Movie Review: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve had a busy week of work and writing and winter. Ugh. I’m so done with winter. I’m ready for spring and summer and hot humid days.

But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about a movie I saw this weekend.   It’s titled, “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri.”  It’s the story of Mildred, a grieving single mother. Her daughter, who she has a tumultuous relationship with, has been raped and murdered. Mildred is grieving her loss and she feels especially guilty because she had a fight with her daughter right before she died.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jit3YhGx5pU

Click the link above to watch the Trailer

Mildred has not had an easy life. She’s divorced from her husband who was physically abusive to her, and she has a tumultuous relationship with her kids. We enter the story months after her daughter has been raped and murdered. Mildred is full of rage. Her daughter’s killer hasn’t been caught, so she buys three billboards outside of town and asks the chief of policy why on those billboards.

The police chief is the thread in the story that binds all these characters together. He understands them. He’s dying of cancer though, and he leaves letters for police officer Dixon, who is also full of rage, Mildred, and of course his wife.

It’s a heartbreaking story that illustrates what grief can do to a person. Mildred directs her rage at anyone who gets in her way. She tries to burn down the police department and ends up injuring Officer Dixon. One that she’s been at odds with throughout the movie.

Toward the end, they don’t exactly become friends, but they have a common enemy and they develop an alliance. This story is full of rich, broken characters and it illustrates how grief can break us and make us stronger at the same time.

The character development in this movie is amazing and I highly recommend it. It’s a great chick-flick that goes deep into each flawed character, so by the end you understand them.

So, there you have it. A great movie to watch on a cold winter’s night when you don’t want to leave your warm and cozy house. It’s a great one to watch when you want to see something that goes deeper into the human condition.

How about you? What movies do you recommend for a cold and rainy winter’s night? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

My Thoughts on the New Avatar Movie

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve had a busy week of work, writing, and running. The holidays are done and we’re settling in for a hibernation period at the Orchards. As I write this post, I’m sitting in front of the fire all snuggled in under my blanket. But enough about that.

Today, I’d like to talk about the movie I saw last weekend with my kids and some extended family. It was the new Avatar movie. It’s titled: “Avatar: The Way of Water.” It was amazing.

It’s three hours long, but it didn’t seem that long. There wasn’t a time when I was in the theater that I looked at my watch and wondered how much longer. I was able to see it in 3D, and it made the experience that much more vivid.

It’s the next chapter in Jake Sully’s life as a married man on Pandora. I must take a moment and say Pandora is a beautiful planet. The forests and the oceans are breathtaking, but I digress. Jake has a family. He has four kids, and he has to disappear in order to protect them from the sky people. I don’t want to give you to many more details because I don’t want to spoil it for you.

It was well written, and the storyline was believable. I would recommend taking your kids to this one. Mine enjoyed it just as much as I did.

So, there you have it. My thoughts on the new Avatar movie. Go see it! You’ll be glad you did! How about you? Any movie recommendations you can give me? I’m always looking for entertainment. 😊  

Ingrid Goes West: The Dark Side of Social Media

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a busy week of work and writing. I’ve been noodling some revisions for one of my stories and I’m thinking I’m going to start my revisions soon. I’m also making steady progress on my latest WIP.

But enough about that. Today, I want to talk about a movie I watched from Amazon Prime. It’s titled “Ingrid goes West.” Ironically, it was recommended by one of my followers on Twitter, but I digress.  It’s the story of a disturbed girl who finds someone on social media and they begin chatting.

Ingrid decides to move to the west coast after this person (her name is Taylor) suggests they get together after Ingrid comments on one of her posts about a meal she’s eating. Just like that Ingrid decides to move to the west coast.

It’s obvious Ingrid is unbalanced. She stalks this Taylor person and starts dressing like her, bleaches her hair to look more like her, and eating at the places Taylor posts on social media.

She even kidnaps Taylor’s dog and then returns him in the guise of finding the dog for Taylor. She becomes friends with Taylor and starts hanging out with her and her friends. While at Taylor’s house she photographs her bathroom and medicine cabinet. She spins lie after lie about her life, and eventually gets caught by Taylor’s brother who tries to blackmail her.

This is a cautionary tale illustrating the dark side of social media. If you have a presence on social media, you don’t know your followers and you don’t have a lot of control over them. You can block them, but that’s only after you find out they’re dangerous, and usually by the time you find out, it’s too late.

https://allthefreestock.com/

It’s also an example of why you should always be kind. After Taylor and her friends see through all Ingrid’s lies, they reject her. Ingrid attempts suicide and posts a goodbye on social media. At the end, Ingrid wakes up after her suicide attempt and finds that one of her followers called 911 after her final post has gone viral. So, it turns out okay in the end. Of course it does, this is a movie, but in real life, it doesn’t always work out that way. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are like double-edged swords. They can be used for good and evil.

https://allthefreestock.com/

So, when on social media be careful because you don’t know who you’re really dealing with and be kind, one of your followers could be in a fragile state. Be careful who you allow to follow you, and make sure you know them. What precautions do you take on social media? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

The Irony of it all….

I saw this on Facebook and had to share it with all of you…

Technology’s Effect on our World

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve been busy working and writing this week and I’m making progress on my WIP. I’m seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about technology and it’s impact on our society. I had a class reunion this weekend and I got to see friends I haven’t seen in a long time. It was nice to catch up and walk down memory lane with them. Some of them, I’ve been able to connect with on social media and chat via messenger with them. It’s a great way to reestablish old connections.

https://allthefreestock.com/

With social media it’s easy to stay connected and catch up via chats, but there’s nothing like face-to-face interaction. I worry about our future generations where most communication will take place via the computer. I’m worried because I feel they won’t have the ability to read facial cues when talking with their peers because they won’t have enough practice with real life communication.

https://allthefreestock.com/

I’m also worried because I feel our young people don’t get enough physical activity. I see my kids and their friends spending so much time in front of a computer that they’re not getting enough exercise. Childhood obesity is on the rise and I feel the main reasons are the added sugars in our processed foods and the fact they’re not physically active.

So, even though technology has given us the ability to make connections over many thousands of miles, it has had a negative effect on our health, and it has also made our in real life connections more fragile because social media’s main goal is to keep us engaged.

They don’t want us to leave their site. So, they place items in our feeds to keep us there. Different articles on things we’ve liked. For example, if I like a random picture of an elephant, I’ll find more elephant pictures and articles showing up in my feed. There’s a documentary on this phenomenon called “The Social Dilemma.” If you haven’t seen it, you need to watch it. It’s on Netflix and it explains this whole process.

How about you? Do you feel technology has had a negative impact on our physical and mental health? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Looking for a Good Movie during the Pandemic?

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a busy week of work, writing, and getting ready for online schooling. We snuck away this weekend for one last hoorah up north and we needed it.

But enough about that, today I’d like to talk about a heartwarming movie I watched while I was relaxing. It’s titled “Sunshine Cleaning.” It stars, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, and Alan Arkin.

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21010176

 

It’s the story of a single mom who wants to make a better life for herself and her son Oscar.  She’s involved with a married man who she dated in high school and she just can’t seem to let him go, and he can’t seem to leave his wife and marry her.

It’s a sad but triumphant story of two sisters trying to navigate life. They’re both still reeling from the loss of their mother by suicide, and they’re trying to come to grips with her death. It’s the story of love of bonds that never break and heartache.

 

 

If you’re looking for a movie that has all the feels, then “Sunshine Cleaning” is for you.

I just thought I’d share it with you because it’s one of those Sleeper movies that didn’t make it big in the box office, but it was a great story with great writing. Check it out the next time you have some time to yourself. You won’t regret it.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. Do you have any movies you’d like to recommend? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

 

What I’ve been Reading

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today and I thought I’d share with you two books I’ve recently read. After a couple of serious posts, I thought I’d lighten things up with a fun one. Well, fun to us bookworms!

The first book is “The Girl in the Blue Coat.”  It’s the story about friendship and betrayal during WWII when everyone was living in fear.  One woman hides a Jewish girl in her back room and one day the girl disappears.  She seeks out the assistance of Hanneke to find this girl and so the story begins.  Hanneke is pulled into the situation and reluctantly does what she can to find the girl.

 

The national bestseller and winner of the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery

Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion.

On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older woman’s frantic plea to find a person-a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially wants nothing to do with such dangerous work, but is ultimately drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning revelations that lead her into the heart of the resistance, open her eyes to the horrors of the Nazi war machine, and compel her to take desperate action.

Beautifully written, intricately plotted, and meticulously researched, Girl in the Blue Coat is an extraordinary, gripping novel about bravery, grief, and love in impossible times.

My Thoughts:

This story was well written and an accurate portrayal of what happened during WWII. I loved Hanneke, she was such a strong girl, even though she didn’t see herself that way. There’s a twist at the end that took me by surprise. A well written historical YA novel. I’d recommend this to both adults and young adults. It was a great read.

The next book I read is also a WWII novel and it’s based on a true story. The title is “Beneath a Scarlet Sky.” It’s the story of Pino and his family during WWII and how Pino helps the resistance by joining the Nazi army. It’s a depiction of the bravery of the Italian people who joined the resistance and helped Jewish families escape into Switzerland.

Soon to be a major television event from Pascal Pictures, starring Tom Holland.

Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, the #1 Amazon Charts bestseller Beneath a Scarlet Sky is the triumphant, epic tale of one young man’s incredible courage and resilience during one of history’s darkest hours.

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior.

In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier—a move they think will keep him out of combat. But after Pino is injured, he is recruited at the tender age of eighteen to become the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy, General Hans Leyers, one of the Third Reich’s most mysterious and powerful commanders.

Now, with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret, his courage bolstered by his love for Anna and for the life he dreams they will one day share.

Fans of All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale, and Unbroken will enjoy this riveting saga of history, suspense, and love.

 

My Thoughts:

While this is the story about the bravery of the Italians who joined the resistance, it’s also the story of love and loss. The story of Pino and Anna. Pino falls for her hard after he joins the Nazi party and begins spying for the resistance. The war ends and Pino believes he and Anna can now marry and start a family. However, Pino suffers the devastating loss of his love at the very end of the war. It’s incredibly sad and frustrating because he feels incredible guilt that he did not save her.  This is an incredible story and the bravery of the Italians involved in the resistance illustrates that good does triumph over evil. I’d recommend this book to both adults and young adults alike.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. Do you have any books you’d recommend? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

 

My Netflix Winter Plans

 

Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you. I thought I’d do a fun post today since I haven’t done one in a while.  I’ve been in my writing cave this week and I’m making some real progress on my latest manuscript. So my brain needs some fun and entertainment.

The weather has turned cold and rainy here and it looks like winter is on the horizon. Since I’m an INFJ and we love our alone time, winter is a great time for us to hibernate and get in touch with our inner selves. It’s also a great time to   BINGE WATCH some Netflix and eat tons of popcorn. That’s right, I love popcorn with lots of butter. Don’t judge me. 😉

There are some great shows I’ve got my eye on and I thought I’d share them with you. Just in case you find yourself all bundled up on the couch during a blustery storm.

The first one we’re going to start this weekend. It’s “Stranger Things” and it has something for the whole family. Even my boys got into this one.

Stranger Things Season 2 Trailer

 

 

The next one is “Mind Hunter.”  I have to confess hubby and I binge watched this one in one weekend it was that good. I love it because it’s great fodder for antagonists if you’re looking for ideas. We’re hoping season two isn’t too far away.

 

Trailer for Mind Hunter

 

Next on our list is “Wanted.”  If you watched and liked the movie “Thelma and Louise,” you’ll like this show. It’s a story about two unlikely women and how they get thrown into a situation and how they outsmart everyone who’s trying to capture them. It’s a great show.

 

Wanted Trailer

 

If you’re looking for a great thriller series. You need to check out “Ozark.” I have to confess hubby and I already binge watched this one and it was awesome. We can’t wait for season two.

Ozark Trailer

 

Another great series is “This is Us.” If you love family drama stories then this show is for you.

This is Us Trailer

 

We’re also going to be binge watching the second season of “True Detective.” I heard it wasn’t as good as the first season, but I’m reserving judgement until I see it. I love my detective stories. 😉

True Detective Trailer

When I need a bit of nostalgia I always fall back on my all-time go to show. “Special Victims Unit.”  I’ve been binge watching this show since it came out. 🙂

 

Special Victims Unit Trailer

 

We’re waiting for new seasons on a couple of shows. One of them is “Homeland.” Hubby really gets into that one and it is interesting but not my favorite.

Homeland Trailer

 

 

We also enjoy “The Americans.” It’s a great series about Russian spies in America.

 

The Americans Trailer

Last but not least is one we watched a long time ago and we’re hoping to get back to it. This one is dark. It’s called “The Following.” It’s about a serial killer with a fan club. If you like dark stories, this one’s for you.

The Following Trailer

 

So there you have it, some dark and twisty shows for the winter. How about you? Are there any shows you’d like to recommend?  Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

Need some Down Time? Check these films out!

 

 

Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you. I’m back today and it has been one of those rainy Saturdays where you don’t want to go outside. I’ve been working on my latest WIP and agonizing over the one that’s with the Beta reader. I can’t wait to hear what she says. I know she loved the opening, but that’s all I’ve heard.

 

While I’ve been waiting, I’ve been binge watching a few shows. You know how it is when your kids are spending the night with a friend and it’s rainy and cold. I either read or binge watch some shows. I could clean, but…well…that’s never any fun.

 

So here they are. Awesome shows that are great for introverts who are in need of recharging.

 

No Second Chance

 

 

American Odyssey

 

Broadchurch

 

 

 

Homeland

 

The Honorable Woman

 

The OA

 

The Hotel Beau Sejour

 

So there you have it. Some shows I’ve binge watched during some down time. How about you, are their some movies or series that you’d recommend? Let me know. I’d love to hear from you!

A Tribute to Trees

 

Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you! I’m back today with a quick post because I’ve had a busy weekend helping my mom move. After I helped my mom, I met with an awesome friend who’s helping me research another idea for a story. I’m so excited about this one! I can’t give you any details yet, but it’s going to be good!

Anyway, I’m loving this fall weather. It has just been incredible. I’ve noticed some awesome colors this season and I’ve taken some pictures. They’ve turned out well and I’m going to try and paint them when my painting ladies get together. I’ve found a new hobby! 🙂

I thought I’d share some of the pics with  you. I’ve been drawn to trees lately, so along with the pics I’ve included one of my favorite RUSH songs and one of my favorite poems. I’ve pondered why I’ve been drawn to trees and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s because trees are a symbol of wisdom for me. They endure the changing seasons by being flexible, yet they stay strong, rooted in the earth and reaching for the sky. So here you go. My tribute to Trees. 🙂

 

ADVICE FROM A TREE

By Ilan Shamir

Dear Friend,
Stand Tall and Proud
Sink your roots deeply into the Earth
Reflect the light of a greater source
Think long term
Go out on a limb
Remember your place among all living beings
Embrace with joy the changing seasons
For each yields its own abundance
The Energy and Birth of Spring
The Growth and Contentment of Summer
The Wisdom to let go of leaves in the Fall
The Rest and Quiet Renewal of Winter
Feel the wind and the sun
And delight in their presence
Look up at the moon that shines down upon you
And the mystery of the stars at night.
Seek nourishment from the good things in life
Simple pleasures
Earth, fresh air, light
Be content with your natural beauty
Drink plenty of water
Let your limbs sway and dance in the breezes
Be flexible
Remember your roots
Enjoy the view!

Aren’t these colors awesome! I love fall. I love watching the cycle of the seasons reflected in the changes in the trees. 🙂

Here’s a RUSH song about Trees. It’s good!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by my Blog today and checking out my tribute to to the trees. 🙂 What’s your favorite season and why? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!