The Lone Ranger

Lighten up, you critics.  What were you looking for in this Lone Ranger movie?  Did you want the producers to recreate the franchise?  There was no franchise to recreate.  In the 1950’s there was just a fantastic series that we loved watching on TV.  In those days Tonto was great.  The Lone Ranger was great.  Good guys wore white hats and rode white horses.  The Lone Ranger never killed anyone.  He was a friend to the underdog and those in need.  I never felt that Tonto was depicted with racial stereotypes but it was obvious that there was prejudice that he and Tonto were trying to overcome.  We loved the series and loved the music.

This movie, on the other hand, was very funny and very campy with strong attempts to battle racism.  Without being offensive it poked fun at the growing bond between Tonto and the Lone Ranger.  It also showed the evils of racism, corporate greed and violence.  By the way, the Lone Ranger in the movie also wore a white hat, rode a white horse and never killed anyone.  He was a friend to the underdog and those in need.  And Tonto was funny, funny, funny.  The closing dialogue between the Lone Ranger and Tonto was priceless.

Oh, the movie was outrageous at times.  But so what?  It was a great movie with a deep meaning.  If you miss seeing it at the theater you will miss a lot.  Don’t wait for the video.  See it now and forget the critics!

I would give it six shields (out of seven) with my Schwichtenbergian Awards for Cinematic Excellence.

"Despicable Me 2"

“Despicable Me” was an excellent movie.  “Despicable Me Two” is a good movie.  What else can I say?  I liked the movie but it’s very difficult to picture the irascible Gru from the first movie as a family man and he just isn’t despicable any more.  That’s OK.  That premise in the original movie made the progression and ending of that movie very, very sweet.  We loved to see him take the three sweet little girls into his “family.”  But, let’s face it, Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) just isn’t despicable anymore.

Lucy Wilde (voiced by Kristen Wiig) “kidnaps” Gru at the beginning of the movie after a giant magnet steals a laboratory and enlists Gru into the AVL (Anti-Villain League) to stop some kind of world domination.  Gru agrees to work “undercover” at a mall and suspects Eduardo (voiced by Benjamin Bratt) as being behind the brains behind the magnet.  In the mean time Dr. Nefario (voiced by Russell Brand) leaves Gru because he misses evil.  Also, Gru’s oldest “daughter” likes Eduardo’s son.  The AVL believes that wig merchant Floyd Eagle-san (voiced by Ken Jeong) is the culprit and “they” believe they solved the case.  As this is happening Gru and Lucy discover they have feelings for each other with Gru’s girls hoping they will get together but she is leaving for Australia until she realizes Gru was right and she hang glides out of the airplane to “find” him.  Dr. Nefario changes his mind about evil and helps Gru with jam containing antidote to restore the minions who have become evil under Eduardo’s ray gun.  Ultimately, Gru saves the world and then dates Lucy 147 times before finally popping the question.  You have to love Agnes, the youngest of the three girls who, along with Margo and Edith are happy to gain a mother.  Technically, the “plot” is even more complicated than this.  I know.  I know.  I didn’t really understand some of what was going on here and really didn’t care.  But I’m not saying I didn’t like it.

The Minions (Gru’s yellow servants) are wonderful and they even invade the closing credits with lots of 3D fun and are scheduled to be in their own movie in December of 2014.  I’m not a big fan of 3D but this was one of the better 3D movies that I have seen.

I have decided to start rating my movies with “awards.”  I’m calling these awards “The Schwichtenbergian Awards For Cinematic Excellence.”  I could award from one to seven “Schwichtenbergian Shields,” depending on how well I liked the movie.  Movies such as “Fargo,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, “True Stories” or “Up” would rate seven shields.  Loser movies such as “Sherlock Holmes” and “Madagascar 3” would probably (but barely) get two shields.  Ultimately, it depends on my mood I guess.  I would give the original “Despicable Me” six shields and would give this one five shields.  Anything over three is worth seeing.  If you compared this to a grading system, seven shields would be like an “A” while six shields would be like a “B+” and five like a “B”.  Four shields would be a “C” and three would be a “C-”.  Two shields would be a “D” and one shield would be an “F.”

"Monsters University"

“Monsters University” is an interesting prequel to a very nice cartoon movie from 2001.  It’s difficult to believe that the first movie was released that long ago.

Though the premise of learning how to scare people is a strange premise in and of itself, the lessons learned in the movie are interesting and just a bit profound.  Things such careful tolerance about “beings” different at school from others, healthy competition without some kind of evil gang or agenda, working together as a team even when some on the team do not excel in every area, “zero tolerance for wrong actions” and an uncontrived ending make the movie a bit different from many.

The movie does drag a bit at first with Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal) learning about campus life but perhaps this is also a sign about real life in a real world.  His great dream is to become a “Scarer” even though by his own admittance, he is not real scary.  His roommate Sully (voiced by John Goodman) is the son of a “Scarer” and the expectation on campus is that he will do well simply because of who he was.  (Sully is so easy-going and relaxed in his voice and style and mannerisms that he reminds me of Vicar Brad who served in our church a decade ago.)

I really didn’t expect the lesson on zero tolerance because I thought that Mike and Sully would somehow be rescued by someone or something.  Ultimately, I was glad they were not “rescued.”  That may be the reality of life at times.  Instead, at the end of the movie they have to achieve their “Scarer” monster status by working themselves up from the bottom.  That’s not a bad lesson to learn.

Though the movie has absolutely no negative language or images, the idea of scariness and being scared may not make this a very good movie for the very young. 

I’m not a big fan of 3D though this movie wasn’t too bad in 3D.