Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.
I’m a big fan of movies that manage to capture the entire film in just one scene, especially when it is done in a way that doesn’t scream, “This is what the movie is about,” in an annoyingly obvious way. Hook is by far the best example of this, but discussing that scene is an essay for another time, so instead I present you with a similar scene from Pitch Perfect. Take a look:
I love movie posters, I even have a frame in my office at home that I use to rotate posters that catch my eye (it currently is displaying one from Skyfall). Today, the Disney Parks Blog exclusively debuted the new poster for Saving Mr. Banks. I looked at the trailer just last week, but check out the poster: Continue reading
Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be endlessly fascinating.
This weekend at Comic-con saw the release of a new trailer for Catching Fire, the upcoming sequel to last year’s The Hunger Games. I covered the first trailer back in April, but watch the new one and then read on for my thoughts:
We get a lot of new footage in this trailer, mixed in with some things we’ve seen before, so let’s take it from the top. Continue reading
I was 12 when Independence Day came out in 1996, and it had so many things that appealed to 12 year old me. It featured alien monsters, massive cinematic destruction, stunning effects, explosions and lots of action. I imagine that if I were 12 years old today, Pacific Rim would seem to be right up my alley. It’s got alien monsters (technically transdimensional monsters), destruction and explosions and stunning effects. But, I like to think 12 year old me would have left Pacific Rim with the same sense of dissatisfaction that 29 year old me has.
Pacific Rim tells the story of humanity’s fight against Kaiju, giant Godzilla-like creatures that appear from a dimensional portal at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and wreak havoc on the cities that border that body of water. Continue reading
The discussion about Ender’s Game has reached a head in the last several days, with new statements from Orson Scott Card, Lionsgate and now with the film appearing at Comic-con, so I thought I’d give my two cents worth. For those of you who don’t know, Ender’s Game is a science fiction book from 1985 written by Card, which has a movie adaptation of it coming out on November 1st. I remember reading the book repeatedly in middle school; at the time it was one of my favorites, though I never read any of its sequels. It wasn’t until later that I learned the truth about Orson Scott Card.
You see, Card is the worst sort of homophobe. Continue reading
Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.
It would be safe to say that Data is one of my favorite characters in all of art, literature and storytelling. He’s most certainly my favorite TV character. There’s something about his story of an android longing to be human, without realizing that in all the ways that matter he already is, that’s innately compelling. Add in a dash of Pinocchio and Frankenstein’s Monster and you’ve got Data. Those of us who were big fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation were thrilled for many reasons when it transitioned to the big screen at the end of its run. But for me, one of the greatest joys of the movie is Data’s acquisition of the emotion chip, leading to this small scene, which remains one of my favorite things I’ve ever seen:
In the film, Data installs the emotion chip after a failed attempt at humor during Worf’s promotion ceremony. Continue reading
In recent months I’ve written a number of posts for this blog that included polls, but I thought I’d repost them all here in one place for anyone who might have missed them. Just something to fill the gap before tomorrow’s Friday Favorite. Continue reading
Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be endlessly fascinating.
It’s been torture, having to wait until today to share this trailer with you. I’ll save my thoughts for after, so go ahead and watch:
My obsession with all things Disney should be well know by this point to anyone who regularly reads this blog. Continue reading
In the face of Cory Monteith’s tragic death Saturday, at age 31, from as-yet-unknown causes, I find myself revisiting my first experience with Glee. I read a lot about the show during its first 13 episode run but never tuned in, despite it seeming right up my alley (as a big fan of musicals). I think I was just turned off by the excessive praise it was getting, as I tend to be wary of anything that seems to inspire unanimous opinions. But I was curious so I checked out the pilot episode online during the show’s midseason hiatus and I was sold. I ran out and bought the first half of season one on DVD, and my wife and I started to watch it over the course of a couple of days. One night, 2 episodes before the midseason finale, we decided to head to bed around midnight. But we both lay there for a while, unable to sleep, until we decided we just had to finish the show. We returned to the living room and watched the rest of the episodes, even if it meant we were up until 2am or later. That’s the sort of feeling that Glee inspires in people.
Cory Monteith was of course a big part of that. Continue reading
In the time since we last saw Gru, Margo, Edith, Agnes and the minions, they have grown into a family. Gru plays loving father to his three, adopted daughters, going out of his way to cater to them as individuals. His life of crime is behind him, and he and Dr. Nefario have turned his secret lair into a jams and jellies factory. At Agnes’s birthday party, Gru dresses up as a fairy princess to fill in for the one he’d hired for the party, while the moms of the other kids at the party keep trying to set him up with their single friends.
However, when an arctic research station is stolen, along with a chemical that can turn the most gentle bunny into a vicious, purple killer (between Despicable Me 2 and The Lone Ranger, vicious bunnies are having a moment), the Anti-Villain League decides to turn to Gru for help. After initially turning them down, he reconsiders and joins forces with them, in part to partly fulfill the longing for his old way of life. He’s assigned an AVL agent, Lucy Wilde, and the two of them set up shop (literally) in a mall where they suspect the chemical has been taken. And all the while, Gru’s minions seem to be disappearing. Continue reading
