Category Archives: Entertainment

Alexander #VeryBadDay Movie Review

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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Movie Review

By Erin

*I attended a screening of this film as a guest of Disney for purposes of this post. All thoughts and opinions remain my own. All photos and videos are courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.*

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Today is one of those days for me. I started to come down with a sore throat last night, my back is killing me, I ended up having to call in sick to work today, which I rarely ever do, and I needed to finish up this review when all I want to do is sleep. Not the best way to start off your day! It looks like I am in good company though as the Cooper family is having one of those days too, which you can now go see for yourself in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day! No matter what kind of day you are having; good, bad, in-between, the Coopers will have you laughing out loud and making whatever kind of day you were having seem like the best day ever in comparison.

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” is based on the 1972 beloved classic children’s book by Judith Viorst. It was one of my favorites growing up, I still have it and love to read it to my students. To make the book into a movie though, they of course had to elaborate quite a bit, and add a lot of crazy events to create a feature-length film. It does stick to the horrible day theme very well as we follow the Coopers on all of their hilarious misadventures together as a family.

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The movie starts out with Alexander Cooper (Ed Oxenbould)– who is an 11-year old with a birthday coming up, experiences the most terrible and horrible day ever, which started out with getting gum stuck in his hair, and just keeps getting worse with one calamity after another. When he decides to tell his super cheerful and upbeat family about his most disastrous day, he gets little sympathy and begins to wonder if bad things only happen to him. The rest of his families lives appear to be pretty perfect. #Blessed.

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The movie continues and soon Alexander learns that he’s not alone when his mother (Jennifer Garner), father (Steve Carell), brother (Dylan Minnette) and sister (Kerris Dorsey) all find themselves living through their own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Anyone who says there is no such thing as a bad day just hasn’t had one. Or they just won’t admit to having one. The important part though is that they all stick together as a family and get through the day.

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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

By Erin

*I attended the press junket for this film as a guest of Disney for purposes of this post. All thoughts and opinions remain my own. All photos and videos are courtesy of Walt Disney Studios*

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY

We all have bad days. Some more than others, including myself a lot of the time I feel like! As a child, I adored the book, so I am thrilled to see this one in theaters. I still have the book and enjoy taking a look back at it every now and then. Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is such a funny movie starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner. Alexander is a young boy who at 11 years old experiences one of the most terrible and horrible days of his young life! After making a wish that he soon regrets, he begins to find out that he isn’t the only one who has bad days. The movie has a good message about family coming together and having each other’s backs, even when things are going terribly wrong. It is the perfect family movie that we can all relate to while enjoying a good laugh.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the film and see what tid-bits the cast has to share with us about making the film. In attendance was Jennifer Garner, Bella Thorne, Dylan Minnette, Ed Oxenbould, Kerris Dorsey, and Steve Carell.

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY

Did the cast have any bad days on set?

Jennifer Garner  told us about a miserably hot day shooting outdoors on location when the temperatures out were getting unbearable. Steve Carell  was humorously mocking her answer and you could tell instantly that the cast really enjoyed working together.

What did Jennifer Garner think about getting to work  with Dick Van Dyke during his cameo in the film?

She said he could do whatever he wanted since it’s Dick Van Dyke, even if he was screaming at her. She wished the rest of the cast could have been with her though. As this was the only time they weren’t all together.

 Has Jennifer cracked what it takes to make a good mother?

Jennifer: “Gosh, have I cracked what it is to be a great mom? Nooooo! But that’s the great thing about being a parent, it’s that everyday is a fresh start. You always can say “Today we’re going to try this.” And if it goes horribly, you say “Today we’re throwing that out, we’re trying this.” That’s part of what I like about being a mom in general.
But I do, I have enjoyed this new world of playing moms. This little kid whose mom is a teacher at my child’s school said, “Mrs. Affleck is a lot like my mom, she gets to have a lot of other kids.” (laugh) You feel that way. You form these relationships.”

The Cooper family in the film is overly positive and support each other most of the time, is there any danger to that positivity at all in the real world?

Jennifer: “Of course. Your kids need to be allowed to have a bad day and you need to show them that it’s ok to have the whole range of emotions, you should have it all, you have rage and anger and sadness, so there’s a lot of room for joy and happiness as well.”

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Big Hero 6 in the Streets of San Fransokyo

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Big Hero 6 in the Streets of San Fransokyo

By Erin

*I attended an early press day for this film as a guest of Disney for purposes of this post. All thoughts and opinions remain my own. All photos and videos are courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.*

In just a little over a month, Big Hero 6 is set to launch into hearts everywhere and onto the big screen.  Last month,  I introduced you all to a First Look at Who’s Who in Disney’s “Big Hero 6″ where we met the Big Hero 6 Gang: Hiro Hamada, Baymax, Go Go Tango, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, & Fred.

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Hiro & Baymax

Now, we’ll go into a little bit more detail about where all of the Big Hero 6 adventures are set to take place. The filmmakers decided to set the pace of this action-packed story into an all-new world that embraced the Japanese influences, but also provided a fresh take unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Director Don Hall thought about San Francisco originally, but then thought to mesh this city up with Tokyo to create the totally unique city of San Fransokyo. This created a much more playful and exotic tone to the setting of the film. It was something that could be created with endless visual possibilities between the two cities, which are pretty different aesthetically. By meshing these two unique cities together made for a really cool place to set the story.

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Filmmakers took trips to both San Francisco and Tokyo and observed the unique architecture of each city to give San Fransokyo its visually distinct look.

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