall five stars! It really makes me sad that we are at the last brother. My only hope is that maybe Jamie will pull a Black Dagger Brotherhood type of thing and start over with a new book on each brother at some point. There are some characters you can just never get enough of…and the Maddox boys are five of them!

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Don't miss the first three books in The Maddox series:

  

Book Review: Beautiful Redemption by Jamie McGuire

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Beautiful Redemption
The Maddox Brothers #2
Author: Jamie McGuire
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 27th 2015
Review Source: Wordsmith Publicity

If A Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever. But what if he didn't love you, first?

No-nonsense Liis Lindy is an agent of the FBI. Deciding she is married only to her job, she breaks off her engagement and transfers from Chicago to the field office in San Diego. She loves her desk. She is committed to her laptop. She dreams of promotions and shaking hands with the director after cracking an impossible case.

Special Agent in Charge Thomas Maddox is arrogant, unforgiving, and ruthless. He is tasked with putting away some of the world’s toughest criminals, and he is one of the best the Bureau has to offer. Though, as many lives as he’s saved, there is one that is beyond his reach. Younger brother Travis is faced with prison time for his involvement in a basement fire that killed dozens of college students, and the media want a conviction. Travis’s only savior is his unusual tie to the mob. In a deal that will spare his brother, Thomas has agreed to recruit Travis into the FBI.

Liis is stubborn, defiant, and yet somehow softens Thomas’s rough edges, making her the perfect agent to accompany him to the ceremony. Posing as a couple, they must travel to Travis & Abby’s beach vow renewal and give him the news, but when the pretending ends, she finds herself wondering if they were pretending at all.

In the second installment of the Maddox Brothers books, experience firsthand the mysterious world of the elusive Thomas Maddox, and how good love can be when you’re not the first, but the last.

If a book contains anything about a Maddox brother, we read it. No questions asked, you just grab it and dive in. Their really isn't anything new I can say to add to everything that has been said, mentioned or written about Jamie McGuire and her books but in particular The Maddox Brothers. We know that everything penned by McGuire is FANTASTIC. Especially the Maddox Brothers, which all started with Travis (Beautiful Disaster series); the one who's guilty in creating this phenomenon, then Trenton (Beautiful Oblivion), Thomas a.k.a. T.J. (Beautiful Redemption), The Twins Tyler and Taylor with no specific book for them yet but they make an appearance in this book with Thomas. Actually all the brothers do. So just with that piece of information alone, you know you want to read this latest installment. 

I would recommend reading in order since this book brings up moments from Beautiful Oblivion and even from Walking Disaster. So if you are that 1% that hasn't read any of these books, you have to start from the beginning with Travis. You won't regret it. 

So lets talk a little about Thomas and his book. I enjoyed reading it, what I loved the most was all the brothers making cameos. That was the biggest highlight for me. As far as Thomas, he connected with me but Liis not as much. Just didn't feel like they were the right match, at one point I thought Thomas and Cami would get back together. But that would be a whole another set of books because then Trenton would be devastated. So I got over it as soon as I could and learn to accept Liis but I wasn't her number one cheerleader. Now Thomas, I wouldn't mind sharing gym time with him anyway. Follow these two work on their love life while trying to take down some bad guys that affect not just their work but also their families. 

I did enjoy though how Liis and Thomas met for the first time, such a Maddox thing to do. The storyline was entertaining and had a good flow throughout the book. Overall a great addition to this saga. Can't wait to see if McGuire will write a book about the twins!!! 

* Read my review of Beautiful Oblivion, Trenton's book!!!

Book Review: Twisted Fate by Norah Olson

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   Twisted Fate

      Author: Norah Olson

      Reading Level: Young Adult

      Genre: Contemporary

      Released: January 20, 2015

      Review Source: Katherine Tegen Books

  

When Alyson meets Graham Copeland, the new boy next door, she instantly feels like he’s a kindred spirit—shy and awkward like her, someone who has trouble making friends. It’s impossible to resist having a crush on him.

As usual, her sister, Sydney, sees things differently. In Sydney's mind, Graham's odd personality and secretive past scream psychopath, not sweetheart. Her gut is telling her to stay away from him, and to protect a love-struck Alyson from her own naïveté. But despite her instincts, Sydney is surprised to realize that a part of her is drawn to Graham, too.

And the more Sydney gets to know him, the more she realizes just how right—and wrong—she is about everything.

Perfect for fans of Michelle Hodkin, and E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars, Twisted Fate is an unputdownable novel, teeming with suspense.

I did the one thing I should never do as a book blogger...read the reviews before I read the book. That's a big no-no. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it from the mixed reviews on Goodreads. So, needless to say, I was already mixed about the book going into it.

First of all, I have to say that this book had my guessing the entire time. Some reviewers had said that they figured out the plot twist early on and that the clues were everywhere...so then I felt like an idiot because I couldn't figure it out. The characters were complex and I just couldn't get my head around what was going on. There were multiple viewpoints too, so that made it harder. I really liked the characters and think that Olson did a good job in weaving their stories together. I also felt that for being teenagagers, there wern't a lot of scenes where they were home. There's no way my parents would let me stay away for that long. Graham was probably my favorite character. He was a little creepy, but it gave the story a little edge.

I gave it a Three Tree Review because there were times where I was so confused, that it was hard to read. The ending was great, but by the time I got there, I was a little over the story. I think there were a little too many point of views going on and it became a little much.

I also LOVE the cover. The twisted hands are perfect. I think the colors mesh well too.

Overall, I think it's a great read and I would recommend it to those who like mystery with a little thriller added in for good measure.

Book Review: Atlantis Rising by Gloria Craw

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Atlantis Rising
Author: Gloria Graw
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal | Romance
Release Date: January 6th 2015
Review Source: Entangled: Teen

I am different. I have always been different, but no one can know or my life will be in danger. So I hide in plain sight, wearing drab clothes and thick glasses and trying to be invisible. I’m so good at hiding, no one has ever noticed me. Until Ian…the mysterious and oh-so-cute boy I know I need to avoid.

Now I have been seen. And more terrifying still, I am wanted—by those who would protect me and those who would destroy everything and everyone I love. But if they’re all terrified about who I am, wait until they see what I can do…

I liked this one; it was paranormal but staying away from the creatures of the night. The title alone dragged me in--Atlantis Rising. Greek mythology is my one bookish weakness and the title and cover just screamed “read me!” And I thoroughly enjoyed it!

What I liked most was how unconventional things were. Paranormal genre but no vampires or werewolves, Luke’s a Clan Chief but possesses no leadership skills and is a frail character, Ian is the main man who isn’t typically portrayed. Brandi, who after losing her likeliness (AKA soul mate), goes through a change I haven’t read about in YA paranormal before. I could go on, but you get the point. The characters weren’t typical, and it made them believable and real to me.

Granted, the book wasn’t what I expected after reading the summary but it was just as good. The build up throughout the story has you excited for the big bang, which definitely came, and now I'm left with questions. However, I’ve noticed there isn’t an indication of this being a series which is disappointing. Though Atlantis Rising ended contently, with the big knot tied up, there are still a lot of little things left loose and there's definitely things which screams that this will be a series.

I did find it hard to connect to the characters, so when certain things happened to them, I found myself not emotionally invested in them, but despite that it was a good read. Everything else was well written and original that I hardly took notice of the little blip.

Overall: This was a satisfying read which I would recommend to fans of paranormal.

Book Review: Dead of Winter by Kresley Cole

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Dead of Winter
The Arcana Chronicles #3
Author: Kresley Cole
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Released: January 6th 2015
Review Source: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Can Evie convince her rival loves to work together? Their survival depends on it in this third book of #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole’s Arcana Chronicles, a nonstop action tale of rescue, redemption, and a revenge most wicked.

Heartbreaking decisions
Evie was almost seduced by the life of comfort that Death offered her—until Jack was threatened by two of the most horrific Arcana, The Lovers. She will do anything to save him, even escape Death’s uncanny prison, full of beautiful objects, material comforts…and stolen glances from a former love.

Uncertain victory
Despite leaving a part of her heart behind with Death, Evie sets out into a frozen and perilous post-apocalyptic wasteland to meet up with her allies and launch an attack on The Lovers and the vast army they command. Such formidable enemies require a battle plan, and the only way to kill them once and for all may mean Evie, Jack, and Death allying. Evie doesn’t know what will prove more impossible: surviving slavers, plague, Bagmen and other Arcana—or convincing Jack and Death to work together.

Two heroes returned

There’s a thin line between love and hate, and Evie just doesn’t know where she stands with either Jack or Death. Will this unlikely trio be able to defeat The Lovers without killing one another first?

In Poison Princess and Endless Knight we’ve been exposed to a lot of things. Jackson (swoons), the apocalypse, drastic changes of life after the end, Evie’s Arcana powers and Death. But that was only the beginning.

Dead of Winter doesn’t waste a single minute before it’s diving into the deep end. Then again, why would it wait? Jackson was captured and was in the hands of potentially the two most sadistic people left in the world. If Evie doesn’t get to him in time, who knows what could happen...

Jack may survive and all may be well, but it seems too perfect for things to stay like that. Matthew knows the future, and through the incoherent jumbles he usually speaks, the news he has to offer isn’t the best. Together Jack, Evie and Aric have to ride together to complete a mission together, or it might be Evie who finds herself the next Arcana to fall.

Dead of Winter was....interesting. Whilst I impatiently waited for this book I’d gone and conjured all types of things in my head yet when I started reading Dead of Winter I couldn’t have been more off the mark. There were a lot of things I didn’t expect, however they were all welcome surprises. I could get enough of the twists and turns Dead of Winter had to offer.

Personally, one of my favourite things was Jackson (surprise, surprise). I felt like his character started blossoming here, we saw his potential. Him being such a closed book so far it was heart warming and exciting to watch Jack show this whole new side, not just with his easy love confessions for Evie, but himself as a person. In Dead of Winter we get to see Jackson as a true leader, as a person who truly cares for others. Same goes for Selena. I wasn’t sure on her character, purely because of how she was with Evie, but I’ve grown to love her in this novel.

As for the love triangle we got a glimpse of in the previous book, we saw become slightly more dominant, however, though I knew who I wanted Evie to be with *cough* Jackson *cough*, I had not a single clue now things were going to plan out. It's clear that all three characters have issues and some self discovery to be had. Jackson with his...well, everything, and Evie evolving into her powers more. As for Aric, he's still quite unknown. We know how he feels for Evie, but as an individual, his book is locked shut. I'm loving how everything isn't as I'd guess.

I laughed, I cried and the end almost made me have a break down. But I can easily say that this book is battling for the best book of the year.