The Iceman

I didn't know much about The Iceman going in to it, except that it's based on the true story of Richard Kuklinski, a contract killer, whose wife and daughter didn't know his true profession until he was arrested in 1986. However, fantastic acting performances make this a great movie that is definitely worth seeing.

Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) works as a dubber for porn movies, although when he meets his girlfriend, Deborah (Winona Ryder), who will later be his wife and the mother of his two daughters, he tells her he's a dubber for Disney cartoons. When the porn shop gets invaded by gangster Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta), Roy tells Richard that if he wants to, he can work for him as a contract killer. Earlier in the movie, Richard killed someone he was unhappy with, just because the guy made him angry, so we know that even though he appears to be mild-mannered, he's definitely got a dark side; the money is good, too, so Richard accepts the job. When he leaves a teenage girl at a crime scene as a witness, Roy gets angry with Richard and tells him he's retired, and can't work for any other gangsters too; Richard eventually disobeys Roy and starts partnering with Mr. Freezy (Chris Evans), who owns an ice cream cart where he also stores the bodies he's killed and frozen. Richard's family is never the wiser to all of this, but then a series of unlucky events happen, and things starts to go downhill for Richard.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby has lived as many previous incarnations, but its newest is directed by Baz Luhrmann, known for such lavish spectacles as Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet (1996), which Leonardo DiCaprio also starred in. I really liked Luhrmann's version, however, and it brings a certain amount of glitz to the story that was previously missing in film adaptations.

Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio) lives in West Egg (Long Island) and is known for throwing fantastic parties. But the man himself is a mystery; not many people have met the host behind all of these fabulous soirees. Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), a writer-turned-stock-broker, lives in a tiny cottage next to the Gatsby estate, and one day receives a handwritten invitation to Gatsby's next party. He arrives at Gatsby's with his invitation in hand, only to find out that he was the only one who received an invitation - everyone else from the area knows to just show up. He meets Gatsby, and later in the film Gatsby has a request for him: to invite Nick's cousin Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), a married woman, to tea, so that he can be reunited with her. Five years ago, when Gatsby was an officer in the war, they were deeply in love, but she later married Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton), a rich man, when she found out Gatsby was penniless.

We later find out that everything - the house, the riches, the whole persona - was for Daisy, as Gatsby, who is very naive, always believed he would win her back. And for a time, he does: they have a summer affair at his place, while her husband Tom continued to carry on with his mistress, Myrtle (Isla Fisher), and no one is the wiser. But when he decides that Daisy should leave her husband for him, a series of unfortunate events happens, and things only get worse from there.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

I'm a little surprised that in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, The Reluctant Fundamentalist's release date wasn't pushed back a few months, as it tells the story of terrorists kidnapping an American professor in Pakistan. It was definitely interesting to see America's prejudice towards Muslims and other people of color through a Pakistani's eyes, post-9/11, but others may not particularly feel like seeing a movie like this with the events in Boston fresh in our minds. The movie is worth seeing, but runs a little on the slow side, which may deter some people from enjoying it; I in particular sometimes have issues with slow-paced movies.

Changez, pronounced "Chan-GHEZ" (Riz Ahmed) is living the American dream. He moves to the U.S. to pursue a Princeton education, and then snags a coveted spot as an analyst at a top New York firm, where he works for Jim Cross (Kiefer Sutherland) who quickly promotes him to an associate. He meets and falls in love with Erica (Kate Hudson), a photographer and artist, and he wants to plan a future with her. After 9/11 happens, however, he must deal with much prejudice; on the way home from a business trip with Jim and another colleague, he is pulled aside at the airport and taken to a back room, where he is strip-searched. In another situation, he finds his tires slashed and has an expletive said to him by a white man. Changez soon finds himself disillusioned with America, and he quits his job and moves back to Pakistan, since his work visa is no longer valid.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist opens in 2011, ten years later, with Changez now working as a professor, with Bobby (Liev Schreiber) questioning him as to his involvement, if any, with the kidnapping of one of Changez's colleagues, an American. The people that Bobby work for believe that Changez or his family is involved in the kidnapping, and Bobby tries to talk to Changez, who ends up telling him his entire story.

Iron Man 3

We last saw Tony Stark in The Avengers, but he's now back in an Iron Man-only movie, Iron Man 3. Although the film makes repeated references to events that happened in the previous movie, this film can definitely be on its own without seeing the others; for those that are familiar with the series, however, it may just be its best movie yet.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) now lives with his girlfriend, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who has recently moved in with him to his California mansion. A new "bad guy," called The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), has been bombing the U.S., however, and soon he goes too far: one of Tony's friends and his former bodyguard, Happy (Jon Favreau), is injured in one of the blasts, and Tony Stark vows vengeance on the Mandarin on live TV, going so far as to giving his address and challenging the Mandarin to seek him out. Needless to say, that wasn't a smart idea, and Stark and Pepper soon find themselves struggling for their lives as his house is bombed from helicopters in the air. After that, Stark is convinced that there's something more to the story, and he goes off on an adventure to seek more info, with a little boy named Harley (Ty Simpkins) as his guide.

Win Justin Timberlake Tickets from Ellen on Local 4 #Ellen4Justin

JT is going to be performing in the D on August 6th at Ford Field, and it should be an amazing concert. Only one problem: tickets are sold out.

But guess what? You can enter to win two FREE tickets to his sold-out concert from Local 4 (ClickOnDetroit.com) by clicking here. It's very simple to enter, too - all you have to do is log on to Ellen's site by May 3rd and share why you love Justin, and you must be 18+ to enter. The winner will be announced on May 6th on her show.

Before that, though, you can take part in the #Ellen4Justin Twitter party, on Wednesday, May 1st at 8pm EST. Your hosts @emilyhay and @laurenweber84 will be giving away some official Ellen Show swag, and no RSVP is required! Check it out for the chance to win some fun prizes - all you have to do is follow the #Ellen4Justin hashtag on Twitter.

And make sure to watch Ellen during the month of May for the latest trends, entertainment guests, and more! She's one of the funniest talk show hosts, and I love watching her show.

*Disclosure: I was selected for this sponsored post by Hay There Social Media. All opinions expressed are my own.

Sweet Relish Sunday (#4 of 4)

Well, we've now made it through 3 weeks of Sweet Relish Sunday - welcome to week 4, the last week! This week, I will be talking about 5 Necessities for Family Movie Night.

I've chosen two family-friendly DVDs/Blu-rays along with a Blu-ray player and some sweet and salty treats that are essentials for any movie night. Here are my picks:

• ParaNorman Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. This movie was one of the best kids' movies I saw in 2012, and the title character shares his name with my dad, which was also kind of fun. Be aware that it may be a little scary for younger children, though.
• Wreck-It Ralph on DVD. Another one of my favorite 2012 kids' movies, and a great choice for the younger children or if you think your child will be too scared to see ParaNorman. Or, if you have time, you could even watch them both!
• LG Blu-ray player. This is the same Blu-ray player that I own, and although it has ethernet and not WiFi, it's a great choice for those who want to use their Blu-ray player to play Blu-ray and DVDs, not connect to Netflix or the internet, for the most part. It's only $79.99 right now on Amazon, too (remember when Blu-ray players used to be $300+??), which is a nice deal.
• Pop Secret Movie Theater Butter Popcorn. If you can't have popcorn from the theater, why not make your own right in your house? Pop Secret has a lot of different flavors of their microwaveable popcorn, but their Movie Theater Butter is one of the best, in my opinion.
• Sanders Milk Chocolate Hot Fudge Dessert Topping. Obviously you would need some ice cream to go with this too (or not ... I won't judge ...) but it's pretty hard to find ice cream being sold online, which is why I didn't add that to this Relish list. You can get Sanders online at Walmart.com and I imagine Sanders would have it on their own website as well.

What are your essentials for your family's movie nights? And what was your favorite family-friendly movie of 2012?

*Disclosure: I was compensated for writing a series of blog posts about Sweet Relish and using their site to compile lists. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

The Big Wedding

The Big Wedding may be the fluffiest of "fluff movies" that I've seen lately. With an all-star cast encompassing everyone from Robert De Niro to Topher Grace, I expected it to be hilarious; unfortunately, the script was not great, and there was little-to-no character development, for the most part.

Don (De Niro) and Ellie (Diane Keaton) are preparing for the wedding of their adopted son, Alejandro (Ben Barnes) to Missy (Amanda Seyfried). Don and Ellie are divorced, and Don lives in their former house with his girlfriend, Bebe (Susan Sarandon), who used to be Ellie's best friend - until Ellie caught Don cheating on her with Bebe. Don and Ellie haven't really spoken for the past ten years, so things are awkward, to say the least, when the family all reunites. Alejandro's birth mother, Madonna (Patricia Rae), who is Spanish, is also very Catholic - where divorcing is considered a sin - and Alejandro asks Don and Ellie to pretend to be married for the wedding weekend, so that Madonna won't think badly of him and his family ... and that's when the fun starts.