Movies I <i>Most</i> Want To See

This is one of those movies that everyone thought was awesome, and that I, of course, never got around to watching until now. All I'd seen of it before is bits on TV. But now I've seen the whole thing, and... well, it wasn't too bad. Not awesome, but not awful either. I might not mind getting it on DVD. It's a nice action movie - there's actually more to it than brainless random explosions, and I appreciate that. And it reinforced my need to see Run Lola Run. But that's another story. The only thing I strongly didn't like about it was the ending, which really didn't make much sense to me. I imagine if I watched it again sometime when I wasn't so tired, I might figure out what's going on, but that's my main beef with a lot of action movies - they set up this great main premise, and then they bafflegab the crap out of it at the end so you have no idea what's going on. This wasn't as bad for that as M:I:I, but... it could have been better in that respect. Other than that, I have no problem with this movie, and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. On to the sequels... eventually.

I've watched most of the other movies mentioned in my screenwriting texts, and been sadly disappointed in them (see my Terminator review). This was a whole different story. Wowza. It's all about that eternal optimism, free thinking, carpe diem stuff I like, and though I'm no poetry junkie - there was some beautiful stuff there. Throw in my favourite Shakespeare play and some characters with similar outlooks on life, and you have me hooked. I'm probably going to end up buying all the Robin-Williams-as-a-teacher movies there are, because he's great at playing one. Having eccentric English teachers is a definite highlight in a life - and I speak from experience. Yeah, so I saw the end coming long before it came (the textbook description didn't make this any better), and it gets a little overdramatic in bits (especially the whole "Red Foreman does the Luke-I-am-your-father NOOOOOOO!!! in slow motion" scene), but the good far outweighs the bad. Yet another source in my proof that 80s movies are the best.

This is my screenplay writing instructor's second-favourite movie to yab about, and since I hadn't seen it at the time, I was a little out of the loop. He made it sound really really good. Was it? Mmm... not sure. I don't think so. It had all the Harrison Ford goodness, but I guess since I already mostly knew what was going to happen, I wasn't exactly surprised or on the edge of my seat or anything like that. I was actually falling asleep a bit towards the end, so yeah, I might have been too tired to fully appreciate it, but other movies have managed to keep me awake in such a situation. This one didn't. But it's a classic, I guess, and therefore worth a watch. It's not bad, just not as good as I thought it would be.

Hugh Jackman! Rachel Weisz! Two of my favourite actors - and a strong dose of weirdness. Once again, this is a movie that merits a second watch - one of those confusing surreal ones that only (somewhat) makes sense near the end. Actually, the end made less sense than the near-end, and I'm still not quite sure how the 2500 A.D. stuff connects with the rest - is it a dream? Is it real? Does it have to do with reincarnation, or can he live that long? It was very pretty, I will say, but about 75% of the time, I had no idea what was going on - at least in that sequence. However, the 1500 A.D. and the 2000 A.D. sequences were comparatively easy to follow - though they took a while to get going, you could see how they connected. Though what a fountain has to do with the Tree of Life, I've yet to decipher. So... yeah. If you like these confusing surreal movies (you know, like Donnie Darko and Vanilla Sky) - rent this, watch it at least twice, and see what you think. I might just do the same - and then this rating will be a little more accurate.

For a long while, I thought I was cursed - I have this bizarre love for movies made before I was born - movies I could have never seen in theatres. And when you're 22 and your favorite movie list includes the likes of Back to the Future, Labyrinth, and Star Wars - you're kind of hooped in the I-wanna-see-it-on-the-big-screen department. I'll probably never get my BTTF 4, but this - this WONDERFUL blast from the past - is more than a welcome surprise. Ahhh, Indy. Thought I'd never see the day. He's older, he's uglier, he could be my grandpa, but damned if Harrison Ford don't still got it. (Terrible grammar, but I'm drooling, can you blame me?). And this isn't just some hacked together mess just made to please fans (Phantom Menace, anybody?) - it's GOOD. No Raiders, to be sure, but GOOD. Almost everything's as it should be. The hat, the whip, the nice crooked smile... (stop it, I says to me) - the arguing with Marion, crazy fighting, crumbling ruins... Not much to complain about there - though I'm missing Sallah and Brody, and Henry Sr... but I understand why they're not there. AND THERE'S SWORDFIGHTING ON CARS!!!! YEEE!!! Yeah, the dialogue's not as snappy - I never got my "That belongs in a museum!" (though Indy saying "I have a bad feeling about this" was a nice touch - shades of Han Solo there) - and some parts are a bit far-fetched (Mutt's Tarzan imitation, etc.) and stagy (the characters line up in the frame a little too obviously, especially when they explore the ruins), but there's SNAKES (okay, one snake, but "Grab the snake!" gave me giggles), and inside jokes, and... ahhh. They can't make him look cute again, but at least the real Indy's not dead and gone. I WANT A SEQUEL! And a fifth Monkey Island game to spoof the whole thing. But then, that's icing on the cake. The very tasty cake. Mmm Harrison Ford... ;->

This wasn't my idea to rent this. Hokey kid movies really aren't my thing (even though I stopped watching Home Alone on TV to watch this instead - I should have kept watching TV). This is another one of those little kids save the day in cutesy ways movies. These two kids find futuristic toys on the beach, and these toys heighten their intelligence. And then they have to send a stuffed bunny back to the future and save the day. See where this loses me? Aside from little girl and maybe the science teacher, the acting is horrible. Cutesy to the max, and totally unbelievable otherwise. The special effects do look nice, but the mimzy noices are TERRIBLE. Some of them are like fingernails on a blackboard to me - especially when the boy calls the spiders (I can picture the future scientists: "Okay, what features should we include on these toys to help whoever finds them to save the future?" "I know! Make 'em bug-calling enabled! Arranging how spiders build webs is a must. Kids always need bugs to save the future." "Ah. Magnifique. Write that down Zork. Bug-calling is a must."). Terrible. Talk about the world's most useless power. "Look mom! I can make the spider dance!" New kid-geared movies suck as a general rule, but even Zathura was better than this. Although I wouldn't mind a Mimzy of my own...

I read the book on purpose, so I would get the full meal deal out of this movie (apparently it's a bit hard to follow in the beginning if you haven't read the book). And though I can't call the series one of my absolute favourites, it is pretty good and definitely worth the read - I'm just starting The Amber Spyglass now. Anyway, on to the movie. It sticks pretty close to the book - a few things have been shortened up and tweaked (i.e. Billy Costa is the one in the fishhouse now, not the nameless kid), but this is done pretty reasonably - nothing screaming obvious has been changed or omitted. Things are a little out of order, though. I read the book last spring, so my memory's a bit foggy, but Iorek's fight for the throne and Lyra's Bolvingar infiltration have been switched around, and the latter is made into a climactic battle. My only major gripe with all the switches is the omission of the book's final few chapters (SPOILER WARNING - It ends with Lyra, Roger, and Iorek in Lee's balloon - END OF SPOILERS), and the significant lack of deadly consequences (particularly concerning certain someones' intercisions). It wasn't as dark as it should have been, nor quite as deep as the book - though the main philosophical argument about control and blind faith is still there (and I really admire Pullman for having the guts to spill those beans), as are the witches as the good guys and the Magisterium as the corrupt evil force. I love the role reversal - it's probably my favourite part of the whole thing - the Anti-Narnia, of sorts. Good for a thought. Yes, it could have been better - darker and deeper - and a little more true to the book, but I'm definitely going to get this one when it reaches DVD, and keep my eye open for The Subtle Knife - I can't wait to see Will Parry on the big screen. Whoop!

After reading the rather "meh" book - which could have been A-MA-ZING with its premise, but wasn't, I didn't really screaming want to see this... but now that I know Brendan Fraser is in it, whole new story. Yays!

SSSSCREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! This is a Disney freak's dream come true. "It's like a dream! A wonderful dream come true!" At last, a return to REAL Disney animation - even if it's only for a brief time, it's good - and DISNEY PRINCESSES!!!!! Yeah, I'm a nerd - but I grew up with the likes of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, and though Enchanted doesn't directly spoof those movies, there's certainly enough Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella (my favourite!) to go around. I advise you watch those before you see this - and thereby catch all the injokes. I was over the moon doing that. Soap bubbles! Happy singing animals! YAAAAY! It's quite over-the-top and corny and predictable, as most fairy tales are, but it's so good that I just didn't care - and not just good in the little kid sense. There's some jokes that fly completely over little kids' heads (I could tell by the birthday partiers sitting in front of me) - so it's like Shrek in that respect - but it sticks to the plotlines of the Disney movies, so essentially Disney is making fun of itself here. And there's random singing and dancing! YAAAY! All the cast was great - why is Timothy Spall in everything nowadays? - but James Marsden as Prince Edward really stole the show for me. So swashbuckly, and gormless, and SO clueless. I LOVE him! And he would have been the highlight for me, had I not been such a Disney freak and paid such close attention to the credits. Guess what? THERE'S DISNEY PRINCESS CAMEOS!!!! Jodi Benson (Ariel), Paige O'Hara (Belle), and Judy Kuhn (singing voice of Pocahontas) all have cameos. I only noticed Jodi Benson (and didn't know why I knew who she was at the time - her name wasn't sticking to her face) as Sam, Patrick Dempsey's character's assistant, so I want to go watch it again and find the other two of them, but I'm really happy to see that Disney took the time to cast these people as a sort of in-joke to true Disney freakazoids like me. This movie made me SO happy. It was like going back to the good old days of Disney (pre-High School Musical and Chicken Little and all that overly-hyped profit-grabbing and/or CGI crap). The only thing I'm scared of is a sequel (which seems inevitable - this IS Disney, after all), but I'm getting this one the second it comes out on DVD - no question - and hoping against hope that Disney can revive traditional animation and pull something this good off again. "Thank you magic mirror!!!" Whee!

It's become a rule - Tim Burton makes a movie, and I have to go see it on the big screen. So I did. And I can't say this is even in the same ballpark with his other movies. Yes, it looks like a Tim Burton movie - all the dark imagery and Johnny Depp, of course... but I just didn't find it that good. Mars Attacks! was better than this, and it was deliberately stupid. This was just... kinda dull, with a whole bunch of unsingable, tuneless songs, cannibalism, and lots and lots of Monty Python-like blood (think black knight). Yeah, it did have its highlights, like a debate over how a priest would taste as opposed to someone else, and Mrs. Lovett's fantasy sequence... but it was rather predictable, and wore on forever. Lots of throat slitting and not much else, and I really don't understand why people think it's the best thing since sliced bread. It isn't. In all honesty, it's probably the worst Tim Burton movie I've seen (certainly the worst Tim Burton/Johnny Depp movie I've seen, and I've seen them all)... and... it was just... blah. It wasn't TERRIBLE... but rather boring and predicable, unless you like gore and very obviously fake blood. Not really my thing, which is odd for Tim Burton. If he chooses to make another musical... let it be more in the vein of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - funny funny and funny weird, not just dark and occasionally funny but mostly just boring. This gets a resounding "Meh."

I was beginning to think I'd gotten the hang of anime - that sort of suspension of disbelief combined with giggling that happens whenever the story inevitably goes off the deep end and ceases to make any sense. In some cases - like Howl's Moving Castle - there's enough coherent story to hold onto to get me through the whole movie (and in the case of Howl, really make me like it). In other cases - like with Spirited Away - I have no freaking clue what the hell is going on, and I lapse into fits of giggling - look at the funny drawings! I was hoping since Princess Mononoke is the highest grossing movie in Japan that it would be better than some of its kindred, but boy, was I wrong. This was pretty much WTF all the way through. The beginning was kind of coherent, but once Ashitaka gets to Iron Town... well, there was a lot of bellows-pumping for some reason... and an elkish thing... and wormy/leechy freaky boar thingys. And very large weird-ass animals. If I was a little kid, I'd be scared out of my tree by this movie - and I'm not even considering the random decapitations and the arm-removals and the blood blood blood. Yummy. I mean, yeah, the animation is pretty good, and would have been tricky to pull off in places (especially with those awful boars), but when you name a movie Princess Mononoke and don't even make it clear who the hell the princess is (my money's on San, but what do I know?)... you kind of lose points. This is probably my least favourite Hayao Miyazaki movie I've seen so far, and that's saying a lot, since I haven't really liked any except Nausicaa and Howl's Moving Castle. Let's hope Castle in the Sky ends up better.

Prince Caspian was the second in my long line of crushes on imaginary people (Aladdin was the first), so needless to say, I was looking forward to this movie. I just wasn't sure what they'd do with it, because nothing much happens in the book - it's just backstory, a little travelling, a piddly little fight and that's it. Except for the endless apple-eating (blissfully cut from the movie). They screwed with things somewhat (there's a seige on Miraz's castle that wasn't in the book, but is entertaining nonetheless, a rather brief encounter with the White Witch (which was unnecessary - except to reiterate in neon letters EDMUND'S A GOOD GUY NOW), and some Telmarine political hoo-hah that's kinda boring and hard to follow), BUT even so, it still turned out to be a pretty good movie, and though they added some schlock (SUSAN and Caspian? WTF???), they also added some good stuff, namely Peter's whole inferiority complex and rivalry with Caspian. The Peter/Caspian scenes were the best in the movie. And as a bonus, there was very little Aslan this time around, so the happy skipping and the deus ex machina were thankfully kept to a minimum. Never liked stupid Aslan. Yes, the fighting is rather unbelievably bloodless, and yes, when people say "You killed my father" with a Spanish accent, I can't take them seriously (I mentally follow it with a "prepare to die" or a "No, Luke. I AM your father" and automatically start giggling), but this was MUCH better than the first movie - and considerably yummier. In all senses of the phrase, I want Prince Caspian.