Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Jason's Movie Review

Took the fam to see Fantastic Beasts this weekend! 

I will start by saying that I think this was my favorite "Harry Potter" movie! 

WOW!  That is quite a statement, Jason.  Almost sacrilege. 

Yeah...I thought so to.  But, I think I figured it out.  I had issues with just about every single HP movie.  With the exception of the first one, I had read the books before I had seen the movie.  And, every time, I was annoyed that something was left out or that something was portrayed in a way I didn't like.  Especially in the later movies.

HP 7 being the most egregious.  I mean, they get into practically nothing about the Dumbledore story.  And, where the heck did Harry get that piece or mirror he's hauling around?  And, how did Snape know to find Harry in the Forest of Dean?  Too many plot holes.

Anyway...this movie wasn't constrained by an existing opinion of what it should be.  So, I didn't come out complaining about things I thought should have been different.

That said, it was still a very fun movie!  The effects were great.  The acting was superb (I have not seen Eddie Redmayne in anything yet...but, he was great in this role!) and the story was very enjoyable!

There are some Easter Eggs for us long time Potterphiles.  I won't say what because if you haven't seen it, I want you to get all giddy like I did.  But, even Desmond picked up on a couple. 

There is also an uncredited actor that shows up unexpectedly.  That was fun. :-)

My one complaint...I am over David Yates.  I've never really enjoyed him as a director.  While he's good with the special effects action scenes, I don't think he does anything with the actors.  This was another problem I had with the HP movies, particularly the ones under his direction.  While Daniel Ratcliff definitely grew as an actor, the other 2 never really did anything for me...and Emma Watson seemed to get worse.  I don't think her acting got worse.  However, I wonder if her direction did. 

That's all I got.  I am looking back and realizing that this is a pretty lame review.  But, whatever!  It's my blog! 

Here's the summary...good movie for anyone.  Really good if you miss the magical world of Harry Potter. 

Monster Squad has come to Netflix

What is Monster Squad, you ask?  Well, it's a story about a bunch of friends who have to save their town from monsters.  Or something.  I used to love this movie as a kid.  But, I admit...I don't remember a ton about it.

One thing I do remember, however, is that the single greatest line in movie history happens in Monster Squad.  Better than, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.". Better than "Life is like a box of chocolates.". And better than "To Infinity and Beyond."

Ladies and gentleman...I give you, the greatest line in movie history:

Reviving the X-Files?????

It's been rumored for a while!  Now, it's official!!!  FOX is reviving my favorite show of ALL TIME...The X-Files!!!

I've been asked my thoughts on this.  So, here you go!

I was an X-Phile since the very beginning.  I started watching in High School.  I was pretty active in extra curricular stuff in HS (you know...band, theatre, flirting with chick).  Back in the days of VCRs, I had a tape labeled with "The X-Files."  Everyone in the house knew that this tape was not to be used for ANYTHING else.  Because, no matter what I had going on, I would NOT miss a single episode of Mulder and Scully's search for the Truth!!!

Fast forward to college, I continued to be obsessed.  I even drug my dorm mates into my obsession.  We would get together in Michael Paine's room across the hall (I didn't have a TV in my room) and watch.

Even in the end, when it started to get lame (particular during the Agents Doggett and Gish year), I watched...even if I was surfing the internet at the same time.  I didn't like the end of the series.  I barely remember it.  I just remember I didn't like it.

Let's not even talk about the 2nd movie.  I like to pretend that one doesn't exist.  Kinda like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Anyway...despite it's faults at the end, it still remains my favorite show of all time.  Even more than LOST.  When I heard that they were bringing it back, I became cautiously optimistic!

The first rumors I heard made it sound like a reboot.  You know, like JJ Abrams' Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica or the 15th version of Spiderman.  This really peaked my interest.  A new Mulder and Scully!  A new FBI complete with smart phones and Patriot Act capabilities!

But, it turns out that's not what this is.  It's actually David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson coming back to reprise the roles they created.  Ok...this could be interesting.  But...it leaves me slightly concerned.  Mostly about how it all ended to begin with.  Like I said, I didn't like how the X-Files ended.  I particular hated the 2nd Movie that shall not be named.  Is this all still part of the X-Files universe or will they simply pretend they don't exist like Bryan Singer did when he made Superman Returns?

But, honestly...what concerns me most about the X-Files revival is this.  It's only 6 episodes.  THIS ISN'T ENOUGH!  It's just going to be a teaser!!!  It's just going to make me want so much more!!!  Unless it sucks, but I am trying to stay positive.  I have high hopes that it will be amazing and I will want more and more and more!!!  More A.D. Skinner, more Krycek, more Lone Gunmen, more Cancer Man!!!

So, there you go.  I'm excited!  I'm super excited!  But, I'm nervous.  But, then I am excited again and disappointed that it's not enough!  Confusing, right?

Bottom line, though...I get to see Agent Scully again!  And, if there is one woman that has topped my list for a really long time, it would be Gillian Anderson and Dana Scully.

The Truth is Out There!

My old favorite movies are so OLD!

Often, I think about how exciting it will be to introduce Desmond to some of the things that I used to love as a kid.  Particularly movies!  There are some movies that I JUST KNOW he will love as much as I did.

• Goonies
• Ghostbusters
• Star Wars 
• Three Amigos
• Back to the Future

You know.  The new Classics.  

But, here's the thing.  These movies are so freakin' old, now!

It's like when my dad tried to get me to watch movies from the 70s.  I was like, DANG...those special effects are so fake!

Let's take Back to the Future.  Kim and I were just talking about how we want to watch the trilogy.  My mom bought it for me a few years ago.  I just need to find it in my still packed moving boxes.  

Anyway, I was thinking about how awesome it would be to have Des watch that with me.  

Then I realized the following things. 

• Des has no idea what a Delorean is. 
• Des has no idea what a Walkman is. 
• Back to the Future: Part 2 happens this year!
• Des won't get any of the references in the Cafe 80s scene (Ronald Regan, Max Headroom, Jaws 19 (shark still looks fake), etc.

I watched the trailer for it the other day and it even caught me off guard just how old that movie looks.  

I will probably skip showing him Back to the Future, for now.  I'll wait until it moves from old to "retro."  

In Case You Missed It, Michael Keaton's Golden Globe Acceptance Speech

I haven't seen Birdman, yet.  But, I really want to.  I'm waiting for it to come out on video.  Although, my buddy just hooked me up with a digital copy, so I will try to watch it this weekend.

Regardless...check out Michael Keaton's acceptance speech.

I love when famous people show their humanity.  I get tired of people thanking their lawyers and their agents and yes...even God.  This is the kind of speech that makes you happy.

Jason's Movie Review - Annie

Went to see Annie this weekend.  Here's what I thought.

First of all, a reminder.  I love musicals.  I almost always have a song going through my head.  I haven't seen Annie on stage since I was in High School.  However, I have seen the original movie a dozen times.

Whenever anything is rebooted, I try to judge it on it's own merits.  I try not to compare it to previous versions.  This was hard to do with the new Annie, however.  I think the fact that it's a musical makes it more difficult.  When a tune is changed or songs are added and eliminated, I can't help but find myself missing the old version.

Let me address Annie herself, first.  Since some controversy seemed to be stirred when the public learned that Annie and Daddy Warbucks...aka William Stacks in this movie...were *GASP* black!

The little girl who played Annie was quite good!  I enjoyed her performance a ton.  I thought she pulled off the sassy little foster kid (don't call her an orphan) to a tee.  I don't mind that she didn't have red hair.  If they had made her less sassy, I would have been annoyed.

Jamie Fox, on the other hand.  He's one of my favorite actors.  I can't decide how I feel about him as the Daddy character.  He was a fine actor.  But, I think my hesitancy to like his performance more is less about the fact that it's Jamie Fox and more about the fact that he is NOT Oliver Warbucks.  He's William Stacks.  Why is he William Stacks?

Warbucks is a billionaire industrialist.  Stacks is a cell phone CEO.  Warbucks has a HUGE house in New York.  Stacks lives in a penthouse apartment.  Warbucks has servants running all over the place (who contribute to a fantastic "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" musical interlude).  Stacks just has his Chief of Staff (who tries to duplicate "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" unsuccessfully).

Then there is Miss Hannigan.  Now, you know there is no way ANYBODY is going to be able to hold a candle to Carol Burnett.  Nobody.  But, come on...Cameron Diaz?  She can't even sing!

Obviously, when you take an original set during the depression and try to reboot it in 2014, there must be some changes.  Unfortunately, I think those changes took away from much of the warm-fuzziness that the original brought.

Ok, outside of that.  There are too many plot holes this time around, too.  I know we have to suspend disbelief, and I am usually cool with that.  But, some of these were just too glaring.

For example...the most annoying one that stands out in my mind.  Who the heck are these people they recruit to be Annie's "parents?"  In the original, it was clear.  It was Rooster and Lily, out to make some $$$.  In this one, it's clear who's trying to make money.  The political dude and Miss Hannigan.  But, where do they find a couple who is not just willing to commit fraud, but also willing to kidnap a child?  One could make the point that they didn't actually know it was kidnapping.  When Stacks showed up in his helicopter, they seemed surprised.  However...they were still running from the cops.  So...kidnappers they are!

Then, there is the fact that, after everything comes out regarding an employee of Stacks basically coordinating this kidnapping...not only is there no chance he'll be elected mayor, but if his company is publicly traded, you can bet he just lost his job, too!

Anyway, I wasn't a big fan.  It just wasn't a good enough reboot for me. All it did was make me want to go back and watch the old version.  In fact, I think I will do just that this weekend!




PS:  At about 3:10 in this video is the #1 reason why is was stupid to change the name from Warbucks to Stacks.  This part wasn't even in the movie.  *sigh*

Will you see the Ender's Game movie

So...if you've talked to me about books, you know that Ender's Game is my favorite book of all time.

My dad handed it to me in the 8th grade.  I refused to read it because I didn't like to read.  I liked comic books and watching TV.  I was dumb like that.

Finally (and, for the life of me, I can't remember why I changed my mind), I read it when I was a Junior in High School.  I fell in love.  I'm reading a book right now called "The Shadow of the Wind."  In it, there is a quote.  "Few things leave a deeper mark on the reader, than the first book that finds its way to his heart."  For me, this book is Ender's Game. 

I read a lot now.  Ender's Game is what made me a reader. 

Anywhoo...I could write about Ender's Game forever.  How the second book, Speaker for the Dead, was equally as good, but in a different way.  How the 3rd in the series was good not great and how the 4th felt like the author (Orson Scott Card) couldn't figure out how to properly end it, so he started writing gibberish.  Oh, then, I could write about how every single book since in the Ender universe was a pile of steamy horse crap written simply to make money off of the only character he was widely known for.

I digress.  Orson Scott Card is a Mormon.  He has never hidden this. In fact, he's pretty open about it.  Logically, one could therefore assume that he opposes gay marriage.  I don't read much of what he has to say outside of his books because, frankly, I don't care.  And...I'm still mad at him for ruining my favorite character of all time.  It wasn't until recently, now that an Ender's Game movie is in the can for November release, that I have been made aware of just how anti-gay marriage this dude really is.

He's not just against gay marriage for the same bullshit, but sometimes misguidedly logical, reasons your standard Republican homophobe is.  He's is downright "overthrow the government" opposed to gay marriage.

Now...I support gay marriage.  Yes, I am a Republican and I support gay marriage.  I can write an entire post about how it's hypocritical for Republicans to oppose gay marriage, but I'll save that for another day.  I support gay marriage.  But, I'm not really in the fight.  If you oppose gay marriage, I roll my eyes and move on.  I don't really have a horse in the race.  While I support it, I do not put it on the same level as the civil rights movement (gay people are not using separate drinking fountains) and I don't see marriage as a "right" to begin with.  Therefore, the issue does not fire me up like it does others. 

But, I do hate intolerance.  I do hate putting people in a lower class because there is something different about them.  And, this is where OSC has crossed the line for me.  Because people with a different lifestyle want the same perks as people with OSC's lifestyle, OSC is advocating revolution.  This is where he moves, for me, from one-hit-wonder-bad-writer-man, to jerk face.

If I think someone is a douche, I will not give them my money.  For example...I have never seen any movie by Roman Polanski because he is a rapist.  I don't care how artsy or moving or whatever these movies are.  I refuse to give my money to a rapist.  I don't see anything Mel Gibson is involved in anymore because he is a woman beating anti-Semite.  He doesn't get my money either.

But, damn...I LOVE this freakin' book!  For a long time now, I have envisioned seeing the movie.  Putting faces to beloved characters.  I've been wondering how the Battle Room can be brought to life with it's Zero-Gee fight scenes.  I so want to see Bonzo's eyes roll into the back of his head as Ender delivers a deadly blow to the crotch (oops...sorry.  Spoiler alert).  This book could very well be described as having changed my life (thanks, Dad!). 

What to do? 

An option I am considering...getting a less-than-legal downloaded copy from my buddy who hasn't paid for a movie in years.  I am typically morally opposed to this avenue.  But, I am also morally opposed to giving money to bigots. 

I have until November to figure this out.  Any philosophical advice???