Film Fridays! -- July 3, 2015

Welcome to a new weekly feature here on my blog! I have long been considering starting up a second blog for all of the other stuff I love, like movies and music and concerts and stage shows. But honestly, I couldn't find the time or the energy to do a whole second blog AND continue being caught up on this blog. So instead, I just decided to bring my love of movies to my bookish blog, and use Fridays as a brief break from all the bookish talk! (That was a lot of B words in one sentence. Whew!)

So begins Film Fridays! Here's what you can expect from me in a Film Fridays post: 

• Reviews -- I'll let you know what (if any) movies I've watched in the past week, and I'll write mini-reviews for each one to let you know what I thought. If I watch a book-to-movie adaptation, I will still write a full review for it, and it will be linked in this post, as well!
• Releases -- I'll let you know what movies came out on DVD each week (DVDs are released on Tuesdays), and what movies are being in released in theaters (movies are released to theaters on Wednesdays or, usually, Fridays.) 
• What I'll Be Watching -- I'll let you know what movies I plan on watching in the next week, either on DVD or at the theaters. I'll also use this space to share any trailers that have recently dropped for upcoming movies, and give you opinions on the trailer. 

If any of that sounds like something you'd be interested in, please be sure to stop by every Friday for a new Film Fridays post! But enough explaining now; let's get right into the first edition! 

Reviews

I hate to disappoint on this, my first Film Friday, but I haven't actually watched any movies in the past week. I know, I know! I've just been very wrapped up in TV recently. Between both Big Brother and So You Think You Can Dance starting, and The Bachelorette getting super dramatic, I've been very invested in reality television lately, so that usually only leaves me and my mom the weekends to watch movies. But last weekend, we started watching Empire, and by watching two episodes a day, we finished the first season in less than a week. (Sidenote: if you're skeptical about Empire, try it out. If you're not hooked after the second episode, then it might not be for you. But it is SO good, and the music is fantastic.) 

BUT, I will be writing my film reviews for the big screen adaptations of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Austenland this week, so look for those links here next week for sure! 

Releases

This was a relatively slow week for DVD releases. On Tuesday, June 30th, the following movies came out on DVD and Blu-ray:

Title: Get Hard

Starring: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart

Title: While We're Young

Starring: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried

However, two huge movies released to theaters this week, and both released on Wednesday, July 1st: 

Title: Magic Mike XXL

Starring: Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer

Title: Terminator Genisys

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney

What am I most excited for out of all this week's releases? MAGIC MIKE XXL. I saw the first movie with my mom in theaters when it came out, so we're both extremely excited for the sequel. Especially because we both adore every guy in it. 

What I'll Be Watching

To be perfectly honest, I might not get to watch any movies in the next week, either. Unless we're just feeling super gung-ho about a certain movie in particular. Sometimes we get like that. But my main priority will be the 3rd season of Orange is the New Black. It's been out for almost a month, and because of our vacation in Florida, I didn't get to start it yet. Then we had to catch up on PLL when we came back, and then we jumped into Empire because the whole season was On Demand, and we wanted to catch it before it left. 

So it's OITNB time! If I watch any movies this week, it'll probably be Teen Beach 2. Because yeah, I loved the first one. My favorite recent Disney Channel Original Movie. 

However! The first trailer for Creed just dropped this week. Creed is the return of Rocky Balboa as he agrees to coach Apollo Creed's son, being played by Michael B. Jordan. (Yay!) What I love about this trailer is that it looks like a movie about Creed's son first and foremost, instead of a movie about Rocky coaching him. Rocky is there, but Creed is the main character. This trailer got me way more excited than I was before!

Tell me: what movies have YOU seen lately? What are you planning on seeing very soon? And what trailers are you the most excited about? Let me know in the comments below!