Two upper-class teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. Together, they hatch a plan to solve both of their problems-no matter what the cost. (IMDB)

This is a decent thriller. The majority of the film failed to draw me in, but the last half was actually very good. I really enjoyed the use of music and silence and how the film focused more on building suspense than just showing graphic violence (which it could have totally done).

Rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ 6/10

A few years ago, I found a recipe on Pinterest for "healthy peanut butter cookies". Somehow, when you leave out adding any flour to them it makes them healthy. However, considering how much sugar it uses, I disagree with the "healthy" title and think moderation should definitely be used when consuming these yummy snacks.

From Academy Award (R)-nominee Hiromasa Yonebayashi - animator on Studio Ghibli masterpieces Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo, and director of When Marnie Was There and The Secret World of Arrietty - comes a dazzling new adventure about a young girl named Mary, who discovers a flower that grants magical powers, but only for one night. Mary is an ordinary young girl stuck in the country with her Great-Aunt Charlotte and seemingly no adventures or friends in sight. She follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest, where she discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower, a rare plant that blossoms only once every seven years and only in that forest. Together the flower and the broomstick whisk Mary above the clouds, and far away to Endor College - a school of magic run by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But there are terrible things happening at the school, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to try to set things right. Based on Mary Stewart's 1971 classic children's book The Little Broomstick, Mary and The Witch's Flower is an action-packed film full of jaw-dropping imaginative worlds, ingenious characters, and the stirring, heartfelt story of a young girl trying to find a place in the world. (Rotten Tomatoes)

Mary and the Witch's Flower is the first full-length feature released by Studio Ponoc, a company founded by former Studio Ghibli producer Yoshiaki Nishimura. This film had several former Ghibli animators working on it, so I had an idea of what to expect when it came to animation. 

Squeezed into a coat closet with his classmates and teacher, first grader Zach Taylor can hear gunshots ringing through the halls of his school. A gunman has entered the building, taking nineteen lives and irrevocably changing the very fabric of this close-knit community. While Zach's mother pursues a quest for justice against the shooter's parents, holding them responsible for their son's actions, Zach retreats into his super-secret hideout and loses himself in a world of books and art. Armed with his newfound understanding, and with the optimism and stubbornness only a child could have, Zach sets out on a captivating journey towards healing and forgiveness, determined to help the adults in his life rediscover the universal truths of love and compassion needed to pull them through their darkest hours. (Goodreads)

I do not believe I have read a book that was more heartbreaking than Only Child. I found myself with tears in my eyes the majority of the time I was reading it. The reactions are all very human and believable and the mindset of the six-year-old Zach is exactly what I would expect. While his father takes the more silent suffering approach and his mother deals with her grief by focusing all of her anger on the family of the shooter, Zach (who is also dealing with PTSD from surviving the tragedy) deals with grief by listing and separating his feelings so they are no longer "all mixed up". His approach is ultimately the most mature solution and I loved how well the author portrayed this (and how it eventually helps his parents as well). What I appreciated the most about this book though, was how it dealt with the shooter and his family. I have read many other books with this same sort of story (from a different point of view) and I am pretty sure this is the first that encouraged sympathy to all involved. Even better, this is encouraged by a child and helps his family come back together.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4.5/5

Book & Author Information: Goodreads

Ballerina Dominika Egorova is recruited to 'Sparrow School,' a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon. Her first mission, targeting a C.I.A. agent, threatens to unravel the security of both nations. (IMDB)

This was an "I want to watch something, but not any of the 30+ movies I have saved in my Netflix queue" movie choice. I did remember being mildly intrigued by the trailers when I first saw them, but I did not have any real expectations on if it would be good or not.