Sunday Funday: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children (3D) & The Girl On The Train - Movie Review

In the last couple of weeks I've had the opportunity to see two movies at the theater: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar in 3D on October 4th and The Girl On The Train on October 11th.  Both were good, but Miss Peregrine's was the better of the two for sure.  Plus, it was just a lot more fun.

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I loved Ransom Rigg's series, so of course I was anxious to see the movie adaptation.  Whenever a favorite book hits the big or small screen, I really want to see it but not without a certain amount of trepidation.  I mean, what if they ruin it or leave something out - or change it in any way.  Luckily, I'm pretty good at keeping the two mediums separate in my mind, so while quite a few elements were changed or modified - calling him Jake, switching Emma and Olive, bumping up the course of some events, etc. - I was still able to really enjoy it.  Overall, Tim Burton does a great job of bringing the Peculiar world to life, Asa Butterfield is good as Jake (like always I'm really interested to see what he could do in the future), and the visuals are pretty cool particularly when it comes to Enoch's peculiarity.  The real standouts are Eva Green as Miss Peregrine herself and Samuel L. Jackson as Barron, plus you can't go wrong with Allison Janney.  Theater notes: I just happened to get the theater all to myself, so I got to sit in my favorite spot and I didn't have to worry about people talking over the movie or anyone too tall sitting right in front of me!

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I really loved the Paula Hawkins book and it really had me on the edge of my seat, so I'll admit - I went in with high hopes for this.  Disregarding the changes from book to movie (you may have heard that the setting is changed from the UK to the US), the movie, which is billed as a suspenseful mystery thriller, didn't really hold me in suspense and it wasn't all that thrilling either.  And, yes, I know it's supposed to be difficult to tell the difference between Anna and Megan, but I had a little bit too difficult of a time telling the difference between them in the movie.  Not just physically, but then I'd even have a hard time remembering the names whenever I saw one of them onscreen.  However, Emily Blunt gives a great performance as Rachel.  She makes the movie worth watching, despite it's shortcomings.  Emily Blunt has quickly become a favorite and I'm really looking forward to her upcoming projects.  Also, this one stars Allison Janney as well.  Theater notes: There were probably 8 or 9 others seeing the same showing, so I still managed to snag the best seat.  One of the trailers was for a movie called Hidden Figures, due out this Christmas, and it looks like it could be excellent!  You can watch the trailer for it here.  The movie is based on the real lives of NASA's African-American women who were mathematicians and engineers that played a major role in the space program.  I also plan on reading the nonfiction book about these women's lives - and, luckily, my library owns a copy.


Next movies I plan on seeing: Doctor Strange and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them


Thanks as always for visiting my blog, everyone!  I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.  Are you doing anything special, or maybe planning to see a movie?