Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Directed by Rich Moore

Story by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston and Jim Reardon

Screenplay by Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee

Stars: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack MacBrayer, Jane Lynch, Alan Tudyk, Adam Carrolla, Mindy Kipling, Dennis Haysbert, Ed O'Neill

It has been awhile since I reviewed a movie. Today was interesting to say the least. The electricity went out in my neighborhood this morning. I did not want to sit in the house in the darkness so I decided to see something to pass the time. The only movie that I had an inkling to see was Wreck-It Ralph. That blackout must have been a sign, because I moved with this film.

Ralph (Reilly) has been doing the same job for almost thirty years for old school game Fit It Felix Jr (MacBrayer). Being the "bad guy" of the game, he is excluded from activities when the arcade closing up for the night. He is tired of being left out of everything including the celebration of thirty years. Ralph decides to game jumping in order to have some validation to get the notice that he wants. His brash actions may have set off chain of events that lead to disaster or maybe to a greater evil.

I don't see that many animated movies. Mainly to avoid the kids in the audience, but I had no choice. The auditorium was full with them. There was no choice in the matter. My thinking that it was going to be like Megamind. It kinda felt like it. To me, Ralph is not that much of a bad guy. He was misunderstood. People keep telling him that he was a bad guy that he would be brainwashed or something. The same thing is happening to a girl that Ralph meets a girl when he was game jumping named Vanellope (Silverman) was is told she is a glitch in the system of her game, Sugar Rush.

Usually there is a message with these movies. The message is that whatever makes your different makes you unique. You should never let anyone keep you down. By the end of the movie, I was almost on the verge of tears. The enjoyment was felt all around with this film. People should see this.

My Rating

Skyfall

Skyfall (2012)

Directed by Sam Mendes

Screenplay by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan

Based on characters created by Ian Fleming

Stars: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ben Whishaw, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Rory Kinnear, Ola Rapace and Albert Finney

After I was throughly disappointed with the "movie" that was Quantum of Solace, I have all but given up hope of the James Bond franchise. Hearing the troubles with MGM delaying the film, it seems like the final nail on the coffin. Now, we have Skyfall that falls on the 50th anniversary of the franchise. This film hearkens back to the past films with a touch of class.

During an assistant in Turkey, 007 (Craig) pursues an assassin, Patrice (Rapace) that has taken an highly sensitive hard drive that contains the identities of MI-6 agents embedded terrorist organizations around the world. In an unlikely moment, his shadow Eve (Harris) accidentally shoots Bond and let the bad  guy get away. Bond is presumed dead. An unknown force is coming after MI-6, but this person is particularly after M (Dench).

I'm familiar with the Bond films. This movie felt like a Bond film. The intrigue, the seductions, the thrills, the suspense, the gadgets; it had all of that. Hearing about the plot of the film beforehand, I knew where the story was going to go, but I did not expect it to go with it did. My analytical brain was trying to figure out where will happen next. Some things I predicted came true and some things didn't. I'm glad that the film went to its roots like in Casino Royale.

The major thing bothered me about the movie was the callbacks to the previous films. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. It felt like deja vu. It understood that it is the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise, but my head was getting dizzy by those moments.

My Rating

Let's Celebrate

That's right. Exactly one year ago today, I started this blog. The birth of this blog came from the death of my other blog, Foolish Blatherings. I ran that blog for four years until I was unsatisfied about the with the direction it was heading. That site got me into the LAMB and rest is history. I had the name of this blog for about the same time as well for a secret project that never came to fruition.

I'm continuing to change and evolve.This site is going from crawling to a wobbly walk. I want to say thank you to the people that have commented on my posts and follow the site on blogger and on Facebook. I have met some interesting people along the way. I cannot wait to see what happens in the future.

Prometheus

Prometheus (2012)

Directed by Ridley Scott

Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof

Based on elements created by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett

Stars: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green, Kate Dickie, Sean Harris and Rafe Spall

There was some hesitance in watching Prometheus, because of the polarizing response when it came out. Is it prequel to the Alien series? Is it a one off movie in the Alien universe? People loving the movie, but they have major gripes with it. I thought that I was going to hate the film. Not knowing the Alien canon might work in my favor this time.

2089. A pair of archaeologists, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Marshall-Green) discovers ancient cave drawings that predate the traditional cave men. It points to a particular star system that is light years away from Earth.

An exploration commences three years later on the spaceship, Prometheus to that very star system. The Weyland Corporation funded the effort to find out of the origins of humanity. The archaeologists as well the cyborg, David (Fassbender), Fifield (Harris), Millburn (Spall) and Ford (Dickie) explore a cavernous ruin that might hold the key to origin of humanity. These explorers might be in over their heads.

Let me just say that I have only seen Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection in its entirety. The other movies have only bits and pieces were seen. Ridley Scott told us that this is not in the vein of the other movies. I cannot explicitly say whether it is or not. I enjoyed this movie very much. If I came into the movie knowing the Alien canon, I might pick the film apart. I might have to revisit the quadrilogy. My opinion might change.

The concept of film has been done in many movies before about exploring alien worlds without knowing the consequences of interrupting the environment. The scope of the film was fascinating the watch. Marc Streitenfeld's score carried weight.

The story went into some unexpected places that made me questions the intentions of everyone on board the ship. I throughly enjoyed Michael Fassbender's performance as David. He plays a being that shows no emotions, but he gives lots of human emotions subtly.

My Rating