For the Love of PEZ

          There is a movie based on the PEZ candy dispensers coming. Yes, you heard me right. A movie about those creepy candy dispensers that disperse candy through their neck is happening. Have you been looking forward to this movie? If you answered yes to the previous question, you need to get a life. I literally have never heard of something so stupid and idiotic before. What studio is incompetent enough to make a movie about PEZ? What were they smoking when they bought the rights to this. What's this movie even going to be about? Are the PEZ characters going to shoot random objects from their neck?  If you wanted to play devil's advocate in this situation you could say that PEZ has lots of characters that they could use to do a well, thought out story. It worked for The Lego Movie? Why can't it work for PEZ? The answer to that question is the characters in the lego movie actually had arms. The characters in the PEZ movie (if they decide to stay true to their source material) are just going to be heads on big, long, necks. I can't think of anything more horrific than a big hello kitty head on a big long stick. That's absolutely terrifying. 

          The studio behind it is Envision Media Arts. They haven't done anything in the past that's noteworthy or mentionable. The writer who was hired to pen the script is Cameron Fay who also worked on that terrible Three Stooges movie. This movie is going to suck. 

          I'm just waiting for the movie about the Coca-Cola polar bears. I want that movie extremely bad. 

Aloha Review

Aloha is abut a celebrated military contractor named Brian Gilcrest (Cooper) as he returns to the site of his greatest career triumph as he tries to reconnect with a long lost love (McAdams) while at the same time unexpectedly falling in love with the fighter pilot watch-dog assigned to him (Stone)
If America was enjoyable, and Mexico was boring, this movie would be stuck on the fence. It couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Aloha was one of those movies where your enjoying your watch but, at the same time you wish the movie would end. The biggest problem with this movie was the pacing. Pacing problems can come from 1 of 2 things. The first thing that pacing problems can come from is the direction of the film. The director can try and force things on you such as relationships, morals of story, etc... The second thing pacing problems can come from is a bad script. A script that has certain story elements spread out from each other and the in between scenes are just filler scenes. The pacing problems did not come from the script. It was really well done. Cameron Crowe wrote it so the big elements that the story needed to hit, hit them in a way that pushed the movie along. The pacing problems, did however come from the direction. Crowe wrote and directed this film, and you can tell that he put a lot more emphasis on the script. The film was a good story. It had me invested during the whole time. However the way that some of it came across was in fact sometimes dull and boring. At least Crowe put a lot of emphasis on one thing, rather than putting little emphasis on two things.
The cast is a really good ensemble cast. There are 3 key relationships. One between Cooper and Stone, one between Cooper and McAdams, and one between McAdams and Krasinski. Out of all of those the weakest one was probably between McAdams Krasinski probably due to the fact that they had the least amount of screen time together and had the least amount of impact to the story. I loved seeing Krasinski in something else other than the office but, I just wish he had more dialogue to say. He was a rather silent character. Cooper and McAdams worked really well together but, not as good as Cooper and Stone. Emma Stone is just so darn likable. I love her (not to mention she is quite attractive.) The chemistry between Cooper and Stone is exactly what this movie needed. I would give more details but that would call for spoilers of this spectacular story.
Overall Aloha is a movie that's right above average. With the pacing holding it back from it's full potential but the cast and the script trying to make this movie the best it can, it gave this movie a 7.5/10

Minions Review

          Minions is the spinoff  (prequel) film about the yellow, banana loving creatures we have seen previously in the Despicable Me franchise. Minions follows the adventures of a particular set of minions named Stuart, Kevin, and Bob as they try and find a master to serve. They go out on an adventure and come across the world's greatest super villain Scarlet Overkill. Unfortunately, the rest results in one of the worst movies I have seen this year.
          One of the many conclusions I got from this movie was the minions don't belong in their own stand alone movie. They are great ensemble characters, but not great characters on their own. The great thing about them in the first 2 films were that they were the comedic relief. When things got serious with Gru and the girls the film went back to the minions to make us laugh. When they are the main focus and there is no comedic relief to fall back on, the minions suddenly became less interesting to watch. Another problem I found was the lack of Gru. Gru played such a key part to building up the minions to the popularity that they are that when he wasn't there it made the minions boring characters.
          This movie had issues with every part of the script. The human characters (like the minions) were not interesting. They were really undeveloped. It felt like the makers of this film knew that they couldn't match the magic that they did with Gru, so they just put no thought into the characters and they just threw them in there for the only purpose of them being there. The second issue the script had was the dialogue. This movie wasn't funny. It was rather stupid and idiotic. I bet the writers thought the the only thing the kids care about were the minions language so they didn't need to put focus/emphasis on the human dialogue. However you can only take minion language for so long before it gets annoying so you decide to start listening to the human characters. And unfortunately I got tired of the minions in the first 10 minutes of the film and the human dialogue like I said before was terrible.
          That's really all I can say about this movie. There wasn't much substance to it. The only thing that this movie was, was a story about minions that was poorly paced, lazy written, and not funny. I'm going to give minions a 3/10. The three points coming from a little boy that yelled "That was funny grandma!" during my showing.

Jurassic World Review

     

       Jurassic World is the 4th installment in the Jurassic Park franchise and basically ignores the events of Jurassic Park 2 & 3, as it should because those movies are terrible. 

       The events of Jurassic World take place 22 years after the original movie and Isla Nubar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park (named Jurassic World) as it was originally envisioned by John Hammond. After 10 years of successful operation, visitor rates have started to decline so now the park has to create a new attraction in order to re-spark interest. As you may have guessed, the new attraction backfires horribly. 

       This is a good movie. It's not great. It's good. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, but I still had a great time watching it. 

       The director of the film is Colin Trevorrow. Trevorrow has never directed a big budget block buster before so I was worried about if he could handle something on this big of a level, but he pulled it off.  He understood what made Jurassic Park magical and he brought those specific elements into Jurassic World. No one will ever come close to touching the magic that the first one did but Trevorrow did the best that he could. 

       Bryce Dallas Howard bugged me for the first part of this movie. She was getting on my nerves. She was overacting and had terrible line delivery. However, as the movie went one she grew on me and I ended up loving her in the end. 

       The 2 kid stars in this movie are Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins (Insidious and Iron Man 3.) Just like Bryce Dallas Howard they annoyed me at first and unfortunately they never grew on me. They played the stereotypical older brother and younger brother relationship that we have seen over, and over again. The older brother picks on the younger brother, the older brother convinces the younger brother that they don't have to do something and because of that they get in trouble, and at the end they are a big happy family. No that is not a spoiler because everyone knew it was coming. Simpkins acts like a 6 year old when in reality he needs to act his age. From the very first shot of the movie I thought to my self "Please, let him get eaten by a dinosaur." There was this part that almost made me yell "COME ON!" in the theatre. That part was they just ran away from a dinosaur and they found these cars. The cars that were used to take tours around Jurassic Park in the first movie. These cars were broken down, big time, and it would be almost impossible to fix them with out any tools. But guess what, some how the kids figure out a way to fix the cars. Who do they think they are, MacGiver? I didn't believe it for one second. 

       I'm just glad there was one person who made good first impressions. That person was Chris Pratt. Chris Pratt (like always) stole the show. He was by far the best part about Jurassic World. In Guardians of the Galaxy and Parks & Rec, his role was very comedic. So coming into the movie I was worried that they were going to make him a comedic role. I don't want heavy comedy in a dinosaur movie. I'm glad I was wrong. Yes they had a little humor with his character (you can't have Chris Pratt and have no humor) but they also had dramatic parts which I was really excited to see him do. I know some people were worried about his part as a raptor trainer in the movie but,  let me tell you, you have nothing to worry about. It was handled very well and I think you will like where the raptor story line will go. 

       The side characters were meh. They were fine. They weren't bad enough to the point where I wish they were dead (like the 2 boys) but they could have been handled better. Along with the side characters, the sub-plots were sub-par. I found them useless. I found them boring. Especially the sub-plot/back story to the 2 boys. It was poorly done. 

       The script had problems. Some of the dialogue was cringe worthy. I wanted to cuddle myself into a ball and cry, it was that bad. 50% of the jokes fell flat. They weren't funny and it just made the scene awkward. The scripts's major problems only lasted until the part were we got our first action scene. Everything else before that just felt like filler scenes. In the first Jurassic Park the first hour of the movie didn't have any action scenes and it didn't bother me because it propelled the movie forward. Yes, in Jurassic World they needed the back story in order to explain why they were doing the things they were, I just felt like they could have done it better. There were some "plot twists" if you even want to call them that. I saw the twists coming from a mile away. It has some minor inconsistencies that could have been fixed with a better script. There were some pretty lame cop-out moments that made me mad.  

       The question most people were asking was are there any original cast members returning? There are 3. The DNA strand from the video from the first Jurassic Park, a scientist. and the T-Rex. Holy crap I love the T-Rex in this movie! It was used in the way I was hoping they would use it. That's all I will say about that. 

       I was really disappointed by the score. I mean how can you compare to the John Williams's score? You just can't. At least this score could have been a little more memorable. I was scared that they wouldn't have the original score, BUT THEY DID. I smiled (and maybe shed a tear) when I heard the famous Jurassic Park score. It's my favorite of all time and I'm so glad they included it. 

       The new threat in this movie was a dinosaur called the Indominus Rex. It's a hybrid dinosaur made up of other dinosaurs and some modern day animals. I loved they way the revealed him. They showed us the dinosaur little by little so by the time we saw the full thing I was amazed. I do wish at some points they would have focused on the Indominus a little more instead of a quick glimpse from the camera. The visuals were great. I didn't feel that they were overusing CGI at all. 

       Just one more thing that I really liked from this film are the references to the first movie. There is a part (which I won't spoil for you) where the 2 kids are wondering then they came across something from the first movie. I turned to the person I went to the movie with and had a freak out session by saying "Do you know what that is! Holy crap! Holy crap!" But beware this reference i'm referring to is very brief. You have to keep your eyes open and have to be paying attention. 

      Overall Jurassic World is a good movie. It's not great. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, but I still had a great time watching it. It is a very fun summer blockbuster. It has some issues but the positive heavily outweigh the bad. I give Jurassic World a 6.5/10

     

Grave of the Fireflies (1988) Review

This movie is from a studio called Studio Ghibli which is a Japanese animated studio that's a part of Disney.  If you ever do decide to watch this movie make sure you get an american dubbed version. 

This movie about a Japanese brother and sister trying to survive during WWII will punch you in the face. I highly recommend this movie, but this is a movie you have to be emotionally ready to watch before you actually do. This is definitely a film not to watch with children.

Not only is this one of the best animated films of all time, it's also one of the best war films. This film tells the story of WWII from the Japanese side which I'm not used to and it's nice to get a fresh take on a story we have all heard plenty of times. The one thing that makes this movie unique is it's told from the perspective of kids. From a boy about the age of 16 and his sister about the age of 5 or 6.  I have a younger sister so when I was watching this movie it made it that more of an emotional watch. This movie is really well written. It's very important that a movie of this type hits certain beats that not only make the movie flow better, but add emotional impact and character development. This movie doesn't work if you are not connected to the characters. I guarantee that you will get connected to them because it's that well written. Along with the screenplay, it's one of the best original stories I have ever seen.   

For a film that's done in the 80s, the animation is incredible. It's very unusual to praise an animated film for cinematography, but it's impossible not to notice how beautiful this is. Every shot, every second, you could tell they put all their effort into making this film look like one of the best I have ever seen (and that includes recent years.)

You can also complement this film on it's score, the pacing, and just everything. Take my word for it, this is a film you must see before you die. 

When you watch this movie you will cry. You will be amazed at it's beauty. You will never forget how awesome this movie is. It's my favorite animated film of all time and the only animated movie that's in my top 30 of all time. 

I loves movies that the title actually has meaning behind it. Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most meaningful titles to a movie ever. 

You probably already guessed it, but I give this movie a (5/5)

Just remember when you watch this movie you will experience drama like you have never experienced before. Like I said you will be punched in the face. 

I couldn't recommend this movie more.

Home Review

This is going to be a short review because I know you won't want to read a 4 page review about how bad this movie is.
I have a very strong love/hate relationship with DREAMWORKS. They are responsible for How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and even their most underrated film Flushed Away. But they also made some pretty bad films such as Shrek 3&4, Madagascar, Penguins of Madagascar, Mega Mind, Turbo, and I could keep going on, and on, and on. So, you could say I hate their movies more than I like. I had mixed anticipation levels for this movie. I was excited to see what Jim Parsons could bring to a animated character, and that was about it. I was hoping that DREAMWORKS could bring back the magic of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda.

HOME is stupid. It sucks. It's terrible. It's a complete waste of time. All it is, is product placement for Rihanna. Every single time a new song came one (I believe I counted 3-5) it was a Rihanna song and I already hate Rihanna so much.
This movie had a somewhat cool concept, they just executed it terribly. The voice acting was sub par. And all the "funny parts" you saw in the trailer those were the only "funny parts" if you even want to call them that.  Every other joke either sucked or fell flatter than a pancake.
The story was incredibly stupid.
The characters were idiotic.
Everything about this movie made me regret seeing it. It is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
This movie makes me wish I never left my HOME.
If you're thinking about seeing this movie a better option would be.......well, anything.

This movie deserves a (.4/5)

It sucked. So, bad. Just so bad.

My Love of Movies

Movies are my life. I live and breath movies. They are the thing that I care most about in my life (maybe 2nd next to my family.) They matter so much to me. They are ways to escape from reality and go on a journey with hobbits, Jedi, and wizards. They are ways to learn about the real life of Abraham Lincoln, Solomon Northrop, Jackie Robinson, Mark Zuckerburg, and so many others. Movies are such a great way to relax, take a break from the real world and experience the magic. 

Ever since the beginning of time, mankind have been telling stories to entertain and to pass time. It has been as simple as paintings on a cave wall or a bunch of friends sitting around a fire making up stories that soon will influence the way other people tell stories and even the entire world. Story telling is just such an important part of mankind. We would go crazy if we couldn't experience others life and adventures. 

I have a couple of movie memories. One of the first being when I was age 4. I was at my grandma's house and I got in trouble. She put me in a room and put on the original Star Wars unaltered version on VHS. I was glued to the screen. Seeing lightsabers for the first time was one of the coolest things ever. I envy people who haven't seen Star Wars because I want to go back in time and experience the magic for the first time.

When I was little I had a little 14inch VHS player. I basically watched 5 movies on repeat. The first 2 are Toy Story 1 and 2. I watched the first one so much I had to go through multiple VHS tapes. When I was 10 I went to the Toy Story double header before Toy Story 3 came out and before the movie started they had a trivia game. I didn't miss one question. Toy Story was basically the Godfather movies to my child hood. I also watched probably one of the saddest movies ever Disney's Fox & The Hound. I really don't know why I loved that movie so much. I still love it to this day. In my top 5 animated films along with Toy Story 2. I also watched Disney's Robin Hood. Robin Hood (besides Luke Skywalker) was my role model growing up. I loved him so much. I wanted to be exactly like him. The last movie I watched on repeat was Monster's Inc. That is my favorite animated film of all time. I can quote that movie from beginning to end. My childhood basically consisted of watching Toy Story 1 and 2, Fox & The Hound, Robin Hood, and Monster's Inc. I guess I just have loved movies from such an early age. They played such a big part in my life when I was young. When I was age 8 my mom started showing me movies like Rear Window, Vertigo and North by Northwest. When I was 12 I went to go see Jurassic Park back on the big screen. That was the real moment when I decided I was really into film.  I was exposed to perfect film making at an age most people usually aren't. I just love movies so much. 

You can sit around a table with people you don't even know and you can bring up Lord of the Rings, The Avengers, Harry Potter etc... and you can have a hour conversation with people you don't even know. That's the purpose of movies. Movies are meant to entertain. Movies are meant to bring people together. To unite people that wouldn't usually talk to with each other. Movies are meant to please us. Movies are there to make me, you, and everyone else experience things that we wouldn't normally experience.