Something Old, Something New, Something Blu

First, something old: Valkyrie. I saw this movie back when when it first came out, but I'm just now getting around to reviewing it. A lot of critics gave this movie negative reviews for two reasons. One, because Tom Cruise did not speak in a German accent and two, because it is obvious what the outcome of the movie will be. First of all, yes Tom Cruise was playing a German so it would make sense that he would have a German accent, but it would also make sense that he would be speaking German the whole time and I definitely wouldn't want that. I like to read books and watch movies. I don't care how fast of a reader you are, if the movie has subtitles you will miss something on the screen. Second of all, yes this movies is a true story and we know that they don't end up killing Hitler, but it is still an exciting movie. With the movie Miracle it was no surprise to anyone that the Americans were going to beat the Russians in hockey, but it was still an exciting movie. A good movie gets better the more you watch it. I know exactly what is going to happen every time I see Star Wars and Indiana Jones, but I still love them more every time I see them. This movie was a solid thriller. I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

Second, something new: Something Wicked This Way Comes. I have to do one play review on this blog this semester so here it goes. Sally and I saw this at UVU Saturday night and sadly weren't that impressed. It wasn't very scary or funny or much of anything entertainment wise other than kind of interesting to look at. In the first act of the play all you find out is that there is a carnival that is evil which is basically what everyone knows going into the play anyways. I think this UVU production was very well produced. It had great costumes, make-up, and a fantastic set. I just thought that the story was really bland, and they shouldn't have chosen it. If you live nearby and you want to go, it's playing through at least Halloween. I still recommend going just to support the UVU Theater Department even though I only give this a 5.5 out of 10.

Third, something blu: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Blu-Ray Diamond Edition. We recently picked up this little gem (pun extremely intended) at Amazon.com for $10, which is a steal of a deal. I'm not sure if the deal is still on but you should get in on that action if you can. First of all, if you don't have Blu-ray you should invest in it. It's not as big of a jump in convenience as it was from VHS to DVD, but it is probably a bigger jump in picture and sound quality. The only problem is, in addition to needing a PS3 or blu-ray player, you need a 1080p HDTV and a HD sound system to acquire all of that quality. But once you get all of that, it's totally worth it. The second thing I want to tell you, if you didn't already know, is that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the most fantastic movies ever made. It is probably my favorite Disney movie. The dwarfs are hilarious. I cannot get enough of them. It is probably the only movie that rivals Star Wars in how influential it is. Suffice it to say, I think you should all check out Snow White again, and you should get it on Blu-ray because there are all kinds of awesome special features that make you appreciate it even more. I definitely give this movie a 10 out of 10.

I take that back...

...The biggest surprise of the summer for me was actually probably Angels and Demons, and that's because it's a great sequel to what I thought was a terrible movie. I thought The Da Vinci code was a gross, disturbing, and dreadfully boring movie. In fact, about the only thing it had going for it was the music: a beautiful score by Hans Zimmer. I'd say with Angels and Demons the music was about twice as good and everything else was about 100 times as good. I though The Da Vinci Code should have been rated R with sex, nudity, and disturbing images. And Angles and Demons, with the exception of some violence that's too scary for kids, could have been PG. And as I mentioned, the most heinous crime that the 1st one committed is it's insanely boring. The only reason I saw the 2nd one is because Sally really wanted to see it in the dollar theater and I'd see just about anything there. And I'm so glad we did. Not only was it not boring, but it was really exciting. I was on the edge of my seat the whole movie. I totally recommend it. I'd give it about an 8 out of 10.

The biggest surprises of the summer.

17 Again would not normally be a movie I would want to see, but I heard it had some Star Wars references in it so I figured I should at least see it in the dollar theater. I did, and I'm so glad I did. The movie is SO funny. I totally recommend it to everyone. You might think it's a movie like Big, but it reminded me a lot more of Back to the Future because he's interacting with his family a lot without them knowing. After seeing this movie with Sally, I said to her, "That was pretty clean for a PG-13 comedy, don't you think?", and she said,"It was PG-13?" So that's cool. And this movie really has heart. I can honestly say I was touched by this movie. I'd give it a solid 9 out of 10.

Year One looked like a funny movie and it started out as one, but it slowly got worse and worse. Worse and worse both in more and more raunchy obscene material and getting less and less funny. First of all this movie definitely should've been rated R. This movie is stupid because it's for a very small audience. People that aren't religious won't get the jokes, and people that are will be offended. So the only people that will like it are people that were raised religious but have since rebelled. I'd give this movie a 3 out of 10.

New Movies

I've never read the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I heard it's a lot different from the movie, so if you liked the book you might not like this. But for us, we went in not knowing what to expect and really liked it. We thought it was hilarious and a lot of fun. And Mr. T is in it and is perfect. I'd give it an 8 out of 10.

Surrogates was not a mind-blowingly awesome movie, but it was still pretty cool. My favorite part was just how different the surrogates looked from the people, mostly done with makeup I presume. The movie wasn't super spectacular, but it was still a decent Si-Fi thriller that is worth watching. I'd give it a 6 out of 10.

And finally we saw Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3D for the price of 1. They're still great movies. We hadn't seen them in a long time and it was well worth it for us to see them in 3D for the 1st time. The 1st one is a little better because an evil kid that blows toys up is more interesting than the bad guy being the toys having depression from never being played with again by a kid. This problem is never really solved by the end of the film. It kind of makes me nervous for the 3rd one, but we'll see. Anyways, we totally recommend you revisit these classics before the 2 weeks is up.

Romantic Comedies

New in Town is a hilarious comedy about a business woman played by Renee Zellweger who has to move from Miami to Minnesota. She meets all kinds of funny characters and ends up falling in love with a hunky guy played by Harry Connick Jr. That's all there is to it, and that's the sole reason that critics gave this movie bad reviews. It's predictable and unoriginal. Well of course, who cares? I knew they were going to fall in love. I didn't go to this movie to get my mind blown. I went to this movie to laugh and have a good time, and I did. This movie was at least as good as My Big Fat Greek Wedding which everyone seemed to love, but no one has heard of this movie. I give it an 8 out of 10.

The Proposal is a Movie that I was hoping would be as good as New in Town but isn't. The beginning is actually funny. Sandra Bullock is Ryan Reynolds' boss who'll be deported to Canada unless she gets married to Ryan who has to agree to it or else he will get fired too. After that, they go to Alaska to meet Ryan's parents which is where the comedy ends. There is only one funny character there, and it's pretty sad when the best character in a movie is a stripper. This movie is full of unnecessary sex, nudity, and language. This movie gets more and more ridiculous as it goes, ending with them falling in love which might be the most preposterous thing considering they hate each other the whole movie. I'd give it a 4.5 out of 10.

G. I. Joe

This is Garr writing and since I'm in a writing class, I have to write something in a blog every week. So I'm going to be more faithful on writing movie reviews, and I'm going to start with something that's still in theaters: G. I. Joe. Basically what I've been telling people is it's not Schindler's List, but it's still a fun movie with a lot of action. Think Transformers. It's a movie based off of a Hasbro toy line just like that, and the movies are similar. Another good movie to compare this to is The Mummy which is by the same director. I think of The Mummy as being a watered down cheesy version of Indiana Jones that's still a lot of fun. This is pretty much a cheesy watered down version of X-Men meets James Bond. If you go back and watch an old episode of G. I. Joe or Transformers, you will realize that those cartoons suck. So for me, the only character that I was interested in seeing if they did right was Snake Eyes (pictured above). And he was AWESOME! Snake Eyes is played by Ray Park who played Darth Maul and Toad in X-Men. For him alone, this movie is worth seeing. I'd give this movie a 7 out of 10.

CHICAGO!...and Indianapolis

A couple of weeks ago, Garr and I took a trip out to the Midwest. The main reason behind going was that Garr wanted to go to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis to see a new Star Wars Exhibit that they have there. We also both really wanted to to go to Chicago. Since both out parents live within 3 hours of each, we figured we could spend a little time with family too. It was a ton of fun and so I thought I would document it in pictures...since it is the most excited thing we have done since we went to DC during Christmas.

Garr wearing the first of the many little kid outfitis they had in the children's museum for the KIDS. My mom also got in on that action. Chris (the only one that really was supposed to put the stuff on) is in the middle. They pose with R2D2 and Mom convienienly is in front of Yoda...thanks a lot Mom.

Garr posing with Jabba the Hutt. I think he might have a crush on him...I would say man crush, but Jabba is isn't really a man. Anyway.

Garr and Henry doing a puppet show with the dinosaur puppets. Plot: Henry's dinosaur tries to take Garr's dinosaur's egg. Garr zealously defends his baby and egg by biting the other dinosaur's tail. Needless to say it was one of my proudest moments.

Again, Garr going inside a underwater looking thing that was designed for parents to take picture of their kids while they are in there. Garr proudly messed up a few kids picture. Way to to go!

Garr in front of a Clone Wars picture thing. He is trying (but failing) to contain his excitement.

Here's me trying to be cool and go in all the kid stuff too.

Alice and Henry, just to show that we were there with other people too.

This is how I found Garr, digging for fake fossils with protective eye ware. He's obviously not thrilled about being disturbed.

Garr in front of a Star Wars movie prop. Yes, we went all the way to Indianapolis mainly for this.

In the Egypt section. Yes, Garr did wear that around the entire place. Henry and Alice accompany him on an alligator along with some random kid. You can only see his leg and hand. He wasn't getting out of the picture so I just took it, and he ducked down at the last second.

Garr in the middle of the dinosaur area. He was oh too excited.

Garr with his favorite pose in front of an Egypt wall painting.

Garr wearing a child's lab coat picking his teeth with a dinosaur fossil. Same old same old.

Garr hugging the dinosaur goodbye before we left.

Garr, Chris, Henry, and Tom with the statues outside the museum. Garr kept on saying, "Sally take the picture, take it, take it, this really hurts.

On to Chicago. This is Gino's East in Downtown Chicago. They are supposed to have some of the best deep dish pizza in Chicago, so we pretty much had to go. The family came along too, and it was really fun. They give you crayons to write on the walls, so we tried to leave our mark even though the walls were so covered it was pretty hard to find a semi-blank spot. Once the food came, needless to say, we were in deep dish pizza heaven.

Garr and I on the architectural river cruise, it was tons of fun for a modern architecture nerd like me.

One of my favorite pictures of all time of Garr.

Garr was excited to be photoed under the Illinois sign.

A cool building and half of my head.

Garr just before going into the Taste of Chicago.

In front of Buckingham Fountain.

Garr eating deep dish pizza at the taste of Chicago.

Me eating an assortment of fried foods at the Taste of Chicago, and man was it tasty.

Garr in front of the Chrome Gate statue. It really is pretty dang cool, especially underneath it.

Garr didn't even know about this R2D2 post office box in front of the Museum of Science and Industry. We were both like, "BONUS!"

At Ed Debevic's, where the waiters are told to be rude to you, and it's pretty funny.

Me at Ed Debevic's dutifully wearing my hat and looking pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

Back in Decatur, this is Garr posing with his look-a-likes.

Garr and his Mom and Dad. Garr's mom was not a fan of his Punisher shirt, but we took the picture anyway.

Back in Indiana around the campfire that Garr built in the back yard.

Mom and I at Holiday World (in Santa Claus, Indiana...I know), Mom: Cute, Me: covered with about 50 layers of sunscreen trying to protect my albinism.

Garr after an especially painful wooded roller coaster at Holiday World.

The fam in line for a ride at Holiday World.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Wolverine was one of the movies that I had been most looking forward to coming out this year. I am definitely biased since Wolverine is one of my favorite comic book heroes. Some of the critics said that this movies was just another origin story, and that it was nothing new. For me I loved to see what happened to him to make him the way he is in the X-Men movies. It answered a lot of questions I had while watching the other 3 movies. Since I am fascinated with Wolverine, I enjoyed every minute of this movie. I can see how some people might get confused since there are a lot of characters that come in and out of the movie, but I thought it was awesome. The action is amazing and I thought that the story was well done. It is most definitely my favorite movie this year so far. If you like tons of great action and awesome superheroes, definitely go and see it. I know I will see it again in the theater. 9.5/10.

Star Trek

Star Trek is one of the more highly anticipated movies of this year, and we were excited to go and see it. Although Garr is predominantly a Star Wars fan, he heard that this Star Trek movie was supposed to have a lot more action and be more like Star Wars, so we happily went to see it. We were not disappointed. Although Garr was defiantly not converted to the Star Trek camp, we both really enjoyed it. The choice in actors was excellent. They looked like the old 60's characters, but the new young actors also made Star Trek more current and accessible to our generation. I liked how they stuck with a lot of the old catch phrases, but also were able to update some things. The Effects were really good, and I thought the story was clever and very in touch with the rest of the Star Trek universe. Garr and I could not help but make many connections between Star Trek and the Star Wars movies. I will not elaborate too much on that, but it was interesting to see. We are definitely going to see it again in the theater, and I highly reccomend it. 8.5/10.

Seven Pounds

We kept putting off seeing Seven Pounds since all of the trailers were so confusing. The trailers were obviously supposed to be confusing, but instead of making us want to see it they made us avoid it at first. When we did eventually get around to seeing it, we were glad we did. Unlike some movies that are intended to be fairly simple and end up being overly complicated, this movie seems quite complicated on the surface, but is actually fairly simple and ends up being easy to understand. The story lends itself well to film. It is hard not to give the whole movie away if I describe it really at all. I can just say that it is a good movie and worth seeing. 7.5/10.

Duplicity

We thought that we would give Duplicity a try despite its mixed reviews. Unfortunately it lives up to its name but not in a positive way. There is so much going on. It is hard to follow all of the different facets of the story. There is not a good pay off at the end, and we left the theater with an unfulfilled sensation. All the actors did a very good job. The cast was amazing. The story seemed like it was trying to be like Oceans 11 but then not. If you are looking for a good spy flick, this is not it. 4/10.