I went to go see Jurassic Park today. Since this movie isn't like the others I've talked about, we're going to do this a bit different. I loved this movie when it came out, and contrary to popular belief, while this movie didn't start my love of dinosaurs, it definitely cemented it. FYI, Dinotopia started my obsession with dinos when I was little. Considering I've seen this movie multiple times, have had the soundtrack and novels for ages now, I'm just going to direct your attention to some neat Jurassic Park things around the Internet.
ScreenJunkies do some hilarious 'honest trailers' for new and older movies people request.
WikiHow has a cute idea for making your own mini park here.Personally I'd make one in one of those garden window boxes with slightly appropriate looking herbs and flowers the dinos would play in.
Anyone remember doing or buyingthosedinosaurexcavatingkits? I loved those and still have some of the figures I've dug up. If you have a little one into dinos, this is such a cute craft to do for them!
Linking to the Pinterest article since I can't seem to find the original site.
Long story short, I went into this movie expecting explosions, sword fights, and possibly a montage. The movie gave me all that and threw in a shirtless Storm Shadow, so in all, it exceeded my expectations. I didn't see the first movie, so can't say how well they continued that story, but in the opening credits they did a quick recap to get everyone all caught up who may not have seen the first movie, so that was another plus. There were a lot of jokes and witty one liners thrown around, another plus for me. One thing I thought was weird was one of the bad guys at one point playing Angry Birds on his phone. First I thought it was silly and would date the movie once the fad passes, but after a few moments of thinking about the game, the concept became brilliant. They were using the game as a metaphor for what was going on in the scene.
All things considered, it's a fun brainless movie to go see for mindless action.
Any spoilers will be in white as usual.
Previews
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Smurfs 2
Monsters University
Despicable Me 2
Turbo
Epic
On to the movie.
Trailer
I loved watching this movie. the voice acting, animation, jokes, story...yes, I even liked the story even though it's one I've seen so many times before. Teenage child acts out against parental unit(s) to be free, parent keeps reining them in for (protection), crazy hijinks ensue, as they come to an understanding parental unit sacrifices themselves to save the child before the child can verbalize love and understanding, child realizes what a dink they've been, and Reunited! Time for a party! Yeah, it's a story I've been seeing often, but it's no less good and compelling here then it was in the others. So now that we know the story, moving on to other aspects. I thought the voice acting and choices for it were spot on. I went into the film knowing who voiced half the characters already, but they made me believe that they were their characters, that these cavemen would actually sound like Nicolas Cage and Ryan Reynolds. Some of the best one liners in the film were from Cage's character Grug.
The animation I also liked. In some scenes it's very colorful and vibrant, reminds me a tiny bit of the backgrounds they tried to do in Oz, but where that failed due to obvious green screening, this soared brilliantly since it was all the same animation style and the characters were actually there in the environment, and not imagining it.
This movie also came very close to making me cry because a situation made me feel sad for the characters. It takes something pretty powerful to get me there over fictional characters I haven't invested that much time in. There also *is* an after credits scene at the end of the movie. Nothing impactful though, just 3 of the elephant-mice playing their trunks like horns in a Mariachi band for a few moments. Cute, but skippable.
Just a quick update on everything going on right now. I know Burt Wonderstone just came out, but because of things happening, I'll be seeing it Monday the 25th, and the Croods on Tuesday the 26th. My job has had me working weird hours until after my 'vacation' this weekend. Which brings me to my other news. I'll be going to Zenkaikon this weekend, and being sad reading all the tweets and updates about Pax. Sadness will be contained within the hotel room though, as I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of new people and networking this weekend. I'll be a blonde, this weekened only, dressed as Joey Wheeler, or Max the Cap-Bearer. The days leading up will be full of last minute prep, both for the con and Easter and watching massive amounts of Mighty Max. Yes, I'm one of those people who when dressed as a character, I like getting the lines and way of speaking correct. Also my Joey is going to be abridged Joey, easier for me to do that accent and funnier.
I'm also hoping to be able to go to Otakon this year as well, but if I don't, there will still be the Renn Faire and other small events to go to.
Other news, some interesting things to talk about. I finally got around to watching the BBC's Sherlock, Loved it! I won't be getting The Hobbit when it comes out tomorrow, I'm waiting for the special extended edition like what I have with the LOTR dvd sets. Loved the finale of King of the Nerds. The one I was rooting for the whole time didn't win, but he's still awesome. I'm amazed it took me this long to find this movie, but I just finished watching 'Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.' I freaking love this movie, Chris O'Dowd is great in it, and will be getting it on dvd very soon and sharing it with all my friends. Not quite sure how to put this in words, between the dialogue, references to other means and stories f time travel, and the need to be thinking about the movie while watching it, it's all just amazing. The thinking part I might have liked the most, where you had to get involved in the movie thinking about the different timelines they cross into and change. It really makes you get invested in the movie, even though it's not really interactive.
Spoiler warning. If you plan on seeing this movie, (and you should, it's awesome!) I'm not whiting out the spoilery parts. Face it, it's a prequel, you should already know how it ends, it really is the journey that makes it fantastic in this case.
Previews
Admission
After Earth
Oblivion
Star Trek:Into Darkness
The Croods
Lone Ranger
Iron Man 3
The Movie
I keep trying to write this post over and over again, trying to find the words to describe this movie even the slightest bit objectively, but I can't, so I am so very sorry. You're getting full on fangirl mode here. I can't help it, I'm thinking about things in the movie, and characters and it's like I'm a little kid again, reading the Oz books for the first time.
Story this time is going to be short, since this is supposedly a direct prequel to The Wizard of Oz, I didn't go in blank slate like usual. The story is basically the Wizard, a circus magician named Oscar Diggs, Oz for short, is running away from a mess he created in his hot air balloon, and accidentally ends up in a tornado. He arrives in Oz, where he meets Theodora. She takes him to the Emerald City, meeting a flying monkey along the way. Oz saves the monkey from the lion about to eat him, and Finley swears a life debt, joining the party. They make it to the palace awaiting him, the wizard of the prophecy, and he meets Evanora, Theodora's sister. Evanora tells him to get the riches he needs to kill the wicked witch who poisoned her own father, the king, to assume the throne before being chased out.
So he sets off on his quest to break the wicked witches wand and restore order. On the way, they rescue a China Girl(not named in the movie or imdb), and though Oz wants her to go the safe path back to the Emerald City, she refuses and adamantly demands to go on with him. They finally find the witch, who turns out to be the good witch Glinda. She tells him the full truth, and we find that Evanora is the real wicked witch. She turns her sister evil by twisting the truth to hurt her feelings enough to eat an enchanted apple that will wither her heart and thereby destroy all emotions. This apple also makes her green and super evil.
From here on, the story is just preparation for the upcoming battle and the battle itself between good and evil.
There are so many good things about this movie, between the references to the books and movie that came before, to the amazing scenery in the background, cameos by Bruce Campbell and Ted Raimi? Come on, what's not to love? The only two things I found it lacking in, were the constant attempts on his life, it gets so suspenseful that he's going to die several times, but we all know he's not going to die, at least not in this movie. Second thing, I know it's supposed to focus on the three main witches in the original story and the movie, but I would have very much appreciated some passing comment at least on Locasta, Good Witch of the South. I suppose they just merged her with Glinda, seeing as Glinda kisses Oz on the forehead for protection before going up against the witches in the final battle. I loved that touch.
Final verdict is that this is an amazing movie, and good for anyone no matter their level of Oz fandom, only exception is young children, it does get scary several times and it is rated PG for a reason.
So one of the things you'll start to realize is my focus on story in these thoughts on movies posts. I don't consider myself much of an expert in other fields that reviewers tear apart, but I have done CGI work and video once. It's not that easy and it takes time to create something awesome. Underneath all the pretty-ness though, is a story trying to be told. That's what I try to focus on, since without a good story foundation and dialogue, all the best CGI and effects won't mean much more than keys jangled in front of a toddler's face. With that being said, on to the previews. Changing things to show all the previews in every post now instead of linking to other posts I'd shown them in already.
Iron Man 3
What more needs to be said? Seeing this one opening weekend.
Now You See Me
I want to see this one just to find out what the twist is.
G.I. Joe:Retaliation
Not sure what can be said about this one.
The Croods
New trailer gives us a bit more info on the movie than before, loving the sloth named belt, so cute.
Oblivion
Now I've said this looks like an interesting movie before, but I had a thought while watching the trailer tonight. Now, Tom Cruise is a man named Jack, and women are screaming his name as he or they are in danger. Anybody else seeing links to Legend that aren't there? I can just see the fanfics now about him being a descendant of Jack and Lily.
Pacific Rim
Tayron's dying to see this one, so I'll be seeing it too and letting you all know if it resembles Evangelion as much as the trailer hints.
Man of Steel
I'm just saying this now, unless nothing else besides graphic horror comes out the week this does, I'm not going to go see this movie in theaters. I might see it after it comes out on DVD, that's just my opinion.
Time for our feature presentation.
Taking a moment to talk about the pretty things first, before getting to the story. The CGI on the giants was superb, we saw it in 2D, but some parts with giants grabbing the people and getting right up in the camera, I can tell it would have looked awesome in 3D. Just the insane amount of detail that went into this one giant's close-up, where you could see all the pores on his nose, just perfect. The actors....some of them stood out more than others. Nicholas Hoult did an admirable job as a noble minded farm boy who likes rescuing damsels in distress no matter what their position in life and wants to go out and have adventures far away from the life he leads now. He kind of reminds me of a cross between Aladdin and Belle. Isabelle, played by Elanor Tomlinson, is very much like Princess Jasmine, wanting to escape from her gilded cage and upcoming marriage to Roderick, played by Stanley Tucci. Roderick is very much the evil guy here, planning to use the magic seeds he ruthlessly acquired and crown he stole to rule all of the kingdoms. Moving on to Ewan McGregor. Not sure how to explain his character. He's a noble knight who seems to be prepared for everything, but it just seems to me he hams it up like he's knowingly in a bad movie and having the best time of his life. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but he's actually one of my favorite people in the movie for his take on the character. Almost like he's the secondary comic relief after the first one dies.
Storytime. I'm going to write about some of the important-ish plot points and story lines as well as favorite lines, then do a bit of analyzing.
So the movie opens up with Jack, then his father reading to him, the story of the Giants up the beanstalk that happened hundreds of year ago. About how some mages enchanted seeds to climb up to heaven. Though instead of finding heaven they find giants that go on a rampage, and ravage the countryside. The king at the time, Eric, killed a giant and melted down his magic heart into a crown, which somehow gives him control over giants. He forces them to go back to their world in the sky before chopping down the beanstalk connecting the worlds. The story at this point switches back and forth between Jack and Isabelle as they are told this same story in different places, Jack's father telling him he can be a hero like the stories, and Isabelle's mother telling her she's the descendant of the Great King Eric, and she can be great too.
Skip forward to 10 years later, Jack's Father is dead and his uncle forces him to sell their horse and cart so they have money to fix the house and live. Going into town Jack wanders into a play happening about the Legend of the Beanstalk we heard before. (Warwick Davis the the narrator in the play. awesome!) His path crosses with Isabelle's for the first time as men harass her, so he comes to her rescue being the nice guy he is. Guards show up and he realizes she's royalty and continues on to sell his horse. Meanwhile, a monk steals the seeds from Roderick and gives them to Jack since Jack will be able to get out of the city and to the Abbey much easier than the monk. When Jack gets back to the farmhouse he lives in with his uncle, we get cuts back and forth between him and the princess, both being lectured on their place in life and what they should and should not do.
Hilarious line here, While trying to question the monk on where the seeds are, Roderick's sidekick Wicke kills him. When Roderick asks if anything was said, Wicke replies with 'No, he wouldn't spill the beans.' All of this guy's lines ate hilarious as he's meant to be the main comic relief.
So Isabelle runs away again to advance the plot and finds herself at Jack's house. They dance around the fact that they both know who she is for a bit before the beanstalk comes up through the house and carries it up to the world above. Jack isn't in the house like in all the stories however, he fell out and wake up the next morning surrounded by the king's army. A small rescue party is formed with Jack, Elmont, Roderick, Wicke and a handful of guards you know are going to die on their journey to show how hard and treacherous it is. The main characters finally get to the main keep where the giants are keeping Isabelle captive. The giants start fighting amongst themselves to get to see who eats the princess when Roderick saunters in, wearing the crown. He reveals his plan to the giants on ruling the world, and Isabelle is transferred to the kitchen to be cooked for supper along with Elmont.
Our heroes escape from the keep, Jack and Isabelle start down the beanstalk while Elmont stays behind to kill Roderick and take the crown to keep the giants from following them.
(here there be spoilers. scroll down if you want to skip and read my final thoughts, highlight if you want to know how the story ends.)
The first part of his plan works, but General Fallon, the two headed giant voiced by Bill Nighy, gets to the crown first and wears it like a ring to rule the giants and go invade the earth below.
While all of this is happening above, King Brahmwell gives the order to cut the stalk down to protect his people. Our heroes narrowly escape dying, and all is well with the world. Until Fallon finds the pouch of seeds Roderick took from Jack earlier, and plants them to grow down and invades the countryside. Jack, finally reunited with his horse, sees the giants coming and warns everyone shortly before the attack. They make it to the castle and fight against Fallon one last time before defeating him, and talking the crown to send the giants away once more. The movie comes full circle with Jack telling their children about how they won against the giants.
The best part of the movie though has to be this ending scene, where the story of the Giants is told and retold like a game of whisper down the alley, with parts being changed and forgotten until it resembles the story we all know today. The visual behind this is the crown being gilded and reshaped and altered to suit each king's vanity, until it comes to be the crown jewels, now on display with schoolchildren taking a tour.
Now that you know the story, what are my thoughts on it? Well, most of it was predictable and Disney-like, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad. The story was fully realized and well written, I don't feel like I wasted my money seeing it. All in all, it's a great movie to see with your family and I would recommend it to anyone into fairytale movies. It reminds me a bit of the Syfy original shows Tin Man and Alice. Very similar even though it takes place in the past and connects the real world with fantasy.
One of the things I'm starting to like about my goal for movies this year, is that I'm taking risks and chances I normally wouldn't take. The past 3 movies I've seen, would normally be ones I'd wait and catch on dvd if a friend said it was any good. This time around, I'm the one catching the good movies and it makes me happy.
On to the Trailers!
Admission
Looks like an interesting movie, on my possible see list.
World War Z
Nothing to say here that hasn't been said already.
Dark Skies
Tayron will probably end up seeing this one, I'm not so sure myself.
The Last Exorcism Part 2
Another Tayron movie. We'll have to see if he'll want to put his two cents in.
Oz the Great and Powerful
Nothing to say here, I knew I'd be going to see this the moment I saw the China girl, I knew this would be a legit movie.
The Great Gatsby
Jack the Giant Slayer
This one looks insteresting, another I'll be seeing in the theater.
Moving over to the movie now
As someone asked yesterday, this movie does seem like something right off the CW, with their lineup of teen shows, but seeing as I don't watch the CW, and don't normally watch teen flicks, I can't say if it's similar to other movies or not. Also, blank slate going into movies, remember?
If you want to know more about the story, I'd recommend reading the book like I'm doing, or you can go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_Creatures_(novel)
So the movie opens up with our main character Ethan providing an opening monologue about the setting they are in, Gatlin SC, and what he wants from life. He talks about dreams and dying, and at times the monologue is quite humorous. He meets up with his friend to go to school, and even though I'm not a teen anymore, I hear them talk all the time at my work and their dialogue does seem natural for two teen boys, even with them spouting more exposition. The girls talking on the other hand, is still believable for where they are and how they were raised, I just find all the Christian preaching, complaining, and yelling out prayers in the movie annoying and obnoxious.
After some hilarious dialogue with our other main character Lena, where he talks about what could have happened at the end of the Titanic movie, they go to her house. Here we meet the reclusive uncle, Macon Ravenwood. From the dialogue in the trailer, and from early dialogue here, I thought his reasons for keeping her away from him were stupid. It's like, your dark side wants to kill humanity, so let us keep you away from them, and keep you only around crazy-butt casters so you choose to stay god and protect humanity? That sounds stupid. The movie redeems itself later though, giving more info and dialogue that she shouldn't fall in love with a human based on some crazy ancestor who couldn't keep her marbles together.
And the uncle used to be a dark caster, what? So Male Casters can be in control of themselves, while Female Casters don't have control over themselves? But they are more powerful because of it? I'm a bit confused, to be honest I never read the books, just picked the first one up after the movie yesterday and reading as soon as possible, maybe it's explained more there.
Serafine is totally on the crazy train to awesomeness here, no lie, I was sure she'd 'die' in the movie, but actress Emma Thompson went all out and and was totally convincing as an insane caster who left her humanity behind long ago. Now we come to the dinner scene from the trailer, and it is amazing. The practical effects were superb, and no green screen which is impressive. I love the one relative is just sitting there eating like this happens all the time.
Another joke I loved was when Ethan has this whole big speech about how you can change your fate, and destiny doesn't control you, you control your destiny. Then they go on a date to see 'Finale Destination 6.' Most of the rest of the notes here on out get spoiler-y, so I'll end the thoughts here. All in all, it's a good movie, the few bad things I thought about it were done on purpose to prove a point like Ethan's ex-girlfriends character and how she's annoying all the time. If you have a chance, check it out in theaters, or at the very least, grab the dvd. I'd be interested in watching the sequel since there are a series of books in this line.
edit: I've finished the first book and moved on to Beautiful Darkness. I liked the book, the movie is very different at parts with some things changed to edit for time constraints, but some things were completely invented just for the movie it seems. I'm going through to try and finish all the novels in this series in case they're borrowing from other books again, like in the Hobbit.
I lucked out again with choosing this movie to see this week. Trying to see at least one movie a week this year, I'm bound to see some not so good films, but luck still holding out. Preview time! In addition to the previews linked to below, we also had A Good Day to Die Hard, Beautiful Creatures, and Safe Haven, all linked to and talked about in last week's Hansel & Gretel post
Monster University
This one looks interesting, not much to say about it, I'm probably going to see it when it comes out.
The Host
To be honest, I haven't read the book, and so far I'm not interested in seeing the movie.
Oblivion
This one looks intriguing and one I'm also going to try and see.
Now You See Me
I have this feeling that the story shown in the trailer isn't really the main point of the movie. That being said, I look forward to seeing this movie and finding out what really happens.
Tyler Perry's Temptation
I'm not sure what to say about this one. It looks very well done with a solid story and some great actors, I just normally don't like or watch movies in this genre. If you do, you should definitely go see it when it comes out, it looks like a very good movie and worth the money.
And now onto Warm Bodies.
Now when I go to watch movies, unless it's a sequel, prequel, or direct remake/reboot of another movie, I don't go in connecting it to anything else. I have seen zombie movies before, and have read countless stories of zombie lore, so I know how there are many different interpretations and reboot points in time where certain stories originated and other pieces of lore fade into obscurity. The point I'm trying to make is that I'm going into this movie with brand new eyes, and not mad that they retcon or change how zombies think, act and change. People shouldn't compare it to certain other movies which 'originated' the zombie tropes in movies these days. If you go into this movie thinking like that, I know you're going to hate it. If you go into this movie thinking anything at all, think of it as Zombie Romeo and Juliet. I had suspicions when I found out their names are R and Julie, but didn't think anything else into it.
So the movie starts with R monologuing about his life, glossing over the fact nobody knows how it started or what happened to cause the zombie outbreak, and how losing hope turns you into a Bony. Some of his insights are hilarious and true to life as we know it now, going through life. For some reason most of the zombies shown in the movie wander around the airport, and R lives in an airplane much like Ariel's grotto, full of human things like records and a record player, bobbing head dog, and for some reason a Stereoscope. He collects these things when he and a pack of zombies go out hunting to find humans to eat. I found it interesting when he explained why they eat humans and why zombies always go for the brains. I know a lot of people didn't like that they see the deceased's life and regain a bit of humanity for a few moments, to feel alive again before going back to the existence they knew before. I'm going to take a step away from not connecting the movie to anything else to make a connection. Sorry. I like that they connected the new zombie meme of eating brains with the older zombie meme of eating salt to bring back your memories of your former life and death, to make something new in zombie lore.
So we get to the part where he meets Julie. Her 'party' is tasked with going outside the safe zone and bringing back medical supplies for the rest of the humans within the walled off city where they live. I like the gallows humor graffiti in the wall outside the doors into and out of the city. Music features heavily into the film, with R liking to listen to records, and most of the music is actually being played in the movie universe by the characters and not something chosen to make just us the audience get more into the movie and feeling certain things. For instance when R fist meets Julie, in his head he's hearing the song he was listening to earlier, John Waite's Missing You. Cue hilarity when the boy'friend' Perry shoots R in the back, stopping the song abruptly, and 'challenging' R to fight and kill him. Here's where the Romeo and Juliet references and parallels start beating you upside the head, going 'See what I did there?'
I thought the next section of the movie was cute, after eating Perry's brain and finding out she misses airplanes, he takes her back to the airport, saying he wants to keep her safe, but I think it's really because he wanted to give her something she wanted, kind of as a weird gift. Seemed like a really sweet move and gives the movie time for them to get to know each other and for her to get over the conditioning her father gave her for the undead. Several times she tries to escape, the first time's hilarious when he saves her and mimes being dead, doing the 'hands out in the international zombie symbol*' to get her back into the plane and safe again until her next breakout attempt.
After eating the last piece of Perry's brain, he decides to take her back home where she wants to be. We see more of the zombies starting to become more human like R, and some hilarious moments with his friend Marcus. Just like Mercutio, Marcus has some of the best one liners in the movie, with witty responses to things happening around them.
Of course on the way to the safe city, Julie runs out on R after being told he's the one who killed Perry. On his way back to the airport, R runs into Marcus, who tells him about the changes happening and that the bonies are coming to kill him and Julie since they don't want there to be a cure. R breaks into the city using an abandoned tunnel he saw Julie and Perry going down before in his memories. Cue balcony scene where R waits outside for Julie to perhaps wander out when she's talking to her bff Nora. They make plans and cue makeover montage, which is hilarious. Stopping here since the movie's almost over at this point, and you'll have to see it for yourself to see if they continue with the Romeo parallels or twist it into a different and new ending.
All of the actors in the movie were fantastic, never once was I pulled out of the movie due to something being bad, I believed they were their characters the whole movie, which is always something I like in movies, the believability factor. Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer have great chemistry in the movie, and I look forward to seeing movies either of them do in the future. This has to be the best variation on Shakespeare's play I've seen yet. Took the story, gave it a zombie twist, and made it awesome.
*Reference from one of Jessie Cox's Minecraft videos, you should watch his stuff, he is one hilarious gamer.
Since this isn't like the normal films I go see in the theater, going to be short on movie info and long on trailer info. Seemed like there were more trailers than usual, but maybe it's because they were all new-ish to me and not the normal kiddy fare I usually see over and over.
First up we had a trailer for the new Die Hard movie, 'A Good Day to Die Hard'
Not sure how to feel about this one yet, more about it if I end up watching it.
Next we had 'Safe Haven'
I had mixed emotions for this one. Starts out sounding like your normal Nicholas Sparks fare, but then twists into something different. I'm not into his novels or the movies based on them, but this one actually looks interesting.
Then came 'Olympus has Fallen'
First off, I'd like to remind you all I'm a bit of a weirdo. This starts, and immediately I'm thinking *Holy cow, the president's wife dies and she comes back to haunt him and the agent who let her die, this is going to be an amazing horror movie yay!* But then it turns into the basic plot of ex-special forces agent has to save the president from the bad guys, blah blah, only the scene has changed from new york/air force one, to the White House. First half intriguing, second half straight out of a Kurt Russell movie. Next.
Now we have 'The Call'
The trailer speaks for itself here, but how many random guys does our serial killer have to murder before someone realizes his direction and position?
This trailer I see all over at the mall, 'Beautiful Creatures'
This one looks interesting, seems like it was made for teens, but Jeremy Irons is in it, so it's worth a watch for me.
Another trailer for 'Star Trek: Into Darkness'
I'm not that much into Star Trek, and Tayron doesn't know how he feels about this movie yet, so it's up in the air if we see this one or not.
Saving the best for last, the trailer for 'Jurassic Park 3D'
Hate all you want, but I love this movie and look forward to seeing it in theaters again, in 3D or not.
Now we get to the feature presentation, 'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.' I'm finding it hard to talk about this movie without spoiling anything, or giving some of my favorite dialogue due to all the cursing. Remember, trying to keep this blog young person friendly. We'll start at the beginning.
The intro is pretty standard fairytale lore, setting up the backstory in universe, mother tells father to ditch the kids in the forest, he reluctantly does so, kids find cottage-
Stopping there a moment. I really enjoyed the cottage design, looking creepy and mystical, but still made out of candy, door covered in candy runes and symbols. It was gorgeous.
So the kids kill the witch, who looked fantastically ugly to me until I saw the countless witches near the end, and they move on. Cue the opening credits. This bit was also great, animated woodcarving image montage of the kids killing many witches and growing up into the adults they'll be for the rest of the movie. After the montage is done, I just want to mention this part, the next scene that comes up is a crowded marketplace where there is a man selling bottles of milk that have pictures of children tied to them. Hansel and Gretel go on a hunt after humiliating the sheriff. They seem to get their butts kicked as much as they kick butt.
....And I find I can't say anymore about the movie. I have pages of notes, but don't want to spoil anything, or even give away some of the best bits in the beginning. For instance, the entire tavern scene I found absolutely hilarious. The action scenes were well done I thought, the dialogue, while not witty, was still amazing. It seemed like people knew this was going to be a bad movie going in, and just went all out and turned it from something blah, into something amazing.
One last thing I want to mention is the use of practical effects. There isn't much cgi in the movie, what is in it is used to enhance what is already there and going on, like some of the witches spells and magic. Other things, for instance, there is a troll assisting the witches in capturing the children, and he's an animatronic creature.
So I went into this movie not expecting much other than gratuitous action scenes, and came out loving it and cannot wait until it comes out on dvd.
Since I am still in the middle of my December charm countdown, but saw an awesome movie today, you get the one ring.
I had read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy ages ago, and decided to reread it before seeing the movie. There were some things I loved that they kept, others were interestingly added to pad out the movie and flesh out the Gandalf side story in all the books, few additions had me giggling like a schoolgirl, and a small amount of things I was unhappy with. So let's start at the beginning. (note, my notes aren't as thorough as they are in other movies, since I felt it a waste of time to write down what was happening when it happened the exact way or close enough as it did in the book)
Opening up with Bilbo spouting exposition and Frodo going to meet Gandalf where he does at the start of The Fellowship. Nice touch tying it together. Also nice was moving up the dwarven backstory, so it's told somewhat in the order it happened, rather than just being a flashback fed to Bilbo in the middle of the dinner scene. Which was amazing by the way, loved that they actually sang the song from the book.
Brief interlude for a parody that comes amazingly close to the dinner scene.
I don't know why, but I didn't much care for the contract. Where did that come from? Bilbo told the dwarves no? How did he know where to meet them and that they would have just accepted him after his rude treatment? Why did he not invite Gandalf for tea to explain why all the dwarves were coming to the house? It all seems extremely rude, and it wouldn't have hurt to add one or two lines of dialogue, wouldn't have padded out the movie anymore than it had already been. Thought Bilbo definitively saying no did make for a hilarious scene where it;s revealed the dwarves were betting on him.
Where did the Radagast story come from? The bunny sled he rides is awesome, but I'm curious as to which 'side book' it's coming from, I don't remember it from the four books. Same goes for the Moria backstory, maybe I have to read LOTR again, but didn't the orcs move in long after the dwarves abandoned it after digging up the Balrog? (edit- thanks for the comment! Found out it's from The Silmarillion, the one book I haven't read yet. Working on acquiring said book.)
Skipping ahead a bit since a lot of the questions raised are the same as the ones before. Some things were just hilarious cliches like the scene in the goblin's 'front porch,' and Thorin's anger at Bilbo.
Here there be spoilers and rant at a missed opportunity, highlight if you want to read.
So in the last scene they set it up to show the mountain, with the Thrush knocking on the stone waking up Smaug. That part was okay, no problems there, awesome that they showed Smaug in the first movie. I think there was a missed line they should have had right before it, while the dwarves are staring at the mountain, where Gandalf could have said in passing, 'a friend lives close by, we should rest and regroup' or something like that. Sets up the next movie to be arriving at his house where they reintroduce the dwarves 2 by 2 and let the friend know what happened.
I just got back from seeing Wreck-It Ralph today, and I have to say I'm impressed with the movie. I'd seen some spoiler-free reviews in the past few days because I couldn't quite wait until today to watch them after watching the movie, so my expectations were lower going into it. Not low, just lower than what they were before seeing the reviews. And the movie just blew me away. Stripping away the video game-ness that some people say is pandering, the heart of the movie is an amazing story about motivations, friendship, and the truth behind what it is to be a real hero. I loved this movie just for that story, and it's ability to almost make me cry. And let me tell you, with how much I've seen and read in my lifetime, it's hard to get me to cry at works of fiction. Enough about me, back to the movie. We'll start from the beginning with a few interesting advertisements and the previews.
Of course, in a movie about video games, they had to have adverts featuring video game characters.
Sonic the Hedgehog in a Progressive ad here on Youtube.
There was a shorter cut version of this ad here, for the upcoming Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale game.
When this ad came on, I thought the previews had started since it seems like an interesting movie about 2 bloggers connecting with each other and forming a bond. Was not expecting what actually happened, and loved it!
The last advertisement-type thing as a short movie made through a Sprite contest, Sprite Films Presents: Prom Night. I can't actually find this online anywhere, when I do find it I'll post it right here.
On to the Previews!
First one up is 'Rise of the Guardians.'
Next up is 'Escape From Planet Earth.'
Here we have 'The Croods.'
Finally is 'Oz The Great and Powerful'
Since this is a Pixar film, there is a short in front of the movie, this one's called 'Paperman.' I just love these shorts, that they keep coming up with these amazing stories told with no words at all, and every one of them is different, unique and engaging. Paperman, while still being CGI, has an art style I'm finding hard to explain right now. It's like a combination of traditional animation and CGI, completely beautiful. A+
Before the movie starts, we get 8-bit Steamboat Willie, I thought that was a nice touch. Some of the side dialogue in the movie is hilarious, like here in the opening when the narration is going on, you can hear one of the kids from 1982 say "This animation's so real!" It's little touches like that side dialogue and cameos/references going on in the background that makes me want to watch this movie over and over just to catch everything. Like in the party for the game's 30th anniversary, we noticed Skrillex was the DJ, and if you blink during the scene where Ralph's escape pod is crashing through Game Central you can miss the rings flying out as he apparently squishes Sonic.
Going back to the story before I get too fangirly here, Ralph has been labelled and they've all been put into their boxes or roles to play on this video game stage. They've pushed him so far into his character archetype, they don't even care he's a person. One thing I did find kind of odd, was how accepting the people of Niceville were of him after everything he did to them, what with almost getting their game taken out. With Felix, at least there was a connection and shared feelings on being abandoned/thrown away by people you just wanted to be friends with, but nothing with the others in his game. I understand he's a hero now, in every sense of the word, and they should like him and not keep pushing people into labels other people have bestowed upon you, but it just seems they've flipped too hard from hating into loving him. Even with that minor grievance, I sill loved every bit of this movie, and everyone should see this film, whether you're into video games or not. If you're not a fan of gaming, you won't get all the references and cameos the movie has, but the story and visuals will still entertain you.
I leave you with a Perler Bead Ralph I mad while looking at one of the movie posters for this film.
A friend and I went to go see the new 21 Jump Street movie today. What follows is my opinion of the movie. I'm not a trained movie person and I only have vague memories of the show from when I was little. I am going to be watching the show in the next few weeks, so nobody rag on me for not talking about parallels. I know I could have watched it last week, but I honestly wanted to go into it with an open mind and make an opinion about it on its own before hastily judging it.
I honestly really liked this movie. It's one of the few I've actually laughed out loud in the theater for. Most of the time it's just one joke after another. Be warned though, most of it is lowbrow humor, a lot of dick jokes and gay references. But there are other jokes that definitely make up for it, like when Jonas Hill and Channing Tatum are first sent to go undercover at 21 Jump St., the chief makes a crack that they should shake them up over at that church since they keep doing old tricks and things from the past. Between tongue in cheek jokes like that, and the Johnny Depp cameo, I'm totally pre-ordering the Blu-ray when it comes out.
The movie opens up with a flashback to Tatum and Hill in high school circa 2005. Sets up the original relationship of the two and the dynamics of being a nerd and jock in school back then. Moving froward to police academy and the relationship changes, with each of them needing what the other has. Hill's character needs to do more athletic things, and Tatum's needs to learn more to pass tests to become an officer. Through helping each other succeed, they become good friends.
Once out on patrol, they mess up big time. Hill lets his perp get away, while Tatum arrests one, but going into the miranda rights, gets emotional and starts hurling expletives (and something I think halo players might recognize) at the guy, which lets the coke smuggler get off scott free. Seeing how they're so immature and young looking, the chief send them to the undercover unit. At the church, we see the leader of the unit is Ice Cube. He goes off on a rant on how they stereotype him into the angry yelling and cursing black character, (another moment I loved) but that it's okay to lean into the stereotypes to get what you want. Like how he sets it up so that Tatum is the jock/drama person at the school to get in with the cool kids, and Hill is the nerdy smart kid to get in the angle of the chem kids who might be manufacturing the drug they're being sent in to bust.
Through a funny bit of Tatum's character forgetting his undercover name, their roles are switched, and hilarity ensues as Hill gets in good with the popular kids, and Tatum is quickly accepted into the nerd crowd.
I can't say much more without spoiling the movie, and I don't want to do that since it is a great movie, and everyone should see it providing that they are old enough and don't mind potty humor. The shining jems of referential humor and tongue in cheek jokes are worth it, I promise!
So with all that said, I give this movie an 8 out of 10. Tatum was amazingly funny in it, but Jonah Hill is extremely typecast as usual. He is great in this movie, don't get me wrong, but it just seems like I've seen it before from him over and over with nothing much changing, and I know it is possible to be typecast and still turn out a new/different performance each time, just look at most of Seth Green's movies. ^_~
