Big Miracle (100th post!)

Directed by Ken Kwapis

2012

Viewed February 2012

Adam Carlson is a reporter from Anchorage, Alaska who is covering some stories in a small Alaskan town for a few weeks. On one of his last nights there, Adam discovers three California grey whales trapped in the ice. Adam quickly tapes a short segment on the whales and then news reaches his Greenpeace volunteer ex girlfriend who immediately starts to rally for the whales. The news ends up going national and eventually international as everyone gets involved to help free these whales before the hole in the ice freezes over and they drown. When I first saw the preview for this movie, I was not sold, it just looked cheesy and boring. I was pleasantly surprised though and it turned out to be a really good, uplifting movie. It's based on a true story so I asked my mom if she remembers it happening. She didn't though (probably since she had three kids under 8 when it happened and doesn't remember a lot from the 80s...)... Anyways, it has a great mix of humor and excitement and there were also a few tears. I highly recommend this movie! A

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Directed by Mark Waters

2011

Viewed January 21, 2012

This is yet another adaptation of a book that I loved when I was younger. I was not expecting a whole lot from this movie since Jim Carrey's middle name is "butt jokes". I also was a bit upset at the beginning of the film since it follows Tom Popper the rich businessman and not Mr. Popper the poor house painter. I ended up really liking it. As I said, it follows Tom Popper, rich businessman trying to close a deal on the sale of a building for his firm to tear down and rebuild as something else. Tom has two kids with his ex wife, a son and a daughter, who he barely has a relationship with because he is simply too busy. Tom's life is interrupted when his father passes away and sends him a penguin. Tom tries to return the penguin but is sent 5 more penguins instead. He has to keep the penguins in line in a condo (or loft maybe? I'm not sure which qualifies as which) that doesn't allow pets. His kids fall in love with the penguins and so did I. They were simply adorable and so much fun to watch. This is a pretty predictable film, and there were a few poop jokes and fart jokes, but overall I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. Definitely a good one to watch with older kids, if you can get pass the couple of bodily function jokes. B+

The Adventures of TIntin

"Failed. There are plenty of others willing to call you a failure. A fool. A loser. A hopeless souse. Don't you ever say it of yourself. You send out the wrong signal, that is what people pick up. Don't you understand? You care about something, you fight for it. You hit a wall, you push through it. There's something you need to know about failure, Tintin. You can never let it defeat you."

Directed by Steven Spielberg

2011

Viewed January 2012

I loved the Tintin books when I was growing up. My mom would take us to the library every week and every week one of us would inevitably come home with a Tintin book or two. For those not familiar with Tintin, he is a reporter with a dog named Snowy who comes along on his adventures. Together they solve many a mystery and very often unknowingly stumble right in the middle of trouble. This movie is a pretty perfect adaptation of the books. It is a combination of a few of the books, but it has all of the elements of the Tintin world including the dimwitted police officers Thompson and Thomson, action and adventure, Captain Haddock, the smartest little white dog, Snowy, and even minor characters such as Mrs Finch and Bianca Castiafiore. The storyline is that Tintin purchases a model ship that holds part of a secret map to a treasure. Tintin is kidnapped and brought onto a ship headed to steal another part of the map. He meets the ship's captain, Haddock, who is also being held against his will by his first mate and mutinous crew as well as the mastermind Professor Sakharine. Tintin, Snowy and Haddock need to escape the ship and reach the ship's destination first to stop the theft. This movie is jam packed with action and I really really loved the animation. It really was this nerd girl's Tintin dreams come true...A

Megamind

"All men must choose between two paths. Good is the path of honor, heroism, and nobility. Evil... well, it's just cooler."

Directed by Tom McGrath

2010

Viewed August 2011

I'm on a huge animated movie kick.... I love them! Megamind (Will Ferrell) is a super villain hell bent on taking over Metro City but is constantly thwarted by Metro Man (Brad Pitt), who has been his rival since infant hood (probably not a real word, but I'm using it any way). Megamind always kidnaps reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) and Metro Man always saves her. Megamind finally beats Metro Man and goes on a crime spree, but then realizes how empty his life is without a hero to battle. Megamind is super funny (he often mispronounces words in a hilarious way since he's from another planet, among other things) and has a great message about how bad may be fun, but it isn't good. Will Ferrell's voice had a tendency to get on my nerves, I felt like he was yelling at me for most of the movie, but other than that, this was a great movie! B+

The Smurfs

Directed by Raja Gosnell

2011

Viewed July 2011

The Smurfs are very blue. And a little creepy when the camera pans in really close and their little faces fill the entire screen. They're also in trouble and need the help of Patrick and Grace Winslow. The Smurfs and their enemy Gargamel (Hank Azaria)  are sucked into a portal that sends them to New York City. They end up in the home of Patrick and Grace (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays). Patrick is very skeptical and annoyed, but his wife thinks they're adorable and wants to help them. Patrick gets a promotion at work and has to impress his psycho boss, and of course the Smurfs get in the way. The Smurfs is pretty generic, but I still enjoyed it. I went to it with a 9 year old who has a short attention span and it kept his attention really well. I also appreciated that it was not full of butt and fart jokes. C+

Waiting For "Superman"

Directed by Davis Guggenheim

2010

Date Viewed: November 3, 2010

I can not say enough good things about this documentary. I don't even know where to start. Basically the education system in the U. S. is in the dumps and this documentary explains why. If you are a parent, if you are an educator, if you care about the future of our country and the education of its kids, then you NEED to see this movie. The schools described in this movie are just like the school that I'm at. It also follows 4 kids as they try to get into charter schools by a lottery. It has been criticized for being too anti-teacher unions and pro-charter schools, but the abuse that I've seen at the hands of teachers, and the fact that nothing is done about it because they're tenured and protected under the union is enough for me to be anti-union as well. Charter schools are not a fix all for the problems in our education system, but there are some really good ones out there that are headed in the right direction. I definitely want to do more research about the issues brought up in this film, but it is definitely a good starting point. Go see it. A



The Great Outdoors

"Bear... bear... Big Bear... big bear chase meeeeeeee...! "

Directed by Howard Deutch

1988

Date Viewed: Sunday October 3, 2010

This was a cute movie... Not necessarily the greatest movie ever made, but it was cute and funny in a very 80s way. It's the story of Chet (John Candy) who takes his family out to a cabin in the woods to have a nice family vacation. The peaceful vacation is ruined when his annoying rich brother in law Roman (Dan Akroyd) drops in with his family. There's the usual John Candy/Dan Akroyd-esque silliness, although I was suprised that it didn't have a whole ton of bodily function jokes and only a little bit of language. (Although I did watch it a week ago and I could be mis-remembering...) It was fun, but I don't feel like I need to watch it all the time. B

Confessions of a Shopaholic

"You know that thing when you see someone cute and he smiles and your heart kind of goes like warm butter sliding down hot toast? Well that's what it's like when I see a store. Only it's better."

Directed by PJ Hogan

2009

Viewed Sepetember 2010

Isla Fisher is adorable and this movie is super cute as well. It's about Rebecca Bloomwood (aka Bex) who LOVES to shop and use her many credit cards to buy many many beautiful things. She realizes that she is up to her eyeballs in debt right as the magazine she's writing for folds and she finds herself without a job. She ends up taking a job at a money management magazine where she takes on the persona as "The Girl in the Green Scarf" and she gives out amazing financial advice that she herself doesn't follow. As always in this type of movie, things blow up in her face and she's labeled as a fraud and she's forced to stop ignoring her debt and start facing it head on. This is a super silly and cute girlie flick!!!A

Over The Hedge

"That, my friend, is a magical combination of corn flour, dehydrated cheese solids, BHA, BHT, and good old MSG; a.k.a., the chip, nacho cheese flavor."

Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick

2006

Viewed September 2010

This is a seriously cleer movie about a group of animals whose home is being destroyed by a growing suburban community. There are many little jabs at how much we live in excess, especially when it comes to food. The voices are perfectly matched up with the characters. My favorite is Steve Carell as a hyperactive squirrel named Hammy. Over The Hedge has a little bit of something for everybody. There's humor, adventure, action, romance and a running theme of what makes a family. A