Atomic Fangirl

Alrighty 90s children.  Let’s get this retro party started, shall we?  Because today brings passes for the Baltimore area screening of Goosebumps!  Yeah, didn’t we all read those suckers back in the day?  Yes, I’m an 80s child, thanks for noticing. But I still dug the ‘bumps.  Because scary.  Synopsis!

Scholastic has over 400 million Goosebumps books worldwide in 32 languages in print since the series introduction in 1992, earning critical acclaim and dominating global best seller lists. R.L. Stine has been recognized as one of the bestselling children’s authors in history.  Now, the literary phenomenon is coming to the big screen.

In Goosebumps, teenager Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette), upset about moving from a big city to a small town, finds a silver lining when he meets the beautiful girl, Hannah (Odeya Rush), living right next door, and makes a quick friend in Champ (Ryan Lee).  But every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach’s comes when he learns that Hannah’s mysterious dad is in fact R.L. Stine (Jack Black), the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series.  As Zach starts learning about the strange family next door, he soon discovers that Stine holds a dangerous secret: the creatures that his stories made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping them locked up in their books.  When Stine’s creations are unintentionally released from their manuscripts, Zach’s life takes a turn for the weird.  In a crazy night of adventure, it’s up to Zach, Hannah, Champ, and Stine to team up and get all of these figments of Stine’s imagination – including Slappy the Dummy, the girl with the haunted mask, the gnomes and many more – back in the books where they belong to save the town.

Ready to see your favorite R.L. Stine spookies on the big screen?  Right this way… Continue reading →

Bleah.  It’s rainy, chilly and generally dreary out.  So why not take a break from watching kitten videos to grab some free screening passes?  Don’t worry, they’ll still be there.

Today, it’s 99 Homes.  It’s one of those films I’m sure will get me riled up, because it’s about the housing market, and how so many folks got booted when everything went bust.  Synopsis!

In this timely thriller, charismatic and ruthless businessman, Rick Carver (Academy nominee Michael Shannon), is making a killing by repossessing homes – gaming the real estate market, Wall Street banks and the US government. When he evicts Dennis Nash (Golden Globe nominee Andrew Garfield), a single father trying to care for his mother (Academy Award nominee Laura Dern) and young son (newcomer Noah Lomax), Nash becomes so desperate to provide for his family that he goes to work for Carver – the very man who evicted him in the first place. Carver promises Nash a way to regain his home and earn security for his family, but slyly seduces him into a lifestyle of wealth and glamour.  It is a deal-with-the-devil that comes with an increasingly high cost – on Carver’s orders, Nash must evict families from their homes. As Nash falls deeper into Carver’s web, he finds his situation grows more brutal and dangerous than he ever imagined.

Shannon is already getting rave reviews for his performance as the shifty Gordon Gecko-y businessman.  So though I’ll be boo-hissing at his character the whole time, I’m still stoked to see it.  You too?  Well, right this way… Continue reading →