Summer's Top 5

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Most of the movie sites I follow post a Top 10 list by the end of the summer. Seeing as I am but a peasant I haven't seen enough movies to form a Top 10. So instead I shall now present to you Joe Moore's Top 5 favorite films from the summer of 2015.

5) The Gift

The trailers made this captivating thriller look like a typical psycho revenge flick a la Single White Female. I can assure you it is anything but. There is no black and white here. Each character is drawn out enough that you understand where each is coming from. That's all I will say. A remarkable, engrossing dramatic thriller from first-time writer/director Joel Edgerton.

4) Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

I just watched this pulsating action-thriller this afternoon so it may be too soon to add this in my Top 5 but screw it. It engaged me and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire ride. I'd even go as far as to say it's better than Ghost Protocol, but that would be pushing it. Cruise is still a superstar, but his female co-star Rebecca Ferguson sure gives him a run for his money.

3) Inside Out

This charming family flick is definitely a return to form for Pixar after a few so-so entries. While maybe not as good as Wall-E or Up, this film ingeniously takes us on a journey inside the human mind. And just like any good Pixar movie, it tugs on the heart strings along the way. Great voice cast too!

2) Trainwreck

I've always enjoyed Judd Apatow's movies. If slightly overlong (and this movie continues that trend) there's something hilarious and real he brings to his films. And this is no exception. Plus he has the hilarious Amy Schumer as his writer/star. The two work wonders together. This flick is hilarious, sweet, raunchy, and adorable all at once. Loved it!

But the top goes to...

1) Mad Max: Fury Road

As if any other movie could possibly measure up to this instant action classic. George Miller's return to his roots is without a doubt the best movie of the year. It's a non-stop, balls-to-the-wall, over-the-top, adrenaline rush. Tom Hardy seamlessly steps into the role that made Mel Gibson a star, but this movie belongs to Charlize Theron. Her Furiosa's heroine ranks right up there with Ripley and Sarah Connor. Talk about impressive! I can't wait to watch his endlessly entertaining flick when it collides into stores next week!

So there ya go. There are many movies I still have yet to see. Hopefully I can catch them before the end of the year. Until then, what are some of your favorite flicks so far this year? Let me know, and I'll see you at the movies!

It's My Passion. Passion!

I've been working on my main screenplay a lot lately. Which is awesome! Over the past few years, I would pick it up and write for a couple of weeks or so only to put it down and not work on it for months at a time. The last time I completed a draft was in 2009. 6 years ago. That's ridiculous! 

This time around I decided my screenplay needed a severe makeover. I started from scratch. I pinpointed who these characters were, their past, present, and goals for the future. I discarded unnecessary plot points. Anything that didn't have to do with the protagonist and his story was tossed out the window. 

So here's what I have:

     "Following the death of his father, high-school senior
     Peter Matthews isn't happy. He goes to school, works a 
     dull job, goes to bed, etc. It takes the help of 
     fellow classmate Sarah (along with his sister Liz and 
     friends) to help him realize what's missing in his life."

Not the most original or even very exciting plot line, I know. I also know the teenage coming-of-age genre is extremely crowded lately. It's Peter's journey to happiness that makes the story. I've sprinkled little details from my personal high school experiences into the script. Peter is a introverted kid with an unabashed love for 80s music and Spider-Man. He works as a cashier at a grocery store. His sister and her friends are ballet dancers who are very witty and always on their toes. I've also decided the story will be set in the spring of 2005, the year that I graduated high school. So there will be topical references sprinkled throughout the tale. The soundtrack will include lots of 80s tunes but also alternative songs from the turn of the century.

Basically it's going to be awesome. I'm really excited to be writing again! It's been far too long since I've enjoyed the writing process. The goal right now is to finish this draft. Then go from there. Who knows? Maybe this script will find its way on the big screen someday <GASP>! Whatever happens, I'll keep you posted.

Playing Catch-Up

Whoa. As per usual Joe Moore style, I have neglected my blog these past few months. I was doing really well there for a while. Over a year! That must be a new record. Anyway fret not for I have returned. Woo!

Here's a Cliffnotes version of these past few months:

1) The house is great! Moving in had its hiccups. Big hiccups actually. But excluding the occasional terrifying bug encounter things are fine now. It looks like somebody actually lives here rather than just squatting haha.

2) This summer my schedule is all over the place. I'm performing in Fantasmic, Hollywood Studios' nighttime show, four nights a week. Then Disney schedules me whatever they want around those four nights. While the variety in nice, I wouldn't mind a schedule that's more set in stone. Here's hoping I get that in the fall.

3) I was in a relationship for three months. The first two months were great! Unfortunately the last month was not. I'm not ashamed to talk about it, but I don't want to get into it on here. It was nice to be in a relationship again. For now it's back to the single life. Nuthin wrong with that!

4) I'm back to writing again! Not just on here. I'm working hard on my coming-of-age screenplay. It was time for a fresh start. I went all the way back to the beginning of the writing process. We're talking character and plot development. I'm already about halfway done. My main focus is to get through this draft. I haven't finished a draft since 2009 because I have this really irritating need to fix things as I write. Such is the curse of being a perfectionist. Gotta muscle through it. It's gonna be fun!

I suppose that's the gist of things. I have a lot of thoughts about the future, but I've talked about them on here before. I'm slowly but surely moving on with my life. I'll keep everybody updated of course. Until next time, peace!

House Hunters Orlando

For the past couple of months, the Sexy Ketchup Factory has been looking to change locations. That's right folks. Andie and I are moving out of our apartment of the past two years. (If you have to ask what a "Sexy Ketchup Factory" is, go watch Bob's Burgers on Netflix. I simply don't have time to explain the awesomeness of that show.) We were both kinda bummed because this has been a great apartment in a great location. We just couldn't afford to renew our lease in April. Wah wah. So a'house hunting we went!

There were the usual inconveniences of course. Houses were already taken, and the owner/agent had forgotten to take down the listing. Some places never responded to our inquiries. Others we found turned out to be a scam. We found one house online that was in a great location with a dream price. We drove by and called the realtor who apologized and informed us that the property was for sale and it was for A LOT of money. Good thing we checked before continuing with that place!

Once March came around, most of what we were finding was a lot of 2/1's. Andie and I agreed that as long as the house was in a good neighborhood and the one bathroom was big enough, that wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Last Friday (which is basically my Monday at work) I was browsing through housing options online when I found a 2/2 smack dab in the middle of our price range. It was only 10 minutes from where we live now, and it was right behind an absolutely delicious market we've visited. I texted Andie about it right away.

She got to see it first. She fell in love with it. The next day I had time to run by. Of course I loved it too. It was a little smaller than our apartment now, but there would be more storage space than we've had in a while. It would also need a little love, but that's something both Andie and I are good at so we decided to move forward...

...only to find the deposit was steep. Like wayyy more than we ever intended to spend. Cue exponential amounts of stress on both our parts. We agreed we didn't want to go back to square one, and after figuring out our finances for the next month, we decided to carry on.

TIME FOR MOORE STRESS!

We met with the landlord on Tuesday with our applications. He was a cool guy, but it was clear he wanted the deposit money ASAP. He was nice enough to let us distribute the amount for the next couple of weeks so that lifted a burden off our chests for half a second. Then he informed us that he would be showing the house the next day, and if these people had the deposit money in full that he would be giving the place to them. We smiled and agreed that was more than fair though I know on the inside both of us were screaming.

Now was time to scramble for more money. I was almost ready to sell myself on the streets. I live downtown. It would totally work. Or maybe my parents could help? Neither of us had any idea what to do. We did not want to let this place slip through our fingers. Before we let ourselves get too carried away worrying about where to pull out some nonexistent money, the landlord was already calling us. He had already run our applications, and our credit scores were good. He said we really seemed like good, honest kids and that we could just consider the house ours.

WHOA!!!

Yup. That was definitely a "Joey" whoa right there. Andie was screaming. I was in shock. I think I still am today. I mean both our budgets for this month are super tight. I know I can't spend any extra money at all. But ya know what, that house is ours! We won't be homeless or living in a van down by the river! This news definitely calls for a celebration, and I know exactly how to do that: drinking water and playing 80s/90s trivia. Good times ahead, y'all. Good times.

Wizards With Wi

I've been living in Orlando for essentially 8 years now. You would think that hanging out at Universal Studios wouldn't be such a big deal. But gurl you would be mistaken! Today I got to have a Universal play day with my sister from another mister, and let me tell you, there were shenanigans for all!

1) Other than attending Halloween Horror Nights every year since I've lived here in Orlando, I had not visited Universal since 2011. That is 4 years ago. FOUR YEARS.

2) My friend Wi texted me a couple of weeks ago saying she'd be in Orlando for a conference. I got super excited! What's that? What is a "Wi"? Let me explain. Wayyy back in the day, when I was a wee teenager dancing at The Studio, there were many MANY young ladies named Laura, two of whom were in my class. So we called them by the first initial of their last names. There was a Woo, short for Wootton and a Wi, short for Williams. Make sense? I hope so because we're moving on.

WI! This will be 9 years ago
this summer. NINE YEARS.

Wi and I decided it would be easiest to meet at Universal and have a play day. Which is perfect because (as I said before, you may recall) I haven't visited the Universal parks in yeeears! The parks opened up a new Harry Potter section last year that I still had yet to see. So yeah that was definitely what Wi and I were doing today. 

Btw, thank you Aaron for getting us into the parks today. We need to have a drinking night or a video game night (or both!!) sometime soon.

So with great excitement I attempted to get some sleep last night. HA! What a laugh. I maybe slept for four hours. I hadn't felt this excited about visiting a theme park since last summer when the family visited Disneyland for the first time ever. (And what a coincidink, Wi was there for that too!) This is a pretty big feat too because I don't get excited about visiting theme parks. It's Florida. It's hot. I hate hot. But I couldn't wait to be first years together with Wi!! It was going to be so much fun!

And it WAS so much fun!! We had a lot to do before attending our first year at Hogwarts. We had a get our robes and our wands and our animals!! Okay not really. But we did to go Gringotts to pull out some money, and while we were there some Death Eaters arrived along with He Who Shall Not Be Named. It was scurry. Okay not really. Escape from Gringotts was alright, but Diagon Alley was absolutely amazing! And so was King's Cross. And so was walking onto Platform 9 3/4. Just... gah. I was freaking out! On the inside of course. I rarely freak out for real, but on the inside I was Aunt Sue from SNL. It was all so cool! Kudos on the design team to put it all together so quickly and so magnificently. Now if only Disney could follow suit.. *ahem* 

So yeah. There was Butterbeer and chocolate frogs and flying cars and dementors and spiders (EEK!) and dragons and hippogriffs! Whoa. That was all in the first hour. There was also lots of screaming but mostly giggling on ALL the roller coasters (not roller coaster-type rides) that Universal has to offer. You see, neither Wi nor myself scream during thrill rides like normal people. No. We laugh. Hysterically. And it's awesome. We also apparently attract wannabe theme park know-it-alls and cheer squads wearing nothing but tanks and spanx. Guh-ross.

*sigh* It was all such a fun time. Oh! On the way out we had to ride an oldie but a goodie... The Mummy ride! Do not fret, people. It is just as fantastic as it was when I first rode it back in 2007. That ride will never get old. Just like those movies. So cheesy. So horrible. So awesome! Okay enough chit chat. Here are a few pictures. You are all so welcome! 

Just as excited (or scared) whether it's going to Hogwarts
or meeting a fire-breathing dragon

There are some GEMS in this picture
*please note the screaming child in front*

Yes there are things to do at Universal beyond Harry Potter.
Just ask the happiest nerd alive.

Yes today was so good! Yes you should all be jealous. Yes I do have to wake up in three hours to go to work all day. Thank you so much for asking! Am I tired? Of course not! Today was way too much fun, and I can't wait until I have another park day like this soon. Hopefully it's sooner than four years from now. Urgh okay now I'm just blabbering. Off to bed with thee! I leave you with one picture from Teen Girl Squad just because it's...

DEUCES!!