Review! The Fine Art of Pretending

Author: Rachel Harris

256 Pages--Ages 12 (and up)

Published by: Spencer Hill Contemporary on September 20, 2014

Summary (from rachelharriswrites.com):

According to the guys at Fairfield Academy, there are two types of girls: the kind you hook up with, and the kind you’re friends with. Seventeen-year-old Alyssa Reed is the second type. And she hates it. With just one year left to change her rank, she devises a plan to become the first type by homecoming, and she sets her sights on the perfect date—Justin Carter, Fairfield Academy’s biggest hottie and most notorious player.

With 57 days until the dance, Aly launches Operation Sex Appeal and sheds her tomboy image. The only thing left is for Justin actually to notice her. Enter best friend Brandon Taylor, the school’s second biggest hottie, and now Aly’s pretend boyfriend. With his help, elevating from “funny friend” to “tempting vixen” is only a matter of time.

But when everything goes according to plan, the inevitable “break up” leaves their friendship in shambles, and Aly and Brandon with feelings they can’t explain. And the fake couple discovers pretending can sometimes cost you the one thing you never expected to want.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 Announced

Before The Secret Life of Pets has even finished it's run in the regular theaters, Illumination has already announced the sequel and it's release date (July 13, 2018). If you follow my blog you already know what I thought about the first movie. I just wasn't the biggest fan even though critics and audiences seemed to like it and give it positive reviews. The Secret Life of Pets got a 75% "certified fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has grossed (as of August 8. 2016) $502.9 million worldwide.

Even though I didn't really like The Secret Life of Pets, I haven't completely disregarded the sequel. In fact for the Despicable Me franchise I actually liked the sequel more than the original, so it's completely possible that I will like this sequel more than the original. Though, I actually really liked the original Despicable Me in the first place, while I wasn't a big fan of The Secret Life of Pets so this sequel is going to have to be like 100x better for me to enjoy it. They haven't released any sort of summary about what the movie would be about, but it probably will be some sort of variation of this movie with wittier lines, a more cohesive story, and better character development.

[caption id="attachment_1402" align="aligncenter" width="768"] I wish this was how I was awaiting the sequel.[/caption]

Apparently Illumination believes that The Secret Life of Pets is successful enough to constitute a new franchise around it, making it the second from Illumination after Despicable Me. Illumination was founded in 2007 and it's first movie, Despicable Me, was released in 2010. I remember in 2010 walking through my mall there were HUGE posters of the characters hanging from the ceiling, there were McDonalds Despicable Me toys, and the commercials were airing all the time. Everywhere I turned there was something Despicable Me related! There was no way that you could miss that the movie was coming out. All that marketing payed off because the studio grossed $543.1 million on a $69 million budget. For a studio's first film it really became extremely successful with the second film grossing $970.8 million and the Minions spinoff grossing $1.159 billion.  I wonder will The Secrets Life of Pets franchise be as successful? Honestly, I don't think so but I also didn't think the original movie was very good and most people seem to disagree with me so who knows? I'll probably keep an eye on this franchise out of curiosity, but I don't see myself participating much in the consumer craze.

Review! Wacky Raceland #1

Writers: Ken Pontac

Artists: Leonardo Manco

32 Pages—Teen+

Published by: DC Comics on June 8, 2016

Summary (from dccomics.com):

The world has ended, but the race has just begun! Penelope Pitstop, Peter Perfect and the rest of the Wacky Racers vie for the finish line in a contest where the winner takes all and second place is death. Today’s trial: the shattered maze of freeways known as the Überpass, where they’re beset by giant sand beasts, mutated insects, and worst of all, Dick Dastardly’s murderously poor sportsmanship. The last thing they need after surviving the race is a brutal bar fight in a local dive, but that’s just what they get!