Send Help And Morally Gray Vs Evil
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about Send Help and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this Survival Horror Movie, you might wish to skip this post.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I watched Send Help. It had some entertaining moments but we had to force ourselves to finish it, hoping it would improve.
The biggest issue, for us, was…
The two main (often sole) characters were absolutely terrible people.
At first, they were morally gray. Yes, people died. But the people weren’t nice and the main characters had reason to…well…not kill them but not help them survive.
That held our attention.
We cared if the main characters lived or died.
Then first one, and then the other character did things that were downright evil.
(They intentionally killed or attempted to kill innocent people.)
Once this happened, we no longer cared if they lived or died. We weren’t cheering for anyone. The movie was over for us at that point.
There’s a difference between morally gray and evil. Don’t unintentionally cross that line.
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Anaconda (2025) And The Power Of Sequels
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about Anaconda (2025) and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this comedy featuring Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, and a giant snake, you might wish to skip this post.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby REALLY loved Anaconda, the 2025 comedy love letter movie to the 1997 movie of the same name. I enjoyed it mostly because he enjoyed it so much.
(smiles)
We immediately watched the 1997 movie due to all of the references to it in the 2025 movie.
And that is the power of sequels. Yes, Anaconda (2025) is billed as a reboot. But it builds on the original movie, happens later in time, and that, in my mind, makes it a sequel.
Sequels should attract new viewers (or readers). So they should be watchable (or readable) on their own.
But they also prompt people to watch (or read) the works that went before them. Anaconda (2025) made us interested in watching Anaconda (1997). Book 2 should make us interested in reading Book 1.
Sequels, I believe, are HARDER to create than the originals for this and other reasons.
So if you’re struggling to craft book 2 in a series, know that this is expected and you’re not alone. (big hugs) Most book 2s are more challenging to write.
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Abigail And Cheering For The Vampire
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about the movie Abigail and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this delightful vampire horror movie, you might wish to skip this post.
I am NOT a horror fan. I get a little too scared for my enjoyment. But I AM a vampire fan so, with the Dear Wonderful Hubby to protect me, I summoned my courage and watched Abigail.
We both really enjoyed it.
Yes, it had a lot of jump scares. And there was quite a bit of gore.
But I was more intrigued about the mystery involved in this movie and enthralled by the child vampire to be terrified out of my mind.
I was cheering for this child vampire.
She was originally framed as the baddie but EVERYONE involved were baddies.
There were no innocents or truly good characters in the bunch. Heck, they kidnapped a CHILD. That’s how terrible these people were.
And that Abigail was a child meant we naturally wanted to protect her.
She was also the victim of a crime (kidnapping).
And she was alone.
All of this created a baddie I could cheer for.
Which REALLY worked for the plot. And with the happy-for-a-horror-movie ending.
Abigail is a master class in creating a sympathetic villain.
And it is dang good vampire movie.
(smiles)
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Thrash And Respect For The Genre
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about Thrash, a fun and quite gory shark movie, and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this shark and natural disaster movie, you might wish to skip this post.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I recently watched Thrash, a shark-as-a-danger movie set during a natural disaster, and we both enjoyed it.
It was clear to us that the people involved in Thrash greatly enjoyed both shark movies and disaster movies also.
There were visual and vocal nods to other movies in those genres. Shark Week was mentioned. The flooding scenes were awesome and were echoes of flooding scenes in other disaster movies.
There was a Great White as the hero scene that had me cheering. It reminded me of the T-Rex as the hero scene in Jurassic Park.
Thrash was a celebration of the two genres of movies and I felt the love. I think other viewers did too. It was a joy to experience.
If you’re writing a romance novel, don’t be afraid to show your love for the genre.
Your readers love the genre also. That’s why we’re reading in it.
(smiles)
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War Machine And Endings
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about War Machine, starring Reacher’s Alan Ritchson, and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this military movie with a dash of alien invasion, you might wish to skip this post.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I watched War Machine, a military movie with a little bit of alien invasion. We wouldn’t watch it again but it WAS entertaining.
One of the things I really liked about the movie is
it didn’t wrap up everything at the end.
The aliens Alan Ritchson’s character was facing were defeated (as is expected in one of these movies). ALL of the aliens weren’t defeated. The war is definitely not over.
Which makes sense.
No species would send all of their warriors into a first battle with an unknown enemy. And a species that has traveled through space has likely encountered a LOT of surprises, things they haven’t expected. They wouldn’t assume an easy victory.
I was happy with the temporary ending.
We, storytellers, don’t have to solve all of the world’s problems in one story. We can end stories on a small satisfying victory.
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Wicked: For Good And Romance Endings
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about Wicked: For Good, the second and final movie concluding the story of the Wizard Of Oz’s ‘Wicked’ Witch, and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this magical movie with a solid romance novel-worthy ending (YES!!!!), you might wish to skip this post.
I was dreading watching Wicked: For Good. I loved the first movie so very much and the trailers looked like the second part of Elphaba’s story would ruin that for me.
It didn’t ruin it. At all.
It made me love the story MORE.
I LOVED Wicked: For Good.
The characters held true. The relationships evolved and grew stronger. The tie-ins to the original Wizard Of Oz were magical. The girl power and friendship rocks messages remain.
And the ending…the ending, my friends. It had all the aspects of a great romance novel ending.
It was unexpected and hard fought for.
During the dark moment, I truly thought all hope of ANY sort of happy ending was impossible. I definitely didn’t think there would be a romantic happy ending.
Yet there was.
And it was delightful and different, not-at-all what I thought their romantic happy ending would be like yet it was perfect for them.
This is definitely a movie to rewatch when writing an ending to a romance novel. It is inspiring.
(smiles)
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The Running Man (2025) And Love Interests
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about The Running Man (2025) and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this action-packed remake, you might wish to skip this post.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I enjoyed The Running Man (2025). It is a one watch only movie for us but it was entertaining and I liked the updates made to the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger version.
One update that I really WISH they would have made was creating more room for at least one positive female-facing character.
Three of the four main female characters were…awful.
The female contestant was a terrible person, glorifying wealth and putting the people around her in danger. The mom of the helper was a bloodthirsty cruel being. The reluctant helper was the cliché shallow Kardashian-watching type of female whom the hero had to convince to do the right thing.
The fourth main female character, the wife, was missing in action. The love of her life, the father of their child, was in serious danger and she…did nothing. Nothing to help him. Sure, she cared for their child. But otherwise, she remained in hiding (that SHE didn’t even arrange to do) and, basically, went on with her life.
That’s some cold sh*t right there. She is definitely not a romance novel love interest. (shakes head)
And this was definitely a movie produced by men for men.
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Hamnet And Grief
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about Hamnet and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this heart-wrenching movie based on the book by Maggie O’Farrell about the life of the WIFE of William Shakespeare, you might wish to skip this post.
I recently watched Hamnet and wowsers, I think this is the best movie dealing with grief I’ve ever watched. It is definitely a three hanky watch.
One of the things that makes it so good, so touching is…much of the movie is happy. We see and feel the happiness, the love, the building of hope.
The main character, Anne, Shakespeare’s wife, has a realistic, some might say rather cynical view on life. She doesn’t expect much from life or from other people.
This changes throughout the movie. She begins to hope. She forms connections with other people, with the community. She laughs. She smiles. Joy surrounds her.
Then she experiences a great tragedy and that hard-found hope is yanked away from her.
She is sad, of course. We often talk about the sadness with loss.
But she is also angry, really, really angry. And that is a part of grief also.
As is the feeling of isolation, the feeling we are grieving alone, that the rest of the world has moved on and forgotten yet we haven’t and we don’t ever want to.
The answer to this isolation in the movie is brilliant. That answer and Anne’s reaction to it made me cry even harder than the initial tragedy.
This is a great movie to watch right before writing the dark moment, the big make-the-reader cry moment in your romance novel.
But have some tissues on hand when you do this!
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Troll And Seeing Romance Where It Isn’t Shown
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about the Netflix movie Troll and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this fun and surprisingly good monster film, you might wish to skip this post.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I watched Troll on a lark. We saw Troll 2 had released and figured it must have been good or enjoyable enough to warrant a sequel.
My friends, it was both. It was fun and fantastical and emotionally deep in places. The characters were interesting and well developed. The expected army guy? He had depth and humor and was extremely likable.
It was also a Norwegian film, which made it even more fun, because characters switched between languages often and fluidly. (It had English subtitles.) And the scenery was gorgeous.
Did Troll have romance?
No. Not on the screen.
As a romance reader and writer, however, I saw how romantic relationships could form between certain characters and I was pairing (and more) characters up during the entire movie.
Troll will definitely inspire some future stories from me.
(smiles)
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Predator: Badlands And Intelligent Adversaries
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about Predator: Badlands and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this SciFi Action Movie set on a fantastical alien world, you might wish to skip this post.
I LOVED Predator: Badlands and yes, I have enjoyed ALL of the Predator movies (my favorite being the first Alien vs Predator movie, which I would consider to be a romance if the hero’s fate wasn’t what it was – dang it).
But Predator: Badlands is special.
Because the alien world it is set in is absolutely amazing. It is worth viewing for this alone.
There are magical little details like the razor grass, which could very well have ancestors in common with our Earth vegetation. Grass cuts on our planet are extremely painful (they are similar to deep paper cuts, yet with the increased possibility of infection). And there are plants that are silver in color.
Every plant and/or creature in this alien world has possible relatives here on Earth. As someone who loves world building AND evolutionary biology, this level of care is impressive.
Another reason to watch Predator: Badlands is the big baddie.
The unkillable creature the Predator is hunting has earned its place at the top of this hostile planet’s extensive food chain.
One of my pet peeves are dumb big baddies. Yes, underlings can be idiots. That is highly likely. (grins) And yes, villains can make mistakes (one common human mistake is overconfidence).
But you don’t get to the top by being dumb (So NEVER dismiss a real life big baddie because you feel they lack intelligence. They don’t. You’re underestimating them.).
In Predator: Badlands, we are shown that the Big Baddie, the alien creature the Predator is hunting, can learn. Quickly. It can communicate. It can problem solve.
It is formidable opponent.
And that makes this already action-packed movie even more thrilling. And interesting.
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