Andye Reads

Today we are celebrating the film adaptation of a beloved classic, A WRINKLE IN TIME by Madeleine L'Engle. Who else is excited to see A WRINKLE IN TIME movie this weekend?? I. Can. Not. Wait. With Disney at the helm and Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling and Oprah Winfrey starring as Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, you know it's going to be epic! In honor of the upcoming movie, @macmillankidsbooks sent us a special movie tie-in edition of AWiT and a copy of BECOMING MADELEINE , a biography of the author of A WRINKLE IN TIME written by her granddaughters. For the blog tour we were asked to show a picture of our copies of A WRINKLE IN TIME. It's crazy to see all the changes over the years, and I know there have been even more covers. Which cover is your favorite? I think I may like the movie tie-in the best, but the older copy will always have a special place in my heart!! What does your copy look like? Are you excited to see the movie?  ...

Last night I got to see a double-feature of Mockingjay parts one and two. I liked getting to do that just to remind myself of the first movie, and to really get immersed back into the story. Also, I got to go with my YADC bud, Jenn from Bookshelfery , so we could fight over Gale and Peeta. Very important stuff, guys. To be honest, I had zero expectations of liking this movie. Actually, after I agreed to go, I thought to myself, why on earth are you going to see this? If you were around here when Mockingjay (the book) came out, you'll know why. I DESPISED that book. For so many reasons, which you can read about here if you're interested. So you can imagine my surprise when the credits started rolling and I realized I really liked this movie . Like . . . a lot. *I'm going into the rest of this chat under the assumption that you have read MJ and know what to expect.* So why did I like the movie so much better than the book? I think there were a lot of factors, ...

So we are SUPER huge fans of THE MAZE RUNNER series. We love the books and the first movie, and we can't WAIT for THE SCORCH TRIALS movie to come out! To celebrate the release (Sept 18), we are fortunate to have an amazing giveaway for one of you! Check it all out below!! Visit all the MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS websites - #ScorchTrials Visit the Official Website Like ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ on Facebook Follow on Twitter , Google+ The Maze was just the beginning! See Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials in theaters September 18 In this next chapter of the epic “Maze Runner” saga, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its...

Have you seen The Maze Runner? My kids (12 & 14) and I went to see it and we all really liked it (even though I didn't really love the book) . Reagan immediately grabbed the books and devoured them. Bransen is taking a little longer (no surprise since Reagan is a reading BEAST). Anyway, they both really like the books. Like, an obnoxious amount. So, I couldn't wait to show them the trailer for The Scorch Trials this morning. Their reactions? Reagan : That. No. That is not even what happens at all!! Why are they doing this? Bransen : What? Are you kidding? I'm not seeing this movie. My reaction to their reactions? Welcome to book-to-movie life. Did you watch the trailer? Have you read the books? What do you think? I'm actually really excited for this movie. I've only read book one, so I'm anxious to see what happens next. After hearing Reagan cry after book three, though, maybe I should skip that movie. Hah...

Teen Review by Reagan  THE ISLE OF THE LOST A Descendants Novel by Melissa De La Cruz Age Range: 9 - 12 years Grade Level: 4 - 7 Series: The Descendants Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (May 5, 2015) Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon and made to live in virtual imprisonment on the Isle of the Lost. The island is surrounded by a magical force field that keeps the villains and their descendants safely locked up and away from the mainland. Life on the island is dark and dreary. It is a dirty, decrepit place that's been left to rot and forgotten by the world. But hidden in the mysterious Forbidden Fortress is a dragon's eye: the key to true darkness and the villains' only hope of escape. Only the cleverest, evilest, nastiest little villain can find it...who will it be? Maleficent, Mistress of the Dark: As the self-proclaimed ruler of the isle, Maleficent has no tolerance for anything less than pure ...

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Before I say anything else, let me make it clear that I love these movies. I would watch the extended edition of the extended edition of the Extended Edition if it existed. Also, this is entirely based on the movies and not the books. I have read the books but it's been a long time, and I think the movies should stand on their own. For the most part, I enjoyed The Battle of the Five Armies immensely. The battle scenes were intense, and I loved seeing all our old favorites again. Thorin's inner battle with greed was incredibly frustrating and moving. Smaug was just awesome. I love Evangeline Lilly's character, Tauriel, and seeing Galadriel kick some major butt made me incredibly happy (even if it was a little weird). However, I have to say I'm a little bit unsatisfied with the way things ended. I don't know if this is a product of this small book being stretched into three long movies, or if it just needed a little bit more liberties taken with the ending...

You should probably know going into this that I hated the book . Like, seriously. Hated. But, regardless, I had high hopes for the movie. Well, maybe not high hopes. More like midlevel hopes. I had some hopes, okay? As far as the acting goes, I don't have much to say. They were all fine. Jen Lawrence did a good job crying. And crying. And crying.  Josh did a good job of looking ugly. Liam did an amazing job of being beautiful to behold. The movie itself? It was just. So. Boring. I did hate the book, but I don't remember being this bored by it. I swear, nothing happened. I almost fell asleep. Not surprising when they took an already small book and split it into two. Why ? WHY?? Oh yeah, because we're suckers and we'll pay for it. I intentionally didn't reread the book before going to see this. One, because I hated it (did I mention that?) and two because I always find it more easy to cope with book movies if I don't remember all the details. T...

When a criminal plot threatens the hi-tech metropolis of San Fransokyo, brilliant young robotics whiz Hiro Hamada (voice of Ryan Potter ) leaps into action with his tech-savvy friends, and his robot companion Baymax (voice of Scott Adsit ) in Disney Animation's adaptation of the popular Marvel Comics series. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi Today the kids (12 & 13) and I went to see Big Hero 6. We were all pretty excited about it because we've loved pretty much every Disney/Pixar movie, and if you add Marvel to that, how can you go wrong? The answer is . . . you can't. I don't think the kids and I have laughed so much in the theater together, ever. I mean, there are times when they've cracked up at silly kid movies with their cheesy potty humor, but a movie where we're all giggling like idiots? Yeah, I can't think of anything. Of course it can't be a Disney movie without a terribly emotional death or two. Oh Disney, you know we can still be m...