Rachel Getting Married (2008)
VERDICT:
7/10 Black Sheep
Never been a big endorser of eloping, but now I’m starting to get it.
Rachel Getting Married is about a recovering drug addict who splits from rehab for the weekend to go to her estranged sister’s wedding. Due to her combative personality, troubled past and incessant need to “make amends”, it ends up being a damn long weekend filled with tons of family drama as old wounds come back to the surface while everyone does their best to make the wedding go off without a hitch.
Another great reason to have an open bar.
So this is the latest effort by director Jonathan Demme, and for all intents and purposes, Jonathan Demme is the man. The guy’s done a crap load of outstanding movies over the years – all of which I really need to get around to reviewing – and the funny thing about Rachel Getting Married is that it looks nothing like a Jonathan Demme movie.
When I think Demme, I think of shots like this with stationary cameras and the characters looking right at the audience while talking to the person right in front of them. That kinda thing has been his m.o. for centuries now, and it’s an m.o. I happen to totally dig, but that noise is gone here.
Rachel, on the other hand, is filmed with shaky handheld cameras, no one in the cast is looking at the audience and even though it’s new, it works. If you’re telling a good story, it always works. The best explanation I can give is that this new direction makes you feel like you’re in the wedding party instead of just an outsider looking in. There’s a number of lengthy scenes during the rehearsal dinner and the actual wedding that don’t move the plot along but rather just show everyone coming together for Rachel getting married and it’s these little touches that not only add to this sense of audience involvement but also serves as a great respite from the relentless family drama.
And, sweet sassy molassy, is there a lot of drama.
More or less, each new scene is Kym yelling at her sister, Kym generally raising hell or Kym reminding everyone that she used to be a junkie, you know, in case they forgot. The bad news is that it gets to be a little much and some of the scenes where she gets up on a soap box and doesn’t know when to get down are so painfully awkward to watch that I literally could not look at the screen it was making my skin crawl so badly. The good news is that Kym is a very complex character who gets more interesting the more we learn about her and the more she develops. So the good ends up outweighing the bad as the movie goes on, which is nice.
But for all the kicking and screaming, the most powerful parts of the whole movie come when everyone just shuts up. Whether it’s a silent pat on the back from one in-law to another or listening to a Rachel’s husband sing “Unknown Legend” by Neil Young as his wedding vows, it never ceases to amaze me how much you can say with the quietest of gestures or without saying anything at all. Inside voices, everybody. Calm the eff down.
The acting is also quite solid on everyone’s behalf. Ann Hathaway seems like a strange fit as Kym at first (or maybe that’s because Kym is written to be so strange at first) but she really comes into the role the more we get to know her. Good stuff. Bill Irwin also plays a great dad and I love that Tunde Adebimpe (the lead singer of the awesome TV on the Radio) was cast as Rachel’s husband. Even more bonus points for giving a cameo to Fab Five Freddy.
And Rachel really has one totally awesome wedding, one that I totally couldn’t pull off.
Rachel Getting Married can be a bit much at times, but it’s never melodramatic and has enough moments of subtle power to balance out all the totally in-your-face verbal bashings amongst this wildly and believably dysfunctional family. Whaddaya expect, folks? It’s Jonathan-freakin’-Demme.
Here’s to hoping my wedding goes a little smoother.
Desert Island DVDs
Heya folks,
So Andy over at Fandango Groovers wrangled up Your Humble Narrator and a boat-load of other movie bloggers around the internets for this here Desert Island DVDs feature. The idea is to pick the eight movies I could watch over and over again if I were stuck on a desert island that just so happens to be outfitted with a bitchin’ entertainment system. A cool idea if I do say so myself and rather than ramble on any more than I already have, I give you my list:
No. 8: Mulholland Dr.
Only seen this bad boy once and I am still beyond confused. Not sure if I liked it, not sure if I didn’t, but since this is the one movie I keep telling myself I need to re-watch but always find a reason not to, something tells me I’ll have some time on my hands to finally get around to it when I’m not talking to my volleyball. Fingers crossed that I stumble upon some tropical peyote to help this thing make some kind of sense.
No. 7: Almost Famous
Gonna need those tunes. Almost put A Hard Day’s Night in this spot, but after mulling over Andy’s thoughts on the AF soundtrack, the Fab Four had to take a step down. Helps that the first time I saw this I thought it was the best movie I’d ever seen, so the nostalgia thing’s a bonus.
No. 6: Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Best action movie ever made. Might help to soothe my aggressions instead of just breaking coconuts with my forehead.
No. 5: Pulp Fiction
One of those movies I could watch a million times and never get tired of, also helps that you can read into this like whoa. Not a whole lot to explain with this one. It’s Pulp Fiction.
No. 4: The Shawshank Redemption
Gonna need that hope and I’d rather watch this than Castaway.
No. 3: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Gonna need to laugh.
No. 2: Zeroes
Gonna need those good times.
No. 1: Cool Hand Luke
Favorite movie of all-time, gonna make good use out of that old Luke smile, boss.
Well, that’s about it. Not sure if I took this assignment too literally or what, but I think I’d be a-okay with these choice eight by my side. And make sure to hop on over to Fandango Groovers to check out the rest of the gang’s picks and/or throw your own eight into the comment section.
Everyone’s a winner!
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
VERDICT:
9/10 Total Recalls
A front-runner for the most original movie of the past decade.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is about a guy and girl whose relationship is on the outs in a bad way. Rather than just be sad and let time heal old woulds, the girl decides to have her ex completely erased from her memory thanks to a technology that doesn’t actually exist so that all wounds are healed in no time at all. Lo and behold, the guy catches wind of this, he’s not too happy about it, so he decides to get the same procedure done but finds himself immediately falling back in love with her as he revisits all the highs and lows of their relationship that are stored up in his brain before they’re erased for good.
In a nutshell, this is movie’s pretty damn brilliant on every front.
The script is by Charlie Kaufman. I’ve already gone off on how Charlie Kaufman is more or less the second coming when it comes to screenwriting, so I’ll just leave it at that in regards to worshipping at the Church of Charlie. But the thing he does best here that stands out from the things he always does so darn well is that his script is refreshingly honest.
Joel and Clementine‘s relationship isn’t exactly pretty, it’s actually pretty sad at times – hence the whole “amnesia by choice” thing – and that’s something I don’t see enough of in movies…ever. For every great memory of Joel and Clementine there’s an equally painful one, one that I sure as hell wouldn’t want hanging over me, but it’s important to have that hurt there because this isn’t a cookie-cutter, happy ending kinda movie in any way shape or form; it’s a movie about real people coping with real issues and real emotions. They’re flawed apart and they’re flawed together, but so is everybody, and that’s why it works.
Now, I’ve never had a bad break-up or anything, but I’m gonna go out a limb here and assume that everyone at some point in their lives wishes they could just hit a “Delete” button and completely erase a painful or regrettable someone or something from their mind rather than actually have to live with it. Eternal Sunshine plays up that fantasy in a big way and shows us that no matter how much your mind might tell you otherwise, that organ ain’t got jack on the heart. Deep stuff right there.
It’s a very funny script, too. That line with David Cross trying to build his birdhouse always gets me.
And it’s directed by Michel Gondry – another guy I’ve already gone off on. Nonetheless, this is arguably Gondry at the height of his game (wasn’t a big fan of Science of Sleep) and there are few people out there who could complement a wild, disjointed script like this that primarily takes place inside the main character’s subconscious. The visuals are astounding, there’s hardly any use of CG special effects and it’s just one of those movies you watch and wonder, “How the hell did they do that?” The way Gondry brings his imagination to life through Joel is one of the many reasons he’s the real deal and he makes this movie look as amazing as it reads.
The cast is also great and they all have great, complex characters to work with. Jim Carrey is spot-on as the quiet, endearing Joel (it’s also the last good serious role he’s been in), Kate Winslet is wonderful as quirky, eccentric Clementine (shocker), and they’re both supported by a solid cast of A- & B-listers. Except for Elijah Wood, he bothers me.
Man, I’ve seen this movie oodles of times, oodles I tell ya’, and it’s freakin’ phenomenal with every go-around. It sucks that there aren’t more writers, directors and actors out there who take risks on totally out-there movies like this that have something new to say on a universal topic we can all relate to in some way. I could make this review a lot longer than it already is, but truth be told, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a movie that can’t be done justice in a 700-word rant from a movie blogger. See this movie, see it again, it’s almost a 10 and it’s one of the best of the past decade.
And, God, do I love that Beck song that plays at the end. Beck is the freakin’ man.
A League of Their Own (1992)
VERDICT:
7/10 Insensitive Coaches
Was not expecting to like this.
A League of Their Own is about a farm girl and her tomboy sister in the ’40s who get recruited to play in the first female baseball league while all the male ballplayers are overseas fighting the Jerries for Uncle Sam during WWII. Slowly but surely, our country bumpkins show the folks that they can play ball with the best of ’em as they change the hearts and minds of all those jerks who think there’s no crying in baseball.
It’d been a long, long time since I first saw this back in grade school, and even though I remember liking it back then, as the years went by I more or less found myself equating it with female bonding at slumber parties. Let’s not kid ourselves, this isn’t exactly an outlandish connection to make by any means, but I also feel like kind of idiot that I’ve allowed myself to become so jaded.
Men, right? I know.
Yeah, it’s a chick flick and the reason I found myself watching this again despite my ungrounded bias is because that’s what a good boyfriend does, but, as usual, it pays to be the good boyfriend. Now, I’ve seen my fair share of Nicholas Sparks tear-orgies and Sex and the City re-runs, but every once in a while a chick flick comes along that actually transcends its “girl power” title and matching poster of women throwing their hats in the air like Mary Tyler Moore; it’s not often, but this is one of those instances.
As a man in today’s world, it can be hard to stand up and admit to your fellow brethren that you liked A League of Their Own. It’s no easy feat, believe me, my hands are shaking like a meth freak as a write this. But a lot of the credit in this regard goes to one man: Tom Hanks.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Tom Hanks is the man. He’s awesome as the alcoholic, he-man-woman-hater coach of the Rockford Peaches, Jimmy Dugan, and it makes me miss the days of pre-Philadelphia Tom. Not to steal his thunder as one of the best dramatic actors out there today, but Tom really is a funny dude with a great sense of humor and that totally comes across here. And he’s also got the best line of the movie…
Geena Davis explaining why she’s quitting the team: “It just got too hard.”
Tom Hanks being the man: “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard…is what makes it great.”
Damn right. That’s what she said.
But as much as I love Tom, he’s not the only reason this movie’s good. The whole cast in general is solid, Geena Davis is good our heroine, Dottie (I like her, where’d she go?) and the script manages to be continually entertaining without getting too girly. It’s a lot of cute fun and there’s a Bill Pullman cameo thrown in for good measure. The world needs more BP cameos.
It’s also neat to look back at a time when Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell were actually fun instead of batshit crazy. Remember The Rosie O’Donnell Show? Funny stuff. What the hell happened?
Unfortunately, the team cheer/lullaby of the Rockford Peaches is about as feminine as the Indigo Girls and I couldn’t help but laugh at how damn corny it was every time someone started singing it. But as far as eye-roll moments go, that’s the only thing I can think of.
I never thought I’d be writing this, but A League of Their Own is good stuff. Don’t go jumping the gun and strike up a conversation about this at poker night with the fellas, but for a movie that I was highly skeptical about, I’m happy to report that it ended up being a win-win for everyone involved.
And hey, Tank Girl is in it! Remember Tank Girl? Yeah, me neither.
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
VERDICT:
8/10 Bad Trips
And this, kids, is why you don’t do drugs.
Requiem for a Dream is about four people who get into drugs with the best of intentions and before long find out that they probably should have soaked in some of the knowledge that was being dropped on them in the D.A.R.E. program way back when. Two of them decide to get into the world of pushing drugs and are blown away by the quick turnaround rate that comes with selling dope on the streets of Brooklyn, another is the girlfriend of one of the pushers who jumps on the bandwagon in the hopes that it will allow her to start her own fashion line, and the last is the lonely, widowed mother of one of the pushers who gets hooked on diet pills because she’s convinces she’s gonna be on TV and needs to lose weight fast.
It should go without saying that this here movie isn’t exactly a pick-me-upper. It’s the feel-good equivalent of watching someone drown and it’s the only movie that I’ve really struggled to not turn off midway. Then again, it’s an important movie that deserves to be seen and I’ve willingly seen it on three different occasions.
The Debbie Downer in me, I suppose.
So, Requiem is the sophomore effort by one of my favorite directors, Darren Aronofsky, and, boy, does he know how to make a movie his own. He’s what makes this movie the frenetic headtrip it is, he’s what makes you feel like a junkie who’s just undergone the Ludovico Technique and it’s impossible to miss the lengths he goes to in order to make this movie as painstakingly vivid as he possible could. The editing is a mile-a-minute, the imagery will haunt your ass for the rest of your clean and sober days and you will never listen to this song the same way again.
Adding to that, the sounds in this movie from the slightest detail of a pill bottle opening up to the fantastic soundtrack by Aronofsky regulars Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet will make you shudder. It’s rare that so much attention is paid to the audial aspects of a movie like this and it truly goes a long way. Man, great audio always goes a long way.
Point is, Aronofsky is no joke and if you haven’t seen his stuff yet, you really owe it to yourself. He’s only done four movies anyway.
And as far as the acting is concerned, there’s only one name really worth mentioning: Ellen Burstyn. Jared Leto‘s pretty good as our main pusher (even if that Brooklyn accent is a little suspect), Marlon Wayans should be proud that he has this to balance out his Scary Movie track record even if he’s just alright as our second pusher, and Jennifer Connelly‘s the weak link of the bunch as Leto’s girlfriend (even though she gets put through some unbelievably hairy shit), but Ellen Burstyn got robbed of an Oscar for this one as Leto’s failing mother. Her character is hard as hell to watch but she is absolutely phenomenal and is the most invested member of the cast by a long shot.
Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich? My ass.
And bonus points for Shooter McGavin as a motivational speaker.
The main thing really holding this movie back from a higher rating is that it’s just so. damn. depressing. It’s not that it’s a hard movie to buy – ’cause I’m betting that the life of a junkie probably isn’t all that glorious to begin with – it’s just very hard to swallow and there’s real no light at the end of the tunnel outside of the wake-up call it provides to everyone in the audience. The other problem is that the only character I can sympathize with is Ellen Burstyn’s since she’s the only one whose downfall doesn’t take anyone else down with her and who gets hooked to begin with because some idiot doctor tells her to take speed in order to lose weight, only she doesn’t know it’s speed until it’s too late to do anything about it. The other three characters, on the other hand, are in it to win it pretty early on, are fully aware of what’s going on, have more than a couple opportunities to go straight that they all pass up and the most you can do is pity them as a result.
Nonetheless, it’s hard to say that any of them really deserve the fate that befalls them.
Requiem for a Dream is one of those movies that’s worth seeing if only to say that you survived it. This fucker will scare you straight and utterly trounce any fantastical misconceptions you’ve ever had of doing drugs, selling drugs or hearing “drugs”. While there is a time and place for everything – and that place is college – the long and short of it is that drugs really do suck. It just ain’t worth it, folks. Take up knitting or something.
That Aronofsky’s a wise man.
Waking Sleeping Beauty (2010)
VERDICT:
8/10 Tragic Kingdoms
Might be best thing that’s come out of Disney since The Lion King.
Waking Sleeping Beauty is a documentary about the Disney animation studio in 1984 and how over the course of ten years it went from being an unsuccessful money pit that was churning out movies no one was seeing to being the most profitable arm of Hollywood that changed the face of animation in every way imaginable.
Now, I can’t remember the last time I went to see a Disney movie in theaters and the last time I probably watched one otherwise was ages ago on a VHS copy while babysitting my little cousins. And while I still have great memories of growing up on them as a kid, it’s been a long time since I’ve felt that Disney magic.
I blame puberty.
So then this movie comes along and my good buddy Fred, the Disney fanboy that he is, suggests we make a night out of it. Naturally, I was skeptical, but ever since that fateful night, the magic has returned tenfold.
The entire movie is comprised of archive footage of the animators working their asses off, the countless sketches that made it into the final cut, the countless sketches that didn’t and the people that made it all possible at the height of their creativity. It’s all narrated by the very same people it’s about and considering how high up on the corporate ladder some of these folks are, it’s pretty impressive how candid and honest they are about all the highs and lows that happened over the course of ten long years.
And that’s the most surprising about all this, that it’s the corporate aspect of the movie and the ever-changing relationship between Disney’s head honchos – Roy Disney, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg – that makes for the most interesting dynamic of the whole documentary. Since I was only eight by the time things really came to a head for these guys in ’94, I knew next to nothing about the very public rise and fall of these these three fellas in their struggle to become the next Walt Disney. By the end, it’s hard to say who was the good, the bad and the ugly of the trio, but that’s also what makes their success story so bittersweet. Never ceases to amaze me how easily power changes some people.
But after all is said and done, it really is about the movies that made these ten years so significant, and the movies really are something else. This was the decade of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King – the four movies that pretty much changed the game and gave the world of animation a whole new degree of credibility. Even if you’ve never seen them or are like me and haven’t seen them since grade school, believe me, you’ll want to see them again.
Waking Sleeping Beauty is a little bit of everything and it’s also what makes Disney so great. Like the studio itself, it starts out a little slow but before long becomes a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the ungodly amount of time, the eccentric personalities and grueling efforts that went into making these movies. It’s compelled me to dig up my old VCR and raid all my cousins’ movie collections. It made me feel like a kid again and as much as I love Pixar nowadays, there’s truly nothing like rediscovering that Disney magic.
As much as you may believe that Disney movies are for just for kids or that a movie like Beauty and the Beast is just for girls, sorry to break it to ya’, but you too have become a victim of puberty, my friend. I wasn’t expecting to like this movie as much as I did and it is high time we all took a trip back to the good ol’ days when animators still got carpal tunnel and we still knew the chorus to “Be Our Guest”.
And the best time travel movie is…
THE TERMINATOR!
Loopholes and all, this is still the most badass thing that has ever happened to time travel, Michael Biehn and Austrian bodybuilders. Too bad this series is currently clogged in the shitter, but hey, we’ll always have the first two.
Come back, James Cameron. The future needs you.
RESULTS:
– Back to the Future: 6 votes (easy winner for best time machine)
– The Terminator: 10 votes
– Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure: 5 votes (runner-up for best time machine)
– 12 Monkeys: 4 votes (need to watch again, been sitting on my shelf for months)
– Time Bandits: 2 votes (need to watch)
– Timecrimes: 3 votes (really need to watch)
– Primer: 3 votes (need to re-watch and actually pay attention)
– Other: 2 votes for The Time Machine (hope we’re talking about the 1960 version here), 1 vote for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (got some Fat Bastard fans in the house), 1 vote for Back to the Future 2 (got some hoverboard fans in the house) and 1 vote for “hOt TuB tiMe mAcHinEee LoLZ :)” (oh, mom).
And now one for Mr. Ross McG…
Clash of the Titans (1981)
VERDICT:
5/10 Claymation Sensations
An interesting contribution to an…interesting decade.
Clash of the Titans is the story of Perseus and his quest to prove himself worthy as the son of Zeus by solving really hard riddles, marrying the ultimate Greek babe, generally whupping ass and trying to figure out how take down a freakin’ kraken before it tears the roof down on this sucker, thus making him look like a foolish mortal.
Oh yes, it is epic. And, oh yes, it is just as hilarious as that poster makes it look. Might as well have an Atari logo on it.
Back when I was a kid, I thought this movie was pretty freakin’ cool. I think a lot of people felt that way and it’s understandable why. Honestly, what more could you want from a movie than swashbuckling, robot owls and giant scorpions when you’re ten-years-old? As someone who grew up on Ninja Turtles and He-Man, this really was quite the discovery.
So thirteen years go by, a remake comes out, I happen to have a movie blog, so I revisit this gem of my rose-colored youth to see if the magic is still there. And while in certain ways there’s definitely still a draw, it’s still pretty hard hard not to laugh at how seriously this movie takes itself. It’s actually pretty hard not to laugh at almost everything about this movie.
Believe it or not, kiddies, there was once a time where MacBooks didn’t exist, where the height of 3-D technology peaked with a crappy Jaws sequel and where special effects were made with Play-Doh. Clash of the Titans is a time capsule back to that period in movie history where you could mold together a crappy model of Godzilla’s second cousin, call it a kraken and the masses would cower at the mighty beast before them. It was a glorious time, dear children, but unfortunately, that time has come and gone.
It’s hard to really know what to make of this movie by today’s standards. I’m curious to see what people thought of this movie when it first came out because even though you can watch this with a grain of salt and write it off as being “cool” by 1981’s standards (standards weren’t very high back then to begin with), when you consider that Star Wars came out four years prior and more or less set the bar for special effects what with all that lightsaber jibba-jabba, I gotta wonder.
So if any of you out there actually saw this thing when it wasn’t a TV special, I’d love to know the general consensus.
But aside from the “special effects”, the rest of it really isn’t all that great either. It’s painfully slow, it takes forever to get around to any real action, there’s not much of a plot and the acting doesn’t do much to legitimize the final product. Although the scene with Medusa is pretty entertaining, Harry Hamlin ain’t half bad as Perseus (gotta love that hair) and it’s fun to see Burgess Meredith (Mick from Rocky) and Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall) doing their thing back in the day.
Clash of the Titans is one of those movies that’s just so damn dated thirty years down the road that I almost feel weird giving it a score. It’s not a very good movie and even though I could probably crap all over it a lot more than I already have, it’s got a good deal of nostalgia points going for it and nostalgia goes a long way.
Too bad the remake is supposed to suck. How the hell does that happen?
Hey folks,
So I completely intended to have a review up today, but due to forces beyond my control like a dead laptop battery and an abysmal trip to Boston on MegaBus last night where there wasn’t a single working power outlet on the whole damn rig, looks like I’m gonna be taking a little break ’til Monday. So that’s about the long and short of it, sorry to be the buzzkill, but enjoy your Easter, readers, and I’ll see ya’ next week.
– Aiden
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
VERDICT:
8/10 Epic Pets
Not quite up to Pixar standards, but still thoroughly entertaining.
How to Train Your Dragon is about a scrawny viking living in the shadow of his father – The Ultimate Viking – as he continually tries and continually fails to be a dragon slayer like the rest of the hardcore folks in his hardcore village. Then one day, the kid gets lucky and captures himself one heavy duty dragon, but instead of chopping that baby up into a new pair of kicks, he befriends the dragon and learns that dragons ain’t so bad after all.
So misunderstood…
The first time I saw the poster for this movie, the last thing I expected was that I’d be giving it an 8 out of 10 a couple months later. Just looked like another Dreamworks movie about some funky animals in 3-D that my 7-year-old brother would probably lose his LEGOs over and I could care less about. But then the reviews started to pour in, the insanely positive reviews that boggled the mind, and since there hasn’t been a whole lot worth seeing in this brand new decade of ours, here I am typing away with a mouth full of Converse.
My biggest hesitation of the bunch upon going into this was that I had to see in 3-D because they literally aren’t playing this thing in good ol’ two dimensions at the moment. Since I’m still thinking that this whole 3-D craze is gonna fizzle out soon enough just like it did the first time around when everyone thought it was the coolest thing since Wham!, I wasn’t too happy about this. But like I said, these Converse are tasting mighty good and the 3-D isn’t gimmicky in the least.
Much like Avatar, it’s a fully realized 3-D experience and it’s not just crap trying to poke you in the eye every five minutes. The quality of the visuals are out of sight (especially all the dragon riding scenes that also look like they’re straight out of Avatar), same goes for the overall animation and while I’m still not crazy about paying an extra seven bucks to see things the way I do in my everyday life and look like Roy Orbison in the process, if more animators jump on the bandwagon like Dreamworks has here, I can see myself coming around.
And with the exception of Jay Baruchel who was poorly casted as our unlikely hero, Hiccup, the voice acting is pretty solid all around. Great call on getting Gerard Butler as Hiccup’s father, Stoick. Best thing that guy’s done in forever.
But the thing really holding Dragon back is the script that in a lot of ways does just feel like a Dreamworks product. As much as it did tug on the heartstrings towards the end and worked in a strong “father and sons” dynamic throughout, it still felt formulaic and kid-oriented. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy myself, but it’s not very deep or affecting or funny or surprisingly mature in the way that so many Pixar scripts are. Then again, it is fun and it does work, so there’s only so much I can gripe about in this regard. Just wished I had laughed more.
But the real question is, was it worth the 19 bucks I paid to see it?
As much as it pains me to say it and as much as I don’t condone highway robbery in any shape or form, yes, it was worth the 19 bucks. Helps to have a blog to justify the hole in my wallet, but hey, it’s always worth the money if the movie’s good.
My friend Andrew used to talk about how cool it would be to have a pet dragon, and even though I still think it’d be a bit difficult to pull that off in a one-bedroom apartment in New York City (maybe the suburbs though), this movie definitely confirms that it would be quite freakin’ awesome. Admission into How to Train Your Dragon might be a lot on the steep side, but be the good boyfriend/husband/parent and take someone along for the ride. Had a far more enjoyable time at this than I thought I would even if I did look like the creepiest guy on Earth seeing this by myself in a theater packed with baby Mozarts.
Good job, Dreamworks. Guys are movin’ on up to that deluxe apartment in the sky.
Cut The Crap Movie Reviews 
