Do you ever think about how often it is in films where it is the father which has the most positive impact on a main character and thus spurs on the plot? (father figures are not included since the list would be freakishly long)
Luke Skywalker seeks to walk in his father’s Jedi shoes in “Star Wars” but then has doubts when he finds out who his daddy really is. Cue famous Skywalker family “NOOOOOOOO!”
The first “Superman” movie had young Clark finally begin his hero journey once his foster-Pa inexplicably got a heart attack.
Marty McFly in “Back to the Future,” while a bit ashamed of his father, is still willing to befriend the younger version of him and get him to try and fall in love with his not-yet-mother. Turns out he didn’t need that much help.
The most famous line from “The Princess Bride” is when Inigo Montoya tells the six-fingered man who he is, what happened, and what the creep should prepare for.
Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” showed us a girl who loved her dear stumpy little dad enough to spend (maybe) an eternity with a hideous beast and his castle full of sentient furniture. Would you do the same?
Peter Pan finally gets his groove back in “Hook” when he realizes his new happy thoughts are his thoughts of his children and what he needs to do to protect them.
The great Mufasa in “the Lion King” came back from the dead to roar some sense into his wayward son.
Mel Gibson’s “Maverick” had the tendency to “misquote” his pappy when the situation arose. Not to mention that his dad plays a big part in the film itself.
“Rush Hour 2” has Jackie Chan’s character trying to tie up his father’s last case…Chris Tucker kind of helps. ^~^
Austin Powers in “Goldmember” is willing to put his daddy issues aside to try and find him again. When your dad is Michael Caine why wouldn’t you?
Hooo boy. If you’ve seen the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, you’ll know the main three characters are all either inspired by, motivated by, seeking revenge for, or trying to save their fathers.
“Finding Nemo” gave us a single father as the main character who, over the course of his journey, truly learns when to stop babying his son and so, grows as a father and a man (erm fish).
“Kung-fu Panda” had the titular character find his true strength with wise words from his duck dad (the sequel has something to do with finding his true roots too).
Liam Neeson in "Taken" shows us just how ferocious the paternal instinct can get.
“Star Trek (2009)” gives us a young James Tiberius Kirk who was challenged to be better man than his father, which saved dozens of lives. He kind of succeeded with a little help from his new crew.
Gru from "Despicable Me" finds out the joys of fatherhood from 3 lovable gals. And it is when those kiddos are threatened, that Gru shows us the audience why he's a dangerous man.
“Tron Legacy” shows us the Dude’s kid seeking him out in cyberspace so he can bring him back home. Turns out Mr. Bridges’ exile there turned him into a pretty cool guy as well.
“True Grit” revolves around the young daughter going to extreme lengths to execute justice for her departed dad.
So Hollywood likes to use dads as the an impetus for their stories to really take flight. Guess that makes them crazy about dads. I'm crazy about mine too. Happy Father's day!
Some sources say that Bruce got the idea of being a bat-man because he remembers his father dressing up as one for a Halloween party. Sadly no film recognizes this.
The thing I personally love the most about "Ocean's Thirteen" is that it's a return to form. We see the characters as we remember them, masterful planners and thieves who work together as a cohesive unit so smoothly, but also allowing themselves to poke fun at each other. Not like in "Ocean's 12" where they seemed to be written by different people and had to get bailed out by the kid's mother of all people. The whole plot hinges on showing how much camaraderie the characters have for each other and the lengths they go to for hurting the man who wronged one of them. It's also sweet that the setting is Las Vegas again since that is the true environment for a gang such as them (not like in "Ocean's 12" where it seemed like an excuse to go to Europe for pretty landscapes' sake). Not to mention the plan coming to together is amazing and jaw-droppingly satisfying. The end also shows how much they're gentlemen thieves who only wrong those who seem to deserve it. Greatness.
Like 11 of this guy, only a lot less megalomaniacal and much more of this guy:
Is quite impressed by the 2010 revisioning of "True Grit" with Jeff Bridges filling the shoes of the legendary John Wayne. To be honest though, the Dude playing a quirky, hard-drinking, fast-shooting, curmudgeon is not bad, but such as the trend in Hollywood, these kind of hard-boiled old dudes get softened by the presence of a young child (in recent memory, Up, Grand Torino, Karate Kid, Despicable Me) and that is truly the cool performance of the leading lady. Only 14, the Mattie character is one of the sharpest wits and brashest determinators I've seen in a long time, and yet, because of her age she sometimes comes across as too naieve or precocious. I personally find the mood and tone of the movie perfectly set by the actors' acting and especially their speech. It's so strange to hear absolutely no contractions (not even a "y'all" from the Texan character!) but that's how a mood is set. Slow on the action, but overall this is a movie to showcase just how far determination gets you...lots and lots of determination.
It's nice to see the X-men movie franchise get back on track. To be more specific, start the track in "X-men: First Class." The acting was very dynamic, chemistry between Charles Xavier and Magneto (and arguably Mystique) was pretty good, and Kevin Bacon makes quite an impressive evil mastermind. The funny thing about prequels is that if characters carry over, we know what they'll be like so we have expectations of them for their supposed past, and this film certainly delivers with the characters' wit and personality shining through with a hint of youthful naivete. I also like how the story tries to merge history with these characters, but manages to make it believable.
Overall, this film has made me NOT want to watch the first X-men movies anymore because I want to see how this storyline plays out...that good.
Indeed, what would be Scott's mutant ability? Video game effects to show up at random?
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled!) review, go here
Star Trek (2009)
- Sylar Spock is great as well as this new cast of youthful remakes. If they make sequel, I am totally up for that. Although stopping it where it is does leave an "and so the adventure continues" vibe. Overall, wonderful film.
For someone else's more in-depth review, go here.
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here
Monsters vs. Aliens
Not the strongest Dreamworks Animation cgi film...but definitely better than "Bee Movie"...Most of the laughs come from the idea of the famous celebrity voice actors as the characters depicted. For example, Dr House as a cockroach mutant good at DDR is very lulzy.
Apparently, on the way to making this:
you'll get this:
For someone else's more in-depth review, go here.
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here.
Beetlejuice
Creepy, and for me, the laughs are more awkward laughs as opposed to true lulz. Very cool performance by Michael Keaton that is NOT batman. Arguably, the most loltastic scene in the movie.
X-men origins: Wolverine
Entertaining, but makes my inner comic book nerd cry rivers. What happened to Gambit's accent too? Totally nonexistent...
For someone else's more in-depth review, go here.
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here.
Quite possibly better than the movie.
The Iron Giant
That government agent fellow was a paranoid lunatic AND a creepy pedophile vibe, which makes him one of those really annoying antagonists you really want to shove into a snake hole...Touching titular character with a most humogous heart that strives to fight against programming. "you are not a gun"
(Commence stride)
Shaun of the Dead
Beautifully subverts all the tropes of typical zombie films (such few ones I have seen), gives it laughs, and makes a surprise ending of what to do with zombies after the supposed apocalypse.
Hot Fuzz
Very cool. they make a good logical reasoning for the creepy going-ons in the quaint little village and then they blow that theory out the window for the more obvious reasons. Also, cop Simon Pegg is totally badass. ^_^
VS
Normally you don't bet against James Bond...but you sure can if he's an evil grocery store owner.
Up
Not the strongest Pixar film either, but certainly brings a lot to the table to challenge the preconceived notions of "children's movie" so that it gets upgraded into an "animated feature." Also, Dug the dog and Kevin the...crazy offspring of the Roadrunner and a rainbow are adorable. Just a good film. Touching, funny, and good.
Handing the Pixar legacy off to the one in the tree
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here.
Braveheart
Before there was "300," there was this...too bad Mel Gibson didn't have any internet-meme worthy lines! Ye average Scotsman tries to fight da power...and kicks so much ass doing so. Historically inaccurate if wikipedia is to be believed, but hey, glamorize history and that's Hollywood.
Mel Gibson is a pig?
Blazing Saddles
A good ol'fashioned Western, with humor a-plenty. Mel Brooks makes being un-PC funny. Also, final fight so big it breaks the 4th wall completely. lulz
Chariots of Fire
Inspirational and powerful sports film. Hooray for somebody still willing to make Sunday a day of rest! Still preplexed as to why the film was called "Chariots of Fire" when the film had nothing to do with Elijah getting spirited away or the biblical reference had nothing to do with racing. ^~^
Octopussy
What kind of idiot nicknames his daughter Octopussy? Probably the only time you'll see James Bond disguised as a clown. Freakin' cheesy Bond film, but hey, that's why you watch em right?
Pom Poko
One of Hayao Miyazaki's lesser known works, shows raccoons (actually, tanuki, but that's beside the point) fighting da power of human expansion into their homes in the hills. Certainly has a lot of shapeshifting hijinks and also, explains why energy drinks are so popular these days.
All because of:
Madagascar 2
Interesting in that this sequel adds more depth to the characters previously established in the first film, and as an added bonus, there's little to no reference to events of the past film so it's one of those few sequels that can stand on their own. Lemurs are awesome. =)
<3
Theirs is truly a strange love...
Fireproof
Moving film about marriage and how God NEEDS to be a part of it.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
and oh how he got his revenge...>~<
(sigh) Will the following transformers please go to the principal's office for being fail in the new transformers movie:
Mudflap and Skids, whose principle crimes are not being horrid racist stereotypes, but for being utterly useless as characters. We already have the cool, brightly-colored, kid-appeal character in Bumblebee. Why you trying to steal his thunder dudes?
Arcee triplets...for being triplets for one thing! Also, the lack of Princess Leia buns disturb me...not to mention getting slagged pretty quickly.
Wheelie, for being the Cybertronian equivalent of a purebred horny chihuahua. >_< I would've much preferred the annoying rhymer from the animated film. Who ever heard of an autobot who was too whimpy and defects to the autobots?
Soundwave, for being a tentacle-rapist of satellites and for having no part in the final fight. Most loyal to Megatron my foot!
Ravage, for being a ONE-EYED PANTHER! Seriously kitty, your cool appeal decreased so much by looking like a skeletal, cycloptic evil kitty! Also, who said you can cash in on Gort's nanomachine bug schtick? And you make THAT turn into a bladed robot chicken? ^~^
Decepticon redshirts, where is your alt-mode? Where the Primus-fraggin' heck are your alt-modes? Back in my day, y'all could be an army of jets and I'd be cool with it because I always thought Decepticons were flying folk anyway...BUT NO! Y'all come in your protoform-re-entry comet forms and leave it at that. Such, fail.
Y'all go to the principal's office and have Jetfire use his old-man-monologue-no-jutsu as punishment.
Jetfire's dad? Looks like he can transform. XD
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here.
Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
This. is. CLASSY! sci-fi movie. Did well for special effects of the time and Gort is a surprisingly good robot. Aesop of the story: stop playing with the combination of nukes and rockets or else somebody gonna get a hurt reeeeeal bad...in SPACE!
Hahaha no. =[
Gran Torino
Grumpy old (racist) man learns to love others, take a neighbor kid under his wing, and saves his neighborhood from a terrorizing gang.
Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind
Aliens make a ruckus, causing inconvenience for almost everyone they've "touched." Freaking ear worm of a song...becomes permanently embedded into your mind. If you think about it, the aliens are not as friendly as they appear...there is no excuse for driving a man to sculpting insanity to the point of alienating (haha) him from the rest of his family or for going to pedobear-approved lengths to swipe a child from his mother.
Bend it like Beckham
Ah, the classic story of youth rebelling against traditions and parents' expectations. Now with more hot actresses before they became super-famous!
Catch Me if You Can
Interesting cat and mouse game leading to...unfortunate implications about said cat and mouse. Amazing how lax security was back in the day. At least Leo Dicaprio wasn't as insane in this film as he was in the last movie I saw him in, "The Aviator." Just. Plain. Nuts.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Classic tale of SCIENCE going wrong and harming those close to you. At the same time, an interesting take on the survival-in-a-strange-land scenario with the twist being it's actually familiar land. Also, (sniff) stupid scorpion killed Anty! Heroic sacrifice for sure. T-T
Red Cliff 1&2
Ah, the classic stories of a Chinese warring period similar of Arthurian myths of the West, brought to my dvd player. Hella weak ending though. =(
Ip Man
Kung-fu genius protects his kung-fu loving town. But when the Japanese invades during WWII, it's all he can do to also FIGHT DA POWAA! Later on becomes Bruce Lee's teacher. All stunts really done by the main actor too. Geez, can that guy punch fast...
West Side Story
3 hours! It did NOT take me that long to read the book...but all that snapping and dancing had to get into one of the most famous stories of ethnic gang warfare and doomed romance somehow.
Young Frankenstein
So THAT'S where the dramatic prairie dog music comes from. Also, enormous schwanzstucker. I wonder if anyone's last name still is fronk-en-schteen? Willy Wonka as a demented mad scientist? It's comedy gold.
Ella Enchanted
Fail adaptation if i remember the book right, but one of the few that can actually stand on its own as semi-enjoyable entertainment. Lulz at Queen (yes the band) being sung by Anne Hathaway at a giant's wedding. It's really like an early live-action "Shrek," ie don't take it too seriously at all. >_>
The Graduate
...disappointing. Sure it's one of the greatest of American cinematic masterpieces, but I can't see why. Something about how it adhered to the philosophy of the times...which pretty much was "life is pointless." >_< I'm pretty sure that "The Graduate" is one of the worst movies he's ever seen in his life! Ridiculous, immoral, and spams the same 4 Simon and Garfunkel songs as a soundtrack...thank goodness Dustin Hoffman went on to better things...
Minutes before subliminal nipples. >_<
Kite Runner
Intense story of how two kids can be the best of friends, fall out, and what one is willing to do to keep that friendship going after one's death. Could do without the scene of little boy getting raped though. >~<
Hancock
Makes. no. sense! What kind of lame weakness is "don't get close to the one you love!" Will Smith as a bum superhero is pretty entertaining though. ^0^
For someone else's more in-depth review, go here.
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
it's like "Die Hard"...IN A MALL! >_> So weird, yet enough to numb my brain for a couple of hours.
Bedtime Stories
The funny thing about Adam Sandler is that I've seen him do good moving roles, but the problem is he's made it to my list of annoying actors more often than not. This is one of those films. He acted way too savvy to the fact that his bedtime stories to his nephew and niece would play out in real life. Normal adults would try to rationalize it away and insist it isn't happening. But no! He tried to anticipate everything and that was annoying. It was funny in some parts though. I want to know how to translate bee-stung-my-tongue-ese. XD
Seven Pounds
The title is in reference to the Shakespeare play "the Merchant of Venice." So this is the story all about how Will Smith's life must be redeemed for a horrible thing he did. And he does it with much improbable awesome planning and mind-blowing sacrifice. On one hand, it's a story that doesn't promise much from its opening scenes, but part of the beauty of it was that this was all a grand "just as planned" Will Smith's character does for good cause...and we are blown away.
Instrument of death. Believe it.
The Producers
Yeeeah...not much to say about this other than GAAAAAAAAY!!! And not even in the offensive sense, it was so full of gay. >_<
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Weaker than the previous two HP films, but still totally worth it. The way those core three interact is just so natural these days. Needs less Ginny Weasley though; she was SO forced into those scenes it was painful. VERY weaksauce ending. What about Dumbledore's body spouting it's own crystal coffin sounded like a bad idea?
Spinner's End looks a bit...suburban. Woodstock is considerably less cute too.
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here.
Made of Honor
Bizarre...nonsensical...but has a minimalist's amount of laughs all the same. darn those romantic comedies holding a special place in my heart...
Legends of the Fall
Hi crazy-as-all-insanity Brad Pitt. Here's the story of how you go insane from World War I and then find happiness, and then lose it, and then find it again, and then lose it. Wow, sounds familiar... Also, Anthony Hopkins is very awesome at acting like a stroke victim.
Departures
Soooo who wants to dress up dead people in Japanese rituals now? >_> Touchy and taboo subject, but very powerful because you realize this is what they mean by sending people off in style. Somebody has to do it right?
Maverick
Mel Gibson as a cowboy. Kind of like "Casino Royal" mixed with almost every western trope out there. Surprise twist is very twistful.
Was less than thrilled by "the Tourist." Angelina Jolie is not as action-girl as we know she can be, full of blandness, and is basically selling this on her looks. Johnny Depp's character is a goof/the load/unlikable (seriously? Spanish in Italian setting?), granted he gets a lot more of his characteristic charm 3/4 in, it's still a long road to get there. 90% of the other characters are jerks/unlikable (10% consisting of innocent bystanders and Timothy Dalton), the lines are horrible, the action is minimal to non-existent, and worst offense of all: predictable twist.
He plays a major jerk in this movie...he's funny once for saying
Originally posted on 11/8/2009.
Thinks the "Where the Wild Things are" movie is an ok film. It seems weird that so many emotions were crammed into a movie derived from a less than 20 page book. It was rather random to be honest...fun but unexpectedly dark would be other words to describe it.
Yeah, something like this really did happen, but the kid was still ok...weird.
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here.
Originally posted on 12/16/2009.
"District 9" on the other hand was pretty cool...granted, it dealt with the ever-familiar theme of discrimination and rascism (species-ism here), it was still action packed and pretty gripping. I was particularly interested in the alien designs and their various technology. The ending was so ambiguous that I couldn't even really call it a "happy" ending. Hopefully rumors of a sequel will never see fruition.
Even though the aliens were named prawns, they looked much more grotesque than this...and that's saying something.
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here.
Originally posted on 12/16/2009.
I find "Inglorious Basterds" a film that's kind of meh, exciting in some parts and excessively wordy in others, iconic of a Tarantino film. This movie had a huge flaw: the hype of awesome guerilla Jews killin Nat-zees...when really it turns out they didn't even have the spotlight 3/4 of the film. Historical inaccuracy aside, some of the characters died for really stupid reasons and from stupid situations too. I can't deal with unjustifiable/unawesome random character death like that..not too mention the action and plot are broken up by Tarantino's diarrhea of the mouth...seriously, we did not need such a long winded talking film. >_>
Originally posted 12/20/2009.
Quite satisfied with the "Princess and the Frog." Don't be afraid to watch it because it's a "girly" film...it's full of win, amazing, and classic Disney charm.
To describe the main villain of the show:
His voice +
His powers +
his mannerisms.
Quite the combo for the antagonist to a pair of frogs eh?
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here.
Originally posted on 12/26/2009.
I'm asking everyone who did not like James Cameron's "Avatar" to please explain why they didn't. It was pretty darn entertaining...a bit long but that's the time you need to connect with the characters and the story.
It'd be more accurate if Papa Smurf had a cat face but it's essentially the same.
For someone else's more in-depth review, go here.
For a more entertaining (spoiler-filled) review, go here.
Originally posted on 1/19/2010.
"Julie & Julia" ain't that bad a movie...the critics all bashed the Amy Adams portions declaring they want moar Meryl Streep as Julia Child, which is a superb performance, but I felt that the two stories when told in tandem can be quite good.
According to Julia Child, the essence of all French cooking. Bon Apetit cholesterol watchers!
Originally posted on 2/27/2010.
I'm not a doctor, but after seeing "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as an adult, I believe that the Zhang Ziyi character probably was bipolar, paranoid schizophrenic, and had lethal amounts of arrogance toxin in her hot, kung-fu-lovin, blood....Seriously, were we supposed to sympathize with such a ridiculously stupid character?
