Trailer Thursday: Magonia by Maria Dehvana Headly + Jem and the Holograms

Magonia

Author: Maria Dehvana Headly

Published: April 28, 2015

Publisher: Harper Collins

Neil Gaiman’s Stardust meets John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars in this fantasy about a girl caught between two worlds... two races…and two destinies.

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air.
Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live.

So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia.

Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

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Jem and the Holograms

Release Date: October 23rd 2015

Director: Jon M. Chu

Writer: Ryan Landels

Main Cast: Juliette Lewis, Ryan Guzman, Molly Ringwald, Aubrey Peeples, Stefanie Scott, Aurora Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko

As a small-town girl catapults from underground video sensation to global superstar, she and her three sisters begin a one-in-a-million journey of discovering that some talents are too special to keep hidden. In Universal Pictures’ Jem and the Holograms, four aspiring musicians will take the world by storm when they see that the key to creating your own destiny lies in finding your own voice.

Directed by Jon M. Chu (Step Up series, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), the musical adventure stars Aubrey Peeples, Stefanie Scott, Aurora Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko, Ryan Guzman, Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis. Jem and the Holograms, based on the iconic Hasbro animated TV series, is written by Ryan Landels and produced by Chu, Jason Blum for Blumhouse Productions, Scooter Braun for SB Projects, Bennett Schneir, and Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis of Hasbro Studios.

Movie Review: Kelly & Cal

Kelly & Cal

Release Date: September 12th 2014 – Alamo Drafthouse Vintage park, Houston
Studio: IFC Films, Spring Pictures, Mad Dog Pictures
Director: Jen McGowan
Writers: Amy Lowe Starbin
Main Cast: Juliette Lewis, Jonny Weston, Josh Hopkins, Cybill Shepherd, Lucy Owen, Alysia Reiner
Genres: Comedy | Drama | Family
MPAA Rating: N/A (I recommend for 16 years and older due to content)

Official Sites: IMDb | Facebook | Website

Storyline: Kelly, a punk-rocker turned suburban mom, is nostalgic for a life she can no longer have and uncertain of a future she doesn’t yet fit in. Seventeen-year-old Cal is frustrated at his lack of control over the hand he’s been dealt. When the two strike up an unlikely friendship, it’s the perfect spark needed to thrust them both back to life.

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When I heard about ‘Kelly & Cal’, I was not very familiarized with the film. So when I looked into the film, I saw that the lead male actor is “Edgar” in next year’s ‘Insurgent’, the sequel to the blockbuster ‘Divergent’. So I knew I wanted to watch this film to witness how Jonny Weston acts. I was not disappointed at all, you really do believe he is handicap and not just playing a part in a movie. I was impressed with Watson acting which took the spotlight over veteran actress Juliette Lewis. Regardless of him standing out, these two actors really had great chemistry in the film.

‘Kelly & Cal’ is a story that follows housewife Kelly that lives in the suburbs and has just had a baby. Kelly who is portrayed by Juliette Lewis, just doesn’t fit in, she tries to meet other moms in her area but that doesn’t pan out as she hoped. It’s like she is an outcast. Kelly ends up meeting Cal, who is portrayed by Jonny Weston, while she hides outside her house to sneak a cigarette. After failing miserably at making new friends, she ends up hanging out with Cal after she feels guilt treating him badly when she realizes he is handicap.

This begins a strange and awkward friendship between the housewife and handicap teenager in high school because they both are struggling with similar demons and it connects them. Kelly is depressed with her life, she misses her past life when she was part of a punk-rock band and not sleep deprived and Cal is depressed because of being abandon after his accident that left him paralyzed and stuck in a wheelchair without his girlfriend. They both have lost parts of their lives they miss greatly. But they are not looking for the same things in their unconventional friendship, Cal begins to fall for Kelly and Kelly enjoying the attention from Cal, begins to drop down walls that she shouldn’t have dropped since Cal is a teenager. This will lead to consequences, which either together they both will fall or rise above and begin to live life again.

I can see why this film won at the SXSW film festival, it really surprised me how great it was. I was highly entertain watching the film. You can see the film via iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play and other similar outlets.