Brief Movie Reviews

I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately, mainly due to the fact that we upgraded our TV at home from a crappy outdated thing to a 40″ flat screen. I figured I’d go ahead and write brief reviews/my thoughts on them.

Wall-E
I had heard rave reviews about this movie, and was a bit disappointed. It was enjoyable and cute and I would watch it again at a later point, but I felt like it was lacking plot wise. Part of this could be that I’m jaded by Pixar since my “UP” review, but I think that overall the plot seemed kind of transparent and not very strong. Overall, I’d probably give it a 6/10.

Funny People
This movie was also a disappointment to me. I generally like Apatow’s work–LOVED Freaks & Geeks, Undeclared, 40 Year Old Virgin, and Knocked Up. I rented this thinking it would be a comedy and was sorely disappointed. Maybe this has to do with the fact that I’m one of the only people who doesn’t seem to think Adam Sandler is a gift to mankind. I’d say this was more of a drama that had funny aspects. At the end of the movie, I felt like I’d wasted two and a half hours of my life. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really that enjoyable. I’d liken it to watching Spanish soap operas on TV because nothing else is on–sure, they’re entertaining for the moment, but you’re only watching it because you have nothing better to do. Honestly, probably the most excited I got during this movie was when I saw Bo Burnham in the background and yelled out HEY MOM IT’S BO BURNHAM!! I give this movie a 3.5/10–really, don’t bother seeing this movie unless you want to gargle Adam Sandler’s balls in your mouth… in which case you’ve probably already seen this movie and are preparing to write me a strongly worded comment on how wrong I am.

Relative Strangers
I picked up this movie two or three years ago based on the fact that I basically want to be Kathy Bates when I grow up, and the story behind it. Since this one isn’t one that I’d heard of previous to picking up the box, here’s its IMDB page, and here is a trailer for the movie:

My mom and I really enjoyed this and laughed a lot. We enjoyed it so much we watched it again the next night. It’s essentially every adopted child’s worst fear, played to an extreme. Danny DeVito and Kathy Bates are fantastic. I’d give this movie a 7.5/10.

James Cameron’s Avatar
Why yes, I’m aware that I’m basically one of the last people to see Avatar, thank you for informing me. Anyways, I saw Avatar last week in 3D and was really impressed… but not with the 3D. The movie was two and a half hours long–maybe ten minutes of that were cool in 3D. Aside from that, the plot was solid, and the visuals were outstanding. As a former film nerd, I can say that I was awe struck at the amount of work that went into making this movie. I did spend a lot of the movie thinking “Wow, this is just like Fern Gully!” Essentially, if you’re one of the few people who hasn’t seen it yet, it’s worth sitting through two and a half hours. I also wish I was ten feet tall and blue now. 8/10.

Movie review: Disney/Pixar’s “UP”

Tonight my mother and I were bored and decided to look through our TV’s On Demand menu. I had continually heard good things about Disney/Pixar’s “UP,” and we decided to watch it.

Let me tell you, readers: this was an absolutely fantastic movie. It was funny, sad, and touching. Here’s a summary without giving too much away:

Carl Frederickson met his true love, Ellie, when he was a young boy who wanted adventure. They were married for many years. Now Carl is old and Ellie has passed away, and he decides to go on an adventure by inflating a bunch of balloons and using his house to go to South America like he and Ellie always wanted. Unfortunately, he accidentally brought along a young Wilderness Explorer who isn’t exactly the perfect scout. They make it to South America, where they meet Carl and Ellie’s childhood idol, who is in search of a rare bird. A talking dog named Dug is involved. Awesomeness ensues.

An aside: I really am a nerd and have several children’s movies in my DVD collection. Some of my favorites (that I will admit are also some of my favorite movies ever) include Babe, The Adventures of Milo and Otis, Matilda, The Great Mouse Detective, My Neighbor Totoro, and literally everything Wallace and Gromit. As you can tell, I do have a thing for GOOD kids’ movies, so watching this wasn’t too far outside what I would consider watching. At the same time, you can probably see that most of these movies are older–I haven’t been too much of a fan of most of the more recent kids’ movies.

Even though this is a newer kids’ movie, I greatly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it to anyone, but I do warn: I was crying in the first ten minutes, and apparently this is not an uncommon reaction to the first part of the movie. It’s absolutely fantastic, though. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a movie that great. Overall, I’d give it a 9.2/10.

Doctor Who: The Demise of Ten

So. Doctor Who. I’ve only watched the new series, but my favorite Doctor is clearly Nine/Eccleston. I’ve never been totally nuts about David Tennant’s portrayal–I just didn’t find him as fantastic (shoot me) as Christopher Eccleston. Towards the end though, I will say I’ve warmed up to David Tennant.

So here are my thoughts on Doctor Who’s “The End of Time: Parts 1 & 2″

Twilight and Abusive Relationships

I don’t much much to say on the subject, other than that I find Twilight and its fans to be pretty horrifying, but this is a great post about how violence is not love:

http://kar3ning.livejournal.com/545639.html

Girls need to stop lusting over Edward Cullen and get a reality check.

A Funny Webcomic That ISN’T XKCD

I’m not gonna lie to you, readership–once or twice I have chortled at an XKCD comic. But on the whole, I find them to be overly pompous, attempting desperately to seem sophisticated, and overall just trying too hard. Not gonna lie–one of the reasons I realized my boyfriend was a keeper was because we both find XKCD (and its readership) to be horribly unfunny, annoying, and trying too hard. The comics remind me of that guy at a party who’s in the corner telling jokes while everyone is rolling their eyes and flashing embarrassed smiles as he sits there oblivious to the fact that everyone around him thinks he’s a jackass. The problem with XKCD? People actually find this stuff funny.

But fear not, my readership! I do have one webcomic that I do tend to enjoy quite a bit. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is pretty awesome in my opinion. While it still appeals to the nerd base, it isn’t trying incredibly hard to be sophisticated and douchey. It retains that certain sense of immaturity, like a bad pickup line, that I love oh so much.

So go read and enjoy.

PS, if anyone wants an idea on what to give your favorite misanthropic anthropologist for Christmas: Wooo!!

My two personal favorites.

The Beatles Never Broke Up

I’ll let this guy’s website, The Beatles Never Broke Up speak for itself. Whether or not you believe him, the music’s still pretty fun. Someone on the forum I got this from said it’s a bunch of mashups. Either way, I enjoy it.

But yeah, this dude’s probably a nut job. Hearing “all I had heard about parallel worlds before…” tipped me off–dude’s nuts and already into this stuff. I’m not saying parallel worlds exist–hell, I’m always open to the possibility of being wrong!–but I highly doubt this guy went to a parallel world and grabbed an album The Beatles never put out on this world.

Music Video

I had to chuckle at this one.

Well, at least someone thinks white people are cool.

Marge Simpson, Playgirl

Virtually everyone has heard about Marge Simpson’s big break in the world by now. For those living under a rock, Marge is set to be on the cover of the November issue of Playboy. Is this all the beginning of a takeover by new Playboy CEO Scott Flanders? (Yes, I’m serious. The new CEO’s name is Flanders)

While Ned Flanders might be scandalized by this idea, I think it’s clever, even if the “What would Homer think?!” joke wasn’t that funny the first time (also, fail to the report that asked what her son “Bert” would think). While this is probably one of the biggest examples of being Rule 34‘d, I like the thought process behind it. It’s cutting edge, even if it is a bit creepy for my own tastes. The Simpsons is a show I grew up with, and it’s actually been around longer than I have. There’s an episode for everything, and I can still watch the show and giggle. Sure, the older episodes were better and were the classics, but 21 years later, The Simpsons still provides great commentary on American culture, and they’re dead on.

For anyone who wants to know how deeply The Simpsons is ingrained in our culture and how they represent the real American family, check out Simpsonology: There’s a Little Bit of Springfield in All of Us by Tim Delaney. I had to put this book down due to time constraints, but I will most certainly be picking it up again when I have more free time.

Hugh Hefner could have chosen worse… much worse.