Megamind, Maybe

We went to see Megamind with the little people, ages six and eight, and I did enjoy myself, but thought it was a little beyond them.

Maybe I did underestimate them but I kept wanting to explain things. For one thing the bad guy was just dropped  into a prison and was bad by default "Superman babylike". Also he had a magic watch that made him look like anybody he wanted to, so that was a little bewildering as he became people at will for rather subtle reasons. Also, "good guy" got tired of being good, so he just faked his own death, which isn’t okay in my book.  Substitute "Bad guy" was just a doofus. 

The female interest ultimately falls in love with the original "ambivalent" bad guy who is serving time in prison having given himself up, and then he is suddenly made town hero without too much explanation being made.  We six-year-olds aren’t stupid, but we don’t go for coming up for explanations in our cartoons or for messed up cross-purposes.

It really was quite entertaining, but even as an adult I don’t think I would’ve gone by myself.

One of the tests of a good kid movie is that Ali quotes lines afterward. She quoted none after Megamind.  I couldn’t think of any either.  

Hereafter - Clint Eastwood At His Best

I think Clint Eastwood is a genius as a director. I loved Hereafter but it’s not at all what you think it’s going to be.  Nothing heavy-handed from this guy.  

Eastwood doesn’t underestimate his viewer.  This movie is not difficult, but it’s deep and rich both visually and auditorily.  You see incredible beauty.  You see despair.  You see things vaguely, yet clearly.  You hear Dickens, then you see why he matters.  You see incredible, people, some fascinating, not especially beautiful, but fascinating, and acting incredibly.  You hear such understatement.  French is spoken at length by beautiful, accomplished people, English by a beautiful, poor, broken little family in terrible distress, all to be tied in a strange and seamless way.  Only a couple of times I thought things could have been done less awkwardly, but I didn’t know how.  

Eastwood makes his many statements throughout maybe only once and expects you to remember them and build on them.  If you don’t, no problem, but if you do, great beauty comes of it.  

He gives abundant visual clues and cues that you can learn from and build on, some from beyond, some binding humans through the beyond some indicating caring from beyond and some indicating vestiges from beyond that linger from the past.  It’s wild.  

The woman takes the hand of a child, a father grieves from beyond, a twin brother instructs his brother acting both humanly, childishly and also angelically, a doctor/scientist informs with just a line in a hospital making a huge difference, a vision appears and reappears, the kiss from the future, and phony clairvoyants are outed.  You almost feel you are watching your own thoughts happen.    

The sheer beauty of the movie is enough to draw you along though the movie is very slow in its progression.  Though little is known about much, much is indicated to drive thought about everyone and everything.  Just like life and the hereafter.  It’s beautiful.  I’m going to see it again.  It’s that much.  

I Laughed, I Cried, I Spilled My Drink . . .

I didn’t even know such a movie was out yet we went to see Red yesterday afternoon in a movie theater that was empty save for us.  I thought I’d laugh myself silly.  It was wonderful.  I could laugh as loud as I wanted without Carl telling me to shut up.  I needed those magic shields up, too, because it was just that funny.  

Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and of course John Malkovich were crazy old former agents of varying types, with Malkovich having lots of paranoia thrown in, who shoot things up, chase around the country in cars, blow people up, and are absolutely hilarious.  Julia, my beautiful daughter-in-law will be thrilled to note that a Russian is a hero in this one.  

The story line is interesting and pretty surprising, too, keeping you guessing as to how this is going to work out, too, without somebody you like doing pretty hard time at some point.  

The timing is perfect as they zip from place to place and the the pace is perfect.  We’re never bored so be sure to buy a medium drink and go to the bathroom before you go in.  I wouldn't know where to recommend a bathroom break.

Mary Louise Parker is the love interest but you’ve got to see her to care, and you will.

Please  see it.  Just trust me on this one.  

Whattaya Know? We Liked It

Today Carl and I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs The World because it was rated sky-high by Rotten Tomatoes, because I like Michael Cera and because I was in the mood for a movie.  Julia had planned to g.o to Despicable Me, but she had wearied of spending, having bought carpeting for her downstairs, so I was left in the lurch.  Carl had no idea of what he was in for.  

And we liked it.  It was funny, pretty clever and quite entertaining though Carl said it was “good but a little silly” for his taste.

I found upon my return that it was based on a “graphic novel” which I presume is a smarty-pants word for a comic book but that’s okay.  Comic books are for kids, graphic novels are for geeks probably.  

We were easily the oldest people in the theatre but that’s okay.  If anyone has a problem with that, they can stuff it.  And if anyone there thinks that popular culture stuff was beyond us, it really wasn’t all that arcane.  Pretty easy to figure out, actually.  Sorry.  

Robin Hood Redux? I'd Say It's a "Go"

Maybe they shouldn't have even bothered to make it, but I liked it . . .  lots.  It had Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett in it for Heaven's sake.

Robin Hood has hardly had any buzz that I've heard of, but then I've been out of the loop pretty much, but I thought it was great.  Some say it gets a little slow in spots, but I don't and besides, it's beautiful.

I don't think it's a spoiler, either, that they say at the end "And so the story begins."  It's a prequel.

It's  little weird that Marian does get involved in a major battle for England and some other odd turns of history, but since when is Robin Hood history?

And BTW,  it's good to be back!  My computer has been rather down lately, and so have I, so I felt more like just sitting, or laying about, than thinking and typing for the past two weeks.  You know how that can go.

Alice In Wonderland - I'm Doing My House Over in the Motif

Saw Alice in Wonderland on Saturday and loved it until my "loved it" monitor went off the chart.  I still loved it then even.

Ali consented mid-show that she wanted to be Alice when I asked her, which is perfect since her name is Alison and all we have to do is chop off  one sylable.  She usually wants to be the funny characters or the princesses, but this is an exception.

But even I want to be Alice.  She killed the Jabberwock.  His fool head bounced down the stairs for at least twenty or thirty seconds.  Way cool girl heroism.

And I admired Johnny Depp's diastema (Google it) as I enjoy my own.  He made me wish my own hair was red.

Then there was the Red Queen.  Did you not love her and her humongus head?  She outdid the Cannon head by at least three times. And her lovely little heart lips?  Yum.  The lovely apology of the flamingo to the hedgehog.  All was perfect.  Everyone was weird, too.  Even the white queen.

Oh what a fine experience that was.  Was there a flaw?  Don't report it to me if there was.  It will only cause me to report your flaws to you.  It won't be intended.  It will merely be reflexive.  Do not take it personally.

I just loved Alice that much.

Shutter Island and R-Ratings

Saw Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island Saturday and enjoyed it a lot.  

It’s setting is in 1954 and is the story of U.S. marshals sent to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient on the island which is home to those housed for treatment for the criminally insane.  

The setting is wonderful, the movie is well filmed and the story goes well.  I recommend it. 

It does have an R-rating and that is because it is dark, bloody, contains some pretty harsh launguage including the F-bomb several times, but in my estimation, not excessively.  Probably not more than some PG-13 movies.  It’s language, as I remember, is not sexual in nature, crude, nor does the movie contain sexual scenes, references or pictures.  Much of what is difficult are pictures of WWII and Dachau which are germane to the story.  This is important to my blog.

Won’t say more because I don’t want to be a spoiler.  I want to discuss something else.  

A long time ago I studied up on the “R-rating” and found that it was always related to youth when it was proscribed in an LDS setting.  I’ve not seen many R-rated movies, but I have seen some, and I’ve carefully selected those I have seen, and have found many to be worth the time.  I’ve walked out on none because of this care.  I’ve seen, for example, Schindler’s List, Gladiator, Men Who Stare at Goats and others.  I’m not suggesting this for others.  Just commenting on this for myself.  

I have also noted that the LDS Strength of the Youth Pamphlet has changed it’s wording to read as follows:

“Don't attend or participate in any form of entertainment, including concerts, movies, and videocassettes, that is vulgar, immoral, inappropriate, suggestive, or pornographic in any way. Movie ratings not always accurately reflect offensive content. Don't be afraid to walk out of a movie, turn off a television set, or change a radio station if what’s being presented does not meet your Heavenly Father's standards. And do not read books or magazines or look at pictures that are pornographic or that present immorality as acceptable.”

This point of view makes far more sense to me.  I know I don’t speak for everyone, but I have indeed seen far more offensive material in PG-13 and occasionally in PG movies.  And I think that even very young children can understand that violence can be simulated with ketchup but sex certainly can’t and that some descriptions are absolutely disgusting and others are simply expletives. 


I also want to add that I am not a violent person, never use the F-bomb, never blaspheme, am trying not to use the lesser swear words and do not ever, ever enjoy the crude references that are found even in  Disney movies so I think that I stand as an anecdotal example of one standing uncorrupted by all that which is bad in movies of all ratings.

Double Feature at the Aukschun House

Saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian on DVD this past week and either I'm becoming my old pal, Dave Thomas who finds something to like in every movie he sees, . . . or they're both good.

The first, Eternal Sunshine, considered by some to be one of the top ten movies of the past decade, had a little rugged language and some rough but quite likable characters in Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as lovers who choose a service to obliterate each other from their memories.  The story is good and it's well put together.  It's definitely not a movie I'd recommend to everyone, but to those who like the esoteric and weird, give it a try.  I really liked it.

Night at the Museum we had to watch twice because Ali and Soph liked it lots.  It had good stuff in it.  Funny lines, battles between warriors of all ages and a really cool bouncing balloon dog.  Amy Adams is a truly compelling Amelia Earhart and Ben Stiller, saves the day as the night watchman.  Maybe not twice, but once is good.

Blind Sided by Blind Side

Saw Blind Side with Sandra Bullock on Friday.  

I know I’m late but remember, I was the babysitting grandma.  

I really wanted to hate it.  I thought it would be sappy.  I thought it would play right up the alley of all us guilt-ridden folk and try to twang our heart strings at every turn.  I’m tough, you know.  I see it coming.  

After all.   The rich, white, southern Taco Bell family pick the huge, black poor kid off the streets of Memphis, bring him into their spacious, fancy-Dan home, raise him as their own and turn him into an NFL player.  Come on.

But dang it was good.  I liked the kid right off.  Sandra Bullock can’t lose and the little dork of a kid was just a kick in the head.  

I liked it.  Gol, durn it, I did.

At the end they showed actual pictures of the real family, and they actually looked like the movie family and the real football player -- I actually bought him too.

I saw the real woman (that Sandra Bullock played) on the news the other night and she said “They took a few liberties”, but I’d guess they didn’t take many.  It was, . . . it was, . .(I know I’m going to get this out)  . .quite inspiring.  

No real cheese on the side either.

The picture above is of the real family.  Thought you'd like to see them.

Avatar, Redux

I am not a geek of any rank.  Just a minion, I guess.

However I sat beside one of their lieutenants yesterday at my second viewing of Avatar.  The woman and her husband had travelled two-hundred and fifty miles from a place called Baker, Nevada to view the production in 3D, IMAX.  I thought Carl and I were weird to have travelled across the Salt Lake Valley on a Monday afternoon to see it for the second time on the larger screen.

I was also glad that we bought our tickets on Friday night because surprisingly, we got good seats though it was full up by Monday afternoon at 3:05 P.M.

Did I tell you last time I raved on that it's BEAUTIFUL?  The people are beautiful.  The scenery.  The music (I think).  The animals.  There wasn't much to the story that was made clearer because the storyline isn't all that complex, but it's crazy beautiful.

Even I feel beautiful, lithe, speedy and beautiful during it.  Swinging through trees, flying, just like in dreams.  It's wonderful.  What therapy.

I really didn't like the battle scenes all that much.  I am a sixties pacifist, after all.  If I were to recommend times to go to the restroom, it would be during those,  I would also recommend that you not drink much before, not have drinks during and definitely anticipate that the movie is three hours long, so go to the biffy before taking your seat.  In our theatre, there is little access to the aisle if you have nifty seats like ours, so plan to stay for the long haul if possible unless you're on the front row of the balcony.  Hey!  There's a thought.

It was great.  Did I mention that?   Don't let me build it up too much, though, because we don't want too many disappointments.

Avatar - Yes, I'm Now a Fan

At first I thought Avatar was for teenaged gamers but I relented after all the hooplah and saw it.  It was great.  It's definitely a fantasy appealing to the young, but it's more than that by a long shot.

Its beautiful, for one.  It's quite inspired and inspiring and appealing to the imagination.  It definitely allows heroics to the women as well.

It's long, it's a little predictable but then who cares if it's good?  

The thing is it speaks to the triumph of the human spirit on Earth and they aren't human and it isn't Earth.  But that's just a minor detail, maybe.  I also liked the part about the glorious transformation after death.  Maybe they didn't get it exactly right.  But they're looking for it.  Hmmmm.

The Rock - He's Still Got It

Went to see "tooth Fairy" as one of the last hurrahs for us as babysitters for our granddaughters before their parents' return from Maui on Sunday.

Maybe it was The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, but I don't think so. It was a good movie. If you watch any TV, the premise was a stretch, bit it worked. The script was good, it was funny, had some good stuff thrown in for the adults, Billy Chrystal and Julie Andrews had good parts, the kids were cute and I loved the hockey and jock backdrop.

This more than made up for the very sucky "Alvin and the Chipmunks Squeaquel" that actually makes me a bit nauseaus just remembering it.

What Now, Brown Cow?

I suppose we could have suspected that great disappointments lie around like bombs just like we’re surprised by nifty things lying around in the mundane, but I would never have suspected An American In Paris to be one of those.  Crap.  I was a French Major, for Heaven’s sake and I love Gershwin.  Still do.  But at least give me this one.  

It was made in 1951.  I was 9.  My dad had kind of a fascination with the weird talent and craziness of Oscar Levant.  It won like six Oscars.   And I was lying abed, feverish and sick and watching educational TV!  And I hated it!  

The big ole production number towards the end was magnificent.  It went on forever and if I could have the light blue toe shoes that Leslie Caron wore, I would die happy, but lots of the dancy numbers with just Kelly when he was dancing on the piano were kinda gay, quite frankly, and the story line was pretty trite.  Yup.  I said it here.  Maybe I was hallucinating.  And know what?  I wish Leslie Caron had been taller and skinnier and prettier.  

There now.  I said it.  And you can’t make me take it back.  Hollywood has ruined me.

This Is It Might Even Be For The Cynic

If you ever liked Michael Jackson, the adult Michael Jackson, even a little, go see his movie This is It.  It's only in theatres for two total weeks so you don't have much time and I'm too lazy to check for you.  It's really good.  You didn't even have to love him.  Just like.  And maybe just one song, like "Billie Jean."

It's surprisingly cohesive, complete and not at all choppy.  There's a really good segment that has MJ as a villain in an old Chicago movie with Gilda (Rita Hayworth), Bogie (Humphrey Bogart) and Edward G. Robinson with all kindsa nifty shooting and singing and dancing.  (The names above are for the benefit of Julia, who was my date for the evening.)

Also, Thriller was redone and shown in its completeness and if you liked that before, you'll like seeing this though the whole deal with the girl in the haunted house isn't there -- just the cemetery.  But that was enough.  It was great.

There wasn't alot of fawning over him either although there was some and that was to be expected.  They talked about his perfectionism and his knowledge of music in general and of his own music.  And they showed his "hands on" approach to rehearsing, but mostly it was singing and dancing, and he really could do both.  It was a pleasure watching him do both for a couple of hours.

The rest of what he was, or might have been, doesn't even matter anymore anyway.  He was just another tremendous talent from whom sorrow took the really big toll.

Dancing with the Henson Puppets

Hoo, boy.  I just saw "Where the Wild Things Are" and I want to hug everyone.  It's fabulous.

I was one of about ten people who saw "Being John Malkovich", and I loved that, too.  Spike Jonze is as good as his namesake.  Better, probably.  He's the director/co-writer.

I also read "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" last year which was one of my all-time favorite books.  It even made me, a non-crier, cry at the end.  That was written by Dave Eggers, and it turns out he was the co-author of the script for "Wild Things."  Whatta lifetime moment.

Back to the movie:  Sure it was a little dark and menacing at times, but so was "Up" and "Bambi".  I think that you'd want to take a great opportunity to talk to your children about their fears and worries.  And, if you think you're children are immune from much worse going on in their little pointed heads, good luck with that.  Remember the really scary guy who lived in the closet?

I think two things might be a problem.  One is that if a child doesn't get imagination, they might not get the point.  Also, judging by the little squirty kids in the theatre when I was there who were playing on the stairs, it might be boring for the really young ones.

But go to see it if you loved it when you were a kid or even if you are just familiar with it.  It's good!  At least see the matinee.

It's Not Over 'Til It's Over

Watched Oprah talk to Iron Mike Tyson.  It was amazing.  The man was so articulate yet so helpless.  I think that the words came from years in rehab.  But I also believed that he was manipulating no one.

He blamed no one but himself.  He said he lost God while he was in prison and implied that he regained Him, but that those three years were awful.

He talked about his rage, but seemed incapable of really blaming that but just talked about how he has decided since all of that, that he is on his way to trying just to be good.  He said he figured that that really is what everyone wants.  It would seem to me that he is right, but the problem is that everyone's route to that is different.

He talked about the death of his beautiful little daughter, and was truly broken about that.  He was wonderful as he introduced his new baby girl.  She is beautiful.  And he spoke of his other five children with such love and devotion.

Oprah talked about how she had followed his career for Stedman but that she had been horrified by his  violence.  She said she finally saw him for what he simply was:  human.  I think she's right.  I think I saw him that way for the first time, too.

Maybe the movie, Tyson, might be worth the trip to the rental store.

The Case For Brutal Honesty About Movies

Here's a movie that I would recommend that you avoid unless you want to be confused, bewildered and depressed.  Interestingly, it's a comedy.  And basically appears good-hearted, cheerful and full of appealing people throughout.

The trailer for The Invention of Lying is amusing,   There are some lovely people in it like Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Rob Lowe, Tina Fey and etc.  It was written by Ricky Gervais who wrote the original scripts for The Office who is both a talented writer and actor.

Ricky Gervais plays a chubby little failure with rent due, who loses his job, who loves Jennifer Garner's "out-of-his-league" character.  They live in a bizzaro-world like ours but which completely lacks the concept of lying.  Ricky's guy "invents" it and ends up with money, fame, success and the girl.  Predictable, but still appealing.  But don't be fooled.

But there are some real negatives about it that kind of ruin it.  The most malignant is that, in the interest of kindness to his dying mother, this Ricky invents God, the idea of an afterlife and reward for a good life lived.  People, who don't understand lies, believe him whole-heartedly throughout.  Gullibility rewarded.  This is never corrected.  Just harshly laid out there.  God's a lie.

Yoicks. But there are also some real flaws in development. People apparently have never had "commandments", but they seemed to live decently among themselves before learning about the "Man Upstairs" and after.  Nothing here changes.  That's bad movie-making, isn't it?   Shouldn't something  change or make a difference, or matter especially when it's introduced in the title?

And the idea of honesty in this movie seemed to actually mean "cruelty and crudity."  "You're ugly and I've never liked you" is hardly to be embraced as honesty.  It's meanness, don't you think?  But that's never cleared up.

Ricky's character is also very loveable, loving and very caring but he is the inventor of lying.  Good irony, I'd say, but that's really not developed.  If this is to show that in the name of kindness we use lies, the point is muddled.  Again, the discovery of lying doesn't seem to change much.  People remain gullible but don't start lying.  Just Ricky's guy continues on employing lies.  Yet he vascillates between using them and not, without displaying much concern or integrity or developing an awareness of their inherent use.  Kinda just arbitrarily.

And,neither lies nor honesty allow him to ultimately end up with the girl.   He just does.  Wouldn't this be an important point to make?  It's not.  All just limps along.

And did Ricky's character achieve a reward in ultimately ending up with Garner?  She's really pretty vapid and not up to the expectations that we are led to believe that Ricky's character believes in.  She's cute but not that cute.  It just didn't work.

And when you leave, you're not only a little ticked off, but kinda depressed.  Is that how you leave a happy little comedy?  I don't think it would have taken much tweaking to make it good, but none was used it would appear.  I'm just being honest.  And to be totally honest, I'm sick of thinking about this.

Weird Experiences Along the Wasatch Front

Julia and I went to see Angels and Demons a couple of weeks ago and I was astonished to discover I liked it!  Astonishing because I did not like The DaVinci Code movie particularly.  I think this is because I didn't read Angels and Demons and I did read The DaVinci Code like half the world did.  There was too much in the book that I looked forward to that didn't appear in the movie, and further, the tone of the whole deal was much more menacing in the book which I liked.  Dr. Langdon, also, was not at all like the loveable guy Tom Hanks portrayed.  Oh well.  


But the most amazing point of the whole experience was that we saw a guy come into the movies wearing full LDS temple clothes with white makeup on his face.  He also had a little curtain he had fashioned out of white fabric attached to the back of his hat.  Weird.  I don't know what he was up to, but I don't think he accomplished his purpose.  Not many people paid too much attention so he just went on to go into his theater and we went into ours.  I don't know what movie he saw, but my son, Ben, suggested it might have been "Up."  Ha.

Julie and Julia, Creme de la Creme

It's tragic but I lack organization in spades. This is evidenced by my possessing two copies of Nora Ephron's Crazy Salad. Further to that is that I can only find one copy currently.

I became sick with joy as I read Nora's Heartburn, which recounted the nasty betrayal by her husband, the Bernstein of Woodward and Bernstein of Watergate fame, with her best friend. As I recall, her husband, whom I am to lazy to Google for a first name, said that she was entitled to one book for what he'd done, so he didn't press charges. The movie didn't fly, but it still was funny.

So, I hightailed it to the movie theater to see Julie and Julia and was massively rewarded. It's almost a chick-flick, but not really. It's amazingly well-written, well acted and funny. I was there alone since DeeAnn forgot her appointment was at 4:00 and not the traditional 2:00 this afternoon so I solaced myself with a movie and Diet Coke.

You don't even need to remember Julia Child to enjoy this. Meryl Streep becomes her to the point of channeling . . . and it's really entertaining.

That's Nora in the photo. Incidentally, if you happen to know Ms. Ephron's Twitter address, let me know. I'd love to follow her. I'm sure every word from her pen is a gem.

The Orphan

I'm not talking about my daughter-in-law here. I'm talking about the movie.

As best I remember, some critics said it had a good start, good premise but devolved into formulaic violence and mayhem. Then some others said the twist was a little beyond belief. Both true. But it was still a really pretty good scary movie. Quite bloody, which is not my favorite, too many f-bombs and a few disturbing images, but it scared the heck out of me which is what I love. I love scary movies.

DeeAnn and I both thought that the whole deal was worth the price of admission for a couple of seniors and worth, also, some mushroom enchiladas after.

To say the least, it was worth the evening spent at the Gateway which is always a problem, particularly for DeeAnn who didn't know up from down there. Fortunately she had me to lead her to and from places, and watching her bewilderment running rampant alone was almost worth the price of admission. Great movie.