Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides

Alice said I need to be positive about this movie that we saw on Sunday, May 22.  To do that I needed a couple of days of reflection.  Alice liked the movie.  So did Daniel.  I think that the movie was probably OK but I had trouble understanding the dialogue.  Like a lot of movies, everything (and especially the dialogue) just went so fast that I had trouble keeping up.  The point of the movie is that Jack Sparrow joins with his "buddy" (Barbossa) and an old girlfriend who happens to be the daughter of Blackbeard in searching for the Fountain of Youth.  The King is in on the intrigue in getting people in on the search and everyone races to the fountain while stopping for a major plot line of getting a tear from a mermaid that must be mixed with the fountain water for the water to "work."  When the protagonists get there they are stifled in their quest by a methodical group of Spanish soldiers (I think they were Spanish) who proceed to destroy the fountain.  Before the final destruction Jack "saves" his girlfriend while tricking Blackbeard.  And at the end the "buddies" sail off into the sunset for a proposed sequel.  Oh, there was a subplot of a sincere Christian who opposes the capture of the mermaid and ends up being "saved" by her.  He was a very positive character and rescues the movie from meaningless oblivion.  Daniel says that this was his favorite character.

Airplane, the Movie!

How about a mini-review of the 1980 movie, Airplane (The Movie)?  We rented two movies and when one didn't work properly the video store gave us a free one so we ended up watching three movies for $1.90.  Wow!  Big spenders!  I decided to get "Airplane" because I wanted some laughs.

I love this movie and love Striker's ridiculous stories (people are bored to tears and to suicide when they listen to details about his life) and Elaine's commentary on their relationship is laced with wry humor.  Highlights include the poor girl on intravenous medicine almost dying from a misplaced folk song, sweet Barbara Billingsley interpreting jive, the "Staying Alive" fight with the girl scouts and the swarthy sailor dancing, Leslie Nielsen's doctor character saying, "And don't call me Shirley," Robert Stack's double sunglasses bit, Lloyd Bridges' character McCroskey giving up more and more things, the endless cameos and bit parts and the unmentionable antics of Otto.  And, just maybe, it is ultimately a "buddy" movie between Striker (Robert Hays) and Elaine (Julie Hagerty) and that's what makes it good!

I'm not sure that you can get tired of this or of watching snippets of this tour de force.  Rent it once in a while or don't miss it on endless reruns.

The Bucket List

We had been wanting to see this 2008 movie for a long time since we missed it when it came out.  One of Alice's pen friends suggested we watch it so we rented it from a video store.  When we went to watch it we the DVD didn't work so we had to get another copy.  Finally, we got it working and watched an incredibly good movie.  I knew it was funny but I didn't realize its depth and spirituality.  It had its moments of humor but it wasn't a comedy at all.

The relationship between two terminally ill men (another buddy movie!!!!!) played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman is precious and memorable.  Billionaire Edward Cole (who owns hospitals) is befriended by Carter Chambers (an auto mechanic) and Cole decides to insist that Chambers follow his heart and pursue a list of lifelong goals before they die.  Cole can afford to do almost anything except cheat death and the poignant things they do and pursue are at the same time humorous and compelling.

Chambers pursues his "Bucket List" against his wife's wishes but he comes home a changed man after 3 months and, sadly, ends up losing his battle with cancer while Cole seems to be reinvigorated by it and lives many more years.  However, he has changed too and reconnects with an estranged daughter (at Carter Chambers' insistence) and an unknown granddaughter and his eulogy for his new friend bespeaks of his discovery of real life.

Pursue your dreams if you can!  That's one of the lessons I learned from this great movie.

Oh, to finish the story of the DVD that didn't work.  After watching the replacement DVD, when we turned off the DVD player at the end we found that the movie had just begun on TBS.  The store gave us a free movie and, so, for $1.90 we saw 3 movies.  They are/were worth every penny!

The Lady Vanishes

For my birthday last year Alice gave me an Alfred Hitchcock collection of movies.  I'm not sure if I was thrilled or not.  Most of the movies were early Hitchcock black and white movies so I haven't been keen on watching them.  On Mother's Day I decided to watch one and picked "The Lady Vanishes" at random, a 1938 movie that I thought would probably put me to sleep.  Hardly!  It has all of the Hitchcock things that you see in his later movies.  Humor.  Strange scenes.  Thrilling camera shots.  And more.  I couldn't believe how good this movie was.

I read that this was the last movie that Hitchcock made in England before he moved to Hollywood.  The movie involves a fictional country that compares with Nazi Germany.  It starts with guests who are snowed in.  Then a young woman, Iris, takes a train out of the country but because of a head injury she passes out only to discover that the lady helping her, Miss Froy, has vanished.  She reluctantly enlists the help of a man (Gilbert) who has insulted her back at the lodge but who now manages to help her "find" the missing woman who turns out to be a British spy.

Included in the movie are a risky outside transfer by Gilbert to a different state room, a diverted train, a gun battle with "Nazis", a daring rescue and escape for Mrs. Froy, and the triumph of love between Iris and Gilbert when Iris decides to abandon her diminutive fiance and commit her life to Gilbert.

I'm told that a 1979 remake was silly but this wonderful classic is far from silly.  It's worth seeing.

Catfish

What do I say about this one?  One of Alice's friends suggested that this was a great movie to watch so we rented it and watched it.  I confess.  It was a little strange.  I had trouble getting into the movie but it compelled me to watch.  Maybe that's the whole point.  It was some kind of reality show documentary (or pseudo documentary) about this man (Nev Schulman) who gets into a Facebook friendship with Abby Pierce, supposedly an 8 year old child prodigy artist.  She sends him paintings and they have phone conversations.  As it unfolds, all of this is being taped by camera.

Nev questions the reality of Abby (and her sister, Megan) and decides to visit Ishpeming, Michigan, to meet the family.  Abby really exists but is not really a painter and her mother, Angela, has created a number of Facebook characters and also "talks" for Abby and Megan.  Her husband has two profoundly handicapped sons from a previous marriage and she cares for him and them as she also paints very well but attributes all the paintings to her rather ordinary daughter, the real Abby.  She also claims to have uterine cancer.

Whoa!  Is it a reality show or is it real life.  Is it real or is it Memorex?  The title of "Catfish" comes from a brief story that Angela's husband, Vince, tells.  Years ago when live cod fish were being shipped to other countries the meat was bland and lifeless and, I guess, tasteless, until the shippers included Catfish in the tanks with them to keep them lively and on edge.  Then the meat was much more tasty. 

I guess I learned a lot from the movie.  Trouble is, I was a reluctant learner...but I did learn to appreciate Angela, her made up world, her daughter and step sons and the whole reality that not everything is real.  Some, I'm sure, would even question if this real-life documentary was real.  In that sense, it reminds me of the movie "True Stories" which was not really true. 

I probably won't forget the movie but I'm sort of glad our rental cost was only 85 cents.

Avatar (Part 2)

Back in February I posted some initial comments on "Avatar" and said that we would probably watch the rest of the movie that month.  On April 12 we saw the rest of the movie.  Recently someone said to me, "Oh, you have to see Avatar in 3-D...you won't believe how good it is."  Hmm.  Perhaps I really need to be wowed to get excited about this movie and I doubt if 3-D would have helped.  I actually thought the first half was OK with the semi-paralyzed veteran becoming part of the story by "infiltrating" (and actually becoming one of the Navi people) but the incredible violence and death in the second half of the movie reminded me (us) of how much we hate war. 

Colonel Miles Quaritch is the "kill and win" leader of the human forces who seems to have absolutely no redeeming qualities.  Does he have a wife and children?  What does he do for fun?  I just didn't like this guy but found myself feelinig guilty that I was glad that he was killed by Jake's Navi "girl friend", Neytiri.

The destruction of Hometree, a wonderful central tree (Garden of Eden "type"?) made me very sad.  How could someone be happy about destroying something that wonderful?  It seemed to me that only Miles Quaritch was the truly happy person about that destruction and that was because he was an idiot.  Perhaps this scene alone was designed to change the hearts of people to appreciate even more our natural resources and surroundings.  Maybe it accomplished that purpose.

I'm sure that many people loved the movie and I realize that the cinematography was stunning but the sheer numbers of people, beasts, and foilage on the screen at one time was a little overwhelming at times.  A big screen might have helped.

Life and death and death and life were constant themes in the movie and the resolution at the end with Jake bedoming a Navi was nice but unconvincing. 

The movie was OK but I didn't like it that much.

Hop

Hmm.  What can I say about this movie, Hop?  It was not a bad movie.  It was certainly harmless fun with nothing dirty or objectionable.  It really had very little to do with Easter and especially had nothing to do with the Christian celebration of Easter.

But, as I said, it was not a bad movie.  It had its moments and fun and occasional humor.  Someone next to me said the movie was "Weird" but this person did not say it was bad...it was just a little "Weird."  Multiple scenes with Dave Hasselhof sort of cement this weirdness.

The premise is that the new Easter bunny doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps and escapes from Easter Island (!) to Hollywood where he meets young Fred O'Hare who wouldn't really mind becoming the Easter "hare."  Fred befriends E.B. (Easter Bunny, I guess) and helps him appear before a talent scout and Fred also upstages his own sister at a school Easter pageant.  Ninja rabbits (or I guess they were called "pink berets") capture the human hero (O'Hare) and take him to Easter Island where an aggressive chicken wants to destroy the old Easter Bunny and O'Hare and deliver his own version of Easter in the form of worms and similar chicken food instead of candy. 

Fred rescues everyone and saves the day.  Ultimately, the new Easter bunny (who also wants to be a drummer) joins with Fred as co-Easter bunnies to deliver the yearly goods when the egg baton passes. 

Hey, it's a buddy picture (once again...is this becoming a Hollywood trend?) with Fred's parents happy that he finally has a decent job.

As I said, it's not a bad movie but is probably just one step above "made for TV."  It seems to have family values with a lot of saying "I'm sorry" and a lot of forgiveness.  You won't have to hold your children's eyes and ears and adults won't fall asleep during the movie.  Hey, there's nothing wrong with that!