House Funny

Title: House Bunny
Starring: Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Rumer Willis, Katharine McPhee, Kat Dennings, and Hugh Hefner
Director: Fred Wolf
Released : 22 August 2008

House Bunny is fairly easy to summarize.  Shelley (Faris) loves being a Playboy Bunny. It's her happy ever after place. She is kicked out of the Playboy Mansion by a fellow Bunny who doesn't like her. Homeless, Shelley drives around until she finds some sorority houses, becomes the House Mother of Zeta, and tries to save the girls and their sorority.

For the record, Anna Faris sounds stupid. She obviously can't help sounding like this because her voice is the same in every film she does (minus My Super Ex Girlfriend to a certain degree). She even looks a bit dumb. Seriously. Karen from Mean Girls could have been inspired by Anna Faris.
     She is that dumb.
     But thanks anyway Mona (Dennings) for pointing that out. We never would have guessed she was stupid if you hadn't said it.
     Who's stupid now?

Whatever. Back to the movie.

Shelley's goal is fairly simple. She wants to find her happily every after. At first, she thinks she found it at the Playboy Mansion because she considers that her home and the other Bunnies (and Hef) are her family. She may be stupid, but you can totally tell she is kind, caring, and thoughtful (though some of this may stem from her stupidity). She just wants to make sure everyone is okay and that sort of thing.  She is the Playboy Mansion mom.

When she is kicked out, however, Shelley has to find a new happily ever after, complete with a home and some girls to look after and become a mother to.  She ends up at the Zeta house, home to a sorority that is about to lose their charter due to a lack of pledges. She teaches the girls what she can about being sexy and getting boys to like them and they teach her how to be smart.
     Zeta is essentially the Vortex from Sydney White.

Natalie (Stone) is so awkward that it is beyond hilarious. She cracks me up. She's clueless and trying to be cool/sexy, but it's not working out for her . .  just so you know.
     Actually, it's not going to work with any of the girls, no matter how hard Shelley tries.
     Shelley actually does make them sexy, but they can't live her life. They give up their sexiness and merge it with their own personalities so they go from losers, to sex-kittens to themselves.
          This is uber important though. If the girls didn't fall back onto their own identity, the message of the movie would change from "be who you are" to "life only works if you act like a Playboy Bunny).

Shelley, however, also changes like the girls she works with. She learns that there are more ways to get things done than by being sexy. Guys can like smart girls. These girls need her more than the Bunnies and Hef do, so she stays their mother -- a decision that I would have thought to be impossible.

"I'm allergic to erthromycin. I took it once with I had a cold. I was 16, and it gave me itching. I mean, everything itched. My legs, my arms, my earlobes. And other stuff too, but I can't say, because I'm live on the air right now, and you can't say "ass cheeks," right?  . . . But besides the itching, the erthromycin also made my skin glow. It gave me, like, this glowing tan. And I suddenly felt like another person. Different. Better. Prettier, I guess.  . . . Do you know that feeling that I'm talking about? Where you suddenly feel pretty and, next thing you know, you feel better about yourself? Well, that was what was happening to me. My allergic reaction made me feel pretty, and so I ignored all the bad side effects, because suddenly people were talking to me and they were noticing me. And even though I was itching like crazy, it was worth it to feel accepted. And so I couldn't wait to get a cold so I could take my erythromyoin. BUt underneath that beautiful, glowing skin, I still had that cold. Well, that's a meteor.  . . .  It flashes by and burns bright, but then it disappears. And that was what was happening to me. The real me just disappeared.  . . .  I am not an expert speech-giver. But I do know that one day, when your looks are gone, if everything you have is based on looks, well, then you've got nothing. You need your friends and your family by your side, to love you for who you are, not what you look like. At the Zeta house, our new motto is, "Be who you are." Because we're a family. We're a family that loves you on the inside. So we need you to stand forward and be a part of that family. We need 30 people right now to stand forward and pledge Zeta!"

This speech really shows how Shelley has grown as a person since being a Bunny.
     Cheesey, typical speech, but worth it in the end because it shows that she has a brain somewhere under bleach-blonde locks. Impressive indeed.

And, for the record, "the eyes are like the nipples of the face" -- thanks for that image Faris. It may be funny, but it makes you sound more stupid than we originally thought.

Someday My Geek Will Come

Title: Geek Charming
Starring: Sarah Hyland, Matt Prokop, Jordan Nichols, and Vanessa Morgan.
Director: Jeffrey Hornaday
Release Date: 11 November 2011

Geek Charming is a movie about high school, so of course it's going to follow the standard plot line of an unpopular boy/girl (usually boy) becoming friends with / falling in love with a popular boy/girl (usually girl). Josh Rosen (Prokop) needs to make a documentary movie for the upcoming film festival. He chooses to make the film an expose on what it means to be popular. Thus, Dylan Schoenfield (Hyland), the most popular girl in school becomes his subject.

It seems that Rosen chose his star well. Dylan has the typical popular girl attitude.
     "People know I care" by correcting and saving fashion victims. This will help get her the title Blossom Queen
     Popular people shouldn't have to "share the same air" as geeks. Popular people can only hang out with other popular people because cats don't hang with dogs (geeks).
     She drops her purse into a shallow mall fountain and cries for help because she is incapable of getting it for herself. She acts like she's a damsel in distress in need of saving. But seriously . . . it's just a purse and its just a fountain -- you're not going to die.
     Popularity isn't easy. It's like being a queen or first lady. You have to live up to extreme, unattainable standards of beauty. You have to be kind and compassionate (or at least fake it). You must help people -- again, only fashion victims for her. You have to be a good influence on others.
     Popularity is contagious. Dylan's friend are only popular because she is. Her popularity saves them.
     Popular kids must hang out with other populars and everyone should stay in their own cliques to prevent "misunderstandings"
          Breakfast Club anyone???  . . . or almost any other John Hughes movie . . .
 
In other words, from the very beginning, Dylan is a D-I-V-A, diva. She may hate being called that, but if the tiara fits . . . wear it.  For example, when asked what she wants to do after school, she says yoga and shopping (which is good for the economy). When asked about the future, all she can come up with is becoming Blossom Queen. (you find out that this desire is tied to her dead mother, but she needs a better goal all the same . . . but that's just me talking).

At first, the project goes just how Josh imagined it would -- Dylan is silly and superficial, and just the way he imagined she would be. As they hang out to finish the movie, they start hanging out with one another because they want to -- a MAJOR mistake in the world of high school because hanging out with the "wrong" clique gets you excommunicated from your former circle of friends so you have no one. The apparent truth is just that you cannot break through clique boundaries by getting a "fake-over" makeover.
     Josh is no longer Film Club President.
     Dylan no longer has a covered seat on the ramp -- the peak of popularity.

The closer Dylan and Josh get, however, the more Josh's "artistic vision" changes because his understanding of the truth about Dylan and popularity changes. After all, the documentary is about truth which is very challenging to find and the truth is that Dylan is a real person, not some plastic, popular, foreign entity to be stared and marveled at from a distance.
     Dylan wins burping contests
     Dylan wears contacts/glasses
     Dylan is vulnerable and uncertain at times, especially when talking about her mom.
     Dylan cares about her grades.

In other words, Dylan is just a regular person like anyone else. That in mind, Josh's new goal is to discover the "real story" about Dylan; not the "cover story" she pretends she is. The problem is that he never told Dylan about the change, so of course she is angry.

She didn't want anyone to know the "real" Dylan because her real self is "humiliating." After all, she spent both middle school and high school to get rid of herself and replace it with a new perfect version of herself.

After the film debuts, Dylan has no choice but to hide. Josh has exposed the real Dylan and she can't make that disappear. She is forced, then, to become a "real," more soft girl. And in doing so, Dylan's view of popularity changes. Popularity becomes
     Not having everyone know who you are.
     Not what you're wearing.
     Not winning Blossom Queen
     Having real friends who like you for you.
     Not friends who will ditch you for a better offer or who will stop being your friends because you don't have a boyfriend / date to the big dance.
     Real friends you can count on no matter what and who will share life with you.
     Not about being popular or a geek; it'as about hanging out with the people who make you happy.
   
So yeah.

Typical high school movie (thank you Disney for your lack of originality in this film), but the audience knows that before watching the film. It shouldn't be any surprise then. If you want to watch a sappy, high school, forbidden love sort of thing, by all means watch it. If not, don't bother. It'll just annoy you.

Rise of the Fictional Characters Who Desperately Need Someone to Believe in Them

*I'm giving up on adding pictures for the moment because it's not working out for me right now.*

Title: Rise of the Guardians
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Ilsa Fisher, Hugh Jackman, Chris Pine, and Jude Law
Directed by: Peter Ramsey
Released: 21 Novmber 2012

Rise of the Guardians is a tale about the guardians selected to keep the world happy and filled with hope, North/Santa (Baldwin), Easter Bunny (Jackman), Tooth Fairy (Fisher), Jack Frost (Pine) and Sandy the Sandman, fighting Pitch Black while still keeping the children of the world believing them. Underneath that plot, however, it is about discovering who you (Jack Frost) are on the inside.

Before jumping into discussing the identity crisis, I have a few things to address first.

First, why aren't we calling Santa "Santa"? Seriously. Perhaps this decision was based on the fact that not everyone celebrates Christmas.  The truth is, however, that you can change his name to "North," but he is still obviously Santa, so why not identify him as such? No matter what you call him, though, Baldwin does some pretty excellent voice acting; I didn't even realize it was him until the credits. So props to you, sir. Well done.

Second, Sophie (I think that's her name) has terrible hair. It's awful. Are we supposed to assume that she gave herself her own hair cut, which many kids try to do at some point? Either way it's awful . . . well, slightly cute because she's a little girl, but still terrible.

Third, I love Sandy and the way he communicates. It's awesome and whimsical . . . plus the movie people get to save the cost of hiring another voice actor. Brilliant.

Fourth, Pitch Black looks like Hades in Disney's Hercules. Just saying.

Fifth, I love Jack Frost, but the whole icing everything you touch with your bare hands/feet (for the most part) was my idea like twelve years go for my own superhero-esque alter-ego, creation thing, but thanks for playing.

Sixth, I LOVE Hugh Jackman. He is amazing and I love him. I've loved him since X-Men have continued to follow his film career because I love him.
     My first and only celebrity crush (not counting Patch from Days of Our Lives because apparently I loved him when I was a toddler or something)

Okay. On to more substantial things like themes instead of my unconnected ramblings.

We all must go on ventures to discover who we are on the inside ( who we are at our center), but this movie has an interesting twist on the identity crisis.

Jack Frost goes on this huge journey trying to not only understand who he is, but also find out who he was before he became Jack the guardian. It's pretty simple -- if I don't know who I was, how can I know who I am now? An important question that must be answered for anyone looking to discover who they are.

There is, however, more to it than that because Jack and his fellow guardians must guard their identity closely. Pitch Black is determined to make the children to stop believing in all the guardians. As he does so, these guardians' identities begin to crumble.

This is seen most clearly through the Easter Bunny going from his awesome self into an ordinary bunny.

Jack goes on a similar journey, but does not become weaker. Instead, he learns about who his was and is until he finally finds the strength to believe in himself. And, once he believes in himself, he is finally able to be seen by the children.

Jack must teach this lesson to the other guardians who are shrinking quickly because it is the only way to restore hope and belief. It does become a bit annoying though. In my head, all I hear is "I do believe in fairies, I do, I do." from the 2003 version of Peter Pan.

All in all, it's a cute kids movie about defining and discovering your identity. It has it's amusing points and is a bit heavy-handed with their message about identity, but that's okay. Kids sometimes need that sort of extreme guidance to learn the lesson presented. On the other hand, give the kids some credit. They aren't stupid.

Also, McDonalds is dumb. They have their dinky plastic toys that will never amount to anything really with characters from the movie. Everyone one is there except North who is missing entirely, but his elf is there. Honestly. I don't know what they're thinking.

May the Blogs be Ever in Your Favor

So here's the deal on this one. I just re-read Hunger Games and watched the film as well, so this review is going to be jumping between the book tree and the movie tree (just like Rue :) )

Anyhow, for those of you have been living in District 13, Hunger Games, like Harry Potter and Twilight, has become a world-wide phenomenon for tweens and teens . . . and even some adults. Young characters (between the ages of 12 and 18) are forced to participate in the Hunger Games -- a fight to the death match to prove that the Capitol is all powerful over the Districts 12 remaining districts. The book is centered around the 74th annual Games. This time however, things end in an unexpected manner that changes everything and leads into the last two books.

My like/dislike for this movie is complicated. In fact, I wasn't pleased with the film rendition of the story when I saw it opening night and the next two nights as well. But, seeing as I've watched it 20 times, it's grown on me so much that I hold it equally as good as the book. On the one hand, there are scenes in the book that I love. I also appreciate hearing Katniss think her way through the Games to eventual victory. On the other hand, there are some scenes and characters that look stronger visually than they appeared in the text. Each cover for what the other lacks, giving a fully-rounded, well-connected movie.


The problem is that the book is limited strictly by what Katniss sees/does. The movie tries to broaden the spectrum so the audience gets a clearer picture of what's going on without them -- Game Maker's room. President Snow and Seneca Crane (my personal favorite because Donald Sutherland makes me laugh), reactions to what's going on in 11 and 12. All of that exists only in the movie. But that's not the only reason I like the film.


I like that the movie began by starting in the Capital with the Game Maker almost justifying the Games by making it sound like a positive thing.  This makes seeing the Games much more sickening and sends a powerful message about the things people watch/do for entertainment. The same thing happens through Caesar Flickerman's interviews and "sports" updates with Templesmith. It's horrible, but that's Collins' point, so I'll get over it.

The most prominent way the book differs from the film is through the characters; specifically, I'm thinking of Katniss, Prim, and Peeta.




In the movie, Katniss  is true to her reaction in the book when Gale saying he wanted kids and wanted to leave to live in the forest -- Gale has hope, Katniss is too realistic/pessimistic to have that hope. As she says on the night before the Games -- "I can't afford to think that way." In both texts, Karniss has this "things are never going to change attitude"; highly ironic because she changes everything with the nightlock berries. Both Katnisses are very dismissive of and clearly angry with her mother throughout beginning, but it is a deeper intensity in the book, giving more details to why Katniss regards her mother the way she does. Also, book Katniss appears to hate hate getting help more because she believes that  help means you're weak because you can't do it alone, and Katniss is all about pride, defensive, arrogant and strength. That is really missing from the movie because movie Katniss seems more willing to cry and be emotional than book Katniss who is cold, hostile, and apparently emotionless.  The nice thing, however, is that Katniss seems to be pretty flat in the book (comparatively), but Lawrence gives Katniss more dimension and realism.









The book mentions Peeta crying and uncertain -- exactly how he appears between his name being called and the train until Haymitch shows up. This is important because it shows that both book and movie Peeta more rounded out character opposed to Katniss, who would never cry because she is all about strength and crying makes you look weak. Furthermore, book Peeta's attitude, voice, and essence is embedded into every piece of movie Peeta -- the best part being the interview prior to the games.














The biggest change was in Prim. In the book, you don't know anything about her being afraid or emotional at all until her name is called, but even then, there's not much there emotion-wise. The movie makes a more compelling choice by giving her fear and nervousness and other strong emotions. This really adds to Prim's character and breathes life into her because she's kind of dead on the page.














Even more important than the characters are the actors / actresses who play them. They deserve a lot of credit for their hard work.  Elizabeth Banks, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci -- all of them did such a good job and should be recognized accordingly.

And there are just so many wonderful scenes brought to life in the film. 1) We can actually see the training room; the scene after Katniss shoots the apple is so much funnier; the scenes between Katniss and Rue -- I wish we could have heard the conversations they had about the differences in their districts, but that's okay because the did her death right -- the most important scene; and the scenes in the cave were good, but in the book, the cave is much more intimate and wonderful in the book --you lose some of the intensity and deepness of their love blooming, but that's okay.

There are also scenes missing from or changed in the movie which I appreciate. The trackerjacker hallucination; the mutts; and Peeta losing his leg. Even more important is the initial sequence after the Games begin. I love the ringing / silence as they get to cornucopia and get supplies or die trying; hearing them die would have just made it worse.

Also, the costumes in Capital are brilliant, but I wish they could have done something different with Peeta and Katniss's parade clothes and Katniss' hair. Just saying. No. I love everything about the Capitol. It's futuristic, clean and everything it should have been. And I love how they make the Capitol game room look. It's awesome and just like it should be.

All in all, they did a good job editing the film to accompany the book. I've come to the conclusion that I do in fact like the movie as much as I like the book, and I can't wait for Catching Fire. It's going to be awesome.

Because it's funny

Star Wars: The Force Is Strong In This One Part Three: Revenge of the Sith

This movie picks up pretty much right where things left off in Attack of the Clones. Anakin and Padme are secretly married, Anakin is no longer a Padawan, and Anakin is beginning to slip towards the Dark Side through his relationship with Chancellor Palpatine. That's about everything that's changed. This movie really just serves to show the transformation of Anakin into Darth Vader and set-up the war plaguing the universe in the followed three movies.

This was my second time seeing the movie and I still feel the same was I did the first time. There's nothing special or memorable about it. Or maybe I was too bored to notice the film on the TV. I guess it was okay. I loved the character development and transformation Anakin goes through to become Vader. What can I say? I'm a sucker for strong, deep, fully-rounded characters and that is really the only thing that saves Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith for me.

So . . . yeah. This review is pretty much a quick analysis of Anakin's descent into the Dark Side. Deal with it and keep reading or disappear and read something else. It's your choice.

Even in Phantom Menace, there are clues that Anakin will eventually be in trouble (and not just because I know he will become Darth Vader either) because of the fear Yoda found in him. More on that fear in a moment though.

Anakin can be defined by a lot of things, especially arrogance, pride, hate and anger that he can't let go of, easily swayed, manipluated and influenced by the Dark Side because he doesn't like all the rules of being a Jedi such as love thus he s a rule breaker, focuses on pain, suffering, and death, fear of loss, not approved to become a Jedi Master so he's angry, repeatedly said to be arrogant, inability to follow orders, impatience, most gifted (even more than Yoda), unpredictable, anger, loves being right, doesn't think politics work so prefers dictatorships, irrational due to extreme connection to feelings, good at fixing things, but cannot understand that he can't stop/fix death, "all-powerful," "strongest Jedi ever," can't handle failure, and has a reckless nature.

I know -- that's a lot of qualities, but all of them can be traced back to what Yoda originally sensed in Anakin: FEAR. He acts arrogant, hateful, prideful, angry because he's afraid of seeming weak and of letting others know that he is still afraid. He is easily influenced by Chancellor Palpatine because he is afraid of many things -- death, pain, suffering, loss -- and Palpatine offered to teach him how to become so powerful that he will never need to be afraid again. He prefers dictatorships because he's afraid of democracy and the people choosing what they want. He's afraid of failure of any kind.

Fear then is the true reason that instigated Anakin into become Darth Vader.

The only other things I can say are that a) General Greivous's character concept and design were brilliant. I loved it; 2) I hated seeing all the Jedi dying, especially the children or younglings. It's terrible. But it was supposed to be, so I suppose I can get over that; 3) They fixed Obi-Wan's hair (thank goodness because it was terrible)

Anyhow . . . Yeah. That's all I've got to say about this film.  The following reviews regarding Star Wars will be much better. I promise.

Star Wars: The Force is Strong with This Blog Part Two : Attack of the Clones

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones picks up 10 years after Phantom Menace -- allowing just enough time for Anakin and Padme to start having a serious, committed romantic relationship. Of course, Anakin loved Padme from the first time he saw her in Phantom Menace, but now that they are both "grown up," the romance is feasible and less . . . awkward seeing as Anakin was a 10 year old at the time.  Sure there's action going on with the bounty hunters, the clones, the huge fight at the end, and almost dying several times, but this love is necessary for the women and girls in the audience -- they like romantic comedies.

This movie wasn't awful. I liked Phantom Menace, but this does not quite meet that standard. Some parts I enjoyed like the random "cow"/"picnic" scene and the shots of Anakin that start showing his shift towards the Dark Side. * There were other things I could have dealt without.

Like JarJar. Why is JarJar still here? Seriously. He's an idiot and incredibly annoying. Plus, he ruins practically everything by convincing everyone to give all political power to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine -- the soon to be Emperor. Idiot. His existence continues to confuse me. He's the reason the war starts because he is stupid. Can we just get rid of him? Please?

Also . . . what is going on with Ewan McGreggor's hair -- both on his head and his face? It's terrible. They did a much better job with the same look in Revenge of the Sith. There was just a tad too much hair to make the look work in Attack of the Clones. Man that was sucky.







On the other hand . . . I love the bounty hunters. They are all so vastly different, but they all look somewhat lethal and dangerous. It's awesome. But I only feel that way because I love Boba Fett. He's aweome and I love him. In fact, somewhere, I have a picture of me wearing a pod-racer shirt hugging with a guy in a Boba Fett shoot. If you know me at all, you know this is a big thing because I hate pictures.
     I also love Boushh and Zam Wesell and Han Solo. They're all great.

HA. Obi-Wan telling Anakin that he will be the death of him. Unnecessary foreshadowing considering most Star Wars fans know what happens in A New Hope. Either way, however, it's still funny . . . at least I think it is.

Once again, I must give props (or clothes. Ha) to the costume designers for Padme. Her yellow dress that she wears during picnic and rolling down the hill is my favorite. It's beautiful and it took my breath away. But we don't get to see a lot of it. Sad day.

Also, for the record, Yoda is the best Jedi ever. We all knew he was powerful, but man. He's got skills even when he's as old as he is. (He's even better in LEGO Star Wars). It's awesome. 

Finally, it makes me happy that Lucas followed the golden rule of comedy laid out by Shakespeare. If it is comedic in nature, it should end with a wedding of some sort. And, despite all the battle and intense action stuff, they manage to end the film with wedding of some sort between Anakin and Padme who add a dimension of romantic comedy to the battle-heavy plot..

* I'll address Anakin's transformation in the Revenge of the Sith movie review.

Princess Protection Blogram

Princess Protection Program is an original Disney film made for TV featuring several well-known Disney stars (Selena Gomex, Demi Lovato, and Nicholas Braun) that will eventually be released as a DVD so all the girls can beg their family for yet another Disney Film. *

Essentially Princess Rosalinda (Lovato) is in trouble and must be "extracted" from her kingdom, "transformed" so she no longer looks like a princess, and finally "relocated"to a place she will be safe -- in this case, Louisiana -- where she must learn to be a normal teenager under a different name, Rosie Gonzales, by living with Carter Mason (Gomez). Of course the girls hate each other, but learn to accept and love one another by the end of the film. It is the classic predicament of Prince and the Pauper-esque tale -- two girls from different sides of the track, so to speak, are forced to interact with each other. There is usually bitterness and jealousy at first, but then they learn to like each other and become best friends and everything is sunshine and rainbows once more. teach one another.
     No surprises.
     This is a Disney movie after all.
     I will say, however, at least there is some action involved. Gotta save and protect the princess and her country. So yeah . . .

There really isn't much else to say. There are no tricks, turns, or surprises in this film, but there doesn't have to be because kids love the Disney Channel and will watch any show/movie the company chooses to produce. I think it's cute though. Super cute.

I love it all the same though (except for that "Two Different Worlds Collide" songs or whatever they call it-- It's awful).
     For one thing, I love Demi Lovato, but for reasons I would rather not publicly disclose on the Internet. 
     For another, it's sappy and silly and stupid and for tweenagers, but it still makes me happy, so I'll watch it until I'm 80-ish or at least until I die and I don't care who laughs at me over it.

* Disney's all about how much money they can earn. What do you expect, honestly?

Pirates of the Carribloggian

Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean is a tale following the now-legendary and most-recognized pirate in the world, Jack Sparrow, on his adventures seeking his ship and rum as well as getting into as much trouble as possible in a two and a half hour film . . . times 5 because there are four movies now and apparently there is a fifth one coming.

I'm not going to write a review for each movie; I'm covering the series as a whole because I'm just not that invested in the series at all.

Personally, I don't understand what all the hype is all about, but it's vastly popular. If I were to guess, a lot of the popularity is due to Jack Sparrow as a character as well as the fact that Johnny Depp plays this role.

I can't deny that Depp does well making Jack a realistic, lovable, amusing character, but I find Sparrow a bit obnoxious and annoying really. There is something magical about him though. I can't put my finger on what it is, but Depp has achieved something miraculous in becoming Sparrow.








Kiera Knightly (Elizabeth Swan) and Orlando Bloom (Will Turner), however, exist only in the shadow of Captain Jack.

Turner seems to be your run-of-the-mill good-guy until he is coerced into being a pirate. Even then, however, he has retained most of his good-guy attitude wanting to save his dad and all, but he does have issues with Sparrow that lead him to do some under-handed things as revenge against Sparrow and to save Swan, making him once again, a good-guy. Bloom does this well, but I feel that this is because in his films, he is a good-guy; anything slightly "Evil" is removed from his character. I don't feel that Bloom could ever be anything less than a good-guy.













Swan on the other hand appears to be weak. Sure she tries to be a pirate, but fails miserably. It is not until the end of At World's End that she has any strength at all when she orders the pirates to fly their colors and fight back against the British. It is hard to tell if this is due to Knightly or the writers, but either way, it's not good. Given that Knightly is respected as a good actress, I am more inclined to blame the writers. Perhaps they were appealing to the idea that women were thought to be incapable of much of anything during the time the movie is set in and Knightly was only doing the best she could. Either way, I wish Elizabeth Swan was a stronger character throughout the entire series instead of just at the end.










I really wished they had stopped with At World's End. Everything was nice and tied up. There was no need to continue the franchise, but this is Disney we're talking about and they will continue making more movies until there is no longer any interest.

On Stranger Tides was okay. It was interesting and shorter than the others. I also think I enjoyed it more than the previous films. It could merely be that I actually cared about the characters -- specifically Philip and
Syrena. They were much more compelling than Will and Elizabeth Turner.

All in all, I don't see anything special about these films. They were okay (thanks mostly to Johnny Depp and his awesomeness), but that's it. I can only hope that the coming stories get better following the latest film installment. Chances are, however, that Disney will ruin it by running it into the ground until they don't have any audience. But one can help.

Star Wars: The Force Is Strong in This Blog Part Two and a Half: The Clone Wars

Honestly, all I know about Clone Wars is that it takes place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith and it started as 5 min segments on Cartoon Network. Now, it fills up a 30 minute slot. I know it started before hand and then the movie was made and now there are more episodes.
    so I don't have a lot to say because I was a tad confused.

I will say is that it has an interesting style of animation. They are not trying to be like other recent CG animation to look real. This is and exaggerated, almost caricature or even toy (Movement)like, style. I like it. It's interesting to watch.

Also, I found the pairing of Hisoka and Anakin  to be hilarious even though it doesn't look it will go over well. As the characters in the movie, they are "Quite a pair." The best part, however, is that Anakin was like this as a padawan, so it makes sense that Hisoka will be the same way. It's the parent's curse -- I hope your children are just like you so you can see what I went through. In other words, you brought this on yourself Anakin so deal with it.

That's all I have to offer. Maybe I would like this movie or have anything interesting to say  if I had seen any part of the cartoon series.  . . . I don't get this ending. Obviously it's supposed to lead into the cartoon, but the cartoon existed first. how can these me reconciled???

The Muppets -- Does This Generation Even Care?

Personally, I've never really enjoyed the Muppets, except for the Muppet Baby cartoon for some odd reason . . . I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I don't like puppets. . . There are, however, apparently enough people in the world to justify this attempt to bring the classic show back to life and induce new excitement into this generation.

The plot of the movie is simple. Can we reunite the Muppets before Muppet Studios is destroyed? They try to accomplish this by appealing to the people who used to love them so much for donations to save it. The same argument could be made for why this movie was made -- can we generate excitement for the Muppets again?

The answer seems to be yes. Yes, the Muppets can be and are still culturally relevant. I may not think so, but I'm not the only person in the world.

Despite my dislike, however, I did find the movie to be cute, and funny on the rare occasion. Specifically, I am referring to the Muppet or Man song. I loved it. It was funny and Jim Parsons was there, so it's even more fantastic. (Big Bang Theory ftw).

Jim Parsons, however, was not the only celebrity who appeared in this film. Selena Gomez, John Krasinski, Rashida Jones, and many others. I think this was a genius move because if the audience could see how many celebrities took part in this film, they might reconsider their like/dislike of the Muppets because famous people like and participated in it. And we all know that we should do what celebrities do -- at least that's how some people (especially in the younger generation) feel.

The song at the beginning wasn't bad either. It made me think of Easy A where Olive (Emma Stone) talks about wanting a sporadic song and dance where everyone knew the words and dance moves in her life. Honestly, I wouldn't mind that either -- just once you know? It would be pretty awesome.

Also, I love Amy Adams. She's the cutest thing ever. Just saying.

I know I haven't said much about the movie, but I don't know what else to say. I can't offer anything more than what I've said. It's an "okay" sort of movie, but one I wouldn't want to write again.