Rango

With the voice talents of Johnny Depp and Isla Fisher, Rango is the story of a pet lizard who has dreams of being a hero and finds himself in the Mojave desert, the sheriff of the animal town of Dirt, trying to give the townspeople hope as they run out of water.

The story is classic Western: there is the new guy in town, bad guys, corruption, showdowns, fighting, and romance. The story is smart too though, it had a lot to say about our dependence on water, and how it's running out, and about how big business is capitalizing on our basic needs. The animation is detailed and brilliant, although it kind of bothers me that I can't identify what some of those weird little animals were, and that foxes and cats were about the same size as lizards and moles.

I don't know if it's because I have motherhood on my mind, or it's just the way I think, but this movie definitely has some parts that I would be nervous showing my little person. I'm glad it's rated PG and not G because there are certainly some adult moments. And there are TWO scenes with people smoking, the first is towards the beginning - a quick shot of a guy smoking in his car, and then later when some toad or something is smoking a cigar. I really thought that was a major faux pas in kids movies these days.

The characters are what you need them to be: Rango and Beans are likeable and well-developed, the mayor is sweet on the surface but conniving and evil, and there is a good balance of other characters, the helpful but oblivious spoons, the wise raven, the cute Little Sister, and the scary Jake.

A solid and smart animated offering from Nickelodeon.

TV Recommendations

I thought I would just share two of my favourite shows about people who buy and sell things.

First is Storage Wars, it's on A&E, not sure when (though there was a marathon tonight). This show is a real-life thing that follows four different guys who bid on storage lockers that have been abandoned or defaulted on and are up for auction. Three of them are looking to make a profit, and the fourth is looking for cool things. The neat thing about the storage lockers is that you can't really tell what's in them, so whoever wins the auction is usually taking a risk and it's fun to see who comes out on top. A plus is that all the main people are charismatic, some feud, all bicker and chirp each other.

Next is the similar but different Canadian Pickers (there is an American Pickers, but the guys are not as entertaining). The show is on History, not sure when either (but it was advertised a bunch while I was watching Gladiator, and still can't remember when). The show follows Scott and Sheldon as they drive across the country picking through people's treasure and trash looking to buy collectibles and sell them for a profit. It's the two guys who make this show, sure it's neat to see what they find, but Scott and Sheldon have such a funny rapport with each other and the people they come across that keeps you watching.

Gladiator

In case you can't tell, my guy is on nights this week. I watch a lot of movies when he is on nights because I usually stay up late. The last couple of weekends I have discovered that there is a lot of movies on tv every weekend, and I have kind of been looking forward to what's playing. Why is it that you're so much more likely to watch a movie when it's on tv? Some of the movies that are on I own and I haven;t seen them in years, but if it's on tv I'll sit through those commercials and watch it. Tonight I had all sorts of options: Ray, Unforgiven, War of the Worlds, Beowulf, and a  whole bunch of others.

I went with Gladiator, Ridley Scott's 2000 film starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. It was playing on the History channel, and as a fan of all things historical I really appreciate how the History channel prefaces and concludes each movie they play with some extra historical info. One thing I did not appreciate though was the running time was three and a half hours, and I'm sure some was cut out because they always do that when they play movies on tv, and the actual movie is only two and a half hours, so if my math is correct, that is a solid hour plus of commercials. Super annoying.

As far as historical accuracy, I wouldn't say it was as off as Braveheart, but don't watch this for a history of Maximus (who never existed) or Commodus. But Gladiator tells a good story, a classic story, and an epic story. It has romance, revenge, fighting, death, severed heads, power, etc etc (just about everything!) The scenery is authentic, Russell Crowe is still hot, and Joaquin Phoenix is mesmerizing.

An epic movie.

The Good Girl

From 2002 and starring Jennifer Aniston, John C. Reilly, and Jake Gyllenhaal, The Good Girl tells the story of Justine who starts an affair with an emo cashier who works at the same department store she does.

This was a very strange movie. It started out normal enough, but things happen and decisions are made that are a little wacky. It was definitely a thinker and I found myself thinking about I would do in the given situations, what I would say, what I would admit to. I was happy with the final decision Justine (Aniston) makes but it wasn't a happy one by any means.

Aniston was exactly what she needed to be. This was one of her first serious roles after Friends, and it showed a different side of her. Jake Gyllenhaal's character wasn't what I wanted him to be, he was annoying, but I guess that's how it was supposed to be.

It was funny without being laugh out loud funny, it was amusing, but serious and really sad.

Sucker Punch

I had heard the bad reviews, but was trying to keep an open mind going into Sucker Punch. And let me tell you the beginning was amazing, the first five minutes were so perfect in getting you hooked on this movie. The music is perfectly creepy and ominous, the colours are drab and eerie, and the fact that there is no dialogue is really cool. The cinematography throughout the whole movie is really amazing, the angles and closeups and lighting gives this movie an edge, I really wish I was watching it in HD. This is a good looking movie that your eyes will enjoy (and I'm not talking about the girls).

Things go a little downhill from there. This movie asks way too many questions without answering them. Now I am a huge LOST fan, and am thusly used to unanswered questions, and just like the LOST finale, the ending of this movie didn't really satisfy me. I had a lot of questions that were left unanswered (they were all in heaven?!).

Before I go any further, I should probably tell you what the movie is about. Our main girl, Babydoll (why are the names so stupid?), is institutionalized by her awful stepfather, there she imagines an alternate reality where she makes a plan to escape. It's one of those "which parts are reality?" movies, and I don't really see what is gained from her going (in her mind) from the nut-house to the whore-house - her mother and sister just died, and she is imagining herself trying to escape from being de-virginized by the "high-roller"? Random. All those fighting scenes could have been imagined from in the nut-house and worked just as well (possibly better from a making sense point of view). I suspect that a whore-house is more sexy and sexiness is definitely something this movie struggles with.

If you know anything about Sucker Punch you probably know there is a group of sexy young girls fighting awesomely, one is always wearing like a sailor-type outfit. This movie was definietly marketed towards guys, and I'm sure a lot of guys were dissapointed. Sure the outfits are sexy enough, but there is no sexy dancing (only the promise of), no boobies, no seduction. And for a movie that takes part largely in a whore-house, this came as a surprise to me, and I'm sure a bigger surprise to the guys who were hoping for more.

Okay, so the whore-house and the nut-house were all well and fine, but those random action scenes were so non-sensical and awful, I dreaded each time a new one started and looked forward to its end. For example, in one scene the girls fight Steampunk robot Nazis during WWII. The next one is like demon guys in armour, medieval style, and a dragon, but the girls are in a plane and have guns and stuff. SOMETHING DOESN'T FIT HERE! Okay, most all of it doesn't fit.

Again the music was pretty good throughout, it set the atmosphere perfectly, and there were some neat covers. The cinematography (and computer graphics) were also well done, I kept thinking "that looks so cool" while I was watching. The acting was reasonable, Vanessa Hudgens was definitely the weakest link (goodbye), and I was happy to see John Hamm in a small role. The ending was cute, but not satisfying. The parts I could make sense of were okay. But like I said at the beginning, if the first five minutes hook you, get ready for two hours of not-so-sexy-non-sensical-fighting.

This movie is a feast for your eyes but not for your brain.

Paul

Paul had the potential to be a really decent movie: a solid cast including Simon Pegg, Jason Bateman, Seth Rogan, SNL alums Kristin Wiig and Bill Hader, and cameos by Jane Lynch and Sigourney Weaver. This movie also had really good computer animation - that alien is adorable, and blended seamlessly into the live action. Where the movie falls flat though is with the plot, this one could have used some better writers (which I feel bad saying because the writers were the two main characters: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.) The story is pretty standard: two geeks run into an alien and help him find his way home. There is the love interest and the bad guy trying to stop the alien from reaching his destination. There is the obligatory slight twist at the end followed by a heartwarming finale. It's not as funny as it could have been and more predictable than it should have.

With that being said, it wasn't all bad. It was just good enough to not feel like I wasted my time, but not good enough to leave me with a "whoa, that was awesome/hilarious/epic...". Geeks will probably enjoy it more than I did - sci-fi references were aplenty and it includes a trip to Comic Con.

So much potential, but falls flat.

The Adjustment Bureau

I thought this movie would be about politics, from the trailer I remember Matt Damon was always wearing a suit, and the title itself seems like it could be political. Well, I wasn't entirely wrong, politics plays a small role, but this is more a sci-fi thriller with some romance. At its core this movie is about free-will versus fate. Do we really make our own choices, or is everything already "meant to be"?

I really liked this movie. The supernatural aspect of things kind of reminded me of Damon's previous movie Hereafter. But The Adjustment Bureau was way better. It has to do with a higher power, and the influence it has on our lives. The chemistry between Matt Damon and his love interest (played by Emily Blunt) is fun and flirty and electric. But all that chemistry didn't stop me from still questioning why she would take him back towards the end. Until then, I was totally buying it, hook, line, and sinker. I love what this movie has to say about a higher power, I might not believe or agree with it, but it was still interesting to entertain the thought.

A smart movie.

Unknown

On a trip to Germany with his wife (January Jones), Liam Neeson gets into a car accident and loses his memory, and then people deny they ever knew him. The movie is a little more complicated than the previous sentence suggests, but that's about the gist. It amazes me that Neeson is getting all these leading-man-action-movie roles these days. He's getting a little older, but Taken was a pretty good movie, and so was this one, so all the power to him. January Jones was bland and forgetful, I think the most memorable thing about her is her blonde hair. Diane Kruger (who you may remember from Inglouious Basterds) plays the cab driver that Neeson gets into the accident with, and then helps him later on. And Bruno Ganz plays an adorable ex-Stasi (I'm a sucker for a cute old guy).

From what I can remember from the previews I knew there was a scene where his wife says she doesn't know him, which I thought was interesting, but didn't know what to expect from there. The dynamic totally changes once someone is killed by some sort of assassin and you know this isn't going to be a drama, but more of an action movie. The plot was interesting and there was a big twist that I didn't see coming. The action was a little much, too many people were killed without consequence. I thought the biotechnology aspect was timely, because having diverse and dependable crops are going to become more of an issue for society. I am also glad that the writers didn't pursue any sort of romance between Neeson and Kruger. There are some holes in the plot, like why wouldn't he tell his wife he was going back for his briefcase?  But overall a solid movie with interesting turns.

Yes, I realize the second paragraph is a bunch of unconnected sentences, but that's all I got tonight.

Movie Night

Sundays have historically been good tv nights. The Glee Project premiered on Oxygen last night, but I looked, and I don't think Bell has that channel. There were, however, a bunch of movies on tv. First up was Bruce Almighty (yes, I watched more than one).

From 2003 and starring Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston. I like what this movie says about God, He is not usually such a prominent character in Hollywood movies, and the way it is dealt with here is clever and has a good message. Jim Carry is still funny in this one, and Jennifer Aniston holds her own.

Next was Enough from 2002 and starring Jennifer Lopez. I generally like everything that Lopez is in, and there were parts of this movie that I really liked, and other parts that were a little much for me to buy in to. Roger Ebert gives it a pretty scathing review, you can read it here: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020524/REVIEWS/205240302/1023

What did you watch last night?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

My sister is a big fan of the books, I even read a few pages of one, so I kind of know what the fuss is about. The books are different, they are as they say - a diary. Greg Heffley's to be exact. And what makes the books even more appealing is that they look like a diary, there are page lines and the writing looks like a kid wrote it (but neater) and there are cute pictures and comics. Like Harry Potter, the Wimpy Kid books are getting kids reading, but with more realistic content this time around. The movie I am reviewing is the second one, I haven't seen the first.

Greg Heffley lives in modern suburbia with his parents and one older and one younger brother. Roderick is the older one. If you are like me and have limited knowledge of the Wimpy Kid, you may have thought, like me, that the chubby kid lip-syncing to Kesha in the commercial was Rodrick. We were wrong, that was the friend Rowley. So the commercial tells us nothing about the movie, perhaps even misleading us a bit. But I guess if we read the books in their entirety we would have known better.

Anyways, Rodrick Rules focuses on Greg`s relationship with his brother and there is a love interest and a talent show - the middle school staples. Now Rodrick is mean, like really mean. I have a brother that is four years younger than me, and we have never been that mean to each other, not even close. Rodrick seems to enjoy ruining Greg`s life. I thought maybe Rodrick was that mean so that kids could feel better about their own mean siblings, "at least my brother/sister isn't as mean as Rodrick" etc. But still, some sadistic kids might think it's funny and get ideas about how this kind of cruelty can be acceptable. Ok, so maybe that was a little extreme, but I still thought there were spots were Rodrick was unnecessarily mean.

Verdict: The story was cute enough, I watched the whole thing. Rowley was adorable. The kid playing Greg did a good job. Steve Zahn played the dad and had some funny parts.

Beastly

Beastly is a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and stars Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens, and NPH. It's kind of like what they did with Cinderella in the movie with Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray only slightly darker and less romantic.

The beginning is a little choppy and I get that they are trying to tell us everything we need to know about the characters before Kyle is changed into a beast, but it feels a little cramped. The two main characters could be played by any one really, Alex and Vanessa don't offer anything special or different, but Neil Patrick Harris is charming as always, and provides a little bit of needed humour. It's also nice to see Mary Kate Olsen in something, haven't seen those twins in much, and when they are out in public they usually look like bums, so while my Michelle Tanner nostalgia has not been fulfilled, it was nice to seen an Olsen looking good.

The story doesn't tell us anything he haven't heard before, but the parallels with the original story were mostly cute, like how the girl likes roses, and how the beast tries to win her over with gifts. I never really felt the love though, Hudgens is boring and cliche, and the situation with her dad is weird, and you never really feel like she loves the guy, even when she says so. The best acting she did was when she tells Kyle that he's a good friend - I genuinely believed her and thought maybe it wouldn't end happily ever after. I also thought this again at the end when the last flower blooms on his wrist or whatever, and hoped that he would stay ugly, what's so wrong with that, she loves you anyways darn it! But he does turn back pretty and I really wondered how much he had changed.

Beastly keeps a good pace, so you don't really get bored. It's pretty shallow and nothing special though.

Risky Business

As iconic as the Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear to "Old Time Rock 'n Roll" is, I have actually never seen Risky Business. Lucky for me, it was on tv last night and I can check this movie off my list of ones to watch. After every commercial the PG symbol would pop up, but PG this movie was not, there were boobs and bush and f-bombs, which isn't a bad thing, but surprised me because I was expecting PG.

Risky Business is the story of Joel (Tom Cruise) who is left home alone while his parents are away on vacation. Joel is in his final weeks of high school and has finals and SATs and getting into to college to worry about. He's a good kid, and his parents "trust his judgement". Joel's friend encourages him to say "What the fuck" more often, and live a little. Well this includes calling a hooker named Lana (Rebecca De Mornay), and things fall apart from there. Mom's expensive egg is stolen, Dad's Porsche ends up in Lake Michigan, and Lana's pimp is a looming threat. We know that everything will end up ok in the end, but it wasn't a cliche, it was interesting. The relationship between Joel and Lana is complex, as are both of the characters, you can't assume anything about how they'll act or what they'll do. The backing music was dated and strange, but created a very distinct atmosphere.

This movie was release in 1983, a couple years before I was born, and when the world was very different. Even in my 25 years here I notice the changes, a lot of that has to do with changing morals and changing technology. I can only imagine how this movie would have been received in 1983 when teens having casual sex (in movies) might not have been as prevalent as today. This is a story without a moral because sometimes there just isn't one to be had and that says a whole lot about the world we live in. This movie was funny and interesting, but after you think about it, it's also very empty and what it says about the world is kind of depressing. On the surface though, it's a good movie with solid leads. (Plus it's nice to see Cruise before the crazy)